#The only thing that will be a bit inconsistant for that might be my designs tho sndnannv

[scarapanna]

Man, developing an AU is such a fun but wild experience, could sum it up like this

Still planning out what story arc to start with for the storybook au blog but it shouldn't take too long on my own terms as I'm usually pretty slow when it comes to sorting things out, apologies

[more text regarding storytelling and the hk blog in tags]

[dollishbabess]

your writing is literally so underrated, I love how you write reader as a actual person and not babyish ilyy, ALSOO when are you gonna write for tim and Damian and Bruce you only write for Jason mostly 😭, but write them maybe like a tim fic or hcs? <3!

TIM DRAKE DATING HCS! - dollish

A/n: actually, stay tuned for October for my romtober series which each batboy (except Bruce) has a week and fic prompts!! And also tysm I try, I don’t like personally how y/n is written either too badass or either too soft either so I understand🩷

1. Midnight Research Sessions Tim loves to pull all-nighters, and when dating, he often invites you to join him. These sessions aren't just about crime-solving; he includes random deep dives into shared interests or new topics. It's his way of showing that he wants to connect with you on multiple levels, valuing the bond that comes from exploring knowledge together.

2. Organizational Obsession Tim's meticulous organization skills extend into the relationship. He keeps a digital archive of your favorite things music, books, random facts you've mentioned so he never forgets even the smallest details. It's his way of making you feel seen and valued, ensuring that no part of you is ever overlooked.

3.Themed Date Nights Tim is surprisingly creative when it comes to planning dates. He organizes intricate, themed adventures that often tie back to his detective skills like treasure hunts or escape room-style challenges. He loves putting in the effort to make every moment special because he believes that shared experiences create the best memories.

4. Incorporating Tech into Romance As someone who's always around technology, Tim uses it to his advantage in romantic gestures. He might design a personalized app just for the two of you, where you can leave secret messages or keep track of your favorite moments together. It’s his way of expressing love through what he's naturally skilled at.

5. Sudden “You’re Safe” Hugs Whenever he’s been busy with a mission or stressed, Tim has a habit of hugging you out of nowhere. It’s his silent reassurance to himself that you’re okay, and he didn’t miss out on spending another moment with you. Given how much he’s lost in his life, these hugs are his way of grounding himself in the present with someone he loves.

6. Comfort in Chaos Tim can be a bit of a workaholic, but when you’re around, he always makes room for you in his chaotic schedule, whether it’s inviting you to hang out while he’s deep in case files or finding time to text you between missions. To him, having you nearby in the midst of his chaos is a reminder that there’s something good waiting for him outside of work.

7. Endearing Rambling Tim tends to go off on passionate tangents about things he loves, and it often ends up being one of the ways he shows affection. He wants you to understand his world, and he feels safe enough to share every little thought with you, even if he knows he might be rambling.

8. The Hoodie Collector As someone who wears hoodies often, Tim always lets you borrow his, and he secretly loves seeing you in them. Over time, he starts leaving his hoodies at your place on purpose, subtly marking his presence in your life. It’s a simple but intimate way for him to feel connected to you, even when he’s not around.

9. Late-Night Coffee Runs Tim has an odd sleep schedule, and sometimes he’ll take you out for spontaneous coffee runs in the middle of the night. These trips aren’t just about caffeine it’s his way of escaping the pressures of being a hero, finding solace in mundane moments with you, even though he prefers energy drinks but it’s more “aesthetic” for coffee dates yk?

10. Gentle Wake-Up Calls Knowing that he often wakes up early or has inconsistent sleep patterns, Tim takes pride in waking you up gently with a kiss on the forehead or by playing your favorite song. It’s his small way of making your mornings brighter and ensuring that he’s the first one to greet you at the start of each day because he knows how hard it is to wake up (himself personally for Mr. Doesn’t sleep)

11. Intellectual Challenges Tim loves a good intellectual debate, and he often initiates them with you to see things from your perspective. He doesn’t just want someone who agrees with him; he wants someone who can challenge him, and it’s his way of showing that he respects and admires your intelligence.

12. Hidden Love Notes Even though he’s not overly sentimental, Tim is known to leave little post-it notes or encrypted messages for you to find. They range from sweet nothings to random jokes or clues for a mini-puzzle he’s set up for you, showing that he’s thinking about you even in his busiest moments, he personally used to write fake love notes and throw them around school so people would find it and just create drama PROBLEMATIC KING!💜

13. Training Partner Tim appreciates someone who can keep up with him, so he loves having you as his training partner. It’s not just about staying fit it’s his way of ensuring that you can take care of yourself and that he can trust you to handle danger if it ever comes your way.

14. Silent Staring Sometimes, Tim just stares at you without saying a word, especially when he’s exhausted. It’s not that he’s spacing out; he’s just soaking in your presence, finding comfort in the fact that you’re there, and it reminds him that there’s more to life than constant problem-solving, but Bruce will just stare at you with no shame and will just STARE at you directly which is a bit uncomfortable sometimes.

15. Endearing Awkwardness Tim can be awkward with expressing emotions, but he tries so hard when he’s with you. He might stumble over words or make awkward jokes, but it’s his genuine effort to be vulnerable that makes these moments special. He believes that you deserve all of him, even the parts that aren’t as polished or perfect.

Second divider @cafekitsune, DO NOT TRANSLATE OR PUT ON A DIFFERENT PLATFORM, this is @dollishbabess work!

[alexthemacaronian]

So I wanna ramble about the ii ep 15 trailer, maybe theorise a bit?? Idk

First of all, what is that behind Taco in this scene?

It could very well be hotel OJ, the colour scheme and window design line up perfectly but the placing of the trees throws me off

It could just be an inconsistency that I'm looking too deeply into 😭 but also why would Taco take MePad near hotel OJ?? Scratch that, why would Taco reveal herself in general? I get that she has no more direct ties to the game since Mic left, but she'd gain nothing from revealing herself

Second of all, the contents of this box

I'm actually assuming that these are Test Tube's belongings since multiple of the things shown look like her inventions, such as the tranquilising tracking dart blaster and others that were shown in the background during ep 3

They seem to align perfectly, I'm pretty sure that's one of the darts on the left

I can get how they have access to TT's stuff since a) she got eliminated, and b) she did technically give them all permission to use her stuff in ii14 as far as I can remember (even though it probably was at least a bit sarcastic), I just don't get why they'd have it all gathered in a box??????

