#at least I think it was an artbook...

[zestyderg]

I weep for the fossil fighters merch that exists in my dreams but not reality

[stil-lindigo]

your favourite arach-narchists 🕷️

prints

[whatudottu]

Welcome one and all to my version of the party's loopified designs, featuring my many broken bones and blood stains I especially put into Odile who I tackled second unlike the alphabetical order that I have presented here! I'll have in-depth discussions on each designs and matching practice portraits under the cut but before that-

Siffrin 'barely taller than a preteen' no middle name no last name Loop is still barely taller than a preteen but now that preteen can claim fire to their height!

Alphabetical order GO!

Bonnie, who I've been calling Bonfire (which if that ends up being their name I can imagine Bonnie calling them 'Fire' while they call Bonnie 'Face' to match), was the last of my designs because frankly I knew from the start what their design was going to take influence from and also knew I was going to draw fire :P They were based on bonfires (of course) and also specifically the Burning Man effigies just for a humanoid figure, plus being a chef cooker and a campfire and also a very heated expressive person.

Their flames are hot but not actual wood burning so the Favour Tree (and Mirabelle in the height chart) are not at risk of combusting, they're just incredibly bright-

Isabeau my first design, with influences from @basilpaste 's Lock (with a dressform body) and @nullapophenia 's original version of Husk (the faceless identityless sketch), I have combined them both to make a mannequin it/its loopified design that finally gets to be capital T Tall all for the low low price of being Changed against its will and suffering another bout of body dysphoria that it can't fix anymore :) :) :) When I was referencing mannequins I actually noticed how long their legs actually were let alone how they were perma-stuck in that Barbie-like highheel pose and thought why don't I just curse Isa with something he previously wanted :P

Something something Isabeau actively Changed not only his body but his personality to become someone he wouldn't be ashamed of, yada yada Loopsabeau is back to hating itself and has started to become a person it despises to match (also like a mannequin it's head and arms are technically painlessly removeable :P)

Third in order and third in design is Mirabelle, who technically is the only loopified design with technically hair and clothes, but the hair are the tangled roots of the Favour Tree and the clothes are like the carved hardstone statues of religious figures :P Initially my Idea for Mirabelle was to make her kinda like her statue, with the wonky expression of someone who made it without much mastery over details, not to pit anything against Mira, no, no. Thought about maybe abstract statue design but I couldn't find a version I liked but I did always imagine her statue being weathered in some way, there was a reason why I saved her for third I couldn't pick what I wanted. But then I remembered the broken Change God statues, thought about the 'blessing' that ended up being a curse, and then thought about overgrown weathering and gave her the roots.

I actually looked up Black hairstyles and mostly wondered what specific hair texture Mirabelle had (she wears it in a fro of course, but she has flyaways that aren't coils, but she described her own hair as kinky and :P) so that if I were to mimic hair with tree roots I can get an appropriate matching hairstyle (settled on megatwists). Hah, if Mira has 4C hair, considering how long her hair actually looks, if she to wear her hair in twists she might actually have elbow length hair :P

I spent 8 non-consecutive hours on Odile can you tell? Can you see my hands bleeding my wrist breaking my eyes drooping? Yeah so Odile was again, my second design and it took me a week to recover, and she's a combination of gem and mirror suit with all the little fragments floating around her the 'diamonds' that represent all her family members party plus the ones she originally had in sets of 2. I also put geodes where parts of her body have broken off (inspired by how when the King strikes she can't move, plus also being a glass canon) where when I was actually drawing those geodes that they kinda use the Change symbol?

Circle within a circle within a circle, regardless of how wiggly it is, and at the centre is a cluster of crystals. That was an accidental reference to Odile's mixed heritage but hoo boy what a connection! Her missing pieces are a combination of 'being too old for this' fragility and also 'i didn't want to render more mirrors sue me'

Anyway I am going to put my wrist in a cast and imagine loopified party members with their pre-wish counterparts :P

[triangle-strategy-notes]

Glenbrook's Crown City Concept Art

Some concept art for Glenbrook's crown city! Translation notes and id under the cut. Here's a link as well to some of the Whiteholm Castle translations I did a while back, since a lot of these pages sort of bleed together subject-wise.

