#PLAYER CHARACTER TAGS

[ravenloftbythelamplight]

what're some fun facts and/or dreadful curses about your party? i wish to hear as many juicy details as u got about these poor unfortunate souls O:

Ohohoho we've only had three sessions but I very much so have thoughts to say regarding the party of four that my players have handed to me. Possibly, too many thoughts, but nevertheless! I'm gonna go through in order of the introductory vignettes from session one for the sake of convenience, talk about my thoughts on each so far, and give some fun facts (and dreadful curses) along the way.  I originally spent a day typing this out in a document on my phone and oh lord this is way longer than I thought it was, apologies in advance for the wall of text-

Kestrel: Out of all the members of the group, I as the DM know the least about Kestrel. This is due to factors mostly out of game, but in game I too would say this is the result of our desert-wandering tabaxi cleric being the most (I say this lovingly and this is the best word I could think to use) "average" among the party. By that I mean he could've very easily been put in with the PCs of a non-Ravenloft campaign and would fit right in, likely even more so than the actual group he's gotten himself saddled with. I, personally, think this is a stroke of genius for a number of reasons. They're the everyman archetype as someone who neither lives in and has thereby adapted to the nature of Ravenloft nor someone not tied to the setting but is still horror-based; a regular, unwitting person with no expectations for the terror that awaits. Kestrel's average-ness, in fact, makes them stand out amongst the other party members. He both sharply contrasts with and balances out fellow setting outsider Lemeia; a contrast that makes their dynamic and fast friendship such a blast to watch. I'm also excited to see how his dynamics with the other two evolve in the next session. So far Kestrel has stood as a neutral anchor-point amidst Brynmor's fear-driven worry, Nocturna's jovial indifference, and Lemeia's eerie fascination: understandably afraid in the face of their current predicament, but for the most part remaining level-headed and curious. I would not boil them down and describe them as "holder of the sole brain cell" because that just wouldn't be true, but he has been a grounded and often inquisitive facet of the group; not quite the voice of reason just yet. They haven't had any particularly big moments to themselves asides from discovering the dismembered mannequin in the kitchen, but I hope to ensure that such won't be the case for long. Fun fact time! Kestrel has an interest in plants! His character sheet has the herbalism kit and a journal of notes on plants and herbs listed in his inventory, and his player inquired on if The House had any potted plants to study during session one. Planning on having them get some in-world translated books on domain-native plants and seeing what they're able to do with that. Unsurprisingly for a character decidedly not steeped in dread like a nightmare-themed tea bag, Kestrel lacks a great deal in possible dreadful curses. However, they were the only member of the party to have been, uh, gently pushed in the direction of The House by shadows rushing past at the corners of his vision. This could come back as something of note, but as of now I'm not exactly sure on a good plan for that. His backstory is likely to, maybe literally, haunt him as well.

Nocturna: Nocturna… ooooh boy oh boy where do I even begin? The party's Lepalï (homebrew from somewhere online I was sent by player) warlock hailing from The Carnival as the child of two illusionist performers is a character that I and their player had discussed many 'a time prior to the beginning of the campaign proper. They are… well, they're a lot, which is quite fitting. If it gives any strong indication: with no prompting or prodding from me, the player had Nocturna sprint head-first into the mists completely ignoring the immediate concern of the other Carnival residents and this act was entirely on brand for both player and character. Additional note, as relayed to me by their player, she has also definitely done this more than once before. Yep. A never-ending fountain of whimsy and mischief, Nocturna has taken the situation in stride; seeing the investigation of The House as a fun adventure rather than a omen of ill occurrence. They've ran off from the party to explore, drawn on the walls, tore a hole in another wall, and solved a major puzzle without actually fully solving it; they're just hear to have fun! Incredibly reckless fun! The whimsy, however, belies the single-minded determination that she has found herself gripped by on multiple occasions over the course of the time spent in the house. Putting others at risk, literally knocking Brynmor over and trying to dig through his equipment, in a desperate bid to pry a basement door open. This aspect of her character hasn't been explored in a lot of detail yet, but it's something that might prove interesting later. Speaking of Brynmor! I could and probably will make a whole post of its own just to ramble about the two's dynamic. Seriously. Solo moments of note include stealing the mask of one of the dining room mannequins, and then a session later punching said mannequin to the ground. Also, the entire mini-saga of double nat-1'ing on trying to open the basement door. Fun fact: They're not only a magician, but also able to draw and play multiple musical instruments well. A performer of many trades! I have a hunch that they might be multiclassed into bard at some point later down the line. Potential dreadful curses, at least at the moment, are more so in line with her patron than anything else. This isn't to say The Carnival doesn't have anything in store, but the most obvious of the warlock business will likely come first. At the moment we're at in the campaign, Azalin Rex isn't actually aware of the fact that he's got an unaccounted-for warlock running around with an object he had intended for someone else to have. This is the lord of Darkon we're talking about though, and he'll have some sort of scheme in mind for her in no time. Whether or not Nocturna actually cooperates is yet to be seen, and the king isn't in much of a position to seek aid elsewhere.

