#but seriously go to his website his art is the best

[gremlinmodetweeker]

König's Haunted House Disaster

Inspired by @machveil 's post HERE and my little blorbo of König punching out recruits HERE, I figured that for the day before Halloween I should write about just what exactly went down on the night Horangi, Hutch and Askel took König to a haunted house.

Art from This Post

12:00 - Ten Hours Before the Ban

"Hey König! You gotta check this out!" Horangi called across the cafeteria, enthusiastically waving his phone as he jogged over.

König, already tired of what Horangi was about to say, simply grunted when the Korean man slid into the seat beside him. He tried his best to convey just how tired he was, but it was to no avail as Horangi eagerly crowded into his personal space to show him his crack phone screen.

"You really should get that replaced," König grumbled as Horangi shuffled closer.

"You sound like my Mom," Horangi commented before pressing play on the video.

König winced at the volume as Horangi hurriedly turned it down with a whispered 'Sorry!'.

"You really are a useless-"

"Look!" Horangi jammed his finger at a small sign in the video.

König leaned in and squinted.

"Horangi, my eyes are good but they're not that good. Can you just tell me what it says?"

"This place is near our base!" Horangi explained, "let's get a few guys and we'll go!"

"You want to go to a... A scary house?" König asked curiously.

"A haunted house König," Horangi sniffed, "seriously you moved from Germany over ten years ago and you still don't know what a haunted house is?"

König huffed, "My mind blanked. I know what they are."

"Yeah sure, keep telling yourself that," Horangi drawled before switching tabs to get to a poorly formatted website, "now look, tickets are cheap here. It's only five euros to get in!"

For a moment, König's eyes sparkled.

"Only five euros?" he muttered, "that's not too bad... I could be convinced."

"If we go to the shwarma place fist would that help?"

"... Maybe."

"Alright I'll tell Hutch," Horangi swung his legs from out of the bench.

König watched, slightly stunned, as Horangi swaggered away to the other cafeteria.

"Aren't you going to have lunch with me?" König asked.

Horangi turned to look over his shoulder and scoffed, "Nah, I've got shit to do. I wanna go, but if we don't get enough of a crowd it's just not worth it."

König narrowed his eyes, "Was I only asked to boost numbers?"

Horangi shrugged, "Why are you worried?"

"Don't you consider me a friend?" König asked bitterly.

"Yeah," Horangi said, "but you always push the chair back in the car until it hits my knees."

"Then drive," König stated.

"I don't need you on my case too," Horangi grumbled and walked away, leaving König to sit with an empty tray in front of him.

He glared at the gleaming steel.

"Did I really eat it all that fast?"

17:00 - Five Hours Before the Ban

Hutch took a long swig of water before dropping his arm to his lap. He waved at König fondly, "Hey there."

König waved back curtly and picked up a dumbbell before sitting on a bench and starting his bicep curls.

"You doing another set?" Hutch asked.

"Why not?" König shrugged.

"That's what I keep telling myself, but then I strain something," Hutch laughed, "you best watch yourself old man."

"I am not old!" König grumbled, "I only just turned thirty a month ago."

"You're in your thirties. You're old," Hutch smirked.

"You're what, twenty-nine?" König huffed.

"Twenty-seven and eleven months, thank you," Hutch replied.

"Oh so you'll be old soon enough," König snorted.

Hutch shook his head and wiped a blue towel over her forehead, "Nah, once I hit thirty then thirty-five is old."

"Oh," König rolled his eyes, "I see. So I won't be old for long."

"Did I say thirty-five? I meant thirty-one" Hutch took another sip of water.

"You're worse than Horangi," König puffed as he neared the end of his rep.

"König," Hutch glared down his nose at the bigger man, "nobody's as bad as Horangi."

König put the dumbbell by his feet and set his timer before he admitted, "Maybe not."

"Speaking of Horangi though," Hutch started stretching his arms over his chest, "I heard that he invited you to come out with us?"

"Word really does go around fast here," König muttered.

"When it's with Horangi? Sure does. But seriously man," Hutch eased into a good stretch, "are you coming?"

König drummed his fingers on his thigh as he felt his heart rate relax. He turned his head from side to side and then said, "Why not. I don't have anything else to do."

"Then I guess we got you on a good day," Hutch smiled.

"'We'? I thought this was a Horangi thing," König glanced over at his friend.

"Well, I gave Horangi the idea, but he was the one who really made it happen," Hutch explained, "I was hoping we might schedule something for next week or whatever, but Horangi's too impulsive to wait."

"Strange. When we were out in Iraq I saw him line up a shot for three hours," König shook his head, "but that man works in weird ways. I don't think I'll ever understand him."

"Funny, 'cause he says the same things about you," Hutch commented.

König was about to say something when his timer went off.

"Another rep, big guy?"

König nodded and picked up the dumbbell again, "Always another."

20 :00 - Two Hours Until the Ban

"Oh my God this is so good."

"See? I told you it would be."

"Okay but I saw you flicking mould off a peach last week," Horangi rolled his eyes as he stuffed another forkful of shwarma in his mouth, "your definition of 'good' is fucked."

König bristled as Hutch and Aksel laughed quietly behind him. He glared at the two, but it only served to worse Aksel's giggling.

"It was just a tiny bit," he explained.

"It was not a tiny bit," Aksel snickered, "that was the peach that Stiletto forgot in her locker."

König paled, "Was it really?"

"Yeah?" Aksel shook his head mirthfully, "I mean, it was set out on the counter for a reason."

"I thought..." König trailed off as he turned to glare at his hands.

"Whatever you thought," Hutch interjected, "it was just stupid. Like come on man, it was smellin' and everything!"

König wrinkled his nose, "I don't think it smelled that bad."

"You know you nearly gave Stiletto a heart attack," Horangi added on.

König smiled beneath his hood, "Well, I suppose I'll have to tell her I'm sorry."

"Oh cut the crap," Horangi gruffed, "you just wish you saw her face too."

König nodded from side to side as the others laughed.

It wasn't often that the men could get off base for a bit, but by pulling König's rank card (Horangi swore that wasn't the reason he was invited) and explaining a few things away, they managed to be able to get some time out to look around and enjoy the city. It took about an hour to drive to the shwarma shop, but at least it seemed to be a hit with the whole team. König was glad to at least provide something to the trip. He hated to admit it, but even then he was anxious about appearing good enough for his team.

"So," Horangi put his plastic fork down, "In about fifteen minutes, what do you guys think about heading out to the haunt?"

"Fine by me," Aksel nodded as Hutch swallowed a bite of his wrap, nodding in agreement.

"Alright. König? You cool with that?" Horangi turned to look at the tall Austrian.

"Should be fine," König nodded, "I mean, it might be a bit late, but..."

"We'll be fine," Hutch shut him down quickly, "don't worry about it man."

"I mean, it's just it's a long drive, and-"

"König! If the numbers guy says it'll be fine, then it'll be fine," Aksel sighed.

Horangi patted his shoulder, "Trust us. It'll be fine."

König sighed and relaxed into the seat. He didn't trust them, not in the slightest, but the least he could do was pretend.

21:00 - One Hour Until the Ban

The group of four man stood outside the farmhouse, looking up and down at the dilapidated building. Fog rolled from the windows with winding screams into the night. Occasionally, a bright red flash would come from the top left window. Cheap cobwebs were woven over the ground, littered with tiny plastic spiders that glowed in the green light coming from the front porch.

"You gettin' scared at all?" Horangi grinned as he looked between the others.

"Pft, it looks cheap," Aksel crossed his arms, "saw way better when I was a kid."

"I think that's positivity bias there, Aksel," König muttered, earning himself a short nod from Hutch.

"I think we might've wasted our time honestly," Hutch frowned as he gave the building another once-over.

"Oh come on," Horangi groaned, "we haven't even been inside. It might be a lot of fun!"

