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radiantlyrey · 2 years ago

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Thoughts on Uprising ep13 “The Stranger”

- cold open: welp, it wouldn’t be an episode of Uprising if Beck didn’t make a Bad Decision, now would it? (also I’m more interested in the city names than the actual beats of the cold open!!! my basic go-to for Grid city names has been using the noble gases; in my fic The Outpost a Xenon City is mentioned, for instance. interesting that they decided to use other elements as well. love the choice of Gallium, tho; it’s a cool metal with a low melting point—if you hold it in your hand, it’ll start to melt from a solid!!) (new headcanon: all the big cities—excepting Tron City—are named after noble gases; maybe the smaller cities are named after other elements?)

- and then under the energy whirlpool Beck finds a weird mirror that HE SHOULD HAVE LEFT ALONE. like, if I found my hand was able to go into a weird mirror I found in the middle of nowhere, I would simply pull my hand out and walk the opposite direction. that is what I would do, but Beck does not! and he gets fucking choked out and dragged away by a mysterious figure!! THAT’S NOT HORRIFIC AT ALL.

- meanwhile in the B plot: Tron is basically the Batman of the Grid, I’m calling it now. But like… the older Batman from Batman Beyond, kind of? it’s not a 1:1 fit, okay? ANYWAY. he freaks the fuck out of Able, who is worried about Beck, and they have another Dad fight about Beck, that Able wins again. anyway. apparently Dyson is back in town and up to no fucking good, as usual, and Tron needs someone to look into it. so Able volunteers. cos that won’t go badly at all!!!!!!

- okay, I will say this about Cyrus’s domain: it’s weird as shit and I’m glad the designers and animators were able to sort of go off with it! it’s got more color than most of Argon, and it’s just plan WEIRD and I love it a little bit??? like Cryus makes the whole thing creepy as FUCK, but whatever??? it’s really neat design stuff going on, with gears and clocks and all that, and kind of reminds me of the inside of a computer or watch. it’s quite neat, and I love it.

- that aside: BECK HAS FUCKED THE FUCK UP. DUDE GOT HIS DISC STOLE AND HIS SECRET FOUND OUT AND JUST. FUCK. I’M SORRY KIDDO.

- meanwhile in the B plot, Able’s going undercover at some secret government work project! and there’s Dyson and fuck this isn’t going to end well at all fuck FUCk FUCK FUCK

- meanwhile Cyrus (who I don’t think identifies himself in this episode at all???? I could be wrong; the captions didn’t shy away from his name, tho) is being a goddamn A-grade CREEPAZOID and I DO NOT LIKE HIM. like he is trying so hard to play the “we’re not so different, you and I” card and it’s not really working on Beck at all, which GOOD, but STILL. HE MAKES MY SKIN CRAWL. FUCK.

- and the Able goes snooping and DYSON FINDS HIM FUCK FUCK FUCK thankfully Able’s supervisor catches him just in time because god fucking DAMN I WAS ABOUT TO FAINT DEAD AWAY FUCKKKKKKK

- I mean. my experience of this episode is perhaps best summed up as “FUCK FUCK FUCK DO NOT WANT STOP STOP PLEASE STOP HOLY GOD FUCKKKKKKKKKKKK” this was both a delight and a terror, ngl

- and then it turns out Cyrus has a plan! a grand plan to free everyone—from the burden of existence, it turns out!!!!! (tho now I’m suddenly wondering—if his device HAD worked and taken the grid offline…….. what the fuck would have happened to Flynn???????? would the Portal have spat him out even tho it’s not open? would he have just died??? I’m suddenly extremely curious about this!!!!) Cyrus is a bona fide omnicidal maniac, and he thinks he’s figured out fate and all that and he’s gonna use Beck to power his device and “free” everyone by destroying the Grid!!! THAT’S NOT CREEPY AT ALL. FUCK.

- in the B plot, Able gets caught snooping AGAIN and then it turns out he was expecting Tron this whole time, and they beat up a whole bunch of Black Guards while Dyson makes his escape…. in a giant-ass Recognizer??? that apparently Tesler is NOT supposed to know about ???? WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE. that said, I love that the show is taking on a slightly more serialized storytelling style, where some things are not fully answered by the end of each episode

- in the main plot, Cyrus and Beck break free of the compressed space and Beck nearly passes out but sees Tron (and Clu??!!? WHAT THE FUCK, SERIOUSLY, WHAT IS GOING ON?!?!?) and snaps out of it and manages to escape and stop Cyrus’s plan and apparently* trap Cyrus back in his little dimension with the creepy mirror now broken. and then Beck sometime later shows up at Tron’s and SAYS NOTHING ABOUT CYRUS BECAUSE OF COURSE NOT. (I know, I know, there wouldn’t be a show if they just talked about it, but STILL.) also I am MAJORLY freaked out by the circuits still visible on Beck’s wrist(s) when he applies pressure. that’s not creepy at all. holy SHIT.

- * and of course, the broken mirror DIDN’T FUCKING TAKE and Cyrus has escaped and FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCKKKKKKKKKK this is gonna end BADLY I just KNOW IT

- also Cyrus’s whole thing about fate and things being set in stone and all that got me thinking about a short story I read back in uni called “The Algorithms for Love” by Ken Liu, which is basically about a programmer who creates a speech algorithm for a line of talking dolls. The programmer eventually comes to the (perhaps erroneous) conclusion that human behavior is just an algorithm: “ “What if,” I said, struggling to find the words, “we are just following some algorithm from day to day? What if our brain cells are just looking up signals from other signals? What if we are not thinking at all? What if what I’m saying to you now is just a predetermined response, the result of mindless physics?” “ like, Cyrus seems to be set on the idea that there’s no point in trying to change things or make things better for anyone, because it’s fate that it’s like this, and the best way to deal with a tyrant is to simply destroy the whole world. (the short story is really creepy and really good, btw, highly recommend it)

- all in all: GOOD EP. as I said in my previous post, I haven’t cussed that much at the TV since Hannibal Season One!!

#tronblr #tron #tron: uprising #skye liveblogs things

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demonstars · 2 years ago

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With respect to the tommy power thing, I think it's really interesting how it shows tommy doesn't really fit into a box like so many of the others. Even dream sapnap and George had their set powers when they were written into these aus. But tommy doesn't really have a defined skin. He's really only himself

And I think it's so interesting how that ties into c and cc

I mean, when you think of cc tommy, you think of red and white baseball tees and yelling and laughter. You think of his weird puppet and his scuffed apperantment and his blogs. You think of his random streams and millions of projects he's completed and his enthusiasm and his friends and minecraft. He isn't really known for any one thing in particular.

And when you think of cc tommy, you think of exile and how he was wilbur's right hand man, how dream feared him and how he has connections everywhere. You think of him winning and losing and being intertwined in just about anyone's stories. But throughout all of this, his character shifted and evolved the most out of anyone's.

Memory loss, insanity, control, anarchy, nukes. I bet you you can figure out who all of these words belong too, but the only word you can use for tommy is discs. Except it was never only about the discs, it was what the discs represented so a better word is loyalty.

But with the words I used earlier, they all either refer to one arc or can be used as a power. But loyalty doesn't span any one particular arc, nor doesn't call for a power.

In a way, tommy isn't any one thing, in any form. He is everything.

He's a jack of all trades and someone who just does things cause why not.

I used to be part of a pretty huge SBI server and something that was brought up a few times was how easy tommy was to write. How you didn't have to nail his mannerisms for him to read as quintessentially tommyinnit. There was one person who was a huge inniter said that anyone who said that didn't know how to write tommy but they're wrong.

Tommy as a person is incredibly creative and has never had a set way he does things. He isn't ever tied down to one thing and is successful everytime he tries to branch out and that was read off in fics well before he started branching out.

The assigned power of healing came around out of convenience, not out of tommy being known for first aid or anything else that would traditionally assign him as the healer. Ponk was usually the other assigned healer but there's some cannon reasons for that.

You made me think on this and looking back it really interesting all of this.

I speak as an ex-sbi writer too, it was really hard to make tommy be a particular thing cause nothing ever quite fit. I wrote some powered aus myself and figuring him out was hard.

Hopefully this made some sense I feel like it was all over the place. Honestly it was supposed to be quick thing about Tommy's powers and then I was gonna let my Ranboo haterism loose lmao

🌧️

i see i see !! awesome i think :0 i love the different fan interpretations regarding powers, i think it's one of the only things i like the most about superheroe AUs. kinda boring when they become the norm tho !

nothing else to say, solid analysis :0 love that thing about cTommy being a lot (specially loyalty) but i do think —and well these are just my thoughts on the matter from a few years back now— that's a bit of where the projection comes in, isn't it? believing this character holds multitudes when there's actually something you see of yourself in them and you build from that. idk, tho! i just think tommy is very solid and actually i wouldn't necesarily use the word loyalty, maybe more like resilence, but again i wouldn't really know

thank you for sharing your thoughts once again :]

#characterization and fandom perception in rpf is fascinating #star asks #🌧️

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duskys-dreams · 1 year ago

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Mom and I were driving home, mom was a bit tipsy. We tried to brake for an intersection, but we glided through it instead. I asked if mom was going to get arrested, and she said it was possible.

We kept driving, and the car started making weird noises. We pulled into a gas station.

In the gas station, we met a man named Boa. He was really nice, and mom asked if we wanted to come with us to the maze. I was shocked that she offered since this was a stranger, but Boa agreed and said it’d be nice to not be lonely. He changed his avatar into something made of cylinders.

We got to the maze and were sorted into two groups. Boa and I were together. We were supposed to find our way through the maze, but a small explosion lifted us onto the walls. We travelled to the end easily, and found two slots, one like a disc and one like a circle. If we went in, we would win.

Feeling confident in our head start, Boa and I just sat there instead and talked. We talked for a while, until we noticed that people on the other maze had already made their way into the slots. We frantically got in ours, and Boa fit in easily, but my body was spherical and couldn’t fit into the disc shape. I screamed about round-body discrimination.

We went home after, and I had Boa and some friends help me come up with lore for one of my NightWing characters. His name was Starry.

My friends were more interested in running around and playing, so I came up with more myself. I decided he was part of a weird religion and didn’t really believe in it. I called, “Starflicker! Yes that’s your full name now, get over here.” When he did, I giggled and said, “did you finish your homework?” This annoyed Starflicker.

I went upstairs into the school hallway and found Boa and Starflicker, who had merged to make a new person. That was normal. He had the cover of a huge water bottle on his face, sucking the straw. I made some joke about it.

We grew up, and I applied to be a city guard. I got armour and a cool metal helmet that covered my face.

Boa was now a sort of rebellion leader, but we were still friends. We found him loading up his boat Noah’s Ark style, and he was paying only small fees for people to bring things on board. My companion, another guard, asked how we should punish him. I said it was unnecessary, because it was for a provincial contest. The guard went up anyway and told Boa he was in violation, and dragged him away.

I took over Boa’s job, welcoming people on board and making them pay for their luggage. I decided to raise the prices because I felt that Boa deserved some profit. This made some people leave.

Someone wanted to bring a book with them, and that was usually just a dollar, but I raised it to four. Someone else wanted to take their young daughter, and that was usually nine dollars, but I raised it to thirty-six. This caused a small argument between the father and someone else who was on my side.

The last woman who wanted on board gave me a package and told me to give it to Boa, and return to her the one with the poppy design on the bottom. Someone on the boat told me to flip over what she gave me, but that didn’t do anything.

I looked up and saw Boa, a fair distance away, waving frantically at me. I started walking towards him, but he kept waving, so I put on my helmet and started running. The ground was weirdly icy, so it was hard to make progress.

We finally met up in my bedroom, and Boa said to keep that package hidden as long as I possibly could. I asked why, and he wouldn’t tell me. Instead he just walked away, to his boat of people that trusted him. I was left alone in my room with a criminal package I knew nothing about.

#dusky’s dreams #dream journal

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catbountry · 17 days ago

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Thanks.

David Lynch is one of my favorite directors ever. Eraserhead is among my favorite movies of all time, and Twin Peaks might be my favorite television show.

I think I was still in high school when I was chatting up an adult at a pool party about movies, gushing about Tim Burton when he recommended that I watch Eraserhead. A year or two later, I'd find a copy of Eraserhead on DVD at a convention and bought it. I remember putting it in the PS2 for the first time and adjusting the brightness settings on the TV as instructed on the disc, and watching, hypnotized, as something that felt like a dream played out in front of me. I had dreams that felt like this; it was paced like nightmares I had as a kid, nightmares that would often be in black and white with odd splashes of color. I described the movie as having a tension to it that felt like you were waiting for some jumpscare that would never come. It was beautiful and ugly, weird and sweet, defying any straightforward interpretation, one that David absolutely refused to give. If you never have, I suggest looking into stories about the making of the movie. There are so many odd factoids around it even outside the making of it; Stanley Kubrick was said to have screened it for the cast and crew of The Shining to show what he was hoping to achieve, and I could go into a whole thing comparing Kubrick's brutal treatment of Shelley Duvall against David's reputation for treating his actors with warmth and dignity.

Also, Eraserhead would often be a midnight double feature with John Water's Pink Flamingos, which must have been a hell of a tonal whiplash. John and David would become friends, which fits perfectly. Both men are artists who have very distinct visions that are unapologetically and beautifully weird. And with David, I don't think he set out to be weird; I think that's just how he was.

David was also a painter, a cartoonist, and an animator. His comic strip The Angriest Dog in the World would be one I would shamelessly rip-off to put a Team Fortress 2 skin because I apparently just love mashing up things I love together in weird ways. He influenced me deeply; if I ever have the money, I have seriously considered getting four more Spamton plushes just to recreate the photo of David on a couch with five Woody Woodpeckers. Just for the bit. Twin Peaks was a huge influence on my original novel. I referenced Eraserhead in a Deltarune fic. I have fanmade pins and stickers referencing both Eraserhead and Twin Peaks. I will reference Frank Booth's lines in Blue Velvet with my friends, especially if beer or pansexuality comes up ("I'LL FUCK ANYTHING THAT MOOOOOVES!"). I adore David himself, the way he speaks, how he talks about art, how fucking funny he is, how much his work has moved me to tears and how he inspired me to be more comfortable with myself and how weird I feel.

He still wanted to work on projects, even after he'd become housebound due to his emphysema. My god, I wanted to see whatever the hell Snootworld was supposed to be so badly.

We're never going to get another artist quite like David Lynch. My throat is tight and my eyes are misty as I write this. I wish I could have told him how much his work means to me.

Fuck. I'm going to cry. Fuck it, let's send this out into the world. We lost someone special and beautiful. And even though we never met, I will miss him. His absence will be felt.

Tomorrow, if you can believe it, it'll be Friday once again.

Just found out David Lynch died.

I’m going to be quite sad for a while. Will post more when I get home. Enjoy the bullshit in the queue.

#david lynch #not fan fiction #personal post

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mythicaldemigoddess-of-deltarune · 2 years ago

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Nicknames To Call The Royalty And Nobility Of Hazbin Hotel/Helluva Boss & Theories And Other Stuff To Talk About...

first I want to say that it was too bad I didn’t get to post any “Halloween Fanart” like either a video game character or cartoon character or both on Halloween...

I did get to watch a movie during that time, a DVD of Nightmare before Christmas.....I was going to start with Corpse Bride first and then go to watching Nightmare Before Christmas, but at some point in the movie where Victor was in that netherworld....?

well I think there is something wrong with the DVD and no matter how many times I stop the movie, and then go back to the chapter it had stop on...well it kept freezing up, so might have to try to fix it sometime...

