#The game concept I referenced a bit back!

[sysig]

Game time >:3c (Patreon)

[alittledizzy]

okay thoughts/timestamps for the phanniversary newlywed game video!! (random breaks are to appease the tumblr gods)

:55 - The capitalesterification of things that used to be unspoken fandom holidays is startling to me still. Jarring, even. It's theirs to own; I'm not really mad about it. But it feels weird. 2:00 - "You are our third in this video. The questioning third." I need a shot, actually. 2:13 - Dan referencing how they are basically the same person at this point before it even starts. 2:27 - Who would be caught tied to a wall at furcon? Unanimously Dan. This doesn't surprise me at all; my headcanon for a while has been that Dan is more likely to identify as a furry while Phil is more likely to be fascinated watching furries have sex but not identify with any other aspects of it as much. I think Phil probably just enjoys things a bit to the left of center, in general, even if he doesn't want to partake himself. 3:32 Who is bossies? Unanimously Phil. I love this little peak into their dynamic. Ignoring the "stinky baby" thing, they are bossy in different ways. Dan is more big picture trying to accomplish goals and Phil is more to try and satisfy his individual needs.

4:05 - Who is more likely to cut the video off due to a sponsor? Obviously this one is Phil, and cue spon segment that I skipped the first time and am skipping now. 5:28 - Who would accidentally answer the door with no pants on? Unanimously Phil. I think this just speaks to a little more of Phil's general obliviousness and ability to be in his own bubble when he's comfortable, which is kind of fascinating considering Phil seems more anxious and hyperalert when they are in public. 5:50 - Who drinks more? Unanimously Dan. We knew this already about Phil being a lightweight and Dan not being one, but I do enjoy confirmation that Phil is just a silly drunk and the shoutout to a classic dinof video. 6:36 - Who is the gayest? Unanimously Phil. This does not surprise me at all and I am going to answer an ask specifically just about this. But tl;dr I think Phil has a very binary sense of attraction and Dan doesn't. Also he gets a gold star for "the concept of women." 7:02 - Who's most likely to get a tattoo? Unanimously Phil. This Phil lore is interesting and I do think he'll end up with a tattoo at some point. 8:20 - Who is most likely to have the next medical emergency? Unanimously Phil. His body really is a fail. :(

8:42 - Who is better at time management? So many questions in and the first differing response!! This immediately took me back to the roulette game. Good to know Dan has not changed in his stubbornness, and also that he believes a divorce is when he can't see Phil for five seconds. 9:44 - Who snores more when sleeping? Unanimously Phil. rip everyone on that tour bus, apparently? Now I need to know if Dan is the type to just put in earplugs, or if he wakes Phil up when it's too loud. 10:16 - Who starts more arguments? Their second differing response, and imo the most satisfying moment of the video. Insert this type of domestic into my vein. Dan is pettier about small things but he says he's just pointing things out/observing it, and to him he's just verbalizing it and to Phil it's Dan starting an argument. Phil wants Dan to let more things just wash over him. 11:10 - Who kills/removes the spiders? Unanimously Phil, which we already knew but I love a good renewed confirmation that he removes them with a glass instead of killing them. 11:31 - Who is more likely to stand up for the other when a restaurant gets their order wrong? Unanimously Dan, followed by the beautiful phrasing of Phil not even complaining if he got "the cheese super allergy knife bowl, mmm tasty." But the dichotomy here that I really love is how in the microcosm of their relationship Phil is bossier, more outspoken with turning things into arguments, and more likely to ask for and get his way… but when it comes to outside of the relationship Dan finds that more comfortable. Dan really does have that older sibling-verging-on-mom override.

11:53 - Who's more likely to be lurking on social media? Unanimously Phil. Dan is traumatized and I do believe he doesn't want to know or see the commentary on himself or his projects except through a filter. Philter. Sorry. I'll move on. 12:10 - Who is the bigger nerd? Unanimously Dan. Dan does seem more for ADHD style hyperfixation whereas Phil is more of a lifetime fandom person. 12:47 - Which one of you is the alpha? They each answered themselves, but neither of them took this seriously. Phil is right tbh they are both betas. 13:17 - Phil doesn't like being told what to do. This is probably my second favorite part of the video. I feel like it makes sense but isn't something I would readily think of; he doesn't like confrontation so it's not an element of his personality that we would see come out a lot. But he's also someone that's essentially never been in a scenario past the school age where he really had to answer to anyone above him. He's equal in his relationship, he's financially independent, he's in control of his career. Any 'boss' he's had was an unconventional scenario (like BBC1 where he didn't have to apply to be there, he was invited) and while he's worked hard he's just done it of his own volition and not due to anyone outside of himself and his partnership requiring it.

13:29 - Who's more likely to flirt with the waiter? Unanimously Phil, which I love because this is really a slice of true Dan. He didn't once try to imply that he's the lolz horny on grindr getting those hookups slut boy summer persona. Dan is only that in theory; in reality he's worrying about politics and his own anxiety and making sure Phil wasn't served cheese allergy knife soup. 13:59 - Who's more likely to become a stripper? Unanimously Dan. Shoutout to the nakedbooth era of 2009. I also appreciate his point about how being any kind of content creator is similar. 14:40 - Who is most likely to leave their hair in the shower wall? Opposing answers, but Phil's logic is flawed. It isn't who will see it, it's who would do it. Confirmation from Dan again that Phil is very messy and also still uses three towels. 15:04 - Who has a worse sense of direction? Unanimously Phil. I really identify with this.

15:14 - Who has the highest screen time? Unanimously Dan, but they go into the differences in screen time. Phil seems to actively use his more whereas Dan uses it passively to watch things. Dan never lets his mind just be chill and doesn't want to be alone with his thoughts, whereas Phil can rawdog the laundry with nothing playing. Dan uses his phone for escapism, Phil uses it to seek out information. 15:52 - Bubbly Ben coming in clutch with "Whom's ass claps the hardest?" - I need an oil painting of Dan's expression as Phil reads this. And the caption should be, "Answer the fucking question, Phil." (It is, obviously, a unanimous Phil.) Followed by one of Dan's patented over the top 'we crossed a line' which I'll forgive him for in this one instance since the entire video was fairly free of his go-to filler quotes.

[yuri-is-online]

I’d like to hear a little about Idia’s Yutu. I bet he was pretty startled to see his hair suddenly catch fire + any other physical changes associated with the curse. (Do you think the yellow eyes and shark teeth are even caused by the curse?)

Idia is a popular boy and I have a lot of thoughts about him in general; I feel like I gave him a lot to deal with in this particular au... Jade is probably having a worse time mentally but Idia has a bunch of work I know he wasn't asking for.

As for the talk about the curse, I kicked it around in my head a bit and I am going to say yes the teeth are caused by it but the eyes are just something Idia got from his parents. I know I talk about thinking there is something wrong with Trey, but I don't think that's because of a curse and his eyes are definitely yellow. Idia's do seem to glow a bit so if you want your Yutu to have different colored eyes I think it would make sense if they had a bit of a glow to them, but that's just me.

notes: they/them used for Yuu, for context on the fyuuture kid au can be found here and here. For this post, I would recommend reading this explanation of what happened to the boys as Idia has a pretty big role in the bad timeline, and his actions will be somewhat referenced here.

Idia has the benefit and the literal curse of being in charge of S.T.Y.X., meaning that when blot investigations are conducted he tends to be in the know. His Yuu and Yutu should have been safe from anything the Marshall's decided to do but they weren't. Unlike pretty much everyone else in this AU, Idia learns what happened to his family. He knows that Yuu was cursed, he knows they were sent back to their world. But that's about it, he tries to find some sort of way to make contact with your world so he can bring you home but then things go to shit and his progress is severely delayed. By the time he has to help bury Leona it's stopped completely. Ortho tries his best to help, but Idia doesn't really want him to. As much as he wants to see you again, he doesn't want you to have to suffer through any overblots again, nor does he want to raise a child in a dying world.

