#but i dont want to post any of it until the main story is well in progress
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mythalism · 2 days ago
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on solavellan becoming andraste and the maker, and applying the concept of mantling to dragon age
for the uninitiated, mantling is a concept from the elder scrolls series that refers to the process of a mortal becoming a god by becoming so much like them that they become indistinguishable, and thus, the same. its synonymous with the use of the term "apotheosis" within the same universe, but also distinct, because it specifically involves "re-enacting the Mythic patterns established by the [Gods] until their power is surrendered to the mantler. In the process, the mortal and the deity become metaphysically synonymous with one another, allowing the mortal to claim the office and sphere of the mantled diety for themselves, reshaping them in the process." (x)
sound familiar?
but first, there are several examples of how this works narratively in the elder scrolls universe. one of the best is probably the mantling of sheogorath by the player character in the shivering isles DLC of the elder scrolls IV: oblivion.
at the climax of the DLC, the god of madness, sheogorath, for whom you've been doing quests for for quite a while now, basically reveals that he molded you into someone who could take his place as the Mad God, as his time is running out due to a long running divine cycle of order vs. chaos called the greymarch. its all very mythological and confusing and not really relevant to this but im including these quotes from re-watching the quest (x) to refresh my own memory and give you an idea of the general vibe:
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the realm is crumbling, the cycle of destruction is imminent, and its god bemoans the loss of the world he loves but cannot stop his own demise. the only way to save it is if someone else becomes him - takes the throne, assumes his office, sacrifices their individuality and mortal desires for what the realm needs and mantle it's god...... this is literally solas mantling the maker like cmon!! and if i was in charge at bioware you can bet your ass that rook would've been mantling the dread wolf as thedas' new trickster god as solas took on a different godly role considering how he literally molds rook in his image and TELLS THEM THAT.......... but thats an essay for another day.
the player character of oblivion begins as sheogorath's champion and eventually becomes him, lavellan begins as andraste's herald and eventually becomes her as she walks her path, culminating in her decision to join the maker in the golden city for eternity, effectively uniting their mythology so that they become indistinguishable.
the player character of morrowind also goes through a similar process that the inquisitor does, as a prophesied savior navigating the role that has been thrust upon them. in the elder scrolls III morrowind, the story revolves around you being the prophesised "nerevarine", the second coming of the hero, indoril nerevar, who will cast down the false gods and expel the empire from their homeland. in reality, the game makes it very clear very quickly that no one has any fucking clue if you are actually the nerevarine, but the empire is going to MAKE you into the nerevarine by making you "walk the path" laid out in the prophecy. and thats what the entire main quest is; you re-enacting the prophecy to literally become the prophet that the world needs. the game never answers whether or not you actually were the nerevarine, but at some point, the distinction ceases to matter. you've become them.
you can see how similar this is to an inquisitor walking the path of andraste, to solas being forced to walk the path of the dread wolf and later the maker. whether or not they are one and the same is irrelevant, when you become mythologically indistinguishable, when you become what the world needs you to become, who you were ceases to matter.
in my original post about this i mentioned CHIM as well and CHIM is a very unruly, not even fully canon concept within the elder scrolls. so i dont really want to delve super deep into it because its fucking insane for one but also because it doesn't fit quite as well as the framework of mantling does, but there are a few things said about CHIM in elder scrolls that just feel soooooooo similar to what we see in dragon age that i want to share them because i truly think there is a thread of inspiration to be followed here.
CHIM is basically enlightenment in the elder scrolls universe where someone within the games reaches a state of divine lucidity. its been compared to lucid dreaming by one of the tes devs, or "divine hypnagogia", and the final state beyond CHIM, called Amaranth, allows a character to realize they exist in a video game. LMAO. so when i say solas and lavellan achieve something akin to CHIM i do not mean it literally, i do not think they are breaking the fourth wall and realizing they exist in a video game, nor would i want that. i would actually hate that as a writing decision. but whats interesting is the language that is sometimes used to talk about CHIM, and the way solas and lavellan's ending involves them reaching a sort of peace and acceptance about their place in the world as mythological figures instead of individuals.
i wrote this in response to an ask once and i've reposted it several times and i'm doing it again now because honestly it was the best way to articulate this and i dont think i can recreate it LMAO; "solas and lavellan are at once both finally free of the burdens of the myths and expectations that follow them as the dread wolf and the herald of andraste because they have left the mortal world that forced them into those roles and stripped them of their personhood, but they have also completely submitted themselves to those roles by submitting to the logical conclusion of the myths that they could not escape. for the dread wolf, it is earning his redemption through his willing submission to his own trap. its the logical, full-circle mythological conclusion to the trickster who trapped the gods, now trapped for eternity himself. for the inquisitor, it is andraste's herald finally sharing andraste's fate, choosing to leave the mortal world behind to ascend to the golden city alongside the god that she loves. both (presumably, for a lavellan) have tried to reject the myths attached to them over and over and over, but in the end they choose them willingly, and that choice at once binds them to those myths forever while simultaneously freeing them from the burden of them. its giving oedipal greek tragedy of attempting to outrun your fate and it finding you anyway, just when you thought you were finally making your own choice, but with a hopeful and bittersweet spin."
this is what i mean when i say they have achieved CHIM, as "a state of being which allows for escape from all known laws and limitations" (x) the laws and limitations from which they have escaped are not the confines of a video game, but rather the confines of the mortal roles that they were both thrust into against their wills and stole everything from them, as the herald of andraste and the dread wolf. for solas, i think you can even extend this to him being able to escape the literal physical confines of the body he did not want by returning to 'heaven' (the fade), a place of mutability and possibility, without the laws and limitations of the physical world. for lavellan, we see her make a choice to pursue her own happy ending, regardless of what the world needs (though there is an argument for this being the best decision for the world considering how it will help solas heal the blight, but i think the implication is that she's doing it for herself) after losing her agency, individuality, life and freedom to the role of the inquisitor. as ameridan says, "take moments of happiness where you can. the world will take the rest." and she does. she ascends past the bounds of the physical world, the title of inquisitor, the world that took so much from her, and finds her happiness in transcending those limitations and literally fucking off to heaven. its so great.
so when i refer to lavellan as andraste or solas as the maker, it is in this context that i mean it. i dont actually think lavellan is literally andraste reborn or something, or that solas was literally the maker. i think the maker was probably slightly inspired by solas's deeds like the creation of the veil and black city, but theres plenty in the chant of light that also does not fit him or the two of them at all. dragon age has very intentionally not disproved or proved the existence of the maker, and i think that is a good choice and its far more interesting that way. solas is already responsible for like half of the problems in thedas, connecting EVERYTHING back to him is a bit lazy in my opinion. i think the idea that the concept of a creator borne out of a bunch of different myths across time is far more compelling. so i dont think they are 1:1 the same or a reincarnation or anything, and thats why the concept of mantling works so well in this context.
solas is not the maker, but he has functionally become the maker by walking the narrative path of his own story. lavellan is not andraste, but she has functionally become andraste through walking the path of her own story. its about a sort of narrative and mythological apotheosis, where the world sees you one way to the point that you become that way. it works perfectly in the context of dragon age's focus on storytelling, propaganda, and how belief creates reality.
these two are bound to a sort of narrative inevitability in a way that most dragon age characters are not (except perhaps morrigan. honorable mentions to hawke, varric and alistair) but i think its a large part of why they are so compelling. they are inseparable from their own stories. they are bound by this sort of narrative destiny to serve both the overarching story of the dragon age games, but also the mythological stories within thedas in a way thats almost in contrast to the medium of a video game based on player choice- but i think its intentional, and i also think this sort of narrative destiny functioning as its own trap or prison is part of the reason their story is the strongest part of veilguard. from an essay on fatalism, something that solas himself ascribes to by his own admission "Destiny is not so much a necessary outcome as it is an outcome that is necessary given some larger sense of purpose” (x).
in conclusion: ✓ re-enacting the mythic patterns of andraste and the maker's story via their roles in the world and their decisions, such as leading the armies of the faithful as andraste's did, or shaping the world the way it exists presently and creating the veil and the black city as the maker did ✓ become metaphysically synonymous, via becoming virtually indistinguishable in terms of their role in the world ✓ take their office - by finally reuniting within the black city ✓ reshape it for themselves - by healing the blight and making it golden
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:D
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clown-friend-gt · 5 months ago
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could you imagine a g/t cinderella story? like two characters who meet while they're the same size, but one of them is secretly a giant/tiny? whether it's through a spell or sizeshifting or whatever but for one night they get to go to an event where everyone is normally bigger/smaller than them. and they meet someone there and hit it off but then the clock strikes midnight and they have to run away. but instead of leaving behind a slipper their love interest catches a glimpse of them at their true size just before they get away
imagine a borrower-turned-human shrinking back down to their normal size and slipping back into the palace walls. imagine a giant-turned-human slowly growing back to their normal size and leaving an accidental trail of destruction in their wake? there's so many other possibilities, those are just some off of the top of my head
I have an AU I'm writing that has a few chapters that incorporate some of these ideas, but those characters technically know each other before they meet at the ball. I'd like to see a story where the characters meet for the first time at the ball, so I wanted to share this idea with everyone here. let me know what you think!