The trailer does seem to focus to some degree on TT's inventions, with them being seen multiple times throughout the trailer via the box, Microphone's bow being stomped on by who I assume to be Taco and Suitcase wearing Mic's bow.

I think it's also fair to assume that the Suitcase invisibility clip comes before Mic's bow is stomped on.

Third of all, I'd like to point out how this trailer has themes of destruction. Said destruction can be divided in two main categories:

• Burning (there are about 3 other instances of burning imagery in the trailer if we don't count the thumbnail that I couldn't add due to the 10 img limit)

• And Taco's weird obsession with stomping on things (one picture of which was shown already)

I'd also like to count MePhone's line at the end of the trailer, "Don't mention that again," as adding to the themes of destruction since sentences like that are usually used to hide things or try to push them back, ykwim

Currently, my only guesses as to what'll happen in episode 15 is that they're going to burn either a few specific inventions or everything in the box. It's the only logical conclusion I can make for now, but even I don't think that's fully right. I mainly just wanted to talk about the stuff I noticed lol

If I missed anything, I'll update this (since I took a long break in between writing this, I might be kinda out of it lol). Feel free to add anything if I missed it 😭😭

@shadow-blackout

[cacodaemonia]

1st of all big fan, devoured RC!AU. It's fantastic

2nd of all, I could get lost in your sw resources tag that thing is awesome

3rd Do you have any references for Waxer and Boil's buckets? (Sorry in advance if you've already posted them, and thank u again for all the boxer content 💖)

Aw thanks! <3 I haven't written in the main RCAU for ages, but I'm still plugging away at the Open Skies sub-AU haha 😂

Ah I'm glad that's been helpful! I mostly tag for my own organizational purposes and I know there are some gems in there—especially from @gffa and @fox-trot! My 'sw refs' tag has a lot of overlap, but also includes a lot of image references for fanart or describing things in fics, so that one might be useful, too?

And yeah! I'm not sure if you want Phase I, Phase II, or their ARF helmets, haha, but I know I've got plenty of refs for all of those, so I'll toss them in here...

Boil:

Waxer (The second image shows the back of his Phase I helmet, which is hard to find shots of, in the background behind Boil being awkward 😂 So he had the little droid silhouette on his helmet back then, too):

And some shots of both of their helmets (Waxer is on the far right in the last image—you can see his tally marks):

Their ARF helmets seem to cause a lot of confusion, as I've even seen merch that doesn't show the little Numa painting on Waxer's helmet, and most people seem to mix up who is who in that Landing at Point Rain episode (probably because the writers seem to have done so, as well, since they gave Boil the more cheerful dialogue while having Waxer complain—but maybe he was just having a bad day! 🥺).

There's also the horizontal band of gold paint Boil has under his visor attachment to match the paint on his regular helmets, as well as a grey stripe along the top of the helmet that's lined up with the red triangle on his visor attachment. Waxer has his 'crest' stripe of gold paint, of course, and it continues under his visor attachment a little bit, too. Then he's got his tally marks and snoot triangle. :D

One thing that I only noticed recently is the very faded ship silhouette (or however you interpret the black design on his other helmets) on the left side of his ARF one. In the second-to-last image above, you can just barely see something on his left side, but the only way I knew it was more than just dirt was because I have a little figure with the shape painted on it. Which is also not very visible:

(Thankfully, I don't think I've actually done any images where you can see the left side of Boil's ARF helmet, so I shouldn't have to add that to any of them, haha. Hopefully I haven't mentioned anything about the lack of symbol in any of my fics, though... XD)

I'm still unclear what is going on with the paint on his and Waxer's spaulders in the ARF episode, because it's obviously faded/been scuffed in places, but sometimes, Waxer seems to have an unpainted right spaulder, and sometimes there's a stripe??? His little figurine is the opposite, though, with a striped right spaulder and an unpainted left one. Meanwhile, Boil's left spaulder looks like it could be all painted gold, like in the figure above, but other times, it seems to be a normal stripe??? Who even knows—I'm guessing that the texture for their models got messed up during the production of the episode, so they're inconsistent. Personally, I'm just sticking with 'matching stripes on both sides,' like the rest of their armor. 😂

Anyway, I hope that helps!

[naffeclipse]

I'm drawing your new bastard fish. Send help.

I didn't think this setting would get me to actually draw something as I rarely do, and am not very good at it, but I'm semi decent at pixel art. So here is Eclipse, the shadow under the ice himself, clutching with anticipation at the edge of an iceberg as he watches his prey on top of what they think is a safe zone. But he'll get them, eventually.

Eclipse - *Sinks below the water to instill the fear that he's out of sight but still lurking below just waiting for you to fall asleep or lower your guard*

The first one has my PenguinMerY/N, they're very small and the yellow parts near their eyes on their head are actually feelers or antenna like the decorative feathers some penguins have on their heads, but used to detect the movements of prey swimming far away and deep below. It helps them sense the ripples and disturbance of water, and also is the only reason they had even managed to run in time to escape alive from Eclipse.

- Food -

I also have a version with Eclipse and a normal human Y/N. The figure is simple and I put a rainbow for the face cause it's very difficult to get a detailed face or Y/N symbol in such a small amount of pixels so I didn't bother worrying over it.

- Eclipse and You -

Here's one with just Eclipse.

- Just Eclipse -

Finally here's one with the background. Yes I know there are inconsistencies with the water in a few but it wasn't until after I made copies that I realized I hadn't put any detail on the water in the background and unfortunately Pixilart doesn't allow me to edit things in a way to transfer Layers or copied things, or i was just dumb. So the water in the background and foreground might be a bit different in a few spots and images. But I dearly hope you like them and it's not annoying somehow.

- Frozen Seas -

AHHHH I'M EATING THIS PIXEL ART!!!

Babe, these are incredible! I absolutely love pixel art, like, love love pixel art! This is such a treat!!! I adore your Mer Penguin design!!! I'm gazing so hard at the composition with Eclipse lurking below and the blend of deep blue with the white ice and the beautiful yellow-green sky! It captures so much emotion and the character's personalities!!! Ahhh, I'm eating this! It's so pretty and I adore it!!!

Thank you so much for sharing! ♥

[fantasy-anatomy-analyst]

Have you looked at the dragons from the Wings of Fire book series? I think the wing designs mostly get rid of the issue of lacking wing membrane along with generally just having some unique takes on different types of dragons. They even go as far as adding some bug dragons in the third series which is pretty neat.

