#anyways. just a little nitpick with the game

[nukacourier]

Knowing about taxidermy means I get very annoyed whenever a mounted creature in Fallout 4 needs its meat in order to build it for some reason

[batw1nggg]

i'm making a komahina chart !! process so far

omggggg it looks like its going well !!! also heh . hehehh hajime is reserved . i see what u did there hehehhehehee

[violentlydefending]

KEEP LIVING, ICHI............

[rawliverandgoronspice]

I have so little respect for what TotK does to the series as a whole, it's wild how my opinion just keeps on degrading with time.

And look, I'm not even that big on Videogame Lore. It's a thing that tends to annoy me, especially when it gets in the way of gameplay loops and especially themes; it can absolutely go overboard and mistake broadening ideas with deepening them to fake complexity. It's a thing a lot of videogames do and I genuinely kind of shrug at it in general.

(especially when you see how many lore decisions are made behind closed doors, and it's generally not nearly half as thought out as what fans will eventually do with them --which is cool! I think it's a cool thing worth encouraging! But in general, unless it reveals something new, I don't care about endless details that are striving to be cool rather than meaningfully coherent, which is what a lot of videogame lore is to me tbh)

I'm completely fine with a looser structure or a lack of rigid continuity, if it means we get to introduce fresh new ideas! That's partially why I adore this series, I'm always so curious about what they'll do next!

However.

(putting rest of my short rant under the cut)

Then just don't call it a sequel. Especially: don't call it a sequel and then be contemptful towards people who were invested in the continuity you used as a marketing tool to sell that game.

(and to be clear: I wasn't even one of these people. The sheikah thing doesn't bother me nearly as much as the rancid narrative decisions regarding the current game plot, the downright insulting quest design or the rampant orientalism. I have a ton of respect for BotW, but it's far from my favorite Zelda game. Yet, Still.)

I think I would have been less mad at many of the choices if they had called it a new iteration of Hyrule. I still wouldn't have liked the game, but it would have been easier to put to the side as a misstep as far as I'm concerned. Here, it tries to be a definitive expression of many of Zelda's ideas (returning to the idea of a first kingdom, the Zelink vibes, Ganondorf is back and so is a billion meaningless easter eggs, the highest grossing shadow of BotW that leads them to keep the same artstyle, the same structure even if it makes no sense in that context, the same locations even if there is virtually nothing new to discover about this Hyrule...) while also not committing to anything novel.

They speak about new concepts for each game tied to each ancient civilization, but frankly: what new concept? Sure, Ultrahand and Fuse are cool and novel tools, they are fun and I liked playing around with them, but fundamentally and structurally there is nothing different between the concept of going from shrine to shrine in Botw and then disrupting giant structures to awaken a Sage/Champion in TotK. These are not different ideas, they are the same idea with a vaguely (VAGUELY) different paintjob and a vaguely different toolset at your disposal. It's either a blueberry flavored popsickle, or a lime flavored one; it's still a popsickle.

So to disregard the shoulders you stand on and introduce frankly worse and watered-down and blander ideas of what came before, disrespecting a lot of what pushed a 30 year old dedicated fanbase through all the loops of previous titles by all clomping it together as easter eggs just to satisfy the fans because you do not understand why it was ever meaningful to them apparently; still get the marketing bling of calling it a sequel by slapping a cool gameplay loop on top, which IS cool and I don't want to disregard the content design and some of the side quests and the soundtrack and stuff I'm not saying all of it is bad --but as a cohesive project? It just doesn't work. Where's the thematic unity that *carried* this series historically up until now? The game built around the new feature instead of the other way around?

I didn't want my final opinion on this game to be: this game is microwave-reheated BotW because BotW was the highest grossing success of the entire series, refusing to integrate its flickers of originality and daring and love (like some mechanisms, some side quests, again the soundtrack, the technical achievements, the mood of the Depths, EVEN the dragon thing if I'm willing to be less gngngn about things, etc...) into a coherent whole; neglecting theme so much we can't even agree as a fanbase on whether the game tried to be about relying on each other, about sacrifice, or about some fun stew of undigested japanese conservative values; and overall putting its ambition in all of the wrong (technical + how to kill in a more fun way + eternal empty vastness) places.

But yeah. It definitively is that, and that interview really cemented some of the Nintendo leadership nihilism that I believe led to this product being the way it is.

what if i explode into a million pieces out of sheer anger

[dadsbongos]

How the mouthwashinglings fare with a possessive/clingy partner bc i am projecting

~

CURLY

Is it possible to groom a 40 year old man when you’re younger than him?? Probably, and it looks like you did it

No matter how early into your relationship, Curly cannot pick out any reason why his friends are so concerned with you

Honestly he gets annoyed when people question the imaginary leash you’ve got him on

Loves seeing a bajillion (seemingly innocuous) texts from you when he goes out with the guys. A flurry of thoughtless updates of your night and random ideas sandwiched around a not-so innocent “so who’s all there with you?”

I’ve mentioned it before but those little beeper bracelets for couples, he would absolutely wear one even if it was a full blown tracker

Would make excuses for your behavior too: “they’re just anxious! they just really love me! all the attention is kind of nice, actually!”

And god forbid anyone try asking if he’s done anything to make you this way. He firmly denies it, even getting a little offended, but then rationalizes your actions anyway: “people cheat on people all the time, it’s an understandable fear!”

Nobody can get through to him because he clearly loves it

JIMMY

THRIVES!

In a toxic way, though

Intentionally acts out to piss you off because he thinks it’s hot, the idea of what you’ll do to him when you get your hands on him

Turns off his location (which he always thought was immature anyway lol), talks to other people with that cocky grin and dark lidded eyes, tells you that his exes wouldn’t treat him this way

Secretly loves feeling so needed that you’ll die without him, it instills this sense of importance he’s never had before

So when he knows he’s gone way over the line, he’ll really baby you to make up for it

Still talks out of his ass because he’s not that gentle, but will cuddle you and tell you how badly he needs you in his life and how sexy your brand of crazy is

Psycho mfs your neighbors hate you

ANYA

NOT WELL!

Anya is arguably most well-adjusted person when it comes to romance and she can see the walking red-flag that you are

Initially she’ll try working around the little things to keep you happy, thinking if she can do just that then you’ll drop the nitpicking

Would have a deep conversation with you about it before breaking things off, which at THAT point if you just couldn’t resolve things she’d walk away

I can see that happening pretty early in the relationship, maybe even before you two are comfortable just popping up at each other’s places

DAISUKE

Probably similarly possessive, just to a lower key

Fully believes in sharing locations and having access to each other’s phones and telling each other exactly who is going to this party or that dinner

Because he also gets jealous, he actively avoids riling you up rather than instigating it

I can see him being one of those guys that tells you when people try hitting on him, usually when boys do that it comes off shitty but Daisuke is so overt

“Babe, this girl tried asking for my number but I told her I was taken and that she should kill herself!”

Honestly probably a relationship that starts when you’re both still 19-21 range and is not sustainable unless you two mature out of it

SWANSEA

Cannot, will not, does not tolerate that bullshit

He is too fucking old to be playing mind games and arguing with some teeny bopper brat about what bars he’s going to after work

HOWEVER he also doesn’t go anywhere besides work and friendly gatherings and he doesn’t have very many friends SO as long as you can temper it, he may not even notice

But he’s also close with his ex-wife especially because of the kids so you’ve got to get over that and if you can’t, he cuts it off pretty cleanly

Almost like a surgery, he can clinically extract you from his life with practically no emotion before sending you on your way

[the-meme-monarch]

my delatrune 3&4 live-blogging And Also expanding on thoughts Here bc I tried to keep it vague there

so spoilers ofc

img 1 i was reacting to ciblesGD’s stream of chapter 3, img 2 i was watching someone from the server streaming chapter 3(plasticscentedoppossums but I’m not sure she’d want me to tag her), and img 3 i was again watching ciblesGD’s stream, of chapter 4 this time :]

susie’s talk about how even if ralsei’s not real their friendship still Is and she’ll never forget him and That’s Real. guy who just came back from friendship test hmmm im getting friendship test vibes from this

also what ralsei was talking about with finally wanting to discover who he is outside of the prophecy. getting to figure out who he is as a person outside of his servitude to the lightners and the legend. this is literally what capsei is built on btw

also sorry but I still like my tenna design more. i just think what i came up with is more clever. my big butch rabbit centaur lady could kick that giant twink’s ass. I’m sure I’ll learn to like canon tenna’s design, i already like his personality ! also idk if there’s any dialogue disproving this but i think it’d be fun if spamton and tenna were brothers :’] with how they already look so physically similar and honestly act similar, and then also their hatred of each other. also i want more darkners who are family. still literally only chapter 1 has given us canon Related characters, being spades king and lancer as father and son and clover as sisters

also sorry but I’m a little disappointed that chairiel wasn’t a Character. it was just toriel’s throne. you literally Named this chair and then it didn’t get to be a Person. it wasn’t even alive like he couch was. chairiel couldve been like. working for tenna as a Guard for toriel as she slept or something. and then toriel and undyne were There but barely did anything. I don’t think I liked chapter 3 that much. ☝️I still like it A Lot but it is at the bottom of the list for favorite chapters I think. besides those nitpicks it also just kinda felt like it was dragging on with the game show, which I think was Purposeful, but still

