#I'll die happy on this hill

[bon-sides-sw]

Happy mothers day to him! The best Mommy ever!

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Wardrobe Woes

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[karnaca78]

Paris Green (ab initio)

[coffee-as-a-love-language]

happy spooky season (from the utaren household) <3

{just a funny little thing i wrote a while ago. sorry it's a few days late, hope y'all enjoy anyway lol. mini fic under the cut}

Renji wakes to a weight on his chest, and he can’t even bring himself to panic. This isn’t entirely unusual anymore.

“Renji. Ren, wake up.”

He decides to press his face into the pillow instead.

“Renji. Renji, it’s September first. I know you can hear me.”

He groans, moving sleep-stiff hands to hold Uta’s hips. Normally he’d be jumping for joy at the feeling of being straddled like this, but….

“It’d better not be as early as I think it is,” Renji mutters.

“It’s only five.”

Renji groans again, cracking an eye open. “Have you slept at all tonight?”

Uta cocks his head again, eyes catching the dim light and glowing like fires. His rumpled hair falls loosely over one shoulder. “That’s irrelevant,” he says simply. “It’s September first.”

“I heard you the first time, babe,” Renji sighs patiently.

Uta’s manic grin fades, replaced by a disappointed pout. Despite himself, Renji has to fight back a smile.

“You’ve already redecorated the house, haven’t you?”

Uta nods.

Renji laughs, head falling back against the pillows. With a heavy sigh he sits up, shifting Uta to his lap. “Alright. Give me the grand tour.”

Uta’s face immediately brightens again. He kisses Renji hard on the lips, yanking back before Renji even gets the chance to lean in. “You won’t regret this,” he says cheerfully.

Renji falls forward, letting his head land on Uta’s shoulder. “You make it sound like I might,” he mumbles, “but I’ll deal. Let’s go.”

Giggling, Uta scrambles off Renji’s lap and hauls him out of bed.

[hannigramislife]

Choose your last words, this is the last time, 'cuz you and I– we were born to die.

-lana del rey

[momentomori24]

Ok, can I ramble about the Poison remix real quick? Cool, thanks. You're so supportive, I always appreciated that about you.

Anyway, I absolutely loved it. It was awesome. I can't believe they made an entire remix for a character's birthday, but they did and I'm so impressed by that. Adding Valentino to the song was honestly the best decision they could've made. Not only are his lines super addicting to listen to (that "good boy" lives rent-free in my head like DAMN), but the way they're used in the song feels so intentional and fitting it's brilliant.

The "I own you or have you forgotten that?" at the start sets the tone perfectly, hammering down that Angel's his property, that he's unable to get away from him no matter what. Val in the original, despite not actually singing in the song, is the consistent looming threat in every scene, and being reminded of the context of the situation from the beginning helps retain that ominous presence he brought to the table for a remix with no visuals. When Angel sings about how he feels himself disappearing due to acting becoming natural to him, you can hear distorted, small "Action" from Val in the background, as if signalling him to get into character before the cameras start rolling. Angel puts on an act and tries desperately to make it his identity even outside his work because it's how he has to be, especially around Valentino, and hearing Val order him to perform really emphasises that. And my absolute favourite part is when during the "What's the worst part of this hell? I can only blame myself". Despite everything Val has put Angel through, despite being clearly deceived into something he didn't know would get this out of hand, he doesn't blame him-- he still blames himself for the decisions that have lead him to the position he's in now. And that internalised victim-blaming is met with positive reinforcement as Val praises him with a "good boy" (btw seriously that took me out like why does he have to sound so hot goddman). Val revels in control over his workers, even going as far as to use his and Vel's roofies to get them to behave. And should Angel do anything that even slightly appears to challenge his authority, he's not above using more physical means to put him in his place. When Angel agrees to get rid of Charlie and when he places himself between her and Val to stop her from fighting him and gets her to go, his submission and appeasement is rewarded with the temporary satisfaction of his captive, and it's still felt in the remix.