Sometimes when he is alone, energy drinks scattered around his desk he'll look over to the little digital photo frame he loaded up with pictures of you, from back at NRC all the way up to your wedding and wonders if he should just let you go. There's a chance you being forced to forget about him means you would have moved on, maybe met someone else and had other kids. Was his kid anything like him? He hopes they ended up looking mostly like you, and knowing there is no way for the Shroud curse to reach them does make it slightly easier to sleep at night. He tells himself when he comes back to work tomorrow, he'll put the frame in a drawer along with his wedding ring but he never does. In his mind, he is still your husband, just waiting for fall to come so you can try to be together again. Fall might be another life, but Idia surprisingly doesn't mind. He can wait for you.

Idia! Yutu was a massive crybaby when he was a baby. Very clingy to Yuu and very afraid of his own shadow let alone his teachers and peers. He grows out of the crying as he gets older but not the social anxiety. Yutu wants friends, he just sucks at making them and is extremely stressed out by being around people. I could see Yuu maybe getting an animal of some sort to help with the stress and anxiety their son was feeling. And just by typing that I have become attached to the concept: Ida! Yutu gets a dog Yuu feels inclined to name Cerberus. Yutu adores her and takes very good care of her without any fights about his chores.

Yuu remembers Idia as being more of a cat person, but they tell Yutu they think he really would have approved of Cerb. They remember him as being a socially awkward, but extremely passionate about his work and hobbies. His love of retro games causes a lot of Yuu's cursed pains, they know he liked those sorts of games but they can't for the life of them remember the titles. Yutu tries to reassure his parent it's just nice knowing a little bit about his dad and that he doesn't need the specifics. Hearing about his dad's interests motivates him to learn about emulators as he gets older, and he builds Yuu a nice family computer after scrounging for parts.

Yutu prefers single player or local co-op games, but makes an exception if Yuu has a long term MMO or something like a genshin account because he does like playing with Yuu. It helps soothe his social anxiety to talk to people while he knows his parent and Cerberus are near by, but when they aren't online he's essentially a solo gamer.

Unfortunately for Yutu's potential inner gremlin, Yuu also remembers Idia's shut in tendencies and is determined to get him outside from a very young age. Cerb does her best to help with that too, it's Yutu's job to walk her and he swears she keeps trying to introduce him to people. He's had so many awkward conversations with the people in his neighborhood because of her. His other chore used to be helping out in the little vegetable garden Yuu started to help cut down grocery costs, but that quickly ceased being a chore and became a full blown passion.

Idia! Yutu loves flowers. He fills his windowsills with plants that are safe to be around dogs and has Cerberus help him dig a flower bed around your home so he can plant more of them. Sure the veg garden is nice too, but he loves the significance of and variety that can be found in flowers. If you live in a place that can keep bees then he will absolutely bug you about wanting to get some.

Twisted Wonderland looks horrible to Yutu. It's dark and cold, he's been snapped into a room full of people in a place he doesn't recognize, and his parent has gone non responsive as he tries desperately to shake them awake. He tries snapping at the fancy looking man that comes to help and accidentally bites his tongue, and that's when he notices it.

Mostly because Cerberus tackles him and tries to put him out.

"Owowowowowowowwww-" Yutu tries to push Cerberus back but she keeps whining and trying to lick at his face. She yelps as Yutu catches his breath as he sees what she's trying to paw at. His hair is on fire, or to be more accurate his hair is fire. He can hold it, he can tug at it, it's warm and is not burning his clothes but his hair is on fucking fire-

"STAY." The voice is so commanding that both Cerb and Yutu freeze, the strange man from before with his dual colored hair looks oddly nostalgic at his little command, eyes obviously softening at the dog as he shakes his head. "Good girl, no need to worry. Your little master is ok, he isn't going to combust." Cerberus whines, but she relaxes and Yutu stands shakily. "Though full warning you might feel like you are once I am done explaining things to you."

Idia and Ortho are called to NRC for an emergency and debriefed on their way over. Yuu holds on to life just long enough to speak with Idia a little, the first time Yutu meets his dad the two of them are saying goodbye to a now comatose Yuu. The silence is awkward, but the hold Idia has on Yutu isn't. I like to think that Idia and Yuu had talked about what they would have wanted to name Yutu, and that memory had carried across the world so there was no awkward introduction phase between the two of them. The sort of fall into each others lives immediately, the want for the other to exist overriding anything else.

Cerberus helps too. Idia might be more of a cat person but cute doggies are good too. ESPECIALLY one with such an awesome name, she's the most spoiled girl in the entire apocalypse. She's an old dog at this point, so Idia takes her back to S.T.Y.X. where she becomes a sort of unofficial mascot for the research teams. Idia makes her a uniform and everything. He regularly sends pictures to Yutu while he's busy at school.

Because of Yutu's love of gardening trumping his interest in technology, he ends up in Heartslabyul instead of Ignihyde. He is very embarrassed about this at first (he really hates the uniform) but Idia reassures him that he doesn't care about that. His kid could probably kill someone in front of him and he would not care, especially not at this point. So long as he is able to talk to his child about manga and games he doesn't care what extra circulars they're into. I can't see him being super excited about having to go to sports games, but then again maybe he would just think about it like a sports anime to help psych himself up to go (his kid would obviously be his favorite character).

Bad timeline Idia is a lot calmer than his younger self. He still loses his temper and goes on smug rants, but in general he speaks exactly like he does in book six to the S.T.Y.X. employees. His true personality only really comes out when he's alone with Ortho and Yutu, but he tries to keep his more pessimistic side in check. He wants Yutu to have some hope for the future, but the more he runs the numbers the bleaker things look.

Ortho is beyond excited to have his nephew back. He always liked hanging out with Yuu because of the lack of data he had about them. Every conversation he had with them was unique, and he was really looking forward to having the same experience with Yutu. He was just as if not more distraught than Idia when you both disappeared, so having Yutu back brings a bit more spark to his soul. Yutu was so stressed out from all of the changes he was experiencing that meeting Orhto felt weirdly normal. What's weirder: having an artificial humanoid for an uncle, technically being part alien, having fire for hair, or having a spell that literally opens the gates of hell. Yutu is not taking option one that's for sure.

Ortho and Idia are the ones who propose going back in time, but when it's their Yutu who is making the journey the suggestion is extremely difficult to make. Idia doesn't like the idea of asking his son to do this, it feels selfish. But then, Idia also feels like bringing him into existence before he could break the family curse was selfish, no matter what Yutu was always going to be doomed. But that just means he should be the one taking responsibility for this... Ortho volunteers himself for the mission but Yutu points out that that would probably be even more dangerous than sending him. It's a tearful goodbye, everyone knows that if the missions succeeds this timeline will cease to exist and they will never get to see each other again. They have a little party at NRC and Idia takes Yutu aside to visit Yuu's grave, firstly so they can say goodbye and secondly because he has a confession to make

"I was mega cringe when I was at NRC." His dad can't even look him in the eyes, and Yutu swears he sees him shaking. He has to blink a few times to make sure he is seeing things right, this doesn't look like overworked dad, or stressed dad, or angry at something mundane dad. If he didn't know any better, he'd say he was-

"Well isn't everybody?" The tips of Idia's hair turn pink at the question and Yutu's quickly mirrors him from feeling like he's done something wrong. All he's done is repeat his dad's own advice back to him though. "You're always so cool and confident-" Idia wheezes and Yutu almost has to catch him. "I mean I'm sure you can't be bad as me-"

"Oh you are going to regret saying that." His dad can't really bring himself to elaborate further but the thousand yard stare does all the talking for him.

Idia! Yutu was given three very simple instructions by Uncle Ortho about going back in time:

1) don't try to lie to me about who you are, I will run scans and figure it out. Grandma and Grandpa finding out would probably be bad and just complicate things. Easy enough, having Uncle Ortho on his side makes the transition between future and past a lot easier. Current Ortho might be a lot more innocent? Naive? He isn't sure if those are the words he would use, but he is certainly less used to having a soul and being his own person than his Uncle is. Not that this makes him any less accepting of Yutu... if anything he is even more excited about him than he was in the future.