⬆️the guys. the streamer did not talk to them so I don’t know what they say and my heart hurts over it but they’re here. look at the,m it’s the sweet capn cakes

DONT THINK I DIDNT FUCKINB SEE THAT? DONT THINK I DIDNT FUCKING SEE THAT KRIS IN THE CLOSET? DONT THINK I DDINT SEE HOW YOU COVERED IT WITH THE HEART PILLOWS? if there ends up being an innocent explanation for this my guess is it’s just a dummy of kris that they made and used to scare noelle and dess Confiscated it. but hmmm awfully suspicious they hid it under the heart pillows so we couldn’t get a proper look at it.

also I’m absolutely adoring how kris is getting more of their own Voice and actions through, putting the stickers on susie, pouring the fruit juice in her mouth and her theirs, them lawnmower holding her by the legs to eat the snacks off the tray. and their dialogue choices seem to be loosening up more, to be more specific in what they will be saying, like the way you (can) tell ralsei “I want you to be yourself dude”, to father alvin “awesome sermon my man” again to raslei “park your butt mister” how they get you to relinquish control to play the piano, how they finally hug(?) ralsei of their own volition (it might not have been a hug actually, I didn’t get a screenshot and I haven’t gone back to look, so maybe they just crouched down to put a hand on his shoulder, idr)

and the playing as the SOUL segment was so fun. noelle and susie getting to actually spend time together, kris in the kitchen making chocolate milk i think. kris Beating the SOUL back to keep it from the guitar.

Carol.

ALSO knight chara theory might as well be dead Oh Wells I didn’t really expect to be right anyway i just thought it’d be neat. sorry knight papyrus and knight alvin fans except the ones of you who were mean to me about knight chara. upon seeing the roaring knight I did think it was dess, it still very well could be but I began thinking it was carol, with kris being on the phone talking smth about ‘the next fountain’ and then saying susie got the guitar and the voice saying “I’ll be right there” and then carol showing up even though noelle said she’d still be at work for a while. the knight and the voice on the phone who is probably definitely carol could be different people but idk that was just my leap in logic

ALSO GERSON. FUCK. i was So hoping to know how a dust covered burial object would work in the dark world and im so happy it was answered, i figured it might be but I didn’t think it’d be In The Church, I thought it’d be like a ‘too many fountains were opened and now the Outside is becoming a dark world (and therefore the objects in the graveyard)’ situation. also no I don’t believe ralsei is an object with asriel’s dust. when he’s downed it calls him “a pile of fluff”, no mention of dust. however I think this debunks red horn headband and green crayon theory. my funny joke theory: ralsei is a clump of asriel’s fur from a hairbrush

⬆️this was fucked

⬆️this was also fucked

anyway this is literally how these chapters left me (positive)

i did literally have to take two headache medicines at different points while watching these chapters

[blitzyn]

shut up

childe x m!reader

request: none

a/n -> im sick and tired of winter WHERE IS SUMMER. help i wrote some of this in public so i had to stop myself from acting out some of the motions just to figure out how to write it lmao. guys i kinda made him a little mean i just got a little carried away oopsies. anyways one more non req and ill work on reqs i hope

wc -> 3.8k

cw -> very dubcon, hate sex, a lil bit of blood, anal sex, spit as lube, not a lot of prep, degradation, manhandling, throat fucking, asphyxiation, reader is a masochist, mean dom childe, spitting (in ur mouth like once), chokehold, prone bone position for like 2 seconds lmao, brief descriptions of fighting, reader offs someone cuz he felt like it kinda, it starts sorta abrupt tbh lol, not beta read

Childe fucking hated you. This was old news—absolutely anyone who had the barest idea who he was knew that. Everyone within a twenty meter radius could hear him arguing about something, and it never seemed to be about the same thing more than once. There always seemed to be something the two of you nitpicked about each other, throwing it out into the open which, more often than not, led to a fight with no clear winner.

There wasn’t anything anyone could do about it since the two of you were Harbingers. You were ranked tenth after Signora’s death and The Balladeer’s desertion, just behind Childe who was in ninth. But that didn’t stop you from riling him up relentlessly, even finding some type of enjoyment from his anger because you knew it wasn’t particularly common to see. Really, there wasn’t much of a power difference between the two of you other than the fact that you were less experienced.

As such, you were often assigned to missions together—if assigned meant that you simply joined him when you didn’t have anything important to do, much to his obvious displeasure.

This time, you followed him towards a hideout hidden between large rocks. It was simple, and you preferred that it wasn’t so easily accessible, but you supposed that hiding it in plain sight was acceptable for now.

“I don’t like how easy it is to find this place,” you commented, taking in your surroundings as if you were impressed by how large the area was compared to the small cave entrance. “It’s so obvious.”

Childe only offered you a grunt in acknowledgement, making his way past a few scattered materials on the floor. This wasn’t a facility that the Fatui used as much as before, but some machines were still operational and functioning.

“Ignoring people when they’re talking to you is rude, Tartaglia,” you chided, but you couldn’t care less that he wasn’t responding. “Besides, it’s not like you disagree with me. You wouldn’t want a poor, helpless child accidentally stumbling across this place while they’re playing a game.”

He glanced at you from the corner of his eye, and you could see him grit his teeth when he noticed the smug expression on your face. “Nobody’s gonna find the entrance. It’s been around for years and there hasn’t been a trespasser.”

“Really?” You hummed, nodding slowly to yourself. “If you say so.”

He eyed you warily, instantly skeptical of how quick you were to accept his statement. But that wasn’t important right now—he needed to retrieve some documents and collect money from a few debtors.

“Just… Just stay here. Don’t touch anything,” he instructed, unnerved by how you obediently sat on a rickety chair and watched him expectantly.

“Yessir,” you replied with a playful tone in your voice, crossing your arms over your chest comfortably.

He silently stared at you for a few moments. “What are you planning?” He blurted out, annoyed with the eyebrow you raised in question. “You don’t like listening to me.”

You rolled your eyes at his accusation. “I don’t really favor getting chewed out by whoever needs those papers, so hurry up and get what you need. I’d rather talk to the debtors, anyways.”

He didn’t move from his spot for a few more moments before hesitantly making his way toward an isolated room, seemingly accepting your response. You chuckled through your nose at his reluctance as you swirled your finger around, creating a small rabbit made out of Cryo. It was quiet and unassuming as it silently hopped around before you sent it out of the room, searching for any valuable items worth keeping as you waited.

You leaned back in boredom, shutting your eyes to focus on keeping the rabbit's form. You could feel a faint hint of interest radiating through you from your creation, cringing slightly at the smell of metal before you relaxed again. The rabbit was mid-search when an arrow whizzed past it, nicking its back. Quickly, it fled, leaving a trail of Cryo. The hunter cursed loudly and chased after it, but it wasn't long before it made it to its destination.

Curious, you released your focus on the rabbit as you stood up to pick up whatever it found. You looked up when the hunter suddenly walked through the cave entrance, slightly surprised to know that they hadn't stopped trying to go after your rabbit. The two of you stared at each other before you spoke up in mild disinterest.

"Can I help you?" You questioned, inspecting your find once again. It was shiny and had intricate designs on it, but ultimately worthless.

"Uh... Uh, yes! Yes, you can," they said after a moment, scoping the area in search of their nonexistent rabbit. "Have you seen a white rabbit run through here? Small, quick, and leaving some sort of trail behind it," they described eagerly, taking a few steps forward.

"I'm afraid you can't come in here," you said, raising a hand to stop them in their tracks. You analyzed them for a moment, taking in their appearance. They couldn't have been older than fifteen, with shaggy brown hair and tanned skin.

"Then why are you in here?" They countered stubbornly, crossing their arms. It seemed they forgot all about their hunt in favor of digging into your business.

"That's none of your concern," you replied, ignoring their questioning gaze above your shoulder. "If you don't leave now, I'll have to resort to force."

You bristled a little when you saw them roll their eyes. Too stubborn for their own good, apparently. "Yeah? Well, I'm the chief's kid. What's a weird-looking guy like you gonna do to me?"

You frowned, visibly offended. You stared at them for a moment before raising your dominant hand again, this time letting an icicle form on the tip of your middle finger before flicking it directly at them. In the blink of an eye, they went down with a loud thud. "Kill you," you replied to the body.

You walked up to them and lifted their head by their hair, examining the wound on their forehead with a hum. Blood leaked in copious amounts down their face, and you couldn't stop the grimace when some landed on your foot.

