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ducktracy · 4 years ago

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190. porky at the crocadero (1938)

release date: february 5th, 1938

series: looney tunes

director: frank tashlin

starring: mel blanc (porky)

at long last, frank tashlin has succumbed to putting porky on a diet. this is the first tashlin short to have a slimmed down porky, officially putting an end to “fat porky”’s reign.

the story credit goes to lew landsman—a bit of an anomaly, considering this is his only credit. much of the scoop on him has been lost to the sands of time, but evidently he was a gag artist, selling comic drawings to magazines and even touting showings of his art throughout the ‘40s and ‘50s. you can read more about him here.

porky aspires to be a bandleader at the prestigious crocadero (a parody of the cafe trocadero, a bumping nightclub on the sunset strip from 1934-1947), but quickly realizes he’s too poor to afford its flashy admittance fee. he works as a dishwasher, hoping to catch a whiff of the festivities, but is quickly let go after he proves too incompetent for the job. nevertheless, an impromptu change in plans finds porky at the bandstand conducting a number of acts, including a high-energy cab calloway finale.

the typography of the title card melts away, the camera panning out as we get a full view of the crocadero, illuminated by the moonlight and its flashy neon sign. pan back in to the sign and fade to a standee:

all of the selections are references to pieces of music, with said music serving as accompaniment. the score begins with “little man, you’ve had a busy day”, switches to “in the shade of the old apple tree”, and closes with a carl stalling favorite, “the lady in red”.

pan over to porky, eagerly ogling the sign. volney white’s animation and mel blanc’s vocals combine to make an energetic performance that will only grow in fervor. “hot duh-dee-duh-dee-duh-diggity dog! all thuh-the-thee-the big shots in person!” the detail of porky’s little hat flipping around, staggering in time to his stutter, is not only funny, but elevates the energy of the sequence. “someday, i’m uh-guh-geh-uh-gonna lead a band, too! s-see?”

porky unfurls a diploma, to which we get a close-up of his not-so-trustworthy credentials (fingernails and all):

volney’s animation continues to be full of character as porky blabs on about how he’s gonna become a famous bandleader. “and meh-muh-mee-mm-maybe i’ll be eh-feh-eh-famous, like eh-leh-lee-le-leopold eh-seh-stokowski!”

a nice change in camera angles as we turn to an upshot of porky, furiously conducting his imaginary band to a rousing rendition of “poet and peasant overture”.

the mood changes from fervent conductor to crooner as he chooses to mimic rudy vallee, conducting along to vallee’s 1937 “vieni, vieni”, complete with a hilariously amiable facial expression--a stark contrast to the fit he was throwing mimicking stokowski just seconds prior.

another seamless transition in tone to an impression of eh-buh-bee-beh-benny goodman, the song this time being “sweet georgia brown” in the stylings of the king of swing himself. the changes in mood and tone, in both the animation and the music, are as smooth as butter, especially for such drastic shifts in expression. frank tashlin doesn’t skip a beat with his pacing. this is especially true as the camera pans over to another nearby sign, a hilarious sight gag quickly putting an end to porky’s festivities:

dejected, porky rifles in his pocket and pulls out a lone coin emblazoned with a skunk—“one scent”. he trudges along solemnly, away from the crocadero, when all of the sudden a sign catches his eye: BOY WANTED. though porky has been slowly growing more consistent in his characterization, his age still fluctuated from picture to picture. frank tashlin would also portray him as a young boy in wholly smoke just a few months later.

tashlin flaunts his need for speed as porky wastes no time doing the signature volney white eye take and darting into the crocadero, a cloud of dust and the swinging of the doors serving as the only indication of his presence just milliseconds prior.

although the sign doesn’t elaborate on what job it is that porky is doing, the tower of dishes blocking the screen as we fade in to the new scene answers any lingering questions. pan out to porky, happily scrubbing away, while his boss, a pretentious walrus whose vocal stylings are hilarious and borderline incomprehensible orders him around. the bargain—if porky does his job, then he can “watch the orrrrrrchestrey, maybe, hmmm?”

a throwback to the days of working with disney, carl stalling “mickey mouse”’s a little penguin waiter—that is, his quick little steps are fervently timed to the jaunty tinker of an xylophone. the walrus blocks the diminutive penguin, peddling a platter of soup. after they inadvertently do a tango of side-stepping, the penguin wordlessly slides down the walrus’ back, zigzagging around a sea of tables, and right over to a lone giraffe, elevating the table like a car jack to fit the gjraffe’s height. the giraffe laps up his soup with ease. though not the funniest gag ever, tashlin’s quirks—the quick timing, hiding the penguin behind the plethora of tables, etc, make it more endearing.

back to porky, carrying a dangerously tall tower of plates with him. a fly causes him to nearly spill his goods, but ducking in place renders the pig safe. that is, until he throws all of the dishes in the air, swatting the fly spastically. the music cue of porky ducking, looking around to make sure the fly is gone, sounds eerily similar to the stylings of norman spencer, who scored the cartoons up until mid-late 1936.

without a break in pace, porky catches all of the dishes he threw into the air in one fell swoop. more buttery pacing from tashlin, who is able to switch tones and moods at lightning speeds without missing a beat. this is INCREDIBLY difficult to pull off, and he makes it look too easy.

as to be expected, the fly lands right on porky’s snout. instead of attacking it without hesitation, porky slowly reaches for a spoon on the kitchen counter... and THEN disregards his duties as dishwasher, carelessly tossing his pile of dishes aside to swat furiously at his foe.

the pompous walrus from before spots porky’s silhouette from outside the kitchen doors, flailing and waving around like a madman. “der loafer!” his boss interprets porky’s frantic waving of the spoon as a frantic imitation of a bandleader, promptly tossing him out. porky recovers in the back alley, left with his diploma and metaphorical birds of cartoon pain as the boss scolds “today, you are a ham!”--a take on the bar mitzvah declaration “today, you are a man”, which has been spoofed previously in cartoons such as egghead rides again.

it doesn’t take long for the boss to eat his own words. frank tashlin does a great job of creating a genuinely anxiety inducing mood as a crowd of people, now filling the crocadero, chant “we want mu-sic! we want mu-sic! we want mu-sic!” the musical accompaniment is more akin to the stylings of scott bradley, in the sense that it’s purely atmospheric and contextual, rather than an actual melody. the chanting and disconcerting music get louder as we cut to dramatic up shots of hands clapping to the beat, down shots of foots stamping, etc. it’s genuinely unnerving--and the manager agrees, pacing circles around his office, muttering incoherently to himself about the absence of “the musicmaker”.

knocking on the door serves as a symbol of hope as the manager whips around. “who’s dere?”

“telegram, i bet’cha!” inside bursts a total loon of an old man, his long, white beard whipping in the wind as he does donuts on his bicycle inside the manager’s office. if it weren’t for his looks and speech patterns, which already tell a story, carl stalling’s score of “the woods are full of cuckoos” certifies that this old coot definitely has some screws loose.

the old coot reaches into the depths of his beard and pulls out said telegram. “y’ owe me sixty cents, i bet’cha.” the manager unceremoniously dumps a handful of coins into the coot’s possession, who does a few more donuts in the office, indicating his exit. that is, until he suddenly halts, tipping his hat to bid “g’bye, i bet’cha.” such a scene is nonsense--and it’s hilarious nonsense rather than perplexing nonsense. it makes no sense, and yet it’s speedy enough to get its point across AND not overstay its welcome. had the same gag been executed by someone such as ben hardaway, who probably would have LOVED this gag, it would have been milked to death and bloated to ensure the audience “got it”. here, frank knows when to start and when to stop, an incredibly valuable skill not all directors possess.

contents of the telegram include a rather morbid nod to the hit ‘20s song “i faw down an' go boom”:

to add insult to injury, the old coot sticks his head in the door and adds “yeah, and they won’t come ‘t all, i betcha!” before slamming the door. though i can’t place the animator, the style of the animation looks eerily similar to that of izzy ellis’, from the spiral motion lines to the thin, squished look of his face. izzy ellis would animate in the clampett unit after leaving ub iwerks’ studio, later animating under norm mccabe, frank tashlin himself, bob clampett again, and then bob mckimson. an example of some of his work under frank tashlin here.

back to the crowd, still demanding their music in the same unnerving drone. the manager continues to pace in his office, until a bright idea hits. “that sving dishvasher! i must get him back schnell!”

a moment of frank tashlin greatness: the entire cartoon screeches to a halt as a narrator explains “ladies and gentlmen, ‘schnell’ means ‘quick’!” and, just like that, cartoon hijinks resume. this joke is hilarious 83 years later--imagine the reaction it evoked from theatergoers in 1938. once more, the matter-of-fact execution of the gag is what sells it. no build up, no cool down, no bloating of anything. short, sweet, and to the point. it’s so hilariously and purposefully redundant that you can’t NOT laugh at it.

speaking of quick, that would be an understatement to describe the rapid cutting after the fact. the manager rushes outside, whipping around street corner after street corner to find the dejected dishwasher he berated just minutes prior. he finds his target, grabbing porky and rushing backwards--the same way he came at the same exact lightning speed--all while monologuing about how porky can be a bandleader and break all of the dishes he wants.

again, no breaks in momentum whatsoever as the bandleader tosses a nonplussed porky into a bandleader’s outfit, stuffing a pillow under his shirt (had this cartoon been made a few months prior, there’d be no need for a pillow!) and giving him a fake mustache/curl of hair via makeup. “pull de vool over dere eyes!”

thus cues the music portion of the cartoon. a spotlight shines on a sign introducing porky as “the jazz king”, much to the pleasure of the audience. a giraffe in the orchestra introduces the song with a clarinet solo of “rhapsody in blue” before getting down to business.

porky, dressed as paul whiteman, conducts whiteman’s “avalon”, as indicated by the music stand. volney white does some great animation here--porky struggles to keep his own weight afloat, his giant pillow-stomach sinking to the ground. he readjusts himself a few times, enjoying the spare seconds of peace where his outfit stays intact, only for the same charade to repeat. fun eye takes and volumetric animation from volney. it’s no coincidence that he was one of tashlin’s best animators.

the crowd shots in this cartoon are not to be overlooked--kudos and apologies for the poor people who had to ink and paint all of that! the crowd dances along to the stylings of porky’s music, including a pair of kangaroos and their joeys slow dancing together.

back to the little penguin waiter from before, tinkering along to deliver a drink. a spare trombone sucks up all of the goods in the glass, prompting a hilarious grimace from the penguin who just stands still, silently glowering before traipsing backwards (mickey mouse timing and all) to refill.

cut to porky, who appears much more jovial. a clever pan out reveals that he’s enlisted in the help of a car jack to keep his extra weight afloat. and, with that, curtains (animation reused from the introduction to tashlin’s porky’s romance) close out on the pig. applause from the audience.

next up, “guy lumbago and his boiled kanadians”, a not-so-flattering nod to guy lombardo and his royal canadians. porky, dressed as a canadian mountee, directs “cryman lumbago”. carmen lombardo, brother to guy, was often poked fun at for the excessive vibrato in his voice--people would liken him to sounding like an old man on his last legs. not only that, but even by the ‘30s, guy lombardo’s music was often dismissed as slow, sappy “old person’s music”. the 1954 woody woodpecker cartoon, real gone woody, also makes fun of lombardo, also dubbing him as “lumbago” and calling him a square.

indeed, cryman lumbago is a decrepit old man with--you guessed it--lumbago, singing in a hilariously obnoxious vibrato. even the dancers in the crocadero stagger along to his vibrato, their dancing stuttering. the benign facial expressions of the crowd, despite all of this, is the perfect cherry on top. one wonders if guy/carmen lombardo ever saw this cartoon, and how they reacted to it...

just as the gag threatens to overstay its welcome (and, admittedly, it has), a screwball assistant who looks like a relative to another random screwball in porky’s duck hunt scoops lumbago into a wheelchair and wheels him off stage. the audience applauds, and there’s a feeling that they aren’t just applauding the music.

cue the most controversial, uncomfortable, yet also complex part of the cartoon: a tribute to cab calloway, or, as he’s dubbed here, cab halloway.

for today i’ll spare you the imagery, but we’re greeted by a (thankfully) rare anomaly in the porky pig-verse: porky and his orchestra are dressed in blackface, conducting a rousing rendition of “chinatown, my chinatown”.

obviously, any and all blackface is abhorrent, but this is an interesting case. it’s clear that this was meant to be an homage and celebration of cab calloway’s music. a certain level of care seems to have been put into this sequence—it’s not a cheap throwaway “haha blackface” gag purely just for laughs. the animation is FILLED with a surprising amount of energy and vitality, and the vocals of the calloway impression are eerily spot on. analyzing the animation from a technical standpoint, it’s VERY skillful. it is NOT easy to convey such high energy and such elasticity. the animation is vivid, rapid, and invigorating. for 1938 especially, such energy is jarring. this feels more like the climax of a 1945 bob clampett cartoon, not a run of the mill 1938 porky pig cartoon.

BUT, with that said, it’s still extremely uncomfortable--blackface is blackface, and just because the techniques behind it are good doesn’t mean the material being animated is good. as i mentioned, the intentions don’t entirely feel as nasty as other examples we have/will seen, but that doesn’t negate the harm it does. you can have affectionate homages to cab calloway and his music without blackface--look at betty boop’s snow white. plus, because the song is “chinatown, my chinatown”, any nuance this scene had is discredited when porky switches from blackface to dressing up as a stereotypical chinese man. uncomfortable and unnecessary--THAT is a cheap throwaway gag.

nevertheless, it’s not in my place to preach about what is racist and what isn’t. speaking purely from a technical standpoint--the techniques and processes that went into the animation itself--this is a very impressive performance. high energy in both music and animation. the elasticity, speed, all of it is very impressive. the content BEING animated, however, has aged like rotten milk. though this isn’t as meanspirited as other instances that we’ll explore, it still absolutely has its problems and definitely encourages mindful thinking.

regardless, the number ends to uproarious applause, and porky successfully lives his dreams of being a bandleader. the cartoon closes on the penguin waiter, once more peddling a drink. just as the offscreen trombone threatens to steal his drink, the penguin swallows it all in one go and blows a raspberry to the trombone as we iris out.

an interesting entry for sure. frank tashlin’s talents cannot and should not be understated--his speed and timing of the cartoon are certifiably one of the most impressive aspects of the cartoon. indeed, a lot of fun music in this one, whether that be underscores or otherwise. the design of the cartoon holds up very well--tashlin’s streamlined backgrounds and layouts are always a treat to look at. porky is very endearing, especially in the beginning with his imitation of all of the bandleaders, and the incomprehensibility of the walrus is too funny not to laugh at.

of course, the elephant in the room is the ending tribute, which we already discussed. from a technical standpoint, the vivacity of the animation should absolutely be commended and appreciated, especially this early on. the music is VERY fun. but blackface is blackface, and it just hasn’t aged well and comes off as uncomfortable--at least--regardless.

with that, whether you choose to watch this cartoon is up to you. i think this is definitely one of tashlin’s best porky cartoons, and despite its gags and references that have now become dated, it still serves as an enjoyable watch. the whole blackface thing, however, is why this isn’t a cartoon i frequent often. i would trepidatiously recommend this, either skip the calloway sequence or watch it with an open mind. in all, a fun cartoon that i unfortunately can’t quite appreciate to its fullest extent.

with all that said, here’s a link!

