#and there’s less/no kirby dots

[alsoanyways]

god you know what would be so cool?? having a different art style for each OC and their accompanying universe spider-verse style

[blazingstaro]

Here's my little side AU!

It's not a serious story like Dreams of the Stars, and just something of my own for funsies! I don't intend to make a series of this, more-so just little drawings or mini comics every now and then. DotS is my main AU and comic series still!

This is my SkyCotL Mago AU, and it's a mix of different types of AUs in one. Genderbend? You got it. Roleswap? Absolutely! There's also a personality swap between characters, and what-if scenarios all jammed into one Kirby AU set in a noir/spacepunk + 30s-60s swing era

It's a lot of what-ifs put into fruition while having SkyCotL on the side! It's wholesome, adorable, and really sweet! No serious angst in this (for now), but some heartfelt troubles and such. Absolutely a comfort AU LOL

So here's the whole gang together! Not everyone's roles are swapped, I'll say— it's a mixed bag of this that and whatever because whoever said you had to stick to one particular thing in a swap-type AU HEHEHE

Quick look lore/info on each individual below:

Allow me to tell you a bit about each individual here, starting with our lead, Skye:

The Magolor of this Magoverse flavored AU, this is Magoloria— a rising star from Floralia. She sings, she dances, she's quite the hit for tons of musical shows across the galaxy! Fashionable, fun, and cute as a button, Skye is a pure-hearted and humble gal. She's a young adult for her species!

Both a genderbend and a personality swap! Her personality is swapped with Joronia's (pre-Sectonia). She's as sweet as can be, and enjoys making herself feel pretty with a vast wardrobe of outfits and costumes. Her taste in fashion is impeccable.

The events of Return to Dreamland occur quite a bit differently for Skye, but I'll save that for another post! But the main premise is that following a decisive battle, hopelessly possessed by the Master Crown's evil, Skye and the shattered Master Crown are spirited away to the decaying Kingdom of Sky (hence her nickname), a land time forgot. The power-drained mage must travel across the realms to reclaim her lost powers, which fell into the hands of the sleeping Elder spirits.

Here's Kirby and Bandana Waddle Dee! Their roles remain unchanged, but their personalities have swapped! Bandee is confident and outgoing, whereas Kirby's a bit less confident, but aspires to be great— despite the fact that he's the most powerful of the group and constantly Popstar's savior. He and Bandee are besties, like brothers!

King Malcom "Meta" Knytte, the presiding king of Dream Land! He's both role-swapped with Dedede, and his personality is swapped with Taranza. He's got the personality of a sopping wet kitten, but is low-key one of the most devastating warriors Dream Land has to offer. His Galaxia's design is more of the anime's than the games because good god I am not drawing the same Galaxia for two different AUs

King Malcolm is a great whistler and plays the piano, but has crippling stage fright. He owns a venue within his kingdom, which has been host to Skye's shows in recent years. He secretly mans backstage in disguise, so commoners won't recognize him (but it's somewhat obvious who he is). Rumor has it, he has an eye for one of the performers, and is secretly in love...

Sir Dedede of Dream Land! He serves the Kingdom of Dream Land. As it's quite obvious, he's role-swapped and personality swapped with Meta Knight, though there's still a sliver of King Dedede's original ego/pride in this guy. He's aloof, something of a loner, and doesn't talk much, but he has a tendency to take aspiring warriors under his wing. His latest apprentice is Bandana Waddle Dee, who serves under King Malcolm too!

And finally, the lovely couple— King Taranza and Queen Joronia! This is half a role-swap and a whole personality swap. Taranza's personality is swapped with Magolor, and Joronia has a partial of Dedede's personality, but stands alone on her own as well. Taranza also takes on Magolor's role as Manager of a theme park.

Though married for centuries, Taranza and Joronia are still in their honeymoon phase, madly in love and have profound crushes on each other!

The two have made their kingdom into an entertainment capital this side of the galaxy, bringing all walks of life onto Popstar to see a wide variety of shows! From circus acts, to live musical performances, and thrilling carnival rides and games, you name it, they got it!

This spicy pair act as parental figures for Skye, and took her under their wing when she was a lone, young girl selling papers to make do

AND THAT IS ALL FOR NOW! Just a basic look at everyone! I'll do more thorough info-posts later on 'em throughout the week 💜

[doctorstrangereview]

Strange Tales #126

Cover Date: November 1964 On-Sale Date: August 11, 1964

It all changes here! In celebration, Doc reclaims some cover real estate and the blurb even depicts a scene from the story. What changes? Doc meets Dormammu! Up until this moment, Dormammu has simply been one of the funky names Doc calls on to put the whammy on his foes. Also, until now, most of his foes haven't been all that impressive on power level with Nightmare and Loki being the possible exceptions. And Doc doesn't call on either to power up. Dormammu is on whole other level.

Our story continues immediately after Doc's battle with Baron Mordo last issue. We see his astral body returning to his physical body. Now, Mordo's body should be in the house as well, but that never gets addressed. He must have gotten out somehow; we definitely haven't seen the last of him. No sooner than getting up from his comfy, funky chair (sadly, not the one with the dragon head), he's in the grip of a powerful spell, without his consent, that manifests itself as a floppy white and yellow bullseye. There's a nice touch from Ditko. Doc goes in the top of the bullseye and at the spell's terminus, The Ancient One's pad, he comes out the bottom. It even has a funky curl, like it's squeezing him out.

The Ancient One is dressed today in a fine frock. The original coloring is red, but the Masterworks recoloring makes it a vivid fuchsia. Once again I prefer the recoloring. Today's crown has less ostentatious horns that the last story but the detail is more intricate. The Ancient One makes a ghost thing visible to Doc just as it leaves. Doc prepares himself to jump to the old guy's defense, but he's like "Don't worry about it, he's just a messenger of the Dread Dormammu. Oh, by the way, Dormammu is gonna invade our dimension and take over. I just got back from being Mordo's captive and haven't had my old man nap yet. Can you deal with this?"

"Sure thing, daddio! Send me!" And Doc disappears into some whirling and hairy dots. Perhaps this is Ditko's answer to Kirby Crackle. The next thing Doc knows he's somewhere else, floating through a ring of smoke and heading toward a nasty beastie indeed. The smoke ring is a nice call back to the splash page!

The as-yet-unnamed nasty beasty is the G'uranthic Guardian who will show up here and again. I don't know if this is actually a living being or some magical construct that guard's Dormammu's "palace." Doc approaches the nasty beastie who looks down on him and shoots out some light that probes his brain, without his consent. It's a test of some kind that Doc passes and the cool six-sided doors open for him. He steps through, and we get get our first look at how bat-crap crazy Ditko makes this very brightly lit "dark" dimension.

That's right, the other side of this door is floating in nothing and Doc is walking along a floating ribbon all curled up. Nightmare's realm was weird, but this is drug-trippy crazy! What was Ditko on? This imagery continues throughout the story, so get yourself a copy if you want to see it all.

Next, we get our first glimpse of Dormammu. He doesn't quite look like his popular image yet. For one, he's wearing a two-tone green thing with funky shoulder accoutrements and not the purple we're used to seeing him in. His head isn't surrounded by flames, but smoke and his head is blue, instead of red. He only has a hint of eyes. He's also sitting in a funky throne. We will later learn this is the Azure Throne and it is almost never depicted as blue.

Dormammu is like "WTF? Who the hell is this? Where's The Ancient One?" One of the sychophants surrounding Dormammu isn't toadying up enough and dares to question Dormammu's ability to instantly wipe out the mortal and he instantly imprisons them until he doesn't feel like it anymore.

Meanwhile, Doc is facing a series of challenges as he moves toward the big bad. His first challenge is a little yellow creature who feeds on spells. Doc figures this out quickly and feeds him until he pops like a balloon. This is being watched by a certain silver-haired lady. Yes! We are finally introduced to the as-yet-unnamed Clea. At first he thinks this is The Ancient One returning, but realizes it can't be "for he is young -- and fair to behold!" While Clea's libido gets fired up, Doc is drawn into some object that looks like a flying magic carpet. "Oh well," thinks Clea, "better luck next time."

Doc defeats a bunch more of Dormammu's minion who appear before him. Dormie's not happy. He banishes them to limbo.

Dormammu is like "Enough of this! If you need something done, you just gotta do it yourself. Bring it on, earther!" Clea senses things are coming to a head and decides to shout about it.

The entrance Dormie conjures for Doc is just bizarre. It's like a big sheet of paper with a mini, desaturated bifrost coming out of it. Clea attempts to warn him off, but Doc proceeds to the ominous assignation. Doc finally confronts Dormie at last! "I won't kill you until the Ancient One shows up." Doc replies "Nah! You gotta deal with me." "No really, send in the Ancient One." "Nope. It's gonna be me." "You're funeral, blue dude!"

And we break here until next month. Last month was great, but this is just freaking crazy! Ditko is in top form here. Who knows how many pencils were ground to little nubs to draw these 10 pages? Visually, it's spectacular. Ditko had spent a number of stories with lazy backgrounds, but he must have been saving it up for this story. Dormammu's motivation for invading earth isn't exactly original, but it starts a great story. There isn't really anything in the way of plot holes. It doesn't mess with continuity. And it's the springboard of a new era where the villains are more powerful and the stakes are greater. I can't wait for part two!

[nyaagolor]

Nothing blows my mind more than people trying to make the Kirby characters Smooth (tm). King Dedede has a rivalry with a six year old. Zan spends her free time bullying preteens on twitter dot com. Meta Knight is physically incapable of admitting he has a sweet tooth despite living on a planet whose entire culture centers around eating and napping. Magolor constantly challenges a child who is likely less than a quarter of his age to carnival games, cheats, and still loses. I cannot think of a single franchise with a cast that is so chronically bitchless if I tried

[extended-kirbydash]

Hi!! You can call me Kirbydash (or just Kirby, that works too). I am a minor (under 18) and I am making posts on tumblr dot com. My pronouns are she/her.

This blog stands with Palestine and does not support genocide.

Please don't interact if you're queerphobic, a TERF, or an NSFW blog. Also if you're going to hate on my art or posts without constructive criticism :p

Sometimes I draw, but not a whole lot. I'm always open for doodle requests (unless specified), so drop me an ask if you're interested!

My favourite game at the moment is Sky: Children of the Light. I'm also a fan of Celeste and the Kirby franchise, but I'm getting less interested in them. I less frequently play Minesweeper and Rocket League. I like A Dance of Fire and Ice, but I've never actually played it.

I also love watching object shows! My personal favorites are Battle for Dream Island, Inanimate Insanity and It's Time for The.

I run @i-doodle-pfp-guys (which is inactive at the moment, due to my laziness)! Sorry if I accidentally post something meant for that blog on this one (or vice versa).

Idk why i coloured this post actually

Here's my slightly inaccurate pronouns.page and my undercooked straw.page

Tags I use under the cut. Have fun on my blog 👍👍👍👍👍

#my post - my posts

#my art - my art

#important - very important posts

#not my art - other people's art! I encourage you to check them out :)

#reblog - general reblogs

#delete later - posts I plan to delete at sometime. I never do.