2) try to keep who you are a secret from Yuu, but get close to them. We need them to stay alive, even if we don't know why yet... Less easy than hanging out with Uncle Ortho, but still easy enough. I tend to write all Yutus as not fully realizing how much they missed or loved Yuu until they got to see the younger version of their parent... but out of all of them Idia! Yutu is certainly up there for just how hard it hits him. Mostly because of Rule 3:

3) I am so fucking sorry for what you're going to have to deal with please be patient with me!!! I promise I love you and your parent so much I'm just not going to know-

So that obviously came from Idia and not Ortho, but Yutu really disregarded that warning until he accidentally ran into his dad while trying to find Ortho and saw him take out a tablet? That he used to talk with and got very panicky about when he asked a very simple question about it. Uncle Ortho helpfully tells him later that Idia uses it to help him speak in public because of his anxiety, and is very pleased to learn Yutu has never seen him use it in the future. But that doesn't really change how things are now...

On the one hand, Yutu gets it. He has bad social anxiety himself, but because he had a very supportive parent who worked with him to challenge himself in healthy ways he never got to the point that Idia is. He also was a lot older when he had his first experience with a traumatic loss and had Idia (who is a bit too experienced) and Ortho (who is just so understanding) there to help him through it. He knew that was not the case for his dad, they talked about it a lot in the future because Idia felt like he had a right to know, but I don't think he fully comprehended how bad Idia's mental health was.

Because no matter how much he might get it, this guy is still his dad and Yutu really wants to interact with him. He wants to impress him and maybe finally beat his high score on Star Rogue, Yutu just knows there are a bunch of stories he never got to hear because his dad was too embarrassed to tell him and this is maybe his one chance to find all of them out. But his dad is such a shut in he barely even interacts with Yuu! Yutu was always way too embarrassed to ask him about how they got together and now he swears he'll never know because him being in Ramshackle seems to have scared his dad off.

That's only half true, Idia doesn't really see Yutu as a romantic rival... like Cater he assumes you are related in some way because of the similar appearances and tastes in manga. Even when the two of you deny it he shrugs it off, hey maybe Yutu is just you from a different reality? He thinks he read a manga like that once... either way not his monkey not his circus. But like. It could be, Ortho really does like to remind him that Yuu is much less judgemental than everyone else on campus so if he wanted to make some progress on his journey of self improvement talking to them might not be such a bad idea. wink wink nudge nudge! But going over there still means he has to interact with someone other than Yuu and Mr. Grim and that's stressful.

He doesn't think about it at all when Yutu keeps finding excuses to not be there when Ortho drags him to visit because of how relieved he is to not have to socialize with him, at first anyway. He notices when Ortho excuses himself too, they certainly seem to be buddy buddy which isn't something he's going to complain about but as Idia does get closer to Yuu and *ugh* admits to himself he's got some feelings he starts to feel like he should at least know something about the kid other than his name. He does not completely figure it out, but he notices all of the relevant data points before he's slapped in the face with who Yutu is.

Like Lilia! Yutu's reveal, I think Idia finds out about who Yutu is in the middle of a fight. Yuu gets injured by a really strange blot phatom Idia has never seen before and Yutu absolutely looses it. His hair flares up and for snaps his hood to cinders as he's roaring out spells and trying desperately to make sure that thing doesn't touch his parents. Something you both hear loud and clear.

At first this makes Idia beyond excited. He probably joins the little fit his son is throwing except in raw joy because he's fantasized so much about this! He even has a little sims save where Yuu and him are married and they've got a kid and a cat and wow just look at Yutu he looks even cooler in real life than he does in a life sim! Yuu look at him, you guys have a-

A kid. You have a kid. With him. One that's got his teeth and hair and your nose and is sobbing in his arms about how much he missed you both and doesn't want to watch you die again. The sheer worry eclipses his second hand embarrassment at his own smugness as he awkwardly holds on to the sobbing Yutu and looks towards you for help. He's never been good at this whole emotional comfort thing, pls assist. So you pick yourself up and join the group hug and all three of you just sort of sit there for a bit while Yutu tells his story. About growing up in your world, how he came to NRC and his friends in Heartslabyul (Idia is blaming that on you, as a joke ofc he doesn't care what house his kid is in), and the plan to go back in time because of how hopeless the future is. It's not a story Idia takes lightly, especially when Ortho confirms it and sends him all of the data he and Yutu have collected so far. Idia is a bit gloomy and prone to complaining, but if you are in a bad place there are few people more reliable. He is a lot like death in a way, he'll always be there in the end.

Idia is a bit awkward around Yuu for a bit after the reveal, I like to think of you as being newly together at this point so Idia hasn't really revealed just how... detailed some of his fantasies about you are just yet. There are a lot of them, he has uh. Maybe written some of them down, pleasedon'tmakehimreadthemoutloud and most of them are perfectly normal and respectable (lies). It stops when you tell him Yutu had to come from somewhere and he dies, buries himself under his covers, and rises again a changed man. Yeah that's right, his kid did come from somewhere NORMIES. He had se-

He's not super big into PDA but he is comfortable being clingy around Yutu and Ortho, though he tries not to be overly cheesy around Yutu. He hates seeing his parents be all lovey dovey with one another and he likes to keep his compliments quiet and for your ears only anyway. I do like the idea of Yuu being a tiny bit more outgoing and embarrassing him a bit around "the kids" (Grim and Yutu) so his hair is in a damn near permanent shade of pink any time he's around Ramshackle. It's one thing to have your younger brother think the world of you, but to have a kid think so highly of you that he travels back in time to save you from an apocalypse? Idia feels super unworthy, it fuels his determination to work out the "problem" Yutu has given him even if his natural pessimism makes him want to give up.

"... Just leave it to your dad." It's an echo of the only other promise he 100% intends to live up to. He really does mean it, Idia is not loosing this match. Just you wait and see...

[dokidokitsuna]

O.R.C.A.’s Directory

(Finally coming back to this concept after several months ^^;)

O.R.C.A. in #re_rise doesn’t just run Alterna in the background and give you orders– it’s a system you interact with regularly as the player; a database that facilitates your adventure and keeps track of your accomplishments. It is accessed through terminals placed at key spots on each site, which you have to find, activate, and physically walk to if you want to use them.

Most of the contents of the Menu (except the Sunken Scrolls) are now consolidated into O.R.C.A., along with a few bonus features~

Alterna Archive: Basically the Alterna Logs– all the information about Alterna’s history, from creation to collapse (referencing my rewritten version of this backstory, of course). As you clear lab spaces with different weapons, earn Golden Eggs, activate terminals, collect Nostalgic Devices, etc., the files will be decrypted line by line. Basically, anything that contributes to your percent completion of the game will count towards this…so just enjoy Alterna the way you like, and you’ll eventually reveal the entire archive without too much extra effort. ^^ This story is O.R.C.A.’s gift to you; your reward for reawakening its home.

Lab Notebook: Notes written by the ‘mysterious researcher’ currently working in Alterna, earned in order from newest to oldest, so we can gradually learn what the Fuzzy Ooze is and why he made it, as well as his origin story and true identity (in his own words~). These replace ‘Log.exe’ from the actual game. Lab notes are found by reaching computers hidden within the lab spaces, kinda like the Power Egg packs. They are purposely placed in the more challenging spaces, and you must clear the space in order to take the note with you– if you wanna learn the main antagonist’s secrets, you gotta put in the work. ^^

Wellness File: Records of Neo Agent 3’s responses to the environment, once you obtain the biometric monitor in Cryogenic Hopetown (more on that later). This is essentially an account of how the player character is feeling at each point in the story– a new entry will be created after each encounter with a major character (Deep Cut, the King Salmonids, the Squid Sisters, etc.) or a particularly interesting Alterna landmark. ;)

Nostalgia Index: List of all the Nostalgic Devices you’ve collected, which Alterna citizens they belonged to, and what they used them for. The citizens’ names are redacted, but you do get to learn a bit about the different kinds of people who lived in Alterna, and connect with them through the items they left behind.

Skill Tree: Basically the same as the in-game version, minus the Hero Shot buffs– in #re_rise you don’t get the Hero Shot until you gain the Hero Gear in the last stretch of the game. Instead you borrow from weapons’ lockers placed around Alterna…meaning you can carry the weapon of your choice as you explore each site, offering you a wider variety of strategies to use on those balloon challenges, for instance. ^^ But I digress…

Camera Roll: One of the Nostalgic Devices you can find is a digital camera, and once you’ve obtained it, you can take pictures with it and upload them to the terminal (as well as your regular photo gallery, when you’re back on the surface). The Alterna Camera comes with its own special filters, and characters you aim it at will pose for you. ^^ This feature is basically just for funzies, but if you can snap a picture of that large figure lurking in the shadows, you’ll earn a special clothing item.