I know we have one of those items that is suppose to help fix a disc when that kind of thing happens, or if it is dirty.

also even though it was Halloween, it just didn’t....feel much like it to me during that day, I guess it was one of those days maybe...?

where you might feel in a little in a “Meh” mood...

anyway we know that Asmodeus, Mr. Playboy Heart-Breaker of Lust....

is also known by his nickname Ozzie...

one of the nicknames I would like for Charlie’s Dad,

would be Eon-Boomer, and Sugar Apple Papa...

I did do a drawing of Charlie’s Dad wearing a shirt with the words “Sugar Apple Papa”....

and I know that Mammon hasn’t appeared yet in Helluva Boss,

but I still want to call him by the nickname Manny, and even Mona...

but Manny seems to fit the most...

besides messing with Lucifer by giving him a shirt that reads Sugar Apple Papa.

messing with Mammon by giving him a shirt with a arrow pointed up at his face that reads This Dork For Rent, was the best idea I ever had when drawing a fan art of the Mammon from Helluva Boss, even if we don’t know what he will officially look like yet, and only know a little bit of how he looks from his picture on the money....

but once we do see him appear in a episode, I’m still gonna call him “Manny”

and if some theories about Beelzebub is true, I know I had watched a theory video that has to with the Hellhounds that had to do with her...

I forgot the name of the video but if I find it again, I will re-watch it...

and well we know that Asmodeus’s canon nickname is Ozzie, and Mammon’s fanon nickname is Manny (because I started to call him by the nickname Manny, I would like to tease him with that nickname. XP )

but as for Beezlebub, well I can’t help but have a certain nickname in mind for her even if it might never be canon...

and well it’s a nickname that I’m gonna kind of censor in this....

so yeah, anyway....her nickname would be Beezleb*tch.

not sure what her official appearance will be or when she will be in a episode, but in my fan headcanon, her nickname is Beezleb**ch.....

I do have a theory that the episode was suppose to be in Season 1 of Helluva Boss, where Blitz and Loona go to some party...?

that has that Male Hellhound that was being friendly with Loona that showed in a preview clip...

my guess is that it is possible that episode might end up being part of Season 2, because of certain reasons...

I don’t mind waiting for that episode, and I’m sure the Team that works on the show are doing there best and hope they are making sure to take some breaks, like for food, sleep and well, maybe even watching a movie or playing a video game...

anyway back to the whole nicknames....

Belphegor, would be called Bell or Belph....? the Prince of Envy, could be called Levy... and well as for Satan, I am still sticking with Stan as a nickname...

I know that Moxxie and Millie live in the Wrath Ring, which is suppose to be ruled by him....

well, I guess we might end up seeing him in a future episode, don’t know when or what season...

and is it weird to have thoughts of me wanting to flip him the double bird...?

well at least the Hazbin Hotel/Helluva Boss version of him, didn’t end up having some Toxic Followers that harmed one of my past life selves...

yeah, I’m so going to hope that in my next reincarnations, I never end up being reborn in to a Toxic-Satanist Family, there should be some kind of freaking rule that forbids Earth Angels, even Defective ones like myself, from having their soul placed in a body, that is just gonna be used in one of those rituals.

and yeah, Toxic-Satanist are but only one of the names of the Toxic-Religious people on my list....like those disgusting Toxic-Priests and Toxic-Nuns who did some pretty messed up stuff and crossed a line that should never be crossed...

I think it is possible that while maybe some people are Satanist, I think some have some sense not to cross a certain line....

and it might be for the best that past life memories, are only remembered in a bits and pieces and not the full picture, because for some who had something really bad happen to them in one of their past lives....sometimes it is best to NEVER remember it, because it could be bad.

but with luck, some memories you have will just be copy memories from your soul parent or parents that your soul was born from...

you will still have your own memories, but it is likely some copy memories from your soul parents or soul parents, will be stuck to your soul’s memory.

also after thinking about the episode that Striker appears in,

I got to say that it was awesome for not ending up like certain shows that portray those who live in a place where everyone is viewed as a “hillbilly”

still, jokes on some people, I might technically be a Hillbilly...

but my parents weren’t, because they were born elsewhere.

I mean, the whole “backwards hillbilly” trope could still be used in some shows and movies, but some humans should have common sense to know that not everyone who is a hillbilly, will be like that.

and there can be other reasons why some might end up missing some teeth, which by the way, wouldn’t be for whatever reason that is shown in the backwards trope...

don’t know how many go through it, and plus some who aren’t even living in the places where they are called hillbillies...

there could be different reasons why it can happen, but even if it does happen, don’t give some the right to just assume whatever it is they are thinking, no matter if it is “hillbilly stereotyping” or something else...

anyway, we know that Blitz did give a stereotypical comment about Imps from the Wrath Ring, but it’s possible that he knows that some of the stereotyping of the Imps from the Wrath Ring, is not 100% true.

it could be possible that some Imps from each ring, will marry other Imps from other rings, and if Striker is a hybrid type Imp...

then it could be possible that at some point in the past, Imps started to marry or had some kind of affair with other non-Imps, and ended up having Imp Hybrid offspring together.

also one of my Helluva Boss theories, is that a Female Imp’s horns are made out of some type of obsidian, well that is a weird theory but not all theories have to be correct...

it could be possible that we wont see the other princes right away in Helluva Boss, but we might end up seeing Stella’s brother and even Mammon next at some point in the future.

a weird thought pop into my head just now, picturing Stella’s brother doing that whole hand to the wall and leaning to a person who’s back is to the wall trope...

and the one he is doing that to is Collin....

that ship might only stay in the fanon, but I guess I would be surprised if that ship ended up becoming popular, but how many would end up shipping Collin x Andrealphus together...?

just picture Stella screaming at Andrealphus “Not You Too?!”

all while he is hugging Collin, who is trying very hard to escape but can’t because of how tightly Andrealphus has a hold on him.

one of the nicknames for Stella’s brother, can be Andy and Andrea.

also I have tried to look up some form of info that has to do with the info I read before that has to do with Jesus purposely causing some kind of bad stuff, but with any luck that information is just not true and is myth...

but if he so much as does try to actually try to cause a war between some nations, that would pretty much peeve me off...

there is still no proof that he would technically be my ancestor, because even if his blood type is different from O RH D Negative and well, even if someone’s blood type is different they could still have genetic of some blood types that come from their different families either on their father or mother’s side...

but yeah I know that he is suppose to be a descendant of King David, like me...

so the only proof that makes us technically family, is that and making us distant cousins.....and I guess being a Earth Angel, I guess there can be other relations as well....

I still don’t think I would be allowed to grab him by his ear if he ends up trying to cross a line, even if I still want to grab the Antichrist by the ear and show no mercy to the said ear....cause I ain’t having none of that mess.

it might be a good thing that the Feminine energy is getting back into balance, not counting the Toxic-Feminine energy.

it is possible that Mary Magdalene was the Feminine Messiah, but just because I and others might believe it could be true, doesn’t mean that everyone will.

I also think it is good that Helluva Boss and maybe even Hazbin Hotel, have a slightly different history from the canon stuff that is wrote about the angels, fallen angels and demons that is wrote in myths and religion...

although it can suck to know how the daughters of Eve and Adam are possibly not given enough respect....

also if Lilith was Adam’s first wife, he should of left her alone so she could heal properly, and Adam trying to force her to come back to him and not telling God the full reason why she left in the first place...

it just doesn’t seem right, plus after thinking about yesterday....

I came to the theory that when Lilith left Adam, she was pregnant with his unborn child or children....

and it might of been a good thing she left, because the bad stress wouldn’t of been good for the baby or babies if she was going to have twins.

and if Lilith had 100 children, the ones that she had with Adam, would be the eldest....

not everyone has to agree to that theory, but I think it could be possible that Lilith was pregnant when she left Adam.

also the weirdest theory I have is that Fizzarolli and Blitzo had ended up switching bodies, before the whole Stolas x Blitz affair and before Fizzarolli started to work with Ozzie and before he got those robotic limbs.

which if that theory were true, that would mean that the Blitz we know, was originally Fizzarolli and the Fizzarolli we know was originally Blitzo.

both could love horses, even if their friendship fell apart.

Fizzarolli, who now goes by Blitz and doesn’t want to go by the “o” because it is silent now....could of had two reasons to want to use Stolas’s book.

one, to go to Earth and see the horses there and two, to find a way to switch himself and Blitzo who is now called Fizzarolli, back to normal.

anyway I don’t think I have much else to say for this....

I mean there was the nicknames, and some other stuff....

I think in my next post after this, I will talk about a FNAF theory....

I also want to say that even if the nickname might be a bit rude,

the nickname Beelzeb*tch had pop into my head.....

I think it first pop into my head when watching a Helluva Boss Theory video...

I loved the two episodes of Season 2 of Helluva Boss.

and my thoughts about Loona and Octavia are this...

I sib it, because once again not all “Ships” will be romantic, and you ONLY use the “I ship it” if it is gonna be the romantic type.

if it’s a sibling type thing, where it’s platonic and not romantic...

you use “I sib it.” and for family either adoptive or step-family...

you use “I fam it.”.....and for friendships, there is “I bud it.”

I think that Loona will be like a big sister and friend to Octavia, which would be both a I sib it and I bud it type.

anyway I’m gonna go watch a movie first, before I talk about a FNAF theory...

and maybe I will talk about a Undertale and Deltarune theory after that....

and maybe I will think about other nicknames for the royalty and nobility from Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel.

I’m still gonna call Mammon from Helluva Boss, by the nickname Manny.

maybe I will do another drawing of him wearing a shirt that says This Dork For Rent.....I think I might be really weird to come up with that idea...

it would of still been nice if I had did a drawing for Halloween but I didn’t get to, I did kind of sleep half through it, and only was able to wake up for the few hours left of Halloween, and I got to watch a movie during that time.

it just didn’t feel much like Halloween, I guess some might of felt this way before for some days, not just for Halloween.

hopefully when it does get to Christmas, it will feel like Christmas.

one of the things I can look forward to this month, before the next month where Christmas will be starting on....

is that on November, there will be a Season 3 of the Cuphead Show.

oh and this month I saw some new trailer for the Bendy and the Dark Revival, so it disproves any assumptions about that game being canceled.

just got to wait a few more days for Season 3 of the Cuphead Show.

also want to add that in theory, that Lucifer and Lilith from Hazbin Hotel, might either be very affectionate with each other and are very much in love which is how some fans write fan fic or fan art about them...

or they could be on the rocks and could be having a on-and-off type of thing going on....so there are two theories, one is that those two are madly and silly in love or two, they are having a little bit of a separation and coming close to a divorce but still see each other because they are on that “on-and-off” type of love....one of those two theories might be true...

#hazbin hotel theory #helluva boss theory #nicknames #royalty #nobility #mature audiences only #not for kids #talking about feelings

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perse-persecution · 3 years ago

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more dream smp skin symbolism

I can go on and on about this, and so I will! I’ve already talked about how Tommy, Sam, Dream, and Quackity have skins that highlight who they are, especially in the prison. But it’s not just them that have this, it’s almost everyone in the SMP!

Some characters have stayed fully human throughout the SMP, never gaining wings or scars or anything that was permanent, like Tommy or Tubbo, or even Niki, really. There are others too! (Tubbo really was just hurt emotionally, he stayed human even though he made bad choices, and never really went too far[I’m counting Ghostbur as a human even though he was see-through because it’s Ghostbur. His skin is a ghost.]) And some characters have inhuman traits like wings (this is only Phil but y’know) or horns, or they just don’t have any human attributes on them except for their faces.

And some just have glasses that hide their faces, or roses that change color. Or a mask!

Niki- You might call me out, saying that ‘Niki wanted to murder Tommy with Jack and has no inhuman traits, so your idea is flawed!’ but Niki got over it. Niki is baking again, Jack burned his house down. Niki may not be Tommy, but she’s never gained horns or covered her face.

Jack- Jack has his headset and that comes with glasses, and that hides his eyes. That’s what makes him inhuman to me, and we never see his eyes. He’s always hidden from everyone, even slightly, and he’s not human. His response to Tommy’s death is great and very human, celebrating and then realizing it really wasn’t what he wanted-but then again, he still clawed his way back from hell through pure spite and anger. That is not human.

Eret- Eret has glasses as well, hiding their face, and that plays well into the ‘never meant to be’ bit, but might not work in the long run, but it still does! Eret is still lost in the past, really, trying to make up for it. He’s built a museum and wrote books upon books and apologized so many times, but the glasses are her way of keeping the betrayal with them, always reminding them of the fact. They aren’t human, they’re still trying to make up for battles long gone through keeping the past from being long-gone, and such they are the past.

Hannah- Hannah definitely isn’t human, the roses on her arms changing colors and being attached to her being the main reasons why, though there is still some symbolism even with that. With the Egg, Hannah tried to fix the egg with roses, taking stacks and stacks with her. She tried to give them to it, and was trapped in a hole. The symbolism here is that Hannah uses nature to fix her problems, and fixes the nature that’s wrong (fixing the server!!) and adds to it in ways that pleases her (all the red roses). She tries to fix everything with them, and when they all turn against her she goes with them into the Egg’s control.

Badboyhalo- The devil skin is a bit literal, considering the events of the Egg, but it still works before that too! Bad’s always been the ‘devil’ to Tommy and maybe Quackity I guess, shouting at them when they curse and never playing into some bits. But when the Egg takes control, the red accents on his skin turn white, and that shows that he feels like he’s doing the right thing, that it’s all to help Skeppy, but the devil skin shows that’s it’s not, and he’s the real devil here.

Skeppy- Speaking of Skeppy, he’s always been just a diamond with a derpy face, and that sums up everything that Skeppy did before the Egg perfectly. He’s bright and pretty sharp, in some ways, but but still hilarious and comedic to a fault. Diamond with a derpy face. But then the egg came along, and one, changed his skin from blue to red, and two, got rid of the highlights that made the diamond itself pop. There’s much, much more red on him that any of the server members, Ant, Ponk, and Punz just getting red eyes, and Bad having none at all, the red on him turning white. It makes sense for Skeppy, the one with the most red, to be the most under the Egg’s control, and for Bad, who has no red, to be angry at Skeppy, later, for spending so much time with it. But the highlight removal made Skeppy look just like the Egg. Made him pretty much just fade into it, become one with it. The derpy face is still there, though, symbolizing Bad’s hope for the blue Skeppy to come back, though the rest of Skeppy seems to symbolize the opposite.

Technoblade- Techno has always been an anarchist in royals garb, and throughout everything on the server it shows that he has one goal (anarchy) and he will do everything to get it, even be used as a tool and ‘just as the blade’ (the Red Banquet) (also being in royals garb). He’s inhuman because though he has had character development, from mocking Quackity at his execution setup even though it was, like, his execution setup, to complimenting Sam on the prison, even though he knew it was a trap. Even though he claims to be closed off, he’s become such great friends with Ranboo and cares too much about Carl and his wolves than he says he does. He calls Dream a sentimentalist, but even though he knew he would be getting out of the prison, he still gave hope to Dream by means of the toilet. That shows another part of his inhuman-ness. He’s a pig. Pigs are friendly, sensitive, and intelligent, according to Google, and this fits Techno well. He tries to give hope to Dream, was friends with Tommy, is friends with Phil, Ranboo, and Niki, and that goes into the next bit. Sensitive. Technoblade is very sensitive to being used just as the blade, and it goes vice versa as well. He was genuinely touched when the Syndicate through him a birthday party and Ranboo gave him the new axe to replace his last one. He’s also very intelligent, using a Totem to get out of death and collecting mass amounts of withers ‘just for decoration...for now’.