#ask box - asks i've answered

#strawpage stuff - drawings and asks received from my strawpage! please send me stuff /nf

#silly cats - just a bunch of funny cats :3

#mutuals!! - original posts from my mutuals

#save - posts I'll come back to later

#long post - a post that's veeeery long. feel free to filter so they don't bother you on this blog

Tags for cool comics: #c&c, #birby and the underworld, #planetbots, #laika's comet

Tags for gimmick/themed blogs: #sky cotl bracket, #have you played this game, #inthetags, #screenshots of despair, #memories, #oscconfessions

Tags for the games and shows I like: #kirby, #sky cotl, #celeste game, #minesweeper, #adofai (only one post atm), #bfdi, #inanimate insanity/#ii (#osc for general object show posts), #rocket league, #parkour civ

[wandringaesthetic]

I’VE PLAYED EVERY MAIN SERIES FINAL FANTASY AND I SAVED THE WORST FOR LAST

I was an SNES kid. I played Super Mario World and Kart and Donkey Kong and Kirby, but from about the third grade until high school I pretty much didn’t play video games at all. Thought they were a waste of time. Toys. Kid stuff. It probably would have stayed that way, but two things happened. 1) Pokemon Blue convinced me that video games could be a mental exercise, a puzzle and a strategy rather than just a test of your reflexes. 2) A friend lent me Final Fantasy VII and her PlayStation over Christmas break, which began an obsession with video games as a storytelling medium in general and with Final Fantasy in particular that lasts to this day.

That was in the year 2000. 22 years and 1 month later, I’ve finally played all of them.

I won’t quite say I’ve “beaten” all of them, because for XI, well. It depends on what you mean. I beat the base game and the first four expansions (Rise of Zilart, Chains of Promathia, Treasures of Aht Urhgan, and Wings of the Goddess), the first two chapters of the last major story expansion (Seekers of Adoulin) and all but the very final boss of the “epilogue” of the game, Rhapsodies of Vana’diel. The final boss of Rhapsodies was what I set as my own arbitrary end goal (because that’s where the credits roll!) and I made it to the boss but couldn’t beat it on my own. In the end, I played more of the main storyline than some people who played it for years in its heyday did, but I also never engaged with the endgame content at all and have less than no interest in doing so. Certainly I’ve beaten the base game. But has someone who has played through A Realm Reborn really beaten Final Fantasy XIV? I mean sure as some kind of arbitrary benchmark, but….

I could almost certainly have beaten that last Rhapsodies boss if I had found a party of players willing to assist me, but I so wanted to just be done with the game that I cancelled my subscription in a fit of pique.

I’m a JRPG person not an MMO person. I’ve claimed that I avoided MMORPGs for a long time because I was in school and/or thought I might be prone to addiction, but that’s only half the truth. I avoided them because, honestly, from everything I’d heard it didn’t seem like they would appeal to me. It’s not that I don’t care about gameplay, but if I’m not engaged in a story I’m probably not sticking around. Plus MMOs seemed like a scam. The way gacha games and collectable card games seem like a scam. You want to be better at this? Spend more money. More content? More time, more money. The entire point seemed to be to get you addicted. And what could possibly be the plot of an MMO? A bunch of quests where you collect bear asses? Despite my love of Final Fantasy, I first played A Realm Reborn with a spirit of ugh, okay, fine, you convinced me. Then I left and didn’t return until the pandemic. Today I continue to have a great time with FFXIV generally, but relevant to what I’m writing about here: when I finally got to the end of Endwalker, that left only one Final Fantasy mountain that I hadn’t climbed.

Final Fantasy XI Online. A game that wasn’t exactly well regarded in its heyday and has aged especially poorly. A game that is a huge time sink. A game that certainly had its cult following, but even they tend to talk about it in terms of I don’t know man, you just had to be there.

Very often in Final Fantasy XI, in order to advance the plot, you have to find a spot on a map. The spot isn’t marked. Usually there’s not any visual indication that it’s there. I played with a mod that added a minimap, and the minimap showed your character as an arrow on the map, red dots indicating enemies, blue dots indicating other players, and green dots indicating all other things that you could target: NPCs, crystal “home” points, nodes for harvesting/mining/etc., and also these targets where you could “find” an object or initiate a cutscene or whatnot.

But as far as I know there wasn’t a shortcut to finding these in the original game other than to tab through everything in your field of vision. No green dots, even. The in game instructions for quests and missions from NPCs and in your menus are usually vague. So you could be going over entire maps like this, tabbing through everything in sight until you find what you need. As far as I know, there’s not another way to find these points built into the game. I mostly got around this by hooking up a second monitor to my pc, having a fan wiki open at all times and using a combination of coordinates from the wiki and the dots on my minimap to find my interaction point.

If you played Final Fantasy XI back in the day, especially if you played on PS2 where modding was impossible, I don’t know how you did this. I imagine a few players were obsessive enough to find the target and then shared that info with everyone else. Word of mouth.

There are very many obtuse gameplay decisions I could complain about in this game, but I use this example because it’s emblematic of what seems to be the design philosophy of the whole business. Explain nothing, not even basic systems.  Give the most minimal cues. I think the game designers saw themselves as playing against every subscriber of the game at once. I could see how this could be exciting, as a player. How you could feel like an explorer, discovering new sights, new gear, new ways to solve a problem, information you could then pass on to your fellow players and feel important.

The legendary Absolute Virtue (a notorious monster which took over 18 hours to beat if you used the Squeenix recommended strategy—which no one ever succeeded at) makes me think that my impression of the game designers seeing players as The Enemy is absolutely correct.

Haha! They must have been thinking. Let’s see them handle THIS!

Anyone who’s spent more than a couple hours on either side of a dungeon master screen knows this philosophy fucking sucks, man.

If you’re not playing on the day new content broke, if you weren’t a person who had the time to be in the race to solve these things, if you’re playing with a small group or alone over twenty years later, the game is either a solid, unsolvable, unclimbable cliff face, or you comb through various fan wikis and FAQs and ancient forum threads (doing much the same as players did 20 years ago with word of mouth, but more efficiently) and…. Follow a really long list of instructions. There’s really no game there. No mountain left to climb. Nothing left to discover. It felt like doing my taxes.

The high school friend who started my obsession with Final Fantasy also lent me Final Fantasy VI (the SNES cartridge labelled Final Fantasy III) alongside an exhaustive unauthorized guide, and recommended I follow the guide religiously, which I did, every turn, every treasure chest. It was an awful mistake that soured my entire experience of the game and I think is part of the reason that game ranks lower in my list of favorites than it does with many FF fans. It’s not that I’m against using guides, I do it often, especially when I’m stuck or when a game is making me jump through a hoop rather than giving me something to discover or solve. But using it every step of the way like that was like reading a book, but before every page you have to read “Okay, on this page watch out for the moment where she looks out the window, it’s going to be important later (the curtains are blue!)”

Gross.

But with FFXI, at least in the year of our lord 2023, there’s practically not another way to do it, and I often felt like the challenge I was facing was not within the game itself, but in finding the information online that I needed in order to proceed.

Final Fantasy XI is a game that seems to not want you to play it. You make a character, you choose a starting city, the game gives you a coupon it tells you to exchange to an NPC for an extremely measly 50 gil—not enough to get you started doing anything. And targeting (tab through everything in your field of vision) and trading the item (with the NPC targeted, open your menu, go to trade, choose the item, choose enter) is, uh, not intuitive. And… that’s it. That’s all the guidance you get. I feel like there should have been a thick print manual that came with the game. But if ever such a thing existed, it’s not easy to come by now.

I’m pretty sure that without my I’m-going-to-beat-every-Final-Fantasy (bitch) determination I would have bounced off of it before the end of the free trial period. In fact, even with that determination, I did bounce off of it. Circa 2017 I made a character, struggled with PlayOnline, struggled with menus, never could figure out how to find that damn NPC and trade that damn coupon, never left the starting city, couldn’t remember my login password, and cancelled.

Yet I’ve heard that, at the time of its release, FFXI was one of the easier MMORPGs to pick up and play. Yikes.

I have to take it on faith that in the brief period of time after EverQuest and before World of Warcraft this game was actually a contender in the MMORPG market. I have to take it on faith because as much as I disliked playing Final Fantasy XI now, I would have disliked it even more in the years directly after its release, with its steeper grind and the challenge of finding other players with similar goals and its even more time and gil consuming travel. It demanded so much of its players in the way of time and frustration and money and gave so very, very little reward.

All it seemed to give was camaraderie between players, and I’m pretty sure I would have given up on the game before I found that.

I meant to check how much time I spent on Final Fantasy XI before I unsubscribed, but I cancelled my sub in a moment of frustration and forgot to. I know that the last time I checked, sometime in the Aht Urhgan storyline, it was more than a week. So my final time (unless I find myself possessed to return some day) was probably around the two week mark. Somewhere between 300 and 400 hours. This feels like a lot, but compared to FFXI players who were active in the early to mid oughts, this is nothing.

I watched this video to see the end cutscenes and credits of the game that I ran out of patience to beat. At the end, the player checks his playtime: 2955 days.

Because of the way FFXI’s auction house works, much of that was likely passive or afk, inputting only if someone bid on one of his items or letting macros or 3rd party tools handle it. Yet. As I was playing, I sought out the voices of people who played this game for years during its heyday and found, among others, this one: an episode of a general Final Fantasy podcast with the hosts of a Final Fantasy XI turned Final Fantasy XIV podcast as guests. One of them said his final playtime before he quit was over two years.

“How much of that was ass in seat?”

“For me? Nearly all of it.”

I cannot imagine.  

Both of those hosts had some “Maybe the real Vana’diel was the friends we met along the way” stories. One met her husband through the game. I still cannot fathom it being worth it in any form.

[By contrast, I just checked my time in Final Fantasy XIV: 44 days, 17 hours, 40 mins. A little over a thousand hours. That’s the story so far, two jobs mastered and a few more dabbled in. Weaver and Botanist capped plus a lot of levels in leatherworker and alchemist. More of the normal gold bubble side quests than not. A little bit of raiding. I don’t feel like this cut into my real life, but this was a little under two years of real world time where this was most of the video game I played. This is about the maximum I am willing to give to a game.]

I don’t want to be overwhelmingly negative about Final Fantasy XI because I feel like every person that wasn’t an avid player during its heyday is. It has strong art direction and worldbuilding. The idea of an MMO having any kind of strong storyline was still novel at the time of its release, but it was a main series Final Fantasy, and I think the somewhat arbitrary decision to make it a main game rather than a spinoff rested the responsibility of telling an epic story on its shoulders, and it mostly rose to that challenge. From the second expansion on, FFXI’s stories are at the very least good. Promathia has a god-slaying story that I wouldn’t have been disappointed in if it were the plot of a non-online Final Fantasy title. Aht Urhgan, in a storyline I would be obsessed with were it just slightly better written, has a ghost pirate prince who made a deal with a deity in order to get revenge on the empire that slaughtered his people except, whoops, he develops feelings for the empress. From Zilart on, FFXI squeezes real beauty out of late PS2 era graphics in the forms of environments and character and monster animations. The music is good to extremely good.

It broke ground. XI was the first Final Fantasy with enemies on screen in the field instead of random encounters. It was the first Final Fantasy with a day/night cycle. It’s designed in such a way, both in terms of game design and the focus of the camera, that you really pay attention to enemies, something that rarely happens on anything less than a boss in FFXIV. It advanced MMO storytelling. It walked so that FFXIV could (eventually) run.

But weighed against how obtuse and adversarial this game is. Weighed against the cost, in subscriptions and expansions, weighed against the monstrous amount of time one had to sink into it to play it competently? It’s too much to pay in the year of our lord 2023 and was IMO several times too much to pay at the peak of its popularity.