Translation notes:

I couldn't tell exactly what the label on the fish/meat stall was saying. It was definitely "______ shop", but I couldn't make out the characters well enough to say what the first word was. I went with "fish" mostly because of the context of the image beside it.

"Router" appears to be literally the phonemes "Ru Ta", which the dictionary I use translates as "router." However, it could also be interpreted as something more like "Luther" or "Luta". I'm not really sure what the intention here was. Maybe "router" is being used as a synonym for "hub"? Or "Luther" was an early name for the city? I left it as router but there's probably a better translation.

ID:

[image id: Several pieces of art from the Triangle Strategy artbook, primarily of Glenbrook's crown city. The first image is of a distant overhead view of Whiteholm Castle, Whiteholm Bridge, and the main plaza area of the crown city. On the same page, there is an up-close look of the plaza during some sort of festival, with people in the streets. The English translation of the caption for both images reads, "This is a shot of each of Glenbrook's visitable sites. I wanted to include an ordinary medieval European cityscape in one of the three countries, so Glenbrook ended up playing that part. (Tatsuaki Urushibara)". On the next page, there are three images of a street in the city labeled "Normal" (with no decorations), "Ceremony" (with banners and performers), and "After being taken over by Country B" (with a gray sky and a visibly damaged bridge/boats). There are also many labeled objects, such as a statue of an unspecified goddess, a horse drawn cart, a cart of wine, Glenbrook's banner, and some food stalls. There is also a drawing of decorative plates hung on a wall that is shown to turn into swords after the invasion of Country B. The last page is a very distant overhead of the crown city and the castle, showing the flow of the river from the top left to the bottom right, with the castle situated on an island in the middle. There are labels for a floodgate to the top left, a "black market trader" on the northern shore of the river, a moat around the crown city, and fields that surround the city.]

[randomnameless]

It's always interesting to see how UO gives to its local church a neutral role in the world - dare I say neutral good as in the faith is cited by some characters as their source of inspiration and strength to endure the various events the game puts them through...

And then, apparently, the decision of not having the option to kill Sanatio is controversial?

albion thoughts under the cut

Albion was undercooked because bankruptcy and all, and I already wrote a bit about the general wtf of that arc that can basically be summed up as "Scarlett's dad told his two right hand men that his daughter is away/in hiding and made them swore to never reveal anything about her to anyone, including themselves", so when Scarlett's dad kicks the bucket, they both know a heir exists somewhere, but they can't trust each other and have a fall out instead, which leads them to fight and, ultimately, to the "plot" and "antagonism" of this arc.

Sanatio's basically in charge of the Orthodoxy - Nigel is in charge of its knights? - and the Pope's second.

Pope told Sanatio Scarlett exists and went away for a "mission", but never told him where she was sent to - something only Nigel knows.

The Pope kicks the bucket - given how Galerius laments his death in Cornia, I doubt Arant was killed by his goons or something after unlocking 5 out of 6 sanctuaries, that's why he's super happy that they finally found Scarlett to unlock the last one - and then Sanation, as the de facto dude in charge of Albion is faced with a dilemna.

Not knowing where Scarlett is, he either reveals to his people and the faithful that the Pope is dead and is line is extinguished - which would send the faithful and the people of Albion in disarray because 1/the pope and his line are revered/sacred in Fevrith's religion 2/the orthodoxy falls apart, including the local churches etc etc, and we see and are told that the faith is the only thing some people rely on to withstand and survive the Zenoiran invasion -

Or Sanatio hides the Pope's death - asking Baltro to sort of preserve his body from decomposing too much - thus lies to the people of Albion and the Faithful, but at least they can still have faith/believe that somehow things are going to be better, and the Church is still, somehow, allowed to do its stuff (Zenoira apparently doesn't mind the church helpind people and doing Sharon things).

"But that means working with Zenoira, the ones who invaded his homeland and the baddies of the verse!"

Having replayed that part in Bastorias, we have a NPC who's basically telling us that while Albion apparently "accepted" to work with Zenoira, their autonomy is nothing but a façade since Zenoira stationned a good chunk of its army there : in a way, Albion is occupied by the Zenoirans.