Ranboo- Ranboo is pretty easy, like c’mon. Enderwalk and Ranboo, the white side and the black side. Easy. BUT WAIT. THERE’S MORE. The white side is more commonly as the friendly side (even though enderwalk is just Ranboo with different motivations) and yet the white side has a red eye, a color that literally gets people riled up. It shows that even when Ranboo is not in Enderwalk, he’s not happy-go-lucky. There’s something dangerous with him, and Wilbur picked up on this! He didn’t want to talk to Ranboo, comparing him to ‘the weird neighbor kid’ who ‘had something in his basement’ and was ‘going to put a spatula right through my skull!’. There’s something off about Ranboo even when he’s not Enderwalking, and that’s shown by his red eye and what people like to refer to as tear scars on that side of his face (even though the enderman side would be the one burned by it) But speaking of Enderwalk, the black side has a green eye, Tubbo’s color, and the color that is used as friendship a lot. It shows that, for Ranboo, Enderwalk isn’t some evil being, he isn’t plotting to kill people, he might be meeting with Dream, but so was Techno! And he’s not inherently evil. And Wilbur adores Dream! And Ranboo stated that he wasn’t inherently evil. Enderwalk is just Ranboo with different motivations. He was Enderwalking through the whole Disc War finale, holding his fourth book, but made no move to help Dream-but he made no move to help Tommy and Tubbo. (Enderchest was also in Dream’s possession vault, so Ranboo obviously wasn’t fully trustworthy to Dream) He stared up at Dream as he rose to go to prison, but that was it. And Enderwalk Ranboo was also at the Banquet! He was holding an axe at some point (maybe when the lava came down, I can’t remember) but he never interfered. He was just up on the balcony. Ranboo wouldn’t interfere either, he’d be to scared too, he’s a people pleaser. Techno, Quackity, and Purpled aren’t. Enderwalk isn’t Ranboo in what he does, as Ranboo doesn’t really remember it, but they are the same in their reasonings and how and when they would do something.

Phil- Phil had wings in the first moments when he joined the server, and then protected Wilbur with them and so they were damaged. Phil had a very warped idea of what had gone on before he came through Wilburs lies, and I feel his inhuman-ness spans from that, and the fact the he kept that warped idea and went too far with it. He thought that Wilbur didn’t want L’manburg to exist, because he thought that Wilbur won the election, and so even after he was dead, and after the whole Butcher Army, Phil’s instinct (as well as Techno’s) was to just blow it up, get rid of it, because that was what his son wanted and it would send a message to the people. He said himself, to Jack, that he started blowing up countries when he was forced to kill his own son, but he could have stepped away there, because Wilbur really wasn’t the constant in the situation. Wilbur hadn’t chosen to blow up the country because he didn’t like it anymore, he was going to blow it up because Schlatt ruined it for him, and that Phil didn’t understand. That’s why he’s inhuman, since he chose to kill Wilbur, he wasn’t forced. Phil’s gone against peer pressure and orders before when he saw that they were wrong, and that was also by a relative, Fundy. He loopholed his way out of house arrest, he could have jumped away from Wilbur, or just put him in stone so he wouldn’t die. He’s inhuman because he made choices that were because of events that didn’t exist, because he was living in an alternate world, really.

Wilbur- Wilbur doesn’t have inhuman features. A clear face, no scars, and a beanie. His jacket and morals have rotted in the dark, but he’s still pretty human, though his opinions on Dream and L’manburg change every second. The white streak in his hair is supposed to represent stress, I think, and well, it’s Wilbur. He made a fancy revolutionary outfit and never washed it once, because he was too devoted to L’manburg to let go of it, or anything connected to it, for a single second. Then came Pogtopia, where he ditched everything in favor of clothes that blended in with the cave walls. He insulted the revolutionary outfit, and kept the trench coat until he died. Then, Revivebur had the bandage across his arm because he ran to the train too fast, showing how desperate Wilbur was to get out from death. He’s changed so much, and his changes are real, unlike Dream’s, as Dream has kept the same skin, but Wilbur hasn’t. He’s changed physically, and has gotten more and more torn outfits every time.

Ponk- He has a face mask that hides everything but his eyes, and I feel that shows his way of making sure you never know if he’s joking about something or not. He joked about how much time Sam spent with him, even though Sam hated the egg, and still tried to keep a keycard even after Sam was going to chop of his arm (and did so) for them. He has a chaotic nature to everyone, trying to prank Foolish right now and wearing red contacts only so the Eggpire would leave him alone. He made a Road Trip joke as his toast at the Banquet, and it was totally in character! His mouth being hidden makes it so that he can be joking and you’ll never see it coming.

Schlatt- The-the guy has horns. He’s a goat. Loud, (the EMPEROR of the GREAT NATION) cross eyed, (Schlatt is drunk for his introduction and his death, he is totally cross eyed). I’ve also seen people put him down as a ram, and that reckless ‘they want me to get them president, I’ll be my OWN president!’ and then tearing down the walls, executing Wilbur and Tommy, things that were so surprising and came out of nowhere they just about-they jus-they just rammed into us head on! He’s inhuman because he wants to be powerful (the BIg Man Gym) and wants to use the people around him to show his power, and is so reliant on them that he has no power at all.

Fundy- He’s a fox, and ha been compared as a ‘backbiter’ and ‘foxheart’ many times, and while those are viable ways to go, other parts on his skin, earlier, show some other things. In L’manburg, Fundy was the only person who had a different outfit from the others (at that time) and didn’t get any position in L’manburg at the end of the war, just being called Wilbur’s ‘little champion’. He had a crayon suit, and wasn’t respected by Wilbur at all, and when Schlatt came along and finally seemed to recognize him as someone who was valuable, Fundy shed the revolutionary garb quick, burning and building and leaving Niki quick as well. He might not be constantly switching his skin, like Wilbur, but after L’maburg he never was on aside for long enough to get a uniform other than L’manburg, his regular skin, and the aprons for the Butcher Army. He’s a fox that switches boat, and that makes him inhuman because everyone else is firmly on a side, against sides as a whole, or the thing everyone hates and is on his own side (Which is Dream).

Karl- Karl is very human, as he has a funky sweater and a normal human skin. But that skin changes when he gets back from time travelling, and when he is in the Tales. He’s like a chameleon, his skin fitting the environment in the Tales and the Inbetween, but the important bit is that when he gets back to the present he’s a very bright, multicolored blob. In the Inbetween he has an all white skin, in the Other Side it’s all black, and in the Masquerade specifically he kept to blues and purples, I think, as those were the colors his mask was. Him being a chameleon in the Tales also fits well with how he just fits right into the story, like an added fisherman, or a cameraman, or just another guest-the only ones he doesn’t fit in with are the ones that are closely tied with the real present. The Haunted mansion had Connor and Glatt in it, and Karl really just interrupted their fun. In The City That Went Mad, Karl was the narrator, and The City That Went Mad has been mentioned SO many times, Quackity being a descended from Helga and Ponk being descended from Jack the potato farmer. In the present, Karl stayed with Schlatt through the Pogtopia era after being the judge of the debate, and I have no idea why other than because he didn’t know what to do.

Purpled- Purpled is pretty much implied to be an alien, but for all skin measures he looks perfectly human, ignoring that everything he wears, and his eye color, is purple. I like Purpled, and the fact that he switched sides the same way Punz did, and used almost the same words Punz did, but he’s still so much different and more human? In a way? Than Punz, in how he reacts to being called a hero by Foolish, or joining Pogtopia the second he was going to be killed, since Manburg didn’t line up to his ideals anyways. Purpled isn’t the hero, he’s really just a background character for most of the lore, coming up a couple of times, but he’s not really too important, and he and Quackity know this, Quackity used it against him to try and get him to join Las Nevadas! He tries his best to be a hero and always falls short, not being able to save Foolish, having to join Las Nevadas, and that’s what makes him inhuman, because he’s trying. He tries his best to be the good guy, unlike Tommy, really, right now. Tommy knew breaking into the prison to kill Dream wasn’t the right thing to do, he said it himself! Tommy said he didn’t want to be a hero in response to Techno, but he’s still the protagonist. Purpled is trying, and we’re starting now to see that in full, and see how inhuman he really is because it’s not paying off.

Punz- Punz is like Purpled, until he’s not. He was hired to Manburg to fight for Schlatt and he did! He did fight for Schlatt, and had no qualms with it. He betrayed Dream to help Tommy and Tubbo, and then joined the Egg. He’s not the most human character, despite looking it, and he’s quite inhuman in the fact that he’s never been the hero. He was bribed by Tommy to help give him pearls and blaze rods in the first disc skirmish, and now was bribed to save them from Dream one last time! Punz wouldn’t do that if Tommy hadn’t given him money, he would have stayed neutral, and I feel that shows his inhuman-ness.

I’ll be doing Puffy, Connor, Calahan (maybe), Alyssa (maybe), Antfrost, and others as well as some more analyses soon!

#dsmp #c!karl #c!punz #c!purpled #c!philza #c!ponk #c!schlatt #c!hannah #c!ranboo #c!wilbur #c!techno #c!skeppy #c!badboyhalo #c!jack manifold #c!niki #c!fundy #c!eret #rambles

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aceofspadegrass · 4 years ago

Note

Can you maybe make a fic of just me and Niragi chilling and hangin out together at the beach?,just Niragi being calm for just one day.

(Of course his lynx and Fanta has to be there...and Dori)

And then Niragi would question things such as "Can I see your hair?" And I would say "No,only girls and family relatives can see it" "Why aren't men aloud to see your hair?" "Because,they will judge on just by or appearance and not our personality" "So does that mean,Kuina,Ann and Mira can see your hair?" "Yes,yes they can. We even has a girls sleepover party at Kuina's room that day with Ace and Chloe" And Dori dressing up as a women is like "A-and I'm not invited!?" "Dori,you're a boy..a grown man dressing up as smexy lady-"

A Chat with Ila

Characters: @a-simp-20, Niragi Suguru, Dori Sakurada

Genre: Fluff. Just @a-simp-20 vibing with Dori and Niragi and talking about hijabs! :D

1.4k words

Hehe, sorry I finally got around to this! I was taking a little fanfic break after posting 6 fics in a row, you understand right? (I say break as if it hasn’t even been a week pfft-)

I’m going to try my best to incorporate your culture, okay? Okay. :D I hope you like it @a-simp-20! Here, have this nice picture as well. (Sorry for tagging you three times in a row-)

It was late into the day, and wandering about the Beach was a group. It consisted of two men, a lady, and two animals, happily chatting amongst each other about normal topics, like how soft pillows were and the legality of eating fried crickets as a snack.

Which, by the way, was completely legal in certain cultures.

Fanta was happily trotting besides Dori, who was more focused on trying to paint his nails with clear polish on the move, humming a song. On the other side of him was Catra, the lynx wearing a rubber duck on her head for the sheer fun of it. Said rubber duck had a tiny felt cap on it, tiny lettering spelling the word ‘Chicken’ in Hiragana.

People naturally got out of the way upon seeing Niragi, but Niragi wasn’t even paying attention to them, knowing full well his sheer presence was enough to cause a reaction. That way he could focus on talking to Ila about totally normal human endeavours.

“ Have you ever sat in a bath in the dark with a little bit of light? It’s actually really soothing as long as you’re not scared of the dark, and it’s really quiet too!” Ila chirps, walking besides the bottle of black tea, Niragi shrugging. He’s never really had the time for himself for something like that. It sounded amazing though, and maybe when he had the time he would do it, even using scented candles and even bath salts. Ila smiles up at him. “ Aww, you really should, you look like you need one!”

“ Wh- Hey! What does that supposed to mean?!” Niragi accuses as he looks down at Ila, who smiles at him.

“ It’s really nice, that’s all! Especially here, where there’s so much violence going on, there needs to be a time to relax and ease your stress!”

Niragi just squints at her, then leaves it be. Ila had good intentions, so he just continues onwards, Dori humming behind Niragi and Ila.

“ If you want to, Niragi, I wouldn’t mind it if you wanted to borrow some of my bath salts! They’re some of my favourites, but don’t expect them to smell like anything. I prefer the unscented ones.” Dori offers Niragi, who just waves off his doppelgänger as they approach the TV room. The group enters, Fanta and Catra hopping onto the couch and claiming it as their own until Niragi shooed them off to sit on the ground instead. Fanta was a lot more nicer about that, Catra baring her teeth a little at Niragi, the overcooked barbecue giving her the disappointed dad look complete with his hand on his hip until Catra finally complied, Ila taking a seat right where the cat was previously, Dori taking the other side of the couch. That left Niragi to the middle, but he doesn’t take a seat just yet, heading over to the DVD case to pick out a movie for them to pass the time with. He pulls out a random case, squinting at the cover.

“ Hey, Sakurada. Why the hell are you on this?” Niragi holds the case up and looks to Sakurada. Sakurada comes over and peers at the case, gasping a little in recognition.

“ Oh! That’s Orange! It’s actually really good!” Dori smiles happily at seeing his face on the cover, even if it was really small. Niragi hums, looking at the cover. He points to the main characters on the cover, squinting at it.

“ The fuck, why are these two on here-“

“ Hm? Oh, that’s just Yamazaki and Tsuchiya! They’re actors as well! I kind of hope they’re alright, I haven’t seen them around lately-“

“ How many of you clone fuckers are out there-“

“ Well technically-“

Niragi holds a hand up, hushing Sakurada. “ Never mind, I don’t care anymore. Let’s just watch this.” Sakurada mutely nods and goes back to sitting on the couch, Fanta hopping back up and splaying his body across Sakurada’s lap, Sakurada chuckling in amusement and giving his dog a few belly tickles. Ila was visibly happy as well, Niragi sliding in the disc and going to sit down as the movie started to run.

Two hours later, and Ila was already talking about the movie and how nice it was, Sakurada nodding along with her as she went on. Niragi remained quiet, admittedly not having paid much attention to the movie or its plot, using it more like background noise and eye candy as he zoned out. He wasn’t really much of a romance drama movie kind of guy anyways, got too mushy for his taste.

Still, no use in spoiling Ila and Sakurada’s joy in the movie. Even Fanta seemed to be joining in on the fun, tail wagging excitedly as he sat there on Sakurada’s lap. Catra had sat at the foot of the couch the entire time, content where she was and occasionally grooming her huge paws and then settling said paws on Niragi’s foot and kneading it. It was a weird experience, but ultimately harmless.

The conversation soon died down, shifting to fashion sense, and Niragi’s attention moves to Ila, more importantly on the hijab on her head. It was actually a pretty salmon colour, and his staring contest with the side of her head went on too long, as his eyes met with a very amused face, Ila blinking and waving a hand in front of his face, snapping him out of it.

“ Is something wrong? Is there like…. lint on my head?”

“ Ah, no- Just wondering why you wear that. I don’t think anyone has seen your hair.” “ Well, men haven’t! That’s kind of the point! I’m a Muslim, and that means women wear these as a sign of modesty.” Niragi tilts his head. Why be modest here? It’s the Borderlands, technically anyone can do whatever they want. Then again, he guesses it applies to wearing it the same way as not wearing it. “ So….. why not?”