Messages: Occasionally you will receive mysterious messages, warning you with increasing severity to stay out of their laboratory (and bring back their golden eggs…sure sounds familiar). Are these warnings for their sake or for yours…?

Map: Even the site maps are only accessible through the terminals, they’re not available whenever. Maybe that would be a controversial choice…but I think it’d be okay in this instance, since (a) the Alterna islands are pretty small, and (b) I’ve invented a fun system that might help– the Sticker Beakons! ^^

Around Alterna, you can find Sticker Sheets with 3 Sticker Beakons each, to place and replace wherever you want on any island. They shine like actual beacons so you can use them to navigate while you wander around on foot, and once you reach a terminal you can jump to them like normal Squid Beakons. They come in different shapes and designs like the stickers from Hotlantis, and double as actual stickers you can place on your locker, once you’ve found them in Alterna. ^^

I feel like forcing the player to walk around is more forgivable when you give them something cute and customizable like this to play with. :D If you want to use all 18 Sticker Beakons on one island at a time because you’re super directionally-challenged, you can. If you want to use them to simply mark your favorite Alterna landmarks so you can jump to them easily, you can do that too. 

Maybe as a compromise, I might add a ‘Return to Nearest Terminal’ option in the Menu…but I think encouraging the player to get out there and actively explore can’t hurt. Part of my philosophy with this re-concept is to make Alterna an interesting place that the player would WANT to explore, and all these added collectibles are part of that.

[asherashedwings]

FNF CONNECTED UNIVERSE LINE UP Part 2: The Girlfriends

Yippee, new line up. Didn't have as much trouble on this one either.

Idk how much yapping I'll be doing, since I don't really know how much I have to talk about.

But still

Close ups and yapping under the cut

Alternate Universe Girlfriends

So just like with the Boyfriends, all these Girlfriends are technically all the same person, just from different universes. So I tried some elements of their designs consistent between them all, which stem from my base game Girlfriend design.

Unlike BF, there's a good bit more to talk about with GF since I draw her pretty different compared to her in-game design. The main thing is her more apparent demonic traits, like her horns, tail, and purple splotches. The explanation for this, in universe, is that she doesn't have the full power to cloak herself yet. See, her and her family are "music demons", which gain their power by leeching from music, usually a particular genre. GF hasn't really decided what genre to leech from yet, so she isn't as powerful as she could be. She also has a coat cuz uhhh. Silly. Things like her demonic traits and her coat (Or something of similar shape like a feather boa) would be the things to connect all the AU GFs.

Moving on, we have Herself, who I was looking forward to drawing the moment I started this line up cuz I had just. Such a clear vision of her in my head. Although it was a struggle to put that vision on paper.

It's hard to put the exact vision into words, but it's like having her form become less defined as it goes downwards, until it's just the wispy silhouette of her hair. There's a certain balance you have to strike with the wispy nature of her form and the trademark Girlfriend hair shapes, and that's what ended up being the biggest struggle. Once I figured that out though, it was pretty simple. Shapes were the most important thing since her coloring is pretty monochromatic. Not counting the black, this design only utilizes two different colors, both being shades of red. Her design includes a feather boa instead of a jacket, mainly cuz I completely forgot about that rule when I got to her and the boa was a lot easier to add than a jacket. It also makes an interesting shape I think.

Next is Funkadelix, and she really wasn't too hard. The main thing was giving her traits from my main GF design, which wasn't hard at all. For her horns I referenced her Halloween attire. Her tail too, sorta, but I mainly just referenced the thinness of it.

There isn't all too much to say about MDM. There wasn't a lot to change or add. Main addition was the boa, which was admittedly kinda fun to draw in my style for that AU.

Now onto Mix. If you saw my post yesterday about the doodle/sketch pile for this line up, you might've seen a design concept I did for Mommy Mearest, and that was literally just for Mix's design. Except it was virtually pointless cuz I didn't really include any aspects of my MMM into my Mix design. It's fine though, I think she turned out fine. Might take another pass at her in the future when I ACTUALLY have my MMM design figured out.

Lastly for this section, HD. I actually had quite a bit of fun drawing her. Don't really got much to say about her though. I'm pretty sure she was the first AU GF I gave a boa, so she's the one that started that. It was originally going to be all white, but my good good friend @minxtheeenby suggested it fading into black, and I really like how it turned out.

"Side" GFs

So first is Belladonn (B-Side). I know I wanted her to appear more sophisticated. That's just always how I imagined her, even back well the mod was still a simple recolor remix mod. There's also something so fun about classy characters that are also dangerous. We need more regal women that carry around bats full of nails. I had a lot of trouble nailing (pun not intended) her hair. The main thing that sets it apart from the traditional GF cut is her side bang (idk hair terms, I think that's what it is), but besides that, not much else. So I had to mess with it a bunch to get something I liked.

Amelia's (D-Side) design was pretty straight forward. The main thing was just adding a few more details to spice it up a bit. Which just happened to be buttons on her jacket and lil heart patterns on her knees. I also wanted her to be short. Cuz idk, she gives short vibes. A lil idea for her that isn't showcased here is that I imagine her pigtail buns actually turn into her horns when she is in her demon form. (Bad doodle, but just to show the concept:)

Lizzy (G-Side) was kinda fun to come up with ideas for. Most of her design is taken from the fake teasers for the mod, cuz silly. But because her mom is some sort of light spirit.. thing, I wanted to mix that in somehow too. So that's where the white highlights on her horns, hair, and tail come from, but that's not all it added.

She also has pretty funky eyes, that are somewhat inspired by Shara Ishvalda's eyes

Also, in that doodle, I imagine all of her hair is floating, I just. Didn't feel like drawing her pigtails cuz I mainly wanted to highlight the eye thing.

The New Yorkers

With Shaya, I mainly added a bit of stuff to her outfit, since the original is too simple with my design style. I basically just added a bat wing shape motif to her design. Cuz. Cuz vampire. This is also present in her ear shape cuz I didn't want them to JUST be pointed, cuz I wanted her to stand out a bit more from the demon girls. So different ear shape.

I don't really know how much Azalea (Neo) changed. I know I changed her hair a bit (to further differentiate her from GF) and I altered her top a bit but I THINK that's it. I did change her and her family's lore a bit though. Cuz I made them robots. THATS RIGHT, THIS IS WHO I WAS TALKING ABOUT WHEN I WAS TALKING ABOUT MAKING ONE OF THE GIRLFRIENDS A ROBOT. Azalea's pretty android-esc, but I imagine her parents are just full on robots. I can't wait to design them. But yeah, I imagine Azalea is much more human looking because she just wants to be part of human society and her parents love her so they got her the more human looking body so she could live out her dream. We love supportive parents *explosion emoji* *explosion emoji* *explosion emoji*

Not much to say about Grace. I just gave her a bit of melanin cuz apparently she's mixed. That's all I really changed tho.

I don't think I changed Judith MUCH. Her face is a bit more. Wolf-like? Idk. I also TOTALLY didn't reference Clawdeen Wolf's hair when designing her. Totally not.

Vikki (Minus) is grouped with the New Yorkers cuz. There's only one of her. Unlike the Minus BFs. I just made her a lil more goth, since people literally call her "Goth GF". Also made her hair a bit more blocky. cuz. cuz the minus symbol. Shape *sparkle emoji*

Who the Fuck Knows (Miscellaneous)

So starting with Cherry (Swappin'), in this AU she's actually GF's younger sister. She also already has a music genre to leech from (rap), so she's better at concealing herself. Not much else to say, I did not change her design much.

Nothing much to say about Barbara either, I barely changed her.

Now Astra (Starcatcher) was fun. While I was initially sketching her, I realized that both her alien species and the Alien Hominids have the same style of classic antennae. So I decided "Huh, what if their species are related." So I did that. Not much else to touch on besides that.

