#but then when he showed up in the mainline games and got more personality he was very childlike and goofy

[rutadales]

they fucking killed him before he got to see if sonic 3 (coming to theaters December 20, 2024) was a faithful adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2 (available on steam right now for 9.99) ....

[shadamyheadcanons]

I saw a while back you were asked what your favorite interpretations of Shadow and Amy were.

While I don’t disagree (haven’t played heroes so can’t comment there, but have beat SA2) I was curious on your views over Sonic 06 version of Shadow? Ignoring the heavy problems with the game itself, I’m personally a heavy fan of the VA and how he acts.

It may be selfish of me… but I kinda wish Amy got more interactions with Shadow instead of Silver. I get WHY they did it, but I feel like it could of been nice to have them reunite and maybe even contrast the end of SA2 y’know?

First post about my favorite Shadow & Amy portrayals, SA2 and Heroes

Follow-up about Sonic Battle and Sonic Chronicles

I love both Shadow AND Amy in that game!

06 Shadow in particular has been getting a ton of interest in the past few years, and it’s wonderful to see. I considered including it in that first post about my favorites. 06 being such a failure gameplay-wise really screwed things up for the series for a long time. Sega learned all the wrong lessons. No more humans apart from Eggman. No more dark, serious plotlines. One-dimensional characters. No playable characters apart from Sonic in mainline games. None of the others can talk to anyone but Sonic. Obviously there were exceptions to this, but the series lost so much. Sonic 06 is older than most Sonic fans, but we’re only just now getting all of that back with Frontiers, IDW, etc.

This would have been bad enough on its own, but coming off the heels of Sonic 06, it hurt that much more. Sega decided Team Dark weren’t friends directly after their most poignant interactions. Shadow knew who he was. He knew what was important. And he knew he could trust the best friends by his side. When’s the last time he was so self-assured? That’s the downside of the 06 timeline being erased in the end. We know Shadow and Team Dark’s potential, but he doesn’t remember any of it.

That said, I’m ultimately still glad it’s erased. I’d hate for Shadow to go through life knowing the humans would reprogram his own best friend to hunt him down and lock him up forever. It says great things about Shadow, but it makes me like the humans a lot less.

It’s thanks to 06 that I consider Shadow to be the biggest hero in the franchise. This clip encompasses everything that makes his heroism unique:

“If the world chooses to become my enemy...I will fight like I always have.”

Iconic. Badass. I love the way he drops his inhibitors as he talks. This is Jason Griffith’s delivery at its best.

Sonic fights to protect his friends and the planet he calls home, along with the humans and Mobians who all love him, but there are SO MANY people who’ve treated Shadow like filth, and he still protects them. There’s no one else in canon who’s that selfless, and I also like that 06 doesn’t lean on Maria as the reason he does all this. Shadow himself is a good person and does good things for his own reasons, not just because she told him to.

Heroes proved this, too. Shadow didn’t even remember Maria in that game, but he still made the right call. Maria’s important, but she’s not the only reason he’s a good person.

Jason Griffith does a very good job as Shadow here and elsewhere, but David Humphrey is and always will be my favorite Shadow VA. If Jason is an A-rank, David is S-ranked. I’d be thrilled to have either of them back.

You’ll never see me judge anyone for wanting more Shadow/Amy interactions. I’ve thought the same thing with 06, and I love the Silver/Amy bits, too. She has an adorable scene with him AND starts him on the path to redemption. It’s the Amy Rose Special. I also like how she and Shadow inadvertently worked together to turn him around. Amy raised a question Silver hadn’t thought to ask, and Shadow showed him the answer.

But what this demonstrates to me is that this didn’t have to be an either/or situation.

It would’ve been nice for Amy to reunite with Silver and see how he turned things around. They were both there for the final battle, but they didn’t speak to each other. What if they’d had a scene with all three of them together? I hypothesized about that possibility in headcanon #99.

Side note: I just want to say that I think Amy is great in 06. She has the same cute accidental hug/elevator speech combo she used to turn Shadow around in SA2, but people sleep on it in 06 for some reason. On top of that, a lot of fans willfully misinterpret one particular line of hers. And anyone who knows Sonic 06 knows which one that is.

“If I had to choose between the world and Sonic, I would choose Sonic!”

I’ve seen so many people say she’s a dumb, ridiculous fangirl for this, and I can’t stand it. She’s not saying the rest of the world doesn’t matter, she’s saying that she has so much faith in Sonic as a person that she’d take his side even if the rest of the world said he was wrong. And, uh...she has good reason to! It’s not the first time he’s been falsely accused of something. It’s like these fans conveniently forgot what happened in SA2 the second they saw an opportunity to hurl insults at Amy.

You know what Amy’s line reminds me of most?

“Even if you believe everyone in the world will be against you, know that I’ll always remain by your side. Remember that.”

Yeah. That line everyone loves about ultimate loyalty for someone you care about. The line that many consider to be Rouge’s best. The only difference is that Rouge is a calm young adult talking about a friend, while Amy was an upset young girl whose feelings were too big for careful phrasing and restraint. Combine that with how much hate there was for her at the time, and you have a great, dedicated line absolutely drowned in ice-cold, bad faith takes from the fandom. And Silver needed that fervor to make him question Mephiles, too! It had to be her! It was because he saw how strongly she felt about Sonic that he started having second thoughts. You think a calm statement like Rouge’s could have made him back down from attempted murder?

Much like with Shadow in SA2, it had to be Amy. 06 did a great job with her. Some fans still need to wise up about it. They’ve been recognizing how awesome 06 Shadow is, so maybe, just maybe, they’ll do the same for Amy someday.