“ Well, it’s simple! We want people to not look for appearances and instead look for what’s right here!” She pats her chest, right where the heart was. “ It’s to keep men unrelated to us from seeing something they aren’t allowed to! If you were, for example, to marry a Muslim woman, then she’s allowed to show her hair to you, but only then! Otherwise that’s off limits to you!” Ila explains happily, Niragi slowly nodding and taking in the info.

“ So…. what about the ones that aren’t men?”

“ Then they’re allowed to see my hair! In fact, we, as in Ann, Kuina, Chloe, and Mira have sleepovers over in Kuina’s room! It’s actually really fun! Oh, but immediate male family members are allowed, but that’s it!”

There was a mildly offended gasp from Sakurada, who holds his hand over his heart. “ What? And I’m not invited to them? Even though I look stylish?”

Ila giggles, shaking her head. “ Even if you wear the prettiest dress and the nicest wig, you’re still identified as a male, and can’t be allowed to see my hair, Sakurada! It’s nothing against you, you’re doing great, it’s just how my religion functions between the relationship between men and women! It also means you and Niragi aren’t to touch me, even in a friendly context!” “ Wh- So you’ve never had a hug?” Niragi furrows his eyebrows a little, confused.

“ I have, just not with men.” Ila explains politely, still smiling. “ Being polite and modest is just how we are, that’s all! Of course, some cases of being touched by men are absolutely necessary, like with doctors, but when we can, we highly prefer not to be touched by non-mahram.” Niragi and Sakurada both nod at her words, Fanta barking. Sakurada point to Fanta. “ Does Fanta count?”

“ Well, not really? There’s technically different rules in set for dogs, but that’s for another time.” Ila responds, and gets up with a hum. “ Hey, wanna go see how many plastic ducks we can fit in Chishiya’s room?” Niragi grins, getting up so fast off the couch it almost was like he was ejected from it by a spring and running out the door, Fanta barking and running after him, Sakurada chuckling and getting up at a reasonable pace.

“ Come on, what are you waiting for! Let’s go fuck with the whipped cream pie!” Niragi yells, Ila laughing and following behind him along with the rest of the squad. It was a pleasant evening for some chaos after a nice long chat.

#aib #alice in borderland #aib fanfic #alice in borderland fanfic #niragi suguru #sakurada dori #niragi deserves a cat #I went ahead and did a bit of research to make sure that it was accurate enough-#this was actually really nice to write not gonna lie-#i don't know your stance on eating fried crickets so I kept it mostly vague-#it really just became a part of talking about muslim culture in a normal conversation #a real teaching moment for them :D #yes I included a sakurada acting career reference just because-#p.s. they got 102 ducks in his room before chishiya noticed-#ask

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ambitiousskychild · 5 years ago

Text

Glasses

It was just supposed to be for a little while. Just until they could fix his lenses. Two days tops, and then he’d have his glasses back. Contacts are torture, actual-ass torture, and he can’t be fucked to deal with them a single second longer than he needs to.

Of course, that’s what he said two days ago.

That’s the hill he would have stupidly died on two days ago before he bravely went to school expecting the very worst and instead got a whole bunch of positive reinforcement that, okay, maybe he was wrong. Maybe, on second thought, contacts aren’t quite so horrible. Maybe in the end, all they are are innocent clear little discs that, alternatively to glasses, open up your face so people can actually see it, and maybe, okay just maybe people have different opinions on his face—now that they can see it—than he’d always been led to believe.

Before, he would have said he’s always known what he looks like. He knows that he’s tall and gangly and awkward with a too-large nose and only-recently perfected teeth. He’s known that he’s pasty and loud and that his glasses, though ridiculous, surely aren’t the most ridiculous thing about him.

Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Because usually, people don’t really see him, but now people stare at him like he’s a different person—and maybe he is without his glasses. He certainly feels like one. Maybe in a weird, ridiculously fitting way, his glasses have been holding him back all this time. Like—like Velma from Scooby-Fucking-Doo, or even fucking Steve Urkel when he turns into Stephon, and isn’t that fucking nuts.

That’s how it feels when people stare at him these days. Like he’s not quite so much a dweeb anymore, and he doesn’t really know what to do with it.

Bill Denbrough himself tells him that he looks really good, which Richie doesn’t think Bill’s ever said to him in his entire life and he just does not know what to do with that. He doesn’t know what to do when Stan gives him a once over and ends it with a smile rather than a fondly exasperated sigh, or when Ben tells him he looks so grown up, or when he locks eyes with Eddie who does an up-to-now completely unprecedented doubletake.

“Wow,” he drawls, with his wide endless eyes so open and focused it’s scary. “You look like a real person.”

“As opposed to what?”

“A cartoon character,” he clarifies, which makes Richie laugh while Eddie just stares. He stares as the others continue to react, then he opens his mouth like he wants to say something else, then evidently changes his mind and leaves instead.

It’s weird.

And it’s like that for the next couple of days.

For the next couple of days, people see him. In the hallways and in class. They talk to him like he’s worth getting to know, like he’s somebody, and Eddie stares with that strange expression Richie can’t really decipher.

Some stupid part of himself wants to think that when Eddie looks at him like that, he’s star struck. Eddie stares at him like he’s never seen him before. He stares at him like he can’t look away, like he just can’t stop himself. It shocks Richie uncharacteristically silent, makes his mouth go dry, tongue like cotton in his mouth whenever he finds himself thoughtlessly looking around for Eddie only to find him already looking back.

Then midway through the week, he gets his glasses back.

He and his mom go pick them up after school and then his problem is officially over. He can take the hell-lenses out of his eyes, pop back on his frames and move on from this altogether weird experience. That’s what he tells himself.

And in the morning, he shoves the contacts back into his eyes and calls himself a dirty liar.

Just for the rest of the week, he tells himself, then he’ll stop. He’ll fill up on having positive attention for once, then he’ll stop. He’ll stock up on whatever having this version of Eddie’s attention means… then he’ll stop.

Come Friday, he already doesn’t believe himself, though. The losers go their separate ways after school with plans to meet up and waste time tomorrow, and Richie goes home, mind racing with thoughts of Eddie’s eyes on his and the set of his lips.

He thinks he’ll be stuck wearing these stupid contacts forever if it means Eddie will look at him like that. He thinks, as he falls asleep that night, that’s the stupid sacrifice he’s willing to make.

In the morning, he’s pulled rudely from floaty, blurry dreams by an incessant knocking sound somewhere that keeps going and going until he foggily realizes someone must be at the door. Until he realizes that his parents must not be here to answer it, so he’s going to have to get up and answer it himself.

Sleepily, he grabs his glasses off his nightstand, slips on a shirt and stumbles his way downstairs, bumping blindly into corners and doorknobs all the way. He yanks open the front door and nearly gets Eddie’s knuckles against his chest.

“Oh!” Eddie says, rearing back a bit in surprise. “Richie.”

Richie blinks blearily down at a pouting Eddie, takes in his pastel-colored polo and his scuffed up shoes. Takes in his wild, bewildered eyes and tries to make sense of it. “Expecting someone else?” he yawns.

Eddie looks up at him with furrowed brows, lips pressed together. “It’s one. You were supposed to meet us an hour ago.”

“What am I in trouble?”

“Just let me in.”

Upstairs, Eddie starts to relax, thick brows unfurrowing, shoulders unhunching. He’s sitting on the bathroom counter as Richie brushes his teeth. He’s got his arms folded across his chest as he leans against the mirror, one leg drawn up to his body as the other swings untethered, foot smacking lightly against the cabinet because his legs still aren’t long enough to reach the floor.

Richie watches Eddie’s foot swing so he doesn’t have to see his reflection any longer, doesn’t have to see the way his glasses magnify his eyes, the way they draw attention to his nose and block his cheekbones.

“Stan told me to remind you to put on sunscreen,” Eddie pipes up. Richie looks up to see him just about glaring down at the counter. “So you don’t fucking burn and peel in the sun like a fruit.”

“Oh, is Stan going to be the one to rub it on me?” Richie garbles. “Or do you want the job?”

“Don’t fucking talk with the toothpaste in your mouth,” Eddie snaps, sighing like he’s exasperated, but his small smile says otherwise. He still won’t meet Richie’s eyes though and that won’t do.

“That’s not really a no, you know.”

“Spit it out if you’re going to fucking talk! You know I hate when you do this.”

“Yeah, I know, that’s why I do it,” Richie laughs, but nonetheless, spits into the sink as unfavorably as he possibly can, watches as Eddie grimaces at him.

“You’re like a fucking animal,” Eddie tells him, a muted smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

Richie nods smugly back as he rinses out his mouth, watches the way Eddie stares at him, small smile spreading and spreading, so Richie’s heart races and races until he knows he has to stop looking.

He removes his glasses, reaching for his contacts—

“Wait.”

Richie pauses, waits for Eddie to continue, but instead Eddie just stares like he’s surprised himself just as much as he’s surprised Richie. “Uh, why?”

“Because we’re gonna swim,” Eddie says. “You can’t go swimming in the dirty quarry water with contacts in your eyes.”

“Why not?”

“Are you kidding?”

“Well then I just won’t swim.”

“Oh, like you’re not gonna swim.”

“I won’t!”

“Bullshit, Richie, just wear your glasses.”

“No way, dude, apparently I’m hot like this. Your mom even—”

“If you finish that fucking sentence—”

Richie laughs, but suddenly can’t stand Eddie’s scrutiny. He twists the legs of his frames between his fingers under what he knows, even blind, is the weight of Eddie’s gaze. “Everybody likes me better like this.”

“Everybody,” Eddie scoffs, and Richie half wishes he could see Eddie’s expression, but is mostly glad he can’t. “Says who? Who the fuck is everybody?”

“You said I don’t look like a cartoon anymore,” Richie admits with a small laugh. “You know, you look at me different now. Like you see me. Like you don’t mind.” He can see a blurry Eddie just a foot away, staring at him like he just shook the world and drops his gaze back to his fingers, back to his glasses.

“So, me?” Eddie asks slowly, like he’s bewildered. “I’m everybody?”

“That’s not what I meant,” Richie backpedals, tries to laugh it off, but he sees Eddie roll his eyes.

“That’s literally what you just said,” Eddie says back. Richie can’t help but glance up only to see Eddie a little less blurry than before, a little closer, leaned just so over the edge of the counter, and Richie contemplates, briefly, just running right out of his house. “You said everybody and then talked about something I said specifically.”

“Okay, well you’re part of everybody. Like everybody is.”

“So, everybody tells you you look like a cartoon?”

“Okay, like, no, but—”

Eddie laughs. “Are you listening to yourself?”

Richie laughs helplessly back. “You know I usually don’t.” He’s somehow a combination of amused and embarrassed as he stares down at the blurry line of Eddie’s leg against the counter. He watches, almost frozen as Eddie’s hand moves across the counter and closes around his glasses.

“Yeah, you do,” Eddie rolls his eyes, hands coming up to carefully slide the glasses onto Richie’s face, and Richie stares dumbstruck as the love of his life comes into perfect clarity. Eddie is staring him right in the eye like he’s someone worth seeing, and he looks so soft. Soft like Richie’s bringing it out of him, soft like Richie’s got the power to even do that, soft like a dream. And Richie is hopelessly trapped in Eddie’s honeyed gaze as his thumbs tap the legs of Richie’s glasses over his ears and says, “You listen to that dumb voice inside that gives you shit all the time. The fucked-up one that told you no one sees you like this.”

“Hah,” Richie chokes out, throat full of nerves as he realizes how close Eddie is. He tries to laugh it off, but it only comes out strangled. “Okay, you can stop fucking looking directly into my soul now—”

“Will you just shut up and let me tell you that I see you?”

“I—huh?” Richie asks breathlessly.

Eddie looks just as breathless. “You blind motherfucker, I like you. Like this. Glasses and everything, okay? So if you wanna wear your dumb contacts because you like them, then whatever, but if it’s because you think no one sees you like this, then—” Eddie shrugs but it’s defensive because he’s nervous about Richie of all people—it makes Richie feel like he can’t breathe.

“You kidding?” Richie manages, heart beating a mile a minute as Eddie stares at him like that. “I’d probably fucking sleep in these if you said that’s what you wanted.”

And Eddie rolls his eyes, says, “You’re so fucking stupid,” then kisses him, lightening quick before Richie can do a thing about it, pulls away before Richie can follow, and stares up at him, looking just as surprised as Richie is. Face blooming redder, Eddie jumps down off the counter and ducks around him. “We’re late, come on,” he calls over his shoulder. Richie hears him hit the stairs, footsteps quick and frantic like he can’t stop moving, like he’s worked himself up.

Richie can’t say he doesn’t feel the same.

Before he leaves the bathroom, he catches himself in the mirror, red-faced and grinning, glasses big and a little crooked over his face, but fitting. Just the way Eddie apparently likes him.

#reddie #ficlet #my writing #richie tozier #eddie kaspbrak #richie's glasses are a character in their own right #i'm right and i should say it

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prettywarriors · 4 years ago

Note

what are some of your favorite and least favorite magical girl raising project designs? and your thoughts on magical daisy just because she's my fav

Heck yes opinion time! But first what you asked for:

Magical Daisy Good. The yellows-browns-beige works really well with both the purple accents and the minty green hair. She has pleats distributed evenly through her design, and they work in tandem with both the ribbons and with the daisies through her outfit without it getting too busy. I like her detached sleeves with gloves, and I am a sucker for practical footwear on a MG (both for them and for possible cosplayers) I’m not Crazy about the. Pouch? Asymmetrical bustle? The thing off her waist on her right. But it balances with her off-center headdress and has the same small design on it so it get’s a pass. Her hair is simple, but I like it and I think it works for her A good design for an anime (if the MGRP anime had done really well, do you think we would have gotten an in-universe magical daisy episode?)

Other opinions under the cut

Haha only giving opinions on 3 girls? I’m reading Peaceful Days now so enjoy my speed thoughts on MGRP-Aces outfits.

But first Maruino deserves so much recognition because her use of cream and dark brown in place of white and black whenever possible, combined with her chibi style and general color pallet choices, is so good. I know I’ve talked about the LN look vs the anime looks here before, but some designs would just look not nearly as good if she didn’t know how to use colors as well as she does

MGRP:

Snow White- School uniform with an armband indicating she is someone who can help, but with flowers. It’s cute, it’s fairly simple compared to other mgrp outfits, I like the big flowers on the sides of her outfit over the ones hanging from the ribbons off her back. A solid look, but not a winner in my book

Ripple- This is going to come up with quite a few of these designs but I like basically everything but the body. I like the sleeves, the geta are great, love the one ponytail with big shuriken, scarf brings great contrast to the rest of the color scheme, bikini top with ribbons attaching it to a wrapped skirt? The skirt feels like this could have been a keikogi but the top is almost wholly unadorned and overall I wish this was a better look than it is

La Pucelle- Great idea, meh execution. Knight And Dragon? Love it! The navy blue for military feels with armor and goes well with the gold&cream&brown. Her horns are cute! I like the tail- it fits the character and isn’t too large or distracting. Once again I like the arms-neck-legs but the body is. a bikini with a drapery bit off the top and the tabard. The tabard is good! But why is she in her underwear? Give pants???

-And yes I know swimsuits cover just as much as underwear but this isn’t a swimsuit and it’s a lazy way to cover what needs to be cover and not even try to make that area of a design more interesting. This doesn’t apply just to LP or even MGRP I have seen comments on this before and unless the character’s outfit is an actual bathing suit, try harder.