"Oh, shit," you hissed under your breath when you caught a better look at them. You wondered why they seemed so vaguely familiar to you when the realization suddenly hit you-the chief was one of the debtors. You pursed your lips before standing up with a shrug, placing a hand on your chin to ponder different ways to dispose of the body without tarnishing the Fatui's name even further. "I suppose I could just toss them in a lake? Or lure in a wild animal to eat them? Burning's too obvious..."

"What the fuck did you just do?" You heard Childe curse from behind you. You turned around to face him, eyebrow twitching in interest when you noticed his normally void eyes alight with fury. Honestly, though, you didn't quite understand why he seemed so upset. Maybe it was because of how transactions with the debtor may not go as smoothly as he wanted, or the fact that the person you killed was still technically a child.

"Someone found the entrance," you shrugged, unbothered by his reaction. "We don't want anyone finding important information about the Fatui, right? So I killed them. I told you it was easy to spot." You rolled your eyes like it was the most obvious thing ever, which only served to anger him. You tried to make your way past him deeper into the facility in search of something interesting to take when a sudden blur slammed your body into a wall. You let out a pained grunt, instinctively wrapping your fingers around the wrist where he pinned you down by your throat.

You knew he was ruthless when he needed to be, but you weren't given a chance to see it with your own eyes up until now. He was far from gentle, holding your delicate neck with such ferocity it made your skin tingle. It was exhilarating.

"Like hell they just conveniently found the entrance," he spat, his voice low as he glared deep into your watering eyes. "You deliberately lured them in here, didn't you? And for what? Because you were bored?" He refused to slacken the hold around your throat, internally finding that he preferred how you looked when you couldn't breathe.

"You—cough—You're much the s-same, Tartaglia," you strained out, trying to furiously blink away your tears. "Don't pretend you don't crave vi-violence, too."

You could see him grit his teeth just before he tossed you to the floor, watching you cough and regain your breath with disdain in his eyes. "No. Don't compare me to a fucking psychopath like you. I don't kill kids just because I feel like it!"

"To-may-to, to-mah-to," you groaned, rubbing your sore skin. You could still feel his hand around your throat, his grip burned into your flesh in a way that sent a familiar heat through your groin. He took a second to examine your body before zeroing in on the growing bulge between your legs, disbelief written on his expression.

"There's no damn way," he muttered to himself as if trying to convince himself you weren't aroused by him strangling you. With a growl, he stepped forward and harshly pressed a foot on your crotch, merciless with the amount of pressure he used. He watched in disgust as your hips jerked in response, frowning deeply at the pained moan you let out. "You're seriously turned on?"

"If it wasn't obvious—" You were unceremoniously cut off by a swift kick to your jaw, accidentally biting down on your tongue. You tasted the metallic tang of your own blood that originated from your mouth and your nose, wiping it away quickly. Your cock only throbbed with an increased fervor in your pants that strained for release against the fabric.

"Shut the fuck up," he snarled, staring down at you for a few moments, deciding what to do with you now that he had this newfound information in his hands.

"What's gotten you so upset?" You teased him, obviously not taking your situation seriously. You felt a pleasurable chill run down your spine at the fierce look he gave you, sitting up a bit in anticipation when you saw his hand stray down toward his pants, roughly undoing them.

"You just can't shut your mouth, can you?" He hissed, leaning forward a bit to grab a handful of your hair. He yanked you closer, forcing you onto your knees as he pressed the tip of his flaccid cock against your waiting tongue. "Fine, then. I'll shut it for you."

You hummed at the salty taste of his skin, raising your hands up to hold onto the swell of his muscular thighs. He groaned quietly when you dragged your tongue along a prominent vein on the underside of the shaft, looking up at him through your lashes. You let out a garbled moan when he forced you all the way down to the base, seemingly satisfied with the way you gagged a little.

Your nose was buried within his pubic hair as your throat tightened and spasmed, feeling yourself beginning to drool as the thick strands of saliva seeped out of the corners of your lips. You could hardly breathe, but you loved it. You loved the way he tugged on your scalp, starting to move his hips back and forth. You tried to contribute as much as you could, but the way you could feel his cock hardening sent a pleasant ache through your jaw.

"Fucking hell... You're not fit to be a Harbinger," he spat, holding you still as he reached down to swipe a bit of the blood from your nose to messily wipe it on your cheek. You couldn't see what he was doing, but the patterned swipes made it clear what he was writing.

S, L, U, T.

The word sent a jolt of electricity down your spine. You could feel your cock twitch in your pants, leaking a profuse amount of precum that served to stain the fabric. You let out a moan and slipped a hand underneath your clothes, jerking yourself off shamelessly.

He let out a breathy scoff at the sight, but he couldn't help the way his dick throbbed when your throat squeezed around him. "You're too good at this," he groaned, gradually moving his hips faster until he was fucking your face. "You don't belong in the Fatui. You're better off at a goddamn whorehouse."

He relished in the sound of your chokes and gags, finding that he preferred this much more than your voice. He let out a heavy sigh and shut his eyes, tilting his head back in ecstasy as he lost himself in the sensations. He was unaware of how you shifted your hand lower, using your precum as a subpar replacement for lube to push two of your fingers in your hole. You weren't in any particular rush as you leisurely pumped them in and out of you, adding in the wet sounds to your strained moans and ragged breaths. You were brought back to your senses when you heard him bark out a mocking laugh, squinting up at him through the tears that accumulated along your lashes.

"You're fucking pathetic," he muttered lowly, almost to himself, but you knew it was directed at you. "Is this—shit—all it took? You just needed a dick shoved down your throat, huh? Should've known you were such a whore," he demeaned, and you could only whine in response. Suddenly, he leaned a bit forward to press the sole of his shoe onto your aching cock, watching intently at the way you choked in surprise. "Maybe the rest of us should get a turn with you? Turn you into our little fucktoy? Our good-for-nothing cumdump?"

A grin made its way onto his pale face, turned on with the amount of control he had over you. His left hand slid lower, maintaining a firm grip on the junction between the back of your head and neck as his other one moved up to pinch your nostrils shut. He thrust harder, faster, shuffling closer when you tried to tilt your head away. He ignored your muffled protests and focused solely on getting himself off, letting out satisfied groans that you weren't fully there to appreciate.

It wasn't until you could hear a high-pitched ringing did he finally cum, shooting his load down your throat without a care for whether or not you could properly swallow it. He held himself there for a moment longer before he pulled himself away with a harsh shove to your body. You coughed and panted hard, taking a moment to regain your composure before looking back up at him, eager for more.

"Still not satisfied?" He questioned rhetorically. You both knew you weren't done yet, not when you found out how he could get when you pushed his buttons just the right way. "Stupid question, huh?" He huffed a laugh through his nose before roughly kicking you onto your stomach, dropping to his knees not a moment later. He haphazardly tugged your pants and underwear down in one go, ignoring the pained hiss you made when you felt yourself sandwiching your drooling cock between your abdomen and the floor. He spread your ass apart to spit on your asshole, shoving a finger inside you for good measure before jerking himself off using some of his saliva.

"Tartaglia, please—hurry," you whined, looking over your shoulder to meet his gaze. It was satisfying to see you in such a pitiful state, but the sound of your voice, although hoarse and raw, annoyed him.

"Be quiet or I'll leave you here like this," he snapped, giving your asscheek a quick slap before positioning himself over your hole. He rubbed the tip of it against your skin for a moment before pushing himself inside, groaning loudly at the feeling of you clamping down on him so perfectly.

It fucking hurt; after all, you only used two meager fingers to prepare yourself, and even then, you hadn't done much. It burned like he was tearing you apart but in the best damn way. The pain of being stretched out so mercilessly only mixed in with the insatiable fire in your groin, shooting jolts of electricity up your spine so intense you nearly came on the spot.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck! Tartaglia, please, you're so—!" You cut yourself off with a moan when he suddenly slammed himself down all the way, ramming the head of his cock against your sensitive prostate.

"I said shut up!" He demanded, pressing his hips down to grind against you. He wasn't as deep as he could go in this position, but he still managed to fill you up just right. You groaned when he leaned down, pinning you to the ground with his body weight as an arm snaked around the front of your throat, pressing it against you firm enough to restrict some of your airflow.

Instinctively, you raised a hand to grab at his forearm, digging your nails into the scarred skin in a futile attempt to get him to ease up. You could hear every sound that left his lips, every labored breath that brushed the shell of your ear. It didn't take him long to start moving, pulling out until only the tip remained before slamming back into you mercilessly. You could feel every inch and vein with each drag of his cock, your body jolting alongside his harsh thrusts, grinding your dick up and down on the ground.

"God... you're so damn tight," he muttered, picking up the pace. A low moan escaped his throat when he pressed against your prostate just right, ignoring your fleeting struggle.

It was hard to breathe. You could feel him everywhere around you all at once, and it didn't help that he fucked you hard enough to knock the breath out of your lungs. Your moans and whines were strained and hoarse, clawing at his arm, but you knew you didn't really want him off. Your body ached at his rough handling as wet slaps echoed through the abandoned facility, briefly wondering if anyone outside could hear, but you could hardly maintain your train of thought long enough for it to become a concern. He fucked you fast and rough, hips slamming against your ass hard enough to sting, but he didn't find it in himself to care.

