#I know it’s a completely static pose lol

[prismaticpichu]

Problem: Is stressed

Solution: Draw inspirational Sephiroth!!

[planete777]

BAD INFLUENCE・⁠｡♪ LN4 [+ OP81]

( lando norris x fem!reader ft. oscar piastri)

READ PART 2!

IN WHICH. getting high was never on oscar's roster. getting high and enjoying it with y/n and lando wasn't either, but that just makes it much more... exciting. (based on this ask)

WARNINGS. 16+, suggestive content, drug use (as per), high hotness pt 875443, oscar cameo (woop woop 🥳), make outs, first time getting high, oscar being whipped for lando and y/n? wbk, a bit of mxm content between drivers, shotgunning coz it's my most favourite thing ever

NOTE. LANDOSCAR!! this may probably be my favourite fic and is my longest so im looking forward to you guys reading it!!! well overdue in my humblest opinion, but i delivered hehe. enjoy my luvs and a very happy new year in advance mwah mwah mwah 😚😚 i appreciate all of you readers, thank you for all your support 💓💓💓

SIDENOTE. my askbox is now closed for requests 🤍

‧₊˚✩彡 taglist @laciijane @ferrarrigirl @norrizzandpia @mimi-luvzyu (use askbox above if you'd like to be added!)

frankly speaking, a 'you up?' text from oscar piastri, whose entire persona was an antithesis of what that type of message usually pertained to, isn't something lando was expecting at 1am after a tedious race weekend. knows oscar to be one who sleeps in too early, as if his circadian rhythm was built upon the foundation of a restrictive curfew, and even fathoming the fact that he is awake past 12 is rather peculiar.

yet, with the mutually pre-established sense that lando would be awake (he's probably an insomniac, but it's not too concerning for him to actually check), and that oscar was asking if he was just for the sake of, most likely because he's, unusually, unable to sleep, lando replies with much sluggish vim.

fingers moving as if they played in a dream, he's able to reply with 'yh, why????' and sends it off before throwing his phone on the bed. he thinks, if he's sober, he would care more that this is oscar!!!! who is normally adamant about getting sleep!!! and not looking more sleep deprived than his naturally downturned eyes already make he seem to be!!!! but his mind feels like gooey viscous, and he counts about 3,000 peaks and troughs of the popcorn ceiling above before losing count and seeking solace in the spliff that burns his throat like a madman. he ponders if he's going crazy.

it's not long after that the undulating, monotonous buzz from his phone tickles his skin and with a sigh he goes to reply. and as he does so, his girlfriend, curiosity piqued, perks up from the foot of the bed.

"who's texting you this late?"

she looks ridiculously amusing: head hanging off the edge, loose and completely yielding like a dead body, and the only thing that reassures lando of her consciousness is the occasion movement of her arm to take another drag.

he wedges the joint between his reddened lips, lips curling awkwardly to speak, "piastri. dunno what he wants th- oh shit."

he's never felt such a sinking, crippling feeling of his high escaping him like a broken dam before. it's weirdly chilling, and for a good second, he feels brightly and vividly sober again. the texts just... stare at him and he almost wants to hurl his phone at the wall and watch it rain a litany of debris.

osc: just... forgot to give you back your stuff that i borrowed

osc: found some green leaf stuff in it lol im a bit concerned

lando's read it so many times, he's more than certain he knows just how many letters it consists of. fingers hover above the keyboard but it looks like they're weirdly swimming in air as he debates just what to write, and y/n is suddenly hissing his name, having sat up.

"— lan'! fucking hell, what happened?"

he moves on autpilot, back resting up the headboard, "he's found my weed."

y/n— y/n snorts. she sighs, moves back to her original pose, and lando's brain feels like static.

"love, i thought it would be worse."

lando splutters, "worse? babe, this is already bad! he could tell management for all i know." the mere thought of that makes lando's mind congeal. nevertheless, high out of his wits, he thinks he would somehow find a way to continue even if he was implored to stop.

she's disagreeing and laughing, and lando doesn't know what to make of it.

"nah, you're good. oscar wouldn't tell a soul," it's silent as he sees a burst of smoke ascend from the edge of the mattress, "tell him to bring it over."

lando fights with himself in his head. it's hilarious, really, watching his face morph from one emotion to another, and after 5 minutes with no whooshing affirmative of a message being sent, y/n exhales.

the bed curves in as she crawls up towards lando, before plucking the phone from his grip.

"it's really not that deep, lan'," her voice feels like cotton in his ears, "oscar isn't like that."

her fingers fly across the keyboard, how she does so in her inebriated state, lando has no clue, and just as quickly as she snatched the phone, she's sliding it back between his fingers.

"how— how do you know that?"

all presumptions, really, lando thinks. they may be good friends, him and oscar, but they've still got many, many steps to go before he's reassured that the other wouldn't go running his mouth to management because he found *fucking weed* in his bag.

the little voice at the back of his mind seeths, 'you shouldn't be smoking anyway', but he ignores it. what the hell does it know?

y/n goes to straddle him, crotch digging into his. its a soft wave of pleasure that oozes from the pressure, and lando lets a small moan mix with the puff of smoke he blows out. they would've fucked if only his limbs didn't feel like they've been detached and re-stitched; maybe they'd end the night with a lazy ride.

his girlfriend smirks, all cunning and undeniably hot, sucking in as much smoke as she can before blowing it all on his face. if anybody else had done this, he'd turn feral, but there's something alluring when y/n's exhale tickles his skin like feathers.

"how do i know? well, oscar, he kinda reminds me of you—" lando interrupts with a raised brow and a questioning stare, but y/n proceeds, "both of you are- you were- itching for a release. him not as much as you, but i still see it."

and lando can't really deny that, because he sees it too. in the way oscar's eyes seem to dart with dreaded uncertainty, and the way his shoulders are always up and tense, as if he has been tied like a puppet.

"that's what i call 'destined to get high'," y/n banters. it makes lando snort and roll his eyes (ultimately omitting to dwell on the sliver of seriousness that leaks through).

"dunno why you're rolling your eyes, you were basically begging me to give you a spliff," y/n taunts, and even though he groans at the reminiscence, he doesn't deny it. doing so would be like calling himself michael schumacher.

"yeah, whatever," he takes a lazy drag, a hand sliding up and down y/n's thigh, "at least i'm sexy when getting stoned."

y/n cackles, dissolving into a small giggle as she twirls her fingers through lando's curls; she never wants to let him go.

"damn right, baby."

another ping sounds from lando's phone, and subconsciously, his hands snakes to get it.

when he turns it on, he doesn't think he can be gobsmacked with such intensity twice in a day.

landooo: yh just bring it over

landooo: you can join us if you'd like

landooo: 😉

osc: uhm sure..

"y/n."

-.-.-.-.-

weed.

he'll be fucking damned.

the laugh that is punched out of him is one of disbelief, and, quite frankly, sheer horror.

he'd only wanted to borrow some shaving cream, after all, he's not one to favour the prickly itch of stubble. and in perfect, restless lando fashion, he was given the whole essentials bag and tasked with finding it himself.

which then leads him to now, palm burning with the weight of three spliffs that had somehow tumbled out of a flat metal tin.

he stares at them for so long that he might as well have burned holes into them (ironic), and in a flurry of movement, he's stuffing everything back into the bag, zipping it closed. if he doesn't see it, then he doesn't know it's there. cool.

but he's just standing, in the middle of his hotel room, completely clueless and delirious. he doesn't know how many times he wipes perspiration off his palms and onto his shorts, neither does he know how he's able to text lando about his findings.

originally, he thought that sending the infamous, suggestively connotated 'you up?' would've trimmed a bit of the tension away, yet it seems like lando, without fail, waters the situation with a fuck-ton more.

"'join us'? fucking hell."

oscar feels absolutely scorched from the wisps of his hair to the tips of his toes, and a spark of something curls in his gut.

no, absolutely not.

it's- he flips his watch to check the time- one am for fuck's sake, and lando's— getting high. smoking weed. [most likely] with his girlfriend.

whatever it is that makes his gut its abode curls even more as he shoves his feet into the nearest shoes he can find, and tames his hair in the mirror by the doorway. finding the night already too hard to bare, he doesn't dwell on what he'd done, and heads off to lando's room with sickening anticipation swirling within the grooves of his skin.

the walk is only a few seconds long, and oscar curses the fact that they weren't roomed further apart (impractical in usual circumstances, but the current predicament is anything but usual). he guesses he stands there, navy blue wash bag clutched in a vice grip, for many minutes (his concept of time tonight is royally fucked— how has he stayed up this late?) before he musters up some courage to knock on the door. in the quietude of the night, the sound is magnified to the point where he winces and hopes that no one else on their floor wakes up.

he hears a quiet rustle from behind the door, sighs for the umpteenth time that day (honestly, he could have a smoke for himself to- no.) before it's swiftly open.

y/n stands there, no sign of a spliff in sight, but her heavy lidded red eyes (that must hurt, right?) and the pungent smell of weed is enough to tell.

"ah, golden boy is here," y/n's grinning, as much as she can do without it looking robotic, and oscar blushes.

"g-golden boy?"

"i said what i said," she opens the door wider, and oscar's vision catches a limp leg hanging off the side of the bed, "you coming in or what?"

he's never been in such a mind-tearing crossroad before. wants to be reasonable and say no, afterall his job is on the line here (just because lando hasn't been caught, doesn't mean he won't, too). but then he's thinking that he's played angel's advocate for too long, and, as if the universe wants to commit a double homicide, lando is walking over, countenance lackadaisical and bends down as he wraps his arms around her waist.

he asks for forgiveness, because such a temptation before him is completely unforgiving , and oscar finds his vascillations come to an end the second he makes eye contact with his teammate.

it's then he realises that the something that had been driving his intestines mad was sheer want, and, having a mind of their own, his feet shuffle into the room, decision finalised by the click of the door shutting behind him.

he just hopes he doesn't regret this is in the morning.

the couple, with eased familiarity, move back to the bed, leaving oscar standing there, lost and expecting. lando regains possession of the spliff, back flat against the bed and arm bent behind his head.

he's turning to oscar, several beats later, with a heated look that just pulls the australian right in.

"put the bag down, osc," he's demanding— oh fuck, "and come over here."

oscar feels rather mortified at the effect lando's assertiveness has on him. his heart curdles, drips away like goo, and he can't think straight.

toes off his shoes, sliding them out of the way with his foot, before dumping the bag on lando's luggage and tentatively making his way to the bed.

it's excruciatingly daunting, must he say, and he's sure it's blatant because y/n is grinning softly and beckoning him closer with the wave of a hand.

"you're good, oscar."

then he's fully on the bed, a thin sheen of gray blurring his vision and the stench of smoke so thick, he could get high off it alone.

lando's splayed in front of him, watching intensely as his fingers accomodate a joint between them, and y/n's at his side, right at the foot of the bed, fiddling with a metal tin of her own.

he wonders just how long they've been doing this for.

"for me, since i was 18/19 maybe. lando started about a year ago."

oscar's brain fucking spasms.

his head whips to y/n, then back to lando, who just smiles and takes another drag, "a year?!"

the girl beside him giggles, turning back to him with a freshly rolled spliff of his own, "yeah. practically drooling to take a hit."

his teammate groans, dragging a hand down his face before sitting up, they seem to go through this ordeal once or twice before.

before he can question any more, y/n points the joint at him, "you sure you want to do this?"

funny, he's asking himself this. has been ever since he read the proposition that lando (y/n) had sent, and he had replied with a seemingly confused 'sure'. heat feels like a thousands ants crawling up his body, and the silence is even worse because he's certain his ears are filled with cement.

"am i— am i gonna get addicted to... this?"

lando shakes his head just as y/n shrugs, "depends, love. if you've got good enough self control and don't rely on it too much, you'll be fine."

oscar gives a sigh of relief, but turns tense again as he looks at lando. almost telepathically, he knows what oscar is thinking.

"no osc, i'm not hooked on this. i only do it every couple of weeks or so."

his hands raise up in defense, "just asking, mate."

"and you have every right to, baby," y/n says, then scoops his hand into her grip and puts the spliff in his hand, "now take this and let lando teach you."

oscar doesn't know what to do with it. he just stares at the green stick in his hand and wills up some courage to look back up at lando. for the first time in 22 years, he's going to experience what it's like to get high, and the excitement that crawls up his spine is chilling.

"take this," lando pushes a bottle of water into his hands, and oscar looks at it in confusion.

"it's your first time, so it'll probably make you cough a ton. drinking water helps."

oscar nods, gently taking and unscrewing it open. he gulps it down like a starved animal, and almost chokes when he notices his teammates girlfriend staring bullets into his face. his heart jumps and he stops drinking.

"now put the spliff in your mouth and let me light it for you."

oscar does so, feeling the weight of the rolled joint between his lips is completely maddening.

his teammate fishes a black lighter from the bedside table, then scooches closer to oscar's crossed legs. lando's body is like a furnace of drunken heat, and it only gets worse when his hand lands right on oscar's bare thigh.

it feels perfect and oscar thinks he's surfing on the waves of euphoria already.

"this good?" lando questions his touch, and oscar doesn't waste time to nod, "alright— when i light it, you're gonna try and inhale as much as you can. don't let it stay in your throat or you're gonna cough."

oscar bobs his head affirmatively.

"if you can't, just take it in small amounts, not too much that it hits your throat."

then lando's leaning in, flame swaying from the lighter, and oscar's eyebrows scrunch as he follows it closer and closer to the spliff.

it's instaneous, the heat that fills his mouth, and in a hurried succession, oscar is inhaling and spluttering like a madman. his eyes are burning, they may already be red at this point, and his nose feels ripped off.

"take it easy, love," a hand- y/n's- rests upon his back and he finds himself needing composure, and not only from his failed attempt to smoke.

"wow uh that was— uhm..."

lando rubs his thigh, with the intention to comfort, but oscar finds himself more pent up than before. the weed is already kicking in and his mind feels chopped into pieces and mixed with cake batter, and every touch feels like a punch.

"you good to go again?" lando queries. oscar nods, his throat feeling too rough to speak up, "okay then, take your time and calm yourself down. small intakes, yeah?"

the spliff goes back between his lips, and with lando watching him like he's the best movie he's ever seen, he's sucking in the smoke cautiously and— fuck, it feels so so good. he's unravelled everywhere, not a kink left in his joint nor a knot remaining in his muscles, and when he breathes the smoke out, he lets his head fall back with a smile on his face.

"there you go," lando's voice sounds loose and airy in his mind, and oscar finds himself loving it.

"look at him, babe," y/n chimes from beside him, and his head rolls to give her an inebriated grin, "told you he was meant for it."

lando hums, agreeing, from in front of him, "gonna shotgun with him."

whatever that is, y/n is eager to see it happen, and oscar gives lando a confused look. it only evokes a cute grin from the other, who plucks the spliff from oscar's fingers.

"i'll take a hit and blow it in your mouth, if that's cool with you."

and— oscar moans involuntarily. he doesn't know where it comes from but it's practically punched out of him with how loud it is, and lando smirks widely. all oscar can do is watch as he fills his mouth with smoke and shuffles closer to him. his heart palpitates, beating like a drum piece, and his skin is damp and flushed from the intensity of it all.

lando assesses oscar's decision, confirming his consent as he nods, and slowly, lando snakes an arm around his neck, pulling him closer. oscar is compliant, body wanting and downright desperate, mouth opening on autopilot.

the second lando's lips attach to his and the smoke is pushed into his mouth, oscar fucking loses it. his eyes roll to the back of his head, and he's grabbing lando's hair and pushing his mouth deeper.

he's kissing his teammate with all he has to give, and lando— he's reciprocating it, lips hungry on oscar's, biting and licking everywhere. for a second, oscar can't think about anything, mind filled with just lando, as his tongue slips in and turns the kiss filthy.

oscar hasn't made out with anyone with such ferocity. he's encompassed in scorching heat, and the euphoria just gets better as lando trails his lips down his neck. the bites and licks are inclement, and oscar's sure there'd be marks tomorrow, angry and purple, but right now, he doesn't care. not when lando's hands creep up his shirt, and run up his torso, resting upon his nipples and twirling them around his fingers.

