#again its time constraints. they didn't have time. they didn't have time for a LOT of stuff. which is a shame

[valzhangism]

while jayce unquestionably took the W in the end, it does make me a little sad to think of everyone he left behind. mel, now in noxus, who will always remember the naive scientist boy who showed her innovation and humanity. caitlyn, who thinks about the man she always saw as an older brother, a presence she could depend on. none of them know what happened to him. they just have to deal with the loss

[tossawary]

Honestly, I don't think the Ents were scary enough in the LOTR Jackson films when they attacked Isengard. Like, it's great! It is great! It was amazing to see the first time; the effects are incredible for their time and they still hold up pretty well! I don't need to be told that they had various animation limitations. (More size variation in the Ents could have been nice. They could have been even bigger. But animation limitations and time constraints and such, I know!)

It's just that a lot of the camera shots were looking down on the battle (they're using bigatures and such, I know), so the Ents looked tiny, stomping on tinier orcs, or the camera is sitting with Merry and Pippin on Treebeard's shoulders, and that angle doesn't really get across how HUGE and NON-HUMAN trees are. I think the best shots in this battle sequence are the ones from the perspective of the orcs, where it's just utter chaos, and then some walking tree appears out of nowhere and it's ANGRY WITH YOU. Ideally, I think it would have been great if the storyboarding had leaned more into that bewildered and terrified human perspective more, getting more into the dirt of things, before then zooming out for the overview of the Ents overtaking Isengard for the end of the sequence. The boarding in the film does a lot of jumping in and out in regards to size and what's happening.

Like, have you ever been next to a massive tree in a windstorm? The sort that looms over the roofs of houses? When the whole tree starts swaying in the wind, hundreds of branches twisting like some kind of tentacled beast? And the rustling starts to sound like a dull roar? And you think to yourself, "Oh, if that tall tree ever goes down, it is taking that entire house down with it, cracking open the roof and bashing down the walls. It would smash that car flat. It would crush me easily and I don't even know how I would begin to get out of its way as it falls, because its branches and leaves would just swallow me."

And if you're ever in a heavily wooded area during a windstorm, it's even worse, because the old trees all around you are bending and shaking like they're about to pull up their roots and start walking. Like, you didn't forget that they're alive, did you? And it's beautiful, of course, but it's also dangerous. It looks like they're dancing in their own way, but the amount of wood being thrown around means that one good branch breaking could seriously hurt someone. And it's just a branch to the tree, the tree might be fine, it might just grow another, but that branch could easily be longer and heavier than a person.

It is cool to see all of the other Ents coming out of the woods to back Treebeard up and then go marching forward. But it does raise the question of "Wait, how did the other Ents get there so fast? Aren't they kind of slow?" (If there is lore explaining this, general movie audiences will not know it.) So, it would be fun if Treebeard made his call and the dramatic speech, all alone, and then we could cut away, so we have the plausible deniability of a time skip. There's also the tension of: "Oh, no, is Treebeard going to attack Isengard alone?"

And THEN we could pick back up with orcs on the walls of Isengard, boredly watching the industry below, before the ground starts shaking and the stone beneath their feet cracks. And a huge shadow looms over the wall as a MASSIVE TREE climbs over, basically falling over, and letting its sheer weight take down everything in its path. Followed by dozens more of these creatures. Making the machinery of Isengard look and all the orcs within feel very, VERY small.

If Ents are ever depicted again in any visual adaptation, even an illustrated version of the novel or a graphic novel, I feel like it should be a goal to really capture that feeling of being small and mortal by comparison. Some of the earlier interactions with Merry and Pippin and Treebeard get this feeling well enough. The LOTR films are over and done, obviously, and they did pretty well. But it could be better! I want to LEAN into those moments of smallness just a little more in future adaptations of Middle Earth. I would love to keep the camera LOW as much as possible and utilize advancements like more detailed models and better leaf animation. (Like hair, leaves are hard!)

We are not the Ents here. We are just witnessing them. You have to go out into a forest and ask yourself, "What WOULD it be like if trees walked around me?"

[shanastoryteller]

Star Trek please!! Happy Halloween

a continuation of 1 2 3 4 5 6

Admiral Archer is unwilling to take his rescission at face value and demands a more complete explanation. To Spock's relief, and the gathered students' disappointment, he's willing to hear it in his private office.

Captain Pike slips in behind them, which gets him an irritated scowl but the admiral allows it. Spock is only marginally surprised by this. Admiral Archer and Captain Pike are known to be on good terms and James Kirk had entered the academy on Captain Pike's recommendation.

"Explain," Admiral Archer demands.

Spock hesitates.

Starfleet is of course aware of the events that took place on Tarsus IV and so they must be equally aware of James Kirk's role in it. While Admiral Archer certainly has the clearance to know the particulars, it does not mean that he does, and Spock is loathe to reveal these particulars, even to someone who could find them out himself. Additionally, Captain Pike does not have the necessary clearance, and while he does not think that James Kirk would allow his presence if he did not wish him to know, or had not already told him, Spock cannot be certain and there is no way for him to ask.

"Commander," Admiral Archer snaps. "Is this a joke to you?"

"No, sir," he answers. He doesn't find any of this funny at all.

James Kirk steps up next to him and rests a hand on his shoulder. Spock resists the urge to flinch and shoots him a disapproving look. The contact is not skin on skin, but any casual contact is discouraged. James Kirk is very well aware of Vulcan customs.

Then again, his point of contact for Vulcan culture is Sybok. His brother had been significantly more... affectionate after Tarsus IV. Spock wonders if that's something he picked up from his association with James Kirk.

"It's alright," James Kirk says warmly. "Spock, tell Admiral Archer whatever you want him to know."

He doesn't remove his hand. Human's run hot, their physiology not perfectly calibrated to survive in the deep heat of the desert, but even still James Kirk's hand feels unusually warm.

"I was unaware of Cadet Kirk's background with facing impossible odds when I made my accusation," he says. "Having been made aware of it, my perspective has shifted. Cadet Kirk does not allow rules or the constraints of logic prevent him from doing what he believes must be done. This was what he was demonstrating by bypassing and reprogramming my system."

He can feel James Kirk staring at him but he doesn't take his eyes of Admiral Archer.

Admiral Archer frowns. "You didn't know he was on Tarsus IV with your brother?"

That he already knows is a source of relief. The incredulity is less.

"Spock had exams the time I went to Vulcan," James Kirk says. "Sybok loves an excuse to go off-planet, so we usually meet up on Earth. Spock and I have never met before." He turns to him with a grin that Spock is distinctly uncomfortable having aimed in his direction. "I should have known the second I saw you. You look a lot like your mother."

Being compared to one's mother on Vulcan is a high compliment. Or it's supposed to be. Spock's had those same words hurled at him before, but it was with cruelty, as a way to demean him rather than honor the woman who bore him.

James Kirk say the words easily, exactly as they are intended to be spoken.

"You're driving me to drink," Admiral Archer says.

Spock has no idea how to appropriately respond to that.

"What about me? You're driving me to drink," James Kirk says, "which is driving Bones to as of yet unknown heights of nagging. The stress isn't good for him but he keeps threatening me with hypos when I tell him that. Can't I just be concerned for my friend?"

That is not an appropriate response on top of being incomprehensible.

Admiral Archer rubs his forehead. "Chris."

"Sir," Captain Pike returns, grabs the back of James Kirk's jacket, and hauls him out of there like grabbing a wayward kitten by the scruff of its neck.

Spock stands there, unsure, until Admiral Archer glances up and says, "You too, Commander. I'll consider this matter closed."

He nods, "Thank you, Sir," and steps outside to an empty hall. Captain Pike and James Kirk are nowhere to be seen.

Once he returns to his quarters, he video calls his brother.

He doesn't pick up.

Typical.

[danieyells]

After Hotaburi's chapter i was very curious about Zenji voicelines! Can i ask for them, please?

@yuri-is-online YOU DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT OVERWHELMING ME although I appreciate the concern!! If I get overwhelmed or need a break I just put it aside until I'm ready or have the time and energy and attention span or ideas if necessary haha so no need to worry there 'u' (Also. . .good luck with those fics lolol)

ZENJI IS OUR LAST BOI. Until we get Ed and Lyca anyway. Which will honestly probably be in like. A week or two. Possibly less. I had my suspicions when I first read his that he was a ghost lol knowing he is. . .it gives them a little different feeling I guess haha.

Hello: (the first time the game is opened after that character is set as home screen NPC. Only happens once per day, unless the character is switched out and back.)

"Why, hello there, my dear. Suppose we kick off another swanky day here?"

You've Got Mail: (whenever there's something in the inbox, usually Arena rewards)

"Come now, read those messages out, won't you? They're fan letters for me, aren't they? ...They're not?"

Default: (requires no affinity, has no time constraints)

"You want to know the meaning of my words? I see— I'll have to give you a lecture on romanticism."

"What's this? Well, it's a biwa, of course. It's a biwa just as you are yourself."

what does that mean tho. . .i mean i get what it means but also it feels like it must mean something. . . .

"Girls, be ambitious... Dream big, my dear."

proud women enjoyer zenji kotodama

"A man who's everywhere but can be found nowhere... That's what it means to be an inspired man of the quill."

i think that's just what it means to be a ghost bby. . . . . . . . . . .

"Heh. There's no doubt about it. Zenji Kotodama is once again the most styling man on campus. These glad rags are the cat's pajamas."

Affinity 1: (between 5am and 11am)

"Come now, let's depart in search of something sensational."

Affinity 2: (between 11am and 4pm)

"Oh, have you come to see me? This is troubling. I'm afraid I'm out of autographs."

where have you been distributing them. . .?

Affinity 3: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"What am I doing here? ...I'm people-watching."

Affinity 4: (between 8pm and 5am)

"Ordinarily I ask for write-ins for my advice salon on the World Wide Web...but tonight, I'm taking it out into the field."

i wonder if he's waiting to encounter people who'll be able to see and hear him or if he's just like. . .genuinely ignoring/forgetting/disregarding that he isn't seen or heard. . .or maybe he was ignored a lot in his lifetime too so he doesn't question that people don't respond. . . .

Affinity 5: (between 8pm and 5am)

"The moon is beautiful... I always look forward to passing the hours in conversation with you and Towa on nights like these."

i thought you didn't hang around jabberwock after dark because the dark was dangerous tho. . .maybe if the moon is big and bright he doesn't mind because it's not as dark lolol

Affinity 6: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"My folktale videos? I filmed them at Haku's behest, but I can't imagine these old things will capture my fans' hearts..."

based on that the Urashima Taro video has his voice in it but his character story recording doesn't have him or his voice in it(and Haku deliberately tries to make the background interesting because he knows it'll only be the background and biwa sounds,) I think his voice can be recorded but if he's visibly in the recording it won't be captured? That or Haku has recording equipment that can capture ghost voices, but not images???

Affinity 7: (between 11am and 4pm)

"It truly is the age of YouTube. Can you fathom the romance of my artistry spreading to all four corners of the globe?"

Affinity 8: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"Every tool has its own knack you've got to acquire to use it properly. Behold— my mastery with a fishing pole!"

Affinity 9: (between 8pm and 5am)

"This doll here is special. The moment I met him I felt a destiny such that I knew we couldn't be strangers."

Affinity 10: (between 10pm and midnight)

"Oh, I didn't mean to give you a fright... I ought to have expected this. A sudden brush with an inspired man of the quill would take anyone's breath away."

Affinity 11: (between 5am and 11am)

"Have you got any siblings, my dear? Why no, I don't mean anything by it. Just a little morning conversation."

i can imagine him looking fondly at his doll as he says he doesn't mean anything by it. His sibling isn't one of the most important things in the world to him or anything. He's just making conversation. btw in Japanese he says "morning talk" which sounds an awful lot like "pillow talk" to me and idk how many people would be comfortable discussing their siblings after the deed--

Affinity 12: (between 11am and 4pm)

"Are you going to Mortkranken, my dear? ...I see. No, I don't mean anything by it. Are you hurt? I hope you'll take care."

so while it makes sense for Zenji to ask this as he is noted in his profile to be a worrywart, not to mention he died on campus, but also. . .y'know, his brother lives there.

Affinity 13: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sneak up on you. Apparently my footsteps give the general students the heebie-jeebies..."

