#Persona 5 character referenced but not appearing

[starsandauras]

Prompt 8: Imprint

FFXIV 30 Day Writing Challenge Prompt 8: Imprint (Extra Credit/Free Day) Welcome (or welcome back, technically) to Streamer AU Sunday!

“You didn’t tell me Aymeric was your tattoo artist,” Alisaie mock grumbled as she filled out the intake paperwork.

Aymeric laughed softly, a hand curled just in front of his mouth, and Brigid’s own laugher all but covered it up. “Only one of me artists, darlin’,” she soothed, brushing her hand over Alisaie’s hair. “‘Sides, he’s enjoyin’ the surprise.”

“When people learn the heir to the Borel house has a ‘day job,’ none expect this,” he added, blue eyes twinkling behind reading glasses.

Haurchefant passed behind, collecting Alisaie’s identification and taking it over to the copy machine. “It’s the suits, my friend, they cover up all my hard work!”

Alisaie handed Aymeric her design for the man’s perusal and sighed in thought, looking around the parlor. Flash designs ringed the room, and three convertible chairs were set up, each with plastic covered trays next to them. Thick portfolios sat on Aymeric’s desk, each one bursting with previous work from the three artists in residence.

They had been a recommendation from Brigid, who sported several of her own tattoos, all carefully hidden under her clothes. Most were done by Haurchefant, but the one Alisaie had admired most, the dagger down Brigid’s spine, had been done by the artist she was meeting today.

“Fascinating,” Aymeric murmured, eyes running over the design. It was a stylized rose, leaning against a fencing sabre. Something about Aymeric’s tone caught Haurchefant’s attention, making the man lean over his shoulder.

His eyes widened slightly, taking in the details. “Yes indeed,” he agreed, reaching out for and being handed the design. “It does certainly suit you, my dear. Quite lovely work, but I don’t believe this is your brother’s?”

Alisaie shook her head, settling back into her seat once Haurchefant returned her ID. “Not for my first one,” she replied, looking around the room again. “A friend owed me a favor, and put me in touch with Yusuke Kitagawa.”

Both artists looked up sharply at that, eyes wide, and then as one looked back down at the drawing. Haurchefant lowered it slowly, as though it had suddenly become something of reverence.

“A Kitagawa original,” Haurchefant breathed.

“I was under the impression he wouldn’t do tattoo designs,” Aymeric agreed.

Alisaie huffed softly. “Give that man enough freedom and feed him a few times and he’ll do anything out of gratitude.”

“Who’ll do anything?” came a Doman accented voice, and the group looked over to the door to find the third of the three artists in residence entering the building.

Brigid waved and smiled brightly. “Mornin’ Hien~!” she cheered, and Hien smiled just as brightly.

“Ah, my lady Bri!” he nearly cheered, quickly going over to the others. He took her hand and dropped a gallant kiss to the back of it. “Back so soon?”

She laughed and pulled her hand from his, only to pat his cheek gently. “Oh no darlin’, just bringin’ you a new client.”

Hien chuckled as he turned to face Alisaie. “Miss Alisaie, then!” He bowed, and Alisaie scrambled out of the chair to do the same. “An honor to meet you, I’m Hien Rijin.” They rose at the same time and Hien gestured for Alisaie to sit, then put his things away.

Then he turned, and his eyes fell on Alisaie’s design. He blinked, then looked at her. “Is that a Kitagawa?” he asked, eyes wide. Brigid just laughed softly.

Alisaie nodded, leaning back and crossing her legs, hands hooked on the top knee. “Which suits your art style, judging from the work you’ve done for Brigid.”

Hien nodded, nudging Haurchefant out of the way to get a closer look. Haurchefant breathed a laugh, but moved easily to stand behind Aymeric. “A fair amount of detail, but not so much it would be unrealistic to transfer to skin… you said in the booking you were looking at a shoulder placement?”

Another nod, and Alisaie turned to offer her left shoulder. “I thought my non-dominant one, to make healing easier?”

Hien glanced up and nodded, before looking back down at the artwork. “Should curve nicely, but we’ll have to play with it a bit. Hopefully Kitagawa won’t mind, he’s usually so protective of his art.”

“Overprotective, one might say,” Alisaie grumbled, making Hien laugh.

“You’ll have to tell the tale of how you managed to get your hands on this, then,” he said, standing. “Come, we’ll make the stencil and begin preparations!”

Alisaie looked at Brigid, who nodded with a smile, and the two women stood, Brigid following Hien to his workstation while Alisaie was pointed to a small changing room to get her clothing situated.

[thedemonofcat]

As I immersed myself in the books, watched the show, and even played one of the games, I couldn't help but wonder about the immense popularity of Jaskier among the fan base. Joey Batey's stellar performance in the Netflix series undoubtedly plays a significant role, but that only accounts for his portrayal in that specific adaptation.

Then it struck me.

When it comes to Jaskier, very little information is actually known beyond a few minor facts.

This is everything currently known about Jaskier

1.) Jaskier is an important character, largely depicted through his close friendship with Geralt, which forms a central aspect of his interactions.

2.) A talented bard, Jaskier received his education at Oxenfurt academy, where he graduated with the highest honors as a Master of the seven liberal arts. This suggests that he possesses intelligence beyond what he often portrays.

3.) Originating from the town of Lettenhove, Jaskier holds the title of Viscount, and his true name is Julian Alfred Pankratz Viscount de Lettenhove. The specific location of Lettenhove on the map, however, remains undisclosed.

4.) Jaskier is known to have numerous romantic partners, as the Netflix adaptation even confirms his involvement with both male and female individuals.

5.) Jaskier's loyalty to Geralt knows almost no bounds, and he is willing to make great sacrifices, even risking his life, to ensure Geralt's safety.

6.) Remarkably, despite being one of the few human characters, Jaskier seems to defy the aging process. This intriguing aspect of his character is not just a casting error in the Netflix series but is also referenced in the books, where his youthful appearance compared to his actual age is mentioned

The enigmatic nature of Jaskier's character offers a captivating canvas for fan creations. With limited canonical information, fans can freely explore various backstories and headcanons. Some popular fan theories propose that Jaskier is more than just human, potentially having ties to a non-human lineage. Others imagine a tragic past, where one of his parents, often his father, was abusive, and he grew up with siblings.

In the realm of fan fiction, creative minds have woven tales of Jaskier's immortality, delving into the reasons behind his agelessness. These speculations and many more allow fans to shape Jaskier as a blank slate, utilizing the scarce details available to craft diverse and compelling narratives that align with their own interpretations of the character.

This artistic freedom empowers fans to explore the depths of Jaskier's persona and invent their unique perspectives, making him a versatile and captivating figure in the realm of fan works

[skyflyinginaction]

How to Design a persona Soejima Shigemori style.

What are personas? Persona is Latin for a mask, in Jungian terms Jung described the persona as a kind of mask designed to make a definite impression on others and used to conceal the true nature of the individual.  the Persona series takes this concept and twists it. The term persona means mask but rather than a mask to conceal one’s true nature the personas are used as manifestations of the user’s personality used to face hardship.

The personas in the series’ physical representations are rooted in myth, legend, and story. The appearance of the persona comes from the sea of the collective unconscious where mythological archetypes dwell; this is referenced by the fact that personae are tied to the human soul.

Personas based on the human soul are true since personas are the manifestations of the user’s will and manifestations of the soul’s conviction acting as both swords and shields to wield a persona in the persona series all it takes is a strong conviction and self-awareness of the user. Personas are the soul’s natural conviction. To summon a persona requires willpower.

The thing that defines how to summon a persona is having a strong conviction and self-awareness. The series goes out of its way to explain that personas are summoned by the genuine conviction of the user. Persona 3 is about facing the reality of death, Persona 4 dares to face and accept the truth as it is, and Persona 5 is about having a rebellious spirit that faces corruption. The thing the games have in common is that what is required to summon a persona is a strong conviction and self-awareness.

There were a lot of videos and posts that explained what the myth behind the persona has to do with the character summoning it.  This post isn’t about the writing of the persona. This here is about how to design a persona for your character. This post is for people who are struggling to know how to create personas for their ocs. this post serves as a basis for you that might get you an idea of what to do in designing personas

One thing about the persona series I find fascinating is how the personas are designed. Something is interesting in the way Shigemori designed the persona for the game. As Shigemori stated  The two basic approaches he took in designing persona one is focused on the original myth and legend of the persona and two is the image of the character summoning the persona. Shigemori looks to the original myth and looks at sources for inspiration for personas.

Another thing I noticed in the ultimate personas is that elements of the first persona are still seen in the final personas. The first persona served as a basis for the ultimate persona of the elements of the character from the first persona are passed over to the ultimate persona. This is seen in the appearances of the ultimate personas bare some resemblance to the first persona since this is what the ultimate personas are from such stuff from the first persona was carried over to the ultimate persona and is visible

Alright, We will start to look at Shigomori’s creative process of how he designed personas in the series by looking at the personas down below this post are about to elaborate on the steps needed to know how to design the persona that Shigomori took with persona a lot of words will be taken from artbooks and interview used to explain personas in this post. The post will be divided into two segments, one the first is about examining the designs of the personas in the series and how to make them.

Let’s dive deep into the sea of souls.

Persona 3

Orpheus

Orpheus’ design evokes several elements from the myth. The lyre on Orpheus’s back references the myth in how Orpheus is seen with his lyre, the lyre Apollo gave him, also in that Orpheus is a traveling minstrel like what he is in the myth. The shape of the lyres resembles the chair which the protagonist is sitting on in the velvet room.  The speaker on Orpheus’s stomach and the dots on his chest come from a music stereo that correlates to Orpheus being related to music.

Orpheus’s head is human but everything below the neck of the lower body is replaced by metal prosthetics. Orpheus’s lower body is mechanical with the squires near its armpits are there to emphasize his mechanical body

The lower body being mechanical with his head being human is a reference to how Orpheus ripped apart by the maenads with his head untouched with his head and lyre remaining. These are the two things that are shown in the design.

The head is the only part that looks human. This references how his head remained intact after the maenads slew him by being beheaded.

The red scarf is used to hold its head in place this is a reference to his severed head that remained after its body was ripped apart or it could be a reference to the headphones the protagonist wears around his neck

Looking at Orpheus’s head his face bears the same resemblance to the Protagonist’s face which notes that Orpheus is the main persona of the protagonist. Some personas can match the same physical appearance of their wielder which would explain why Orpheus’ face looks like the protagonist’s own face.

Now for the female protagonist’s persona, The design of Orpheus has the same design as the male protagonist Orpheus but has a few differences the persona Orpheus that the female protagonist wields has a lot of feminine features in its design with the heart-shaped lyre and long brown hair and sports different colors. The female Orpheus colors in its design complement the male protagonist persona Orpheus design fitting since they are both the protagonist of the game sharing the same persona. The face of Orpheus resembles the female protagonist, the brown hair is a reference to the female protagonist’s hair color, the long hair of the persona notes the female protagonist’s long hair tied up in a ponytail.

The reason why Orpheus’s design looks different when the female protagonist is wearing it is because the user’s preconceptions of their persona can influence the persona’s appearance. The persona of Orpheus is the female protagonists’ preconceptions projected on them.

Messiah

Messiah is the ultimate persona of the protagonist and a fusion of two personas Orpheus and Thanatos, The design has elements of both personas in its appearance such as Messiah’s face resembles Orpheus’s and the lids on a chain resembling Thanatos’s coffin cape these two things in the design notes that Messiah is a fusion of Thanatos and Orpheus.

Messiah bears the same design as Orpheus but unlike Orpheus Messiah spots a new body in his design, appearing human-like this notes how he suffered torturous wounds during the lashing and crucifixion the new body is a new body after the resurrection

The coffins chained to the messiah’s arm that he is bringing the souls to offer salvation, references how Jesus brings salvation to his followers by sending their souls to heaven.

There’s one thing about the design : the pose, Messiah is looking up with a hand on his chest as if he is praying.

The Messiah in the design is hanging on a cross which is how Jesus hung on the cross. This references the Protagonist’s fate as the great seal having the same pose as Messiah in his design.

Hermes

The mask of Hermes’ head is a winged helmet: the gold helmet with wings adorning it is the same winged cap that Hermes wore which he is often depicted within Greek mythology.  

One small detail there is an h on his neck referencing the h in Hermes’ name.

The segmented gold plates of wings attached to his hands and feet resemble Hermes’ winged sandals with the wings evoking the image from the myth of the wings on his sandals.

the clothes in hermes design resemble a toga which points out the Greek influences of the design.

Trismegistus

This design carries a lot of elements from the previous design such as the letter on his chest and harboring the same shape of Hermes design but he has a new color scheme. Trismegistus is a fusion of both Hermes and Medea, the bright red and gold color scheme came from Medea to show how her persona blended into Hermes the design resembles that Madea and Hermes are a fusion.  

The many wings that were added in the design are to show that Trismegistus is greater than Hermes.

Another thing was was different is that Trismegistus’s helmet is replaced with a bird holding the philosopher’s stone in his mouth; the color red is the color of the philosopher’s stone which is seen in the design. Trismegistus’s helmet and armor are a reference to the Ripley Scroll which details the creation of the philosopher’s stone, a legendary creation that can transmute lead into gold referencing the gold accents in the design. Trismegistus is both Thoth and Hermes, Thoth has a head of an ibis which explains why he is now displaying a bird’s head. The design’s appearance references that Trismegistus is a fusion of Thoth and Hermes; the bird helmet and wings reference the bird of Hermes.  The Ripley scroll makes references to the bird of Hermes and the additional wings he gains reference that he is a phoenix, the golden phoenix from the Ripley Scroll, which is a symbol of the philosopher’s stone.

Io

Io’s pink dress references Yukari’s pink sweater, and the persona’s blonde hair notes Yukari’s light brown hair

or the reason why the hair is blonde could be about her Greek roots since the hair in Greek art is usually depicted as blonde.

The pose of the persona has Io sitting with her feet and hands chained and bound within a bulls head references how she was trapped in the form of a cow by Zeus to hide her from Hera the persona trapped in cairns reference to how Io was transformed into a cow.

The position of the person in the cow could be io waiting to be rescued from her transformation. The bottom of the cow is the astrological symbol of Taurus the bull.

Isis

The thing that passed over from Io’s design is the Heifer, if you close it has the astrological symbol for Taurus the same one as the Io persona design. Isis is depicted as the same entity as Io, this might be due to the cow since her scared animal is a cow. The face is transferred on the cow in the design references to Isis cow head Isis in Egyptian art is depicted with a heifer for a head.

The pointy horns enclose a red disk and the wings are in the design. In Egyptian art, Isis was depicted with a Sun disk and outstretched wings.

Isis has a lot of Egyptian art style in her design, this references the origins of the myth that Isis came from which is why the entire design had a lot of Egyptian elements.

Penthesilea

There’s an interesting detail in the design: both of her breasts are metal plated and one of her breasts has a spiked plate. Amazons would sacrifice one of their breasts to allow for greater movement when holding bows and spears; this would explain the iron metal breasts in her design.

The outfit in her design, the cravat she wears reminds us of nobility and upper class references her noble status; the crown on top of her head signifies her status as queen of the amazons. Her face is replaced by an iron helmet. This is a reference to the myth of her face being covered by the helmet that covered her face until it fell off when she was slain.

She is wearing an armored corset with her entire torso encased in armor; this again references that she is an Amazon and the Amazons are a tribe of warriors.

Penthesilea has armed with swords a reference to Mitsuru’s character which is Mitsuru’s weapon of choice herself a rapier.

Penthesilea is based on a knight. Her head in her design a knight helmet and an armored corset reflecting knights armor the armor and helmet were taken from knights. To top it off the persona is wielding swords, swords are weapons wielded by knights swords have been seen as honorable weapons by knights this is a reference that Penthesilea is an honorable warrior of the amazons who wishes to die an honorable death in battle. knights are seen as courteous and honorable warriors this references how honorable she is. Knights are warriors of highborn status and armor which references that she is an Amazonian queen.

Mitsuru shaped the design of Penthesilea which would explain why the design has many European influences

Artemisia

Artemisia’s design retains the same design aspects as Penthesilea. There were a few elements from the previous design of Penthesilea that are visible in Artemisia like the metal breastplate and armored corset and cravat from Penthesilea design now transferred to Artemisia design. The persona wears an elegant dress with armor Artemisia wearing a combination of dress and armor infers that she is a warrior queen.

The golden epaulet on her shoulders and waist references the epaulet shoulder pieces that are worn by rulers and people with noble status referencing that she is a queen.  The helmet no longer covers her face now has a masquerade mask, masquerade balls are hosted for people with noble status; a masquerade mask infers her high status as a queen. The mask showing her face can reference how Mitsuru learned how to stand up for her wants and desires.

People said the persona came from Queen Artemisia of Caria. In reality the whole Artemisia design is based on Artemis. Artemis was considered a hysterical goddess:  the spiked epaulet on her shoulders and waist in her design references this aspect of her which would explain the whip; the whip allows her to dish out punishments when she is offended.  The dog on her belt references the myth that she transformed a mortal into a stag who saw her bathing and then killed by his hunting dogs. But it could also reference how Artemis is depicted with dogs in Greek art

Lucia

The blonde flowing hair can reference her Roman origins or the art she was depicted in. The pink lace dress references that she came from a wealthy family in the legend

The lower half of her body is a giant orb, the glass sphere bears similarity to the shape of the eyeball.

The bandages wrapped around her eyes and throat reference to how her eyes were gouged out and her death by the sword by her throat.  The bandages wrapped around the eyes and throat of the persona are inspired by the horrific injuries dealt by the guards to Lucia and how her eyes were gouged out and her throat slashed. Another legend could be that she gorged her own eyes to preserve her faith.

In the design in how the persona is fixed on the ground, she looked like she was praying this pose could be a reference to how Lucia knelt and prayed for salvation.

The guards could not move Lucia since she was fixed to the ground. She was so heavy she could not be moved. Not even the team of oxen tried to drag her from the streets; she could not move from one spot.

I found this inspired to why the persona’s position is stuck on the ground.  

Juno

Juno’s design has elements of Lucia’s design carried over as she has the same kneeling pose as Lucia and her dress resembles Lucia’s dress but with a few changes.

Juno harbors the same hair as Fuka fitting since she is Fukas persona, she spots a frilly red dress and frilled thick headdress fitting the majestic depictions of Juno since she is the queen of the gods. Juno has a mask with multiple eyes; the eyes on the face reference the peacock eyes in her design which allows her to spot her husband’s infidelity.

The peacock feather in Juno’s design references that the peacock is a symbol of Juno and is the messenger of Juno seen in the peacock wings in her design.  the peacock feathers on her back look like the wings of a guardian angel, which references that Juno is a guardian angel for a woman who watches over a woman’s life and how Juno protects the Roman empire

The lily on the belly is a symbol of femininity referring to Juno as a god who governed women. The rounded sphere in Juno’s design of a pregnant woman’s belly reference that Juno is the goddess of motherhood.

Palladion

The mechanical design of the persona is inspired by Aigas’ mechanical design. the mechanic aspect of the persona reference to how Palladion was a wooden statue of Athena. Palladions, a man-made object that is worshiped for the deity similar to Fit and Aigis, is a man-made object designed to look human. Palladions’ mechanical design references Aigis’ personality from the beginning  that Aigis is an anti-shadow weapon not having any emotion outside of her program only following orders. Palladion is a visual reference to Athena it relates to Aigis’s character as seen in the mechanical design

The Palladion turning into a gun with the gun resembling a spear points out that it’s an object of protection just like how the Palladion is said to protect the city of Troy, an object that from Pallas Athena protects the city. The mechanical aspects are used to protect Troy.

Athena

The design of Athena is Palladion turned into a real Athena but some elements from the previous persona passed to Athena’s design. First is the pose that Athena had passed over from Palladion. The persona is no longer mechanical but human, symbolizing Aigas becoming more human which is incorporated in the human-like design of Athena.  

The design of Athena has her dressed head to toe in armor with flowing white robes with a centurion helmet she is armed with a spear and shield, her weapon of choice is a spear which would show that in her design. The shield circled Athena is Athena’s shield called the Shield of Aegis where Aegis’s name comes from, the shield she wields the design is identical to the artistic depiction of Athena which is captured perfectly.

Polydeuces

Polydeuces wear chest armor that Resembles boxing gear armor that boxers wear this could note on how Polydeuces had a boxing duel with king Amycus.

His right hand is shaped like a tank cannon shell which references Polydeuces was known for having an iron fist a term in boxing referencing the boxing match in which he won. Polydeuces is muscular to reference his warrior background

His having a small head and an overdeveloped body is a reference to Sanadas’ immaturity.

Caesar

The design has a heavy resemblance to a Roman emperor, which is reminiscent of the attire, armor, and weaponry of a Roman emperor and the laurel is a crown on Roman emperors. Caesar is a title bestowed upon the rulers of the Roman Empire which would explain why the design looked a lot like a noble and valorous hero.  

the sword in his hand in the air ready to strike It represents sheer power that would strike down anyone with just a swing, and the globe in his other hand is the people in the world the power over the world that it swore to protect

The little guy inside of Caesar’s chest represents the idea that Caesar is Rome itself and the small figure perched on the seats is reminiscent of the physical seats of Rome’s Senate.

Caesar represents the power Sanada gained as well as the maturity to consider how the power is used. The design goes hand in hand with Sanada’s maturity and the influences that created it.

Castor

Castor is the twin of Polydeuces; they have a similar design to each other. He shares the same body type and hair as his brother both share armor references there skilled warriors minus the color scheme to emphasize he is the twin of Polydeuces. Castor’s face is pale and shrunken and has black in his color scheme; the black references his death.

the spear embedded in his chest reference to how Castor was fatally wounded by his spear.