Brynmor: Going in I had little to no expectations for what Brynmor was going to be like. To my absolute delight he has very quickly become a wonderful piece of characterization from his player and an absolute treat to behold. Dragonborn ranger born in Barovia to a mother known in the village of Krezk as a defender and protector against that which lurks in the night, Brynmor has made it his goal to follow in his mother's footsteps and face monstrous threats with strength and courage. He is also an absolute dork and very afraid of the possibility of actually stumbling across something that could harm him or those he intends to help; qualities which are very understandable for an ambitious 18 year-old who's never really left home until now. This guy left Krezk and immediately climbed the goddamn Balinok Mountains in the middle of fucking winter and now he'll never live decision down and I love him for it. In stark contrast to Nocturna, Brynmor has taken every step of the party's exploration of The House incredibly seriously: arguably, depending on your own view, too seriously. He's extremely fearful about whatever it is that must have brought them all to the house, and especially paranoid about it being in the house with them. Incredibly cautious and equally as concerned for the well-being of his newly-found compatriots, but still trying to lead the charge. He's no leader, though, especially not where he's at now. He's reached beyond his means, and I'm excited to see where his ambition might lead him; for better or for worst. Our boy here has had a few good solo moments, of note being his realization that the strange set of stairs at the back half of the house lead nowhere and make absolutely no sense physically, and the absolute terror that realization caused him. Also, just, the way his dialogue is phrased a lot of the time is really fun. Final fun fact: One of the times in Brynmor's inventory is a old, worn book of nursery rhymes (via the horror trinkets table in the 5e VRG). The player and I have decided that this was a book that his mother would had read to him often as a child, and that he brought it along on his journey up the mountain as a keepsake. Dreadful curses is the name of the game when it comes to the mists and for Brynmor this is no different. Knowledge of undead creatures and sinister forces has been passed down through his family and onto him: one such piece of knowledge being the true scope of Strahd von Zarovich's status and power as a vampire. What Brynmor doesn't know is that his family has been a mild thorn in the lord of Barovia's side for some time, his grandparents having been the sole surviving members of an adventuring party pulled into Barovia by forces unseen many years before the beginning of the campaign.

Aaand that's it that's the whole post-

[800db-cloud]

i’ve been wanting to do this since day one

[lelelego]

waiting and waiting

[aq2003]

has anyone gotten the idea that odysseus' storyline in hades 2 is a depiction/exploration of trauma over his SA and how he's blaming himself for things that were out of his control? because that's the impression i'm getting from what i've seen. he talks about "goddesses" as his "greatest weakness" and that "he's not one to say no to them"...

when mel invites him to the bath, he brings up mortals having different standards for intimacy than gods and how it usually has a more romantic/sexual connotation. she then asks if he's uncomfortable and he has a startled reaction and brings up circe and calypso again (but never actually by name)

(this isn't ship/romance bait btw. odysseus knew mel as a kid and they're stated in-game to have a sibling/uncle-niece relationship)

also he grew apart from penelope after his return, but the game makes a point of showing that his love for penelope and telemachus is what drove him on at all so that element of his character isn't brought into question

[sincerely-sofie]

Alright. Going to play more Slay the Princess now. Y’all’s reactions to my worst theory yet scare me. Have some fanart to enjoy while I dive back into the insanity.