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arolesbianism · 2 months ago
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I wanna take a crack at making some fake screenshot graphics for my Sif Odile duo loopers au but I do not feel confident enough in my ability to mimic isat's art style and I also have a crippling fear of drawing backgrounds
#rat rambles#stars posting#I wanna make a thing for odile's parallel scene to the bathroom scene were sif forgets odile's name#but it takes place in the traps room by the wood carving tools which isn't the worst room to have to draw ig but I still dont want to#I could just take the lazy route and just sketch the scene so I can get it out of my head and I probably will#but at the same time I also should draw more stuff with backgrounds even if it makes me want to throw up and cry#but yeah the scene is basically just odile having a derealization moment while thinking abt the wooden odile carving sif made for her#just her looking at it and feeling nothing and trying to look ahead at siffrin expecting to be reminded of what it's supposed to make her#feel and just being met with the same emptyness in her chest as she can barely even recognize the person in front of her until they look#back at her and their expression shifts into a extremely concerned one#does that make sense? idk if Im explaining it well but I hope it makes sense#but yeah smth smth them becoming less real to eachother overtime much to the horror of both#also unrelated but I need to start rotating loop in this au in my head more theres so much to work with here#I have some vague ideas and thoughts but I have been too odile brained to properly elaborate on those in my head#Im honestly just glad Ive finally made an au that I can actually get invested in fleshing out#I havent rly found a good headspace to rly play around with the main cast but this is actually giving me smth to chew on#usually most thoughts I have abt isat just lead to me thinking abt my ocs lol#regardless Im having fun with this au and I hope that I can bring myself to commit to it#also Ive been trying to think of a decent name for this au and Im half tempted to call it from the top or smth but I feel like Im tempted#to call like every story I make that so Im on the fense abt it#especially since thats what Ive been planning on calling the prologue for spiraling upwards#not that I cant just do both but I wanna see if I can think of any alternatives
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wasyago · 16 days ago
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Please more Trail's gone cold au I'm begging you I need it just pour out every thought in your brain I want to hear it
hgdhhfbd i mean, sure why not
everything plot related is in the main post, there's nothing else really to tell. but i could share random details that didn't really fit into the lore drop. again tho, it's a small au and mostly an exploration of the concept, so there's not a lot.
❄️ gem and etho are siblings, i don't think it was mentioned anywhere? blood related and all that, they both have black hair, gem just dyes hers.
❄️ behind the scenes reasons for the order of deaths. generally i picked these three to be the main cast because i suddenly realized pet crew were just dungeon master and his two winners, and that was too crazy of a concept to not do anything with? so, tango as the main guy and actual master of the dungeon had to die first, seeing how he's the cave's favorite. pearl as the main explorer and as the one to unlock all the secrets had to die second, because she had to return to the dungeon / the cave to find out the truth, and she conquered it but never actually got out. and etho had to survive, because he's the "proper" winner and the one who actually escaped the dungeon with treasures.
❄️ lore reasons for the order of infection. tango you already know, but pearl and etho went in at the same time so in theory they had to start experiencing the effects together. but because etho was wearing a mask it did lessen the amount of sculk he inhaled, slowing down the process. wear masks kids!
and, well, you did say you wanted to hear every thought so. i really like the plot point of them leaving tango to die, so im gonna ramble a little about it. even just, the difference in their views on the situation is so satisfying to me. because tango had no idea something scary was happening to him! and for pearl and etho it was a life or death situation. and just-- they were talking about leaving tango and tango obviously, obviously, protested, because what the actual hell??? yes okay he's ill and a burden, but don't leave an ill guy to freeze to death in a cave, what is wrong with them????? or, okay, what is wrong with etho, pearl was against the idea. but, straight up tango did not plan for it to end this way, he had his whole life ahead of him and so many things ha still wanted to do! of course he cried when they left, what else was he supposed to do? thank etho for his awesome decision? be all cool and stoic and sacrifice himself? hell no, he didn't want to die, he never asked for this.
he did die tho, so. whomp whomp 🎺... i imagine he passed before pearl and etho even reached the stairs, so at least he didn't suffer for long. if he had a breakdown about being left alone he probably hyperventilated and inhaled like a ton more sculk, so that killed him even faster. must've sucked tho...
and then pearl, god, pearl.... she didn't encounter any dangers on the way back, since she wasn't trying to escape and the cave had no reason to be hostile towards her. but seeing how she was at the last stage before turning... she probably didn't get to tango before collapsing... not dying just yet, but too feverish and too weak to walk. but if tango was already back, he could very much go and find her. can you imagine the pure horror of drowning in your regrets as you slowly die and then having your supposedly already dead friend appear in front of you all cheery and oh so wrong. i dont know how much of tango is left in that thing, but the image of him sitting by pearl and holding her until she dies is so-- its haunting but it's sweet. and then there's still enough time to catch up with etho.
actually, gahhhh, all three pet povs are their own unique horror story and it's so good.
the horror of having to go through this terrifying experience, and then being the only survivor, knowing full well that the only reason you lived is because you left your friends to die, and there's no way of fixing it now.
the horror of everything falling apart around you because of miscommunication, and then the one time you decide to do it right you end up regretting every single decision and witnessing the direct result of your mistakes come for you.
the horror of being stupid... the horror of losing all control over your life and being betrayed in the moment of your most vulnerability, dying fully and utterly helpless.
this au is so sad but i love it so much...
okay wow that's enough for one post, ask more if you want tho!
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djpachipikachu · 6 months ago
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doodle dump of unreleased aus that r still actively in my Brain Often but i dont post shit about them
⚠️warning for old art and blood and injury drawn and death mentions⚠️
———
magic lily au:
main theme -
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summary is that leo is transported to the samurai rabbit universe instead of his family’s arms through a trifecta of his ninpo, mikey’s mystics that begged for him to be safe, and the ki stone sensing a hero in need
when leo lands in the world, he doesnt know any japanese aside from simple phrases he grew up with; “thank you”, “please”, “excuse me”, “help me”, “i love you”, etc
him and yuichi fall in love and he remains there for a few years ! however . theyve all known since the beginning that the ki stone would take leo back once he was healed. she was clear on the fact he was only there to be helped , not to live there . so yuichi and leo hold off the inevitable, despite leo missing his family horribly and knowinf they think hes dead , despite knowing how selfish it was to have one more day with each other , they avoided the ki stone until they go to the temple together and leo is ripped from the world without even a chance to reallt say goodbye to everyone
uhhh etc etc they were their first and last loves as they were both on the aro spec and didnt have a need to find that kinda love again they just . wanted each other and blehhh
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i have a playlist for it as well ! my oldest au , started since i got into the fandom
UUAU:
[temp name]
my original usagi/tmnt iteration with miyamoto usagi as the main protag ! i still want to create a comic and really officially send this out so i wont spoil a lot, but !
the basis is that usagi lives in a post apocolyptic solarpunk society and is forcibly sent back in time to a cyberpunk city where the seeds of a war have begun to sprout, dropped in the middle of the highest tensions between three turtles and their eldest brother who is on the enemy side
doomed siblings, doomed toxic yaoi, doomed Everything, its inspired by idw and 2003 so what else is there to expect
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only showing the beta design for usagi ! i have a lot of other drawings for this but again, spoilers
historical graves au:
this one is the most recent of the bunch, just putting my version of yuichi for rise into a more usagi yojimbo styled setting ! the story is entirely different from the fanfic and im still working on it But
yuichi is the great grandchild of miyamoto usagi instead of a distant ancestor , so the debt of the shogun’s assassination is that much heavier and Far more dangerous to hold. yuichi and his adoptive little sister, hana, have recently escaped the mass murder and pillaging of their rabbit village (the same one that mariko and kenichi and usagi grew up in) and are on a journey to find their aunt for sanctuary
along the way, they run into a lot of familiar faces, such as the hamato clan , who has karai as their jōnin ! also yuichi gets possessed by jei at some point
hes trans too so he “disguises” himself as a boy to be more hidden as they travel
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ive got one more original iteration but theres like . nothing i want to share from it rn lmao
SOOO THATS IT basicallt !!umm if anyone wants to know more about any of these aus id be happy to answer ! u can request doodles of them too !
if u read this far ily and im kissing you
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clanwarrior-tumbly · 1 year ago
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Heya, this is a somewhat specific Glitchy Red x GN! reader request (romantic or platonic; I don't really have a preference). Feel free to ignore this if it happens to be overwhelming.
So, Glitchy Red. We all know him: a vengeful sentient glitch designated wrong by his creator and left to be forgotten and replaced by the next generation. He's nothing but a lone sentient trapped in the endless sea of mindless NPCs whose purpose is to be controlled by a player.
And then we have a streamer!reader who acts like Failboat: a chaotic, happy-go-lucky, and slightly unhinged individual whose humor can be described as morally questionable. It doesn't help that their chat relentlessly takes (light-hearted) jabs at them and gives them Ls every time they mess something up in the game, as well as having a random obsession with Gex the Lizard.
What if Glitchy Red somehow faceplanted into the Pokémon Violet game and meets streamer!reader, who was doing a Nuzlocke? Maybe Red has a one-sided dislike of them until he grows to tolerate them without realizing it.
I got inspired by this video and one of the works you did, fdgdrsgdgdrg ( https://youtu.be/DQsfj3gvd9I and https://clanwarrior-tumbly.tumblr.com/post/702954957291372544/been-binge-reading-your-poke-pasta-stuff-i-dont )
Omg I wish I discovered Failboat sooner bc that nuzlocke video you showed me was hilarious
THANK you for it <333333
.........
"Yes! We caught the Salandit! Sorry I took you away from your family, bud..but you're mine now. This one's a male but it's fine. He doesn't need to be a Salazzle to be strong and beautiful. All he needs is a name..any ideas, guys?"
Looking to the chat for a brief moment, you saw new comments already flooding in, your viewers throwing out several names you could give your newly-acquired companion (who was likely going to be "sacrificed" at some point).
You've been doing livestreams of the Nuzlocke challenge throughout your gameplay of Pokémon Violet. And while you finished the main game without having to start over, you decided to try your hand at the Teal Mask DLC.
You were still early in the story, but you wanted to take your time with it, focusing on catching one 'mon in each area.
With Salandit as the first you came across, you allowed your viewers to name him, and fortunately an overwhelming majority of them already had one figured out:
"Gex!"
"Gex the lizard!!"
"Who tf is Gex???"
"OMG haven't heard that name in years!!"
"IT'S TAIL TIME!!!"