"Tar-Tartaglia! Slow...—!" You tried to plead, beginning to find everything overwhelming when you cut yourself off with a squeal. He quickly shifted himself, leaning back to hold your throat with his hands as he pulled, forcing your back to arch uncomfortably.

"No," he replied, tilting his upper half over you just enough to spit in your gaping mouth. He felt you tighten in response as he relaxed his hold the slightest bit, feeling you swallow his saliva eagerly. "You wanted this. So you're gonna fucking take it."

The heat in your belly intensified to an unbearable degree, and with the way he practically filled up every crevice of your hole, you weren't sure you were going to last much longer. With one hand on your throat, he moved his other one down to spread one of your asscheeks to intently watch his cock move in and out of you. He could feel every twitch and shudder you made, and it satisfied him to know just how easy you were to break down despite your initial resistance.

"Fuck... I can feel you," he groaned, yanking your head back a bit to get you to look at him. "You're about to cum, huh?"

It was hard to find the right words to reply when he fucked every thought out of your head, but the panic in your eyes made it clear that you didn't want him to stop so suddenly. And although he wanted to see you beg like the whore you were, he needed to finish this quickly. He still had a job to do, after all.

"You're lucky I still need to collect some money," he growled, glaring at you with familiar disdain. "Otherwise I would've left you like this for hours."

With renewed vigor, he removed his hand from your throat to roughly push your face down by the back of your head, tugging your hips up to bury himself deeper inside your ass. You cried out in ecstasy as your eyes rolled back, making an attempt to withhold your orgasm when he wrapped his fingers around your throbbing cock, jerking you off in time with his punishing thrusts, but to no avail. Barely a moment later, you came with a loud moan, cumming so hard it left you lightheaded and dizzy.

He chased after his own release, giving you a few more rough thrusts before he stilled, burying himself as deep as he could go inside you. You could feel his thick cock throbbing as he filled you up with his cum, shuddering at the warmth before you slumped back down to the ground. He remained still for a moment longer, catching his breath while he watched you tremble. With a sigh, he pulled out, grimacing a little at the sight of his dick slick with fluids, but he tucked it back in his pants regardless.

"Get up. We have to hide the body and get to the chief before anyone finds out you killed his kid," he said impatiently, walking towards the hunter to inspect it.

"Just... Just bury them, or something," you suggested, taking a moment to calm down before pulling your pants up. Finding a reflective surface, you summoned a bit of your Cryo and melted it with your body heat to wipe away the crusted blood on your face.

"Eugh... I can feel your cum," you found the energy to complain, turning to face Childe with annoyance written on your face. The audacity.

"Shut up and let's go. We're already behind schedule after your bullshit." He scowled, picking up the body, already having decided what to do with it. At least it wasn't your problem anymore.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say," you said, quickly fixing your appearance. If it weren't for the slight limp in your gait, nobody would be able to tell he just fucked you within an inch of your life. Perks of being a Harbinger, you suppose.

cross-posted on ao3

[artistically-chuuya]

I don’t get it.

Why would anyone actually want him? I keep seeing people fall over themselves over his— ugh. They’ve got no idea what it’s like! To have to deal with HIM.

Just thinking about this pisses me off, I need another glass… mm.

Anyway!— he’s insatiable. Wanting, wanting, wanting. Nothing’s ever just “good enough”. He always… wants— needs more. Doesn’t take no for answer. Never does. Never will.

Not to mention how fucking obsessive he is; can’t do shit without him knowing. Can’t go anywhere. It’s like he’s allergic to the concept of privacy!— Good luck getting him to give a damn if you tell him, “no, actually, I don’t want to be STALKED AND SURVEILLED 24/7.”

Which is just GREAT, cuz he’s possessive as all hell. “My dog”, “my partner”, “my Chuuya”, mine-mine-mine. It’s— it’s just… fuckin… all he cares about— OWNING. Can’t hardly talk to anyone without him getting weird about it. He’ll nitpick every little thing like it’s an interrogation. And— ugh! FUCK THAT, I’M MY OWN PERSON!

He’s so childish about it, like a kid who throws a tantrum cuz someone else wants to play with his toys. Pisses me off… I’m— I’m not a toy. I don’t want to be a.. a toy. Or a pet. I’m… I… Gah, whatever. Where was I?

Oh, yeah, why he’s a piece of shit…

He treats everything like it’s some kind of game, like— if he says and does the right thing, he “wins”. Press the right buttons, tell the right lies, move the chess pieces. He’d not even honest about it! HE PLAYS DIRTY! He’s always finding new ways to rig the game and win all his stupid prizes… and you can’t play with him, cuz nobody’s on that freak’s level except Dostoyevsky.

Except it’s not a fucking game. Real people die. Suffer. Bleed. Who the hell wants to be with someone like that? Tch. I wouldn’t hate it so much if he played fair… cuz the second you try and play against him, you’ve already lost.

So who wants a guy like that? Whose idea of a relationship is a skewed, fucked-up collar and leash?— Nobody. That’s why he can’t do anything but break ladies’ hearts and have anything other than flings. He uses people. Devours them. It’s all he knows how to do.

But no matter how much he eats, he’s always starving to death. Cuz… it’s not what he’s looking for. He’d rather maintain this hell of his own making than change, because commitment to improvement means commitment to— to living. And that’s hard. So he’ll take the easy way out and fuck someone else over.

To… to be honest? I’d pity him if he wasn’t so dead-set on ruining.. m… my— ugh... Being that lonely and miserable…. But— it’s no excuse for treating people like shit, dammit…

I know all of this… I know why he’s the worst…

So… why do I still miss him?… Something’s wrong with me…

[essycogany]

Here’s a personal take!

The Sonic Prime 3D models have the best facial expressions seen from the modern cast. Why? Well, I’ll explain with my 0 experience in 3D animation. I’m only explaining as an observer. Not a professional. Anyways, onto the fun.

First of all, let’s talk about the current models in the games. The animators became better at animating them in Sonic Frontiers.

You can tell effort was being put in, but Frontiers still has limits due to the structure of Sonic’s face and eyes. I’ve seen fan animations with this model which animates him wonderfully. But no matter what, he’s still going to have limitations because his hands are too big, eyes are too far apart, mouth looks like it was made to only stay on the side, and more issues. The design frankly looks dead. Even in motion.

In all fairness, this character was built for a 2D design due to it being inspired by Mickey Mouse. But Sonic Unleashed (because they used different models like Dream Team) proves this character CAN be expressive in 3D with a good workable model. It’s not the animation that’s the problem in Frontiers. Here are similar expressions from Sonic Prime and Frontiers.

See how wider the expressions are in Prime? It allows their faces to be more flexible and warped. Prime!Sonic has rounder eyes making his head look easier for his facial structure to have an array of expressions. It’s kind of close to Sonic Dream Team with the minor tweaks of the OG models. Which is why the expressions in that game looked so good. ESPECIALLY when animated.

It’s even why other designs are able to have great facial expressions. The eyes being close together just works. While the OG looks like he’s pushing expressions that’s near impossible to push. Yes, it’s still expressive, but you can see how limiting it is because the eyes aren’t supporting the face. And his mouth is always stuck to one side.

Onto more compliments to the Sonic Prime models. They emphasize the hight differences too. I personally think Sonic and Shadow look like mixtures between their 06, modern, Boom, and movie designs. They have long quills like 06. Their entire look is inspired by the modern designs. Their eyes are shaped similar to Sonic Boom and they have cool textures like in the movies. Other characters count but it most notably is for the two hedgehogs.

The hands are smaller like in the movies and Boom. The pupils being bigger gives volume to the faces. I also adore their fur and quill patterns to give the designs flare. Their gloves have little details too. I especially love how they can change the quills for Sonic and Shadow and make them look similar to a 2D style. Usually they’d make the quills smaller in the games to get that 2D look but Prime Shadow and Sonic are able to have long quills while the animators adjust them however and whenever they need to.

Their mouths are also well animated and smooth when transitioning to different sides of the face. The characters body shapes are also 100% better. While the Game model looks too straight the Prime model has a pear shape torso that are also given to Boom and Movie Sonic respectively. The Prime models look like they were made for action scenes.

I know some people complain about the eyes not going down, but honestly it’s what makes the expressions weaker when used in 3D. I’m glad they have a balance of it sometimes to allow the expressions to get their points across. I really appreciate the colors on everyone also. They look lovely and bright with help of the lighting.

The few critiques I have are due to multiple watches but they’re not a HUGE deal.

1. I can easily see their necks at points.

2. The mouth animation looks weird when characters makes an O shape and the tongues/teeth are jarring.

3. I wish their hands weren’t so flat and skinny. Other models had their hands shaped like Disney characters, but Prime’s hands can look flat sometimes.

These are just nitpicks though.