Castor is riding an armored horse referencing Castor and his brother was renowned horsemanship.

Nemesis

The persona represents Ken’s motivations at the beginning of the game; the robot’s appearance in the design suggests it can act without morals and emotions. the black in its design is meant to match Nemesis’ sinister traits like raining vengeance down on others the widest grin on its face looks as if she enjoys dealing out punishment the circle that wraps around the face of Nemesis symbolizes the circular motion of retribution which is highlighted in the phrase what goes around comes around.

Kalanemi

The designs of the two personas are both robots.

Kalanemi has a planetarium theme, the planetarium theme in the design used to explore space which explains the projector and astrological symbols in the design. projectors in Planterians project the stars, all seasons are determined by the position of the zodiac; the astrological symbols in the design reference the kala semi as a spirit of the stars who observe the zodiac in the sky.

The wheel-like structure around the main body points out that Kalanemi references the circular motion of the persona; the design is based around a wheel of time which explains the circular aspect of the design.

Kalanemi is the spirit of the zodiac encircling the universe and references the arms in his designs the two arms represent the past and future tied together.

Cerberus

Cerberus has a demonic theme to contrast with the angelic flavor of Koromaru’s design The demon wings on his back are a callback to the angel wings on Koromaru. The persona is wearing a collar with a chain on it to evoke that Cerberus is loyal to Hades, sometimes depicted as being chained in mythology.

the tridents on his feet  tridents are common imagery associated with devils they are seen carrying this tool which reference he is a dog of the underworld.

Hypnos

The design of his persona is a young man with two protruding wings out of the veins of his back. The veins on the back could be a reference to how we see veins on eyeballs when someone is tired.  

The persona’s drowsy posture appearing to be lazily hanging looked like he is sleeping,  fitting since he is the god of sleep.

The wings in the design reference the god Hypnos who is commonly depicted in Greek art wearing wings on his shoulders.

Medea

The ram’s head in her design references the golden fleece that Jason sought. There is a bit of a fire aesthetic in her design with the red flames accents on her legs and arms, the fire in her design reference to how Medea burned with rage after she was betrayed.

The goblet with fire reference are items to use to perform magic; this is a reference to Medea, called a witch the dagger referenced how she killed Jason’s wife and children for revenge for her betrayal.

Moros

Moros’s design has been composed of time-keeping symbols, the clocks are considered bad luck in Asian cultures which is fitting since Moros is the god of doom. The top-like shape references that moros is in constant motion like a spinning top. Why the design looks like a top is saying who reaches their eventual end. its robotic appearance references how it reveals one impending death in mythology.

the cybernetic appearance reference Jin who is a hacker skill in technology since he specialized in the internet

the satellite imagery references Moros’s relation to the moirai there knowledgeable of fate, NASA satellites capture the birds-eye view of Earth and send back outer world information to scientists like weather forecasts or predictions of fate just like how Moros can foresee their death

Persona 4

Ooh boy this is going to be difficult. I am not an expert on Japanese culture, so I am going to end up botching my explanation due to how limited my knowledge is. Since the persona is based on Japanese mythology there are going to be Japanese cultural references sprinkled in but an explanation of this will come off as confusing since this is explained by Westerners’ perspective I will try to explain it to the best of my ability.

Izanagi

Izanagi is designed by being the man’s man, the man’s man reference that  Izanagi is the main male figure of Japanese mythology. Izanagi is the father deity from the Japanese creation myth. He birthed the gods alongside Izanami.

Izanagi’s design is based on the male Japanese cheering squad member which might explain the long white belt at the back of its head and the strap tied in the back. The belts and straps resemble white ribbons that a cheering squad member wears.

Izananhi is wearing a gakuen, gakusen are something that male students wear in Japan. The sharp edges and slits on Izanagi’s feet are based on the tengu geta, which is something delinquents wear to express more freedom. This aspect makes his design based on a Japanese delinquent.

the knife that Izanagi holds is a reference to the pike in the traditional Japanese art of the pike Izanagi had,

Izanagi in Japanese mythology is armed with a pike which was used to create the Japanese archipelago.

knife and swords symbolize adulthood in Japan, young men carrying a knife make them feel like men’s, knives are given by adults to use responsibly.  This in part could be a reference to Yu in how he leads the investigation team, Yu was given the wild card ability and is placed as the leader by his friends to lead the group.

Izanagi’s design is based on the protagonist Yu himself, with they both wearing the same Gakuen and the long black coat is reminiscent of yus open school uniform the outfit resembles yu narukami since it’s a persona born from his psyche.

Izanagi is designed to be the man’s man with all the elements of masculinity.

Izanagi no Okami

The design has elements from the previous carried over like the long coat and knife from his previous design as well as the belts and straps from the previous persona design, he now sports a white suit.

The long bit in his design with the pointy bits looks harder and sharper. This is supposed to make Izanagi no Okami look tough and masculine since pointy things emphasize masculinity.

In the design wearing a suit and necktie the necktie and suit is something grown men would wear going to work this represented the growth and maturity of the protagonist in the game.

the white in the design is a reference to the purification process that Izanagi when he came out of the underworld and  

The knife that Izanangi no Okami is carrying is the blade of Totsuka which is used to kill Kagutsuchi.

Jiraiya

Jiraiyas’ design is based on Yosuke’s preconceptions and personality. Jiraiya’s simple design references Yosuke’s limited imagination and preconceptions there are elements of the designs that reference Yosuke himself.

Jiraiya has a frog head, the frog head references how Jiraiya has shapeshifting magic to turn into a frog in Japanese listeria. The shurikens on his hands and face are the weapons ninjas use to call back that Jiraiya is a ninja.

The long scarf in Jiraiya’s design references the scarf that ninjas wear in culture. The scar is something that heroes wear which makes Jiraiya designed after Yosuke’s version of a superhero. The design is a reference to Yosuke in some ways like him wanting to be a hero which is why Jiraya looks like a hero which is the red scar in the design.

The camouflage patterns at the end of his pants and gloves reference his shape-shifting abilities or that he is a ninja someone who uses camouflage gives the ability to blend in the background this relates to how ninjas sneak around hiding in the shadows.

The persona design references Yosuke himself in many areas such as the eyes on top of Jiraiya are shut and sleeping references Yosuke was bored living in Inaba. The huge golden smile on his chest is a reference to how Yosuke acts in a goofy and aloof manner in dealing with situations that is his way of dealing with life. The gold smile is a mask that he uses to deal with the world around him. This part is shown in the design.

The jumpsuit that Jiraiya wears is a rubber exterior a toy has and Soejima gave him joints that resemble old toys of superheroes. This in part refers to how Yosuke views and treats his persona as a toy that he can use.

Susano

The design of the persona still had the same jumpsuit but was replaced with red gloves and boots. The two persona designs are based on Yosuke’s perception, even the main elements of the design are what he thinks the persona looks like. Susano is still designed to look like a superhero since Yosuke pictured him as the coolest hero ever. The design is filled with stuff Yosuke thinks is cool. The goggle glasses are a reference to one of the things that look cool.

The color of the jumpsuit changed, the color blue in the long-sleeved jumpsuit referenced him as the god of the ocean. Susano has a turbine around his neck and one around his body with hair blown upward to look like a fan is blowing it up. The belt has a fan on it even the thing around his body looked like gear from the fan Susanos design had fans because fans create winds like Susano creates storms the god of the sea and storms have elements of wind in his design the details notes that Susano manipulates storms.

Tomoe

In Tomoe’s design, she has long black hair that Tomoe is described to have in the legend. (Another reason why Tomoe has long black hair is chies admiration toward Yukiko.)

Tomoe’s outfit is a yellow and black jumpsuit. This is a homage to Bruce Lee since he sported a yellow and black jumpsuit from the movie the game of death. This represents Chie’s love of martial arts in Tomoes design with Brue Lee as chies favorite martial artist and it’s incorporated in her design.

Tomoe carries a double edged naginata the same one Tomoe wields in the legend, her waist lined with armor the one that mounted samurai wear during the war. The pointed helmet and samurai armor reference Tomoe as a female samurai.  Tomoe wears a full-face standard street bike helmet which was influenced by Soejima’s love of motorcycles.

Tomoe has muscles in her design she Is muscular with defined abs and leg muscles. The muscles are incorporated in her design to emphasize her strength since she is a powerful samurai from the legend Tomoe is a legendary female samurai who was known for being powerful and courageous. Her muscular design references this.

The helmet is smacked with lipstick. Both the lipstick and long black hair emphasize femininity. The yin and yang symbol on the side of the helmet could be a comma which is a comma swirl used in the Japanese mon which tomoe is named after.

Suzuku Gongan

The design elements from Tomoe passed over such as having the same pose and the color scheme in the persona changed. the color of the jumpsuit changed to black over a yellow jumpsuit,  the beams of the nigatana got longer and her black hair now turned white, her helmet changed into a kabuto helmet to have more of a lopsidedly pointy at the end and has extra armor was added to the arms.

The helmet on Suzaku transforms into a samurai kabuto helmet, and an off-road bike mask this is supposed to convey Suzuku’s outrageous toughness and her great power.

Konohana Sakuya

Sakuya’s design is based on femininity to make her a visual pair to Izanagi’s design. Her outfit is based on a cheerleader match with Izanagi’s male cheerleader. Sakuya’s outfit is based on a cheerleader with cherry blossoms resembling pom poms on a cheerleader. Sakuya stands as the epitome of femininity which is why she has these things visible in her design such as cheerleaders, pompoms, cherry blossoms, and the color pink.

Sakuya’s design is littered with cherry blossoms why do cherry blossoms go with her design Cherry blossoms are a prominent symbol in Japanese culture the flower represents Japan itself Sakuya is a goddess that represents Japanese life and sakuya’s symbol is a cherry blossom which is decorated in her design. Her emblem is a cherry blossom which you will see sprinkled on her design.

Her helmet is lined with cherry blossoms and cherry blossoms are bound to her wrists the chain connected to both hands is lined with long sakura petals, this is a reference to one legend in which she trapped herself in a doorless hut in which she set on fire to prove her faithfulness.  

Amaterasu

The design in the persona harbors the same pose but has a few differences now Amaterasu is holding a sword, and the blade she is wielding is the Kusanagi no Tsugi from the myth.

Her body seems to have a silhouette instead of a detailed body, the reason why her body looked like that is because it’s supposed to convey that the overflowing inner light is so bright it blurs the outline of her body the bright outline of light reference to Amaterasu being a sun goddess who shines down on everyone. the detail is a reference to Amatarsu being the goddess of the sun who is known for being so bright.

Her hands are now bound with the Kyokujitsujikosho, the emblem from the order of the rising sun. Japan is called the land with the rising sun which is why its emblem is designed for the rising sun the metal symbolizes energy as powerful as the rising sun. It is said that emperors and rulers have said to come from her which makes Amaterasu called the goddess of Japan.

Himiko

The antenna on the Himiko’s head in her design is used to pick up signals from others, and antennas are used to broadcast television pick-up frequencies which is a reference to Himiko’s shamanistic powers to how Himiko communicated with the dead shaman and how Himiko ruled over the lands and with her powers. Her head is based on a modern tv antenna which represents her power and matches the tv motif of the game.  

A satellite antenna head also references how Himiko’s identity is unknown. In fact, many scholars doubt she existed. Her face being covered in her design can be a reference to this.

The goggles are Himiko’s crown, a reference to how she is a ruler.

Himiko wears a long flowing white dress that references the white ropes that shamans were known to wear in ancient times. How the gown covered her legs and is difficult to move in a long dress. This design details notes that Himiko is a support-based persona; this is referenced that Himiko is not fit for joint battles, which is seen in how difficult it is to move in her dress.

Himiko’s body is Rise’s idea of the historical figure. It looks like Himiko’s body is entirely covered by her white dress since Rise is always seen as flirty and naughty. Himiko covered up means she is pure.

Kanzeon

The long dress is inspired by Himiko’s long gown but into a striped pattern and has a slit. Both himiko and Kanzeon are not designed for joint battles as evident in how their long robes wrapped around their legs retract movements; this notes that they are both personas that are skilled in only gathering information.

The antennas honeycomb pattern is a reference to the shamanic practice of divination through turtle shells there are many antennas added to her body, I pointed out in the previous design himiko’s design how antennas are used to broadcast television pick-up frequencies the antennas pick up information and send it back her this and the many antennas reference to how Kannon can hear and see all of the word and suffering.

Take-Mikazuchi

Take-Mikazuchi’s design is a large black mechanical android with a skeleton painted on it. The painted skeleton is a comical effect, the flashes of a person’s skeleton are a common effect when someone is hit by a lightning bolt.

The personal arms have massive generators on them and generators are used to produce electricity. due to how robots are run by electricity, the electricity, and robots share a connection to the kami of thunder. The lightning he carries resembles a sword since he is also called the god of swords in mythology; these all details in his design reference that Takemikazuchi is the god of lightning.

The skeleton paint job on the persona matches up with kanjis shirt, despite trying to look manly His persona looked somewhat comical to match kanjis goofiness

Rokuten Mao

The elements are passed over from the previous design. Rokuten Mao still has a robotic design but a different color scheme and added bits, the design is based on Oda Nobunaga with the point bits on his face is the Nobunnaga mustache and the round piece on his head represents his helmet he carries a sword with flames. The flames on the design note how Nobunaga was burned to death.

Sukuna no hikona

The design of Sukuna has visual elements of issun boshi, Issun Boshi is based on the god Sukuna.

Both Issun Boshi and Sukuna have small statues which are incorporated in their designs; the sukuna small size in his design is a reference to Sukuna being a dwarf god.

The insect wings and Athena are a visual metaphor that note that Issun Boshi is the size of an insect which may be why Sukuna has bug-like features.

The small laser saber is a reference to the small wooden pick in the tale that issun boshi wields.

The clothes Sukuna is based on classic anime boy detective boy heroes and old tokusatsu heroes with sukuna wearing shorts over bare legs referencing retro boy characters who wore short shorts. Sukuna’s clothes are reminiscent of detective Conan with him being a small child in a blue suit with short shorts reference to the fictional Detective Conan’s clothes the detective boy outfit in its design references this.

The detective clothes on Sukuna reference since Naoto is a detective, sukunas design references Naoto’s desire to be one of the cool detectives in the future.

Yamato Takeru

The pose in the design has the same pose as the previous one but sports a pointed helmet.  the things on his back looked like a cape that came from Sukuna’s wings. The sword that Yamato is wielding is the Kusanagi no tsurugi the same one that he wielded in the legend.  

Yamato wears tights dressed in a military coat and has a rapier striking resemblance to Oscer from the Rose of Versailles Oscars outfit this design aspect notes Both Oscar and Naoto, who both are beautiful cross-dressing girls. This is supposed to be a reference to the legend of how he dressed as a handmaid to infiltrate the enemy but also Naoto who dressed in boys’ clothes.

Kintoki Douji

Kintoki Douji was designed based on retro toys like Teddie, Kintoki Douji is designed based on the image of Kintaro dolls; its body resembles a Kintaro doll. The round shape in its design looks like a Kintaro doll or teddy depending on how you look at it. the small horns in the head design reference Kintaro’s monstrous strength

Kintoki Douji has a blue cape. Capes are used to express heroism. Kintaro is known as a hero in folklore.

Kintoki Douji is carrying a missile in his hands. Why is the person carrying a missile? Well, it’s a pun that you see. In the myth Kintaro is always seen carrying an ax called a tomahawk which the persona is holding is called a tomahawk missile. That detail in the design is a visual pun on the tomahawk, the tomahawk missile derives from the tomahawk axe that Kintaro carried in the legend.

The design of a red metal ball lined with gold is a reference to the common red bib Kintaro wore with the kanji for gold written on it. kin is translated to gold in Japanese and comes from Kintaro and Kintaro means golden boy in Japanese

The symbol of a person’s belly are the letters Au, which is the symbol of gold in the periodic table. This references the kanji on Kintaro’s bib. The handle on the persona’s belly is a handle wheel from a vault, vaults are used to store gold and money. This other detail is another visual reference to the kanji ki in Kintaros name.

When you turn the wheel there is nothing inside that references Teddie’s zipper in the game when you unzip there’s nothing there. That aspect refers to how Teddy doesn’t know who he is. But this design aspect notes teddies true nature and that Teddie was just a shadow but became a bear to find a place where he belongs there is no gold in Kintoki Douji there was no Teddie in the first place.

The design Kintoki Douji is based on stupid jokes referencing Teddy who makes stupid jokes and bears puns in the game.

Kamui

The elements of the previous persona have been passed over with the round metal ball, cape, and missile. It has a bear flavor to it and sees with the claws and with bare feet kamui is the Ainu god of bears this is referenced in the bear claws in the personas design. The smiling face that was added on the stomach references Teddy’s own face.

The missile on the persona’s back references the ceremony of worshiping involves shooting a baby bear to death with arrows to return it to the heavens to Kamui. The missile is an arrow sticking into Kamui in reference to the arrows used in the ceremony The missile is replaced with a Strela rocket in his design the design is a reference to the bear festival in Ainu.

The metal ball looked like a space shuttle pod from a space rocket. The face looked a bit like a rocket due to the pointed nose on the stomach. The design looked like a rocket ship being launched into outer space referencing the Ainu bear festival of sending a bear back into the heavens.

Persona 5

Arsene

The design of the persona has pointed fingers and devil horns; this is an element from the previous persona that was supposed to be the protagonist persona, the German demon Mephistopheles. This was the original idea that would be the protagonist’s persona but the elements of this persona were incorporated into his designs as seen with the pointed fingers and devil horns. Some elements from the previous persona are incorporated in his design, looking demon based as a reference to Mephistopheles. Another is that Arsene is an anti-hero in the novel which could be seen in his sinister and demonic appearance in the design.

the red in the design notes the game’s main color, but also fire since the color red is symbolic of fire and passion which is used in Arsene’s face within the mask is depicted as a burning flame referencing the passion in the game

In this design Arsene is accompanied by a silk top hat and a Victorian gentleman outfit that is reminiscent of depictions of Arsene such as the top hat and black suit and white ruffles as well as the overcoat. Arsene was an archetypical gentleman thief you can see with his top hat and is designed as a fictional gentleman burglar designed around the trickster archetype in his design

His cape is shaped like black wings, the wings evoke the image of a thief’s cape insulating a thief can go anywhere the Wings represent the freedom of a thief on how a thief is allowed to go anywhere.  the stitched heart on its shoulders references the thieves of hearts

Satanael

There is something about the design of Satanael that has been passed over if you see the shape of his design

Satanael shoulders and legs have the same shape in Arsene’s design; that was one thing that was carried over which is seen in the design.

In Satanael’s clothes, Sataneal wears a royal uniform with a red sash which is fitting since he’s the king of hell the ruler of the demons. Satanael has a gold mask with curved horns attached. The mask could be his gold crown; these both things reference that Satanael is the king of demons.

There is a halo with angel wings flying around his head that notes his status as a fallen angel in Gnosticism. Satanael has a set of demon wings but still has feathers on his wings this is a reference to his fall from grace As a fallen angel Satanael is still an angel as seen in his demon wings.  He is an angel who rebelled against a false god to give freedom to humanity; his attire references he is still noble in that regard for that purpose.  Satanael is the Gnostic version of Lucifer though he is still considered a devil in his design to make that sure.

Captain Kidd

Captain Kidd’s entire design resembles a cartoonish version of a classic pirate you would see in the media. such as an eyepatch skull and crossbones and a prosthetic limb. The design has the jolly roger motif, the jolly roger is a skull and crossbones some of which you would associate with pirates the hat, and eyepatch in the design have the jolly roger on them. His head is replaced with a skull and has two cutlasses on his collar if you look at this closer the cutlasses attached to two chained anchors are a reference to the bones which makes Captain Kidd’s head a Jolly Roger.  Captain Kidd wears a long privateers coat and a captain’s hat which infers that he is the captain of the ship On his hand is a smoking cannon which is replaced with a traditional hook hand.  Captain Kidd’s skull head references the skull mask in Ryuji’s thief attire

Captain Kidd stands atop a jet-black ship conveying that he is a manned crew capable of destruction standing on top of his pirate ship conveying that he is wreaking havoc. the face drawn into a ship is something Ryuji meant to draw which is an element of Ryuji’s character sprinkled in.

Seiten Taisei

In the design, some elements of captain kidd have been passed over such as the angry cloud that came from the painted face on the ship.

Overall the design heavily resembles the classic depiction of the monkey king in Chinese stories that is with a staff riding on a cloud. Seiten Taisei is wearing the outfit he was depicted in Chinese art.

Seiten Taisei’s golden headband switched into a helmet with a mohawk sticking out of his head. The chains on his chest might be a reference to how he was imprisoned under the mountain as punishment. The cape over his shoulders can reference how he forcefully wanted respect from the heavens; the cape is him wanting to have respect from others.

The mohawk and staff with the nails sticking out looked like the Exact weapon that delinquents carry along with the mohawk, the type of hairstyle that delinquents style.  Seiten Taisei was considered a delinquent due to the amount of trouble he caused in the heavens with his mischief.  This design aspect is a reference to Ryujis weapon of choice he uses in his phantom thief attire, there is also the part that Ryuji is considered a delinquent as seen in the design of his persona

The interpretation of Seiten Taisei is based on the golden snub-nosed monkey which is seen in the design. On the funniest note Ryuji was called a blonde monkey in the game.