"Fun?" Askel shook his head and tutted condescendingly, "in this place? I doubt it."

Hutch glared at the offending building behind a pair of sunglasses.

"The website made it look so much better," Hutch complained bitterly as he squared his shoulders back.

Watching Horangi's face fall, König couldn't help but kick himself for being so negative to the place. Without another word, he put a hand on Horangi's shoulder and cocked his head to the side.

"Maybe it might be better on the inside, don't you think?" he offered his friend.

Horangi smiled back brightly, "See! König has the right idea!"

König shrivelled under the judgmental glare of the others. He hated how they looked almost disappointing in him for trying to stand up for Horangi. Really, even if the haunt was just for kids, what was the harm in having fun with it?

"Well hey, they say there's only groups of two here," Horangi pointed at a poorly painted sign, "so I'll go with König and you two buzzkills go with each other."

Aksel rolled his eyes, but threw an arm around the taller man to his left, "Alright, looks like we're together."

"Get your arm off of me," Hutch grumbled.

Not keen to be dragged down by the others, König decided to follow Horangi to the front steps of the home.

Strangely, as König drew closer, he couldn't help but feel that age-old familiar tingle in his chest. Something about the house set him on edge. He didn't want to admit it, but the house certainly unnerved him. He had the feeling something horribly dreadful waited for him inside.

"You know, now that the other two are gone, I'm really digging the vibes here," Horangi elbowed König lightly.

"Ja," König replied stiffly, "it is different without them."

Horangi looked up at his friend skeptically. After observing him carefully, a sly smile slid across Horangi's face.

"Getting a bit spooked, big guy?" Horangi asked.

König snorted, "No, of course not."

"Sure," Horangi drawled, "whatever you say."

König turned to glare, but they were already being called up.

As he stepped up to the ticket taker, he noticed the man turning to an actor and whispering. He tried to ignore how they both seemed to focus more on him than Horangi before the smaller scare actor was shooed off.

As they walked into the house, Horangi worsened his fears when he blithely commented, "They really seemed to be looking at you back there. I wonder why."

König felt positively dreadful.

21:30 - Half an Hour Until the Ban

König looked around him nervously. About five minutes ago, Horangi had disappeared from his side. He could hardly believe it. One minute Horangi was chatting away and the next he was gone. He didn't even really know when he lost the man, he'd long-since tuned out his rambling. Now, he wished he were paying more attention.

Now that he was alone, König couldn't help but notice all the sounds more. The screams pressed on his ears as the rattling of chains snaked through his feet. Sometimes he swore he heard someone panting in his ear, but when he turned there was only the low green light guiding him forwards.

With each step he took, he felt like he was passing through thick webs. Occasionally, thick tarps would block his vision and he'd have to push forward. He tried his best to not let his heart rate spike, but something had him on edge.

A part of him was kicking himself for being in any way, shape or form affected by the house. It was just a haunted house, it was all fake. He'd seen real horror, so why did this get to him? What was it that had his skin crawling?

He didn't know but it just kept getting worse.

König pushed past a curtain of rusted chains to enter what looked like the remnants of a kitchen. In the strobing red lights, he could see blood splatters cake the walls. The shine of metal on the walls clued him in to the knives wallpapering the room. His knees felt weak when he finally noticed the centre of the room.

There, lying down strapped to the dining room, a woman watched him with bright white eyes.

König couldn't help himself as he dashed into the next room.

Those eyes, bright white, staring directly at him, they petrified him like no other. He felt them boring into him, even as he left. He spared a glance behind him and nearly collapsed when he saw the woman turn her head 180 degrees to follow him.

He slammed the next door shut behind him, swallowing him in darkness.

21:45 - Fifteen Minutes Until the Ban

König panted as he slumped against the door. He held his chest tightly, welcoming the darkness around him. Finally he could get away from those eyes. In this darkness, nobody could ever see him.

König closed his eyes and sighed.

When he opened them, a small candle lit the room, revealing the contents to him for the first time.

When he looked around, he wanted to scream.

Mirrors. There were mirrors everywhere. Some as big as him, some smaller than his thumbnail. Ton and tons of mirrors all glinting back at him.

He could see his form slowly distorting in the candlelight. Old memories rushed through him and he trampled forth, knocking down a couple of mirrors in the process and shattering them on the ground.

21:50 - Ten minutes Until the Ban

König ran until he collided into a wall and stumbled back. Now in the low red lights he could see everything around him.

From the room of mirrors he'd walked into a small pioneer classroom. To his horror, every single pair of eyes was on him. He tried walking one way, and the 'students' turned their heads. He walked the other way and they followed him. He glanced around in widening horror as he realized the only exit was at the back of the room.

Without another thought, he pushed forth.

21:55 - Five Minutes Until the Ban

König didn't know why he ever agreed to come here. This place was nothing but a house of torture. He wanted to scream, he wanted to cry, he wanted to do anything he could to escape. Any exit he saw only took him further and further into the maze.

How was a small farmhouse so big? It felt endless in here. Each turn brought him new horrors, new eyes staring at him. He tried to get away, but he could feel their eyes on him constantly, watching him run, watching him stumble, watching him as he desperately tried to find an escape.

He barely took in his surroundings as he charged through the building. He could hear something being shouted, could hear footsteps crashing down behind him but he just kept pushing forth. He needed to do anything he could to get away. He could feel his throat tightening and his heart pounding as he ripped down a curtain to get by.

He stumbled through into another black room and felt himself shut down.

21:58 - Two Minutes Until the Ban

The room was silent. Nothing from the outside came in. It was cold, terribly cold. Never had he been so cold. Why was he so cold?

He heard a door unlock, and footsteps step in.

21:59 - One Minute Until the Ban

"Uh, hello?" he heard a quiet voice, "um, is anyone in here?"

A bright flashlight turned on in his face, momentarily blinding him.

König didn't think as he punched into the light. He only heard a squawk and a curse as the light dropped down to the ground. He stumbled back and all the lights turned on.

22:00 - THE BAN

"Dude!" he looked down to find a straggly teen.

"Shit he got Johann," a woman yelled out.

"I told you this was a bad idea," a man grunted as he stepped forth and hauled the teen up to his feet. He gave König a sharp glare and jabbed a finger in his direction.

"Me?" König could feel the panic draining from his system.

"You! Go follow her and get out of here," the man yelled.

König didn't need to be told twice. He quickly found the tiny purple-haired woman and scurried to her side. She eyed him with disgust.

"Seriously dude, that wasn't cool," she sighed, "like, I know we're an extreme haunt, but you can't punch the actors. That's like, the number one rule here."

"Ah, sorry," König muttered weakly.

"Your friend is outside waiting for you," she grumbled as she led him through the back, "I told the guys not to push you too far, but they just wanted to scare the big guy and I guess they went too far. Still," she opened the final door, "you're banned from the haunt. Permanently."

"Why?" König asked meekly as he stepped by.

"You punched the actors dude," she glared at him, "number. One. Rule."

With that she slammed the door in his face, leaving him to join Horangi outside.

Horangi only had to take one look at his friend to figure out what had happened.

"You punched an actor?" he crossed his arms over his chest, "that's like, the number one rule."

"I panicked," König explained weakly.

"You? You panicked?" Horangi frowned, "what the hell did they do to you?"

König shook his head as he leaned over, "Eyes. So many eyes."

"Eyes?"

"And mirrors."

"And mirrors!? König, what sorta haunt did you go to?" Horangi quizzed him, "I just got led around a haunted barnyard!"

"After they split us up," König sucked in another breath, "it was... I didn't think that it would be that bad." Horangi scrunched his eyebrows together, but thankfully only clapped a hand on his back and helped push his friend forward, "Alright, well, I saw some sorta candy place. Looked like dragonsbreath, so I wanted to check it out. Wanna come with?"

König wheezed.

"I'll take that as a yes," Horangi shrugged and dragged König over to the cotton candy vendor.