Even compared to the CGI cutscenes while still good I think Prime conveys a subtly previous models didn’t do too often. Of course the CGI looks amazing and it still holds up, but the nuance in Sonic Prime cannot be ignored. Hope my take makes the slightest of sense.

Stay Creative! 💜

[what-eats-owls]

It matters how you do it

I finished Dragon Age: The Veilguard and had some big feelings about it. Spoilers for basically everything under the cut, and frankly, it won't make sense unless you've finished the game anyway.

First of all: I had a blast with this game. I didn't find Act 1 slow, I did find Act 2 a bit of a whack-a-mole, and then Act 3 kicks you in the kidney (complementary) while insisting it's for your own good.

I've seen some recurring complaints: that it lacks depth/edge/darkness, that it abandons previous lore, that the previous choices don't matter. I don't entirely disagree. To me, it felt like a massive Dragon Age 4 game that pivoted to a different, tighter game after complaints about bloat in Inquisition. The key is that when editing down, there's such a thing as trying to trim the fat and taking a chunk of the roast with it.

I enjoy the concept of Lucanis's character, and the voice actor sold the hell out of him, but the storyline felt like being taken to a museum and allowed to see one (1) beautiful unfinished sculpture. Why did Spite, specifically, work? We know the spirit of Justice became Vengeance by abomination, we knew Solas was Wisdom before he became Pride, so what was Spite before, and why wasn't that tied to Lucanis's own personal arc? (Doubly so if you romance him!)

Similarly, Harding was a delight, and her greenhouse was such a lovely little haven. I would have loved to see more explanation of the connection between plants and the titans, and how Harding's own personal struggles with rage connected to that of the titans. She has every reason to be angry and scared, and the game tells us she pushed that away—but we don't actually see her toxic positivity manifest to that degree, until she abruptly has an angry clone.

On the flip side, I loved the other five character quests, and I felt they had solid, poignant arcs that delivered. I also adored their interactions with the codex—if anything, I wanted to see more of that type of interaction on the screen. You have to fill in a lot of the character work for Rook yourself; Rook has all these interesting potential backgrounds, but I think starting the game playing through those, a la Origins, would have gone miles towards establishing more personal stakes up front and made for a stronger start.

So that's all my nitpicking. But let's talk about the bigger theme: It matters how you do it.

In the first Fade conversation with Solas, he gets so mad when Rook refuses to let him DARVO them about the consequences of his botched ritual. This makes way more sense when you understand he's literally imprisoned by his own regrets, and he needs Rook to have that same kind of regret in order to take his place. His entire arc is about rationalizing binary choices and shitty actions that hurt others in the name of a hypothetical greater good that he wants.

Solas can't engineer every binary choice Rook's forced into, but he uses Varric to maximize Rook's regret. He is trying to quite literally mold Rook into him, and the game is great at presenting this both as a coldblooded manipulation and a broken plea for validation—if you let it. You don't have to give Solas a moment of consideration; you don't have to take time to view his memories, or kill his demons, or listen to those scraps of Mythal still holding onto the good in him. You don't have to do any of it.

But you can. And in the end, it matters.

It matters because for every companion, you can encourage them to either be more nurturing/compassionate or destructive/closed off versions of themselves, and that is frequently tied to continuing or breaking from a cycle. (The exception is either Neve or, presumably, Lucanis, who are forced into the Hardened version depending on which city you save.) These aren't presented as morally opposing choices, just who you want them to be. You can see how the Grey Wardens fucked up bad with griffons and decide they have a better place. You can help Emmrich face his fear by finding deeper meaning in life instead of indefinitely postponing death. You can help them do things differently.

So when you get to the final choice in the game, you may have two options: physically force Solas into saving the Veil, or trick him into it. The kind of binary choice Solas has molded you into making by pelting you with cruelty and manipulation.

Or, if you've taken the time, you can get him to understand he's wrong. You bring out the people who saw the best in him and speak to what he's had to endure, even as you're showing him there's another way. You reach him not as Pride, but as Wisdom. And he goes willingly.

Ultimately, I think DA2 and Inquisition grappled with big questions of oppression and violence, faith and authority. It makes sense for those games to delve into harder, uglier subject matter, and ask you to make binary calls.

But my read of Veilguard is that, at its core, it's about how those decisions are meant to trap you in regret at best, and numb you to rationalizing cruelty at worst. It's why the companion who loses their home city becomes colder, more isolated, in response—more like Solas.

That's why it offers you a third way at the very end, but only if you've worked for it. A better way is possible, yet it has to be more than words. You have to understand where the pain comes from, what maintains and is being maintained by the current cycle. Then, and only then, can you break it.

I can't wait to play it again.

P.S. Utterly obsessed with the Trevisan fish merchant.

[atarathegreat]

Scary Wife Privileges Tokyo Revengers

Featuring: Chifuyu Matsuno, Mitsuya Takashi, Hakkai Shiba

You were getting tired of it, hearing Chifuyu complain about Takemichi and how the man runs things. "He'll come back, I know he will, but it's just aggravating right now."

When he talked about his boss he made little sense. You never understood his ramblings about "any day now." and "It's been twelve years." Some days it was too much and you started an argument with Chifuyu, an argument where he constantly refused to tell you anything about what he meant. It was pissing you off. Majorly. You wanted Chifuyu to be happy, but when he came home exhausted and angry every night, you didn't feel that he was happy.

His friends greeted you as you walked through the big building, smiles and waves from both sides as you walked to your husband's office. Chifuyu had been in a particularly bad mood the whole week and you hadn't made it any better by causing fights when he came home. Remorse was one of the many emotions you were feeling, topped with a cute little bow to compound everything and stamp it in like concrete.

"Fuyu," You spoke softly, a way you hadn't spoken to him in months, "do you have time?"

It was in his eyes, the fact that something had already happened was painted into the dark circles under his lashes. It made your heart lurch as he smiled sadly at you. "Always have time for you, baby." Chifuyu held a hand out to pull you in as you approached, "As long as you didn't come here to fight, in that case, I'm in a meeting." His half hearted joke made you sigh, "Already, today?"

His chest heaved with a sigh, "Trashed his own office. Don't worry, he wasn't mad at me this time."

There was no time for a response as the very man exploded into your husband's office behind you. He was on edge, clearly, but you didn't care about what he had to say. Months of anger from seeing your husband drink until he fell asleep with his face buried in your chest just poured out.

"Shut up. No one cares about whatever bullshit you're about to spout. Is this how you treat all of your workers?" You snapped, hands on your hips as you chastised him, "You're the exact definition of an asshole and so help you if my husband comes home angry again."

Takemichi looked caught off guard, a stark contrast to the man you'd not only met at your wedding, but the man in the stories Chifuyu brought home. He stumbled over his words, but you continued to chew into him as Chifuyu hugged around your waist and smiled into your shirt.

Mitsuya was used to the nitpicking his clients did, often smiling and agreeing, even if he didn't. He wasn't the type to retaliate because of a bad mood, especially since it was going to be something the other person wore and he would never have to look at it again.

And yet he kept having to send you silent glares and pointed looks to keep you from speaking up as you watched him work.

"And maybe if there was more detail in the train-"

"Do you know how long he's spent on this ugly garbage?" You spoke clearly, your nose in a book so you couldn't see Mitsuya glaring at you, "All the detail on the sleeves took two months anyways. And that's not including the beading along the end. Can't you appreciate that?"

The client stared at you, open mouthed and shocked. But you kept on, "To ask for more detail when he's already fixing the fabric to your measurements is... Stupid."

Mitsuya sighed, "Apologies for her."

"Don't apologize for me." When did you get off the couch? "How about you let him finish this piece so he can come home to his family at a decent time, yeah? His daughters are tired of going to sleep without Daddy tucking them in."

The club was loud. Too loud. You cursed under your breath at your husband for bringing you along with him. It wasn't your vibe, the whores and half naked bartenders that walked around while rich, old men played card games. Your dress, the one Hakkai told you to wear so you would fit in while still being modest, was swaying around and scratching at your ankles. People were staring at you as you walked through with your heels in hand. It wasn't your fault, the shoes were hurting your feet and Hakkai had disappeared almost an hour ago. You would've already headed home if you knew Hakkai wouldn't throw a fit.

"Black Dragon trash." You hissed under your breath when you finally saw him. He was laughing with his guys, seemingly ignoring the woman massaging his shoulders. Hakkai zoned in on your hips as you straddled his lap, your chest pressing into his face as you got in the woman's face, "Hands off, unless you want to give hand jobs with stumps for the rest of your life."

The fear you instilled in the woman was attractive to Hakkai, and his men noticed as well. It wouldn't have been the first time you'd left them with raging hard ons, and Hakkai sent a glare at all of them.

"Go rub up on someone else's husband, or so help me god the only use that pretty little mouth will have is sucking food through a straw."

[creepercraftguy]

My thoughts on BOWSER VS EGGMAN

This was easily my most hyped matchup thus far. Knowing that we were getting Bowser Vs Eggman this year, I was definitely more excited for this compared to Bardock Vs Omni-Man.