Poison is all in Angel's head. It's him lamenting his acting persona taking over his sense of self, his reflection on his relationship with Valentino and all the self loathing and resignation that comes with the revelation of how it will come to an end. It's a look into his psyche and that darkness he hides so damn well as he plays his part for his audience to a fault. While Val is an overwhelming presence in the song, he's only there visually; the vocals are entirely Angel and Angel alone. But in the Poison remix, Val's voice still lingers in the background. And what I like is that they aren't new lines-- they're things he's said to him before. Even in the safety of his headspace, his abuser's words still echo in his mind. Valentino still taints his thoughts, previous praises, orders or reminders reacting to and influencing his lyrics. Even in his own mind, he's still unable to escape him.

[halepo]

🏳️‍🌈 HAPPY PRIDE EVERYBODY 🏳️‍🌈

Time to celebrate LOVE in all its various forms!! ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

And I'll start celebrating MY BELOVED SOKABINE

Why are they still a rare pair is something I don't get.

[millaneyy]

Why TOTK Ganondorf is the best Ganondorf in the series

This became a bit of an essay by accident hehe

Goes without saying: HUGE MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR THE FINAL BOSS AND ENTIRE STORY!!! All the gifs used are my own, and even though they're a bit crunchy, feel free to use them as you wish!

Anyways, starting at the start.

The Character

I'm not exactly a long time Zelda fan (botw was my first proper zelda game), and therefore didn’t know that much about Ganondorf before I saw him in the trailer and decided to research the lore like a crazy person. Based off of that, I think that Wind Waker Ganondorf is the best by far.

He had such an interesting aura to him- less like a power hungry madman and more like a wise old king who was also very evil, and his motivation made it difficult to see him as a true villain. As they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. His whole plan revolved around the fact that the Gerudo people, his people, were left to suffer in the desert while the rest of Hyrule prospered, and he decided to take action. At least, that's what I remember. Please correct me if I have that messed up!!

Anyways, I think that motivation is what makes WW G-man cool- he's a total asshole, yes, but he has this kind of twisted honour that almost makes you feel bad for him. And this brings me to my one little gripe about TOTK Ganondorf- he doesn’t really seem to have a motivation? At least, not that I heard of. So in that sense, he doesn’t really feel as driven as WW Ganon. We never learn WHY he wanted to rule over Hyrule, he kinda just did. He wanted power, that much was obvious, but that was it. On the other hand though, it’s always fun to have a villain who’s evil for the sake of being evil, and it didn’t detract at all from his presence in the game.

And boy, is he a PRESENCE. Some of his lines are incredibly cold- "I will rule. That is what a king must do" WITH THE ORGAN IN THE BACKGROUND AND HIS DEMON KING TITLE ON THE SCREEN, or "Do not look away, you witness a king's revival" (the line that drove the whole community insane for a little while- if you know you know) as he draws his sword with all the confidence of a centuries old evil incarnate.

Even better- "I will be taking far more than your arm this time", as if Ganondorf, through the Calamity, hasn't taken away everything Link knew and loved already. This dude is crazy.

(And a little bonus that I found out about right before posting this- apparently in the Japanese version, he does have a very clear motive? But it was lost in translation? I need to research that a bit more though. If you know anything about that, do tell!!)

Now, with that out of the way...

The Build Up

Thematically, I think that the build up to his fight is pretty awesome, even compared to the other three G's. If you did the entire story (geoglyphs included) beforehand, then you know that this dude:

a) straight up killed someone with his bare hands (he wasn't holding the knife when he killed Sonia, so I kind of just assumed he broke her spine or something)

b) is so powerful that 7 of the strongest warriors in Hyrule WITH secret stones couldn't defeat him, and was only taken down by sealing his power away- which is still only a temporary solution

c) lived on after reawakening despite being an actual emaciated corpse

d) was so busted that even in (kind of) death, the essence of his power (the malice) that leaked out of his seal was strong enough on its own to completely DECIMATE Hyrule

So yeah, I was a little scared on my way down because I knew this guy was going to kick my ass (spoiler alert: he did).

The little gauntlet of monsters to fight as you descend was pretty sick, and serves as a fairly good warmup for the army later on. The silver lynel totally caught me off guard though. As you get closer to the lowest point in Hyrule, you end up amassing some of the most powerful weapons imaginable thanks to all the silver enemies, which got me feeling so goddamn strong! That's important later.

And eventually, getting to the Forgotten Foundation and realising that I was back in the prologue area as that scary music started back up sent chills down my spine.

And the music. THE MUSIC.