"oh fuck, lando," his moan is so high pitched it sounds foreign and it's almost hard for him to believe that it comes from him. but he's sure it does, because another is forced out as soft hand turns his head to the side and there's another set of lips on his in an instant.

he thinks he could hooked on y/n's kisses, warm, wet and so fucking sensual, he feels worshipped. not an inch of skin is missed by her tongue, and with every drag of her lips against his, he's concluding that this would be the perfect way to die.

oscar's so hard in his jeans from lando's stimulation, y/n's kisses, and the heightened sensation of everything from the weed, that he almost cums in his shorts. he can only imagine how plump it could be, and how a mouth on it would have him sobbing for days.

but he doesn't have to, because lando creeps a hand to his crotch and squeezes. the whine that leaves oscars mouth and into his teammate's girlfriend's is criminal.

"gonna suck you off so good, osc," lando moans in his ear, breath warm and words dirty, "you like that?"

and as oscar begs him to, he thinks that maybe getting high with lando and y/n isn't so bad afterall.

[beesmygod]

Bloodborne question from someone who'll probably never play it because it seem 2 hard and 2 stressful- what *is* the Hunter's Dream? Like a literal dream? Does the non-umbilical cord endings have you like wake up? Is the game's settimg real? I half-remember that one Dan Olson video and I'm confused and you like explaining things so I'm not looking it up so you can have a oppurtunity to give lore out.

hee hee hoo hoo!!! you are who these posts are for!!! i would love to try to explain this to you i truly do love doing this. so my answer is: i have no idea.

the dream is definitely a physical place that exists, even if it exists outside of yharnam's physical reality. items that should exist there can be misplaced in yharnam and returned (like the rune tool or the blood gem tool). hunters who are not blood drunk and have not been severed from the dream by gerhman can come and go as they please using the resurrection magic of bells seen throughout the game. note the bells on the lamp you use to get there.

the doll notes that hunters used to visit the dream in droves during hunts long ago, but now those hunters who did chose to sever themselves before they fell to madness or because the hunt was over (it wasnt) are marked with the gravestones peppered throughout the area. if you choose to sever yourself from the dream at the end of your run, then a new tombstone appears representing you in the new game, so its mutable and not static. the flowers in the garden begin to glow after the reveal of the blood moon, so there is some connection to the main world and its progression; it isnt completely isolated and cut off from yharnam.

i think some people mistake the "yharnam sunrise" ending being like "oh it was all a dream" ending when it's not. you are severed from the dream, dawn is breaking, the hunt is over....but we know it happens again. the moon moves in cycles, the last time it turned red they burned old yharnam to the ground, and this time the entire town lost its mind and body. the situation you are in during the "yharnam sunrise" ending is now you are like djura and eileen: you no longer dream, but the hunt will return. worse than it was before.

interesting side note: gehrman severs you from the dream using his burial blade, which is one of two weapons in the same made from siderite which is "said to have fallen from the heavens". the other weapon is eileen's blades of mercy which she utilizes in her position of the hunter of blood drunk hunters. gerhman's blade cuts you off from the dream and eileen's intention is to kill hunters permanently that pose a threat to others. your access to the dream can be removed by being killed with space rock. weird. neat.

curiously i have no idea where the hunter's dream is located. this is only notable because the other nightmares are completely connected to one another. if you look up from the nightmare frontier you can see the castle in the nightmare of mensis. and vis versa looking down.

this lance macdonald tweet datamined what you see when you look down from the nightmare frontier: ship masts from the orphan of kos fight.

and the hunter's nightmare is stacked on top of itself. you can find parts of it where the ocean above is dripping down into the rest of the map lol. plus the infamous part where a snail lady from the map above falls 3000000 feet and nearly smooshes you.

but the hunter's dream is AWOL and surrounded by weird spires that don't look like ship masts or anything really. it's possible it is at the very tip top.

dreams appear to be born through some process involving an umbilical cord and/or the loss of a great one infant, a host, and the sheer power of obsessive madness. when the great one or the host dies, the dream persists regardless. how odd. very mysterious.

[axewchao]

The Spectacled Spanker, the Laughing Prankster, Your Frustratingly Overpowered Opponent Today, it's Iggy!

Once again we hit Easy Street, as "humanized Iggy in a lab coat" is fairly common, but I decided to abstain from the Mad Scientist theme he's often given. The closest nod to it is his hair, which is almost as unkempt as Wendy's. That's saying a lot since his hair is little more than just a very, very long mohawk. Bet you didn't see the ends of his hair behind his arm, did ya? ;3c

You know the drill by now, it's headcanon time!

Iggy's magic is primarily connected (lol) to electricity. From mild static shocks to jolts strong enough to stop (or start) someone's heart, Iggy's been a walking lighting storm for as long as he can remember. It serves him well, usually when it comes to powering whatever random device he's built in his lab, but also makes for a great background effect during a regularly scheduled Evil Laugh.

In early childhood, this power only seemed to cause problems as he kept accidentally zapping people left and right. Anyone who touched him ran the risk of either a tiny jolt or a skeleton-showing shock. You would think he'd be terrified of this power, but no... He actually found it kinda funny! Everyone would freak out and make wacky poses! Hilarious!! No one else laughed, though...

The only one who could at least tolerate his antics was a red Electro-Koopa, who was attending Woohoo Hooniversity at the time. Unbothered by Iggy's shocks, the two became fast friends as the elder Koopa began to regularly sneak Iggy into the school, kickstarting the latter's love of technology and all things mechanical. At the end of the semester, Iggy followed the Electro-Koopa back to the Koopa Kingdom the moment the offer came up. Iggy had no home to speak of, and this new kingdom was so much cooler than Beanbean! What's that? When his buddy's not at school, he's working at a freakin' CASTLE?? Iggy smells shenanigans~!!

Needless to say, when Bowser realized that all the random power outages in his home were being caused by a green-haired gremlin- I mean child, he would've said that he was surprised... but that would've be a lie. He took Iggy in without much thought as he, Kamek, and Kammy were already trying to reign in other kids' unstable magic, might as well settle this kid down before he actually murders someone, intentionally or otherwise.

As hinted above, Iggy has no prior connections to a family before Bowser. He was an orphan from day one, and doesn't think too much about it. Except on late nights when he's unable to sleep despite being exhausted...

He wears his lab coat constantly, even when he isn't in the middle of any experiments that'd recommend wearing one. It's like picking your favorite hoodie/jacket; the feel of it is juuust right.

Iggy was quick to befriend Lemmy upon the former's arrival, unknowingly setting off alarm bells in Ludwig's head. Fearing that Iggy's magic would hurt his cousin, Ludwig started surveying Iggy under the pretense of "giving the new guy a tour." Iggy saw right through the act (because Kidwig was a shitty actor), but played along regardless. 

Much like the Electro-Koopa did for Iggy, Ludwig soon developed an interest in technology after hearing one too many of Iggy's giddy rants on the subject. By present day, the two Koopalings are Science Buddies with a specialty in constructing airships :3

He loves and adores Chain Chomps with every fiber of his being. All the Chomps in Bowser's Castle were personally trained by him and heed his commands above anyone else's. He's considered starting an obedience school for other Chomp owners in the kingdom as a sort of side job.

Behind his glasses, Iggy is completely blind. He can't see a damn thing unless he zaps someone with his magic, and even then their electrocuted outline only lasts for a few seconds. After Bowser takes him in and he gets access to a lab, Iggy invents special glasses that let him see normally. Aka the ones he's wearing right now.

While he's not particularly insecure about his blindness, he does get understandably upset if his glasses get taken from him, go missing, or fall off.

Nobody in the castle could tell that Iggy was blind until he said so. His "Electrolocation" technique hid it well.

His magic wand was turned into a hair tie for convenience. That being said, he never bothers to retie his hair regularly, so his ponytail (mohawktail? idk) is very loose.

[pioneeroverc-my-5000th-sideblog]

Summary of March:

Bouncing between focus and being completely scattered. Mental health very poor. Managed to take some time to play games without feeling guilty about it, which was good. No scenes again because I still always think of either these big elaborate ideas that are a day+ of actual work (and so don't get done) or just 'sketch of character doing nothing so I can try to get their likeness'. Really need to find out how I can add perspective backgrounds to portraits or something lol

Still reducing workload until I get onto something I can actually complete in a month.

Plan from February:

All monthly/weekly goals for the year ✗ no backgrounds

10x 5 minute What Am I Scared Of sessions (inc photo drawovers) ✓ don't know how much it helped though!

Thumbnail/sketch for K/ylux calendar ✗ might drop out of this

DAB Lesson 7 - redo form intersections ✓

DAB Lesson 7 - 4 vehicles ✓

FEH design ✓

Proko - review notes ✓

Proko - next body part ✗ took notes for this, started doing initial tracing

April plan:

3x 100 comp

5x scared

DAB Lesson 7 - 2 vehicles

Proko - shoulder bones

DrawThis - 2x 2h videos

Rough sketches for all 5 FEH alt ideas

1x background sketch/screencap study (1h timer)

1x simple form studies (1h timer)

Look at how FEH artists handle small details/trims with lineart ✓

notes and improvements from finished stuff:

USE PHOTO REFERENCE FOR EXPRESSIONS and try more open mouths ✗ no expressions this month. fuck, do more hair studies ✗, use photo reference to figure out stylised ¾ eyes ✓ still haven't figured it out though, push unhorizontalness ✓, try to unstiffen poses before doing lineart (separate pass)✗ but this did improve from the unhorizontalness thing

guy: eyes too sunken in OR far side of face/chin sticks out too much, folds on shoulder don't take into account that there actually is a shoulder there, arm is completely straight, pose is pushed a bit too much but I actually don't mind that

m/ichalis: lines REALLY messy (due to rushing to finish for a self-imposed deadline), eyes too flat/centreline of nose doesn't stick out enough, flat jaw area (mouth doesn't imply any curvature to mandible area), ears on rabbit aren't oriented correctly (v hard angle though), collar thickness is different on either side, hair doesn't follow contours of head at side (common problem), pose doesn't make any sense but was the only way I could think of to get the rabbit into frame so I guess I can let it slide, temple area shaded way more 3D than the rest of the face and looks weird

s/eth: nose/mid-face too long, drawing details like trims with lineart looks weird, hands not 3D, sword doesn't quite fit comfortably into hands (copied hand reference too faithfully), wasn't sure how to do top contours for thigh high boots because I didn't know exactly how the slightly raised leg worked or interacted with pelvis, also wasn't sure how to handle material on tunic moving with raised leg

a/yra: back chestplate thing too curved (looks like turtle shell), sword pose impractical, sword blade looks really thick and not sharp at all, tree in background too abstract - doesn't look like tree (holes in foliage make it look like a flat shape stuck onto the trunk), hair looks like it's stuck together, Small Other Eye Syndrome

a/rvis: TOO DARK, shading inconsistent with lightsource (looks like facing him but the background is a rimlight), not fully lineless or lined - lazy, shading on nose really bad because of the light coming from the direction it is, hair doesn't follow contour of shoulders/chest, do like how lost edges were executed though

v/alter: drew leg armour without really knowing how it would fit over the leg (couldn't figure out how to make the cutout not dig into the thigh) and so had no idea how to shade it either, shapes on knee guard inconsistent between sides, silhouette very static/horizontal, arm at his side looks really awkward (I did intentionally want it by his side and not in a more dynamic pose but it looks like he's pushing it down), glow isn't glowy enough, colouring messy (I did clean up the lineart though which is a good step forward)

ACTIONABLES: USE PHOTO REFERENCE FOR EXPRESSIONS and try more open mouths, do more hair studies, use photo reference to figure out stylised ¾ eyes AND NOSE, push unhorizontalness, see how other (FEH) artists handle trims

5MIN SCARED IDEAS: find good hair examples and trace, find ¾ photos and trace eyes/nose, trace torsos for gesture, review/learn leg muscles, trace thigh high boot opening contours from actual photos

[god7072therescue]

Mysme Fluff Week 2020 Day 8/ NSFW

Hey guys! I am back with another Mystic Messenger Fluff Week 2020 submission!! This fic idea came to me over a year ago and is long over due. I hope you guys like it and if you want some more amazing fluff, go check out @mmfluffweek​!!

This fic is just some fluffy smut about V taking some pictures of MC lol this man deserves some fluff in his life haha

If you would like to read more of my works, click here!

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A soft breeze rustled the pale pink curtains in Jihyun’s living room as he stood over the makeshift studio space he created for MC’s photo shoot. He ran a hand through his hair as he inspected the space thoroughly. White sheets covered the expanse of the mahogany hardwood floor, a plethora of various pillows from thrift stores sat on top as MC’s props. Other furniture was pushed to the side, just enough for the landscape outside of the open window to be in full view. A light drizzle from the morning still clung to the wildflowers scattered across the rolling hills behind their home.

A small smile formed on his lips as the image of MC’s hair shining in the afternoon sun came to mind. If he was able to angle her face just right, he would be able to capture her eyes glistening from the sunlight. The light would bring out the underlying layers of color hidden by the typical shadows of daily life, one of the many reasons he wanted to take photos of MC in the afternoon light.

He felt a soft touch on his back, causing his soft smile to grow. MC’s palm flattened against his back for a moment, just a silent sign to let him know she was right behind him. Since moving in together, the two had taken to showing their love in hushed moments. Jihyun and MC embraced the stillness of their new home, reveling in the lack of noise and bustling energy a city lifestyle exudes.

She could feel the vibrations of his voice as he breathed out a low hum in satisfaction. Even though he seemed relaxed enough, she could still feel how tense his muscles were under the light blue button down he was wearing. She slid her hands around his waist and held him in a soft embrace. The thundering beat of his heart reverberated through her mind as she placed her ear against his shoulder blades.

As time progressed, he relaxed into her touch. He brought a hand up to gently place it over hers. No matter what thoughts raced through the constant static of his mind, her soothing touch had always been able to bring complete silence.

After spending a few minutes enjoying each other’s company, the two separated so they could face one another. Jihyun stepped to the side so he could see how the sunlight would look for the photos. Just as he expected, the sunlight against MC’s hair, eyes, and skin were absolutely breathtaking. She was as radiant as an angel.

Jihyun watched her eyes scan the makeshift bedding he made for her. Her eyes looked concerned as she looked up to him, “Are you sure it’s fine to get paint on all of these pillows?

He smiled warmly as he looked down at the pile of miscellaneous pillows, “I am sure. The paint can easily wash off and these pillows are from the thrift store anyway. I am sure they are glad to have a second home for now.”

MC giggled lightly, “Well, as long as the pillows are fine with it.”

Jihyun chuckled along with her before picking up a russet brown leather bag that was placed at the edge of his pallet. He took out bottles of primary color body paint, a few paint brushes, and a small ceramic plate. He knelt down to organize his belongings before he turned his attention back to MC.

MC was facing away from him, her back completely bare. The only clothing she was wearing was a pair of white denim shorts she bought for him to deliberately stain. She was staring out of the window just as she had found him a few minutes ago. Without looking away from the scenery, she began to pull her hair into a messy bun so it would be out of the way while he worked.

Just looking at her back was enough for inspiration to strike regarding what scene he would create on her skin. He would paint the gleaming wildflowers the two walked through almost every day. Green. He would definitely need green. He began to meticulously mix the colors on the ceramic plate while MC laid down on her stomach beside him.

MC’s face was turned to the side so she could peer up at him to watch him work. He was always so tense, especially when he was working diligently. She knew he wanted this shoot to go perfectly purely based on his clenched jaw and furrowed brow. Once he was finished mixing colors for the time being, he looked over to MC. The harsh lines on his face evened out into a smile as he caught her staring up at him.

“Are you ready?” He lifted a paint brush to show her the pastel green paint covering the bristles.

She just nodded in response and turned her head, so it was facing forward comfortably. The first delicate stroke of the paintbrush on her lower back caused a shiver to run down her spine from the new sensation. He worked slowly against her skin, the sensation of the brush against her was causing a wave of anticipation to course through her veins.