This matchup carries a fucking legacy with it. These are the two most notorious video game villains of all time, and the chance to see them actually bash against each other is something that, for Death Battle, has been a long time coming.

But was the episode good and did it live up to the hype? Let's see.

Everything is under the cut as per normal, because I will be spoiling the episode:

Okay. Short answer?

Yes.

Yes it did.

You want to know what my biggest regret for this fight was in general? The fact that I didn't think to grab a goddamn bucket of popcorn before I watched it because MY GOD.

I!

JUST!

WATCHED!

SOME!

CINEMMMAAAAA!

I'm gonna talk about this in the order that I normally talk about this, which means I'm gonna start by talking about the analysis, but...to be perfectly honest, I don't really CARE about the analysis this time, lol.

I think it's because it's honestly VERY hard to come by someone who DOESN'T know who either of these guys are and what they can do. Like I said, they're easily the two most notorious and well-known video game villains to ever exist. Even if you're not a gamer, no doubt you know who Mario and Sonic are, and by extention, you should also realistically know who Bowser and Dr. Eggman are.

With that said, I didn't really have a problem with either of these analyses besides the fact that they're a little hard to follow. They were intuitive, but it also just kind of felt like STATS STATS STATS NUMBERS MORE STATS MORE LORE STATS LORE LORE LORE!

Besides the overabundance of lore squishing and stat squishing, it's all good and kind of fun, especially in the editing.

Also, for Bowsers segment, it surprises me just how little time they spend talking about Kamek, despite how in the post-analysis, Boomstick mentions that Kamek is one of the largest reasons why Bowsers army triumphed.

And in Eggman's analysis, they brought up the Hard-Boiled Heavies and...I didn't even see them in the fight the first time I watched it.

Most of the limelight in terms of the minions was given to Kamek, Metal Sonic, Bowser Jr. and Sage, and that's kind of what I wanted anyway, but still, why bring them up if they're not going to show up?

And I expect this, and this isn't a nitpick at all, but there are several points where they talk about resources that don't really matter, because they're never actually used in the fight. They CAN use everything, but we'd be here forever if they did, it ultimately comes down to what's their best kit, and who's best kit is better.

But with that said, I will be coming back to this in the post analysis because there's something else that's kind of important that I need to mention.

Either way, what's most important to me with the analysis and post analysis is that bost combatants are respected, and made out to be as powerful as they can be, and for this battle, that was done very well.

Even listening to the stats, it didn't give me a clear indication of who was going to win in the end, and I actually think that's a good thing because it makes me more hyped for the fight.

Okay, NOW we talk about the fight! YES YES and more YESSSS!

I just want to take a moment to talk about the animator for this fight, MORO. With these analyses, I don't really talk about the actual animators behind Death Battle, because I treat all of them with an equal amount of respect, and I will only talk about the actual animator if the battle itself stands out.

And trust me. THIS stands OUT!

I said in my previous analysis of Joker Vs Giorno that I was really hoping that MORO would blow it out of the park with his battle, because that's what I cared about most of all, and holy fucking hell he DID IT and he DID IT WELL!

MORO first started working with Death Battle in Season 10, and no doubt bringing him on to work on the show was one of the best decisions that Death Battle have made in their entire run. Bill Cipher Vs Discord, Gojo Vs Makima, and Stitch Vs Rocket are just a few of his previous battles, and all of them were hype as fuck.

This one is EASILY the most hype though. The way everything happens in this fight, well...I could break it down and...you know what? I think I WILL!

Especially considering that...well, I can't speak FOR him, of course, but I get the feeling that MORO really loved animating this fight, because the thing I wanted to say about the post-analysis is that it features fully-animated scenes of the alternate outcomes, and a post-battle scene of Eggman's forces signing up for Bowser's army, which we haven't seen in YEARS.

I doubt MORO NEEDED to make these scenes, but he still did it because he cared so much about exploring these alternate outcomes, and covering everything that they discussed in the analysis, so they could go over all of them in the post analysis.

Because there are so many ways this fight could have gone, and thanks to this gigachad of an animator, we got to see all of them.

Okay, but the fight itself, and what we DID see in the MAIN sequence. Yeah...It's GODLY!

Something I absolutely loved about this fight was that going into it, we all knew that this was going to be an all out battle of armies, and everyone leading up to this was "This is less of a battle, and more of a war."

And goddamn it FELT like one!

The ambiance of this entire fight, from beginning to end, felt so goddamn chaotic and...honestly FRIGHTENING! Like, this goes above and beyond just the simple cartoonish antics of the Mario and Sonic series. This fight is fucking GRITTY, and EMOTIONAL! With stuff like the grey sky, the copious amounts of destruction that comes as a result of the fighting, the rain, the ambiance, etc.

And no, that's not me memeing. This generally felt like a short war flick, just with silly superpowers in it. There's genuinely a climactic and emotional weight to this fight, and one thing I noticed upon rewatching is that this lacks something that Death Battle is famous for, and yet it still manages to be a fantastic battle anyway:

Blood.

The lack of blood in this episode is pretty surprising, because when the characters die, they die in ways that replicate their deaths in the original games; i.e. kind of just popping out of existence. Even when Metal Sonic runs Bowser through post-transformation, there's no blood. Bowser just collapses to the ground.

And I actually don't mind it!

I genuinely think that even if this is a war, and it feels like a war thanks to the ambiance, if there was loads of blood, it would actually take away from the experience for me. The lack of blood doesn't reduce the impact of what's going on for me, and I think if there was this much gore, they'd be trying too hard. They were trying to make a spectacle of Mario's arch-enemy and Sonic's arch-enemy and their respective armies brawling each other, and they damn well succeeded.

This is very much backed up by the voice acting from everybody, which in general is very well done. Only three characters; Bowser, Eggman, and Sage, (Metal Sonic gets I think ONE line) speak in this. I don't actually know who voiced Sage, but they do a very good job, but even more importantly is Arthur Romeo as Eggman.

I don't know if Romeo was intending to go this route, but I really like that his Eggman impression is more reminiscent of Deem Bristow instead of Mike Pollock. I love Mike Pollock as Eggman, don't get me wrong, but Deem Bristow (for those who don't know, Bristow is the one who voiced Eggman in the Adventure games) really works for this fight because it's not the kind of scenario where Eggman would be the kooky villain that he is in a lot of the modern games, where it's kind of funny to see him fail.

This fight is treated VERY seriously, and the voice really works for it. As for Bowsers' VA, Zack Watkins (an animator who has been with Death Battle for a long time now, with his first animated fight being Batman Vs Captain America) his voice is pitch-shifted because...well, it HAS to be, because you can't really reach that low gruff voice if you don't. But when he DOES get a good line, he sells it really well. The highlight for me is Bowsers rage after Junior gets whomped by Metal.

The fight admittedly starts very weirdly, even if it's pretty funny. I think what was supposed to be going on is Eggman tricked Bowser into thinking he was marrying Peach so that he could get all of his forces in one place to wipe them out at once, which is admittedly cool in concept, but for me at least, I didn't get that on the first watch. It felt more to me like Eggman pulled a prank on Bowser, then announced that he was going to take over the Mushroom Kingdom.

Also, I know that people weren't very happy about the Snapcube reference, but...what's the problem with it? It's a neat reference, but you're not supposed to linger on it.

But yeah, in case I haven't sold it hard enough yet, this fight is brilliant from the establishing shot that shows the two armies and when they launch themselves at each other, right until the end when Bowser deals the final blow. MORO absolutely KILLED IT, and I CANNOT stress that enough.

Like, genuinely, there was so much stellar animation, and so much emotional weight, power, and feeling to this fight that it genuinely made me tear up a little, and I'm not joking. Like I already said, this was CINEMA, there is no other way to express it.

Side note: I genuinely wasn't expecting Infinite to be in this fight, but its hilarious how he shows up for about...10 seconds, does his bullshit, then dies almost immediately, and I...do NOT care, lol.

Honestly, had Infinite been in the fight any longer than he was, I might not have liked it as much. So to have him here to establish how Eggman has the Phantom Ruby and little more was honestly the perfect way to go about it, especially since we get a brief "clash" (I'm hesitant to call it that because King Boo basically just one-taps him) between Infinite and King Boo with their similar abilities.

And I love how in this scene, you can really see the difference between Bowser and Eggman in that, instead of trying to find a way to fight back against Infinite's control, Bowser is instead using his dark magic to protect his minions, and it's up to King Boo to take Infinite out.

That doesn't only show me how much Bowser cares about his minions like they're his family, but also that he TRUSTS them, because to me, it felt like he knew he couldn't take out Infinite without sacrificing his men, but trusted King Boo to do it.

Both Bowser and Eggman are written masterfully in this episode, and I'm glad because they are already such phenomenal characters on their own, and to show both of them for who they really are inside is wonderful, especially if it's done in a way that is this subtle that it doesn't take away from the action.

