#Really happy to see the brothers' RPG back in action!

[seatoss]

Finally. Some good news

[moemoemammon]

may i request hcs for a poly mc?

Poly!MC with the Demon Brothers!

(GN!MC as always✌️)

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Lucifer

He will never get over the fact that he's got to share you with his annoying ass brothers. But as the most patient(?) of the seven, he's learned to compromise

And by 'compromise' I mean literally making a schedule for how much time everyone gets with you, to avoid unnecessary fights. They all get you for an entire day, on a respective day of the week in chronological order. (Lucifer on Sunday, Mammon Monday, etc)

Though... we all know he abuses the system by making excuses like "MC, I need you in my office for a moment. I'd like to discuss your grades." and "Come with me for a moment, MC. I'd like you to explain something to me."

Basically he fools everyone by making it sound like you're in trouble, when he literally just wants to hang out with you some more. Maybe he can convince you that all you really need is him..? Jk he respects your decision even if it eats him alive because why his brothers of all people-

"As much as I don't understand your choice, I've lived with those six long enough to know how to deal with them. That being said... I also know how to keep them at bay. We'll have plenty of time to ourselves, hm?"

Mammon

The only brother that can see through Lucifer's ruse, but he can't say anything about it because... come on, it's Lucifer we're talking about.

But that's not stopping him from arguing about that dumb schedule! Why's he got to wait until MONDAY, which is a SCHOOL DAY, just to hang out with you?? Why does he have to go second when he was your FIRST???

Keeps trying to convince you to skip classes with him so you can sneak away and spend the day together. Nobody's got to know, okay?

The whole once-a-week thing teaches Mammon the importance of time management, so he's making the most of the time he's got when you're all his. He's taking you on all sorts of dates and there's no way he'll take no for an answer, got it??

"Oi! What did I tell ya about makin' those goo goo eyes at Levi, huh?! Only look at ME like that, understand? Just you wait, I'll take ya on a date so great, you'll only be able to think about THE Great Mammon! ....Huh? Y-yeah, I want ya to hold my hand."

Levi

Tuesday has officially become his favorite day, for reasons that have nothing to do with the upcoming Ruri-chan themed maid cafe event going on soon-

Tuesday's actually used to be his raid days, when he’d get online with his rpg buddies and do dungeon runs until dawn. But now? He's sacrificed all of that just so he can take the time to enjoy being with you

He may not know much about traditional dating, but don't underestimate the power of an otaku with centuries of dating sim knowledge under his belt-! He'll show you so much moe, your head will pop!!

Just be patient with him, okay? He's seriously trying to be romantic here, even if the thought of holding your hand is enough to make his palms sweaty. But he's not passing up an entire day filled with MC-! Not even his inferiority complex will get in his way!

"Eheheh... I've spent all night coming up with the perfect plan of action! First! We're going to have a TSL marathon of all your favorite episodes! Second! We'll speedrun that game you wanted to play, because I bought it! Third! We'll make a TSL-themed dinner to enjoy in my room! Then, we- ..Huh? What do you mean there won't be enough time? S-seriously?!"

Satan

Wednesday... well, that's right in the middle of the week, so it gives him plenty of time to carefully plan what he wants to do with you when it's his turn to have you. (He also does everything in his power to ruin Lucifer's dates oop-)

We all know Satan's gonna write a whole ass dating journal filled with all sorts of romantic ideas he wants to try out on you.

It's a literal date planner, and he's got things meticulously scheduled just to ensure he makes the most out of your day. You'll have to tell him that you prefer to go with the flow, or he might get a little overzealous-

But having a chance to settle down and realize that it's alright to relax once in a while is a relief. He can't help but feel annoyed when he sees you with the others, and it makes him want to cram even more of himself into your thoughts, so a breather is definitely needed.

"You know, I've been reading more books of the romance genre lately, and it's been giving me ideas for how to spend my time with you. I know you said I shouldn't take live advice from a novel, but... when I read the stories, I can't help but picture the two of us. Shall we read some of them together?"

Asmo

Thursday?? Why couldn't he have a weekend??? Everyone knows there's nothing fun happening on a Thursday night... That being said, Asmo has to get creative!

He's no stranger to improvised romance, so this boy pulls out all the stops and always delivers?? Somehow???? He can plan the perfect date in under thirty minutes-

And the time away from you makes him realize that he actually has to consider the depth of those dates. He finds he's not satisfied with cheap, devilgrammable dates anymore. He wants substance!

So he's taken to staying home with you, carefully and quietly getting to know you, and sharing himself with you. He loves it best when the date leaves him craving more and thinking of nothing but your smile. He hopes you can say the same, too.

"...Aaand that's how you do a cross stitch! Levi taught me that one, and it's saved my life a dozen times! It was a great idea that we should make matching wallets, huh? I'm just FULL of ideas like that! Go ahead and praise me all you want~!❤️"

Beel

Madame Screams does a discount on their sweets every other Friday, when they rotate their stock. He couldn't be happier! Though, he’d be fine with any day of the week tbh-

That doesn't mean he doesn't value his time with you, though. It being close to the weekend means he gets to stay up late with you, the two of you sneaking into the kitchen at night to smuggle away a mountain of snacks

Or he'll take you out into the mountains for a picnic, hoping the view of the surrounding scenery and your face will curb his appetite.

He couldn't be happier to have you for an entire day. A whole day, where hunger is just an afterthought and all he cares about is making you laugh... It makes him happy. He's starting to love Fridays even more now.

"Are you sure you're not tired? We've been hiking for a while....Here, hop on my back. I don't mind it. It's nice when I get to be close to you like this....Hm? My face is red? I think it's the heat.. maybe."

Belphie

Saturday, huh? Perfect. He preps for the weekend by sleeping as much as possible on Friday, so he can stay up all Saturday with you.

And when night falls? That's when his plan really comes into play. He spends the entire day doing the things you want to do, making sure you're thoroughly worn out so when it's time for bed, he has no problem coaxing you into bed with him.

And he's exhausted at that point so once he wraps his arms around you and falls asleep, there's no escape. The longer you're stuck there, the less time he spends glaring at Lucifer for stealing you on Monday.

But really.. the highlight of it all is the big, goofy grin on your face when he watches you indulge in the things you love. Even if it might not be his cup of tea, he's just happy that you're happy. And if he can keep you away from Lucifer, it's a win win.

"If you keep smiling like that, it'll make it even harder to give you away tomorrow. But you know.. we could just run away for a day or two. We could go camping somewhere, and stare up at the stars all night long. It'll be our secret."

[pieceofcqke]

I've always thought about a yandere mario

YANDERE MARIO HCS

(Gender Neutral Reader

2nd Person POV)

Oh, you poor, poor soul. How did you even get in this situation?

Even as a yandere, the hero would still display an amiable and determined attitude, always ready to help, kind to people who deserve it.

It’s only when you peel back those layers and pay close attention do his actions start to become uncomfortable.

You’ll notice that he’s sticking around more often, always conveniently around the corner to greet you with a smile.

He’ll spend less time with his brother and the princess and instead focus all his attention on you. He wants to know everything about you.

What’s your favorite color? Favorite food? Where are you from? It drives him crazy when he doesn’t know the answers. It keeps him up at night.

You might brush him off as just being friendly, it’s hard to tell at first. He only breaks down when your not around.

He’ll take your guys’s relationship slow, building trust the more you hang out. He’ll bring you along on his adventures, visiting places across the world, although it will always be just the two of you.

He’ll get you whatever you want within reason, he has plenty of coins to spend. He wants to see his S/O happy, he really does!

He’ll rush to your aide whenever you need it, he’ll put your needs above all else. He’ll protect you. You’ve become the most important thing in his life and he won’t stand to see you get hurt!

Because his minor tendencies get suppressed early on in your relationship, you might find yourself genuinely falling for him. After a while though, you may see his companionship grow to be oppressive.

I don’t think he’s a very violent yandere, as it’s just not in his nature to hurt people he cares about. I don’t think he would ever resort to kidnapping, either. For one, he would never stoop as low as Bowser, and two, it would be hard to keep you captive at his place, as he shares a house with his brother.

That’s not to say he won’t resort to other means to keep you in his grasp.

He will make you feel bad for turning away from him, and he’ll even drag other people into it if he has to, all done in a way so subtlety that you start to question overtime whether your the problem.

He’ll definitely gaslight you. He’ll nonverbally communicate to you that the little things he does to make you upset had good intentions behind them. He’ll push aside the reasons why your upset and fail to address the issue, and offer physical comfort instead. Or he’ll silently leave and you won’t see him for a while. He’ll make you feel bad, like you were in the wrong for treating him poorly, and you’ll succumb to his wishes with an apology.

I personally headcanon that he can’t really speak, like in the RPG games. This works well in his favor. He communicates through hand signals, which focuses more attention on him when he has something to tell. Plus, he can’t really say anything stupid when he can’t talk at all.

You might think he’s only trying to talk to you more because other people struggle to understand his nonverbal communication, which translates into pity. He’ll make you feel guilty for walking away from him, when he punishes you by doing the same.

Since he’s the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom, everybody assumes he means well with his actions, and you probably believe it to. He uses his status to his advantage and guilt trips you into thinking his actions were only out of concern for your safety.

He’s a fairly tame yandere, and will allow you to maintain friendships with people he trusts, but if anybody dares to get close…

He certainly knows how to play the hero. It’s his job, after all. Anybody who tries to get in the way of his obsession will be promptly eliminated, and the good-willed plumber will come up with any excuse to justify his actions. The people won’t question him, in fact, they might even commend him for getting rid of such an evil person!

Being his S/O would begin to feel really isolating, and you’ll eventually start to question your own sanity. You’ll be stuck in a world where nobody would believe you if you tried to expose him for what he really was.

Just give up already, Y/N. Respawning won’t save you.

Authors Note: After having no motivation to write for a week, this was actually a lot of fun to do. Thanks for the request, anon!

[peachykindalovesyou]

When the brothers find you reading fanfiction about them

SFW

Lucifer

He was coming home from having a meeting with Diavolo one day.

He was looking forward to seeing you, he wanted to finally spend some time with you after these few busy days he’s been having.

He was walking down the hall to your room to greet you.

But when we opened the door and said hi and you didn’t respond? He immediately thought that somethin was up.

He saw your phone right in front of your face as he creeped up behind you he looked closer and saw words.

He stood there for a second and read what was on your phone, and what was on there took him by surprise.

He quickly wiped that look off of his face and started to whisper the things he had read into your ear;

“He delicately wraps his arms around your waist, nuzzling his face into your neck and pushed a strand of hair behind your ear.“

he did those exact actions, and your face was cherry red, he quite enjoyed that look on your face.

“Love, if you wanted me to do these things so badly, you could have just asked”

He chuckled and kiss your cheek, leading you to his room to cuddle without the disturbance of his brothers.

Mammon

He was obviously already in your room, as expected.

He was playing on his D.D.D and you were reading fanfiction on yours.

You were both having a little chat about pranking Lucifer, most likely including him talking about using his credit card to buy the things he wants.

He got curious as to what you were doing, so he leaned over to peak at your D.D.D

To his surprise, he saw a glimpse of his name and a few paragraphs about him.

When I tell you his face was red, it was RED, you didn’t notice of course, you were to invested in this fanfiction about him!!

He wanted to ask you about this, but he just lay there in his spot trying to collect all of the courage he had

When he finally did, he got up and rested his chin on your shoulder, and read what was on your D.D.D

He proceeded to to nuzzle is face into your neck and spoke into it, his hands holding your waist.

“H-hey (Y/n), Y-ya’know I’m right h-here, right?”

You two cuddled for the next two hours until dinner and spoke sweet nothings to each other.

Leviathan

He definitely knew what fanfiction was, he owns a blog, watches anime, and plays video games!! 

But seeing you read one about HIM? He was NOT expecting that at all.

He found out one day while you two were taking a break from playing an RPG game.

He wanted to show you something cool he found from Akuzon.

When he called out your name, you didn’t respond and he thought nothing of it.

That was until he called it again, and now he was curious.

He glanced over to you and saw the reflection of words on your eyes.

‘are they reading an article or something?’ He thought to himself, he leaned in closer.

He saw his name and he IMMEDIATELY knew what is was, he flushed red and looked away trying to compose himself, he finally asked you his big question.

“(Y-Y/n), d-d-do you r-read f-f-fanfiction?” He said in a shaky and embarrassed voice.

You nodded your head and he responded with;

“W-well d-do you wanna m-make it a r-r-reality?” He asked with his face shoved into your chest, trying to hide his intense blush.

You two definitely cuddled while playing video games all night, sharing a few innocent and short kisses.

Satan

He knew what it was, but he didn’t think that you read it.

He never read it either, its not really his thing, or genre.

He found out when you two were studying together and taking a short break, he was reading a book and you were on your D.D.D

He didn’t think much of it, leaving you to your personal business, after all, he did respect you.

Tapping your shoulder, he wanted to remind you that you guys had to get back to studying.

When you didn’t respond, he called out your name instead. And when you didn’t respond then? He started getting a little irritated.

“(Y/n), we have to continue studying now.” He took your D.D.D while you were reading your fanfiction, he read it, and a a cocky look had taken over his usually calm one.

“I didn’t know you felt this way, (Y/n). Forget the studying, lets spend some real time together instead.”

He scooped you up in is arms, handing you your D.D.D first. He kissed your cheek and walked you over to his room to read together and cuddle.

“You know, I feel the same way. What a coincidence” He  chuckled at your flushed expression.

“Now, come here, lay right next to me, (Y/n).“

Asmodeus (It was pretty hard trying to make this one sfw, i mean, its HIM)

You two were in his room trying out some of his new beauty products.

You guys had a face mask on, and he was spilling tea while you were reading you daily dose of fanfiction.

He thought you were listening, until he noticed that your eyes were practically glued to your D.D.D

He snapped his fingers in hope to catch your attention.

Nothing.

He snapped his fingers again.

Nothing.

“(Y/n)! You know I hate being ignored!” He pouted and walked behind you, holding your shoulders.

“(Y/n), I think its almost time to take these off-” He was cut off short by seeing his name on your screen and a certain scenario written down in a paragraph.

“oh my, my, my (Y/n)~! I knew you felt the same way! Lets get these off and then we can do all of the things you’ve always wanted to do together!”

He then leaned in, whispering in your ear.