Granted they all still have that 4 leg western dragon style design to all of them but all things considered they have some unique designs overall, especially for a kids book series. It definitely has had its influence on artists I think given that people try to draw up hybrids and their own tribe designs. My only complaint is that when people draw hybrids it's just smashing two of them together instead of really thinking about the different body parts they have.

yes, I've had a few previous asks about specific dragon types in Wings of Fire. I have never read the series. from what I can gather, it is a perfectly fine series and the designs seem to be stylized with a younger audience in mind, using visual tropes that make the different dragon types' narrative roles very clear.

I do think the designs are oddly inconsistent about the wings, because some of the dragon groups do have a patagium but others don't, and there is also an inconsistent addition of the elbow strut, which is a pet peeve of mine.

overall, the designs are fine. they do what they're made for and they're visually appealing and very well suited to the type of fandom that wants to make a lot of uniquely colored ocs with interesting features. I'm sure if I went on deviantart to look for Wings of Fire art, I would find a thriving community of young artists making dozens of dragon ocs with all sorts of color combinations and hybrid features.

I don't think there's a problem with letting people make their hybrids in ways that are a bit shallow and not well thought out. most of those artists are likely young teens who have just found their artistic passion! and mashing designs together is a classic fandom oc tradition, it happens all the time. sonic ocs? pokemon hybrids? sparkledogs? if the original Wings of Fire creators were being sloppy and thoughtless with hybrid designs I might have some critique there because they're professional artists working with a detailed world that has its own rules and they ought to be able to do something more interesting and thoughtful with their own hybrid designs. but for the fans? I'm not gonna step on the creative energy there, people can have their fun.

[hongluboobs]

Please tell us the reason behind the pokemon choices! I get most of them, but am curious about Meowstic and Nihelego in particular. Is it for the nihilEGO pun?

OKAY i am on my iphone so i’m typing this from scratch again instead of my drafts. also it is night. tumblr decided to not give me notifs until now but it’s okay!! we ball😁

I’m unsure how much you know abt pokémon so I’m gonna do my best to explain but this is a lifelong special interest so i may miss some things^^

Quick going over the ones you didn’t ask about:

Mewtwo: clone created to replicate Mew, Went Horribly Wrong, ended up destroying the lab it was born in. It’s even a really long time since I’ve seen the movie but i believe the mewtwo there is neglected child core. This is REALLY Angela especially because in pokedex entries they often talk about the thing that makes mewtwo nothing like mew is that it’s “heartless”. poor poor angela baby…

Mega Gardevoir: This is a mostly aesthetic pick. That thing really looks like her if it’s shiny (see image) and the colors match perfect. the way gardevoir is portrayed in pmd reminds me a lot of Angela. Gardevoir is about immense loyalty to a trainer (even if it ruins your life forever and the trainer does not care, as shown in pmd) and i read it as something about the script

Porygon2: Honestly this could be any of the mons in this line but Porygon is a digital being and the first fully synthetic pokemon which begins acting in ways which were not programmed as it evolves. Kind of represents Angela acting in ways a machine should not and breaking free of her predetermined role to me :)

Now onto the pokémon you actually asked about!! :)

First up, Meowstic!

This first part is a small design thing but this thing has Angela’s face to me, especially with the yellow eyes with red pupils. Angela’s eyes are inconsistent in canon but I like to represent them with both red and yellow to represent both of her “parents” (sorry Benjamin… i love you but u aren’t included there��)

This pokedex entry is one of the main reasons this is an angela pokémon to me, aside from vibes.

It has the same “closed eyes to repress” thing that Lobcorp angela has going on, just with repressing incredibly explosive powers instead of repressing The Horrors!

These pokedex entries are really goofy but they read very angela to me :) its unfriendliness is part of its charm!

Also i have no idea when i’ll ever get to post these so now is a good time as any to drop meowstic angela :)

Nihilego is a slightly different case because it’s tied less to dex entries and more to how it is used in the story of sun and moon. I haven’t played those games in YEARS so i might be a little bit questionable with my reasoning but this one’s really important.

Nihilego is intentionally designed to mirror one of the human characters in pokémon sun and moon.

(image i found online. i see it somewhat differently but it’s close enough for this)

Anyway this human character’s mother has neglected/abandoned her in obsessive pursuit of this pokémon and other Ultra Beasts.

The fact this pokémon not only has a similar silhouette to angela but serves as a “replacement” for a human character in a parent’s mind while also being Distinctly Nonhuman… it’s by no means a perfect comparison but there’s Something There

This dex entry always gets me too… it’s just a girlie… :(

It really makes me want to replay sun/moon because i feel like my memory of the story being really shaky has me on the edge of a breakthrough about this thing… but it looks like angela and i can draw story parallels basically:)

I have No Idea if this is coherent but I hope it cleared things up a little ^^^

[unlimitedtrees]

making character sprites as a one-person indie game developer

(huh. turns out this post on cohost didnt have a “read me” section”. o well. i will put the read me section Here,  before any of da actual text. click it if u dare !!)

so, i've been meaning on making a Big post talkin all about how i actually Make my games and my processes n such ,but also ive been procrastinating on making it for so long that i thought i might as well just make One part of that post now .. and its about making the Character Sprites for my games .

So. these images are the (mostly) full sprite sheets of the three characters from my game UNITRES Dreams, taken directly from the big giant 'charactersprites.png' image that i used for nearly every sprite for Most of the game's development. some quick things to make note of: First off, Trees (the first one) was one of the earliest things i made for the game, and had their sprite sheet redone Twice since then.. this first picture doesnt contain the latest sprite sheet as the new sprites were done on aesprite and im too lazy to make a sprite sheet out of them right now.

Secondly, the Second character (the pink one), had two different designs, being completely redesigned as i didnt like their first design all too much. their redesign's animations was done in aesprite, but i made a sprite sheet out of em before so i was able to just put them here. Lastly, the Third character (the blue one with the big silly hat) remained mostly unchanged as their original sprites and design were pretty good, but they needed to be cleaned up and given better colors so i ended up polishing all of their sprites.

Anyways. it's going to be hard for me to explain my actual process, as i am Bad With Words, but i will try my best.. So. for Most of my time as a game dev, I've used Paint.NET for Everything. This includes backgrounds, tilesets, and every animation ever in all of my games. For my character sprites specifically, i usually start with making the color palette (which is a whole different process where i mess around with the RGB values until i get a specific color that i think looks pretty ... its hard to describe). When making a new character, i usaully start with an Idle animation, just so i have a good base to make all the other sprites on. I just make a sketch of the character, then i do the flat colors (as my games dont have line art), and once i have the colors i start doing the rendering , where i try to pull off a sort of Sonic CD-esque , celshaded style while Also including a bit of anti-aliasing and other modern pixel art techniques to give the sprites more Depth and make them look Sharp. Idk. it's hard to describe my process in words ... i Did make a video Years ago showing off my process, but its old and my editing in that video isnt the Greatest.