Give this a listen (youtube because soundcloud links are jank, sorry)- skip to about 2:00 because that's the bit I'm talking about!

As you get deeper and deeper, the music gets more and more intense- and if there’s one thing I absolutely adore about TOTK, it’s the dynamic music throughout (see example: THE DUNGEON THEMES). The use of music that changes as you go- and this is by far the best example.

At first, you don’t really notice it while you’re preoccupied. You’re more focused on weapons and monsters and all that mess. But the first time I really noticed it was, as I said, when I realised I was in the prologue. The cut up voice clips and the drone in the background are a little creepy, and remind you of what happened the last time you tried to fight this guy,

Then, it starts to develop once you walk past the mural. There’s the choral singing, the drone in the background picks up into something with more melody, and the entire run up to the boss is completely enemy free- it gives you time to let the circumstances sink in as the music swells and you approach the heart of the depths. Also, the music builds as you get deeper and deeper, which from what I know is a subversion from the usual "music building as you climb his tower" or whatever he's in normally. Very nice.

Idk about you guys, but I slow walked down there for the DRAMATIC EFFECT.

At about 3 minutes into the video is how it sounds when you dive into the imprisoning chamber, where it all started (and I'll talk more about the parallels between this and the prologue another time... THE TORCH AUGHHSYWJHFH) and keep trucking on through the gloom, the horror movie piano kicking in as you walk through the final tunnel and stand on the precipice overlooking the dark, unknown pit below...

And jump.

Then the track finally reaches its climax as everything starts to overlap, the bells and organ (i think thats what it is?) screaming at you in the background as you fall, making the song feel like an epic of vengeance. There's so much dread, and an underlying ominous/threatening feeling that encapsulates the fact that Ganondorf is the embodiment of an ancient evil, one that has tormented Hyrule for centuries- but at the same time, there's an element of finality and inevitability, because you're going to put that evil down, and make up for all the grief and the death and loss that constantly follows in his wake.

I mean, just listen to the last 30 seconds or so of that track and tell me you don't feel excited. In awe. Because I deadass teleported back up to the mural just to hear it again.

I think I got a little carried away there, but moving on to the bit you probably came here for…

The Fight

Phase one - The Demon King's Army

Remember how I mentioned that the earlier monsters and busted weapons make you feel powerful? This is basically that x10.

The whole sequence feels very epic, ESPECIALLY after the build up, and with the appearance of the Sages mirroring the attack of the Champions from BOTW, it almost feels like victory is assured already as you cut down hordes of monsters with practically no effort, all while the strings in the background kick in and get more intense with every wave.

This serves to make you feel even more like God- taking out waves and waves of fairly tough enemies made me feel like I was on top, like nothing could stand in my way. It's pretty cool, a good way of integrating the monster army you keep seeing in the cutscenes, and manages to keep the energy from the descent going pretty well, while also being a casual reminder that this Ganondorf bloke can summon world ending horrors at will. ESPECIALLY when the dungeon bosses come back to life and force the Sages to stay behind.

Phase two - The Menace Unleashed

Once again, the music goes absolutely crazy. The first phase feels intense, but still like the fight is only just beginning. Just an ambient drone, near silent as he approaches, picking up as you start to duel. No one is here to help- no Sages, no Zelda- just Link and Ganondorf, a rematch that's been in the making since 2006.

If the army battle makes you feel powerful, then the first few seconds of this fight are what takes that power away- because this guy is a total damage sponge and moved a lot faster than I could predict. Additionally, you can't fast travel outside to heal gloom hearts if you have medallions set up (i thought i was so smart for that too), so if you used all of your sunny food during the army, you're doomed.

Most of his attacks in this phase are fairly simple, with only one or two for each weapon he can wield (and tbh the switching weapons really threw me the first time), but like I said, he goes pretty fast. Therefore, if you're like me and can't differentiate some of his tells, you're also going to lose a lot of hearts very fast. And did I mention he gives you gloom hearts instead of normal damage? Again, no sunny food = death of the instant kind.