“Even if it involves anything naughty~~” You playfully punched his arm.

“Hey! Hey! Fine, but it was just a suggestion!”

Beelzebub

He didn’t know what it was, at all.

One day you two were in the kitchen because he wanted snacks, he took you along with him.

He asked you what you wanted, and you didn’t respond.

he didn’t really think of it much, he just thought you were spacing out and gave you a few more minutes.

But when you never snapped out of it he got worried and turned around, only to see you on your D.D.D scrolling through something.

He put his hand on your shoulder, and asked what you’re reading.

“Hey (Y/n), what are you reading? Is it about food?”

You shook your head and he took a closer look at what you were reading.

“Oh, its about me? You’re very sweet, (Y/n). After I’m done eating we can go cuddle together, K?”

Overall, he’s very sweet about it and honestly just wants you to be happy.

Belphegor

Okay this man, this man is a HUGE TEASE about it!

He would be napping, and when he wakes up he’s goes to find you.

It was obviously because he wanted cuddles and to nap with you.

He got up and walked over to your room, making sure none of his brothers saw him.

Opening the door to your room, he saw you laying on your side with your D.D.D right in front of your face.

He just kinda stood there and waited for you to notice him, that was until you never did.

He took a few quiet steps closer to you, eyeing you suspiciously.

He took a good look at what you were reading, and he smirked evilly.

He decided to make you blush as much as you could, by doing exactly what he was doing in the story.

“(Y/n), baby, what are you reading? Do you want me to hug you like that too? Kiss you ever so passionately? Wrap my arms around you just like this?”

Needless to say, he never stopped teasing you, and every time he saw you reading fanfictions about him he would say what he was doing out loud, even louder when his brothers were around just to embarrass you further.

[h2bakugou]

Hi! I was wondering if you could write the reader having an older brother who also goes to UA but the two don't really interact that much unless they're like play fighting and maybe one day Todoroki or Denki (who don't know the two are siblings) see them fighting & they get really concerned bc neither of them are using their quirks or any form of fighting, the two are literally just smacking the shit out of each other. Also, if you could make it so Todoroki or Denki is dating the reader :))

a/n: hi!! of course! i turned this into a headcanon so i could write for both todo and denki!! i hope that’s alright hun! thank you for the request! personally having an older sibling, fighting is sure to ensue. my sister can be a bit of a headass but i love her to death, she’s an avid reader of my blog and often helps me out! if ur reading this brit, give me diamonds on royale high 😩😩

headcanon: them finding out you have an older brother who attends U.A.

key: (y/n) - your name / (f/n) - first name / (l/n) - last name / (e/c) - eye color / (h/c) - hair color / (y/q) - your quirk / (b/n) - brother’s name

warnings: fluff, swearing, siblings being siblings

»»————-　★　————-««

shoto todoroki

»»————-　★　————-««

In the months of dating you, you’d never once mentioned to Shoto that you had an older brother.

The opportunity had never really presented itself. Between classes and hero stuff, you already didn’t have much time with dating. You made time for each other on off days, and dinners with his siblings were always nice, but you’d just sorta failed to mention your brother to Todoroki.

It wasn’t like you’d forgotten about your older brother. He attended U.A. too.

Your brother was a third-year whereas you were a first-year. He had to handle things like graduation, and what he would be doing after school. You were both pretty busy. The few times you’d actually gotten to see each other, you cherished.

Whether it be (b/n) teasing you about something or him proceeding to beat you up, the two of you going at it for the five minutes you had to spare, it was a fun moment shared between two siblings.

Today was just one of those days. 

Changing classes, you had a few minutes to spare and you just so happened to see the back of your brother’s head peeking over the top of some students as he walked down the hall. Catching up with him, you were unaware of your boyfriend who has also spotted you from behind.

Trying to catch up with you, Todoroki picked up his own pace, jogging down the hall after you.

“Dipshit!” You called out to your brother. 

Your brother nudged his friend’s arm and stopped, turning around to face you.

“Sup.” He greeted you with a flick to the forehead.

“Eat shit.” You rolled your eyes, flicking his forehead back. 

Todoroki was confused. Who was this guy? Was this some sort of friend? Another guy you liked? He didn’t have all the details so he couldn’t jump to any conclusions.

All of a sudden you slapped the back of his neck with force, causing the boy to glare at you.

Todoroki rushed over.

“Oh hey, Sho!”

“Woah who’s this?” Your brother stepped in, slinging an arm over your shoulder.

Stomping down on his foot, your brother recoiled at your action, taking a step back.

“This is my boyfriend Shoto. Shoto this is my brother, (b/n).” You rolled your eyes at the doofus behind you.

“You little-”

“Don’t make me tell mom!” You threatened.

“Does mom know you have a boyfriend?” Your brother shot back.

“What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her-”

“I’m so telling!” “Don’t you dare!” You chased after him down the hall, waving to Shoto who gave you a sympathetic look. He could imagine his own siblings doing the same.

Later that afternoon, Shoto got the chance to talk to you about your brother.

“I didn’t know you had a brother.” Shoto spoke, sitting across from you at the common room table.

“I apologize for not telling you sooner, we don’t get to see each other very often.” You said your apology for not informing him sooner.

“Does he not like that we’re together?” Shoto asks, curious as to what your brother thinks of him.

“No, no! He’s happy for me, for us. He’s just a shithead.” You tease. Shoto feels a nice weight lift from his shoulders. He was worried your brother was going to hate his guts.

“I’d love to have the both of you over for dinner again sometime, and any other siblings if you’ve got them.” Todoroki smiles. You nod and laugh.

“He’d probably flit with your sister.” 

“She deals with enough hooligans with my brother.”

»»————-　★　————-««

denki kaminari

»»————-　★　————-««

Like Todoroki, you’re all so busy. U.A. is an amazing place but you’ve got to have time management. Besides holiday breaks and off-days, you’re pretty busy. 

You’ve got training, and classes to attend all while managing schoolwork, agency offers, and internships. And any other extra-curricular activities and trips and events.

Denki and you make time for each other. Most of this time consists of eating pizza and late-night snacks together while watching scary movies and playing video games.

Your brother is also pretty busy. Being a third-year requires having all your shit together for when you graduate.

You see each other in the halls, but you’re lucky to have lunch with his class as well. 

Though you don’t sit together, the both of you having your own group of friends, if you ever need to tell him something or if you just wanna annoy him, you can walk over to his table and do so.

This being said, Kaminari has no clue who the tall guy you’re talking to is. e’s a bit jealous. The guy looks visibly older, and a lot more mature. 

Deciding to go step in, he notices the guy teasing and hitting you, flicking your forehead and punching your arm.

Before he can say anything, you punch him in the gut. No quirk, no nothing, just a plain and simple punch to the gut.

“Ass.” You laugh, teasing your brother as he grumbles in pain.

“Oh, she got you!” Your brother’s friends cheer you on.

“Hey is this guy bothering you babe?” 

“Babe?” Your brother seemingly snaps up, almost like he wasn’t in pain from the blow to the stomach.

“Babe?” Denki says to you, now worried about who this guy was. Your face was hot as you shook your head.

“Kami, this is my dipshit brother, (b/n). (b/n), this is my amazing boyfriend, Kaminari.” You kiss Kaminari’s cheek and smile, reassuring the electric blonde that this was nothing more than siblings being siblings.

“Nice to meet you, bro!” Your brother extends a hand for Kaminari to shake.

“Nice to meet you too dude! I didn’t know you had a brother.” Kaminari mentions, making your brother glare at you..

“You didn’t tell this awesome bro that you had a cool ass brother?” Your brother fakes being hurt while you just roll your eyes.

“Yeah because the guy who clogged the second-story bathrooms after drinking spoiled milk is ‘cool.” You tease. Your brother’s friends join back in with some laughter.

“Yeah well, you snore super loud.” Your brother retorts.

“You little-!” You charge toward your brother, clinging onto him, tackling him to the floor.

“(Y/n)!” Kaminari calls for you.

“I got this Kami! Look away, babe!” You laugh, before slapping your brother across his face.

Later that day after having been told off by Aizawa to leave your brother alone, you were able to hang out with Kaminari.

“Why didn’t you tell me you had a brother?” Kaminari held you in his arms as he watched you play some RPG on his handheld console.

“He’s super busy, he’s a third-year and we never really get to see each other, plus it never really crossed my mind.” You admitted, pausing your game to turn and face him.

“I’d like to get to know him better if that’s alright, I think it’s important to have a good relationship with your brother.”

“Why he’s a butthole?” 

“I just want him to trust me, and ya know, let him know that I’ll take good care of you.” Kaminari kisses your cheek, smiling and resting his forehead against your own.

“If that’s what you’re worried about, I can promise you that he loves you.”

“Really?”

“As long as I’m happy, he’s happy.”

»»————-　★　————-««

masterlist

[eurekq]

>be me >today i will make a height chart for my da protags and their love interests >okay maybe ill make it an outfit and color reference too >well i dont want it to be too boring to look at >draw this

so here we are with all my sweet little ladies and their lis :]!!! from left to right: cassie cousland, marian hawke and anders, aoife lavellan and cullen, rhiannon tabris and alistair, cecelia hawke and fenris, melly cadash and sera

LOTS of extra stuff under the cut!!!

lovely da protag templates are from marian churchland!

dear sweet cassie, partaker in the forbidden non-romantic alistair marriage that the game never knows how to acknowledge. very much the definition of gaslight gatekeep girlboss. and by that i mean a genuinely bad person in the sense that she tends to toy with peoples feelings. had an extremely public affair with anders during the events of awakening. It takes a good 5 years for her and alistairs marriage to be anything even approaching functional. extremely savvy, ambitious, and charismatic; a great politician and an extremely effective ruler. morrigan is her closest friend in the world (yes i know i never had her in my party. thats because im bad at video games and needed a healer.) and they’re like sisters.

my default hawke. 6′2, buff as shit, slept her way through half of her friends before finally settling with anders. she’s a blood mage and her first use of blood magic was during a particularly nasty fight where she got speared through the stomach. she carves herself up for mana; anders puts her back together. does things in anger and impulse and then regrets them (see: giving isabela to the arishok, never reconciling with carver after leandras death). mean if you dont know her, intensely protective if you do, but takes betrayal extremely poorly. constantly taking action, even if it doesn’t turn out very well; she is physically incapable of being a bystander. her and anders are my fave da couple ever... ask me about my post da2 hcs <3 theyre happy and have a daughter named bethany :] she punched cullen in the mouth at the end of da2 so hard that it left that scar.

literally is there anything like your first dai playthrough being an elf. aoife is... remarkably well realized in my brain for a character who’s life began as my friend chanting “goth elf! goth elf! goth elf!” over my shoulder while i was in character creator. very affable and friendly, but extremely politically adept with a capability for subterfuge that even she isn’t fully comfortable with. huge history buff. solas was like a big brother to her and her faith was extremely important to her so trespasser was crushing. very curious, especially about magic; definitely learned some blood magic from hawke after hearing dorian and solas talk about it. dorian is her closest platonic friend, but cullen is her rock. as in he is literally so normal compared to everything else that happens to her and she loves him for it. also her and hawke are friends and a scenario that lives rent free in my mind is them hanging out while anders and cullen attempt to kill each other in increasingly looney toons-esque ways in the background. she turned out remarkably pretty for an inquisitor... look at her

....and that’s it for my canon timeline. onto the secondary timeline!

DEAR SWEET RHIANNON. 4′8 powerhouse with a sword longer than she is tall. i first played rhiannon with a friend who was very new to rpgs and she picked all of the mean dialogue options because she thought they were funny, which led to me discovering that alistair reacts oddly and kind of hilariously well to being made fun of by a female warden pre-duncan dying. rhiannon is fun in that she literally gives no shits about conflict avoidance; if you start something with her, she’ll see it through. disliked alistair on principle and poked fun at him when they first met, but after the events at ostagar bonded to him extremely strongly. very close to him pretty much at the exclusion of all her other companions. extremely strong willed, laughs loud and smiles wide, no real concept of subterfuge except for when she’s hiding her own pain, generally goes in the path of least resistance if it gets to her goal faster. #1 arl eamon hater. she looks pretty different when i draw her compared to how she looked ingame but this screenshot of her doing the like. dead deer tinder profile pic pose is extremely powerful

cecelia is the truest tragic hawke that i’ve played (rip cecelia. you had the misfortune to exist in the warden alistair timeline). lost carver, lost bethany in the deep roads, lost her mother, believes that fenris has left her. act 2; a real rough ride for cecelia. aside from all the tragedy, she’s tough as nails, direct, and extremely blunt. very cautious in combat, even more so since she lost both carver and bethany. plans upon plans upon plans and prefers to strike unseen and unheard from the shadows. DEEPLY in love with fenris, best friends with isabela and merrill. aware of anders affection for her and keeps some distance for both their sakes; after the chantry explosion she helps him fake his own death on the condition that she never sees him again. when terrible things are not constantly happening she has a very dry wit, part of the reason her and fenris get along so well. too many bad things happen to her for someone with such nice thighs and such a stylish cape. her save file had some weird bugs with companion like.... staring???? in weird directions???

the absolute energy here. she also turned out very pretty in inquisition.

melly is easily my most powerful da oc. not in terms of in-universe power (although sword and board reaver is like. unkillable.) but in the sense that she is a catholic (read: andrastian) mid-40′s widowed mobster milf. she’s very close to cassandra and vivienne and consults them for advice before she goes to her actual advisors. even she was surprised by her relationship with sera; she finds sera’s unique sense of humor very charming and really likes pulling silly pranks with her as a reprieve from her everyday life. when she’s not with sera, she tends to be very pragmatic and logical when making decisions for the inquisition and has a very defined sense of purpose. she takes her role as both as the inquisitor and the herald of andraste very seriously. she’s very warm and soothing to be around during off hours and random inquisition members will often drift towards her for life advice. first draft of her and sera in this drawing had sera wearing this

[a-wayne-at-heart-too]

Ask: The 27th of April, the Last (and Long) Part

Bonus Ask:

[Stately Wayne Manor]

Jason: *helping Alfred clear out the dinner table* You think we should’ve asked Harley to stay for dinner? 

Alfred: If you wished to see Master Bruce’s hair turn to grey as you ate dessert, I don’t see why not.

Jason: *burps loudly and fans his breath away* Whoops. Sorry, Alf. Just my way of complimenting your cooking.