[rosie-kairi]

I once saw the face of God, a vast and sudden Silence against the noisy heavens. That evening I dreamt I listened in on one side of a conversation I should not have overheard. I do not watch the skies anymore. I Do Not Look Up.

I don't remember where I first saw this quote, but I thought it was a banger so I drew a little sketch comic of it. Months later, I finally decided to finish it.

(khux text font downloaded from here)

[kerosene-in-a-blender]

It's been interesting now that Dorian's back to watch certain segments of the fandom fixate on the idea that he's more than his relationships and claim it's reductive to focus on those aspects of him. Because on one hand, I agree that he's a complex and interesting character on his own; I've written several lengthy meta on him because I just think he's neat! On the other though, it feels disingenuous to claim that people focusing on how he relates to others are somehow belittling his character, because he's one of those characters whose relationships are deeply important to how he moves through the narrative.

He's very other-centred! His morality is focused on his friends and their well-being above all else, to the point he's made some noticeably Not Good choices or suggestions (Making his deal with Lolth; suggesting the group kill all the Pumats in order to get the magic items in the shop) for their benefit. The thing that initially caused him to leave Bells Hells wasn't any need to go on a personal journey, it was because he had to keep his brother safe. What brought him back was that the Sendings he got from Orym after the Solstice made it clear that he needed him. Even mechanically, he's a bard, the sole true support class in 5e. And the way Robbie plays him as such meant we didn't definitively know his subclass for months because he prefers to use his uses of Bardic Inspiration to buff his allies rather than to use Blade Flourishes. How he relates to and supports people is a massive part of his character and trying to erase that erases a large part of what makes him a nuanced and interesting character in the first place.

[fastidious-and-a-mess]

i think a lot about iwatex lore and story stuff outside its context of Video Game

like, it’s coded into the Video Game that kom always dies and there’s nothing you can do to save him. but in-universe? i don’t think fate or predestiny is a big thing here, bc it’s a time loop and sol’s whole life is different every time, so i often think about an In Universe fluke timeline, where something different happens and kom survives. anemone gets to grow up with her older brother and she doesn’t become a soldier and sol gets to see what it looks like for her to have a happy life.

and then it never happens again. sol can’t figure out what let kombucha survive in that loop, and they can’t ever recreate it, and he never survives again. that was the only loop where anemone was actually genuinely happy, and the guilt of its eats at sol in semi lucid moments of loop-awareness.

[ai-no-kokuhaku]

happily married

[zheida]

[project-sekai-facts]

How are we feeling about ensekai’s emu3 translation!!! (I’m mad)

(if you remember the 3 whole posts i made when asahi got de-gayed on EN you'll know i am mad too and that this is probably going to get long)

i don't like to be too cynical but it was so obvious that they were going to change that line, i had a feeling since the event first released on JP and after the incident with Asahi where I went through and tracked down multiple other examples of EN removing queer subtext it became clear to me that in no way shape or form was "emu-chan really loves nene-chan" making it to EN without getting changed. what i didn't expect was them changing Nene's line after Luka's comment, which actually makes this whole situation far worse than many of their other instances of toning down queer subtext.

for anyone who isn't aware of what happened, in chapter 5 of the current Emu event, there's a scene where Nene, Rui and the Virtual Singers are talking about what would cheer Emu up. The vsingers all talk about how much Emu loves spending time with Nene, leading to the following exchange

If you look for them, any fan TL of this scene will be something similar to this:

Luka: ...Fufu. Emu-chan really loves Nene-chan, doesn't she? Nene: Th-that's nothing special...

EN's official translation is this:

So what's the issue? I'll start with Luka's part. In the original text, she uses the word daisuki, which can mean to "like a lot" or "love". It's a word you will see frequently in the idol/idol-adjacent genre of games, due to its ambiguity in that it can be read as either platonic or romantic when used towards a person, and often will be used in ambiguous situations so that it's harder to confirm the writers' intentions either way. so here, fans of the emu/nene ship could view the fact that emu loves spending her time with nene as more on the romantic side, but people who don't like the ship could view it as platonic and move on.

while they didn't translate daisuki directly, Luka's line still works, and still contains the ambiguity that works as ship tease in the original text. it's a perfectly fine localisation that still conveys the original intent. despite that, there is something to be said about EN's consistent refusal to translate daisuki as love in most instances when it's not used on An/Kohane (but then again, EN has literally teased An/Kohane on their twitter account so is it all that surprising?).