[tenebraevesper]

Sonic Prime (Timeline Placement)

So, now that the finale of Sonic Prime has aired (although I still wonder whether it was really the finale because were still missing one episode), everyone is asking themselves the question of when does it take place in canon.

After all, it is general knowledge that the producers stated that it should be treated as part of the Sonic mainline series canon. But, what does that mean?

I still remember how people weren't happy about Sonic's more immature personality, especially since this just came after Sonic Frontiers, where we saw a more mature Sonic, and even TV Tropes lists the statement as Fanon Discontinuity:

As well-received as the series is, when the producers of the show stated it was being treated as canon to the mainline series, this did not go down well with certain fans, believing much of what appears in the show appears to contradict what the games state, such as Green Hill being stated to be the home of Sonic and his friends. Probably the most egregious change is a flashback that shows Sonic and Knuckles' first meeting in Hidden Palace Zone (which, while there is a boss fight with Knuckles in that stage, the two meet much earlier).

Fans then started asking Ian Flynn about when the show takes place in the game timeline, with Ian's answer being that he'll tell them after the show ends. Now, the ending of the show revealed absolutely nothing in regards to when it takes place, with Ian Flynn posting this tweet:

Yeeaaahh, from what I've heard through the grapevine, people weren't happy:

Misblamed: People blame Ian Flynn for the rather vague suggestion of the timeline of when Prime is set, even though 1) Ian Flynn was not a writer of Sonic Prime. He was a consultant. 2) The Lore team weren't the ones that decided to make Prime canon. That's a matter that's decided by Sega's higher-ups. Likewise, any inconsistencies are the result of the writing team, who likely didn't (or couldn't) research every detail of the series' characters and lore within any time constraints they had.

That should explain things and it's bad enough that people are using Ian Flynn as a scapegoat over something he had no control over.

So, what is my opinion in regards to this situation. I believe that Sonic Prime's placement in the mainline series canon can be viewed from two different points:

Point 1) The show is a standalone story, taking place in a slightly different universe at any point after Sonic Advance 3. It has all the Sonic game characters and any detail that got messed up could be chalked to writer error as said above. It is connected to the main canon in some way, but not in the way that you could insert it directly into the mainline series games.

Point 2) It is an event that takes place after Sonic Advance 3, and connected to the mainline games despite the inconsistencies, but it is supposed to be treated similarly to Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) in the sense that, as Ian pointed out above, Prime wipes itself out. It happened, but it has no impact on the main canon aside from the fact that Sonic and Shadow remember the events and probably won't ever be mentioned again.

Now, these are just general conclusions to Sonic Prime's placement's in the canon, but what about my personal view?

In my personal headcanon, Sonic Prime takes place sometime between Sonic Colors and Sonic Forces. Why after Sonic Colors? Because Orbot and Cubot made their debut there. Why before Sonic Forces? Because the Sonic the Hedgehog IDW Comics detail the events that occurred after Sonic Forces.

One could argue that Sonic Prime could be placed between the Sonic IDW Comics and Sonic Frontiers, or maybe even take place after Sonic Frontiers, but I'm certain that people's argument over Sonic's lack of maturity in Prime in comparison to Frontiers nips that theory in the bud. Not to mention, we already got a game that takes place after Sonic Frontiers, The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog, and we saw how Sonic acts in that game.

Another thing I would like to add is that I'm treating Sonic Prime in the same manner as Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). It is a standalone story with minimal impact to the main canon, an adventure that happened and was subsequently erased, with the only ones who remember it being Sonic and Shadow.

So, these are my personal thoughts and before anyone starts an argument, I do not speak for the community. That said, what do you guys think?

#Sonic the Hedgehog Analyzer (Masterlist)

[laufire]

I don’t know if you’re still doing the AU ask game but what are your thoughts on the “Jason and Damian meet each other via LOA” au? I know you’re writing a young justice au and that’s basically canon in that universe right? I don’t headcanon them knowing each other early in mainline canon but as a separate au/elseworld sort of thing it does intrigue me

if my inbox is open, consider it fair game for any asks (from a game or otherwise) you might send :P

when it comes to mainline canon, no, I don't headcanon them knowing each other during the lost days era, and that goes into my own headcanons on the al ghuls and damian's upbringing.

my view in that respect takes some things from what morrison built with damian into account, but ignores anything that's in contradiction with batman: son of the demon. the result is, among other things, that I 100% believe talia tried to put damian up for adoption, but ra's caught up to it. the years later, in part as a punishment, in part because of his need to be the most (maybe the only) important person in talia's life, as well as a desire to control, and to mold damian specifically, ra's limited how much damian and talia were in each other's lives. am I the only one who sees some parallels with bruce's parenting here btw.

in my head this means that, at most (and this is something I do use in some WIPs), damian got to see jason from afar when he was catatonic, maybe a few times. later... well, after jason almost kills bruce before stopping himself, talia definitely doesn't want them to meet. if she ever contemplated the option of introducing them (probably never that seriously, just as a distant possibility if at all) after jason started to kill on behalf of victims, particularly children, she weighted the options (jason's protectiveness over children vs. his bruce issues) and decided not to.

now, for the young justice cartoon fic! it is true that jason and damian know each other day, since damian was born specifically. but this doesn't happen in the league of assassins (league of shadows in the show) because by the time damian is born, the al ghuls have left the league LOL.