Tootsie belongs to @minxtheeenby and is part of their Sunday Night Snackin' AU. I drew her with her wings and tail out, which aren't usually out, but uh. Silly.

Belletrix didn't really change as much as I was expecting her too. The main thing was just. Making her an imp that could exist in the Hellaverse. Which was pretty easy. And then I just made shit up when it came to her outfit cuz it was kinda hard what was going on with that in the first place.

Next is Gabriella, YIPPEE. So she's the GF from Plants vs. Rappers. Vastly different appearance wise though, cuz, yknow. Can't have her look too similar to GF. And just like I did with Dennis, I decided to base her on another zombie from Neon Mixtape Tour: The Glitter Zombie

Idk, I thought it'd be cutie patootie. And it was. I really like how she turned out. I got lazy when it came to her flag, I did not feel like drawing that shit.

Last but not least is Ashley, the GF from my own AU. Which does not have a name. Idk, it's mainly just an excuse for me to draw anthro Monster Hunter monsters. But yeah, she's an intersex Leostra (Gender neutral term for the Teostra/Lunastra species that @sleepymushrxxm came up with) and I love her.

That's all I got. Gonna hopefully start working on the Pico's here soon.

[wolvertooth]

au/fix where the sabretooth that gets sent down to the pit and does the sabretooth war stuff is uhmmm just a clone. its the clone plot again. for the 3rd time.

i mean im kinda torn on this since sabretooth 2022 + sabretooth and the exiles did have some good moments. its just the ending and everything that happened after that was. weird. and off.

so maybe before the pit, the clone was doing some Evil clone stuff, but being in the pit triggered some genuine memories for the clone, allowing for it to have a brief period of victors actual self. then, by the end of sabretooth and the exiles, that wore off, and he reverted back to normal Evil clone. that would also give a good reason for the brief moments in sabretooth war that felt ‘real’ being at the same time he was remembering things, his actual self slipping through again. fuck now im feeling kinda bad for this hypothetical sabretooth clone…..

meanwhile, the real sabretooth(inverted) is chilling at home, watching this go down from the outside. cuz like, lets be real, his friends wouldnt just leave him in that reverted state at the end of weapon x 2017. they would absolutely kick some ass in order to get him back to normal. and i bet it was weird for him to hear about the graydon thing too, seeing as hes now got a solid relationship with his own graydon.

oh. and ben percys wolverine is totally a clone too. cuz he just seems so different from the wolverine in infinity watch.

and the real ones are definitely living together.

anyway, extra -> tbh the whole percy run feels like an au to me. mostly due to the way both of their memories are handled, wolverines especially, as shown in x lives / x deaths. its a mashup of a bunch of different wolverine runs, but with the authors own spin on them.

its kinda representative how every new wolverine run is like their own au, each author taking bits and pieces of canon as needed, but also slightly rewriting them to fit their personal take. bit like a game of telephone, plot points getting forgotten over time as new authors dont bring them along, and other authors ideas getting remixed. especially in the earlier days, when runs were way longer, plot points getting abandoned in their own run.

a good example of this comes from return of wolverine and infinity watch, which are both considered ‘canon’, but due to their length are never referenced again. and even though infinity watch is an immediate sequel to return of wolverine, the concept introduced in that run where wolverine has all the different versions and variants of wolverine in his head wasnt ever mentioned.

its like the previous stories set up new plots only for the future ones to drop them. like how weapon x 2017s ending of sabretooth being reverted back to a ‘feral’ state never gets elaborated on later, despite seeming like something that would lead into a new arc.

all different stories, all somehow labeled as canon.

[sunnyaliceart]

Under the Read More is art relating to a Ghost Trick AU that was inspired by the Winter King episode of Fionna and Cake. Definitely finish the game before viewing!

No major spoilers for the Winter King, mostly referenced poses and a conversation, but I recommend that series in general

No Deal Yomiel AU

What if Yomiel never made a deal with the other country and fully embraced his ghost powers?

Well, he's awful and way more evil!

To explain a bit more about this AU:

No Deal Yomiel wears a white suit with a red tie and a blue rose, symbolizing mystery and/or the unattainable.

This Yomiel has gotten his revenge: Alma and Jowd are dead, Lynne is rotting in jail, and he's kept Cabanela alive to toy with him for as long as the inspector lives, making the inspector go mad as he knows there's a Manipulator messing with him, but he just can't prove it.

No Deal Yomiel also no longer cares about Sissel, fiancée or cat. He only used the poor cat for personal gain and is more interested in his growing ghost powers than what used to be the love his life.

Post-Game Yomiel interacting with No Deal Yomiel is thanks to some ghost world tomfoolery.

It's horrifying for Post-Game Yomiel to see a man that he could've potentially become in another timeline, making him more grateful for his second chance at life in his timeline. He sometimes has pangs of guilt as he catches himself missing his ghost abilities every now and again, but after seeing No Deal, he knows he never wants that undead life again.

However, No Deal still tries to tempt him with a Temsik Fragment. Yomiel refuses and calls No Deal out on his actions which makes No Deal angry and violent. Yomiel does his best to hold him back until Post-Game Sissel is finally able to locate Yomiel, rescue him and return them both to their timeline.

Huge shout out to @okiroash for inspiring this AU with the initial concept. We both got inspired by The Winter King and ran with it.

It's probably one of the wilder AUs I've played around with and I had an absolute blast drawing all of these. Thank you for looking at the art and reading this far!

[r3medialch8os]

so since u guys liked that i did this with remedial chaos theory i will now also be doing this for epidemiology.

the most incredible thing about this episode is that it is in fact Not merely an homage like most concept episodes are; it actually happens. a zombie epidemic For Real takes place at greendale. it's not a gimmick or a game or a way to frame the plot. the actual conflict is derived from the fact that people are zombies and the study group need to outrun them/turn them back. how often can you say that a sitcom incorporates a storyline like this and sincerely pulls it off? never.

the emotional tension in this episode is framed around troy/abed/jeff and the dichotomy of being a nerd vs. being cool, which respectively get attributed the qualities of caring about the people around you who have turned into zombies or wanting to run and escape from the zombies without trying to help. abed and jeff's costumes are both pointed out in the beginning receiving clear denotations of 'lame' and 'too cool to care' and therefore their positions in the conflict are cemented. the episode has a push-pull with troy being the moving factor, having to decide what he thinks is most important. he gets swayed in the beginning by two girls rejecting him over his costume and jeff mentioning how expensive his suit is. he changes from his ripley costume into a 'sexy dracula'. abed spends the whole episode trying to get troy back to his side, even saying "what defines a nerd? committing to an awesome halloween costume with your best friend?" troy is eventually 'turned back' into his nerdy self (perhaps a zombie metaphor itself, keeping in tone with the theme of the episode) because jeff cares more about his suit getting dirty than surviving the herd of zombies.

a crucial part of the episode is that it is soundtracked by abba music playing from the dean's playlist. now, who would i be if i didn't investigate significant music choices connected to scenes? first up and probably the most important one: s.o.s. is used in the background of a scene where abed confronts troy about changing costumes. troy insults him and walks away. the lyrics are: 'you seemed so far away, though you were standing near. you made me feel alive, but something died, i fear. i really tried to make it up, i wish I understood. what happened to our love? it used to be so good.' next; gimme gimme gimme plays right before the scene where chang and shirley hook up. another insane choice is at the end when troy is fighting the zombies. the whole sequence has mamma mia playing in the background Faintly. then when troy eventually gets to abed and has to fight him, the music comes in much louder with the lyrics: 'here i go again, my, my, how can i resist you?', which i think fits perfectly. the ending song fernando has the lyrics 'there was something in the air that night', both referencing the thermostat changing the zombies back and the fact that it was just an incredibly weird fucking night.

troy is dressed as ellen ripley and also kind of acts as the ripley of this episode. his journey in this as being the sole survivor and the one to eventually save greendale adheres to a common science fiction model where a life-threatening force is faced against the protagonists and they fall off in degrees, resulting in one person being left to mend everything. here specifically, it seems to mirror ripley's journey in alien (1979) as it starts with a crew that eventually gets cut down leaving only her. i thought that was really cool.