Here's some examples:

Aibou no koto ga daisuki de / he loves his partner -> he cares about his partner very much (The Power of Unity chapter 7 when Kaito is comparing Arata to Akito and Toya)

HARUKA-CHAN, DAISUKI DAYOOOO!!! / HARUKA-CHAN, I LOOOOOVEEE YOU!!! -> You're the best!!! (Dear Me, As I Was Back Then chapter 4 when minori is at an ASRUN concert. this one isn't actually that great of a localisation)

Honachan no koto daisuki dakara. Kore de iinda yo. / I love Honachan, so this is fine. -> I want what's best for her. And this is it. (Leo/need main story chapter 14 after Saki tells Honami she won't bother her anymore)

Minna daisuki de - taisetsuna tomodachi na no / I love them all - they're my dearest friends -> They're all amazing, and very dear to me. (Leo/need main story chapter 17. this isn't good either)

What's particularly amusing about that last one is that there's a second official translation for it that I assume was done by JP staff (since EN never promoted doing the Journey to Bloom subs like they did back when they provided subs for Petit SEKAI) that actually keeps the word daisuki as love.

Yeah. I love all my friends - and they mean the world to me.

It's a better localisation than the official EN team one.

Questionable localisation choices aside, Luka's line is fine and is actually in line with the original. The issue with this localisation very much lies with Nene's part, because that is an entirely new line.

In the original text, Nene's "that's just normal" or "that's nothing special" or however you choose to TL it, is meant to be her questioning Luka's statement, since all the things that the other vsingers said that Emu liked were pretty normal things like going shopping and playing video games with nene. To Nene, these things are normal activities for them to do together, so she gets embarrassed by the fact that Luka concludes from that information that Emu loves Nene. When I dissect it like that I think you can really tell what the writers were going for here lol.

"That's just us being friends" does still convey the idea that Nene thinks these activities aren't anything out of the ordinary and she isn't sure why the vsingers are picking these out as some of Emu's favorite things to do, but it's very different from the original line. "But those are just normal things we do together" is something I just came up with on the spot, but it's a lot closer to the original text and still conveys the same meaning. The fact they changed the line to "that's just us being friends" is, honestly, not even subtle that they're covering up queer subtext. The original scene was very clearly written in as ship tease, and EN mentioning "friends" for no reason, especially since the word nor anything close to it was not used in the original, is instantly a red flag because it's like the go-to for queerbaiting and censorship. This was intentional. There was no need for them to specify that the relationship is platonic, Luka's part is ambiguous for a reason so that fans can view it how they like.

Just to top all this off, here's Rin's original line just before that Luka+Nene interaction:

Oh, and! And! She said that playing games with Nene-chan is also super fun!

And here's Rin's line from the official EN translation:

That's not the same thing, but even more weirdly, the incorrect part (super fun->really loves) is a correct translation for the part changed in Luka's line. So, they can do it, they are willing to say "really loves", just not in the right places. Maybe because Rin's part is less personal than Luka's part? It's strange actually, this isn't the first time they've done this either. Off the top of my head I can think of an example from Shiho's Varied Kindness 2* story where they translated the word "suki" as really loves, despite that being much stronger than the original word used (and the fact that daisuki is used a lot in the Leo/need stories and it's incredibly rare if not entirely unknown for them to translate it correctly).

It's not subtle that they're trying to remove implications of the characters possibly being queer, they did it in curtain call and they did it in walk on and on, and multiple times before then too. And considering some of the content in this year's events and the amount of times they say daisuki alone, it's gonna keep happening. honestly i hate the fact that i keep trying to justify the translations in these posts. these translations are intentional. what happened in the curtain call translation back in october says enough. when a character who uses explicitly romantic language towards another guy passes as a straight character in the translation you know they're doing it on purpose.

oh and once again, it's only the EN server that has this issue. The scene in question was translated almost word-for-word on the TW and KR servers.

read fan translations. they're better than what EN gives us and people put a lot of effort into them.