In Japanese it does clarify that he moves without the sound of footsteps at all because the general students freak out hearing his footsteps since they can't see him

Affinity 14: (between 5am and 11am)

"A swanky morning calls for a swanky breakfast, and some swanky radio calisthenics."

apparently radio calisthenics are still pretty popular in japan. in any case man are you sure you died like a year ago you sound so old

Affinity 15: (between 5am and 11am)

"Why, Subaru hasn't risen yet. Go ahead and wake him, won't you, my dear? I'll accompany your efforts from here with my biwa."

Affinity 16: (between 11am and 4pm)

"A burst of inspiration has taken hold of me... No. The ghost of artistry has possessed my soul!"

okay well be careful with ghosts taking over your soul you don't have a ton left if you lose that--

Affinity 17: (between 10pm and midnight)

"To be a Darkwick student is to greet danger as an old friend... But I hope that Haku and Subaru have a long life ahead of them."

Affinity 18: (between 8pm and 5am)

"Zenji Kotodama is a wonderful name, don't you think? A sensational name befitting of my sensational sensibilities."

Affinity 19: (between 10pm and midnight)

"Trouble sleeping? Then I'll read you a story. How about Urashima Taro?"

Affinity 20: (between 5am and 11am)

"I was standing by your pillow last night? Horsefeathers, I'd never. I was there the night before last."

BABY I DON'T THINK THAT'S BETTER. YOU ARE STILL WATCHING THEM SLEEP. WHAT ELSE DO YOU WATCH THEM DO.

Affinity 21: (between 11am and 4pm)

"Go ahead and eat. No, don't give me another thought—I'm on a diet, you see. Watching you is enough food for my soul."

you see why i suspected initially that he didn't know he was dead? can you eat at all buddy?? i don't think it's a diet if you've lost the ability to consume food. . . .

Affinity 22: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"Haku's busy today—film me in his stead, won't you?"

Affinity 23: (between 8pm and 5am)

"I've got a little story about a hapless fool of a man... I'm sure it's hardly worth listening to. I wonder if I'll ever get the chance to share it with you?"

the true stories seem like the ones he wants to avoid. . .'a hapless fool of a man's story that isn't worth listening to but i'd still like to share' sounds an awful lot like it must be about him and his life. . . . In Japanese he says 「救いようのない、馬鹿な男の物語さ」 "it's the story of an irredeemable/hopeless, stupid man.". . .who did you hurt, Zenji?

Affinity 24: (between 10pm and midnight)

"To be able to look into your eyes and bid you good night... I'm the luckiest fella for miles around."

Affinity 25(max): (no time constraints)

"Maybe we did meet too late. But it's all right. I promise I'll find you in the next life."

but. . .but we have this life. . .although this is one of the few acknowledgements he really gives of his own ghostly nature. He wants to be able to live with you. To be tangibly there for you, to touch you and support you, to be able to show you off to others. . .but he can't be recognized. He can't be seen or heard but by a select few, it's only thanks to Haku that he can be seen or heard by you. It's too late for something 'real' now. So he can plan for the future. For the next life. He'll find you when you're both alive and then you can do everything you'd want to do with a real physical boyfriend. He promises.

Spring: (March-May) (between 5am and 11am)

"In spring, the dawn... Red tinges the slowly paling mountain rim... Ah... These mountain fellas must've been goofy for some doll..."

(between 11am and 4pm)

"There is hope buried under the cherry trees... It means that spring is the season of chance encounters."

isn't the like. rumor that cherry blossoms are pink because they dye their petals with the blood of corpses buried beneath them or something? i swear i read that somewhere. apparently it comes from a poem. is hope a body buried under a sakura tree. is that where they buried you, Zenji?

(between 4pm and 8pm)

"The cherry blossoms of Hotarubi are ephemeral—they bloom only to be quickly washed away by the rain. But I am rather fond of that way of life."

Zenji simultaneously lives in Acceptance and Denial stages of grief it seems lol

(between 8pm and 5am)

"The beauty of the cherry blossoms under the night sky inspired me to pick up my pen... Oh, it has gotten easier to lift."

Summer: (June-August) (between 5am and 11am)

"Have you seen him!? Who? Why, my doll, of course! This is very troubling. I've got to find him before the boogeymen stir!"

. . .somehow this reminds me of the Jiro dialogue where he's like "if Yuri asks where I am, tell him i went to bed, i'm going out" lol if the doll reminds him of Jiro, it seems to make sense that now and then it wanders off on its own. I wonder where it's going though?

(between 11am and 4pm)

"My ideal summer vacation? I wish to lay down my burdens in the springs of Yugawara and pursue my wordsmithery in peace, as so many greats have done before me."

Yugawara is a hot spring town in Japan! Apparently since the Meiji era people would go there for inspiration and such thanks to the atmosphere

(between 4pm and 8pm)

"This master wordsmith studied by the light of fireflies... I see. Haku! Turn out the lights!"

(between 8pm and 5am)

"I heard a frightful rumor... Apparently the ghost of a dead student has been spotted around Hotarubi..."

THAT'S YOU. YOU ARE THE SCARY GHOST OF A DEAD STUDENT. PEOPLE CAN SEE YOU MORE BECAUSE IT'S SUMMER.

Autumn: (September-November) (between 5am and 11am)

"Fall is the perfect season for a new book, and I have the perfect one for you... From inspired man of the quill Zenji Kotodama, the fruit of his sweat and blood... "Body.""

(between 11am and 4pm)

"A song for you in the season of the arts... From inspired lute priest Zenji Kotod— Wait, where are you going!?"

why is this the one time 'biwa' is translated to 'lute' lol. . .although 'lute priest' does sound way better than 'biwa priest'

(between 4pm and 8pm)

"Gauging the literary significance of this video by something as insignificant as views... Horsefeathers, isn't it?"

yeah!!! don't judge your worth by views or follows, zenji!!!

(between 8pm and 5am)

"I've decided to make you the heroine of my next work... A beautiful princess who bites into a poisoned apple and falls into a deep slumber... and seven of you!"

a fascinating retelling of Snow White. . .Snow White And The Seven Snow Whites. . . .

Winter: (December-February) (between 5am and 11am)

"Good morning, fellas! Time for my biwa recital to color the chill of this frigid sunrise! I call it "Six O'Clock in the Morning.""

zenji nO PEOPLE ARE TRYNA SLEEP

(between 11am and 4pm)

"There's a rumor going around that you can hear a biwa playing in the music room when no one's there... I go all the time though, and I've never heard it..."

again. . .that's because it's you. . . .

(between 4pm and 8pm)

"The setting sun... The sky dyed purple... Your beautiful profile, obscured... (gasp) I've been struck by inspiration!! My dear, I have to leave you here!"

(between 8pm and 5am)

"Are you cold? Then let me warm you up... My dear, why are you scooting away? I'll only make you colder...?"

it really seems like he forgets he's a ghost pretty often lmao

His birthday: (June 19th)

"Is this...a birthday present...? (hic) (sob) I'm the luckiest fella around...!"

people don't give him gifts often huh. . .or he's just very emotional. both could be true.

Your birthday:

"I've planned the perfect day to celebrate the miracle of your birth... We'll start with an ode to you, accompanied by my biwa."

he planned you a whole outing or maybe a party! with all day musical accompaniment!! What a sweetheart!!

New Years: (January 1st)

"Happy New Year, my dear. I'll be making the first shrine visit with Haku—care to join us?"

Valentine's Day: (February 14th)

"My dear...is this for me? (hic) (sob) I'll treasure it always...!"

well given he probably can't eat it. . .fair reaction

White Day: (March 14th)

"I'm sorry... I did try to explain that a biwa recital would make a better gift, but Haku insisted I present you with confections instead..."

thanks haku you a real one lmao although music wouldn't be bad just. . . .

April Fool's Day: (April 1st)

"No, I would never lie to you. An inspired man spins fiction with his quill, not his mouth, after all."

y'know, i love the honesty! you keep making stories and being open, zenji!

Halloween: (October 31st)

"Why, you gave me quite a fright in that getup! What a marvelously queer celebration this is! So this is the legacy of westernization..."

no the marvelously queer celebrations are in june. although halloween is also marvelously queer sometimes--

Christmas: (December 25th)

"Merry Christmas! I've completed a new fairy tale. May my wishes reach the hearts of children everywhere..."

not a gift for you, but for the children! can a ghoul ghost and a human have--

Idle: (about 20 seconds without interacting with the game) (below 13 affinity)

"...And they lived happily ever after. How did you like my new story? I'd love to hear your— What? You weren't listening!?"

(13 affinity and above)

"Can you see me? Phew... You've been so quiet, you had me worried, my dear."

Absent: (logging in for the first time in 2 or more days?)

"Ah, I'm so relieved you're all right, my dear. I wondered if something had happened on a mission... I'm glad my fears had no teeth."

THAT'S ALL OF EM. He's really. . .he is himself the whole way through huh lol. At the same time when he does acknowledge his ghostliness(and oftentimes he does the exact opposite, simply lacking in self-awareness) he seems a little lonely and regretful. . .I wonder if he was always such a worrywart or if he started worrying more after he died, realizing first hand just how dangerous things could be. I'm surprised how few acknowledgements his doll gets, although I don't think he carries it on the home screen?

I wonder how different his personality was when he was alive. Probably not very different tbh.

ANYWAY IT IS HALF PAST MIDNIGHT FOR ME. BEDTIME.

[elkcrown]

Actually bc its easier to post text here on tumblr

gonna give y'all qsmp BOLAS fans a little treat. The baghera & Cellbit return for purgatory 2 had a lot more dialogue for it, but was never used. There were a lot of elements and time constraints that caused their involvement to go way differently than initially planned. It's a shame, because I was super proud of it! So here you go, enjoy the watcher's dialogue that we could've had.

Eye @ BOLAS members

"Greetings, victors. It was a pleasure to find out you chose to remain here, within my domain. This island, it awoke a sadistic desire within each of you, didn't it? You saw how that vermin you once considered your friends turned on you.

How they hurt you, tortured you, made you experience death at their hands over and over and over again. But I can tell, none of you desire to be masochists. And I would be bored of torturing you that same way again.

Do you hate those people? Do you hate how they made you powerless? How they kept taking and taking like greedy rats? You will never be above me, but you can be above that vermin. You have teeth, a blade, any weapon you may desire. You have a rage that must be felt by those below you. Those that hurt you. Those that might hurt you.

There are new contestants. Many new, some old. Go on.

Kill them. Tear them apart, make them feel the pain you felt. Give them no chance to stand, to breathe. Break their spirits, until there is nothing left.

And relish in power you have over them."

[uboatheflesh]

Here's me recording/performing of empathy shield live on Behind The Mirror, RTR 92.1 FM on the 24th of August 2023. photos by alt.live.perth (Jess).

Set was a little shorter due to the radio time constraints. Also gave a brief interview (the interview on the site was done beforehand over email, theres also a pre-mastered version of empathy on there, I only spoke briefly after the set on radio). Again, empathy shield was completely improvised based on carefully pre-selected sound design elements. Done in the middle of autistic burnout, where I could barely speak on radio due to slowly going into verbal shutdown . Luckily my tour hosts Jess and Amir were absolutely supportive and got me through it.

I went on to play this show a few days in later, also in borloo/perth at the Badlands Bar. It used a lot of the same elements of empathy shield. I have a few feelings about it.

After the end of my set, I had a total verbal shutdown as soon as I got off stage and snuck back into the green room.

Worse, I managed to break the zip on my dress (got caught in the mesh I was wearing) and was stuck in it for 20 minutes before I had to ask a band for a shirt to cover the broken top half. Then several old perth friends I had not talked to in ages came in to talk to me only to find me simply unable to say hi back. I felt terrible about it. Indeed, I was in a terrible state. However - everybody around me there understood. A fellow autistic woman even gave me a fidget spinner. Even if I didn't use it (weirdly too overwhelmed to stim?), I kinda happy cry every time I think about that somebody even offered one to me non-judgementally. Only a few years ago would I have seen as a ridiculous r*tard baby for being a 'professional musician' who does this, but now it's ...its treated kinda like normal. Wish I had this kind of understanding growing up before I was diagnosed. Now, I am never the only ND at the gigs I play. Indeed, the NT's are usually the minority at them. Then theres the fact that so many other (and more well-known) musicians are being open about their autism (like Ethel Cain or Justin Broadrick) which would also be unthinkable years beforehand. It genuinely warms my heart. This is why I am loud, proud and cringe about my neurodivergence now. I don't want to be repeatedly traumatised by it anymore based on misunderstandings that we autists inevitably get, or failing to meet allistic standards. Every time I see a fellow autist get horridly traumatised because somebody (usually NT) got the ick it fucking hurts. Or when they blame themselves for failing to meet arbitrary allistic standards and fall into a horrible depression for not being 'normal'. It hurts even more if its a fellow autistic transfeminine person. I wish I could do more about it, like psychology or social work - but music is what I am stuck doing for the time being, so I'll try to do what I can here. Hence several upcoming songs /records (including the two Roadburn commissioned original compositions) neurodivergence takes a central role. It's lame, but sometimes its good to be lame. Sometimes it's necessary. We have a long way to go, but its also important to remember we have also come a long way too.