Versus all those negatives, what does it have going for it? Vibes?! It’s not worth it. Not for me. Not for anyone.

Yet.

I’m glad the servers are still up. As a Final Fantasy fan I’m glad I experienced it, even in truncated form. I’m glad it was still out there for me to explore. As a piece of history. As a piece of the puzzle.

There’s a private FFXI server called Horizon whose mission is to preserve the game as it was at its zenith, when the level cap was 75 and there were no trusts for people like me to waltz through the world while rarely interacting with other players. They’re even trying to scale content that was made after the level cap was raised to fit that restriction. As a piece of preservation and as a fan project, I find this beautiful and fascinating. I wish them every success.

Will you ever find me setting foot in it? Absolutely not.

[iloveabunchofgames]

#JakeReviewsItch

Arlo The Rabbit

by Joshimations, Crooked Beaker

Price (US): $2

Included In: Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality, Bundle for Ukraine

Genre: Platformer

Pitch: A beginner-friendly platformer inspired by the classics.

My expectations: Mechanically, I'm not sure what to expect, but tonally, Arlo shouts Kirby. The cute protagonist, the visual style of the backgrounds, the HUD; they're all Kirby. It's fairly common for indie games to emulate the monochromatic, low-resolution, dot-matrix Game Boy. Arlo has the Game Boy aspect ratio, with appropriately scaled sprites, but its resolution seems to be arbitrary. It has four-shade graphics in gray, not green, evoking nostalgia for Game Boy Pocket rather than the older model. Am I looking at a deliberately loose riff on Game Boy platformers, or am I just overthinking a sloppy, naïve copycat?

Review:

Arlo the Rabbit combines one half Kirby and one half Super Mario Bros. 2. The result is less than the sum of those parts.

Kirby provides the attitude and aesthetic. It’s an easygoing, nonthreatening platformer for all ages.  From the interstitial scenes between levels to the way Arlo gets launched into the background to the dance after defeating a boss, every part of the presentation points back to early ‘90s Kirby…which serves as a constant reminder that you could be playing the real thing instead of this drawn-freehand-with-a-mouse imitation.  It’s a shame that the homage hasn’t been seasoned with other references or better yet, some original ideas.

Arlo’s only means of attack is grabbing single-use rocks off the ground and chucking them at enemies,similar to the way turnips and radishes were used in Super Mario Bros. 2. While carrying a rock, however, Arlo’s maximum jump height is cut in half. It’s a neat idea, or it would be if the level design ever took advantage of it.

Stage layouts are uninspired and repetitive. All enemies behave identically, shuffling slowly back and forth across set paths. Bosses offer a nice reprieve, but they’re predictable pushovers.

+ An inoffensive and functional game that can be completed in one sitting. + Walk, jump, throw—just the right level of complexity for anyone who's just learning to play action games. + The chipper soundtrack captures that Kirby feeling. + Pos

– Not much design in these levels. Secrets, dead ends, and bottomless pits all look the same as the critical path. Enemies, rocks, health-replenishing items, and 1UPs are just sorta tossed wherever. – Platforming is only ever tricky because the camera is locked to Arlo's vertical position. Jump, and the camera jumps with you. Here, I have a visual demonstration:

– Boring enemies. Some move on the ground. Some move in the air. Some move up and down. But they're all slow, and they're all completely oblivious to the player's actions. – Crummy hit detection. Or maybe they're just serious about COVID prevention protocols. Get within six feet of an enemy, and watch your health drop.

🧡🧡🤍🤍🤍 Bottom Line: So simple that it might actually be more beginner friendly than Kirby. With only a fraction of the charm and attention to detail, however, Arlo the Rabbit isn't likely to inspire a life-long love of platforming in anyone.

#JakeReviewsItch is a series of daily game reviews. You can learn more here. You can also browse past reviews...

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[parttimepuff]

Breaking glass? Worried about your mirror self Goblin? Should we be worried?

"Wh-no, it's not-that doesn't have anything to do with my mirror…" Goblin responded, hesitant as his visitor was still here. The woman in question flicked her gaze to the side for a moment before staring back at him. "I think we should come back to the problem at hand. Unless that has something to do with it?" Suzie asked. She was still clearly angry, but was calmer now. It made him feel marginally more comfortable responding. "A." He squeaked at first. "…it does. He, um… it broke my shades when he hit me." The Dream Demon elaborated.

"And you lived?" Suzie questioned further, less mad and more genuinely curious. Why wouldn’t D-Mind have killed him? "Well, yeah. My head was nearly, entirely destroyed, but I lived…" Goblin trailed off. It was a gruesome sight, he was sure, though his eyes took some time to regenerate. The woman was silent for a moment, thinking over the new information. "What happened. Where is he now." It was not a question this time, but a demand.

He wished he had a better answer for it. "Er, I'm not, super sure? Once I was back in shape, he was gone. Not that, I really went looking." Goblin admitted. Sure, he'd been looking out for his own safety, but now it felt like the wrong choice. "I figured he just fought Kirby and his lot, since that's what I was summoning someone for in the first place." He speculated.

"You what?" Suzie spoke softly, the change in tone making him panic again. "I-I..! Was trying to get a cool minion to fight for me!" Goblin defended. "Against, Kirby." She muttered in total disbelief. "Considering the Dream Kingdom is still standing, I would suppose that meant Kirby won." She theorized, considering what that meant for D-Mind. "It seems I chose to talk to you at the right time. I have someone else to talk to now."

"I’ll be back once I get some better information." Suzie informed him, turning back towards her portal. Before stepping through, she glanced back at him. "And, by the way. Your dot has grown again." She added, passing through the the portal which abruptly closed behind her. Goblin stared at the place where she'd been, already thrown by the new information only to be handed another bombshell. "wh"

[tentechbiolognostic]

i really dislike those 'listening to xyz video game track for the first time reaction' videos because imo listening to video game music for the first time outside of when it plays in the video game almost always robs it of most or all of its impact

i need an example to articulate this so. the final boss theme(s? theres multiple songs but its one thing) from kirby star allies. if you haven't heard it before, i would advise against just looking it up because that'd be hypocritical of me lol, and also star allies is pretty easy. unironically those moving blocks are harder to get past than anything else in the game

star conquering traveler is so much more cohesive and harder hitting within the context of the boss fight and everything leading up to the boss fight and all the other context that you won't get from listening to the songs in isolation. and then if you end up playing the game and already know how its gonna go it's a lot less cool and interesting when it does something cool and interesting. like the chiptune green greens!! if you've played kirby, even if you haven't even HEARD of kirbys dream land before and youre starting off with star allies, it's still the 1-1 theme- so with all the other context ingame youll still be able to connect the same dots, which is really neat! it's hella dramatic the first time you hear it and then because it's attached to the initial cool moment it remains emotional if you listen to it again. if you hear it with no context it's kinda just forever worse. you can probably get that its a reference to an older game because it's retro when nothing else in the song is but it's not gonna be recognised as green greens with all the implications that implies if you havent even heard green greens

im gonna stop typing now because this is way more words than i thought it was. in conclusion video games and their music are more often than not inseparable, and you can maybe deprive the game of its soundtrack but i have never seen the opposite go smoothly

[blazingstaro]

Random post from a tag algorithm blessed be, this post randomly appeared on my dash today

Hi, I'm one of the Magoverse people! I've come to sate your intrigue, and give you an inside scoop! A bit of history to answer your questions!

It initially started as a joke, and in fact here's the post that started it all:

Check out the reblogs for all the crazy additions made from amazing artists and creative folk all over to help one beloved, socially awkward Magolor babysit a baby Meta Knight. It got unhinged SO FAST. It was great!

The-Spam-Specialist is the one you can thank for coining the term "Magoverse"! We all adopted it pretty much immediately because it was hilarious and catchy. Spam's responsible for sparking this entire thing, in fact, and bringing us together!

All-in-all, Magoverse is satirical and purely for fun! We've all taken an oath to not allow it to become.... Sans-verse. Here's proof of our oath, and check reblogs for everyone:

We established this very early on after the first post blew up in the fandom! I kid you not, it has stayed this way. We're keeping our promise, nearly a year in strong. If you see anyone go against this, know that they're definitely not part of our community.

Additionally, a little insider info:

Magoverse has become a small, close-knit community, and the reason why you see the tag a little less active is because we're much more active in our Discord server, so y'all have been spared the raw shenanigans that take place First few weeks of that server was pure, hilarious insanity. "Just another day in the Magoverse" has become a running inside joke ever since because of that It's also become less active due to many of our members being in school/college/have jobs, so you might see a jump of activity come Summer (Late May, early June; Winter if you're in the Southern Hemisphere). We're planning more events, including something for Easter, and I apologize in advance for what whackiness it may bring

You probably see posts most from our little group in the Magoverse. Particularly me, @otterronpas, @puffballwarrior-blog, @pastille-pain, @cherry-blossom-qf , occasionally @opal-owl-flight (she's been doing a lot of Splatoon stuff lately- sorry for the tag homie) and @theeclipsedcrown ! We have fun, and it's a blast exploring crazy "what-ifs" for funsies! You can find us under #magoverse gang easy, we populate that tag the most. I'm so sorry— there will be more. Our little group is always cooking something creative and wild LOL. Our Magolors have become a found-family, and they're very close. It's really sweet! That's why you see our little Mago-gang together often.

Iro is my boy! Shorthand for his full name in my AU— Magolor Irioma. He's the one with the red and gold scarf, circle gold buckle. He's taken over my life alongside my OC, Orpheus LOL

I've had my own Kirby AU for nearly 6 years, a whole comic series in fact, but I decided to give Magolor a bigger role in early 2023 during my massive rewrite of my story. If anything, Magoverse gave me the chance to develop my AU's Magolor and his accompanying (and very important) lore among others, and it's helped me figure out who my Magolor is and his key part to play in my comic

Skyswap/Skye is my latest AU and just a little thing on the side; not a series. Dreams of the Stars (DotS), however, is my main AU and comic/fanfiction series, which is a collaboration alternate universe between me and my sister, @starlightfyre — It turns 6 years old on March 30th!

In conclusion: the Magoverse is a bunch of artists/writers that like one silly egg-shaped guy, and have some good, honest, wholesome fun! We're very friendly, and we do our best to support one another, be kind and considerate towards others Throughout my 10+ years of being in and out of fandoms, this has genuinely been the nicest one. (I'm ex-Sonic, ex-Zelda fandom for reference of my past experiences, both taking place during the 2010s)

Your kind words and intrigue both flatter and honor me! So too I salute you, Paintpanic

Feel free to hit me up anytime if you have any more questions, or wanna touch base with our tiny subculture of the fandom! I'm happy to give you the scoop anytime! 💖 Drop by my ask box anytime, any day! Have I endless tales of adventure to share, haha!!

You keep on doing your thing! <3 Be you, be awesome! 💜 Thank you for your curiosity and pleasant commentary! It's crazy to see how far word has spread of our little village of sillies!

And thank you for making it this far in! That is all from me! <3

little did you know there is a sansverse in the kirby fandom but it's with magolor

Oh, I'm absolutely aware of the Magoverse LOL. The closest thing I have here is this little freak.

Anyways, while I'm not an active participant in all that, I'm totally fascinated by the Magoverse people. It's a weird little niche subculture of an already niche fandom.