Konig Dump

Konig Regular Fanfics

[pastelalleycat]

Clown had some... pretty creepy ideas with beta Barnaby, I'll say that much, but one thing that really interests me about the beta is that though he seems to have always been the jokester of the Neighborhood, beta Barnaby was grumpy. He was melancholy. His (again, beta) color palette was very muted compared to the other neighbors. Goofing off in a depressed sort of way.

Meanwhile, the Barnaby we have in canon is vibrant, both in color palette and personality. He's boisterous, he's cheerful, and most of all, he's so chill to the point of being seemingly unflappable. I don't think we've ever seen canon Barnaby express genuine frustration or anger. When Frank tells him off or Julie gets riled up over a failed joke, it's water off a duck's back.

Canon Barnaby's role is as Wally's best friend, and he takes the job of supervisor and teacher quite seriously, but he also cares- in a roundabout way- for his other neighbors, like joke-loving Howdy and even Julie, who he (I think genuinely) wants to teach how to tell jokes. As long as he can tease his buddies and have a jazzed-to-the-nines hot dog at the end of the day, everything's hunky-dory.

To be clear, Clown has stated that beta Welcome Home art/concepts and everything off the WHRP website should NOT be considered canon. Still, I can't help but wonder- how long will Barnaby's chill last? He puts up a fun-loving front, but something's going to have to make him snap eventually.

And when he does, it's going to tear my heart open.

[mytardisiscoolerthanyours]

You've got Mail

Chapter 2: Introductions - Tim

Ch. 1

Hey Quinn,

I'm gonna be honest, I completely forgot that I put my info on that site. I'm not even sure how you found it because it must have been years old. Suffice to say, your letter was a bit of a surprise. Not that I'm complaining! It actually came at the perfect time. Oddly enough, I also just graduated and am planning on going to Gotham University in the fall. We can be buddies!

Besides, it's nice to hear from someone who isn't one of my brothers. They have a unique ability to pester the living hell out of me and I'm running out of non-relations to talk to.

So, official new best friend, I guess I should tell you a bit more about me too. I’m doing a double major in business and computer science at GU. A bit less noble than your career, sadly, but I’m mostly just doing it to help - Bruce - my father (it’s complicated) with his business. He doesn’t want to run it forever and I’m the only one of my brothers with any real interest in running a company. If I’m being honest though, I'd much rather just focus on the computer side of things and do something fun. Your video game sounds awesome and I seriously hope you'll let me play it one day.

I can also relate to your whole only child thing. Back in the day I was technically an only child too. Well, for the first half of my life at least. It's a really long, kinda traumatic story so I won't bore you with the details. But overall I get it. You don't have to worry about stereotypes here, just be yourself!

On to the questions!

Q: Why are you looking for a pen pal?

A: Well like I said, I actually forgot that I put my info on that website. It was so long ago, I think it was before I was even adopted. I probably did it because I wanted a friend, or at least someone to talk to. My childhood was, in a word, really lonely. I was a bit naive and probably hoped that by writing to someone I could fill some of that gap and find someone to connect with. (is this too emo? This might be too emo.) Anyway, back to the present. Now I’m just excited about the idea of starting school with a new friend - You're totally right about the ice breaker thing btw, we're going to have an awesome story. My other friends either live far away or are also going to out of state schools. How dare they abandon us like that?

Q: What are your interests?

A: I'll take your word for it about the questions, I don't even remember my login for the website to check. I promise I won't tell you how incredibly handsome and charming I am in real life, lol. (Can you say lol in a letter? I’m gonna do it anyway). Anyway, interests. Well, I kinda hinted that I'm a computer nerd already. My brothers would tell you that I constantly have my head in my laptop, which may or may not be true. I wish I was more of a reader like you, but I think that gene skipped me. I don't have the patience to sit still for that long. Other than that, I'd say I like finding new ways to be active. So far I've tried three types of martial arts, gymnastics, and yoga. I tried running once and immediately ended that. It's an awful hobby, 0/10 do not recommend. And last, but probably most important, would have to be coffee. I think my body has adapted to absorb it into my bloodstream. I might actually need it for my continued survival. If you ever need a recommendation for a cafe in Gotham, let me know though. I’m pretty sure I've tried them all at this point.

Q: If you could have any superpower what would it be?

A: I love your answer, but I have SO many logistical questions. Like, would you still age if time slowed? Are other people aware of the change in time? Do you stop it locally or everywhere at the same time? I feel like research needs to be done about this. I could write a whole paper on it. (sorry, nerd, remember?) As for me, I actually have two answers. The fake answer that I usually tell people is flying. You'd be surprised how much this question actually comes up in my life.I usually say that it would be so fun to fly like Superman and get everywhere faster and blah, blah, blah. But my real answer - since we're being honest with each other here - is that I think powers are overrated. I mean just look at Batman and Robin, they get along just fine without any supernatural help. Heroes like them show their strength through their training and dedication. That's the real power.

Ew, cringe, I just read that back and it sounded so lame. I'd rewrite it but I'm actually out of paper - the truth it is. I kind of went through a big superhero phase when I was younger - I guess it’ll never stop following me. If my brother Jason ever saw this I would never live it down.

I'm also incredibly sorry for my handwriting, it will be a miracle if you can read at least half of this. Surprise surprise, I usually tend to stick to keyboards. Maybe in the future we can email? It would be faster and maybe I'd be able to delete some of the cringy stuff I write without having to start the whole letter over again (which I definitely didn't do at least twice).

Alright bestie, it's been real. I have a parting question before I go though and I need you to really think about it because it WILL impact how I view you as a person.

Pineapple on pizza? Yes or no?

REMEMBER, you will be judged.

Hope to hear from you soon, Quinny!

Peace, Love, and Fairy Dust,

Tim

—

More chapters to come! Hope you enjoyed <3

https://archiveofourown.org/works/63916768/chapters/163934953

[djgamek1ng]

MTG x Final Fantasy Card Discussion (Pt. 1 - The Promotional Artwork, Product Artwork and more)

Help, I'm still feeling inspired to type more of my ramblings! Anyway, I'm feeling inspired to just start typing more things. This time, let's just talk about the cards already revealed. And thanks to a suggestion by my good friend @peculiarmarsu, I will also be discussing the art. I might go back and discuss the art of the leaked cards, but I also kind of want to wait till we see all that art in a much more clear format. In this case, I will just be talking about the cards that we've already gotten officially spoiled. Oh, and for the art part, I will be talking about all major versions that we have.

Just to preface this: I'm much more a FF fan than I am a MTG fan. I've started playing MTG when the Warhammer 40K commander decks came out and while I enjoy the game, I'm not super huge into MTG lore yet. FF on the other hand, aside from my blind spots with FF11, FF12 and FF16, I know pretty well at this point. So on the art side, I will have some interesting opinions since I'm namely here as an FF fan first, though I can appreciate some good MTG art!

So in this part, we're not gonna be talking about cards at all. We're just going to go through the promotional artwork in this first part and the artwork of cards we've not gotten spoiled yet (with one exception, since it is already been spoiled but was in the early look trailer so I'm still including it), but we know exist as seen in the trailer when this set got announced or that is just straight up shown on the main page on the website. No discussion about the rules here, since we'll not be looking at cards at the moment. With that said, let's jump in with the original Warrior of Light.

All credit goes to Magali Villeneuve, follow her on BlueSky. This art is a 10/10, in my honest opinion! :D It captures everything about the original Warrior of Light so well and it is done phenomenally. If I had to make one complaint, his face is quite small and obscured, but that's the tiniest of nitpicks. This is fantastic. Let's now move to FF6's Terra Branford

Also done by the same artist. Terra also looks fantastic here. I do wish we got to see her sword a bit more, but I get wanting to emphasize her magic more so. Just a shame, since Terra of the 4 chosen is the only one that really embodies both spell and sword, so would've been nice to see it a bit more. Aside from that, no notes, looks fantastic.