Just...GOD I LOVED THIS EPISODE!

I don't want to go into a full breakdown, because we might be here for a while, but beyond this opening sequence that shows how both of these sides are treating this war, here's a list of other moments in the fight that I think were absolutely godlike. And keep in mind this is just a FEW stand-out moments for me personally:

Metal Sonic's transformation into Neo Metal Sonic, and the step he does towards the camera before he pounds Bowser's ass.

The scene where Bowser Jr. turns Bowser into Fury Bowser, and Bowser's "SHOWTIME...!" as he transforms. As I said, even if his voice is pitch-shifted, and even if he lacks in the dialogue department compared to Eggman, when Zack Watkins delivered a line, he delivered it in a pristine package with a nice little bow wrap.

Sage throwing a legion of robots at Fury Bowser, and Kamek building a war of pipes to block it - Absolutely mindblowing choreography.

My absolute favourite moment in the fight: Metal Sonic Vs Shadow Mario, being a nice callback to Mario Vs Sonic, and Bowsers reaction when Junior gets knocked to the floor and is badly hurt. The rage in his voice and the blast he lets out that absolutely DECIMATES not just Metal Sonic, but creates a black hole that wipes out most of Eggman's fleet is so Dragon Ball-like.

Bowser shielding his ENTIRE ARMY against the Death Egg blast! THIS is the moment that made me tear up! Like, how could you NOT root for Bowser after this!? The guy absorbed the full blast to prevent his minions from getting annihilated, to the point where it completely shed his skin off his body and almost killed him, but he held his ground because he would rather have DIED than let his army; the people he CARES ABOUT, get wiped out by Eggman. And then the motherfucker comes back swinging anyway and ENDS that bald bastard!

Eggman's death isn't climactic for the death itself, but for what Bowser does to him during the sequence, as well as the actual setting. Again, the animation and choreography for this episode is godlike, but this shot at the end when Bowser is reassembling himself as Dry Bowser ready to deal the final hit, it's important to note that Bowser has his son at his feet, and his minions rallying behind him. They are in the middle of a warzone, many of their comerades have died, and yet they are STILL WITH HIM! And as for Eggman, he has no one. Not even Sage is there anymore. And as Bowser sucks him in for the final blow, Eggman exhausts all of his options, and Bowser counters all of them. Bowser's final line might as well have been "YOU'RE FUCKED!" because yeah, he just was, and Bowser let him know it regardless. (Also, it's revealed in the end that Kamek also survived, despite being knocked into the horizon by Metal Sonic.)

Alas, despite all this grandeur, I have one minor complaint. Granted, it's not a huge one, and it doesn't affect my overall opinion of the fight, but I still feel like I should bring it up.

I understand that it's next to impossible for every single one of these minions to get a time in the limelight, but what was important for me going into it was that Junior, Kamek, Metal Sonic, and Sage all got some time in the limelight to absolutely kick ass.

And most of them did...except Sage.

It's not like Sage did nothing, but compared to Bowser Jr. and Metal Sonic especially, she didn't really do an awful lot beyond throw things, block an attack, and activate the Death Egg when Eggman told her to. Metal was doing most of the fighting and yeah, okay, Metal is built for combat while Sage isn't, but Sage can still fight. I would have absolutely loved to see Bowser's son throw hands with Eggman's daughter though.

Again, it's not enough to completely throw my opinion to the wayside, but had Sage been given more to do, that would have made this episode absolutely perfect.

And overall, my least favourite part about this fight, genuinely, is that it ENDED!

Like, I KNOW these can't go on for more than a few minutes but I didn't want this fight to stop. I could watch a whole MOVIE about these two armies going at it.

More specifically I would watch it if MORO was the one animating it. But again, the guy has done MORE than enough.

And of course, the last thing that I have yet to talk about is the music.

My god the music, especially when it hits in the fight. Remember how I said my favourite moments in this fight were when Bowser rages over Junior, then blocks the Death Egg? A big part of what made those scenes so phenomenal is that the music went full-capital HARD for those scenes!

Like...Brandon Yates! HOW does he DO it!?

I genuinely think Brandon Yates is one of the best music composers of all time, and that's not even an exageration. I love all of the work he does for Death Battle and I love all the work outside of it. I love that the Death Battle crew are lucky enough to have found this man because he, and Therewolf Media too, are a massive part of why the Death Battle fights are so enjoyable to watch. Music makes these fights so good, and the modern episodes are so much better compared to the old episodes where they had to use other audio.

Also, I'm not gonna ignore Victor Borbo and Tyler Anderson who sung the vocals for the track, because they together are, medium, 50% of the reason why it absolutely slaps.

Final thoughts: When this fight was coming out, I genuinely expected that Eggman would win it. But now that I've actually watched this episode, and I got to see Eggman and Bowser at their full potential and doing everything they can to destroy each other, I actually think that had Bowser lost, I wouldn't have been as satisfied.

As they said in the post analysis, Bowser actually cares about his minions. Eggman doesn't, except for Sage. And as I pointed out, there are several points in the fight where Bowser actively tries to protect his minions over trying to take out Eggman's. When he defends them against the Phantom Ruby and Infinite, and then when he shields all of them from the Death Egg. And they REPAY that loyalty and kindness in the end, and are with Bowser during the final blow.

I was rooting for Bowser, but betting Eggman, but after this whole fight ended, I don't care what anyone else has to say about the stats, or whether things add up or not. That Koopa King EARNED and DESERVED THAT W!

It's honestly hilarious how I'm both a Persona fan and a JoJo fan, and Joker Vs Giorno didn't captivate me NEARLY as much as this spectacle did. It's not that I think Joker Vs Giorno is bad; I rewatched it a dozen times. But this fight is hands down the best fight they've done in YEARS! I think it even beats out my top contenders from Season 10.

My last note is the next time:

Okay, I wasn't expecting the 2024 finale to be such a meme matchup, but...I know that this was a thing that people kind of wanted to see, but I'm genuinely curious HOW they scale this with any kind of logic.

My current bet is on the Imposters because they actually kill things and have stuff in their bodies and equipment that are designed to kill, and the Fall Guys are just stupid beans that get knocked around a lot.

So my biggest thoughts about this are 1) how the fuck to you stage a fight between them, and 2) What kind of stats do you calculate?

Like, as a meme, I like this fight, but now that it's an official episode? I don't know, man. I really don't know how to feel about it.

Teaser was hilarious though.

Final score for Eggman and Bowser? 10 out of goddamn 10.

[stromuprisahat]

the reason i cannot excuse the darkling’s crimes is because he has no loyalty to his people. sure, everything he did was to create a better, safer world for grisha, and he did a lot of good things for them, but how many grisha did he kill because they didn’t agree with his methods? how many innocent children did he sacrifice because they were pawns in his plan? how many otkazat’sya that also wanted a better world for grisha did he kill or try to kill because, at the end of the day, his goals were not to make the world safer for grisha, it was to make a world where grisha were the rulers of society and everyone else was left to suffer

This could truly use some quotes, because where's the proof he acted to make Grisha rulers? Outside of him taking the Throne so he doesn't have to ask for every tiny concession?

There's none.

We never see him enacting some law to ensure Grisha dominance or spreading a declaration of that, the only time we glimpse his rule is when he's receiving supplicants, therefore he's at least on some level listening to his subjects even though he could lock himself up in the palace and have anyone bothering him executed.

Hell, if I wanted to be a nitpicker, I'd point out the regime visibly run by a group of Grisha is the illegitimate usurper Nikolai's, since he's constantly parading around all over the country with allegedly Alina-appointed (Mind you, there are no witnesses!) "Grisha triumvirate".

The Darkling has no loyalty to his people? The man, who learns a way to supply inhuman soldiers and immediately replaces flesh and blood with those even though it costs him immensely?! The very same man, who earned loyalty of the majority of Second Army and didn't have to travel around the world, flushing out Grisha in hiding to force them to join him? Don't you think they would've chosen "the better" or at least the new option?! Yet Alina gathered "maybe fifty" Grisha from "hundreds".

Do we ever see him kill Grisha for disagreeing with him?

No.

He kills Sergei- double traitor-, his nichevo'ya kill Alina's joke of an army during a siege- not Grisha as you call it, but supporters of his enemy- and that's it. What do you think a military leader does during a fight? Politely asks to put down the weapons and talk everything through?!

THEY MADE PLANS TO KILL ~HIM~ AND SLAUGHTER ANYONE, WHO'D GET INTO THE CROSSFIRE!

Besides- they were traitors to his cause, supporting the Tsar's sun-summoning puppet. They'd get executed anyway. He just avoided the theatrics that could've been interpreted as Grisha being free game.

Forceful change of regime almost always swims in blood. The Darkling's casualties were minimal. He even managed to get rid of plenty of nobles without endangering peasants.

You want to talk about pawns and unacceptable losses? That's politics and war. You either stand by, or you get your hands dirty. Ever heard of trolley problem? You can't keep everyone safe, and a true leader is the person, who doesn't shy away from nasty decisions, else someone might decide for them.