I actually headcanon that the al ghul's left the league BECAUSE damian was going to be born. I think talia put her foot down and ra's actually listened, and decided he'd accomplish his goals in a way that would compromise for his daughter's desires (young justice makes room for both bruce AND ra's to be better parents. ain't that something lol).

as for some headcanons about jason and damian in this 'verse! (which will be canon. in my fic. xDD)

the (canon) birthdates for them are 1999 for jason, and 2018 for damian. that's an almost 20 years gap and imo it significally affects how they relate to one another. in many ways, jason is a quasi-parental figure more than a brotherly one (he wouldn't call damian his son, but he's... his brother, his kid... his, you know?). at the beginning of the fic, when they're hiding from the new league of shadows, their cover is actually father and son lol.

related to the above: I headcanon that yes, this one time jason and talia do have a biiiiiiiit of a surrogate mother-son relationship (talia was born in 1984 btw). BUT. only because it comes with heavy doses of spousification/parentification lol. this contributed to that kind of dynamic with damian, because in this world talia's pregnancy was complicated, damian's health was at risk when he was born, talia had one hell of a post-partum depression... basically, despite the fact that jason himself wasn't at his peak then (canonically he just started regaining some memories after this), talia relied a lot on him at this time. if bruce can do it with HIS robins... xD

re: jason's health. he dies in 2013, and yet in 2018, when he has his first appearance on the show, he's not recovered (he doesn't say much, he struggles when he does, and we're told he has memory issues). my personal headcanon is that this jason doesn't go into the pit and recovers the long, hard way. I love giving characters chronic issues so I've decided he has aphasia. mostly expressed with difficulties talking, but sometimes reading as well. this was all to say that by the time my fic starts damian is six and he's gotten in the habit of reading to jason (has been learning to read by doing this, actually lol). this includes political/philosophical books that are definitely not aimed at kids his age (but damian's upbringing, albeit not as terrible as in the mainline, has been sui generis), but also "the demon headmaster", because jason think he's really funny.

I've decided to take one of the few things I liked about how they wrote dcau!jason (but with my own spin) and given him an older bio sister. the age different wasn't AS big as with him and damian, but circumstances conspired so that dani had to take care of jason on the streets (in this canon, I have her as barely 17 when she died, with jason as 10 when he meets bruce). jason picked up on quite a few things from her.

due to several reasons (including the fact that the joker's been dead for a while, at harley's hands), jason is less interested in a utrh-type crusade here. he's instead put it all on damian. he's who he'd die for and kill for and fight the entire world for.

[fate-motif]

list of saw characters criminally underdiscussed by fans

daniel rigg: one of the few actually likable cop protagonists in the franchise even though he has a penchant for police brutality more than once! because we see the one heroic (though detached from reality) facet of police work through him: his desire to save people from harm. the fact that hoffmann’s test for him is made to try and scrub what little humanity rigg has left for him to become the ultimate cop, ie jigsaw, by making him let go of the idea that people deserve to be saved? poetic. strahm’s offer to join hoffmann could never honestly.

brit and mallick: i’m a huge fan of the fatal five trap because it’s the only trap that could have been solved with minimal bloodshed up to the end and i find the way brit was going “we won” at the end of her game like… CHILLING victim falling for the jigsaw philosophy. one of those rare examples of characters that could have actually made logical and interesting apprentices. here we have two guys capable of doing messed up things, were punished for it, got the emotional rush of “atoning” for it but their moral flaw was literally not addressed because how the hell is torture supposed to fix that! so of course they would believe in the jigsaw philosophy at the end of it all!

simone: literally the one person in the franchise to directly call out jigsaw’s fucked up philosophy to jigsaw himself and to other victims when they foolishly try to give their suffering meaning only to end up falling back on jigsaw’s trash personal responsibility philosophy. queen.

bobby dagen: can we talk about how jigsaw’s philosophy is dangerously similar to bankable self help industry bullshit about personal responsibility that throws people in vulnerable circumstances (such as addicts, poor people and abuse victims) under the bus? oh, you mean there was a character we could have used to talk about it and we’re NOT TALKING ABOUT IT??? HELLO???

matt gibson: the pinnacle of the mainline saw franchise’s subtle discussions on police brutality exemplified and i am in love with it. we found THE single cop that saw police brutality, reported it, got demoted, was expected to save a horrible woman that let countless crimes happened and still saw she had the right to be protected from being murdered, and then failed to save her and everyone. because cops can’t save anyone. policing doesn’t save anyone. the end. the grisly tragedy of it all…

brad and ryan: honestly hilarious these two dipshits were the final accomplices with lawrence considering brit and mallick were right there but i am 99% sure lawrence hooked them in with some incel bullshit talking points after his wife left him and these chucklefucks were furious to find out how dina played them. which only goes to show how deep the rot in jigsaw’s philosophy goes. so many avenues of exploration.

[blazehedgehog]

Man, that's crazy and unfortunate what happened to that level designer on Sonic Heroes. Is there a source for those stories you could share?

Unfortunately it came from a Game Informer interview on their website back in 2016. Thanks to the efforts of Gamestop, everything about Game Informer was basically wiped from the internet about a little over a week ago.

Digging around a bit I found this Wayback Machine post for the article, titled "Where Sonic Went Wrong", written by Brian Shea.

Iizuka recalls the development cycle of Sonic Heroes, the first multiplatform mainline Sonic console game, as the most stressful of his career, in part thanks to deadlines. He was based in the United States while the rest of the development team was in Japan, and mismanagement took its toll on the team. "The level design for Sonic Heroes was made by two people: me and one other person," he says. "As we got to the later stages of development, this other person got pretty sick and didn't show up to work, so level design was made by one person! So for those very last stages of the game, I didn't sleep at all and I was constantly working. I lost about [22 pounds] because I was just cranking away and it was just work, work, work. I didn't sleep because I had to finish the game on my own. Almost dying!"