So., that's my process Lol . the only thing thats really changed is that Now i use Aesprite for making the Actual Animations , as making animations with Paint.NET is Really Difficult and Annoying , as i have No Idea how the animation will Look until it actually appears ingame .. which results in the early versions of each character's animations looking a little weird (such as Trees' first two versions, the first version of the Pink character, and the Blue character's animations.. .though the blue character isnt as bad as the other two and i kept their animations mostly the same in the final game LOL).

Something that people have kind of criticized about UNITRES Dreams' animations is that some of em dont exactly ... Look Good. a lot of animations are pretty Inconsistent , with characters like Trees having inconsistent sizes in some animations and the movement in animations such as the Pink character's walking animation and various other animations (Especially the ones made in Paint.NET) looking Unnatural.

And Well .. here's the thing about making animations and sprites for something like this. When you're the Main person making an indie game, you have Tons of different parts of the game that need to be worked on while having Very little time to work on others. On Top of making every single animation for UNITRES , i had to make every single Tileset and background for every single level, On Top of making the Level Layouts , Programming , and even making sprites for things like the UI. And you have to constantly Test the game to make sure everything works and things Look good.

So. i had very little time to work on the sprites, and i Knew this. Something you have to consider is that, not only are you making the animations for the main character , you Also have to make Tons of animations and sprites for Literally Every Other Aspect of The Game . this includes Enemies , Level Gimmicks , NPCs, And the UI .. so you end up having to work on Thousands of sprites by yourself in such a short time.

I ain't the best animator , nor the best sprite artist . But , for this game I chose an art style which is Kinda simple and comfortable for me, which made making things like tilesets and backgrounds so much easier for me. The character sprites specificially only use a few amount of colors ,but also i tried my best to give them as much depth and make them as Colorful looking as i could. Also , something you might notice is that all of the playable characters dont actually have a whole lot of animations .. each of the characters only have the Exact amount of frames and animations necessary for them to Look Good moving around the levels. Aside from a few Gimmick Specific animations that arent in the sprite sheets i posted , there arent many Extra animations or animations with Tons of Frames that i wish i could have added .. and it Kind Of Sucks . Having to split my time across Three Different Characters , i had no time to make any animations Too Crazy or Too Smooth , and i couldnt include any extra animations that could add a bit of personality to the characters ... In Fact ,the Idle "animation" isnt an animation , its just a still frame. I didnt have time to even make a simple waiting animation !!

It Is What It Is. For what its worth , Ithink Im pretty proud of the animations i did for UNITRES Dreams. while i think ive become a much better artist and animator since then, i still think some animations and some of the frames look really good ..just looking at some of the still frames is really nice .. so i think i did a good job, especially for a game that was made in 2 years and is Free. And Hey, while the animations in UNITRES Dreams may not be the best or have the most smooth animations , i Did get to experiment with making more smooth animations for TREES' ADVENTURE. while ,now, i think some stuff could use some work, i am Really Proud of how some of the animations look .. ididnt get to make Too Many extra animations (there still isnt even an Idle animation), i Did get to make some cool extra animations , such as individual animations for your Jump that are based on how fast you're moving . (the original post on cohost had a buncha gifs of da animations but im Too Fuckin Tired 2 post em here LOL !!!)

So Yea . the moral of the story: making video games is kind of hard and time consuming , Especially when you're like , the Only one working on them. just make sure to plan ahead and try not to overwork urself .. make what you can and do it when you can. Thats what i think , anyways.

[falciesystemessays]

Hey, I was negative on FE Fates earlier, so let me make up for that by saying some things I genuinely really like about it from a game design perspective. There's a lot of little improvements that seem conscious of ways FE games past haven't lived up to their full potential, and Fates does some very clever things to fix these issues.

Aching Blood

Odin's personal skill is kind of amazing. What it does is it boosts his critical chance by 10% when he's using an upgraded weapon with a name at least 12 characters long (or 8 kanji characters in the Japanese version). The effect is pretty small, but it directly rewards two behaviors that players might not otherwise do. It encourages them to forge their weapons, something plenty of players don't do in a lot of FE, and it encourages them to actually use the naming feature, getting creative and putting their own personal touch on the gameplay. Personally I love calling bronze weapons stuff like the Wusslance because of their low risk and low reward.

2. Ore

Speaking of weapon forging, the decision to make it use a separate currency from gold is kind of brilliant. I remember back in the Awakening days, a friend told me that forging was useless and a waste of money. Was it true? I don't know, but I can see how someone would think that. Because the thing about forging in Awakening (and most other FEs with forging for that matter) is that it costs money you could be spending on something else. Why would you use that mechanic if there are much clearer alternatives? In Fates, the currency for forging weapons isn't used for anything else, so you have no reason not to forge weapons. Now given, they do also cost another version of the same weapon. But I'd rather have one strong Wussbow than two middling Bronze Bows. I can make that choice.

3. Proactive Skills

Fire Emblem has a bit of a skill issue. Ranting about random activation skills is outside the scope of this post, basically they're fun, but their inconsistency means you can't plan around them. (Ask me about Miracle.) But my ire here actually lies with two skills in FE Awakening: Outdoor Fighter and Indoor Fighter. These give a +10% boost to accuracy and evasion depending on what terrain you're on. I kind of really don't like these skills, because they affect basically nothing about how you actually use the character. Most levels are either entirely indoor, or entirely outdoor. They affect whether it's worth using that character in a given map, but once the preparation phase is over you basically don't consider it. In my opinion, gaining a new skill should mean gaining a new way to engage with the combat, and not just provide an improvement to the thing you were going to do anyway. Fates understands this, at least in part. Outdoor and Indoor Fighter were replaced with Elbow Room and Natural Cover. The former gives a +3 attack boost on terrain with no special effects, and the latter gives a +3 defense on terrain *with* special effects. This fundamentally changes the way you engage with the game. With Cavaliers, it gives you a choice: Do you take the defensive boosts of cover, or the offensive boosts of open field? With Knights, it encourages you to find a place to fortify yourself, and even gives you a reason to stay on tiles with negative effects. I genuinely appreciate design choices like this, and i only wish Fates committed more.