Top Speed- A wife. A halloween wife. God I lover her personality and her outfit is definitely on the simple end of mgrp outfits but very fitting. The colors are great, love the hat and the tall boots, the cape stripes might be my least favorite bit? But I feel if it was solid it would be too bland so. And the end of her braids looks like a broom. I love her. Good design.

Ruler- I hate this. But why..... Is it the navy blue is a singular piece? I liked Ripple’s scarf for contrast but maybe this piece isn’t large enough? Her head things look like two crowns on the sides of her head and their weird and. Not awful? But not great. The cape looks chunky at the end? In a weird way? Or is it the drop waist on the top. I know I don’t like the butt fluff. I do like the shoes&leggings? pants? And her crown and hair stars. bad/10 for reasons I can not place

Swim Swim- Techno demon in the accessories, pure schoolgirl in swim class in the torso. The white suit+black devil wings is good as character contrast , and her....hip...discs? have demony tails which is good, but the big headphones and floating disc things work great with the shoes but not with the rest of the outfit? This is two outfits in one but not in a good way. Pick a lane.

Minael&Yunael- They might not be super-murders but boy that’s their only redeeming trait. I do not like them as fictional people. And outfitwise? Meh. I like the chat balloon halos, and the one wing look for the two of them works, and again the use of Navy rather than pure black is good, but the old fashioned dress with a bib is. boring. and not in a simple way just not interesting? Like I think if the stiped bib thing was removed it might look better? This also might be a secret hatred of mine as I think I have figured out from a later outfit. For now- boo

Tama- Are you spotted or brown&white? Her fluff bits and legs say spotted and her ears and tail and paws say brown and white and I wish we’d pick a lane? Also not crazy about the butt-length cape. I do like the bone clasp and the hood, and you have to have big ol paws for a dog girl. She’s. Fine. Just fine.

Nemurin- Her hair clouds say magical girl, the rest says generic cute sleepy anime girl. I like the socks, and her hair, but she’s not that interesting? Don’t get me wrong she’s cute but the bulk of her design is Big PJs. The candy clasp is nice as a sweet dreams thing? Sorry Endo

Calamity Mary- Titty fur. Boots with spurs and arms with fringe and mini cowboy hat are all good, and her skirt is. A little boring but fine. But the best part of her top is the sheriff badge. If we’re committed to evil=slutty=evil, you can still make a more appealing lewd top than a bikini over some fluff. Let sluts be sexy? Stay dead bitch.

Magicaloid 44- Elementary schoolgirl but robot. Bulky but in that smooth modern look. I’m a sucker for hair horns, even when they’re metal or plastic, and she just has a good silhouette. But her colors could be better? I will say her mn art has her skirt look like a skirt, and the anime said This Is A Solid Hunk Of Plastic/Metal and I think that works better. Swap her dark brown bits for a navy to go with her skirt and i think i’d be out of complaints

Sister Nana- There are multiple MG nuns. What’s up with that. Good use of sexy belts for theme consistency, but I with there was more red up top or her shoes were a different color. 9/10 for dirty nun

Weiss Winterprison- Girl I love you why is your outfit not good as a MG look or even really as an outfit. Your practical looking boots have heels, your colors are boring and messy, you have like. belts but not enough for them to look interesting? Gurl I love you do something with this bland mess.\

Cranberry- ‘I love this’ I say threw clenched teeth. I love green and flower motifs, and I like boleros and big sleeves. But I’m not that into this? I think it’s that her top looks like a nice shirt that’s a little long and then she. Just has leggings on and a big belt. I guess the buckle is like. A big thorn? And i’m into tunics with leggings but this doesn’t? do that in a way I like? The red-blue roses are a nice contrast to the green and creme but i just. I have no idea I want to be in love with this and it’s Middling for me. More elf ear’d MGs pls

Hardgore Alice- I love alice, I am a fan of edgy spins on stuff(sorry), so I’m a bit disappointed? And I think it’s just the colors? I love the checkered pockets and the striped stockings and bows and the headband and apron and bloomers and dress shape and even her eye bags (mood). I guess I just wish there was more of the off white-maybe for the full apron? or even the bloomers? I love you please re-color.

Restart:

Keek- This bitch might win it for worst look. I like her hair color, and giant sleeves, and the cd and rubix cube are nice touches for an outfit, but what outfit. A bikini top and slightly-larger-than-usual underwear style bottom with a big plate of metal? Are those supposed to be shorts??? Points for normal shoes but take off the coat and this is nothing. And the coat isn’t much to begin with. 0/10 might take home the gold

Clantail- I wish the apron part was gone? But the colors are good tho I do have a question about the horns- they’re cute but if she can change her lower body to other animals they won’t always fit very well? And her necklaceuhhh tattoo? is odd. But she’s fine

Pechika- Good colors, like the feathers, I wish the chef’s coat had a different fit but it’s good. Could go without the tail. Also has some almost military feeling elements like the hair cross and the? epaulets? This is a spats stan account

Rionetta- Great use of colors, patterns, ribbons, has a specific look that works great for the doll dress. Hell year ball joints and weird eyes. Wonderful. I hate it. No fucking clue why. Like with the angels maybe? I hate strips? Except I don’t. Maybe just in specific situations? Or I hate multiple patterns? Rio looks good. I just see her and go into a rage.

Nonako Miyokata- A very good look overall, just not super Magical Girl? Definitely magical miko but. The yin yang accessories feel a tad out of place- replace them with existing themes or add them in elsewhere

Magical Daisy- Still good

Nokko- This is just a maid. A cute maid with a weird choice of hair decor, but I think she got her outfit at the same shop as Milkit. *shrug*

@Meow-Meow- boy I hope I didn’t just at someone for real. I like her colors and tail, poofy detached sleeves are good, her top works with the open dress. I’m a fan of detailed edging on a piece, and it works with the pattern. I’d’ve liked to see more of the bells that are on her wrists? I guess she had a racist accent originally though which yikes.

Genopsyko Yumenoshima- A great sentai outfit, love the helmet ears and the tail. Not good as a magical girl outfit unless we fully dissolve the mg/sentai line. But the suit is great, slightly oversized gloves, and retro lasergun that doesn’t even work? Yesssss.

Detec Bell- Fwuffy. Great hat, love the dress, a good use of a cape, simple but very good. I feel a feel some of the ribbons could be changed up but a solid if simple design.

Lapis Lazuline (2)- Cute starry tiger princess? I guess I’m a fan of navy and brown because i’m into it here too. Good use of the silvery details on the sleeves and dress bottom, and the links both at the cape clasp and on the boots. Really nice.

Melville- Bootleg Cranberry in every way. I like her over-pants and sleeve-cape, but the weird bib-top under the bikini top is a bad shape? Hair roses good and leg thorns do get a thumbs up.

Cherna Mouse- If the turtle gets it’s own distinct look, why is Cherna just baby+ hamster? The hood is cute, and I dig the boots which work with the shoulder things, but said things don’t go with the toddler one piece+cape. She reminds me of Moetan and that is a bad thing.

Pfle- Ohhh this bitch. I may have been reading these books but I have no damn idea what she is up to and I hate it. Love her eyepatch tho. Super cute throne-wheelchair and it continues the bird motif. Her dress is nice but not that interesting? Seems more generic old timey fancy lady dress than Magical. Honestly I could go for some mixing up of the colors here? The dress and hair and throne all are a bit too similar. Maybe make the dress wine?

Shadow Gale- I like her look but I don’t feel it says nurse as much as it’s supposed to? Her aces profile honestly gives Rue vibes. It’s very monochromatic but I guess that works for her. Big fan of her skirt, kindof with it went all the way around. Solid design

Masked Wonder- Who? I refuse to play person5 because it’s been overhyped but isn’t this one of them? Not awful as a phantom thief outfit, but doesn’t say magical girl phantom thief at all. I do like the roses on the belt and. garters? Kindof wish we’d loose the color on the cape because it clashes more than anything with the rest of the look

Akane- I like her long hair flower. But her samurai-kimono look doesn’t feel blended well enough imo and the colors are too over the place while still being bland.

Lake of Fire Flame Flamey- Hell if I know how she looks I just love typing that name

Limited:

Weddin- Good colors, a bit too busy? The chains+roses+lace doesn’t feel well balanced. But the flame and ankle chain are balanced because Maruino is good at asymmetrical details

Captain Grace- A pirate magical girl? Is she legit the only one from any main stream series? Well she set the bar high. The captain coat is great, multiple small anchors, the hat, and her skirt(?) is very cute. I guess the sole of the boots stands out a bit? But very solid (wait is that a tail? or a butt hook? :/)

Funny Trick- If Las vegas was a magical girl. Colors and silhouette are good, I’m just not vibing with this. sorry girl

Kuru-kuru Hime- Yiss more ballet themed outfits. Good colors, love the shape of the giant back bow. I could go without the big ribbon coming off the headpiece? It’s nice

Postarie- Buttwings! I love her hair shape, just. Not a fan of the orange and green colors? She’s a delivery girl but feels more marching band. It’s a good design, just doesn’t feel fitting? Great just not for her

Rain Pow- Now this is a sci-fiy look while still saying magical girl. The tail is yet another weird thing, and I could go without the permeant ring behind her, but the shape of her outfit is very good, and love the silly heart hair. Wish the gloves were a different color? But this is up there

Tepsekemei- Genie outfits being problematic isn’t something I can speak to, but this is a solid genie look with additions to feel different, specifically the lotuses. It’s good, and I haven’t seen flying turtles since love hina so. Good for her.

Mana- You’re not a magical girl. Maybe I just hate bibs? The hat is great and snake leg is fun, I wish her collar was actually smaller to stand out more? It’s a fine mage look i guess

Hana Gekokujou- Great use of hair color as contrast to a committed color scheme. A cute traditional bunny look. Not personally my favorite but it is Good.

7753- Big Coat! Giant heart braids! Consistent heart theme! It’s bland compared to a lot of the other outfits, and I don’t think her flat heart uhh hair? pieces? like rain pow? work as well with her. But I think she works well for a member of the resources department. Wait is her hat backwards? Amazing

Archfiend Pam- I’m mostly a fan of this. The top is great, it’s carried through at one hip, she has the weird arm guy to keep her asymmetry going on. I just wish she’d commit to either fur Or pleats as trim? Both is a weird texture choice

Pythie Frederica- This bitch took a while for her proper appearance. I love the horns on the hood, and the stars throughout work well. I really don’t care for her skirtdress though? It’s too long and in ribbons and feels almost jellyfish-y? I feel it’s supposed to feel like she’s standing in fire but that doesn’t work pass a glance for me

Tot Pop- Love hot topic. Her spiky ribbon is my favorite bit, and I’m a fan of oversized sleeves. A great mall goth look, not amazing as a magical girl look tho. The head decor feels most on brand for the genre.

Punkin- What if the three musketeers were murderous and royalty. I love the hair feather and dig the ruff, the cape honestly feels like overkill? The boots are great and I dig the pants. Once again, why tails. I know mahou-furbies has reviewed a lot of these girls with the same comment and she’s right. Pick red or blue for this look though.

Sonia Bean- Kindof busy, in a garbage way. Like her outfit is made of fancy garbage to make an old timey doll. Which is fitting. Love the dress shape. Less into the weird dangly poofs.

Jokers:

Princess Inferno- The whole princess line works well together. Quake has the least Team outfit but I feel all four work well together? Inferno’s bikini is a smidge above other tops with the fire shapes, and I like her hair, but I think she’s my least favorite princess.

Princess Deluge- Swirls and scales throughout? Armor? Gold jewelry? My biggest issue is the chain to the weapon because this is a really nice outfit.

Princess Quake- Why does your tail start in the middle of the back? I like her leotard and eye theme, and her head piece adds nice shape. Good asymmetry. shame she’s into children The hair gem is a fun touch

Princess Tempest- The apples are a weird touch? Good for color but weird as a theme? I love the leaves- honestly I’m a huge fan of the vaguely toga-y look. Are the apples supposed to be an atlanta thing? Her skirt could be a bit better but Nice

Prism Cherry- Princess of our hearts. What a color scheme. Her oversized dangly accents work well here I feel, and I love the skirt and the leaf looking ribbon behind the neck. I could do without the arm fluff, but the top garter for the skirt is a nice touch

Marika Fukuroi- My wife is a bitch and I like her so much. A much more vibrant outfit than most of the mgrp girls, the black is edgy but in a fun loud way. I love her skirt and every damn crazy flower. Her top is my least favorite with the smaller flowers connecting her top to her bottom and the frills that honestly are out of place. Great eyes

Styler Mimi- A fancy outfit that fits her theme, with a nice silhouette and simple color scheme. Ruined by the giant back powder puffs. Yes she would be fairly simple without those but they’re so garish and awkward. Good hair

Stanczyka- I thought her middrif was another hunk of plaster like the mask and now that I see it’s just skin with some stars :/ The whole head thing is good, and the fur is consistent throughout even if I’m not a fan of it. The giant sleeves are. weird. I want to like them but. Her swirly tiddys are a nice touch. The brown hair on the tail doesn’t fit

Lady Proud- For someone who lived for a lot of pages I do not remember her. Her leotard works with the sleeves to feel like an old timey dress and the way the cape is being held up to look like bat wings is nice. The green layer in her hair is an odd choice. I do dig the hair clips with the horns

Umbrain- Froggy slicker. ...Sakura did it better, the yellow and purple&red is a meh color combo sorry. I do love the candy additions for the ame(rain) ame(candy) play, and her umbrella is great. But once again I am confronted by a bib. Also her slicker is actually two pieces? Bad colors, bad body, good theme

Filru- I like the colors and the corset, and in theory the chunky knitting is very cute but I feel it’s at odds with the boots and corset. Make the whole thing chunky knitting- it’d be cute. The head doily also could be more on theme imo

Uttakatta- again, what did you do? giant overalls are good in theory, but the slits and the. bubbles? clear donuts. are just ugly. Honestly her whole look is not good, and a bubble theme has so much potential for cool shit :(

Kafuria- good use of colors, I’m not personally into the shape of her kimono as a mg dress, but the wings and the veil+such are nice

Grim Heart- this bitch. God her dress is a great shape. I think i’m not fully into her spade tail ribbons, but otherwise love? The flamingo is Silly but again as an alice fan, i do not care (ask me about kagihime for 10000 words of rage!)

Shufflin- the tiny bib haunts me but the big double sides apron card piece is a nice way to do the simple and versatile Card look. The hair is cute and i like the suit as a big piece behind the head

Aces:

Armor Arlie- chunky suit of armor. but Cute. as an armor fan in MG designs, even I think this is A Bit Much, but it has enough going for it that i think it’s a fun look

Bluebell Candy- once again Maruino kills it with using navy very nicely. A military vibe with the epilates and double breasted uhh skirt decor. honestly shocked the hat is center, and mm good hair happenings. A very nice design. still not into the weird fluff tail stuff

Dark Cutie- Great hair decorations, love the lunar details, seems to be a leotard over leggings? It’s nice. It’s not crazy grabbing or stands out that much in silhouette, but i do like it

Micchan the Dictionary- tying your coat around your neck is not valid, motarboards are not good magical girl accessesories, i personally have an owl vendetta, the red in her shoes appears no where else, and the shape of her dress is just weird. plus that hair is. not good. Oh wow. I might rank her lower than keek. oh Wow

Glassianne- this is just that alcreamie pokemon. i wish the exposed strawberry went all the way down instead of there being more icing along the bottom. she has a consistent theme and nice colors, i’m not not digging it

Uluru- said dog. 7753 and tama’s child. she looks warm but not super magical. why is she dog themed?

