#LARP Tricks

[whathehonestfuk]

Steve will swear up and down that he isn't a nerd but after years of hanging out with exclusively nerds and starting to get their references and make his own (he doesn't enjoy it it's just their fault for talking about this stuff all the time)

That is until they try larping for the first time and Steve is thrilled and thriving and asking when they can again because he gets to be active and physical and actually be a part of the story in a way that he can't with dnd

[dejjablu]

got the stingg

a larp friendly one cause can’t bring my replica

[earmo-imni]

What I should be doing: completing my newest larp character's...well, everything, so that I can send in approval requests and get him on the books so I can do free time actions for him.

What I'm doing instead: making Heroforge designs for him and all his definitely not Genshin Impact expies old friends and making scenes with them

Anyway, my dude is the center front, his name is Jinpeng/Xiao/Shou/Kyoushoku, behind him is Yanwanglao, and the others are from left to right Minu, Yingda, Fanan, and Fushe. (iykyk)

[ms-demeanor]

how do you find love?

You have to be willing to be hurt and trust people not to hurt you.

But also go out and do regular activities with people who share similar interests. I'm extremely unromantic in terms of how friendships and relationships are built. Go out and spend time with people who are into the same stuff that you are into and eventually you will probably find someone in that group who you are romantically compatible with and who is open to a relationship at the same time you are.

Like there are tons of jokes about various communities being insular and socially incestuous but, like, the reason improv groups have all dated each other is because they spend a lot of time together doing things they like and that's actually a pretty good foundation for a relationship.

Also, real talk: you have to be okay with being alone. You have to like yourself enough that it wouldn't be the end of the world if you were all you had. That is really difficult for a lot of people, but genuinely one of the ways to start liking yourself more is to go out and do things that you think fun and interesting people would do until you discover that you have tricked yourself into becoming a fun and interesting person.

But also take that with a grain of "I lucked into a long-term relationship at eighteen because I met someone cool at a coffee shop where I worked."

(however, being regulars at a coffee shop did legitimately used to be a way to meet people, I know lots of people who met at the coffee shops I worked at and found their partners there, but that's because coffee shops used to be the kind of place where people would go and hang out for hours after work every day and interact with new people and I'm not sure how much that's a thing anymore, which is why you have to manufacture it by, like, joining an adult kickball league or getting deeply involved in your local larping scene or whatever)

[theskyexists]

Genuinely sucks to never be ok again

[valtsv]

i've said this before but it's an endless source of amusement to me how hypocritical and petty the interpersonal drama between the tma avatars is... our noble patrons of the dread powers vs. their sicko cultists. that being said there is definitely something uniquely fucked in the head about the ones that kept larping as regular guys at their day jobs instead of quitting all that to psychologically torture people with magic tricks.

[gildalilli]

Feeling absolutely feral about 1941 Aziraphale, having just realised he is in love with Crowley, IMMEDIATELY deciding to seduce him with a flashy rescue of his own.

Boy started scheming and showing off immediately. "Are you sure there isn't something I can do for you.... in return?" He's trying to find a way to make a mirrored love declaration! Then oh goodness, would you look at that, the bottles smashed and my demon seems to be in a bit of a pickle! Time for me to speak his love language and rescue him back! Let me just talk myself up and impress him! I'm the magician of the Pharaohs, I was trained by the best! Look at all the things in the shop I have knowledge of. Impressed yet, dear heart, love of my life? Ohhh a gun trick, I'm going to look so cool and manly! I know you love James Bond and Danger (tm), so I'm going to let you LARP the action hero and shoot me and I'm going to pull off an amazing escape just like your favourite character. Isn't that cool and neat and sexy of me?

The man is SHOWING OFF THE WHOLE TIME and the best bit is, even with the miracle fuckup, HE SUCCEEDED. He stuck the landing perfectly as he swept his sexy demon back to his place after a thrilling night of danger and smooth-as-fuck produced that polaroid over a glass of wine.

They've both loved each other for a very long time. But my god if Crowley didn't realise it right back that night after all that.

[puppys-tiny-space]

☕Different types of caregiver archetypes pt.1☕

🩹these are just some silly little concepts to enjoy, see yourself in or get more of an idea what kind of cg you are. You don't need to fit into any category to be valid as a carer.🩹

🍪cozy carer🍪

Comfy sweaters, yummy drinks and fluffy blankets. These types of carers are all cozy and soft, they probably love fall, chill music and Halloween! They tend to be sleepy and might even be a bit of a stoner. They most likely love to read and are creative in at least one medium. They migth even like to cook/bake. They probably won't be strict with their kiddos and use gentle parenting styles. Cozy movie evenings, long walks and baking dates are this cg's favorite and they love to surprise their kid with them.