#lt #looney tunes #porky at the crocadero #tashlin #reviews #long post #racism tw

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mister-lucky-bunny · 4 years ago

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The Grand Neopian University Chapter 3: Haggling and History

Lucky and his friends take a trip to the book store and prepare for their first class: Neopian History.

"Sheesh... I always forget just how much books actually cost," Krugg the Moehog mused, looking over the cover of a textbook titled Evolution of Biology.

"Yeah, we got this fancy thing called 'paper' in these parts," Val, the Darigan Aisha, snarked, idly scanning through another textbook. After a quick look, she added it to her small, growing collection, seemingly unfazed by the cost that they would all total out to.

"Uh, yeah, I've heard of paper before, thank you very much," Krugg replied, rolling his eyes. "Just because Tyrannians use stone for everything doesn't mean we're uneducated."

"Ah, don't let her get to ya, man," Enele the Kyrii stated, standing next to Krugg as he scanned over his own book list and schedule. "She's probably bitter that these books aren't bound in gold," Enele chuckled, making Krugg laugh along as well. Naturally, Val rolled her eyes, again unfazed by the other twos' comments.

"Ha ha," She replied coldly, turning her attention to another shelf with a stern frown. "Have you guys got everything, yet? I don't wanna be here all day," She continued on, changing the subject.

"Nearly have," Krugg replied, looking at his own future purchases. "Problem is, we may still have to wait. The other two haven't shown up yet."

"Probably got held up in the line," Enele suggested as Val rolled her eyes to herself. "Hang on a sec... I see em now," He said, pointing to the Xweetok and the Acara as they made their way into the store and towards the others.

As Lucky looked around the store for a bit, admiring the various displays and books, May laughed a bit, nodding. "Sorry we're late! Took my advisor awhile to get a schedule that worked with me! She said that I applying for too many options at once, so we had to mark my days down to be 'less impossible', as she put it," The Xweetok girl rambled.

"Jeez, how many did you try to sign up for?" Enele asked with a perked eyebrow.

"Uhh... at least 10 of em..." May said, thinking aloud. "I had to settle for five classes for my first semester," She said, sighing in slight disappointment.

"Well, at the very least we all have at least one class together, right?" Krugg suggested with a big smile.

"Hey, yeah! Don't we all have that Neopian History class?" May asked, her tone once again eager.

"Yeah, I look forward to waking up early," Val added on with a sarcastic tone. "That class sounds easy anyways. Everyone already knows the main points, anyways."

"Well, maybe we're missing something," Krugg suggested. "After all, this is a prestigious school. No doubt we'll learn something we've never heard about before!"

"Yeah, maybe we'll learn if Dacardia is a real place or not..." Enele suggested with a thoughtful tone.

"What do you think, Lucky?" May asked, turning her attention towards her roommate now. The Acara was distracted, however, as he found more interest in the assortment of books that filled the shelves. Currently, he was skimming through a book titled The Faerie Index.

"Hm? Oh, sorry!" Lucky replied after a few seconds of not responding, laughing nervously as he set the book back. "Was just having a quick look around."

"Yeah, there's no shortage of supplies here!" Enele chuckled. "Nothing new for a someone like you though, hm?"

"Well, I have been in plenty of bookshops before, but none as big as this one," Lucky replied, scanning the shelves. "Besides, I've never even heard of some of these before."

"Me either! I've heard that the University is the only place to buy some of these!" May added on.

"As long as you can afford it, of course," Val said with a small smirk.

"Of course we can!" May replied with a wave of her hand, looking towards a shelf as she scanned through it. "Illusen granted me a small bonus so that I could afford my initial costs! Besides, how much can a copy of... 'Neopian History For Freshmen' cost?" She asked, reading the cover as she lifted it up. As she turned the book around to check the pricing on the back, her eyes widened as her ears fell back, clearly alarmed by the price. "Ah. That much, huh?"

"Good luck," The Aisha said, continuing her own shopping.

"Maybe it's a good thing you only have five classes then, eh?" The Kyrii said with a small laugh.

As Lucky picked up a copy of Neopian History For Freshmen (since it was part of his book list), he said, "Yeah, this is what I was worried about." After checking the price on the book and confirming just how expensive it was (6,500 NP wasn't exactly cheap, especially on his budget), the Acara held onto it and sighed. "Well, maybe I'll find a job on campus somewhere to work part time. Earn some food money, y'know?"

"That's not a bad idea," Krugg replied with a nod. "So long as you have time to work, as well as do schoolwork and attend classes."

"No one ever said the college life was easy or cheap," Enele said, shrugging his shoulders in a casual way.

"Either way, a job would definitely help with finances! Though, I may have to haggle for now... haha..." May said with a sheepish laugh. With that, the group continued further into the book store, gathering up anything they needed (or said they needed, in a couple of cases), as well as admiring the other various books. Soon, their conversation began to lead towards each others' classes.

"While I doubt I need it, I feel like Beginner Magicka is a good way to stay sharp on my skills," said Enele, taking a copy of The Mysteries of Magic. Lucky and May did the same, with the Xweetok nodding.

"For sure! Illusen would be right cross with me if she found out I wasn't practicing!" She laughed, now holding a sizeable stack of books, much like the others.

"I just wish that we didn't have to take Battling class with it," Lucky said with a small groan. "Doubt I'll last even a minute in the Battledome, let alone a whole semester!"

"Hey, look on the bright side," Val began, patting his shoulder in a semi-comforting manner. "Maybe if you run around screaming, they'll have a harder time hitting you," She laughed, the Acara's nerves not being settled in the slightest. This caused Enele to roll his eyes and May to shoot a scornful glare at the Darigan girl.

"Oh, quiet you," Krugg shushed harshly. "I'm sure plenty of other freshmen won't have any idea of what they're doing either. It'll be a learning experience, as it should be."

"Are you doing the Battling class, Krugg?" May asked, turning her attention to the Moehog. "Surely you'd do well in it!"

"Well, thank you, but I have no interest in fighting," He said with a shake of his head. "I'll stick to Yooyuball when try-outs open up." This brightened up the Xweetok once again.

"Oh I love Yooyuball! I'm definitely gonna join you at try-outs!" She beamed, turning to the others. "What about you guys?"

"Well, I'll certainly watch," Enele replied.

"Yeah, I'm not really a sports person, if ya couldn't tell..." Lucky added on with an unsure tone.

"I'm out, too," Val said. "Besides, I'll have enough fun showing you guys up in the Battledome," She continued with a wicked grin.

"Well, we'll see about that," May responded, sticking her tongue out. "Have some faith in your fellow friends!"

"Yeah, because I don't have any in myself," Lucky muttered, finding his last book. For the time being, he'd skip out on buying the book he required for Music Class. Mostly due to the fact that he didn't know if he would actually be allowed to sign up, but also because he was now starting to scrape by with what little money he already has.

He and May were done a little bit later than the others, but it didn't take long for all of them to start walking through the line to check out. Unlike the lines where students have to make their schedules, this one was taking a lot longer than it probably should have. While certainly annoying, the reason was due to the fact that a few other students were trying their luck at haggling down prices for their items. As Lucky grew closer to the cashier, however, he realized just how much of a process it actually was. For one thing, it wasn't exactly normal for a student to be screaming at a cashier, yet it seemed a bit weird to Lucky that they weren't even budging in regards to lowering any prices.

"Listen, sir, I came all the way from Kreludor! I've read more books than this store carries, I assure you! There's no reason these books should cost this much!" shouted the angry voice of a Grundo, a pile of books laid out before an unimpressed looking Shoryu, who looked to be a few years younger than the Grundo.

"Well, tough luck," He answered in a cold, bored tone. "I don't set the prices on these books, the professors do. So unless they all decide to change their minds at the exact same time, the price of all of this is still going to be 35,000 NP."

"Feh! Fine! Of all the... rip-off artist..." The Grundo began to mutter, pulling his Neophone out and scanning it across a small machine on the counter. With a small 'beep!', the Shoryu bagged everything up and passed it across to the disgruntled Neopian, who took his purchases without another word.

"Have a nice day," The Shoryu cashier added on in an insincere tone, turning to the line. "Next, please."

As the next student went up, the group looked between each other curiously, wondering about the exchange. Lucky, however, had a different thought in mind as he pulled his phone out and examined it. "...can my phone do that?" He pondered aloud, referring to the instant digital payment.

"Oh fer- of course it can, as long as it's connected to your bank account," Val answered with a sigh, also looking over the Acara's phone over his shoulder. "...well, I think so, anyways. Yours looks like it's about to go extinct."

"It's still in... useable shape," Lucky insisted, pocketing it with an embarrassed look on his face.

"I think our bigger problem is getting past that guy," Enele said, pointing to the Shoryu, who looked to be refusing another attempt at haggling, this time from a glasses wearing Lenny. "He seems to be a real stickler for the prices."

"Maybe we oughta just pay without making a fuss about it..." Krugg suggested, rubbing the back of his head.

"You can, but I'm gonna try and cut a deal!" May said with an enthusiastic tone, puffing her chest out.

"Yeah, hold us up even longer for the same result, sounds like a fun idea," Val snarked as she rolled her eyes.

"Next, please," Called the Shoryu, his gaze turned towards the group of friends.

Giving a smug smile to Val, the Xweetok whispered, "Watch and learn." The girl stepped forward and placed the books on the counter, standing on her toes so that she could lean over it in an appearance to seem casual. "Hiya! This'll be all for me today, good sir," She greeted to him. The cashier wordlessly scanned everything in a rapid manner.

"Terrific, you're total is 30,000 NP," He stated to the Xweetok.

"Wow, that's a lot!" May began, the Shoryu beginning to sigh gentle, knowing where this was already going. "How about this... since you don't seem to have a shortage on these here history books, and also because all freshmen need them, maybe we can shorten it to-"

"30,000 NP," He stated again, much more firmly this time.

"Ah, right! Makes sense," May yelped out, quickly losing her nerve. Looking into her money sack, she quickly pulled out a large stack of Neopoints, passing it to him with a sheepish look on her face. "Er... will this cover it?" The Shoryu quickly pushed the coins into a nearby sorting machine, which clattered and rattled around loudly for a few seconds. The noise didn't seem to bother him, though, as he soon nodded and bagged up her purchases.

"Here, have a nice day," He finished, with May nodding and quickly running back to the group. Her smile was obviously one of embarrassment, as the others looked at her in both confusion and disappointment.

"...wow, uh... that was an experience," The Kyrii said, unsure of what to even say to her.

"Okay, s-so I gotta work on my haggling skills, so what?" The Xweetok said, slumping forwards.

"Next please," Called the Shoryu, glancing over to the group again.

"You give it a shot, Mr. Confidence," Val said, pushing the quiet Acara forward a bit.

"Hey, what..?" Lucky began, resisting a little.

"You're from Neopia Central, I'm sure it'll come naturally," She added on.

"Wh- okay fine," He said, sighing and stepping forward. His nerves already felt like they were made out of dung jelly, but he couldn't back out at this point. Either way, he had to pay for his books, so it was now or never. As the bored stare of the Shoryu seemed to drill into him, the Acara placed the books down and cleared his throat. "Uh, hello," He began simply.

"Hey," The Shoryu said, scanning everything. "Find everything alright?"

"Yes, I did," Lucky said, fiddling with his necklace a bit. "Well I mean, except for the fact that it was awfully hard to find 'used' books that had all of their pages..." He said, trailing off. This comment caused the Shoryu to pause momentarily, glancing upwards to the Acara, his facial expression changing from 'bored' to 'slight confusion'.

"Oh? What do you mean?" He started.

"Well..." He began, scratching his head as he put on a concerned tone. "I'm on a budget, so I always buy the secondhand stuff," He said, pointing to a cover that had a bright red 'USED' sticker on it. "However, with a few of them, I had to take some time in making sure all the pages were in tact. Heck, I'm pretty sure one of them is still missing a couple! Not to mention the writing inside of them..." He prattled on.

The Shoryu's eyebrow lifted a bit more as he looked over the cover of one of the books. The books had definitely seen a bit of usage, as they weren't in the best shape. "Well... we usually do a good job of making sure the books aren't damaged when we buy them back," He said.

"That's good!" Lucky said with a small smile. "Guess other students must've been a bit too rough while they were looking them over then," He sighed. "Hopefully it won't impede my work too much."

The Shoryu began to flip through the pages of one of the books carefully, quickly shutting it as his eyes grew slightly wider, a bit nervous as well. Was the Acara correct? He couldn't see any missing pages, although there was some blatant graffiti on a few pages. That wouldn't be good for the book store's reputation if he told others about the damages. Leaning in a little, he whispered to Lucky, "Alright look. I know what you're trying to do... but at the same time, I can see where you're coming from. I'll get you a set of new books, and won't charge ya. Just keep it a secret alright?"

Lucky merely winked and gave a small grin. "So how much do I owe?" Lucky stated, discreetly writing his room number on a note and sliding it to the Shoryu, who secretly pocketed it.

"For these used books... 20,000 NP," He answered. Lucky nodded and began counting out coins from his sack. Thinking a bit, he looked back to the Shoryu.

"Are.. you the only cashier here?" He asked. The Shoryu sighed and nodded.

"Well, aside from my manager over there, yes," He answered, pointing out a tired, yet eager looking Scorchio. "I'm just trying to get through this shift. And the next. And the next," He said with a groan.

"Well, I am in need of a job..." Lucky began with a smile, which perked up the Shoryu. Not only that, but the Scorchio quickly hurried over, sliding an application sheet and pen towards Lucky.

"Say no more!" He said with a boisterous voice, watching as the Acara signed his name, as well as writing down any information they needed, and skimming through the fine print of course. "Come by the store as soon as you can, son, and we'll get you started on training right away!"

"Wow, uh, thanks a lot, sir!" Lucky said with a friendly tone, watching as the paper was taken up.

"No problem at all, uh..." The Scorchio replied, looking at the sheet. "...Lucky! Hope to see ya soon! Now excuse me while I ring up these folks over here!" He said, darting away.

"Is he always that fast?" The Acara asked the Shoryu.

"Oh yeah. He's just looking to get through the line as fast as possible, too. Still, that was cool of ya to sign on with us. It'll certainly help," He said with a gentle smile.

"No problem! I need the money anyways," Lucky said. "Anyways, don't I also get an employee discount?"

"Oh, right, of course," The Shoryu replied, typing something on the register. "Your new total is-" He paused suddenly squinting his eyes to the Acara. "...oh you're good." Lucky merely replied with a wink and a grin.

After paying a discounted fee of only 16,000 NP, Lucky collected his purchases and walked towards the group. "Well, I just barely scraped by, but at least I got a job! I'd say that went fairly well," He said.