From what I've heard, this isn't the first time somebody has mentioned this about Sonic Heroes, just the first time in an English interview.

For the other information:

The information about Sonic 2 comes in the wake of Hirokazu Yasuhara's Digital Dragons talk in 2017, where he revealed a significantly different and more ambitious early design for Sonic 2 that was scrapped in favor of something they could do faster and easier.

The information about Sonic 3 comes from the Hidden Palace dump of a Sonic 3 prototype. The creation date on their prototype is maybe three months before its retail release and the state of the game at that point can charitably be described as a disaster, something their news post explains thanks to information provided by the person who offered the prototype.

Sonic Adventure 2 being made by half the people in half the time is original research by me. Sonic Team is on record that the 3D Sonic World in Sonic Jam was a prototype for Sonic Adventure on the Sega Saturn, putting development of SA1 starting around late 1996 or early 1997. If you count from there to when the finishing touches were put on the International (American) release of SA1, that gives it a development time of around 2-3 years. SA2's development started probably around December of 1999, and came out in June of 2001, making for a development time of 18 months. You can compare developer numbers yourself using Mobygames. (Shoutouts to The Golden Bolt for also looking down a similar path.)

Similarly, just look at the production credits for Shadow the Hedgehog, CTRL+F, and search for "Takashi Iizuka"

After Shadow in 2005, Takashi Iizuka was no longer an active developer on the Sonic series for the next five or six games, mostly relegated to distant "supervisor", "concept" and "special thanks" roles. Instead, he worked on NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams, another game Sega jerked him around on. He came back to the Sonic franchise and started doing press again midway through the development of Sonic Colors in 2010.

Sonic Unleashed being expensive comes from, to my memory, an IGN Developer Diary that's impossible to find nowadays, where the director admits one of the producers at Sega pitched the Werehog as a way to slow players down and appreciate all the effort they put into environment art. Also they literally developed a whole entire rendering engine just for that game, of course it was expensive.

Here's a 2009 post mentioning a "Sonic Anniversary" leak from Sega's FTP. Details are fuzzy, but a Sega Spain leak a year later clarified that "Sonic Anniversary" was a game coming to Wii, DS, PSP, and PS3. A (physically) broken prototype of Sonic Anniversary for the PSP reveals a very early version of what would become Sonic Generations for the 3DS. And given how much content is shared between Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations, it's not hard to connect the dots between Colors being built from the proposed Wii version of "Anniversary" (Generations). There may be a more direct source for this straight from the horse's mouth, but I can't find it right now.

Morio Kishimoto was a game designer for Secret Rings and Black Knight, his first games for Sega, and got promoted to Director for Sonic Colors where he's stayed ever since. He mentioned not being a part of Sonic Forces at first, but was brought in to get the game back on track, and the game's troubled development is corroborated by Takashi Iizuka in the liner notes for the Sonic Forces soundtrack.

You can compare the metacritic for Secret Rings and Sonic 06 to see just how much more favorably Secret Rings was received, despite both games coming out less than six months apart.

Here's an archived IGN interview from 2007 with Yojiro Ogawa describing how Secret Rings was split off from the development resources of Sonic 06. Exact dates would be fuzzy, but it's easy to assume the entire game was developed in less than a year.

Here's a 2010 Eurogamer interview where Takashi Iizuka (not Kishimoto, whoops) says Sonic Colors is a Sonic game meant to appeal to Mario fans.

As for Sonic Lost World being Sonic Colors 2, my source on that is "I mean, just look at it."

(For people many years in the future, this post is in response to this.)

[itsquakey]

Thinking about…Marx

Even though drawing Kirby stuff is a little hard thinking about Kirby is sure enough on the table. And it’s about Marx obviously.

As much as I add to Marx’s story and headcanon all sorts of little things that make him seem more like modern Kirby characters I do like the simplicity of his character in the game canon. He has no backstory of any nature. It’s never explained how he knows about Novas. His character does come off a little unhinged and childish which is prolly why everyone was like “this guy is insane and super fucking evil” back in the day when in reality he seemed to only do it so he could make as much mischief as he could without getting in trouble (I call it “petty villainy” as opposed to actual villainy like Magolor and Haltmann). Now there’s been an argument since the beginning about if Marx got his powers from the Nova in SS/ SSU or if he had them beforehand. Here’s my theory. Kirby Super Star (Sakurai) implies Marx had his powers before the Nova incident, likely his “true form” and the Nova wish only granted him the ability to rule over Popstar via political power. (Also explains how the hell he got into space to knock Kirby away to begin with). Kirby Super Star Ultra (Kumazaki) implies Marx received his powers from the Nova as a result of the wish, “power over Popstar” likely meant the actual strength to rule via wings and a assortment of abilities and not political power to rule or anything. (Keep in mind this theory is because of Kumazaki’s lore in modern Kirby

So TLDR Game Marx canon is that he probably got his wings through an ancient artifact like the SSU Nova or the SSU Nova itself (Even though I personally headcanon he was a wish from a nova). I do like that he doesn’t seem to be bothered by these powers and in fact is barely shown in merch and art with his wings out or using any abilities. It’s like they just get in the way for him which is quite funny to me. Okay back to how I see his personality represented in canon and other things.