🖍️artsy carer🖍️

These types of carers love crafting and painting with their kids. They are probably either very extroverted or really introverted and quiet. They tend to spoil their kid with art supplies and organize cute activity dates like painting together or making clothes for each other. They most likely have a folder full of their kids projects and treasure them like nothing else. Gifts for their kid are almost always homemade and they probably made them at least one paci. Pottery painting and museum dates are this cg's specialty and they love to plan them with their kid.

🍃stoner carer🍃

A chill type of carer that's all about self care. They probably smoke to help themselves regulate but never in front of their kid (unless they too use it to help them regress). If their kid also likes to smoke they probably teach them all about different strands of buds and most likely make them and their bub matching vapes or similar. This type of carer is probably very gentle to their kid and loves to make yummy snacks for them and their tiny. They probably have a huge collection of music and comfy clothes that they love to share with their bab. Nature walks, cooking and smokie dates are a go to for this carer.

🎃spooky carer🎃

This carer probably loves Halloween, alternative music and clothes and anything horror related. They probably love to prepare for Halloween with their kid, watch nightmare before Christmas and Wendell and wild. They probably love horror movies but if their kid wants to watch them together they always put their hand before kids eyes if it's too bloody and keep checking in to make sure their bab is okay while cuddling them. They probably love doing them and their kids makeup and like to play dress up together while listening to cool music on vinyl with their kiddo. Pumpkin patch and trick or treating dates are a must with this cg.

👑royal carer👑

This type of carer loves playing pretend with their kid and probably calls them their little prince/princess/royalty. They most likely love to have tea parties with their kiddo and stuffies and bought them and their kiddo at least one tiara/crown. They probably love to go on fun dates to museums, castles and botanical gardens to play fun games in. This type of carer tends to love history and teach their kid all about it. They probably also enjoy DND and/or larping and introduced their kid to it, or the other way around. They probably love to prepare for events together and make matching costumes.

🚀space carer🚀

This type of carer probably loves stars and space crafts, they are probably more introverted and quiet but open up once they get to talk about their passions. They love teaching their bub about space and to watch old sci-fi movies together. Star gazing and planetarium dates are a must do date with their tiny one. When it comes to their kid they are probably very caring and attentive, this type of carer probably loves to help their kid learn to regulate their emotions, especially with counting the names of stars.

🎮gamer carer🎮

This type of carer probably loves to game with their kid and enjoys introducing their bub to all sorts of new games and gadgets. They probably have a comfy place with blankets, a sitting pillow and plushies set up for their kid to hang out in while they game, maybe even under their gaming table. They probably play all sorts of multiplayer games with their kid, like Minecraft, it takes two or unravel. They migth call their tiny something like their player two. When it comes to pacis they most likely love to get their kid some themed around games they both enjoy and might even get a matching phone case or similar. This carer probably has the release of the bluey video game marked in their calendar. When it comes to dates they probably enjoy quiet game nights, trips to conventions or similar.

🩺disabled carer🩺

This carer will need more understanding at times and even when their disabilities stop them from doing certain things they will always do their best for their kid. This carer probably let their kid decorate their disabilities aids like a cane, headphones, their wheelchair or communication cards. They and their kid love planning activities together, making plans on how to deal with flare ups and similar when outside, researching whether the place they want to go to is accessible and planning what food to take along. This carer will always be understanding towards their tiny's struggles and be gentle with their parenting.

🌱nature carer🌱

This type of cg probably has a ton of plants and gives all of them their own names. They love to garden and teach their kid all about it while doing something good for the environment. They most likely love to dress in a cottagecore sort of style and enjoy collecting crystals and plushies. They like taking their kiddo to walks in the forests trips to the plant store and the botanical garden. They enjoy teaching their kid how to make flower crowns, bark boats and how to recycle things into fun clothes and trinkets. For nicknames they probably enjoy to call their baby things like bug, critter, little flower etc.