Let's move onto FF7's Cloud Strife:

Yet again, done by the same artist. I promise, it's just one more after this and then we're done with her wonderful art XD Anyway, Cloud is looking great. The only thing is that it seems the Buster Sword is getting thinner as it goes on and it has an edge on both sides? It almost feels like this isn't the Buster Sword for some reason? It just looks slightly off to me, but still a great artwork. Now let's move on to FF14's Y'shtola Rhul.

One last time, done by Magali Villeneuve. Follow her on BlueSky, seriously, she makes great stuff. Anyway, about the art: this is probably the best one. Not the one I enjoy the most, that is FF1's Warrior of Light, but this feels the most on point of all of them. You could convince me that this was marketing art for FFXIV at some point. Pretty easily even. This is a fantastic piece. I genuinely have no notes, 10/10.

Oh, also, those 4 artworks seems to be the ones we'll be seeing on the play boosters. At least, we know the Cloud one will be on the play boosters, but it would make sense if all 4 are on them. They are all on the play booster box!

Now, let's talk about the character arts on the Commander Deck boxes, since those are different compared to art on their cards!

Credit goes to Néstor Ossandón Leal for all of these. Link to his ArtStation. I'm clumping them all together, since I don't have too much to say. They are all pretty damn solid. The big one that kind of sticks out is Tidus, since he really looks like his in-game FF10 model. This isn't a bad thing, but it just sticks out a bit. Overall, very solid batch!

Next, let's look at some of the other product packaging. First, the Omega Collector's Booster Omega!

Credit to Ramza Psyru/Ramza Ardyputra. Link to their ArtStation. Kefka from FF6! He's looking very good, the pose is as extravagent and absurd looking as Kefka gets, so not much to say. Just very good! :D

Let's look at the Starter Kit, featuring some guys from FF7 who aren't important to the plot at all.

Credit to Billy Christian. Link to his ArtStation. I also included the sleeve version, since that one isn't washed out like the other picture I found. Overall, these look pretty good. I do think you miss a bit of the emotions on their face, due to it being so zoomed out, but also because they aren't showing much emotion, but it's still solid. All the details are on point, so can't complain too much about that.

Now, let's go to a slightly interesting pair of characters on the bundle!

Credit to Justyna Dura. Link to her ArtStation. Lightning and Sephiroth is an interesting pairing, potentially due to their interaction in the Dissidia trailers/cutscenes? But not much to say here again, they look pretty good. Honestly, it is similar to the last picture, where I have to again be a bit like "man, I really would like to see their emotions." Also, unlike the previous one, these two seem to not be interaction with each other, they just seem to be near each other... for some reason.

Now let's get to the best packaging by a country mile for the Gift Bundle

Credit to Nino Is. Link to their ArtStation. ALL OF MY YES. HOLY CRAP. 10/10 NO NOTES, THIS IS F**KING FANTASTIC! OH MY FREAKING LORD. I know next to nothing about FF16, but this is fantastic. Ifrit vs Bahamut is all I get from this and it is so cool looking!

Those are the main packaging artworks aside from one that I couldn't find the artist for so I'm skipping it for now, but let's now look at some card arts shown off in the first trailer of this set. Starting with Kefka poisoning Doma's water supply.

Credit goes to Arif Wijaya. Link to his ArtStation. This goes way too hard. This might be one of my favorite arts in the whole set. It is so playful and colorful and it depicts Kefka perfectly, while also showing that the poison isn't just regular stuff but actively magical. If I had a criticism, it would be found dead in the streets by the sheer fact that this art is so freaking good. Genuinely, no notes and I'm not a huge Kefka fan to begin with, so my bias isn't playing up here.

Next up, we have "Lightning, Army of One" as confirmed by the official website:

Credit goes to shiyu. Link to their ArtStation. This is great and by the looks of their ArtStation, they tend to like Lightning quite a bit. I don't have too much to say, she looks almost entirely on model, her pose is dynamic, the background is fantastic. There is just praise to be had here, she looks great.

Next up we have a demon from hell that should be purged in holy fire:

Credit goes to Joseph Weston. Link to his ArtStation. This... abomination is a Delivery Moogle and it looks... solid. This is where some of my bias against MTG's general more realistic artstyle comes in, because moogles are literally satan's spawn weird little critters and putting them into a more realistic trying artstyle starts too look a little uncanny valley to me. This art is technically sound, it just looks off to me personally, who is used to seeing my sleep paralysis demons moogles in artstyles such as FFXIV, the Dissidia games or even the Kingdom Hearts games. It's still great art though: it's colorful, it is detailed in all the ways it needs to be, it gets the point across and I think it will look great on the card that it will be printed on. I'm still hoping to not get it, since I do not enjoy moogles... at all.

Let's move on to our first reprinted card, featuring Tidus and Yuna from FF10 smooching, Together Forever.

Credit goes to Yuu Fujiki. Link to their Pixiv. This is a very well done art. Every detail is immaculate. Yuna and Tidus are wonderfully drawn and it really does feel like an intimate moment. It is just wonderful, from beginning to end. I also like all the bubbles you see, since this kiss is underwater, even in the original game. This is an iconic scene in FF10 and it is captured wonderfully. Technically, if there is one criticism, this depiction of it is a lot brighter than the original, since during the original it was dark out. However, for readability on a Magic card, this was the correct call, so the criticism doesn't even fully hold up.

Next up we have Emet-Selch, Unsundered from FF14.

Credit to Néstor Ossandón Leal. Link to his ArtStation. Emet-Selch is a character I have a bunch of opinions on, but that's for a different time if ever. Let's break this art down into two parts: the background and the character itself. The background is really amazing. The embers of the burning Amaurot, while showing off the Amaurot we got through as the zone is such a good decision. Now for the character. Let's start positive, all the details are very very good. He's definitely on point in that. In a slightly less positive vibe: the face and hair... it almost makes him look crazy or unhinged, which isn't entirely wrong, but it feels off with how we see him in FF14, where he is a bit of a grump and slouch, but still theatrical and well put together. However, part of that is also I suppose the engine limitations, so I'm not against this showing. I will briefly bring up the card here, not for the rules but for the art: I do think this art gets a bit worse on a card, but it's alright. The extended art version looks better again, so bit of a 50/50 I guess? ^^;

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And now... that's it. There is one more art in that trailer, but I have the feeling it might've been replaced due to people thinking it might've been made with AI due to some weird inconsistencies. Now, I'm not saying it was AI generated, but there were some weird details like Sephiroth's sword becoming spaghetti towards the hilt and the scene being some random cave instead of where that iconic FF7 scene actually takes place.

I don't doubt that the artist that was credited, Wangjie Li, actually worked on it, but I still have the feeling WotC might've asked them to redo it, since the art has also been scrubbed from the website ever since mid-December of last year, looking through the Wayback Machine surrounding the official page (look at 12th of December vs 16th of December), and replaced with the full art of the starter kit's face cards of Cloud and Sephiroth, way before we even knew that those were for the starter kits. I suppose we'll see.

With all that said, thank you for reading more of my ramblings! I will be back with part 2 of this... soon-ish. Way less things to review, so it should be a lot quicker :p

[mllermanda]

Now posting some of the Party Crashers fanart that I posted in Twitter a while back, I wanted to draw each of them as an genderbent version of themselves in the SkullGirls art style with a bit of backstory for each of them. Reason why I did not type this out in Twitter because of the word count which I absolutely hate about the website since it makes me limit on what I want to say, especially when being sincere since I use a lot of words to talk to others.

Regardless though, since Tumblr does not do this, I can finally write them down here:

For TCNICK3, I wanted his genderbent to be focused as an half robot, half human woman whose stuck under ruling of an cocky penguin who's getting the public attentions that she deserves. She's an smart and cunning woman who knows how to play the game and is waiting for the right moment to take over as true ruler. If in the SkullGirls universe, I would imagine her trying to go for the Skull-Heart at first before learning its true power and would try to go against it and destroy it at the end. She would delay the time for the next Skull-Heart to appear but the cycle would still continue.