"I like Gex"
"Okay, Gex it is!" Grinning from ear-to-ear, you named Salandit before sending him out to "kill" all the other wild unsuspecting Pokémon. You just laughed, happy to see your son going out and wrecking havoc and destruction...
Until you accidentally made him target a stronger Pokémon that sent his health into the red zone.
"Gex wore itself out and came back to you!" The message popped up as the poor lizard scurried back to your side, and you restored his health.
Your viewers, meanwhile, were spamming the comments with a single letter.
"L"
"L"
"L"
"L"
"L"
"Oh stop it, you guys." You shook your head, amused. "I misclicked.... you gotta give me a break."
They kept coming regardless, so you put your strongest Pokémon as the first member of your party, deciding to battle a nearby trainer: one of the festival kids, as they were called.
Never before have you had an easier time doing a Nuzlocke run in this game--considering it's entirely free roam and you weren't forced into battles by making eye contact. The only issue was that the level-scaling was odd, and you've lost some treasured Pokémon along the way due to being so unprepared.
Of course, this challenge didn't come without you having to make some sacrifices.
Luckily you only ran into that issue with one gym leader who was more overleveled than you expected, but even then your viewers were relentless with their Ls, skull emojis, and the like.
Now that you've accomplished becoming champion, defeating the titans, besting Team Star, and saving all of Paldea from ecological doom.....you got to relax a little in this DLC.
Hopefully you wouldn't lose anyone by the end of it.
.........
"Oof I definitely could use this Pokémon...and the XP candies. What do you guys think? I'm in a new area so it counts."
"Do it!"
"YESSS"
"No they have to be in the wild!!!"
"What about no overleveled pkmn?"
"Oh, c'mon..it's three stars." You huffed at the last comment you read, shaking your head. "That ain't overleveled. Lemme see who can knock them out in one hit, hang on.."
Backing out of the tera raid menu for a moment, you looked at your roster, before checking your boxes for any "living" Pokémon who could take out the raid boss instantly.
But right as you found the perfect one, you noticed the sky glitching in the background, and after closing out of the menu....something rather bizarre happened:
A brief flicker of light in the sky, followed by an unknown entity falling to the earth. It looked like a person surrounded by glitchy particles--like the ones you'd see in old video games.
Of course, you knew Violet was notorious for its many broken animations and whatnot, but that was new.
You've never seen an NPC glitch like that before.
"Did ya'll see that? I'm gonna check that out really quick.."
Now completely ignoring the comments of confusion, you called out Miraidon to go investigate.....whatever you just saw. You had it speed towards the location, thinking that the mystery entity would despawn by the time you got there.
Luckily, it didn't, but you quickly realized it wasn't some Pokémon or even a trainer who belonged in this DLC.
In fact, he resembled the very first Pokémon protagonist:
Red, although this one had black spiky hair and didn't look anything like the lean kid trainer he was in previous generations.
Even so, this certainly gave you a whiplash of memories..as you recalled doing a Sun/Moon Nuzlocke challenge and were pleasantly surprised to see Red in the game.
And even before that, you did a Gold/Silver/Crystal Nuzlocke and almost lost horribly to him.
Yep..fun times, indeed.
"No way...it's Red again, guys! This is--oh shit, whoops."
A cutscene was triggered, although you swore that you didn't press any buttons. But you passed it off as your excitement over the thought of unlocking a hidden secret in this DLC getting out of hand.
Yet that happiness wore off and became replaced by a feeling of....nervousness.
Especially when you saw "Red's" expression.
He looked nothing short of menacing. Of course, he was usually a silent trainer and held a stoic demeanor...however this iteration of him almost appeared angry, for some reason. A dark shadow was hiding both of his eyes, even as he stared directly at you.
No, not at your player character who was standing off to the side.
But you, the player themselves
For a few moments nothing happened, and you thought the game was broken.
Then a dialogue box popped up, with "Glitchy Red" being the name above it, outright confirming your suspicions.
"Where am I?"
Normally, you would be able to respond with one of two prompts. But the box on the right side of the screen only had blank spaces in them, so you didn't know which one to choose.
You had no time to pick, as they quickly glitched out of existence, and Red shook his head.
"Forget it. I already know the answer...I'm in another goddamn prison." He stared at his hands with a bitter-looking gaze. "Why was I brought here? Why am I....in 3D?"
Besides from his swearing catching you off-guard, you were genuinely perplexed by everything else he was saying--especially the fact that he seemed self-aware, apparently speaking directly to you and able to influence your game.
"Is anyone else seeing this? Chat...?" You muttered, briefly glancing to the chatroom, knowing your viewers HAVE to be freaking out over this-
But there were no comments.
They've all suddenly gone offline due to an "internet connection" issue, and the viewer count was at zero. Even though you were still recording, nobody else was joining the stream.
It was just you and him.
"Sorry, I don't like to be watched."
Looking back at the dialogue box, your eyes widened as you read his response. 'How did he know I was doing a livestream? Is this something new from Gamefreak...? Did I get a bootleg copy of Violet?'
"I can't believe this jerk sabotaged my stream-"
"I can hear you, y'know."
"....w-wait..seriously??" You adjusted your headphones and the mic, seeing him nod. "How can you do that? And why are you in my game?"
"That's what I'm trying to figure out."
"..I feel like I'm going crazy. Am I going crazy-?"
"Enough questions. I'LL be asking them from now on."
Without warning, Glitchy Red turned to your character and put his hand around their throat, as though attempted to strangle them. Much to your horror, they didn't react with any emotion whatsoever...although upon making physical contact with them, their body began glitching.
It was the same particles he had around himself.
For some reason, you began feeling an intense pressure on your own neck, and you put a hand to it, eyes wide.
'What kind of voodoo shit is this?!'
"So this is what they replaced me with, huh?" He cocked his head to the side, grimacing. "It's bad enough that brown-eyed kid did, but...what generation is this?"
You snapped out of your shocked state, fearing that he'll end up corrupting your whole save file if you made him any angrier. 'I better play it cool and just answer him...'
"You're in um...Generation 9. Pokémon Violet."
"....Gen 9? I've skipped over that much? Interesting...who the hell is this, then?"
"M-My player character. Pokémon's come a long way, so now we can uh...customize our protagonists and change their looks entirely."
"...I see." He let go of your character, who thankfully stopped glitching, before his gaze went to Miraidon. "What the hell...this thing is a Pokémon, too?"
"Believe it or not, yeah. It helps me get around the map waaay faster" You chuckled as he stared at the futuristic dragon type with curiosity. "If I can tell you one thing about it...it loves sandwiches. Just say "sandwich" and see how it reacts!"
He just scowled at you, not appreciating your sudden cheeriness. "Does it look like I'm in the mood for jokes?"
"What? No, it's not a-"
"Then tell me everything about this game, and don't give me any useless crap."
.......
Glitchy Red ended up tagging along in your character's adventures throughout Kitakami. But it was really just him listening to you explain the game in further detail, alongside showing him how battles work.
Obviously, he was very much new to this generation given he was from an ancient bootlegged version of Red, so you had a lot to share. He seemed flabbergasted by fairy types, tera raids, etc..although you did remind him that he wanted you to tell him everything.
His only response was a scowl and making the Pokémon you wanted to catch flee, but you expressed no hard feelings.
In fact, you became less terrified and more thrilled that you were actually speaking to a video game character--and what luck you had for it to be Red, of all people! (despite this version being a grumpy sentient glitch who acted like YOU put him in here)
At some point, the chatroom came back online and your viewers returned, expressing concerns about why you went offline out of nowhere.
However the tone immediately shifted to Glitchy Red the moment they noticed him on-screen, and the comments practically exploded..or at least for a short time:
"Red????"
"Is that Red?"
"Did u unlock a secret character??"
"OMG GLITCHY RED FROM FNF???"
"Wtf hes not from fnf bro"
The flood didn't last long as he forced the comments to switch off, and he made it clear that he didn't want them on again. And he demanded that you stopped recording, too.
He accused you of trying to "use" him for entertainment...which spiraled into him ranting over being in a similar situation back in his old game where he had no choices and was forced to see things he didn't wish to (and even projecting onto your own character a little, too).
It caused him pain and nobody cared, he said.
But now?
Now that he has more power, free will, and the knowledge that he's no longer any player's character to control, he felt liberated.
Of course, he was angry about not being totally free from the video game realm..but this was better than being stuck in that broken cartridge.
He'd rather die than go back to it.
With all that's happened, he thought you would've been more scared of him and what he could do, or even angry that he sabotaged your livestream and messed up your experience with the DLC.
Yet you seemed totally unbothered by his presence now.
You were actually....happy to talk to him, and he didn't know what to make of this. So he just acts completely disinterested, his scowl never leaving his face as he judges pretty much everything you do.
He does, however, start to see the slightly "darker" side to your cheery attitude as you explain the general rules of Nuzlocke challenges--and the ones you've set up for yourself in Violet.
All the while, you're letting Gex mercilessly crush an outbreak of Cutieflies, laughing and praising him for his "kills".
As Glitchy Red watches, he suddenly wonders if you really have gone crazy...and it amuses him a little.
After spending some time progressing through the story, you began to notice that he disappears during the normal cutscene and doesn't disrupt them in any way. He could have easily ruined your first experience with the DLC.
Yet..he stayed out of the way.
His excuse was that he kept "fighting with the code", but you didn't buy it.
He was growing soft...although obviously you weren't going to say that to him.
............
After attending the festival of masks and meeting Ogerpon, you decided to set up a picnic somewhere near Oni Mountain. It was the perfect spot where you could see the other areas of Kitakami.
With your character wearing a jinbei and their own mask, you called out all six of your Pokémon, allowing them to run, play, and sleep.
At that same time, Glitchy Red showed up on-screen. And you were surprised to see him wearing his own red jinbei, along with a Pikachu mask.
Of course, you should have expected that.
"Nice outfit, Red." You chuckled. "I'm stuck with the green one, unfortunately."