On top of the general stress of trying to get the timing down, there were a couple of moments in this phase alone that had me yelling something along the lines of "WHAT THE ACTUAL SHIT"- one of which being some of the tricks he pulls under certain conditions. For example; a standard looking sword attack where he swings once, then as you lower your shield to get a hit in, as you naturally would, he swings at you again. He also kicks you if you hang too close, and fires off some of his gloom attacks faster if you're trying to attack him as he charges. It makes him feel more like an actual person you're fighting, and stops you from hanging close and swinging wildly the whole time.

(i was going to make this a video, but tumblr only lets you add one. anyways, see what i said about him swinging again if you lower the shield?)

As well as that, he taunts and mocks you when you get hit- make any misstep or stumble into an attack, and he'll laugh and insult your skill while he casually walks up to you like the absolute gigachad he is. It's not like the Twilight Princess walk where it feels a bit slow- this walk made me feel THREATENED. Circling in the opposite direction when he circled me with the spear made me feel like a pro swordsman. On one hand, I thought the taunting was super cool as a mechanic! On the other hand it made me want to kill him even harder.

And the other moment that made my jaw drop? This guy. Can DODGE your regular attacks AND FLURRY RUSH. And by flurry rush I mean take a really tough/fast swing at you. BUT STILL.

For as long as I can remember, the perfect dodge and flurry rush have given Link an unfair edge over most enemies and bosses- it's an opening to deal mass damage with no counters. It’s made link OP against everything the game throws at him- up until right now. This highlights the fact that Ganondorf is no pushover- him and Link are evenly matched, and you’ll need some actual consistent skill to take him out. The good news is that your own flurries are still pretty powerful, and 5 or 6 are enough to start the next phase.

As the fight progresses and his health starts to go down, the music starts to build up more (at about 1:25 in the video above)- the barely present drums starting to speed up and get louder, accompanied by sporadic piano, more choral snippets, and an ominous undertone as their duel grows more intense, eventually building to a climax and slowing down a tad (2:45) as he activates his secret stone and transforms, beginning the third phase.

Phase three and four - Master of the Secret Stone

Well this one was certainly something. Once again I jumped out of my seat and YELLED when his health bar started to refill past the normal amount, all the way off of my screen. It just didn’t stop. There are no words to describe the primal fear of realising how insanely busted this dude was. I tried to get it on the gif up there, but that made the video too long to convert :(

The music here is my favourite bit of the whole phase- as you face down the powered up Ganondorf and his phantoms, you hear the familiar but melancholy motif of BOTW/Dark Beast playing around the same time the Sages show up once again to deal with said phantoms (at about 3:22). For a second it's just that- melancholy, encapsulating the same kind of hopelessness that followed Calamity Ganon 100 years ago. But at the same time, as your squad comes to assist, you're reminded of the Champions and their aid, and suddenly it feels like you could still turn the tides of this seemingly impossible battle. Just like you did with the Calamity.

Yes it was cool, and yes I nearly cried.

The phantoms were actually the worst for a minute or so- it takes a while for the all of the Sages to appear and lighten the burden, meaning that you end up needing to take on 2-5 of these guys at once as well as the real deal. This got me killed more times than I'd like to admit. Once all the Sages arrive, the arena becomes a complete warzone with everyone duking it out at once, the real Ganondorf’s attacks start to get faster and harder hitting, and he starts to dodge and rush you more often- even dodging more of your attacks and forcing you to flurry him, so if you don’t have your timing down, this is awful. Not to mention, it's very easy to lock on to the wrong Ganon, which makes it harder to block the real attacks with a shield.

And also, this is the point where he starts destroying literally all of your shields in just a few hits, meaning that if you can't dodge or parry, then it's only so long until you're left defenceless.

Aside from that, this phase plays out like the Phantom Ganon fight in the Castle until you get his health bar down about halfway, when he recalls the phantoms and biden blasts the Sages away, beckoning Link forwards and starting phase four, which is basically phase two again but insane.

This is where the fight- for me, at least- became incredibly difficult, since Ganondorf not only dodges your regular attacks, but also dodges your flurry rushes and counters with his own EVERY SINGLE TIME, forcing you to flurry rush again to hit him. Not only does this require perfect timing, but is also the only way to damage him for the remainder of this fight (unless you cheese it with arrows or sneak in some hits in while he's switching weapons- but the latter is dangerous since he still attacks faster when you're close).