The others were both shocked and quite impressed with how he managed to walk away with a good discount on everything. "Woah, you really are a natural, Lucky!" May exclaimed.

"Yeah, gotta hand it to ya, that was impressive," Val added on, crossing her arms with a small grin.

"Too bad it won't work with us... I don't think, anyways," Enele said, a hand to his chin.

"Wouldn't hurt," Lucky said, turning back to the cashiers. "They seem really understaffed..."

"Next, please!" The Shoryu called out, apparently having yelled that a couple of times previously. The Kyrii quickly stepped forward to check out as he was called forward.

_______________________________________

The next day soon arrived, with the sun just starting to seep through the blinds of the dorm's windows. Lucky was laying face down in his bed, his top half exposed from the blanket. After all, the Acara slept much more comfortably wearing only a pair of simple briefs. He snored gently as his arms wrapped loosely around the pillow he was sleeping on. His glasses and phone rested on the nearby nightstand, his phone staying plugged in so that it could charge.

The Acara's peaceful sleep was soon quickly disrupted, however, as his Xweetok roommate quickly opened the door to his room, stepping in. She was already fully dressed, her hair still a bit wet from her shower. Funnily enough, the flower she chose to put in her hair also seemed to be as bright and chipper as she was, being a bright orange marigold today. "Hey hey, Lucky, get up! Classes start today!" She sang cheerfully, quickly startling the boy awake.

"Guh?!" He grunted out, lifting his head off of his pillow, wiping some drool from his mouth. Blinking a bit, he quickly reached for his glasses, fixing them as he turned around and sat up in his bed. "Whuzzat..?" He groaned sleepily, stretching a bit. It took him a few moments to realize that he was still at the college. 'Guess I'm still here, huh..?' He thought to himself, still groggy from being woken up so suddenly. It also took a few seconds to realize that he was essentially half naked in front of his roommate, who didn't seem to take notice. Lucky's face flushed a bit as he yanked his covers up to hide himself. "H-hey, knock next time, May!" He exclaimed. It didn't appease his embarrassment when the Xweetok began to giggle innocently, turning to head out of the door.

"Aw, relax, I didn't see anything!" She reassured (quite unsuccessfully, if the frown on Lucky's face was any indication). "Besides, it's not like I haven't seen someone's chest before. Now c'mon and get ready! Class starts in a couple hours and I wanna see what the food court has for breakfast!" She continued eagerly, moving out of his room. Lucky groaned as he sat up, putting on his glasses and trying to move past the semi-embarrassing incident.

"Jeez... this place is definitely more interesting than Neopia Central, that's for sure..." He'd say to himself as she shuffled towards his room's bathroom to take a shower. After drying himself off, he moved to his closet to pull out and put on a pair of jeans. As he began to fit into a large, comfy t-shirt, May opened his door and stuck her head back in, alerting him yet again.

"Oh, by the way, your books came!" She said before quickly closing the door behind her.

"Thanks..." He groaned out, quickly shuffling his shirt on before she gave herself another opportunity to interrupt him.

The rest of the morning went by without too many events. Lucky managed to collect his new set of books from the package he received before he and his roommate went off to find themselves some breakfast. Soon, the two found themselves looking for the rest of their friends.

"Mmh! I didn't even know they made pumpkin hazelnut coffee!" May exclaimed, taking another big gulp out of a paper cup. In her other hand, she was holding a delicious looking strawberry crepe with whipped cream on top.

"I still can't believe a cup of coffee here is only 100 NP," Lucky stated, taking a sip from his own cup, which contained salted caramel flavored coffee. For breakfast, the Acara decided to go with a simple granola, yogurt, and fruit cup. Even back home, a simple meal would've costed around 500 NP.

May couldn't help herself and took a bite out of her crepe, starting to talk with her mouth full. "You worry 'bout money too much..!" She replied, gulping down her mouthful of food. "Don't feel guilty about buying something you want! Especially if it's food," She explained eagerly. Lucky nodded, finding quite a bit of agreement in her statement. Soon, she waved to a table, where Enele and Krugg were currently sitting. "Oh, heya guys!" She said, hurrying to join them, with Lucky tailing behind her.

Krugg waved back before going back to eating at a giant mushroom and cheese omelette, leaving Enele to also wave and greet the other two. Oddly enough, today the Kyrii was wearing a clean, yet fashionable white and blue stripped polo shirt. "Morning, you two. Hopefully you slept alright? I know everyone tends to be excited and anxious on their first day, making it hard to do so," The Kyrii said before taking a bite out of a breakfast sandwich. Lucky hoped he was imagining the fish head sticking out of it...

The two sat themselves at the table, with May stretching and nodding. "Mm-hm! The beds here are suuuper comfy! I could've slept for hours!"

"Yeah, you can say that again," Krugg said in between mouthfuls. "I almost slept in!"

"Same here," Lucky responded as he began to scoop some granola and yogurt with a spoon. "Guess I better set my alarm a little bit earlier next time."

"That would definitely help!" Enele offered with a smile. "After all, a rested, healthy body begins with a rested, healthy mind."

"By the way, Enele, where did you get that shirt at? It looks so good on you!" May asked suddenly to the Kyrii.

"Oh, this? I got it at the clothing store on campus. They have some pretty nice choices here," He answered, looking over his own attire.

The Xweetok gasped out as he answered. "They have a clothing store too?!" She asked, visibly excited by the prospect of it. "Oh, we've so gotta check that out, Lucky!" She squealed eagerly. The Acara laughed gently at this, wondering if they'd actually have anything that would look good on him.

"Well, couldn't hurt," He said with an unsure tone. "I've got plenty of clothes, though."

"Aw, but you could get some cooler and cuter stuff!" She replied.

"Damn, what's with the yelling?" Said the tired voice of Val, who had just walked up to the table. She was only holding a paper coffee cup, and from the smell of it, it contained some very very strong black coffee. She wore her usual robes, though her eyes looked a lot more tired than they did yesterday.

Enele couldn't help but snicker a bit as she sat with the group. "See, Lucky, this is what happens when you don't get enough sleep." The Acara started to help but quickly held it in, due to how peeved Val appeared. Krugg snorted a bit while May openly laughed at the joke.

The Aisha merely rolled her eyes and sipped her coffee. "Whatever," She grumbled. "Just not used to being up this early. More of a night person, y'know?"

"We do all have our own internal clocks," Krugg said as he soon finished up his breakfast. "Also, unrelated, but do you have a roommate, Val?"

"No. Why?" She answered a little too quickly, raising an eyebrow to the Moehog.

"Just wondering," He said with a shrug. "It's just that Enele and I are roommates, and Lucky and May are as well."

"Yeah, don't tell us you managed to luck out with a single?" May said as she leaned towards Val.

"Yeah, I did," She answered after taking another sip of her coffee. "Lord Darigan made sure I got a good room. Nice and big, spacious, and no roommates."

Despite this, only May seemed to be the one to believe her, as Enele, Krugg, and Lucky shared a look between each other, confirming that they all figured she was hiding something. Of course, the Acara looked to his phone, perking up as he looked back at everyone. "Class starts in about 15 minutes, we should make our way to the room," He announced. Everyone quickly finished off their food and drinks before throwing away any garbage and heading to the building.

Thankfully they didn't have too far to go, and they were fortunate enough to get into a good row of seats that accommodated all of them. Many other freshmen also filed into the room at an even pace, with conversation being abundant.

Right at 9:00, an older, smartly dressed, green Kougra man walked in. He wore a nice button up with a green tie and nice slacks, as well as a set of glasses. He stood in front of everyone, setting down his bag and a large three-ring binder. The moment he cleared his throat, every student turned their attention to him, slowly quieting up.

"Good morning everyone," He began gently, a large warm smile on his face. "My name is Dr. Katzbury. Welcome to Neopian History," He began, turning towards the giant dry erase board and writing out his name. "Before we get properly started, I wanna go ahead and go ahead and go around the room and see what everyone knows about general history," He started. This confused quite a few students, as they began to murmur to each other. What exactly did he mean?

It wasn't long before he randomly pointed to a checkered Gelert in the front row. "Anything come to mind, mister..?"

The Gelert quickly sat up, not expecting to be picked immediately. "Eh? Uh... well, there's the war between Meridell and Brightvale," He said hesitantly. Dr. Katzbury seemed pleased by this answer, giving a simple nod.

"Ah yes, of course. This oughta lead to another easy answer..." He said, pointing right at Val with a small grin. "Especially for you, Ms..?"

"Valyssa," She said, not bothering to straighten up. "And I believe you're referring to when Kass overthrew the Citadel?"

"That's right! Common knowledge to everyone, I should hope," The Kougra said, scanning the students. Val smirked to herself, rolling her eyes a bit. Of course everyone should know that. "Anything else? Doesn't have to be a war or a battle, you know."

"How about the Volcano on Mystery Island?" Enele offered with a hand raised.

"Would the finding of Altador count?" Called out a random Gnorbu girl.

"Don't forget about Maraqua's curse!" Hissed the voice of a Hissi.

"And King Coltzan's death!" Stated a Nimmo.

The teacher lifted his hands up to silence everyone, an impressed smile on his face. "I see, I see! You all know quite a bit about current events. Of course, it wouldn't be fun to re-teach you everything you already know... but what about the stuff that isn't' talked about?"

"What about the citizens of these cities that lived through these events? How was the rest of Neopia affected due to the Citadel? How did the death of King Coltzan III change how the Lost Dessert was run? You see, the fun in learning about history is in the small details. To truly appreciate what had happened, it's always in your best interest to learn everything that you can."

He began to scan through the students again, thinking aloud. "I know some of you guys know something obscure. Come on, impress me!" He challenged, pointing to an Eyrie, who from the looks of it, came from the Lost Desert. "How about you, Ms..?"

"Rasha," She greeted bluntly. "As for something obscure, not a lot of Neopians know about the Scarab infestation. Left us with a famine so horrible, we could barely recover," She stated, sounding quite bitter as she brought up the bugs. The teacher looked sympathetic, but kept a polite smile.

"Ah, what a terrible occurrence. I do remember reading about that, though. I would love to hear more about it sometime, if it's no trouble?" He asked simply. The Eyrie didn't answer, instead sitting with quite an intimidating look. Lucky was personally scared to look in her direction.

After a few seconds, he continued on, pointing to a rather... strange Cybunny girl, who was dressed in tattered clothing and looked almost like a zombie. "Perhaps you have some information to enlighten us with, Ms... uh...?"

"Ehehee, yes!" She giggled in a creepy manner. No doubt that this girl was from the Haunted Woods. "I'm Elvira! One time, the Esophagor got so hungry, that it wouldn't stop groaning and shrieking, no matter how much anyone fed it!" She cackled. "It took everyone a whole month before it was even satiated... ehehehe... they say they had to feed it other Neopians... but I never saw anyone go that far..." She said, finishing her sentence with another creepy giggle. There was something about her that was definitely weird, even if the Acara didn't want to stereotype. He wasn't the only one freaked out, though, as a few other students noticeably squirmed when she laughed. May couldn't help but cower a bit, Enele stared at her with a wide, unsure gaze, Krugg couldn't even look at the Cybunny, and even Val slumped in her seat a bit.

Dr. Katzbury was the only one not put-off by her strange appearance, who merely nodded with a wide, interested gaze. "Now that's something! Little stories that no one else would probably know! Let's see here..." The Kougra pointed to the Acara suddenly, an eyebrow raised. "How's about one more, Mr..?"

Lucky jumped a bit, not having a story prepared. Being quiet, he had to clear his throat and speak a little louder than usual, which made him uncomfortable. "Uh... L-lucky," He stammered. "Uh... nothing really happened back where I lived..."

"Come now, anything will be alright! No such thing as a bad answer, after all," He reassured. Lucky felt a few eyes fall on him, which only made him more uncomfortable. It took the Acara a few seconds to even think of anything that happened.

"...uh... one time I saw a bunch of merchants go on strike," He said simply. "I think they were unhappy about a store that was trying to buy them out."

"I see! I told you there's no bad answer," The Kougra said happily. "After all, how else were we supposed to know if someone didn't tell us? It could have lead to something big, after all!"

The teacher now spoke to everyone as a whole. "You see, there's no such thing as an insignificant event. Everything always matters to everyone. Of course, there is no way of knowing everything, at least not without witnesses. That is why we're all here," He continued. "A vast knowledge of how our nations exist and came to be is the first step in coexisting peacefully," He concluded.

It was quite an important lesson for sure, even if it was a little standard. For the most part, everyone followed along, and it relieved Lucky quite a bit when he felt the pressure of everyone go away, turning back to their educator. Of course, that was only the beginning of their first class.

The Kougra moved to his desk and opened up his binder, stating, "Open your copies of Neopian History For Freshmen, please, and let's get started."

#neopets #neopets oc #neopets fanfiction #fanfiction #dylan writes #posting the full fic here

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agoddamn · 5 years ago

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Just out of curiosity, let’s go through some of these personal skills and how they were localized. Cut because it got long...

不思議な魅力 / Supportive This does actually describe what the ability does, but it’s dry, which is an especially unfortunate choice for the main character. I’d go with Mysterious Charisma or something along those lines. Mystic Charm? Hell, if character length is a problem even just Charismatic has a more special feeling to it than Supportive, which is a quality you look for in a bra moreso than a main character.

ダーティファイト / Highwayman This is literally just “Dirty Fight[ing]” in katakana, so it’s not like it was confusing. I have no idea why they changed it, given that dirty fighting cleverly both describes the ability itself (it only activates when the enemy can’t attack back) and Ashura’s struggle as a character (he hates himself for being an honorless thug) so...what was gained from changing it to Highwayman, which is just a synonym for his base class?

農地の主 / Forager Descriptive, which is good! My only complaint is that the original title, Farmland Master, implies a lot of competence on her part that Forager doesn’t capture. Nature Master? Living off the Land, if we get creative?

おっちょこちょい / Mischievous Completely different term. The Japanese is Scatterbrain. The deeply confusing thing is that this completely changes the nature of her ability, instead implying that she strips people on purpose. I don’t get...why they did this...

お転婆 / Fearsome Blow Completely different term! The Japanese is Tomboy. I guess we’re not allowed to say she’s a tomboy in America. The Japanese word for tomboy supposedly comes from the Dutch ontembaar, which means spirited/indomitable/untameable. Which actually says a lot about the Japanese perception of the term “tomboy”--it’s not “boyish girl” in the sense that we imagine boyish girls, IE short-haired and pink-hating and sports-loving, but “boyish” in the sense of not being quiet and submissive. Personality over appearance. Anyway, in light of that I can understand not using the literal word tomboy in English but Fearsome Blow is just dry. Doesn’t reflect on her personality at all. Even Ferocious Blow would be better.