"I had to datamine for this..and yet you tout about "customization" like it's the game's best feature.." He scoffed.
"Never said it was, but anyways..." You pressed ZR to summon a ball for your Pokémon to play with, smiling as they did so. "I gotta take care of these guys."
"Is that what you're doing?" Sitting on the bench at the table, Glitchy Red looked all around, watching your character interact with each of them. He noticed the hearts over their heads, prompting an eyebrow raise.
You didn't answer him, instead cleaning the dirt off Miraidon and watching the electric/dragon type shake itself dry, looking happy before it went back to taking a snooze.
Then he notices your character scrubbing soap onto Miraidon, before washing it off with a showerhead. The electric/dragon type growled happily as it shook off the water, a little music note over its head.
"What's the point of doing all of that?"
"To restore their HP, gain XP, and boost friendship levels." You explained. "I try to raise that as much as possible, because if you're best friends with your Pokémon..there's a chance they can survive a fatal hit. The game likes to say they don't want me "feeling sad"."
"...but if they were burned or poisoned, it would be useless." He remarked.
"True, but it's saved me a lot during my Nuzlocke run of the main game's story."
"I suppose it did...why do they name it after a Nuzleaf, though?"
You shrugged. "No clue. I just saw the challenge trending again and decided to hop on it."
".....you've been taking my presence rather well." He pointed out, his eyes becoming more visible now that his shadow wasn't as prominent. "At this point, they usually abandon me, or try to destroy the game...or send it to someone else begging THEM to destroy it."
"Well rest assured, I don't plan on doing any of those three things." Leaning back in your chair, you sighed. "I'll admit, I read a story like yours once as a little kid and it scared the hell out of me...."
He scowled darkly, which was a rather humorous contrast to the smiling Pikachu on his mask.
"...but now that I've gotten to know you better, I..do wanna say I'm sorry you've been treated that way for so long. It must've been lonely for you."
Then his gaze softened, and he looked down at the ground, shoulders slumped. "It was...hearing the same NPCs repeat the same damn lines over and over again was like torture. I kept wondering...why me? Why did I have to be the only one to wake up?"
"I don't know, Red..." You frowned slightly, hating to see him this way, although you perked up after getting an idea. "But I do know what'll cheer you up."
Glitchy Red looked back up at you. "What could you possibly have in mind? Don't tell me it's a stupid sandwich-"
"Agiaaas?"
Hearing the soft growl of Miraidon, he turned to see it now sitting in front of him, staring as though patiently waiting to be fed. And for a moment he seemed genuinely startled, still forgetting that he could be perceived by the Pokémon in this world.
It was actually kinda nice.
Although he abstained from petting it, fearing that he could accidentally corrupt it with his glitches, the legendary didn't seem to mind it one bit.
Instead, it just curled up at his feet, little bubbling z's floating over its head as it fell fast asleep.
'I guess it really does like the word 'sandwich'..'
"Why don't I show you the art of sandwich-making in this game, Red?" Your character went over to the table. "I'll tell you how this makes Shiny hunts easier...but you gotta promise not to laugh at my stacking skills."
For a second or two, he didn't say anything.
Then he stood up and put his mask off to the side of his head a little bit more, allowing you to fully see his face.
He seemed more relaxed, barely holding back a smile.
"I can't make any promises, but show me. I'd like a Shiny Pikachu."
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thenightwolf51 · 1 year ago
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So i just read this post about the Bats being Warlocks with Danny as their Patron and its super great, amazing work @aziraphale-is-a-cat and @percyisawesome
At first i thought Lady Gotham was going to be their Patron, because i immediately forgot i was reading a crossover, and that sparked an idea.
What if Lady Gotham doesn't exist and Phantom was the Gotham city spirit.
So DPxDC idea where Phantom was the first recorded Hero/Meta way back before the Justice League members were even born, because i love those stories, but if course no one knew that back then. Metas weren't a thing yet.
So things go as canon but eventually the GIW get worse and worse, especially as more and more of Amity becomes Liminal from ambient ecto leaking from the portal.
And the GIW, way too confident with the Anti Ecto Acts in place, decide that Amity Park is a lost cause. They launch a major attack the town and destroy the portal in the process.
And even though i think the surviving Amity Parkers would buckle down, stand strong, and rebuild their town. For the sake of this idea, lets say they don't do that.
Instead the survivors band together and decide they need to leave, get as far from the GIW's main base of operations as they can.
They go right.
They end up in Gotham, New Jersey.
Now, im messing with the timeline a bit. I still kinda want the DP parts to be early 2000s, maybe late 80s/early 90s at the least, so the uniquely DC events im pushing to later in time a bit.
So lets say Gotham, while still pretty old and with its history and subtle curses, never really expanded into the huge city we normally think of. No towering skyscrapers or really any huge buildings, is barely a small city at this point.
And then an influx of new residents from the west cause a need to expand. Over the generations the former Amity Parkers help Gotham become what we know in Bruces time. By then they're just Gothamites, and if their subtle limiality is to attribute for the modern Gothamite's durability and the eventual rogues' whole... thing well its been way too long to place blame on that random group of refugees.
And where was Phantom in all this? Watching over his people. The portal and his family are gone, he cant be Danny because the survivors believe he died when FentonWorks exploded, all he really has at the moment is these people who's lives he believes he inadvertently destroyed.
So he watches over them, then their descendants and the seemingly unfortunate people of their new home. This little city has afew old curses that are holding the residents back and making them miserable, its the least he can do to take some of them on for himself, just make things easier for the people.
Eventually the city becomes his new haunt, becomes a part of him as he helps it grow and expand. And some Amity descendants still spread the urban legend that is the Phantom of Gotham.
(Just a little side detail that im not sure how to add in but i really like the idea of Liminality eventually evolving or mutating into the meta gene if there's not enough ambient ectoto keep it active. Maybe the portal sent out a shock wave of radiation when it was destroyed. Not everyone was affected but for those who were it either was so subtle the effects fade within a month from the lack of enough ambient ecto or went dormant until it became a meta gene and no longer needed ecto.
I dont know, i mostly like the irony of Batman's "no meta's in Gotham" rule when most of Gotham was unknowingly built by the original "metas")
@hdgnj @dcxdpdabbles @nelkcats @nerdpoe @ailithnight @tathartiel
And @omnicrafts , hope your feeling better
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whywoulditho · 9 months ago
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"the fandom ruined mha" is one of those vastly popular opinions that i've never quite understood. because they honestly...weren't as bad as people made it seem??? i swear people with zero fandom experience will see a thirteen year old in cheap cosplay having fun and say shit like "ew i hate this fandom you're ruining it" like maybe leave the goddamn kid alone??
mha has a very large fan community, and what makes it a little different than most other anime fandoms is that mha was specifically targeted for a global audience. they did their best to avoid any quirks and cliche tropes of anime that would go over non-japanese' heads. the art style is pretty cartoonish and it's got lots of references to western comics. there's a whole ass movie set in the US. what i'm trying to say is that a large, international fandom was always what they were going for, and it was well received. it was one of those shows that you'd kind of had to watch if you wanted to be in anime spaces back in like 2016-2018. mind you this is when even aot wasn't that popular. and when something is so popular, there's gonna be lot of weird people in the fandom. BECAUSE most of them will be people who have never been in fandom spaces before. the "cringy mha fans" that were the butt of every joke in anime discord were more of than not minors having just been introduced to anime or fandom culture as a whole. there were lots of weird stuff, i admit. but was it ever really that serious? like why couldn't yall just leave those people alone??
another thing people just couldn't stop talking about was how there were way too many ships in the fandom but 1) why is that a bad thing? and 2) of course there were gonna be a lot of ships in a show that introduced TWO WHOLE CLASSROOMS OF TEENAGERS AS THE MAIN CAST who interacted all the time. not to mention all the students from other hero schools, upperclassmen, pro heroes & teachers. there are like a million characters in this show and the more characters the more potential ships -it's fucking common sense. i think what really happened there was that people outside of the fandom looked at the fanmade content and thought the fandom must have been obsessed with ships. when in reality i think the fans were really chill about it. most of them were multishippers, they didn’t mind the other pairings. i understand that for an outsider's eye all the ships and disclose must've looked chaotic but in fandom spaces people know how to filter the content they engage with so there really arent any serious "ship wars" going on anywhere except for maybe instagram comments.
i am not saying all the ships were unproblematic, there were some pretty weird ships going on too, but honestly i thought half of them were jokes? or at least crackships? and if you compared the number of fics those kind of pairings have on ao3 to the more family friendly ones you'd see that there really weren't an actual fanbase for any of those weird ass pairings.
i think the core of mha fandom has never been as chaotic as others thought it was. mha fans were interested in the story, the fights & the character development while casually enjoying ships as well. it wasn't that serious until yall started bullying a bunch of kids online. with the rise of tiktok and the boredom the pandemic caused there were a huge amount of amateur content. i'm not saying i've never seen a mha fan being genuinely cringe. i just think the mature response to those posts would have been leaving the poor kids alone.
yesterday i've seen a youtube video about how awful mha fans are and this guy just showed a clip of a bunch of cosplayers outside of what was probably an anime convention dancing to gangnam style and he was going on and on about how annoying they are. and it made me so angry because where the fuck did these anime fan bourgeoisie snobs come from telling people they can't have fun at FUCKING ANIME CONVENTIONS??? i dont know if you've ever been to one but an anime con is basically the only place that's supposed to be safe to do cringe shit like that. everyone goes to those things in cosplay, some better than others. but last i checked everyone was pretty nice to each other, complimenting each other's costumes, asking to take photos. the cosplays don't have to be good, they don't even have to be complete. a convention is the one place you can show up in a wig you bought off ebay and a costume you finished making the night before. i dont know what yall are on but people go to those events to have fun. not to be filmed and made fun of. and from my personal experience having been in fandom spaces since middle school, someone who dances to gangnam style in a cheap todoroki cosplay is an infinitely nicer person than the stuck-up loser who makes a video complaining about it
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thornswoggled · 4 months ago
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on chises family, “a storm brewing in the east,” and future arcs
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[ive written this post before, but its due for a refresh. now that jasper has been introduced, the whole last half of that post is moot, and i have additional thoughts on chika as well as more context on my thoughts on yori.]