A little video to emphasise the flurry rush thing; the timing for that second dodge had to be dead on. What you can't hear is me yelling something along the lines of "GOD, FINALLY" after dying to this phase many times and mashing the y button like my life depended on it. LOOK HOW FAST THAT MF IS ON THE SECOND ATTACK

The soundtrack becomes super crazy again, this time using the motif of Calamity Ganon/the Blights (starts at 5:00, and you can also hear it in the video above) and bringing back that sense of hopelessness again- but this time with with a strong side of excitement since you're now in the final stretch of the fight. Because the Blights were supposed to be the equal match for each Champion, this bit of the theme makes it feel like Ganondorf is an equal match to Link- which I know I've said already, but that's kind of the thing that's blown me away the most about the whole battle.

It's the fact that you can't just wail on him and spam flurry rushes without him countering you in some way- which in this case mostly consists of him dodging you and attacking back at an insane speed. This isn't like Calamity Ganon where you just hit and dodge for five minutes, this is an actual proper swordfight, and exactly what I'd been hoping for from the final boss!

Additionally, the Blight/Calamity motif (well, more like entire theme) represents his ties to Calamity Ganon, the force of nature that took Link 2 tries to beat (with death included), and it's use in this part of the battle tells you that right now, Ganondorf possesses the same level of destructive power as that thing- and he's sure as hell going to make sure you know that.

As well as the whole "dodging the flurry rush and forcing you to pull it off twice" thing, he also pulls out a few more projectile based attacks. These aren't too bad (WE GET THE RETURN OF ARCANE PING PONG FROM OOT), but he usually follows them up with a quick swing, making them a distraction that takes a while to get used to.

And finally, as a last little surprise, getting hit by any of his gloom projectiles in this phase takes away one of your maximum hearts. PERMANENTLY. Not like the gloom hearts, where you can get them back and then heal. Nope. That shit is gone gone.

Once you finally whittle down his ridiculous health bar, we launch into the customary "massive beast" style phase as he straight up just rips the secret stone out of his head and eats it, giving up his mind, body and soul for the sake of defeating Link, becoming a Dragon and escaping through the top of the arena.

Phase five - Draconified Demon King

So like I said above, the Demon Dragon is basically Dark Beast 2, except it's so much cooler! The cutscene does a great job of highlighting the insane size of this guy- it's like 3x the size of the already massive elemental dragons and emerges from the depths in a way that eerily resembles the Calamity, right down to the glowing yellow eyes. And yeah, that's probably the point, but it's still cool.

Luckily for Link, Zelda/the Light Dragon swoops in and rescues him from the jaws of death (literally), taking him high up into the air so he can attack from above. It's an absolute spectacle, and the epic style remix of the game's main theme that plays makes it even better, instilling the same level of awe that Dark Beast does- at least for me.

Just like DB, the fight has you up against a massive malice/gloom infused monster (the dragon, in this case), getting close and attacking it's weak points and then finishing it off by destroying the secret stone on it's head. There's a lot of downtime, which is kind of to be expected with this style of fight, but I honestly don't mind because these colossal battles are supposed to feel less like a Dark Souls boss and more like a victory lap- like a "you're Link, the legendary hero, slaying this massive beast in the name of Hyrule" kind of thing.

My personal favourite bit of this whole phase is the fact that when you dive down to the Dragon's weak points, Zelda dives down next to you to get underneath and catch you afterwards. So sick. I also really like the use of skydiving! It pairs super well with the music and made me think of that final trailer we got in April- like THIS is the epicness we were promised.

(and also dodging the fireballs was way more fun than slowly sidestepping a laser. sorry dark beast, but i gotta say it </3)

Final thoughts

I'm gonna be honest: I kind of forgot to compare his fight to the other 3 mainline ones, but doing that now would make this way too long! I just love the TOTK fight so much and needed to get it out.

While I'd still say that each Ganondorf (in the mainline games) has their own unique trait that makes them cool: OOT Ganondorf is the original, and the most cunning, WW Ganondorf has the best character and TP Ganondorf is the most evil by a mile- TOTK Ganondorf feels like a combination of those best traits (minus the characterisation) paired with the greatest final boss I've ever seen in a Zelda game, which makes him the best for me.