/gen

[mask131]

I have been trying to make this post for a long time now... But I kept pushing it off again and again, because I thought if I made it I would be ripped to pieces by Tumblr's wild beasts. Now that the Gaiman accusations appeared (and that older cases were dug up), I have to admit I had a selfish little sigh of relief because I thought I could finally make this post... But then I quickly realized upon seeing all the misinformation and "hot takes" people were sharing around that my post might potentially get support just because it is against Gaiman's work... And I don't want that either because it is just my opinion about an adaptation and a TV series, and it has nothing to do with the crimes talked about currently. This is why I won't tag it "Neil Gaiman".

So I will make this post, but be warned, I had this opinion this the release of season 1 so it's old news. Now that the disclaimer is out of the way here is my opinion:

I do not like the Good Omens series.

Shocking reveal, isn't it? I have never hidden that Good Omens is one of my favorite novels ever. Heck it was because of Good Omens that I decided to give a shot to Gaiman's works, because before I just rolled my eyes at stuff like Coraline and was a dedicated Pratchett fanboy. Good Omens the book was a big part of my life, and I still love dearly this book - I am still a bit pissed off that people forget it wasn't all Gaiman, it was Pratchett too.

But I am not surprised people think it so... because of the series. The show adaptation. Which I do not actually like. In fact, I think I posted a bit about this when season 1 was over, and then I just shut myself silent because the show-fans of GO were just annoying and irritating to me. And one of their irritating trait was to completely erase or forget about Pratchett's involvment, and only praise and talk and refer to Gaiman as the sole creator of Good Omens which is... deeply infuriating.

I did not even watch season 2. I don't know what it is about, I just know the plot of episode 1, and that's literaly it. I don't know who are the characters of season 2, what is its plot, what is its twists... Never had interest to watch it, never bothered. Why? Well two reasons.

Reason A: Season 1 did not really made me giggle with glee or smile with happiness or cheer with enthusiasm. The announcement did, the pre-release pictures and promos did, the first episodes did... But by the end of season 1 I was just... "Okay? That's it? I guess... it's nice. I prefer the book though." Yes, they tried to stay faithful to the novel, yes they paid heavy homage to Pratchett, yes I understand why so many people loved it... and yet I am amazed at how different the show is from the novel. Because despite being faithful in the portions it adapts... the show removes a LOT from the original novel. It has been explained as budget cuts, unfinished post-productions, time constraint, the limits of a TV show... some of the deleted scenes are bonus in the DVDs, some only exist in the official script, some never reached the script stage at all...

But here's the thing: by removing these parts, the creators of the show made a story that isn't at all the novel. And as a result, when chatting with fans of the show, I ended up realizing we had a "deaf dialogue" as we didn't speak of the same story or the same characters. Take for example the addition of an entire episode dedicated to the backstory of Crowley and Aziraphale. Not bad in idea, very enjoyable for a fan of the Good Omens world... but very detrimental in the scope of interpreting the story. Because this, and the big advertisement around these characters, and the big stars put in their role, and the TV guides and reviews description always starting with "An angel and a demon on earth"... It led everybody to think "Good Omens" is a story about Aziraphale and Crowley. That they are the main characters, the protagonists, and everybody is a side-character.

THEY'RE NOT! Yes they are one of the protagonists - ONE of the protagonists. Yes they appear on the covers, it doesn't mean it is a story about them. It is a story about Adam, and Adam is, for example, as much a protagonist of the story as Crowley and Aziraphale. Another noticeable change: the novel ends with Adam, because it opens with his birth (well, not immediately, but it is the main big event of the opening of the novel) and thus is concluded with him. In the show they end with Crowley and Aziraphale, and a bonus section AGAIN pulling the plot by the side of the duo. GO the novel is very Pratchettian in its structure and handling of the characters - it is a traditional "early Discworld" style of storytelling, almost like a traditional Russian novel, where you have a lot of characters leading separate but linked storylines, and it blurs the line between who is the "protagonist" and who is just a "secondary character" as there is no real central focus outside of the story itself, which is the narrative lead instead of a specific character.

Results? Now everybody thinks GO is primarily and firstly a romance between an angel and a demon. When in fact the original novel is, first and foremost, about a parody of the Apocalypse and about the displacement of an Antichrist - displacement of which Crowley and Aziraphale are the most active agents, but it doesn't make them the sole protagonists of the story. This is why the announcing of season 2 made me lose interest: I could have bought new Crowley and Aziraphale adventures... but without Newt, Anathema, Shadwell, the Horsepersons of the Apocalypse, Adam and the Them? They were placing their bets on new characters invented for the show that I had never heard about, so of course it did not interest me.

(I also STRONGLY defend the idea that the novel Crowley-Aziraphale relationship wasn't meant to be just and solely a romance, that it was a bit more ambiguous and open for interpretations, but that's a fight I have to lead another time)

I am still pissed off at how GO (show) fans treat Adam and the Them sections like garbage and as parts that could be entirely cut off - when they were crucial and the heart of the novel. It was a proof that the show had manage them very poorly.

Reason B: I did not trust Gaiman's claims.

Remember, this is before the whole business of sex crimes popped up. I am not saying this retrospectively. But when season 2 was announced and released, I did not trust Gaiman with his claims of "continuying Pratchett's legacy".

See, it was well-known, recorded and reported that yes, Pratchett and Gaiman had worked on a potential sequel to Good Omens before Pratchett's death. And when Gaiman explained that season 2 would be based off those left-over ideas and concepts for this sequel (the same way several of the added segments of season 1 were leftovers of this same unwritten novel) I was "Great!". But the way Gaiman shifted around when talking about this on Tumblr bothered me.

Originally he claimed season 2 would be based on the sequel novel. But then he claimed season 3 would be based on the unfinished sequel, with season 2 merely being a "bridge" to season 3. And then he added that however season 2 was not a "filler" but was "needed" to be able to reach and access season 3's story? Despite season 3 being supposedly based on the unmade DIRECT sequel to the Good Omens novel, an unmade sequel that several elements of were directly introduced in season 1? This made me very suspicious and distrustful. This is also why I never bothered watching season 2 - it always felt to me as if Gaiman was trying to sell his own ideas under the name of Pratchett, and since only he was in the know, we couldn't prove anything.

Now to be fair, Gaiman WAS fair in handling Pratchett's moments in season 1. For example, while yes he had some of the Pratchett-written moments cut (like some of the Them's scenes), he also had several of his own sections cut (for example it is known that the Four Horsepersons of the Apocalypse scenes were mainly written by Gaiman - and I was really pissed off at how they removed basically half of their scenes because they are one of my favorite parts of the novel). But you can unfortunately feel how Pratchett wasn't on board because of precisely how his main part in the novel (Adam and the Them) ended up underwhelming and ignored by everybody... Which leads me to

Little C: This one is basically a bonus thought I am throwing here because I don't know how else to introduce it. The Good Omens show (at least season 1, again I didn't watch season 2) was so sanitized... A lot of the dark humor was cut out of the show, and it felt so hypocritical and such a classic "Amazon sanitizing" job. For example Famine's scene with the dieting model was cut off to "not offend people" and "not be triggering". Despite it being a very much needed commentary and thing to point out about human evil? And the line about the "faggots" was cut-off again to not be "offensive"... Despite it being a very clever pun on UK English versus USA English and the USA having proven VERY recently that they are NOT actually a gay-friendly nation? They gave flavor and spice and a much needed dose of the "anger under the humor" typical of Pratchett's work, and removing these little bits here and there made the show feel a bit... sugary sweet? A bit sanitized.

When tboredman said he was a bit wary about the coming of the Good Omens show because of how he perceived "red flags" with the trailers and promos, I was quite puzzled... Unfortunately now I can see it was a literal omen. By the way, if you want a very cool, very nice, very inventive webcomic that pays homage and takes inspiration from Good Omens while being its own hilarious yet dark Apocalypse parody... I suggest you check Boredman's Apocalyptic Horseplay. It is really cool! It is on Webtoon or on this very Tumblr (check @tboredman )

[nakianshuri]

The sad thing for me about Bridgerton is that it got so sloppy in season 3 that I might have lost my interest in the show overall. This show depends a lot on characters fearing scandal and the ruin that can befall entire families if someone steps one foot out of place. Those are the stakes set up in season 1 where a secret kiss can lead to a duel.

Now it feels like scandalous stuff happens and no one really cares. Why did we get more reaction from the Ton about Cressida's announcement as LW while we got no real reaction from anyone other than El and Colin when Pen reveals herself as LW? Did all that secrecy about LW really matter? Feels like it really didn't.

Daphne is absent all season without an explanation. Doesn't attend her siblings' weddings. No one seems to care. Eloise was outed as a radical last season, but no one except Cressida's parents seem to care. Marina was ruined, but we didn't see how that in itself affected her life last season, and because she most likely won't return, we won't get see how she reacts to finding out Pen was LW.

What was the point of Eloise's friendship with Cressida? Maybe Cressida will reflect on that relationship while she's with her horrible aunt, but what was its purpose for El? I have no idea.

The Queen approved of Kanthony last season, so I get why there's no scandal after that botched wedding between Anthony and Edwina, even if that really stretched credibility. Now no one cares that Anthony and Kate have been shirking their family responsibilities during the Marriage Mart to travel, even though this is when they should have been taking charge, as they did in previous seasons. Why are two characters who are so dutiful no longer interested in fulling their duty to their family or even attending Francesca's wedding? Are they burned out by a life mostly defined by duty? That would be an interesting story to tell, but no one cared enough to tell it.

Benedict dropped art although it was such a passion of his because he felt like an imposter, and we don't get any scenes of him feeling adrift without it or struggling with any feelings of self-doubt about that. We don't even get any scenes of him heading the household while Anthony was away. Because what Benedict does above his waist doesn't seem to matter. And when he starts sleeping with a man, that doesn't seem to matter much either, despite the societal constraints of the time. Why did we see Daphne have more internal struggle about marrying a Prince than Benedict when he realized that he was attracted to a man perhaps for the first time? Why were we given so little insight into Benedict's feelings this season? Do they matter?

Edited to add: What is going on with the Queen other than this obsession with LW? Why was she so bored of the debutantes at the beginning of the season? What happened after she finally took an interest in Francesca and failed to set her up with that Lord who likes French pastries? She once again, for the third time, failed to pair her diamond with the man she wanted for her. What effect does that have on her? What was the point of her storylines this season?

The lack of character in some of these storylines is a bit shocking to me, and it makes me feel a little ridiculous that I actually cared how this story unfolded.

[aquatark]

Can I ask your opinion on Endless Ocean Luminous?

Thanks for the ask anon! :D

I've been trying to get my thoughts on this game together into something that makes sense for a while now, but no better time than the present!

tldr: I seem to like it more than most people! I think this game is alright though it's still very flawed, and I'm still enjoying myself with it, but it seems very clearly rushed and it shows. I'm still very happy that the series has a third entry at all, and am looking forward to the future of the series after this game!