now that fumiki is back in the picture, id like to theorize that yuuki hatori will soon follow. [see post: yori is fumiki and heres why.] more attention being paid to chises life in japan [ch 50, 75], chise wondering why her father “abandoned his role" [ch 57], and elias expressing curiosity over the circumstances that led her to meet seth [ch 74] are all hints towards yuukis story coming to light
one thing TAMB does that i love is how tertiary characters are facsimiles meant to help us understand our main characters. for example, all the dysfunctional pairs we see in the first arc that we are meant to compare and contrast elias and chise to, all in various ways that help us understand the ways their relationship might evolve. these minor characters may seem unimportant, but are preparing us to accept developments in the main cast. i believe there are two characters in the college arc that are prepping us for yuuki hatoris story - seth noel and adam sargent
lets first address fumiki, who ill just call yori. yori seems to have mastery over his eyes, which “have the power to bind [fae]” according to gabriella [ch 51]. this is a power both he and yuuki have, which protects chise and chika for a time. however, chika implies that he didnt always have this ability, or perhaps didnt have the sight at all until he became involved with her. which is strange, considering yori has a “family business” important enough to require he study abroad to train for:
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[sources: ch 19, ch 98]
(id like to note that this line about training is almost certainly a result of his "reeducation" in italy, as we already know that his true purpose was to audit and replace simon. but i think theres at least a kernel of truth to it)
lets run with the idea that yuuki started off with weak or nonexistent powers. have any other men in this series been booted from their families because they lacked the skill?
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[source: ch 63]
its possible that this “family business,” assuming it exists in truth and is not a fabrication of yoris brainwashing (which i dont think it is, considering he seems specialized in exorcism), eventually learned that yuuki acquired his binding powers, as well as a child with the same ability. again, are there are other men who are forcibly dragged back to their family, to the detriment of their young daughters?
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[source: ch 83]
theres a few reasons why i think such care and time was put into the backstory of philomelas family. chise has done much of the character growth thats possible for her at this time, and attempts to “fix” philomela as a way of fixing herself. she projects on her, and for good reason too, since we are meant to compare them almost 1:1. i believe that the amount of time sunk into adam sargents story is meant to warm us up to understanding yuukis situation, regardless of whether we are meant to forgive him for his abandonment. seths story, too, introduces us to the idea of magical families booting their unworthy kin. which leads us to:
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[source: ch 42]
going back to the screencap for the beginning, lets give yuuki the benefit of the doubt and assume hes being truthful when he promises hell be back one day. this phrasing is really interesting, and i feel like it implies yuuki knows the place hes going is dangerous. if hes returning to his family, or to some sort of organization (which i say because yori is part of the church), perhaps hes afraid that theyll be taken advantage of. or… maybe he was just lying! there is very little we understand about the church, so there are all manner of reasons why yuuki and yori may have ended up involved with them
regardless of reason, i dont believe that yuuki left because he wanted to. rather, i think he was being summoned. lets look at this little fae that appears twice, just pages apart:
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[source: ch 42]
this weasel-like creature appears as soon as yuuki gets home in the first instance, and appears again immediately before yuuki packs up to leave. it looks distinctly different from the abstract, blight-like monsters that trail this family day to day, and id like to theorize that it is specifically keeping tabs on yuuki. in my theory post about yori, i wrote that the fox yori keeps in a tube [ch 51] is a kuda-kitsune, a sort of familiar kept by soothsayers. another word for this type of creature is 飯綱, or izuna, which is read in modern japanese as... the least weasel! yamazaki has solidified her reputation as someone who doesnt shirk on research, and i think this linguistic connection is enough to suppose whether the weasel that summons yuuki home came from the same source as yoris familiar
now, to discuss something i neglected to mention in the first version of this post. the ways in which we can compare philomelas and chises families doesnt end with yuuki. not only is alcyone a sort of elias, but iris is a sort of chika. id like to start with noting that iris' backstory of having been sold by her parents is a reflection of the original backstory yamazaki wrote for chise in the first drafts of TAMB. the dregs of chises old backstory finally gets used when iris' story is revealed:
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[sources: merkmal, ch 83]
iris and chika are two mothers who deeply love their children, but are doubtful that they will be able to protect them when it counts:
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[sources: ch 83, ch 42]
this next part might be a little controversial, but id like to take a look at the scene when chika snaps. specifically, the way her inner voice is framed:
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[source: ch 42]
the black mist that we see in the apartment is similar to other depictions of malevolent magical energy weve seen before, such as the blight elias creates just one chapter before in ch 41 when he languishes over chise leaving him. it also seems to be pouring in from the same window where we've seen the weasel hanging out. the way chikas intrusive thoughts are depicted as a separate, shadowy figure is also remarkably similar to chises inner voice that tells her to kill the nucke-lavee:
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[source: ch 61]
its possible that the voice that urges chika to kill chise is coming from somebody else entirely. like how chises curse[s] urge her to violence, i think theres a chance that someone wanted chise and chika to die, but didnt want to get their hands dirty. after all, if the family yuuki left behind died, he would stop trying to leave to reunite with them or retrieve them. being able to frame their deaths as a result of his abandonment would also be great manipulation fodder if he was summoned to wherever he went against his will
to be a naysayer of my own theory, i think it would cheapen chikas death if it turned out that she was not wholly responsible for her own actions. it would also make chises refusal to forgive her less impactful if it... literally wasnt her fault. but the way her attempt to kill chise is visually depicted makes me think theres a nonzero chance she truly didnt want to do it
lets take a look at the way iris' and chikas deaths are depicted:
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[sources: ch 83, ch 42]
the visual of billowing curtains was often used in early chapters when it wasnt yet clear what happened to chises mother, and it gets used again when iris dies. and just as chika throws herself off the balcony, alcyone leaps through the window with philomela. im also stuck on the line of "we messed up and let his daughter escape." i dont mean to imply that i think we should hold up philomela and chises respective backstories as 100% 1:1, but they are remarkably similar in terms of broad plot points. if the same force that compelled yuuki to leave also compelled chika to get rid of the remains of yuukis old life, i wonder why it is that no one ever directly tried to kill chise again. did they lose track of her when she began moving from home to home?
speaking of... do we know whether chika took yuukis surname when they married, or the other way around? japanese law requires spouses to have the same last name, but husbands will sometimes take their wifes name. as far as i know, theres no explicit confirmation that the hatori family chise stays with in the OVA are related to yuuki or chika. just as seth changed his name when he was driven from the webster family, it could be that yuuki distanced himself from his past by taking chikas name. after all, if the hatoris who care for chise are truly so fed up with her, why would they not attempt to track down yuuki and "return" her if hes their relative?
(by the way, what yuuki did in taking fumiki was legal. japan is only just now going to start allowing joint custody in 2026, "parental child abduction" was not illegal at the time we're to suppose TAMB takes place, and yuukis disappearance can be considered an instance of jōhatsu. i just think its important for cultural context, because as a western reader i know i tripped up on "wait, WHY was yuuki allowed to do that without consequence?")
do i think that yuuki will ever physically appear in the story again now that fumiki has? i would love him to, but i dont know that chise will ever be allowed the closure of seeing his point of view:
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[source: ch 42]
theres such a sense of finality to this line. just as philomela was only able to speak to her father in the form of a curse taking his shape, i dont know that chise will have the luxury of meeting yuuki again. theres a strong possibility that hes already dead, especially if he persisted in attempting to reunite with the rest of his family. frankly, i always thought he looked unhappy with his life in the scenes from ch 42, but his instinct in wanting to bring chise with him makes me believe that only death would ensure he never tried to see or support her again. though, if this is a safe space for me to express a little self-indulgence:
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[source: ch 51]
we still dont know who sent yori to audit simon. the church is such a large organization ("a loose collection of private armies," as gabriella puts it in this same chapter) that yori being taken to be reeducated by another branch of the same organization that sent him to audit simon in the first place is not unusual or contradictory. let me first state that i dont think yori has ever been aware that he has a sister, or that he knows chise is in any way related to him (again, this post supposes that yori is fumiki). but in my heart of hearts, in my very soul, i do think it would be just so wonderfully dramatic for yuuki - or any member of his family, for that matter - to send yori off to ensure that elias, and chise by association, are under the watchful eye of someone they can more reliably control. if chise was not worth anything to them when chika died, perhaps their interest in her is piqued now that shes a mage-in-training under the apprenticeship of a vastly powerful creature. even if its not yuuki trying to figure out what the deal is with the mage who bought his daughter, perhaps his family is interested in how she can contribute to them
again, to be a naysayer to my own theories before someone else can be, i doubt that yoris reeducation and months-long stay with simon would be overlooked if a member of yuukis family sent him for the initial auditing. though theres a chance alonza had a hand in making sure his stay with simon continues. we just have to wait and see
under what context might we meet the rest of chises family? i have some ideas, but this soon into the arc everything is too subject to change. im also not convinced any of this will be addressed in the fiendbane arc. after all, yori was first introduced at the beginning of the college arc, and is only now becoming relevant. so all of this may only be laying the groundwork for yuuki to return in another arc, if not this one, which already has a lot cooking with the dragon, the new mage, etc. but then again, we get oberons little prophecy:
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[source: ch 99]
it doesnt seem that oberons phrasing in the JP text matches what the great wall of china is called in japanese, but i dont think we are meant to interpret "a distant land" in any way other than japan. yamazaki has a quirky tendency to refer to japan in her works as a faraway land in the east, which extends to spinoffs like wizards blue
with the growing interest elias has expressed in chises life before she met him, and with the appearance of yori, perhaps we will learn more about yuukis story and circumstances when the brewing storm finally breaks. her family may even have something to do with it! but i doubt that any of this will come to fruition during the current arc. so until we get the next arc several years from now... ill leave you with this theory!