⚔️nerdy carer⚔️

Board games, magic the gathering, dnd, larping and renaissance fairs bring joy to this carer. They love telling their tiny about their latest interests to teach them all about it. Mini painting, dnd session and costume crafting dates are some of their favorite occasions, aside from conventions, late events and fairs of course. Their kid and them probably love to learn rules for games together, co-dm campaignes and maybe even come up with their own playing system. They probably love making pacis for their kid to match their newest costumes and hyper fixations. They might be neurodivergent and their kid as well. As a cg their parenting style is all based on letting their kid make their own experiences, supporting them in their creativity and helping them learn to regulate their emotions

🐾puppy carer🐾

This carer enjoys running and playing rough with their kid. They are probably very hyper and kind hearted and love being outside. They are a pretty chill carer who wants to be their bubs best friend. This carer loves physical affection and cuddles with their tiny critter. They carry teethers on themselves at all times, both for their kid and them. This carer probably makes or buys collars and ears to match with their kid. Park, walk and any active dates are most likely this cg's favorite.

Dad joke of the day: why can't you hear a psychiatrist using the bathroom? Because the P is silent.

[taffycandyqt]

I was rewatching 2003 TMNT and I was suddenly reminded about Mikey's Turtle Titan persona. Imagine him having a back and forth thing with a femme fatale thief!Reader. They see their little thing like batman and catwoman but everyone else sees it as what it really is; two comic dorks doing a flirty larp.

OH BOY THIS IS GOING TO BE SO FUN TO WRITE! (She said before realizing she has to write flirting and has no idea how to do that) Still, anon, you're a genius. This is beautiful.

Masterlist

Request Rules

Villain to my Hero

While Michelangelo prefers to stick normal turtle ninja self Turtle Titan still makes an appearance whenever boredom hits. What he didn't expect to encounter was a beautiful seductress of a thief while on one of these expeditions. His brothers regret seeing you two interact.

2003 Mikey x fem reader

Oneshot

Fluff, crack

After his excursion with Silver Century Mikey decided to retire his Turtle Titian persona.

...mostly.

Look sometimes his brothers are BOOOOOORING okay?

Today was one of those day. So Mikey decided to suit up and hit the town. Might as well make the most of his alone time right? Protecting the citizens and all. Passing a small convince store is when he noticed her. A black sleeveless hoodie, hood up to obscure the face, black fingerless gloves, black jeans, and black sneakers. Duffle bag in hand speed walking away from the establishment.

That... was suspicious. And as the city's protector it was his job to investigate. He followed her on rooftops to avoid detection while she scurried along the side walk trying to get to her next location.

She swiveled into an alleyway, form still hunched over the bag. Mikey decided this was the time to engage. Leaping downward he corners her in the alley.

"HAULT THEIF! THE TURTLE TITAN IS HERE TO SAVE THE CITY!" He shouts.

She flinches. Quickly switching from spooked to confident she turns around to face him. Rolling her shoulders back and switching to holding the bag with one arm.

"Hault? What is this 18th century Europe?" She teases with a smirk.

"HA! You'll be happy it's not when your behind bars!"

"Mmhm. You sure you're allowed to do that?"

"What? Yes! I'm a super hero!"

"You don't look like any hero I've ever seen."

"That's because I work in the shadows," he tells you using his hands to frame his eyes while emphasizing 'shadows' with a deep gravely voice.

She hmms before walking up to him and carefully inspecting this 'hero'.

Mikey takes a step back.

"I will not fall victim to any of your tricks!" Mikey blushed

"No tricks," she told him, "just... THIS!"

She immediately took his cape and wrapped it around his head before making a break for it. By the time Mikey had composed himself she was no where to be seen.

"You may have gotten away this time villain. But the Turtle Titian won't go so easy in you next time."

And with that he returned to the lair.

The rest of the night Mikey couldn't sleep. He tossed and turned but she stuck to his brain like one of those impossible to remove paper stickers. Her pretty eyes as they inspected him. Her soft voice floating in the air as she teased him. And oh how she teased him! It gave him butterflies. The confidence in her body language. The smirk playing on her lips.

Her lips...

AND THATS WHERE THAT TRAIN OF THOUGHT ENDS!

After that night Mikey continued to go out every night as Turtle Titan. And every night he failed to catch her. Right as he thought she was within his grasp she's slip away with a wink, and more recently, a kiss on the cheek.

The others were getting a bit confused by Mikey's behavior. The way he insisted to go out every night. The amount of times he'd been caught leaving or returning in his Turtle Titian outfit. How he would skip movie nights just to go out for a couple of hours.