Some people over there are making whole AU worlds for their AU Magolors to live in, and some people are just making standalone alternate Magolors. It's entirely focused on this one character, though. The best comparison is obviously the Undertale AU fandom. Some AUs are whole fleshed-out worlds, and some of them just exist so an AU Sans can exist and interact with other Sanses.

I'm curious as to what about Magolor specifically is so compelling to folks. He's obviously super popular, but what aspect of him led to the creation of so many AU versions? With the Undertale AU fandom, there's a basis in the game. Several characters talk about alternate timelines, which very naturally leads to AUs.

My guess is Clash stuff? We see in Magolor Epilogue that alternate timelines do exist and that you can travel to them. As far as I know, this Magoverse stuff only popped up in the last year or so, after the release of RtDLDX. Just speculation.

Also like the Undertale AU fandom, it seems like there's a strong sense of community in the Magoverse crowd. The tag's got a lot of folks drawing each others' guys, and it looks like they had both a Halloween and a Secret Santa event.

Something I have no idea about is how this all started. Who made the first AU Magolor? What inspired them? Who were the folks that saw that and were inspired to make their own? Who coined the term "Magoverse"?

I feel like this is stuff that's important to know for fandom history. This subculture is noteworthy and should be documented. It'd be a real shame if this stuff wasn't preserved and we end up losing information about it. Maybe a Magoverse heritage posts archive blog should exist? I dunno.

At present, the Magoverse tag seems a bit inactive. I wouldn't call it dead, but the last post was about three days ago as of writing this. It's certainly not as active as it was mid-2023. I think folks will keep posting about it, at least for a little while, unless there's some kind of big revival.

All this stuff is weird and niche and not my thing, but I respect it. It's nice to see a friendly community of folks doing their own thing in their own little corner of the fandom. I salute you, Magoverse people.

[aestherians]

I'm Ben, But Call Me Poppy

Preface: I would like for this essay to not just be an exploration of my own fictionkinity (though that is its main purpose) but also an introduction to the fictionkind experience in general, and to the experience of parallel lives. Of course, I am just one person and none of my experiences can be universal, but I nonetheless hope they can shed some light on fictionkinity and lead to further understanding and tolerance of these identities. And I hope it will lead to parallel lives becoming a more widely known and understood phenomenon. Feedback is greatly appreciated.

Word count: 4479

Estimated reading time: 20-25 minutes

On the 6th of December 2019 I had a weird dream. I was standing on the edge of a cliff. The wind played with my hair, long grass tickled my ankles, and high above, seabirds called out to each other. As I looked to the sky, a being made of blinding white light appeared before me. She was beautiful and graceful and older than time itself. She gently took my hand and pointed towards the horizon. My eyes followed her finger and the sky itself tore apart to reveal an inky black nothingness. But as I looked, little specks of something began to appear. Dots and lines, swirls and stars, and colors I'd never seen before. I understood then that this primordial being was showing me the beginning of this universe. And as I stared in awe, she turned to look down at me, and she told me... that I was Ben 1O fictionkind.

I don't think I've ever been as confused as I was that morning. It felt like I was still dreaming as I went through my routine, like at any moment I might wake up again. All the while, my reflection puzzled me. It was the same face I've seen every day for two decades, and yet today it just felt... wrong. I was supposed to have a human face. This wasn't the species dysphoria I'd gotten so used to. And I knew exactly which human face I was expecting to see in the mirror - it just seemed too ridiculous for me to accept.

My cameo shifts have rarely, if ever, lasted more than a few hours, and at this point they'd never been of specific characters. Sure, I had my weird relationship with Emily Jones from the now-forgotten Le//go Elv//es franchise, where I feel like I once was her but now aren't. But I never expected to see her face in the mirror. I never felt confused when I woke up in Copenhagen instead of Elven//dale. Feeling this way about Benjamin Kirby T//ennyson, of all characters, when I hadn't even watched the whole show, was weird and, for some reason, embarrassing. And it just refused to go away. In total the shift lasted around 5 days. I went to classes feeling like this guy. Grocery shopping. Hung out with my dorm buddies. I went to a Christmas market with my mom, all the while distracted because I couldn't shake the feeling that, somehow, in some way, I was a fictional character from a 2005 Cartoon Network cash cow.

It didn't come completely out of the blue. Three things were happening here that probably led to this: 1) I was binging Ben 1O with my dormmate. We hadn't finished the show yet, but we'd worked our way through almost 200 episodes, so we were in deep. 2) I'd just broken it off with a girlfriend of one year. She was extremely supportive of my alterhumanity – even read a 100 page study by Devin Proctor to understand the community – so our break-up had nothing to do with that. We just realized we needed different things from a relationship. But still, it was a huge stress factor and, despite my friends' love and support, I was struggling to cope. And 3) it was finals season. The less said about that, the better. I guess what happened is that my brain latched onto one of the few simple joys I had in my life and somehow began creating an identity around that to... cope...? I guess...?

Listen, I don't know how it happened and I can only make guesses as to why. Regardless of what caused it, the effect was undeniable. After the 5 day long shift subsided, I still had a nugget of "Ben" somewhere within me that I couldn't (and, in hindsight, didn't want to) get rid of. I was ready to make a kinfirmation announcement right then and there. But, as is customary, I held off for a couple of weeks. I think my plan was to wait 3 months, but by the end of January, I made my announcement in the most gutless way possible: With a text post that read "It's okay to have 'cringy' kintypes," in the tags of which I explained that I'd kinfirmed my Ben 1O fictotype. I was still dealing with a lot of internalized shame about, not just being fictionkind, but having such a childish source material.

And yet... there was something exhilarating about it. Though my initial Ben-related feelings appeared on their own, and I felt annoyed and conflicted about them, I clearly remember reinforcing them. The socially aware side of my brain resisted – having an identity like this would be weird, it would be frowned upon, it would make it even more difficult for me to communicate who and what I am than it already is – while the self-aware side of my brain was very much in favor of forming the identity – for some reason it just felt good to experience all these fictionkin traits. More accurately, it felt right. For reasons I can't explain, I didn't want it to end. I wanted more.

------

The envisage shifts (where you appear a certain way in your mind/inner world, and where you perhaps expect to look that way in the mirror) weren't the only 'kin trait that was apparent from the start. They were just the most striking and the easiest to get others to understand. No, the most pervasive trait had to be the "parallel life flashes." I'm not sure what else to call them. They felt different from daydreams, somehow. More spontaneous and out of my control. And a lot more tangible. They've since become one of the hallmarks of my fictionkinity. They present themselves as flashbacks: For a less than a second, it'll feel like I'm "back" to living my life as Ben, then before I can fully grasp what happened it's over. Like an out-of-body experience (or, rather, an into-my-mindscape experience, since I believe all of this originates in my own psyche). I always get the sense that these flashes are somehow current, as opposed to being past or future. Perhaps because of their dream-like qualities, I often "just know" many details of what's going on in these flashes, just like I knew the alien in my awakening dream was older than time, despite her not telling me. Dreams (nightly or daily) are just like that. I just know that my life as Ben is happening parallel to my life as Poppy.

When talking to others (especially non-kin who can't be bothered to sit through 100 pages of Devin Proctor) I do tend to describe it as a daydream scenario, despite how different it feels from regular daydreams. The flashes tend to have dream-like qualities. And it's easier to say "in my go-to daydream scenario I'm a space traveler, which is a big part of my personality" than "I feel like I'm literally living a parallel life as Ben 1O and this affects my very sense of self." I suppose a big part of it is also the embarrassment I mentioned earlier - notice I vaguely called myself a space traveler instead of mentioning my fictotype by name. Ease of communication is part of it, but, undeniably, so is the masking of my true self to give a more appealing first impression. It's blatant self-suppression.

But – perhaps like Ben T//ennyson himself – wearing masks is what I do. It's what I've done since I was 1O. I craft identities for different scenarios and just flip the switch (or hit the watch) when necessary. I've learned how to contain the autism creature within, to appear normal when necessary, and I've learned how to to blend in with the background. Self-suppression has been vital to me, even if it's frustrating to have to do.

What I'm getting at is that, though this awakening was unexpected, it wasn't out of character for me. And in hindsight there really are a lot of things in my life that, combined, seem to have led to this.

Before I go into further detail, I feel like a disclaimer is in order: My upbringing wasn't abusive, but that doesn't mean it was perfect. I was raised by a single mother who gave most of her attention to my older brother due to various difficulties he had. I don't know if I blame her for the issues I have. It doesn't feel right to place blame on other struggling people, but I can't blame everything on circumstance either. I don't think anyone comes out of childhood unscathed. Generations of trauma have been built up and, even if our parents treat us better than they were treated, they're still marked by their own childhoods, which will reflect in their parenting. My upbringing was a million times better than my own mom's and she worked hard to accomplish that. That said... I can draw a very clear parallel between my childhood experiences and my current identity: I had to be the "good child" to make up for my brother's issues, I had to carry part of my mom's stress, and I couldn't let out my own frustrations, lest my mom become even more stressed. In my parallel life I'm dealing with the same problems, but magnified to a scale where they're actually taken seriously. Instead of carrying the weight of a parent, I carry the weight of the world. I become less of a person and more of a symbol for others to look towards, whether for support, reassurance, or something else. In that sense, it doesn't seem unlikely that my fictionkinity is some kind of subconscious coping mechanism. Though I have to add, I only became aware fully aware of how this passive emotional neglect had affected me – how this is the reason I can't ask for help and constantly take on bigger burdens than I should – several months after my awakening, and even then only after some really intense self-analysis.

I've been trying to come up with more reasons I happened to awaken as Ben 1O, of all characters, but it all feels so... fabricated. I was obsessed with ufology as a kid and this character is involved with aliens. But I was obsessed with ancient Egypt and with horses too, why didn't I awaken as Tutankhamun or Black Beauty? I religiously watched Ben 1O every time I visited my grandparents, who had cable tv, but I watched Da//nny Pha//ntom with the same intensity. I don't think there really is a perfect recipe for what causes a fictionkind identity. All these attempts at rationalizing it are probably a distraction – [which I've spoken about at length before]. But it's hard to really internalize the idea that 'kinity is about what you are, when you've been "gifted" with a human brain that relentlessly asks why, why, why. It's hard to look at the cold hard facts when your mind keeps wandering to theories and hypotheses.

And in all this, you forget to even examine what cold hard facts you know.

What are the cold hard facts?

Facts...

My name is [redacted]. I go by Poppy online. At this point it might as well be my name. And recently I've felt an urge to call myself Ben. When I close my eyes and try to picture myself, the image is ever changing. Sometimes I see a bipedal bison. Sometimes a gnoll. Often a mix of the two. And sometimes I see a young man with brown hair, green eyes, and a watch-like device stuck to his arm. Then I open my eyes, look in the mirror, and see something entirely different. Lighter hair, eyes more hazel than green, and something that decidedly doesn't look like a man. Or a bison or gnoll, for that matter.