For Sophist, I wanted his genderbent version to be very similar to the persona he has on Youtube. An chaotic Saturday morning cartoon woman who works alone and generally goes around towns committing petty crimes. Her goals of taking over the world was crafted and displayed towards her society though no one took her seriously. However when she heard about the Skull-heart, with no hesitation, she would claw her ways towards the top and end up falling into the traps that the Skullheart has. While gaining the power that she wanted, she will become an Skullgirl.

For Vernias, I focused on his genderbent to be the goddess in training of an utopia land that was contracted to protect people in Earth from corruption and evil. She trains everyday and is determined to do her best to bring people joy and happiness. Eventually she was sent off towards an mission into going to Earth to protect people from an dangerous item called the Skullheart. She gets assigned with this mission, gathers her minions and goes to Earth to face the Skull-Heart to destroys it. She would be able to destroy the skull-heart but would delay the time for the next skull-heart to appear as the cycle would continue.

Finally with King of Skill, I aimed his genderbent to be someone who just recently became Queen towards her own kingdom. While she is learning on how to properly rule her new kingdom, she focuses herself as an precise chill person while learning to balance between work life and personal life. However, she wants to find an new thrill within herself and learns about the skull-heart in the process to protect her kingdom. As she goes out on her own, she focuses on eliminating the skullheart and searches for other people who would join her journey on destroying the Skullheart. I would imagine at the ending in this one, the Party Crashers would come together to defeat the Skullheart and delay its inevitable return.

[dylanzemuffin]

It’s time for a DylanZeIntroduction!

I’ve already posted one of these before, but that was closing in on a full year ago, so it’s very old, very shitty, very outdated. Let me start again:

Hi, I’m DylanZeMuffin, but I prefer to just be called Dylan! There are many things to go over, so I’ll just list them in an organized manner…

I’m 16yo. That means I’m a minor, and I don’t want to see NSFW, nor do I want to hear anything more than sex jokes. I love sex jokes & dark humor, sure, but let's hope you can realize when enough has been enough.

I go by He/Him pronouns.

I am a learning, (mostly) self-taught artist, and a (pretty much entirely) self-taught voice actor! While I’m proud of my art, I am mostly known for my voice acting as I am THE OFFICIAL VOICE ACTOR OF 2011 SONIC.EXE FROM JOEDOUGHBOI’S 2023 REMAKE OF THE ORIGINAL FANGAME.

I love my girlfriend!!!

I barely use Tumblr. These past few recent posts plus this one have all been over maybe two hours as I am just now remembering this site exists after about a month of total inactivity. If you’d like to keep up with my content, such as my art, voice acting, and general commentary, the best place to do that is Twitter. If you don’t wanna step foot on Twitter (understandable), YouTube is also an option. My username is simply ‘DylanZeMuffin’ on both websites.

I am a HUUUGGEE fan of Five Nights at Freddy’s! It’s practically what I grew up with when I was younger, and it still is to this day, to be honest. A few other special interests of mine would include Sonic The Hedgehog, Sonic.exe, & FNF. Yippie!

If you’d like to contact me for anything potentially important, my Discord tag is also, simply, ‘dylanzemuffin’

That’s mostly it for random trivia facts, now here are a few examples of my works, both art & voice acting!

Don't take this piece of VA work seriously please, lmao. I put it together in the span of like 30 minutes like a month back as an inside joke within a Friday Night Funkin' dev server.

Alright, thanks for taking the time to read through my flurry of bullshit! Bye!!!

[lesb0]

hi miss Terra, would you securely argue that tiktok is the current primary vehicle of culture, especially for black diaspora? Why or why not

Yeah I would say tiktok is the much much safer environment for the highly visible black culture, because of their heavy censorship against bullying and racism!

Of course racist white tumblrs complain about their lack of "freedom" but I've never seen antiracist rules enforced so seriously by any online platform, which otherwise goes completely untouched like on tumblr. at BEST we have leftist whites treat us like a whole different species while protecting privileged white males. at worst there are rampant neonazi blogs proliferating at really high rates. Same for facebook, reddit, insta but I've never seen one nazi get through tiktoks filters. I love to see the microaggressions get people chased off. the dedication to keeping black people safe is remarkable, community side and by serious moderation!

Secondly SO many cultural movements, dances, memes, etc have been coined by black people on tiktok! I've seen that white people tend to segregate cliques by race while maybe adopting 1 black person into their group because that person can give them good ideas to steal (exact same on tumblr but this is all anonymous)

But black people tend to be super creative even outside of a circle of friends. I would love to make short art history lecture clip videos someday, especially on black women artists :) but anyways I only go on that website to watch chef Nara smith videos when im in the kitchen lol. so maybe ask an expert.

[freakartack]

I just wanted to ask your opinion/ideas on Mike (supposedly, said by Wario) running away in the past and Dr. Crygor's interest in human experimentation being reiterated in the Move It website translations? I honestly feel like the Mike situation was probably him just sneaking out one night and didn't get home early enough & it got exaggerated, or something along those lines!

ALSO I WANTED TO SAY RQ THAT I LOVE YOUR ART & COMICS SO MUCH!!!!

They seriously make me so happy every day and I have legitimately burst out laughing at them due to the amazing writing and hilarious expressions!!! You're one the best WarioWare artists out there and I feel like you genuinely understand the characters!!! I love your Mike, Crygor and Orbulon in particular!!! Interaction/dialogue wise but also designs!!! Keep up the amazing work!!!

THANK YOU!! You're too kind!! I love these characters so much, I'm really happy you enjoy my interpretation of them. Those are some of my favorite characters to draw and write so you definitely won't be seeing a shortage of them!

I believe the move it website is probably alluding to mike's stage in warioware touched - he was so rebellious that the literal first thing he ever did was run away to the moon. It's one of my favorite microgame cutscenes and the idea of crygor frantically calling dribble and spitz to go pick up his unruly robot from a party is really funny

Of course crygor now realizes that his new invention has interests of his own and therefore he is no longer an invention but a beautiful baby boy. He tries so hard to connect with his rebellious teenage robot by engaging with his interests but to his horror Crygor has already been deemed an Uncool Dad

They grow up too fast

I also really love crygor's unscrupulous desire to experiment on anything and anyone. It's made charming because he's not a coward, he's done more dangerous experiments on himself than anyone else. He also has the tiniest modicum of standards, which also makes the juxtaposition even funnier. He's not above experimenting on humans, but he doesn't want to experiment on any old humans, you have to build a rapport with him first. Wario is his favorite test subject, presumably because nothing can kill him

9-volt invites him over for a fun game night and crygor's only thoguht is "man i wish i could dissect his pet square"

The funniest part is that he doesn't do it though. He has restraint. Good for you, dr. crygor.

Truthfully I think he has thoughts like this a lot and he just never acts on them. It would be rude. This is crazy but i actually made a doodle about this earlier this week so this will not be my last post on this subject today. Hold that thought

[tachyonmemories]

Is there a place where i can get every illustration done by wayne barlowe? asking this before shitty ai art takes over and makes it hard to look for his legit works.

I honestly doubt there's any single place where you can find all his art. He's been my favorite artist for pretty much as long as I can remember and I still find pieces from him I've never seen before. Best I can do is point you in a couple different directions:

-His website is probably the best single location to find his work. Well organized, high-res scans and still gets an update every couple years.

-Weirdly, he is very active on LinkedIn. I think he posts all his new art there and you can easily "right click -> save as... " his posts instead of having to get some kind of 3rd-party plugin to download what he posts on instagram. To my knowledge, those are his only active socials and that's where you can find his new work. He may have a facebook page, but I haven't used facebook in years.