Splinter tried to talk to him but Mikey deflected. If any of his brothers confronted him about it he'd just tell them it was for extra training. It was clear to them they weren't getting anything out of him. So they decided to follow him one night. Close enough to not lose him, but far enough he wouldn't be able to detect them.

"Do you really think we need to follow him? I mean, what if it's private?" Asked Donny.

"What's private about going out in public dressed like a dork?" Raph turned to him.

"I'm just saying what if there's a reason he doesn't want us to know?"

"And what if that reason is that he got himself in trouble and he can't get out of it?" Leo stated, turning away from Mikey to look at Donny and Raph.

"Mikey has never acted like this before. Leaving every night, keeping secrets, skipping movie nights. Something is up and I'm worried it's not good," Leo told them.

Raph and Don stayed quiet about that and turned to each other.

"Well... whatever it is it probably has something to do with that store. He's been staring at it for a while now," Don told them.

They both agreed and looked to the store, and then back at Mikey.

"Do you think you can get anything on it Don?" Leo asked him.

"Way ahead of you Leo," Donny told him turning his laptop around for Leo and Raph to see, "It's a food pantry. They get a bunch of volunteers to help donate, sort, and package food that they hand out to anyone in need.

"Anything sketchy about it?" Leo said.

"Nope. I searched everywhere, even on crazy theory websites. Nothing," he told them shutting the computer and putting it in his bag, "This places record is cleaner than April's kitchen."

"Wow! That clears everything right up!" Raph snarked.

"Do you think he comes here every night?" Leo asked them slightly concerned.

"By the fast pace, short cuts, and carefully calculated movements he took to get here, I'd say it's a plausible theory," Donny answered him.

"Hey, guys, someone's coming out!" Raph motioned for them to come look.

They all gathered to watch as a girl clad in all black exiting the building. Large duffle bag in hand.

"What do you thinks in the bag?" Raph turned to Leo.

"I don't know. Donny?"

"Couldn't say. On the one hand there isn't much to take. On the other there is a lot that could be brought in."

Before they could come up with a plan of action though they heard Mikey screech. Just for a moment but loud enough that anyone near by could hear. Somehow the girl had left the bad at the entrance disappeared and then snuck up on Mikey, who now had his back facing the establishment.

"Donny, go check what's in there before Mikey notices us," Leo instructed.

Donny nodded and headed to the streets for the duffle bag. Raph and Leo however, had found themselves witnesses to a very bizarre (and frankly uncomfortable) interaction.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Another night, another failed attempted at arrest," you sauntered over to him checking your nails, "it's getting quite sad you know."

"The only thing sad here is you when I finally put you behind bars!"

"Uh-huh. And whens that gonna happen?" you questioned with a smirk on your lips.

You moved closer invading his personal space and looking right in his eyes.

"T- tell me what you're planning and it can be tonight," his voice much softer then before.

The closet proximity was making him weak in the knees. It always did. And you knew it too. You would always toy with him to see just how far you could go to get the best reactions. He always thought of what he could do or say to make you just as flustered as you make him but he was always scared he'd make a fool of himself.

"Stuttering doesn't make you a very intimidating hero you know," you sang in his ear before dragging your hand along his chest and walking away from him.

His skin prickled at the motion but he used everything in him to not show it. you took a seat on the edge of the building, feet dangling just barely above the roof floor.

"Well you should be a little more intimidated regardless!"

"Oh?"

"Yeah! For a criminal you don't seem very concerned with the super hero literally watching your every move!"

"HA! Maybe I would be it you actually took a swing at me."

"Took a wha-"

You walk closer again. Invading his bubble again.

"Go on. Hit me. Hit me and arrest me like you would a real criminal."

He stared at you. Mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. Should he? That was his whole reason for coming out here every night. Wasn't it? He didn't want to hit you though. Not with the way you looked at him. He wasn't expecting you to say that! Now he doesn't know what to do!

"But you see I know that no matter what I do or say, you won't," you told him as you slid both hands around his neck interlacing your fingers behind his head.

"You're too much of a good boy," you told him before punctuating your sentence with a kiss on is cheek and disappearing into the night.

Mikey stared awe struck at where you once where.

"..."

"What a woman," was all Mikey could say.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

As the girl bolted to the roof entrance door to leave, Donny returned to his brother's.

"I checked the bag and there was nothing suspicious at all in it. Just a change of clothes, water bottle, wallet, and some snac- wow. What happened up here?"