Without any clue about Scarlett's survival or location, I suppose faced with "we destroy you and what makes your people withstand our occupation/nonsense" and "you will lie to your people and we won't turn you in minced meat, you'll be left with some degree of autonomy (lel) but we won't kill your people (not overtly at least)", it was basically having him be stucked between two hard choices, but only one meant immediate doom, so it's the one he avoided.

Of course it sucks - and a half baked plot being a half baked plot - means that when the Liberation Army manages to boot Zenoira away from Albion, Sanation's choice to accept the Zenoiran rule, if it means temporary respite for his people is seen as fishy/inacceptable, but iirc his Raenys rapport is pretty upfront : some people resent him for siding with Zenoira, and yet, he picked what was, at that time, the "lesser evil" between the two.

Albion is interesting because it's one of the few recurring motives in this arc, and it contrasts well with what we saw in Cornia in the beginning.

Clive's rapports with Joseph are all about him coming to terms with what his father did - and how it wasn't useless - even if it mean his and his family's death : he fought and resisted against Zenoira. Clive himself seems to have little love for the lords who "turned against the crown" and sided with Zenoira after the invasion.

We could have had a confrontation with Monica (and Melisandre!)'s pov, because Monica's grandpa apparently supported Zenoira under the promise/assurance that Galerius and his army were going to let their people alive/alone if they sided with him (as much as Zenoira follows on those kind of promises lol). But then, it's revealed that Monica's grandpa was actually supporting, in the shadows, the Liberation Army.

In the last arc of the game, this is echoed again through Jerome - the knight who bakes sweets. Sure, there's not a lot to say about him since we recruit him so late in the story, and he has nearly no rapport convos to flesh him out : and yet we see in his mission that he is a local lord who is very much appreciated by his people, but immediately surrendered when Zenoira invaded Albion, instead of fighting them (like Fodoquir!) because if he surrendered, it'd mean his people would be spared.

And they were untouched (apparently?) by the Zenoirans.

However, Jerome still thinks he deserves to die (Alain can execute him if the player wants to be an ass I guess) because, even if it was for his people's sake, the thing is he still worked/accepted the Zenoiran rule.

Interestingly, in an era where some people cry everywhere they want "morally grey" settings, it's the second time that when some characters are faced with impossible dilemnas, some part of the fandom revile them for picking a "wrong choice".

in both cases, those people are in charge of that setting's major religion, maybe it's just a coincidence?

Clive wonders if his father made the right choice to priorize "the cause" over "his people", when Jerome immediately abandoned "the cause" for "his people".

and then you have Fodoquir who abandons both when his people sacrifice his son

I guess I'd really have appreciated a rapport conversation between Jerome and the Cornian knights, but VW ran out of time/money.

[phagodyke]

genuinely so devastating to finish my flcl rewatch and pull up the tumblr tag confident that everyone else is also down cataclysmic for haruko and posting abt it but *crickets*

[vamprisms]

my cat frew up :(

[loregoddess]

I am way, way too excited about fictional dead moms who may or may not have names, if I'm being honest.

[ramenheim]

My predictions for hirogaru include a reveal of a precure fusion form/fusion attack; and I am mostly basing this on Prism and Sky's matching asymmetrical earrings + colour palette.

[ricoka]

I don't exactly know when I started sketching and drawing in various sketchbooks at the same time but it's the most dissatisfying habit I've gotten into

[superconductivebean]

The wiki doesn't take into the account the Auror training programme despite it being explicitly mentioned by Aesop himself in the game.

That programme implies 3 years of training.

Depending on when Aesop finished the school (17-18) and when he would finish the course (21-22), it'll make him at least 36-37, maybe even 38, if you count all possible max late dates, in 1890.

However, that memo we find in his office only states he is among the new additions. It doesn't say it is his very first field work or that he was a newbie by the time Dec 31 1875 rolled around.

I highly suspect he chose that memo because it has MC's birth year, or, at least, it's close enough to just to tell them he'd been already an Auror when they were only marching under the table — if they even knew how to walk. If he's not 36-38, he must be older, not younger.