...okay, now I'm gonna aimlessly ramble for wayyy too long lmao (spoilers under the cut if you haven't played)

So, to get a few of my biggest gripes out of the way:

Having completed it... the plot is god awful (esp the ending, iykyk). I think I would have preferred having none at all, but Daniel is cool

The English voice of Sera isn't ideal, though this is an issue other languages (like Japanese, French) don't seem to have

The setting, character development, and lore is much more shallow, uninteresting, and poorly-explored through gameplay than any other diving game Arika has made, which is saying a lot bc EO1's plot was invented pretty close to release, and is known for also not being great

The game doesn't run as smoothly as I'd like. maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I remember a time when devs didn't feel like they could release their game if it crashes as often online as this game does

Some of this game's creature textures are far less polished than they ought to be for a Switch game. Surprisingly, most of the ones ported from Arika's defunct mobile fishing game are fine! It's stuff like the megamouth shark and bigfin reef squid that really stand out to me as sub-par

I'm not as bothered about this as some ppl seem to be, but I would have liked a little more customization freedom, ala EO2's suit cuts

Many creature descriptions are copied verbatim from EO2, which I really dislike. wasted a perfect opportunity to highlight different aspects of creatures, not rehash the same tired and basic facts

Though I love the concept of dynamic time of day underwater, it's executed very poorly imo. Could have done with some more fine-tuning (something that could be said abt... a lot of this game lol)

All of this however only detracts a little from my enjoyment of the game overall.

The fact that something like the story can be shipped in the final product with a dev team that shares many many people with the original EO games (seriously, compare the staff lists on the wiki, I genuinely teared up seeing so many familiar faces again)... suggests to me that this game was subjected to crazy time constraints, though I don't have any concrete proof. Nintendo has been known recently to be anti-crunch with some of its biggest IPs, so maybe an Arika problem? Regardless, this game shouldn't have released in the condition it's in, and definitely should not be the price it is.

I really don't like being too negative though, so I won't be! After all, and this may be controversial coming from an EO blog... but the various flaws of Arika's previous diving games made this not be the biggest surprise to me. I mean, I 100%ed EO1, including collecting every salvage and getting all gear/hairstyles! Do you have any idea how hellish that is? I eat slop for breakfast!!

I've still been playing a lot of this game with my dear friend MDB (us pictured below), and there are a lot of things I like about it!

I will, for example, drool all over this game's sound design till the day my son "dies" in a tragic submarine accident. Ayako Saso (main talent behind Everblue 1/2, EO1/2, and Luminous' original compositions and sound in general) knocked it out of the park as usual, with the menu sfx feeling really Everblue reminiscent in a way I adore, and the music easily being some of the best in the series. I know many fans are disappointed by there being no vocal tracks, but honestly? While I like the fact EO1 and 2 had them, they simply wouldn't have fit in this game. So I'm chill about it.

I think the random generation and focus on multiplayer are fun and fresh for the series! I have EO1 and 2 when I want polished singleplayer gameplay, and this game when I feel like something else. EO1 and 2's multiplayer objectively sucked, so it's a really interesting angle to take. The gameplay loop is entertaining enough for me - I like salvaging, scanning creatures, collecting tags, and hunting orbs, both in solo and shared dives. The framework is solid, but could use a little more meat.

The fact they were finally able to realize the "Ancient Sea" concept that had been thrown around during development since EO1 is lovely. Despite having been a dinosaur kid, I'm not really knowledgeable on any of the species depicted in-game, so their designs don't bother me... I'm just a sucker for human ruins overrun by prehistoric life!

Though there are some categories of sea creature that I'm a little sad not to see anymore, like seadragons, sea slugs, and many marine mammals... I don't mind this game's different roster. I like the creature variety, because imo, it would have been a little boring and predictable to have the roster just be every creature that was previously in EO, plus some new ones. This system avoids the kind of problem Pokémon games are currently having, where they have so many critters that they can't possibly put them all in one game, but fans are upset not to have the entire dex ported, y'know? It's like playing EO for the first time again!

I've seen several people theorize that the series was "intentionally sabotaged with a bad new game, so that they have an excuse not to make any more EO games", and... I mean... all I'll say about that is that there's no use killing something that's already dead lol. There'd been no games for over a decade, and very little demand for one - why would a game company looking to make money put so much effort and money into marketing, development, pre-order bonuses, and My Nintendo rewards in order to create hype for a game that's bad on purpose... when they could have kept the series dead for free? Nintendo clearly believe the concept of diving games has legs (or fins ig), with a staff team who love the ocean and dive irl, and are trying new things to see if it sticks better than the previous four games they've made, which collectively sold worse than Luminous did.

It may not all be great, or even good, but experimentation and trying unconventional things is what made EO such a special series in the first place baybee! We just remember the parts of it we liked, and forget the really dumb stuff. The EO team has never been perfect, and I can see their smudgy fingerprints all over this game... I mean, these are the same devs who didn't notice a crash so bad it had their game recalled, and repeatedly yoinked copyrighted material without permission to use in their games... but that's a long post for another day lol.

Soooo yeah! Those are some of my thoughts! Feel free to express your own thoughts on the game here - I'd be curious what other people think, and I'd be more than happy to answer more asks on specific elements of the game, or just getting me talkin' about this game, or any other game in the series for that matter! Any EO questions at all, ask away~!

Thanks for reading, hehe! >( ')

[pinkrangersarah]

I REALLY hate that Hazbin Hotel was only given eight episodes per season. Like, that is definitely not a lot of time for a story like this to flourish so a lot of it ended up feeling rushed to me. I can't really blame the creators for this as the time constraint wasn't their fault, so I have to cut them some slack.

Final thoughts:

I'm a sucker for themes of gray morality, love that here. It is fascinating that not even angels know what allows a soul to be granted entrance into Heaven, so they come off as very hypocritical when Adam can behave like a blood hungry, sexist jackass but the second Charlie lets the F-bomb slip she's looked down on. Excited to know what becomes of Pentious being redeemed and allowed into Heaven whilst Adam was slain in Hell.

I am so glad the Overlords are not the pompous pricks I was prepared for them to be. With a cast consisting of many assholes, I'm glad that most of the Overlords actually seemed pretty diplomatic and have a mutual respect for one another, minus the Vees. Rosie is an absolute delight and Carmilla won me over in "Hello Rosie". It is absolutely hilarious that Rosie's domain, Cannibal Town, is the most pleasant and charming place in all of Hell.

I do hate to be that person, but I actually thought the finale was sort of underwhelming. Again, there were time constraints so it's hard to criticize them for that, but everything was just thrown at me and I wasn't given the time to let moments sink in. (To be fair, I did accidentally spoil myself for Sir Pentious, so that one is mostly on me, but the scene still came and went very quickly.) Lucifer sort of shows up out of nowhere, but it's hard to complain when I enjoyed watching him go ape shit on Adam.

I don't know if it's another hit by the time constraints or if I just find Vaggie to be too boring (which I do), but I am not invested in the Chaggie romance at all. Their duet felt empty because I personally don't feel the chemistry between them, which is a shame because I want to like them. I love the dynamic they're supposed to have, but it feels so shallow.

I am glad they're allowing themselves to take on certain slow burns, though, like the budding romance between Angel and Husk, and the fact Alastor's soul belongs to somebody. I was prepared for them to reveal what Alastor's deal with, but I'm glad they didn't because it makes me eagerly anticipate next season.

Lilith's reveal pissed me off, and I'm trying to remind myself that there's still a whole other season to see what her game is, to not jump to conclusions. I am literally begging her not to be a secret antagonist. I don't think the theory of her owning Alastor's soul is completely out the window; my sister speculates that she sent Alastor to help Charlie because she couldn't (she seems to also have some deal in place) or wouldn't. My theory is that she got fed up with Lucifer doing nothing, allowing the extermination to happen, succumbing to selfishness and abandoning them. VivziePop herself said Lilith and Lucifer were madly in love, so I'm hoping it's family drama that will be given the attention and time to heal.

Despite its flaws, this show feels worth the wait. The animation is great; it's very fluid, the characters are expressive, and I really like most of the character design changes from the pilot. It's wonderful to see how far this team has come from the pilot. I've been a slut for shows incorporating songs since Phineas and Ferb, and Hazbin has so many great songs. The amount of times I've listened to many of them on Spotify is starting to get embarrassing.

It's still early, but I think Hazbin Hotel has earned its spot as one of the most anticipated shows of 2024, and will earn its place as one of my top ten shows of 2024.

[bestieriker]

i have thoughts about the pjo tv show but they might not be beloved... (long post, mostly just for myself but feel free to read my thoughts) (also lmk your thoughts! im curious if my experiences are universal) (also obv spoilers for ep8)

now i recognize i am watching this show through the lens of a much older person than i was when i read the books. percy is no longer older than me - he is now just a baby to me. and the actors are so young. so that might be the cause of some of my feelings. also i realize that a tv adaption is not going to be identical to the book. but what is tumblr if not a place to vent my frustrations, despite how irrational they may be?

i'll start with the good because there were some things i liked. i thought the actors mostly did a good job. the effects and sets and lighting and design was all very good, visually i think it was great. i like the gods i think theyre mostly well cast. I don't really have many problems with grover.

ok now lets talk about my frustrations. this isn't going to be super organized or logical. first of all, i had a problem with the characterization. most characters were actually not bad, but percy didn't really feel like percy to me. he seemed kinda darker? (whats he gonna be like when its dark!percy time??). like book percy obviously was not happy all the time, but he seemed light and he made jokes and he was a little goofier and i feel like in my mind he smiled more. tv percy kinda just seems sad all the time. and this might be a controversial take, but i feel like they gave some of percy's best traits to annabeth?? like annabeth was the one beefing with ares the most when he showed up. and a lot of the time she'd have a line that seemed so percy like!!! don't get me wrong - i love annabeth and the actress did a really great job! but i feel like she was kinda percy and annabeth at the same time in a way. i missed percy. also hades was different. they made hades fun which is cute but in the first book at least hes supposed to be kinda scary!!! i wasn't scared of hades at all. hades seems like he'd be a fun drinking buddy in this. those aren't the vibes hades should have, at least not at the first meeting.

ok next!!! where is the fun. pjo was such a fun series and i feel like the show has taken on more of a darker outlook! again i realize its a tv show and it was only an 8 ep run so they probably had time constraints, but i miss the fun little scenes that make the books such a fun read! like the "say hello to the poodle" scene ? or the scene where they're telling charon they died in a bathtub? and don't even get me started on the Crusty's bed scene. they just breezed right through that!!!

and thats another thing!!!! in the book they kept figuring things out while they were in the thick of it. which was fine!!! especially for percy - hes brand new to all of this, he has some knowledge but he makes mistakes because he's a kid and he is in a brand new world! and we get to see him and annabeth and grover get out of these tricky situations and figure things out!!! but in the show they know everything basically instantly. like the lotus casino or crustys scheme. i like seeing them make mistakes and fix it!! i don't think i was ever stressed watching this show (good stressed, like suspense stress) which i guess is in part because ive read the books but also because they were never in too terrible a position. and the kronos thing!!! percy knew right away. he was like oh word big pit? must be kronos. he did everything. like that is way too quick for early percy.

and then this is just me being nitpicky but i don't like how they changed things. like the luke betrayal reveal? where was the scorpion. that was so iconic and they just completely scrapped it! i thought it made luke's character kinda scary! like this guy fully just summoned a scorpion to kill percy. instead in the show hes like swinging at percy and percy manages to hurt him. i'm not scared of this luke. young percy, away from the sea, manages to hurt him? little annabeth scares him off? he runs away? ok big man try showing up again we won't be scared. idk it frustrates me.

one more thing before i wrap up the longest (and only) post i've made in ages. Sally Jackson using Medusa's head to turn gabe to stone was SO iconic. and what a great way for her to show us and the world and the gods how powerful she is. like she went from being sally jackson, mother and protector of percy (who was already pretty sick) to Sally Jackson, Capable of Basically Murder in a Super Cool Way!!!!!! i loved that. but in the show they just have gabe snooping and accidentally getting turned to stone? if i had never read the books and was watching this show with no knowledge of the books, i'd think it was just kinda a lazy way to wrap up a loose end. kinda felt like they took sally's power away (i know she divorced him but it doesn't really have the same gravitas).

ok i do have other thoughts but this is so long already and its bedtime. is it weird that i'm worried the younger cast might come across this? they probably won't care what i have to say but incase they do come across my super long post and read it (i would if i was 15 and starred in a show with a built in fanbase), i hope they take it with the biggest grain of salt. bc at the end of the day people like the show, its profitable (i assume), and i'm just a cranky old lady who doesn't like change. most of the changes i understand why they did it and i respect it. i'm just venting here. and you know what? if they release a second season (and third and fourth and fifth) i will be watching.

i guess i just wish they maybe had more episodes, or longer episodes, so they didn't have to rush it as much as (i felt) they did. overall it made people happy so who cares. have a good night tumblr.

[mdhwrites]

Do you think it's a bit odd how muddy the premise of TOH is?