Raph's face was nothing short of applaud and Leo looked like he wanted to poor bleach in his eyes.

"I don't know and I don't wanna talk about it," Raph told him, "What else did ya get from the bag?"

"Oh. Okay... well, I checked her wallet and found her id. Her name is F/N L/N. I did a background check on her and turns out her dad owns the place and she helps out regularly. She closes up most nights."

"Well that was a huge waste of our night," Raph sighs.

"Well at least we know Mikey's not getting into any trouble," Leo told him as he started leading the way back to the lair.

"What HAS Mikey been getting up to though?" Donny asks him.

"Flirting." Raph deadpanned.

[goblincow]

happy october!! tabletop trick or treat :D? -hmoon

Get TRICKED!

There's a graphic/game designer I met at Dragonmeet last year who designs games as Aethercorp. I thought my business card was pretty good (it is) but his one's even better.

It's a fishing mini game, I'm just going to show you it:

Luke puts just as much charm and attention into all his other work and you should go check out his stuff over at AETHERCORP.GAMES because he's making some really incredible solo LARP style stuff atm and he seems like a lovely person.

[oneheadtoanother]

Try this one weird trick to overleverage your finances and you too can spend 2/3 of your income on rent to larp like you're in Annie Hall

[doubleca5t]

It's so wild that terfs will go "oh, we're just trying to protect REAL women (including trans afabs) from those evil, evil men larping as lesbians to harm women" and then turn around and consistently harass your girlfriend who is literally afab with not the slightest shred of evidence to the contrary for... associating with you? I guess? Like, I don't think you are the one Frenzy should be worried about being harmed by here...

YUP. I've said it before but the thing you have to realize about terfs is that they have what I can best describe as a "high school bully mentality". They don't care about the internal logic or ideology behind most of what they say, they are only *really* interested in making trans people feel bad. So like, at first, when I started posting about Frenzy, I got some terfs who correctly surmised that they are AFAB accusing me of tricking her or otherwise preying on her, or accusing her of being straight or bisexual because OBVIOUSLY no real lesbian would ever date me. But once Frenzy started defending me (and herself) from those accusations, then the line became that Frenzy is also transfem because then they can just use the same insults against both of us. Long story short, "the cruelty is the point" as the saying goes.

[rathayibacter]

Trick or treat 💀

sharing my favorite larp/lyric game/cool fucked up thing to do in the woods at night

ill tell you nothing more than that i need to play this. ive sworn to joe young that we'll be playing this the very first time we're in the same state, and i cannot be swayed from this mission

[honestlyboringperson]

This alliance dissolved faster than sugar in hot water. (Persona 5 AU)

Also I know Bigb and Lizzie have similar outfits and themes and Ren is more red than Pearl, who’s codename is literally just another word for “red”. Eh, oh well.

Southlanders

Team B.E.S.T.

The Scottage + Gem

Magic Mountain + Cub

More under the cut!

Lizzie - “Flora” - The Tower Arcana - Carabosse/Persephone

Once the leader of a sorority and with sky-high academics, Lizzie has since fallen from grace after allegations of foul play were revealed. Even if Lizzie didn’t commit such actions, the label stuck and she has since been outcasted from the student body and now spends her days in the shadows, taking care of quite a few stray cats. Despite these setbacks, she still retains her gleam of authority and tries to help lead the phantom thieves, using some of her old connections & IOUs from her days as an honour student. She’s in an active and loving relationship with a certain former delinquent.

Within the metaverse, Lizzie uses Carabosse. Carabosse is more well known as “Maleficent” or the thirteenth fairy from sleeping beauty. As revenge for not being invited to a party, she curses the newborn princess to prick her finger and die, which another fairy changes to simply falling asleep after pricking her finger. I wanted to combine the two aesthetics and themes Lizzie finds herself in; cutesy fairy and supervillain mastermind.

Her Ultimate persona is Persephone. Persephone is the wife of Hades, and queen of the underworld and goddess of spring. Persephone is often equated and conflated with Despoina, who’s real name isn’t revealed to anyone but those who initiate her mysteries. She is noted to be so terrifying, one must never utter her by name out loud unless they want to catch her attention. This is heavily contrasted by the later interpretations of Persephone as a simple spring goddess.