I have daydream scenarios I keep returning to – stories I want to tell, the garden I wish I had, scientific advancements I dream of achieving, fanfics I'll never write. And then I have these scenarios that share many qualia with daydreams, but are altogether different. In these scenarios, I am a different person. I am living a different life, surrounded by different people, making different choices, subjected to different trials. I have two of these lives: One in which I'm a gnoll named Ɐwhrayɐ and one in which I'm a man named Ben. I did not set out to create these lives. I can't purposefully change what's happening in them – even with my belief that it all has a psychological cause, something is preventing me from changing anything. And yet, I almost always know what my alternate selves are doing, right in this moment. I can't affect their actions, I can just be aware of them. And despite this apparent wall, separating my present self from them, in some way I feel - or perhaps rather I know - that I am them. It's like... I can't affect what my past self did or said either, but I still am raer. I am still roughly the same person I was yesterday, even if today I might have made different choices. My parallel/alternate selves work in a similar way, but separated by physicality instead of time.

I'm not consciously aware of every waking moment of my parallel selves. When I say I "know" what they're doing, it's less that their thoughts and actions are beamed into my brain 24/7, and more that I can at any moment sit down, breathe, let my mind go blank, and view their world through their eyes. Like I'm possessing their bodies (though, again, my present self is not in control – my alternate selves are). Even if I don't intend to, I often end up "possessing" them during quiet moments – when I'm about to fall asleep, when I'm in transit, when I'm cleaning, and so on. What happens during quiet moments is rarely a "full body possession," though. More often, I'll just experience the thoughts or feelings of my parallel selves (alongside my present-self thoughts or feelings) and have to parse it out. I can be vacuuming the floor, having a normal one, and then suddenly I'll be intimately aware the Ben!Me is bored or that Ɐwhrayɐ!Me is in danger. I then have to extrapolate as much information as possible from this quick flash (like a flashback, but current, not past... a flashsideways? flashadjacent? flashalong? Let's go with that). If the "flashalong" was accompanied by an image, which they often are, it's not too difficult to figure out what my alternate self is doing. If it's just an emotion and nothing else, I can try to piece it together with the other flashalongs I've had recently - if yesterday my parallel self got lost and today I sense despair, it's not too difficult to put two and two together and know that they haven't found their way out yet.

But Ben is different from Ɐwhrayɐ in one major way: He has source material. Though I've been aware of my life as Ben – my Ben fictotype – for much shorter than my life as Ɐwhrayɐ, I know a lot more about my Ben life. I have more noemata, more frequent flashalongs, and my memories of Ben's childhood are much clearer than my memories of Ɐwhrayɐ's childhood. This is undoubtedly because I can just watch an episode of any Ben 1O series and immediately become aware of new things in that life. Whereas Ɐwhrayɐ is more like an original character – rair origins are in tabletop RPGs, but I can't just open up a book and know rair life history. Which is not to say I can know Ben's entire history from just watching the show either. For starters, the show is a mess of time travel and retcons and alternate universes. Secondly: I'm not the Ben depicted on the show.

The Ben 1O cartoons (with the exception of the 2016 reboot) all follow one character who has been dubbed Ben Prime by the fandom. If we view time as a tree with different timelines branching off, Prime is the tree's trunk. We're shown other branches of the tree – No Watch Ben, Bad Ben, Ben 23, Benzarro, and so on – who are all Ben, no matter how differently their lives turned out compared to Prime's. What happens when I watch the show is either nothing (most common; I simply get no indication whether the episode I'm watching is part of my canon), divergence (uncommon; I don't necessarily know how the events happened but I know for sure they didn't happen like they're depicted), or recognition (rare; realizing that things happened pretty much like they're depicted). The most apparent difference between my own timeline and the Prime timeline is that I found the Omnitrix when I was 13 and that I didn't get a break in-between the events of the original series and Alien F//orce. My first 1O aliens were also different from those of Prime and included at least one alien that hasn't appeared on the show (yet). There are many more differences, but most of them are subtle: I still have a relationship with Kai, but it's aromantic. I'm still friends with Rook, but we argue a lot. Azmuth is still the creator of the watch, but I have a sort of coworker relationship with him, more than a mentor/student relationship. And speaking of the watch, the Omnitrix is completely fused to me. My mind has affected its AI and its AI has affected my mind. We function more like a median system than two separate entities. We aren't ourselves without each other. I suppose my true fictotype is the fusion of Ben and the Omnitrix, rather than just Ben T//ennyson. [Here's something I wrote about it not too long ago.] As far as I'm aware, this also isn't a part of the Prime canon.

But this essay isn't supposed to just be about my canon. I'll have plenty of other opportunities to explore that. These pages are devoted to just exploring what it means to me to be fictionkind.

I've already mentioned envisage shifts and "possession" shifts (not a name I'm fond of, but there's so little terminology to describe parallel life experiences, let's just go with that for now). I also frequently experience phantom shifts, where it feels like I'm still wearing the Omnitrix. Those are easy to handle, though. I just put on a bracelet or cuff so there's a physical correspondence to the phantom sensation and go about my day. I also get the occasional chest/bottom phantom sensations, but I can't tell if those are Ben-related since I already experienced them prior to my awakening (and it's a very important part of my beliefs and worldview that all my Ben-feelings only began to appear after my awakening). I also get dream shifts, but since my dreams are pure nonsense, all they tend to involve is me being in Ben's body while going through wacky dream scenarios. If I'm making these shifts sound mundane, it's because they are. At least in comparison the envisage shifts and... by far the strangest and most disorienting shifts I've experienced: The mental shifts. In a mild mental shift I'll just take on a few mannerisms of the character, which can include anything from a chiller/more confident mood, to an inclination to play fighting games instead of my usual RPGs, to an urge to help others more than I'd usually do. Make the shift a bit stronger and I might want to go by Ben's name instead of my own or dress in clothes more similar to his. Turn it up even more, though, and we enter the weird territory. Something more akin to a berserker shift than a mental shift, using therian terminology. I've only experienced this once and it can't have lasted more than 5 seconds, but for those seconds I was fully convinced that I was Ben and I couldn't understand why I was in this foreign body and place. I've taken to calling it an "eclipse shift," since "berserker shift" implies a rabid or feral state of mind, which is not something you can really apply to a human(ish) fictotype, and the shift essentially involves my fictotype's state of mind eclipsing my regular state of mind. Here are some of the discussions we had in the community surrounding it: [link] [link] [link].

My fictionkinity is mainly marked by the aforementioned shifts and "flashalongs," but another trait (perhaps something that exists as a result of those two?) is dysphoria and euphoria. Typically when people think of dys-/euphoria, they think of it as something bodily. And I can't argue that that's not a thing for me too. I'm bigender and genderfluid, which in my case means that I have one static baseline gender identity (female hyena) and one fluid gender, which is most often bison bull, but can be anything – including Just Some Guy, which is basically Ben's gender identity. And when I feel like Just Some Guy, I, of course, experience dysphoria about my very feminine appearance. But that's a thankfully rare thing.

No, most of my Ben-related dysphoria is caused by the restrictions of my present body and mind. Did you know the nearly all versions of Ben T//ennyson have eidetic memory? Or that they have an inherent ability to understand astrophysics? Or that they're adept at half a dozen different fighting styles? I've got none of that. Sure, I could practice memory improvement techniques. I could learn the basics of astrophysics. I could take up martial arts. But every time I've tried, my own frustrations about being a beginner have prevented me from practicing. It's not that I'm a perfectionist and think I should be instantly good at every new skill. I've sucked (or still suck) at a lot of stuff that I do every day – singing, plant care, video games, you name it – but it's not an issue. As the saying goes, sucking at something is the first step to being sorta good at something. But with the talents Ben has... it feels less like learning a new skill and more like having to relearn something I used to be great at. With those subjects, it's like I loose my ability to understand or rationalize why I still suck, so instead of pushing on, I drop it all in frustration. I had just enough patience to understand the surface cause of gravitational time dilation, but once the lectures turned to the theory of relativity, I lost it. I've begrudgingly concluded that my present brain isn't built for that stuff. Until I develop a natural understanding of quantum mechanics, like I'm supposed to have, I'll just stick to my not-Ben-related studies in entomology.

Another thing I struggle with is the limitations of my present body. I feel like it's literally weighing me down. In my Ben life, my body is a construct of the Omnitrix that can be modified, dismantled, and recreated at any time. My consciousness isn't connected to my body; everything that's "me" is stored within the Omnitrix. My body is just a temporary vessel we – the watch and I – have created to interact with the world. It is possible to "upload" my consciousness to the body and for the Omnitrix to completely detach itself, but it's only been done a handful of times and only in life or death situations. And from what I can pericall it's deeply uncomfortably. Only with the Omnitrix gone do I notice how heavy the human body is. Without the watch I feel slow and sluggish and weak. And, in my present life, being able to pericall how I'm supposed to feel – lighter, quicker, stronger – and being unable to do anything about it because nothing can get rid of the heaviness of this body... it's exhausting. It's maddening. And it's not just the heaviness, its staticness is driving me crazy too. I'm meant to be a shapeshifter, and not just in my Ben life, but in my Ɐwhrayɐ life too. Whether due to the Omnitrix happening to attach itself to me, or because I was born with druid powers, I'm a shapeshifter in 2/3 of my lives. And to primarily exist in the life where I'm not a shapeshifter is torture.

But I have to live here. In the present world. I can't spend my life wishing I existed somewhere else. I have to be present; I have to make this life as good as it can be. Anything else would be wasteful. I can't fully get rid of the uncomfortableness of belonging to another world, but I can make this world more comfortable. Make it more like the world I belong in.

Part of me is grateful to have awakened as a character who is, in many ways, just incredibly mundane. The hero archetype is an exaggerated version of a trait I believe everyone is born with: A basic desire to help. Though his circumstances are extraordinary, Ben's motivations could not be more ordinary. So while there is some kind of disconnect between my present life and my Ben life, like our bodies and abilities and relationships, the melding of our minds has been quite harmonic. I feel like this awakening has helped me actualize some desires I already had by turning them into outright urges, and by dialing them up to 100. So, for example, instead of just giving money to the unhoused, I strike up a conversation with them now because it's what he/I/we're supposed to do. Helping my dormmate dry her dishes before she's even asked me to. Always asking others what I can do to help. And it doesn't just extend to people. I find myself, more often than I used to, helping a snail across the road or giving a neglected plant a second chance at life. Taking that extra step is slowly becoming second nature in a lot of my daily interactions. And I find that I do good more for goodness sake, where, in the past, I might've been prone to humble-bragging. (And it pains me to talk about my "good deeds" right now because it actually makes me really embarrassed to get attention for something I feel is the bare minimum of human decency). My awakening wasn't a total life changer. But it did reinforce my desire to be a helper and a caretaker.. a supporting character, I guess you could say. And it instilled in me an idealistic and unwavering belief that people are overall good, despite everything. That pain and suffering are accidents and that kindness is intentional.

I'm Ben. I carry that with me for the foreseeable future – possibly until I die. But I'm also Ɐwhrayɐ. And, most importantly, I'm Poppy. I'm multifaceted, like every other person on Earth. One of my facets just happens to be a fictional character.

[desultory-novice]

"It started with a Nightmare"  Pt1

~The Comprehensive "Marx is a Noddy" Essay~

...with bonus illustrations/comic!

Due to the amount of images in this essay, I had to split it up into 3 parts Luckily, it fits -perfectly- into 3 parts!

-Part One <You are Here> -Part Two -Part Three

Note: All images taken from the Kirby fandom wikia and official Japanese Kirby Twitter, unless otherwise noted. Various "Marx as a Noddy" fanart by me.

Extra Note: There is secondary source art (guide books and manga) that sometimes depict Marx with glasses. While this essay uses Marx's character design as evidence in places, I've ignored those where he has glasses, because the primary source high-quality 3D renders show him without them. But I feel it's possible to still work them into the theory, if one prefers glasses Marx!