Sorami Nakano- gamer aesth. I could do without the hair paws, but the jumper is super cute, love the eyes and the hair tones, general color scheme, bandaid is a cute touch. A solid look.

Premium Sachiko- good colors, i like the cut of the sleeves/boots/dress, but her art has her legs blend together and that’d just the art but weird. nice use of four leaf clovers and horseshoes throughout for her luck theme.

CG Angel Hammer- I like the flowers and the bones tail/wings. The halo thing is. odd, and it’s hard to get a great idea of her actual outfit. weird hair choice, tiny bottom but at least it has some frills. Needs more art

Patricia- acab. great colors tho and I like the shapes for the shoulders and wrist, and the light theme. The bright blue ribbons and earrings stand out well. This is actually a really solid design.

Puk Puck- i hate this baby angel there’s too much to look at. Your bondage leg is weird! cute chest piece. you can’t have cloud swirls and drills for hair damn it. your halo also has a veil? fuck you. 6/10.

Best Outfits: Princess Tempest and Grim Heart Worst Outfits: Keek and Micchan the Dictionary and Uttakatta

#Anonymous #magical girl raising project #outfit discussion #mgrp #text #not fashion

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infini-tree · 4 years ago

Text

FANFIC: against all odds - part 2

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Summary: One time they dwell on the thought of being caught, and the one time they were. It all works out, kind of. (Piqua Mystery Dungeon)

A/N: ‘i make no promises,’ i say, immediately writing the third fic for this au in one week? have I ever mentioned that the first thing I made fancontent of was the first pmd game?

Also, this really is just an opportunity to practice writing more scenes with the boys and figure out their tone.

_____________________________

George recalled a time when his dad called him precocious.

What does that mean, he remembered saying.

It means that you’re very smart for your age, his dad replied with a grin. You already get basic type matchups and dungeon theory better than most groups your mom’s mentoring in the guild she’s workin’ with!

The snivy had let out a laugh at the mental image of himself trouncing a bunch of grown-ups. Whoa, really?

Swear on the Lake Trio’s jewels, he said, putting up a hand to his chest, and he let out a little giggle as he lifted him up, up, up.

Experiencing the real thing was a bit of a-- well, maybe disappointment wasn’t the right word. Accurate, but not fitting. Tedious, maybe. The long stretches of nothing in-between took up more time than the actual dungeons themselves. He looked over to Harold, and he knew he felt the same.

The walk was silent and oppressive. George unfurled his vine-tie slightly and something fell out and onto his palm. It was a shiny half of a disc, but upon closer inspection its lustre had flaked away to reveal the clay underneath.

Sometimes he would turn the thing over in his hands, but if he had to be honest he had no idea why he kept the remains of the novelty hypno pendulum.

When the snivy first used it, he hadn’t expected anything to happen. He heard tales of the line being able to hypnotize its foes to sleep, and in the more outlandish stories suggest them to do something. Ultimately, it was a desperate act, and maybe that desperation was the thing that made it work.

It wouldn’t be the strangest thing that happened to them, but it had the distinction of being one of the first.

The latest strange thing was the quiet. Him and Harold knew Krupp-- knew how to get under his skin in record time, how to avoid him, the works. They knew how explosive his temper was-- even for an ice-type!

They also know that he was at its worst when he was quiet, so when the abomasnow didn’t react to the bombshell that was being Captain Underpants, it was... unnerving.

For the past few minutes, the boys were giving each other a Look, nudging the other into asking what was on both of their minds. Eventually, hesitance wore into mild frustration. George sighed, then pointed a glance Harold-wards that meant you owe me before breaking the silence with a long “Uuuuuuuh...”

“Yes?” Krupp cut in.

The snivy flipped the pendulum piece to his other hand. “Aren’t you mad?”

“About what?”

“About, you know-- hypnotizing you?” When no answer came, he prodded with, “Being Captain Underpants?”

The pine needles on his arm adjusted themselves in agitation. The snow on it sloughed off at the sudden motion and the boys had to step around the snow drift that was now on the middle of the road.

“You are mad!” Harold interjected.

The abomasnow’s tail slammed to the ground. “Of course I’m mad.”

“What he means is, we kind of expected, I dunno, yelling?” George explained. “Something about how we’re literally the worst-- anything!”

His pace slowed down. Krupp finally looked back at them for the first time since they explained the whole thing, but the expression was all wrong. His brow was more pinched in confusion than frustration. “What, you want me to yell at you?”

“No, but we’re kind of expecting it and would like to get it over with,” the snivy said with a shrug.

The temperature dropped several degrees. There was the frustration. Harold brought himself closer to George, and he leaned into the fluffy warmth.

“Get it over with--” Krupp spluttered. “We are literally being hunted down by every team this side of the region. Someone claiming to be one of my students from the future is spearheading that hunt and not only are pokemon listening to that, but he ripped my guildmaster title from me in what is essentially a forceful takeover.”

A thin layer of frost began forming on the path.

“I’m sorry I’m not dedicating every moment of my time being the World’s Worst Guildmaster, but some of us here have priorities. Like, say keeping himself and two children from not dying on his watch? From not getting caught?” He narrowed his eyes. “Do you know what they’re going to do to us if they catch us?

“I know those idiotic comics were a parody of the actual stories, but do you know what you’re parodying in the first place?” Puffs of frost breath punctuated each breath. “I know neither of you like applying yourselves, but you have to be at least a little aware.”

Harold had taken to picking at the ground with one of his front hooves. George traced a digit over the edge of the broken piece anxiously. Neither of them spoke up.

“Are you satisfied with that lecture?” And just like that, the frost started to melt. It slowly got warmer. “Because I’m not.”

(The boys never liked the quiet in general. Maybe that was why they were always so offput whenever he was.)

_____________________________

It wasn’t long before Krupp and Captain Underpants started talking. They kind of expected that. More often than not, they would wake up to scratching noises as one of them tried to write in the dirt with one of their pine needles.

What was more surprising was how quickly they had compromised on the whole switching thing.

“I’m good at fighting, and Guildmaster is good at planning travel stuff,” Captain explained as he floated them over to where the stairs were. “Neither of us are good at puzzles, but at least we haven’t encountered any!”

“Just like that?” Harold tilted his head.

The abomasnow ground his teeth in what was his attempt at a grimace. It looked weird on his face. “He said it was a matter of practicality, and working with what we’re good at makes sens-- ACH!”

His body tensed up in pain, and he instinctively held them closer to protect them. Harold began to struggle in his tight grip, eyes darting in every direction to figure out what had hit them.

“Captain? What’s wrong?” Panic began to creep into George’s tone.

“Hey, guys,” a familiar voice cut in.

George and Harold paled at the sight of Erica clambering up on the abomasnow’s shoulder. Even in the gloom of the dungeon, the violet crest around her neck glinted.

And Captain was going down, down, down. They braced for impact.

_____________________________

Erica, out of the boys’ circle of friends, was one of the ones who was more in-tune into their misadventures and ready to lend a helping hand. Erica was also the scariest guildmember-slash-student they’ve ever met; she had a cool head and popped up where you least expected.

It was honestly no surprise that out of everyone, she was the first one who cornered them, and right between the stairs out of this place, too!

“What did you do to him?” Harold yelled, nudging the abomasnow to his feet.

Captain looked, for a lack of a better word-- terrible. He looked like one more hit would do him in. While landing face-first would definitely leave a mark, they knew him long enough that it shouldn’t leave him straining.

And that’s when George finally noticed what was in the axew’s hands. In one hand was the three-pronged pounce wand that brought her up there with them, whining as the last vestiges of its power left it. In the other, the spiked two-edged wand also making a dying down noise-- it was most likely the thing that brought them down.

“Relax, I just didn’t want you guys to immediately fly off.”

Still, there were more pressing questions, like, “Why are you helping Melvinborg?” George made a face like the name was as bitter as the duosion’s personality.

“We all... kinda got no choice,” Erica replied with the nonchalance of listing off the day’s errands. The only thing that betrayed her was how she gripped the now-defunct wands in a vicegrip. Then, belatedly, “Sorry.”

“Wait, wait, wait, um-- uh--” Captain rushed forward in front of them, his arms spread out to protect them despite his fatigue. His face was scrunched up in the way he does when he was overthinking and none of them could tell whether it was because of the abomasnow’s fatigue or because he really didn’t know that he settled on, “Before you, uh-- take us in-- Plungerina can we talk, one human-turned-pokemon to another?”

To Erica’s credit, she was only tripped up for a moment before she steeled herself for a bit of improv. “Sure, right after I catch you.” She lunged forward and--

Tripped. Somehow. She poked her head up to look at the one entrance to the room, then seeing that no one was there, she opened her backpack and threw a box at their feet.

“Oh no, I am petrified,” she said, practically announced for all the floor to hear. Then, in a more regular speaking volume, “I hope they don’t take the care package I dropped that has supplies and letters from their friends and family.”

There was a moment of silence as the three of them processed what she said. And when they did, George put it in his satchel. “I... thanks, Erica.”

“You’re not welcome, because you stole from me, remember?” she said with a conspiratorial wink. She turned her attention to Captain. “You got one question before the rest catch up.”

“Do you know what they’re going to do to us once you turn us in?” The abomasnow was concerned, to put it mildly. But his tone reminded Harold of the same one he had when he asked long ago where dad went. Naïve, but you knew deep down.

Considering his talks with Krupp, he probably knows in some capacity.

“I figured you’ve been in tough scrapes like this, but I suppose maybe not?” His arms lowered. Harold looked at him worriedly; his pine needles were still shot up and pierced through his cape, despite the lull.

The axew appraised him for a moment, and she noticed the needles, too. “It’s weird to see you think this hard about anything.”

The boys grimaced at how blunt she was, but its definitely crossed their minds.

“It’s weird to think hard about anything!” Captain laughed.

“To answer your question, no, I don’t,” she frowned. “Knowing Melvin, and by extension Melvinborg, it’s probably something else than the, uh... standard. You know how he is with tinkering dungeon items to be more potent.”

And just like that, Captain’s cheery mood was back, even if it was a little more sedate than usual. The needles settled to its more natural position. “Okey-dokey, thanks Plungerina!”

All four of them tensed up at the sudden sound of shouting.

“Time’s up,” she gave a half-smirk half-smile. “Also, there’s a petrify orb in the package. Gotta make this look convincing, you know?”

“O-- oh!” George floundered for a moment before opening the box and taking it out. It let out a low hum.

“Don’t expect this to be a repeat thing,” she added, in the tone of voice that mean to definitely expect it. She stared at him, sensing his hesitance. “Relax, I’ll be fine-- the other teams are coming up and will bring me back first before getting to you. It’ll buy you a bit more time.”

The snivy was still a bit unsure about the whole prospect, but he held it high anyway. It flashed and it froze Erica in place before disappearing in a puff of smoke. And then they ran for the stairs.

(And then they continued to run.)

#mellsian fanfics #captain underpants #piqua mystery dungeon #me holding up the three (3) fics i made for this au in just a week: LOOK AT IT #its rambly but i ltierally wrote this in a day. WACK #i probably should have rewatched tetocu for this but SSSSSSH

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tiesandtea · 4 years ago

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THE LONDON SUEDE - interview with Simon Gilbert (1997)

Interview Featuring Drummer Simon Gilbert, Who Is Actually a Nice Guy Unspoiled by Success

By Daiv Whaley, MOO Mag. Archived here.

One of MOO's many mottos: "When you can't interview the main member of the band, grab the drummer. He's always starved for attention." Daiv Whaley talks with The London Suede’s beatmaster Simon Gilbert.

MOO: Alright, so Suede has returned to the airwaves after a two-year absence with Coming Up. What's different about this one? Simon: Well, it's a lot more direct and easier to listen to than, certainly, Dog Man Star; a lot more rhythm-based ... MOO: Which is great for a drummer! Simon: Oh yeah, it's great for me -- we spent about six weeks just doing the drum tracks; we took a lot more time than we normally do. Plus, it's got a lot of keyboards on it cuz we've got a new keyboard player, Neil, who's my cousin. MOO: Um ... was that a riddle? Or an interview question? I don't know who your cousin is -- I'm supposed to be asking the questions! Simon: No, Neil is my cousin.

Hugely entertaining, 20/10. Full interview under the cut.

When British upstarts-with-attitude Suede first burst onto the fertile London music scene in the early 90s, they were note only performing and recording a statement against the tranced and lethargic shoegazer scene (remember My Bloody Valentine, all you mod listeners?), but also fueling frontman Brett Anderson's love-affair with all things glam-rockish; i.e. Bowie, T-Rex, leather posturings, androgyny, ass-shaking audience flirtation, and potent pop rock. Melody Maker, the "Big Ben" of English music culture, even named them "best new band" of 1992. Then, they changed their name to the London Suede due to technicalities, got all arty on Dog Man Star, and performed a submarine dive from public view as Oasis and Brit-pop rose to the surface of the toilet ... er ... the pond of the microcosm which is the British rock scene, though several critics credit Suede as being the forerunners of Brit-pop, anyway. Now it's 1997, and the London Suede have risen again to deliver their third full release, Coming Up. Whether the "coming up" refers to Suede's bank account figures or a vomitous reaction from their fans at their new sound is a subject MOO's Daiv Whaley tries to discover, oh-so-politely, as he chats with drummer Simon Gilbert, all the way from the gray shores of England.

MOO: Alright, so Suede has returned to the airwaves after a two-year absence with Coming Up. What's different about this one?

Simon: Well, it's a lot more direct and easier to listen to than, certainly, Dog Man Star; a lot more rhythm-based ...

MOO: Which is great for a drummer!

Simon: Oh yeah, it's great for me -- we spent about six weeks just doing the drum tracks; we took a lot more time than we normally do. Plus, it's got a lot of keyboards on it cuz we've got a new keyboard player, Neil, who's my cousin.

MOO: Um ... was that a riddle? Or an interview question? I don't know who your cousin is -- I'm supposed to be asking the questions!

Simon: No, Neil is my cousin.

MOO: Oh, sorry.

Simon: So, we have some very good pop songs on it -- there's going to be five singles, and we could have done seven or eight, to be honest. It's just a much more accessible album, and it's opening people's ears who haven't been listening to Suede before, particularly in Europe and Britain. We're selling a lot more records than we ever have before.

MOO: That's riffing.

Simon: Yes, it is riffing.

MOO: So then, is Suede a pop band or a rock band?

Simon: We're a prock band!

MOO: My fave songs on your discs are always the audio-experimenia ones, like "Dandy's Speeding," "Introducing the Band" or "Moving" ...

Simon: That's one of the first tunes we ever recorded! We don't play it live anymore -- the drum bit's too fast for me nowadays.

MOO: Well, those types of songs really seem to distance you from the more plebeian, predictable, 90s-modrock types of bands. Are those kinds of songs written with that type of production in mind?

Simon: Well, "Introducing the Band" certainly was -- it was one of the last tracks we recorded for Dog Man Star, and after we heard it, we just thought, "What was that?" But it was intentional to make it a bit weird.

MOO: Did Brian Eno approach the band about doing an incredibly long version of the tune ...

Simon: That incredibly long, incredibly boring version? No, we approached him for some bizarre reason, I don't know why. I'm not criticizing the bloke -- he does amazing work, but at the end of the day, all we were left with was the reverb; he took everything else out but the echo ... I was expecting a little bit more of the original version -- I bet there's not one person in the fucking country who's played the whole thing all the way through. I know I haven't!