Stop that… this is a photo shoot. Not the time for this… She closed her eyes to try and suppress the building arousal in her core. He seemed excited to take these photos when he first explained this idea to her. She remembered him telling her, “It is a day filled with my favorite things. Photography, painting, and you.” Her cheeks turned a dark shade of crimson from the thought of his words.

His steady hands did not cease working until he was done with the landscape he had created across the expanse of her back. As he suspected, splatters of paint coated her white shorts. By the time he was content with the final product, the sun had begun to set, and MC was dozing off on the multitude of pillows. Trying to remain as silent as possible, Jihyun grabbed his camera. He turned off the flash, so he did not wake MC from her slumber. The quality of the pictures would not be professional, but he couldn’t care less. These pictures would be for his sight and his sight only.

Once he had snapped a couple of pictures, he set the camera down so he could wake MC. His hands were feather light against her cheek as he tried to rouse her from her slumber. Her brows furrowed a bit until her eyes opened slowly to see him before her. A lazy smile spread across her lips as she blinked lethargically.

“Did you sleep well, sweetheart?” His tone was soft as he continued to stroke his thumb over the softness of her cheek.

“I slept amazingly.” She propped herself onto her elbows so she could face him, “Are you finished?

“Yes, I am. Are you ready to take pictures or would you like to sleep a while longer?” He noticed her voice was still husky from her afternoon nap.

She looked out of the window to see how far the sun had already lowered. “I am ready now. It would be terrible if we missed the chance at this lighting, huh?” She stood from her laying position and faced the window.

Jihyun grabbed his camera from its place on the floor and he stood as well. He was stunned by the image of her beauty against the afternoon brilliance.

She turned her head to the side so she could catch a glimpse of him, “You will have to tell me how to pose, you know.”

Jihyun cleared his throat and nodded, more to himself than her. “Take your hair down and place the strands over your left shoulder.” He began to adjust the lens as she did as he asked. Once her hair was situated he continued, “Now, turn your head to the right and look at the wall.”

He snapped a few photos then continued to give her directions on how to pose. She followed his directions as best as she could, barely speaking between poses. The air was thick with tension as the two tried to maintain a proper atmosphere for the photoshoot. MC could not stop her cheeks from flaming when she would hear him mutter to himself about her beauty.

“Brilliant,” He whispered as he took a picture of her laying on her stomach, but her head was turned so she could peer up at him with intense eyes. He could feel his desire for her building throughout the entire photoshoot. He had tried to deny his arousal while painting the landscape, but he was failing miserably. MC had always been his temptation since the moment he met her. She was his temptation while also being his saving grace.

“MC, I have an idea.” He set his camera down on the pillows so he could begin to unbutton his shirt. MC raised her eyebrows when she saw this and quickly raised to her knees. Her eyes followed his long fingers as they unbuttoned each individual button, exposing more of his skin the further down he went. The arousal that had begun to die down was now raging through her body once more.  

He slipped the shirt from his broad shoulders and he extended it to her, “Place this on your chest and face away from me.” MC began to stand up to do as she was told but was stopped by a gentle hand on her shoulder, “You can stay on your knees.”

MC felt her walls clench at the suggestion, so she silently turned around on her knees. Her body felt warm with arousal even though the sun had almost set and there was a slight breeze coming through the window.

Jihyun clenched his jaw at the sight of her gripping his shirt against her. The longer the session went on, the sultrier her eyes had gotten towards him. He could feel the front of his pants tighten against his girth.

“Turn your head to the right like before MC,” He swallowed thickly, “Close your eyes.” Her eyes slid closed at his command, slightly opening her mouth in the process. Jihyun snapped the photograph and exhaled shakily. “Perfect, MC, I think we are done.”

She lowered her arms to her sides, still holding his shirt in her hands. She turned to face him with the same alluring gaze she had worn for almost the entire session. She saw his eyes widen as he took in her appearance for what seemed like the first time. She knew that was not the case, the two had been intimate many times before but they never grew tired of the experience. He always appreciated her body like it was his one and only masterpiece; as did she.

She walked towards him slowly, dropping his shirt to the floor in the process. She could see the tension in his muscles as he stared down at her, it looked as if he was struggling with the anticipation just as much as she was. Once she was in front of him, she grabbed his hand gently to lead it to the base of her neck. The roughness of dry paint on his fingers caused a shudder to run through her body.

“Jihyun… I want you to ruin me…” Her voice came out as a strained plea to him. Her face was flushed with desire as she stared up at him with hooded eyes. That was all it took for Jihyun to succumb to temptation.

He gripped her hair in his hand as he pulled her against him in a tight embrace. He leaned his head down so he could envelop her lips in an ardent kiss. She let out a moan at the sensation of his passionate lips on hers.  Pressing her thighs together for relief, she could feel his thick member twitch against her stomach. They had shared many kisses before, but when the two were barely managing their love for the other, the kisses felt different. The kind and tentative Jihyun she had grown to love became a man who needed to express his love through carnal devotion.

Jihyun broke the kiss so he could place open mouth kisses along her jaw, down her neck, finally placing a gentle nibble on the base of her neck. He could feel her trembling in his tight embrace. I want you to feel as euphoric as I do, MC… Sucking gently, he wrapped his arms around the small of her back to press her as close as he could against him. The feeling of her breasts against his chest was intoxicating.

Out of desperation, MC buried one of her hands in Jihyun’s hair and used the other to cover her mouth. This was only the beginning and she was already beginning to feel overwhelmed by the feeling of his touch.

A gasp left her lips when he leaned his head back to look deeply into her eyes, “Please don’t quiet yourself. I love the sounds you make when you are like this.” Without breaking eye contact, he trailed feather light fingertips from the small of her back to her breast. He squeezed her nipple between his forefinger and thumb, eliciting an even louder moan from her plump lips.

Bending down a little, he placed his forehead on her shoulder. He could feel the heat of her skin seeping into him. His hands slithered down the length of her body, leaving a trail of goosebumps on MC’s skin. Trembling against him, MC gripped his hair tightly in her fist when she felt his large hands grip the supple skin of her thighs. He lifted her up with ease and laid her on the cushions, admiring the look of her beneath him while doing so.

A sense of pride swelled within him. It brought him great joy when he was able to see MC in the state she was in now. Her skin was flushed with titillation while her body trembled from even the slightest touch from him. Being able to fill her body with ecstasy was as addicting as her presence. He wanted to help her experience the overwhelming love he held for her every moment of every day. This was one of the best ways he knew how.

After he was done admiring MC, he made quick work of unbuttoning her shorts and sliding them down the length of her legs. Once he slid the shorts and underwear off, he tossed them aside. His turquoise eyes were focused on her dripping core, causing his length to strain against his now too tight jeans.

A confused look crossed MC’s face when she felt his hand wrap around her ankle but she quickly realized what he intended to do when he lifted her leg to place it on his shoulder. If she thought the room was warm before, the atmosphere was scorching now. The vulnerable position she was in made her want to cover her face from him, to shield her view from seeing the intent gaze he directed towards her soaked entrance.

“Perfect… You’re perfect.” Jihyun said this as he placed a light kiss against her ankle to show his adoration for her.

A lump formed in MC’s throat from the sudden declaration. How did he not see she felt the exact same way for him? She could see how perfect he was the first time she had met him. The first time she had messaged him even. She had been drawn to him like a hopeless moth to a flame. No matter the circumstances, he had always made her feel safe. Even when he was still broken from what life had thrown at him, he made her feel loved.

She closed her eyes to try and stop the tears from falling down her heated cheeks. Now was not the moment to be crying, if anything, she should be the one pampering him. Before she could compose herself, she felt him place her leg back onto the cushions. Two warm hands cupped her face and stroked the stray tears now fervently streaming down her cheeks.

“My love, what’s wrong?” Jihyun asked, concerned by the sudden change. Was it something he said? Did I do anything to make her uncomfortable?

“I’m sorry, Jihyun,” Her voice was thick with emotion as she opened her eyes to stare up at him, “I just … I love you so much. I don’t think I express it enough to you, but I really, really love you with every ounce of my being.”

Jihyun’s concern morphed into understanding as he watched the woman he loved more than life itself crying because she didn’t think her love shined for him enough. If only she knew how her love radiated from her with every glance she gave him and every delicate touch they shared. The tears streaming down her face caused his own emotions to rise within his chest. He took her hands in his so he could lead them to lightly touch his face. This way, she would be able to feel his own tears against her fingertips.

MC automatically began to stroke his cheeks with her thumbs as he said, “MC, you show me your love from the moment you wake until the moment you sleep. No, you even show your love in your sleep because you will call out my name in your dreams.” He breathed in a ragged breath before continuing, “You do not realize how your love saves me from my thoughts, my insecurities, my self-loathing… Your love made me realize I am worth more than how useful I am to others. Please… Please do not think for a second you are not enough because I think I am the one undeserving of you.”

“I thank whatever higher power there is for giving me the gift of your presence by my side, MC. I love you so much, I always pray we are together for all eternity because I do not think I could bear parting from you.”

Jihyun’s words stumbled from his mouth as he tried to show MC how intense his love was for her, but in doing so he began to lose his composure. The composure he always tried to keep when around MC began to crumble as the dam keeping his emotions suppressed withered away. She had seen him at his worst. She saw him when he was tattered, abused, and unable to properly love her. She waited for him. How could she ever think she did not show her love for him enough?

He was about to continue but he was silenced by the feeling of MC’s lips on his own. His wide eyes stared unblinking at her for a moment before sliding closed. The feeling of her lips against his was able to calm the roaring tide of his emotions stirring within himself. She understood what he was trying to say, she always did.

“Make love to me,” She murmured against his lips. She leaned her forehead against his as she said this, “Just as I will make love to you.”

Responding with words was unnecessary; he answered her by urgently placing his lips on hers once again. The fervent kiss between the two became desperate as MC reached down to fumble with the button of his jeans. She refused to break the kiss as she did so and smiled against his lips when she felt the jeans loosen in her grasp. With the button and zipper out of the way, she shoved his pants down just enough for her to grip his pulsing member.

Jihyun groaned into her mouth, shock waves of pleasure shooting through his veins. He was using both of his hands to keep his body weight from crushing her, or else he would have been using his deft fingers to delve deep into her essence. The kiss grew hungrier as Jihyun’s tongue darted into MC’s mouth, enjoying the feeling of his tongue against hers.

Jihyun was about to break the kiss so he could leave a trail of kisses down MC’s body. He desperately wanted to taste MC, but he was stopped by MC pulling on a handful of his hair to keep him pressed against her.

“I need you in me now, Jihyun.” How could he refuse such a request? He had always loved when MC was greedy with him. It made him feel loved. Needed.

Jihyun placed his hand over MC’s as he led his length to her inner folds. She writhed beneath him as she felt the tip of his cock flick over her clit a few times before being positioned in front of her entrance. His eyes never left her face as he slowly pushed himself into her, letting her grow accustomed to his large size before moving once again. A shudder ran through his body as her walls tightened around his girth.

“I love being inside of you, MC.” His voice was strained from ecstasy as he watched her arch her back from the sensations of being filled to the brim.

Her legs wrapped around his waist to pull him further into her, eliciting a hitched groan from her lips. One of her hands gripped a pillow tightly while the other was still tangled in his turquoise locks. Jihyun grunted when he felt MC’s muscles constrict around him, prompting him to begin his slow, steady rhythm.

His hands felt the dry paint on her back flaking off onto the pillows below her as he slid them underneath her to pull her body against his. His fingers dug into her skin as he felt his grip on his self-control slipping from his grasp. Sporadic pants and the sound of their bodies coming together were the only sounds heard in the now dimly lit living room.

The moonlight streaming through the window illuminated MC’s frame as Jihyun mercilessly thrusted into her drenched core. Jihyun repeated MC’s name as a mantra while he worshiped her body under the moon and stars. He slid one of his hands from the small of her back so he could reach in between their entwined bodies to circle her clit.

A startled cry ripped through her as she began to feel her walls begin to tighten even more around him, “Faster, Jihyun, faster!”

Jihyun began to plunge into her faster, more unsteady since he could already feel that he was on the edge as well. The feeling of her scorched him, making him wish she could brand her touch into his skin. His eyes flickered between her face twisted in pleasure and her breast which were bobbing up and down with every thrust he made. He wished he had more than two hands so he could pleasure her more.

“I’m so close, Jihyun, I’m so close!” She gasped out as she felt her legs trembling from the buildup of her impending orgasm.

“Come for me, MC. You look so gorgeous when you orgasm,” Jihyun grunted into her ear, her sweet cries fueling his desire even more.

MC’s nails dug into his skin as her body quivered against him, her orgasm wracking through her body. Fuck! She was so fucking wet and tight around him, he didn’t know how much longer he would last. His thrusts became sporadic as he felt her coming down from her high, already so close to his own climax.

MC could see how close he was by the labored expression on his face, so she leaned her head forward and bit the crevice of his neck gently. That was enough to push him over the edge. He called out her name as he came into her, continuing to pump into her a few times before coming to a stop.

Both of their breathing was still heavy as they stared into each other’s eyes, relishing the feeling of each other. After a few moments, Jihyun carefully slid out of her and laid on his side beside her on their makeshift palette. MC snuggled up to his side and kissed his shoulder before resting her head against it, just now registering how sweaty they were.

“I love you, Jihyun.”

“I love you, too, MC.”

The two laid in each other’s arms for the rest of the evening, enjoying each other’s presence and the comfortable silence they had grown to adore.

[beakybirdsong]

Sigh okay it's Pokemon News Drop Day so I'm gonna make a quick appearance for initial thoughts. But uhhh they're not great lmao

So if you don't like debbie downers probably don't read this lol

Because I got a bit...edgy

But like...I actually *hate* that we're getting 3 different games and none of them look remotely...good, all for different reasons.

The D/P remakes, from what we've seen so far, just don't excite me in any way. My opinion could change going forward but for right now it looks like it might as well be a remastered port, which is...not really what I've come to expect from Pokemon remakes, even as someone who's generally become a huge pessimist over the years lmao. HGSS added Pokemon following, the Pokathalon, a customizable Safari Zone, team photos, polished bits of existing storyline (like awakening the legendaries or disguising yourself as a rocket), and I think even the Battle Frontier iirc. We got much less in ORAS, but the story was admittedly still polished up good from what it was, including a little post game romp where we could catch Deoxys, the DexNav, which was super fun to play around with, and additionally Mirage Islands, a bunch of minimaps in the region that changed every day, which you essentially could collect from others by playing online or using Streetpass and accessing BuzzNav. It was also the first game to let us really hunt a hoard of legendaries, some of which were hidden in really cool updated areas (lookin at you Sea Mauville).

My point of all this I guess is that if you're going to give us a trailer for DP remakes can you not make it look like...samey and bland lol?? I'm not saying there WONT be any new content, but I am saying that if there isn't then it just...is not gonna be worth the money that a Switch game costs. Especially after Swsh left such a bad taste in my mouth. Like H O N E S T L Y I'd probably be being a lot nicer right now if Swsh was like...a good game lmao but that shit still has bugs and even after two full DLC drops there's nothing to DO (outside of being a crazy person like me and hunting shiny legends in Dynamax Adventures).

NOT TO MENTION HOLY SHIT, the longer time goes on the less forgivable it gets that these characters are sooooo fucking static!!!! The whole *thud* thing worked fine back in the DS era because it was....yknow, the DS era, but it just looks so stupid over a decade later. You can't add any more movement than that?? Barry's static pose in battle is also just completely devoid of personality. I'd honestly be fine with the chibi style if they did something interesting with it. Which is my point ig. Please please pleeeaaassseeee do something interesting with these remakes. Give me a reason not to just play on an emulator, or hell. Dig out an old copy and play on the 3DS, which still supports DS games lmao.

Okay phew ANYWAY.