Alfred: *carrying the dishes to the kitchen* Then perhaps you should come here more often, Master Jason.

Jason: *following Alfred* I'd rather not cause any trouble.

Alfred: *stops in his tracks and turns to face Jason with a stern expression* And you don't think it troubles me that you feel unwelcome here?

Jason: *takes the dishes from Alfred’s hands, sets them on the kitchen island, and pulls him in for a hug* Alf, hey... I didn’t mean it like that. I know you guys care about me, it’s just...

Alfred: *sobbing into Jason's shirt* We've already lost you once... Once is enough, Jason...

Jason: *tightens the hug and gently plants a kiss on top of Alfred’s head* I know, I know... I'm back, Alf. I'm back.

>>> *** <<<

Dick and Barbara: *sitting on the carpeted floor in the study, enjoying the heat from the fireplace in front of them, going through a stack of photo albums*

Dick: *smiling fondly* Wow, these are old-old.... I should probably scan them before they crumble to pieces.

Dick: *stops at a page and points at a picture of Bruce and Jason on a boat, smiling, and holding up a tuna* Check this out, Babs... Aw, I love this one. I had a few days off from work, decided to spend it here. Somehow Jason convinced Bruce to take break from himself and go fishing.  

Dick: *talking animatedly* So, there we are on Bruce’s huge fishing boat, the Bat-2-Sea -- And Jason’s starting to get seasick because he’s been hanging out by the edge, waiting for a bite for hours -- The persistence on that kid! --  And he finally gets one! A big one, Babs -- *spreads his arms* -- and it was pulling down hard like you wouldn’t believe, but Jason just wouldn’t let go! -- So Bruce drops the glass of wine he’s holding and runs to grab him --

Barbara: What were you doing?

Dick: Who do you think took the picture? As I was saying -- Bruce, he -- he -- *starts to laugh so hard that he tears up* trips over Jason’s line somehow and falls into the ocean! *slapping-the-floor laughing* The World’s Greatest Detective, in his Batwaders, drenched like a wet bird... *sighs happily* You should’ve seen his face!

Barbara: *turns the page* Oh, I can see it now. Still stone-faced, but wet.

Barbara: *stops at a page and giggles* Aw... Will you look at that?

Dick: *looks at the photo Babs is pointing at and chuckles softly* That’s adorable. 

Barbara: Those scaly leotards fit him better than they ever did you, Boy Wonder.

Dick: *smirks* Whatever. But I have to admit, he did look great. He looked really... happy. I wish... I wish I saw more of him in action, you know? *voice breaking* I could’ve maybe trained him the way I did Tim and Damian --

Barbara: *rubs his back comfortingly* Dick...

Jason: *walks into the study* Dickie, I took some of your --

Dick: *clears his throat and wipes his eyes haphazardly* Hey, Little Wing!

Jason: Wait, are those our old family photos?

Barbara: *pats the empty spot beside her* C'mere.

Jason: *sits down and rubs his hands together* Where’s the one where Bruce goes kersplat in the ocean?

Jason: *flips through the pages and grimaces at his photos as Robin* You're not gonna use these to blackmail me, are you?

>>> *** <<<

Duke: *watches as his RPG character explodes for the fifth time in a row and shakes his head* You beat me again! You're so good at this game, man.

Jason: *snorts and puts his controller down* Dude, you weren't even trying. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were letting me win.

Duke: What? Naaaah... That's... Come on, why would I do that?

Jason: *gets up and shrugs, grinning knowingly* I dunno... 'Cause you like seeing me alive?

Duke: Yeah. It’s pretty awesome, actually.

Jason: *offers to bump fists* I gotta pack up. Good game, though. See you around, bro.

Duke: *exploding-fist-bumps with Jason* You too, bro.

Jason: *pats Ace the Bathound’s head as he exits the game room*

>>> *** <<<

Steph: *examining Jason’s face* You look really pale.

Cass: *pointing at various spots on his face* And you have a lot of... scars.

Jason: *sitting on a stool in front of Cass’s vanity dresser, staring at himself in the mirror and absentmindedly running a finger over the shirt-covered scar on his chest* Yeah? That bad, huh?

Steph: *grins* Nothing a little makeup can’t fix.

Jason: *rubbing his chin* You think so? I mean, I just came here to borrow a few weapons from Cass, but if you think I need a makeover...

Steph and Cass: *look at each other and squeal in delight*

>>> *** <<<

Tim: And this *holding up a minuscule gadget between his fingers for Jason to see* generates a force field over your entire body. The more the impact, the greater the energy generated. Schway, huh?

Jason: *nodding his head appreciatively as he takes the gadget and sticks it on the lapel of his leather jacket* Schway.

Tim: *proudly shows Jason a Bat-shaped breastplate * Now, this -- You're gonna love this -- It can turn you invisible to the naked eye for roughly 34.5 seconds, giving you time to do all kinds of offensive or defensive stuff. They won’t know what hit them, Jay. You’re basically gonna be invincible and Joker... Joker, he’s... he’s not... not gonna... *drops the breastplate unceremoniously* 

Jason: *places a hand on Tim’s shoulder* Thank you, Timbo. Really. But I'll be fine out there. You don't have to worry about me.

Tim: Yeah? Can you promise me that? Because I don’t think I can live through another one of Bruce's meltdowns.

Jason: *chuckles softly* Aren't they the best?

>>> *** <<<

Jason: *staring at an empty grave layered with concrete in the backyard*

Jason: *rolls his eyes* I know you're there.

Bruce: *comes out of the shadows and stands next to Jason*

Jason: Why'd you keep it?

Bruce: Because I'm a sentimental old fool.

Jason: This is just... creepy. Even for you.

Bruce and Jason: *stare at the empty grave in silence*

Jason: I've forgiven you.

Bruce: *glances at Jason, who could’ve sworn his adoptive father’s eyes were bloodshot* 

Jason: You know that, don’t you? I mean, I know we’re always going to disagree about Jok-- about him, and a few other things, but... You’ll always be family, Bruce. My family. 

Bruce: *looks at Jason, smiling wearily*

Jason: *grinning back at Bruce*

Bruce: *puts an arm around Jason’s shoulder* Thank you... Son.

Jason: *pulls Bruce in for a tight hug*

Bruce and Jason: ... 

Jason: Hey, remember that time you went kersplat in the ocean?

>>> *** <<<

Damian: *knocks softly on Jason's bedroom door* Todd.

Jason: *stuffing a duffel bag with clothes, homemade snacks, and weapons* Hey, kid, come in. I’m just getting my stuff ready --

Damian: These came from Mother. *drops a pile of books on Jason’s old desk*

Jason: *picking one after the other up excitedly* Tolstoy, Machiavelli, Sun Tzu, Shakespeare, Marx... No way... 

Damian: They’ve been with me for a while. But since you rarely come over, they’ve been collecting dust and taking up valuable space in my room. -Tt-

Jason: *wiping the dust off with his shirt and hugging each one* She kept them... These were my friends back when I was in the League... 

Damian: I didn’t realize we had more in common than just being my Father’s sons.

Jason: Wow. I have no idea how I’m supposed to bring all of these home. I mean, I got here on roller blades, for Bat’s sake -- 

Damian: *thrusts a piece of paper into Jason’s chest* This is for you.

Jason: *gingerly uncrumples it, revealing a painting of him and Damian*

Jason: *reading the writing in calligraphy underneath* “The Second Chance Robins”... *looks at Damian, feeling the tears well up in his eyes* You made this?

Damian: *looking down at his feet* When it’s my day... M-my d-day... Will you come over, too?

Jason: *gets down on bended knee to be at eye level with his little brother* Hey, buddy, look at me. Damian, look at me. Of course. Listen, we’ll do whatever you want. We’ll, um... We’ll take bad guys down together! Pull pranks on Tim! You name it, I got you.

Damian: Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Todd.

Jason: I promise that I’ll do my best, okay?

Damian: You could stay the night, you know. You’re home anyway.

Jason: *ruffles Damian’s hair and grins* I'd like that. As long as you hang out here with me. And I promise I won't tell anybody because it'll ruin our reputation.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

If truth be told, @wingedskyes​ , Jason makes himself available on his Death Day. Because even if neither he nor his family and friends mention it, he knows that they need him just as much as he needs them.

Thank you for this Ask. It was both fun and just a tad bit heartbreaking to write. 

And thank you, @warrior-of-the-blue-moon​ , for the nice addition. 

See: Part 1, Part 2

[guigz1-coldwar]

"Only for the greater good..." : one-shot

"Only for the greater good..."

Plot Summary : Lazar was saved at the last moment before the Tropas could make the last move and the CIA is ready to send him back home......

To read it on AO3, click here !

Words : +3300

Warning : Angst

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

There were no good choices in that situation....

And basically no one did expect this to happen in reality. No one managed to know in advance that an soldier carrying an RPG will strike your position and send you fly away with your friends at the same time....no one....Bell was the only one hooked to the ballon which is the only way for all of them to leave this place behind them before they got all knocked down. Bell....when she woke up, she could see two of the closest person she has know for days...the two badly in shape and unable to do an thing.

At her right, there was Park....her lover, the one that she has been happy with and the only person besides Lazar to recomfort Bell at her bad times since she has got some depression in the early days. Park was the first person Bell saw when she opened her eyes again, she couldn't feel her legs and she was so bad right now. Never Bell saw her like that and it was so hurting her. She couldn't let her like that but Lazar was there too.

Lazar...he was like the guy who was acting like the big brother of Bell, giving her some advices to stay well and to say, it's thanks to him that Bell was able to share her feelings to Park. He couldn't remember the countless times that he had to talk with Bell, to 'open your heart to the people you're caring about' as a big advice that stayed in Bell's head since he told her that. Seeing him like that....it was breaking her too. Why the destiny has to wound the two closest friends she got ?

Bell took a deep breath before she start to crawl into Park's direction, she wanted to secure her first before getting Lazar in safety too. Once she was finished with Park, Bell moved her hand towards Lazar but a loud noise came in....the sound of an cargo plane coming in and when Bell & Lazar saw it, they tried their best to make it out quick but....it was too late, the plane was already too close...and it took Park & Bell away....leaving Lazar....

When he saw them getting off the ground, he....he wasn't angry at all, no one of the three could have know that the plane was already coming in, ready to bring everyone home & to safety. He know that Bell wasn't the one to put the blame on, there were no good choice to make here....Bell tried her best to save everyone but she couldn't do it. If that plane didn't came quickly, everyone would have been saved, the blame is to put on the pilots....or the whole disaster called an mission.

As he look at the skies, seeing the plane getting away, he heard some shouting coming towards his direction, cuban ones. He took an look around, trying to find his gun to defend himself but it was too far for him and it was broken in half and his pistol, it was in his holster but he would have been too slow to react. He couldn't move his legs and he turned to look at the direction where the shouting was. Two cubans soldiers arrived with their guns, ready to blast them and Lazar, knowing that they will shot him at sight and with nothing to help him, he closed his eyes, already accepting his fate.

Then, he heard multiple shots but there were something strange because....he was still thinking, hearing sounds, meaning that those gunshots weren't for him but he was still afraid to open his eyes, fearing that death wanted him to look at it before he resigned himself to open them, discovering in fact 2 CIA soldiers arriving at the scene, having killed the two cuban soldiers by behind.

"He's alive !" One of them said to his friend, pointing at Lazar's direction as he lowered his gun before he walked quickly to get to Lazar. "You're alright ?" He asked rhetorically as he was seeing the shape of Lazar's clothes, the man was named Walker as we could see his name on his outfit

"I....I'm well, I think." Lazar replied as he was pretty much troubled to have been actually saved at the last moment, he moved his hands towards his chest and tapping over it, he really wanted to see that he was still alive. "Yeah, I'm alive." He added, sounding so happy that it was real with an smile before looking at Walker again.

"Safe and clear, Lazar." Walker said, everyone was knowing Lazar in the teams that was assigned on the mission, he was seen as an good soldier....an good man. "You got lucky that we showed up to say." He stated as they did really stepped just before the Tropas were able to deal with Lazar.

"Yeah, I can say that." Lazar put his left hand behind his head, scratching it as he look at the other soldier that was checking if the cubans soldiers they just killed were really dead or just playing because as we know, they're always coming back....."Damnit, I thought it was over." He whispered to himself.

"Not with us." Walker exclaimed as he got up, offering his hands to Lazar to get him up. "Come on, let's go back home, Laz'" He told him, sounding relieved.

"Shit, my leg." Lazar groaned as he tried to move his left leg to get up, still hurting him an lot, causing him to return back to his former position. His right leg was getting better but it has seen better day to be honest.

"Fuck, didn't think of it." Walker breathed before he look back to his friend that was finished to check the bodies. "Dan, you got any morphine with you ?" He asked.

"Yeap, got this." Dan responded as he start to check his outfit before finding an syringue of it and then, he walked to get to Lazar & Walker, giving it to the latter.

"Okay, that's might gonna hurt." Walker told Lazar who nodded in approval as Dan stayed next to him in case that he passed out from his wounds. Lazar took an deep breath before Walker injected him with the syringue right into the left leg, making Lazar moaned a little, closing his mouth. "Morphine is gonna do the job for the moment, doctor will check you up once we got back to the runway." Walker added as they didn't have any equipment for that, morphine was going to help Lazar for an while until he need to be fully healed. "You're good ?"

"Yeah, I'm alright." Lazar answered, feeling the morphine in his left leg, it was necessary and useful.

"Good, let's get the hell out of here before more Cubans showed up." Dan exclaimed as him & Walker help Lazar to get back on his feets, staying next to him as the three of them started to walk away from the scene, Lazar feeling so free to be alive and well.

Those three were the only person still alive in the whole compound and they needed to move fast as the Cubans were going to send more reinforcements into that place, wanting to know why an abandoned place like this became an terrible bloodbath with CIA agents, scientists and also Tropas bodies all around the place. Good people fall today and the three could see the extend of their actions today, passing through some bodies of their own guys.

Finally, the three managed to take an pick-up, getting Lazar behind it before they drove off the place to get back to the meeting point where everyone has been ordered to go once the mission was done and if they weren't able to extract properly from the place : a small CIA clandestine runway just at 20 miles at the west of the Perseus complex, almost near to the sea. It was sure that even if some were saved today, that mission was an disaster...