MOO: Yuk yuk. Your former guitarist and co-songwriter Bernard Butler ...

Simon: Bernard Buttocks!

MOO: ... exited Suede after recording Dog Man Star and has been replaced by the very young Richard Oakes. What, is he 19 now?

Simon: No, he's actually 20 now and getting up in the double digits!

MOO: This is the first disc he's done with Suede. Was he up to the task?

Simon: More so than we'd ever expected, to be honest. We did a few demos before the album and after three or four, it was just no problem with him at all. Easy peasey! For someone so young and so inexperienced, I don't know how he did it, but he did.

MOO: Did you just say "easy peasey"? Never mind, what about this new keyboardist? Some cynics say that when a guitar band takes on a keyboardist, the band's death knell has begun, and now your own cousin, Neil Codling, is an official Suedester. "Codling," what a great last name.

Simon: Yeah, Codling, like in "molly codling." Have you heard that expression?

MOO: Yes, I studied English literature, with a minor in advanced cybernetic design.

Simon: Hmmnn. But about those cynics, they're wrong, at least in Suede's case -- Neil has done nothing but improve upon what we can do and the limits we can reach on our albums. Also, live, our sound is so much fuller. And we can still fuckin' rock out as well. Now, if we got a brass section, that might kill a band.

MOO: I've heard that Bowie is a fan? Has the band had any dealings with him as of yet?

Simon: Yes, he is. Um, we played with him last summer, in Spain, in the Pyrenees Mountains. He requested we play and we opened for him and he watched the whole gig from the sidestage, which was a bit nerve-racking. But yes, he's a big fan and he's fifty years old now.

MOO: Rockstar, painter, actor and Suede fan ... What more can you ask?

Simon: Not very much!

MOO: Speaking of playing live, you guys toured America for Dog Man Star -- how would you say a US audience compares to a British crowd?

Simon: Well, it really depends. I couldn't really generalize that much, because in L.A. or someplace like San Francisco, they're probably wilder than a British audience, but then you look at some place in Texas ... they sort of spit on us, they don't really like us there. It's a bit different in America, but there are some parts of it where it feels like you could be in London.

MOO: So, I take it while you're almost worshipped in Britain, America really hasn't caught on yet?

Simon: Hasn't caught on yet ... we're not saying we're giving up on it at all, but we're just playing it by ear. I believe that's the expression for it. We're gonna come over and do 10 dates and see how the album is received, but there's no real point in banging your head against a brick wall. If America on the whole doesn't get it, then fair enough, but I really hope they do, cuz it's a great album, a lot more America-friendly as well.

MOO: I've read Brett describe the band as being "political." I know Suede had been involved in the animal rights movement, and gay rights, and freedom issues. Do you find American music to be more or less politically-motivated on the whole than British stuff?

Simon: Well, I'd say that quote was probably taken out of context ... We're a political band in a human sense, not in a government politics kind of way. Yeah, we'll stand up in the House of Parliament and say, "This is wrong and blah blah blah," and we'll protest like that, but in the songs, there's no political manifesto of any kind -- it's purely human "politics" in our music. As for American bands, I really can't say ... I'm very stuck in the 60s and 70s in terms of music, and I don't really ask myself if this or that band is American or British, but rather, are they good or bad bands?

MOO: There's been a bit of a buzz in the US over the Brit-pop scene -- particularly Oasis and Blur. Where does Suede seem to fit into that whole genre, anyway?

Simon: Blur? They're shitty. Oasis is actually pretty good. Suede doesn't really fit into that scene at all; it was lucky we were away when it sort of kicked-off, and luckily we weren't lumped into that whole thing, cuz now the scene is dead, there's no such thing as Brit-pop anymore in England, and when a scene dies off, all the bands die off with it. So America, don't bother with it. It's really just the media sticking another tag on some scene -- it's useless crap, really.

MOO: Okay, how about the whole androgyny/bisexuality slant of a lot of Suede's songs -- if it's not just image-mongering to get attention ...

Simon: No, it's not.

MOO: So, why is Suede so revelatory about their sexual preferences?

Simon: Because the people we hang around with ... we hang around with each other, we're all friends, and the other people who come from lots of different areas of society, and at the end of the day everyone's aware of sexuality and the different types of sexuality, and consequently Brett writes about the people we hang around with and the way we live. It's just about being open and honest, really.

MOO: Right -- skinstorms together and all that.

Simon: Exactly; singing about things that other people don't sing about -- we don't sing about birds and flowers and the sky and things like that.

MOO: Speaking about singing -- there's lots of stories and rumors about your Brett Anderson. He seems like a real character.

Simon: All the stories are probably true!

MOO: Considering he'll probably never see this interview, what do you have to say about Mr. Anderson?

Simon: About Mr. Anderson? He's become one of my best friends; he's perceived as being aloof and stuff like that, but at the end of the day, he's one of the most genuine people I know. He's a lovely bloke, that's my honest opinion, and make sure he doesn't see that or I'll become really embarrassed.

MOO: Last question. Before '92, critics and clubs seemed to hate you. Then, you end up on the cover of Melody Maker, your disc goes to number one and beats out Depeche Mode, and you're big-time rock stars. What happened?

Simon: Well, that Melody Maker cover did help, let's be honest.

MOO: The power of the press!

Simon: Yeah. But even before that ... I don't know what happened. We played at this place called the Falcon in Camden, which is a famous sort of indie hangout. We played there one weekend to, like, eight people. Then the next weekend we played there again and the place was packed. All these stars came down there, people like Morrissey, and things just started to happen. I really don't know what happened -- I think people really got bored with the scene at the time, there was a lot of techno and shoegazey stuff going on and the indie scene was boring. We kind of laid that stuff to rest when we got going. There were people who I think were bored with not seeing real entertainers up on stage, and we were a band that was entertaining, which might have been why people didn't like us at the time -- they were so used to seeing the shoegazing stuff going on.

MOO: Yeah, let's look at our sneakers for an hour and play guitars!

Simon: Right, how entertaining is that? Might as well just sit at home and listen to their records.

MOO: And the rest is history, as they say.

Simon: Yeah, something like that.

#suede #simon gilbert #coming up #coming up month

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x--daughters-of-darkness--x · 4 years ago

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Beyond the Boys’ Club: Brittney Slayes of Unleash the Archers

"Don't be afraid to speak up -- if you're a member of a band, you're not a hired gun"

On the initial vision for Unleash the Archers’ new album, Abyss, and how it relates to 2017’s Apex

When we sat down to write both Apex and Abyss back in 2016, I said to the boys, let’s do two albums with a story arc, like a concept record. They were like, “Yeah, sure.” Originally, we were going to try and do a two-disc release. But, just with a time crunch and things like that, and we didn’t want to rush the songs just so that we could put out a two-disc record, we didn’t. So, I had written the story for both albums at the same time. At first, we just focused on Apex and wrote everything for that. We saved a couple of riffs for Abyss, and in 2019, we sat down and didn’t play any shows or do anything and just took a bunch of time off and then I’m really focused on this album. The story changed a little bit, but for the most part, it still remained the same. I wanted the first album to be very grounded, kind of like a fantasy-themed album, and the second to be more celestial and like a science fiction-sounding record. So, I think that it all kind of came together just like I had hoped.

On the genesis of the album’s title track, “Abyss”

That riff that starts that song off was one of the ones that [guitarist] Andrew [Kingsley] came up with when we were writing Apex. The second I heard it, I was like, this is definitely an Abyss track. I knew I wanted it to the be title track. So, when we finally sat down to write that record, we started with that riff and kind of the whole record was born from it. I wrote it in such a way that it’s like an introduction to the album. We brought it back to where our main character — it’s sort of his awakening. It’s a song that you could hear before hearing the rest of the album, and it’s not going to spoil the story for you. It gives you an idea of the sound that is going to be on the album but still hearkens back to Apex a little bit in that more traditional power metal style. We also tried new things and experimented a bit with different genres in that song.

On the experience of releasing a new album during the COVID-19 pandemic

It certainly was intense. There was a lot of expectation. A lot of people were really excited for it, without much else going on. People were step-by-step following us along the way. Every time we would release anything or talk about anything or post teasers, our fans were very much right there with it. It was a really immersive kind of process actually. I’m not saying that people didn’t have things going on, but as you know, people were in lockdown and there wasn’t too much happening in terms of nightlife, so people had a lot of time to hang out with us and follow along.

On whether Unleash the Archers plan to support Abyss with touring once it’s safe to do so

We are booking tours and have dates in the works in North America and Europe for next fall. But, even that is looking shaky already, so I’m not too sure. We’re hoping that we’ll be able to get on the road in support of the album in 2021. We’ve got a whole bunch of festivals that we’ve reconfirmed that we were supposed to play this last summer, confirmed for next summer. But, it’s still looking pretty shaky. So, honestly, I’m not too sure. We have ideas for an EP, and I think we are going to just kind of start casually working on those, depending on how things go.

On how she thinks concerts will be different when they return

I think it’s going to be different for a while. I’m pretty sure when concerts do come back, it’ll probably be mandatory masks and no moshing and all that kind of stuff. But, I think eventually it’ll be the same again. When shows are allowed to happen, I think everyone will be so relieved and so stoked to be there that it’s just going to be such a positive space regardless. It’s been so long. It’s going to be weird at first, but it’s still going to be awesome.

On seeing more women in metal today verses when she started out

When we first started the band back in 2007, there was only In This Moment, Within Temptation, Nightwish, Arch Enemy. The big ones were really the only ones that were kind of making waves. We definitely got a lot of side eyes because we were female-fronted and kind of power death metal. So, the fact that we weren’t symphonic metal was really weird to everybody, and we got grouped in with that a lot, just by people that didn’t even bother to listen or anything like that. So, it’s awesome seeing there’s a lot more women out there and not just singing, but also playing bass and guitar and drums.

On what changes she’s seen for women in metal music over the past several years

Just a little more acceptance and less judgment. They’re still being used as a novelty by a lot of people and mainstream media. Some magazines are still like, let’s get a hot chick on the cover, that kind of thing. So, that’s frustrating, and there’s still a lot of top 25 hottest women in metal polls and stuff like that. I can’t stand that, but there’s a lot less of that. It’s coming to the point where it’s not just about these chicks being hot. It’s also about the fact that they have talent, and that’s a really big step.

On if she feels there’s still pressure on women in music to look or dress a certain way

I think so. It’s not as prevalent as it was before. I do feel, though, that there’s kind of an unspoken thing with women that they feel like they need to look a certain way or be fit or be good looking to make people want to watch us. Like, you need to show a little skin or whatever. Even if it’s not said. But it seems like that’s becoming less important. And I think a lot of times now you look on YouTube videos, and people will say, “Oh, she’s hot,” and it’s like, who cares? You wouldn’t see that for a male friend in a band. Why not, she has a sweet voice? So, there’s that, but I do think that’s changing.

On being a role model for young girls looking to get into music

I guess, as the front-person in a band, I feel that people kind of look up to you a little bit. I’ll often get messages from parents that say, “My daughter loves you, and you’re such a great role model, and I just love that you’re someone that she can look up to and you’re not exactly sexualized or anything like that.” So, I really love that part of it, that I can be that for young girls. Also, whenever other vocalists message me about whatever they have questions about, whether it’s advice or just were we get our merch, I’m always happy to help and to kind of be that mentor person for people. That’s a really important side of it for me, as well.

On whether women still feel a bit intimidated going into metal music

Absolutely. It’s not always this way, but if you can start the band yourself, that definitely helps. If you have musician friends, ask if they want to start a project together. If you can put it together, then you have a lot more control. I’ve heard a lot of horror stories from women that have reached out to me and said, “Hey, I joined this band, and they’re writing my lyrics for me, and I want to write my own lyrics.” It’s harder sometimes to join an existing project and have any say or control.

On what advice she has for other women looking to get into metal music

One big thing is don’t be afraid to speak up. If you’re a member of a band, you’re not a hired gun or anything like that, unless that’s what you want. So, you just have to figure out what’s right for yo, because there are a lot of opportunities out there, and there are a lot of options, and don’t think that this is the only chance that you have. Also, work hard. Work your butt off. Get out there, do interviews and be active on social media. Interact with your fans. Be available.

#Brittney Slayes #Unleash the Archers #2020 interviews

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avaantares · 5 years ago

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FFVII:REMAKE - A Review

So I beat the game two weeks ago and started writing down my thoughts while they were fresh in my mind, but I didn’t post anything then because my one IRL friend who is also playing it hadn’t finished it yet and I didn’t want to risk posting anything spoiler-y. But the extra time has allowed me to play through the game again on Hard difficulty, which has allowed me to reconsider and elaborate on some of my thoughts. And frankly at this point I just need to dump my Very Big Opinions somewhere, so... here ya go.

I discuss visuals, gameplay, character and story below. I’ve tried to keep spoilers minimal up front, though obviously if you want to go into the game totally cold, don’t read this. All major spoilers are clearly tagged. All of it is below a cut to spare your dash.

Also, there are pretty pictures, because why not?

First, my background with this franchise: I played through the original FFVII multiple times; I’ve watched and rewatched Advent Children and Last Order, played Crisis Core, gave up on Dirge of Cerberus despite my deep love for Vincent Valentine (sorry, VV, but your game was just a mess), and lamented that Before Crisis wasn’t available in my country. I even played (and own!) Ehrgeiz, the obscure fighting game that featured the main cast. (Still bitter that they didn’t keep Miki Shinichirou as the voice of Sephiroth. He’s one of my faves.)

^ Ehrgeiz, a mediocre fighting game that forever endeared itself to me by including Turks!Vincent Valentine as a playable character. 💖

In short, I’ve been waiting for this game for DECADES.

So. Here we go. My thoughts on Final Fantasy VII: REMAKE.

The good:

The character models are very pretty. With individual pores, threads and scuffs visible, they’re so detailed that it’s almost impossible to reconcile them with the mouthless sprites from the original game – even more so than Advent Children (and dear goodness, that was over a decade ago now, wasn’t it?). Still, they’ve kept the costume details and absurd proportions largely intact (Barret’s fists are literally larger than Tifa’s entire head, yet somehow it works visually), so it’s not too much of a departure from the familiar.

They’ve kept the aesthetic. I was afraid the game would try to update the iconic world of Midgar, but by and large, it’s full of visually-arresting designs that preserve the gritty-industrial look and feel of the original.

Japanese version is included. BLESS YOU, Square Enix, for including the Japanese voices and character animations. Not only is it impossible for me to hear Cloud in anything other than Sakurai Takahiro’s voice, but the Japanese script is a bit nicer to the characters. I’m not really keen on the English dub… but more on that below.

They fixed the spelling of Aerith’s name. This may seem like a minor point, but considering it’s been 20 years and I’m still bitter that Devil May Cry still hasn’t corrected “Nelo Angelo,” it’s a small victory.

Improved combat. Admittedly, I wasn’t sold on the new combat system at first, but after playing through the game twice, I’ve come to really like it. It has a few rough edges and can get chaotic in some battles, but it does a decent job of blending the feel of an action game with turn-based strategy. The fact that you can switch to a more traditional turn-based system if you prefer is also nice. (I haven’t tried Classic mode yet, though.)

Weapon customization. The Skill Points system allows you to upgrade your loadout instead of acquiring new gear. The tutorial was somewhat lacking (I didn’t quite figure out the multiple-core-unlock thing right away), but I appreciated the ability to add materia slots or stat buffs rather than just cycling through a dozen swords that Cloud apparently keeps in his back pocket.