Idk if it's because I'm coming down off of that hot mess but Pokemon Legends is actually...kind of interesting in concept. Like it takes place in the past, neat. And it's """"open-world,"""" okay neat. And the starter options are remixed, neat (I have a lot of thoughts on that actually and they aren't bad but this isn't the time or place). And they clearly told the tree-renderers to get their fucking act together, but like...that's a good segue into the problem I'm having with it which is that it still just looks empty. And boring?? And I think what I'm getting hung up on is that part of my brain is like ooh cool but there's a much bigger part of my brain that's like "OK but WHY"

It's just so frustrating as a longtime Pokemon fan to look at these two games which are both set in Sinnoh and only seeing wasted potential. Why aren't we getting one really good Sinnoh game that could happen with a little more time and less spread-thin resources? One looks bad because it's static and underwhelming port of an otherwise big beautiful labyrinthine region and the other looks bad because it looks good in places but is otherwise is an empty looking world in the way that the Wild Area was. We could have all the good stuff in one package but why would they do that when they can double up on profits by shipping out two mediocre games?

Speaking of, the nastiest taste in my mouth by far was the fact that we're getting three new games at all. Other parts of first-party Nintendo are making a point to ask for understanding and delay releases because of the pandemic and it seems like Pokemon just isn't letting up. What kind of conditions and crunch are these developers working under while also dealing with the handicap of doing it all remotely?? Do they get to sleep and eat like Jesus fucking Christ. I know there's a studio name I don't recognize helping with the DP remakes but STILL. It's not worth it! It's not worth it! Make a better game later!!! Stop beating your own franchise and the people who make it half to death!! Getting even one new mainline Pokemon game a year is unrealistic and unsustainable and it needs to stop fucking yesterday!! Hell, I would cry tears of joy if we went a year with no new Pokemon news at all! That's how ugly this feels.

In an attempt not to end on a sour note I guess, Snap looks good enough to get. I'm curious to see how many courses there are, but the characters look endearing enough, and by nature of being an on-rails game the world feels alive because it's not an unrealistic ask to make it feel that way (they did it just fine on the N64, even with the technical limitations of the time). I would much prefer mainline Pokemon games veer away from this "open-world" direction they're going in and just focus on making their little segmented areas tighter and more immersive in terms of aesthetic and exploration and maybe like one or two static encounter mons with a bit of personality. But I'm getting carried back into the Mainline Game Bad Thoughts Zone and I don't wanna be there. So. Idk check out that Venusaur doing a cannonball! Instant serotonin. Hoping there will be some fun pokemon interactions you can apple into happening like Surfing Pikachu or the Jigglypuff concert. Snap looks fun. I like fun. This is fun. This is fine!!!!!!!

[peachymess]

hi! your art is fantastic! i was wondering - how long does it take for you to finish an art work?

Thank you! ^^

And it varies greatly. Speed is my biggest obstacle when it comes to art. I could lie and say I doodle out stuff in an hour – or I could call half bad drawings I spent hours on, a “doodle”. Sometimes I think I do – but for me, “doodle” is more about how seriously I took the job. If I throw down lines and squiggles and do some line-arting on top without really caring about the details, that’s a doodle to me, even if I then proceed to spend hours on correcting lines, getting the colors right, and trying out different filters for every experimental shadow.

Over all, I spend a lot of time on drawing, and I mean a lot. But I’m getting better! They say you’ve gotta make 50 bad pieces for every good one (simplified, but you get the gist), so you’re best served not spending days on every piece. What I’ve found helps, is to not get overly invested in every piece. It’s a little sad, because you gotta have your heart in the art, right? Yeah. But that heart should be in your love for the craft and your enjoyment in performing it; not in one specific piece and its need to be perfect. Sure, some pieces are special, but if you can’t distinguish between your magnum opus and just your average drawing, every single drawing will feel equally important to you, and that will slow you down from the sheer weight of it. 

Pro tip I wish someone would have told me a long time ago: nobody looks as closely at your drawings as you do (talking about the general public; loving friends might).

In other words, painfully slaving over details you find only when you zoom in,… ant nobody gonna tell the difference. Unless you’re insanely good and got 50K on insta, aint nobody gonna zoom in on all your work and look for the easter eggs you put in there (@me, lol). Learn what’s important to spend time on, and what can be left alone. If I had been given back all the time I’ve wasted on details that nobody even sees… I could have made a lot more art lol. 

Learn what matters – like general proportions, interesting expression, big things that people could pick out from a distance. And story! Oh boy, don’t get me started on story! Unless you’re really good, people usually won’t be impressed with just a head shot with no story. Armin smiling generically into the void in ¾ view, no background? 

“Cool. But I’ve seen a million generic Armins like it. Why should I be invested in this one in particular?” 

Say something with your art, make me feel or think something. Because with so many good artists out there, it’s hard to get ahead on just the aesthetics alone. Make a joke. Show something mid-action (like someone slipping on a banana peel; instantly more engaging than a static pose that tells no story).  

Why am I being so harsh? It all ties back to speed… Once you realize that your pieces, generally, aren’t that big of a deal, you can hopefully put aside some of that anxiety over it having to be perfect. It doesn’t have to be, and the details you spend an extra two days on will rarely matter to anyone but yourself (which is ok, I just want you to be aware. If you’re very proud of something, maybe point it out to invite people to pay attention to it. But otherwise, they probably won’t look at your drawing for that long before deciding to reblog or move on). If you enjoy making those details, please go ahead! Art should be about what YOU like to do, at the end of the day. But if your speed ties into your perceived self-worth, like it does with me,… well, I got a lot faster once I realized that nobody really cares all that strongly. (Though, I’m in no way discrediting all the support and love I receive, guys, thank you – truly. I’m talking in the grand scheme of things. Art is a lot more personal to the artist, than to the random scroller-by). 

How many of you would stop being my friend or suddenly dislike me just because I draw Armin with a wonky nose and disproportionate arms sometimes? Yeah, no, if I put out an unfortunate piece, so what? (Hell, if I can tell a funny joke with it, you might even enjoy it all the same!) Once I learned to understand that every piece is not a blaring spotlight on me where all eyes will be on me and my mistakes, I got faster. 

… and with that insanely long prologue, here’s how much time I generally spend:

The first art I started (in 2016), took over a year to finish. 

Though, in the meantime, I think I put out a “doodle”. I call it a doodle because I intentionally simplified the anatomy so it would be easier to make – but this one still took me four months to finish! 

(The above images took me a year, and 4 months respectively). 

In other words, in 2016, my average was MONTHS – on just one drawing! Keep in mind, I quit art for ten years before this, just from how much anxiety is gave me over my self worth (if I made one bad line, it meant I was worthless). 

In 2017, I think my average was weeks. I had to take breaks between sessions a lot just to cope with the building anxiety. I look at the finished products now and I think “look how few steps this needed. With how much time I spent, I must have averaged one single brush stroke an hour”. And it’s probably about right. Although, I did manage to finish one drawing in a single day, and I remember being really proud of that!

(Above, the first one is an example of stuff I’d tinker with for weeks, while the second one is the one I completed in a day due to it being his birthday and the pressure was on to get it done)

In 2018, I think my average was 2 or 3 days. I put out more smaller pieces, stuff that doesn’t need to be as elaborate. At my peak, I think I could do two of those meme-things per day. Looking back, though, I can see a clear difference between time spent on “doodles” and time spent on projects I put my heart into. I spent days on the eremin week entries, for example. This was the year I started to learn to tier my projects.

(The above shows an art I admittedly spent over a week on, much thanks to the needless details in the bottles, while the second is one of two pieces I completed during one day)  

In 2019, I don’t think I shortened down my average a lot, but looking through my gallery now, I see that I started doing more elaborate pieces. So… if I spend as long as before, but get bigger and better content out of it, that’s improvement too! 

(Above you’ll see an art that probably took me a couple of days - 4 or 5 maybe? - and the second once which took me an hour I think? A good example of how much better i’ve gotten at tiering projects and not being afraid of making sloppy art just for the fun of it). 

So far in 2020, I’ve only drawn for Armin week, and I spent an evening to a day on each one of them. After finishing one, I’d uploading it to my drafts, then lie in bed and scrutinize it, zooming in, looking and looking. Then the next morning, I’d get up and spend an average of an hour fixing/editing them because I was getting increasingly displeased with them. So I think on average… god honest truth, even if I’m a little self-conscious about it, I think I spend an average of 8 - 18 sitting hours on anything. This includes the revisions.  

(Above you’ll see the entry I spent the most time on first - I’m guessing probably 12 sitting hours - and the one I spent the least time on - I’m guessing 5 hours)

I love drawing, but it’s very hard for me. I’ve used drawing as my main source of personal self-improvement for the last couple of years - for many reasons; it has a lot of lessons to teach me. It’s not always fun, and it’s rarely easy. But.. uh. It’a been worth it? I don’t know what your art journey is, but I hope this gave you some help, inspiration or comfort. Good luck and draw with heart, not fear. 

[fleetingfigures]

|| 2020: A Retrospective ||

With the year coming to a close soon, thank god, I thought it’d be cool to take a look back and see what’s transpired in FFXIV as well as this blog! Anyone also reading this, I invite to do the same, if you have time of course. It’s always nice to close out the year thinking of the positives. Though, without further ado let’s goooo~

Blog-Related

- Actually, well, started using this thing! Met a lot of cool peeps and had the chance to actually break out into the world RP thanks to it.

- Almost hit 100 followers, just 5 shy! 

- Top 10 Posts of the Year!

1). Promise Me You’ll... 116 notes - Aug 19 2020 

First and only post I’ve had reach 100 notes! Mighty proud of the posing I pulled off for this, and who knows, I might make a sequel in due time. WoL!AU’s are still very much my weakness. And G’raha. He’s a weakness of mine too, if it wasn’t readily apparent already.

2). LFRP - Saerno Glista (Balmung/Crystal DC)  75 notes - Jan 28 2020. 

Ah... My old LFRP. I even updated it, but I feel the need to change it again, especially given the fact I’m Giving my Carrd a complete overhaul. Might do the same to this blog too lmao. New Year new me as they say, but in actuality a lot has occurred for a certain catboy and things must be adjusted.

3). I Was Busy Thinking ‘Bout Boys  70 notes - Dec 5 2020

I was surprised this even got the attention it did lol. Seems NPC-related content is my most popular stuff. Also I am highly disappointed no one could recognize Arnott from the HW anima weapon quests. Y-yea he’s a very minor NPC, but I think he’s a cutie.

4). Black Mage is a Fun Class 51 notes - May 6 2020

The first of my fun class series! Originally wasn’t supposed to be a series at all, but I decided that every class in the game deserved some love! Also can I just say how much I love staves? Oh and the pagos bandana. It fits oddly well Sae imo.

5). Eden’s Promise Eternity 46 notes - Dec 18 2020

One of my more recent posts, and one not all too involved in the posing. Though, like I said in the post, the MOMENT I saw that arena, I fell in love with its lighting. OST is also a banger. Glad that people enjoyed random glamour shots with Gshade improving the already good lighting.

6). A Guide to Arcanima 42 notes - Sep 28 2020

The post I put the most time into... Photoshopping became so tedious at some points, but it was well worth it! I’m proud of the result and the opportunity to share some of my views upon the RP-flexibility of Arcanima.

7). Random Shower Thought 32 notes - Feb 9 2020

...I genuinely do not remember making this post.

8). Astrologian is a Fun Class 31 notes - Nov 30 2020

My old healing main, but still without a doubt the most beautiful class in the game. I wish Tumblr didn’t restrict gif sizes, but I understand the need for people’s devices to not implode when loading resources. So much grain could be reduced and more detail could be added, but alas. The screenshot at the end is still my favorite screenshot of Sae I’ve taken, even if it’s not IC.

9). Crystarium Coat of Scouting 29 notes - Mar 20 2020

And I still stand by my statements today. Since last tier is a patch behind us now, I could spare some augments to finally dye the coat. And, like a basic bitch, I’ve made Saerno’s ninja Rogue glamour jet black as far as the eye can see; all leather, of course. What is a rogue really without their leather?

10). 26 notes - Nov 16 2020

One of my first gifsets next to my Ninja ones! It Showcases the wonderful land of La Noscea, Sae’s only true home, and highlights some of his personal favorite areas! Hence why Limsa is barely pictured. He likes the city, but growing up in the country makes one appreciate the more natural side of La Noscea.

(Created by TumblrTop10)

In-Game

- Levelled all classes to 80! Though it does feel a bit hollow not being able to get xp for doing stuff now...

- Started Raiding... Well, seriously. I used to be a scrub and only do e1,e5 and e6 savage in PF, but a friend’s static needed a healer and they all but convinced me I was good enough to join. It’s been a hell of a ride, I’ll finally be going into e12s soon, but my experiences thus far have been awesome to say the least. I feel like I’m actually getting the most out of this game now that I both savage raid and take the time to RP.

- FINALLY GOT A HOUSE ON BALMUNG. 

God was the release of the new wards hella stressful. Stayed up all night, logged on the second I could, booted up next to the ferryman. Didn’t get my ideal plot, but got the neighboring one. I finally got to house something with more than 100 slots, and for that, I am eternally thankful.

- Finished those goddamn Shared Fates. And all so I could get a piece of music and possibly make a few million gil selling other SHB area themes. Crystarium night theme is the GOAT and you cannot tell me otherwise.

Roleplay

- Actually RP’ed outside of my circle of friends! Now I haven’t had the time recently to seriously go back to it like I once did, but the things I’ve learned and the people I’ve met... I wouldn’t trade it for the world. With this upcoming new year, and me taking a small break from Uni, I think I’ll begin in earnest again! First I’ve gotta update all these damn sites first to better reflect where Saerno is now.

- New Plotlines realized, old ones closed up. It’s cathartic and oh so satisfying, in a way, to see your OC go through legitimate change and to have them put a cap upon a phase of their life, slowly moving on to the next. While Saerno is still as brash as ever, he’s begun to realize just how fragile his life is. To slow down, to sit back, rest, to think about the direction his life is headed, that is the essence of his new arc.

- Secrets to uncover. To keep things brief and without many spoiler, Saerno has made the transition from Arcanist to Summoner, but with it comes its own host of problems, ones that Saerno has to grapple lest things take a turn for the worse.

- Potential Alts. Well, now that I have money again... I may actually follow through on one of the many alt ideas I’ve had, some tangentially tied to Saerno’s own story, others completely unrelated. A tailor with an unrequited love that’s inspired him throughout his hardships? Perhaps the prodigal daughter of a family whose cunning nature only fuels her desire of pure freedom? Or maybe the son of Doman liberators, trying desperately to gain the approval and praise of others so that his parents’ name do not die out completely. So many choices... 

And, well, that’s all! So far while 2020 has been quite terrible, at least I have these moments to look back upon fondly. Thanks to any and all of your who have been here this year, and here’s to hoping for a wonderful 2021! 

[clasassist]

Hey, this probably has a rlly obvious answer and I’m just dumb but do you think there’s any reason that a lot of the art looks the same (regarding Greek gods/heroes)? Like just kind of the same nose, similar eyes and face shapes, and very similar bodies? Like - was it an art style back then, were the most famous Greek myth paintings done by the same or closely related artists, or did Greek people generally have some of those features? It’s always just kind of been interesting to me idk lol

Disclaimer: I'm not very familiar with ancient Greek art, especially potteries. I know a few terminologies and a couple of random facts but that's it. (Also this not a dumb question, it's actually interesting)

Anyway: was it because of the art style back the? Definitely, yes. At least as far as potteries were concerned, every artist seem to have had very similar art styles, especially with the poses that look...kinda static...like there is no touch of fluidity. But there are differences between art style of each artist, and there are around 2,800 ancient Greek artists identified based on those differences/ specific details they put in their works - like the type of dress they painted (for example, take Apollo - some artists draw him in almost completely naked and some make him wear extremely fancy clothings that cover his body), jeweleries (one artist drew Hera with simple diadem, the other with a fancy diadem with embedded stones) and such other personal preferences of the artist. The physical appearances also changed depending on the region. Like Athenian Artemis wears a plain hunter dress while Thracian Artemis wears a fancy robe, and often has a hat on her head.