[trans-corvo]

lifelong dragon age fan but heard veilguard was more marvel cinematic universe than before - what are your thoughts?

This is hard to answer because calling something mcu is pretty vague. Do you mean like in terms of reliance on cameos? ironic quips? writing? I don't see Veilguard as any guiltier of cameos and quips than the previous games (which is to say: they are abundant). I've never considered the writing in the Dragon Age games to be masterpiece level, but I don't think this one is any worse than the others. It's a little tonally inconsistent at times, a little saccharine, kinda campy (an organization called the Shadow Dragons, really?), but again, no more than the previous games.

Honestly, the one thing that does remind me of the mcu is some of the armor sets. There's a couple that look like they're made of the same weird cheap padded leather that marvel costumes are.

There ARE criticisms to be made, but comparing it to the mcu feels buzzword-y.

In terms of differences from the previous games...

The aesthetic is far more varied and modern. Only the Grey Wardens look like something out of that sort of generic medieval fantasy look Origins had going on. It definitely feels like an extension of Inquisition's more creative design. Tevinter looks a lot like Kirkwall, but Antiva looks like 18th c. Italy. Every country/region has a unique look to it that I really like.

Combat is more action RPG than classic RPG. The thing plays like Mass Effect way more than Origins.

So far this feels like the least tonally dark of the series. It has its dark moments, but overall feels a lot cozier/safer.

Feels WAY less christian than the others

As for flaws, those mostly come down to the villains being completely flat and unmemorable (very Corypheus, but hammier), and clear signs of the game having been in development hell. You can tell that they had to retool a multiplayer game to a singleplayer one in limited time. You get these intros to new areas that look like they're ripped straight out of Destiny and certain plot items feel shoe-horned in to explain things that would make sense in a multiplayer game. There's a lot of environment reuse like in 2, but at least the areas are all packed with stuff, and you're introduced to them bit by bit (new paths unlocking) so it's not as overwhelming as Inquisition. You can't just stop and talk with your party in the hub area unless they have something to say. There's also some minor technical issues, a lot of clipping and the like.

I got a little off-track, but to answer your question: no, it doesn't feel any more 'marvel cinematic universe' to me than the previous games. I haven't finished it yet, or even gotten very far (only just got all the companions), so my opinion on everything I've said here might change, but for now, this is it.

[runwayrunway]

No. 39 - Qantas

...huh. Well, today I learned Qantas is actually an acronym for Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services. The more you know!

Qantas, the flag carrier of Australia, is the biggest fish I've covered so far. Yes, bigger than Lufthansa. Qantas is one of the airlines. They're the second-oldest continuously operating airline in the world, they're often mistakenly claimed to have had no fatal crashes (they have never lost a plane or a passenger in the crash of a jet, but had several fatal crashes prior to 1951), and they have a dinosaur named after them.

They didn't make a commemorative livery for the Qantassaurus. I just don't understand that.

Now, they do have a handful of special liveries that I will cover in the future, because they're very interesting. They also have some significantly less interesting older liveries. But today I'm only here to talk about their default livery, the one they're using today.

I'm honestly exhausted.

So the first thing that I need to mention is that this is Lufthansa-shaped. Lufthansesque. This isn't even that long-looking of a plane but already the detachedness of the tail is really noticeable. In its defense, Lufthansa was ripping Qantas off and not the other way around - this livery was introduced all the way back in 1984, making it truly ahead of its time. Unfortunately, it was a massive downgrade from the earlier quite cromulent 707 liveries.

The tail isn't exactly consistent. Some have no trim at all, some have a very thin grey line, and some have this decent-looking layered grey shading, and it seems completely inconsistent across models and times. Not that it would have improved my opinion tangibly, but I can't even actually count it.

You know what's strange? I have to hand it to Qantas - their logo, the silhouette of the kangaroo, is well-designed, recognizable, and I would go so far as to say iconic. But look at that graceful bit of grey shading on it. It's on the newer airplanes, but it's so subtle you might easily miss it (I actually did) - they clearly know how to use shadow, so what's with the unadorned white fuselage?

As for the font, it's definitely balanced a lot better than Lufthansa and looks very nice, but it doesn't solve the issue. Not even close. It reminds me a bit of WestJet's livery.

They even ripped off the 'Spirit of Australia' thing. I know you weren't involved in this, but I still blame you, David.

There just isn't much to say about Qantas, unfortunately. I think I like the little cut-ins on the engines. I like the logo. I just think they should have got around to designing an actual livery at some point. Such a storied airline owes it to themself, and they owe it to me even more.

Final grade: D+.

[acaplaya-musings]

Voiceplay Visuals: This Is Halloween

So obviously I'm not the only one who loves talking about Voiceplay and analysing their content, but I wanted to do something a bit different from the kinds of analyses/reactions that other people do, both on here and on Youtube (and music theory isn't really my forte anyway). So I'm planning on making some posts just focusing on the videos (and Geoff's as well, eventually), rather than the music arrangement or vocals or anything like that. My credentials are being a Drama Kid during my high school years, and experience with this sort of analysis from my time in other fandoms. I'm not planning on doing every single video, and though I'm gonna go chronologically from mid-2017 onwards (why not earlier? Because Reasons). However, since I yesterday finished a fanfic based on Voiceplay's cover of This Is Halloween, (which I studied a fair bit to get details right), I might as well start there!

Oogie Boogie pumpkin just outside the front door! (And a Jack Skellington one on the other side I believe?) These pumpkin also shows up in the spooky Halloween realm the group are transported to after eating the candy.

Credit to one of the comments which said that Earl is wearing a cow onesie and Eli is wearing a rooster onesie, which more likely than not is a callback to their (extremely hilarious) Chicken Song performance. (J is wearing a CatDog onesie, I think Geoff is wearing a giraffe onesie? And I'm not sure what Layne's onesie is meant to be)

Again credit to a commenter (different one), pointing out that Eli deadpan elbows Layne in the back, pushing him down after he eats the candy (likely a not-so-subtle acting cue or something like that, but still very funny once you notice it)

The return of the Jack and Oogie Boogie pumpkins, along with some other creatively-designed Jack-O-Lanterns! Peep the one on the far right, a little more towards the back; its 'eyes' say VP, and its mouth is the Voiceplay logo!

Also a little bit of foreshadowing, whether intentional or not: when Layne wakes up, one of the first things in his line of sight is the axe resting on the hay bales...