more alien tidbits, but the jumping cat scene is also inspired by it. jones the cat is an imporant figure in the first alien movie. in various scenes, members of the crew will go looking for him, then get ambushed by the titular alien and subsequently killed. it is a minor homage to the movie through yet another subtle reference. the bit is also parodying jumpscares in horror movies in general, and how they are used to cheaply amplify the tension. anyways, it's quite the multilayered joke because it also really works out of context as a bizarre comedic moment.

troy and abed's scene in the basement pays homage to princess leia and han solo's scene in the empire strikes back. the conversation in the film takes place just before han is frozen alive in carbonite by darth vader. not knowing if he’ll survive, he kisses leia, only to be torn away from her by stormtroopers. she says 'i love you,' and as he descends into chamber, han replies, 'i know.' an undeniably romantic moment, maybe one of the most memorable ones ever, is applied to troy and abed who have held reign over the emotional core of the plot for the entire episode. it's pretty special that such an iconic moment is given to them, i feel like the creators of the show wouldn't just do this sparingly. it also perfectly resolves their conflict as troy makes such a vulnerable statement and abed assuring him that he already knew, validating their bond once again.

more on troy and abed, it is pretty amazing realizing the emotional implications tied to how dire the situation was. everyone in this episode was under the direct threat of Not Surviving, and still abed sacrificed himself for troy. he knew this was for real. he couldn't be sure if they were going to make it. but i think he had enough faith in troy to aid in his escape. it's very touching. further, it's incredible that troy is willing to fight all the zombies (all his friends) but when it comes time to punch abed, he refuses to do it. he's struck by the force of their friendship, mumbling 'we're friends' defeated before eventually succumbing to his bite.

troy saving the school by controlling the temperature; nicely setting up his further plot with the ac repair school.

him being the one to escape and abed saying 'be the first black man to make it to the end' subverts the common horror trope of 'black dude dies first'. a playful way of keeping up with the horror movie theme of the episode.

also ironically this episode, which features the song mamma mia by abba, sets up a plotline in season two about shirley not knowing who the father of her new baby is, which is functionally the plot of the movie mamma mia!, a musical based on abba's music. probably a coincidence but a pretty funny one.

at the end when the army arrives, they ask the dean about witnesses. when he says he is the only witness, one of the guards reaches into his jacket, suggesting that he's pulling a gun intended to kill the dean and get rid of the witness. when they notice everyone in the school is still alive, they abandon this plan and go for 'scenario b'. kind of dark but i laugh every time that scene happens.

anyways that's all i could pull from my brain crevices for now. this episode is a genuine masterpiece, it will never ever get old and will remain to be one of the most unique sitcom episodes ever created.

[battfishe]

I’ve been getting back into DST lately and today I was so excruciatingly bored in class I spent three hours doing this little concept art for a survivor I’ve had in mind, I think her name should be winifred but I’m not totally sure yet (more below the cut)

she’s a “baby” deerclops, intended to be around webber’s age or a bit younger and is slightly taller than the other kids because she’s… still a deerclops lol

her eye is much larger, her antlers are little stubs, she doesn’t have quite as much fur, and her facial structure is smaller and much more round than an adult deerclops. she also has white freckles on her face and some (not pictured) on her back. I referenced pictures of adult deerclops and some of actual baby deer to better distinguish her features

I don’t have any ideas for gameplay quirks yet as I’m still trying to relearn how to play the game 💀

here’s a version of her with a pupil which is hidden down here because I prefer the blank white eye design

[oathkeeper-of-tarth]

Hol up you drew the gold scars yourself? I thought Aylin just had them in game on her model?

I did! And she does, to an extent - the ones on her head I didn't have anything to do with. Unfortunately, on the in-game body model Aylin uses, the scars just end around the neckline of her shirt and kind of fade out partway down her back.

So I decided to learn a bit of Substance Painter and texturing, and went to town, using the above as a starting point. Getting it to export right and show up in the game properly was the main challenge! I wrote a post about some of the process here.

Of course, me being me, the most fun part of the thing was overthinking and deep(ish?) lore cuts. I'd like to share some of the concept art that inspired this and that I referenced in that post. This is from the artbook:

(That pillory-looking thing made up of Myrkul-ish triangles? Damn.) Then we have this, by concept artist Konstantin Porubov who has a lot of great stuff posted on his ArtStation:

(Unrelated but shoutout to him for this lineup of Isobel outfit variants which I look at every other day because there are so many bangers.)

As you might have noticed in these, there used to be a whole thing about "the Nightsong's heart" (eerily enough, the item's still kind of in the game) which in the final story ended up "just" being Aylin getting repeatedly stabbed and ritualistically murdered. Along with dialogue about the magical "spear intended for [her] heart" and such. So I decided I wanted to have the big golden patch on her chest as a reference to all this.

Meanwhile on her back we have the aftermath of Balthazar's handiwork. This is one of those notes that, on your first playthrough, you probably read before having any idea about the Nightsong twist and you file it under the giant "Atrocities, Various" pile that is Balthazar. And then some time later it hits you and you think it's really convenient how you have a save file you can load just to go kill him again.

[alpaca-clouds]

Reconstructing Wicked Grace - Card Values

Okay, let me continue where I have left off yesterday. I have talked to friend of mine, who also hyperfocuses on games and game history, and we decided to fill out the full deck like this:

We decided that indeed the line of Cole about a Face Card that has a crown and a sword on its head was indeed referencing Sacrifice. We decided that the card reference just had to be one of those that are namely mentioned. And given that Cole says specifically that there is a sword on the head and a crown, we decided that there is a good chance that the card specifically depicts the execution of a king. And that could be Sacrifice. And from that idea – that it is a Sacrifice taking the fall for his country – we went ahead and decided that the theme there were all around the duties and events in a life of a ruler. So we decided the full set was: Ascension, Declaration, Judgement and Sacrifice.

The other one – and the one that we argued about even longer – was the full set for “The Knight of Ages”. Because, sure… Ages is a theme that comes back again and again in Dragon Age. No shit. And we pushed it back and forth: Could it be another one where all the cards could be “of Ages”? It could be possible. However… We ended up deciding that rather than all being “of Ages”, it all “of [abstract concept]”. This is just our interpretation, though, so if someone was going to do something with this, I absolutely could also see that it was all “of Ages”. You may decide! 😊

So, let’s identify the themes, as we know that the cards have suits and themes – Isabela references as much in the dialogue. Of course the first six are all emotions, most of them associated with spirits and demons in the world of Dragon Age. I was so free to allow myself to color those in. The we have the flowers, then the circle of life, then the seasons and times of day, then the “abstract concepts”, the weapons and the life of a ruler. I am going to assume you can both collect cards that are from the same theme on your hand.

I would also argue, that generally the cards can be grouped into three groups: Spirits, Cycles of Nature, and what I am going to assume are Face Cards. I am not fully sure if the Flower-Cards are going to be part of Nature, or might be some sort of Joker Card. Just because they are more specific than the other cards. While the other Nature themes are somewhat based around cycles, the same is not true for Flowers. And because of that… They seem to be so out of place. I don’t know… But yeah, this is how my interpretation of the themes:

So, let’s look at the dialogue in Origins when it comes to the winning and loosing with Isabela. Once more I am using the write up by @carabas. So, let me go through those bits of dialogue and look what we can say about this:

“You have two angels and three knights! And all the same theme! That is one of the best hands I have ever seen. You’ve won!”

From this we learn, that usually you will collect multiple cards of the same suit to make points – and that it gets more points if the cards collected from a suit also have the same theme. Because of that I am going to assume that indeed the themes are more widely grouped than just “one in each suit”. So I am going to assume that if you have the Knights of Mercy, Compassion and Wisdom, and the Angels of Power and Declaration, it would get more points, than if the Knights were Mercy, Roses, and Ages.

“I have four knights: roses, ages, sacrifice, and wisdom. It beats your hand.”

So, based on what we are assuming about the themes, these four knights are not from the same theme, but they are still being counted as quartet which is apparently a fairly good hand. I am going to assume though, that if both players had four of the same suit, the person who managed to collect more from the same would get more points. And I would also assume that if the fifth card on the hand fits the theme of other card it might also be worth something(?).

“I have three angels: fortitude, truth, and charity, and the knight of dawn. I win!”