Do the Greek heroes/Gods have similar features because they had some of those features? Well no, not all the features. Artists often depict the ideal beauty standards while drawing heroes and especially the gods. This might also be the reason why everyone seems to have almost same face, eyes etc (also because maybe 50% were descended from Zeus) So whatever the physical traits you're seeing is the ideal version, which may not always be the real one. Because not all Greek men had perfectly fit abs and small penis (which was considered ideal. It was a proof that the guy was not horny and thus in control of his emotions.) But there are features that are based on the actual traits of the Greeks which were common. Like the long curly hair, long beard, certain accessories like wreaths, diadems etc.

That's all I have to say. I think people like @apeollo and @alatismeni-theitsa can definitely offer more insight on this topic.

[ladyintheattic]

look......... i swear i’m writing stuff that isn’t chargestep. but like.... they’re so easy to write my dudes. also as it turns out i’m not good at writing kiss scenes so like, there isn’t much of that sadly lol

_______________ ship: chargestep (m!ortega x f!sides) words: 1,559 tags: f!sidestep, pre-heartbreak, post-psycopathor battle, smug asshole behavior tw: none ————————–

“You know it’s fine if you can’t fix it, right?”

“Shut it.”

“Look, it’s old, its mangled, it’s broken Beck. We’ll just get a new one.”

You huff, wiping the sweat mixed with dirt off your brow. Yeah, the circuitry is pretty fucked, but you’ve fixed worse than this, and Ortega’s lack of faith in your abilities is starting to piss you off. Everything’s been pissing you off recently, ever since that damn Psychopathor battle a few weeks ago. Maybe because of his mind canon? The rat-brains had made you pretty itchy.

Or maybe it was the fact that Ortega had kissed you. Kissed you, and hasn’t said a damn word about it since.

To be fair, neither have you, but since when was it your job to bring up stuff like that? And since when did he not? Forgetting about is it probably for the best, nothing can ever really happen between the two of you anyway, and kissing alone was a misstep on both of your parts. You know all this, but none the less you feel a new twinge of annoyance in your gut every time the both of you speak as though nothing had happened.

“You know the Rangers can afford a new car, right?”

“I’m aware,” you narrow your eyes at him over your shoulder. You’re more than a little knowledgeable about their funding, and where exactly all that money comes from. Hopefully, you know far more than Ortega does. Very hopefully. “I’m just not about to be outsmarted by a damn computer.”

“Says lady Walkman. ” he smiles, smug as ever.

“There’s nothing wrong with cassette-tapes.” Truthfully you just aren’t comfortable with a digital music-player on your person, not with what you know about tech. It would take nothing at all for some Prime Directive member to hack and track your phone, or anyone else’s in Los Diablos for that matter. Not that you could explain that to him.

“Ha. Hipster.”

You don’t reply, just glare back down at your new electric foe. The car itself is pretty beat up after the battle, but the only thing keeping it from starting up is the mangled mass of wires poking out of the dashboard, mocking you. Hooked up by a long power chord, it’ll play music and blink blue and orange if you hit it, but heaven forbid it let you turn the key without it making alarm noises at you. Whoever first started hooking up car functions to computers was an asshole.

You sense him open the opposite door and begin to fiddle with the radio, flipping station to station as you untangle more of the wires. You know he’s trying to irritate you, and hoo boy is it working. You grit your teeth, focusing so hard on the wires your vision starts to blur.

Flip. ♪-est Virginiaaaaa! Blue ridge mou-♪ Flip. ♪-since you looked at me, cocked your head to the side and said I-♪ Flip. ♪-awty got low low low-♪ Flip. ♪-squeezed by sexy cupid, guess he wants to play, wants to play, a love ga-♪

You can’t help it, you tear your eyes from the mess too glare at him. He grins back, dark curls draping in front of his brown eyes as he cocks his head at you. Of course. “Charge, if you push that button one more fucking time I swear I-”

Flip. ♪-ing all my breath, making love to you was never second best...♪

“Oohh here’s a good one.” To your continued annoyance and dawning horror, Ortega hops out of the passenger side and begins to half-walk, half-dance around the front of the vehicle, smile still plastered on his face. “Pretty sure this came out in my birth year.”

An unsettled, warm feeling begins to settle in your stomach, different from the tightness of annoyance from before. You’re not sure if which is worse.“Figures,” you manage a cruel smirk as he makes his way to the mangled door to the driver’s side, “This is the ‘Oldies’ channel after all.”

A mildly vexed smile settles on his features as he comes to a stop in front of you. It’s a small victory, getting under his skin, but you know you’ll have to take what you can get at a time like this. He’s impossible to talk to when he’s like this, looking so confident and wicked and much, much younger than you know he is.

“Everything’s an ‘Oldie’ these days Beck... and you,” he reaches out, taking your left hand off the dashboard. “Look like you could use a break.”

You don’t pull your hand away, but you do pull your face into an agitated frown, your face warming despite yourself. “What do you think you’re doing?” As if you don’t know.

“Come on, it’s been a long day, you’re frazzled and I’m bored.” Ortega tugs at your hand, lurching you forward slightly as you set your jaw and press yourself harder into the seat. Resolute. He’s not winning this one. Not without a fight. “Dance with me.”

“Why?”

“Why not?”

Asshole. “You tell me.” Your voice is more serious than you mean; probably because you’re tired, defeated, and covered in grime, but even more likely because you’re recognizing the look in his eyes. Half lidded and too brave for his own good. The same look before he kissed you.

“Beck?” His brow pinches together in a confused frown as he leans into the doorway, and you have to fight the instinct to lean back. Or, worse, lean forward. “Are you actually mad at me?

You feel your eyes narrow, but say nothing. You’re not even sure you’re breathing. You’ve never been like this, not ever, not with anyone, and the very last person on earth you should be like this with is the marshal of the Los Diablos Rangers. How did this even happen? How could you let him kiss you like that? You can blame him all you like for attempting it, but you weren’t so injured that you couldn’t have put you hand up; stopped him.

And you certainly didn’t have to kiss him back.

“If you can’t dance, you can just say so.”

You blink stupidly up at him. Did you hear that right? You couldn’t have. “I...what?”

“It’s fine if you can’t,” he’s smiling again, smugger than you’ve ever seem him. His hand leaves yours only to land on his hip, posing to look as self-satisfied as possible, “It’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

“I... I’m not-!” How does he do that? Get you to play his stupid games, let alone switch the rules up on you mid play? You curse his static brained mind as you pull yourself out of the seat to get in his stupid handsome face. “I could dance circles around you if I so chose, Ricardo Ortega. Don’t try and change the damn subject!”

♪...there's nothing you and I won't do...♪

“Prove it.”

♪...I'll stop the world and melt with you...♪

You aren’t thinking anymore. If you were, you wouldn’t be grabbing his hand and pulling him away from the car, a light spin in your movements you haven’t done in years, not since the Farm. Back then it had been training: you’d needed to be able to fit in with the right people, rub elbows with people your handlers wanted you to. Now, your using it for yourself. For this game the two of you are playing.

“Whoa,” he’s surprised, but catches himself before he trips. His free hand curls around your lower-back as his feet catch up with yours with relative ease. The man is a practiced dancer. “Someone’s wound up.”

“Shut up.” You can’t help it, your heart is hammering so hard in your chest you’re a little concerned you might get a bit faint if you don’t watch your breathing. He’s drawn you close, your chest pressing up against his warm body, skinsuits feeling too thin yet too restricting at the same time. Dangerous.

♪...the future's open wide

the future's open wide...♪

His face is too close, his bronze skin marred only by the settled dust of the previous battle. Eyes too dark. Hair too unruly and mussed. Breathing too careful, syncing up with your own. He spins you, your practiced movements coming back to you as though you’ve done nothing but dance your whole life.

♪...there's nothing you and I won't do...♪

“I was serious you know,” his voice, thick and deep, drops several octaves. “You have no idea how long I'd wanted to kiss you.”

♪...I'll stop the world...♪

His mouth is on yours before you can reply. Sudden, brazen, like before. You want to be angry, furious with him for playing with you like this, but for some reason you can’t work up that particular feeling. Another, foreign emotion is overwhelming you, numbing you to everything but the feeling of lips and stubble and fingers trailing up your spine.

Experienced. Careful. Wanting.

♪...and melt with yo-♪

Lightning bolt. Electricity rockets down your body, and you can feel yourself jump, almost into his arms, as you hear the car’s radio fizzle out, the electric motor blaring to life in it’s place. Your eyes and lips finally free from his, you now notice that his right leg is standing on the chord you had hooked up to the vehicle at the beginning of your chore.

What the hell?.. did he just...fix it?

“Well,” his breath is stuttered, yet somehow still smug against your ear. “Guess it wasn’t completely broken after all.”

[nadziejastar]

Did you finish reading that KH3: A Conclusion without a story article? If so, what did you think of it?

I loved reading it. It was a fantastic take on KH3. There was pretty much nothing that I disagreed with.

By the time you leave Olympus, Sora hasn’t learnt how to restore his powers; and the frustrating part is that he never explicitly does.

I completely agreed with this. Sora’s journey in KH3 should have been about learning the power of waking. But even in the scene where he finally does learn it, there’s no real reason why. He didn’t seem to learn anything on his journey.

Even the villains are given no progress – a subplot about Pete and Maleficent looking for a mysterious black box goes nowhere, and Organisation XIII (the primary antagonists) only put in a brief appearance, spouting their usual brand of vaguely ominous dialogue. To compound these issues, the protagonists are ultimately left not knowing where to go or what to do next. Only two hours into the game, and the plot has no sense of momentum or direction.  

Yep. The black box thing annoyed me so much. The Organization was also a huge letdown. We don’t get to learn the real reason why Marluxia, Larxene, Demyx, and Luxord joined until KH4!? Something went very, VERY wrong in the Dark Seeker Saga for that to happen. 

By comparison, Kingdom Hearts II’s opening was significantly slower paced – to the point that it was a detriment to some players. However, so much more was achieved in a similar space of time; II’s initial hours establish the game’s tone and major themes, as well as introduce a large cast of brand new characters (while simultaneously reintroducing old ones in new contexts).

Yep. I liked KH2′s opening, slow as it was. The prologue of KH2 felt like it had more plot than almost all of KH3.

And this is one of the core problems with Kingdom Hearts III; even if you look past a threadbare narrative for Sora and company while they adventure through the self-contained Disney worlds, there is nothing going on outside of that either. In Kingdom Hearts II, both Riku and Mickey were operating behind the scenes, aiding Sora from the shadows and setting key events in motion. In III, however, these same characters spend most of their time expositing plot points and passively waiting for the big battle at the end of the game – and that can be said for almost all of our heroes.

I also agree. This problem would have been mitigated if every character got their own time to shine using the power of waking. Riku and Mickey could have had a subplot together, showing how Riku got his new Keyblade. They should have saved each other from the darkness. 

If there’s a job to do, it’s up to Sora to do it. With a couple of key exceptions, every character apart from Sora, Donald, and Goofy is presented as almost comically useless – yet our protagonist remains the butt of every joke.

Yep. Everyone other than Sora was useless. Aqua needed to save Ven, but all she did was get knocked out in the battle with Vanitas. Ven needed to save Terra, but he didn’t really do anything. Sora did all the work. Lea needed to save Isa, but he did nothing in his fight. He got shoved to the side while Roxas and Xion took over. Kairi saving Sora should have gotten more focus. 

The villains reveal that the only way Sora can release Roxas is by giving into the darkness, and sacrificing his own heart. Self-sacrifice is nothing new for Sora (he did the same thing in Kingdom Hearts I to save his love interest Kairi), but this had the potential to be an interesting plot point, as it gives him a selfless reason to be tempted by, and potentially give into, the darkness. But it’s never brought up again. 

Yep. Early scenes in KH3 make it seem like the game did originally have an actual plot at one point. Xigbar was luring Sora into a trap, so he’d fall to darkness. But it’s never brought up again, LOL. It’s crazy.

In fact, ‘saving Roxas’ is scarcely discussed until the end of the game (King Mickey telling Sora to “let the rest of us worry about Roxas and Naminé for now”, essentially dropping the subject after only the second Disney world). Ultimately, Roxas’ heart just leaves Sora’s body of its own volition in the final act, making the player’s time here, once again, feel largely pointless.  

And yes, saving Roxas was handled very badly. This is because, IMO, saving Roxas and saving Ventus was supposed to be one and the same. There shouldn’t have been a separate “saving Roxas” subplot.

In interviews, Nomura discussed the struggle of dealing with so many characters – even citing the cast size as one of the main reasons that Final Fantasy cameos were omitted[2]. The real problem, though, is that nothing is done to mitigate this challenge.

Yes, exactly. And treating Roxas and Ventus as separate characters only exacerbated this problem.

Upon leaving Twilight Town, the player finally begins their true journey – travelling to various worlds based on Disney properties and beating back the forces of darkness. But there’s no real set up for this; no distinct reason *why* we’re visiting these worlds. 

Mm-hm. I think the issue was that we were supposed to learn more about Ansem the Wise’s data in KH0.5. That was supposed to give Sora a quest in KH3: search for the “Key to Return Hearts”. Once that game got cancelled, Nomura had no idea how to write KH3′s story any longer.

So around 3-4 hours into Kingdom Hearts III, the story still lacks a clear sense of direction and purpose, and hasn’t yet established any clear themes or deeper meaning.

Yeah, it’s sad because there was an underlying theme in the Disney worlds: the power of love and its ability to restore what was lost.

Kingdom Hearts III cleverly tries to frame its story through the lens of a chess match between two Keyblade Masters, Eraqus and Xehanort, when they were young. The game even opens on this scene, highlighting its importance. But chess has rules; logic; a clear sense of direction. Kingdom Hearts III’s narrative is akin to two people who don’t know how to play chess. They understand that they have to defeat their opponent’s king, but the rules of how to move their pieces, how to actually reach that coveted checkmate, are completely unknown to them. The characters in this game feel like pieces on a chess board with no rules; aimlessly moving back and forth across a limited space, until both players finally decide enough is enough and agree to bring their match to an end.

LOL. Yep. The fact that Xehanort had “reserve members” showed he had no idea what he was doing.

Stick to your guns – don’t be afraid to explore a good idea, or to develop the plot outside of your main protagonist. When so many previously proactive characters are in play, the story shouldn’t feel so static, or entirely dependent on the protagonist’s actions. The way your protagonist reacts to events and changing circumstances is just as important as the ones they play an active role in creating.

That’s why I liked the spin-offs. KH3 suffered from forcing you into only Sora’s perspective. Even Nomura said that the Keyblade Graveyard should have had everyone fighting their own battles.

Simply put, the Disney worlds in Kingdom Hearts III have no tangible impact on the game’s core narrative.

Sad, but true.

“In the end, although I had a hand in it as well, the flow of the dialogue and the stories of each world were largely handled by the level design team.” While I very much appreciate this standpoint of ‘gameplay first’, as well as the act of involving multiple teams in the execution of the story, these statements do prove my point. Set-pieces and events are one thing, but if there was a specific story to tell – with outlined themes to be explored, character conflicts to evolve, and goals to be achieved; all developed evenly throughout the entire game (Disney worlds included) - you would imagine the scenario would be built around balancing those narrative elements with the individual tales of each level.

Very interesting. The story in the Disney worlds was largely decided by the level design team? Wow.

Despite major villains such as Young Xehanort, Vanitas, and Marluxia making multiple appearances in their respective worlds, they generally just spout off trite exposition and then either disappear or summon a boss fight. Some villains don’t even know why they’re there, while others introduce plot points (such as the Black Box or the new Princesses of Heart) that are never utilised or expanded upon. As the game features at least thirteen main antagonists, these early appearances should have been integral in establishing their personalities, motivations, and the threat they pose to the player (as well as our heroes). In execution, though, they seem like little more than after-thoughts that offer hints of personality, but never go beyond the superficial – and certainly contribute nothing to the main narrative. This, I believe, is because Kingdom Hearts III doesn’t have a story to tell, but was instead content with treading water until its grand conclusion.