爆炎使い / Pyrotechnics What always confused me here is that pyrotechnics almost always refers to decorative explosions. You use pyrotechnics to describe tricks or flashy shows, not actual bombs designed to kill people, which is what Saizou is doing. It’s like saying a flamethrower and a flashlight are interchangeable because they both involve light that you point places. I don’t think 爆炎使い is an existing term; the only results on Google for it are Saizou and a Yu-Gi-Oh card. Literally, it’s something like Explosive Flame Messenger/Carrier. Probably a double meaning on Saizou carrying explosive bombs and being an explosive bomb. Hilariously, FEH completely gave up trying to translate this term (which is also his character title in that game) and just rendered it as Angry Ninja. I’d just translate it as Incendiary, trying to keep the double meaning intact.

小さな声援 / Quiet Strength This one is accurate to Sakura’s personality--which is good--but doesn’t describe the effect and misses out on the fact that all three (!) Hoshido princesses have linked personal skills. Aqua’s is Healing Voice, Hinoka’s is Rallying Cry (localization was actually dead on here), and Sakura’s is Little Cheer/Soft Cheer. They’re all voice-related. Localization lost this theme by changing Aqua’s to Healing Descant (a type of melody) and Sakura’s to Quiet Strength. At the very least, Sakura and Hinoka have reciprocal effects so the names really ought to match. They actually did this excellently with the Nohr sisters (Lily’s Poise/Rose’s Thorn) so it’s a shame the Hoshido sisters lost out.

ぼんやり / Optimist Another totally different term. The Japanese is Absent-minded/Airhead. Like, did they feel bad about calling Setsuna dumb? But still left all her supports about how dumb she is? Even more confusingly, Kisaragi’s personal skill is named almost identically. Nobody would do that on purpose. I admit that this one is tricky to name--neither Airhead nor Optimist suggest getting extra-effective healing, but at least Airhead describes her personality. She’s more implacable than optimistic. I’d try to get creative with this one and go with something like Help From My Friends if space allowed, or just fall back to Airhead/Head in the Clouds if airhead sounds too mean.

悪あがき / Triple Threat Once more, different term. The Japanese is something like wasted effort/struggling in vain. I think the implication is that you’re wasting your energy trying to melee Hinata? This is definitely a weird one. Honestly dunno that I’d have a better suggestion; Triple Threat at least gets across that it procs against three weapon types. Last Stand, perhaps.

軍略伝授 / Perspicacious This is another one of those where the game suddenly whips out obscure vocabulary for no apparent reason. When’s the last time you heard someone use perspicacious outside of an English test? The Japanese is Strategy Instructor (or something like “offering strategic advice”), which is why it buffs other units’ hit rate. I can kinda see the connection to being perceptive, but perspicacious, for all its syllables, fails to describe that Yukimura is instructing other people. Strategize would have done the job perfectly well.

勝利への執念 / In Extremis The Japanese is something like “victory through persistence”. This is a case where I actually like how it communicates the ability--it activates under extreme circumstances, when she’s on the edge--but I question the terminology. Latin is a pretty specific choice in language. What about the soft butch French rebel artist says “yeah, Latin is the right choice here”?

風の血 / Wind Disciple Another case of losing the theme. Fuuga, Flora, and Rinka, as the scions of their elemental tribes, all have abilities that go [element] Blood, implying they’re the distant descendants of their founding dragons. They got it with Rinka and Flora, but for some reason fucked up Fuuga.

美しき王 / Peacebringer Japanese is Beautiful King, hahaha. I actually like that the English gets the meaning of the ability--and his role in the story--across, but the Japanese implication that Izana is so beautiful that everyone around him forgets how to fight is really goddamn funny.

怪力 / Puissance The one I’ve been complaining about the most! Why French? Why this word? The Japanese is a pretty simple “super strength”. I totally understand the urge to jazz it up, but this just seems like the worst way to do it. It’s not an easily recognizable term and the diction doesn’t match her character at all, localized OR original. I like the idea of rendering it as Atlas to emphasize her role as Elise’s pillar plus a sly reference to the Charles Atlas strongman stuff, but you could go a million different ways here. Just...not puissance.

奇襲任務 / Opportunist Man, I’m so used to Ambush Duty that I had to look up who Opportunist was actually attached to...which I think says a lot about its success as a character descriptor. Opportunist technically jives with the ‘surprise attack’ part of the Japanese, but not remotely Belka’s personality. The ‘duty’ bit is important here because that’s Belka’s role, she does what she’s told. She’s mechanical. Camilla even likens her to a broken doll. Opportunist generally implies more agency, someone actively taking chances.

青の踊り / Fancy Footwork Azure Dance. I guess Indigo Dance would flow better with Awakening’s localization. I like the dance nod but it’s a shame to miss out on the color wink.

冷血 / Pragmatic Cold-blooded. In this case I understand why it was changed--”cold-blooded” is too close to Flora’s “Ice Blood” (though that didn’t stop them giving Setsuna and Kisaragi literally the same ability?)--and the meaning is mostly intact (pragmatic can just mean simple and efficient, but cold-blooded means cruel). Leon has a couple of other ice-themed symbols in the game, though--his personal weapon, Leon’s Icy Blade, and general references to being cold and heartless. It’s also an ironic contrast to his tome, a tree of life. Cold-blooded fit really well with all that and Pragmatic doesn’t.

ひろい食い / Goody Basket sdfkfghdf the Japanese for this one is like...indiscriminate appetite/open-minded eater/someone who eats stuff they picked up on the floor. Which is why she’s regaining HP, Velour’s just eating random shit she finds. Goody Basket doesn’t remotely capture how funny this is. I’d have called it Five-Second Rule.

乙女心の躍動 / Bibliophile Bibliophile does hint at the effect, but...just looking at a list I honestly thought this was Eponine’s. She’s the one explicitly described as the story-lover. The Japanese is something like Liveliness of a Maiden’s Heart--so it’s Ophelia’s own earnest, girly version of Odin’s Aching Blood. It’s admittedly hard not to have Something Blood on a female character sound kind of lewd or a euphemism for masturbation. What about Pounding Heart?

臆病 / Guarded Bravery Just the opposite meaning here, the Japanese is Timid. Were they afraid of making him look bad?

だまし討ち / Fierce Counter Foul Play! The one that started all this. To copy-paste, the implication is that either male enemies underestimate Foleo’s ferocity because of his feminine appearance or that Foleo is the type of guy who has no compunctions about kicking another guy in the balls (he IS his father’s son), take your pick. Fierce Counter is dry and doesn’t indicate the proc (male enemies) at all.

#fire emblem fates #support comparisons #bootsmeta #if you click read more you consent to a nitpicking-level discussion but it be like that with writing

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razzberriezz · 7 years ago

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30 Questions (but not really) Ask Meme!

Tagged by @kiruka-nya! Thanks for tagging me <3

1. Nicknames My friends call me Steffy!

2. Gender Female

3. Zodiac Libra!

4. Height 160cm AKA 5″2~5″3

5. Time As I’m typing this it’s 5.12pm

6. Fave Band(s): Wagakki Band, GARNiDELiA and not really a proper band but Roselia from BanGDream lol

7. Fave Solo Artist(s): Mimmi Sanden, Lollia, Lala Hsu. Yeah, my tastes are all over the place lmao

8. Song stuck in my head Jingo Jungle by MYTH & ROID from the anime Youjo Senki/Saga of Tanya the Evil

9. Last movie I saw Avengers: Infinity War

10. Last Show I Watched Little Witch Academia!!

11. When did I create my blog? Good question I can’t really remember but I think it was 2016, shortly after Fashion Forward/NSB2/GM3 finally had an international release.

12. What do I post: My gameplay pics of Style Savvy and occasionally other stuff from my FEH and Pocket Camp accounts mainly.

13. Last thing I googled: We bare bears ezlink card

14. Do I have other blogs? Yes, although this one is my main! I have an ac sideblog run with @kiruka-nya (shameless plug: @nyaberriezz) and another one that acts like a main in that I just reblog stuff I like there without caring about the content haha

15. Do I get asks? Not really?

16. Following: 201

17. Followers: 244! Thank you!

18. Average hours of sleep: Recently, about 5-6 hours since I’m not that busy anymore ^^

19. What am I wearing: Pikachu T-shirt and (ex) school shorts

20. Lucky number: Don’t have one

21. Dream job: Translator!!! It’d be a dream to work with game companies and... dare I say it... Nintendo! Although I’m far from achieving that goal, I’ll keep working hard! ヽ(｡･ω･｡)ﾉ

22. Dream trip: Japan/Switzerland!

23. Favourite food: Oh man this is so hard cuz I love food but I have to go with Buah Keluak! I love the spiciness and I can probably eat it with rice pretty much every day.

24. Nationality Singaporean

25. Favourite song: Always changes, but right now it’s Synchronicity by Wagakki Band.

26. Last book I read: UnWholly by Neal Shusterman

27. Top three fictional universes I want to join: Pokemon because I NEED a Glaceon in my life haha. I love ice and fairy types!!

Style Savvy, I really want to run a boutique and style models for fashion shows too!

Animal Crossing bc I’d LOVE to have cats as my neighbours and become a billionaire by catching beetles lol.

Tagging: @sanrio1997, @gem-blossom, @sakura-lnmds and some other SS blogs so people can get to know you better: @koiisha, @lunablues-juliet, @eurekanchic, @alphards-asterism, @northstarboutique and any others that want to do this!

#asks #tagged meme #style savvy #just tagging it as that so other ppl can see and do this!!#also just realised my 3 universes are the same as urs claire!! Guess great minds think alike lol

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dizzydancingdreamer · 3 years ago

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As someone with Roma roots, I can't even begin to describe how excited and proud I am that you wrote this. While I'm not Jewish myself, I think we can both say that there's nowhere near enough representation, especially in a franchise that was built on the backs of our heritage (especially yours). I could spend hours talking about my own take on this but that's a separate post. For now I'll just gush about how damn amazing this piece of literature is.

Because it's literally art.

(adding a cut because this is going to be long)

“Bucky’s a bad Jew.”

Okay so right off the bat this line is so hard hitting. Like wow, yeah I understand that in my own way. I think anyone young from a culture like ours (Jewish and Romani) understands what it’s like to feel like an imposter. Obviously Bucky was Jewish in the forties so he would have been in the thick of it fully but as someone who’s half and half this line hits hard. Phenomenal job, Il. Like amazing.

“Feh, James (pronounced “yehms” on his mother’s foreign tongue)”

This makes me think of my own mother LOL-- when she gets mad her accent comes through.

“But Sam had told him he needed to stop letting other people tell him who he is, including his Ma. And well, fuck it he’s already a bad Jew. He could get a tattoo.”

One of my favourite things about this piece is how he takes what Sam told him and applies it to this major part of his life. Something about Bucky applying this to his struggle with his heritage and how he feels like “a bad Jew” just really hits home. I like the friendship building. I like the work through. These are things good writers do-- you’re a good writer. Remember that.

“He’d scoped out this tattoo shop a few weeks ago, after the mess with Walker in Europe. “

I just can’t imagine what it would be like to be back in Europe for Bucky. That’s the frontier of his nightmares and I don’t think that’s addressed enough. He would have been constantly on edge in the forties. More on this in a minute.

“Kai, who had purple hair, big holes in their ear lobes, and a little black ink chai on their wrist.”

There’s something about Bucky going to a non-binary tattoo artist to get a tattoo that’s basically a fuck you to everyone who said he was a bad Jewish person and to the Nazis who tried to strip him of his heritage. It’s like-- Kai would have been killed by the Nazis too. So I feel like this is special to them both.

“Bucky thinks that he might really want to consider that question, but then he remembers that his brain is completely fried anyways.”

This line just hurts. You characterize Bucky in a real way and it’s refreshing. Good author alert part two.

“He thinks that the therapy sessions with Dr. Raynor had been more excruciating.”

We don’t need to talk about how problematic those therapy sessions were. Like what the actual fuck. That is all.

“His Ma would hate this, would tell him that he’s a bad Jew and probably also a shanda fur die goy. Bucky thinks he’s just a shanda for everyone these days and anyways, Sam had told him that he had to stop letting other people tell him who he is. That he needed to decide for himself.”

‘A disgrace to the Jewish community’. We have things like this in Roma culture as well and I would probably very well fit into that category. So yeah, I understand that more than I would like to say. Also I want to comment on the way Bucky constantly goes back to Sam. I think it’s interesting how Sam is saying that people’s opinions don’t matter and that Bucky agrees but still acts based somewhat on Sam’s opinion or at least uses it to anchor himself. Incredible nuances-- great fucking work.

“But then he joined the army with dog tags that said “P” instead of “H” (a mix up in his paperwork, they’d said, but Bucky always assumed that someone saw he was headed to Italy and decided to save his life), and suddenly he wasn’t Jewish anymore. Or well, he was Jewish, but he didn’t have to be. Not to everyone. When he and the other Howlies got taken by the Nazis, he figured it was good not to be Jewish. It was less good when they started experimenting on him. When he had to keep it together enough not to beg Adonai to save him. When he thought he was gonna die on that table but he knew he’d die worse if he said the Shema.”

Okay so here I’ll go back to what I was getting at before. When soldiers first began going over to fight in WWII they had no clue what was going on in Germany / Austria (mainly Austria because Hitler was like that ad didn’t want that shit in Germany beyond a few spots which I am more than positive that you know but I’m saying it for people who don’t because there’s an epidemic of people who don’t truly understand the holocaust). Anyway, that being said, it’s the fact that Bucky saw those papers saying he wasn’t Jewish and probably didn’t think much of it and then he got to Europe and saw what was going on-- because that’s another myth: that nobody knew what was going on-- and was like holy fucking shit. And then he got captured and was like holy fucking shit.

Like I want to actually talk about this. He already feels like a bad Jew but now he’s seeing what they’re doing to his people and he has to doubly face the feelings of “I am scared of what happened to me “ and “I’m a traitor for letting this happen to my people but not speaking up”. Like survivors guilt is a thing, a very real thing, especially among families who escaped the holocaust. It’s not talked about enough and the time to talk about it is running out because the older generations are, well, getting older. This is powerful and I can’t put into words everything going on in my head but wow. This is some damn good writing.

“It’s funny, in a sick way, how the Nazis eradicated the Jew in him without shaving his head or tattooing a number on his arm. And maybe this, the buzzing needle Kai was dragging over his ribs, was his own number. His own way of wearing their attempt at eradicating him on his skin. Maybe the part of him that was still a Nazi was doing this to the part of him that was still a Jew.”

I think the split in him is a really monumental angle. Like working around the trauma, despite the fact that none of it was his fault. It’s relatable. Obviously I haven’t been through what he has but I feel the cultural fight within me all the time. I hear the slurs, I see the appropriation, I see the ignorance and I feel like half a traitor myself when I just let it go. It’s so second nature to ignore the problematic ways of society for me that it’s like this battle between who I am heritage wise and who I am as a young woman saturated in North American culture. This makes me want to get a tattoo.

“It doesn’t look anything like the one in his parent’s house, but it doesn’t need to. It’s his.”