Here's Marx!

This helpful, ball-bouncing jester appears briefly to introduce you to the plot of Milky Way Wishes, the final and most important sub-game in Kirby Super Star (and its remake, Kirby Super Star Ultra.) 

Marx is also the last boss of said sub-game, betraying you and stealing the power cosmic out from under your non-existent nose before transforming into this delightfully horrifying hell bat-looking creature. (And doing things like splitting his face in two to create a black hole to suck you inside. How nice!)

All that said, we never learn much about Marx himself. Where he comes from (he appears out of nowhere in the opening cutscene, though no one is -too- surprised to see him) or why he does what he does. He speaks maybe 2-3 times in total. Who is he really?

This adorable Dreamlander is called a Noddy. Noddies are one of the most harmless (insidious) enemies in the Kirby series, because while they can't hurt you outside of contact damage, if you inhale them (on purpose or accident) you're stuck with the "Sleep" ability, which puts Kirby to sleep for several seconds, preventing you from controlling him till he wakes up. (Or until you mash enough buttons.) The Noddies themselves are active and awake for far less time than Kirby himself sleeps for, often times falling asleep off-screen, as soon as they appear on screen, or after taking a step or two.

It’s been theorized that Marx may be (or had been) a Noddy himself before becoming the backstabbing jester we all know and love. (?)

In this essay, I'd like to examine why that theory is very likely true and morever... why it's almost frighteningly likely that Marx's true origins as a villain (and his unspoken backstory) lay not in Super Star's Milky Way Wishes, but way back in Kirby's second outing, the NES game Kirby's Adventure (aka, Nightmare in Dream Land.)

-Is Marx a Noddy?-

Let's look at them side by side....

They certainly appear to be the same shape, generally. Their eyes are made of the same basic iris block + 4 pixels of highlight. And if I may be so bold, Marx, when he's wounded/near death after the fight with Kirby in Super Star Ultra, bears a vague resemblance to the Noddies’ damage sprite as well.

(Screenshot from DyllonStej Gaming's "All Kirby Super Star Ultra Cutscenes in 60FPS”; image flipped for comparison's sake; Marx sprite sheet also by Jermungandr)

One of Marx's more notable traits is his lack of arms (until he gets wings after making a wish on a Galactic Nova - a wish granting comet.) Noddies also have no arms, which is fine considering they don't have to do anything except waddle a bit, fall asleep, and look harmless. Marx and the Noddies both have round bodies, similar to Kirby, but less circular and a bit more squat.

Then there's the hat. Noddies (and Kirby when he's got the Sleep ability) all wear sleeping caps. Marx's "jester cap" is notable for not...actually being that much like the traditional 3-4 pointed entertainer's cap. Of course, it resembles one just enough to trigger that "Ahh, so he's a jester!" sensation in your mind, but really, it looks just as much like two sleeping caps sewn together. Especially since the left side of the hat has a similar dot pattern to the Kirby series sleeping caps...

Stańczyk by Jan Matejko - the titular figure sporting a more classic "jester" look (it's also that guy in the "I'm Boo Boo the Fool" image macro) from Wikipedia. (But check out the article on this painting also because it's kinda neat, though completely irrelevant to Kirby!)

I might as well point out that the "modern" design of the "Mirror" copy ability DOES resemble a jester's cap with its tight peaks.

This is interesting as the -classic- design for the "Mirror" copy ability in Super Star and Super Star ultra bears a remarkable resemblance to what Marx is wearing! Especially since the use of this ability happens to turn Kirby purple and let him split himself in two! Now, that version was just a palette swap of the Beam hat (probably why it was changed in later games) with Marx's colors only reversed.

(...It's really a shame the enemy you get this copy ability from, Simirror, isn't itself wearing a jester hat/sleeping cap combo, else we could say Marx nicked his hat from one of those enemies, thereby having an easy origin story for it...!)

Moving on, as for their body, in recent games, Noddies have consistently appeared a shade of pink similar to Kirby. In earlier games, like Adventure and Super Star, they came in more shades, including blue and violet. Marx himself is a pale shade of violet, but he's sometimes portrayed as being closer to Kirby's color himself, as seen in the above artwork from the official twitter.

Marx's eyes differ from a Noddy's somewhat, having a similar tall, oval shape but with MUCH larger whites and smaller irises - we'll touch on that later! Although it's definitely worth mentioning that official artwork of the Noddies from Super Star (Marx's game) portray them with irises the same shade of purple Marx has! He also has a similar cheek blush to the Noddies (and Kirby.)

Another point of note is that while Kirby's red appendages have been confirmed by Sakurai to be his feet (not shoes) Marx is one of the few Kirby characters who clearly wears shoes. We can assume, with their general physical similarity to Kirby, that the Noddies are also shoeless and those orange lumps are their feet. But the shape of said feet is a good match for Marx's shoe size. Because he wears shoes, we cannot say for sure one way or another whether Marx has the pale orange feet distinctive of a Noddy under those laces or not.

Now Noddies are, again, notorious for only being able to take a few steps before falling asleep. While Marx, made playable in Star Allies, starts out by rolling on his classic jester ball, should you kick it at someone, he can then walk and run just like the rest of the allies and Dream Friends with no noticeable movement problems; meanwhile, using the Ghost ability to possess (control) Noddies in Squeak Squad results in something more like sleep walking/sleep jumping. So, walking doesn't seem to tire him out. Not at present, at least.

Okay, ready to move on? It's time for <Part Two!>

[hopeatersponsorssmash]

ARC 1: Chapter 6

The newcomers are welcomed to the mansion by the rest of the fighters.

Previous-Next

Word Count: 1071 words

Ao3

“Kirby? Is everything alright?” The toddler turned toward Sheik, who was handing him a cookie as big as his head. The rest of the Smashers were more or less busy running around, finishing the big welcoming party for the newcomers, who were being shown the rest of the Mansion by Galeem.

The toddler took it, munching on it sadly. “‘A guess?” They muttered. “Am a bit sad.” Kirby then admitted. The ninja frowned, sitting down next to him.

“What’s going on?” Sheik asked. “Are you missing some of your friends from Dreamland?” Kirby shook his head. “Then what is it?”

“It Banana.” Kirby said, looking as if they were on the verge of tears. Sheik hummed.

“Yes, the cookie is banana-chocolate chips.” Kirby turned toward them, looking at them confused.

“Uh?” He then visibly realized something. “No! No banana! Banana!” Sheik blinked. “Banana Wobbebee!”

The dots connected. “Bandana Waddle Dee? As in, the newcomer?” Kirby nodded. “What’s wrong with him?”

“No! Banana fwend!” Kirby protested. “Banana good fwend, and fwends with Bebebe and papa Meta! Nothing wong with Banana. But…” He started tearing up. “Banana no tell us about Mash… why Banana no tell us!? Banana no love us!”

Sheik looked off to the side, trying to think of something that’d cheer Kirby up as they started crying. “... Mmmaybe it was to keep the surprise?” They suggested, sighing in relief as Kirby stopped sobbing. “Maybe he didn’t tell anyone because he wanted to surprise you about being in Smash?” Sheik proposed.

Kirby blinked. “So Banana no tell us… because Banana wan-ned to do a supwise?” They asked Sheik, who nodded after a second of hesitation. Luckily, Kirby cheered up after that, getting up and shoving the rest of their cookie in their mouth.

And just in time too, as Joker suddenly appeared in the room. “The newcomers are coming! Everyone, be ready!”

… and we’ve finished our visit. Could be heard from the other side of the door. The rest of the fighters are waiting on the other side of the door for your welcoming party.

“Thank you, Sir Galeem.” The door opened, Bandana Waddle Dee at the front of the newcomers as everyone greeted them. Confetti and streamers were thrown, party poppers and blowers went off, and balloons floated into the air.

“WELCOME TO SMA-”

“BANANAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!” Kirby suddenly screamed, interrupting the greeting as he threw himself at the Waddle Dee. Bandana was thrown back, but successfully got his footing back after doing a 180. He looked down at Kirby, who was holding onto him with all four limbs as they vibrated, eyes full of stars as they repeated his name. “Banana Banana Banana Banana-”

“YEAH SOOOOOON!!!” Bandana was suddenly lifted in the air, King Dedede having snuck up behind him and was now lifting him like he was Simba. And then, Meta Knight took a hold of Dedede’s coat, lifted him in the air, and screamed at the top of his lungs.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

He then ran toward the nearest window and jumped out.

A group of Smashers ran to the broken remains of the window, only to sigh in relief at what they saw. The Dreamland fighters had landed in the pool, and were now laughing and cheering and hugging each other as they floated in it, floaties and buoys magically manifesting.

“How do we keep forgetting that these guys don’t have an off switch?” Snake commented to no one in particular, a hint of fondness in his voice.

Samus laughed. “Good thing they don’t have one, if you ask me! Popstar is not a peaceful planet.”

“Alright, now-a that we know they’re safe…” Mario muttered, turning back toward the newcomers. “Ciao, everyone, and welcome-a to Smash Bros! We hope-a you’ll have a fun time here. Now, let’s-a go party!”

-

Dark Matter floated in a corner, beverage it couldn’t drink in hand. It watched as everyone in the room mingled. From the Void child learning how to dance from the other children, to the two law men learning about other universes.

It narrowed it’s eye. What was the point of all this? What was this… Master Hand’s goal by bringing them all here? What did that entity gain from gathering such different entities into his realm?

“Hello there.” Dark Matter turned its head toward the voice. A very tall man clothed in dark armor, with hair like fire and greenish skin. His eyes reminded it of a black hole. “Is this party not your kind of scene?”

Dark Matter narrowed it’s eyes. The man had a well of darkness inside of him, and that darkness was a hungry thing, most certainly for power. “I̴ ̴a̶m̴ ̷u̴s̷e̸d̷ ̶t̷o̷ ̶l̵i̷v̷i̸n̸g̸ ̵i̷n̵s̴i̴d̵e̵ ̵a̵ ̴h̵i̸v̷e̶m̴i̸n̶d̸.̶” It decided to admit. “B̷e̵i̶n̷g̶ ̴s̷u̸r̴r̴o̸u̵n̶d̵e̶d̸ ̵b̷y̷ ̶s̷o̸ ̶m̴a̴n̷y̵ ̸b̸e̸i̴n̶g̴s̵ ̷y̶e̷t̷ ̷n̴o̴t̵ ̶t̷r̷u̶l̴y̶ ̶b̶e̶i̵n̴g̶ ̵p̸a̴r̶t̸ ̶o̴f̷ ̵a̷n̶y̶ ̶i̴s̶.̴.̶.̷ ̴o̴f̵f̵-̸p̶u̸t̴t̸i̵n̷g̶.̷”

The man hummed in what it assumed was sympathy. “Loneliness can be a harsh mistress.” Dark Matter’s frown switched from one of suspicion to confusion.