Hate to ruin the dilf vibes Aesop Sharp gives for everyone but today I found out that there's a massive possibility (at the very least) he was 32 in 1890-1891 during the time of the game. 😭

It says he was born in 1858 or a little before so he could be in his later thirties but I for real thought this man was pushing 50 omg. 😭

[vashtijoy]

have you seen the commentary from the p5r artbook going around? the shuake part of my dash is losing it a bit at the implication that their wishes were mutual!!! that seems to be what some people are getting from the commentary at least… amy insights?

Hi! I have been through the artbook. It's great, isn't it? :D

The image above is called "One Ending", and the creator caption (by illustrator Akane Kabayashi) reads:

When I think about how Akechi's wish was to play chess after school with the protagonist, I almost want to call him out with "You liked him after all, didn't you!"

Look at that. We're told about Akechi's wish, and what it included. We're as good as told outright that he likes Joker—and this isn't the only time, there's also this:

—There are a whole lot of things we can imagine, based on how the protagonist was depicted as someone special to Akechi. Those are more or less the exact emotions represented during Akechi's confidant. (Mumon Usuda, chief designer)

"someone special" here is 特別な存在 tokubetsuna sonzai—literally "a special presence". It means a special person, and more than that; it describes someone you find compelling, someone you can't look away from, someone who becomes one of your most important people, the centre of your world. It's another term that is often romantic, but isn't necessarily romantic.

(In the same way, I think Kabayashi's suki jan! is more tongue-in-cheek than it is a cast-iron confirmation that Akechi was canonly in love with Joker. The language there is teasing, it's ambiguous, it's baity; Kabayashi is joking. This is a rank 6—as they say, if you know, you know. But it is of course ultimately up to all of you.)

There's another mention of this image, down in the creator interview:

Out of all the Maruki ending illustrations, it was Akechi's that stuck with me the most. It made such an impression to see them opening up as friends, having a fun, peaceful time together like high school students should. (Mumon Usuda, chief designer)

What really strikes me in all of this is the emphasis the creators put on the fact that this is Akechi's illustration, Akechi's wish. Because I've thought for a while that we know Akechi has a wish. You can see him struggling with his refusals to Maruki in the first week of January. And you can hear his wish spoken—when Maruki repeats it back to him, during the boss fight, on 2/3:

Maruki {F1 81}君たちとなら、君も過ちのない道を歩めるかも知れないじゃないか！ {F1 81}-kun-tachi to nara, kimi mo ayamachi no nai michi o ayumeru kamoshirenai ja nai ka! If you're with {F1 81}―kun and his friends, you could begin to atone for what you've done! Think about it! With [Amamiya]-kun and his friends beside you, you could choose a path with no mistakes as well!

So this wish has several parts. First, there's that kimi mo, "you also"; it's tempting to read this as Maruki also wanting his new world to erase his past mistakes. Second, there's the first part, "if you're with [Amamiya]-kun and his friends". Where to even start here?

Being with Joker and the others is a prerequisite for the second half of Akechi's wish. It doesn't just coexist, it enables the rest of it. Just like his words in the engine room, "I wonder why we couldn't have met a few years earlier, [Ren]..."

Remember, Akechi's whole arc is about his rejection of trust and friendship, and his insistence on doing everything himself. This is precisely what Futaba calls him out on—"you trusted no one", or "you played life in single-player mode". This is what he unlearns at the climax of the engine room, when he realises he isn't prepared to let the others die—and follows through to save them.

Akechi is nothing without others, and he knows it. Without their support, which he believes he has no right to, he has no hope of living a better life, even were he to be given the chance—and he knows that, too. He has learned, and he has grown—and yet he knows the things he needs and wants so badly are forever inaccessible.