Background dialogue management. On the whole, the conversations as you run through town enhance the story without slogging down the gameplay; you don’t have to stop and talk to every single resident, because snatches of their conversation reach you (and your on-screen chatlog) as you pass. You can stop and listen for more detail if you want, or you can just keep moving. The extra worldbuilding is really nice.

The music. The orchestrated versions of the original themes are excellent (and some of those music cues gave me goosebumps… Did I spend way too many hours immersed in the original game? Probably). I can take or leave some of the collectible jukebox tunes, but the background music in general is good. (But did I earn that Disc Jockey trophy? Yes, yes I did.)

Supporting character development. Jessie, Biggs and Wedge actually have characters! And personalities! Clichéd ones, admittedly, but it’s an improvement over the original game killing them all off within the first few minutes. The game also does justice to the Turks, and actually surprised me with how much depth of character it gave Reno and Rude in particular (perhaps setting them up for a mini redemption arc so players forgive them for dropping a plate on tens of thousands of slum residents?). Their moments of concern for each other and (brief) crises of conscience made them more than the stock villains they were in the original game, more in line with their temporarily good-aligned characters in Advent Children. Tseng, likewise, was on point. However, I do have to qualify all this with one irate question: Where the heck is Elena?! Seems like the female characters are always getting left out… /sigh/

Improved plot devices. REMAKE cleans up some of the more questionable and outdated content from the original. As you likely already know from the demo, the new game somewhat exonerates the protagonists by having Shinra blow up their own mako reactor to turn public opinion against AVALANCHE (possibly because someone finally realized that it’s hard to sympathize with characters who are willing to melt down an entire reactor and kill a bunch of innocent civilians). AVALANCHE are still eco-terrorists, but they’re… terrorists with a conscience? I dunno, at least they feel bad when people die now… Likewise, the weird and uncomfortable Honey Bee Inn segment of the original game has been reborn as an amazing dance extravaganza. Less voyeurism/prostitution, more Vegas floor show (complete with minigame choreography) and makeover. The whole Don Corneo scenario is still hella creepy, but frankly, there’s nothing that can fix that.

Series references. Fans of the original will appreciate all the inside jokes and direct references to the original game and other franchise entries: One-off comments about Chocobo racing; a broken console in Wall Market that shoots at you; a framed picture of the original 32-bit Seventh Heaven; ads for Banora apple juice; side mentions of characters and plot devices from spinoff games; PHS communication… The game definitely pays tribute to its history. They even recreate the original loading screen and several of Cloud’s iconic poses/animations throughout the game:

The neutral:

Recycled gags. Look, I know Advent Children was the ultimate evolution of FFVII for a while, and admittedly, it did some things very well. The running gag with Rude’s sunglasses and the victory fanfare being used as a ringtone are some of the best moments in the film, in part because they were so unexpected. But as much as I enjoyed the repeated nods to AC in this game, they felt a little desperate, like there were no new jokes to insert so they had to double down on the ones they’d used the last time this franchise had a renaissance. (See Rude’s broken sunglasses, below.) And fitting into the series as a whole, it feels a little weird. Why is Rude’s ringtone the same as the clones’ from Advent Children? Does Barret really need to sing the victory fanfare over and over when he defeats an enemy? Is there supposed to be some history behind that song that was left out of the worldbuilding? It just feels too meta.

Arbitrary localization of names. I don’t really grasp why it was necessary to rename so many items and characters for the English market. Some changes make sense for localization (e.g. Whack-a-Box certainly works better for an American audience than Crash Box), but others seem arbitrary, like changing Aniyan Kunyan to Andrea Rhodea or Mugi to Oates (a play on the meaning of his name in Japanese, but... does it matter?). And then… well, I don’t want to spoil A Major Plot Element, but there’s another thing that changes names from one English word (in the Japanese track) to a different English word. Why? No idea. It doesn’t affect gameplay, and it’s not really a problem, but listening to the Japanese track, I found it jarring to have the subtitles contradict what I was hearing.

Underutilized characters. While the whole gamut of original FFVII characters make appearances, several of them aren’t used to full effect, or aren’t used at all to advance the story. Rufus Shinra’s bossfight is a decent challenge, but while his character was vital to both the original FFVII and Advent Children, his presence in this game is little more than a cameo. His fight could be cut or swapped out with any other boss, and it would have zero effect on the plot. Similarly, while Hojo is a key player in the full story (which this game doesn’t cover, since it’s only a fraction of the original timeline), he’s largely wasted here, except as a means of extending play time by making you wander through corridors and fight a bunch of monsters for “research.” (I have no idea what his motivation is; you’d think he’d be more interested in recapturing Aerith or Cloud, but instead he just... opens an elevator and lets them leave? after they beat up some midbosses.) Reeve Tuesti actually has a solid presence in this game, but since he’s ONLY ever active as himself, there’s no explanation for the random Cait Sith cameo in one scene (players new to the franchise probably have no idea why a random cartoon cat showed up for a few seconds and was never mentioned again). Obviously the plot arcs have to change when the game is covering only a few days’ time in a much longer story, and the major players need to be introduced at some point if they’re going to feature in later games in the series, but from a narrative standpoint, there are an awful lot of superfluous characters doing things for no reason in this installment.

The bad:

THE PADDING. Dear goodness, there is so much padding to make this a standalone game instead of just the first chapter of a longer adventure. I got really, really sick of running literally from one end of the map to the other on side quests – and that’s me, an avowed trophy hunter who spends hours scouring dark corners for collectible items in other games, saying that. So much of this game felt like time fill that didn’t really advance the story. It’s also full of unnecessary new characters with improbable Squeenix hair, like Roche the super-annoying motorcycle SOLDIER (below), or Leslie, Don Corneo’s doorman who somehow merits his own backstory and side quest. (Though in fairness, every FFVII sequel has added superfluous characters, with Crisis Core possibly being the worst offender.) But it just felt really drawn-out and bloated for a game of this generation. If this game had been as compact and tightly-written as the other games I typically play, it probably only would have taken me 15 hours to beat instead of 50. (I don’t actually know how many hours I spent on it the first time through, as I didn’t check the play clock before restarting on Hard difficulty. I do know it took me over 110 hours total to complete the game on both modes, though much of the second run was spent dying repeatedly on a handful of nasty fights. Hard mode removes items and MP replenishment, and if you run out of MP at any point during a chapter, you’re going to die. A lot.)

The pacing. Related to the above... the Midgar portion of the original game was just the setup for a larger story. It wasn’t meant to have its own complete dramatic arc so much as to introduce you to the world and the major players. Consequently, there are some really odd beats in this story, as well as a total lack of urgency in your mission. There are no natural places to slot in the side quests and minigames, so they’re shoehorned awkwardly between plot sequences. “Quick, our friend is in mortal peril and needs our help!” "Okay, cool, we’ll go rescue her after we spend ten hours running around town doing random errands for townspeople and playing games with the local kids.” Uh... what?

The graphics just aren’t as good as they should be. While the character models are gorgeous, there are a lot of low-res background textures and weird polygons that don’t quite match up with other components. Most egregious are the Shinra logos, which frequently get close-ups as part of the fixed camera work and, frankly, look like lossy JPEGs. (See image below, screencapped from a PS4 Pro. Those jagged edges on the logo are present throughout the entire game.) There are weird clipping errors and artifacted images and reflective surfaces that don’t reflect, making the game look more like something from the PS3 era than a 4K late-gen PS4 game. (And it’s not that we don’t have the technology: Uncharted 4 was released back in 2016, and the rendering of its vast world was twice as pretty. Devil May Cry 5, released in early 2019, has far more realistic textures and object interaction. Granted, those are different types of games with fewer NPCs to render, but I feel like there’s no excuse for a game this big to look this mediocre.)

The HUD could be better. The lower-corners concept is okay, though it took me a while to train my eyes to travel between both sides of the screen and track the fight action. But for a long time, I didn’t even notice the commands in the upper left corner of the screen, and after playing through the game twice I still have no idea what they say because I couldn’t focus on the tiny text long enough to read them while trying not to die in combat. (I just looked it up; apparently they’re combat control shortcuts? Huh, that would have been useful to know.) It wasn’t until my second time through that I realized there even WERE separate controls on screen during the motorcycle minigames; I had resorted to panicked button mashing to figure it out the first time through because there was no tutorial (you’re just dropped into the action) and, having ignored the small text for the previous hundred combats, I had no reason to look for on-screen instructions there. Not that it would have helped, since on many backgrounds the text in the upper left is really difficult to read (see below). It’s worth noting that I have better than 20/20 vision and played this game on a large TV screen and still had trouble reading some things; on a smaller TV, or for someone with less acute vision (like my sister, who is blind in one eye), I think even the basic menu controls would be difficult to see. While you can resize the font for subtitles, my cursory glance through the menu did not uncover an option to increase the size of the HUD.

Inter-fight menu mechanics. Specifically, the inability to save (or save loadout settings) between fights in a multi-part sequence. There are several back-to-back fights in which it is necessary to switch characters or change gear between bosses. The game treats them as one continuous fight, though it does allows you to access the equipment menu by holding square during key cutscenes. Which is good, if you only have one of a particular materia or accessory that you need to switch between characters, and in most cases when you die the game lets you restart just before your current fight instead of restarting the whole sequence -- also good, since some multi-stage bosses can easily take 20-30 minutes to beat, and if several of those are strung together in sequence, you’re in for a long play session to get past them. But since it’s treated as one fight, you can’t save between bosses (more than once, I had to leave my PS4 running in Rest Mode overnight and just hoped we didn’t have a power glitch), and if you happen to get killed and need to restart the fight, your loadouts reset. Which means if you’re, say, fighting the end boss on Hard difficulty and get killed in the first two minutes -- which happened to me a lot -- by the time you restart the fight, sit through the unskippable cutscene, access the menu and rearrange all the materia and accessories you need, you’re spending five or six minutes gearing up for two minutes of play, and then doing that over and over again every time you die. It gets really old.

The English dub script. *deep breath* Okay, look, I know I can be a bit elitist about translations, but I really do not like the English adaptation of this game. It makes Cloud come across as less socially-awkward and far more of a deliberate jerk, Aerith is mouthy and even swears (which is not accurate to her original character), and it downplays some of the symbolism that’s more obvious in the Japanese script. One quick example: When Aerith gives Cloud a flower, she says (in Japanese), “In the language of flowers, this means ‘reunion.’” It’s subbed/dubbed in English, “Lovers used to give these when they were reunited.” That’s a subtle difference, but since the concept of “reunion” is a freakin’ huge part of the FFVII plot, and since Sephiroth was on screen literally seconds before that line is delivered, my brain automatically went, “OMG REUNION!!!” while I’m guessing people listening in English only picked up on the romantic subtext. It’s a pretty minor thing, and of course translation is always a complex balancing act between literal meaning and local market understanding, but the English version just seemed to me to have a different vibe overall. (Unfortunately, the English subtitles are the same as the dub, so unless you can understand the Japanese audio you’re kind of stuck with that dialogue.)

[WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW THIS POINT]

- …And my #1 complaint about Final Fantasy VII: REMAKE is…

…it’s not actually a remake.

Sure, the game starts out the same way and covers a lot of the same events, but fundamentally, it’s a sequel, not a retelling. It’s evident from Cloud’s future-oriented visions throughout the game that something else is going on, and the ending MAKES NO SENSE if you don’t already know the story. Heck, even the rest of the game doesn’t really make sense if you don’t know the story -- Sephiroth’s presence is never explained; Zack isn’t even introduced, just shows up randomly at the end; Cloud’s flashbacks of Tifa and her dead father in Nibelheim are left as a complete mystery (and since she evidently remembers the burning of her town, judging by her dialogue outside Aerith’s house, why doesn’t she even react when Sephiroth shows up?).

The core elements of the plot – the Feelers (Whispers) preserving a specific fate; the three entities from the future (whose weapon types just happen to correspond to certain named characters) defending their timeline; the return of post-Advent Children Sephiroth (the only time we’ve seen him in human form with one black wing), who has inhabited the Lifestream since his death and promised that he would never truly disappear, who in the end appeals to Cloud directly for an alliance rather than attempting to control him, because he knows now that Cloud is strong enough to defy the Reunion instinct; the change in the outcome of story events in which Biggs (and, unconfirmed as to which timeline he’s actually in, but quite possibly Zack) now survives his intended death -- all point toward Sephiroth trying to manipulate destiny into an alternate outcome in which he is victorious, and using this naive version of Cloud to facilitate it. That means this game is taking place in an alternate or splinter universe, created at some point after the events of the original Final Fantasy VII, and possibly even after the events of Advent Children.

All of that is fine from an overall continuing-story perspective – it opens up a lot of interesting possibilities, like the fact that Aerith might survive now that Cloud has seen prescient flashes of her death (among other events), and there are opportunities for more story twists and changes from what players might expect. But touting this as a remake of the original game has the potential to confuse players who are new to the franchise. FFVII was groundbreaking back in 1997, and it defined JRPGs for an entire generation of Western gamers. But that was more than two decades ago, and a lot of current gamers weren’t even born then, so while they’ve probably heard of the classic game, they aren’t necessarily steeped in its lore. FFVII:R relies heavily on prior knowledge of the series to carry its twist ending, so it largely fails as a standalone game.

Also, speaking as a longtime fan of the franchise… I honestly found the ending rather lackluster. It was a twist, of sorts, but not the sort of shocking, mind-bending revelation that made the first game so iconic. Granted, it’s hard to follow an act like revealing that your protagonist’s entire identity is a lie, not to mention killing off one of your main characters a third of the way into the story! But when the surprise ending is just, Surprise! We’re going to change things up a bit this time around so you aren’t entirely sure what’s coming! Also, here’s a gratuitous Sephiroth fight because everyone expects that, even though it doesn’t serve the main story at all nor resolve any conflicts previously established within this game! it smacks of Different for the sake of Being Different, not for the sake of a really amazing storyline they’re hiding up their sleeve. It’s a bit of a let-down, and I find that I... just... don’t really care that much. Which, for someone who’s been a fan of the series for nearly a quarter of a century, means there’s a Big Freaking Problem somewhere. If you’re not keeping the attention of your die-hard fans, how do you hope to build a fanbase of players new to the franchise?

Given the pacing and story issues inherent in this game, I’m not convinced that the following game(s) in the franchise are going to be structured any better. Considering the amount of pure side-quest padding they did in Midgar, I have no idea how they’ll maintain that same tone on something the scale of the World Map portion of the original game, unless they just completely eliminate things like Fort Condor and the submarine and the spaceship side quests. I have a feeling the Gold Saucer is going to be reduced to a Jessie flashback, a Chocobo race (probably to win a key item), and a battle arena run like the coliseum in Wall Market in this game. If they include all the story elements and side characters from the original, this series is going to be a dozen games long.

Still, on the whole this game was enjoyable, and I’m glad I played it. It wasn’t as good as I’d hoped, but they haven’t completely killed off my interest, so I’ll probably continue with the series whenever the next game comes out. Though I’m not really sure if the higher-priced edition I pre-ordered was worth the extra money, so I may wait and see how the next game is shaping up before deciding which version to get...

But if they don’t give me a really pretty (playable) Vincent Valentine in the next installment, I may riot. I do have priorities.

#final fantasy vii #final fantasy vii: remake #ff7:r #final fantasy 7: remake #ff7 remake #video games #long post #review

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