First of all, how many pumpkins were carved just for this video? Because a lot of effort went into making all those different designs for sure (and no, I'm not part of Voiceplay's Patreon, as the tier that lets you see behind-the-scenes stuff is like $8.50 AUD per month, rip). And second of all, this is a decent shot of how the group starts out upon waking up. J None is wearing a yellow plaid flannel quite similar to The Wolfman in Nightmare Before Christmas, and Earl is wearing denim overalls, like the behemoth character. Eli's outfit is of course representative of the Mayor of Halloweentown, but no spider bowtie or "Mayor" rosette (would've loved to see it, but eh no biggie). Layne I will get to in a moment, and Geoff a little bit after that.

I can't be bothered getting a better picture of it but Eli's half-concerned half-weirded-out face after J's helium-like vocal line is very amusing to me

On the "eyes glowing red" line, Earl's eyes (which are white at this point) flash red for a very brief moment, basically blink-and-you-miss-it.

The colour-change on Eli's left eye is so subtle that at first I didn't notice it at all, and then I only noticed it later on in the video, and only now, doing this analysis and taking a dozen screencaps, do I realize that it happens way earlier than I first thought (which explains why he takes his glasses off at this point I guess) (so uh, that's a minor inconsistency in my fanfic but it's fine)

Shoutout to the makeup/SFX people who helped with this video honestly, they did a super good job, genuinely!

(In which the frame-by-frame scrubbing technique comes in real handy)

An interesting choice to have Layne go through a sort of "half-transformation" stage, where he has a horn and red eye on one side of the face, while the other side of the face is normal. I like it though!

People have said that Layne is meant to be the devil (who is in fact another Halloweentown resident, but honestly I think he's meant to be Lock, or at least a combination of the two, because this what the two characters look like:

See how Layne resembles Lock more? In the outfit choice if nothing else (Also he's kinda sorta got the right face shape for Lock imo). Also, Lock wears a red trick-or-treating mask with horns on top!

Earl is really distressed about his hair falling out (not that I can blame him, really)

This shot/moment is probably one of the ones that stands out to me the most (other than Certain Other Ones for Other Reasons that I will get to in a moment), because J comes across as pretty mournful here, like he knows what's happening but he's feeling really sad/regretful about it? (Also I only just noticed Eli's face in the background and I'm not sure what to make of it 😅)

"pog" is not a word in my vocabulary 95% of the time, but this is basically just Pog faces right? (Geoff and Layne probably have the most fun of the group in this video ngl)

(Also I haven't yet touched on Geoff's transformations but I love the contouring work on his face!)

My god this video is comedy gold when it comes to pausing/taking screenshots

I daresay Eli ends up one of the least recognizable of the group by the end of it (other than J), and I wanna know how long that took to do

Geoff is the only one in the video who gets an outfit upgrade (Good For Him)

They didn't bother being movie-accurate with Geoff's vampire appearance, and honestly I'm definitely not complaining. (they made him hotter)

Layne did the music arrangement, but Geoff was in charge of the video production. How much say did he have over his own costume/appearance I wonder?

Visually speaking at least, nobody is even paying attention to him, they're just like "yeah that's just Geoff, normal behaviour, nothing new" 😆

I can't get a decent picture of it but shoutout to Layne doing a silly little run around the pumpkin stack, love that for him

Another small moment that a screencap wouldn't do justice: even as a vampire, Geoff still does his little self-conducting hand motions, which you might notice as he walks around the pumpkin stack, in the shot right after his "filling your dreams to the brim with fright" line

Also love Geoff's little almost-Elvis-like moves in the background for a brief scene. I know multiple commenters have mentioned it, but I'm yet to see a reactor notice it

Suddenly Layne is Concerned(tm) about Geoff's vampireness it seems?

Also for someone who very much adores this guy, it took me an embarassingly long time to realise that Geoff's face at this point had become paler and his hairline had changed (and actually now that I type it up here, I think that might even be a wig? Oh dear)

I don't really have anything to say about J's full transformation, but it would be unfair of me to not include him as well, and it's definitely a *very* impressive costume. Almost like one of those rubbery fully-covering-the-head costume mask things, but like it's his actual face?

Is that tattoo real or fake, because I literally have never noticed it in any other Voiceplay video, but it's very realistic! (For that matter, what aobut Earl's upper-arm tattoo that kind of looks like a ring of barbed wire?)

I basically watch the This Is Halloween opening scene from The Nightmare Before Christmas every October, and same with the What's This scene in December, but I had never actually watched the movie in full until December last year. So basically when they had the axe-in-the-head moment in the movie I was like ohhhhhhh so that wasn't just a random moment that Voiceplay dreamed up for the video! (I had a similar moment with the Mr Hyde character and his Mini Mr Hydes in his hat in the movie, but in relation to Voiceplay's Kidnap The Sandy Claws video)

When Elizabeth Zharoff/The Charismatic Voice reacted to this video, she said that the kid at the end (Layne's nephew, apparently), was "adorable". Meanwhile Mortius' reaction to the end scene was "oh I didn't like that! It makes me feel like I'm next!" 😂

Also suddenly just realized that the "real world" scenes are in a different aspect ratio to the "spooky dream realm" scenes? Possibly intentional, but also possibly just due to them using two different types of cameras for the shots.

And that's a wrap! I was hoping to get this done and posted last night but it took longer than expected. Hope you enjoyed it, as I'm thinking of writing up at least one or two more now, and scheduling them for daily releases. See ya!

[kira-moonrabbit]

took a bit but that one post that i said "ten notes and i share my funy godgame cards" got the required notes. ideally i'd be reblogging said post and adding this under it but the boopometer is doing strange things to my dashboard right now.

To preserve everyone's dashboards because cards is big: READMORE! This dish contains a lot of spicy rambles of autistic machismo!

To get it all out of the way: none of these cards will enter the steam workshop. They're just funny cards for get togethers with the pals.

you will also find that i am super inconsistent with wordings and also forget important clarifications. but! that just makes the cards more fun. or less fun. it depends on how often the readers of the cards bicker, which in my case is never often. (i've only played with 2 friends thus far, but I have faith even still.)

i also cannot explain the mechanics of godgame. because.... there's a lot of mechanics. ...I mean, I can, but it's a lot of effort, especially when I don't physically have the board in front of me.

anyways here's our first card... one of my lobcorp OCs in fact!

Denny.... she's one of the originals. She's not as funky as everyone else so she doesnt see much sun nowadays but! I can count on her to be easy to make a card for at least. As the blurb says, she's not ALL hating birds. She, like, has a boyfriend. It's just very funny to play it up for the bit. (She also is easy to rile up.)