I can sum up the premise of other similar shows I've watched in one sentence to any hypothetical viewer going in blind. SU: A chubby boy struggles to master his own power, identity, and goodness while navigating complex family dynamics, old wounds, and sick sci-fi technomagic. Amphibia: Three girls search for each other, stretch their friendship to its limits, and find a way back home in a wacky land populated by amphibians. She-Ra: An imperialist soldier turned rebel fights to free her homeland from occupation whilst struggling with the unique bond she shares with her frenemy.... etc!

I'm just not sure what I could say for TOH. A girl runs away from home to be mentored by a wild witch? But she doesn't really get mentored, and she didn't exactly run away either (she just... didn't go home until it was too late.) A girl leaves her home dimension to enroll in a magic school - hm, but that wasn't really something she super duper cared about, it was just part of the witch gimmick for her.

What else?? A human enters a land of witches, only to discover sinister scheming from the only other human to genocide - which - he's 400-ish too, so, uh, that proves that... colonialism... um.. religion... Let's restart. A human enters witchland and discovers things are not as they seem - no, things are pretty much as they seem-

A closeted girl is thrust into a new world in which she can be herself, and catches the eye of a popular rich girl? Hey, that's not too bad, except it ignores a whole lot of other shit that went down.

How about: A girl enters a wacky land that fulfills her dream of living a fantasy to a T, including the unpleasant parts of the genre.

...Yeah, I guess that's the closest I'm getting. Anyway, what d'you think about TOH's premise? Is it clear to you?

So when I bring up that TOH has a split personality problem, this is what I'm talking about. It effectively is trying to tell three different stories, with three different tones. Any one would be good on its own. Any two would need some finesse but they had plenty of time. All three? Well, even disregarding time constraints, you would have had to be really smart in mixing all three elements in order to make something cohesive as keeping them all separate for longer would simply create the same problem as keeping them apart for a short time does.

And TOH doesn't even fucking try. The literal only element that consistently ties all three story ideas together is Luz. I'll get into it more in a second but this is part of why when you pitch the show to someone, you kind of just have to focus the entire description on Luz in one way or another. To mention any of the other elements causes you to inherently imply one is more important than the others and TOH never chose anything to prioritize.

But of course, what were the three stories trying to be told and with what tones? And I'll talk about how it handles each of them weaving into one another once I've just established a baseline for each.

Well, first we have the slice of life, comedy, coming of age story that is Luz, Eda, King and Lilith. Especially in S1, most hijinks with them are focused around blunt morality, hijinks and just dealing with a problem of the day. It is the most bluntly kid's show of any of them, adopting a lot of the tone of Amphibia. This is why we get so many B plots with King that are the same thing over and over again. It's why Lilith and Eda are on opposite sides of the law but they don't fight until the end but instead are just nice, silly sisters here for hijinks. It's also part of why Lilith is made into a joke in S2 because that is more keeping in line with the tone of this storyline than if she were to actually what happened to her seriously and mixed in with:

The second is a fantasy epic about the corruption of a world by hate and prejudice. Of one man's corrupted beliefs of religion and want for control ruining a land. It is a much darker toned story, meant to reflect the horrors of the real world and its prejudices. This is the plot of Belos and Hunter. It is also the plot that is the smallest part of TOH but should have been the most omnipresent due to how so much of it is tied strictly into the worldbuilding. A lack of world building easily makes this sort of story, like most dystopians, fall completely apart. It also is the one that requires the most adherence to it as conflicting elements makes this story feel all the weaker each time someone treats this existential threat as nothing to be worried about.

The third is the most obvious: The school drama/romance story. This one is probably the one actually trying to be the most concise due to how almost every element for a season and a half of this plot is dedicated just to the weird girl/serious girl romance. It's a classic and one I've iterated on multiple times myself as it's just a fun concept to handle.

So there you go. Three ideas that are each on their own a good story but have their own complications. Each one of these could have easily taken two seasons to properly explore and tell. With more efficient storytelling, any of them could have taken a single season or less.

But then you get the exponential problem of mixing them together. Because mind you, tonally you have a comedy slice of live, a romantic drama, and a dark epic. Those are VASTLY different genres for each tonally and in narrative intent.

The easiest combo is actually the first and second. This is actually what Amphibia is effectively. The show starts in a somewhat isolated part of the world so its lighter tone can not contrast with the darker epic that is to come, giving it a safe space for character development, relationships, etc. Then with each threat, it gets a little more serious with its tone. There's a reason Hop Pop buries the box in S1 but the confrontation about what that means isn't until S2. There's a reason why S3B of Amphibia is MARKEDLY more serious than anything that came before it. The strength of this combo is that when the darker elements show up, the contrast of what came before makes them hit all the harder and makes you care about the stakes.

So what about how TOH handles it? Well, Lilith and Eda are theoretically a blend of the two but Lilith is never treated quite seriously enough. Also, rather than it being ideological, it comes across more personal with those two and it kind of leaves Belos out of it for the entirety of the first season, especially due to how wishy washy the show is about the covens being a big deal. Then in S2, Lilith absolutely SHOULD be the connective tissue. Her and Luz share a similar anger towards Belos and the two acting on that anger is a way to show that hate in any form is destructive, playing on the grander themes of the epic side of it while bringing in The Owl Family.

Instead, Lilith is just kind of flicked away, rendering any connective tissue from S1 to just evaporate, especially as no one actually seems to have cared about Belos almost murdering Eda. Rather, Raine is the connective tissue for the two plotlines. You know, the character who never gets to meaningfully interact with Luz or King, nor actually has a role in potentially pulling Luz to different ways of learning like Lilith might have, meaning they don't interact with the mentor side either. Even in their first episode, Raine is entirely self contained away from the other two. Eda and King's closest contribution to the plot before S3 is honestly in trying to get info out of Warden Wrath and that's really it. Otherwise, they're entirely divorced from Belos, his philosophy and his machinations.

So next easiest combo: The grand epic mixed with the school setting. This is how you get things like S3 of RWBY, My Hero Academia or Harry Potter (Though HP sucks dick at it too because good old Joanne sucks both at being a good person and actually writing anything serious.) The school setting is used as a kind of safe space for drama, romance and teenage shenanigans while the dark elements allow those things to come to a fever pitch as well as a way to test the bonds made at school versus the grand threat's hate and evil. It's hard to make smooth though, if the fact that I listed two things with... questionable plot writing to put it mildly isn't indicative. It at least has been done before. Oh, Naruto pre-Shippuden could possibly also be counted as this.

And TOH mixes these two by... Hunter? That really is the closest it ever comes to mixing them. The school is easily the part that obliterates taking Belos' regime or themes seriously as it constantly, CONSTANTLY undermines the worldbuilding of the show and struggles to actually feel like a part of the grander society. None of the Hexside Squad members ever properly face what being a wild witch or ditching the coven system actually means after all. Amity literally treats it as something that will mildly disappoint her parents but isn't a big deal.

So all you really have is Sport in a Storm and Labyrinth Runners as at least those episodes are using the school setting to give Hunter a chance to make friends and become a better person, theoretically, and he's important to the epic storyline so that kind of counts. If you REALLY want to stretch it, Eclipse Lake is another point of crossover before all three plotlines are mashed together starting at Clouds on the Horizon but the only justification there is that Amity is from the school stuff, though it's closer to fitting the tone and tropes of the mentor's storytelling than that of the school's.

But that is still three... In almost 38 episodes.

The last one is easily the most awkward and the one I don't have examples for: Mixing the Mentor and School plotlines. It's actually pretty easy to see why this would be hard. Both are about teaching the main character but in different ways. I think you could claim some works have done this by having a specific teacher be the primary teacher/mentor for the main character while the school is just where that mentor is accessed.

So how does TOH mix the-

Error 404.

Huh...

I'm not over exaggerating that much. Besides Teenage Abomination, VERY WEAKLY, the two never actually mix. Eda comes to Hexside once. King interacts with the Hexside kids a couple times but always in episodes or B plots that are much closer to the silly slice of life stuff than anything trying to mix the two tones. Even when it does, you get Really Small Problems where neither story is progressed and it all feels bad. Remember the closest that Eda comes to ever being a part of fixing a school problem is in Understanding Willow where she's just a spell dispenser before then being an idiot for Gus. It doesn't make her look better or play with any of the themes. The next closest is during The First Day where she is isolated entirely in her own plot so it's not actually mixing it besides the fact that Eda is at the school.

And for all three?

Well... I think the best way to point this out is that the best example of all three plots coming together is Edric deciding to expand his knowledge of magic. He actively chooses to reject what society has told him, tries a new method endorsed by the mentor figure but does at least acknowledge that his old schooling didn't prepare him for it. It's not strong and it's still hamstringing the epic storyline because he's already practicing two types of magics and so is mostly just nervous about being any good at this but it's SOMETHING.

But otherwise? The three shall never meet. Even once Clouds on the Horizon happens, they never meet. Eda literally never spends time with the Hexside Squad, especially as a whole. King is barely a part of the mentor stuff by then and is purely in the Epic territory and he's still not interacting much with them. Even in the final episode, the Hexside members are entirely on their own while Luz, Eda and King properly take out Belos, rather than everyone trying to protect Luz or having to fight by her side.

This sequestering of characters, themes, plotlines, etc. causes the show to waste a LOT of time and never have a proper focus. You never know what the point to a scene is because what it's serving is unclear, if it's serving anything at all. The show, by the end, can still have cut Amity and Hexside out entirely and lost literally nothing except much of what made the fandom engage with the show. And a reminder: Disney SUGGESTED Hexside. Dana said yes. It wasn't forced on her.

And that fits the show's entire storytelling ethos. It never feels like it is actually focusing on a single point. Instead, individual episodes will present interesting ideas or statements that immediately conflict or need to be retconned by other episodes because nothing is properly congruent. It is all conflicting against each other because each part is acting entirely independent of the rest.

It is an ever growing leviathan but rather than bringing in more of what is around it to make it stronger, it only ever hurts itself more and more as the details that once shone on its surface are made murky and unclear by all it has piled upon it until there is nothing but a rancid sludge. Unclear, unfocused and hard to describe except in the most blunt way possible. So what is the most blunt way to describe TOH?

The only factor that gets to cross all three storylines: Luz. So the only way to describe the show is "A story of a teenage girl going into a fantasy story." What type of fantasy story? Who knows. The writers didn't seem to after all so why should we?

======+++++======

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I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

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[inventors-fair]

Carrying History: Set Name Commentary

You know the weirdest part about all of these mechanics that I've noticed as I'm typing up responses and commentary? I've actually not been paying much attention to the names of the mechanics themselves. There are some weird and obscure ones, that's for sure. Some of them had the same name as another submitter and some of them even had nearly the same ability. But the choices that come with them are all top-notch. Everyone knocked it out of the park with that.

The second part that I should acknowledge is that keyword actions are really tricky. Like, really tricky. You want to make it so that players understand what you want them to do, and then at the same time you have to give it a shorthand, and you have to make it feel natural... It's pretty wild, actually, and it wasn't until the end that I realized there weren't any on the podium. But that's just how the cards are dealt, and I want to give commendation to the players who designed keyword actions in the first place. Pretty tight stuff.

I'm astounded that this contest broke the number of entries that it did. Is it just a resurgence in the new year with players coming to the Fair? Or did this one feel like people were up for the challenge? I know there were a few new faces, so welcome one and all, but it's just kinda surprising all at once. Eh, the more the merrier. Usually. Lots of writing, but that's the bed I've made. We'll see if we need to adjust.

Cards with JUDGE PICK are ones I want to point out as being cool for some specific reason, cards that were close to being on the podium that didn't quite get there, and/or my personal little favorite babies. On with the show...

@bread-into-toast — Luminous Broodwing

Let's see: the easiest things to have out would be creatures and land, and then a mix of artifact/enchantment creatures is an easy-ish 3-4 depending on as-fan. Battles and planeswalkers are a little more difficult, but there you go. I think that there's something that's... Well, it's obviously a mechanic derived from delirium, and that's some reasonable space. I think there's an inherent difference between the graveyard and battlefield type-caring, because cards with Delirium assist in the catch-up, whereas cards with this mechanic reward stabilization? Coming from behind, you'd have to have an artifact, planeswalker, battle, or kindred card to give the same effect; the limits on permanent types feels, well, more limiting than perhaps intended.