And his wish is about all the Phantom Thieves, not just Joker. There are many tiny references to this end—not least the original Japanese rank 10 line for his confidant, where he sacrifices himself for all of you. Joker is his compelling presence, his someone special, but he's formed small bonds with the others too, God help him.

and then there's the crime thing

The localisation frames Akechi's wish in terms of atonement, but that's not what's on offer. You cannot, after all, atone for things you never did. We see Akechi's wish put into practice, in the Maruki ending, where he appears with his friends beside him, wholly innocent and with unstained hands. And we see it in the first week of January, after he has finally met Maruki and spoken to him:

Akechi: Ah, that reminds me—there was one more thing I wanted to tell you. Akechi: About the reality Maruki's put us in... Akechi: It seems that Okumura and Wakaba are both considered alive by all accounts. [Ren: They're not dead anymore? / What do you mean?] Akechi: They aren't mere illusions, or cognitive beings—they truly are alive and existing in this world. Akechi: In fact, their deaths seem to have never taken place at all in this reality. [Ren: What happened to Shido?] Akechi: Shido was the only one arrested on the crime of attempting to overthrow the government... Akechi: It seems the Phantom Thieves were causing a stir in this society as well, but there's no record of your arrest now. Akechi: Basically, in this reality, you and I haven't committed any crimes.

While Akechi still remembers his crimes, they never took place. They have been undone, and only his lingering memory—and Joker's, at this point—speaks to them. He objects to this on countless levels, he summons all the strength he has to refuse it, but don't make the mistake of thinking that means he doesn't want it. This is Akechi's wish in action.

People are often very certain that Akechi's resolve in the third semester is like iron—that he rejects Maruki's offers right away, is never tempted, never wavers. But that can't be true. We know he's afraid to die. We know about the bad end where you don't complete the Palace, where Akechi says nothing and stares at the floor, seemingly blaming himself internally while all the others blame themselves aloud, for being unable to say no to Maruki's temptations. We know how he responds to this assertion of Maruki's—Maruki, who has perfectly summed up what we know all the other PTs wanted, and who (even if Word of God hadn't just confirmed Akechi's wish) we have, honestly, no reason to doubt.

Because Akechi never refutes this wish that Maruki describes. He never says he doesn't want it. He just rejects it—like all the others, who so desperately want what Maruki could give them. Futaba's mother, Haru's father. Akechi's life, and his innocence. And the people who might have been his friends, if he could dare, one day, to ask.

Akechi is tested just like the others, and the price he pays for his defiance is perhaps the highest of all.

and finally

[The Maruki ending illustrations are] of Maruki's world, where everyone's wishes are granted and they seem happy. The scene shows their actualised wishes, which were never granted in the real world. (Mumon Usuda, chief designer)

We shouldn't forget the price Akechi pays for his impossible wish. Sure, the vision of himself being altered like Sumire clearly haunts him, and I'm sure it made the choice easier—but I don't think it made it that easy. Instead of taking the dream Maruki offered him, Akechi chose to face up to what he'd done, and who he'd become; at the very end, in the third semester and in the engine room, he always makes the right choice.

And that choice was taken away from him. Agency over his life and death, his own acts, and who he would even be—Joker and Maruki take it all away from him and make him a puppet, just like Shido.

Maruki's ending isn't pretty.

revision history

Click here for the latest version.

v1.0 (2024/03/29)—first published.

[rassicas]

In the splatoon fanbase, there are many misconceptions surrounding the relationship between inklings and water. without fail whenever I mention something related to the topic I'll get replies of "actually the canon is [some popular but incorrect theory]" "no they can do this and this canonically [it's actually a headcanon]" "no its really [something NOA made up]"

so to briefly go over The Facts:

Inklings canonically die when submerged in water. And yes, getting "splatted" is them dying for real, respawning is also an in-universe thing that has existed for at least 2000 years and not just a game mechanic. While the dying in water thing originally came from a game mechanic, it has been repeatedly stated that they incorporated this into the inkling's biology. The water weakness is not because of the water itself being toxic. The reason is based in osmosis. in the process of their evolution, Inklings (and octolings) changed a lot, and one of these changes was the ability to transform between a humanoid and swim form. Doing this transformation requires skin that is a thin, semi permeable membrane [this kind of skin is a trait found in real life molluscs]. The evolutionary trade off is that, because of how semi permeable their skin is, the ink inside of their bodies will bleed out when in contact with another liquid. This is the answer given directly by the series' creator. And here it is confirmed that while the water weakness originated from game mechanics, it is very much became a part of an inkling's in-universe biology. Kind of like how a slug will die if you sprinkle salt on it (for a reason that's almost the same as the inklings), but ultimately needs salt in its diet through the food it eats to live, inklings do drink water and other liquids. Its also not like they touch water and immediately explode, it seems they can wash their hands in it and dip their feet in it and be fine.