Again, as a young person with a split heritage who would most likely be shunned by the older, traditional versions of my heritage; this is powerful. It takes a lot to work past what everyone says you should be, both within the culture and outside, and this is well said.

“Bucky just stares at it in the mirror. It’s his. It’s a symbol of G-d’s protection, a symbol of Jewish occupants, a Jewish home. It’s not something Hydra or his parents or probably even Steve would approve of, it’s all his. His body, this body, is now permanently marked as his home and even if those bastards get their hands on him again they won’t be able to take it away from him. It’s a permanent memory. He’ll never forget to say the Shema for himself again.”

This is just powerful and I am speechless and honestly it makes me emotional. And angry. And comforted. And everything.

“He tips Kai an obscene amount of money (Jewish in a way his father wouldn’t approve of)”

I told you this already but this is my favourite line. It’s so simple, so small in the relativity of the rest of the work, but it speaks loud. Because at the end of the day those things are still in his mind. The little things about his early life. And that’s just how it is, we’re affected by our heritage in little ways. That’s what is most memorable.

Thank you for writing this Ilana. Thank you for giving us representation even when you weren’t sure if you should post it. Thank you shedding light, for giving Bucky his roots back, for making it relatable. This is my new favourite work of yours. I will be revisiting it often.

𝐚 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐲 (𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚 𝐟𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐲𝐢𝐦) (drabble)

Summary: Fuck it Bucky's already a bad Jew. He could get a tattoo.

Warning(s): Jewish!Bucky, many many allusions to Nazis and the Holocaust please proceed with caution, a Jewish man getting a tattoo from a Jewish tattoo artist, a nonbinary OC (that's not really a warning)

Author's Note: I am a Jewish person. I’m saying this because there are many concepts in this fic that could be offensive and I want it to be clear that I’m coming from a place of exploring my history and how I as a Jew process the concept of Bucky as a Jew, or think Bucky would process his life as a Jewish person. Bucky’s opinions in this fic are not the same as my own.

This fic contains a lot of references to antisemitism. Like, a lot. Including but not limited to: names of prominent Nazis, references to concentration camps and death camps, the word Nazi a bunch of times, anti-semetic slurs, etc. Please do not read this fic if reading about these subjects are harmful to your health or would even ruin your day.

There's a glossary at the end of the fic for any terms that might be confusing.

Word Count: 1,541

Bucky’s a bad Jew.

His Ma used to tell him that on Saturday mornings, when he would wake up too late and scramble to get across town to his parents’ synagogue, running in his nice clothes and whispering to Becca that he wished he wasn’t too broke to take a cab, and then his mother would thump him on the back of the head and curse him out in Yiddish, because you’re not supposed to operate or be around machinery on Shabbos and hadn’t she raised him better than even thinking about stepping into a car during Shabbos? Feh, James (pronounced “yehms” on his mother’s foreign tongue), you’re a bad Jew.

(Bucky would tell her that it was because she gave him a good goyish name like James Buchanan and his mother would say feh again, but there was real anger behind it this time).

It certainly didn’t help his case that he hadn’t been to shul in over seventy years, or that he didn’t remember any Hebrew. And, of course, the fact that he’d personally done more to further the Nazi agenda than Joseph fuckin’ Goebbles.

But Sam had told him he needed to stop letting other people tell him who he is, including his Ma. And well, fuck it he’s already a bad Jew. He could get a tattoo.

He’d scoped out this tattoo shop a few weeks ago, after the mess with Walker in Europe. It was a cute little shop in Dumbo, a little less intimidating than he remembered tattoo parlors to be. He met with an artist, Kai, who had purple hair, big holes in their ear lobes, and a little black ink chai on their wrist. He told the kid (Kai was probably 25 but to Bucky everyone was a kid) what he wanted and they sat down and drew it and told him how much it’d cost. He tried not to think about what his Ma would say about the whole thing.

Now, Kai greets him at the door and takes him back to a bed type thing at the back of the shop. The tattoo’s going on his ribs, so Bucky has to take his shirt off. Kai gasps a little, but doesn’t make any comments about his arm. He decides to tip them extra.

Kai tells him to lay down and Bucky does so.

“Are you ready?” Kai asks.

Bucky thinks that he might really want to consider that question, but then he remembers that his brain is completely fried anyways.

“As I’ll ever be,” he offers instead.

Kai holds up a little gun (the kind that creates art instead of death) and Bucky sucks in a breath.

It doesn’t hurt that bad. It’s a dull buzzing sting, like a bee or knife that barely knicks. He’s certainly had worse, in his lifetime. He thinks that the therapy sessions with Dr. Raynor had been more excruciating.

Kai, thankfully, doesn’t try to make conversation. Just focuses on the lines, making sure they’re straight as they cut diagonally across the skin of Bucky’s side.

His Ma would hate this, would tell him that he’s a bad Jew and probably also a shanda fur die goy. Bucky thinks he’s just a shanda for everyone these days and anyways, Sam had told him that he had to stop letting other people tell him who he is. That he needed to decide for himself.

For a long time Bucky felt like it was just other people who told him that he was Jewish; his parents, and his rabbi, and the kids at school that called him a kike. But then he joined the army with dog tags that said “P” instead of “H” (a mix up in his paperwork, they’d said, but Bucky always assumed that someone saw he was headed to Italy and decided to save his life), and suddenly he wasn’t Jewish anymore. Or well, he was Jewish, but he didn’t have to be. Not to everyone. When he and the other Howlies got taken by the Nazis, he figured it was good not to be Jewish. It was less good when they started experimenting on him. When he had to keep it together enough not to beg Adonai to save him. When he thought he was gonna die on that table but he knew he’d die worse if he said the Shema.

(He did end up saying the Shema, at the bottom of a canyon when his lips were about to go as numb as his broken arm. He thinks he was right to say it, even if his body did not die then. Because a Jewish person did.)

Hydra took him and made him into their fist, and this time he didn’t even have to remember not to call out for HaShem, because he didn’t remember anything at all. He didn’t remember how his Ma would say “feh” like she was hurt, like the goyishness of Bucky’s name was a knife in the gut and his own awareness of it was the final twist. He didn’t remember the kids that called him a kike, didn’t remember the comforting weight of his father’s hand on his head during the blessing over the children. Didn’t remember to say the Shema when he thought he was going to die.

It’s funny, in a sick way, how the Nazis eradicated the Jew in him without shaving his head or tattooing a number on his arm. And maybe this, the buzzing needle Kai was dragging over his ribs, was his own number. His own way of wearing their attempt at eradicating him on his skin. Maybe the part of him that was still a Nazi was doing this to the part of him that was still a Jew.

Sam told him he had to stop letting other people tell him who he is. He doesn’t need anyone else’s opinion to know that he’s fucking complicated.

“All done,” Kai says, beaming. They’re smiling like they’re proud of Bucky himself, not just the ink that rests over his ribs. Or maybe he’s projecting. (Kai’s smile looks a lot like Becca’s).

They walk him over to the big mirror at the back of the shop and let him see the thing for himself, and Bucky damn near bursts into tears.

In black ink on his right side (the side that Hydra didn’t take any part of) is a mezuzah. It has designs across it and a big shin towards the top. It doesn’t look anything like the one in his parent’s house, but it doesn’t need to. It’s his.

Bucky just stares at it in the mirror. It’s his. It’s a symbol of G-d’s protection, a symbol of Jewish occupants, a Jewish home. It’s not something Hydra or his parents or probably even Steve would approve of, it’s all his. His body, this body, is now permanently marked as his home and even if those bastards get their hands on him again they won’t be able to take it away from him. It’s a permanent memory. He’ll never forget to say the Shema for himself again.

A wet tear falls down his cheek, and he finally breaks his gaze from the tattoo in the mirror to look at Kai. Kai, who is a little verklempt themself, holding seran wrap and gauze like they’re precious. Bucky lets the kid wrap his mezuzah, hiding it away from the world. But Bucky feels it. Bucky knows that it’s there.

He can’t help himself from throwing his arms around the poor tattoo artist when they’re done wrapping it up.

There are days that Bucky thinks he should say Kaddish for himself, days he is reminded that Becca’s kids go to the cemetery in Coney Island to put rocks on his tombstone every year. And then there are days where Bucky thinks that when he finally dies, he deserves to be burned the way the people that made him in their image burned his mother’s siblings, his father’s old co-workers, the rabbi that married them. Days where the thought that someone would say “may his memory be for a blessing” to whatever poor bastard still cared about him (probably Sam; if he was going to be outlived by anyone he knew, it would be by Sam) made him sick to his stomach and he had to wonder if it was the Jew or the Nazi in him that it didn’t sit right with.

Maybe now those days will be different. Because now his body is a home, a Jewish home. It’s not the way his mother would’ve wanted him to put up a mezuzah (G-d knows Bucky was never Jewish the way his Ma wanted him to be) but it felt right. The tears in his eyes and the smile on Kai’s face and the image on his side felt right, in a way things hadn’t felt right in a long time outside of a fight.

He tips Kai an obscene amount of money (Jewish in a way his father wouldn’t approve of), and walks out of the shop with his thumb pressing down on the call button next to Sam Wilson’s number.

Just this once, Bucky could let the asshole know that he was right.

(This is what I have in mind for Bucky’s tattoo. The original instagram post is here.)

Glossary:

Shabbos/Shabbat - Jewish holiday at the end of every week, that honors the day of rest G-d took after creating the universe.

Feh - Yiddish; an expression of disgust

“Goyish” - Goys or goyim refer to gentiles, that is, anyone who isn’t Jewish. To be “goyish” is to be not-Jewish.

Shul - Yiddush word for “synagogue”

Joseph Goebbles - a German Nazi politician who was the Nazi Gauleiter (district leader) of Berlin, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, and then Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 1945.

Shanda fur die goyim - Shanda is a Yiddish word that means “disgrace”. To be a shanda fur die goyim means that you’re embarrassing the Jewish community in front of other people, or confirming people’s worst ideas of what Jews are like.

Chai (הי) - means “life” in Hebrew

“Kike” - an ethnic slur for a person of Jewish descent.

On dog tags - American dog tags during World War II had ethnoreligious indicators. A “P” indicated “Protestant” while an “H” indicated “Hebrew” (a Jewish person).

“Adonai” - Another name for G-d.

The Shema - A prayer. It is meant to be the final words a Jew speaks before they die.

“HaShem” - Another name for G-d, literally translates to “the hand”.

The blessing over the children - A blessing parents say over their children. Traditionally, they place their hands on the head of the child they're blessing.

Mezuzah - a parchment inscribed with religious texts and attached in a case to the doorpost of a Jewish house as a sign of faith.

Shin - Hebrew letter that makes the “sh” sound. Found on mezuzot because it’s the first letter of the Shema, the prayer contained within them.

Verklempt - to be “overcome with emotion”; “choked up” in Yiddish.

Kaddish - While there are various forms of the Kaddish, the one being referenced here is the Mourner’s Kaddish, a prayer said for those who have passed on.

Rocks on tombstones - A tradition at Jewish funerals.

“May his memory be for a blessing” - A traditional thing to say about a Jewish person after they die.

#This is inspirational #and wonderful #and incredibly well written #thank you #dizzy adores #that's not strong enough but it's my tag #fic rec #god please people if there's one thing you read today let it be this

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annathetrickster · 7 years ago

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I'm honestly not sure I'm motivated enough to grind out TT this time around. I honestly couldn't care less about joshua. like I love joshua, but his art is so ugly and SameFaceTM. that on top of me already having like 4 already incredible infantry swords. I'm not uber competitive so seals don't matter THAT much to me. it just feels like this TT is meh compared to the genaelogy one. maybe that's just me? (plus animal crossing is out so that's sucking all my mobile game time away)

i understand and completely agree about joshua’s art. i was really looking forward to him being added but i’m really not a fan of that particular artist. imo sameface is fine if the art is good to begin with (like nino/amelia) but when it’s bad.. its just more of the same mediocre generic shojou anime looking faces (jakob/robin/joshua). that said, i’d still recommend grinding to at least 40k to get close def seal, even if you’re not a super competitive player. joshua’s art might be bad but he’s still free close def and windsweep fodder.

personally i think i’ve been doing a decent job of balancing the two games. i’ll play acpc for a bit and finish all the errands then grind tempest until i run out of stamina or the 3 hour villager cycle turns over. i also see feh as my main game, and acpc is the backup. that might be different for you. animal crossing is new and exciting, sure, i get that, but realistically you’re not missing out on anything atm since it doesn’t have any limited events going on. feh on the other hand has TT for some free orbs, and then the much anticipated 8% banner coming up. if none of that gets you excited for feh then sure, feel free to pass on this round of TT and enjoy dedicating more time to playing acpc.

just remember that feh is the kind of game where you have to dedicate a lot of time (or money) to be good. your units aren’t going to magically get better on their own, you have to invest resources into them. so if you’re choosing to pass on TT and not play feh as much you can’t really complain if arena becomes too hard, or you can’t beat certain lunatic chain challenges.

#anon #ask me things #fire emblem heroes

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childofaura · 2 years ago

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For the feh artist thing, have you done Saori Toyota yet?

Not yet, but that's a good pick too! They drew mah boi Colm ;w; Forever grateful for that.

So Saori Toyota's kiiiiiind of a new-ish artist. I think they just started drawing last year? Either way, we've got a pretty good batch of characters from them: Resplendent Eirika, Resplendent Corrin, Colm, Saul, Yuri, and most recently F!Shez. A pretty good steady stream of characters to work on! And their art is very expressive. Let's start with Colm:

First off, we've got a very nice pose that encapsulates his nonchalant attitude, and it's not just a forward-facing pose. The color work is pretty solid and details like the wrinkles of his clothes and cape are well-drawn.

But another positive thing I wanna point out is their original costume designs for Resplendent Eirika, Resplendent Corrin, and Bridal Saul are SO AWESOME:

I will always love dear Maiponpon's Corrin artwork, but Saori does such a beautiful job with Corrin's outfit; Seliph, Ryoma, Eliwood, and Cordelia have well-blended enough outfits that thematically fit with Askr's style (While Linde, Reinhardt, Olwen, and Marth just... kind of look like they had their original outfits with some white and gold Askr patterns slapped on), but like Sharena said in the little descriptive blurb, Corrin LOOKS like he's the older brother of the Askr trio. They managed to perfectly balance the overall layout of his OG outfit with the aesthetics of Askr clothing. Also I like his hair, it has a nice texture to it.

And then Resplendent Eirika:

The colors are so drastically different from each other but Saori blends them together and makes it work. The overall outfit is simply gorgeous with the overlapping petals and corset. Also I included the crit because their critical effects are very nice to look at too!

And finally Saul:

I fully acknowledge that trying to design a groom outfit for the dudes is an entirely different monster than drawing bridal dresses; Traditionally Western men don't wear as flashy outfits as the women do. But they gave him a very pretty outfit while keeping his red scarf. Plus his little wink is entirely in-character. A+.

Getting to the criticism part of the review, I DO feel like they were a mis-pick for one character... and that's F!Shez.