But, as a come-from-behind scenario, I can see where this card entering would make a world of difference. Caring about smaller things does seem to be in-color for this archetype in various ways, and I think the general design is pretty cool. Maybe with a little sacrifice engine it could be a really nasty piece of work to loop other entering effects. If I'm not mistaken from the art with the lanterns, is this intended to be on Kamigawa? (Forgive me if you've already said that, we've cleared the notes and I've been bad about bookkeeping.) Contemporary Kamigawa would be the easiest place to get this online. It's an environmental thing, really? I understand the gist of the mechanic and its implementation. You know your history, that's for sure. It's interesting—the ability you chose is called "modern horizons" but the roots to the past still tether it.

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@brookeuwo — Ruin Surveyor

I think we could see Caves again, sure, and there are gnomish/dwarven stipulations that could make the presence of Caves much more prominent. Is it worth basing an ability word off of them? There are a lot of constraints when it comes to what folks want to draft, picking Caves instead of the Cave payoffs... Which do you take first, and what do you hope to see from that? I mean, there could be one in every other pack or whatever, and that's an environment-dependent thing. I feel that the specificity would end up being somewhat parasitic to what you're trying to do for a limited environment, or if not parasitic then highly specific to the point of it not being worth the ability word.

As for this card, though, it might even feel pushed if you managed to work out what kind of environment would have that many caves in it. Surveil on a green creature is wild, especially repeated surveil. Is that allowed? I legitimately don't know if that's something that green should be doing even at this rarity. I know that it gets some entering thing, but... There's no precedent for it, that's for sure. If it was an attack trigger, perhaps, maybe something that could happen if you've sacrificed something... Tapping to surveil isn't in-pie here, I'm gonna draw the line. Do I like the card conceptually? Yeah, for sure! Does it need to be rebalanced? Yes. Definitely. I had a "gnome man's land" pun I was trying to make here, but I'm far enough behind as it is.

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@dabudder — Avaricious Raider

It's a shame that we only have so much time and space for these cards. I do appreciate the ambitious design in general, all the time. To thine own audience be true, though—"Loot" cards are an allusion to another whole card subtype, I assume, and I can imagine the ways that they'd be like Lessons, but I don't really know them. ... The more I read this, the more I can see that yeah, they'd definitely be like Lessons, but artifacts. Heh. Some of them would be quite powerful in any format, unlike constructed Lessons, I imagine... Permanents vs. spells is always a strange quandary. Conceptually? I do like what you've aimed for. Contest-wise, I can only judge what I know and what I've played. What I've played of Lessons has been successful! What I've played of grabbing sideboard artifacts, well... I used to play Karn Fires, so I've been burned before.

I've also been a fan of one-mana creatures in black, especially the aggressive ones. I'm a little down on the fact that you've named the creature in one line and then said "this creature" in another, so you might want to pick one line of wording to stick with. As for the card itself, it's a good show! Your opponent might want to have it die early to save life, but then they allow you to further your game plan with your Loot in a way that sets them behind. Or, they can take the damage as long as they can to avoid the extra card... Tough choices! Speaking of tough choices, the end to the flavor text feels a little...less punchy? How you utilize those creative choices is up to you but I don't feel the impact with this one.

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@deg99 — Put on the Screws

Not gonna lie: I really do like this one. "It becomes unhinged" is an awesome way of making the feeling match the expedited gameplay. You want to get these creatures out, you want to get them swinging, and you want them to make an impact. I imagine that becoming unhinged is something that's going to be used fairly sparingly, mostly as a limited trick, and I can see it almost entirely in RB, mmmmmaybe in a green card with the right flavor. That limitation kinda sucks, but hey, Rakdos is always a fun place to be! I think the wording needs a lot of editing, though. I'd word it: "(It must attack or block each combat if able. If it would deal or be dealt combat damage, twice that much damage is dealt instead.)" It's...narrow. And a little confusing to grok. But the gameplay, though...

Take down your opponent's big creatures. Force a creature to swing into a board with this card. Really make it hurt. I mean, Threaten effects are pretty great in the right environment and I've certainly died to my fair share of them, but this? This feels awesome on a whole other level. It requires a reckless spirit in a thoughtful game plan. Even aside from this card, which kinda speaks for itself, the mechanic makes me want to play it and that's a strong thumbs-up. The flavor text is pretty silly, which is a fine maniacal flavor, but in addition to being a run-on it's a little derivative from the name. "Get ready to bolt" could've been fun, maybe? Oh, wait: "Now it's my turn." Boom. Or...your turn? I dunno, there are really great options. Gotta play beyond the base language, dawg.

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@dimestoretajic — Foamy Containment

An alternate cost is neither an ability word nor a keyword action. On its merits, though, I'm not sure how on-board I am with having this as a mechanic at all. Its entire purpose is to get around the parts of the game that allow players to interact with interaction. Do we need a whole mechanic for it? I don't think so. The greater purpose doesn't lead players into an archetype nor does it suggest any kind of greater environment. I'm not sure what the considerations for it were. The card itself is a slightly upgraded Hydrosurge. Is it necessary for that to be at uncommon? Hydrosurge is nigh-unplayable as-is. I think both the card and the mechanic could use more revisions. The question is: what does this mechanic do for gameplay? Why is it necessary to have it be a mechanic, or what does its mechanical nature bring to gameplay? Where does this lead players?

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@dphkraken — Reported Missing

The name: excellent. The ability name: also excellent. The ability's grokability: pretty good, I think. The ability's execution: there are a couple kinks to work out but overall I like it a fair amount. The thing about instants having this, especially with something that can arguably be a combat trick, is that they're almost always gonna happen as breaking news—especially if it's not your turn, you see? I feel that "If it's your turn and this is the first spell you've cast this turn" could be just as fine. Then you can do it for instants or even flash creatures, and also add it to sorcery-spell things that would normally make more sense to cast during the second main. Kinda like how Addendum works? Hm, maybe there needs to be more done to differentiate them... Because, like, I do like this name on instant spells. There's gotta be a way to make it more unique.

As for this card, there are a few wording choices to keep in mind—namely, naming the parts of the turn. This card should be worded: "Exile target nontoken creature. Return that card to the battlefield under its owner's control at the beginning of that player's upkeep. // Breaking News—if this is the first spell you've cast this turn, instead exile that creature, then return it to the battlefield under its owner's control." Syntax matters a lot when you're dealing with these sorts of things. And yeah, it's a fine combat trick, and I love blinking! Question is, how are you gonna make the timing on something like Breaking News matter?

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@feyd-rautha-apologist — Hideous Waystone / Face-Eater Troll

It's really easy to compare this to something like Daybound/Nightbound with different timing restrictions, but having played an obscene amount of limited, I'm more impressed that you can pinpoint that sweet spot of where the number of cards in a player's hand matters. Three/four as a marker is a little too much, but two/three is just where there's enough tension to warrant wondering if it's best to dump the hand or go hog-wild. What I enjoy most about this play style is its limited play for sure. I also think it was a good idea not to exactly match Lorwyn/Shadowmoor style flavoring and go with the tide aspect instead, in part because I forget so much of that lore...

G/U could have a hand-size-mattering archetype for sure. It's a way to ensure that the R/W players who dump their hands will be forced to reckon with how this thing transforms. The balance between "a player" and this card could mean that aggressive decks have to contend with this thing as a creature and then you, with all your cards in hand, can get it back to being a peaceful stone. That's a lot of transformation! Looking at this card is one indication, but... Hm. There are a LOT of transforming triggers to keep track of, but each side doing its thing is interesting. But I'm just noticing that there's a major downside to game-state-tracking if one card is on Morningtide, and one is on Even, and there's one player with two in hand and one with three—the flip-floppiness of each transformation won't be consistent. That's fine in a vacuum, but en masse? I think you should edit to a point of mass transformation, at least so that each player's individual cards are on the same side on any given turn.

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@hanavesinauttija — Amaunet of the Chitin Court (JUDGE PICK)

I do recall there being whispers of this card around and about as an unused mechanic from Hour of Devastation. Did I read that in the workshops or did I read that from the fair chatter? I forget, but either way, there's something to be said for how absolutely excruciating this particular card would be in the Rakdos Sacrifice deck that's been making the rounds in Pioneer. For real—you get your cat-oven crap out on the first two turns, then play this if you don't have a devil, and you're in for such an evil time. Tormenting is something that should be done sparingly, I feel, but there are ways of making it happen in smaller amounts, and I think there shouldn't be too many cards in a given limited environment that do it as consistently as this. Well, "consistently," but.

I feel that for constructed purposes that this card should only be able to torment once a turn, just for balance's sake. Still, the way you've made this card makes me want to a) play with it and b) make cards that use this mechanic. Those are the little victories, right? I do worry about how any kind of recursion can make this card miserable, but that's a single instance of a card that's doing the work, and not an overall indication. Tormenting is...hard to balance, I feel. Too much and the whole gameplay feels oppressive. Too many hoops and it feels hardly worthwhile. Simple, effective, destructive—that's where this would need to land. I thing Amaunet is probably on the upper tiers of power for tormenting, but hell, I'm absolutely down for it.

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@helloijustreadyourpost — Split the Earth (JUDGE PICK)

I've had to rewrite this on and off, because I just don't know how I feel about this particular verb as a keyword action. There was another similar one down below, and both submissions are vaguely reminiscent of amass, and both of them technically feel like actions, and I'm frustrated trying to find the nuances of why it's just not gripping me. I guess "Awaken" took a lot of that cake, yeah? Let's back up. I don't hate this mechanic. I like the way that it encourages a thoughtful approach to when you cast your spells precombat main, and how it encourages that more aggressive style of gameplay. I don't like how it requires a target, especially one that animates a land, but I understand how you tried to mitigate that by making it indestructible. I'm not sure about the power level of that indestructible attacker, but it's temporary, so there you go.

Name's great, AD is pretty awesome, flavor text feels like it's based off of old Zendikar so there's a bit of a pass there. Looking at other land animation spells, this feels like a little bit of a fine card to curve on in an aggro deck, turn four sending 'em sideways. Let's play a little bit? I think that there's something to be said for other ways to worldwake. I'm imagining one that worldwakes whenever you cast a noncreature spell, another where you can sacrifice a nonland creature to worldwake, one where you can exile cards from your graveyard to worldwake for an amount... Maybe in the end there's just the swamping of submissions and I couldn't place my feelings in time. Maybe this particular execution makes the verbal aspect feel a little less like how I envisioned in the prompt. But hell, I'm ready to meet it halfway.

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@hyde-the-toad-bard — Burst of Knowledge

As a common card, there's a funny loophole you have there—if you have no cards in hand, then this spell basically becomes "draw three cards." That's why a lot of the cards these days have the discard as an additional cost, or "You may discard, if you do" etc. I don't know if that was intentional, but I don't feel that it's necessarily the kind of card you're going to want at common for three hybrid up there. I feel that the ambition is there, although the Allegiance execution could use a little bit of tinkering. To be honest, I've seen similar executions before, and there's nothing wrong with having an exact-color-or-number-of-colors mechanic in a set like Ravnica! There's the question of how to best execute that.

And instead of threebrid, imagine that this spell cost 2H instead for a draw-three discard-two (or one if you fulfilled the Allegiance casting). So now, you have the possibility that your players will spend other colors on the 2, but you want them to spread out their mana. Right? Having hybrid mana in a cost is something that suggests flexibility, that you're only going to be paying with the two colors. Honestly, in limited you're going to be doing that a lot of the time anyway, so what's the point of offering a special option that's actually the norm—y'know? My point is to ask this: how might you challenge the players with Allegiance in a way that encourages rewards for certain archetypes? Adamant did that with Throne of Eldraine, if you recall. What would it look like in inverse?

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@hypexion — Meletian Hoplite

I find it curious how many folks had similar-ish designs with wildly different ideas on where to begin for this contest, but that variance is notable in what names were chosen. The abilities and ability counters here are... Well, it's similar enough to one of the winning cards, no use beating around the bush about it. This card is definitely more of the proof-of-concept common draftable card, and the inspiration from the set/world is definitely a major part of it, and I do want to say that I enjoy the simplicity of the design. Now it's a numbers game, whether you'd want to be grindier as a 2/3 instead of a 2/2, etc. Ability counters, now that's something a little unique for Theros.