Lazar was looking up at the skies, thinking that Park & Bell are safe back at the meeting point and for him, it was the best thing he would like to see. Even if he knew of Bell's true identity, he always saw her as one of their owns....an good russian to be honest. A very good woman who is kind and careful with the others. During the drive, he could realize how much Bell saw him as an brother she never had, making him fall some tears to think about it.....she's an good woman....

After minutes of long driving and thinking about the future, the trio arrived at the runway where they were likely awaited by the others, the same cargo plane that took Park & Bell was there and Lazar was happy to see it, knowing that the two were safe. Lazar's leg was feeling so much better and he could left the pick-up by his own but he know that he was going to be temporary. When he put his feets on his ground, he could see Russell Adler himself, coming towards the group.

"Gentlemen." Adler started, saluting Walker & Dan before the two walk away, going to help the crew that was refueling the plane for another flight, leaving Lazar alone with Adler himself. "Lazar."

"Adler." Lazar breathed as he wasn't so pleased to have an talk with Adler after all these days of lies to Bell about her identity, he wasn't liking it at all and he know well of Adler's sicken mind for the mission, it was making him sick to work with that man.

"I heard that you weren't able to hook yourself to the ballon." Adler told him, offering his hand to Lazar but the latter wasn't so willing to do so before he resigned himself to do it. "It's good to see you alive." He affirmed as the two shook hands.

"Well, I thought that it was over...an fucking RPG struck us and Bell was going to help me until the plane come too quickly." Lazar exclaimed as he took an look to the plane, hoping to see Park & Bell. "Where are they by the way ?" He asked Adler who does the same thing.

"The two ?" Adler started, taking an cigarette out of one of his pockets before lighting it up in front of Lazar. "Both were knocked out by the force of the plane taking them away from the compound, they're both trying to recover slowly but Bell is the one I'm worried about." He finally replied, putting his cigarette between his lips.

"Why not Park ?" Lazar crossed his arms towards Adler, raising an eyebrow.

"Bell has became our only lead to Perseus and if she's not recovering fast, Perseus will win." He sniffed, blowing some smoke from his mouth, completely avoiding Lazar's question by saying something else, Adler's priority was always about the mission, not about the people. "Park....well, she's not important here right now." He added, shaking his head to look around him, seeing the multiple agents recovering from their wounds or going inside the plane.

"And where's Woods & Mason ?" Lazar questioned him as he thought that the two were with Adler during the mission, they should be here.

"I told them to left Cuba in the first plane, it's just us now awaiting for the plane to be good to go." Adler answered, rolling his eyes behind the sunglasses he was wearing, the same one he's always wearing. Everyone back at the safehouse was thinking that Adler & Hudson were playing a game to see which one will crack to take off his sunglasses first but no one did.....must be something else then...."They're going to go to Washington first, I don't want them around when we will have to interrogate Bell." He proclaimed as he didn't want to have Mason or Woods or the both to punch him once the truth was revealed.

"One day, they will have to know !" Lazar bit the left part of his lips before he scratch the space between his nose and his lips.

"Maybe...." Adler whispered, taking an breath.

"Good, now I can...." Lazar started to said while walking before Adler stop him in his tracks, putting his hands in front of Lazar's chest.

"Wait." Adler slowly moved his head around to look at Lazar in the eyes. "The two of us...we need to talk." He said, looking dead serious right now like he's always been but it was an different 'dead serious' feeling right now.

"So, talk." Lazar raised his eyebrow to Adler.

"No....not here." Adler looked around him, seeing all of those people before he removed his hand from Lazar's chest. "Follow me, it's serious." He ordered as he start to walk away from the runway, his cigarette in mouth.

Honestly, Lazar could have say 'fuck off' to Adler's face and go inside the plane to find Park & Bell again, surprising them because he didn't want to have Bell feeling guilty to have left him in that compound but there were something that was saying to Lazar that he should follow Adler and that feeling did became strong. So, he took an deep breath and then, he started to move with Adler himself and to be honest, he couldn't know himself why he was doing it.

Adler was always an mysterious guy even to the people he was working for years and Lazar was like one of them...In fact, everyone was seeing Adler as the mysterious & dark CIA agent called the 'America's Monster' by his own colleagues and some of his own enemies themselves. Lazar was following the guy on an dirt path until they arrived in an point of view overlooking the sea, it was an nice place to say.

"Caribbean's air, clears the air, doesn't it ?" Adler stated as he was arriving to the end of the path, taking an quick look to Lazar, him stopping himself to look at Adler a few meters from him.

"Yeah, I can say that." Lazar affirmed, grinning to feel the hot air on his skin, the place was looking fine, he looked again in the skies, astonished by the place.

"Today, you put quite an move and I'm pretty amazed." Adler told him, taking his cigarette in hand, turning around to face entirely Lazar, staying at his position. "The thing that we're doing with Bell, it was always for the greater good !" He sniffed, taking an look around.

"I'm not sure of it, thinking as an normal person." Lazar scoffed even if Bell's situation wasn't funny at all to laugh about, he started to look at Adler with suspicious eyes. "You always justifying your crimes 'the greater good' ?" He asked him directly like that.

"Yes, I'm crossing the line to make sure that it's still there the next day." Adler replied, sure of his own words and making Lazar more disgusted to look at him in the eyes....they were talking about an human being transformed by the CIA like an tool. "I'm not allowing zero fuck-ups in here but someone is not staying well in line." Adler affirmed before pointing at Lazar.

"Me ?" Lazar breathed, poking at himself.

"Don't bullshit me, Laz'" Adler raised his voice against Lazar, sounding almost angry. "I know that you're trying to tip off the MI6 about the Greenlight bombs." He told him clearly as Lazar was, with Park & Bell, the only person that was for alerting everyone about Greenlight but Adler never wanted this to happen. "You don't realize the danger of it."

"Perseus has his hands on it and we can't alert anyone ?" Lazar exclaimed, confused that Adler wasn't seeing things right. "Everyone needs to know...."

"No one needs to know !" Adler cut him straight, dropping his cigarette at his feets. "No one need to know that the CIA has put bombs below European cities." He added, half-turning around to look at the sea.

"And why that ? For national security ? Your greater good ?" Lazar demanded, angry.

"Yes." Adler answered harshly. "If everyone know, it will be like the same reaction if Perseus detonate those nukes." He put his hands on his waist, shaking his head as he was trying to reason Lazar for good. "Everyone would be hating the US, that's exactly what Perseus want."

"It's always has been the CIA in control but they have to be helped by their allies !" Lazar admitted, trying to reason Adler too.

"Allies ?" Adler raised an eyebrow, looking stunned. "The CIA is mostly using everyone in here : Park ? She's just there because I was 'advised' to make an team composed of West agents and I despite her." He proclaimed and Lazar didn't know why he didn't directly throw an punch to his guy face. "In the end, it's only for the greater good."

"You know that you didn't change my mind." Lazar told him, pointing at him but he wasn't looking anymore at Lazar.

"I know." Adler snorted before he removed his hands from his waist, smiling at Lazar. "I didn't make the right choice to brought you here but...." He then suddenly took his pistol in his right hand, hidden from Lazar's sight even if he was able to see it an little. "It became personal !" Then, the two drawed their guns at the same time...Lazar should have know that Adler was planning something against him and he had to make an stand.

An bullet came out....only one....and unfortunately, it was coming out from Adler's gun, flying straight to land between Lazar's eyes who immediately fall back on the ground, an shocked expression on his face, he never thought that one of his own was going to kill him like that and even, why would someone from his side was going to shoot him. He could have died in that compound but Adler make things worst.

As he looked at Lazar's dead body up close, Adler decided literally to pull two others bullets inside Lazar : the first one landing in his shoulder exactly at where the heart was and the second, back into his head, he wanted to make sure that he was really dead. He didn't feel an thing when he pulled the trigger....not an goddamn thing.....like an fucking monster he is right now.

"You could have let him die in there." Adler suggested as he heard some footsteps behind him and when he turned around, he saw Walker, the man who has saved Lazar.

"We prefered that you deal with him personally, sir." Walker said, sure of him.....those bastards wanted to let Lazar die today....everyone was seeing Lazar now as an traitor for Adler and they were all blinded by their loyalties to him. "Now, what's happening ?" He asked Adler.

"You're gonna wait for another plane to get you and the remaining guys, you're going to bring Lazar's body with you and if someone in my team ask, tell them that Lazar died at that compound." Adler replied, sniffing at the sight of Lazar's body....he was looking so disgusted by seeing him. "I'm sure that he will go home well....he died like an hero, doesn't it ?" He suggested and Walker nodded.

"Well, we could have let him rot to die but with you, it's better." Walker said, enthusiastic.

"Good, I'm going back to West-Berlin to break our asset down." Adler snorted, taking an last look at the place. "You know what to do now." He added before he start to walk away from the scene, leaving Walker alone to deal with Lazar's body.

On his way back to the plane, Adler wasn't feeling an goddamn thing about shooting Lazar dead. His team....he always saw them as his damn pawns, he was the master of everyone in that safehouse : Bell, Park, Sims, Lazar, Woods & Mason.....they were all his pawns and they were unaware of it. He was controlling everyone, the CIA has his back and he's got unlimited power to act. Lazar was just, for him, an bad pawn that was needed to be neutralized and he did it for the 'greater good' like he use to defend himself and his crimes. The others, he's sure that he will have to neutralize them because they know too much about everything about him & Perseus. He will never feel an thing....he never did actually feel something.....

He was the America's Monster...and he was seeing himself as the master of his pawns.

[themattress]

My Top 30 Favorite Video Games

Inspired by @ultraericthered’s Top 30 Favorite Anime post. 

Although I’m doing mine in countdown form, ‘cause it’s more fun that way!

30. Super Mario Bros. - Arguably the first “blockbuster” game to be released, not only does Super Mario Bros. still hold up over 35 years later but it’s a gift that keeps on giving with how many different incarnations, remixes, fan games using its assets, etc. that we have now.

29. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - OBJECTION! While I cherish the entire original Phoenix Wright trilogy of the Ace Attorney franchise, I’ll always be the most partial to the original outing. The sheer audacity and hilarity of the concept, which is grounded by endearing characters and compelling mysteries, shines brilliantly in this little, easily accessible game. 

28. Trigger Happy Havoc: Danganronpa - While similar in many ways to Ace Attorney, Danganronpa boasts a variety of more actual gameplay than mere point-and-click text scrolling. But what really makes this stand out, beyond gameplay or even the strength of its concept, story and characters, is the atmosphere it creates. For good and for ill, traversing the pristine, neon-lit hallways of the abandoned Hopes Peak Academy looking for clues as I’m forced to play by Monokuma’s twisted rules is an experience that will stay with me forever.

27. Star Fox 64 - Beyond all the entertainment this game provides through memes, it’s really just a fun, reasonably simple but just moderately complicated enough game that’s accessible to any player even if they usually don’t go for aerial shooters. It’s also one of the earliest console games that I ever played, so of course it’s going to hold a special place in my heart.

26. Batman: Arkham City - It’s an impressive feat when an open world game can still feel so claustrophobic in all the right ways, and that’s what Arkham City accomplishes. This game is essentially The Dark Knight to Arkham Asylum’s Batman Begins, escalating the action, suspense and sheer Batman-ness, providing unlimited opportunities to enjoy yourself playing as Gotham’s defender and facing down the greatest Rogues Gallery in comic book history.

25. Red Dead Redemption - Look, I know that Red Dead Redemption 2 is technically the superior game. But its complicated story, sprawling cast of characters, and vast canvas of a world can be pretty daunting, whereas I feel like the original Red Dead Redemption struck a much better balance. Allowing open world freedom within the confines of the straight-forward story of John Marston’s redemption really makes you feel like you’re in an old Western film, and the way that choices you make as a player impact the way that film ultimately turns out is one of the strongest arguments for video games being worthy of consideration as true art.

24. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - So, ten years ago an open world adventure video game series releases its fifth entry...and to this day, we’ve had no sixth, in favor of expansions and updated re-releases of said fifth entry. But that’s not a sign of laziness; it’s a sign the developers know they hit such a peak in quality that they have no need to rush anything further out the gate, as Skyrim is a gift that keeps on giving. Addictive in how unlimited in possibilities it is, with each playthrough never being the same as the one before, Skyrim is a gaming masterpiece that I don’t think I’m going to get bored with playing anytime soon.

23. Super Paper Mario - This may be an unpopular opinion, but I vastly prefer this game’s action-platform-RPG hybrid gameplay style to the prior installments’ traditional turn-based RPG style, which feels more at home in stuff like Super Mario RPG and the Mario & Luigi series. But gameplay aside, I think this has the strongest story of any Mario game, trading in the usual “save the kingdom/princess” fare for saving all of reality, with legitimate emotion and drama and even character development. It’s one of the Wii’s shining gems, to be sure.

22. Epic Mickey - This game’s graphics are by and large unremarkable, its gameplay is fraught with issues (that camera is unforgivable), and it’s nowhere close to the best on its system or genre. But Epic Mickey is a case study in where the effort put into crafting the game’s world and story, not to mention the obvious love and respect for the material being worked with, pays off. Any Disney fan will love this game for its story, which puts Mickey front and center as an actual character rather than a mascot and dives deep into his history as he meets his “half-brother” Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, and its mystical, unique atmosphere - what the graphics can’t deliver, the fucking music more than makes up for. All of the game’s flaws mean nothing compared to the sheer heart on display, and I treasure it greatly as a result.

21. Batman: Arkham Asylum - I already mentioned that Arkham City is the superior game, but as was the case with Red Dead Redemption and its sequel, personal preference strikes again. The simpler story and narrower confines of Arkham Asylum just appeal to me slightly more, and I feel like the borderline horror atmosphere this game has could never fully be replicated by all of its sequels and spin-offs. Also, you can play as the Joker in this. WIN.

20. Metal Gear Solid - And on the subject of Arkham Asylum, it owes much to this game, which created the template of a lone badass hero having to use stealth and weaponry to liberate a government-owned island from the lunatic terrorists that have taken over. Hideo Kojima famously never wanted this game to have any sequels, and I can definitely see his point, as it’s a complete and wholly satisfying experience in of itself and I don’t feel like it’s ever been topped. At the very least, it’s certainly the most enjoyable of the series to me.

19. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask - Also, speaking of “borderline horror atmosphere”, we have the freakiest game that the Legend of Zelda series ever put out. What was supposed to just be a gaiden to Ocarina of Time mutated into this beautiful monstrosity that’s become just as iconic. Nobody who plays this game is ever going to forget that fucking moon and all the constant jumping back and forth in time across three days as you try to prevent the apocalypse of Termina. It’s the kind of gaming trauma that’s well worth experiencing.

18. Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories - Like Majora’s Mask, this game is a case study where you can take a bunch of recycled assets and gameplay, and then make something unique from it if you have a well-crafted story with a dark and disturbing atmosphere. It’s hard to experience or appreciate the transition between Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II without playing this midquel, which takes the narrative and characters to deeper levels without being pretentious about it and sets the stage for the proper console sequel perfectly. And if you can’t get into it being on Gameboy Advance, then just play the PS2 remake (which is arguably the superior version anyway) and you’re good! Just...don’t mind the cards, OK?

17. Sonic CD - And now we have another game about jumping back and forth through time to prevent an apocalypse! See the common threads at play here by this point? Sonic the Hedgehog is at his best in 2D gameplay, and I personally enjoy this the best out of all the 2D games in the series. As obscure as the Sega CD was as a system, it was powerful enough to take the blue blur’s speed to its maximum level, set alongside beautiful graphics and a kick-ass soundtrack (well, two different kick-ass soundtracks; and I actually prefer the US one). 

16. Pokemon Black & White - While there were advancements made to story and graphics and gameplay features in the third and fourth generations of the Pokemon series, nothing felt as truly ground-breaking as the second generation games until the fifth gen with its Black & White games. This was arguably the game series’ peak in quality on all fronts, but its specifically the story that lands it on this list, as its well-written and paced, subverts many formulaic elements from the previous games, is set in one of the most unique regions in the Pokemon world, and has a timeless message that has only grown more relevant with age. 

15. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - The whole series could really go here, but fortunately the most recent entry is the perfect embodiment of said series, with every playable character there’s ever been and then some. The sheer variety is unmatched by any other fighting game out there, and its story mode, “World of Light”, is quite possibly the greatest video game crossover in history given how many characters are featured as both fighters and spirits.

14. Super Mario 64 - I’m pretty sure this game used to be higher in my favor, but replaying it on the Nintendo Switch recently has made me aware of how, as the first game on the Nintendo 64 and the first 3D platformer, it’s poorly aged in several areas. However, I must stress that it is still a very good game. The fun of going to the various worlds within paintings in Peach’s Castle hasn’t changed, nor has how smoothly and seamlessly Mario managed to make the jump from 2D to 3D. Just like Super Mario Bros., the number of games that owe something to this one is too great to count, and that’s an achievement that remains timeless.

13. Dark Chronicle - Also known as Dark Cloud 2. I hadn’t heard a damn thing about this game before renting it on a whim many years ago, and I was caught off guard by just how good it was. It’s got a simple but effective story and likable characters, a timeless atmosphere, beautifully cel-shaded graphics, dungeon-crawling gameplay, action-RPG combat gameplay, literal world-building gameplay, and even a fishing minigame! This game can actually stand besides the Zelda series without shame; it’s truly an underrated gem.

12. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Oh, speaking of Zelda, this game goes full Lord of the Rings-style epic fantasy with it and it is glorious. Between the near perfect gameplay, beautiful 3D graphics, and one of the best stories in the series (with one of the best characters: Midna), Twilight Princess’ most prevalent complaint from critics all the way up to its own developers is that it wasn’t even MORE expansive and awesome given how long it was hyped, and if that’s the biggest issue with the game then I’d say it’s in pretty good shape.

11. Super Mario Galaxy - Super Mario 64 may be held back a little by how its aged, but no such thing is holding back Super Mario Galaxy. Super Mario Odyssey might be as good or possibly even better, but I just don’t hold the same feelings of amazement and respect toward it that I do for this game. From the blitzkrieg-style attack on the Mushroom Kingdom by Bowser to the discovery of Rosalina’s space station, this game had me hooked from the first few minutes, especially with it blaring that awesome orchestral score the whole way through. To this day, I maintain that this is Mario’s greatest 3D adventure. It’s simply magnificent.

10. Final Fantasy X - Ha! See what I did there? This game has caught flak for some of the awkwardness that comes from being the first fully 3D entry in the series, but I think that’s tantamount to nitpicking when compared to all it does right. To me, this was the last really good installment of the main Final Fantasy series, with a story and world so brilliantly developed that the game earned the immediate breakthrough success and acclaim that it found in its native Japan. 20 years later and, as the HD remaster has shown, it still holds up as one of the most engaging JRPG experiences I’ve ever had the pleasure of having.

9. Banjo-Kazooie - At the time, this was basically Rare’s copycat version of Super Mario 64, although considered about as good. Now, however, there’s a difference: the aging issues I mentioned for Super Mario 64 don’t apply for Banjo-Kazooie. Whether replaying it on the Nintendo 64 or on whichever Xbox you’ve got, this game is still just as fun, imaginative and hilarious now as it was back then. It’s quite possibly the greatest 3D platformer ever made.

8. Pokemon Crystal - The definitive edition of the Gold & Silver games of Pokemon’s second generation, taking what was already a phenomenal advancement and improvement to the first generation and making it even better with additional features such as the ability to play as a girl for the first time and a more clearly defined storyline centered around the legendary Pokemon featured on the game’s box art. Pokemon had been written off as just a passing fad up until this point. This was when its staying power as a video game juggernaut was proven.

7. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Talk about a win right out of the gate for the Nintendo Switch! This game returns the Legend of Zelda series to its roots while also applying all that has been made possible in video games since the original game’s release, and the result is an enthralling, addictive, open world masterpiece that has set a new standard of quality for both the Zelda series and for many modern video games in general.

6. Kingdom Hearts II - The Final Mix edition to be precise, although in this day and age that’s basically the only edition people are playing anyway. This game is the apotheosis of Kingdom Hearts as both a video game series and as a concept; filled to the brim with Disney magic and Square Enix RPG expertise and paired with some of the most refined action-based gameplay there is. And when it comes to bringing the original Kingdom Hearts trilogy’s story to a close, does this game ever stick the landing. The series could have ended right here and I would have been completely satisfied (and its reputation would be a lot better off, too!)

5. Pokemon Yellow - While I maintain that this game, the definitive edition of the original first generation Pokemon games, still holds up as fun to play even now, I’ll admit that it’s pure bias that it ranks so high. It was the first proper video game I ever played, there was no way I was leaving it off the top 5! Its blissful nostalgic atmosphere is always such a delight to return to.

4. Banjo-Tooie - Remember when I said Banjo-Kazooie was “quite possibly the greatest 3D platformer ever made”? The “quite possibly” is because its in stiff competition with its own sequel! And personally, I’m in Banjo-Tooie’s corner; something about how inter-connected its worlds are and the addition of so many things to do all while maintaining your full moveset from the original game is just beautiful to me. Both it and its predecessor are like obstacle courses that I never tire of running through, which is the hallmark of brilliant game design.

3. Kingdom Hearts - Another case where the sequel may be the superior game, but my own personal preference leans toward the original. And in this case, it’s a highly personal preference: this game and my memories of playing it for the first time are so very dear to me. The characters and worlds of Disney put into an epic crossover RPG was like a dream come true for me and no matter how far the series it spawned has deteriorated, nothing can detract from the magic of this game. It’s got a certain, indescribable feel and atmosphere that’s never truly been replicated, and that feel and atmosphere still holds up whenever I revisit it. The gameplay may not be the best, particularly when compared to Kingdom Hearts II’s, but the charm of the story and the characters and the world and the very concept more than makes up for that. As far as I’m concerned, it’s one of Disney and Square’s greatest masterpieces.

2. Final Fantasy VII - I was aware of the hype this game got and was totally ready to call it overrated, but damn it, it got me! I don’t know what it is about this game with its blocky early 3D graphics, poor sound quality to its excellent soundtrack, and frequently mistranslated script that proved to be so gripping and enjoyable to play through, but man did it ever Limit Break its way into my heart. This is considered a JRPG classic for a damn good reason.

1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Do I really need to explain this one? It’s famous for being frequently cited as one of the greatest video games ever made, and like Final Fantasy VII, its hype is well-deserved and totally justified. Whether you’re playing it on the Nintendo 64, the Gamecube, the Wii, the 3DS, and hopefully the Nintendo Switch in the future, there is a magic quality to this game that permeates through every step you take in its fully 3D world. It’s a triumph that has stood the test of time, cementing the Zelda series as truly legendary.

[rpgmgames]

November’s Featured Game: Grimm's Hollow

DEVELOPER(S): ghosthunter ENGINE: RPG Maker 2003 GENRE: Indie RPG, Adventure WARNINGS: Discussions of death, losing a loved one, grief SUMMARY: Grimm’s Hollow is a spooky, freeware RPG where you search the afterlife for your brother. Reap ghosts with your scythe, explore haunted caves, and eat ghostly treats on your journey through death.

Download the game here! Our Interview With The Dev Team Below The Cut!

Introduce yourself! *BB: My name's Bruno and I did some of the music along with Nat! I’m super happy to have participated in this game! *NW: I’m Nat Wesley, a.k.a. Natbird! I’m a composer available for hire with a few projects in the works. I’m honored to have had the chance to work on the soundtrack to Grimm’s Hollow! *GH: Hello! I go by ghosthunter online; I started developing RPGs with a friend in school when we found out that we both enjoyed RPG Horror. I enjoy art, webcomics, cartoons and narrative-driven indie games a lot. I bought RM2K3 on sale and started pouring pixel art into it, before learning how to do things like chase scenes, cutscenes, etc. I used to fantasize about making my own game, drawing dungeons and ghosts in the back of my sketchbooks, before I finally started Grimm’s Hollow. Now I’m near the end of high-school, and I’m hoping the best for uni!

What is your project about? What inspired you to create this game initially? *GH: Grimm’s Hollow, originally, wasn’t as ambitious or personal. It was simply just going to be “my first game”, something that I could finally put my doodles and RM2K3 skills to. I wanted a game that a younger me would have enjoyed, back when I first discovered the classic RPGMaker games and replayed them constantly for those endings. That was my initial inspiration. It eventually evolved into an action turn-based RPG that relies on timing, yet it’s mostly narrative-driven. You traverse death in search of your sibling, and try to make an escape. There are unexpected pieces of me that ended up in this game, some of which I’m still noticing even now.

How long have you been working on your project? *GH: Since the summer of June 2018.

Did any other games or media influence aspects of your project? *GH: Standstill Girl, OFF by Mortis Ghost, Undertale, Over The Garden Wall, and the animation medium in general.

Have you come across any challenges during development? How have you overcome or worked around them? *GH: Many! Making your first game is such a giant learning curve, that the list of challenges goes on. I would say that the most difficult issue I encountered (and that, in some ways, I am still facing after release) is working around the limitations of the game engine I am using. I wanted to see whether creating an engaging but simple 1-party RPG in RM2K3 (without going completely custom) was feasible, and I experimented with quick time events as part of that. I worked around the engine’s built-in formulae so players could see progress when they upgraded their stats - although the game might display as defence as “10”, in reality the game stores it as 40 since the engine splits defence by 4. Since I did not want to create an RPG which was too complex for my first game, I also scrapped traditional staples such as armour or weapons. There were also issues such as having an appropriate “game over” handling event which wouldn’t shoot you back to the title screen after you lost a battle; getting RM2K3 to play a small cutscene where you faint and respawn somewhere else was tricky. I felt that if the player had to reload after a loss, it would disrupt the game flow.

Have any aspects of your project changed over time? How does your current project differ from your initial concept? *GH: Like I mentioned before, the game started off impersonal. I just had a soft spot for a spooky cute aesthetic, and I wanted to indulge in that. It was (and in its essence, still is) meant to be a short story, to keep the player invested for the short game length - nothing grandiose. The original draft did not have Baker play a role in the narrative - he was just an ordinary shopkeeper NPC. For a long time during development, Lavender did not even have a name. In the very first draft, she was a silent protagonist the player could name and customize. But she played a very active role in the final outline, so it was hard not to give her own unique voice when one emerged from the narrative naturally. I am glad I did; she grew on me quite quickly! Grimm was virtually unchanged from beginning to end. The only difference was that a close friend suggested that he seemed like he would be into drinking Oolong tea - so that’s what he offers you when you meet him. Timmy also did not go under massive overhauls like Lavender and Baker did, but his relationship with Lavender became much more fleshed out as I wrote the narrative. In other facets of the game’s design, there were not many changes to the original prototype.

What was your team like at the beginning? How did people join the team? If you don’t have a team, do you wish you had one or do you prefer working alone? *GH: It was just myself, doing the art, writing, programming, etc. But halfway through creating the second cave, I realised I would need a very specific sound for Grimm’s Hollow. So, I contacted Nat for music, but I also created a post on tumblr calling for a composer since there were many tracks to make. I met Bruno as a result! I am very happy with their work and I am so grateful I’ve got to work with them! (Some players are asking for an OST release, which is in the works).

What is the best part of developing a game? *GH: I really enjoyed the early stages of development: creating new tilesets, sprites and maps and piecing them together in the editor, then taking a small screenshot and sharing it with my friend over summer vacation … It was nice to see the game’s world slowly come together. I think that’s what I enjoyed the most from beginning to end: that sense of world-building, that sense of relaxation from making a small cosy game. The latter started to disappear as work and other responsibilities started to intrude, and pressure began to seep into development time - but I never stopped loving making the world and characters. I also want to say that, by lucky chance, I have met a lot of kind people from making my first game. I’m very grateful for that, so thank you to everyone.

Do you find yourself playing other RPG Maker games to see what you can do with the engine, or do you prefer to do your own thing? *GH: All the time! Other RPG Maker 2003 projects are great inspirations for pixel art tilesets, as well as how to code harder features such as custom menus. They’re also just fun to play.

Which character in your game do you relate to the most and why? (Alternatively: Who is your favorite character and why?) *GH: Lavender and Timmy are relatable to me in multiple ways. I can’t elaborate on Timmy since that would go into spoiler territory, but I somewhat relate to Lavender’s insistence on managing her life on her own - sometimes to her own detriment. I’d say the most fun character to write for was Grimm. He can be unintentionally silly while speaking in the most formal way, but also very caring too. Everything he does and says was easy to write, whereas I had to think harder for the interactions between everyone else - especially for very crucial scenes regarding their development. That being said, my favourite is still the game’s central two siblings. I can not pick between them for the life of me.