Zorro

The entire design of Zorro is close to how the original Zorro appearance is depicted. All of Zorro’s trademarks in his design are seen in the cape, swords, and mustache depicted in a black attire clad in leather pants, cape, riding boots, blouse, leather gloves, and a flat-brimmed hat. His waist is adorned with the letter z on his belt references the z slash he does with his sword

Zorro is designed to contrast with Morgana’s size. the small body houses a big attitude

Zorro has a balloon-shaped appearance this is supposed to note how Morgana doesn’t know who he truly is he

is someone who talks big but has big insecurities

Mercurius

The design of Mercurius captured the exact depiction in Greco-Roman art. In the design Mercurius is holding a caduceus, a medical stick that has wings on his feet; this is a reference to the caduceus and winged sandals. The wings are placed in Mercurius’ eyes which refers to the winged helmet he wears. The pose of Mercurius looked as if he was running like how he is depicted in the art.

Mercurius sports a jumpsuit that has an astrological symbol for mercury which is the same symbol for the god Mercurius hanging a Zip slider at the chest opening of his jumpsuit. The blue in his clothing hints at Morgana’s true origins as someone who was created by Igor from the velvet room.

I believe that Mercurius’s outfit in his design resembles a thief’s costume, the mask over the mouth is something thieves wear this is a reference to Mercurius being the god of travels and thieves. The gold wheels on the shoulders since wheels are a method of transportation traveling this reference that Mercurius is the god of travelers.

Carmen

The design of Carmen embodies the fem fatale archetype since she is depicted as a classic fem fatale who uses her allure to manipulate the men around her. Carmen’s spirling twin tails reflect Ann’s hairstyle this references that Ann is the one summoning her Carmen’s mask is a leopard mask Soejima designed to evoke a leopard’s personality as well as resemble Ann’s mask as Panther. The cigarette in Carmen’s mouth references the time she spent at a tobacco factory.  

In her design, Carmen’s low-cut frilly dress is reminiscent of Spanish and Romani design; this notes that Carmen is Romani; there is cultural influence to where the legend came from in her design.  You will find roses in all aspects of her arrangement with the bouquet of roses that sits on her waist the dress itself resembles a rose with its spiraling frills look like petals the dress has many layers like a rose and a bouquet of roses decorated on her waist carmen’s dress is designed to resemble a rose which often represents the femme fatale personality beautiful but deadly to coin the phrase “every rose has its thorns.”

The men on her feet are the men she seduced that are connected by a thorny stem. This references how she ensnares anyone with her looks and traps them.

The last thing in her design is the hearts on her corset and boots referencing the lover’s Arcana

Hecate

Elements of the previous design are seen in this design, with Carmen’s twin tails passed over as seen in two long head tendrils.  

Hecate has three sets of eyes, one on her head and two on her face, Hecate is the goddess of crossroads the past present, and future she is depicted as a three-headed goddess who could see in all three directions which the three sets of eyes are a reference from.

The dogs at her feet reference the myth of how Hecate is accompanied by packs of barking dogs; this may be why they look like angry dogs. Also looking at the dogs there are three of them.

The two long tendrils on the head in the personas design look like devil horns Hecate was associated with the underworld which would explain why her design took up a more sinister devil-like appearance the spiked outfit that Hecate wears might have come from megatens previous designs.

The cape looked like the mouth of a snake, with the spikes at the end of her cape as fangs and the three eyes resembling snake eyes. One of the Hecate symbols is snakes which are seen in her design.

Goemon

Goemon’s design is the result of infusing kabuki Goemon and Yusuke art styles, Goemon facial structure, makeup, and hair references to ukiyo paintings. Goemon is the main subject of kabuki plays which is incorporated in the design of Goemon. Since Goemon is Yusuke’s persona It has elements of Yusuke as seen in his style as an artist in the design of his persona. Yusuke’s character is inspired by a Japanese painter named Utamaro Kitagawa who is also a Ukiyo painter. The cloth on his chest is a letter g referring to the g in Goemon. The letters IXICAVA are located on his sleeve; it’s based on IXICAVA Goyemon which was transcribed as his name by Pedro de Morejon.

The ropes tied on Goal One’s back are shimenawa this Is seen in Japanese culture where most characters in the media have a shimenawa tied to their back.

IXICAVA is also placed on the back of his cape and the number five if you look at the Go part in Goamons name is pronounced as five in Japanese.

The design between Goemon’s fingers, it’s a kisuru or a Japanese smoking pipe, it’s a common depiction of Goemon since the Kisreru is an object that Goemon is usually seen carrying.

Kamu Susano-o

The design of Susano-o has the same Japanese elements as the previous design but is more modern in contrast to the traditional Japanese elements of the design.  

Susano-o is the god of storms. He is an angry temperamental god, This is seen in his design where Susano-o sports a more wild look. The wild hair looks to be blown by the wind and also resembles the blown hair in traditional Japanese art. In the design, Susano-o wears a horned mask as a reference to the oni mask, a reference to how Susano-o is a temperamental god in myth as a reference in the mask. The sword in the design references the Ameno no Murakumo the sword that Susano-o wields in the myth the design of the blade comes from Susano-o previous designs from Megaten.

He wears Japanese clothes and a bare torso and is shirtless. Susano-o has a storm pattern on his waist and shoes. Susano-o sports tattoos on his upper torso littered with storm symbols tattoos are seen as something that the criminal wears which references how he was once imprisoned in the underworld.

He wears a tiger-striped cloak in Japanese symbolism tiger are fierce and stands for bravery this stands for Susano-o violent nature and the bravery is a reference to how Susano-o slays the serpent.

Johanna

Johanna’s design is a motorcycle, the reason why the persona is designed based on a motorcycle is Soejimas’s personal preference since he loves motorcycles and how motorcycles’ speed and association with freedom fit the themes of the game.

The keyhole in the back of the seat references how chairs with holes in their seats were used to confirm the genders of popes. why the face is in the motorcycle this was supposed to note that Johanna was dressed as a man to be a pope the motorcycle with a woman’s face up front is meant to represent Pope Johanna’s inability to show much of herself aside from her face these two things reference Johanna disguised herself as a man to enter priesthood eventual rising as a pope. The reason why Johanna is a motorcycle is meant to represent Johanna as a pope cruising unnoticed by the masses.

The motorcycle is symbolic of Makoto herself at how at first people in her life try to steer her in the direction they want the motorcycle symbolizes Makoto’s freedom as a thief and represents Makoto choosing to take a path in life

Anat

There were major design elements that were present from the previous design passed over in this design, the biggest one being the motorcycle. Anat appears as a transformed motorcycle with her head visible with horns. She has horns in her design, this reference to how Anat is sometimes depicted as having cow horns.  The red angry face of a woman with horns references that Anat is the goddess of war; she is often aggressive and ruthless; she is described wielding a sword and bow which is why her design has a sword in her hand and a transforming mecha planted with a skull in the center, the skull emphasizes her dreadful nature exclaiming how violent she is.

Anat becoming an alternate form of a motorcycle matched with Makoto’s development in her confidence.

Necronomicon

The design of the persona rather than the book is based on a UFO. This is because the persona is Futaba’s version of the book of sorcery, a UFO. The Necronomicon resembles a classic depiction of a UFO the reason why the UFO was depicted than a book is because a UFO from outer space is full of infinite knowledge due to how vast it the UFO things Futaba believes represents the truth since the infinite knowledge of space is considered alien knowledge like the contents of Necronomicon the book of sorcery. The UFO is the theme of thieves since there are countless tales of UFO abductions and stealing things from Earth like cows or people.

The small details in the design of the UFO exterior are littered with high-tech symbols, Nazca lines, voyager golden record, batteries, smartphone motifs, batteries, iPhone, and the Roman numerals. It’s covered in lime green glyphs and symbols with hieroglyphs written inside and around the color green are colors associated with computer coding, gaming and pop culture. The small details did have some elements of the Necronomicon such as a gargoyle sitting on top and tentacles coming out of the gargoyle the tentacles are a nod to the Lovecraftian origins the tentacles are highly reminiscent of the tentacles seen in Lovecraft’s famous gods like Cthulhu.

The design of the Necronomicon is based on Futaba’s personality and preconceptions; it’s designed to match Futaba’s geekiness and love for science fiction. Since UFO observes Earth from a distance this sad part of The UFO symbolizes Futaba’s isolation and may represent the alienation that Futaba feels due to her intelligence and social isolation.

Prometheus

Prometheus has a pretty unique design just like the previous with some of the elements from the previous design being made to this design. Prometheus is designed as an object-type persona like Necronomicon.

The design of Prometheus, a giant flaming sphere with rainbow Greek line wireframes forming a smiling face, the rainbow technology lines look like advanced technology, and the advanced technology in the design could be a reference to the fire and metal in the myth. The technology in the design references Furabas’s skills as a hacker who is heavily associated with technology. The smiling face references the smiling face Futaba makes in the game; this aspect incorporates Futaba’s character in the design. fire is considered forbidden technology in the myth the use of forbidden knowledge her persona notes Futaba since she is someone who likes to get their hands on information.

The flames in the design are a reference to how Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to mankind. The flame metal ball notes that Prometheus gave the skill of metalwork to mankind. The ball references the rock that Prometheus was chained to as punishment.

Milady

Milady’s design has a lack of head. Milady’s lack of head could symbolize the many disguises and aliases Milady dawns for her espionage, never having a true face and assuming a different identity. Her head is just a mask with eyes seen as someone would wear in high-class masquerade balls giving them an unidentifiable quality Milady not having a head could be a reference to Milady’s death by beheading.  Milady wears a high-class rococo-style noble dress which is fitting for the time frame she is in and her status as a noble.

Below a dagger of her dress it has a golden floral pattern with the lines on her dress shaped as a face with eyes closed Having a golden lip in the center It resembles a smiling face. When you unsheath the dress she has many hidden weapons underneath that she can use. Her dress has her hiding all kinds of weapons to use for assassination devices. The weapons used for assassination call back to her espionage and her status as a spy.  the weapons were hidden underneath referencing the dangers she keeps hidden she is deadly as seen with the weapons underneath

The smiling face on the dress and weapons reference her two-faced nature. Milady has an innocent gentle facade pulling the strings to reach the top. She is a beautiful but dangerous woman evidenced by the many women hidden underneath her skirt.  

Astarte

Asrarte’s design has a three-faced rotating skull with a floral pattern, three face skulls reference the three goddesses Ishtar, Astarte, and Aphrodite. The flower emphasizes her femininity as a fertility goddess.

There is a black figure of a woman with gold scents on her body that is a reference to how she was depicted as a naked figure from the myth. Astarte riding on top of a skull which could be a reference to the chariots she is pulled by her riding on a skull notes how she rode chariots in the myth. The design has a crescent moon on Asrarte’s forehead referencing how Asrar was depicted with a crescent moon as a headdress, there is a crescent moon on the three skulls resembling the phases of the moon going back to the crescent moon headdress.

the three rings could be a halo beneath the skulls could be a rotating halo, Astarte was known as the queen of heaven in myths so maybe those rings could be halos.

I think the skull in her design references the plastered skull found in the Middle East cult, the skulls reference the Mesopotamian plastered skulls, the skull with a floral pattern references the plastered skull. Astarte is a goddess of the ancient Near East.

Robin Hood

The design of Robin Hood comes from English folklore, Robin Hood wears a tunic with classic English trimming with rectangle frills around it and his boots the tunic is clothed Robin Hood wears. The bow in his design is a weapon of choice for robin hood from English folklore and notes that he is a skilled archer.

The head of Robin Hood resembles Akechi’s own mask with the red fringe in front of his forehead resembling Akechis a red and extended bird beak mask as Crow, the mask he wears as the true perpetrator of the mental shutdowns.

Robin Hood is entirely designed as a typical superhero; his body is shaped like classic superheroes from American comic books with a triangle-shaped form by his chest and hips which resemble an exaggerated version of a superhero’s large and muscular frame. Robin Hood’s design has many roots in American comic books seen as such his color scheme Robin Hood’s color scheme is reminiscent of robot anime superheroes with the red, white, yellow, and blue colors Common colors used by American comic book heroes Robin Hood is designed based on superman take the large portions of his design and is RH logo on his chest echo superman. His design is supposed to look righteous like it’s meant to capture the more self-serving aspect of doing good deeds than doing good deeds that benefit society. Robin Hood is designed based on Akechi’s desire to be seen and praised as a hero of justice wanting love and affection from the masses. RH mark displays his assertiveness which goes hand in hand with Akechi’s desire to be seen and heard the name Robin Hood is seen on his bow the name sprinkled on Robin Hood’s design references Akechi’s need for recognition.

Loki

Loki’s design is a black and white camouflage which has symbolism to Loki’s doggy loyalty. He is a trickster god Loki plays around with both sides and has no loyalty to anyone just as Goro does when he pretends to help the phantom thieves and Shido.  Loki frequently shapeshifts to suit his needs, the monochromatic pattern across his body along with the curved horn and hooves referencing his shape-shifting abilities. His design is based on dazzle camouflage, this camouflage used on WWI warships is used to make it hard to figure out the shape and size of the ships. this detail is based around Loki’s deceptive Trickster. As well as this aspect is a reference to Loki’s shape-shifting abilities as he can blend in the background and go unnoticed by others this aspect in the design can reference a bit of Goro’s personality in how Goro feels that he is unnoticed by others.  The hooves on his feet reference how Loki transformed himself into a mare. the horns extending from the eyes were based on snail parasites which indicate no sight has no sense of direction this references how Goro can’t past his envy and hate of not having any direction and guidance

The braids taper off like a fire pattern referencing Loki’s attributes to being the god of fire as well as The sword, a pair of pliers at the blade likens that the runs are spelled Laevetian, who is created by Loki himself.

Cendrillon

Cendrillon’s design has a hair ribbon that Kasumi wears; this is a reference that Cendrillon is Kasumi’s persona.  The design of the blonde hair tied in buns is a common depiction of Cinderella that is commonly associated with all versions. Cendrillon the glass motif referencing the glass slipper in the tale has the suit of glass as a reference to the glass slippers in the classic folktale. The design is inspired by the Disney depiction of the fairy tale with the blue dress seen in the blue glass in the design.

There is a clock on her chest with numbers on it, the clock alludes to the fairy tale of how the magic that turns her into a princess disappears in a stroke of midnight a clock on her chest represents temporary since her appearance is temporary. Her silhouette looked like an hourglass representing the temporary form given to her by magic. The decoration of the cape is ivy from the pumpkin carriage alluding to the pumpkin carriage she was drawn in.

Pithos

The design of the persona is four floating vessels, the four in Japanese culture means death since shi is four and is pronounced as shi in death. The engravings found on Pithos are littered with skulls and boned hands; this has the engraving for death and also has ancient Mediterranean engravings. Pithos is used for barrels which may be why there were skulls and bones on the engraving. The engraving for death referenced death that was kept on the box.  

Pandora

One thing that is present in her design that was passed over is the Pithos jar; the box on her eyes has technology lines with the same engravings as Pithos. Her head is a block with the same engraving as  Pithos covering her eyes referring to the curiosity that blinded her to the warnings of Zeus and the box that Pandora opened out of curiosity

Sophia  Pithos reveals a scantily clad woman with the same thigh-high socks and hot pants, a reference to Sophia’s clothes that references that she is Sophia’s persona. Pandora’s hands and feet are segmented with no digits but with abstract boxes and have pixelated lips like you would see on a computer The AI aspect in her design notes that she is Sophia’s persona.  Pandora is designed as an AI with these details in her hands, feet, and lips in her design, Pandora is designed to heavily resemble a computer AI like Sophia.

Valjean

Valijean’s design has the number 24601 a is a reference to Valjean’s prison number that is tattooed on his chest in the novel Les Misérables.

The design looked like a well-dressed French man decorated with chains and prison bars referencing him being a convict legs and chest covered in chains and cages referencing his numerous incarnation his legs being kept in chains are a reference to his parole His hands are bound by prisons for stealing bread for his starving sister.

He has a revolver on his waist similar to the weapon Zenkichi wears, referencing that he is Zenkichi persona. The coat notes the French origins of the story in the design but also the reason why the persona looked well dressed, is because it references the fortune he made by revolutionizing the factory.  The backs of Valjean coattails have a silver candle pattern that references the silver candlesticks given to Valjean as a gift from the bishop.

The bio explaining the things in the design mean for the personas are explanations I took from artbooks and creators’ interviews and added to the post the information I got from creators’ comments and interviews was added here in the personas explanations. I looked at interviews with creators to research personas for this post. There’s a high chance that I botched the explanations on any of the personas that I explained if I do I apologize if I got the designs of the personas wrong

If you’re wondering why I didn’t add the third-tier personas in the post it’s because there is no artbook info about them the same can be said as to why I didn’t add personas from the other characters it’s mostly for the same reason. I didn’t include the other characters’ personas, just the personas of the main characters From the series. I didn’t add Cendrillon’s second and third awakening for that purpose due to how I couldn’t find the creators’ comment on them. I apologize if I didn’t do an explanation of the second and third awakening of her persona in this list.

For the Second awakenings of the personas in persona 5, there were no artbook comments about the second awakenings of the persona 5 personas I couldn’t find specific creator comments on the second awakening personas of persona 5. So I analyzed the persona 5 second awakenings on my own and did research on the personas to how The second persona awakenings of persona were designed this way and see how the myth correlates to the design. I analyzed it on my own. this is just my research so I could be wrong

In this part of the post about why the personas are designed this way in the game, I explained the designs to the best of my ability. If I got the info on the personas wrong I apologize

Tips on Creating Personas

Now that I’m done giving how the design of the personas half to do with the personas themselves So what to do when designing Personas? There are things I noticed in personas on how the personas are designed which I go over the steps in this post to design the persona in this post. I will go over the tips to know when you’re creating your personas.  It is not about how to draw Soejima’s art style. It’s to go over the approaches Soejima took designing Persona for the series. I’ll mostly talk about the creator’s process of designing the personas and examine the process he took designing personas.

Persona 3 helped may have started the process but it’s Persona 4 that defined the design direction of the persona in the series. You can see the result of this change in Persona 5 where it uses the same method as Soejimas did in Persona 4.

I am going to examine the design process of the personas in this post by looking at Soejima’s creation process and the details in the series.

What is designed first? The character or the persona?

If I were to guess I would say that the persona is designed after the character is designed. When I looked to go through personal character design artbooks I realized that personas are the second thing designed after the character. The reason for that is the character is the one who shaped the persona which would make sense for the persona designed second. The persona that is designed second with the concrete idea of what the character summoning is.

One of the Basic approaches: is the original Lore and Myth behind the persona.

One of the important things, when you design your persona, is to focus on the myth, legends, and story behind the persona model. The Personae from 3 and 5 have a heavy focus on the lore in their designs.

Orrpheus for example his lower body in his design has metal prosthetics a reference to in the myth his how his body was torn apart by the maenads the metal prosthetics is used to replace his body that was torn apart, Io is chained to a bull referencing to how she was tapped in a form of a bull in the myth, Penthesilea has two iron platted breasts in her design alludeing to how amazons cut there breast to enable to carry more weapons, the bandages on Lucia’s eyes and throat reference a part in the legend of the torture she went through by having her eyes gorged out and thoart slashed, Castor riding a horse references his to how he is skilled at horseback riding in the legend and the spear sticking out of his chest in his design references his death in the myth, Robin Hood weilds a bow since the bow was a weapon of choice seen in his design, Cendrillion design has many elements of the story, the clock on her chest and hourglass silhouette references to the fairy tale where the magic that turns her into a princess than dispears at a stroke of midnight. The decoration on her cape and waist is the ivy from the pumpkin-drawn carriage.  instead of applying the glass slipper in her design Soejima went with something different Soejima took these elements from fairy tales and put them in her design

Rather than the lore the personae designs can be taken from the common depictions of legends Athena, Hermes, Cerberus, and Isis appearances reference to their common depictions in the legends and myth, their appearance is what they are commonly depicted in art. Even Arsene’s design that wears a silk top hat and gentlemen’s attire is taken from his appearance as a gentleman thief in fiction. The main appearance of the persona serves as an interpretation of their appearances from how they are depicted in mythology and fiction.

The form you see in the design of the persona would be the interpretation you look up of the legends and myths surrounding them.

Two of the basic approaches: The character summoning the persona

The second most important thing when you are designing personas is the image of the character summoning the persona. The persona is a reflection of the person’s inner self and it is a mirror of the user summoning them. These are two important basics you need to take designing personas. the design of the personas is based on the image of the character in mind, the character influences their persona design

The persona’s appearance can be designed based on the user who is summoning it. Orpheus’s face resembles the protagonist’s own to face the reason why Orpheus’s face resembled the protagonist Orpheus is the persona of the protagonist so it would make sense. Io’s pink dress is a callback to Yukari’s pink sweater,  Penthesilea, and Artemisia’s European elements influences in their design the reason why Penthesilea and Artemisia have many European influences in her design is mainly Mitsuru influencing her persona, Palladino’s mechanical elements in her design Aegis’ mechanical nature, Cerberus being a dog an obvious reference to Koromaru, Nemesis and Kala Nemis having robot designs would go with ken since he is a young boy which you would associate it with being paired with robots.  

It’s a fact that the user’s preconceptions influence their persona’s appearance preconception plays a part in influencing the persona’s appearance, The reason why Orphues look girly is female protagonists’ preconceptions are projected onto them.

While Persona 3 personae prioritized the design of the character summoning their personas, Persona 4 persona designs are based around the user’s personality.

The elements of the user’s personality are seen in the design of the persona, the persona’s design is based on the user’s personality. They reflect the owner in any way as seen to make the character’s tastes seen in their personas like with the designs.