[duhragonball]

Daima 06: Lightning

Centipedes? In my rations? It's more likely than you think!

Last time, Goku's group set out for the next leg of their trip, when the plane crashed. Apparently it wasn't that big a deal. Panzy concludes that they put too much luggage on board, which kept the plane from flying very far, but it didn't actually do much damage. Panzy recommends they leave a bunch of their supplies behind and she'll give the engine a look and they can be on their way.

Okay, I think there's a growing consensus among fans that Daima is slower-paced, and maybe this is setting up a controversy over whether this is a good or bad thing. Maybe the honeymoon period for the show is winding down, or we're just far enough into the series for the audience to realize it's probably going to be this way from here on. So I'll go ahead and weigh in on this.

For my part, I think the pacing is fine. It's different from the other shows in that you don't have this constant reliance on filler to pad the runtime. We're not checking in on King Kai to see what he thinks about all of this, or sending Goku on a fetch quest that ends up becoming a plot cul-de-sac. Instead, we're mostly laser-focused on this one set of characters on a journey, and occasionally we'll switch over to Gomah or Bulma's group on Earth, and pretty infrequently too.

But Daima does its own padding for time, and it does it by lingering a bit on things that probably don't need quite so much time. Conversations take a bit longer than they need to. The running gag where Goku gets Glorio's name wrong. The fight scenes are a tag gratuitous, but I think everyone gives them a pass because they're good. Still, I don't think anyone was worried about whether Goku could win that barroom brawl. If this show had half as many episodes allotted to the same plot, I'm pretty sure they could cut a lot of material and get the important stuff to fit.

I don't mind that much, because this relaxed pace kind of reminds me of reading the Dragon Ball manga. By that, I mean each episode kind of feels like a manga chapter, and not that much gets done in a single chapter. You might have several panels of characters getting to know each other, and then just enough exciting stuff to make the chapter feel worthwhile. Actually now that I think about it, it's a lot like my experience reading the Jaco the Galactic Patrolman manga. It's like twelve chapters, and the first five or so are very focused on introducing characters and situations, so it really doesn't pick up until the end, and even then, it's still quite low-key. But it's so good that I didn't mind it. It was just really chill. Daima feels a lot like that.

That having been said, I do find this plane crash between Episodes 5 and 6 kind of a cheap way to waste time. King Kadan described all the extra provisions he loaded onto the plane in Episode 5, then the plane started to go down and Panzy said it was the excess luggage. Then in Episode 6 the plane lands and Panzy repeats that the luggage was the problem, and she lists all the supplies all over again.

Then Panzy gets out her tools to run a diagnostic on the engine, but instead of actually working on the plane, she asks the Supreme Kai what his whole deal is. And that's fine, but it starts to wear thin in places. Like, they could have just had this conversation on the plane and gotten wherever they're going. The plane crash just adds time, and I'm not sure how many more times they're going to pull that trick before it gets old.

Nevertheless, I'd rather watch these characters talk about themselves outdoors than on the plane, so I'm not too worked up over it. But I can already tell this is going to be a focus for Daima critics in the future.

I like the way Goku explains the Supreme Kai. He tells Panzy there's a "bunch of god-like guys called 'Kais.' And the greatest one of them all is Supreme Kai-sama here!" and he gives him a hug while he says it, like he's bragging on a pal, which I guess he is. I just think it's nice to hear Goku's perspectives on all of his friends.

Panzy's impressed that Shin is a god, and that he made a smart move leaving the Demon Realm to take the job, but then she finds out he doesn't get paid, so it sounds less impressive to her. This kind of raises more questions than answers. Does Panzy even understand what a god is? Also, it seems pretty clear now that Shin and all the other Kais were born in Demon Realm and left to become gods in the Outer Universe, but how did that work? Did Grand Zeno put up a help-wanted sign? Were their other overseers that the Glind replaced when they became the Kais?

I just always assumed these guys were some sort of weird feature of the design of the universe. Like, there were always Kais running things, and they were literally born and bred to carry out that role. But no, they're just Demon Realm expats who showed up to work one day. If the universe functioned without them before, then why do we need them now? Hopefully this series will answer all of this.