“L̶o̸n̷e̸l̸i̴n̸e̶s̴s̵ ̵a̶l̶s̴o̷ ̷h̵a̷p̶p̶e̶n̶s̵ ̷t̶o̸ ̸b̸e̵ ̵t̶h̵e̵ ̸n̷a̵m̵e̵ ̸o̷f̷ ̸t̷h̵e̴ ̵f̶e̶e̷l̴i̸n̶g̴ ̵o̵f̷ ̴m̴e̵l̵a̶n̵c̵h̵o̸l̴y̵ ̸t̶h̴a̷t̴ ̸a̷r̴i̸s̷e̷s̶ ̵w̸h̸e̴n̴ ̴y̶o̷u̵'̷r̶e̶ ̷a̷l̶o̸n̶e̴.̴” It started. “t̶ ̸i̶s̸ ̵n̵o̸t̷ ̸a̵l̶i̷v̴e̴,̸ ̴a̶n̵d̵ ̵i̶s̵ ̶n̴o̷t̶ ̶g̶e̴n̷d̷e̴r̵e̴d̶.̸ ̷I̷t̷ ̸c̸a̶n̷n̴o̶t̵ ̷c̴o̴n̷t̸r̴o̸l̵ ��m̵e̸.̵”

“Bit literal, aren’t you?” The man asked, raising an eyebrow. “But where are my manners? I am Ganondorf, King of Evil. Dark Matter, correct?” The shadow nodded. “I am here to extend an invitation to an… after-hours club of mine. We call ourselves the Union of Malice.”

“A̶n̵d̷ ̴w̵h̶y̶ ̸w̶o̷u̶l̷d̷ ̵I̵ ̴j̸o̶i̶n̶ ̵s̵o̴m̴e̷t̷h̸i̸n̴g̶ ̶s̴o̷ ̷u̷t̴t̵e̴r̶l̵y̶ ̷b̴e̶n̴e̶a̶t̷h̷ ̴m̷e̷?̷” Dark Matter asked.

“Well, for starters, you might be able to find a solution to your pink little problem.” Ganondorf started, making a vague gesture at a still-soaked Kirby, who was currently being held by Bayonetta like a sack of potatoes as Ness and Lucas played a game where they levitated different types of food directly into his mouth. Dark Matter narrowed it’s eye at them. “We do that. Talk about different strategies on how to take down our enemies. And after that, well… a little birdie told me you wanted to shroud Popstar in your darkness.”

“W̸h̴a̴t̶ ̸a̵b̷o̵u̵t̵ ̷i̷t̵?̴” The shadow asked as Ganondorf smiled.

“Have you ever thought of spreading it to other worlds?”

-

A crystalline hand waved the image away. It wiped drool away from three, snarling mouths with red teeth as the demon thought. The snarl in the middle became a smile.

I could use that.

END OF ARC 1

[aion-rsa]

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Episode 1: Marvel and MCU Easter Eggs

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This article contains Marvel’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier episode 1 spoilers, possibly spoilers for future episodes, and the wider MCU. We have a spoiler free review here.

Marvel’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier episode 1 has finally arrived on Disney+. Now, those of you hoping for mystery box storytelling and surreal weirdness the likes of which we got from WandaVision may be a little disappointed. But those of you looking for some gritty street-and-spy-level action with a deeper look at life in the post-Snap/Blip MCU, well, you’re in luck.

Oh? But you’re here for Marvel Comics and MCU Easter eggs, you say? Well, you’re still in luck, friend! The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is full of subtle nods to Marvel and Captain America history, and continues to connect the dots in the ever-expanding MCU.

Here’s everything we found…and if you spot something we missed, let us know in the comments!

Sam Wilson

The stuff with Sam ironing his own shirt, or trying to help his sister get a small business loan is some real “the mundanity of superhero life” stuff that we rarely get a glimpse of in the movies, but that was such a hallmark of what separated Marvel Comics from their competitors in their early days.

In the MCU, Sam is from Louisiana. But in the comics, he was born and raised in Harlem, New York City.

Sam’s sister, Sarah Wilson, also known as Sarah Casper, was introduced back in Captain America #134 back in 1971, and created by Stan Lee and Gene Colan. She’s made only a few appearances over the decades and mainly exists for the novelty of having the patriotic superhero be known as “Uncle Sam.”

The boat that Sam’s sister maintains is named Paul and Darlene, named for their parents, and those were indeed the names of his parents in the pages of Marvel Comics.

Sam’s drop out of the back of the airplane at the start of the Captain Vassant rescue mission mirrors Steve’s in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

The MCU’s version of Bubo is also back in action! Redwing is still very helpful during Sam’s “government contracts” it appears, as long as no one else messes with the drone’s wires. Also, Sam’s personal devotion to the Redwing drone is a nice nod to the fact that Redwing is a real falcon in the comics, and Sam’s pet/buddy.

Sam gets to have a sombre conversation with James “War Machine” Rhodes (Don Cheadle) in what is perhaps just the first of many unannounced The Falcon and the Winter Soldier appearances by other members of the MCU. We already know there will be a larger role for Sharon “Agent 13” Carter in later episodes. Who else might show up?

Bucky Barnes

Fittingly for his Marvel spinoff series, Bucky is introduced in the same way he was back in Captain America: The First Avenger – catching the tail end of an alleyway fight.

Bucky Barnes has now been pardoned for all the terrible crimes he committed, it’s quickly revealed. Doesn’t look like he’s pardoned himself, mind. Not by a long shot.

Bucky mentions having a sister. While it hasn’t been brought up much, he did have one in the comics. Rebecca Barnes was introduced in The Marvel Holiday Special #1 in a story written by Len Kaminski (hence the notebook Easter egg, which we’ll get to in a minute) and tremendously underrated ’90s comics artist Ron Lim. After the deaths of their parents, Bucky and Rebecca were separated. Her namesake was reintroduced during Heroes Reborn, where Rikki Barnes was Cap’s sidekick in Counter-Earth.

In Derek Landy’s new Falcon & Winter Soldier comics, Bucky has adopted a very chill white cat called Alpine. No sign of Alpine in episode one, but we refuse to give up hope.

Lieutenant Torres

The eager Lt. Torres (played by On My Block star Danny Ramirez) who clearly idolizes Sam appears to be none other than Joaquin Torres, who eventually took on the mantle of the Falcon in the comics. So if Sam is destined to become Captain America on this show, will Torres become his sidekick? We hope so!

Batroc

Just like at the start of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, we get a confrontation with Georges Batroc (ze leaper!), once again played by Georges St. Pierre. Batroc is such a cool but minor Cap villain, and we never need to spend a lot of time with him, but we do hope he keeps showing up from time to time for cool fight scenes, just like he does in the comics. It’s nice to see that while they’ll never give him his ridiculous comics costume, he’s wearing his comics-appropriate colors here.

The Flag-Smashers

The masked baddies of this episode are known as the Flag-Smashers, an organization who want to do away with all national borders. There’s lots of ways this show deals with the weirdness of the MCU after the Snap, but the increasing radicalization of underground supervillain groups appears to be one neat side effect.

They take their name from the comic book supervillain Flag-Smasher (singular). Flag-Smasher was created by Cap writer supreme Mark Gruenwald and artist Paul Neary back in 1985. The original Flag-Smasher was Karl Morgenthau (remember that name, we’ll come back to it in a second), and he was a non-powered costumed terrorist who led an organization known as ULTIMATUM, “The Underground Liberated Totally Integrated Mobile Army To Unite Mankind” (folks, ‘80s Captain America comics absolutely freakin’ RULE).

The woman handing out the Flag Smasher masks was tough to make out, but that appears to be was Erin Kellyman (Enfys Nest from Solo: A Star Wars Story) playing “Karli Morgenthau.” In other words, she’s probably the leader of the organization, not the big, scary dude with super soldier strength. But speaking of him…

The big scary guy is credited as “Dovich” and he’s played by Desmond Chiam. How did he get so strong? Well, the words “Power Broker Watching” appear in the credits, and the Power Broker was key to John Walker getting his super soldier strength, as well as several other minor Marvel characters. Remember what we said about how awesome ’80s Captain America comics are? You’re about to find out!

Sam’s crack about “bad guys” with “bad names” in regards to the Flag-Smashers also applies to real world nitwits who go around calling themselves names like “Proud Boys.”

Bucky’s Notebook

There are some standout names in Bucky’s notebook, notably L. Kaminski (probably ‘80s Marvel writer and editor Len Kaminski) and H. Zemo (as in Captain America: Civil War and this very show’s baddie Helmut Zemo). 

We wrote more about those names here.

Captain America

In the Smithsonian exhibit where Sam and Rhodey chat, there are lots of artifacts from Steve’s life, mostly taken from the era of Captain America: The First Avenger like the Howling Commando uniforms, but there’s something else cool there: the actual cover of Captain America Comics #1 by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the first appearance of the character. Remember, as part of the propaganda effort during the war to make Captain America a symbol of the wartime effort in the MCU, these comics were a thing. This means that Joe Simon and Jack Kirby also existed in the MCU, but their stories were meant to be chronicles about a real person.

Where’s Steve Rogers?

It seems that only a few people might know what really happened to Steve Rogers. Has Old Cap now passed on, or is he alive somewhere ready to make an appearance in the show at a later date? Many fans are still hoping for a Chris Evans cameo, and we’ve seen trailers for the series where Sam and Bucky apparently practice throwing Cap’s shield around out in the woods. Perhaps there’s a secluded cabin nearby…

The conspiracy theory about Captain America secretly watching us from the moon is likely a reference to Nick Fury in the comics. The events of Original Sin showed that Fury had been secretly waging wars on potential alien invaders for years. Uatu the Watcher put a series of events in motion so that he would die, but Fury’s immoral actions would be exposed. In the end, Fury was forced to become the new Watcher — the Unseen — and was imprisoned on the moon, looking over Earth as his new job. Coincidentally, Bucky took up his alien-fighting job in the aftermath.

It also feels a little like The Last Avengers Story, a dystopian Avengers comic from the mid-90s. It’s explained that at some point, Steve Rogers was President and was assassinated. In the final scene, it’s revealed that he’s been secretly recovering and has been watching over the world in a bunker.

Who is the New Captain America?

The new Captain America that we meet so briefly here is Wyatt Russell as John Walker. Who is John Walker, you ask? Well, John Walker was ALSO the new Captain America in the comics! But before that he was the reactionary supervillain known as the Super-Patriot. He took over the mantle of Captain America after the government decided they wanted Steve Rogers to be more of an employee and less a free agent symbol of liberty. After his time as Cap was up, John became the U.S.Agent. That’s all you’re gonna get out of us for now, for fear of spoilers.

You can read more about John Walker here.

Unanswered Questions

No, we don’t know who the L.A.F. are supposed to be, either.

The “government official” who introduces John Walker is played by Alphie Hyorth, and is simply credited as “government official” in the credits. That seems pretty suspicious to us, and we wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up being revealed with a recognizable Marvel Universe name like Henry Peter Gyrich or something down the line.

Names like Captain Vassant, Congressman Lockhart, Senator Atwood, or Bucky’s therapist Dr. Raynor appear to check out Marvel-wise.

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[ellectric-blue]

star filled nights | shigaraki tomura

☆ A/N: HEY HEY HEY @yourlostairpods​!!!!! It is I, your spring time anon, also known as ~ (＾▽＾). I LOVED talking with you!!! Coming up/sending asks and reading your answers was just so much fun 🥺asdfhgjlaskjdf I knew I was gonna go with this idea on like the 3rd day but ofc I left it for Monday and ended up changing it completely 🤪 Anyway, if there’s anything you want me to change PLEASE lmk, I wanted to make this perfect for my favorite airpod burner ;) My brain still decides to change the ‘lost’ with ‘burnt’ in your URL and I’ve decided to stop fighting it 😌 Also, I have no clue how ACNH works, so just imagine new leaf but on the switch :P._

☆ pairing: shigaraki x reader

☆ summary: it’s your league-iversary and shiggy has a surprise :)

It had been three years since you joined the league and you were certain no one would remember your league-iversary. After all, you never made a big deal out of it and avoided mentioning it. The memory of League rescuing you all those years ago is not one of your favorites.