The first phase in particular was my favourite- wayyyyy back in April when I saw big G in the trailer, my first thought was "oh man i hope we get an actual sword fight boss instead of calamity ganon 2.0" AND MY PRAYERS WERE ANSWERED!!!

Ganondorf literally just rolled up, delivered some cold lines, and then kicked my ass with his cool sword. Many times. And I think that's exactly the kind of boss fight he deserves. I'm just so happy that it feels like we're in an actual duel, mano a mano, instead of just being able to chance a win like with Calamity.

FIN

thank you for reading my zelda obsessed rambles! i just beat the boss last night and have been working on this on and off all day, so any reblogs or shares would be massively appreciated <3

GANONDORF FANS UNITE!!!!

[goldxnfemme]

I've been sipping iced tea and thinking about all the little things that make life worth it: warm buttered toast in the morning, hot chocolate, iced coffee, the feeling of a cold shower on a warm day, the peace you get taking a shower before getting to bed, the feeling of clean bedsheets, how nice it feels to be in an organised clean environment, making a really delicious meal, bringing others happiness with baking or cooking, getting really cosy in bed after a long day, reading something that's really silly and corny, discovering something you love and getting excited about it!! petting a cat!! holding someone you love!! still being awed by how pretty the sunset is! seeing a tiny animal or a flower and smiling just because! life's hard and we don't get these everyday, but when we do it sure is a little boost

I adore that the point of life is little things, love and joy all around us

[solb4dman]

I hate you helix... I hate you...

[normalsexhaver]

at the start of this run, i used the AC to make the brain you find in the ship subservient. i called it Paul, and it was a whole thing where i'd be like "I miss Paul" to my bf through the entire rest of playthrough

i can't describe the noise i made when we got near the end of act 2 and Paul lives!!!!!!!

i shed a real tear over a summon from the first 5 minutes that popped back up like 40+hrs later

this game is an actual masterpiece

[warlordfelwinter]

listening to juri's speaker playlist and reminiscing fondly about the red war and i was so zoned out that i managed to convince myself i could replay it and then i Remembered and it was like lucy pulling the football away from charlie brown except my brain was somehow both charlie brown and lucy

[yxstxrdrxxm]

It felt so weird seeing my name in a fic like that LOL. Again, Xiao is definitely not my top pick but I think he'd be a sweet boyfriend.

Apologies babe if I'm an overbearing girlfriend but if my arms are not around you 24/7 or I'm not covering you in kisses, then you're just not it. Xiao is a babe though. He can stay.

(love how you wrote it <33)

(I swear me replying late to asks is a curse but anyways)

HELP IS IT?? I was honestly surprised that I thought it wouldn't be (I'm... very used to it as you can see LMAOOOO)

Xiao is definitely not my top pick but I think he'd be a sweet boyfriend.

Oh yeah no definitely, he definitely fits the bill. I also think in the fic hes protective so it just works out because imagine this short man acting sweet in private and he squints @ anyone in public while holding hands. I know I tried to make him a yan but the idea of an affectionate s/o (you) and a touch-starved guy (Xiao) as a couple is adorable LMAO

HELP YOU SAYING THAT AND GOING "Xiao is a babe though. He can stay"... I CHEERED FOR THAT. Its not normal I'll admit but lets just say I didnt want to feed into the Diluc curse (and hes great so thank god he stays LMAOOOO)

also AAAA TYYY orz orz, again I am sorry if I replied late to the asks (I've hoarded them since you first saw my blog. I promise I'm sane, I'm just a massive "—!" when someone comes in w/ a nice ask and... hoard it like a dragon BAHAHAHAHA)

[tchotchkez]

tfw a shitty joke you made to a friend accidentally turns into a motivational image for yourself ¯⁠\_ಥ⁠‿⁠ಥ_⁠/⁠¯

[todayisafridaynight]

Thank you for doing dubbed, because I find Ichi’s English voice so cute 🥰

kaiji tang is The Goat i love his performance SO much and it's so perfect

[girlmikeyway]

ok but mcr as moshlings (you unlocked some serious repressed memories I swear to god) Gerard is Ecto, Mikey is Hansel, Ray is Honey, and Frank is Gingersnap

omg i didn't even think about who they'd be as moshlings. i agree with you on gerard as ecto and mikey as hansel, however i raise you ray as shishi or humphrey and frank that little fucker is iggy