Side Note Number One... I have formats and shit. However I dont know and dont want to learn how to work photoshop. so it's all a bunch of pngs that i layer on top of one another individually rather than some sort of photoshop type thing.

this is about what it looks like. dont worry about what "overlay jewel office" means. i am not at liberty to explain jewel office because i didnt create it; i just invent the cards...

OK, card number 2!

sootpy. i drew Soot (another lobcorp OC) as peepy once. i was looking in my doodles folder for an image of another guy ive got in here and i found him. I fudged this card up in about 10 seconds not counting time spend actually putting the card together.

Actual Soot might function entirely differently from sootpy. i dont think the peanut part is capable of functioning.

Okie, next caaaaard...!

Memory Maggot! memory maggot's from my original universe type thing i call elsewhere; hence the unique background. It's a champion card, but since i'm biased and like making card backgrounds, cards from elsewhere get their own backgrounds.

originally this card had different (albeit not by much) art, but then I made my silly memory maggot pixel art and liked it better. memory maggot's a lot more than just memories, but i thought that idea for a card would be funny. and speaking of elsewhere champions...

this is the Everywhen. he also lives in elsewhere. i designed him, but at the same time i don't hold full custody over him so to speak. he's goofy levels of busted, yes, but I think Champions are allowed to be just a little bit like that. For fun.

I don't only make cards of my own OCs, though!

Example: these are the 01-kun, they're from yume 2kki. They don't actually have any of these abilities ingame, but I think I'm allowed to fudge things up a little bit when it comes to these sorts of things. Plus... it makes for a funny archetype.

Yes. The status icon for gay is dr pepper gay icon. I made that myself, actually. In the past I made a whole bunch of just. Dr pepper pride logos for some reason when I made drinking the stuff by the gallon my whole personality... I still have them, and I figured "why let them go to waste?"

This is Pupula-toru, also from Yume 2kki. This one actually has some basis in how the little guy appears ingame. Even if it is a little complicated for a basic card...

See, in yume 2kki, there's this thing called Variable 44. One of the easiest ways to check the status of this variable is to visit Pupula-Toru, as they're not too far in the dreamworlds. They'll be in one of 4 different poses depending on the variable, and two of them are asleep. Variable 44 is what changes other different forms of per-dream RNG, so knowing it is pretty useful for looking for certain things. Therefore, checking on Pupula-toru has a slight rng-manipulation association in my head, hence how it works.

...Well, errors are popping up when I try to post more images, so now I think I'll just make a reblog chain, or more posts and I'll add them to this one later. There's way more cards I wanna show off..........

[grimlins-chaos]

Lo'gosh/Vari revamps! full body w/ comparisons to the og designs + alt looks + my mad rambling under the cut!

Do keep in mind these are my takes on the character and this is for my fic that's in the works where i'm doing some MASSIVE retconning of story and world building to 1, feed my brainworms because this *is* a warcraft x ffxiv crossover and 2, keep my fucking sanity because blizz retcons their own shit so much and the way they handle characters so inconsistently it makes me violently angry i fucking hate the books with every fiber of my being

I'm more than happy to give clarifications on some of my ideas just be aware that i might sound unhinged as i explain the ideas i've cultivated in my brain case for literal years like a conspiracy theorist so without further ado LET'S GO!

First things first let's get into Lo'gosh!

He starts off with his OG look as functionally it works and it's an iconic look in a ring where your gladiators are being pitted against guys who are damn near naked you don't want to disadvantage them with too much armor

the only few changes i made was switching out the sash for some more straps and the armored pieces are not nearly as bulky (i did straight up forget his spikes but i'll add them another time when i have a bit more time so just imagine they are there lmao)

But as iconic as the look is his clothes do deteriorate especially as my version of lo'gosh gets tossed around on the regular (think of captain america's "i can do this all day" while bloodied and beat the fuck up) on top of because it being such an iconic look Lo'gosh would need a change of clothes to replace the torn ones he was given as well as make him blend in a little more with your common adventurers, so when he meets up with allies in the eastern kingdoms he gets some new drip

he does hold onto the old armor pieces as to hold on to the lo'gosh identity for as long as he can before he has to return to being Varian Wrynn (to build more upon his feelings of "i don't know this varian, is that really the life i want?" in issue 7 of the comics because it was such a missed opportunity for internal conflict, we love a man who's struggling emotionally)

Storywise i felt that rather than have him be the strong willed half of Varian while the other half is more "weak willed" instead Lo'gosh and Vari represent two different sides of his ideals, attitude, and how he expresses love (yes we are going FULL fuckin' cheese mode here) Lo'gosh would represent the rebellious side of Varian, the one who would try so desperately to escape because he just wants to be free. Pre-split this would present most in his younger self who would regularly sneak out to have fun and support his people, away from the pressures of his duties that would later on take away any minuscule amount of freedom he had in his life. Lo'gosh also represents Varian's strong sense of justice, never afraid and not even hesitating to throw himself on the line to defend complete strangers because (unknowingly to Lo'gosh for most of the story) his past with a young abused girl that he once called best friend along with Arthas very much ingrained it into his head that he would never leave anyone who takes advantage of others and hurts them like how he had failed that girl

Lo'gosh is the side of Varian that's a force of nature that will act on the spot to protect others, unwilling to back down and has absolutely zero fucking idea on when to just give up (granted giving up seems more like a made-up concept to him)

When it comes to Vari (the nickname i gave to the more charming/gentle dad side of Varian just for the sake of making it less confusing) I do have a lot more to say so buckle the fuck up XD;;

In terms of design i fuckin' hate his pajama suit, i tried to redeem it, i very much did, but it wasn't workin' out for me XD It makes sense in that when it comes to Vari i very much see him as being extremely insecure, and so while katrana bumps up his charm to obnoxious levels the actual charisma he displays is a mask to try and hide his struggle. So it makes sense for him to make himself seem less regal and wear as simple as clothing as he can outside of obvious formal affairs and Katrana would very much prey on this especially as corrupt black dragons lean on self-importance and ego and so she'd make herself wear purples and reds while Vari blends more in with the crowd, she makes it so your eyes go to her rather than the fuckin king because she has manipulated her way to the top and holds all the power over him

But the whole body suit deal? uglier than sin, this ain't your wish medieval batman costume so for my redesign i gave Vari this

it was a combination of norse inspired renfaire tunics and as well as the outfits in one of my favorite movies; Quest for camelot (as King Arthur was a minor inspiration for my version of Varian)

And as for armor it does still have close resemblance to the og look in the comics but gave it a bit more bulk and baggyness in some areas as i imagine Vari representing the protection spec while Lo'gosh is of course fury, so to take a bit more of a beating he's got more protection

Vari being the half of Varian that retained his memories, he carries the brunt of the trauma and guilt brought on by all the trials and horrific events he's experienced but to cover his pain not only to try and hide from it but also in an attempt to protect his son and be there for his people (the mask of "everything's just fine" while the wearer of that mask is actively drowning). But Vari also carries the fatherly attitude of Varian, this is the half that presents Varian's love of his son the absolute most and for him he's willing to literally jump off a cliff just to save him. Vari will defend those he loves with his life.