Yep. I had no idea why Marluxia, Larxene, and Luxord were running around in the worlds. Why are they back? Other characters, like Saix, were given flimsy “motivation”. All in all, the organization members were supposed to be vessels by the time you fight them in the KG. Hollowed out containers for Xehanort’s heart. Victims of mind control who you are supposed to have pity for. But they never felt like it.

Kingdom Hearts III’s meandering and vapid progression during ‘the Disney loop’ supports my argument that the game lacks a complete narrative and was merely concerned with reaching its final act. I believe this is most evident by the way in which the player is made to jump from world to world without any direction or purpose. Consequently, the majority of Kingdom Hearts III feels content to aimlessly ‘go through the motions’, setting a repetitive, humdrum pace and ultimately lacking the sense of narrative depth and genuine value that is integral to a great RPG.  

Yeah, I believe there was–at one point–an actual plot for KH3. But after BBSV2 was cancelled, a huge portion of KH3′s plot was pretty much scrapped along with it and rewritten.

Everyone’s heard of the three-act structure; a model that forms the foundation of popular culture’s favourite stories. Act 1 features the setup and exposition; an ‘inciting incident’ to get the narrative moving. Act 2 is the confrontation; a midpoint which challenges the protagonist, pushing them to their limits. And finally, Act 3 is the resolution; concluding the plot, along with any character arcs introduced in the previous acts. While this structure doesn’t necessarily need to be adhered to, I believe it possesses something that Kingdom Hearts III sorely lacked – a midpoint.

Yep. KH3 had no mid-point. Scala ad Caelum could have worked as the mid-point. And it could have been another hub world like Radiant Garden. KH3 probably originally had this, but it was scrapped.

This is especially a shame, as Aqua’s fall into darkness – resulting in a twisted form that externalises all of her loneliest thoughts – is one of the most dramatically compelling aspects of the game. And that’s despite lasting for all of 10 minutes (a decade of solitude and suffering are seemingly erased by a few whacks from Sora’s Keyblade).

This is true for all of the characters that needed to be saved. Nobody really used the power of waking on anyone. It’s was just whack, whack, okay you’re saved.

And this is ultimately the problem with the lack of a true Act 2 – the characters aren’t explored or challenged when they need to be. The narrative refuses to escalate until its final act, at which point it feels like going from zero to sixty in a matter of moments. But during the heat of battle – at such a late stage, and with so many heroes and villains in play (more than twenty) – it’s hard to develop your characters in a way that feels natural. Kingdom Hearts III’s solution is bizarre soliloquies that are completely disconnected from the events around them. Is Sora in the middle of a boss fight with three villains? Well, the other two will disappear while you spend several minutes casually chatting with the third. And while this is partly due to the challenge of giving such a large cast an appropriate send-off, it’s also a direct consequence of the lack of time given to exploring characters and their relationships in the previous 20-25 hours of playtime.

So true. So many characters who had so much development over the series. That’s why they needed another game before KH3. It was probably too much to ask for KH3 to be the epic conclusion as well as dive into everyone’s backstory.

On that note, having some sort of hub – a place, like Traverse Town or Hollow Bastion in the first two Kingdom Hearts games, that the player regularly returns to – can be an effective way to centre your story. It provides a home base, and a recurring cast of characters that can be revisited at any time. This kind of location helps players to feel a deeper and more personal attachment to your world.

Yeah, the game would have been so much better if you could visit RG and interact with the plot-important NPCs.

Put in Kingdom Hearts terms, we might say that the body and soul are here; it’s just missing its heart.

I’ve had the exact same thought.

This essay began with the assertion that Kingdom Hearts III is a conclusion in search of a story; a game without a tale of its own to tell. So far, we’ve examined the material impact; the effect this has on the game’s pacing, its sense of player progression, engagement, and character development. So in this topic, I want to consider the conceptual side of things; the motivations that drive our heroes and villains, the purpose of the events that take place, and finally the meaning intended to be conveyed by the story. Put simply, does the narrative of Kingdom Hearts III have something to say?

Sadly, no. I can tell it was supposed to, though. KH3′s story was supposed to be about the power of love. It was really that simple.

By the time of Kingdom Hearts III, Riku has overcome all of these challenges and been granted the title of Keyblade Master, so it was important to present him as a more mature, capable character, having regained his confidence and developed a clear identity. But ultimately, he just feels bland and stoic in this game. He has no new narrative arc, relatively few interactions with Sora, predominantly serves as a mouthpiece for exposition, and is more devoid of a distinct personality than ever. And for a game which serves as a conclusion to the story so far, it’s essential that our core group of characters, such as Riku and Kairi, reach a satisfying crescendo. The narrative should organically involve them in significant ways, and the challenges they face should provide natural opportunities for growth and exploration.

Sad, since Riku seemed like he did originally have a narrative arc. He got a new Keyblade! But the way he got it was laughably random and meaningless and contributed nothing to his overall growth or development.

As much as I’ve tried to understand it, I cannot summarise Master Xehanort’s motivation in that same, concise way. His initial speech in Kingdom Hearts III implies idle curiosity; he speculates that “If ruin brings about creation, what, then, would another Keyblade War bring?” followed by statements that he wants to re-enact the conflict and simply see what happens. He also wonders if they will “…be found worthy of the precious light the legend speaks of”, implying that his goal is to test humanity; or at least the current generation of Keyblade wielders. But that’s a pretty flimsy motivation, and it’s lacking any context or logic.

Yep. Xehanort was supposed to have another game to explore his motivations. When you get rid of that, his character just doesn’t work anymore.

And it’s not just the heroes that have this problem. During their death scenes, several of the Organisation’s members (Luxord, Marluxia, Larxene, Xigbar, Xion, Saix, and Ansem) either encourage Sora or imply that they didn’t care about the outcome; or didn’t even want to battle in the first place. Some have their reasons, but if even one of them had chosen not to fight, Xehanort’s re-enactment could have failed. Much like I described earlier, it doesn’t feel satisfying to overcome a foe who didn’t want to fight, and a war with the potential to destroy the universe should be motivated by much more powerful convictions.

I don’t disagree. But I honestly think this is because none of these characters actually wanted to fight in the Keyblade War. They were supposed to be possessed puppets. Mind-controlled vessels with no will of their own. 

Let’s use Saix as an example. What makes a more engaging battle? In canon, Saix had flimsy motivations to be fighting, anyways. He wanted to atone so he was acting as a double agent in order to procure some Replicas. And he wanted look for Subject X. That’s why he joined Xehanort. That’s all the reason he had to fight. 

Compare that to a potential backstory with him as a vessel, lacking free will. Isa was a human test subject who was possessed as a teen. His best friend Lea has to fight him unwillingly. Saix is berserk and nearly kills Lea without even being aware of it. But all Lea wants is to save his best friend. I know which one I find more engaging. 

Ever since that first game, I’ve been trying to identify what it is that unified these two styles of storytelling – the Disney fairytale with the SquareSoft RPG. And in writing this essay, I finally realised; the secret ingredient, the unifying thread that both franchises had in common, was love. Romance is at the core of almost every classic Disney film, and every Final Fantasy from IV to X was in some way a love story. Seemingly the developers of the original Kingdom Hearts realised this too.

I’m pretty neutral about the Sora/Kairi romance. I mainly wanted Kairi to not feel like a damsel-in-distress yet again. And KH3 definitely screwed that up.

In a way, my problem was the same as that of Kingdom Hearts III’s story. We both spent so much time looking to the horizon, imagining what the future may hold, that we missed out on what was already right in front of us. I will always love and support this series, and its creativity and charm will no doubt continue to inspire my own stories for the rest of my life. But despite not being the conclusion I hoped for, Kingdom Hearts III has freed me from my own obsession with the series’ future. I no longer feel like I’m waiting for something that may never come. Of course, I hope the series gets its story back on track, and rises to new heights greater than ever before! But it turns out that I already got my ending in 2006; and now that I’ve finally realised that, I can finally, honestly say that, as a Kingdom Hearts fan, I am satisfied.

It’s sad that KH2’s ending felt more satisfying. Because KH3 should have been even better than KH2′s ending. KH2 had a happy ending. But in KH3, everyone was there on the beach. Terra, Aqua, and Ven were saved. In KH2, Axel was dead. He had a sad ending. But in KH3, he was human again and even had his childhood best friend back, too. Even Hayner, Pence, and Olette were there. Sora should have been there, too. By all accounts, I should have liked KH3′s ending the best out of any game. But they ruined it with the horrible character development and the cheap cliffhanger.

[0poole]

Star VS the Forces of Evil

You rarely get a show that you’ve followed all throughout its lifespan. I don’t remember if I watched the first episode the day it aired, but I definitely joined soon after. Stuff like with Wander over Yonder or My Little Pony I basically joined after the first season/first few seasons and followed it as it ended/is currently ending. With Star at least, I even got to watch the show end, as opposed to it just being cancelled, like with WoY. You always want more episodes, but take a look at shows like South Park or The Simpsons and you soon realize it’s better to get out while the getting’s good... 

But, it’s weird, though. All the problems I’ve had with the later part of the series are pretty much the same problems I have with most anime... One of the big things I noticed was that the animation got a little more static as time went on. Like, too often the characters felt like they were just standing around flapping their mouths with no distinct pose or expressions beyond their mouth shape, basically only doing that Flinstones thing where their heads bob up and down slightly as they talk. Obviously the fights and more actiony bits weren’t like that, and I’m probably blowing up the problem because of a few measly scenes, but I’ve never liked that.

The bigger thing was that they kinda mixed the humor with the serious bits too much towards the end... I mean, that’s pretty self explanatory. It’s kinda made worse by how most of the humor is the “lol xd so random!!1!!!1!” kind. Obviously it’s a kid’s show and whatnot, but still... Steven Universe... Gravity Falls... I’m just sayin...

But Oh my God I re-watched the first episode after the last one, and it seriously reminded me why I love the show so much. It’s so jumpy and cute. I swear, that little habit of Star’s where she chews on her wand is actually the cutest thing ever, and it’s definitely one of the many things that made me fall in love with her character in the first place. She’s just so giddy and fun! Not to mention that the budget for the animation of that episode is through the roof. Obviously, it’d be killer to have the entire show animated like that. Also, with it’s followup episode introducing Ponyhead, a character I’ve grown to despise (I mean, you either love her or you hate her), I was actually thrown back by how absolutely adorable her whinny-filled laughter was while she was running away from the St. Olga’s guards. I don’t remember if she ever made that same noise later in the show, but damn...

I also re-watched the Mewberty episode, which, for all intensive purposes, is my favorite episode. First of all, it’s the token Puberty episode of a cartoon, which are widely known to be the absolute worst, made to be fucking crazy. Seriously. Obviously Marco’s first reaction is the usual Earthen awkwardness you’d just expect from anyone in a cartoon, but that’s soon overcome by Star’s reaction of actual fear. And, it’s completely reasonable. I love when happy-go-lucky shows suddenly pull a left turn and edge into horror/seriousness. Plus, I love insectoid designs, and the fact that Star’s weird String Shot power is like a weirdly flakey heart-shaped goop. It’s super creepy, especially considering Star’s the main character. You just don’t do that with the main character. Plus, in a similar vein, the casual, throwaway line of “Do you think it can stop my parents from fighting?” from some random background character. I distinctly remember bursting out laughing when that line was first uttered, just by how much it caught me off guard. 

Another case like that was in the latter half of the series, where Janna and Star popped into Marco’s bathroom while he was only in a towel, and right before they left him be, Janna just straight up slapped his ass. It was crazy, because you’d expect a cartoon to play it off like “Oh haha, there was a bug on your butt!” or something, but no. She literally just slapped his ass. Was it a prank? Was it in affection? If so, that’s a pretty sexual concept to lay on 14 year old characters in a kid’s show. I don’t even know, dude. Janna is a fucking wild card. Nefcy’s a fucking wild card. Apparently the original idea was to have Star actually just be a delusional kid who thought she had magic? That could’ve gotten dark if it carried on. Imagine St. Olga’s as being a psych ward...

But I have to gush about Kelly for a bit. During the Goblin Dogs episode, I was kinda just watching out of allegiance for the show, and not because I actually though the episode was going to be good. It was genuinely boring, and that was probably intentional. And oh, who’s this random bush character tagging along with them? Oh, she’s silent too. That’s pretty random, a standard for this show I guess. When’s the episode going to end again?

Then she pulled back her hair and BOOM. My heart fucking exploded. SHE’S SO CUTE. How could one character be so pure, and yet turn out to be a genuine warrior as you learn more about her? I actually love her armored design, too. This is just another cartoon with great character designs. Eclipsa is amazing too, how she can seem extremely evil at first and later look pretty much exactly the same later but still be made out as a good person.

Basically, the show’s hella cute and fun and go and watch it if you haven’t already.

[davidhuzyk]

SURVIVOR 41 SEASON PREMIERE THOUGHTS

Here are my thoughts on the opening episode of the new season. Nothing I’m about to say is revolutionary, it seems like all these opinions have already been shared before, but I wanted to wait a few days to think on everything as well as talk to some family/friends before putting my final thoughts down. Overall it was pretty polarizing, lots to both love and hate:

PROS

Diverse cast: I don’t think there’s a dud among the whole cast, and the diversity allows for more dynamic chemistry and a lot of different stories to be told

Candid shots of production: I like that they are letting us in to that world. Previously in moments like the medical disaster in S32 Kaoh Rong they showed production, and it made a great impact as a viewer. I don’t find it breaks immersion, in fact the opposite. The average audience member nowadays is much more knowledgeable & initiative than back in 2000, when a show trusts its viewer in this way I think it helps them become more invested in the show, understanding the ins & outs of how it’s functioning

Editing/storytelling style: there was a lot of great moments playing with the edit this episode that previous seasons tended to stray away from. I enjoyed the edit showing/giving us as a viewer information the contestants don’t have yet, like hidden advantage locations. I also enjoyed how they presented the Prisoner’s Dilemma, leaving it a mystery until tribal council whether or not Xander & JD chose to risk or protect their vote. It’s nice that in yet another way production is trusting us as a viewer with more (or less) info

Fourth Wall Breaking: this is both a pro and a con for me (con to follow). I enjoyed the moments Jeff spoke to us as a viewer, explaining new rules or changes to the game. This reminded me of S1, and I think was a great way to help any new fans coming in to the show. Only new changes were discussed, and it was kept relatively brief, so even for super fans it didn’t feel bloated or like a time sink

Subtitles at tribal: while I have more to say on live tribals, I do at least appreciate this time having full subtitles for all conversations taking place. While contestants may want to obscure info from other players, us as viewers should never be left in the dark, so I appreciate this effort being taken this season

Penalties for losing challenges: I enjoy this twist, as it seems to carry the spirit of the game. This is Survivor, it should be about having to get by on less, not more. I always found it odd that there were “reward” challenges. There are two ways to give a team an advantage, you can boost them up with a prize, or you can penalize the opposition, and I’m happy to see this element come more into play. Similar ideas had been done before in previous seasons when a contestant would get to raid the opposing tribes camp for one or two items (ie. Sandra in S7 Pearl Islands) and that always seemed to make for great television

Footage from Home: I enjoyed the return of footage from back home like in the earlier seasons. It helps us connect and become more invested in the contestants, and I assume they will go away after the first episode or two, so long term they don’t seem to pose a problem

Shot in the Dark: this twist is just weak enough to be balanced. In essence I don’t see this really changing or impacting the game in any significant way, but it does at least maintain a glimmer of hope for each contestant so as a viewer you’ll never be bored. Should someone pull this off I think they are deserving of the free immunity for having read the situation properly, and would make for great television. Some may say this could make for an unfair moment with a separate contestant “wrongfully” going home, but that’s always been the case since hidden immunity idols were introduced. At least this way every contestant is aware of the confirmed, tangible (albeit slim) threat and not just the idea they “could potentially” have an idol

CONS

Cinematography: it seemed off, very different than last seasons. The confessionals all looked fine, but you certainly noticed it during camp life and challenges. There were no night shots used, a lot more static camera shots, and the slow motion during challenges was just overblown. There was maybe one good slow motion shot of Xander grabbing his buff and jumping in the water, every other one felt forced (Brad bellyflopping? Brad chopping bamboo? Naseer huffing & puffing a sandbag a couple feet?)