Starting off:

Firstly, still wanna acknowledge the gorgeous color work. But her eyes feel... too big and round for her character. It just doesn't feel right for Shez.

Then there's her attack pose:

Shez is supposed to be a disciplined mercenary, someone who has a natural talent for fighting and is constantly working to better herself to eventually fight Byleth. But in this piece... she's all over the place. Her legs are all skewed, she doesn't look like she has a strong grip on her axe (Which looks like it might drop and take her with it), her ankles look broken, and her back is thrown out. I get that you don't need to be too practical with weapon poses in FEH because you're looking for dynamic and personality, but this isn't Shez.

And then there's her damage pose:

Shez. Honey. Girlfriend. Darling. What are you doing? That pose is ALL SORTS of wack. Her arms are crossed over each other, her legs are STILL askew, and she's got that "anime girl damage" pose going on.

Don't get me wrong, I still love Saori's artwork, but I don't think they were the best artist to draw F!Shez, especially compared to the bitchin' artwork we got for M!Shez.

Still an incredibly talented artist though, and someone I want to see design more Resplendent/Seasonal/Maybe even Ascended Heroes. 8/10.

#Fire Emblem Heroes #FEH #Saori Toyota #ask game #Didn't really cover Yuri in this one because Yuri's a little shit >:( both as a unit as a character #Just personal opinion though #But yeah Saori's artwork is so vivid #Like I mentioned in one of the previous critiques we NEED artists who can break up the monotony of dreary and desaturated color palettes #With some bright and eye-catching color

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theburglcr · 7 years ago

Text

“Finders keepers, suckers!” note: i haven’t added a quote for every single thing in the game, but it’s still a long read. i mostly just came up with the relatively ‘important’ quotes. that said, please enjoy.