Izanagi’s design reflects the protagonist with his long black Gakuen mirroring the protagonist’s school uniform,  

It was something that looked badass and cool, something that the protagonist envisioned being the leader of the investigation team. Jiraiya is based on Yosuke’s version of a superhero, his sense of fashion in the camoflauge in Jiraiya’s design. This notes things Yosuke thought looked cool and incorporated into the design of his persona. Tomoe’s yellow-black jumpsuit references Chie’s love of martial arts and her favorite martial artists Chie and Yosuke’s tastes are seen in the designs of their personas with the camouflage and jumpsuit seen in Tomoe and Jiraiyas design referencing their tastes. Wukuna’s appearance is based on Naoto’s interests in Tokusatsu, Ultraman which appealed to a young demographic that doesn’t want to be a part of this aspect and notes her geeky interests. Sukuna wearing a detective outfit references Naoto as a detective with love of mysteries, she idolized the badass detectives in stories a reference to what she wanted to be in her persona’s design. Kanji wanted to be cool and manly, Take Mikazuchi reflects Kanji’s desire to be seen as manly and cool, his persona being a robot is something he finds cool, seeing it as something cool and badass. In her design, Sakuya is based on femininity, which references Yukiko as a Yamato Nadeshiko character design. Kintoki’s design is full of puns and stupid jokes, a glaring reference to Teddy’s habit of making bear puns. Kintokis’s funky design references teddies’ cartoonish designs.

Persona 5 personas have a similar design in the way it notes the character’s personalities and appearances, Carmin’s twin tales reference Ann’s twin tales, and robin hood is designed as an American superhero reflecting Akechi wanting to be seen as a hero in his own story, Pithos being a jar reflects Sophia nature as an AI, the bow in Cendrillon’s design references the bow Kasumi wears, Necronomicon and Prometheus has an advanced technology theme reflects Futaba’s love of science fiction.

the second to note is that personas are designed based on the preconception, personality, and character image of the user summoning it and it’s incorporated in the design this will come in handy when you are designing a persona for your oc you might need to add an in-depth look at your oc to design your persona it can help with designing your persona.

Include Masks

One of the things to make a persona is you half to include a mask. The reason why masks are important is because of the name persona. It’s no surprise since persona means mask in Latin. Soejima stated that there is a rule that personas must wear something that must cover their face like having their face covered with a mask.

The personae designs in Persona 3  had something covered whether helmets or the personas had something covering their face, such as Hermes and Penthesilea who wore a helmet in their design.

The personae masks of the investigation team resemble Ultraman and tokusatsu masks from Japanese superheroes. The personas in Persona 4 are based on legendary figures in Japanese mythology and folklore who are considered Japanese superheroes. Izanagi, Sakuya, and Sukuna have Ultraman masks notes are like Japanese superheroes and some of them wear helmets like Tomoe, Suzuka, and Yamato wear full-face helmets

the personae of the phantom thieves wear masks in their designs the masks in designs reference that are thieves so masks are appreciated the masks from the personas are masks that thieves use. The masks in the personae have their face painted on them, such as seen with Aresene with his face within the mask, eyes on Zorro’s hat evokes a mask, and Goemon wearing kabuki makeup.  

Persona can have their faces covered or have no head at all but have their heads replaced with something else that doesn’t need to be a head as seen with Milady, captain kidd, Himiko, and Kanzeon captains kid’s heads replaced with a skull, Milady’s has a lack of head with a masquerade mask. Himiko and Kanzeon’s heads are replaced with a tv antenna head.  

The reason why most of the protagonist’s personae in 4 and 5 wear masks is supposed to note superheroes and thieves. If you’re designing your persona, have their face covered whether it is masks and helmets, that is something to keep in mind mostly but not always. This is something that can come in handy to use when you design personas though it doesn’t always happen.

Don’t forget about the origin of where the persona came from!

I stated before that focusing on the lore behind the persona may sound the same but it’s different. This is about looking at the origin where Myth, legend, and folklore came from and incorporating that in his design. That way you may be able to incorporate more details.  

Carmin dress is based on Romani and Spanish design, Seitan Taishi has Chinese clothes and a note on his Chinese origins, Goemon has Japanese elements, robin hood wears a tunic referencing his English folklore, the skull in Astarte’s design references the plastered Mesopotamian skull referencing her Mesopotamian origins, Caesar, athena clothes note their greek origins, Isis has Egyptian art in her design referencing her origins to her myth.  

Objects can be used as personas

Objects can be personas that are something that was used by characters.

Aegis and Sophia’s persona are objects used to symbolize their lack of humanity at the beginning of the game. Futaba’s persona is a ufo, the main reason why Futaba has a ufo in place of a book is to symbolize the alienation she felt, the reason why Futaba has an object-type persona is Futaba’s version of the book of sorcery and represents her love for science fiction.

The details Soejima did when designing personas

It’s important to go over the details that Soejima did when he designed personas for the series.

Most of the personas who don’t have personas don’t have toes or heels that are always floating. Soejima believes that personas are always floating and are better without fully formed feet. The personas he designed are floating. He got that idea in mind.

For the support-based personas, Juno and Lucia are personas that are fixed to the ground and not moving and Himiko and Kanzeon have a long dresses which difficult to move in, this is supposed to note that they are not personas designed for joint battles only to gather information and it shows this in there persona design Lucia, Juno, Himiko, and Kanzeon were designed are support based personas. Soejima added these details in the support personas to note this. If you’re going to create a persona that would only be support-based design in a way that would not require movement.

Soejima has a few persona rules. One persona rule that states the skin of the persona should not be exposed, Sukuna has bandages covering his legs and arms, head, and face and Yamato have full body tights and another is that persona must be humanoid on the inside those two personal rules is supposed to heighten the mystery of the personas as personas are designed with a degree of mystery. mostly this is supposed to make personas more mysterious which can explain why how they look in the game.

Is it okay to include Modern elements in your designs?

When you design your persona it’s okay to add modern elements in your persona designs. they don’t always half have traditional elements they can have modern themes

The reason the Persona 4 personae used modern Japanese culture instead of traditional Japanese themes is that it wouldn’t look too appealing when you play it in a video game. Japanese modern mythology matches the Japanese personas more since it’s based on Japanese culture. The persona 4 personae and persona 5 third-tier personae have modern elements to look more appealing to the gamers.

Personae define the series so it would make sense that they needed to look appealing in their designs. Another example of this is seen with Pallidion, Palladion is a wooden statue in the lore but it’s mechanical showing that Pallidion didn’t half to be a wooden statue it can be mechanical. Personae are based on the user’s pre conceptions and Preconceptions change with time which would explain the modern elements in the designs.

You don’t have to worry about using traditional influence to match the design of your persona. This is added in case you want to make your personal design look appealing.

Does the persona half match the gender of the character?

More or less at best, it doesn’t have to relate to the gender of the user at all. The Persona is a series that is based on Carl Jung’s psychology and would have things like the anima and animus in personae. The reason why the writers try to match the genders of the characters with their personae is because of Carl Jung’s psychology in the game the persona is chosen to match the user who is wielding him but there are special exceptions like Yamato and Orpheus for example.

In the legend, Yamato disguised himself as a handmaid to infiltrate the enemy. The reason why Yamato was chosen as Naoto’s persona is because of the cross-dressing aspect in their characters. But Yamato was also chosen to mirror her desire to be like the famous detectives in literature.  

Preconceptions play a part in influencing the design of the persona, Personae are about how they are perceived by others. Preconception is an important aspect in making the gender of the person. I already pointed out that the reason why Orpheus looked girly is because of the female protagonist’s preconceptions projected on him. if you have a male persona but a girl use the persona users’ preconceptions to change their gender.

Object-type personas are genderless and can bypass the gender of the user as seen with futabas object-type personas. The reason why Prometheus is an object-type persona is that it’s the ultimate persona of Necronomicon so it’s made to be a genderless god-like Necronomicon.

If you’re going to choose personas for your oc make sure they match the character for example if your persona is Atlanta, Atlanta would be a female characters persona since Atlanta is part of the anima because she is a girl so it would make sense for her to be a female characters persona.

If you choose another persona to be a female character like Inaba the rabbit who is male in the legend,  would be made genderless since animals are not locked in the same distinctions as humans since Inaba is an animal, not a human it would be considered genderless. If you are going to make your persona genderless give them a reason why they are genderless.

if the persona is D’eon is matched with a girl, They would be androgynous since Deon is noted to have an androgynous appearance in lore.

This is similar to how Yamato was paired up with Naoto. If you take these personas as examples you can make a male character androgynous to better match the character since androgynous features would bypass their gender.  If you have a male persona for a female oc I would suggest making them genderless or androgynous to bypass the gender of the user

To use that in design make references to the legend of why the persona would be considered genderless like the cross-dressing aspect of Yamato. Don’t forget these things when you design your persona object type, perception, and androgynous this thing can prove useful.

Be Creative and Be Inspired

Be inspired when you create personas there are numerous influences to designing a persona. Like taking inspiration from many cultures and lore, Soejima did,  he takes inspiration from many sources ranging from the story behind the persona and the culture surrounding it. When you design your persona, take inspiration from different sources and see what you can get.

Inspiration is important when you are designing your persona, if your persona is related to travelers there might be wheels since wheels on vehicles are related to transportation you can go from one place to another.

You also can add your personal preferences like Soejima adding motorcycles in the designs of Tomoe and Johanna which is influenced by the fact that he loved motorcycles.

Take many elements when you create your persona, Sukuna, and Tomoe are homages from different sources to Bruce Lee and Detective Conan which are seen in their designs. Persona 5 is based on thieves and the themes of freedom, the wings on Aresene’s design fits into the idea of freedom that a thief can go anywhere. Kala nemi has a planetarium theme,  you go to planetariums to look at stars. This aspect notes that Kala nemi is a spirit of the stars hence the planetarium theme.

Persona 4 are different cultures so personae designs have Japanese culture in them better match the retro setting of living in the countryside. The antenna in Himiko and Kanzeon’s design references the tv motif in the game.

When Orpheus was designed you can add elements of music in his design, music is part of Orpheus’ character since he is a wandering minstrel so it wouldn’t be surprising that there are elements of music in his design.

if your having trouble with a persona look at this chart for example this chart

might or might not help but this is just an example to get a better idea of what to do when designing

How do you choose personas for personas 3,4,5?

This is more of the writing aspect instead of design in this post. I already stated before that if you want to know how to choose personas to be your character’s persona you need to find one that matches the personality and role of the character itself. If you’re going to choose a persona that has to symbolize the character arc they go through in the game, that is the one thing to keep in mind when you choose.

If I were to answer the personas in the three-game have a specific theme, the personas of Persona 3 are Greco-Roman, Persona 4 are based on Japanese deities, Persona 5 uses characters inspired by fictional and historical outlaws and thieves, the second awakening personas of Persona 5 are based on trickers from mythology. to choose personas from the game they have to correlate with the game the ultimate personas of persona 3 myth of the personas are inequivalent it can be anything as long as it matched the character summoning it. The reason why the Persona 5 personas are thieves is that it matches with the phantom thieves and the theme of Persona 5 is finding freedom by breaking the chains of oppression.

If you are going to choose a persona from Persona 5 it needs to have acts of rebellion or defiance. Take Johanna, for example, she defied tradition by dressing as a man to go into sainthood eventually rising to be head pope, Cinderella defied her stepmother by attending the ball, Valijean defied the French lawman by breaking his parole to help others in the story. Pandora may have been unusual but thinking about it, it might not be Pandora ignored Zeus’ warnings and opened the box unleashing chaos into the world. I think the team chose Pandora to be Sophia’s persona to match the themes of how phantom thieves bring chaos by revealing the truth of the corrupt monarch rulers.

Necronomicon represents forbidden knowledge that is considered taboo to others, forbidden knowledge may be information that people hide since knowing means more agency over one life which set fire to rebel against others.

What if you’re making a persona for your oc that isn’t a persona oc?

Well for that question I would say it doesn’t matter all that much but if you’re designing a persona for your oc that isn’t part of the fandom that’s okay. your oc doesn’t half to be related to the fandom of the Persona series.

Like I said before to create a persona, you just have to take a look at your oc, you half to find if the lore of the persona matches the history of the oc summoning it. It’s to check if the history of the oc matches the myth of the persona personas are not limited to characters of the persona series you can take figures from myths and legends and turn them into a persona That’s what personas are about.

Afterword

While I was working on this post it took a lot longer to write down than I thought. The second part of this post is my observations of personal designs I tried to explain to the best of my ability. I am not 100 percent correct when I wrote this so I might have botched explaining this to others. I could be wrong if I explained the process in this post and If I am I apologize.  

Most of the stuff in the post came from interviews and artbooks comments from creators I incorporated in this post to add to the explanation. I cite the sources of the interviews in these posts.

This serves as a basis to help people with designing personas. This post is not entirely correct, this post is created to help people to get an idea of how to create personas.

One last thing I would like to say is Have fun! creating personas!

Moccin and her persona Selene @copycright by Moccin

[dailydemonspotlight]

The God you cravenly revere is dead...

DAY 100

Race: Tyrant

Arcana: Devil

Alignment: Dark-CHAOS

The prince of darkness needs no introduction. The Morning Star, the Devil, the Fallen Angel who brought about so much to our demon-focused blog. Sure, I may be jumping the gun a bit by covering him only on day 100, but given that his closest compatriot, Beelzebub, was covered on day 50, I feel it's warranted. Lucifer is iconic to the SMT series, a legendary figure who serves a major role in many games in the series, being the perfect representative of one of the three major alignments: Chaos. In most games throughout the series, Lucifer plays a part, even in ones disconnected from mainline- if there is chaos, there will be the dying light of the morning star. Even in Persona, a series mostly concerned with Jungian psychology, Lucifer commonly appears as a late-game persona, and even a form of him in Satanael is the final form of Joker's persona in Persona 5, being a representation of freedom and rebellion- after all, what else is more rebellious and free than rebelling against God himself?

I digress, however. Lucifer is as important to SMT as he is to Biblical history itself, after all, and this is a blog about the stories of demons, right? Lucifer himself is a major character in the Bible, appearing for certain first in the Book of Isaiah, though his overall relevance spreads beyond that. Even in the Book of Genesis, the very first story in the Bible, it's believed that the serpent that tricked Eve into eating the apple of knowledge was Lucifer, cast down from heaven. This interpretation is supported by Paradise Lost, a story I'll likely be referencing a lot here, but its importance to Lucifer and his interpretations throughout not just SMT, but history itself, cannot go understated.

The Devil's conniving ways are depicted throughout the bible in several verses, especially in the New Testament, wherein he's seen as a figure analogous to the Buddhist demon Mara, a being tempting humanity away from their rightful path of sin/good karma to partake in their desire. However, this isn't to spell a connection between the two, as Lucifer himself is given a far different story than Mara, as he is with many other tempters in religion, even including some other biblical figures such as Mastema. Instead, what we should be focusing on is Lucifer's existence as a fallen angel.

Lucifer's existence in the Bible is strange, as the name Lucifer is a translation from the original Latin Helel, meaning 'Light-bearer.' His first reference in one of the most prevalent translations of the Bible, the King James Bible, goes as follows:

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

This immediately points to Lucifer being an angel who fell for his own hype, so to speak- one who believed himself to be as strong, if not stronger than God, which led to him being cut down by the forces of Heaven. However, in Paradise Lost, it's shown that Lucifer was more than just vain- he held a rebellion, and when it fell, and he fell with it, he became Satan. I know, that's strange, but it's not really canon to the SMT interpretations of both characters- it just helps to shape Lucifer's characterization in the series as a rebellious figure who stood even against God himself. Strangely, adding on to this odd maze of interpretation, Lucifer was also commonly interpreted as the king of Babylon, the famously sinful city of evil described in the Bible. What I think all of this adds to is less a solid character of his and rather a general interpretation and idea that surrounds Lucifer- that of him being the embodiment of rebellion, chaos, and standing against the mold of society in order to partake in sin. There's a reason that his deadly sin, after all, is one of the most dangerous- that being Pride.

Lucifer's role in the Bible is strange, however, and many interpretations differ completely, whether they be him as Satan, him as the Devil, or even him as a tragic hero. However, as for SMT's purposes, it takes a very unique take, combining several aspects from several interpretations to make the Morning Star into a perfect prince of darkness. For one, it pulls a lot from Paradise Lost, giving Lucifer the role of a rebellious figure who rules over scores of demons, though it separates him from Satan in opposition to the poem. His sin of pride is intact, as he's shown to be a very individualistic figure throughout, valuing freedom and one's own strength above all else, tying very well into the purveying themes of individualism and might-makes-right that are constant in the Chaos ideology.

In terms of design, what is there really to say? Lucifer's design is utterly iconic- the six split wings, the gorgeous plays on the angelic aspects of his character, the great horns reaching sky-high, there's a reason so many were disappointed with his weird redesign in IV. Like, what were they doing? I get that he was meant to look offputting, but turning him into a skinhead was not the right way to go about it- well, whatever. Every design of Lucifer throughout the series has its merits, and I love how several games even have different human disguises for him- my personal favorite has to be Louis Cyphre, but I adore how each human disguise including Louis plays on the traditionally angelic traits of pale skin and blonde hair, though twists that on its head due to him commonly wearing all black.

Thank you all for tagging along with this series, and it is so ridiculously lucky that day 100 was placed perfectly on my birthday. There's gonna be more, for sure, coming soon, don't worry- but for now, I love you all, and goodnight. Or good morning. Whichever works.

You didn't even mention his role in Gnosticism!

Jack, I'm not touching on Gnosticism with a ten foot pole for the time being. I don't even know what's going with that half the time. Wait for the Demiurge analysis.

Coward.

[kylieswift31]

Who’s going to troll you like Taylor Swift..?

And why she's gay.

Taylor has told us time and again that she sees herself as a lonely millennial woman living in a cabin in the woods with her cats. And she's also told us that she will do anything to prove a point. Well it turns out she might have been trolling us from the very beginning.

This is going to be both a light hearted look at the Easter eggs Taylor has left along the way, as well as a more serious attempt to understand the deeper meaning behind it too.

"I tell lies!"

During the Jimmy Fallon box of lies skit, you pick out a box off the shelf and try to bluff the opponent whist describing the boxes contents. It's no surprise Taylor picked out the numbers 1 and 3, and Jimmy picked out number 5. They’re her favourite numbers, but the connection to what was in the boxes have some fun surprises. 

Taylor opened up the first box to reveal a pair of binoculars with corn in each end and a lanyard that says 'I can see corn'. This is a reference to the pair of binoculars from the picture to burn music video.

Taylor lied about what the item was, excitedly saying that it was a wizards of Waverley place DVD with a weird ribbon around it that says I see corn. Claiming she was doing a double bluff. The corn is a reference to the tinkerbell character played by Julia Roberts. There I so much we could read into this but I'll let you use your imagination.

Jimmy chose the number 5 box and was pretending it was too heavy to carry, a reference to the sadder track 5 songs. He pulled out a diorama of Chewbacca from Star Wars who was taking a bug for a walk on a leash through the park. Taylor has recently swallowed a few bugs during the eras tour, but upon further research I found this is a joke from the good will hunting movie. When a hot girl walks up, Will's friend claims he'd swallowed a bug to cover up his erection.

The lie Jimmy told about the item is that it was a family of pinecones playing trouble. He talks about sheet music and how they're playing the song. If you look closely you'll see a rubber chicken that makes the sound of the goat associated with the viral song.

The final box Taylor opens is number 3. It's a grey book with grimace on the front, with a tab on the side to open it. Inside there's a couple of holes cut with a burger and fries in the hole.

She describes that the book is a biography written by a fuzzy monster with seal hands, and then says that grimace the purple monster is on the cover. Jimmy believes she's telling the truth. But the way she described him at first reveals grimace wasn't the only monster she was talking about.

Both of Taylor's boxes mention Selena Gomez. A few of her previous roles match the style of the book Taylor described. And she was also in the Disney games, which is very UNO coloured game show.

But the interesting thing is that the purple monster referenced matches the description of both grimace and barney. Funnily enough Selena was also on the Barney show too.

“I’m not loving it”

Taylor really is a millennial, but out of all the references to the 90's I wasn't expecting to find so many connections to Mc Donalds. A big part of the happy meals and toys that came with them was the characters on the boxes.

Taylor has showed us that she will go a long way to prove people are wrong. The first guitar she learned to play had twelve strings instead of six out of defiance. Her debut album and early unreleased music reveal how she's not afraid to sing about revenge.

The removal of the "you're gay" line from picture to burn hints at how Taylor wasn't afraid to be herself, but with increased success and fame it was removed and her pop star persona was created to appear more likeable by the masses.

What would be more iconic that seeking revenge through the most recognised brand in the world? She has taken the concept of her Tim McGraw song about how every time they hear it they're going to associate the song with her, and taken it further than ever.

This connects the fearless, speak now and red era together with the colour and costumed outfits. This seems to be a dig at her old management for the way she had to be closeted, but also a way to represent her identity. This is Taylor's Version of queer flagging.

We're still seeing references to these characters and colour combinations on the eras tour. The midnights set references the monster on the hill, we have the giant Taylor looking like Godzilla walking around the city and the purple fur coat for lavender haze.

But the reason why she wears these now is not because of Grimace but because of Barney. Taylor's use of purple glitter connects to this too. Purple is the new Taylor's Version.

"My life under the golden arches"

The red and yellow that is currently associated with Taylor and Travis being endgame is no accident. There's a strong theme of red and golden love throughout Taylor's work. And it all comes down to this...

The golden arches of the McDonalds logo create an M. If you flip the M it becomes a W. The songs about Men have always been talking about Women. Just look at how many times Taylor's sang maroon.

"Put narcotics into all of my songs

And that's why you're singing along."

And she's been telling us this since the very beginning!

13 has been her lucky number for a reason. The one for her microphone and the three for the women she loves. Taylor has always been gay, she's just watered down the Wine so we can drink it.

There are two Friday the 13th's this year that everyone is eagerly anticipating. This would be too predictable of a move, after all.