Ren - “King” - The Emperor Arcana - Arthur/Fenrir

Ren is a prodigy actor at a local theatre, with his acting skills being matched by no one in the theatre. He specializes in dramatic characters with flowery speech and theatrical monologues, to the point whenever he’s in the metaverse, he LARPs as an Evil King. He helps hook the Phantom Thieves up with a weapons expert, who for some reason wears a goat mask 24/7. Upbeat and Loud, he and Skizz helps keep morale high in the phantom thieves. He’s very close with Martyn, despite Martyn insisting he’s just using them as pawns. Whether or not this is true or not is yet to be determined.

His persona is Arthur, namely King Arthur. He is a famed king, known for his sword Excalibur and his large entourage of knights. His story lives on through media, be it through simple books to as grand as whole stage plays. He is often portrayed as a well meaning king who defends the land from both human and supernatural threats. Although his legend has changed throughout history, his story is one bedecked by both tragedy and grandeur.

His Ultimate Persona is Fenrir, a key figure in Ragnarok and killer of Odin. A child of Loki, he and his siblings were foretold to bring the end of the universe and in Odin’s attempt to escape this prophecy, he ends up giving them the power and motives needed to enact the tragedy. In Fenrir’s case, he was brought up the wolf in their home where only Tyr had the courage to approach him to give him food, which sparked a friendship between the two. However, due to his rapid growth everyday the gods made three leg cuffs and had Tyr helped trick Fenrir into putting the cuffs on. When he realizes the trick, he bites Tyr’s hand off. In Ragnarok,he breaks free of his chains and swallow Odin whole, killing him.

BigB - “Spectre” - The Temperance Arcana - Winchester/Eshu

A velvet room attendant who is currently abandoning his duties as an Attendant in the first place. Since the new velvet room manifested, he has since been shirking his duties to explore the outside world, never really returning to the Velvet Room. He still speaks in a somewhat strange manner but is polite and charismatic, making him well liked by the people around him. He initially joins the Phantom Thieves to keep Watch of Grian, as he is aware of his true nature, but eventually finds more reasons he desires to stay. He is especially gifted with persuasive speech and helps come up with alibis for the Phantom Thieves whenever they get into shady business. He has an odd habit of exiting rooms through doors that weren’t originally there.

His persona is Winchester, both the person and the mansion. Sarah Winchester was the wife of the inventor of the Winchester rifle. After she was widowed, she was told she would be haunted by those whose lives were stolen by the rifle her husband created. In order to prevent the ghosts from harming her as well as to possibly contact the ghosts of her lost loved ones, she turned her farmhouse into a strange, maze like mansion with doors and windows that lead to nowhere, stairs that end in ceilings, trapdoors, and barred windows.

His Ultimate Persona is Eshu or Èṣù, a Yoruba Orisha who specializes in divination and acts as a messenger between heaven and earth. He was known to have tricked Ifa out of his secrets of divination, and another where he frees Ifa from his imprisonment within a palm tree and casts him as a founder of the Ifa religion.

[blood-orange-juice]

ok so ive never properly played genshin and don’t plan to but i know a bit about it’s lore and characters and i think it’s really neat. however i have thousands of hours on ffxiv. on that note please explain why graha and childe are similar. i only have very basic knowledge on childe and i gotta know

Fellow ffxiv enjoyer. <3

(anyone asking me about G'raha has a 100% chance of getting a wall of text and I'm not apologising for that. enjoy your wall of text)

I'm not entirely sure I'm not a case of a person with a hammer to whom everything resembles a nail, but I do think they are the same archetype.

Sweet characters who could have been perfect sidekicks (who still are perfect sidekicks) but listened to too many epic tales as kids and found themselves in a wrong place at a wrong time and now have to play a key role in some universe-changing story.

Both are defined mostly by their stubborness, they are not very suitable for the roles they've chosen and fail over and over again until they do it somewhat right (barely).

No matter how badass they look, their power is not their own, G'raha is a glorified technician of someone else's miracle and little else than a living key, Childe wields an art of old Khaenri'ah without fully understanding it. It's all borrowed from someone else who needed them to achieve a goal.

They do look badass, but mostly because they larp. I'm honestly not sure which one enjoys theatrics more.

Civilisations that created the magic they use specialised in perversion of the natural order of things. They try to use it in relatively noble ways and mostly hurt themselves but the flavour is there.

Both are unbelievably tragic and both somehow make their stories seem almost lighthearted. Complete absense of self-pity. I think that's what makes them both so charming, it's a rare trait.