Shovel- “Truly my best friend.” Pickaxe- “I love the rocky irony here.” Razor- “This is why people don’t have beards.” Hammer- “Any work well done just begs for a load of this.” Lucy the Axe- “Between you and me, he thinks ya look sharp.” Feather Pencil- “My grammar is better than most.” Brush- “Never been the hairdressin’ sort, myself.” Saddle- “But is it comfortable for the animal?” Salt Lick- “Don’t taste-test, don’t taste-test...” Miner Hat- “Never thought I’d find one again!” Endothermic Fire- “All sense is gone along with the darkness.” Mushlight- “Will my stomach glow if I eat this?” Willow’s Lighter- “I should never be trusted with this.” Bottle Lantern- “My brightest idea so far.” Buoyant Chiminea- “Water can’t steal the fire from me now.” Backpack- “Imagine all the money you can fit in there.” Piggyback- “Here’s hopin’ it’s not as sweaty.” Bug Net- “What a fearsome, vicious hunter I am.” Fishing Rod- “I hope to catch hidden treasure with this.” Straw Roll- “Sleepin’ with straw gettin’ in your clothes. Great.” Fur Roll- “This feels morbid somehow.” Umbrella- “Not today, elements.” Compass (generic)- “Wish it could point me towards treasure.” Luxury Fan- “I bet I could fly with two of these.” Siesta Lean-to- “I’m a shade master.” Pretty Parasol- “Frilly, but will do.” Telltale Heart- “Why do I hafta fix them if they mess up?” Booster Shot- “Rot injected through a bee stinger. Healthy!” Water Balloon- “Takin’ a bath the fun way.” Whirly Fan- “The things I do for a lil’ coolin’...” Bernie- “Ya don’t look like you’d be worth much.” Bundled Supplies- “Oh hoh! The thrill this brings me!” Booty Bag- “Where have ya been all my life!?” Silly Monkey Ball- “The humane solution to their meddlin’.” Anti-Venom- “Tropical insurance.” Crock Pot- “I ain’t no cook, but it should help me.” Bee Box- “They work hard, then I steal from them.” Bucket-o-Poop- “Ew. Good thing I wear gloves.” Science Machine and Alchemy Engine- “This is where the magic happens.” Thermal Measurer- “Let’s see the cold sneak up on me now.” Lightning Rod- “Never hurts to lessen the chances.” Gunpowder- “No safe is too strong!” Cartographer’s Desk- “Closest thing to an artistic outlet.” Accomploshrine- “I don’t know what I did, but I did it?” Spear- “I miss my daggers.” Boomerang- “A loyal weapon if I’ve ever seen one.” -- (hit self)- “$!@#! That smarts!” Blow Dart- “I ain’t no coward, but when in Rome...” Fire Dart- “Fear the albino dragon!” Sleep Dart- “Should I worry if I yawn after usin’ this?” Football Helmet- “I’m wearin’ the pig’s butt as a hat.” Grass Suit- “... Sure this will protect me.” Log suit- “I’m not on board with being hurt. Heh.” Marble Suit- “This armor’s the direct opposite of what I am.” Bee Mine- “Boom, bees.” Tooth Trap- “Come get a piece of me now, doggies!” Shelmet- “Function over fashion...” Snurtle Shell Armor- “A less dignified way to hide from trouble.” Scale Mail- “I’m this hot on my own, thanks.” Electric Dart- “Can’t come up with a joke. I’m shocked.” Tail o’ Three Cats- “I’m not even using it and I feel sorry already.” Spear Gun- “Now this is more my style!” Trident- “This means mermaids exist around here, right?” Cactus Spike- “Like my daggers, but much weaker. Shame.” Cactus Armor- “Always been told I’m kind of a prick.” Birdcage- “Reminds me of jail.” -- (occupied)- “I know the feelin’.” Pig House- “Wait, does this mean they have stuff inside?” Chest- “To store my stolen goods.” Scaled Chest- “Summer ain’t gettin’ to me or my stuff.” Mini Sign (drawn on)- “What? I’m an artist too, ya know.” Friendly Scarecrow- “His smile looks like my mom’s.” Wardrobe- “If it’s purely green on the inside, that wasn’t me.” Potted Succulent- “Her name is Erikita.” Sand Castle- “Totally sure this is not a waste of time.” Seaworthy (Vanilla or ROG world)- “Buenas!” Sea Chest- “Bring your stuff everywhere ya go.” Rope- “I use this often.” Purple Gem- “The downfall of the greedy.” Nightmare Fuel- “This stuff makes me uneasy.” Marble Bean- “Is there a money bean, too?” Empty Bottle- “Not very interesting on its own.” Prestihatitator- “Prestowhat now?” Shadow Manipulator- “Not sure I should be anywhere near this thing.” Pan Flute- “Makes pickpocketin’ so much easier.” Night Light- “See to $!@# believe.” Dark Sword- “Knew I had a sharp mind, but this...” Chilled Amulet- “So this is what cool people use, huh?” Nightmare Amulet- “Makes me see what I shouldn’t see.” Life Giving Amulet- “Could make a pretty penny off of it!” Telelocator Staff- “Probably dumb to mess with this. I’m doin’ it anyway.” Old Bell- “Do the work for me, big fella.” Moon Dial- “I’ve been mooned. Heh.” Piratihatitator- “Para... Piri... MAGIC $!@#!” Straw Hat- “This’ll prevent fires from startin’ on my head.” Beefalo Hat- “Convenient humiliation.” Beekeeper Hat- “I look honest in my stealin’ with this.” Feather Hat- “Probably the most colorful I’ll ever look.” Top Hat- “Rich people headwear. I hate it.” Puffy Vest- “I’m warm, but at what cost...?” Bush Hat- “Disguise 101.” Garland- “How to look pure and unsuspectin’.” Cat Cap- “I’m sorry, kitties...” Fashion Melon- “All the green doesn’t make it less embarrassin’.” Floral Shirt- “This one was made for me.” Eyebrella- “Rain is in the eye of the beholder.” Desert Goggles- “Got somethin’ in my eye... just kiddin’.” Blubber Suit- “Eugh! It’s noisy!” Windbreaker- “I’ll stop giggling when I forget its name.” Particulate Purifier- “For when chili night gets outta hand.” Shark Tooth Crown- “Bet I can impress the mermaids with this.” Dumbrella- “More like... oh, wait.” Log Raft- “I mean... nah, can’t defend this.” Raft- “It’s a slight improvement.” Armoured Boat- “Safe piratin’.” Iron Wind- “Doubles as shark chopper, too!” Boat Cannon- “Can’t be a proper pirate without this.” Sea Trap- “One step closer to a fancy dinner.” Trawl Net- “To steal junk from the sea.” Super Spyglass- “Could only dream to see this far until now.” Captain Hat- “Makes me feel like a sea cop. Feh.” Pirate Hat- “Ahoy, ye scallywags!” Obsidian Machete and Obsidian Axe- “Hot and sharp, much like me.” Obsidian Coconade- “I can feel it burn with anticipation.” Sail Stick- “To sail away from my problems faster.” Thulecite- “My highly valuable object senses are tinglin’.” Thulecite Medallion- “Ain’t useful here.” -- (calm)- “Nothin’ worth notin’.” -- (warning)- “Woah, something’s happenin’.” -- (nightmare)- “But what does it mean?” The Lazy Forager- “Nobody can blame me for snatchin’ their stuff now!” Magiluminescence- “I’m brilliant. Heh.” Construction Amulet- “Of course the green gem is the most economic one.” The Lazy Explorer- “Catch me if ya can!” Star Caller’s Staff- “Do the stars grant wishes too or...?” Deconstruction Staff- “ ‘Tis like a magic hammer.” Thulecite Crown- “Should be worth a fortune!” Houndius Shootius- “Those ancient guys were geniuses.” Birds of the World- “I like the tauraco leucotis one.” Applied Horticulture- “Good, I’m no farmer.” Sleepytime Stories- “I can’t tell if it bores me or it’s workin’.” The End is Nigh!- “Good thing I enjoy readin’ during storms.” On Tentacles- “I’ve read enough on them to know where this is goin’.” Joy of Volcanology- “Adds more than a lil’ spice to your current situation.” Kittykit- “Cute and clever, just like its momma.” Vargling- “Cachorrito!!!” Ewelet- “Smelly but soft.” Broodling- “Gosh, so ugly yet so endearin’.” Glomglom- “I ain’t one for hugs, but you’re just so fluffy.” Giblet- “Always wanted to have a chicken.” Candy Bag- “I wanna fill it to the brim with chocolate coins.” Gift- “The best things are the ones ya don’t hafta pay for.” Winter’s Feast Tree- “I feel something growin’ three sizes inside of me! Is it my wallet?” Lucky Whistle- “I HAVE THE POWER!” Charcoal- “Oh. Christmas came early.” Pine Cone- “I stole that tree’s baby. Nice.” Marble Tree- “Okay, now gold trees must be a thing.” Totally Normal Tree- “Tremblin’ like a leaf here. Heh.” Living Log- “Same.” Flower- “Green with a dash of pretty.” Evil Flower- “Green with a dash of evil...?” Cactus- “That one’s still got its daggers.” Tumbleweed- “Let’s see the trash it’s collected!” Jungle Tree- “Sensin’ lots of loot from that tree!” Snake Den- “I can hear ya hissin’, ya know.” Brainy Sprout- “The sea’s got a comparatively tiny brain.” Palm Tree (sapling)- “I’m callin’ ya Rosie.” Regular Jungle Tree- “You’re goin’ down like a sack of bricks.” Beehive- “It contains sweet, delicious treasure.” Killer Bee Hive- “Heck no.” Hound Mound- “Those barkin’ pests come from there.” Bones- “Mine will not be found like this.” Harp Statue- “Unlikely as it sounds, I don’t have the head.” Rundown House- “If you’re gonna steal an idea, make it better at least.” Merm Head- “My nose begs for mercy.” Pig Head- “This world does make ya lose your head...” Boulder- “Destruction comes with a reward.” Gold Nugget- “I might’ve been a hero in a world without this.” Grave- “Time to work!” Grave (dug)- “A job well done.” Wooden Thing- “It feels... incomplete.” -- (fully assembled)- “Long as I can take my gold with me.” Ring Thing- “What use is a ring with no jewels?” Worm Hole- “Disgust and logic say no...” -- (open)- “... Morbid curiosity says yes.” -- (exited)- “Disgust and logic were right.” Skeleton- “Thanks for the free stuff, man.” Spider Eggs- “Wonder if I can teach them to pickpocket?” Walrus Camp- “Gives a rich Walrus vibe somehow.” Mini Glacier- “Wonder how many ‘cool’ jokes it gets.” Hollow Stump- “It’s fulla hairballs on the inside.” Glommer’s Statue- “Looks important and exploitable.” -- (mined)- “Hope it was neither.” Skeleton (self)- “I meant to do that.” Florid Postern- “Got the feelin’ its beauty is just for show.” Magma- “Great, more things to be burned by.” Stagehand- “Far too pretty and harmless. I don’t trust it.” -- (walking)- “I’m always right.” Loot Stash- “Nobody leaves something like this all on its own.” Prime Ape Hut- “My old room pales in comparison to that disaster.” Magma Pile- “Now if that doesn’t beg to be dug up...” Steamer Trunk- “The sea smiles upon me today!” Volcano- “Dangerous. Something valuable must be inside.” Slot Machine- “I know better than to linger ‘round this.” Electric Isosceles- “For the insanely lazy explorer.” Octo Chest- “We’ve made a fair trade, friend.” Debris- “Ain’t proud of that one.” Wildbore Head- “Looks mad he’s dead.” Seashell- “One of these’s gotta have a pearl inside.” X Marks the Spot- “My fingers itch in anticipation!” Rawling- “I’m deranged enough, I guess.” Watery Grave- “That’s one heckuva way to die. Hah-hah!” Wreck- “I can wreck it all the more.” Volcano Staff- “If only it made it rain money instead.” Plugged Sinkhole- “A poor attempt at hidin’ a hole.” Rope to Surface- “Shame some sunlight is neccessary.” Splumonkey Pod- “Imagine all the valuable junk they’re unaware they have.” Odd Skeleton (complete)- “Well, curiosity sated. Or is it...” Ancient Statue- “Now that’s one statue worth a million.” Ancient Pseudoscience Station- “A museum would pay a lot for this, probably.” Ornate Chest- “How temptin’! It must be a trap.” Large Ornate Chest- “Outside matches the inside.” Nightmare Light- “Shouldn’t be ‘round this, however convenient it is.” Ancient Chest- “My greed is far too great to leave it alone.” Ancient Murals: -- (first)- “Those guys sure look miserable.” -- (second)- “Can’t read this...” -- (third)- “What’s that covering them? Ink?” -- (fourth)- “Eww! What the heck!” -- (fifth)- “What was that all about?!” Coffee Plant- “I did not expect these to grow here.” Elephant Cactus- “Dagger-filled cactus ready to fire!” Obsidian- “Almost sure this costs as much as it did to get.” Charcoal Boulder- “I’d save Santa some work if I mined this.” Burnt Ash Tree- “What did ya expect?” Dragoon Den- “Looks like the ideal thieves den if I’ve ever seen one.” Woodlegs’ Cage- “Nobody’s gonna be left behind bars while I’m around!” Clockwork Knight- “A knight of shinin’ metal.” Clockwork Bishop- “Never been the religious type.” Clockwork Rook- “Can hear it stomp from all the way over here.” Charlie (the darkness monster)- “Who’s there?” Charlie (attacked by)- “$!@#! Ya coward!” Hound- “Stand back! Don’t make me run!” Red Hound- “They’re fireproof now!?” Blue Hound- “They send a chill down my spine!” Hound’s Tooth- “I’m not tremblin’, you’re tremblin’.” Krampus- “You’re not even sneaky. Bad thief!” Krampus Sack- “Ah, a proper sack for a burglar.” Tentacle Spots- “Be right back, burnin’ my gloves.” Big Tentacle- “Surface doesn’t seem so bad all of a sudden.” Werepig- “I thought I could trust ya!!!” Ghost- “This time ya might just disappear.” Tam o’ Shanter- “No newsy cap, but still nice.” Mosquito- “If ya steal my blood, I’ll steal yours. Fair warning.” Mosquito Sack- “Didn’t think I could take my threat literally...” Cave Spider- “Now that’s just unfair.” Spitter- “Can’t blame it. They’re uglier up close.” Batilisk- “Yeesh, it looks so full of hate.” Meat Bulb- “Thinks it can trick me. How cute.” Fleshy Bulb- “My personal, living trap.” Eyeplant- “The plant spies with its little eyes.” Slurper- “It leeches off my lunch. Yuck.” Dangling Depth Dweller- “If they weren’t so aggressive, I’d adopt one.” Depths Worm (lure)- “Something’s very off ‘bout that.” Varg- “No! No! No no NO!” Ewecus- “Walkin’ ball of wool and gross.” Floaty Boaty Knight- “Great, the mechanical navy is here.” Poison Mosquito- “Ya can keep the poison, thanks.” Stink Ray- “Woah, man! What’s that funky smell?” Swordfish- “This fish got its own natural dagger.” White Whale- “All white, fearsome and hates everything. Like me!” Dragoon- “Sadly, they’re not intelligent enough for a truce.” Killer Bee- “Okay, I get it. I should buzz off.” Pig (normal)- “I could mug him if needed.” -- (follower)- “I’ll teach ya to steal for me.” Bunnyman- “A white ball of adorable. Like me!” Bunny Puff- “Hope they can forgive me.” Frog- “Rana o sapo?” Rock Lobster- “Well hello, potential bodyguard.” Pengull- “Lookit all that meat waddlin’ about.” Splumonkey- “Stealin’ from the thief. The nerve!” Catcoon- “I appreciate its eye mask.” Volt Goat- “I want one.” -- (charged)- “Maybe gettin’ one can wait.” Blue Whale- “Is it cryin’? Nope, just wet.” Bottlenose Ballphin- “I love you so much.” Prime Ape- “More like a prime pain in the $!@#.” Wildbore- “Doesn’t look like someone ya can steal from.” Gobbler- “Only I steal food ‘round here!” Chester- “A burglar’s second best friend.” Mandrake (planted)- “Should be picky with this one. Heh.” Glommer- “I want a statue for doin’ nothing, too.” Grass Gekko- “Your tail is grass and I’m gonna mow it.” Hutch- “There’s empty space where its brain should be.” Canary (poisoned)- “Keep your distance.” Shifting Sands- “Sure, hide like I do- I mean a coward!” Sharkitten- “One day you’ll grow up to be as fearsome as me.” Packim Baggims- “Stop hoardin’ my fish.” Parrot Pirate- “A bird after my own heart.” Seagull- “We just want to survive. Am I right?” Doydoy- “I feel sorry enough for this thing not to kill it.” Fishermerm- “Finally, someone I can steal from without consequences!” Tallbird- “Something can only be so territorial over one thing.” Tallbird Nest (with egg)- “Looks cozy in there. I can fix that.” Tallbird Egg- “Could sell this as a dinosaur egg...” Hatching Tallbird Egg- “Am I gonna be a mom? I don’t wanna.” Smallbird- “Expected ya to have more leg. Huh.” -- (hungry) “Don’t have to regurgitate something for ya, do I?” Smallish Tallbird- “I ain’t tellin’ it about the birds and the bees.” Treeguard- “I stole too many tree lives.” Spider Queen- “Gonna need a bigger sandal.” Spiderhat- “Thinks whatever a spider can.” Deerclops- “Well, $!@# me.” Ancient Guardian- “Whatever it is you’re protectin’ will be mine.” Bearger- “A thief doesn’t share her food, bud.” Moose/Goose- “Sorry, I just haven’t laughed this hard in a while.” Moose/Goose Egg- “Can’t mess with something this big.” Mosling- “Curiosity is likely gonna kill the cat.” Dragonfly- “It was nice to meet me.” Bee Queen- “Gimme your sting, Imma give that thing right back.” Bee Queen Crown- “Fool bees, get honey.” Klaus- “Lookin’ different, Santa. New haircut?” Stag Antler- “Ya better be worth all that mess.” Toadstool- “This ain’t no prince!” Sporecap- “That thing just screams magic.” Reanimated Skeleton- “It should not be alive.” Ancient Fuelweaver- “Almost wish I didn’t have to bring ya down.” Bone Armor- “It protects a lot more than you’d think.” Bone Helm- “I’m scared of usin’ this...” Shadow Thurible- “Why does it smell like money?” Palm Treeguard- “Nothin’ a good bit of fire can’t fix.” Quacken- “The bigger they are, the more loot they give!” Chest of the Depths- “Seein’ this is very satisfying.” Sealnado- “Time to break some wind.” -- (seal form)- “Killin’ it would be easy. Far too easy.” Tiger Shark- “Tigre y tiburón... Tigreburón?” Maxwell- “He used my greed against me.” Pig King- “I can smell his richness from afar.” Wes (trapped)- “What do I get if I help ya?” Abigail- “Sucks to be you.” Bigfoot- “I need new pants.” Abigail (revival failed)- “I feel kinda sad it didn’t work. Just a little.” Antlion- “I know that face. The ‘I want your things’ face.” -- (upset)- “What did I do now?!” Yaarctopus- “Snazzy getup, man.” Egg- “Like a fragile chest with tasty treasure.” Monster Meat- “This is far from a good idea.” Morsel- “Meatling.” Leafy Meat- “I can make it tasty. Just leaf it to me.” Fish- “Dad used to eat these a lot.” Eel- “Think I’m feelin’ eel.” Winter Koalefant Trunk- “Looks warm and big enough for me to wear it...” Cooked Frog Legs- “How is this fancy food?” Dead Swordfish- “Could make a good weapon if it didn’t smell so bad.” Dead Jellyfish- “I’ve always liked jelly.” Cooked Limpets- “Should stick my pinky out while eatin’ these.” Shark Fin- “The pest’s hat.” Delicious Wobster- “Now this can be called a delicacy.” Bile-Covered Slop- “May as well eat manure.” Extra Smelly Durian- “Smell’s stronger than a corpse’s.” Halved Coconut- “For the true tropical experience.” Red Cap- “Never trust red fungi.” Green Cap- “Still hardly sane to consume.” Blue Cap- “Mixed feelings...” Cactus Flower- “I see flowers awfully often ‘round here.” Bacon and Eggs- “English breakfast is weird.” Butter Muffin- “Don’t think killin’ the butterfly was neccessary.” Dragonpie- “Hopefully not as hot as it looks.” Fishsticks- “I bet a cat would love this.” Fish Tacos- “And now they will swim in my tummy.” First Full of Jam- “It doesn’t help I’m a messy eater...” Froggle Bunwich- “A delicious blasphemy.” Fruit Medley- “More delicate-lookin’ than I’m used to.” Honey Ham- “Surprisingly, it works really well.” Honey Nuggets- “Oh... gonna enjoy every part of it.” Kabobs- “I’m a culinary genius.” Mandrake Soup- “I consider this a good idea somehow.” Meatballs- “Missed these so much!” Meaty Stew- “I’d be stewpid to let it go to waste.” Monster Lasagna- “Only dogs would like this.” Pierogi- “How do I even know how to make all these neat recipes?” Powdercake- “Wouldn’t even feed this to a dog. My prey, however...” Pumpkin Cookie- “Interesting. And tasty.” Ratatouille- “Used to eat this a lot back before all this.” Stuffed Eggplant- “It’s as fillin’ at it looks.” Taffy- “Good thing I don’t care that much ‘bout health.” Turkey Dinner- “I ain’t festive, but this deserves celebration.” Unagi- “Deelicious! Heh.” Waffles- “Always wanted to try these. Mmmm.” Wet Goop- “Somethin’ went wrong.” Flower Salad- “Yes, I’m eatin’ the flower too.” Guacamole- “Not baa-aa-aad.” Ice Cream- “Ahhh, so refreshin’.” Melonsicle- “Perfect to chill with.” Spicy Chili- “ ‘Tis what I call dragon food.” Trail Mix- “What’s that I hear? Is it... jealous gobblin’?” Jellybeans- “These fattened me up as a kid.” Banana Pop- “I stabbed this banana.” Bisque- “Picky in ingredients, but worth it.” California Roll- “Fancier than I’m used to.” Ceviche- “It’s funny to see other people try to pronounce it.” Coffee- “Not a huge fan.” Jelly-O Pop- “Wonder if I can make one with peanut butter?” Lobster Bisque- “Everyone goes nuts for this one.” Lobster Dinner- “Now this is the kinda rich people food I can get behind.” Seafood Gumbo- “Dad would have a ball with this.” Shark Fin Soup- “Don’t think I can eat it with a good conscience.” Surf ‘n’ Turf- “Sure’s got a fun name.” Fresh Fruit Crepes- “Wow, looks pretty.” Monster Tartare- “Eugh! If I really gotta.” Mussel Bouillabase- “Buy... bi... uh, food.” Sweet Potato Souffle- “Sorta looks like a big muffin.” Seeds- “Normally I steal what they produce...” Honey- “Sticks to my gloves.” Butterfly Wings- “The loot of a dead bug.” Butter- “... Well then.” Rot- “Nothing is eternal, I guess.” Rotten Egg- “Takes one to know another.” Phlegm- “I’m gonna hurl.” Blueprint- “Bet this’d burn nicely! Just kiddin’.” Gears- “It’s not murder if it ain’t organic, right?” Ashes- “Nothing valuable ever winds up like this.” Red Gem- “A lively ruby.” Blue Gem- “Sapphire! So refreshin’.” Yellow Gem- “Not gold, but good enough.” Green Gem- “The best color, period.” Orange Gem- “Garnet? I’m not sure.” Manure- “Gotta be pretty bad for me to need this.” Melty Marbles- “Oh, canicas.” Fake Kazoo- “Maybe it can still hold some value.” Gord’s Knot- “Need to read that story sometime.” Gnome- “This could kill a zombie.” Tiny Rocketship- “It ain’t blastin’ off again.” Frazzled Wires- “Don’t remember cutting these off...” Ball and Cup- “Mastered this as a kid.” Hardened Rubber Bung- “Rubber harder than the sole of my boot.” Mismatched Buttons- “I’m cuter.” Second-hand Dentures- “Hope I can find a proper toothbrush instead.” Lying Robot- “Please. Brutal honesty is where it’s at.” Dessicated Tentacle- “Got the feelin’ this will make me very happy...” Webber’s Skull- “Fine, I’ll respect the dead just this time.” Pile o’ Balloons- “If only I had a reason to party.” Codex Umbra- “Smells like a bad idea.” Leaky Teacup- “Wonder if there’s a matchin’ teapot?” White and Black Bishop- “Kinda miss playin’ chess with dad.” Bent Spork- “Get bent.” Toy Trojan Horse- “This one’s actually really cute.” Unbalanced Top- “Lil’ nostalgic lookin’ at it, broken as it is.” Back Scratcher- “Ya scratch my back, I steal when you’re not lookin’.” Beaten Beater- “How much is this worth? Beats me.” Frayed Yarn- “Kitties would find it more endearin’ than I do.” Shoe Horn- “Boots are better for a reason.” Lucky Cat Jar- “If that pig’s got taste at all, he’ll know how important this jar is.” Air Unfreshener- “Should be poop-shaped instead. Ugh.” Potato Cup- “Now I, too, can drink potato-flavored water.” Wire Hanger- “My clothes may be tattered and dirty, but no longer wrinkled!” Iridescent Gem- “I like to look at it... is it lookin’ back at me?” Moon Caller’s Staff- “Now I can moon others too.” Shadow Atrium- “It should not be beatin’.” Beach Toy- “Some sandy guy could use this.” Crumpled Package- “Ya know what they say. One man’s garbage...” Venom Gland- “Fight fire with fire.” Dubloons- “Yes!! Proper money!” Message in a Bottle- “Not now, I’m busy lookin’ for treasure.” Snake Oil- “Tryin’ to fool me. For shame.” Orange Soda- “Sodarn excited to find this.” Voodoo Doll- “Do I or do I not have the heart to ‘play’ with it?” Ukulele- “Well, Aloha O’e.” License Plate- “M’sure I can use this for something...” Ancient Vase- “Ancient things are for museums. Museums pay for this.” Brain Cloud Pill- “Can’t remember what it does. Memory’s foggy.” Wine Bottle Candle- “Waste of good wine.” Broken AAC Device- “Doesn’t seem at all valuable like this.” One True Earring- “Sounds like something worth a fortune!” Old Boot- “Looks good to kick bums with.” Sextant- “Heh. Heheh.” Toy Boat- “I wanna paint a skull and crossbones on the sail.” Soaked Candle- “May have some use still.” Sea Worther- “Feel like a scallywag for not knowin’ what this is.” Iron, Bone and Golden Key- “It unlocks something important. I can feel it.” Tarnished Crown- “Doesn’t seem like sellin’ material.” Failed (Adventure Mode)- “That was a waste of resources.” Obelisk (sane, down)- “This thing gives me a bad feeling.” -- (insane, up)- “So it wasn’t decoration!” -- (sane, up)- “Lemme guess. I can’t blow it up.” -- (insane, down)- “Whoa, who chopped it down?” Divining Rod (before being picked up)- “Why is that radio on a stick?” -- “You’re gonna be a useful friend.” -- (cold)- “Who knows where it is...” -- (warm)- “Must be in this area.” -- (warmer)- “Gotta keep my eyes peeled!” -- (hot)- “It’s mine now!” Maxwell’s Door- “A creepy door in the middle of the woods. Hm.” Maxwell’s Phonograph- “Make that thing stop!” Maxwell Statue- “Vandalism just waitin’ to happen.” Maxwell’s Tooth Trap- “Nice try, old man.” -- (went off)- “Nicely done, old man...” Nightmare Throne- “My butt hurts just lookin’ at it.” Generic- “Heck if I know.” Freedom- “No prison is eternal!” Freezing- “$!@#, I’m cold!!” Battlecry- “De España con amor!” -- (prey)- “Right behind ya.” -- (pig)- “Time to smash the piggy bank!” Leaving combat- “Not my kinda approach anyway.” Dusk- “The sun hides as crime awakes.” Hounds are coming- “I hate that sound.” Deerclops is coming- “What the heck was that!” Eating (painful food)- “Oof. That wasn’t wise.” Hungry- “El hambre...” Lightning miss- “Gave me a $!@# scare!” Overheating- “I’m meltin’...!” Tree shelter- “Nature ain’t so bad, after all.” Giant arrival- “I know for a fact that’s no good.” Refusing to eat Eternal Fruitcake- “I’ll never be desperate enough.” Cave-in warning- “Keep movin’! Keep movin’!” Encumbered (carrying heavy object) - “Hrng... Huff...” - “I ain’t... made for this...!” - “This... is no work... for a thief...” - “Ugh... my everything...” Volcano eruption warning- “Be prepared.” Volcano eruption- “Run like heck and don’t stop!” Sea hounds are coming- “Not even in the sea...” Sealnado is coming- “Pretty windy today, huh.” Map border approaching- “A dead end. Or is it?” Entering map border- “Who knows by this point.” Exiting map border- “Whatever the case, we’re here now.” Riding wave- “Yeehaw!” Formal Set- “Nobody suspects a thief under this perfect look.” Survivor Set- “Sometimes, to find the diamond in the rough, ya gotta become rough yourself.” Shadow Set- “Now acceptin’ worship in the form of your valuables!” Halloween Costume Set- “Monkey business afoot.” Rose Set- “I am now even more of a prick.”