If Taylor is the 🎃 anon then what better time than October the 31st to reclaim her favourite numbers?

A tortured poet,

Kylie x

[thenixkat]

I cringe every time I see Justice League International/America put as essential reading for Ted Kord/Blue Beetle 2. Like no, just cause it was long-running and popular and referenced by a bunch of things, since Ted was OOC the entire time in JLI that's not essential reading for him.

This is what I've read so far that gives a good feel for Ted Kord/Blue Beetle and what he's about where he's reasonably in character:

Captain Atom (1966-1967) #83-86- Ted's first comics. Look out for period typical sexism

Blue Beetle (1967-1968) #1-5- Ted's first solo comics. Look out for period typical sexism and racism. Ted's ok with killing bad guys/won't lose sleep about it if it happens. My girl, the MVP Tracey is here as Ted's gf, lab assistant, and confidant. Issue 5 has Vic Sage/The Question showing up in his civilian persona and helping out Blue Beetle.

Charlton Portfolio (1974) #1- Ted's civilian persona gets blamed for murder and the theft of an invisibility suit. Has the first mini-Bug/Snoopy for spying on shit. Tracey defends her man's honor and chews people out for bad-mouthing Ted.

Charlton Bullseye (1981) #1- Blue Beetle 2 and The Question team up officially as superheroes taking on a villain with many mooks and death traps. Also, this story implies that Ted has been Blue Beetle for at least 10 yrs. The Question calls Blue Beetle his friend and thinks they make a good team.

Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985) #1-3 [you can read more if you want but he's less prominent the further the Crisis goes on]- Ted's DC universe debut as part of the Earth 4 crew. This Ted has the Scarab and it can work as demon repellant and keep him from getting disintegrated from being touched by antimatter demons. Ted is cosmically important enough to be Earth 4's representative!

Secret Origins (1986) #2- Dan and Ted's origins are retold to fit in the DC universe. Ted does not have the Scarab. Red-head curly-haired Ted!

Blue Beetle (1986) #1-24- Ted's DC solo run. Red-head curly-haired Ted! Ted has no confidence for his secret identity which causes drama. His girlfriend/lab assistant is Melody Chase. In issues 5-7, Vic Sage/The Question teams up with Blue Beetle 2 for an arc. This run has crossovers with Legends (1986) and Mellinium (1988). Ted also starts appearing in Justice League International (1987)[boo, hiss, thankfully JLI didn't affect the plots of Ted's solo unlike the crossovers]

Showcase (1994) #2-4- Set in JLI era but Ted is pretty much himself. Ted fights cops and a city's local government b/c they stole his patents and they're fascists and he doesn't vibe with that.

L.A.W.: Living Assult Weapons (1999) #1-6- This series is racist trash propaganda. You mostly just want the first two and last two issues for Ted stuff. Ted decides to retire from being a superhero at the end of this series.

Birds of Prey (1999) #2, 4, 7, 10, 15, 19, 22-25, 33-37, 39-42- Ted makes a number of cameos initially via chatting online with Oracle as her friend. Then meeting up for an in-person date. Then coming out of retirement and joined the Birds of Prey on missions as support and a driver primarily. Then Ted gets diagnosed with a degenerative heart condition and retires again.

Robin (1993) #96- Ted teaming up with Tim Drake/Robin to track down a Jokerized werecat. Ted charms and scores a date with one of Dick Grason/Nightwing's civilian love interests.

Convergence: Blue Beetle (2015) #1-2- A return of pre-DC Ted! Set on Earth 4's Hub City kidnapped by some cosmic entity pitting heroes against each other with the survival of their cities on the line. Blue Beetle, The Question, and Captain Atom vs the Legion of Super-Heroes. My girl Tracey is here! As Ted's copilot!

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Hi! I really love and appreciate your analyses work because I find it so rare to come across these days. Most content about TWST I found is either about in-game stuff or fics of various genres and AUs. It's refreshing in a way, and I just want to tell you that I absolutely adore your work.

I just read your analysis of Cater in canon and how romance comes into play, and I couldn't stop thinking about something when you mentioned how he lights up after taking pictures. Since Cater moves around a lot due to his father's work, I think the pictures immortalize whatever connections he had regardless of how long he got to stay in the area before he eventually moves away with his family.

Aside from Magicam and pictures being his coping mechanisms, it's what little Cater has to connections and relationships even if he distances himself due to his fear of rejection and of being forgotten. I only know bits and pieces of Cater in-game because I don't have many cards of him, but the little I do know of him made me think that he would take pictures to keep memories that would be forgotten once distance and time come to pass. He yearns for deep relationships similar to Riddle and Trey's friendship, but he's so afraid of what comes with such a sentiment that he would resort to pictures and a memorable, public image to keep everyone out of arms' reach.

Even if the people he was friends with (prior to moving away) forget him and move on with life, Cater would have his Magicam account and the pictures. He'd find solace in the memoirs he had taken himself, whether it was just a day inside the Heartslabyul dorm or something as grand as Beansfest. He also takes pictures of the latest trends such as the newest cafe or dessert in town, maybe even a once-in-a-lifetime traveling circus if that's a thing in TWST. Those trends are probably his gateways to finding people with similar interests (I'm using similar doubtfully because Cater does craft his personas so well that he might as well be a pseudo-INFJ) aside from meeting a Magicam influencer quota.

I believe Cater cherishes pictures this way aside from maintaining an image and switching personas in order to be liked and remembered—because those are the closest things that could resemble deep and close relationships to him without compromising his fear.

I may be wrong though, so feel free to correct me! I did say I don't have many cards of Cater so I'm not entirely sure if my speculation is justifiable or otherwise. I'm so sorry this ask became so long 😭 Cater is such an interesting character to analyze, and he's not even in my top 5 personal favorites. I hope you have a nice day!!

[Referencing this masterlist!]

Hello, I’m glad that you enjoy my works! ^^ I kind of do some of everything, but analyses are a big passion of mine. I’m happy that they’re being appreciated since they often take me a lot of time and effort to put together.

Ah, that must be in one of my older analyses, so it’s probably suuuuper outdated by now 😅 Mmmm, I do think it’s generally accepted that Cater desires deep and genuine connections like what Riddle and Trey have (but is too scared to open up to others). However, I don’t know if he actually places a ton of value in the pictures he takes. In my initial post, I meant to imply that Cater likes taking pictures because of the inherent clout that he can rake in from it, not that he necessarily attaches precious memories to those pictures.

Cater may use social media as a coping mechanism, but he also uses it to project what is knowingly a manufactured image of himself and his life out into the world. He takes so many pictures and posts so frequently (and not all of them are associated with doing things with friends; a lot of them appear to be selfies); it’s debatable whether it’s all just for show to feed the social media algorithm/his need for online validation or if he actually cherishes each and every photo (and thus the memories associated with them).

Social media is a means for him to find stability because the internet provides him with a way to keep in touch with everyone no matter where he physically is. However, social media also promotes an environment in which you’re encouraged to put your “best face” out there, to get the most attention and social approval (likes, shares, etc.). In heavily relying on social media for his socialization, it has probably fostered some of Cater’s currently observed insecurities (ie the fear of rejection or being seen as vulnerable if people learn about the not-so-perfect parts of him that he keeps off of Magicam—because what is social media if not a carefully curated photo album of all your “best” moments?).

How Cater engages with others online actually isn’t detailed often; whenever he mentions his socials, it’s almost always in the context of posting something or tagging someone. It sounds very “one way” and passive; Cater seems to be posting more than actually interacting with others or having extended dialogues. We see in his Robes vignettes that he likes comments, but the way he speaks about them makes it sound like he has to like back as an obligation to thank a particular user for the engagement. He confirms in his latest JP birthday interview that he’s always thinking of new places and things to post, but he doesn’t say his motivation is to make friends, he says it’s to get likes. Even when he’s by himself and doesn’t have to put on a show for anyone else (ie post-party in his Ceremonial Robes vignettes), Cater is concerned about getting likes. He presents his intentions as very shallow ones (whether you think he’s a reliable narrator or not is another question though 😂).

Cater also mentions using horoscopes as ice-breakers, which gives him a chance to show his social intelligence and skill at making people feel comfortable talking to him. I don’t think he’s really intending to find people with similar interests or actively going out of his way to try and make new friends; when Cater approaches someone, he usually wants something from them and he knows how to use his cheery and laidback demeanor to do it (ie he asks Malleus for a photo of him in Malleus’s PE Uniform vignettes, he gets cozy with Adeuce to get them to do his chores for him in the main story episode 1, he talks about using the freshmen for “good material” for his Magicam in his Robes vignettes, he consistently asks Vil to collab or take pics with him so he can get some of Vil’s clout, etc.). Cater uses his amicability to get others to lower their guards and play along with him. Then you have Trey, whom we know Cater likes and has said before that he wishes he had “someone like Trey” in his youth. It’s clear that Cater wants to be Trey’s friend, but this isn’t reflected in Cater’s behavior. He doesn’t go out of his way to try talking to Trey or inviting him to hang out; he seems to spend more time with his club friends Lilia and Kalim, but even then, they mostly get up to shallow activities like sitting around, eating snacks, and talking. Cater doesn’t push beyond that boundary, and the limitations of his own comfort. Likewise, we don’t really know of instances when he made efforts to befriend people online or via his socials.

Cater has a conversation specifically on the topic of memories, experiences, and departures in Silver’s Halloween vignettes. In it, Silver talks about how once he graduates, he won’t be able to visit his school friends like Kalim anymore and how that will make him feel lonely. Cater says that while he could worry that “I might not see you guys again someday”, he could also just as easily decide to have a good time with his friends while he still can. “That way, I’ll always have the memories”. Notice his use of “I” rather than “you”, referring to Silver. Cater may be speaking vaguely about his own experiences moving around and leaving friends behind. If we accept this interaction at face value, it does seem to imply that Cater puts value in making real connections and spending time with his loved ones, without necessarily having to immortalize the moment in a picture. It is the memories he cherishes—so while it can be said that he may place more value in pictures associated with certain happy moments, it’s also true that he's capable of just enjoying himself and appreciating what he has without commemorating the event with a photo.

dbksbskwwb Anyway, it’s hard to say for sure just how much Cater cares about those individual pictures just because 1) he’s an unreliable narrator, 2) you really wonder if he has more selfish reasons for acting as he does sometimes because he has demonstrated the capacity to manipulate others, and 3) his best memories don't always come with pictures. This doesn’t mean Cater is heartless or a bad person! I definitely think it’s possible he has some kind of attachment toward his pictures, since those are the closest approximation Cater has for the intimacy that he seeks without leaving him vulnerable to others. It’s just that I’m not sure if he places as much value in the pictures he takes as we may think he does. He has other motivations mixed in there, and it's possible to isolate Cater's feelings attached to happy memories from the pictures.

P.S. Just so you know, you don’t necessarily need Cater’s (or any character’s) cards to learn more about him; sometimes Cater lore is dropped in other peoples’ vignettes and event stories. Additionally, you can almost always find a source for his vignettes online by either Googling it or just accessing the unofficial Twisted Wonderland wiki.

[tobiasdrake]

Need to take a moment and talk about Loki 2-5 and Mobius.

Ordinarily, I hate it when a funny joke or character quirk gets blown out of proportion into being, like, a character's entire identity. Writers will do this thing where a character will offhandedly mention that they like cheese. Three seasons later, they're the Cheese Guy, worshipping every facet of cheese, rattling off gorgonzola trivia, living in an apartment that's a huge shrine to cheese.

This is more common in fan-works and EU materials (which are basically licensed fanfiction), which tend to prefer over-exaggerating existing character traits from past appearances of the character over creating new character traits that add complexity.

It's symptomatic of the reverence that a lot of secondary creators have for the original material, but it creeps its way into the original media from time to time, especially for series that run long and begin to lose sight of what their characters originally were.

We've seen this in the MCU a few times. Budapest is one such example. Budapest was an off-the-cuff attempt at tension-cutting quipping from Black Widow, referencing another time at some point in their history when she and Hawkeye have been pinned down by enemy fire. With the punchline coming when Hawkeye, missing the point, was instead confused by why Black Widow thought aliens were involved in this other thing that happened to them.

The fandom, as the fandom often does, took that to be Marvel hinting at some huge, important plot detail for their history. Budapest became central to a lot of the fandom lore for Widow and Hawkeye, to the point that it even bled into the comics. Everyone wanted answers for Budapest. What was Budapest!? Why were aliens involved in Budapest!? Why doesn't Hawkeye remember Budapest!?!? IS THIS MEPHISTO!?

But it was. Like. A one-off gag. Hawkeye and Widow were soldiers of the same army. They've fought together in other battles. It didn't need to be a big thing, but it became a defining facet of Black Widow's character to the point that her movie finally bit the bullet and gave the audience Budapest. Because people can't let things go.

(That's not even getting into how the phrase "red in her ledger" became unbearably omni-present in every single piece of media that Black Widow ever appeared in, professional or otherwise, following the first Avengers film. People went berserk for this one specific way of saying 'She dun some bad'.)

But sometimes, it works. When exaggerating or expanding on the minor trait allows the story to inform about the character, to add new layers or dimensions to our understanding? Then it can be very interesting.

Loki 2-5 turns "Mobius wants a jet-ski" into "Mobius was a jet-ski salesman." Bit of a leap there from Mobius thinking jet skis are cool to Mobius's life revolving around jet skis.

But given the context of Mobius and the T.V.A., this colors Mobius's jet ski fondness in an interesting light. It implies that, all of the times Mobius has pined for jet skis or talked about how cool they are, that was a crack in the Agent Mobius persona. A bit of his original personality seeping through, of the man who was crafted into Mobius M. Mobius, surviving into the present day.

[shotorozu]

TITLE : CARTOON KISSES

pairing : todoroki shouto x reader

synopsis : it looks like your boyfriend doesn’t understand why you like miraculous ladybug, but i guess you could say that he was more jealous, than confused. thus— why he did that

legend : [Y/N = your name, L/N = your name] afab! reader with they/them pronouns, quirk not specific

note(s) : self indulgent because yeah, my birthday‼️‼️ yes i’m an aries. the episode i’m referencing in this fic is backwarder— season 3, episode 4, and dark cupid, season 1, episode 10

this is a birthday fic for me 💅🤍✨‼️

Lately, everything has been hectic— on both sides anyway.

Was it really your fault? Or was it his fault? In fact, it wasn’t either of yours faults. UA was just very meticulous about what the students should be doing when and how.

Then again, it wasn’t like you never saw your boyfriend— Todoroki Shouto; the boy with dual colored hair that could easily blend in with the peppermint candy isle. That’s not the point though, you do actually see him

The only time you get to actually spend some time with him, is when the two of you are in each other’s rooms. Either enveloped in each others arms, or really— doing the most random things, at the most random times.

Or the other possible outcome, watching shows together. Which would rather be right about now.

Shouto lays right beside you, his right arm draped around your shoulder to keep you in his firm hold. Meanwhile, you’re cuddled up right on his side, occasionally pressing your face into his shirt because why not?

“For crying out loud! can’t they just date each other already?!” You exclaim in absolute agony, watching the two main protagonists— Ladybug and Chat Noir, be playful with each other mid-battle.

Shouto’s gaze averts down onto you, and in reality— he doesn’t look all that invested, compared to you, who’s making commentary everytime something drastic happens in the episode. If he wasn’t, you couldn’t really blame him. He only just started watching this show with you merely a few days ago (really, it has only been 2 days.)

“Aren’t they like.. the same people?” He’s puzzled. The masks hide nothing! Even he could piece together that the two heroes could be linked to their civilian selves— most especially, Marinette. Since her persona doesn’t really have a drastic change her appearance, in comparison to her partner.

“Yes, that’s what makes this entire show so.. interesting! They’re so.. oblivious! And this has been dragging on for several years!”

Shouto’s confused, in all honesty. Really, what even is the love square? can’t they just say who they are? he’d guess that the mechanics are different, compared to the real world— where people already know who you are (excluding special cases)

He has so many questions, and his train of thought is put to an end, when he hears a high pitched squeal—

“DID YOU JUST SEE THAT?” You practically squirm in his hold, thrashing back and forth as you replay the scene of Chat Noir kissing Ladybug’s hand, as he bids farewell to her.

“He.. kissed her hand?”

“Yes!” You replay the scene, and you thrash around in your spot on the bed, practically fawning over the simple gesture. His expression falters when he sees you slip out of his grasp, and he can only gently pull you back in

When you kiss his cheek goodbye, as you part ways with him, he’s left sitting in silence. He doesn’t know what to think

I mean, it really could be a stretch of a situation. Why else would you be squealing watching such simple acts of romance— and it all seems too easy. Maybe you like guys similar to Chat Noir? who are natural romantics, and people that are just oozing of confidence? Maybe you love hand kisses? (It’s not like he doesn’t give you them, but.. out in public? not really.)

Or maybe.. there’s something else.

And maybe you like being called M’lady, and names similar to that? he doesn’t really know.

Which is why, he decides to binge at least half of the show, and understand the lore of “Miraculous | Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir”

»»————-　♡　————-««

You’re puzzled when Shouto starts acting differently

I mean, it could be a dare for all you know— but he doesn’t seem like the type to drag out a dare for 5 days. He wouldn’t be that committed to a.. what would you call this?

It’s.. just different. He’s acting differently, and you could just hope it’s a prank, or even a drawn out consequence of a bet he manage to lose— it would be nice to know about the sudden change of attitude.

He says nothing the next time you guys have another miraculous marathon, nothing out of the ordinary! however, the youngest Todoroki seems to be wanting to do.. something.

As per usual, you’re seated next to him, a change compared to the usual times where you’re slumped against his side, which really— bugged your boyfriend.

Your eyes stayed glued onto the screen, as you attentively watched Chat Noir pull Ladybug down from a dangling roof, chest to chest, shushing her, as if he wanted to tell her all of the things that were on his mind at that exact moment

“It’s happening, it’s happening!” You squeal, as if it wasn’t the 10th time you played said scene— and by the looks of it, you’re a ‘ladynoir’ fan.

You can’t see it, but his two toned eyes narrow down into slits— and he grumbles, knowing that he probably should just.. do it. There’s not stopping it now, he’d take the chance.

When the moment nearly happened, you body made an impulse— and simply moved on it’s on, without much thought.

You wouldn’t have noticed it, due to the awfully large (to an outsider, it wasn’t a large distance, but to him, it was.) distance— but you’re awfully aware of the warm hand trailing down your forearm, your body immediately relaxes when he tugs on your arm with care, peppering kisses along your forearm, and going down to the backside of your hand.

“W-what are you doing?!” You exclaim in surprise, your cheeks heating up like a fresh batch of toast coming out of the toaster. Yet, your hot-cold boyfriend says nothing, and continues to plant kisses onto your skin with no hesitation.

Then, he makes a point to trail back higher and higher, every time his lips press against your skin, you only grow closer to the brink of overheating.

“I figured you’d be interested in such a gesture,” He mutters against the crook of your neck, not caring at all if the kiss he just pressed against your delicate skin, was rather damp at all.

You’re still stunned, you’d question whoever wouldn’t! A second ago, you were just watching cartoons and.. he was—

“I thought it would be nice to.. replicate them.” His gaze shifts onto the screen, referring to the cartoon, of course.

He.. was copying the show?

“You mean by.. flustering me like how Chat Noir flusters Ladybug?”

“You said it, not me.” Which only confirmed your previous theories and questions. You don’t know why and how you didn’t see this all before— but it does make sense now.

You fall forward, bursting into laughter. The effect of his actions seem to be the opposite of what he was hoping for

“I’m sorry, did I..”

“No! You actually got me, don’t get me wrong. You absolutely wooed me!” You poke at his cheek, in a poor attempt in brightening up the hush mood.

“In all seriousness, you don’t need to copy whatever Chat Noir does! Do what feels natural to you, and as much as I really liked that kiss, I prefer.. your signature style of kisses.” Shouto didn’t get the chance to question what you meant at that moment— it being all too quick, since you lifted his arm to rest against his side, your gaze suddenly apologetic “I’m sorry if you felt like you were doing things wrong. No character from a TV show can rival you!”

The knot that he didn’t even know existed, slowly eased away from the pit of his stomach. He smiles, content with your words— he didn’t know how you did it, how you knew the way to his heart with your words but.. he’s happy

“But it did work though, right? I did make you flustered.”

Yeah, Shouto is back to normal, when his terribly blunt questions come back.

And yeah, Chat Noir might be charismatic and swave, but at the end of the day— anything Shouto does fills you with satisfaction, up until the brim.

If it would be cartoon kisses, or his signature style of affection.

»»————-　♡　————-««

[trashy-mctrash]

I know that Rook’s birthday has passed, but I saw a post today asking why Rook speaks French and I did look into this in an Rook Analaysis essay that I wrote for his birthday but didn’t post it here. So that post kinda made me want to post it to explain or hopefully look more into his character. 

Rook Hunt is a mysterious and attractive character. Despite his unusual habits, he’s a true gentleman but is often seen as having strange characteristics. Here I will attempt to look into Rook’s character design to celebrate his birthday!!

Rook so far in the game is the only character we see speaking a language from our world, French. Some have found this confusing or unnecessary but actually, Rook speaking French makes perfect sense. Rook comes from Afterglow Savannah, a land based on the movie, the Lion King just like it’s NRC dorm counterpart. The Lion King is said to take place in Africa, specifically Kenya. Inspiration on the landscapes in the movie was from the animators visiting Kenya (Bake, 2019). French is the official language of 11 countries in Africa and the secondary language in 10, making it the 5th most spoken language in the world (Chutel, 2018). Kenya is one of the countries with french as its main language. Since rook comes from Afterglow Savannah, it’s natural that he would have qualities matching the area just like Ruggie and Leona who also come from the same place. But unlike them, Rook resides in the Pomefiore dorm, therefore he holds qualities for both of these. Therefore, Rook does not come from France or represent France, he is based on Africa and most likely comes from the twst version of it which would be Afterglow Savannah.