Some people think the water weakness is stupid, personally i think its reasonable because Inkling biology is already weird as hell and of how ridiculously advantageous it is to be an ink-based cephalopod. the ink gives them the ability to jump absurdly long distances and cheat death to an extent. they're not losing much by not being able to dunk themselves in water. Anyway point is it sucks that all the relevant canon information on this is one of those japan only things/exclusive to developer interviews and pretty much every time it's brought up in English the localizers make shit up. I plan to make a video about this one of these days, but with how 'controversial' the topic is, and how many little details and connected concepts there are, I've been holding it off because I want to do it right. there's also some specific details that are unclear that I've been hoping would be clarified in the artbook or a dev interview but haven't, I might just have to go for it at this point. for the time being, i hope this post helps clear up a few things!

[muchanmocha]

Oh I'm going to have so much fun excavating this

Difference between Round 5 and Round 7 encounters

The reason for Luka's reaction

Breakdown of what Hyuna's existence means to Luka

How that influences their potential face-off

Luka and Hyuna’s reunion scene. In times past, they shared a bond like no other, but now they’ve gotten used to the years without each other.”

— Round 5 Commentary, Artbook [Translation by @/alnstENG]

The eye contact Luka and Hyuna make in Round 5 marks their first reunion after a long period of time.

Hyuna calmly looks over her shoulder at him, still sporting bruises and blood from the beating Mizi gave him.

Luka doesn't even bother to fully get up, merely staring up at her with his default blank expression as she leaves with his opponent's unconscious body.

Overall, an unusually calm reunion considering the emotionally-charged history between them.

Then we have Round 7.

In sharp contrast to their previous composed demeanor, this time they're both wide-eyed upon seeing each other, visibly affected by the encounter.

Makes sense for Hyuna, an extremely expressive character now standing face-to-face with the source of her biggest trauma.

But Luka? So far he's only shown us 3 types of expressions: blank, smirking, and gleeful. "In shock" is an unexpected addition, especially for someone who prides himself in being trained to anticipate anything that could go wrong on stage beforehand in order to maintain his constant heart rate. This is the most raw emotion we have ever seen from him outside of the strange, flushed smiles he's shown.

Why is he so shocked?

The simplest answer is that he didn't expect to see Hyuna here and now, yet the same reasoning should have applied even more so for the unexpected reunion in Round 5 which presumably took place years after they last saw each other. Hyuna has already crashed his performance once. Could he really not have anticipated her reappearance in the realm of possibilities he considered?

No, I think the key here isn't that he didn't expect Hyuna to be there.

It was the state she's in that prompted his reaction.

A core facet of Hyuna's character is her strength. We've seen that aspect of her reinforced again and again throughout her appearances in every piece of content we're given.

Remembering her trauma from whatever went down with Luka and Hyun Woo is the only time we ever see her weakness, but even then she bounces back with grit, determination, and cheer in All In.

"Every obstacle in my way"

"I've crushed them all"

"Step all over me but I'll rise again"

Luka and Hyun Woo are her only weaknesses. Short of that, she feels almost untouchable, infallible with the momentum she carries with every move.

This is the Hyuna we know, and the Hyuna Luka remembers.

But both we and Luka were wrong.

Hyuna now stands before him drenched in sweat, unable to even stand up straight, hair messed up and all over her face, dark bags under her eyes, and most hard-hitting of all — a gaping, bleeding wound in her side.

How does it feel to have the strongest person in his life, and in the series, stand before him in this condition? Reduced to this before they even faced each other?

His expression says it all.

But wait it's only going to get worse from here.

They're going to force him to face her now.

(The good news is, if they have a special round with their special guests, Hyuna would at least be given first aid and be out of immediate danger.)

A charismatic vocalist with a powerful voice and performance. If she had remained on Alien Stage, she might have become Luka's only rival...

— Hyuna's Profile, Artbook

Hyuna is simultaneously three types of existences for Luka, some potentially more canon or prominent than others.

1) Hyuna is the only person who can give Luka a sense of crisis.

Up until now, Luka hasn't taken any of his opponents seriously, including Mizi (Artbook Commentary) and Till (Patreon).