Shorter game length: an easy one to criticize, and I understand the reason why it’s only 26 days, but the condensing of the game seems to already have an odd ripple effect that I worry will make for a disjointed end game

Two Tribes Going to Tribal: this is most likely related to the 26 day time crunch, but if this is the standard this season it makes me worry how strong of a narrative we will get for each tribal. This premiere episode wasn’t too bad, but it was a 2hr premiere, regular 1hr episodes will surely have a hard time balancing every contestants narrative in that amount of time

Still Live Tribals: I know some people like these as they are exciting, but come on, this is chaos! In the early days Jeff would yell at contestants for trying to get up out of their seat. Jeff needs to maintain control again. Tribal is like a courtroom, Jeff is your judge and there is literally a jury, you wouldn’t see the defendant in a courtroom standing up, running around, whispering to others… there must be order!

Fourth Wall Breaking Moments: as mentioned above I enjoyed when Jeff explained new game dynamics to us as viewers, but when he would interrupt a conversation with the tribes to turn to the camera I just felt cringe. The worst was “alright, first tribal council”. It was so easy to leave that on the cutting room floor, the editors should have known better on that one especially

The Prisoners Dilemma: in concept this maybe wasn’t a bad idea, but the execution was horrible. Analyzing the setup, to me it only makes strategic sense TO risk your vote. The first problem is that a regular prisoners dilemma does not occur within a game, so normally you’re probably not as invested about the outcome of the other prisoners, only your own. But here because it’s a game it does make strategic sense to hinder your opponents. So risk your vote, because you either get an extra vote, or you’ve stolen two votes from opposing contestants for your one. Also looking at this specific situation, all three contestants who went on the boat were debatably the strongest physical player on their tribe, so it would make sense for each individual to want to weaken those other players and increase their risk of going home, in turn weakening their overall tribe. If they could trust their tribe than returning without a vote is not the worst thing, if they can properly articulate the situation and work it to their advantage (Xander was a great example of this, JD showed us the opposite lol). Overall it feels like a pretty flawed twist and needs reworking

No Shelter Building Focus: not a huge con, but I did miss the focus on shelter building. Through the conversation & act of shelter building we as a viewer usually get to see who is a leader, who might be confrontational, who is a team player, etc. But more so we’re reminded of the actual survival element of the show, which production seems to be putting less focus on

No Intro: not the first season to do away with the intro sequence but I would have liked to see it return

Production Challenge Errors: some of the recent staffing changes with CBS must have been on the Challenge Production team because there were some glaring problems with that first challenge. Firstly, Yase’s yellow oar completely blended in to the yellow rope, they had a distinct disadvantage. I know some people will say if they couldn’t notice the other two tribes grabbing their oar from that location it’s their fault, but that’s a crappy excuse, it should be completely level & fair entering a challenge. Also what was with the double anchors on the boats? Perhaps it was left on the cutting room floor but I don’t recall Jeff mentioning prior to the challenge beginning that the boats had two anchors. Now I’m certainly no expert when it comes to nautical knowledge but as far as my life experience I‘be only ever seen or heard one anchor being referenced on use in a boat. Clearly all of the Luvu tribe thought the same as they only unhooked their front anchor. Jeff however later in the challenge yells to the Ua tribe and reminds them to unhook both anchors. Luvu was further away having had a lead so they very likely couldn’t hear Jeff when he said that. It’s like Ua was given an extra advantage. It also was unclear what the objective with the boat was, I was surprised to all of a sudden see Ua paddling in the opposite direction back towards the ship. Production should have had them race in a circle instead of a straight “there and back”

Game Within the Game: I’m sorry, this is the lamest addition they’ve ever added. Really? A standard rebus puzzle? They don’t take up enough time/focus during an episode to actually have any impact, and the puzzles themselves have so far been extremely simple. Jeff says this is “for the kids”, but any child young enough to find that puzzle challenging certainly doesn’t have the attention span to sit through an entire episode and find the puzzle in the first place. For any adult wanting to play this game as well the answer will be online within minutes of it airing… what’s the point? Pure fluff that has nothing to do with the game

Within Episode Flashback: I certainly hope this doesn’t become a habit, but during JD’s confessional when he talks about building fire they actually flashback to him just minutes ago having built the fire. Seriously!? We literally just saw it, why waste screen time showing it again? That was a poor call from some editor and I hope this doesn’t become a storytelling pattern

And finally, the “Guys” debate: so much has already been said on this. Personal feelings aside from the use of the phrase, this is a discussion that should have been had off camera, and came off feeling way to pandering. Jeff literally says at the beginning of the episode “we are all going through what’s most likely the biggest world incident we will ever experience”, but yet we spend more screen time talking about the word “guys” than the pandemic and all the emotional trauma that may have caused? I know Survivor likes to be sensitive, but this was not the way to go about it. It doesn’t ruin the show for me, it’s just a phrase I know I can “survive” without it, but I hope this isn’t the first step in many changes like this down the line. I’m all for being inclusive, but the method in which the show decides to go about change can actually alienate their existing fan base, so I hope they make better decisions on how to implement change moving forward

[adurnah]

REPORT: Aqours 2nd Live HAPPY PARTY TRAIN TOUR in NAGOYA - Day 1

(Disclaimer: this report will not be a serious and professional one because I just can’t contain the fangirling; also I may and probably will be biased towards Aikyan and Shuka I’m sorry- Also I’m sorry but I can’t really understand Japanese so I don’t know a lot of the things they said and what the Intermission PV was about, but maybe I will be able to update it later Last, there will probably be a lot of mistakes since I’m writing this on my phone (since I’m going back home to Italy only after Comiket next week)

Sorry this took me a lot of time! So, on Saturday I’ve been to the first day of Aqours 2nd Live Tour in Nagoya and I wanted to write a report of it for curious people and also for me to remember it better :)

My seat was on the last floor, but we were really close to the stage and the arena is rather small compared to Yokohama Arena (to which I’ve also been) so it was a really good seat. The stage was on two floors, connected with two stairs at the sides and the usual three monitors behind. Above there was the lit-up Aqours logo that changed with the singer’s colour and had all of them flashing when they were singing together. All around the stage there were neon lines that resembled railways; altogether the scenography was amazing. There was also a squared stage in the rear part of the arena, but with no aisle to connect it with the main stage.

The live started perfectly in time, as always with the introduction video. This time it didn’t really have any new animation of the girls, it was just the Happy Party Train from the PV soaring though the sky at an incredible speed and passing through Nagoya Station, and it also had the introductions of the characters.

Just after that the music from HPT started and the upper stage literally split in two and A WHOLE TRAIN CAME FORWARD. THE TRAIN FROM THE PV. WTF. And all of them were in front of it in their HPT outfits! I loved them, they were really accurate and had a central vertical area in sparkling blue fabric (you probably already saw them at this point from the seiyuu’s twitter), and altogether they were really beautiful. I have to say I like the design more than before now that I’ve seen the live version. At this point, even if this wasn’t the first time I attended a live, I’ve started crying for just how happy I was to see them in person again. The performance of HPT was amazing, Suwawa has improved a lot since First Live, her solos were really good and her high notes were amazing. All of the other girls solos where super good too, I am so impressed by their huge improvement. During the closing MC Rikyako said that she sang Yoshiko’s lyrics instead of hers and I’m so ashamed to say I didn’t noticed lol how did I missed it?? (I was probably still crying lol) Then in the last part, as everyone expected, the costumes lit up like in the PV! They were amazing. At this point they were only yellow and static, but in Shoujo Ijou later they also changed colour.

After HPT they went on right away with Pops Heart. Nothing to say here, since it’s a song that’s already been performed.

Then they did their introductions. Unfortunately I can’t tell you a lot of what they said because I can’t understand a lot of Japanese, but basically it was all the same as always. One particular thing that happened was that during Suwawa’s introduction, the lateral monitors showed the second years and Anchan and Shukashuu talking and laughing by themselves (anshuka cough—) and then at the Hagu shiyo part Suwawa LITERALLY RAN TOWARDS AINYA TO HUG HER and then Shuka made a face like “ah she didn’t hug me today” BUT THEN BOTH ANCHAN AND ARISHA HUGGED HER IT WAS SO CUTE- Also Suwawa admitted that her voice is not good and she isn’t the best at singing but then Anchan encouraged her by saying that the HPTT wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for her and Kanan-chan and everyone cheered for her. Then after the introductions they made a little skit to remember people to drink, basically Arisha faked a collapse saying that she was thirsty and was sweating so she needed to drink and then something like offering us to drink her sweat (this may be wrong I’m sorry). They also showed their outfits by turning around, this time guided by Suwawa who brought out a whistle and made them turn by whistling it.

After this skit they went on with the next song, Shoujo Ijou no Koi ga Shitai! As I said before this time the costumes lit up but each one in their respective image colour, and they were also flashing from time to time, it was amazing! The performance was really good (yeah I will be repetitive about this, I won’t stress it enough they were incredibly good I can’t even believe they improved so much in such a short time) and the choreograpy was really cute, I remember Aikyan and Shuka turning around arm in arm for their duet. This song also had CG on the main screen, with hearts floating at the sides.

During the final chorus the second years disappeared from the stage, and in fact right after Shoujo Ijou there was Sora mo Kokoro mo Hareru Kara. The girls were sitting on a bench on the higher floor of the stage, and had cute white outfits with details in blue and their image color (this fanart by Nanotsuki catches them perfectly). The monitor right behind them showed a sky in different moments of the day (morning, sunset, night). Their singing in this song was really amazing, probably their best performance in the live, all of them shined a lot in their respective solos PLUS SHUKA MADE ONE OF HER GLORIOUS SOLO DANCE DURING THE INSTRUMENTAL PART AND IT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL I CRIED HOW CAN SHE BE REAL

When the song ended the first years arrived right away in the stage for Waku Waku Week. Their outfits were… well… a patchwork of colours and patterns… I can’t say I liked them a lot. But their performance was super cute and funny! I’ve always thought that Waku Waku was a perfect song for the comedians of Aqours (the first years seiyuu) and I wasn’t wrong, they seemed like they were having a lot of fun just singing and dancing together! Something that bothered me, at the end of the song I expected people to do the “giran”, “zura” and “pigi” instead of the usual “uh-uh” (the words even appeared on the monitors) but everyone just did that again, I was a bit surprised. (Well I’m still a bit disappointed that no one does the yousoroad during KoiAqua but whatever lol)

After them it was the third years’ turn and OH MY GOD THE OUTFITS. THE OUTFITS. I was wondering if they would actually have ballroom gowns and I wasn’t disappointed (this fanart is one of the most faithful), the dresses were absolutely gorgeous, in fine fabrics like beautiful organza, satin, tulle… I was speechless. I think that with all of those gorgeous fabrics they were probably the most expensive outfits of the live, they went all out with them. Also, the dresses were sleeveless… can you imagine Arisha in a sleeveless red gown? I can tell you, no you can’t. It’s beyond imagination. I can’t believe I witnessed a beauty like that. And it wasn’t all! Toward the end of the song the other six girls came back with black dresses with short tulle skirts, they were all amazing! And they danced (waltz?) in turn together with the third years, first Aiai with Arisha, Shuka with Ainya and Aikyan with Suwawa, then Anchan with Arisha and… I’m really sorry I didn’t see who King and Rikyako danced with. The other girls also gave a kiss on the hand of the third years while dancing, like they were the “men” of the dancing couple. It was a really nice touch that I didn’t expected (also those black dresses were asdfghjkl. Yeah.)

After a short MC when they talked about the dresses and the songs, they went away and an intermission PV started. No clue what it was about, sorry, looked like they were talking about Nagoya history.

And after that my favorite part of the live started. First of all was KoiAqua and WITH THE ORIGINAL OUTFITS!! I WAS SO HAPPY!!! I was super sad that during First Live they didn’t have them, and I expected that this time they either left the song out completely or do it with the original outfits and I wasn’t disappointed!! They were gorgeous too, really faithful and the colours were amazing, like when they were all lined up the beautiful colours of their outifts really stood up. Also, I was absolutely shocked by the fact that the outfit was actually split in two parts (top and bottom) and YES IT SHOWED THEIR MIDRIFFS. Like. Wow. Just a little bit, not like in the anime, but at one point Shuka was waving while she was on the monitors and I literally saw half of her midriff I died omfgsdfghjkl ANYWAY—  I was so happy to be able to listen to KoiAqua live again! Shuka improved a lot too and her solo was really good, I loved it.

Then they did an MC right away, talking about the song and the outfit. This time to do the turnaround, Aikyan said something like “daten!” with her datenshi pose and at first only Shuka turned and they were like “eh? Why did only me turn? www” then Aikyan did it again and everyone did their turning and the little demon pose lol- they also showed the rear part of their outfits, which were very decorated and if I understood that corrected they said that Anchan’s, Suwawa’s, Rikyako’s and King’s rear part looked like from samba dancers lol

After this, well, I almost cried when they announced Daydream Warrior, one of my absolutely favourite songs. I have no words to describe how awesome this whole performance was. Their singing was super good, their low voices were amazing; the one that hit me the most was incredibly Furirin’s solo, you can’t even imagine how good her voice was. The best part was probably the choreography: it was absolutely intense and really really difficult, at one point I started wondering how the hell they were still singing like that, they really built up an incredible amount of stamina. There was this part in which just Aikyan, Shuka and Anchan were dancing (an instrumental part) which was super intense, I was really impressed… I am absolutely sure no other Love Live choreo has anything at this level. Even their expressions were so intense, they added a whole level to the performance. The only thing that “”“ruined”“” it a bit was that they had those super colourful outfits while singing about war and impossible love, it was a bit out of place. But overall it was a really intense and powerful performance.

And! We didn’t even have time to catch a breath because after that was fucking Thrilling One Way!!! I can say that this was absolutely the most hype song, the arena was LITERALLY ON FIRE: their background monitors showed images of flames, there were jets of smoke (like the flames in Saitama Super Arena, but with just smoke) from the front part of the stage, I saw really a lot of UOs and the overall volume of the audience’s calls was absolutely higher than before. Like I said, literally on fire. And much to my amazement this song choreo was as intense as the Daydream Warrior one HOW DO THEY DO IT THEY ARE NOT REAL. I am amazed I love them so much they work so hard……. After this medley of kakkoi songs I was basically drenching in sweat. Me. And they were there singing and dancing. h o w.

Anyway, after another Intermission PV (which was about uirou, a Japanese sweet typical in Nagoya) it was subunit time! Of course CYaRon arrived first singing Kin Mirai Happy End. They had their pirate outfits from the CD jacket and they were suuuper cute in them! The monitors this time showed the deck of a pirate ship with a CYaRon flag, making it seem like they were dancing on the ship. They also had flags with a new CYR logo, which they said during the MC was designed by Furirin. During the MC they said the usual things like talking about the song and the outfits. Then, before singing Kaigan Doori, they showed us a move to do during the chorus, like the CYaRon sign (the number three with one hand) with your left hand and a salute with the right.