I specifically enjoy the fact that Marx never seems to apologize for what he did to Kirby but it’s shown that they are pals to an extent (if we consider the books to align with game canon). In the books especially it shows that Marx likes to make mischief WITH Kirby and Kirby is also comfortable enough with Marx to give him a hug that results in him falling and eating dirt. This current representation of Marx in canon makes me believe Marx isn’t sorry for his temporary takeover but learned his lesson in taking mischief and mayhem too far. So now he only does minor instances of troublemaking, which sometimes backfire on him. With the release of Forgotten Land and Magolor Epilogue, a bit of a spotlight has been put back on Marx due to his relation to/ similarities of some aspects of these games. I do hope he’ll show up to actually be a somewhat important character in a mainline game instead of being a cameo for people to :0 at if that’s even possible. IDK if present HAL has 100% control over Marx as a character or if Sakurai still has some control over his appearances.

If not it’s still fine to me, as he’s a little resident of Popstar who gets merch and has roles in books which I love. Superb funky grape man I love.

Okay TED Talk over, I’ve gotta go prep for finals week.

[elbdot]

just saw your opinions on the champs, So what's your opinions on the rivals you know?

I played all mainline games from Gen 6 to Gen 9 except for the Diamond/Pearl remakes, so we have the XY-Gang, Brendan, Hau, Gladion, the 3 Galar rivals and Nemona.

Obviously I am very biased and love Hau and Gladion the most out of the bunch, but when it comes to the ROLE of being an ACTUAL Rival, I'd say Nemona's the most competent out of the bunch. I like that she's already a Champion-class trainer when you start out and that she's just incredibly eager to watch you grow, sensing a worthy opponent in you. She's so obsessed with battles and your progress as a trainer that you can't tell if she's crushing on you or if she is just THAT obsessed with finally getting a rival on her skill-level.

Brendan I don't really have an opinion on, the XY-Gang I think we all agree on is the most forgettable set of rivals, but I don't hate them either. They're just there.

I know y'all gonna behead me for this but I'm not a huge fan of the Gen 8 rivals. Hop just makes me SAD. I wish they would've handled his story differently, because his decision to become a Professor in the end feels like a sad plan B rather than him actually discovering a PASSION for the profession, there was no build-up for it. He keeps losing battles and you feel sorry for him because YOU are the cause of him basically giving up his dream of becoming Champion. Him changing course to become a Professor doesn't feel like a happy conclusion and more like him having no other option but to give up his original goal.

Bede is a PIECE OF SHIT but in a GOOD WAY. But the most frustrating part about him is that he HAS an interesting story going on - but you're just not a part of that. SWSH constantly manages to make you feel like an NPC. You are not involved in the conflicts of the characters. Bede fucks up all on his own and pays the price and you're just kind of a bystander. His story keeps unfolding OFF-SCREEN and we just get to see tiny scraps of it and it made me SO FREAKING FRUSTRATED, you're not really a part of his story so you don't even feel like you're his rival at all! And lastly...Marnie. OOF...here we go...I'M SO SORRY YOU GUYS, BUT- Marnie is probably the most boring rival out of them all. There's just nothing to her. I CANNOT for the life of me understand why people love her so much. I've seen arguments of her having a "great storyline" but that's like saying "oh I REALLY enjoyed THIS particular crumb of salted cracker" that is the entire storyline of SWSH. It's paperthin. It holds NO substance. She wants to bring attention to her hometown, good for her. But her ambition didn't grab me, her popularity ingame surrounding Team Yell didn't really make sense to me and her highlight of her arc is...cheering for you. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOW Not to mention her outfit is just as much of a clash of concepts as her character. It's like they couldn't make up their mind if she should be the next cute Lillie in a sweet pink dress or the next edgy Gladion in a leather jacket, so they did BOTH but WITHOUT IT ACTUALLY BEING REFLECTED IN HER PERSONALITY or it being INTERESTING SHE'S JUST CUTE-LOOKING AND THAT'S IT THERE I SAID IT

Oh my god everybody's gonna hate me SO MUCH for this opinion oH GOD - I've been holding these thoughts in for TOO LONG, I HAVE to let them out now Like NO OFFENSE to anyone liking her - SWSH definitely has some of the best character designs in terms of trainers and despite having almost NOTHING to offer story-wise, these designs still managed to carry the entire generation somehow, even with the majority of characters showing little to no personality due to the poor writing. I think people are just attached to an IDEA of what she COULD have been rather than what she actually is ingame.

And the same goes for me with Guzma tbh because I'm more attached to the version I made up rather than what is actually reflected in the game LMAO I took the crumbs I got and RAN WITH THEM

[the-judicial-assistants-notebook]

You know, I think what really bugs me about the "Dadworth" dynamic applied to Kay and Edgeworth's relationship is that it usually makes Kay out to be this hyperactive, slight problem child (in the 'stealing and pranking' sense rather than the 'moody and abrasive' sense), occasionally with deep-rooted daddy issues like Edgeworth has, when that's... the opposite of her character.

(This post got away from me, so TL;DR: Kay is a quick-witted and independent young woman who has worked very hard to be both emotionally and practically intelligent enough to be seen as a legitimate successor to her father's legacy. Making her out to be the traits mentioned above, so she functions as Edgeworth's daughter rather than his investigative partner and equal, undermines her character and semi-conflates her with Maya [the deep-rooted issues bit]. Also I don't like it wksgskaj)

The thing about Kay is that she's not actually in the series as much as it feels like she is, which makes it easy for her character to be altered to suit the needs of the story (which I think happens in The Forgotten Turnabout, but I won't talk about that here). She turns up in two cases as herself in AAI (as in, teenager Kay whom we're most familiar with) and shares her role with Gumshoe, Ema and Franziska when she does, lessening her appearances even further. Nevertheless, there are still concrete elements to her personality that we're made aware of right from the beginning, and the first major one which I feel gets overlooked in favour of her hyperactive characterisation is this:

Kay is very, very sharp.