But Hyuna has been established as Luka's rival since early on and their stats certainly reflect that. She's the one person who has a chance of beating Luka, thereby also being the one threat he could ever face or treat seriously.

The fact that his greatest opppnent is injured now gives him an edge and in terms of survival, it's something he should take advantage of.

However—

2) Hyuna is also the "worthy opponent" he's been looking for this whole time.

Luka chose to compete again on Alien Stage for Season 50. Heperu could have been the real decision-maker here, but even if that were the case, I don't think Luka was unwilling. The stage is the only place he has full control of his life, so returning to it is like giving an alcoholic alcohol after leaving him dry for a spell.

In addition to the regular stages, he's looking forward to facing a "worthy opponent" in the finals (Magazine Interview).

If anyone could construct the perfect performance with him, if anyone could allow him to experience the most brilliant moments on stage, if anyone could be the worthy opponent he seeks... it'll be Hyuna.

The fact that she's not in top condition would certainly put a damper on that.

3) Hyuna is likely the only existence Luka has ever cared about.

Hyuna is the only person from beginning to end that Luka has shown to care about in any way whatsoever, to the extent that he wants to protect her. Of course, with the caveat that she submits.

Luka -> Hyuna [Intimacy 70%, #1]

No. You're just avoiding the current situation. If you were in my arms, your safety would be guaranteed....

Yet circumstances won't allow for that option anymore even in the unlikely situation where she was willing.

We can all see the upcoming death match implied in "Special Guests" — a showdown between the only two contestants to have ever successfully run away from Alien Stage, and the effective two-time reigning champion.

What kind of mental state is he going to go into this match with?

Does he steel himself and place survival above Hyuna regardless of what his past intentions have been? Take advantage of her weakened state for survival?

Does he falter, feet swept out from under him by the one situation he didn't anticipate?

Will he be conflicted for once in his life regarding whether he wants to win? Weighing survival and the safety of the one person he wanted to keep alive? For his victory means her certain death?

Or perhaps the most interesting choice of all.

He remorselessly goes through with it, chasing victory because that's all that defined him up until now, and while Hyuna is important to him — the only person important to him — she, at 70% intimacy, is not more important to him than his most primal instinct to survive. He who looks down on Season 50's competitors for getting caught up in their emotions (Patreon Q&A).

Or so he thinks.

Luka wins. He proves himself no better than his past opponents, losing himself to the basic desire to survive. This realization won't be pleasant.

He also proves himself wrong; it turns out Hyuna did matter to him more than he can reason, more than he thought.

Because despite his rationalization, she is the sole anchor he has in a world where he's made no human connections other than the hollow, baseless ones constructed in the five minutes on stage before his opponents are sent to their deaths. He'll need to continue to live without his remaining anchor in a world where he otherwise exists 24/7 in a micromanaged cage under the watch of Guardian Heperu, a certified control freak.

Thus he crumples before Mizi in their revenge match. Not because of Mizi especially, but because he is now living with the consequences of his own choices.

[brodorokihousuke]

Characters that I like/like the design of but don’t draw at alll/often. At least for Jake, I think i haven’t drawn him at all since 2017 (when RFTA took place)

Might do this again with DGS characters, just didn’t since my artbooks for those game are currently buried

[elaine19day]

Alright guys, I'm here today to address the pictures of the alleged 'new merch' that had been circling around in the English fandom for a few days. See how I said 'English fandom'? Because nobody really addressed it on weibo and XHS yet… at least not to that extent. (Sorry, I have seen these screencaps on tumblr, insta, X and discord, and I have no idea who originally took them, I don't claim to have taken those screenshots, merely providing them here so you know what I'm talking about.)