#ooc #character quotes #this took so long oh my god

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af1899 · 3 years ago

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FEH - "The outside world...! So vast!" (+10 WIP Sophia mini-showcase and appreciation)

So, with the [Feh Pass] subscription, I've been auto battling as much as I could while doing whatever else and gather [Hero Feathers] to get all the [HM] I had yet to get, and it was absolutely worth it, although I've already spent like 300 out of my 900+ something [Stamina Bottles] in the [Forging Bonds] lmao, I have around 660 now.

But with the obtained [Hero Feathers] I merged up Tailtiu to +6 and...

Poggers

I'm happy to have finished merging Sophia at long last which makes of her my eleventh fully merged project soon after New Year Eir, her build is pretty much done but I'd be delighted to give her more premium stuff she can use in the future and make more builds, as well as giving her the remaining [Dragonflowers (I)] but I'm so close to fully boost Sonya and then I have to boost OG and Legendary Julia because of the post-[CYL 2021] update. 🥴

But her current build does wonders already, true, she's not impervious to nearly everything as it is, but I can give her some team support and the like, she's still great on her own.

Now, onto appreciation talk which includes describing her a little and explaining why I like her. I did this in one of my previous posts but it's time to review the info we have about her and expand on it. As always, feel free to read on (long read ahead)...

About Sophia

She's a half-dragon, half-human girl with the power of foresight, she's a priestess residing in Arcadia, a village that houses manaketes that survived one of the most vicious wars from past lore (The Scouring) located in the southwestern desertic region (Nabata) in Elibe, the continent on which the sixth and seventh Fire Emblem games take place in, she's a playable [Shaman] in the former and makes a minor appearance as a NPC near the end of the latter. Her class makes of her one of the two playable dark magic users in Fire Emblem: Sword of Seals (the other is the guy you're most likely to get while pulling on red stones in FEH, a.k.a. Raigh), and she gains access to basic staves after promoting to [Druid].

In her support convo with Niime, it's revealed that Sophia's father was human, meaning that her mother was a dragon, but neither's identity is ever known to the player. But despite this, she never transforms into a dragon, most likely because she never had her own stone to contain those powers. Being half-dragon also allows her to live much longer, but not as purebred manaketes/dragons.

She's fully self-aware of her heritage and doesn't let that bother her, she accepts both halves of herself which make of her a whole person.

She's somewhat important around the half of the game's duration as she helps a gravely injured Cecilia to at least tend to her wounds while waiting for Roy's army to rescue them as they were both thrown into a prison under Bern's control (the kingdom invading the other countries during the events of the game).

Sophia displays a shy and gentle personality, showing clear astonishmnet yet in a calm way when witnessing what the outside world is like and what it has to offer (beyond the village she's been living for around a century), this is most evidenced in her support dialogues with Igrene. She even feels similarly when wearing a new set of clothes, such as those of Embla in the World of Zenith, anytime after she joins the Order of Heroes.

«As long as I am with you... I can go anywhere...even a new country...»

― Sophia

She also mentions she was raised to avoid outsiders, and in the same aforementioned support convo, it's mentioned why.

«I understand what he's saying... The Dragons' powers could easily destroy entire countries. If the outsiders found out, they would surely fight over it. I've seen many conflicts like that in my life...»

― Igrene

And it's understandable why she feels that way after being raised by the elder of the village to do as told for decades. But in the end, she wants to work towards a world of peace where both dragons and humans live together without a war ever spreading out, and befriend other people, she's appreciative of other's kindness.

So... why do I like her?

Because she's purple-haired and most of her design has purple and I love purple soooooo much, that's all you need to know. :)

...Kidding kidding, that's not actually it, but it's in part true that I find her aesthetic pleasing, partially due to my passion for this color:

(Official artwork from FE6)

Her design is rather simple but so charming, clearly evidencing her shyness (see the way she holds her book and her facial expression), and feeling clean without going overboard on details.

Also, I find long, purple hair a rather rare yet dazzling sight, I always look at it in her artwork and remins me why I love her design.

True, her neck in Zaza's take on Sophia in Fire Emblem Heroes bothered me a little, mostly because her neck is a little long as seen above, but not as slim as long as Zaza has drawn her (it's still a decent artwork and the artist has made some really nice pieces later, look at Emmeryn), the style also felt a little off to me. But her Resplendent upgrade made Sophia look more cute and still being the one we know, doning a brand new attire.

(❶ Original by Zaza. | ❷ Resplendent by Miwabe Sakura)

But for me, it's pointless to be pretty if there's not a likeable personality behind the character in question, and Sophia has been proven to be really interesting, often a mysterious but shy girl, she's capable of kindness and finding comfort with outsiders like Kiran or Roy, when I see her, I always feel that she's so nice, never feeling bitterness towards any of her allies, just being shy due to how she's grown, but with a desire for friendship and peace pushing her forward, even slowly but surely, she's so lovely. 🥰

What's more, some of her quotes show she has a protective side, determined to stand up to help her allies but specially those she's close with, this eventually includes Kiran themselves.

Her voice in Fire Emblem Heroes is also really soothing, Wendee Lee has made such a delightful work giving new life to Sophia through her voice acting, there sure are differences between her work back in 2017 (Sophia is a launch unit, meaning she's been around ever since the game was live) and the work on the Resplendent in 2020, yet both are pretty consistent and equally pleasant to hear. But if I have to vouch for one or another, I give a point to the Resplendent voice acting, her voice can be heard with a little more depth and calmness to it than the original, which feels more natural.

And she's a dark magic practitioner but that doesn't make her evil at all, she's really pure actually. But I actually find dark magic most appealing out of any kind of weapon I have ever seen, the whole concept is cool, being always creepy and nefarious in nature, often portrayed in hues of black and dark purple.

And like, c'mon, this thing is amazing:

I wish that [Apocalypse] was her PRF weapon in Fire Emblem Heroes but neither Raigh nor Bramimond who's its OG owner got it and just got random PRFs instead.

Anyway, in short, I adore Sophia and it always makes me happy to turn a seemingly weak unit into a tough to crack cookie, love for favorites sure can take them far.

"And... as a unit?"

I've been trying her mainly against the foes she has advantage with, but I've been also trying her against red/blue units and sometimes she does a nice job holding them at bay, she has low speed even after all this investment but with buffing it's somewhat usable.

Yet I prefer to focus on her strengths, not weaknesses, and she stands as a fairly good magic tank, with the few extras she enjoys as a launch unit and full demote plus Resplendent skin since around the first weeks of the [Feh Pass].

I actually tried her here some time after posting this because I didn't notice the [Limited Hero Battle] for today requires you use FE6 units, so I went with my faves in the game and it was rather easy. 🙂 But it still took a little thinking.

"Who's the next +10 you have in mind?"

Hmm... actually gonna (at least try to) work on Lilina, another one of my Elibian favorites. I also have her Resplendent upgrade and could revamp her kit. 🤔

But she's currently +3 so her turn might take longer or someone's else may come before, Idk.

And then, hopefully someone I like out of the next potential Resplendent Heroes...!

#feh #fe heroes #fire emblem heroes #fire emblem #fire emblem sword of seals #fire emblem the binding blade #fe sophia #af1899-updates

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im-reed-ing · 7 years ago

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tagged by: @heroiiic u are a cool person and I am a chicken nugget thats too scared of bothering u on discord, but if my phone wasn't physically broken id share u a screenshot every time soren came to say hi to me in FEH

rules: answer 30 questions and tag 10 blogs you would like to get to know better.

((alright but when have I ever followed the rules...... just sayin))

1. nicknames: reed... uh..... sometimes ppl call me weed to mock me but then i just punch them and its good (just kdding im weak as shit)

2. gender: hey so i find that if you don't identify yourself, people you talk to online are less likely to preemptively subconsciously stereotype you and therefore judge you before really getting to know you. So let's keep it that way. Unlock lvl 3 friendship before I reveal who I truly am to you LMFAO

3. Star sign: aries grr!

4. Height: 5'5", maybe 5'6" ??? idk man all i know is my little sister is taller than me and it makes me mad bc I personally am not that short!!!!

5. time: 2:16 am

6. bday: March 22

7. favorite bands: well shit uh, Sakanaction, Bump of Chicken, Dogcatcher, The Oh Hellos, FOB, Unison Square Garden.... im sure im missing something but... o well.

8. Favorite Solo Artist: I can't choose so u get all of em. Hachi (Yonezu Kenshi), Aimer, Sasakure.UK, Harito, Keichi Okabe, EMI EVANS god ,,, As well as a collection of, indie people,... and anyone that did the drakengard/nier osts / gravity rush 1 & 2 Osts, wow. seriuosly. Amazing.

9. Song stuck in my head right now: Douse shinundakara, (its a lie that its not stuck right now but its been for the past few days!) because I found the jp translation and made english lyrics and have been practicing hittin those high notes in the car on the way to school LMFAO.... same with hoshii no kieta by Aimer.;..... its like car karaoke hawhaw

10. Last movie I saw was. Uh. UHHH. In theaters, it was Hitmans Bodyguard, which by the way was campy and ridiculous and pretty funny if seen with the right people.

11. Last show I watched: was Rick and Morty, earlier today, in my school lounge on my computer. s3 ep 7 is really, really good. Like really good. It's also pretty fucked up.

12. when I created this blog: its been. A very. long time. this blog has only really ever been for reblogs... if u wanna chat w me find a discord server im part of and bother me there... or pm me, because i prefer one on one conversations even if im shit at keeping them going.

13. what I post: oh shit i answered this one already by accident OOPS UHHHH i reblog good art, shitty memes, and PSA's that I think are important. Im here to haev a good time. I have a seperate art blog that's in my about tab so there's that.

14. last thing I googled: the definition of the word galvanized. I am now slightly more verbose.

15. do I have any other blogs: like, two. artblog, old blog where I uploaded covers when I was in middle school, and a personal vent blog.... i accidently reblogged something to there though so I deleted it oops lmfao. But its ok, it was meant to be ephemeral and writing my thoughts down is therapeutic so I'll make another one once again.

16. do I get asks: literally never. Not even bots, LMFAO.

17. why did i choose my url: I've stuck with the name Reed for a really long time now but its also a pretty generic name, so i came up with this shitty pun and it stuck. it's probably my steam username too but like shifted around a little. any time i can't get 'reed' as a username i default to im.reed.ing or something like that.

18. followers: whoa, 175, really???? I get the impression that quite a few of them are inactive though, or i post so irregularly and infrequently that no one ever sees my posts LOL.

19. following: 380 and still counting. I turn on notifs for artblogs I really like!!! >;3

20. favorite snack for movie/tv: Honestly I used to not chow much while watching or itd be something generic like chips, but recently I started marathoning naruto of all things w a friend and we go to the asian supermarket beforehand and we get like a bunch of popped rice chips or sweets and various foods and some iteration of hi-chews and THAT is my favorite marathon snack tbh.

21. average hours of sleep: NEVER ENOUGH. It goes from like 2-3 hours on days when i have no self ocntrol... to like 12-16 on days when i... have no... self control.... lays down slowlyl.....

22. wHAT THE HECK THERES NO NUMVER 22 TRIKEY skdjhfksu cMON MANG

23. lucky number: my rng is shit but my favorite number is 4 because someone dear to me likes that number... but also because 4 is unlucky in some places, which I identify with.... but also bc 4 is the # of sides in a square/diamond, and squares are perfect and good shit and aesthetic. My boyfriend is a squa-- //kicked jk jk ramiel is a octohedron, i take it bac k ....

24. instrument: i can play the piano (barely) but I used to also do violin trumpet and a teeny bit of flute.... learned the ocarina too bc im a zelda nerd, and I dont mean that silly little 4-hole one. But I also sing and stuff and have been actively practicing, one day ill make a decent cover and learn to mix and be one of dem cool youtaites..... lays down slowly. this is fine.

25. what I am wearing right now: a lot of things,,, a watch, a hyper light drifter sweater. headphones, underwear, pants, a tshirt, socks, existential dread... u name it lol.

26. first celeb crush: since i honestly never cared much for real life celebrities, i'll just give you my anime/video game crushes instead and like...... wow i can't honestly remember my first ones???? oh shit wait OK it was probably both ashitaka and san, my first ghibli movie was mononokehime... they are just so freaking coo l... ok thtas a lie i lowkey wanted to BE them. Both of them.

.... idk man u cant ask an aroace person what their crushes were bc idk what those are!!! I assume u just really really really like something/someone and thats that, I GUESS??? I wanted to be link too once upon a time. And nausicaa. and a good chunk of the soul calibur 2 cast, and starfire from oldtimey teen titans. i was a simple child ok???

27. dream job: listen thats complicated idk about what my dreams are for a job, but I do want to be an animator and a storyboarder and a game developer and a game tester and a movie critic and a cinematographer and a director and a story lead and an illustrator at some point, and gotta try it before I can knock it ya know?

28. Dream trip: anywhere, so long as its with the people I really love. One day, I'll pack a few things into my car and run away for a little while. I'll come back some day! But for those long hours on the road with another person or two, marvelling quietly at the world around them as it passes and listening to music in the car... that sounds like a nice temporary reprieve.

29. favorite food: i fucken love poki bowl. SPICY SEAFOOD + RICE YAAAaaas

30. nationality: was born in murica, but both my parents are immigrants from now-ukraine. So we all speak russian at home lul.

tagging people: ha, tags are for nerds. @one-becomes-two @trash-knights @nhiners @awishwee @deerwood @montejeska @queenchro @chicken-mcnobody DONT HAVE ANY MORE BLOGS I CAN REMEMBER this will have to do.

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