Okay, this bit is interesting: We know that you have five cards on the hand, but Isabela counts out only four, and one of them is a single knight. And this leads me to going to make an assumption: There are sets of cards that are considered to make a “picture” of sorts, just like in Hanafuda (specifically Koi-Koi) you can collect scenarios that give special points. Because otherwise the single Knight of Dawn would not be named.

“Serpents of deceit and avarice, songs of temerity and mercy. Not a great hand, but I still win.”

From what we get told, I am going to take something else. See: This is a hand of two pairs. Two Serpents, two Songs. But more than that, I am also saying that at the very least both of the pairs not only are from the same suit, but also the same theme. While I am not 100% certain, that the negative and positive emotions are considered the “same theme”, deceit and avarice are both negative and of the same theme – which is also fit by temerity.

Given that this is considered a bad hand, I am going to assume that the “emotion/spirit” cards are going to be the lowest valued in the game. (Something I already suspect given that Temerity and Mercy seem to be the same in every suit.)

“Two serpents, a song… not bad. But the rest of your hand is… rather pitiable.” (This hand loses to any of the ones listed above.)

Okay, this one bugles my mind. Because the way this is phrased, I am going to assume the hand is: Two Serpents, one Song, one Knight and one Angel. So basically just a single pair, which yes, is fairly bad. But why is the song pointed out? Is there some combination between Serpents and Songs that gives this a bit more points? I have no idea. It confused the hell out of me!

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen quite so odd a hand. None of your cards match.”

This one is weird too. Because of the “None of your cards match”. Because with five cards and four suits this is kinda impossible to not have two of one suit on your hand. I am just very confused by this. Sure, I get that one pair and only singles is probably a bad hand – especially if the themes do not properly align – but… You will have at least one match.

Isabela: “And I have songs of twilight and autumn, serpents of decay and sadness.” Warden: “I have the angels of truth and temerity…” Isabela: “The knights of compassion and mercy! They are only just better than mine, but better nonetheless. Congratulations!”

If I am not wrong these go together (correct me if I am wrong). So, I am going to assume here that the hands are like follows.

Isabella: Songs of Twilight and Autumn (pair), Serpents of Decay and Sadness (pair).

Warden: Angels of Truth and Temerity (pair). Knights of Compassion and Mercy (pair).

The Warden wins. And of course, usually the cards are valued in some way so even if both players have two pairs or a pair and a triple, there needs to be a winner. But this one is just very confusing.

So, first thought is: “Okay, both have two pairs, but the Warden has two pairs with four cards of the same theme.” Which makes sense either way if you assume that the emotions/traits are all one theme. Though it also makes me consider one thing. Is Temerity in the game considered a good or bad thing?

This is ironic to me because a long, long while ago we had the same discussion in another fandom, but yeah: Temerity is one of those traits that some will consider positive, and other negative. It can be considered a form of courage, but also a sort of lacking etiquette/respect. You will notice I colored it in as kinda yellowy, rather than full orange. Mainly because I am not sure. If it was considered as part of the positive traits, I would assume that there had to be something of the negative ones to balance it out, which would net us two more negative emotions/traits. I am not sure.

However, I am going to assume at least one thing from this: If you have two pairs, but one has two pairs with different themes or no fitting theme at all, it will be valued less than two pairs where all four cards fit the same theme. At least I am going to assume this from the information given in the dialogue.

My general assumption is that the point values of the cards go something like this:

I am probably gonna do a full write up of how I think the game is going to be played properly on Friday. I will be at the hospital for some medication tomorrow. If I have some time, I might just make a little write up about card games tomorrow. If not… I might actually ramble next week about a variety of card games, because my hyperfixation is flaming up again xD

[madcourtjester]

So apparently purple guy WAS (is?) at least at some point a tumblr sexyman, and because I originally got Tumblr to post a design of a Tumblr sexyman descendent because I thought the idea was really funny, I decided to design one. Because I think (hope) the Tumblr sexyman version of purple guy is not William Afton but the fandom version that was widely accepted before William Afton existed in the early days of the fandom (and because William afton already has canon kids) I made a descendent of that and pulled from some of the early theories such as purple guy being phone guy. I really wanted to go strongly in the direction of Monster High fashion dolls, so I included sketches of a little plastic accessory phone that would come with her as well as a car referencing the infamous purple car in the take cake mini game as well as an old Monster high g1 play set for draculaura’s sweet 1600 which featured a car that she got for her birthday. I wanted to pull from 80s fashion a little bit and give a 80s vibe for obvious reasons although it’s less apparent I still hope it comes through but I also strongly pulled from scene fashion because I associate that with the early days of Fnaf for some reason. (Obviously I didn’t do a full color drawing because this already took a lot of work and time, but I might go back and make one. either way, the color palette she is supposed to have is purple and gold because you know, purple guy and spring trap.)

(also by the way, the bunny teeth were not intentional. I kind of made a mistake while doing line art, but I decided to keep it because I thought it was cute.)

Inspired by @sexymandescendants and concepts/designs by @sparkerinparadise @sporesgalaxy

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Girl blob

Debut: Kirby’s Dream Land 2

This blob is a GIRL! You knew this, because the blob is pink and wears a bow and debuted in 1995. But who is this blob who is a girl? She must be pretty important to get official artwork, right? Not at all! She is not important and I just frankensteined some official art of other characters together to make this because she has none. But to truly talk about Girl blob, we must talk about someone VERY important! A VERY special guest!

Gooey!!! This is Gooey, and you likely already knew that. You love Gooey! Even if you did not already know Gooey, you love him now, because he is so wonderful! If you dislike Gooey, I am honestly a little afraid of you. Everyone is allowed to have their own opinion, but... it’s Gooey, you know? Anyway, Gooey also debuts in Dream Land 2! He does not do much here, but if the circumstances are right, he will surprise you by emerging from a burlap sack, and give you a bit of health if you collect him. Mostly, it is just lovely to have him here!

Even more rarely, though, Gooey will be replaced by Girl blob instead! You very well may need to actively seek out Girl blob in order to see her, and this is made wackier by the fact that finding her is a necessary 1% of the total game completion. She is so weirdly important! Who is she?!

Nintendo Power may be the source of her name, but it is really just a title.They don’t even refer to Gooey by his name here! Surely, though, someone must have thought of a name when designing her. Maybe her name could be Ooey. Ooey and Gooey!

Is she Gooey’s girlfriend? There is no way Gooey has a concept of romance. So is she his sister? Just a friend? Gooey would go on to have a major role in Dream Land 3, which heavily featured friendly characters to help in every stage, including female counterparts of established friends. Surely Girl blob would make a reappearance there!

Girl blob, won’t you play the piano for us with those magic fingers of yours, to set the mood?

Girl blob would not return. You see, Girl blob is not actually important. In a sense, Girl blob... is nothing.

This is Chao. And Chao is the REAL Girl blob! Chao is from the Japan-only game Yūyūki, and appeared in the Japanese Dream Land 2 as a cameo! She would rarely replace Gooey, and seeing her was necessary to 100% complete the game. But outside of Japan, players would have no idea who this character is! And if you don’t get the reference, it would be really weird to see a sudden human in a Kirby game, relegated to such a tiny role.

You know what’s easily understandable in nearly any context? A blob! Especially if the game already has a blob in it. And how do you differentiate your new blob? Make it a girl blob! And just like that, (celebrity chef catchphrase)! You got yourself an extremely simple design that fits in with no suspicion, ready for your international audience. Honestly, I think Girl blob is a better choice in the end! A blob fits the Kirby series much more naturally, and I just don’t really like the idea of a cameo character from another game being among the very limited number of allies in a game like this.

A cameo character appearing among DOZENS of friendly characters, including various other cameos, though, that is fine with me! And Chao would indeed return in Dream Land 3, with her friend Goku! I can’t help but imagine a world where the localizers were extremely paranoid about people not getting the reference, and brought Girl blob back for this stage, either establishing that she is friends with a monkey, or going the extra mile and ALSO reskinning Goku, creating yet another localization-exclusive character. After a boy blob and a girl blob, it would be time to represent the third genderl A Baby blob!