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dr-spectre · 2 months ago
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while i originally didn't think much about s2's story
after seeing your posts about hypno callie i am 100% with ya
fact that it gets misinterpreted so much is agh. painful
Im glad that I was able to inspire you to change your mind!!! I used to not think much of Splatoon 2's story, too, until the autism in my brain whispered, "Callie Cuttlefish...."
(I'm about to get ranty in this post, so get ready.... if you wanna move along and don't wanna see someone get upset over a squid woman then by all means do so!)
I think the main reasons as to why the story of Splatoon 2 gets misinterpreted a lot is because in media circles, people will use the words "brainwashing" and "hypnosis" interchangeably and they genuinely don't know what hypnosis is actually like. Nintendo and the Splatoon devs probably don't know either. Like I don't think in Splatoon 2's rushed development cycle they bothered to look up the definition of hypnosis and they just made up the Hypnoshades to make Callie "evil" in a quick and easy way because "ooooo hypnosis is mind control/brainwashing ooo" WHICH IS FALSE!!!! VERY VERY FALSE!!!!!
Splatoon 2 was most likely rushed and it impacted Callie's storyline. You can clearly see what kind of story Splatoon 2 was going for from the concept art and Squid Sisters Stories prequel series. The tale of two cousins drifting apart and Callie growing resentment in her heart....
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While we SORTA got that in the final game, Callie's arc got muffled due to a lack of understanding of what hypnosis actually is and media out of Splatoon continuing to use "brainwashing" as a cheap and lazy way to explain things which most likely had a strong influence in Splatoon 2's development, despite a lot of evidence proving that's not what happened to Callie... and there's not much we can do about it... ugh.
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They also hid a lot of important story details behind optional content and social media posts. The sunken scrolls explaining Callie's growing mental issues, the relationship chart which disproves that Callie was kidnapped, etc, etc....
Also people tend to take Marie's perspective very objectively because we follow her as Agent 4. So when she says that Callie was "squidnapped," people believe it. When Marie says Callie was "brainwashed" in the rematch fight, people believe it. Including inkipedia and people who analyse splatoon.... the people who seek out objective information take the overthinking and worried Marie with a lack of knowledge as the well of truth.
Slight tangent but, you know what's kinda funny to me? Inkipedia wants to be very objective on Splatoon yeah? Well on Callie's main page it says, "Callie went to the octarians willingly," yet another parts of the site, it says, "she was kidnapped." Hmm... and of course, them flip-flopping the words "hypnosis" and "brainwashing" despite those words being OBJECTIVELY TWO SEPARATE THINGS THAT CANNOT BE USED INTERCHANGEABLY!!! But they use brainwashing more because Nintendo NoA used it.... oh well, tangent aside...
That's why so many people fuck up and you know what? I don't REALLYYYY blame the common fan over this. I dont! It would be unfair of me to get mad at someone who doesn't know any better because Splatoon 2 did an AWFUL job at properly fleshing out Callie!!!! When people hear what I have to say and either agree or respectfully disagree but still get my points, i get happy, and im glad more people are looking into Callie in a different light! She was treated like TRASHHHH for 7 fucking years!!!
Im only mad at certain parts of a certain wiki, and people who go over the timeline and make 5 hour videos and claim that Callie was KIDNAPPED DESPITE THERE BEING A FREELY AVAILABLE FUCKING RELATIONSHIP CHART THAT LITERALLY DISPROVES IT!!! BUT NO!!! YOU JUST HADDDDD TO READ A SINGLE INKIPEDIA ARTCLE AND YOU DIDNT EVEN BOTHER TO LOOK ANYWHERE ELSE!!!!! Putting in so much effort yet these loud voices in the community drop the fucking ball on Callie because she's silly.... ugh...
If I see another person in 2024 that says that Callie was kidnapped.... I swear to FUCKINGGGGGG god bro....
WHY DO NINTENDO PUSH THAT SHIT THEMSELVES?!?!? WHY DO THEY SAY CALLIE WAS KIDNAPPED?!?! WHY DO YOU WANT THE OCTARIANS TO BE SO FUCKING EVIL AND UNREDEEMABLE?!?!?! YOU GUYS MADE OCTO EXPANSION FOR FUCK SAKE!!! ITS SO ANNOYING!!! IM STILL NOT OVER THIS!!
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UGHHHH!!!! When will it end.... I'm gonna keep repeating this stuff until I DIE it seems!!!
I dont wanna seem like I'm above anyone btw. I dont want to be like that. I'm just... really autistic about this sort of shit and I get very very picky about people's word choices and stuff when it comes to this.
I just want a character I love to be treated better... okay? That's all... it is getting better which I'm VERY happy about but... the loudest voices in the community, the people who analyse stuff and make timeline videos and analytical videos, still say the same bullshit since 2017 and I'm getting tired....
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evereverest2 · 3 months ago
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@ofthemorningstars commented on my q&a post and i wanted to make a general little post for ALL of you aspiring writers.
i’ve talked to people who wanted to start writing many times before, who have said to me “your writing is so good, and i wish i could do it like you”. i always say the same thing to them:
cut bc this is long lol
the number one first thing you need to know when you start writing is that it has to be yours. it is a world entirely your own, of your design, your unique and wonderful imagination, and it must make YOU happy. don’t compare urself to me, dont compare urself to tolstoy, don’t compare urself to shakespeare. the things you make can only be made by you, even if they’re inspired by something else, even if they’re fanfic. every story, movie, song, painting, etc. is derivative of something else, that’s just bc there’s so many talented humans. that doesn’t mean they aren’t unique creations on their own. that doesn’t mean you’re copying someone.
the biggest roadblock to writing—and any art really—is your own mind. you will kill urself with negativity, telling urself that it isn’t good enough, that it is awkward, that it is derivative, that it does not deserve to be read. i struggle with that all the time, but generally that’s to my own standards and not another authors. this is what i mean when u say u can’t compare urself—
YOU HAVE SO MUCH CREATIVITY TO OFFER THE WORLD.
YOU.
you are amazing. everything you create is special. i could never write what you write, and you could never write what i write. we are humans who grow up in vastly different lives, with experiences that shape the way we think and create and inspire. we have different opinions, relationships, and memories that will shine through in our individual works.
when we write, we leave the unique and beautiful pieces of ourselves in the text.
and you need to remember that.
the second thing i tell people to focus on is time.
i’m gonna expose myself on main here and show you a snippet of a fanfic i wrote when i was 13
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yeah that’s fucking embarrassing. what an introduction bro. people totally get tattoos when they’re 15.
the point being that you don’t start writing like a wizard day one. this excerpt was about a year into my writing and i was a middle schooler. you look at that and you wouldn’t expect the author of little monster.
so if writing is something you want to do and you’re passionate for, even as a hobby, you need to sit down and do that often. VERY often. serious and even average authors write EVERY DAY. even if it’s just one sentence. writing is an easily accessible hobby that has a HIGH ceiling for “being good” at it and an even tougher path to the professional level. anyone can write, and everyone does. whether those are emails or smutty fanfics, it’s just a fact of life. if it’s something you want to improve at, take it seriously. so many people write a few stories and call it day, saying they suck and they’ll never improve. well, i’ll tell you now, you’ll never feel good about your writing until you take it seriously.
and if it’s casual for u, that’s totally fine! i won’t tell u that u HAVE to write everyday. not even i do that !! (though it is most days). but that doesn’t mean it’s something you don’t have to work on. imagine if you wanted to learn an instrument— if you only learned a few songs, if you only practice once in a blue moon, would you call urself a musician? even if u never wanted to join a band, would you call yourself a guitarist because you learned four chords?
you’ll never be happy with ur art unless u practice. and it will suck, i assure you. but you need to be patient. you have to be bad first to be good.
so, in summation of all these things i’ve learned both on my own and in studying creative writing, i’ll leave you with this (and i know this post is a fucking mess lmao)
you are the most special and unique person in the world, because only you can tell the stories in your head. just give yourself the time and patience to get there.
i believe in you.
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yan-randomfandom · 3 months ago
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Hello! Call me Yan (any prns), and I'm honestly here to satisfy my cravings as a writer 😔
♪ REQUEST STATUS: OPEN—Although please understand if I was unable to answer yours, it might be for plenty of reasons.
WHAT DO I WRITE?
x reader, my beloved i dont use y/n tho
Yandere. There are times I won't write yandere, but it's my blog's main trait.
Please read at your own risk. There will be warnings at the start of the chap!
Headcanons, one shots, and drabbles
Mostly SFW — Sexual themes are mild at most. I do not write smut.
My account is multifandom. I am in multiple fandoms, so expect my content to be different every once in a while!
☕support me on kofi!
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MASTERLIST... LIST
PART I: Masterlist
Keep reading if u wanna request!
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SO, YOU'RE AN ANON
You can name yourself as an anon! It's a nickname of sorts
Feel free to use a name even if it's taken! This is because I hop around fandoms, so anons may come and go, plus it's definitely an easier way to find your request (in tags) 😺
Think of your same-name-anons as like,, wow, u have the same name as me! siblings frfr??
FANDOMS?
I lurk in many fandoms. Not about to list them all, though 😭 Mostly I write about my current obsession! Almost always it's my blog theme :O
Please don't hesitate to ask from wherever fandom you are! There's no harm in trying! :) Except BNHA. Preferably, no anime.
Better yet, feel free to list down your fandoms in the comments! Anything that you would want to see yandere content in! Just so I can browse and maybe write for!!
LIMITS?
No problematic shipping requests.