Which children are we sacrificing here? Is this about Genya again? Because under his leadership children were fed, educated and allowed to grow up before eventually dying on fronts etc. That's more than Ravkan monarchy could say about their general population. Or the new regime about their Grisha.

Where are those otkazat'sya that "also wanted a better world for Grisha"? Because I don't remember any being introduced. Or did I miss some vast socio-political party? The otkazat'sya we see are either indifferent or hostile. There are oprichniki and Little Palace staff, of course, but we don't get to see those aside from one young anti-Darkling mouthpiece, whose mother probably had personal beef with the guy, because how else am I to believe he'd be killing maids and other servants he's gonna need. Unless I'm also to buy he intends to wash his socks himself, while running a whole collapsing country...

If he wanted normies to suffer, then tell me- why would he waste precious Grisha lives to renew Fold crossings, while the Prince Perfect kept bombing supply lines and starving his own country?!

[aeroburning]

Mega Man X is silly (Playful rant)

So I started Mega Man X Command Mission and this opening scene does a good job of setting up the tutorial. Splitting up the party? Makes sense. Keeping it fun and light hearted and some slight foreshadowing that Shadow is bad? I like it.

It doesn't make a lot of sense narratively or in universe though. And that's okay! Mega Man X isn't meant to be super duper serious (even though I try to make it that way :] ) But I just thought this intro sequence was pretty silly. Let's break it down:

You telling me you can't make that jump X? Now gameplay wise, we all KNOW why this is here. It's fine. And to be honest I was in game mode and I didn't care at first too. And you can also argue that they needed to split up to open the gates! They would have had to backtrack anyway. But come on, dude. I could jump that. X could wall jump it, he could do anything, he could slide through the rubble! The gap is right there!

Maybe X didn't want to get his new armor all dirtied up. I get it, you look great man. (Big fan.) But we're past this point. We gotta move on. What else is silly about this scene?

Someone was SHOOTING at them! And NOBODY called attention to this? I know you guys are understaffed these days but isn't that worth investigating?? Ruins don't just have boobytraps that explode! We're not at that part of the timeline yet!!

That door isn't closed yet! Go get them! You don't know what else they're gonna do!

X you're such a nice guy, BUT YOU'RE BEING ATTACKED. Now you could also argue that it's probably NOT a good idea to run out into enemy fire. For all they know there's a sniper out there too. So staying put makes sense. That's not a bad strategy. You should use this time to talk it out with the boys and-

DAMNIT SHADOW THERE'S EVIL AFOOT. Joking aside-- we know Shadow's up to no good after like 15 seconds, and if anything I can kinda give this a little bit of props as an attempt to manipulate X away from the situation. For all we know that was one of Shadow's buds out there and he's trying to keep him alive.

X likes stairs better anyway. Last time he rode an Elevator he almost got stuck on the moon. Hope that doesn't happen to anyone else important in the series. X is a smart guy. Surely he will use his surroundings to properly asses the situation and-

................... Goddamnit X, you doofus.

DONT ENCOURAGE HIM ZERO.

Man I can't wait to have that Shadow guy in my party! That's all for today though. I hope my tone was very clear this was just me teasing and nitpicking a silly tutorial cutscene. I love MMX so much and seeing these guys not knowing how to scale a wall was just really funny. Hope you had a good time reading this as much as I did writing. <3

[purplekoop]

MAJOR Deltarune chapter 3+4 spoilers (including MAJOR secrets) below the cut:

I know I'm not alone in this but I think by far the biggest nitpick to have with Chapter 3 is how much of a hassle it is to get all the secret stuff.

Like, in order to have all the main collectibles (Egg, Shadow Crystal, AND Shadow Mantle), you need to:

S-Rank board 1 (either legit or by earning enough points to cheat it in, which if you don't get the s-rank anyways then you're almost certainly doing it by save editing), then play the first secret board

S-rank board 2 (with similar restrictiveness), then play the second secret board

Sit through the burning city board scene that takes FOREVER and can barely be sped up

Do the entire extremely cryptic Egg process BEFORE continuing to the next step, because you're locked out of being able to do it once you beat the final secret board. At least it's not too tedious if you know to set it up alongside your normal run through of TV World

Do the secret board, including the pretty tricky Nightmare boss, for the shadow mantle

THEN do Tenna (not a bad fight but it's a bit tedious if this is a repeat playthrough for you, which. it will be)

Then, just. y'know. do the second hardest fight in any chapter thus far or Undertale. Admittedly you can get the hang of it, once you get the strategy it's not as insurmountable as it first looks, but it's still not easy.

And you can't do this in any other order, there's so many points of no return where you can lock yourself out of a major step in the chain if you want everything. My first playthrough I could go back and get the egg, but I can't get the shadow mantle. My second playthrough I got the shadow mantle, but since I beat the final secret board I can't do the first step of the egg process. So now I need to play the entire chapter a third time just to get everything in one run, including the super hard fights, only to then need to start an entire new chapter FOUR run and get the (much less restrictive and difficult) secrets there.

I know I've got between 6 and 18 months to get it all done, but it's definitely a bit of a grating point on one otherwise pretty fun chapter and one exceptional chapter, compared to chapters 1 and 2 where you can do anything (other than the weird route) no matter what before you leave their respective dark worlds.

I'll respect it as a design choice on the grounds that "beating" The Roaring God Damn Knight in Chapter 3 SHOULD feel like a big deal that the game very much insists SHOULDN'T be possible, and that this sort of "perfect run first try" shouldn't necessarily be the expectation going into each chapter and is probably a consequence of trying to dodge spoilers as fast as possible and is likely far from intended compared to playing and replaying the chapters at your own pace (an NPC before the first board just about says as much), but it's still. something a little irritating, especially when Chapter 3 is still a very "love it or hate it" chapter even on concept alone.

We'll see how this all plays out going forward, either it'll be less strict in later chapters (4 by contrast is a breeze to find everything you'd want in one run) or if it'll get more complicated and specific as we see where the storylines of these secret items go next, and the requirements to see them to the end become even stricter.

...I'm gonna go listen to Hammer of Justice 30 more times now.

[raccoonsonice]

🚨(SPOILER WARNING FOR DELTARUNE CHAPTERS 3 + 4) 🚨

So I finished up playing the new Deltarune chapters a few days ago and wanted to talk about them. Now I really really liked these chapters, I liked nearly everything about them. So instead of talking about all the stuff I liked I thought I would just take a moment to talk about a few of the things I was disappointed with (or rather, things that I’m disappointed didn’t happen.)

To start off, it seems (to me at least) that we are not going to be getting any more guest party members. It’s going to be the main 3, and occasionally Noelle, and that’s it. Really this should’ve been obvious to me what with only Susie, Noelle, and Kris’s names promoting unique messages when entered as your name, but I was laboring under the delusion that Catti and Jockington would be plot relevant. That was mostly spurred on by that teaser screenshot of the prophecy of Jockington growing the beard (what was up with that anyway? It makes pretty much the same amount of sense in context. My only guess is it’s just a setup for a joke where jockington walks into class in chapter 5 and now randomly has a beard.) but alas, it seems despite their unique dialogue portraits they will remain at the wayside.

The same could be said about Toriel, who despite being at ground zero at the opening of a dark fountain, managed to still miss the entirety of chapter 3’s adventure. Even if not a party member it would’ve been cool to see a little more of her, or see her reaction to Ralsei’s existence, etc, but I guess not. And on the subject of Toriel, I was also disappointed by the lack of a Chairiel darkner. It just seems like kind of a no-brainer, right? The object is already being personified by having been given a name, so why not fully anthropomorphize the thing? I’ll admit that Chairiel becoming a throne to match Toriel’s queenly dark world outfit was neat, but I still would’ve preferred getting to meet Chairiel in person.

Finally I want to talk about castle town. The castle town segments are some of my favorite in the game, and this time around was no exception. I just really wish we got more than one of them. Not getting to see any of the chapter 4 darkners during a castle town segment was a huge bummer. And while this is now about to get into a super minor nitpick, I have to bring it up. At the end of chapter 2 in the castle town training dummy area it had a darkner building up a checkered pattern in the corner to make it more “boardlike” for the other darkners who lived on the great board in chapter 1. Because of this I expected that with each subsequent castle town visit, the board area would grow. However, the next time we got to see castle town in chapter 4, this plotline was seemingly abandoned and the checkered spaces were no longer anywhere to be seen in that area. The closest thing I can think of that could be seen as a continuation of this is that there’s now an offshoot of Lancer’s room where him and some other darkners were constructing an area that resembled a chapter 1 environment, but even then it was based off of the field of hopes and dreams rather than the great board. Won’t somebody think of the ponmen?!

Anyway I’d like to once again reiterate I’m not trying to hate on the new chapters, they were super fun. Just figured I’d talk about my very few grievances. If there’s anything you wanted to happen in chapters 3 and 4 that didn’t, feel free to leave it in the comments or the tags.