As far as the Kirby series as a whole goes, Girl blob basically does not exist, and I honestly wonder how common it is for Japanese fans to even know about her! She has never once been referenced, and is absolutely not canon. Unless...

Here is ChuChu, who officially debuted in Dream Land 3! While technically an octopus, she sure is a pink girl blob wearing a big bow. If you want, you could just interpret Girl blob as being her, making a little early appearance! It may be a headcanon, but it doesn’t contradict anything whatsoever, so why not! You could even interpret Girl Blob as someone who does contradict stuff if you want! I will not tell on you! Even if I did, though, the teacher would not care, unless they know about the 100% requirements of Kirby’s Dream Land 2, and if they do, then they are a Cool Teacher who would not get mad about it.

And now YOU know about the 100% requirements of Kirby’s Dream Land 2! That makes YOU cool! Congratulations! Hash tag girl blob

[whyiliketitantvman]

the sun and Rift Ruler's hat.:a smiling critter coimc

When the days are nice and dogday ran To go Play with his friends he Has found The solution to his inner happiness the sun heard the voices of he spoke to him of the game Paradise in the Nebula rift As the sun Paid attention to the hat the bear Of hearts and cupid's Was terrified of the hat of darkness-

DARKNESS!? Oh don't be fooled by these mean Words This Comic is lies lies Lies! As the Ruler We critters are very friendly! The Rift Is very much paradise! I will make sure You'll have the time of your life! You can live with us Forever! And ever and EVER.....

Yeah and besides it's not like we've been kidnapping critters! or anything.... We ensure you Living in the Rift zone This will be the most chaotic Epic Coolest place You'll ever be! It's so special! You don't want to ever leave.... So yeah Someday if You want to live with us Someday you can! But for right now II will meet you soon Someday... And I will show my face Alright See you later Friend!

From the game master! :)-

You know what I decided to making another comic Because Why not? Basically this was About a time we're dogday Had a strange Encounter with a mysterious hat From a person that World the Hat Call him over Dogday got distracted by the hat He told his Friends, he would be back for a bit As dogday Ran To go See who's hat was that when dogday got to it he Picked the hat up He was shocked to Realize he felt A aura of a feeling Making him. Shock as a statue but Feeling a A calm And happy Feeling he got on his knees Bobby Scared and Worriedinss

✨️Bonus fact✨️: When I was working on the concept of this comic catnap Was originally supposed to tap dogdogday On his shoulder to get him Out of delusion And then hold his hand And run with him They both left the hat A giant purple rift was supposed to open in the sky a hand came the Rift Quickly Grab the hat and then It quickly went back up Into the rift. It closes and Bobby It is the only one To no to it and Had the most terrified Face

✨️Bonus fact 2#✨️:the sun and bear of hearts and cupid's We're both Referencing dogday and Bobby bearhug!

[flamebringer0]

[Image ID: Sketches of an original character, numbered from 11 to 20. He is a Nightwing, a kind of dragon from the Wings of Fire series. Each sketch depicts him posed differently. In the 11th sketch, he is standing and holding some scrolls with his foreleg while looking disconcerted. In the 12th, he is standing and holding some scrolls with his wing while looking happier. In the 13th, he is laying on his back with his legs in the air. In the 14th, he is walking. In the 15th, he is sitting and looking at an Icewing, and the two of them are tied together by some sort of force. In the 16th, he is sitting with all his limbs held close together and his tail wrapped around them. In the 17th, he is eating cheese. In the 18th, he is sitting facing the camera. In the 19th, he is eating an apple. In the 20th, he is depicted flying from above. /.End ID]

More random sketches.

Hey open question: is putting the image descriptions in plain text like this a good thing? I started doing this because when someone asked me for an image description I didn't really know what that meant, and in the tutorial I found by googling it, it said it was better not to use alt text. But it seems like most people actually do use the alt text for this? Is there a consensus on what's better?

Part [1] [2]

11-12. More "carrying things" stances. Holding stuff with your wings just makes more sense to me.

14. Referenced a dog walking for this and I think it ended up coming out a bit weird because of that.

15. The Icewing is a friend with whom I was playing the third Legend of Spyro game at the time. In that game, Spyro and Cynder are stuck together by a cursed snake necklace thing. I'm not sure I did a very good job drawing him but he seemed ok with it. One of my other friends told me "It looks like you are about to get thagomised", which was NOT my intention. Oh well. That game is not good at all btw, I can't really recommend it to anyone. It's too bad it's a terrible game, because I do like it. Just like, for the concept I guess, and the thought of what it could have been. But the execution is a total disaster.

16. This was supposed to be "getting pushed somewhere unwillingly", but I think it ended up being more "sitting right on the edge of a cliff".

17-19. Bob Ross grant me absolution for I am NOT experiencing the joy of painting right now.

[slavicbeastie]

Arcane season 2 trailer

Oh wow I'm so excited by this trailer. Spiking adrenaline...I'm scurrying up walls like spider on meth 🤪

Some thoughts:

- it seems to me that Mel is alive (Yay!). Maybe hurt. Ambessa doesn't sound angry enough for death. Also fuck you Ambessa with your "wrath must be met with wrath". What about Piltover's wrath to Undercity over decades and centuries, huh? But you're a war mongering tryant (and textbook narcissist), you wouldn't recognise concepts of justice and fairness it they slapped you in the face. She's on the bottom of my Arcane's characters' likeability list for sure. I don't care that she has got impressive physique. I hate that they gave her place in the game (yes she's even below Marcus and Finn. At least they have decency to be dead).

- Cait being all decisive and competent 😎 But if she's leading attack on Undercity, what are those Noxian soldiers about? Does she work together with Ambessa? *shudder* I like Cait but I kinda want her to fail in all three objectives. Sorry pretty officer, but I'm on side of Zaun's revolution and independence from Piltover's boot. And you sending in enforcers doesn't seem in support of that.

- Vi looks terrible in enforcer uniform. Terrible. And she continues her trend from the very beginning of the series of contradicting her own words to Jinx. How long that "Nothing ever going to change that." held up, huh? A few days? A month? Normally I would give benefit of the doubt due to deceptive trailer's editing, but as I said, it's hardly the first time. When it comes to Jinx, one must take her every statement with a pound of salt. Especially positive ones... I hope I am wrong, tho. Let me be wrong, trailer is lying, and after a breather and time to think, Vi is better than in S1 act three in relating to Jinx.

- Ooh chembarons fighting directly? Yay? Singed under enforcers' gunpoint! I know he's terrible mad scientist but someone save him. Jinx? Sevika? Victor??

- I'm surprised how happy I am to see Sevika again! I always strongly disliked her attitude to Jinx (she was kinda Silco's crew Mylo) so I didn't mind when Jinx hurt her, but I really love to see her back to full strength and fighting for Zaun. Also I am excited for Warwick?!

- Ekko is there. that's it

- and last but definitely not least - JINX! Most important in fact! Every bit of/about Jinx is absolutely BRILLIANT. *rolles around in utter joy* I'm so happy to see her again! 🥰 They already managed to exceed my expectations for her in season 2 in this very trailer. Can you imagine what it'll be to see all they did through nine eps 🤯

From the top - Is that great statue head of Jinx behind chembarons!!!! Is she now their symbol/role model or maybe even some kind of leader!? is that her in hooded cape? Like in that s2 poster? I would love her in cape! She deserves cool cape!

That mural?! THE JINX MURAL!!!! 😍 It's Arcane's rendition of Liberty Leading the People, painting about French revolution! *explodes into fireworks of happiness* Our girl is so legendary that not one but two great works of art are referenced through her🥰 She is revolutionary for Zaun! Or the very least literally symbol of revolution. People behind her have all blue coloured hair. Possibility of Inxs or just sign of people's alignment/allegiance to her?

Despite all the turmoil, planning and fighting my favourite girl still has time for her art installations. Of course she has! Standing there on the pillar with Silco's face saying sarcastic line. (edit: oops it's monkey actually)That's pure theatre. She should really try hand in writing a dramatic play. I think pitch black comedy would be best bet. I wonder if she'll found out that Vi already said her name right before, when she grassed on her to Council. She looks so fierce fighting. Go Jinx go!!!

That's all for now. If we don't get anything else until November I'll be fine. This is more than enough until then😌🤗💙💙