Anyway, Goku's gotta poop, so he just announces this to everyone for no reason. He farted in Episode 3, so I have this sneaking suspicion that this show is going to do a lot of Goku poop-and-fart stuff as we go. That might be a good idea, as it keeps the show from getting too reliant on "Goku's hungry" gags. GT did those a lot, and it got pretty ridiculous. It got to where Goku would complain about being hungry right after he got done eating. If he said he had to poop half the time, at least it would cut the hungry gags down to a manageable level.

Anyway, Gomah's troops show up while they're waiting for Goku, so Glorio and the others have to play it cool to get rid of them. Glorio claims to be from the First Demon World, and Shin from the Second, but since Panzy's from the Third, they want to scan her collar, which she has under her scarf. Gomah apparently made all the Third Worlders wear the collars to make it easier to collect taxes from them, but he didn't implement this policy elsewhere, since the goons aren't too suspicious of Glorio or Shin. They find the idea of tourists traveling around the Third World strange, but let them go. Oh, and they ask if they've seen a kid with spiky hair and red pole, because there's a ten gold coin reward out for him.

Goku returns when they leave, and Shin suggests that Goku tie his hair back or something. Goku says his hair is too resilient for this. Oh, right, there was that Super episode where he had all that hair gel in it, and his hair sort of broke loose like when the Incredible Hulk rips through Banner's pants legs but not the crotch. Panzy asks if Goku washed his hands, and the answer to that question is no. Goku, that's nasty.

The gang take off again, and Panzy asks Shin if it's true that Glinds are born from trees. Shin confirms this, so I'm glad we're not doing away with that lore. I was seriously beginning to wonder if Toriyama forgot about all that stuff, or if he was dumping it in favor of new lore. Of course, this is all news to Goku, so the Supreme Kai explains how his kind are born "once every few centuries from the Glind Tree". There's a flashback to show this, and we see these trees with big purple trunks that are all fat on the bottom, and the newborn Glinds are in these holes in the bark, just hanging off of stems from their backs.

Also interesting to note: the Glind buildings and vehicles in this shot look a lot like Namekian houses and ships. I don't know if that's intentional, or this is just Toriyama's aesthetic for this sort of thing. I always thought Majin Buu's house looked a lot like Namekian architecture, for example.

So does that make the Supreme Kai and the other Glinds plants? I never really thought of it that way, so Goku raises an interesting point. Shin says he "doesn't know about that". I feel like there ought to be a firm answer to this, one way or another. Goku also asks if this is why Shin only drinks liquids and never eats, but Panzy jumps in before he can respond. I feel like we've seen Shin eat before, but oh well.

Panzy wants to know about Degesu, who works as Gomah's second-in-command. Is he Shin's brother? Yes, because he was born from the same tree about 216 years after Shin. Are all of the Glinds brothers, since they're all born from the same tree? No, because there's five Glind Trees. Kibito and the Elder Supreme Kai must have been born from one of the others.

Panzy wants to know why Degesu remained in the Demon Realm instead of leaving with the other Glinds? Okay, this implies that there was one Glind migration out of Demon Realm, and Degesu chose not to go. But for this to work, it must have happened after Degesu's birth, which is well after Shin's.

The thing is, Kibito is much older than both of them, and the other Supreme Kais from Universe 7 are even older still. I'm talking about the ones who fought Majin Buu and Bibidi like five million years ago. The whole point of all that was that Shin was the rookie Supreme Kai, implying that the others had been doing the whole god thing for a lot longer.

And then you have the Elder Supreme Kai, who's much, much older still. He claimed to be the Supreme Kai from fifteen generations prior. I'm not even sure what that means if they were all born from the same five trees. Maybe it just means there were thirteen Supreme Kais between the Elder and the current Supreme Kai. But Shin reigned as Supreme Kai for at least five million years, so these aren't short terms in office.

I'm not too worried about this, because I have to assume we'll get to an episode that explains the Namek and Glind exodus from Demon Realm. They keep bringing it up, so it must be important. And I guess this is what I mean when I say I don't mind the slow pace of this show. There's still a lot to look forward to, even if it's just characters swapping lore.