You had just graduated from the hero course and got a spot in one of the best agencies in all of Japan. You got to work under the #2 hero as one of his sidekicks. However, you would soon learn it wasn’t what you were expecting at all. The heroes here weren’t exactly heroic, choosing which crimes to pursue and who to help depending on how much media coverage they would get. All that mattered was your rank. This led you to become disillusioned with hero society. Was this really what I trained for all this time? One night, while scrolling on the internet, you stumbled upon a video with Stain’s beliefs, something you’d never thought you’d agree with. However, it all made sense.

Eventually, you tried to take matters into your own hands. You planned to take your agency’s files and release them to the public, endangering undercover operations and the lives of many heroes. At this point, you didn’t really care. They’re doing it for fame anyway, you thought. You infiltrated the office, but your ex-coworkers quickly noticed something fishy was going on. Right as you were about to be caught, ending your career as a villain before it even started, black mist encompassed the room and you were transported to the League’s base. Over the next three years, these people, who you once believed to be heartless criminals with no morals, would become you new family.

As you reminisced about the start of your adventure, you could start to see sunlight coming from the slightly ajar window. You sat up from your bed and placed your feet on the cold floor. Today was meant to be a quiet day. The League didn’t have any mischievous plans and the heroes hadn’t bothered them for a while. On days like these everyone does their own thing, and everyone gets to bond. Jin, Toga, and Dabi usually hang out and play board games, much to Dabi’s dismay; Spinner and Compress watch and critique movies; and Shigaraki and Kurogiri play video games. In reality, Shigaraki was the only one playing videogames. Kurogiri just kept him company while he watched. You switched between the three groups depending on the day, you loved how, although you all had your different interests, you could bond over silly things like games and movies.

You walked over to the couch in the center of the room and sat down next to Shigaraki. Kurogiri took this action as his cue to leave. At this point, it was impossible to deny the feelings you had developed for your fellow League member. After everything you had gone through together, you were sure of your feelings but never had enough courage to confess. Thankfully, although they don’t like to admit it, most of the League is completely oblivious to details, and after all this time, only two people caught onto your feelings. Kurogiri, who never mentioned anything until you asked him why he always left you and Shigaraki alone, and Dabi, who you confided in after a long night of talking.

You made sure to leave enough space between you and Shigaraki to fit a small cat. Once Kurogiri knew about your feelings, he explained that the reason Shigaraki keeps most people away is because he could never forgive himself if he accidentally activated his quirk around one of the League’s members. You waited patiently in silence for Shigaraki to finish his opponent in smash. It was a known rule that one should wait for Shigaraki to finish whatever match he’s playing, for if you didn’t, he would lose and that came with even worse repercussions.

“Three years, huh?” Shigaraki said with a soft smile, not taking his eyes off the game.

“You remembered?”

“Of course, how could I ever forget the moment I met my favorite member?” 

You could feel your heart pulsating behind your eyes, his favorite member? That couldn’t be right. He finished his opponent off with rapid, constant pressing of the buttons and turned to face you, his eyes were squinting a bit while he gave you a closed-lip smile. 

“What do you wanna play, y/n?”

Although he claimed he was a hardcore gamer, you knew he was secretly obsessed with Animal Crossing. 

“I could show you my Animal Crossing town, I bet my town is prettier than yours,” you knew that by challenging him would certainly make him want to play 

“That’s a lost bet y/n, I am a master at Animal Crossing.”

“You can’t be a master, you’ve only been playing for the past few months.” 

“Just wait and see.”

He pulls out his cartridge and you pull your console out, loading the game you’ve been working on perfecting since before you even joined the League. You had the Beautiful Town Ordinance and had built most Public Work Projects, there was no way he could beat you at this. That was until you actually saw his town. Shigaraki had the most intricate town you had ever seen. It was Japanese themed, and he managed to remodel the Town Hall and the train station. He had laid down paths and completed all the stores in Main Street. His museum was full, he had all the fruits, native and non-native, and even his villagers were perfect.

“H-how did you manage to make all your villagers cats?” you choked out, flabbergasted at how wrong you were. 

“I traded my old villagers online, noob.”

It was an understatement to say that you were jealous and embarrassed. The town you had been working so hard on all this time was not even comparable to the one Shigaraki operated. You had been trying to get rid of annoying villagers like Vladimir and Webber for years, and he got all your favorites in mere months! He even had Chief, who had always been your favorite.

“You win Shigaraki,” you muttered with your head down, looking defeated; although not for long, for you challenged Shigaraki to play the island games with you. Your refined expertise thanks to years’ worth of practice would certainly give you an advantage. 

If it weren’t for the real-time mechanisms of the game, you two would’ve never noticed it was already dark out.

“Don’t you love how the game changes with time?” you asked with a shy smile, getting to spend all day playing games with Shigaraki was not an everyday occurrence. 

“Not really, it makes it harder to see and I have to turn the brightness up,” disagreed Shigaraki. 

“But look,” you pointed at the screen, today seemed to be a really special day, “we got a meteor shower.”

Before you could say anything else, you could feel four fingers pulling at your wrist. 

“I’ll show you something cooler, close your eyes.” 

You let out a quiet okay while you stumbled to your feet and let yourself be dragged. You walked carefully up some stairs and then heard a heavy lock open, followed by the creak of a bulky metal door. Shigaraki guided you forward by your waist until you touched a cold, metal handrail. He gently pushed your forehead down, making you look up.

“Open your eyes.” 

As you did, you could see the sky littered with glowing white dots, accompanied by a full moon on the side. After taking in such a sight, you turned to Shigaraki who hadn’t let go of your waist. Behind him, there was a massive cherry blossom tree. His skin was glowing under the moon and you wondered if this was the right moment. Shigaraki pointed at the sky. 

“You see that group of stars over there?” 

“Yeah, isn’t that Ophiuchus?” 

“Maybe,” said Shigaraki with a chuckle; “I like to call it angry Kurogiri.”

You burst out laughing. It does look like an angry version of Kurogiri with his hands on his hips, staring you down in disappointment. 

“If that’s angry Kurogiri then this one over here is Toga when she sees that one UA student.” 

“Fair, and that one over there is Kirby with his mouth open.”

As you continued to rename famous constellations, your gazed slowly shifted to Shiggy. His crimson eyes were shining with happiness. It was a rare sight to see him so lively outside of accomplishing a mission. He looks back at you and you couldn’t help but blush. A shy smile taking place. You look away, trying not to think about it. Where we having a moment? No, you couldn’t have, Shigaraki doesn’t do relationships._ But what if…_

The two of you continued gazing at the stars and next thing you knew your shoulders were touching. You look back at him and he takes your hands, making sure to keep his pinkies up. 

“Shiggy? What are you doing?” 

“Something I’ve wanted to do for a long time.”

With that, he softly lets go of one of your hands and carefully places it on your chin, bringing it up so that your lips meet his. You felt like a firework show was going on inside you. As you separated, you slowly opened your closed eyes and saw that the cold night wind blew the pink sakura flowers in a way that they flew around you. It felt like a stereotypical shoujo manga scene, but you couldn’t care less. You softly caressed his face, surprised at his actions. 

“Tomura.”

When you said his name, you could see the glint in his scarlet eyes deepen, prompting you to kiss him back. This time, it lasted longer, and you could feel his rough lips against your soft ones. He let go of your other hand and placed it on your waist, pulling you closer until you were completely pressed against him. You could feel his rapid heartbeat, and he could feel yours. The rush of adrenaline and happiness you were feeling made you wish the moment would never end, but you separated, pulling for air. As you looked into his crimson eyes, with your body completely pressed against his, he opened his mouth to speak. 

“Will you be my player two?”

[magicalgirlagency]

Who/what was your main inspo for Eugenia? I'm curious.

Why only Eugenia? I’m gonna do the whole team:

Honey Witch Vivi: Tomoe Mami (PMMM), Bee (Bee & Puppycat) Cure Custard/Arisugawa Himari (KiraKira PreCure à la Mode);

Cupid Harpy Sally: Sakura Kyouko (PMMM), Amethyst (Steven Universe), Harukaze Pop (Ojamajo Doremi);

Star Navigator Amelia: Miki Sayaka (PMMM), Utena Tenjou (Revolutionary Girl Utena), Princess Rosalina (Super Mario Bros.);

Pink Soldier Kiki: Kirby (Kirby of the Stars), Cure Lovely/Aino Megumi (Happiness Charge PreCure), Princess Comet (Cosmic Baton Girl Comet-san);

Wisp Rider Winona: Tracer/Lena Oxton (Overwatch) Sailor Uranus/Tenoh Haruka (Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon), Princess Sapphire (Princess Knight);

Cheerful Doll Delilah: Spinel (Steven Universe), Cure Yell/Nono Hana (Huggto PreCure), Dot Warner (Animaniacs);

Tech Witch Donovan: Donatello (TMNT), Espio the Chameleon (SonicTH), Kakyoin Noriaki (JJBA);

Frost Rabbot Nia: Tecna (Winx Club), Frost (Mortal Kombat), Hatsune Miku (Vocaloid);

Quirky Rebel Nova: Princess Daisy (Super Mario Bros.), Mankanshoku Mako (Kill la Kill), Mabel Pines (Gravity Falls);

Devilish Clover Perci: Eclipsa Butterfly (Star Vs. TFoE), Nico Robin (One Piece), Morticia Addams (The Addams Family);

Milky Angel Holly: Panty Anarchy (P&SwG), Sailor Venus/Aino Minako (Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon), Fujiko Mine (Lupin the Third);

Pretty Punisher Aya: Hyuuga Hinata (Naruto), Fluttershy (MLP:FiM), Lapis Lazuli albeit not as spiteful as she is (Steven Universe);

Demonic Witch Ace: Fudo Akira (Devilman), Ground Zero/Bakugou Katsuki albeit much less of an ass than him (BnHA), Meta Knight (Kirby of the Stars);

Artsy Chameleon Enzo: Yoshi (Super Mario Bros.), Guido Mista (JJBA), Arsène Lupin III (Lupin the Third);

Cursed Maestro Arthur: Arthur Kingsmen (Mystery Skulls Animated), Luigi (Super Mario Bros.), Danny Fenton/Phantom (Danny Phantom);

Soul Genie Inka: Li’l Kyuubey (Magia Record), Mew Pudding/Bu-Ling Huang (Tokyo MewMew), Starfire/Koriand’r (DC Comics);

Mighty Berserker Thor: All Might/Toshinori Yagi (BnHA), Garnet (Steven Universe), Sailor Jupiter/Kino Makoto (Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon);

Tender Rebel Eugenia: Kurashita Tsukimi (Kuragehime), Princess Peach (Super Mario Bros.), Fujiwara Hazuki (Ojamajo Doremi);

Sparkling Boxer Birdy: Little Mac (Punch-Out!!), Josuke Higashikata (JJBA), Knuckles the Echidna (SonicTH);

Citrus Chariot Julie: Lemon Jade (Steven Universe), Buttercup (PPG), Mimori Tougo (Yuki Yuna is a Hero).