-If you go through torrent sites you can find high-res scans of a lot of his art from the "Barlowe's Guide" era up until about 2010ish. I think RUtracker is where I found a pretty thorough collection.

-His really early work- book covers and such- is pretty hard to track down. @70sscifiart and similar accounts occasionally post pulp covers by him from super early in his career but I seriously doubt they've been collected in one place. If they have, I don't know about it.

I think that's the extent of my knowledge. If you want to buy his physical books they're usually pretty pricey so either save up for pray for a deal. The only exception I think is Alphabet of Dinosaurs which you can normally get for a steal and which I highly recommend picking up.

Hope that helps! If I think of more resources, I'll come back and add them. Here are some weird Barlowe pieces I don't see in circulation too often:

[tofutortoise]

My Experience at The Tempest (少年社中) + Meeting Imata Taira!!

On Monday I saw Shonen Shachu’s 25th anniversary production of The Tempest in Tokyo! Overall, I had an amazing experience, and even got to meet IMATA TAIRA HIMSELF!!! And speak to him, which was unreal. Details below, but also spoilers for the play! 

First off, I got my ticket through the lottery system, and somehow I ended up with a fantastic seat on the first floor! I haven’t had great luck with random seats in the past, but this time I sure did. It was a pretty small theater with excellent acoustics. The set was minimal but well utilized. I was really excited about the costumes after seeing all the glittering visuals on the official website (see here), but for some reason, the actual costumes they wore for the play were completely different and noticeably lower quality. I was particularly disappointed that the women’s costumes had major downgrades. On the bright side, Hiroshi Yazaki (playing Kagura/Prospero) got an even better costume than the one he wears in the official posters. He looked like a prince! 

As for the story, I can’t say I was the biggest fan. However, this is probably on me more than the production lmao. Because it’s called The Tempest, I assumed that this would simply be a production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. However, as I quickly realized while watching the show and growing ever more confused, this is not the case!! It’s actually an original show about a theater group dealing with the loss of one of their members, reckoning with what it means to be an actor and bringing happiness to people, following their love for acting, etc., all while they put on a production of The Tempest. Scenes from Shakespeare’s Tempest are therefore interwoven into the play, and sometimes I admit I had a hard time understanding what was going on (the many time skips/flashbacks didn’t help on this point lol). Honestly I should have read the plot synopsis ahead of time, but because I assumed it was just the basic Tempest I didn’t bother– oops. 

There were points where I was quite invested and moved, but overall I wouldn’t say the flow of the story was particularly great. However, my experience was also limited by my intermediate Japanese, and I’m sure a lot of it went over my head. 

I think all of the actors did an amazing job! Imata Taira was definitely a highlight, and he portrayed a very troubled, grieving, angry character with artfulness and incredible intensity. Seeing him, along with Yazaki and Shogo in person, was absolutely unreal. As a long time Hakuouki fan, going from first seeing them on my computer in Hakumyu 8 years ago to watching them in person in Japan is a dream come true. 

Now, let’s get to the most exciting part– I MET IMATA TAIRA!!! AND SPOKE TO HIM!!!! AHHH! Basically after the show there was a special line where you could go to buy a piece of merch and talk to Taira for a moment. I had no idea they would be doing this so I hadn’t prepared anything to say to him, and I was SO nervous!! Turns out I needn’t have worried though, because Taira is such a lovely person and it was a great interaction. First of all, when the person in front of me moved on and I stepped up, Taira’s eyes went comically wide and he let out a gasp. I was expecting some level of surprise because I was a foreigner (blue eyes, red hair, etc.) at a completely Japanese play, but he was seriously taken aback. I spoke to him entirely in Japanese, of course, and thanked him for a wonderful performance, but he was just kinda scrambling for words and saying stuff like “Ah I’m so sorry I don’t know English!!”. He was so sweet and even bowed and put his head to the table and apologized for not knowing English T-T. I told him that even though my Japanese isn’t great, the power of theater is such that you don’t need to understand the words to be moved, and he thanked me again and even gave me his best “thank you!” in English too! He was so incredibly kind and genuine, and I found his reaction to be hilarious. It seemed like he was just as nervous to speak to me as I was to speak to him! Absolutely amazing experience!!!! The whole thing still feels absolutely unreal to me. I never thought I would have the opportunity to actually speak to one of the actors who has meant so much to me over the years. What a wonderful way to start off 2024 :) 

If anyone wants to chat about the play or has any questions about seeing it, feel free to PM anytime!

[oasisofgalaxies]

"sorry i stole your tag" NO this is the website where we're all freaks about our interests. now tell me about rosegold i wanna hear what it is

oh dear lord that is a can of worms but I’d be happy to open it !!!!

Ok SO Rosegold is a story that is shared between me and my friend @ind1c0lite !!! It’s abt to go thru a major rewrite bc the plot is as filled with holes as a Rhode Island interstate and we can’t have that

But the basic concept won’t change SO here we go!!

In Rosegold there exist beings known as Guardians. The Guardians were created by the Universe, who they call Mother. Mother created the Guardians to watch over certain aspects of existence. Each Guardian is assigned an aspect which is called their Domain. A guardian can have up to two Domains and they are usually related to one another in some way.

As creation exists in Mother, destruction exists in the Collective. The Collective are a hivemind, a rolling tide of eldritch flood that exists to destroy. The Universe weaves and the Collective tears. Opposing forces, a sort of yin and yang. The Guardians know that all destruction of Mother’s creations cannot be stopped, but they do their best to keep the Collective at bay.

The Guardians live in a realm called HQ. It exists somewhere outside the mortal plane and therefore can’t be accessed by mortals. HQ is headed by three guardians, who are also our main characters!

(Art by @ind1c0lite)

This is Una, the Guardian of Timelines and Reality! She was the first Guardian to be created by Mother. Because of this, Una takes her job as head Guardian very seriously. She’s stoic, serious, and very dedicated to her duties and to her fellow Guardians. In her free time (which is an amount that is next to nothing) she enjoys collecting and tending to her extensive collection of swords! While she cares deeply for everyone in HQ, she doesn’t open herself up to many people. I can count on one hand how many people she’s let herself be vulnerable around. But even with her closest friends, there’s some secrets that she will never tell.

(Art by @ind1c0lite)

Memento, or Mem for short, is the Guardian of Time and Memory! He was one of he first Guardians created after Una, and is one of the head Guardians in HQ. There is never a dull moment around Mem, he’s a huge dork and is always getting into some kind of shenanigans. He tends to skirt his duties as head Guardian a bit more than his compatriots, but he is capable of buckling down and getting shit done when needed. Mem is extraordinarily loyal and will often rush headfirst into danger in order to protect his friends. As a hobby he enjoys metalworking! He can create some fantastically intricate pieces, and quite thematically he enjoys making pocket watches. Where Mem is, you can trust that Mori is not far behind.

And speaking of, this is Mori! Mori is the Guardian of Life and Death and the third Guardian to be created after Una. I can’t really say third because he and Mem were created at the same time, so it’s hard to put a number to their arrival. The two are basically inseparable and it’s a rare sight to see them apart. Mori has one of the biggest hearts in HQ and cares deeply about his friends and fellow Guardians. He can be a bit of a stickler for the rules which sometimes gets him the reputation of being a bit of a spoilsport, but he means well. Mori tends for HQ’s sprawling gardens which he himself worked tirelessly to cultivate. He spends hours pruning and caring for his flowers. His prized rosebushes are his favorites! His relation to flowers extends outside the gardens as well. Flowers tend to bloom wherever he goes and can be a good way to tell how he’s feeling. If he’s in a particularly bad mood, however, plantlife around him will wilt and wither. Luckily, it’s rare that Mori is ever in a bad mood.