Is it something that a Theros set would want? That's impossible to answer, heh. There's always been fun stuff to do with the graveyard, but ability counters isn't the immediate relationship that I can see with the world and the cards, I'll say that much. Targeting, spells, enchantments... It's a good question: what would you do for cards with higher rarities, if they appear there? More counters? Abilities that trigger on exiling? With this particular example, it's hard for me to see the places where you could expand upon it, and that's something I'd want to hear more about from you. What does this look like at higher rarities? What else could be incorporated into the set, mechanic-wise, to have this kind of mechanic be a limited glue?

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@i-am-the-one-who-wololoes — General Commander

If I have to zoom in on your card, there's a chance there that you might have too much text there. This is a LOT of text for what amounts to a Battalion cousin. Let's talk about just the ability to start. Attacking and/or blocking with two or more creatures is fine enough. I don't know how absolutely necessary it is to word it this way, but I suppose that it can trigger even if it's other creatures you control that are attacking/blocking, and I don't hate the ability to sort of spread out your blocking abilities that way. It's not the easiest on board to remember; triggers that care about attacking/blocking on thing that themselves do not have to attack/block can be difficult, and that's something I've seen from limited experience.

I think it would've behooved you to choose a less wordy card, because a) it doesn't enhance the ability itself for the purposes of the contest, and in fact b) it makes me concerns about remembering what you have on board that much more difficult. Creature-types-matter doesn't really have anything to do with the card, yeah? And then you have blink effects, flash creatures, removal questions, what happens when a creature of X type enters at X time during damage/combat, etc. There's so much potential confusion here, my guy. And props for simple and effective flavor text—it really doesn't belong on a card with four other lines of text. Cut back to the emphasis on your strengths. How do you plan to really show off your response to the prompt? That's the focus.

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@izzet-always-r-versus-u — Omen Crane

I suppose that one scries/surveils a fair amount in MTG these days. Maybe it's not as often as how one surveiled in GRN, but that was the start of surveil and that was also a Guild mechanic, so that doesn't count. I think I can see cards at lower rarities that have triggers and/or buffs if you've scried/surveiled, although for a standard set, I have to wonder if it wouldn't be more beneficial to go back to what the Dimir did and just have additional surveil payoffs. But no, you can then expand this into more colors, and have a Sultai spread... I don't think white and red can really use that as much, but who knows, maybe there's more advantage across the whole set, maybe Prophecy isn't its own archetype. It's a little difficult to see where it would want to be as glue vs. archetype.

The card itself is really funny in ome ways. Did you consult Hisoka as wording for it? I was a little iffy and Counterbalance wasn't helping much, but thank goodness for old-school Kamigawa. As for whether or not this card is useful... I'm on the fence. Milling in blind luck and countering a spell can be fun, but getting rid of your resources and deciding what to keep or leave based on possible reactions feels fairly complex in any given environment no matter what the rarity. Potentially unfun with recursion, but since when are counterspells supposed to be fun? As far as recursive countering effects go, it's far from egregious and much easier to remove. I think its dependence on you having to have scried/surveiled makes it significantly weaker than it would be otherwise (so actually you get a lot fewer opportunities to go blindly milling on an opponent's turn, ig). Hm. I'm not really sold on the relationship yet.

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@lanabutnotdelray — Biblioplex Rebuilder (JUDGE PICK)

What can I say, I'm always a bit of a schmuck for special exile zones. Cipher, Imprint... The archive is a really cool concept. Fitting for Strixhaven, too. There are some possibilities of recursion and complex infinite loops, and I think that the space for it could be comparable to a second hand, and that's my real worry. Depending on the spells that you archive, I think having that zone is... Not to have a burning metaphor here but you're playing with fire. Exile is one place that can't really be touched by an opponent. They can hurt the creature, but if you're using the archive for any sort of recursion like on this card, then the gameplay loop has the potential to be dangerous.

It might've behooved you to choose an example that didn't have recursion, but whaddaya gonna do at this point, right? It's been nearly a week since actual submissions at time of writing, or at least it feels that way. So what else could be fun for an archival card? Let's see... I assume that your archive is only cards you own, which is fair. I'm imagining a red creature that can archive upon attacks, then when it dies it deals damage to another creature equal to the highest mana value among cards in your archive. Cool! Or a rare black creature that archives your creatures when they die then gives their keywords to your living creatures on combat. It's a cool way to accelerate the late-game. Just have to make sure things are balanced. I wonder how large an archive can be... That might also be a limit to set, like—after the fifth card, the rest go back to the graveyard. Resource management. I dunno, there's lots to think about!

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@little-red-rabbit — Ambitious First Year

There are certainly some ambitions here, but let's get the first thing out of the way: this contest was to design a keyword action or ability word, and Signature Spell is a regular keyword. The links on the main contest can take you to the wikis where the explanations of keyword actions/ability words are, just for clarification. If you wanted to make this into a keyword, let's look at the wording. This card wants to basically imprint an instant/sorcery, right? But this card doesn't say from where. Did you want it to exile from the hand, the graveyard, or from outside the game? The card needs to clarify that.

As for the rest of the card, though, it's understandable enough what you'd want it to do. Aside from a couple grammar changes, the functionality is fairly reasonable. Is it something you can cast without paying the signature spell's mana cost, or is it a freecast? When you have this many moving parts, it's important to be as clear as possible to ensure your card can be read in the way you intend. All the same: not a bad card conceptually. I think there are some specifics to work out as well as double-checking the contest requirements.

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@nine-effing-hells — Peer Under the Horizon

To phrase this in the most constructive way possible: I'm leaning towards liking this mechanic, but I don't think this card is the best way to demonstrate its strengths. Pseudo-looting, pseudo-recursion, lots of wild things to suggest about the environment... Let's talk about the way that this mechanic works first. I think it's strong enough to make me worry a little bit about it, but not so strong that I'm going to tinker with it immediately. Recursion is really strong, don't get me wrong. There might be ways that reforging fate can lead to really aggravating gameplay loops. Depending on the cards that it's on and how much other recursion is present/absent in this set, I can see it being fine enough. I'd want to play with it.

The discarding to draw reminds me of learning, which is a place from which I assume you got some of this wording. The rest of this card is surveiling, and drawing, and putting things into the graveyard again, then drawing again... Like, an on-curve creature that reforged fate when it entered would've been a stronger demonstration of how the verbiage works for sure, not gonna lie. Demonstrating the strength of a powerful limited tool that can completely reconstruct the way that limited players think about their resources isn't easy, I'll admit that. Is this the best card to show for it? I really don't think so. I grok it and I like it. If I was showing a brand-new player the mechanic, this wouldn't be the card I'd show to sell them on it. I do like the relationship between Kruphix and mortals, though. They've always been one of my favorite gods. Nice name, too—of the card I mean.

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@piccadilly-blue — Somnescent Seer

Insert my begrudging-but-not-really acknowledgement that there were Dreamcast promos. But I'm actually really jazzed, not gonna lie—I had no idea! That's super cool! I'm surprised that you don't have the graveyard there, i.e. cards that you cast from anywhere other than your hand, but so it goes. The real question is how you're gonna make this word in limited, right? Impulse draws aren't that common, at least not enough to give extra as-fan, and casting from the library is pretty wild enough that it's hard to justify. There could be other ways of dreamcasting and I can see this being an incredible piece of glue for constructed play on other cards, but how do you expect it to show up? I...really don't know, and I do genuinely want to hear more about your thoughts on expansion, if any.

This seer is, of course, a wonderful card. You already know. It's in the colors of casting from anywhere, and even if you didn't have the dreamcast action there, it would be a very good card. Impulse or Future Sight means that you've got a wild beater, and even a single impulse means that you can start popping off. I'm actually surprised that it doesn't have flying or +1/+1 instead of +1/+0 as a trigger, but those are small adjustments. Like, yeah, there are too many questions about what the potential dream environment would be to make dreamcasting the best it can be, but I'm gonna pour the praise where I can here.

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@ra-ra-ranamon — Navigate by Hedron

And our second worldwoke card of the hour! So there's something somewhat fragile about animated lands, which is why they've introduced quite a few ways to make them more resilient over the years. The mechanical iteration of Awaken from BFZ was...quite similar, honestly. Not gonna lie, this one feels effectively the same, but it forces you to make the lands into creatures upon cast, and that can open you up to a lot of removal options and interactions that you may not want to have at the outset.

I understand the distribution vs. putting them all on one land, spreading them around with additional worldwaking spells. Is it worth the spread if the distance from a tried and true mechanic isn't that far to begin with? Making three 1/1s out of your lands that can only be attackers at the cost of your other resources feels like it's not the best way to go about this kind of mechanic. A Rampant Growth effect is totally reasonable as a base for cards that need to show off new mechanics (like that bolster one from FRF). At its core, this mechanic feels like this iteration isn't what it needs to be in terms of originality or implementation.

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@real-aspen-hours — Stormchaser Corsair

[Art: a young pirate, hovering above the deck of a pirate ship, surrounded by small crackles of lightning. He's pointing towards a massive storm raging in the distance. His shirt is open, and on his chest are distinctive lightning scars. focus: the pirate mood: confidence]

So sorry about some of the syntactical stuff—I was literally ready to leave for work when this card came into the inbox and things got a little hasty. Anyway, tempest! It's interesting that there was more than one connection between tempest and storm. As for what it does, well, it does exactly what it says on the tin: triggers with additional spells. I don't have to be the guy to say that that's good gameplay, right? It's the kind of mechanic that rewards additional slinging late in the game and a management of resources that keeps your opponents on their toes. The colors that draw the most cards are going to be casting the most spells, and the fact that it's specifically the end step is possibly an indicator of things to come. Good choice to have it linked to specific steps and stages.

And the card is a bit pushed but fine by itself, yeah? I think there's the advantage in the later game that you can just chain together cards and have a full grip basically every time with extra advantage, so perhaps having a wee bit less power would be feasible. Casting spells and swinging in is what the deck wants to do but I'd wager that there's a bit of a damper needed. As it stands, the card's fine, and the mechanic is good if not breaking any new ground. The spellcasting colors want to cast spells, who'da thunk. There's not much to expand upon from the mechanical side of things, except to switch around flying and haste there in the text. Sometimes simple is still good, though.

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@reaperfromtheabyss — Boreal Mystic (JUDGE PICK)

I did Kaldheim sealed with a buddy of mine during lockdowns. He had gotten a box, so we both spent a few games rolling through and shuffling damage back and forth. What I noticed was that Snow was a fairly scare resource, or so it felt. If there had been cards like Boreal Mystic here, I think that having that blend of Snow and non-Snow could've been quite a bit stronger. The problem with Snow is that if everything's snow, it stops feeling like a unique thing to build around, but too little support can send draft players scrambling for it. Getting to make Snow work even in MH1 was an interesting feat considering you had to draft basics to make it work in your favor. What if there was additional support? I think it could be some wonderful glue.

This card as a rare payoff is costed properly, not too powerful, not too weak, and is a good blend of design sensibilities and flavor balance. There should be a comma after the 2, but hey, that's Preordain for you. (Maybe a comma after "nights" as well?) This card could encourage a long-term draft deck that rewards consistency if you get enough Snow, but even a single Snow spell can show how much a blend of draft resources can make a deck work. Heh, I'm actually reminded of NEO a little bit—in the sense that even the cards that seemed like they didn't fit into a particular archetype could jam properly. Play this in any kind of UX deck in Reaper's Snow Limited Set, and you'll get the payoff if you know how to pick the rest of the incidental Snow cards. I like it.

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@sparkyyoungupstart — Oilbarb Goblin

It appears that there was a little confusion about what constituted a KA/AW this week; this alternate casting cost is neither, but c'est la vie, let's take a look. Xantcha is a fun effect, and Sleeper Agents are totally reasonable. I'm...not sure why the casting cost and invasion cost are effectively the same for the player casting them. Why two mana for each? Either way, widespread Sleeper-Agent-Type effects have been tried before in custom circles, but I don't think that they really play that well. They're special for a moment but ultimately, is that really what you're looking for in terms of fun mechanics? Each Invasion creature you play will be attacking you in the end for an amount of damage that means you're probably gonna have to remove it with your own resources; there's no detriment, at least on this card, to just having a free attack every turn.

The damage on this goblin will scale up in time, sure. You're still getting attacked for what amounts to damage equal to what you're dealing, and on top of that your opponents get to play their own cards under their own control that'll be attacking you too. Honestly, that's why these mechanics end up not doing what they intend to do: MTG's resources demand benefits over detriments. You're spending a blocker to deal incidental damage here as your opponents get to play cards without having to worry about it. A cool notion flavorfully doesn't translate to a larger mechanical need.