Although Rook is not French, many white Africans in Africa, especially South Africa originated from France, Germany and the Netherlands in 1652 (jyu.fi). It's common for some twst characters to be a mix of cultures and themes. Rook is one example of this, he’s a blend of Afterglow Savannah and Pomefiore as he comes from Afterglow and is based on the hunter from Snow White. Snow White is said to be based in Germany, specifically Germany during the Holy Roman Empire (esri). Germany is one of the three main countries previously mentioned, that majority of white Africans came from, which suits Rook’s appearance. Rook’s hats also resemble fashion from this time as well as matching his Snow White counterpart. As seen below:

Rook’s hair also appeals to both the hunter from Snow White and the matching time period. These hat styles were worn by those of higher class and by Rook wearing it, reflecting his position as deputy dorm leader of Pomefiore. 

The 14th century was a time of vibrant poetry explosion fitting Rook’s personality. An example of a famous poet from this time is Dante, famously known for writing “The Divine Comedy” (Interesting Literature). He chose to write in Italian instead of Latin which was common during these times. French and Italian are both known as “romance” languages that both derived from Latin, which was the language of the Holy Roman Empire during this time (Language TSAR). When it comes to Rook giving out nicknames, these too fit the time period as it was common for people to be named after their place or qualities which is what Rook is seen as doing. An example is Riddle who he calls “Roi de Roses” which means “King of Roses” which fits the style of names of those of the high class (Benicoeur and Gwynek, 2003). 

Bows were very common and practical in armies from the 12th to 16th centuries despite barely being recorded in history (Towens, 2019). This reflects perfectly onto Rook due to how little we know about him and the little trace he leaves behind which pairs well with his stealthy personality as a hunter but also shows his side as a “soldier” or a “guard” to Vil, his beliefs of beauty and possible other things we aren’t aware about. The main role of professional archers were for defense but were also used as mercenaries during crusades. Rook fits both of these as he plays the role of Vil’s defense and the protector of beauty wanting to cherish it. He can also be seen as a double edged sword as even though he stands by Vil, many have speculated that he may at some point betray Vil or help Neige doing what he believes to be most advantageous. Archery symbolises “aligning with the target” (Girvin, 2013) which means to give support towards something. Rook is seen as taking more supportive roles throughout the game by helping other students like Epel as seen in Leona’s lab coat story, helping him make a potion for his class (Twisted Wonderland Wiki). It can also mean to become the heart of a community, be truthful, in their times of need to be the voice of their minds to help solve their problems. Rook being honest can also be reflected in his arrows as they symbolise the sharp and accurate truths they contain, this can be seen in Vil’s lab coast story as he blatantly calls Vil “fat” with the intention of helping to increase his beauty, which despite his protests, Vil is seen appreciating (Twisted Wonderland Wiki).The archer is linked with the Centaur and Sagittarius (ironically his birth sign) which represents having insight which can be linked to Rook having knowledge of other students and of other things that normal people would not. Rook is known to freely speak his mind with what we see as with intentions of helping them even if his words or actions may be seen as weird or out of place, but in the end they have the effects he was aiming for or benefit the person in some way. Also “that hearts align in embracing the perfection of that targeting” (Girvin, 2013) which is poetic in Rook being a hunter and calling himself the “Hunter of Love.” An archer remains cool and observes from afar, becoming the symbol of honour, precision and patience.

In the Spanish caves of Cova dels Cavalls, they found etched carvings of archers estimated to be from about 7000 years ago (Stanley, 2020). They were believed to be a form or hunting magic ritual to manifest good hunting, this fits well with Rook being a magic user in the game and makes him wielding a bow make sense as well as again representing his Snow White counterpart. Archery and magic connections as referenced when Rook is in battle as he summons his magic attacks with an arrow releasing maneuver, as seen below:

This can also reference his love for art, arrows bound in one of the first forms of art for centuries and also shows their use and endless help throughout time. A metaphorical and physical weapon just like with Rook, attacking metaphorically with his words and physically with his arrows/magic. Arrows are meant to be simple yet two dimensional (with its pointy and flat ends), Rook too is portrayed as being simple yet ironically he is also not. Two dimensional as in maybe despite all our theorising, he may just be a simple man who loves beauty yet there are still many unanswered questions about him and his past. However this can be said for other characters in the game as well, so perhaps Rook Hunt is just a simple man with weird qualities? That is still to be discovered. “The durability of the arrow metaphor, as with archery in general, looks unlikely to go anywhere soon,” (Stanley, 2020) this is a simple symbol linked with archery which can further be associated with the idea of Rook being simple and not as complicated as we believe. Rook being able to use light and dark magic can reflect this as humans are neither dark or light, they are simple beings with desires and goals that can be either good or bad. Rook too has his desires that some might perceive as odd, his goals are simple to (as seen in the wish upon the stars event) see all the beauty in the world.

In Japan, Zen archery (or Kyudo) where the goal was to “achieve a balance among mind, body, and bow, which gives rise to a unity that links the spirit to the target,” (Encyclopedia.com, 2020). Which again reflects Rook’s ability of using both types of magic, showing his inner peace and balance and ability to use both types of magic. He is a character that we don't see explode or express vivid emotions which could be linked with his hunting too. Bow and arrows have been known as symbols of good luck against evil in Japan since immemorial. We will probably see this in action during Vil’s overblot as that will be the evil to defeat in Chapter 5 alongside the other characters. 

The word “rook” has multiple meanings, like crows. Many have associated this and Rook’s poem about Crowley as them being signs of a possible connection between the two. Although this theory is very interesting and I would love for a twist like this, Disney is honestly too stupid to make a story as wonderful as that, but I could be wrong (please prove me wrong Disney). On the other hand it could symbolise Rook’s knowledge of everyone and how he could be aware of some of Crowley’s secrets or the secrets/mysterious of the school. They tend to be watchful creatures with great insight, which can be said the same for Rook as he observes other students and has knowledge of things that others normally do not have. Crows are also associated with transformation and change (Clifford, 2020)  which could represent Rook helping Vil and Epel, along with others to bring forth their beauty. There is also a well known nursery rhyme about crows, as seen below:

Although the history behind the rhyme is not that clear, the seventh line does hold some connection to  Rook’s wide range of secrets that he knows and holds himself. Rook is also used for loud and sociable people or animals who love to talk, Rook is known for his loud and expressive persona that fits this description. Rook can also mean cheat, which could link to him sabotaging Vil to save Neige. The name is given to those with dark hair which is clearly not Rook (with his blond locks) but could refer to his hunter counterpart instead.

Rook is famous for his golden bob that is quite the debate. However bobs have a deep history. In the 20th century, bobs used to symbolise independent, progessive people encouraging a more daring personality during those times. Movies have been the main reason for the spread and back in style of the bob. Rook embodies a free personality with his odd attire in the dorm that symbolises beauty (hunting boots and hats) showing his more bold side that can also be seen by his freely open speech. Joan of Arc is the main inspiration of the bob that was brought back by Antoine, a celebrity hairdresser, which he showed in his salon in 1909 (V is for Vintage, 2012). Although she wore it for more practical meanings, she still stands for representing the people and doing what she believed in. It’s likely though that the bob was more inspired by the hunter’s hair style for Rook yet it still represents daring and progressive people which Rook is commonly known for with his views and actions. 

In conclusion, Rook Hunt is an odd yet interesting character. He is neither complex or simple. We still have much to learn about him which we hopefully will in the coming chapters and his birthday event. Although his character design may seem strange, in the end they make perfect sense when looking at the connections they all have towards the game and it’s details. I hope that this managed to clear up Rook’s character and explain more about him. However, there are a few attributes that are still questionable which if Disney has any concept of storytelling, they will explain...I hope for Rook’s sake. His stalking and obsession could be linked to how he sees himself as nothing much and viewing others as better or more beautiful, in that case he’s got some emotional package. Still does not excuse his actions. These tendencies might also be them expanding on a hunter stalking and keeping track of their prey, in this case for Rook it would be people he finds interesting. In the end he’s one of the many wonderful boys we have to learn more about and love.

References:

Baker, Craig. 2019. 25 Surprising Facts about the Lion King. Mental Floss.

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/57386/30-facts-about-lion-king

Benicoeur, Arval and Gwynek, Talan. 2003. Fourteenth Century Venetian Personal Names. S-gabriel.org.

https://www.s-gabriel.org/names/arval/venice14/

Chutel, Lynsey. 2018. French is now the fifth most spoken world language and growing—thanks to Africans. QuartzAfrica.

https://qz.com/africa/1428637/french-is-worlds-fifth-spoken-language-thanks-to-africans/#:~:text=French%20remains%20the%20sole%20official,second%20official%20language%20in%2010.

Clifford, C Garth. 2020. Crow Symbolism & Meaning (+Totem, Spirit & Omens). World Birds.

https://www.worldbirds.org/crow-symbolism/

Encyclopedia.com. 2020. Sport and Religion. Encyclopedia.com.

https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/sports-and-religion#:~:text=Throughout%20human%20history%2C%20sports%20and,their%20primary%20means%20of%20communication.

Girvin, Tim. 2013. The Symbolism Of Archery. Girvin.

https://www.girvin.com/the-symbolism-of-archery/

Interesting Literature. The Best Fourteenth-Century Poems Everyone Should Read. Interesting  Literature.

https://interestingliterature.com/2019/11/the-best-fourteenth-century-poems-everyone-should-read/#:~:text=The%20fourteenth%20century%20was%2C%20in,vibrant%20language%20for%20vernacular%20poetry.

Jyu.fi. Ethinic Groups. Jyu.fi.

https://www.jyu.fi/viesti/verkkotuotanto/kp/sa/peop_ethnicgrps.shtml

Stanley, John. 2020. Archery HIstory: Arrows of the Imagination, Art and Culture Symbolism. World Archery.

https://worldarchery.org/news/178453/archery-history-arrows-imagination-art-and-cultural-symbolism

Twisted Wonderland Wiki. Leona Kingscholar/Personal Story/SR Lab Coat. Twisted Wonderland Fandom.

https://twisted-wonderland.fandom.com/wiki/Leona_Kingscholar/Personal_Story/SR_Lab_Coat

Twisted Wonderland Wiki. Vil Schoenheit/Personal Story/SR Lab Coat. Twisted Wonderland Fandom. 

https://twisted-wonderland.fandom.com/wiki/Vil_Schoenheit/Personal_Story/SR_Lab_Coat

Towens. 2019. Arrows in the Middle Ages. Bow International.

https://www.bow-international.com/features/arrows-in-the-middle-ages/

V is for Vintage. 2012. The Bob: History of a Hairstyle. V is for Vintage. 

https://visforvintage.net/2012/04/03/history-of-bob-hairstyle/

[bitimdrake]

You totally should make a post about Tim and dating! It's a little fun to joke about him being a bit 'haphazard' with his relationships, but still. I can see his relationship with Tam being casual considering the number of times he said she was 'just a friend', but I do think he and Zo were proper together. Like when Ives says that Steph was just an old friend to reassure Zo when she saw them go off together. That implies to me some level of exclusivity, or at least in her head? Maybe that's it?

Anonymous asked: I would very much be interested in a post like that

(anon, I am pretty sure you are referencing the same thing based on when I got this ask, but just hit me back if I have completely misunderstood)

That’s fair! I do think this is partially up to interpretation, and I personally tend to believe characters are not officially dating until it is made explicit, especially with the grey area that can exist between ‘going on dates with someone’ and ‘dating someone with the promise of monogamy.’

I could answer these asks much more simply, and I know you already know a lot of this having seen your meta, but I like being thorough and making things hard on myself...

So instead let’s go through a run down of all of Tim’s (pre52) love interests, in chronological order!

Honorable Mention: Lynx I

Tim meets the first Lynx (Ling No-last-name-provided) in his original mini series Robin (1991). Tim goes to Paris to study martial arts and joins a fellow student at a club, where Lynx flirts with him. He’s 13, maybe 14 in this, so yes it is very weird!

Tim tries to bow out before discovering she’s tied up in a gang and in an unhealthy relationship with the gang’s leader, and immediately turns into a dumb boy and tries to save her--completely missing that she neither needs nor wants saving.

Lynx continues to move up in the world, taking over the gang, moving to Gotham, and regularly appearing as one of Tim’s rogues. The comics sometimes try to hint at a Batman/Catwoman type dynamic, but it’s never really there.

Dating Verdict: Definitely not dating.

Ariana Dzerchenko

Tim meets Ariana a little later in his third mini-series, Robin III: Cry of the Huntress (1992), first as Tim Drake, then as Robin when he saves her from a kidnapping. He stays in touch in his civilian persona, and they’ve started dating off-screen by the time his ongoing Robin (1993-) series starts. It’s a very “14-year-olds who think this is the most important relationship they’ll ever have” vibe.

Unfortunately, along with the usual immature fights, the secret identity thing leads to a lot of conflict. Ari is already insecure over his secrecy by the third issue of the series (though at this point, she is completely off-base about there being someone else).

[panels from Robin #3. Tim, dressed as Robin, lies to Ari over the phone about why he’s been so unavailable lately, and she asks if he’s seeing someone else]

Tim is constantly unavailable, zones out or falls asleep when they're together, and sometimes outright stands her up--all for Robin-related reasons, but still making for a pretty terrible boyfriend. Sometimes she can’t get in contact with him for weeks! At one point, he misses a date when Robin gets trapped, she ends up going out with someone else behind his back (Robin #5), and when she tearfully confesses a couple months later...he falls asleep in the middle of it (Robin #9).

Dating Verdict: Definitely dating.

Despite the many ups and downs in their relationship, Tim and Ari keep dating for a long time, all the way up until Robin #56. The end of their relationship overlaps with:

Stephanie Brown

So Steph was actually introduced before Ari in a little story arc with her dad as the villain, but she returns as a recurring character in the Robin series. Steph is blatantly interested in Tim, but for a long time, Tim is very clearly not:

[panels from Robin #26. Stephanie flirts with Tim and Tim balks. “It’s a date.” / “It’s NOT a date, Steph.”]

And this isn’t just Tim bluffing--his private narration, talks with Dick, and occasional dream sequence, make it very clear he genuinely wants to be with Ariana and only Ariana.

[a clipped panel from Robin #29. Tim, speaking to Dick: “I don’t want a different girl.”]

It’s only in Robin #41 where we first start to see hints that Stephanie’s crush might be reciprocated. Tim and Ari are banned from seeing each other, after their parents get the mistaken impression they were going to have sex, and Tim joins Spoiler on a case:

[a page from Robin #41. Tim, in narration: “I could have passed on this. I could just not meet Stephanie Brown. I’m telling myself I’m doing it for her safety. I’m telling myself it’s not because I can’t see Ariana and I kind of like being around Steph. I’ve almost got myself believing it. So why do I feel like a rat?”]

...and this is where we really get into the love triangle nonsense, as opposed to just the Tim/Ari relationship with Steph pining from a distance. Arianna likes and misses Tim. Tim likes Ariana, but he’s not allowed to see her, and being with someone who doesn’t know he’s Robin is hard. Stephanie likes Robin. Tim likes Steph and finds it much easier to talk to someone who knows him as Robin rather than Tim Drake, and feels guilty about it.

Tim and Ari are finally allowed to see each other again in Robin #54, where Tim is genuinely happy to be back with her, but that love triangle remains.

[panels from Robin #54. Tim narrates about being happy to have Ariana back and determined to not let things change, while they drive together. The Spoiler costume lays on the backseat, symbolically between them.]

Things keep escalating with Steph, and Tim knows he should put a stop to it. After a date with Ari, he meets Spoiler for a case, and tells her that they can’t be part of each other’s lives because she can’t know his real identity...and then is delighted and very much does not break things off when she’s says that’s fine with her.

[panels from Robin #56. After Stephanie says that’s just fine with her, she and Tim embrace and kiss. Tim’s narration: “This is what I’ve wanted. Even if I didn’t know it for sure until right now. So why do I feel so rotten?”]

In that same issue, Tim knows he has to break up with Ariana and (after Alfred tells him that a letter is poor form), goes to do so...only for Ariana to suggest breaking up before he can tell her anything. It’s very abrupt considering Ariana’s feelings up until this point, and almost certainly just to clear the way for a writer-preferred relationship, but there it is.

Cheating Verdict: Definitely cheating. Tim fended off Steph’s crush for awhile, but he hung out with her despite his own feelings, and kissed her while still dating Ariana.

Stephanie and Tim, of course, go on to date for a long time (a year or two in-universe). After all I’ve talked about Ariana, I feel like I should talk about Steph more, but I’m here to list who Tim dated and if he cheated and it seems a little too obvious that he and Steph definitely did date for me to need to prove it. So, I’ll just...

Dating Verdict: Definitely dating. The longest and most dedicated relationship either of them had.

Much later, in Robin #125, Tim’s dad makes him quit being Robin after finding out the secret. Tim and Steph are clearly still dating, but he has to lay low for a while with his dad on the look out. Though Steph is delighted to see him again and they’re clearly still in love, per Steph: “what sort of boyfriend goes three weeks without seeing the girl he claims to love?”

(answer: Tim. This is a certified Tim Drake Move. Consistently available, he is not.)

Unfortunately, when Steph goes to check up on him at school, she sees:

Honorable Mention: Darla Aquista

A friend of Tim’s from school, Darla had an unreciprocated crush on him. She kisses him while Steph is watching--and Steph misses the part where Tim pushes her away.

[a page from Robin #126. Spoiler sees Darla kiss Tim and angrily leaves. Tim pushes Darla away and tells her he’s in a committed relationship and not interested.]

Cheating Verdict: No cheating, despite assumptions. Darla kissed Tim against his will.

Steph goes off to be Robin at this point, avoiding Tim. They talk over the phone in Robin #127 and agree to meet up, but Steph blows him off for Robin work (ah, the tables, they turn). She dies before they speak again.

Darla dies in the same War Games event...and then is brought back via magic, with new added evil. She retains a--much more dogged now--crush on Tim. He is even less interested than before.

Dating Verdict: Not dating. Tim had no interest before or after her death.

More Honorable Mentions:

a.k.a. a list of kisses or one-sided crushes people had on a Tim, because I guess being a male comic book hero just elicits that kind of thing constantly.

Dava, a somewhat-villainous minor character in a Robin story, has that “we are a boy and a girl written by a straight author” type of energy with Tim, and kisses him in order to slip him a super-speed drug. This is while Tim and Ari are technically together but not allowed to see each other, before he and Steph get together. Dava is pretty opposed to Tim ideologically and never appears again.

Cissie King-Jones, fellow member of Young Justice kisses Tim when she quits the team, but this seems more for dramatic effect than anything. The pair carry on as platonic friends.

While Tim and Steph were dating, Secret/“Suzie”/Greta Hayes, also of Young Justice, has a huge crush on Tim, and a barely-restrained evil side, leading to her initiating various conflicts with Stephanie whenever she appeared.

After Stephanie’s death, Ilsa von Hammer, a whole-ass adult woman and part of the U.S. army, kisses known-teenager Robin after a successful team up mission. Yeah.

One year later, Rose Wilson tries to hit on Tim by...waiting naked in his bed. Tim fends her off, uncomfortable with the whole thing.

(I feel like I must have missed someone here, but this is everything I can remember.)

Verdicts: No dating and no cheating here; Tim never initiated anything with any of these characters and often was explicitly not interested in them.

Cassie Sandsmark

A year after Kon’s death (and while Stephanie is still thought dead), over in Teen Titans, Tim and Cassandra Sandsmark get together through shared grief over Kon.

Honestly, this relationship is a train wreck. The pair first kiss in TT #37 after talking about missing Conner, insist it was a mistake, and largely refuse to talk about it until another kiss in TT #49. Their relationship becomes a big time-travel-related plot point in the very next arc, where they decide to move on from Conner and give it a real go...and then break up right after in TT #55.

[panels from Teen Titans vol 3 #55. Cassie breaks up with Tim, saying she needs time alone to really get over Conner. Tim is upset, saying, “I thought we were--I thought you were going to tell me--Wow. Wow, did I misread that one.” He brings up their relationship potentially foiling a bad future and Cassie is annoyed.]

(I stand by my “train wreck” judgement. It 100% feels like these two got together out of shared grief, and then only stayed together because they were trying to prove others--eventually including their future selves--wrong.)

Dating Verdict: Dating, but very briefly. (Per Cassie: “We were barely even going out!”)

Robin and Teen Titans don’t reference each other very often, and the continuity between them is slim. The Tim/Cassie plot in Teen Titans and the first half of the Tim/Zo plot (below) in Robin both happen around 2007. Neither book ever references the other girl, and there’s no indication that either is being cheated on. (This sort of thing isn’t unique; plenty of characters who are in multiple books will have very different emotional arcs between the books, or two love interests unintentionally at the same time.) If you want to, you absolutely can chose to interleave these issues so that Tim is two-timing--but, having done my best to read all Tim’s appearances in chronological order, I can say it is also pretty easy to sort things so that Tim and Zo call it off before Tim and Cassie get together.

Cheating Verdict: Definitely not written to be cheating and definitely does not have to be cheating, but it’s possible if you’re cynical.

Zoanne Wilkins

A thousand words later and I finally reach what we were talking about!!

Zo is introduced in Robin #150, a year plus after Stephanie’s death, and meets Tim in #152. Tim has transferred schools, after temporarily dropping out, and she is assigned as his peer tutor. They bond as smart kids and quickly become friends.