So what happened? A few days ago a random shop on taobao created new listings that offered a new series of badges and prints/acrylics - not just featuring the 4 main boys, but also He Cheng, Qiu, She Li and… Cun Tou…..?! Now let's take a moment and sit back and think about this for a while. First of all: Why would a random shop that's NOT affiliated with mosspaca in any way post new 'official' merchandise? (Because we can see there's the mosspaca copyright writing on the badges and acrylics, just like it used to be on the previous badge series) Why would this random shop post these things while neither OldXian herself nor her boss, moss, have posted or announced anything via weibo/XHS? Don't you think this is sort of fishy? You don't find this strange, you don't question that at all? Sure, some people said: It's leaked and it will be available on the upcoming signing event on the 29th which OX announced on her weibo. Sure. There is a possibility, of course. They could have a leak in mosspaca studio and some person got their hands on some undisclosed merch and decided to make bank by making a new shop and listing the items for pre-order, hoping they could cash in. NOT a smart choice if you wanna keep your job because such incidents get investigated thoroughly and we all know by now that moss himself is very strict about these things and already has taken legal action against shops before when they sell fake merch as official merch. The other possibility? Old Xian's apple account has been hacked by an outsider and then the same scenario as before applies - that person wanted to cash in before it officially releases.

Now. How has OX handled merchandise before? It was always announced before an event and sometimes even months(!) in advance when they were pre-order items. Also. Have you ever seen Old Xian making merch for Cheng, Qiu, She Li and Buzzcut? Sure, the first 3 have been on some old postcards way back in the day, plus they are depicted in some of the artbooks, okay. But actual merch with them separately? The last badge series had a very limited special edition button with He Cheng. That was super rare. And now OX suddenly makes merch of the 2 adults, plus She Li AND Buzzcut, who's a minor character which barely makes an appearance? (Sorry, Buzzcut fans, not trying to be mean, just wanting to drive home the point that OX creating merch of him is highly unlikely - unfortunately.)

So what can we take home from all the stuff I just pointed out? Yep, there is a high chance that this is not official. It might be fake merch, sold by a random person who used generative AI tools and editing skills to create these things. I mean, sure, some of the pictures look highly convincing, I give you that. But then again, there are fanartists out there who can perfectly mimic Old Xian's style and edit/draw the boys in new poses that make it seem 'real' and official. But then there's THIS. Please take a close look at the way the faces are 'drawn', the way that the eyes are sort of smudged, same as some of the abs, the way Mo's face is contorted in a weird angle, the way the hands look chunky and unreal, and so on. (click on image to enlarge it and see it in more detail)

Weird, right? Well, it's a very common, typical thing for pictures that are generated with free AI tools. Everyone who has tried one or the other and has fcked around with one of those tools out of curiosity will notice.

Also - have you noticed the sheer AMOUNT of things posted from this one random seller? 10 different badges, 12 different long bookmarks (acrylic boards?), 4 couple cards, plus a LOT of other random new things which all feature very old panels from the manhua… When has Old Xian ever released SO MUCH merch at once? Yep. Never. Plus the re-using of old pictures for new merch? Also doesn't make much sense. And there's a lot of the older illustrations being used for these supposed new things here.

So if you take all of this into account, you might conclude that someone is tryna pull your leg here, selling fake merch disguised as official by even slapping the logo onto it to make it more convincing and mimicking how it looked the last time around. Of course - there might be the odd chance that mosspaca suddenly took a 180° turn and completely changed their modus operandi and decided to do things completely different compared to before and that it was leaked after all and meant as a surprise for the new autograph event etc etc etc. Yep. There's a chance that all this is true after all. But there's also a chance that I step out of my house tomorrow and an airplane crashes onto my head. Of course, that chance is *extremely* small. But the chance is there… So there you have it. All I'm asking you here, is to take a moment to think it through logically when you see these things online. And that you don't instantly believe everything that other people post who are always so eager to spread false information just for the sake of stirring up the fandom without ever taking the time to verify their sources. (No, I'm NOT taking a jab at anyone here who posted/reposted these pictures and was confused and/or asked about it. I was just as puzzled as you guys. But I am criticizing those who post it and announce that it's definitely new, official merchandise…) In conclusion: Might be true, but chances are very slim, all things considered. Let's wait until Tuesday when the event takes place and keep an eye on weibo and XHS - let's see which pictures the CN fandom will post when showing their autographs. Then you can check if there's new merch present. If not - well, then it's pretty safe to say that this was definitely fake. (And if this turns out to be real after all, I will make a follow-up post, regarding the AI-looking faces. But you might not like that 'lore' so I will not mention it for now, to prevent possible drama.)