Lo'gosh: Offensive Vari: Defensive

Together they are the two halves of one ballsy motherfucker you really do not wanna piss off

Anywho if you've made it this far i personally applaud you for subjecting yourself to my madness, i hope it was at least entertaining and a fun read!

[marshallpupfan]

You have a massive taste for Marshall Merch, so well: What, in your opinion is the most high quality items you've came across, Plushes, Toys, etc.

A part of me feels like the plush dolls are a bit hard to judge, since their quality can be all over the place. One day, you'll find a doll that looks surprisingly good, and then the next, Marshall looks like one of those knock-off characters sold at a dollar store. Still, I was able to pick out a few that I think represent some high quality, such as...

...the Build-a-Bear plush, which I think is still one of the finer plush dolls in my collection to this day. It's such a shame they don't sell these in the BAB stores anymore (last I heard, anyway).

And this plush doll from "GUND". Honestly, they often release high quality products, so I'm not surprised I'm finding myself including their name here. This one in-particular has always stood out to me.

Moving away from plush dolls, I wanted to find some items that I felt here high quality in the sense that A) they represent or look like the character quite well, B) are painted or manufactured carefully, and C) are actually sturdy or seem like they'll last.

This, sadly, leaves out some of the items I purchased recently. For example, that cup topper I got from the AMC Theater; it's nice, but Marshall's outfit on it is all red, despite his actual outfit having more color than that (such as the black on his hind legs). While it's a cool item and I'm happy to have it, that seemed like such a shoulder shrug to the manufacturers, thus I wouldn't deem it "high quality".

In any case...

One such item that fits this criteria, imo, is this item. It looks surprisingly great, the character looks quite accurate, and it doesn't feel cheap... and it's just a shampoo bottle! Crazy to think a company put this much effort into something that might get thrown away once its empty. This one was never sold in the United States, so I had to import it from the United Kingdom.

I also feel this bank fits my criteria, too. Funnily enough, this was also imported from the United Kingdom. I'd joke and say all of their products must be high quality, but I also imported a battery-powered bubble blower from them, and that thing feels so cheap and brittle, just staring at it might cause it to break. lol

The Christmas ornaments... er... hang on. That's not a great pic, huh? My phone can be so inconsistent. Sometimes it looks good, sometimes not. The flash can help, but not always. My TracFone camera is something that's NOT high quality. lol

Okay, now that I've returned with my mother's camera (after scrounging around for four AA batteries to power the thing)...

The Christmas ornaments can often look weird, hastily painted, and have eyes that appear so... off. But then you'll find ones like this that are surprisingly good. It really stands out, imo. However...

THIS is easily the best of the bunch. It's made by Hallmark, and the detail is surprisingly so good! My only gripe is the crease around his mouth, but even the Chase ornament (released a year prior) did the same thing, too. Guess it's unavoidable, since they didn't even skimp on giving the inside of his mouth some detail, too. I have to wonder if we'll ever see another Marshall ornament of this quality again? I hope we do... and I'll collect it, of course. :)

(The flash kept making the pic too dark, so this is the best I could do.)

This item also counts. It looks better than most of the figurines I've collected, and to think, it's just a simple flashlight. I guess it helps that the designs of the pups are quite simple, thus some products can get their likeness down pat so well... which makes it confusing when other manufacturers gets them so wrong. lol

This snow glove is also really, really good. The pups are a little expressionless, but other than that, it just looks great. I feel like plenty of care went into this one... which is probably why they sold out so quickly when I went looking for one. lol

I could probably find some more items, but I think this will do it for now. However, before closing this out, I would like to state one thing; just because I don't find every item in my collection to be of high quality, that doesn't mean I dislike them or something. Sure, that AMC topper I mentioned earlier might be missing some color and detail I was hoping to see, but I'm not disappointed in it at all. I was still really happy to get one! In fact, outside of a very few items, I've loved collecting everything you see in my collection thus far! Hey, something doesn't have to be perfect to be good. :)

[jumpscaregoose]

on my poll blog it looks like I might be getting some more people interested in shaman king so for my own sanity I'm making this

pros cons and differences between shaman king versions (manga and anime)

going to try to be as neutral as possible because I do have my own opinions no one murder me. also I am but one guy and though I am insane about it I have only been here for like 2ish years tops so I probably missed something

starting with: original manga run:

this was a lie I tricked you I have not read the original manga run so idk shit. I recommend kanzenban instead

kanzenban manga:

came out several years after the original manga run, "complete edition" with true ending, more chapters, and some updated art (I think???). takei's original vision for the story (or as close as we'll get), imo the best version (I didn't grow up on 2001 nobody kill me), pretty coherent story and themes with mostly superficial inconsistencies (timeline). has some bad writing/design choices that persist throughout every version. artwork is gorgeous and it's the "true version" so I highly recommend this version

2001 anime:

first anime adaptation. came out before the original manga was even finished so it is wildly divergent and includes a lot of filler. depending on your tastes this is either a great asset or a dealbreaker. I'm a fan personally put those guys in Situations. hits most major plot beats (although in it's own way) and has a very unique style. suffers very much from Being Made In 2001 so some things have aged especially poorly in this one. has only gotten a 4kids english dub so if you only watch dubs and want to watch the good version you're probably fucked on this one.

2021 anime:

anime adaptation of the full kanzenban manga. animation is a bit off model sometimes and it's only 52 episodes (should have been 64) so it's. Rushed. covers the kanzenban plot very accurately aside from a bunch of cut scenes (which were desperately needed to make the pacing not shaman king 2 fast 2 furious). if you have no time I recommend this one! also actually has a decent dub (certainly compared to 2001. 4kids dub you're hilarious but rip)

those are all the major versions I'm aware of so uh idk go have fun kids