Unfortunately, I don't do OCs (':
If the character is 18-, they can be aged up if you'd like, but strictly no NSFW, or in certain circumstances, romance. They're gonna be platonic.
I don't do intense gore. While I do have yandere content, I'm on the sorta wholesome side? Define 'wholesome' ... Implied scenarios are more likely😩
I write non-yandere stories too tho!
Minors, please stay safe. Don't go meddling around with adult spaces!
Sadly, I'm lacking in knowledge of other popular media, so if you happen to request one of those, I might not reply. Instead, I'll be keeping your ask until one day I check that media out.
Part 2s are my weakness. I'm sorry. Doesn't mean you should try asking me tho!
Doesn't matter if the character is well known or not! Cuz I WILL attempt to learn about your request!
Except real life people. I can do actors with their characters, but never peeps' government names.
WHY IS MY REQUEST TAKING SO LONG?
...college
If it's something I've never posted about yet, then it's either I'm not in the fandom, or I'm just clueless.
But other than that... sometimes I take days— weeks— months? to truly click with an idea.
I want to enjoy whatever I'm writing, so I take a break until an idea comes up.
And there's also the fact that I'm working on multiple things at once 😭😭 I tend to focus on easier ones first!!
Also I usually think of ideas at night c:
Worst case scenario: I truly have zero idea for your request, I'm so sorry 😔
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NOTES ABOUT ME!
Yandere is my guilty pleasure, I fear🤕
HOWEVER, I do not, and won't ever, condone the behavior I will portray in my writing. Please don't misunderstand, don't romanticize. They are purely fiction and for entertainment.
I regularly change my theme (profile, colors, banner, etc.) just so you know.
This account is for everyone,, we're all just trying to find content of our favorite character fr— so please don't hesitate to request :)
As I close my eyes to sleep, that's when I start imagining scenarios for my writing!
erm skibid toilet
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werlikestea · 5 months ago
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Well i havent posted in a while well, mostly because, i forgor
BUT
wow pretty busy really said fuck you f2p players
I didnt complain untill now so i think i can get a little treat
So ok prepare cause this will be a prob long post or just very well mostly negative about my whole expierence with this game because well I AM PISSED
So I acually first played this game around the time of its release (of couse because of the Leviathan Bath card lmao) but didnt like how the game looked like that much so i quit pretty much as soon as i started
Then my friend got me into it again and well i fell in love with the characters and the plot LITERALLY DONT JUDGE THE BOOK BY ITS COVER
And why am i talking about it well its because it was around the time of christmas gabriel nightmare pass and i was new so i just kinda didnt care about it back then
But now back to the present
so the whole reason im writing this is in the first place is obvs the nightmare pass
Like gabriel one, ppyong one i could live i was like ok it sucks but what can i do i can still get all the 7 kings eventually so thats fine
AND THEN VICTORY LUCIFER NIGHTMARE PASS CAME OUT
AND OMG ok i was like ok im pissed but its probably just the victory cards that will be in the nightmare pass right ?
WELL NO NOW BATH BEEL NOT EVEN A FEW DAYS AFTER LUCIFER'S
both of my favourite characters in a row well how nice
Dont even get me started on how fucked the pricing of it is like i payed for battle passses in games before im not even a total f2p and i was acually considering doing the same here because i mean its a small company and i really like this game so i might as well support it well no. not with this price.
And not only are there no new stories, previous events are payed if u havent read them, oh and if u want to reread them well fuck you too
I honestly havent even read the belphie's event cause i just really dont feel motivated to do it
Maybe its just me but unlocking the character card stories is also a little hard because getting the BEGINNERS candies is just annoying even though it well should be the easiest out of all of them
And the story is what made me get into this game as much as i did
I think it was the first time a game was so perfect for me when it comes to story length, and amount (i tend to get very overwhelmed when theres a lot of content)(I acually quit playing genshin impact after 2 years because there was no skip button)
The 5 chapters, all the events, some of the character's stories i read were all so interesting and fun
and well now we get literally no new content
plus like thats very personal but i would have loved it if this game had some sort of a routine because i feel like everything is such a mess ?
like now we get 3 fucking nigtmare passes in a row, new characters and event are so random and the main story well it left to get milk
also when i say i play this game for the story i really mean it because the battle system is really not my cup of tea overall the game mechanics im just not that big of a fun of that
+just the fact that PB hates that we share content of payed cards with each other but also puts important lore in it just man be fucking for real
I log in everyday just to log in and get my 10 key pull from the pancake shop to feed my gambling addiction and maybe get that mammon or satan attacker cards cause they are the only ones i lack from the ones u can acually get from the standard gacha at the moment
oh and now they erased the free 10 pull from the store huh
well with how little red gems we are getting say goodbye to any gacha in a fucking gacha game
Oh and also i dont know if anyone noticed but now selling S tealeaves gives u 6 pancakes and L tealeaves gives you 9.
3 pancake diffrence. For an S character and L character.
oh and lower grades just dont give you anything really i have like around 14 milion gold and books so yea
and while i wont have that much of a problem cause i already have most cards,most artifact, almost maxxed out bloodshed beelzebub (not his skills)
But now imagine you are a new player trying to get into this game.
And you cant read events unless you pay, u can do the story but i mean u might finish it quickly or it might get hard if u cant get any characters because well doing any gacha at all just got 1000 times harder,you just see another nightmare pass thats just expensive af, oh and a new character comes out and you didnt get lucky with your one ten pull that u managed to get after weeks of working ? well u have to wait 3 months TO MAYBE get it in the standard gacha that well you might do once a week maybe
and so the low maintence game i loved in a span of a few days changed for much much worse
I will probably keep on loging in just to see if maybe anything changes but i dont have my hopes high
ngl with how it looks like rn i doubt even asmodeus for who i was waiting so much for will change my mind about this game
what i need them to do is honestly just bring back the whole previous pancake shop along with this new nightmare one i feel like for me at least selling tealeaves for the normal pancakes and then if i have a lot of it i can changee into nightmare pancakes and then maybe exchange it for some thing would be much cooler and honestly i just want my very easy ten pull back........
for the nightmare passes just make then like i dunno every 3 months even would be better and just make it so that its smth special not neccessary or just make it more affordable for players to acually afford
and i mean what im saying is just random stuff i havent even thought about it that much there might be better ideas for what to do but i honestly wish the best for this game and what is happening right now is just pretty much ruining it for not only me but most players i doubt only f2p, cause even if you pay for a game u need a reason to do it if the game doesnt provide then you might as well go to a diffrent one
Ok i think thats pretty much all there might be more i wanted to say but well i forgor and well im gonna get bubble tea as a treat prob......
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lyss-sketchbox · 6 months ago
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[arlecchino sq rant]
and ALSO the way her story quest predictably but disappointingly had no internal logic. even after the memory wiping reveal she was like "NO ONE can escape this if they betray me hoho hehe this is totally successfully written" UNTIL it came to our three playables!! they get a choice, not even just Lyney as the supposed successor! Why involve them then? Why not make a quest mostly about uninteresting npcs like you so love doing? WHO APPROVED THIS
...at least the other animated short, with the twins, is so good
Tbh i dont have any specific gripe with arle's SQ, it's good enough
What i like about it :
Fatui trio dynamic and quirks when they interact with each other (fist bump, natural role division when they scheme, etc.)
Lyney's conviction about 'this is my family, i will protect them with my life' is SHOWN instead of TOLD multiple times (planned the scheming, trying hard to help clervie, stepping up to fight Arle)
The MAIN FOCUSED character initiated the plot instead of 'oh hello random npc i've never met OF COURSE i'll help you'
Arle and Childe dynamic (talks about family growing up, mutual agreement that regrator sucks), feels natural, childe naturally believing rumours easier and arle cautiously choosing her words to mold how people perceive her even in leisure
Alre's strict principles well established (traitors must be punished, all support/sacrifices will be rewarded) it is obvious she works for her goals alone, she joins factions and alliances because she establishes equal trades regardless of which side you fight for.
She clearly don't want to be like Crucabena because she was once her child, and while that doesn't fully explain why she 'cares' about the House, i can excuse that Clervie atleast influenced her in some way so that her children has the freedom to choose the life they wish to live (referring to Clervie's only freedom then is to choose to die)
What i don't like :
The entire facking backstory spoiled in the animation for pity points and/or marketing
Deux ex machina in the form of khanerian crimson moon descendant so her flames can just... anchor people's dying shadow to the world???? sometimes????? plus clervie died when she is 16 and for some reason the shadow is 10 because.........?
Her flames has memory powers also so that she can just choose to make people forget memories of the House
Also look, i get that it's her answer to children who wants choose the life they want, its a magical fantasy world okay pog. But like... so are you saying that these children who forget their House memories just.... get handed a life? a house? a new identity? are people not gonna question why new people are suddenly popping up in their neighborhood? is the government in on it so that they can basically gaslight people that 'ah yes this former fatui person is now your neighbor, has always been!! mhm yeah'?? This is some irminsul level world deletion but manmade??????????
Look its a good premise, it just.... half-bad execution. I get what theyre trying to tell but they are patching the loopholes with magical tissue paper. Its... a lil too easy i think, too hand-wavy. If it was a magic spell to make them forget then they were set to live in a different area and helped gradually to integrate to society, its a lil better. But like... EVEN in the story quest those people who took the bottled flames took a full 2 DAYS to reintegrate to society the SAME society they operated as fatuis in, no issues whatsoever.