Both have an incredible capacity for loyalty and love and an incredibly twisted view of what relationships look like. "I'll cross time and space for you, I'll die for you, I'll build a city for you, I'll live for you but please don't ask me to share my plans." "I'll sacrfice my own health and respect of my subordinates to keep my brother's happyness, probably my humanity too, but don't expect me to actually interact with him."

Both have something that looks like self-sacrificial tendencies bordering on suicidality while being, if we are honest, a self-serving trait (partially born out of low self-esteem but still self-serving). They want to live in an old myth and sacrificing oneself is a perfectly reasonable price for that.

Huge egos. And I mean Huge Egos. It's a bit less obvious in Graha's case but I know the type, you see guys like that in PhD programs a lot.

Huge dorks. Both of them.

Both are stuck somewhere between human and non-human and, hmm... their ability to remain human is the most astonishing quality of both. By all accounts, neither should have. They somehow did.

Both are incapable of lying to the point where a third of each fandom headcanons them as autistic. Both are somewhat all right with tricking people without technically lying (although Childe had more practice).

Both are secretive because no one would understand anyway.

FF XIV is a kinder story, so it's easy to overlook, but technically G'raha is a case of body horror, accepts the role of a villain for a while and hides from the player way too much. Hmmm... Where else have I seen it. Hmm. Oh right. That ginger guy from Genshin.

Minor things:

Both are little shits and enjoy annoying the hell out of people they dislike.

Abysmally bad fashion sense. There should be a name for this particular type and level of bad. I don't think I've seen this anywhere else.

And then there's the colour scheme. Red+black+white+blue and red+black+light grey+blue (it's an "anime magician" color profile, I think. black-red-white as alchemy colours + blue as pure magic/something elemental). Childe doesn't quite fit but still the combination is rare.

They way they talk. Dear gods. Who the hell talks like that.

Here's where the similarities end.

One is morally grey but ultimately a good guy (technically. I think the point of ShB was that Emet and G'raha are almost the same), another is a morally grey but still (kind of) a bad buy.

At every step of his story Graha is surrounded by people who love or at least appreciate him, Childe is pretty much on his own and surrounded by people who are either shitty or clueless.

G'raha is kind. Truly and astonishingly kind, in a doomed world he chooses to love everything he touches. Silly little priest of hope. Of all the things he has done this is the most wondrous, I think. Not the time travel, not the city he founded, just being able to remain kind after everything that happened to him.

Childe is... well, Childe. I think he is a deeply decent person (to the point of having a visceral distaste for any kind of unfairness) and he's idealistic but he's indifferent more than he is kind. Empathy usually develops only when someone has shown the person empathy first and, as far as we know, he didn't have much of that in his life.

Also G'raha builds things. Childe breaks things. Childe breaks pretty much everything he touches.

One is an archeologist and a mage and another is a warrior.

I think these differences are caused mostly by the settings they were put into. Childe raised in Sharlayan would have been a very different person. G'raha trained by a voidsent and shipped off to Garlean military would look very much like Childe.

G'raha also has a beautiful character development arc. I love his ShB role. He has this huge ego in the raids and is insufferable and then we see an older and wiser him with a bunch of actual achievements and a bad case of impostor syndrome (trying to do anything real always humbles a person, we all know that real world is held together by sticks and scotch tape. honestly, this change alone is beautiful). And he gets to be an actual hero when he abandons all hope to be Important and resigns to die as a nameless villain if it saves everyone and spares his loved ones from heartbreak.

Childe's character development is yet to happen and I'm not hoping for much but we'll see.

The only difference that definitely isn't created by setting is that G'raha is naturally manipulative. In a kind-hearted way and mostly for the sake of better larp but he isn't that straightforward. Childe is spectacularly blunt for all his mysteriousness.

As a bonus, they both compare main characters to stars, but in completely different ways.

"No doubt your heroism will be the star by which I chart my course," says G'raha to the WoL.

Childe mentions the morning star, which is, of course, pretty and a good companion to a lonely traveler, but also it's not a celestial body you can chart your course by.

It's a guy whose signature weapon is called "Polar Star" and his first artifact set was full of nautical themes, so I think he fully understands what he's saying. "You are my friend but I won't change anything in my life for you."

So I don't think his story will be anything like G'raha's, his life took a different turn very long ago. I do think they used to be similar as kids, bookish boys who dreamed of adventure and being special. So it's fun to compare.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk. <3