A kidnapping and a kiss later, Tim asks her out, and they go on what is explicitly a first date on a Friday night in Robin #159. The date goes well, and they are both on board for a second:

[panels from Robin #159]

...but by the time Monday morning comes in the next issue, Tim is already distracted by Robin. Tim insists that he had a good time and he’ll call her when he can, but he also kind of blows her off about hanging out that night. The next time they see each other, Zo calls things to a stop:

[two pages from Robin #161. Zo mentions that Tim already has a pattern of blowing her off and being distant, and suggests they stop after their one date and go back to being friends. She leaves the door open to try again, if he’s ever in the right place for it.]

...and that’s pretty much why I don’t think they were ever in a real relationship. Zo explicitly says they’re not boyfriend and girlfriend and have only been on one date here, and her condition for getting back together (Tim being available and having time for it) is never fulfilled.

(I will note here that this is blatantly contradicted by Robin Annual #7, which came out somewhere around the same time, where Zo refers to herself as Tim’s girlfriend...but I will always opt for prioritizing ongoings over annuals and oneshots.)

Things are a little strained when they run into each other in Robin #163. In #164, Tim apologizes for being weird about it and asks for some time to get back to normal. In #166, there’s a hint that Zoanne might have moved on with another boy, who in a previous appearance called her hot:

[panels from Robin #166. Zoanne is called away from talking with Tim by a boy, Greg, who asks, “You ready?” They leave together]

...though this panel doesn’t necessarily confirm if Zo and Greg are dating or just hanging out.

(Note: When I’m trying to create one cohesive continuity, this is roughly where I insert the Tim/Cassie plot from Teen Titans.)

The next few issues are fully focused on Robin business. Zo isn’t mentioned and doesn’t reappear until Robin #170, where she and Tim are once again on good terms:

[panels from Robin #170. Tim begs off joining a group hang out, claiming he has to write a paper, and insists Zo should go without him.]

This is where I think there’s a genuine question if they’ve gotten back together. The way Tim is talking could indicate that he and Zo are together, and so him not joining them is notable--but considering Tim has been Going Through It in these issues and is no more available than before, it seems weird that things would have changed. I do think he’s supposed to be holding hands with her in that bottom left panel, but that doesn’t confirm a dedicated monogamous relationship (or even necessarily a romance at all)...and it could be Zo and her other friend holding hands.

The next issue is where Tim infamously falls asleep on a roller coaster:

[panels from Robin #171. Tim wakes up on a roller coaster. Zo storms off afterwards, and Tim is teased by two friends.]

...and, again, I can see this interpreted as a date or not. Zo is very upset with him, which could indicate this was supposed to be a date! (Or she could just be upset at her constantly-distant friend.) They’re there with other friends, which could indicate this is not a date! (Or that it’s a double or group date.)

I will also add Tim’s narration in the next panel for completeness: “Zo’s dad told me she took a hammer to her cell phone. Well, that frees up my evening anyhow. And maybe every evening into infinity.”

Zo has brief, not notable appearances in Robin #177 and the Robin/Spoiler Special. Then in Robin #178:

[a panel from Robin #178. Ives: “Don’t worry, Zo. They’re just old friends.” Zo: “Not that we seem to be much more lately...” Tim’s narration: “My stomach churns. It’s not even a triangle. Me and Zoanne Wilkins and Stephanie Brown plus Robin and Spoiler. Leave it to me to come up with a love pentagon.”]

...which I can again make two arguments for. Is Zo saying that she (and maybe Ives) doesn’t seem to be much more than old friends with Tim now--i.e. that their friendship feels like it’s ending and is just in the past? Or is she saying that she and Tim don’t seem to be much more than friends now--i.e. that they are theoretically supposed to be romantically involved (”more than friends”) but he isn’t acting like it?

Ives telling her not to worry and Tim musing about love triangles in narration could indicate the latter--but I would again argue that both of those could also easily be said to/about someone who is known to have romantic feelings for Tim, relationship or not.

Dating Verdict: I do think all of this was meant to indicate they made up and started dating for real, but considering that is never made explicit and doesn’t fit with Zo’s established characterizations and their initial split...I prefer intentionally interpreting it as a drawn-out ‘will they/won’t they.’

Now, between Tim falling asleep on that roller coaster, and that last panel I posted, Stephanie comes back. Tim finds out in Robin #174, and immediately kisses her.

She remains a consistent presence through the rest of the series, but there’s no hint of a resumed romantic relationship between them during this era...though they definitely never got over each other. Tim refers to her as his “not-girlfriend” in #180, and admits he still loves her in #182, but he has too many issues with her fake death and actions through these issues for that to mean anything more.

There’s also a contrast to the Ari and Steph situation to be noted here--even before Tim kissed Stephanie the first time, he was well aware he was toeing the line in spending time with her while dating Ari, and agonized over his guilt and conflicted feelings constantly. But with Zo and Steph, there’s none of that to be found in Tim’s narration outside that single “love triangle” mention. Tim does a lot of questioning over whether he trusts Steph and how he feels about her now, but doesn’t mention Zo or any Zo-related guilt while with Steph.

Cheating Verdict: If you interpret Tim and Zo as having gotten together for real, then yes, he definitely kissed another girl of his own free will while in a relationship. Personally, I’m inclined to give him a little leeway, considering he does so immediately after discovering the thought-dead girlfriend he never got over is still alive, and there’s nothing to indicate a continued romantic dalliance between them...but Tim is a terrible maybe-boyfriend to Zo in plenty of other ways already. If he’s still mourning his dead ex, maybe he shouldn’t get into a new relationship.

Tamara Fox

Tim and Tam first meet in Red Robin #5 and are immediately held captive by the League of Assassins together. Tam talks about feeling safe with Tim, and Tim is very focused on protecting civilian Tam...as well as every other ally he has. As soon as they escape, a very relieved and ecstatic Tam kisses Tim, to his clear surprise.

(Honestly, I find Tim/Tam to be largely built on the assumption that a boy and girl in a story must be romantic--not because they’re incompatible or anything, but because the story is so thoroughly focused on Tim’s vigilante life at this point that there’s little time spent on fleshing out relationships.)

The pair head back to Gotham in Red Robin #9, and each get narration marking a clear mutual attraction. From Tim: "I know I can trust her, after everything we went through. ...God, she’s gorgeous.” And soon after from Tam: “I hate Tim Drake. ...God, he’s cute, though.”

It’s not until Red Robin #16 that they start to define the relationship. Per Tim: “I met Tam at the Gotham University diner. Was it a date or a meal? What were we? What would I have liked us to be? I didn’t know...” Tam does some friendly teasing about Tim being unable to ask her on a date, so he plucks up the courage--only to be immediately and predictably interrupted.

[a page from Red Robin #16. Tim falteringly asks Tam on a date. She teases him a bit, but Tim gets a text before they can say any more and leaves on vigilante business. Tam looks disappointed.]

It’s unclear if they actually go on that date. Tam travels alongside Tim as part of his WE charity Neon Knights initiative, and to help with his secret vigilante work, but in Red Robin #18, the relationship is still explicitly undefined per Tim’s narration: “Better figure out where we stand eventually. Dating, but not dating. Interested, but scared.” Red Robin #20 is the first time we get confirmation of a real date: “Two nights after getting from Moscow, Tam Fox and I celebrated our success with a date.”

...but between crossovers and vigilante plots, Tam only has two more appearances, and it’s not really said or shown if they ever solidified that relationship. In Red Robin #23, Tim fakes Lucius’s death and comforts Tam without telling her the truth. And in Red Robin #25, Tam discovers the lie, slaps him, and furiously calls him out:

[panels from Red Robin #25. Tam yells at Tim that she understands but can’t forgive him and that he hurts the people closest to him. “I...fell in love with Red Robin because he was so...cool... But I think the man wearing the mask is just...cold.” In narration, Tim questions if she’s out of his life for good.]

And that’s the last we see of her! This is very subject to interpretation, but this page reads to me like she has very deep feelings, but has never actually said the word “love” out loud in relation to them before. We know from narration that Tim likes her a lot, but between that narration, onscreen actions, and his general personality in this era, I don’t think he’s ever really expressed that.

Dating Verdict: You can reasonably argue that they did date, but this time I actually do think we’re intended to interpret this as a casual thing with serious potential, that never fully got off the ground.

Honorable Mention: Lynx II

In the midst of Tim’s time as Robin, the first Lynx died, and a new one emerged. Tim briefly encounters her in Robin #179-182, but the potential love interest element doesn’t come in until Red Robin. In #13 they fight, Tim narrating about how beautiful she is, before she’s arrested.

In Red Robin #17--so after Tim asks Tam out, but while they are still explicitly in an undefined “dating but not dating” relationship--Tim breaks Lynx out after her claims of being an undercover Honk Kong cop. Narration: “My heart says I don’t need a lifelong Catwoman on my hands...but my gut tells me I’m going to get one anyway.” And sure enough we get a very sexually-charged kiss, with Tim narrating how it is a dumb thing he really shouldn’t be doing.

Lynx has just one more appearance, in Red Robin #23--right before Lucius’s faked death and Tam’s subsequent anger. There’s another fight, and another kiss, and some typical dithering from Tim on the subject in relation to her undercover status: “In front of her gangers, she has to fight back. But away from them, she--we--what? What is this between us?”

Unlike our other honorable mentions, everything here is requited and consensual. It’s not particularly deep and I’d be hard pressed to see it as more than physical attraction, but Tim regularly narrates about Lynx being beautiful/hot, and is perfectly happy to make out with her before his better judgement inevitably steps in.

Dating Verdict: No.

Cheating Verdict: Per the last section, I don’t think Tim and Tam were ever in a committed monogamous relationship, so not cheating. Just some noncommittal bullshit. (But if you think there was a real Tim/Tam relationship, then the kiss with Lynx in RR#23 would indeed be after they got together and before they split.)

Final Thoughts

I’ve never really focused on romance in my comics reading, but after scanning through a bunch of comics for this post, I felt like I had enough thoughts to add in this final section.

Tim definitely did cheat on Ari, and that is a shitty thing. I don’t think the ways people are awful as 14-year-olds doom them to be awful forever and I stand by my argument that Tim is not a serial cheater--but he is an often terrible boyfriend.

He’s noncommittal and conflict-averse, which led him to cheat on Ariana as a kid and to have drawn out “are we dating or not” relationships later on. He’s too devoted to Robin to ever date anyone who only knows him as Tim Drake. He uses his Tim Drake life (and girls in it) to avoid problems in his Robin life, and vice versa. Even when fully committed to someone and head-over-heels, he doesn’t communicate well and seems to think not talking to an S.O. for a week is totally normal and okay.

His relationships with girls who only know half of his life are doomed to fail, but even among the three with girls who know both Tim and Robin--Steph, Cassie, Tam--only his relationship with Steph feels like it has a real chance of working. They have early problems as dumb kids, later problems as teens in their first serious relationship, and even more problems added on via dramatic comic book plots, but they also have not just genuine affection, but a genuine understanding and desire to work through issues that the other relationships listed here lack.

After Steph’s “death,” Tim can’t commit to anyone while still mourning her. By the time he finally has closure with her in Red Robin, all his other losses and depression have made him shut himself off from emotion anyway. By the end of preboot, all Tim is able to invest himself in is vigilante work, and sometimes it seems like he’s just going through the motions elsewhere, including in romance.

Tim/Steph has enough content to merit plenty of posts of its own. Could they ever make it work with all the baggage? Should they? Could it have worked between them in a nicer universe? Is it a healthy relationship? Who is at fault for the issues in and eventual dissolution of their relationship?

...but I’m so very tired of thinking and talking about romance, so I will not be tackling any of those questions here.

Thanks for the asks! Sorry (?) for this novel I wrote and I hope you enjoyed it.

[strangertheory]

*thank you @0aurelion-sol0 for the custom graphic (above)

To quote one of a favorite ST bloggers:

"Let your theories and expectations drive your excitement, but don’t let them be why you do or don’t like a show. You like this show because of what the writers, actors, set designers, and others have given us"

- @hawkinsschoolcounselor

Blogposts and Asks discussing the interpretation that Stranger Things is about a dissociated system:

*I am a singlet seeking to better understand the creative ideas and intentions behind a series that I enjoy. I am discussing what I think the writers' intentions behind Stranger Things might be based on narrative details that I believe might be inspired by dissociative identity disorder. Please do not treat me as an expert on dissociative disorders, I am a fandom blogger seeking to understand the ideas and concepts that writers behind a sci-fi fantasy series are inspired by — please do your own research to better understand DID. Please also understand that my discussion and analysis of this fictional story and the ways in which real conditions might be referenced within the show (PTSD, dissociation, etc), and what I think the writers' inspirations might be, is not an endorsement of the story as being an "accurate" representation of any real-world condition.

🎞 "Caught between two slides?" Will and Mike's conversation on Halloween

✨ Will Byers: Secret Files, and Will's description of the first times he met El

🪞 David Harbour compares the resemblance of his younger self to a number of characters in Stranger Things, and other cast members add their comments

🤯 "Will and El are technically the same person? Along with Hopper? Did I get that right? This is so confusing."

🧠 What is going on with the eerie parallels between Will and El?

✨ No, I don't think that Will "owns" El's powers

🎁 Matryoshka Dolls!

🏰 "If the Upside Down is an internal world, how could Jonathan and Nancy enter it?"

♥️ I hope that no matter what Stranger Things is about [...] that the show continues to represent mental health conditions and trauma survivors and the struggles they experience respectfully and in ways that those who deal with similar things can continue to be comforted by.

💬 "Hello, I wanted to share my thoughts on the Mindflayer being an alter from the perspective from someone with an alter like that. [...]" + "Additionally..."

Re: an anonymous Ask, "as someone with DID myself [...] I already headcanoned Billy as having DID. [...] I personally like to believe that the Mindflayer is an alter, but the demogorgons and demodogs are wholly external"

"I'm Lyra, and when I first appeared I was a persecutor. I, a lot like Billy, was awfully cruel. I've changed since then, but [...]"

Billy's "death" was possibly a forced integration

"I have a pet theory that the system was in fact an "outpatient" subject of Hawkins National Laboratory [...] I also do think that Will looks the most like the body and the body is Will and Eleven's age."

🧙‍♂️ Will the Wise in the comics, Stranger Things #4 of 4

✨ The Wicked Witch of the West, Captain Hook, and coping with fears while within other worlds

🗺 Hawkins Maps: are they sometimes "upside down" in certain episodes?

🏞 "What do you think is going to happen with the Upside Down especially if Will and El's connection grows?"

🧠 "Do you think they will address DID in the series itself?"

🔮 "How would you expect a 'big reveal' might happen?"

👀 "Do you think there’s any relation or symbolism between a Brenner and Lonnie other than being shitty/abusive father figures?"

💭 Speculation on Dr. Brenner's rumored return in season 4 or 5

🦸‍♀️ "What are the source of their powers?" (I share my "first layer" and "second layer" meta theories/thoughts in this response re: this theory) + a brief follow-up Ask regarding the concept that El's powers might only exist in internal worlds if she is a fictive alter

🧙‍♂️ Could Hopper actually have either been the inspiration for the persona of Will the Wise or eventually be reborn/transformed into a wizard-like protector? (I may or may not write a longer blogpost about this thought eventually.)

📽 Conceptual Video Edit (footage from 8 films from the Video Store Friday list)

General Analysis, Speculation, and Discussion:

🗣 Trouble Communicating, Misunderstandings, and Lying in Stranger Things 3

💩 It's Bullsh*t!" (re: season 3's focus on toxic substances and junk)

❓"Why do you think some fandoms are more likely to be heteronormative than others?"

My Art

🍬 Reeses for Dart

👦 Mike Wheeler

🎁 Robin and Nancy

⚡ Will the Wise protecting Sir Michael

🎨 "Crazy Together" tiny acrylic painting

posts written by other fans:

🧠 @0aurelion-sol0 shared his opinions and thoughts on the Stranger Things DID theory you can read here.

🏳️‍🌈 “It’s not my fault you don’t like girls!”: How one line sparked a pointless debate by @hawkinsschoolcounselor

🏳️‍🌈 Heteronormativity and its impact on Stranger Things (re: Mike and Will) by @hawkinsschoolcounselor

💬  "I'm tired of black characters being perceived as hurdles for white characters to overcome." (Re: Lucas Sinclair) by @11byers

🎞 A beautifully illustrated animated Mike and Will video created by @irlbuckley

[cogentranting]

Arrow 1x05 Rewatch

. Oliver’s little smirk when Lance is interrogating him. I live for it. 

“You can speak to Mr. Queen’s attorney when he gets here.” He? Where’s Jean Loring? 

“He also thinks I dress up in a mask and a green hood and shoot people. With arrows.” The audacity of Oliver. 

“she knows me better than anyone. She knows I could never be this guy.” OLIVER. I mean. Again. the audacity. Especially because he reveals later that he planned this. That he WANTED to get arrested. And he just has this whole plan revolving around this front of “Laurel knows me so well. She’s the only one who really knows me and she knows I’m not a killer.” When really the crux of the plan is how much Laurel does NOT know him and he plans on exploiting that. Amazing. 

“He raised her to do the right thing and that includes representing an innocent man.” Okay. So. My indiscriminate glee with the irony and Oliver’s attitude aside. This whole set up is really interesting. It reminds me actually of the moment in the season 5 flashbacks when he goes to see Galina (Taiana’s mother) and lies to her and manipulates her with this nice persona which is actually at that point more a mask than his Kapiushon identity. And that scene has always been really interesting to me because it’s Oliver pretending to be a good man at a time when he’s not, and while he lies a lot and puts on masks throughout the series, that particular aspect of it is fairly unique because it comes at what is basically Oliver’s lowest point (morally). And this episode (1x05) is similar in it bringing out this very manipulative side of Oliver that we don’t see in this way all that often (and remember that moment in 5x17 and this moment in 1x05, are actually very close together chronologically. Somewhere between 2 and 7 months apart.) The idea that Oliver, knowing full well that he is attacking and killing people, gets Laurel involved on the basis of this very emotionally laden appeal, citing their history and the connection they had, especially considering the role that Laurel believing oliver to be more moral than he really was played in Oliver cheating on her, and using not only her perception of him, but the way that him reaching out to her would be perceived... it’s cunning, and it’s effective, and it’s kinda messed up. 

But like.... legally... can Laurel represent her ex-boyfriend who her father arrested?

It’s ALL so calculated to manipulate how people perceive him. Appearing in court without a lawyer until Laurel agrees to do it. Protesting the tracking anklet. Throwing the party. His response to the plea deal. 

Speaking of calculated. Oliver knows what that blue sweater is doing to make his eyes pop. He knows. 

But Malcolm and Walter acting like they have no idea why Quentin would have a grudge against Oliver. LIke come one guys. You know. 

I just. I love the polygraph scene. For so many reasons. 

In the same vein about Oliver manipulating people’s perception of him in this episode, what makes this episode great are the places where it’s unclear even to the audience how much of Oliver’s reactions are genuine and how much is purposefully done to affect how Laurel and Quentin see him. Even in the polygraph scene-- did he get pushed into revealing that he was tortured on the island? Or did he see a way around that answer and reveal it anyway to gain sympathy? Did he actually get hung up on his guilt over Sara’s death (which is of course very real) or did he use that guilt as a way of covering up the answer to “have you ever killed anyone” because he knew he couldn’t beat the polygraph on that one? Did reliving his torture and Sara’s death actually overwhelm him to the point that he had to run out, or was he able to keep those reactions in check but put on the act to convince them?  The same idea is present in the scene later in the episode where he shows Laurel his scars and talks about how damaged he is. And we know that there is intentional manipulation going on because Diggle and Oliver’s conversation at the very end-- “So you lied. Or maybe you just gave her a version of the truth.” “I told her what she needed to hear.”-- and we know that there is truth (Oliver IS damaged, he IS guilt-ridden over Sara’s death, he IS traumatized by the torture he suffered) but we don’t know exactly where the line is between the two. 

I also think that Laurel and Quentin’s different reactions are interesting. When Oliver says that he was tortured, Laurel’s mouth is literally hanging open, she’s so shocked. But Quentin doesn’t react. Unlike Laurel he already knew about the scars so part of it is probably just that he put together that either Oliver was tortured in some capacity or he was horrifically cutting himself. But even if he had forewarning of it, just the idea that at this point he is so broken and angry over Sara’s death that he can look at someone who, even if he never really liked, he’s probably known since Oliver was in jr high. To hear this kid you watched grow up say he was tortured and not even react...

Love how little effort everyone at this party put into the theme

“If you think this is what prison’s like you are in for a rude awakening.” So i think this is mainly a joke because clearly Oliver doesn’t think prison is like his little rave thing. But. I do think that even though Diggle has some sense of what Oliver’s been through, because he still thinks Oliver spent those entire 5 years on the Island, Diggle thinks that Oliver doesn’t have a great sense of the real world. Just the world of the fabulously wealthy and the world of deserted islands. While in reality Oliver actually has spent time in some very different walks of life between Russia and Hong Kong and Hub City. 

“I just don’t like being played. Now you might have gotten used to lying to everyone else in your life but I’m the one guy you don’t lie to.” And here we are with that manipulation motif again. Oliver who at this moment actually has no reason to lie to Diggle, can’t trust enough to actually just present his plan to Diggle. He has to pull strings and manipulate to get him to go along with it. At this point trust is so hard for Oliver that it’s easier to just have a different mask for everybody. 

“I can’t remember the last time that I was in this room.”  “I can. Halloween 2005.”  But that’s 2 years before the Gambit sinking. Why was Laurel not in this room for 2 years prior to  that? she was dating Oliver? this is presumably his room? and if it’s NOT his room then its... just a random one? And why would she even comment on it? 