But back to Degesu, Shin says that he was very ambitious and didn't get along with the other Glinds. That doesn't seem like much of an answer to me. Then again, Shin came along on this mission because he hasn't seen Degesu in so long and he really doesn't know what he's been up to after all this time. He may not know a whole lot about him in the first place.

Panzy asks about a Glind woman who's a genius scientist, and Shin confirms that this is Arinsu, his older sister. Or, more accurately, they're siblings, since Glinds don't actually have genders, so they're not "exactly men or women."

Again, I had heard this about the "Core People" before, and I'm glad they didn't toss out this lore. I've never quite understood it, though, since the Elder Kai is big horndog, and the Supreme Kai of Time once got a big crush on Bardock in Xenoverse 2. Arinsu has big ol' titties, and I don't know how you get those if you grow from a tree. Like, none of these guys have anything to do with sex at all, right? The trees might have freaky deaky alien tree sex, but not the Glinds themselves.

Then again, I guess this is all just fantasy stuff, and I might as well be asking why Arinsu has nostrils or ears. There must be some magic that makes these trees grow people, and maybe some of them end up with big ol' titties or a magnum dong or both or neither. But until today I kind of figured all of the Kais were just completely smooth down there. Like they didn't even have buttholes.

Perhaps they modify their bodies at some point in their life cycle, and some of them present as man or women just out of a personal preference or some sense of fashion. This might explain the Supreme Kai of Time's transformation where she gets really tall and shapely. They all sit around figuring out what they want to look like, like they're screwing around with a character creator mode in a video game. Chronoa's like "Yeah, I want my base form to be all smol and cute, and then my super form's gonna have a big ass and big-ass titties."

Wait, maybe I'm onto something. The Supreme Kai gave Goku those pointy ears with remarkable ease. Maybe that's not a special weird power that only gods have. Maybe all the Glind have it and they do it to themselves all the time. Degesu just gives himself a third testicle for a week to "see how it rides."

Anyway, we don't learn anything new about Arinsu in all of this. She's a mad scientist who also stayed behind for the excitement of Demon Realm, but this was already known.

Night falls and Panzy explains that it's perpetual twilight on Third Demon World nights because there's two suns. Glorio wants to land and make camp in a cave for the night, and Panzy hates this because she wants to shower. Goku's like "skill issue, just never shower, like I do."

While Goku sleeps off dinner, Panzy asks why Glorio says he's from First World, when he looks like a Third World guy. He claims that he got hired by someone in First World, so he currently lives there. Who hired him? He deflects the question. Shin asks why he wants to defeat Gomah, and he claims it's because Gomah is evil, but Shin finds it odd for a Majin to have such a defined sense of justice.

Anyway, we find out exactly who Glorio's working for, because he phones up Dr. Arinsu while the others are asleep. But Shin hears him return to camp, so he clearly knows something's up, even if he doesn't know what.

By early morning, a minotaur comes out of the cave they're sleeping in, and he plans to eat them all. Apparently he stinks really bad. Goku isn't scared because he thinks the guy is a cow, so he doesn't get why this guy thinks he's on the other end of the food chain. Normally this is where Goku would kick some ass, but Glorio volunteers first, and Goku's like "Uh, I'm the main character, I should fight this guy." But Glorio doesn't see it that way, because he doesn't think Goku's that much stronger. Well, there's only one way to settle this, so it's on.

Yeah, the minotaur gets reduced to a spectator, and it's Goku vs. Glorio. Goku's impressed with Glorio's abilities, but we all know he's not trying very hard. Finally, Glorio whips out some purple lightning powers, and Shin asks Goku to fight harder so he can see the true extent of Glorio's power. I guess he figures that'll help him understand Glorio's agenda better.

So Goku fights harder, but Glorio manages to knock the Nyoibo out of Goku's hand, and he prepares to fire some big finishing lightning move. Goku decides to try something out, and he turns Super Saiyan. He did this briefly in Episode 5, but now he's staying in that form, and just stands there and lets Glorio shoot at him so he can try to deflect the beam. And he does. He just throws out his hand and it dissipates on contact. Goku does a little self-satisfied "Hmp!" and then snap-vanishes behind Glorio and puts his hand on his back. Fight's over, Goku wins.