In terms of mainline assistants, I'd consider her the sharpest of all (maybe after Trucy? But I don't remember enough of AJ to comment on that). Yes, she's shown to be reckless and impulsive, but, when it comes to actual investigating and reasoning, she is solid. With Nick and Maya, you sometimes get the impression that they're both fumbling along until Phoenix catches on (most of the time with Maya's usually a little accidental help, and he still has to explain things to her near every time [not Maya's fault. Following Phoenix's reasoning is like being on a rollercoaster in a minecart]), but Kay is very rarely like that with Edgeworth. Within minutes of meeting him, she can predict what he's going to say (or 'steal his lines', as the game puts it), and there are several moments after he uses Logic and is about to explain what he's connected where Kay interrupts with the correct conclusion herself:

Edgeworth: A second Blue Badger that shouldn't exist... Clearly, the true identity of the person underneath is...

Kay: Oh, I know! It's one of the kidnappers, right!?

There's even a point where she tells him off for overexplaining things to her:

Kay: Yeesh, I told you I got it! Do you feel the need to explain everything!?

And, near the end of their first case together, he acknowledges that's she's generally quite quick:

Kay: OK, what should I re-create first?

Edgeworth: ...You haven't figured it out yet?

Kay: Heh, maybe I have, and maybe I haven't.

Even if you don't take these points into consideration, the fact that she comes up with a new way to use Little Thief, and knows how to use it at all actually, shows you that she's a really intelligent girl! Continuing on a bit from the point I made earlier about her being brash, Kay may be reckless, but she isn't irresponsible. Whenever she rushes into situations, she doesn't expect other people to come save her; she's quite assured that she can and will get herself out of them on her own, and, if she needs help, she asks for it in advance. She treats Edgeworth less like her guardian and more like her investigative partner:

Kay: I didn't get permission to enter Allebahst... so we're going to go gather whatever info we can over on the Babahlese side, OK!?

Edgeworth: Alright, I'm counting on you two.

Kay: Right, and I'm counting on you and Ms. von Karma to sniff out clues in Allebahst!

...

Edgeworth: A number of pieces connect in a very complicated way in this case... It's almost enough to make one completely mentally exhausted.

Kay: Let's not over-complicate matters, OK, Mr. Edgeworth? We've been so focused, like a laser, on only what seems strange and out of place... it's no wonder nothing's clicked and we haven't unlocked anything yet. But, if we think things through calmly, the answer should come to us!

There's an independence to her proactiveness that kind of forces Edgeworth to meet her on equal grounds, and this too is an element that gets lost when the Dadworth dynamic comes in because it involves making Edgeworth responsible -- or feel responsible -- for her actions and general wellbeing when Kay has never expected nor wanted that. She does things on her own terms, and she walks the path she's chosen by herself:

Edgeworth: Preposterous! On what grounds do you suspect her of such a thing!?

Shih-na: The fact that she calls the Yatagarasu. That in itself is a more elegant proof.

Kay: Ms. Shih-na.

Shih-na: Yes?

Kay: I... have no intention of taking back any of what I've said.

Shih-na: ...?

Kay: I am the Great Thief Yatagarasu. And I refuse to allow some imposter to claim that name as their own! The path of justice that my father pointed me towards... I will walk it the best I can!

Her relationship with Edgeworth works as an inverse to that of Nick and Maya's in the way that, where Nick and Maya have deep respect for one another beneath layers upon layers of playful insults and messing about, Kay outwardly respects Edgeworth first (and expects that respect to be returned) and razes him second -- that, too, never to an extent she wouldn't with anyone else or that crosses a certain boundary. Her messing with Edgeworth is shown to be more an attempt to get him to lighten up or not take himself too seriously than an act of (platonic) intimacy as it is with Nick and Maya (which makes sense because Nick and Maya have spent years together, while she's known Edgeworth for all of two weeks) or genuine obliviousness/silliness (although it definitely sometimes is). This is pretty obvious simply from the fact that she always calls him 'Mr Edgeworth', though she's perfectly comfortable calling Gumshoe and Badd, people whom she is more familiar and comfortable with, 'Gummy' and 'Uncle Badd' respectively. Also Kay, in general, is quite polite? Edgeworth calls something she said rude at one point and she gets insulted, and, when you ask for her opinion, she doesn't go 'What?' or 'What is it?', she specifically says, 'Yes?' (this changes in AAI2, which I promise I'm not discussing here) Upon meeting Oldbag, she has this exchange with her, where Kay chooses a more formal mode of address than what is actually offered:

Oldbag: My name is Wendy Oldbag. But you can call me "Wendy", or "Granny", or whatever suits your fancy.

Kay: Nice to meet you, Ms. Oldbag! I'm Kay Faraday.

She's also had moments where she calls Edgeworth out for being 'tactless', and she's shown to feel very strongly about rudeness throughout the whole game. I'm not saying she isn't mischievous or playful, she very much is, but the point is that she's really quite respectful, and this extends to her relationship with him. Her characterisation in Turnabout Ablaze, where she's considerably more excitable/high-strung than in Kidnapped, seems largely due to them chasing down Calisto Yew. Edgeworth even comments on this:

Edgeworth: Kay, you need to look before you leap. You tend to lose your cool when it comes to anything related to that woman.

Generally, though, you can tell that she was obviously raised with an adherence to certain formalities. She's not looking for another parental figure (because she doesn't need one, which I'll go into after this), but, if she was, she'd make that clear.