While my original gripe is just that the animations shouldve dropped a couple days after the SQ (like how genshin usually post cutscenes a few days after the quest), the more i look into it the more im just squinting at this
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anzuhan · 4 months ago
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Hello! I'm new to your account but I just want to say your art is suuuuupper pretty! I want to know Anzu's lore, have you written it down anywhere or have discussed it with a previous ask yet?
hello, thank you and glad you asked 🫶 anzu never really speaks about anzu's lore because its overly complex and anzu wouldve wanted to save it for later for when anzu could actually pursue vtuber & idol activities, however its been 4 years and anzu still couldnt really. manage to do that. so anzu will talk about it now 👍 ^ _^)👍
anzu just hopes youre ready for a VERY long post (under cut because. otherwise itll be a post the length of do you like the color of the sky and dont wanna take up peoples dashes 😭)
so based on anzu's current design you'd probably think anzu is a vampire. which isnt entirely wrong but also. WRONG !! you see, anzu isn't from this world, universe, dimension, what have you. anzu comes from a very distant place in its own right that cannot exactly be entered, not even by anzu anymore due to how anzu was exiled from it. 'us' that live there are not entirely a species that is documented by the ones here, so anzu cant exactly tell you what anzu is, but the closest word to it of the inhabitants of this world would be probably close enough to shapeshifter; anzu doesnt exactly fit all characteristics of one, but that is still the best word youve all got for it ! anzu in a way also works like a candle, though anzu isnt made from wax or anything of the like (´ノω;`) anzu's insides are hollow and anzu's 'life' is given by a flame inside of anzu's body. it is closer enough to the fire that exists in this world, but also not entirely due to how it can hardly go out. back in anzu's 'world' we all lived under something close to a high governance of 'elders', but anzu would also compare it close to what people tend to call cults here. anzu did not like it, and though its painted as bad to be kicked out of that realm, anzu is kind of happy to have gone out ☆
anzu was also lucky enough to come across another of anzu's kind in the first world anzu was thrown into after the exile that could teach anzu how everything works. we are not exactly built for battle, though maybe sadly for anzu, anzu loves combat </3 our kind can go through dimensions, time and space at will, so we do not exactly age the same as humans. anzu could be 99308 one day and then 193993 the next one ! if anzu did some time skips or dimension skips or what have you. anzu has also given up trying to keep track of anzu's age, though last time anzu's checked, it was around 102000s (this may become invalid even by tomorrow)
the way we see things are as all stories, tales and also things far unknown beyond your imagination are their own dimension; dimensions are split into timelines; there is always a main timeline that shouldnt be interfered with, the one that you may call 'the one with the given fate', where all things go as they should, whether that be bad or not. and then after this one, theres thousands of subtimelines where minor changes have happened in everyones lives; anzu is free to go and disrupt those with anzu's own ideas of how things shouldve went~ truth to be told, anzu tends to become attached a ton to the ones that have sealed fates that cannot be changed.. well. almost, until anzu'd come in, of course ! and sometimes anzu cant help it but want to interfere. to how dimensions also work, a copy of every single person existing in said dimension exists in every copy of the main timeline; though, because anzu does not belong to any dimensions anzu goes thru, there can only be one anzu at a time anywhere.
anzu, across time and looking over all tons of different universes, has fallen in love with idols in each and every one of them. so anzu's quest is to end up becoming an idol in every dimension anzu goes to ! all different looks of anzu you see also tend to be so that anzu can fit in better here or there ... though despite anzu's spent so long among humans from so many different dimensions, anzu still struggles to understand some pretty simple things sometimes. either way, because anzu wants to be not only just any kind of idol but a cosplayer idol as well (i.e like fuyume hanamura from enst), its also good to have huge variety, right? ♡
this is what anzu looks like normally, anzu usually refers to this as 'default' or just 'sumika', given that was the name anzu chose when anzu had come onto a dimension outside of anzu's own. you may see it from time to time, and they may not always look identical but anzu thinks its pretty usual to spot in most drawings whenever it is the 'default' !
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among the usual white holographic hair and the usual characteristics, anzu's also had blonde hair for a while ... anzu does not really like to act as an idol like this, but anzu does that.. sometimes ! and for the blonde times, it was more a case of spicing things up.. ?
those are also just a very small portion of what anzu's 'default' looks like. below is a much much larger strip of looks, though not updated.
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okay ! now that we've established that that is, what a normal person would probably call anzu's 'natural' look, next are two charts of anzu's looks anzu used to use and that anzu still uses sometimes ! you see there far more often than the default, due to the fact that anzu prefers to perform idol work and activities through them. the default from before is more of a personal and casual thing(><*)ノ~~~~~
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(x next to the name means they do not get used anymore; checkmark means they still get used; the time below the name in paranthesis refers to when they were initially active)
though they all have a bit of a different personality and characteristics, theyre still all anzu ! anzu is anzu no matter what anzu looks like, so please dont forget that☆ if you wish to know more about any in particular, or want to see more art of either, feel free to send a further ask about it ! theres tons of arts of every single one of them.
anzu had also not described every single little thing about anzu's backstory or things anzu is capable of, tales of things thatve happened in this or that time/space/dimension/etc ; so if you have anymore questions about any and all of them please ask as well ! anzu is happy if youre interested in anzu♡
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neonfretra · 2 months ago
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making hockey edits as a total newbie
having completed my first poetry edit its both easier and harder than i thought! which is pretty exciting considering the fact i have a poem in the back pocket that reminded me of the sharks. its WAY longer and i probably dont REALLY want to actualize it. but. fun process! talking about my process below the cut :)
concept
the inspiration was wanting to make a pickles edit and his number is 44 (and there are SO many sharks players that couldnt take 44 because of him. i mean it so seriously i hope they retire his number solely to inconvenience everyone for the rest of this franchises lifespan)
i dont think hes super widely known because:
the sharks are bad
marc edouard vlasic is bad
so i doubt the narrative of the edit makes much sense LOL
long story short, he used to be REALLY good. never got acknowledged for it in the broader scope. fell off with age . makes him super unpopular because hes signed 8x7m (shout out to past gm doug wilson) and hes bad. hes played with the sharks for the second most amount of games (second to patrick marleau who is like. THE shark of all time. hes so shark they call him mr shark. so if you grade on a curve...?) .
i love our shriveled husk!
the first image (the title card) came way before everything else actually, sort of my proof of concept and proof that i could actually make anything its very young pickles! that image is like. 7 years old
collecting images
all images (not including text overlays) were pulled directly from getty images
i got around the watermark kind of stupidly! most of the time, you can get around it by just pulling it from newsites that did pay for the rights to the image (reverse image search is a pal) or by checking social medias for reposts by the photographer or team (harder for me because i dont use any social media, use instagram only when necessary because it CRUNCHES)
i used mspaint.
it shows.
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(brian babineau)
yeah it was by literally pasting the thumbnail (upsized by about 334% i believe?) on top of the image which is why its such a mess of pixels . the nice thing about the human eye is that it kind of smooths over the image if you dont look too closely . other times the texture of the image is so crunchy already that it doesnt actually make a difference.
(i DID edit the right image i just. cant see it?????)
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(left: kavin mistry, rightt: noah graham)
for simpler shapes i did try to use an airbrush to fix it but its not super noticeable so.
the important thing was not using photos where theres a watermark over the main focus because im not making it look good enough to pass .
are there easier ways? oh god yeah. for sure. am i using them? well if you scroll back up
human centipeding images together
hardest part was the photos that mashed images together:
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(man just check the original post for credits)
these were NIGHTMARES (now text free!) i have all the things i edited as separate layers if anyone ever wants quinn hughes disembodied hand or two pickles
making image two
the concept of this one was the second, but i had the final image ready to go second and finished it last. i finished this one second after fighting for my life to compile the images for it
the ideas straightforward enough: pickles on ice with the puck, other prominent defensemen going through the motions of a shot edited in. this is when pickles is like. capital g Good
compiling the pictures were easy enough? the hardest one was actually finding one of pickles HAHAHAHA
fun fact is that i chose a bunch of right shooters by coincidence. actually a miracle that i didnt notice until comparing pickles to them in editing. which i did extremely haphazardly (seriously i was guessing when resizing them
i did all this in an art program that didnt have the ability to select the subject so i hand erased the background. i keep mentioning it but if i had to work around erik karlssons hair i get to complain about it.
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first time using the soft eraser if that means anything. the green background was to help me tell what i had and hadnt erased yet
this one took me the longest by far and had me questioning the decisions that lead up to this point the most.
making image three
PAINFUL. there are five different peoples hands on this thing and i spent most of it trying to choose hands that were interesting poses+decorations and in different places. didnt bother removing the watermark on any of the hands because why do i want to make more work for myself. erik karlssons second hand did not make the cut (watermarked)
the nice thing IS that there is a sort of photoshoot they have with consistent angles and lighting. i proceeded to spend way too much time aligning five different photos on top of this to make sure the hands are in the right place and about the right size.
an interesting bit of the editing is that the colors on the trophy photo were actually an afterthought! because it looks kind of nothing.
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it looks nice next to the second image because of the cymk coloring but the problem was that the first three images had colorful elements to them and the fourth is just text on the image
adding text
alt title: OH GOD IMAGE FOUR IS SO NOTHING.
image 3 uses my favorite quote about pickles believe it or not ^_^
If you are new to hockey or are newer to the San Jose Sharks fanbase, you will see the withered shell Vlasic is of his former self and think that any conversation about immortalization in Toronto is beyond the bounds of possibility.
insane someone wrote this about another person. quite chuffed that you can read that phrase in the final image!
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image four babe im so sorry you are so underbaked. the article on THAT one is literally just about the 1000th game celebration. but also its hella ironic
“I’m still the same guy I was when I came in, just 14 years older,” Vlasic said. “Plays the same way, does the same things, plays against the same players. Just 14 years older.”
whole lotta people want this man GONE because hes flopping so hard. everyone and they momma taking bets on when hes getting bought out. its BAD LMAO i hope they sign him another 8 years
in reflection
edits are way easier than i thought they were to make with zero knowledge of the medium! i had no idea what i was doing but i made something i feel extremely proud of, take a shot at it sometime ^_^
something i kind of struggled with was making something that felt interesting and unique but unified as a whole piece? i dont approach things with a visual "theming" in mind and i more or less tripped up on the colors LOL
give it a shot! a spin, even! oickles.
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