Looking back now, is there anything that regret/wish you had done differently? *GH: I wish I started testing even earlier! Not only does it give you a good sense of what’s missing, but seeing people enjoy what you’ve made yet get hindered by bugs is a very strong incentive to fix your game immediately. When I was lacking motivation or was stuck, I found that good feedback and support made me motivated again. I also wish that I could have pushed the deadline a little further, or perhaps released the game on Early Access since it will take me a while to refine post-release bugs - but as it is, the 31st of October really was the deadline for my game due to external circumstances (no, that deadline wasn’t just because it was Halloween!). Other than that, I wonder if using an updated version of RPG Maker would have produced the same game …? It’s hard to tell, but I hope people enjoy it for what it is - I will be working on that post-release patch soon!

Do you plan to explore the game’s universe and characters further in subsequent projects, or leave it as-is? *GH: There are no current plans, but I would be happy to have the opportunity to improve and expand on the game. As it is, the game’s released for free and done as a hobby, so I would struggle to do that by myself.

What do you most look forward to now that you have finished the game? *GH: Earlier on, I was really looking forward to players’ reactions. Games are made to be fun, and I would have felt distraught if my game didn’t achieve what it was set out to do. Yet it was not just about the gameplay; it was about the narrative. I hoped that what I found funny, the player would too; what was heartfelt to me, was heartfelt to the player as well. Like sharing a laugh, or just a good experience together. I hoped they would enjoy the feeling that went into it, despite the struggle of making it against circumstance and limitations. Now, I look forward to resting and sleeping once this over. I want to explore my other interests, improve, and explore new media. I want to relax, and refocus again like I was before the heat of development.

Is there something you’re afraid of concerning the development or the release of your game? *GH: Bugs! Some are easy to fix, but others are harder due to the limitations of the engine (e.g an error in one ending is caused by an overflow error).

Do you have any advice for upcoming devs? *GH: Show your game as early as possible, to as many people as possible. As soon as you have something playable, it’s ready for feedback. You’ll see if that game mechanic you spent hours refining works, or if it doesn’t work and why. You’ll understand what players enjoy and what they want more of, but also what they don’t like or don’t enjoy. And you will definitely encounter bugs. You’ll be able to pinpoint and fix minor problems early on that can easily become a larger issue later. You’ll be able to fine-tune your game so its best bits shine, and the difficulty is just right.

Question from last month's featured dev @dead-dreams-dev: Is there anything you’ve added to your game for no other reason than because you’re hoping fans will get a kick out of it? Fanservice, fourth wall breakage, references to other games, jokes, abilities that are just ridiculously overpowered and badass, etc? *GH: It’s hard to say; game design is trying to find the intersection between what’s good for the player, what the developer enjoys, and what’s feasible to implement. Every decision made should be conscious of that … I think a lot of the game’s early light-hearted jokes was not only made because I enjoyed it, but I hoped the player would “get a kick out of it” too. But more so, I think it’s because I would struggle to write a story which is serious and bleak from beginning to end. The game is a little self-indulgent in the narrative that way.

We mods would like to thank ghosthunter & team for agreeing to our interview! We believe that featuring the developer and their creative process is just as important as featuring the final product. Hopefully this Q&A segment has been an entertaining and insightful experience for everyone involved!

Remember to check out Grimm's Hollow if you haven’t already! See you next month! 

- Mods Gold & Platinum

[loopy777]

RE: WIPs game: do I even want to know what Dicebenders is is it another scam how many times are the Gaang gonna get arrested for scamming

No, this time it's me scamming people. XD The dice in question are the RPG Dungeons & Dragons kind.

For a while I was doing a screencap webcomic in the style of "DM of the Rings" and "Darths & Droids" with another creative fan named Captain Boomerang. I was the scriptwriter and selected the screenshots for each panel, and Capt-BA would assemble the comics and improve my scripts (a process that did frustrate me a little, as I felt locked out of the revision process, but I did like the results. I just felt like I wasn't holding up my end of the partnership a bit). I wrote a story bible explaining the characters and storytelling rules, planned out the adaptation of the entire AtLA premiere, and had less detailed plans for the rest of the series, but we only got 6 comics in before Capt-BA went on a trip and never returned to the internet. I did manage to re-establish contact with her long enough to get permission to continue the comic, but the problem is that I have no image-editing skills whatsoever.

If I could find comic-making software that I know would do what I want and be easy to use, I wouldn't mind dropping some money on it, but everything I've looked at is trying to do lots of things I don't need. I only want a way to import existing pictures into comic grids, and then easily add dialogue bubbles. That's it. But the stuff I've found is more about image-editing than comic assembly, and it takes me an hour to put together a dialogue bubble that looks good. So I have 3 scripts that were never produced, which along with the planning docs are what's in that WIP folder, and I don't ever see myself going beyond that.

Besides, someone else already managed to complete something like this, and while I'm not a fan, I don't need to be. At this point, Dicebenders is dead. I'm glad I tried it, and it's a shame it didn't work out, but I'm happy with the other projects I've done instead.

I am squatting on an empty Tumblr for it, though.

Anyway, to share something new, here's the first section of the Story Bible I wrote to make sure Capt-BA and I were on the same page in terms of characterization. The rest of the bible details the plotlines for full series.

AVATAR: THE LAST DICEBENDER

BIBLE

Premise- A small group of players attempt to run a fantasy martial arts RPG that winds up essentially becoming the Avatar saga, or something very close. The main point of the series is comedy, based mostly on ridiculous links between Avatar and RPG's. Sometimes the humor will be in the vast difference between what happens in the comic, and what happens in the cartoon with the same screenshots. Other times, the funny will come from the unexpected ways they converge.

SPIRITUAL PREDECESSORS

DM of the Rings- The original, and my personal favorite. It's a good showcase of how to run a single quest together, while using narrative jumps to skip to the good bits.

Darths & Droids- A similar project, this stands out from its predecessor in two main ways. The players and GM are more friendly with each other, and are more or less having fun with each other. There is also a running, coherent storyline in both the game and in the lives of the players.

Benders & Brawlers- This is actually an existing attempt to do Darths & Droids with Avatar. This is helpful as an example of what we DON'T want to do, retell the Avatar story in a completely straightforward manner, with RPG players behind the characters.

CHARACTERS

None of the characters will be given real names. The players shall always be referred to by their character names, although this can be done in a teasing, ironic manner. When the characters are speaking, their dialogue bubble must always be attached to an image of the character.

The Gamemaster- The GM is a female in her early teens. She is a geek, and a bit of a social outcast for it. Nevertheless, she's trying to make that work for her, although she's not quite mature enough to make it happen yet. She has just discovered RPG's, and in her enthusiasm has gone all out in starting her own campaign. The only problem is that she doesn't know how to recruit players, so she ropes her best friend and little brother into playing with her. This is the GM's first campaign, so she'll a little in over her head. She knows the mechanics of play, and what she's supposed to be doing as GM, but doesn't have the fine skill in crafting an engaging RPG experience. Still, she wants to do her best, is willing to learn, and has a positive attitude about the whole thing. The GM has a strong crush on the Sokka player, but the only way she can express it is by having all the female NPC's flirt with the Sokka character.

Katara- Female in early teens, and the GM's best friend. Katara's player was friends with the GM from when they were both in grammar school, so while they have grown up into wildly different personality types, they are fully loyal to each other. Katara is popular, and outgoing, and doesn't care or know about geek stuff at all. She's only playing the game because the GM begged her to. At first, Katara is clueless about RPG's, and frequently questions or ridicules the mechanics of the game. She never quite gets into the idea of role-playing, but quickly takes to the idea of meta-gaming. She'll have her character act like a righteous do-gooder, because completing missions and fighting bad guys earns XP. She hoards items that will boost her stats. She'll advocate abandoning a mission/plot if it doesn't pay out enough rewards. Katara's player also can tend towards trying to Mary Sue her character, but this is inconsistent and usually shot down by everyone else.

Aang- Male in junior high, and the GM's little brother. He plays simply because his sister has cajoled him into it, and there are hints that he's getting some kind of reward or payment for it. He abuses his position by forcing the GM to give him what he wants in the game, even if it breaks the rules- access to the restricted Airbender class, the ability to bend all four elements, overloaded stats, an Avatar State that protects him from dying, a magic super flying cow ride, etc. However, it's important to note that Aang's player isn't a jerk. He's just immature, and like all kids, just always goes for what he wants via the easiest path, and doesn't realize that he may be causing trouble or hurting feelings. He's enthusiastic about trying out this RPG thing, but he has trouble coming up with any action beyond attacking or retreating. He's also hyper aware that the GM and Katara are girls. He is too old for cootie concerns, but thinks that girls are fundamentally different creatures with their own incomprehensible concerns. Having a big sister, he doesn't find this a big deal, just part of life. Aang's player is too young to be a geek. He likes cartoons and sports and fantasy and school-dramas. He also tends to follow whatever his sister likes.

Sokka- Male in late teens. This guy is your quintessential RPG player. He has is own top-quality dice, he's played campaigns and systems of all kinds, and knows the tropes of the hobby cold. He's a huge geek for all things geeky, but roleplay is easily his favorite. He's a social outcast, but he's made friends among his fellow geeks, and thinks life is just fine. Sokka's player joins when he meets the GM at the comic/games shop they both frequent. The GM was buying some sourcebooks and material to support the fantasy martial arts game she's running, and Sokka noticed, asked about it, liked what he heard, and got permission to join the game. What Sokka doesn't realize, because he is a geek and neither has experience with it or realizes it's even possible, is that the GM is sweet on him. This manifests in the character Sokka's canon luck with the ladies, only kicked up a notch. *Every single* female NPC flirts with him, whether it's appropriate or not. Sometimes player Sokka notices and tries to roleplay it, and sometimes he's just plain confused. Sokka has a few quirks. His best set of dice are his Lucky Red Dice, which always roll high when he needs it, but have been tested and proven to be fair dice. He also mandates that every character he plays use a boomerang; he was turned into a geek by the first video game he ever played, a Legend of Zelda title, and his favorite weapon from those games are the boomerang. Each of his characters has a unique, named boomerang.

Zuko- The GM's favorite NPC. She created him to be a compelling, dramatic character, with a complicated back story, moral struggles, badass loner personality, angst about his existence, a darkly noble quality, and a cool scar. The GM intended Katara to get to know Zuko, for her to try to woo him away from the side of evil, and perhaps to even have a romance with him. The PC's, however, couldn't care less about him. To them, he's just another mini-boss, and the fact that most of his character development is happening "off screen" means they don't realize that he's recruitable. A frequent gag is Zuko delivering a stirring monologue while no one pays attention.

Iroh- Background NPC. The GM tries to use him to give (ignored) hints to the players.

Toph- (tentative) A male munchkin gamer who picked a long list of weaknesses in order to get superbending. Toph's player is a friend of Sokka's player, brought in after an "incident" with his old group, and causes some initial resentment in the group when tries to show the n00bs how its done. Cowing Toph's player is a major victory for the GM.

Momo- NPC, but maybe make him a talking sidekick who gives the players hints when the GM is really exasperated?

Azula- the GM's best favorite villain. Azula is the GM unleashed, letting her take out frustrations on the players in both combat and harsh taunting. Eventually the GM comes to like the character so much, she retcons mental health issues into the character's backstory, and has her pet NPC, Zuko, spare her.

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #482

Top Ten Sega Games

So I read somewhere on the internet that in June it’s the thirtieth birthday of Sonic the Hedgehog (making him only a couple of months younger than my brother, which is weird). This is due to his debut game, the appropriately-titled Sonic the Hedgehog, being first released on June 23rd. As such – and because I do love a good Tenuous Link – I’ve decided to dedicate this week’s list to Sega (also there was that Sonic livestream and announcement of new games, so I remain shockingly relevant).

I’ve got a funny relationship with Sega, largely because I’ve got a funny relationship with last century’s consoles in general. As I’ve said before, I never had a console growing up, and never really felt the need for one; I came from a computing background, playing on other people’s Spectrums and Commodores before getting my own Amiga and, later, a PC. And I stuck with it, and that was fine. But it does mean that, generally speaking, I have next to zero nostalgia for any game that came out on a Nintendo or Sega console (or Sony, for that matter). I could chew your ear off about Dizzy, or point-and-click adventure games, or Team 17, or Sensible Software, or RTS games, or FPS games, or whatever; but all these weird-looking Japanese platform games, or strange, unfamiliar RPGs? No idea. In fact, I remember learning what “Metroidvania” meant about five years ago, and literally saying out loud, “oh, so it’s like Flashback, then,” because I’d never played a (2D) Metroid or Castlevania game. Turns out they meant games that were, using the old Amiga Action terminology, “Arcade Adventures”. Now it makes sense.

Despite all this, I did actually play a fair few Sega games, as my cousins had a Mega Drive. So I’d get to have a bash at a fair few of them after school or whatever. This meant that, for a while, I was actually more of a Sega fan than a Nintendo one, a situation that’s broadly flipped since Sega stopped making hardware and Nintendo continued its gaming dominance. What all of this means, when strung together, is that I have a good deal of affection for some of the classics of Sega’s 16-bit heyday, but I don’t have the breadth or depth of knowledge you’d see from someone who, well, actually owned a console before the original Xbox. Yeah, sure, there are lots of games I liked back then; and probably quite a few that I still have warm nostalgic feelings for, even if they’re maybe not actually very good (Altered Beast, for instance, which I’m reliably informed was – to coin a very early-nineties phrase – “pants”, despite my being fond of it at the time). Therefore this list is probably going to be quite eccentric when compared to other “Best of Sega” lists. Especially because in the last couple of decades Sega has become a publisher for a number of development studios all around the world, giving support and distribution to the makers of diverse (and historically non-console) franchises as Total War and Football Manager. These might not be the fast-moving blue sky games one associates with Sega, but as far as I’m concerned they’re a vital part of the company’s history as it moved away from its hardware failures (and the increasingly lacklustre Sonic franchise) and into new waters. And just as important, of course, are their arcade releases, back in the days when people actually went to arcades (you know, I have multi-format games magazines at my parents’ house that are so old they actually review arcade games. Yes, I know!).