Kay's a very straightforward person at heart; she doesn't hide any part of herself, even the part that should be hidden (i.e. the Yatagarasu). There are points where she suggests that Edgeworth reminds her of her father, but, in AAI, she specifically mentions that it's both Edgeworth and Gumshoe who remind her of her father and Detective Badd. It's not about her seeing Edgeworth as a father figure; it's about their and her own dedication to the truth. Even in AAI2, where her comments could be read as leaning more towards the former angle, she doesn't get cut up about him not picking up on that or really paying it much emphasis at all, because it doesn't matter. The fact that he reminds her of Byrne is just that: a fact.

Returning to the point about Kay not needing/wanting another parental figure, I think it's pretty self-explanatory, but to put it succinctly: Kay has the guidance she needs without him.

To put it less succinctly, Edgeworth's possibly the worst candidate to go for for emotional support and guidance in the first place, and by the time she meets him again, she's basically processed her father's passing and has a better handle on herself emotionally than Edgeworth does (not a brag; most characters have higher EQ than Edgeworth); what she wants isn't necessarily closure for Byrne's death in the emotional sense but in the I-want-answers-to-this-mystery-that-will-restore-my-family's-honour sense. You could make the argument that Kay becoming the second Yatagarasu and shaping her entire future around continuing her father's work prove that she isn't over his death, but I don't think that's true and more of a result of conflating her with Maya a bit.

With Maya, becoming the Master isn't something she chooses; it's given to her by Misty and Mia. With Kay, it's the opposite. Kay's decision to become the Yatagarasu and pursue the truth is wholly her own, and her approach to that goal reflects that. While Maya uses her cheery, upbeat attitude to conceal a lot of self-doubt and vulnerability (and Franziska does the same with her hostility), Kay does not. Her cheerfulness is precisely who she is; it's not a mask so much as it is a distraction. It keeps people from looking at her too closely and realising exactly how capable she is, and, while I don't think it's fully intentional (again, she believes in living her life in a straightforward and upfront manner), she does imply that it's sort of her (or the Yatagarasu's) MO:

Kay: Well! By the time everyone notices, it's already gone! That's the Yatagarasu way!

Interestingly enough, this unintentional tactic of using humour and cheeriness as a distraction from her abilities makes her a mirror to Calisto Yew, who also uses her seemingly always light-hearted nature as a disguise for what she's actually capable of (Calisto's joviality is her true self, too, or at least as 'true' as she can get). The difference between them is that Calisto delights in ironically mocking the world around her, whereas Kay finds joy in life itself, and she's stronger for it.

The only part where we see Kay attempt to mask her feelings is when she's a child, and even then she admits that she feels better after crying, which, I believe, led to her becoming more open with her emotions later in life (see how her older self has a teary sprite which makes pretty frequent appearances where her younger self does not). In any case, to me, this shows that she has people in her life already who are helping, and have helped, her confront and process her trauma. She's not looking to Edgeworth to help her make sense of her father's death and she definitely isn't looking for a replacement (again, literally dedicated to continuing her father's [and Badd's] legacy). Whenever Edgeworth even gets close to becoming parental with her, she dismisses it, unless she acknowledges that she is in the wrong:

Edgeworth: ...Kay, it's not good for you to stay up late, you know.

Kay: Yes, gramps!

...

Edgeworth: ...I appreciate your sense of justice, however... I would appreciate it if you wouldn't go running into the heart of any more raging fires.

Kay: Nngh... Yes, Mr. Edgeworth... I'll try...

Despite her buoyancy and bright attitude, Kay is quite firm that she be treated as an adult (she doesn't see her cheeriness as a mark of youth; it's joie de vivre, it's who she is, and that's that), and, throughout the game, she gets annoyed when people don't respect that (her arguments with Lang are largely over how he calls Little Thief a toy and her crow-girl). She holds her own and relies on herself while being unafraid of asking for help.

Anyway, this post has gone on for long enough and I think I've addressed the points I wanted to. I should mention that I realise that a lot of how many people portray/interpret their relationship is validated by AAI2 but that's honestly a discussion for a separate post HAHA I feel like, when it comes to AAI, the father/daughter interpretation can maybe be argued with regards to the way Edgeworth treats her? Honestly, though, I think he'd treat any young lady who suddenly becomes part of his team/responsibility in pretty much the same way. And, like, he drops the ball almost every time he's supposed to give "fatherly" advice because he's just not that great with it/children!! It's actually hilarious HSKSDHSK

Either way, yeah! I just think Kay is actually given a lot less credit than she's due when the Dadworth card gets played and I just! Want better for her!!

[shingetsu-online]

☆*WELCOME TO MY SPECIAL HELL*☆

☆ Hello, I'm Hugh. I'm a person who draws and plays videogames for fun, with a keen interest in analysis and psychology, and I enjoy the process of modding video game consoles. Welcome to my blog, shingetsu-online! ~.^*☆ ☆ text dividers by @cafekitsune ☆

☆*^.~ABOUT THE DUDE IN CHARGE~.^*☆

☆ My name is Hugh, though I also go by Mr. Crescendo, Shingetsu, & Hyuu. My pronouns are He/Him, and I am a transmasc agender demiboy who is gay, cinthean, demiromantic, & a sex-repulsed asexual. I'm 13 years old, so do please try to keep my boundaries in mind! I'm part of a system, and my headmates may pop up on here and make posts of their own. If you want to refer to us collectively, call us the Blue Raspberry Collective or the Moonjelly Hivemind. I am WaningCrescendo on A03, though I haven't posted anything on there yet! Please do not repost my art without permission or credit.