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@stupidstupidratcreatures — Spoils Seller

What...is the vault? What is "it?" How do other cards go into the vault? Is "it" this card, or the card in the theoretical vault? I'm going to make this brief because there's some theoretical stuff to say about what this card might be alluding to with regards a shared zone (which doesn't work if cards are going to the hand, because cards you don't own can't be in your hand). Maybe there's some kind of place or mechanic that tells you how cards get into the vault, but as presented without any other information, I can't evaluate this card. Vague pronouns and a vaguer sense of what you're supposed to actually do mean that you're gonna have to explain your thought process before I can really give you the feedback you need.

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@tanknspank — Anxiety Attack

Layers are a real pain in the butt, aren't they. Here's what my gut says: this mechanic would have too many interactions for giving/taking away abilities to be a feasible action for drafting. The name's great and the Duskmourn-ian sensation of torment is pretty cool, so I love that. Where layers apply is really, really weird. P/T boosts versus ability-granting auras vs. cards like this are... It's just so strange together. I had an interaction with a baffling rules question the other day that I had an intuitive answer to that ended up being incorrect, so who knows how a whole ability that removes abilities would work out, especially with long-term memory issues.

Don't get me wrong—the concept is totally fine, and on a digital client I can see this working out perfectly reasonably. And giving abilities with something like suspect is one thing, but taking them all away is a whole other story. This card at common can make massive creatures lose abilities, which is really funny... Hm. The timing of combat damage to grant abilities (or I guess to return them?) is something that's gonna cause a few rifts with deathtouch, lifelink, trample, all sorts of shenanigans. So weird. Yeah, it's a sound idea, and that sound is an unpaid judge screaming into the void.

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@wildcardgamez — Eternity Rift

I'm having a lot of trouble seeing the justification for this one being able to target your opponent's things. And even for targeting your own. It's a tutor for this card's controller and unfathomably effective removal against an opponent. What guarantee is there that they'll have the card they're looking to planeshift? Absolutely none. So for one red mana, you punish an attacking creature and get it shuffled in without punishment. Like, conceptually, in a perfect cube, there are ways of making a kinda-similar effect work on a single spell. As a whole mechanic, this is broken six ways to Sunday.

You know how cards like Ghost Quarter are highly effective at shutting down opponents who don't play too many basic lands, and it can effectively turn it into a Strip Mine? It's like that. Planeshifting as a concept is...something that feels like it could be cool but the execution just isn't feasible. A mechanic like Transmute from RAV only kinda works (and even then isn't the best for limited) because it's a sorcery-speed one-player tutor for cards that you know you might need to search for. Forcing any opponent's creature to be planeshifted with three specific stipulations is far too much.

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@xenobladexfan — Lineaged Noble

Oh man, I've only been to Wisconsin once on a road trip, passing through... Anyway. I assume that Dynasty cares about the number of cards with the same name in your graveyard? That feels fair, although for limited you're going to be—well, quite limited. That's the ultimate downside: if you don't have the immediate build-around, you're kinda screwed. It's like getting one Faerie Miscreant in pack 1, and then you never seen one again for the rest of the draft. Maybe as a one-off card, this would be fine. As an ability word, I'm iffy on how much use it would actually have.

A one-mana 2/1 is totally fine, honestly, Savannah Lions go nuts and all that. The lifegain at common isn't gonna happen too much outside of maybe a lucky sealed player's pool, so there's that, but this card's still asking for the mechanic to carry it, and that's really not hitting me right now. But I don't hate the notion of caring about certain things in the graveyard. Or maybe, like, having a single other card with the name in the graveyard? Or on the battlefield? There could be some cool common/uncommon rewards for cards that benefit from you having a two-of. Gives the draft a sense of cohesion that allows for players to look for that togetherness.

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@yd12k — Bloodstained Barrister

IMO: three is too much. Two is perfect. Depending on the kind of environment you have, transforming multiple permanents doesn't happen quite as often as you might think. MOM was a rare exception, I'll say that much... But I've just drafted Innistrad Remastered recently, and you know how many transformed permanents I had out at one time? Not as many as the werewolf player who ran my ass over, I'll say that much. Depending on your archetype, it really is a rough call, and I love this concept with the name. Let's cut it down one level. One's too few for constructed, three is too much for limited.

Or maybe there can be scales depending on... No, that's too much text. Anyway, this card's fantastic. Or should I say FANG-tastic. Eh? Ahem. Lifelink plus the end step trigger means that you might have extra life swinging in by the time you get to turns 5+ and things can really kick off depending on what you had for permanents that could transform prior to it. It's ravenously strong, I'll say that much, and it encourages you to really take and force those TDFCs like the dickens. Night's Whisper is where it's at for a good reason. Yeah, no, big fan conceptually. Flavor text is cheesy but it's cheesy in a way that I personally enjoy. Camp! That's the word I'm looking for. It's a camp-ire. ... I think I'm cursed.

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@yourrightfulking — Aggression Duplicator (JUDGE PICK)

Here we are at the final story and the second Alpha ability word that cares about the greater power and all that jazz. It was a genuinely difficult pick between the two, but I still do like this one, and I think that there's a lot of cool stuff you can do with cards that care about the greatest power. Obviously there should be a few that spread out and check for power at different intervals, and maybe not ones that increase power in other stuff, but that's all future speculation. This version got some praise elsewhere, and it's a simple enough thing to grok that you can feel an amount of pride in your execution.

Honestly the first thing that I'm iffy on is the word "Duplicator" in the name. Feels a little telling where the rest of the card shows the feral nature of what you're trying to get across. What I really like is that even if this is on-curve and the biggest creature that you have, it's just a vanilla 3/2 that can swing in. Later in the turn it can really beef things up, but that's a strong rare aggression pattern as it starts. Later on, it is making free tokens of what's ostensibly your best creature, so I do wonder if it would behoove you to have some kind of cost attached to it? The value's already there, but you do want to ensure that things don't get broken too easily.

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That's all for last week's commentary. I'm still shocked we got the number of entrants that we did, but hey, it just goes to show: specifics hit different. Or something. I dunno, I'm full of fried rice and jazz.

@abelzumi

[gold-rhine]

Out of curiosity, how would you go about writing a neuvi/furina fic? I agree that there is a lot of potential for really good fics but for some reason the fandom waters it down (pun not intended but cyno would be proud). However, I've noticed that with other ships in the fandom too. They have interesting potential but then I'll look for good food and get morsels 😭 of what I'm looking for. Like I have had to comb through some alhaitham/kaveh fics that were uh very different from canon characterization. And it's like I JUST WANT GOOD FOOD PLS.

hmm. i personally would be really interested not in shipping them, but in like. snippets of interactions throughout the ages, from establishing roles to settling in a routine to then how these respective roles are getting in a way of genuine contact. bc like there are points where they try to reach out, but it fails in a mundanely tragic way. like. in furina's note, she says she told him thousand times to go out and interact with "our" ppl. like she clearly was well intentioned and tried to be nice. but like. it didnt work! he never did go out and interact with humans until post AQ, when in lantern rite he says he was just indifferent before. bc like, from his perspective its not "his" people, and also its his boss, whose also his colonizer, being like "haha you should get out more lol!" ofc he was like "idk what she's even thinking about", which is what he says about her note. but furina both didn't know the vishap context and was kept in constraints of self-absorbed goddess role, so the way she tried to be nice would never work like that.

i think ppl focus too much on how furina suffered more than jesus and forget why, which is bc she had to play the role of an entitled asshole and she had to interact with others thru that role, despite being mortified at how horrible she sounds. this is why she now thinks he hates her and all her coworkers too. she never had luxury of being kind or nice to ppl before, and if you take that away, her character loses a lot of complexity.

i think itd be interesting to explore her trying to be good to ppl while trapped in an asshole attitude, and sadly fail.

if i was paid like 100 bucks to write them romantically, i think id write the retrospective i was talking before for early chapters, but then take one of two options:

either keep canon story and explore them interacting thru excrutiating awkwardness post AQ

or as more interesting option, id re-write AQ a bit to add their interactions and let some of these interactions actually connect. i'd also let furina find out the truth about sovereign and what it means in relation to archons stealing his power. also, i'd restructure canon confrontation so that neuvi takes focal point instead of traveler. and then i'd go ham with drama on that archon trial, but also re-do meeting with focalors bc gurl. talk to your humansona pls.

btw i strongly dislike fandom being like oh, furina\rizzley was the reason neuvi saved humanity, like nooo its missing entire point. he saved humans without any selfish reason to do so, in fact, against his motivation for revenge, making that decision about a single human ruins neuvi's character. so in this furina\neuvi case i'd make conflict like. they don't know if she's gonna survive is focalors dies, bc then choosing to save fontain becomes the-nonselfish choice for him again and she gets to be the one with agency to decide to risk it

[cdroloisms]

I think that (while is clearly wasn't the Only problem) LN5 fell victim to its editing. There was a lot of emphasis placed on cinematography and dramatic moments that were, as standalone moments, very clean! But the trade off was that the stream seriously lacked breathing room. The dsmp story has pretty much always been told through a live medium, where conversations could go on for as long as they needed to. So trying to wrap up that same story with some neat little fast-paced hour-long bow was never going to work. (The time constraints are another problem but I've already talked too much.)

never say u talk too much in dr3 dr3amofagame dot tumblr dot com have u seen the state of my blogs /lh

but yeah for sure, the focus on cinematography was...definitely limiting in a way? and with so much to tie up, more content = more camerawork and editing in a way that's not really the case for other live improv content, so they would've been more inclined to keep things shorter. which, when there again was just so much just,,, didn't help. but honestly i think (while endings are HARD and i'm not going to say that there was an easy solution), part of the issue with Las Nevadas definitely feels like the story it set out to tell was a little different from the story that it ended up with

[clowndotgay]

hello!! quick question - do you know of any guides for putting together toon models from the clash files in blender? i tried on my own, referencing your guide for the cogs, and it seeems a lot more complex :'0

okay i DON'T have a guide for that but i'll make a short one here (because it is kind of messy)

How to get a toon model looking Alright in Blender

bit of a messy / long one so its under the cut. this extra guide is just presuming you went through & understood the guide on how to get general models / cog models (u can read that here), because if i need to explain everything i explained in that one again this would take sixty times longer! but i promise this is pretty simple, it's just a little annoying. worth it tho.

so a toon model consists of a head, a torso, and a pair of legs. the torso includes the arms, hands and pants/skirt. the first step is to find the files that fit the toon you're assembling (all toon model files should be in either phase 3 or phase 3.5, i cannot recall at the moment) and slap them all into one blender file.

you'll immediately notice that the toon head looks super messy - that's because each species head file includes all of the versions of the head - i.e. the larger dog head and the smaller dog head. it also includes all of the different mouths used for facial expressions. just hide all of those until you need them. from this point on its really similar to cogs, where you have to get the head onto the body, except you need to get the torso onto the legs and the head onto the torso. go into pose mode on the torsos rig and select the bottommost bone (named "root") and add a "Child Of" bone constraint. make the target the legs, and the bone "joint_hips". if you do that, the torso will be on the legs!

you have to do the same thing to get the head onto the torso, except the head has no bones, so just select the head armature (which again, has no bones) in the top right and add a "Child Of" object constraint. target will be the torso armature, bone will be a bone named "def_head".

last thing that i can help with is the toons fur colour. if you look at the shading nodes for pretty much anything importer by the .egg blender importer, it'll look like this:

to colour a toon properly, delete the "attribute" and set the A colour in the Multiply node to the colour of the toon. here's an example for a bright cyan toon:

so uhh. uhh. uhh. i feel like i'm leaving out something but i'm not sure what...? toon rigs are kind of incomprehensible, so you will probably want to either modify the game one heavily or make one from the ground up, entirely up to you. using the game one is still possible, just a little annoying.

you're done assembling your toon! try and rig it properly, import animation files from the game, modify the model, give it accessories, do what you will. hope this helped! if it didn't, send me another ask/DM and let me know what i wasn't clear enough on, or what problem you have. always happy to help :o)

also since you read to the end take a look at my recent attempt to make a toon have rubberhose-y limbs since its always kind of weirded me that they have a single elbow joint and it doesn't bend in the slightest:

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