This is a really great way to introduce Super Saiyan into the series. This is very likely the most iconic aspect of Dragon Ball. Maybe the Kamehameha clears it, but I don't think there's much else that comes close. So it's hard to imagine viewers who don't know anything about the form, but they're still out there and they need to know. So we have Goku fighting in base form, and then he decides to use it, not to win a hopeless battle, but to do something cool in a sparring match. Base Goku could probably have done something else to defend against Glorio's power, but Super Saiyan Goku can just tank the thing and get past Glorio's guard all at once.

It doesn't give away the entire Super Saiyan experience. It's a power up, and it shows a lot of promise, but here, it's just one of Goku's many techniques. The full extend of it can be shown off later. It's still an open question how well Goku can fight this way. He's been de-aged, and the environment in Deamon Realm slows him down further, so it's possible that he can't use Super Saiyan as long as he could before, or maybe he can, and it just doesn't give him the same boost that it normally does.

Also, it's just really cool to see Goku enjoy showing it off. He does this cool smile when he finishes transforming, and he looks all badass when he blocks Glorio's beam, and he's grateful that he can still do it in his kid body. "Yep, I'm whatcha call a legend, nbd. The missus doesn't like the hair color, but what're ya gonna do, right?"

Oh, right the minotaur. Well Goku hasn't forgotten him, but the minotaur suddenly remembers that he had a big dinner the night before, so he's too full to kill and eat these guys like he said he would, so he goes back to bed. Well, that's a shame. Maybe they should swing by this cave on their return trip.

Goku poop update: He has to go again.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, Vegeta is doing reps on the Lookout while Bulma finishes the Supreme Kai's old plane. They all pile in to follow Goku to Demon Realm, but Bulma… stays behind? That's weird. Anyway, the ship lifts off, then immediately breaks down. It didn't even get twenty feet into the air. So that's another plane crash cliffhanger for you. I sure hope this show finds a more reliable mode of transportation soon.

[gotmyass2marz]

kinito art dump from the past few days

[underwaterbanshee]

I'm just going to say it.

I love how unbalanced the first half of the final battle turned out to be simply because it highlights how important a tool failure is to becoming a full person able to contribute meaningfully to the team.

The Rat Grinders have level twenty abilities but no practical experience using them because they haven't failed in any of their adventuring. Jace or Porter has taken the danger away from the onset of every encounter and just given them the experience and so they don't know how to work the battlefield.

It isn't even about the number of times the Bad Kids have died and come back or tripped over their own feet. Fabian and Fig both got separated from group and had really bad things happen to them during Sophomore Year that resulted in encounters where they were out of spells, abilities, strength, you name it, and had to problem solve creatively until they could get out of really dangerous situations.

I'm not going to list the miracles of Saint Kristen Chilis Applebees because this post would just never end but her miracles were always the result of something failing and her seeking a creative solution.

Riz might not get caught swiping student files now but he was caught sneaking around Hell and compromised a Celestial Undercover Op by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Gorgug has been told he'll never be smart enough his entire life. How many times did he fail with his tech checks in Freshman and Sophomore year before he got to reroll his intelligence stat block?

Adaine, who became elven oracle at fourteen, who had panic attacks all through Freshman year until someone told her she wasn't her anxiety and had a mental illness that could be medicated.

Failure is important because it teaches us how to solve problems and to take that away from children--teenagers especially--who are in the cusp of adulthood, will have consequences.

And in a world where teenagers are the ones going on adventures and saving the world--those consequences are terrifying.

So much of this season (inside and out) has been about fair, unfair, and what exactly do children owe the world that takes advantage of them and at what point do teenagers become complicit in the harm they are perpetuating. I don't think there is a perfect, nuanced answer that will satisfy everyone.

But I do think, we need to let our teenagers fail, and that somewhere, between the Bad Kids and the Rat Grinders, there is a way to do it so the world doesn't end because Arthur Auegfort decided not to return on the second day of school.

[cokalee]

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[ldshadowdoodles]

[204] La Femme Rose

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