So, happy birthday, Sonic, you big blue bugger, you. Sorry your company pooed itself on the home console front. Sorry a lot of your games over the past twenty years have been a bit disappointing. But in a funny way you helped define the nineties, something that I personally don’t feel Mario quite did. And your film is better than his, too.

Crazy Taxi (Arcade, 1999): a simple concept – drive customers to their destination in the time limit – combined with a beautiful, sunny, blue skied rendition of San Francisco, giving you a gorgeous cityscape (back when driving round an open city was a new thrill), filled with hills to bounce over and traffic to dodge. A real looker twenty years ago, but its stylised, simple graphics haven’t really dated, feeling fittingly retro rather than old-fashioned or clunky. One of those games that’s fiendishly difficult to master, but its central hook is so compelling you keep coming back for more.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Mega Drive, 1992): games have rarely felt faster, and even if the original Sonic’s opening stages are more iconic, overall I prefer the sequel. Sonic himself was one of those very-nineties characters who focused on a gentle, child-friendly form of “attitude”, and it bursts off the screen, his frown and impatient foot-tapping really selling it. the gameplay is sublime, the graphics still really pop, and the more complex stages contrast nicely with the pastoral opening. Plus it gave us Tails, the game industry’s own Jar Jar Binks, who I’ll always love because my cousin made me play as him all the time.

Medieval II: Total War (PC, 2006): I’ll be honest with you, this game is really the number one, I just feel weird listing “Best Sega Games” and then putting a fifteen-year-old PC strategy game at the top of the pile. But what can I say? I like turn-based PC strategy games, especially ones that let you go deep on genealogy and inter-familial relationships in medieval Europe. everyone knows the real-time 3D battles are cool – they made a whole TV show about them – but for me it’s the slow conquering of Europe that’s the highlight. Marrying off princesses, assassinating rivals, even going on ethically-dubious religious crusades… I just love it. I’ve not played many of the subsequent games in the franchise, but to be honest I like this setting so much I really just want them to make a third Medieval game.

Sega Rally Championship (Arcade, 1994): what, four games in and we’re back to racing? Well, Sega make good racing games I guess. And Sega Rally is just a really good racing game. Another one of those that was a graphical marvel on its release, it has a loose and freewheeling sense of fun and accessibility. Plus it was one of those games that revelled in its open blue skies, from an era when racing games in the arcades loved to dazzle you with spectacle – like when a helicopter swoops low over the tracks. I had a demo of this on PC, too, and I used to race that one course over and over again.

After Burner (Arcade, 1987): there are a lot of arcade games in this list, but when they’re as cool as After Burner, what can you do? This was a technological masterpiece back in the day: a huge cockpit that enveloped you as you sat in the pilot’s seat, joystick in hand. The whole rig moved as you flew the plane, and the graphics (gorgeous for their time) wowed you with their speed and the way the horizon shifted. I was, of course, utterly crap at it, and I seem to remember it was more expensive than most games, so my dad hated me going on it. But it was the kind of thrilling experience that seems harder to replicate nowadays.

Virtua Cop (Arcade, 1994): I used to love lightgun games in the nineties. This despite being utterly, ridiculously crap at them. I can’t aim; ask anyone. But they felt really cool and futuristic, and also you could wave a big gun around like you were RoboCop or something. Virtua Cop added to the fun with its cool 3D graphics. Whilst I’d argue Time Crisis was better, with a little paddle that let you take cover, Cop again leveraged those bright Sega colours to give us a beautiful primary-coloured depiction of excessive ultra-violence and mass death.

Two Point Hospital (PC, 2018): back once again to the point-and-clickers, with another PC game only nominally Sega. But I can’t ignore it. Taking what was best about Theme Hospital and updating it for the 21st Century, TPH is a darkly funny but enjoyably deep management sim, with cute chunky graphics and an easy-to-use interface (Daughter #1 is very fond of it). The console adaptations are good, too. I’d love to see where Two Point go next. Maybe to a theme park…?

Jet Set Radio Future (Xbox, 2002): I never had a Dreamcast. But I remember seeing the original Jet Set Radio – maybe on TV, maybe running on a demo pod in Toys ‘R’ Us or something – and being blown away. It was the first time I’d ever seen cel shading, and it was a revelation; just a beautiful technique that I didn’t think was possible, that made the game look like a living cartoon. Finally being able to play the sequel on my new Xbox was terrific, because the gameplay was excellent too: a fast-paced game of chaining together jumps and glides, in a city that was popping with colour and bursting with energy. Felt like playing a game made entirely of Skittles and Red Bull.

The Typing of the Dead (PC, 2000): The House of the Dead games were descendants of Virtua Cop’s lightgun blasting, but with zombies. Yeah, cool; I liked playing them at the arcades down at Teesside Park, in the Hollywood Bowl or the Showcase cinema. But playing this PC adaptation of the quirky typing-based spin-off was something else. A game where you defeat zombies by correctly typing “cow” or “bottle” or whatever as quickly as possible? A game that was simultaneously an educational typing instructor and also a zombie murder simulator? The fact that the characters are wearing Ghostbusters-style backpacks made of Dreamcast consoles and keyboards is just a seriously crazy detail, and the way the typing was integrated into the gameplay – harder enemies had longer words, for instance – was very well done. A bonkers mini-masterpiece.

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 (Switch, 2019): the very fact that erstwhile cultural enemies Mario and Sonic would ever share a game at all is the stuff of addled mid-nineties fever dreams; like Downey’s Tony Stark sharing the screen with Bale’s Batman (or Affleck’s Batman, who the hell cares at this point). The main thing is, it’s still crazy to think about it, even if it’s just entirely ordinary for my kids, sitting their unaware of the Great Console Wars of the 1990s. Anyway, divorced of all that pan-universal gladhanding, the games are good fun, adapting the various Olympic sports with charm, making them easy-to-understand party games, often with motion control for the benefit of the youngs and the olds. I don’t remember playing earlier games extensively, but the soft-RPG trappings of the latest iteration are enjoyable, especially the retro-themed events and graphics. Earns a spot in my Top Ten for its historic nature, but it’s also thoroughly enjoyable in its own right.

Hey, wouldn’t it be funny if all those crazy internet rumours were actually true, and Microsoft did announce it was buying Sega this E3? This really would feel like a very timely and in some ways prescient list.

[revelationsofashley]

What is Revelations?

15 Years ago, my kid brother came up with a story idea when he was playing with his toys. The two of us started to ideate on the premise and created the world of Falonia which sprouted my idea v1 of Revelations, AKA “Tales of Falonia”. I created a game for my brother to move away from playing with action figures and gain the same admiration I had for JRPGs like Breathe of Fire, Wild Arms 1 & 2, Lunar, Final Fantasy 7 and many more...

TOF became a 2D RPG designed in #rpgmaker2k3 with a focus on ambitious (terribly overblown) storytelling, lovable characters (very cliche cast) and the misadventures of a young man named Tai Shimura (I had a love for JRPGs and Digimon). Tai was born into a world where the path for success was paved by his grandfather who founded “The Hunters Guild” and discovered technological advancements that helped a traditional fantasy RPG setting, mirror innovations of our world.

In 2008, I decided to clean up the premise, grounded the story and that was the beginning of Revelations v1. The characters remained the same in nature, dropped the Japanese names (Tai evolved to Ashley Lacure... inspired by my love of Wild Arms 2) and Revelations became more modern, realistic and focused on their individual ambitions as opposed to the cliché, “I’ll Save the World” line of storytelling that I fell in love with in the 90s.

Unfortunately for Revelations (2012), I grew up, life got complicated and game dev took a bit of a back seat. So if we fast forward to 2020 I stumbled upon one of my contemporaries, Blindman, who had continued development of one of his passion project from the time (Beloved Rapture) which immediately rekindled something in me.

I thought to myself...if Blind could continue development, refine his story and turn a passion into a reality... why couldn’t I do the same? Why was I still writing this story in my Notes App? What had I learned in the years I had left the community? What can’t Revelations be a reality?

...And now in 2021, I’ve refined the story again, I’ve trimmed the fat on ideas, re-learned RM2k3 and I’m happy to say I’m working on a new “Tech Demo” to see if anyone is really interested in the story of Ashley Lacure and his rag tag group of adventurers...

Welcome to Revelation 2021... 

This tumblr is dedicated to Blind, Calunio and anyone whose interested in the story I’m crafting when I’m not busy with work.

Thanks for reading,

- AshleyWasHere 

[seacllie]

matchup: hi, may i request matchups for obey me and genshin impact? i’m bi so any gender is ok! im an impulsive dumbass and my attention span sucks, but i still manage to cheese my way to good grades. i suck at talking, so i tend to keep to myself. i do try to be sociable, and i can maintain short conversations with strangers. but i can’t help but stick with the people i know. i try to be honest, and i like helping others and being seen as reliable. ive depended on others a lot in the past and im trying to be less dependent! also i’m basically nocturnal because my sleep schedule is really messed up :’) i like tea, freshly baked goods, and comfy sweaters! as for hobbies, i like to play video games (especially rpgs!) read scary stories, and i also love crafts like knitting and bracelet-making! especially if i have someone to make things for. for dislikes, i don’t like being too idle, and having to wake up early. as for my ideal date, i’m honestly satisfied with just spending time with the person i like, but i think it would be fun to do something spontaneous, like drive out somewhere in the middle of the night. thank you so much and i hope you have a great day! 🍀

I think you match well with...

SIMEON

🍊 simeon would either go along with your impulsiveness if he thinks it's amusing or he would stop you before things get dangerous or serious. he highkey wants to know how you still managed to pass even though you didn't pay attention that much, he's genuinely curious.

🍊 as one of the transfers from the celestial realm, him as well as Luke are quite popular. if you're trying to be more sociable, simeon could help you with that, if you accept his help of course. he understands that you want to try to be independent, however, if you're trying to handle an tough situation, he would come over and ask if you wanted or needed help. but of course the choice is yours to decide.

🍊 sleep is very important, he would try to at least have you sleep longer than you usually do. freshly baked good? say no more, you guys would have tea time with treats made by Luke, sometimes he would join, sometimes he leaves you two alone. he would definitely be down to play video games with you! maybe drag Luke into playing as well. he loves every single craft you make, he would also sometimes make you something handmade.

🍊 leaving for a while wouldn't be that bad, feeling the cool breeze at night isn't that bad. normally you'll be the one driving. simeon adores spending quality time with you, he'll either say it out loud to your face or say it through his actions. maybe during your little date, he would tell embarrassing or non embarrassing stories about the 7 brothers back when they were angels

JEAN GUNNHILDR

🍊 jean would be worried about your impulsiveness, maybe trying to spot you from her window or asking an knight to check how were you doing. because jean is a busy woman, although she does try to make space in her schedule to spend time with you. other than that, she's genuinely grateful and happy that you still chose to stay with her even if she didn't give you as much attention as you deserved. don't worry though, she makes up the missing affection + attention when she's free and spending her time with you.

🍊 she understands how you like helping others as that's what she practically does for an living, she does enjoy helping others though. she loves it when you try to be independent, she does worry about you sometimes though. jean would be with you through the entire night, probably buried under her piles of paperwork. its funny how she tells you that sleep is important, yet she's here spending the another sleepless night due to work + her undying knightly passion

🍊 when she finally makes time, she uses her free time to be with you, no one is allowed to talk to her about work during her time with you. she would be interested in your hobbies or your interests, she wants to take the time to get to know you more so don't be surprised to see one day jean in the library learning how to do crafts so that she could maybe make something with you next time.

🍊 it's hard to have dates because of Jean's job and passion as an knight, so most of your dates were spent either at yours or her house or her office or even accompanying her solving issues around mondstadt. but if she's really feeling it, like really really really feeling it. she might join you for an nightly stroll around mondstadt or relaxing under the great tree (windrise).

[silyabeeodess]

Final Thoughts on Tangled: The Series

Normally, I don’t do many reviews, but since I’ve given my thoughts on points in the series before, I feel compelled to address certain things in the series in a full list.  As I’ve already brought up in the past, I very much have a love-hate relationship with the show.  This is because it has both exceptionally amazing and exceptionally terrible points that I can’t just shrug off--in part, because I’m starting to see them everywhere in a lot of cartoons these days, especially with Disney. Expect me to go over both positive and negative points, and I’ve give my conclusion on the series as a whole last.  There will be spoilers, so if you haven’t watched it in full yet, please do so before checking out the cut below.

Characters

As far as building up a lot of the characters go, I think most of them are really well-developed.  From a main character like Varian to minor figures like Captain Quaid, the creators seemed to have a good grasp of fleshing them out even when if they had a limited time to do so.  It helped the world of Tangled feel expansive and real, with even many of the background characters having their own identity and personalities: We didn’t need their life stories to make them stand out in our minds and they weren’t treated like a choir group used to only fill up space, which can be an easy pitfall when they’re showcased with notable importance to the story. (Moana, I’m looking at you.)  

My issues with the characters largely fall on a case-by-case basis--which will be brought up further below--but there is one general point that did wear on my nerves, and that’s with many of them having what I’d like to call “selective competence.”  By this, I mean that the strengths of the characters seemed to shift depending on whatever narrative the team wanted to tell.  One of the biggest examples of this is King Edmund: We’re introduced to him as a skilled fighter and fierce protector that could match up against not only the members of the Brotherhood like Adira because he trained them himself, but also while simultaneously holding his own for a time against Rapunzel and her friends--however, when he started being used for mostly comedy relief, he couldn’t even defend himself against the Stabbington Brothers who the group has already beaten multiple times over.  For crying out loud, they let him know they were there!  In no way do I think characters need some kind of point system to mark how strong they are--this is a story, not a tabletop RPG--but at the same time there’s needs to be better consistency and planning.  For the point I mentioned with King Edmund, an easy fix would’ve been a sneak attack that knocked him out before he had the chance to react by making him so consumed with the thought of losing his son in that moment that he wasn’t as aware of his surroundings as normal.  At least then there’d be an excuse!  This happens repeatedly throughout the series and with multiple characters though that it’s far from a slip up. 