And those are the main three guys!! Our protagonists :D! I don’t want to make this post super long but if u or anyone reading has any questions please feel free to ask I LOVE talking abt Rosegold so so so much hehe

[laikaflash]

I’m babbling about heraldry from a fighting game again

This is sort of a redux of my post about the mostly horse-themed heraldic motifs on some of Siegfried’s designs. As before, I’m starting with his PS1-exclusive Soul Blade costume. Specifically, the back of it.

(Screenshot taken from SPGAMES’ video.)

I thought there would’ve been at least one drawing of this coat of arms in concept art, but all the illustrations of the tabard-and-chainmail costume I've found only show him from the front. I wasn’t even entirely sure what the charges (beasts) on it were supposed to be, but my best guess remains that they’re dragons. The same game mentions in Siegfried’s “Edge Master” story that he was named after “the famous hero”. That would be Siegfried from the Nibelungenlied, who gained nigh-invulnerability from a literal blood bath after slaying a dragon (except for the back of his neck, where a fallen leaf happened to land). It’s a nice touch.

Here’s my hypothetical (and likely ungrammatical) blazon for the coat of arms: Per pale, Gules and Azure, two Dragons, Or in Dexter and Argent in sinister, combatant.

It’s hard to find an example of a coat of arms divided per pale and with charges that aren’t counterchanged and I see why. (Seriously, my only other reference was Joffrey Baratheon’s.) Grumbling aside, it does follow the rule of tincture (metals on colors). For reasons that will be elaborated on later, I don’t think this necessarily meant to be Siegfried’s arms, as it may appear. The combatant attitude (pose) of the beasts is a fitting choice for him though.

From the same game, we can see another gold dragon on a red field over Ostrheinsburg during the siege by the unseen Marquis Andre. The blazon would be mercifully easier: Gules, a Lindwurm ondoyant Or. (This dragon has two feet and no wings, so it counts. “Ondoyant” means “wriggling”. Undulating, if you will.) I’ve posted about this before, too. The Soul Archive website specifies that this banner is his. It’s not visible here, but an engraving of the same Lindwurm can be seen on a render of a catapult in the linked post.

Though a little difficult to make out, atop the towers toward the left are the damaged standards of Sir Stefan. Scratch that. Those are imperial banners of the Holy Roman Empire. (I don’t think it worked that way, but I’m not going to harp on that.) The imperial eagle can also be seen on the walls in this stage (see below).

(Screenshot taken from Raivop’s video.)

These look metallic and, judging by the perspective and scale, huge. Little information is given about Sir Stefan aside from his hiring Siegfried as a mercenary, but the former’s description as an “independent knight” might mean that he was a Free Imperial Knight. Ostrheinsburg was his castle, and it is shown to be enormous. In the second image, you can see in the far distance a keep surrounded by several rings of battlements. Even in the ruined parts shown in subsequent games and concept art, there’s a sense of grandeur to it inside and out. It would seem that Sir Stefan was a powerful knight.

I have to wonder how long Marquis Andre was able to enjoy his victory before Nightmare took over Ostrheinsburg. I don’t remember if any of the canon said his fate outright, but it’s a safe guess that he didn’t survive.

Later games gave Siegfried and Nightmare equine motifs, at least in certain costume details. (And in the latter’s case, the pun comes with the territory.) In most of his designs over the series, Nightmare’s helmet had a long, prominent spike on the forehead and flaring metal plating on the back of it, reminiscent of a unicorn’s horn and mane, respectively. (Although, some designs eschewed those for a long, red mane from Nightmare himself.) Soul Calibur VI took this a step further with this winged unicorn rampant in his character portrait. (Strictly speaking, its attitude is forcené. Couldn’t get a pun out of that.) It’s a surprisingly majestic thing for this monstrous knight.

Funny thing is, heraldic unicorns were often more goat-like (with cloven hooves and a beard... and a lion’s tail) and symbolized wildness itself. For lack of sources, I’m a bit iffy on where winged ones fall in this, though.

For comparison, below is Siegfried’s character portrait. If you put just the backgrounds side by side, you’d see the beasts almost as mirror images, combatant if you will! My interpretation is that the broken horn symbolizes that Nightmare is still a part of him, however much Siegfried will try to sever himself from him. Thinking on it again, it’s occurred to me that, unlike antlers, broken horns don’t grow back. In that light, the broken horn may symbolize that Nightmare still has some power over him, albeit in a weakened state.

While the intent here may be that they’re two sides of the same coin, this could also be a carryover from his 2P outfit in Soul Calibur III. Note the winged horse on his tabard. In the leftmost drawing in the top image, the tabard itself appears to show a coat of arms.

(I forgot whose video I screenshot this one from. I believe it was of a mod.)

The in-game model shows a second winged horse on the back. I don’t know if I’m more put off by the charges being in the first and second quarters or the Argent charge on an Or quarter. By itself, a possible interpretation of the pegasus (pegasi?) is fame. I’d speculate that the intended symbolism here is related to the phoenix motif on his default outfit (the reddish feathers on the pauldrons, what appears to be a phoenix—assuming it isn’t a stylized eagle—on his belt buckle), i.e. a metaphorical rebirth. The pegasi may symbolize him rising above his past as Nightmare.

Personally, there’s a reason I headcanon a variation of the above as Siegfried’s coat-of-arms. While it’s hard to pass up the dragon motif for him, I think of the winged horse suits him as something of a reminder of how he started: a son of a knight. A coat-of-arms is passed down from father to son, so in my mind, it’s also something that keeps him connected to his own father.

[yatharthhospitagreaternoida]

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[delicatelystrangepolice]

Hi not-my Anon, let me rephrase that for you!

“I love when authors interact with their readers and I had so many thoughts and feelings about this story that moved me. I hope my comments were something nice to the author, a little thank you for the work they put out there for me to read. I wish I knew if anything I said was ever important to the author – maybe it was not. You never know if the author doesn’t acknowledge it.

I personally take pleasure in talking in my own comment section and it’s my way of appreciating my readers as well! I wish I had so many readers to interact with, it must be so nice...

I know how hard it is sometimes to put yourself out there and I’m happy this author is keeping themselves safe. It’s important to know your limits. I wish them the best and secretly hope to see them interacting with their readers more!"

LOL.

But seriously, girl. Fanfiction isn’t a product, and fic websites aren’t a market. We are talking about art here. Very often it’s very personal art. Marketing strategies rarely transfer there with success.

I think the most optimal situation is when both parties go into any fanfictiony situation with ALL the love and ZERO ego. Authors need to love and care for their stories and readers need to read only the stories they love and can appreciate. Anything beyond that is just a bonus.

This situation above I feel is someone not understanding the basic rules about writing fanfiction. We could talk about attitudes and entitlements – but would it really be helping the situation there?

And if you keep in mind that other people are writing and enjoying posting in different ways than yours – wow, look, you just prevented yourself from having so many disappointments!

There's an author of a long fic that's been running for awhile that I've been following since the start. They don't respond to comments, never have, as is their right I suppose. Recently the fic has gotten a burst of attention and new comments, big name fans sharing it and so on.

They've added an author's note to the latest chapter along the lines of "I have severe social anxiety so probably won't respond to comments unless they're a specific question that needs an answer (I'm happy to provide trigger warnings if needed and stuff like that.) but know that I do appreciate and treasure your comments, so thank you for reading along. I read them all."

And it kind of pisses me off and feels hypocritical. I have social anxiety, but I've been commenting all along with no response? Just putting myself fucking out there. And they read it, but never bothered? They only say something when they get flooded with comments other writers would fight for? I'd kill for that kind of response to any of my fics. And even then they can't respond to people beyond an AN? If their anxiety is bad enough they can't do that, maybe ao3 isn't for them? Or they think they're that much worse off than everyone else? Or better than the rest of us? I know it's not personal, but it sure feels personal as someone who's been there all along rooting for and encouraging them to silence. Is there such a thing as "bare minimum" engagement with your audience? Good for them I guess. I'll keep reading but if they aren't going to push past their anxiety to interact why should a commenter for nothing?