When they finished Kaigan Doori it was AZALEA time! For Galaxy HidE and SeeK, Arisha started singing while being alone on the center stage, which was elevated, and on the monitors there were astronomic photos of galaxies. Her singing was really amazing! Then the other two members suddenly appeared from hidden carts, then joined Arisha in the central stage and then back to the main one. Their performance was really wonderful, they all improved a lot in their singing. Oh, they were dressed in their CD jacket outfits too, white and pink, and they also had angel wings. They also took out some magic candy (?) similar to the magic wands they had for First Live. And as in First Live, during the MC they did the torikoriko spell to change the audience’s penlight colours, this time by also making us change to their respective image colour. Then they sang INNOCENT BIRD, another favorite of mine, which was really good. They had these fake microphones in their hand and they were dancing and using their cables like a lazo. Unfortunately as much as I love this song at this point my mind was already on the next song…

Guilty Kiss appeared on the central stage, in their CD jacket outfits too (they were a bit different though, if I remember correctly- but still good, I love them more than the Strawberry Trapper one, they were so hot in those pants oh my god I’m gay). I’m sorry but all of my biased will come out here because Aikyan in Kowareyasuki was simply the best. I wanted to cry at all of her solo parts. Her scream during the instrumental gave me so many chills. She was so so so so so so good. Absolutely gets the award for best singer in Aqours, hands down. So good. I died and resurrected. I love her too much. Anyway, of course all of them were super good and the whole song was LIT AF exactly as I imagined it. After the usual MC with the usual things and a bit of cnrk (Aikyan put an arm around Rikyako’s shoulders to apologize to her because she involuntary interrupted her), they started with Shadow Gate of Love. The monitors had CG for this but I wasn’t really looking at them since the seiyuus were on the carts and I was looking at them, but once I saw Aikyan on the monitor making a heart with her hands and the CG followed her hands. The choreo of this song was really sensual, I loved it. At the end they made a final pose with their backs to the audience and making a heart with their hands behind them, it was such a cute touch.

Then another intermission started and surprise surprise! BACKSTAGE FOOTAGE!!! I was so happy, I LOVE seeing them during their training! It really shows how hard they work. They always wear their characters T-shirts during their training, it was so cute to see them with all of the different T-shirts that came out (I remember Aikyan wearing the COSPA “emotional series” T-shirt, and Ainya with the one with Mari in swimsuit) Unfortunately they were just really short clips of training, one for each of them, together with some messages from them to the audience. One thing I clearly remember is Furirin’s clip, because they showed her practising the chorus of Thrilling One Way and she looked so cool.

After this intermission they came on the stage again with KimiKoko outfits and sang the ONLY anime song of the whole 2nd live, Aozora Jumping Heart. Nothing to say, this has been performed countless time.

Right after that it came another one of my favs, a song that I didn’t expected them to perform at this point (so many new songs already, and they also already did the kakkoi songs together) so I was surprised again: SKY JOURNEY. I will be repetitive again they were so good so good soooo good I don’t know what else to say they are so good I love them. The monitors were showing beautiful images of stars behind them, that really added emphasis to the whole performance.

After that it was another old song, KimiKoko. At the end of it they started waving and going behind the stage, but of course the lights didn’t turn off which was our cue to start calling the encore.

After some minutes an animated PV started, showing the girls with the yellow live T-shirts on the HPT. Suddenly the train stopped because it didn’t have any more energy (?). They said (sorry I can’t remember who said what) that they needed everyone’s power to make it start again, but that their power as only nine girls wasn’t enough. Then I think Kanan said that “we’re not just nine” and asked us to call “Aqours! Aqours!”, at which the train filled with energy and started again, bringing us to the encore.

When the PV finished the stage split in two again and the HPT came out, this time with Uchicchi in front of it!! The audience went wild, he is clearly everyone’s best girl. He had a big red fan with the kanji 祭 (“matsuri”, festival) written on it, bringing us into the atmosphere for the next song, Sunshine Pikka Pika Ondo! When the music started the girls appeared on the center stage, wearing the yellow Nagoya shirts and the happis above them, with Anchan in the central elevated part of the stage, with a big taiko and lanterns all around her stage, and the other girls all around her in the lower stage holding big and small red fans. It really felt like being at a natsu matsuri, the scenography was amazing! Also I love so much this song, I was so happy that they went all out with it, it was so funny! (I won’t say that of course their singing was so good you already know it at this point.) During the final part they went on the carts and back to the main stage, where they did a MC thanking us for the encore. I can’t remember anything special about this except what I already said about Rikyako (that she admitted her error during HPT) and that Aikyan was a bit teary-eyed (as always, my precious child).

After which they removed their happis announcing the very last song… everyone at some point in the live expected Mirai Ticket since Nippon Gaishi Hall is the arena in which they sing it in the anime, but much to everyone’s surprise it wasn’t even the last, which was instead Taiyou o Oikakerou. Not that I’m complaining, I like the song and the performance was so cute! They went back and forth on the stage while marching and waving at us all. The cutest moment was when Suwawa went to hug Shuka (to make up for before, uh), and then Arisha went to hug Suwawa from behind and then Ainya hugged Arisha! A Happy Party Train of hugs lol ♡ At the end they just waved at us saying thank you and went behind the stage, to which the lights on the arena went on again, marking the end of the concert.

Final considerations:

All of this live was so unexpected to me. I expected a live with S1 songs, PV songs and a bit of new songs, I hoped for the BD bonus songs but I didn’t have a lot of hope… instead we got a live with no anime songs and SO MANY NEW SONGS. ALL IN DAY1. This is better than anything I could have ever imagined I am so. So. Impressed. They are so good.

My feeling of attending a live has kinda changed, the first time (Aqours First Live) seemed unreal to be there and I was so shocked the whole live, this time I was able to be more present, I guess I needed to get used to the sudden and unusual burst of emotions.

A thing that I really liked about this live more than any other are the coreographies, and since I already talked about the girls’ awesome performance and no one ever talks about her I’m making a special mention to Yumi Ichikawa, the coreographer of Love Live. Her coreos improved so much, they are not only the typical idol moves anymore, they… well, when you’ll see Daydream Warrior you’ll understand what I mean. It’s so good.

Before every live I think to all of the money I spent to arrive here and obtain a ticket and I say this will be the last for some time, I have to save up for my future and more serious things but then when I’m there I can’t help to say HOW CAN I MISS THIS MY PRECIOUS GIRLS I WANT TO SEE THEM ALWAYS Don’t start going to lives kids it will ruin your life

TL;DR they’re good girls Brent

[mysticdragon3md3]

Time for my post-WonFes2017summer picks.  ^_^  (Also including some figures that were announced a little before WonFes.)

My definite buys:

For me, the heart-stopping surprises were Nendoroid Taikogane Sadamune and Nendoroid Lina.  I mean, seriously?!  *O*  Sada-chan was on my WonFes wishlist, but I didn’t think there was a real chance of seeing him!  And Lina---!  That was completely out of no where!  Slayers was one of my oldest fandoms, and I didn’t think anyone even knew that series anymore!  On top of that, the Volks booth at AX2017, less than a month ago, made it seem like Volks had all the rights to make Lina figures. Though I would have preferred her TV series outfit, her movie outfit has pretty versatile pants that might be good on other Nendoroids. And hey, if she paves the way for a Nendoroid Zel, then I’ve got no complaints.  Regardless, a Nendoroid Lina Inverse is a dream come true.  *o*  The way I felt when I saw these 2 Nendoroids is exactly how I should feel about all the figures I preorder (instead of wasting my money on lukewarm buys).  

Casual version Yuri was also a surprise.  Not the “take my breath away”, "I can't wait to buy this" type of surprise, but more just surprised how much Good Smile Company is milking Yuri on Ice.  I guess it makes sense, with the fanbase so rabid.  But a whole other Nendoroid only really makes sense in terms of the characters’ different skating outfits.  This isn’t a skating outfit!  But somehow they knew they could get away with this, AND an upcoming coach outfit version for Victor!  LOL ^o^  ...But I can’t really complain.  I love versatile wardrobe for my Nendoroid collection in general.  Now I don't have to get that Nendoroid Yuki Nagato Disappearance version for her own similar coat.  ^-^  

And of course I'm obligated to get the maiko version of Kyoko Sakura.  She's my least favorite of the Holy Quintet, but I love wafuku, I'm a completionist, and I am getting the rest of this upcoming PMMM maiko set.  I'm sure they'll make her look beautiful.  Anyway, I kind of liked Kyoko from the Rebellion movie.  ^_^

Figma Joker didn't premier at WonFes, but he was displayed there, while his preorder was just opening.  So, let's count him.  I NEED THIS FIGMA SO MUCH.  Regardless that I had just decided to drop collecting Figma, since I prefer chibi Nendoroids...  But this Figma, I'd have no regrets getting.  ^o^  Joker's costume is just so cool!  I've always loved black trench coats, often drew them on character illustrations, and almost bought Nendoroid/Figma Kirito just because of his black trench coat (even though I don't watch SAO).  But now that I'm totally in the Persona 5 fandom, I'm so glad that there's now a black trench coat'ed figure for a character I already love.  

Next are figures I might buy, but not quite sure yet:

I haven't watched "Welcome to the Ballroom" yet, but if Tatara Fujita's scruffy-haired character design is any indication, he might be the earnest, sincere, cinnamon roll type that's one of my favorites.  *.*  If I get into this series late, and it turns out I'll love it, then I'll really regret missing this preorder window.  But even besides that, his tux is so versatile and nice, I might want to get him just to add to my Nendoroid collection's overall wardrobe.  

I kind of dropped off of watching "New Game" for some reason, even though it's got all the moe and "slice of life" that I love.  o_o?  But before I forgot about it, Hifumi was one of my favorites.  ^.^!  So socially awkward and exuberant through text messages...She's just so relatable!  ^u^  And so adorably shy!  If I was following this series closely, I'd HAVE TO have this Nendoroid.  But I'm not so sure now.

Kasen Kanesada has nice character design, but I really have to lay off the Touken Ranbu Nendoroids.  Originally, I wanted only the Date-gumi Nendoroids.  But before Orange Rouge was created, we had to support all the male figures we could, until they got the hint.  In other words, I bought all of the first few Touken Ranbu Nendoroids, and now it's ballooned into this huge chunk of my collection.  x_x;  Even though they have such nice character designs, I really have to stop now!  @w@!  Also, I'd normally collect all the hakama I could, but I've already got some from 2 other TouRabu Nendoroids and 2 more TouRabu Nendoroid Co-de.  I should really stop now.  ...But I do like wafuku...

This chibi Lelouch is an Ichiban Kuji / Kyun-Chara from Banpresto.  I don't really have any feeling about this Code Black costume design, but I'm just so desperate for a chibi Lelouch to match my Chibi-Arts C.C., I'd probably buy this figure if I came across it.  

Next group is made of figures I really shouldn’t buy, but they’re very tempting:

A few days ago, I saw Nendoroid Tomo Kunagisa, and though I have no idea what "The Beheading Cycle: The Blue Savant and the Nonsense Bearer" is, I began to seriously think about preordering her.  She's got multi-shaded blue hair!  *o*  It's got hints of greeen and indigo...  I'm a sucker for pastel hair and cool colors (vs warm colors), but most of the pastel-haired Nendoroids I already bought are lavender or pink haired.  I'd _love_ more blue-haired Nendoroids, especially with multiple blue-ish hues like Tomo.  Plus, she's just so cute!  Look at her little bare feet!  She comes with down AND braided hair...Her coat is cute...She holds a little flower accessory...And she even comes with a seated pose!

But if I get Tomo, I'd have to get Ii-chan, from the same series.  I say that as a completionist, but honestly, his casual hoodie sweatshirt and jeans would be a great addition to my overall Nendoroids' wardrobe.  And I'd no longer have to consider geting an Osomatsu-san Nendoroid, just for the same type of outfit.  That'd be a relief, because I'm not really a fan of those Osomatsu character designs. But if I'm in for Tomo, then I'd be in for Ii-chan too, and that sounds like a lot of money for a series I know nothing about and characters I don't know enough to have attachment to.  o_o;  

Then there's the Arthur Pendragon Nendoroid.  I'm not really a Fate Stay Night fan, let alone, a Fate Grand Order, or whatever spinoffs are going on with that series now.  But that Arthur Pendragon has a nice character design!  I really like his hair, going off into different directions.  And that armor could turn out pretty cool once it's painted too.  Previously, I've gotten Nendoroid Annelotte just because of her intricate armor, even though I wasn't into her series.  So why not Arthur Pendragon?  Like her, he could be a beauty piece.  And maybe it'd be nice to have a Western styled warrior next to my Touken Ranbu Nendoroids.  He'd either fit right in or make an interesting contrast.  It would just seem unfair if I didn't get him, while I was willing to get all those TouRabu Nendoroids---But I'm supposed to be saving money!!!  I have to stick to my rule of not buying from series/characters I don't know!  For once, I need to TRY adhering to that rule!  ;o;  

The Code Geass figures are pretty self-explainatory, given that it's one of my favorite series and CLAMP's Mokona Appapa is one of my favorite illustrators.  ^_^  But still, static scale figures are soooooooooo expensive.  And that Lelouch/Suzaku figure looks super expensive!  x_x;  I can't get that.

And lastly, there are the figures I’ve decided not to buy:

Some of these figures used to be on my wishlist when they were first announced, but I've decided against them by now.  The rest are just minor interests worth noting, but I never intended to buy.  

Originally, I was going to get Figma Utena, Figma Umi Ryuuzaki, Figma Fuu Hououji, and Nendoroid Ariel.  But I got Figma Hikaru Shidou a while ago, and though I love that character, I just can't really get excited about scale figures.  But it's not just that: I have to save money, especially when I know there are so many Nendoroids I want.  x_x;  And of course, Racing Mikus are just fanciful dreams that I will never actually purchase.  Racing Mikus are too expensive!  Otherwise, I would have also gotten that knight themed Racing Miku, in addition to this year's green butterfly fairy Racing Miku!  

And Ariel, though not a scale figure, just didn't turn out as cute as I had hoped.  When I first saw her figure announcements, I very weakly committed to considering her preorder, because I wanted to try turning my other Nendoroid characters into mermaids/mermen.  But looking at her waist joint close up, I'm not sure it would align well with the Nendoroid Co-de Fundoshi, Nendoroid Aoba Seragaki's alternate body, etc.  And let's face it: I have to cut more out of my figure spending.  And realistically, I'm not fanatical about Disney.  I have to drop Ariel.  If I really want a mermaid Nendoroid, I should make a tail accessory, even as jsut a cloth sleeve to slip over a Nendoroid's legs.  I *make* figure accessories for aritst alley, for goodness sakes!  I shouldn't have to rely on Nendoroid Ariel for my Nendoroid mermaid/merman figure photography.

Juzumaru is pretty, but his costume design really isn't doing it for me.  He's just an honorable mention because I like Touken Ranbu and he's voiced by Hikaru Midorikawa, and old favorite seiyuu.  

Ryu Mustang is also an honorable mention.  I have no intention of buying him either.  He's just worth noting because FMA is cool.  ^_^  

When I originally saw the Magical Mirai 5th Anniversary Miku's unpainted prototype, I'll admit that big top hat was intriguing.  But Do I really need it?  I can make that.  I already have made smaller top hats for my Nendoroids and Chibi-Arts before.  I was not expecting this Magical Mirai Miku to look so good after painting.  *_*  All the cool colors I love, different hues blending together in her hair, and that cool backdrop of playing cards flying around behind her.  It's just really pretty!  ^-^  But still, another unnecessary expense.  

Nendoroid Wonder Woman isn't really a figure I ever seriously considered for the sake of AmeriComi.  I just happened to be thinking lately about cobbling together a custom Nendoroid that looks like me, in the same way Nendo Stories did.  But looking through the entire Good Smile Company Nendoroid catalog, it seems like Wonder Woman's hair is the closest thing to resembling mine.  

And lastly, Casual version Oikawa Toru.  No.  I am not bringing a Nendoroid Oikawa into my house!  He lost whatever slim chance he had, when the Iwaizumi Nendoroid perorders closed.  I might have accepted bringing Oikawa into my collection if I had an Iwaizumi to beat him up.  But that's done.  So get out of here, Trashykawa!  Don’t come in here with your goddamned versatile school uniform that would look great on so many of my other Nendoroids…  Just stop it already!  ;w;

Lastly, though I like Touken Ranbu, I'm not interested enough in figures from their butai stage show musicals.  I might consider the costumes as beauty pieces, if they were Nendoroids.  But Nendoroid Petites are something I’m saving my wallet from.  At least that’s one thing I can alleviate my wallet from buying.  Thankfully.  Thank goodness.  WonFes is already kicking my wallet’s butt, as it is…  x_x;