Another general that focuses more on the girls is the power dynamic.  Look, I’m all for strong women, but not at the sacrifice of things like story or characters, and the show made a bad habit of leaning into that with their selective competence.  Think I’m wrong?  Ok, then explain this to me: How do you have two famed criminals with a known record throughout multiple kingdoms act like bumbling idiots who constantly either cause problems for the group with typically someone like Raps, Cass, or Adira having to get them out of that situation?  And if that wasn’t obvious enough, you have Adira’s little “I don’t get why they named it the Brotherhood because I’m a woman” statement that couldn’t be more on the nose.  

You know what?  I’m gonna go ahead and get to Adira despite her being a more minor character because I couldn’t stand her.  Most of the time when she showed up, I wanted to roll my eyes into the back of my skull because the primary reason she exists is to be a “strong woman who don’t need no man,” which, to be frank, we already have in spades in this show with much better characters.  She’s not impressive or a good role model for young girls: She’s an obnoxious token--and in more ways than one.  For no point whatsoever, she kept disappearing and reappearing in and out of episodes throughout S2 whenever the creators decided to use her--even though the audience is well aware she’s following the group and nothing seems to be stopping her from sticking by them.  They were shown fine with her travelling at their side on multiple occasions, so what was the need to have her vanish off and on when we know she’s just keeping up with them in the shadows anyhow? To top that off, she insists on being needlessly mysterious just for the sake of it despite her sharing similar goals with Raps and the group.  It would’ve been one thing had she just kept the potential danger of the moonstone’s affects on Raps a secret: The best lies are told with a bit of truth and it would’ve set up the mysterious angle of her much better.  Better anyway than her helping them one minute and then beating them up in the next because she “doesn’t like to be touched.” It got to the point where I didn’t care whether or not she could be trusted: I just wanted her offscreen.  

Going back to something positive for a moment though, Raps and Eugene are easily the best in the series (Or at least when they’re alone together, I have notes on both....)  I’m not talking about the romance between them--although that was really well done: I’m talking about how they bounced off of each other.  There’s something to be said about people who are willing to grow beside each other, and that growth shines in their relationship.  If one of them falters, the other is there to not only pick up the slack, but help pull the first back onto their feet.  Both Raps and Eugene have their highs and lows throughout the series and they’re willing to call the other back to earth and be their support when things go too far.  The power dynamic issue I mentioned earlier?  I never see it with them. They’re both balanced and match to each other’s strengths/weaknesses.  Neither of them is a vision of perfection, a knight in shining armor, or a damsel in distress: They’re two people who work in tandem to get through the hard times and simply enjoy the good ones together. 

Since I already wrote a large post discussing Raps and Cassandra, I’m going to link to that here.  For Cassandra though, I can summarize my thoughts on what they did to her character in one word: Butchered.  For both Seasons 1 and 2, the set-up for her was great, but everything after that was mostly an abysmal fall from grace.  They focused too much on her being jealous of Raps and upset over Gothel and ignored all of the problems that had sprung up in their friendship--such as Raps pushing her to the side just as much as anyone else and taking advantage of her friendship.  And then she literally had to ask herself, “Wait... am I the bad guy?” for her to consider that her actions may be unjustified.  Even after that, she immediately jumps back into her “villain��� mode when Varian accidentally fired at her and blaming Raps--who’s just standing there--all while knowing ahead of time that Raps signed the decree for the weapon and having already excused it.  I saw glimmers of potential in the finale, but honestly, they fumbled and tripped so much with Cass that, even while satisfied with the conclusion to her arc, I’d far from call it a success.

Lance... This character just screams of missed opportunities. They gave him a great background to go with Eugene’s as these two best friends leaving a life of crime behind to each find their place in the world and then proceeded to make him the butt of a joke just about every second he was onscreen.  I can’t even think of a genuine character trait he had: I just look at him and see Tangled’s version of Olaf.  At least the end where he adopts Angry and Catalina was sweet, but even that felt lacking because all we got out of them were dumb jokes.  We see them together, but hardly in a way that would establish a parent-child bond; more like two siblings outwitting their dim babysitter.  The creators just could’ve handled him so much better, giving him and Eugene/Angry/Catalina more sincere interactions or letting him have a couple of moments to show what skills he brings to the group. They already had Shorty and used comedy among all of the characters anyway, so what was the point of making Lance a walking punchline?     

As for Eugene, I don’t have much to say beyond the points where they just made him out to be a moron like they did with Lance.  I actually really like how they developed them: How, personality wise, he never felt the need to change himself for anyone--he was confident in himself--but nevertheless struggled to find his own identity because of his past, family legacy, and whatever other revelations he came across in the present.  It was an interesting journey, watching him find himself.     

For all the bad I had to say regarding Raps in the post I listed earlier, I will admit as well that she does have some positive aspects.  I liked how her character arc focused on the importance of personal freedom while balancing it with the moral choice of accepting one’s duty to others.  For a time, she’s not ready to rule Corona due to her lack of knowledge/experience and never having the chance to discover what she needed in her own life.  However, she doesn’t use it as an excuse to shirk away from her responsibilities.  She accepts her duty to her kingdom and her people--and even to Eugene to an extent since she does love him and knows it’s unfair if she made him wait forever at her side--but she’s not willing to throw away her own happiness by rushing forward to fulfill them. It’s a balance that’s easy to struggle with, if not to the same degree as a princess, whether from a basic work/life or group/individual scenario or if you’re, for example, a young person rushed from one phase of their life to the next with certain expectations. The cherry on top is that she’s also a person struggling with her own maturity in the meantime, going from careless in some situations to a voice of reason later down the road.  

Overall, Zhan Tiri was a pretty good villain, particularly because she was actually, well, an honest villain.  After years of show after show, movie after movie, constantly being compelled to give their bad guys some sob story that hardly ever makes up for their actions, we’re finally back to getting to villains we love to hate. While I wouldn’t place her on the top tier, she’s still well done overall.  I don’t like her more powerful forms that much--they just don’t seem to have the best designs--but the child form was great.  The team found a good balance of conniving and creepy with her look.  My main complaint is that she can’t learn to shut up.  Now, it’s not the monologuing or even her spilling her own plans that I don’t like. Yes, it’s a trope for villains; however, it’s often used to showcase their arrogance; give the audience some more information about what’s going on in a simple, but effective way; and typically done when either the hero is at their weakest or when the villain is alone/with other villains.  The problem is Zhan Tiri’s timing.  It would be one thing if she monologued when Raps was at her weakest: Instead, she decides to reveal her identity and intentions to Raps well before her plans could succeed, therefore putting them at risk.  Had she not outright said “I’m playing Cass,” Cass’s morality would be placed in a more questionable eye by Raps and the others--further encouraging the conflict between the two young woman, which was what the demon wanted.  Her explaining that to Raps was just dumb.   

Music

I have no complaints.  Whoever is behind this, bravo: You made gold.  

I’d dare argue that the bulk of the songs could easily be any number that you’d hear on a successful Broadway track.  They're memorable, catchy, and tailor-made to perfectly fit in their respective scenes.  Everyone involved seemed to put their heart into the music, making many of them extremely powerful pieces.  The dialogue also meshes really well with the music, allowing the songs to flow naturally in and out of the scenes.  The only time where I’d say it doesn’t quite work would be in Through it All, but considering that the scene makes a point of joking about the musical elements of the series prior to that, you’re supposed to be aware of how unnatural it is, which can give it a charm of its own.  

Art and Animation

Again, for the art, no complaints.  Aside from some minor nitpicks that I’d shrug off--and I mean really minor, like a bird for the beginning of one episode that was huge in comparison to a second flying close to it--it’s beautiful. The style has a strong, painter-like quality that fits with the concept of this being Rapunzel’s story, matching to her--of course--being an artist.  You have these bold, beautiful colors and the team wasn’t afraid of letting them shine at their best, like in scenes such as when Rapunzel and Cassandra are fighting as the sundrop and moonstone.  There were so many nice contrasts that directed one’s focus perfectly on what the creators wanted you to see and that also made for rich, impressive moments in the show.  

As for more subtle details, one that I particularly liked were some of the gradients and the way they’re applied, such as the blush to Rapunzel’s face.  There’s something about that soft speckle around the edges that’s really satisfying, and--when comparing Rapunzel’s design to the flatter skin tone on most of the other characters--it gives her a warm glow that helps solidify her as the physical embodiement of the sundrop.

The animation is also super solid, and any critiques I have on it largely fall to things I think probably had more to do with the script than the animation itself.  For example, there’s the moment when Cass and Raps are fighting in Gothel’s house where Cass ties Raps hair around a pole, in the next moment it’s off the pole and Raps smacks her with it, and then it’s immediately wrapped around the pole again with Raps trying to unravel it.  It’s a pretty obvious and careless mistake to make--especially when you see how wonderfully choreographed a lot of the series is with dynamic camera shots that move fluidity with the characters.  What makes me think it’s more of a script-based problem is that there are similar inconsistencies that happen elsewhere and--while animated beautifully--don’t make much sense. One example of this is in the finale, where Cass is dying.  I tried re-watching the scene and checking the wikia to see how she got a fatal injury in case I missed something, but no: It’s never shown.  It’s like the team decided to have her dying just so Raps could say the healing incantation one final time. If you want to excuse it, you could say it had to do with the moonstone, but then you’d also have to explain how neither of the girls showcase any physical weaknesses aside from their loss of powers when Zhan Tiri takes both of their respective gems. Which leads me to...

Writing 

This is the hardest for me to discuss because so much of it is either really, really good or really, really bad.  I guess to start, I’ll bring up a problem that I noticed mimicked another show, Star Vs. the Forces of Evil.  Similarly to SVTFOE, the last season didn’t focus enough on the main plot to properly flesh it out--albeit, SVTFOE was much worse than Tangled: The Series could ever fear being.  A lot of people try to blame this on “Well, it’s the last season: It’s all they’ve got left to tell the story in.” Ok... Well, yeah, we can talk about how Disney and other companies stink at just letting creators tell a good story in the time they need to in another discussion, but here’s the thing: The teams know well in advance how many episodes they have to work with. Unfortunately, they wasted some of those episodes.  Did we really need to see Catalina as a werewolf?  Did we really need Pascal to befriend a dragon?  Even in the finale, with the more minor characters’ stumble into the Lost Realm, what was the point of it besides humor and getting them out of the way for a bit?  I’d understand if they were episodes for lightening the mood, but they already put so much comedy relief in with the main plot that that isn’t necessary: The mood’s already light enough and there’s just not much time to waste on random filler.  Again, filler isn’t a problem in itself either: You can have it, just don’t let it sacrifice main points that the show should address. One way to have gotten around this was to use more of a two-plot structure with some of these episodes: Plot A would focus on whatever fun the team wanted to have while Plot B could sprinkle in bits of information that the audience will need later for the main story--or they could even have done that with just a small scene to nudge some info in after the episode was done and before the credits rolled.            

I’d like to bring up some of the points that I thought could’ve been covered better.  First off, the whole “destiny” thing.  Well, we get what all signs Raps’ destiny is pointing to, but as often as it was brought up for Cass, they hardly explained what she wanted after taking the moonstone. What was her plan?  Initially, she didn’t want to attack/take over Corona. Sure, they tried saying she didn’t want to be anyone’s second, but everyone was going to hate her for taking the moonstone in the first place, so... good work there: I don’t think Cass would be stupid enough not to realize people wouldn’t think highly of her for it despite what the show tried to tell us.  They even missed the chance for some friction between Cass and Eugene after the latter was made the Captain of the Guard: Come on, you know that would’ve set her off!  Even the show questions this by Raps asking Cass what her end goal was in, I guess, the creators’ attempt at patching their mistake too little too late.  

Then there was the oh-so-important eclipse that we’re told nothing about until it gets here... besides that fact that it’s an eclipse.  The way the team tried to build it up through Zhan Tiri, you would’ve thought it was some cosmic magic on level with Avatar’s Sozin’s Comet. From what we could tell though, no, it’s just a normal eclipse.  That’s fine, but then why not explain more about it when everything else involving the sun and moon was amplified to some magical involvement?  

Thirdly, they brought the death incantation back: You know, that spell Raps was stupid enough to think she could control and then somehow randomly did for Varian because plot device despite it later being rendered pointless when the black rocks are then shown to be able to pierce through the amber just fine in S3, so Raps could’ve used those to save Varian’s father instead back when she had control of them?  That death incantation?  Yeah, suddenly it’s a bad thing again.  I could probably write a whole other post on these types of goofs alone, but I’ve been writing this for hours now and I’m almost to the end of it.

To wrap up this section, I will, however, admit that I liked some of the little things they included and would bring up later: I just wish they had done it more.  This is a method I call breadcrumb storytelling, in which a creator--for a specific moment--gives attention to something small that inevitably has a solid payback, often with the audience forgetting about it for a period only to resurface in their mind at the reveal.  One major point I’m talking about here was the use of the Moonstone shard.  Like many others, I actually did think they were going to show it as a sign of Cass’s slow destruction--that the Moonstone was a physical part of her and that by destroying it or overusing its power, it would inevitable destroy her as well.  It was a pleasant surprise to see the shard used as the key to defeating Zhan Tiri, and just how it was used.

Conclusion

So, did I like the series overall or not...?  Eh... I still find myself going back and forth on it.  What I hate about it, I hate with a passion, but the good parts that are there genuinely moved me. The things that worked wrapped up nicely and it was nice, but bittersweet to see the characters get their happy ending because it did feel pretty earned and you do feel sad to say goodbye to these people and this world you’ve become familiar with.  So I wouldn’t call it bad: I’d compare it to car that got totaled in a wreck and still somehow managed to flawlessly parallel park without any casualties after it flipped across the street.  It’s a mess, but I can still smile at it by the end of the day.     

[hybrid-phantom-archived]

@shortorderboy​ asked:  "You came back, Danny!!" With a happy smile beaming across his cheeks, the sponge leaped at his brother and reached up as he tightly hugged him. "I've missed ya being around!” He let go upon noticing he was very rough. “My bad, I was pretty excited. How've things been?” 

______________

“Hey Spongebob! Things have been going pretty well since I woke up!” Danny happily returns the hug, glad to see his companion doing well for himself.

“Then again, I was put to sleep by Nocturne... really weird dream about some kind of RPG.” He pauses a moment. Come to think of it, they never really did solve the issue behind Anti-Spongebob when the crook attacked Bikini Bottom... 

Was Nocturne sent to keep him out of the way, perhaps...?  With Danny being back in action, perhaps he should redouble his efforts to find the inter-dimensional doppelganger...