“There were times that I wanted to die. In the end there was something I wanted more.” The clear implication that Oliver is making is that Laurel was sort of his inspiration to keep going throughout his five years. And I’m not so against the Laurel Oliver ship that I’d deny that that is a factor of Oliver’s motivation during his time there. Particularly during the seasons 1 and 2 flashbacks, and at the very end of season 5 (which, if we understand the story chronologically, is probably the specific moment that Oliver is referring to here-- when he was drugged and in pain and had a gun to his own head and hallucinated Laurel convincing him not to kill himself. Which was only like 2 months prior to this conversation). But Laurel and getting back to her is really only referenced a handful of times throughout the flashbacks. That’s probably in part due to the series moving away from her as the main love interest/female lead. But I think its also a disservice to Oliver as a character to reduced his motivation down to that. Oliver is much more driven by 1. a general will to survive (something that is a dominant trait of his but also often in conflict with his suicidal ideation) 2. a concept in his mind of owing his life to others-- he feels he has to fix his father’s wrongs, he has to protect his mother and sister, he has to come make amends to Laurel etc.-- what he owes to others takes utmost priority (and that’s why often his suicidal thoughts come in this form and also have to be combatted in this form-- he thinks he should die because others would be better off without him, vs he should live because they love/need him) 3. a need to atone for his own sins. Interestingly, I think that even when Laurel is serving as Oliver’s motivation, it’s not as much his love for her driving him as a need to make things right with her (in the flashbacks. In the present in season 1 and somewhat season 2, his love for her is more dominant, and often in conflict with his desire to set things right which is why, especially early on, you get weird back and forth between pushing her away and trying to get close to her). 

“Impressive. you have resolve I didn’t credit you for.” Oliver’s iron will is such a central part of his character and contrary to what a lot of people believe, its not something forged into him on the island. It’s something he starts with. And I wonder what that looked like in his youth? Probably a lot more like season 1 Thea (who has that same iron will). 

This arms dealer looks like a discount Vince Vaughn. 

It hurts my heart to see Quentin and Oliver at odds like this. 

“But if any member of my family so much as gets a papercut... I will burn your entire world to ashes.” I love the Queen family so much. 

Oliver: “Good heart to heart Diggle. I’m gonna go kill someone now.”

[fly-pow-bye]

DuckTales 2017 - The Absolute Best!

After doing the least best this series has done, it's time for a much, much harder list to put together: the absolute best episodes of DuckTales 2017. I am not going to lie: this was hard to put together. Anyone could guess that based on how I once planned to have this list alongside the worst list and that did not happen. I can also see myself forgetting about other really good episodes of this show. However, after days of pondering, I believe I have a good list here.

Same rules as the last list.

It has to be an episode of DuckTales 2017. No shorts, even if the shorts combined can make up a full episode.

With this list, I have to say something bad about each of these episodes. Not necessarily the worst part of the episode, but a bad part nonetheless. These are going to be more nitpicky, but it is only fair to prove the constant that there is no such thing as a perfect piece of media and it is a decent challenge for me.

This is my opinion and my opinion alone. There are episodes I didn't like as much that a lot of people did. The last list should be a huge hint at that.

Alright, let's begin.

10. Jaw$!

I mentioned this episode in my Least Best as the better example of the show establishing the relationship between Lena and Magica De Spell. It establishes Magica De Spell better than either of the episodes that featured her before this one. One was a tease put in the very last minute of the episode to show how Lena is going to be far more important than the "cool new goth girl", and the other was the Terra-Firmians episode that used her as a way to improve what would otherwise be a not-so-good filler episode. This one is a far better example, and it's not just because a money-shark is a lot more interesting and threatening than a bunch of cutesy rock creatures.

It also has a B-plot about Scrooge's Board of Directors scheduling an interview to improve his PR, and hilarity ensues when Scrooge has to defend his zillionaire antics when a shark made of his own fortune is causing havoc throughout the town. Glomgold also makes an appearance during this, which only makes it better. Along with some neat Jaws references along the way, this is not an episode to miss.

Bad thing: They really did not want to mention the obvious plot hole of the kids being able to go into the money bin. This was long before F.O.W.L. began their plans against Scrooge or even the 87 cent problem, but still, one would think this would be one of the most highly secure places at Killmotor Hill considering all of his enemies. Considering I didn't particularly love the Impossibin episode, as much as I love the idea of it, it might be for the best.

9. The First Adventure!

Going from an arc from season 1 to an arc from season 3, though some may argue the F.O.W.L. arc has been happening since season 1. Anyway, this is an episode that brings back the younger Donald and younger Della that was first seen in "Last Christmas!" in their first adventure with their Uncle Scrooge. It's very interesting to see the similarities between their first adventure with Scrooge and the first adventure with Huey, Dewey, and Louie.

Even though this does give good development to the arc, arguably even bigger characters in this episode are Bradford Buzzard and Black Heron, as this episode details the origins of the Fiendish Organization of World Larceny. Their antics throughout this episode are very entertaining, with the plot toying with the dynamic of the more chaotic evil Heron and the more lawful evil Buzzard. With all it all ties together, I had to put the First Adventure on this list.

Bad thing: The sense of time in this episode is odd. We get a title card showing that it's the 60's in the opening scene, and yet there is very little suggestion of any passing of time between the opening scene and the scenes that I assumed took place in the 80's.

8. Quack Pack!

It would be too easy to just put in episodes that are important to any of the various story arcs that went throughout this series, so here's an episode that could be taken out of the series without harming anything. However, it is still a very memorable episode of the show, where the cast of characters have to be in this weird sitcom. There's also a mystery element, as there is a culprit to why these characters are in this sitcom world.

I really like the whole meta element, with the characters picking apart all not only the clichés in sitcoms, but sitcom production as well. I also really appreciated the "special guest", another sitcom staple, being a character from a different Disney Afternoon show with some great references to it. Quack Pack turns out to be the antithesis of the show it was named after; it's not dated, it's really funny, and it realistically portrays how freaked out these characters would be if they saw those weird hairless apes.

Bad thing: I wish they did more with the concept of this world being made up by someone who was locked away from the world since 1990. Maybe not references to the era of Disney that gave us "Gotta Be Gettin' Goofy", but more jokes about how the 90's were different from now. They kind of ignore this, as if they only mentioned 1990 because of the DuckTales movie they were referencing.

7. Last Christmas!

Wait, a Christmas episode in a Top 10? I have my reasons for including this one. It's not just because the idea is pretty great, as it uses the very tale that inspired Scrooge's entire character in the first place. Obviously, we already had one of the best cartoon renditions of A Christmas Carol, and this episode does not try to recreate that. Instead, we get a different tale, mostly featuring Scrooge and Jiminy Cricket, er, the ghost of Christmas Past, going back to the past to experience a good Christmas party. If only we can do the same, like Dewey accidentally does in the episode.

This was also the first time we also got to see a young version of Donald, who, in this episode, is voiced by none other than the late, great Russi Taylor. It was almost like having one of the siblings from the old show interact with one of the new ones. This is also the first time we got to see and hear her outside of a painting, and it's heartbreaking and yet understandable when we get to the scene where Dewey has to say goodbye. It's a good scene, and they weren't afraid to even throw in a joke that does not ruin the moment.

Bad thing: No, episode, this is the Scrooge they were looking for. Were they trying to make it seem like Scrooge was always a hero and not a miser who would deserve getting three ghosts to visit him with that line? I don’t buy it.

6. The Ballad of Duke Baloney!

Got to pay some respect to Scrooge's arch-rival with an episode that really shows off his character, which is a bit ironic as this is an episode about him getting amnesia and getting a brand new, at least to us, persona named Duke Baloney. Amnesia episodes tend to be a dime-a-dozen, and anyone could predict this new persona is not going to last, but the way this episode develops is actually much more interesting. This is the episode for Glomgold character development, with dream sequences, flashbacks, and a great scene in the ending that takes place in a storm that he may or may not have made up in his head. I may not have given a lot of his episodes high-rated reviews, but this is easily not only one of his best appearances, but one of the best episodes of DuckTales 2017.

Bad thing: The dream sequence really subtly implies that Duke Baloney is about to become Glomgold again. How? By having him outright say "this gold, it's GLOOMING onto me!" ...okay, I'll admit, that was a stretch for a bad thing, but with a dream sequence with subtleties, that took me out of it.

5. The Last Crash of the Sunchaser!

I called this episode "the best episode of the series so far" when I reviewed it, a pretty late episode in a season with lots of good episodes, I would say that's a good sign that this one was going to be a shoo-in for at least the Top 10. What I love most about this episode is that it gives a little more humanity to the legendary Scrooge McDuck. Sure, this was shown a bit in "Woo-oo!" and "Mount Never-Rest!", but I felt this episodes was one of the best examples of that. Throughout this episode, he sees himself as this legendary figure, as everyone sees him, and he ends up failing to live up to those impossible standards by crashing in a plane in a way where they may not survive.

Much like Quack Pack, there's no traditional villain like Glomgold or Magica. Eventually, this leads to Scrooge finally bringing up his biggest failure: his loss of the Spear of Selene and a certain relative that was piloting it, and it is one of the biggest emotional moments of the series, both in and out of universe. It's one of the most important episodes in the series, and it is also one of the best.

Bad thing: The Last Crash of the Sunchaser is a neat title, but it doesn't really fit the episode. The Sunchaser will certainly crash again. At most, maybe it could be referring to Scrooge crashing down to the lowest point he gets to in the series, but that's not the Sunchaser's fault.

4. Moonvasion!

My big hot take: the season 2 finale, the best of the season finales in my opinion, is not the best episode of the series. However, it is very close. It's actually kind of funny; I had plenty of criticism against the build-up to his finale, especially the Louie Inc. plot that led to an episode that was just kind of lackluster to me, and of all the, some alien commander from the Moon who thinks the Earth revolved around his "planet" wasn't exactly as threatening as an all powerful witch or the scheming businessman who knew Scrooge's every move. Okay, when I put it like that, the alien does sound more threatening, but trust me, even Bradford had his moments.

The biggest thing about this episode is the sheer scale of it. It really did feel like every major player in the series had a part in this, from Scrooge and the nephews, to Dijon and Amunet, to the new Darkwing Duck, to Donald and Della, to even the Greek pantheon! Oh, and Glomgold, too, in what may be his finest moment in the series! It really does feel like a finale for the series, and I say this even if I felt The Last Adventure was a great one as well.

Bad thing: In hindsight, this would have been a good time for the Terries and Fermies to come back. They're in the earth! That episode wasn't bad because of them.

3. Let's Get Dangerous!

I'll tell you a secret: I did not watch Darkwing Duck as a kid. It was just DuckTales '87, and even then, I did not remember a lot of episodes of that. This show was made for people who did not grow up with DuckTales '87, because they were not even alive. Though there are parts of this episode that can be appreciated by those who were familiar with the heroes of the Disney Afternoon, I will still say this episode works very well as its own superhero movie. That is what it is, really!

This special is the true continuation of another episode, though we saw this defictionalized-within-the-fiction Darkwing Duck in the Moonvasion, and it may as well be a pilot for a Darkwing Duck reboot that spins off from this show, with its villains, its origin stories, its sidekicks, and its memorable catchphrases. It all works very well. Who knows where the new Darkwing Duck reboot will go, though I would at least imagine that they would eventually get to certain Darkwing-related plot threads that never got resolved.

Bad thing: Outside of using a few cliche moments to extend the episode that end rather predictably, in the attempt to make Darkwing Duck as cool as he wants to be, the regular cast essentially become jobbers in their own show.

2. What Ever Happened To Della Duck?!

It's the question everyone wanted to know ever since Dewey said the last line in the first episode: what ever happened to Della Duck? This is one of the more artsy episodes of the show, focusing on one duck on what she assumes is a barren moon until she finds a monster that seems to do nothing but impede on her quest to get someone to save her. It does heavily expand from there, to the point where we get to see some more new characters, one who I thought was going to be way more important than the other. I decided to call that guy "General Not Penumbra", and that name could still be fitting as an insult.

This episode would be made or broken by how good Della is, and this is a very good episode for her first voiced debut as an adult. We did get to see her in the IDW comics, but this episode is where her character is developed. Throughout the episode, she has elements of her kids and especially her brother Donald. While there are future episodes that develop her further as a mother who wants to make up for all of those years she missed, one of the biggest defining moments is right in this episode, where she sings a version of the Capcom game's famous moon theme. An amazing episode all around.

Bad thing: Do I have to? Uh, flares do not work on the Moon? No, seriously, I can't think of anything worse than that.

Honorable mentions from each season:

The Shadow War! - An excellent way to end Season 1 that would only be topped by the Moonvasion.

Nightmare on Killmotor Hill! - A dream episode that really works with the concept, especially how Lena is the one involved with it.

Double-O-Duck in You Only Crash Twice! - This is an action packed episode where Launchpad really shines.

And now, #1:

1. The Duck Knight Returns!

Yes, I decided to put the prequel episode to Let's Get Dangerous as higher than the big Darkwing Duck episode, and part of this may be a little bias on my part. While it was not the very original intention of it, Fly Pow Bye started as a project to review a reboot, so of course an episode about Darkwing Duck, a fictional show within the fiction, getting a dark and gritty reboot would be right up my alley. We have Launchpad, a Darkwing Duck superfan, reacting to how they're going to ruin Darkwing Duck. We got the conflict between what the big studio execs wanted Darkwing Duck to be and Dewey's version of it. Finally, we have the conflict between Jim Starling, an obvious reference to original Darkwing Duck voice actor Jim Cummings who is even voiced by him, and his replacement, who appears to be some guy named Drake Mallard.

A lot of these plots converge in very interesting ways, with plenty of twists. Drake Mallard, the guy Launchpad was trying to replace with the original, turns out to be very worthy of the role by also being a superfan! Dewey's version has dancers, just like that Batdance music video! Okay, maybe that last one isn't that great, but it does not overstay its welcome. And, of course, Jim Starling ends up causing a huge cliffhanger that, despite the show being over, we will still be hanging from. We can only wonder what was going to come next, but I do not have to wonder what the best episode of DuckTales 2017 is.

Bad thing: I can't really think of a bad thing for this episode, but I can say that it is odd that there's no real transition from "TV character" to "real hero". It does help that it's not the TV actor that ends up becoming Darkwing, but "fanboy of TV character turning into a real hero" is just as much of a leap, even with an incompetent hero like Darkwing. I would also consider the show never following up on this episode's cliffhanger a bad thing, but that's not this episode's fault.

How does the whole show stack up?

It is an excellent modern take on the Disney Ducks. Opinions may vary on how this will compare with the original, since it is very much a modern take, with a different style of humor than the one from the original or the one in the original comics. Anyone who loves shows like Gravity Falls will be right at home here. Any fan of the original comics or the original cartoon may balk at some of the creative decisions made with the characters, but I would say it pays some good respect to them.

Oh, and before anyone asks, no, I am not going to give a rating for the whole series. I've already imposed a 10 image limit on myself, and since I grade on a relative scale, the average is always, in theory, going to be in the middle. It's a good show, that's what you're going to get from me.

And that's it for DuckTales 2017. Hurrah for Disney and Clan McDuck. Bye.

← The Least Best! 🦆 n/a →

[askroahmmythril]

Reference List for amiibo Fighter Names (Set 1)

A supplementary post for the amiibo card art I recently posted over on Twitter, here’s a listing of all their names, and where they came from.  Order will be the same as the order they were posted in.  Going to stick to 12 entries per list because otherwise hoo boy this would get ridiculous for a single post. :

1) Bayonetta : Lunatic - This is a Touhou reference, Lunatic being the name of the (usually) highest difficulty setting.  Given luna is associated with the moon, as is Bayonetta herself, putting the bullet witch in a bullet hell game seemed fitting.  Given Bayonetta 1 even had a shooting minigame, Angel Attack, it seemed to work all the more perfectly.  Basically the full setup of this card is designed to look like a Touhou game being played, with Bayonetta appearing in full as a “spell card” image.

2) Bowser Jr. : Steam-Punk - When it comes to more recent Mario games, when Jr. decides to confront you, more often than not it’s with various machines and mechs.  Thus, I thought of him with an inventor style, and went with one of my favorite aesthetics, steampunk.  The fact that he is kind of a punk little brat works quite well.  Some of the overall look of this card was inspired by the fact that I was playing the Bioshock games while drawing this, which Neo made a more solid reference to it on his version, putting in an Andrew Ryan quote.  I also snuck a reference to Tinker Knight’s mech from Shovel Knight in the background.

3) Bowser : King Dad - Nintendo has gone out of their way to portray as Bowser, for all his faults, as being a good dad for his son, and I love that interpretation.  Furthering this, there’s the fact that the Koopalings in the old Mario cartoons from the 80′s - 90′s tended to refer to him as King Dad, hence the name.  I wanted to go with sort of an old era sitcom look for him, the family dad sitting with his pipe and newspaper.  I thus also wanted to give the frame an old timey TV look.  This one was drawn by me in the period before Neo suggested we try using character specific icons in all the nameplates, so he added a Bowser insignia to the channel knob.

4) Captain Falcon : DJFalcon - This is a play on Captain Falcon’s canonical name (at least, the name for one version of him, since I guess according to lore Captain Falcon is less a single person and more a title...?  F-Zero canon is tricky to follow sometimes.  Doesn’t help that the Cap has been cloned a number of times).  Falcon’s full name is Douglas Jay Falcon, thus shortening it, DJ Falcon.  He wants to see your moves!  Your DANCE moves!  Not much else to say on this one, except a bit of behind the scenes info : I was most of the way through drawing this one when we had a power out.  GUESS WHO HADN’T SAVED THE FILE FOR A LONG TIME!

5) Charizard : NotADragon - The eternal Pokémon joke of Charizard, one of the most dragonny looking Pokémon, not ACTUALLY being a Dragon type (unless you count his Mega Evolution I guess, but still, the point stands).  Neo made the point even more, including Goomy in the image, a major case of “How is THIS a dragon, but THIS ISN’T?!”  Not too much else to say on this one, though Neo did throw in a Pokémon Snap reference on his version, having the Dugtrio mountain in the background.  Nice touch, that.

6) Cloud : Smash Star - This was a suggestion from Neo actually, we joked about how FF was such a “Sony” franchise that it seemed funny Cloud got invited to Smash, rather than Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale.  So we went with that idea, using stage elements from the last stage of the game, and using three of my favorite characters from it in the background : Sackboy, Sly Cooper, and PaRappa the Rapper.  Would have also included Ratchet & Clank, but didn’t want to overcrowd the background.

7) Dark Pit : FaceMyself - This one’s a Persona 4 reference.  As the game often states, “I am a Shadow, the true self!”  With Dark Pit basically being Pit’s “Shadow” from within the mirror, I couldn’t help going with this reference.  I greatly enjoyed Persona 4, so had a fun time drawing this one.  The back of his card is meant to be the back of one of those Kid Icarus Uprising AR cards.  Neo also added some Persona 4 imagery to the stack of TVs.  The roman numeral on the card in his nameplate, XXXIX, is 39, the release number of his amiibo.

8) Diddy Kong : Nerfed Gun - A bit of a meta joke, this one.  Diddy was seen as one of the most broken characters in Brawl, but in Smash 4, he got nerfed pretty hard.  So the idea of Diddy looking nervous, his weapons having been replaced with harmless Nerf equivalents, amused me way too much.  This one might be a little outdated though, as I’m fairly sure he got buffed a bit in Ultimate.

9) Donkey Kong : Sunwu Kong - A reference to the character from Journey to the West.  Sun Wukong, the monkey king, has been reference in a lot of media.  Heck, even Buster Rod G from Mega Man : The Wily Wars is based on him.  The specific version I reference with DK’s outfit here was Sun Wukong’s appearance in the Warriors Orochi series.  DK faces are really fun to draw.

10) Dr. Mario : The Doctor - A reference to Doctor Who, a show I... really need to watch more of.  The idea of it fascinates me.  I styled the viruses after various baddies from the show, the red virus being a Dalek, the yellow, a Weeping Angel, and the blue, the Half Face Man.  Mario himself is wearing the long scarf worn by the Fourth Doctor, played by Tom Baker.  I just always really liked how that scarf looked.

11) Duck Hunt : Quackshot - Pure and simple, just a pun name on the term “Crackshot.”  Only a duck is involved.  So Quackshot.  I want to say there was a Donald Duck game that also had this as the title, but that’s purely coincidental, wasn’t specifically referencing it.  I put some Target Test targets in the back to go with the theme.  Man, I do miss Target Test mode, especially the Melee variation, but these days, I can see the issue with having a personalized Target Test for every character.  I’d still love it though, haha.

12) Falco : Hyperdrive - I had trouble coming up with an idea for Falco, so I got to thinking about space travel type stuff since he loves flight.  Then I ended up with the idea that he’s a falcon (at least his name would lead you to believe so), and Star Wars had the Millennium Falcon, so the idea just sort of took off from there.  I tried to go with the style of how the stars sort of look like they “stretch” in preparation for the jump to Hyperspace.

[moqi2004]

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Persona Series, Persona 5, Persona 4, Persona 3 Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Kuma | Teddie/Labrys (Persona Series) Characters: Kuma | Teddie (Persona Series), Morgana (Persona Series), Labrys (Persona Series), Aigis (Persona Series) Additional Tags: Light Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Post-Canon, Far Future, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Past Character Death, Background Character Death, Song Lyrics, Other Additional Tags to Be Added Summary:

A series of short Christmas fics, from around 500 to 2000 words each. Mostly fluffy, but may contain light angst. Each chapter will be dedicated to a different ship, selected by a random generator. Major ship tags are written in order of appearance.

The first in the Persona Christmas Chronicles! I hope you all enjoy :)