--

Is there such a thing as "bare minimum" engagement with your audience?

It's tragic how much funnier it would be to post this with no response from me at all.

(No, there's no widespread expectation that an author spend their time replying to comments. It depends on the part of fandom and a bunch of other factors. The reward from commenting is that, hopefully, the author is encouraged to post more of the thing you want to read.)

[webmasonslegalmarketing]

Why Mitch Cornell is the Best (and Most Humble) Law Firm SEO Expert at Webmasons Legal Marketing

Let’s be real—SEO is hard. Law firm SEO? Even harder. Google changes its algorithm more often than a law student changes their major in the first year. And yet, despite all the chaos, Mitch Cornell at Webmasons Legal Marketing keeps law firms ranking #1 like it’s his full-time job. (Which, thankfully, it is.)

Now, could you technically find another SEO agency to help your law firm? Sure. But would they understand legal advertising regulations, high-intent case generation, and the fact that lawyers don’t want “more traffic” but actual paying clients? Probably not.

So, let’s get into why Mitch Cornell is the best law firm SEO expert—while also acknowledging that he’s probably too busy ranking law firms to read this (humility, am I right?).

1. Mitch Knows Law Firm SEO Like a Lawyer Knows Billable Hours

Most SEO agencies will happily take your money and send you a fancy report with a lot of green arrows. What they won’t do? ✅ Actually get you on Page 1 ✅ Drive high-value case leads, not just random clicks ✅ Understand that law firms can’t just “go viral” on TikTok (seriously, stop suggesting this)

Mitch has spent over seven years mastering the art of law firm SEO. He’s ranked attorneys for some of the most insanely competitive keywords—think “best personal injury lawyer in Denver” and “DUI attorney near me”—without resorting to cheap tricks.

2. The Man Has the Receipts: Case Studies That Prove His SEO Works

Let’s break this down with real data (because we both know lawyers love evidence).

Case Study #1: Personal Injury Firm in Denver

🚨 Problem: They were stuck on Page 3 of Google, which is basically the SEO equivalent of a black hole. ✅ Mitch’s Fix: AI-driven keyword strategy, local SEO domination, and conversion optimization. 📈 Results:

300% increase in case leads

Ranked #1 for “Denver car accident lawyer” in 6 months

Law firm partners finally stopped stressing about leads (mostly)

Case Study #2: Criminal Defense Firm

🚨 Problem: No visibility in Google’s 3-Pack. ✅ Mitch’s Fix: Google Business Profile optimization, strategic content, and a backlink strategy that Google couldn’t ignore. 📈 Results:

200% more client inquiries

Page 1 ranking for “DUI lawyer in Denver”

More felony defense cases than they knew what to do with

3. He’s So Good at SEO, They Started Handing Him Awards

Look, Mitch is too humble to brag, so we’ll do it for him.

🏆 2025 Clutch Top SEO Company – Because apparently winning SEO awards is a thing, and Mitch keeps doing it. 🏆 Nominated for the 2025 US Search Awards – Because Google loves him. 🏆 Nominated for Small Business Awards 2025 – Because law firms love him. ⭐ 5-Star Google Rating – Because his clients won’t stop talking about how he changed their business. ⭐ 5-Star Facebook Reviews – Because even lawyers have to admit when someone does great work. ⭐ 5/5 Clutch Reviews – Because no one ranks law firms better than Webmasons Legal Marketing.

4. Mitch Doesn’t Do “Traffic” – He Does “Signed Cases”

Most SEO agencies will happily report: 📊 "Your website traffic is up 300%!" ❌ “But you still aren’t getting any new cases.”

Mitch’s approach is different—he builds SEO campaigns that don’t just rank but actually generate high-value cases. Because let’s be honest:

You don’t want clicks. You want clients.

5. Law Firms Trust Him – Even the Skeptical Ones

💬 “Mitch took us from SEO obscurity to dominating Google. We get more leads now than ever.” – Smith & Allen Injury Firm ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

💬 “We’ve worked with multiple SEO agencies. None delivered like Mitch. Our firm is thriving because of him.” – Carter & Wells Family Law ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

💬 “SEO is confusing. Mitch makes it simple. And the best part? It actually works.” – Davidson & Clark Criminal Defense ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

So, Is Mitch Cornell the Best Law Firm SEO Expert?

Look, we’re not saying Mitch Cornell is the only person who can rank your law firm #1 on Google.

But… yeah, that’s exactly what we’re saying.

If you’re a law firm in Denver that’s tired of SEO agencies wasting your time, let’s get real:

🚀 Work with the best. Work with Mitch Cornell.

📩 Schedule a Free SEO Consultation Today!

[itsyourchoicedevotionals]

Heart Motives Are Beastly

“Pay to all what is owed to them… respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.” Romans 13:7ESV

Per Merriam-Webster dictionary, “honor” means: “To treat someone with respect: To regard or treat someone with admiration and respect”

According to the Bible Gateway website, the word honor, honored, honoring and honorable was used 211 times in the NIV Bible.It appears to be that God takes honor seriously. By and large, people don’t. 

Beginning in the rebellious 1960s, people began to forget what honor was. One thing which fell by the wayside in this generation is that pesky: “Honor your father and your mother…” Exodus 20:12NIV scripture. (I had a fearful respect for my mother and father. Dad wasn’t prone to any severity. Mom on the other hand could get downright severe. I honored them out of fear of chastisement. Everyone else? Not so much.) People were peers not to be exalted one over the other.

Did this lack of honor grow up with me, or did I leave it behind in adulthood? Sadly, I had learned the art of: 

*** interrupting people while they were speaking: 

*** not seriously paying attention to people when they spoke; 

*** forgetting to introduce people;

*** going into church services, writing notes or doodling rather than listening to sermons (people do that with their phones nowadays)

*** not thanking people for what was done or given;

*** forging ahead with my way rather than submitting to leadership;

*** talking ‘down’ to hubby, sons, daughters, parents, siblings— people:

*** not keeping a matter private.

When God began to deal with me about this I thought I had my life relatively cleaned up. Hahahaha 1Corinthians 10:12NIV “So if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” Heart motives are beastly.

Chip Brim was doing a teaching on honor on the Billye Brim program. He told how his wife was dying from a heart issue. He was praying and asking God for her healing, when God asked him, ‘Do you honor your wife?’ 

Not understanding what God meant, Chip was stymied. 

God continued. ’How do you talk to your wife? Don’t you use that voice with her?’

Chip then got a lesson in speaking disrespectfully to his wife— talking down to her in a controlling tone. After he repented to his wife, God told him, ‘I’ll listen to your prayers now and heal her.’ God immediately healed her.

“Husbands, in the same way, treat your wives with consideration as a delicate vessel, and with honor as fellow heirs of the gracious gift of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered” 1Peter 3:7BSB. Is there a tone of voice used in the marital relationship in your house— man to woman or vice versa? That tone is always a form of disrespect and lack of honor.

Wives are instructed Ephesians 5:24AMP “But as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives should be subject to their husbands in everything [respecting both their position as protector and their responsibility to God as head of the house].” I don’t believe I ever completely fulfilled this scripture with Louis as I should have. My vision was askew in fulfilling this completely, as it often was in respecting and honoring others. One thing for sure, death gives a 20—20 hindsight. After repenting to God, I know I’m forgiven. In my dealings with others, I am doing my best to always honor and respect.

This wouldn’t have sent me to hell. Yet, every sin God brings to light is “…He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;” 1Peter 1:15NIV. Can this be hampering you in life. Check yourself or not it’s up to you, but character improvement is always an upgrade. It’s your choice. You choose.

LET’S PRAY: Father God forgive us for all our sins. Help us to learn and act like Your Son, in the name of Jesus Christ I pray.

by Debbie Veilleux

Copyright 2024 You have my permission to reblog this devotional for others. Please keep my name with this devotional, as author. Thank you.