☆*^.~INTERESTS / FANDOMS~.^*☆

☆ My major hyperfixations are in blue & bold text, so I'll post about them more often than others.

☆ GHOST TRICK: PHANTOM DETECTIVE (I've beaten the entire game on my 3ds via emulation and it both fixed me and made me worse. Live laugh Inspector Cabanela. It is my absolute favorite game PLEASE play Ghost Trick PLEASE)

☆ HOMESTAR RUNNER (I got into it in 2020 and recently got back into it when playing Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People on my Wii.)

☆ POKEMON (Generations 5, 7, 8, & 9 mostly. I also enjoy the gen 8/9 DLC campaigns. Mostly the games, though I have read a bit of PokeSpe. I do not post about the animes.)

☆ A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS (Both the books & the live-action series adaptation.)

☆ MIITOPIA (Both for Nintendo Switch & 3DS, I've played through the Switch port several times & I recently started the 3DS version!)

☆ ACE ATTORNEY (I've seen playthroughs for the entire main trilogy & the Investigations games, I am currently playing through Apollo Justice, & I have finished The Great Ace Attorney's 3DS English fan-slation, and I am trying to get the Chronicles so I can play Resolve! Don't worry about spoiler for the mainline 6 games & the Investigations games, but I am trying to play TGAA as spoiler-free as possible.)

☆ RHYTHM THIEF (I have played through the entirety of the main story! Also Charlie Vergier is transmasc & anyone who she/her's him is dead to me. /lh)

☆ RHYTHM HEAVEN & WARIOWARE (I classify these 2 together since they are heavily linked together! For Rhythm Heaven, my favorite games are Rhythm Heaven DS & Megamix, and for WarioWare, I like Smooth Moves, Move It!, Touched!, & Gold!)

☆ YOUR TURN TO DIE (I have played up to Chapter 3-1B!)

☆ THE WORLD ENDS WITH YOU (I have NEO for my Switch, I have seen the anime, and I have the original DS game via emulation!)

☆ NINTENDO CONSOLE MODDING & HOMEBREW (I have watched so many videos on 3ds modding & Homebrew applications. I have modded my New 3DS XL and I am open to any questions concerning the process! I am trying to make a custom theme for it!)

☆ COOKIE RUN (Both Kingdom & OvenBreak!)

☆ TOMODACHI LIFE (I have the game for my 3DS! I am a firm Tomodachi Life Switch Port believer!!)

☆ NEEDY GIRL OVERDOSE/NEEDY STREAMER OVERLOAD (I have seen playthroughs!)

☆ GUILTY GEAR (I don't post much about it anymore, sadly. I just really like Bedman.)

☆ SPLATOON (I have 2, Octo Expansion, & 3. I am working on getting the DLCs soon!)

☆ ONE PIECE (I just watch the anime, & I've been stuck on the Water 7 arc for months now. I know most of the spoilers, so I don't mind.)

☆ PROJECT SEKAI (I haven't played since November or so, I just post about Wonderlands X Showtime & RuiKasa a lot. It's just mostly Tsukasa Tenma.)

☆ ALIEN STAGE (Nothing much to say, I've seen up to Round 6 & I just really like Luka's Sweet Dream cover & Hyuna in general. Oh yeah & IvanTill.)

☆ HAIKYUU!! (My friend dragged me into the Haikyuu!! hellhole. I'm very early in the show, & I mainly just dub over it with my friends for fun.)

☆ SUPER MARIO BROS. SERIES (I pretty much grew up on NSMBWii. I also like Paper Mario Color Splash, Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, & Super Mario 3D World, though I've only seen playthoughs for Color Splash & 3D World. I'm playing Bowser's Inside Story!)

☆ THERE IS NO GAME (I have played Wrong Dimension & the original Construct Jam entry!)

☆*^.~SIDEBLOGS~.^*☆

☆ @hughstace - Ace Attorney blog. (I post a lot about Simon Blackquill, The Apollo Justice Trilogy, as well as BlackBright.)

☆ @koopsttyd - Paper Mario: TTYD blog. (May potentially be used for other Paper Mario games as well!)

☆ @6switcher - Rhythm Heaven series blog. (Lots of lockstep and Rhythm Heaven DS/Fever posts on there!)

☆ @raymondyaoi - Animal Crossing blog. (Usually ACNH/ACNL.)

☆ @jotchuakiryu - The World Ends With You blog. (Lots of JoshNeku.)

☆ @gayboy-from-diamond-city - WarioWare series blog. (Sadly not very active.)

☆ Other blogs not listed here are VERY inactive or they're personal.

☆*^.~THINGS TO KNOW~.^*☆

☆ Hey!! Here are some things to be aware of when interacting with me, so keep these in mind if you can!!

☆ I have a poor memory, but I'll try my best to remember things like when to use tone indicators or people's preferred pronouns.

☆ Please do not send me any interactions regarding/revolving around Friday Night Funkin'. It is incredibly triggering for me, and I would prefer it if you do NOT talk to me about it.

☆ Please don't send weird asks. Seriously, please be normal about this. I'm a freaking minor.

☆ Please don't advertise stuff in my inbox either. It's become a huge problem and it bothers me a lot.

☆ I block people freely, meaning that if they post a lot of something I'm uncomfortable with, I'll block them.

☆ Although I'm a sex-repulsed ace, I make sexual jokes from time to time, but it's usually just something like "that's what she said", penis jokes, or something similar.

☆ I have poor anger management, and I snap easily, so be wary.

☆ I try to avoid mention of politics as much as I can.

☆ I'm protective of headcanons so much to the point where it gets annoying FAST. That being said, most headcanons of mine align with my own identity, such as Crispin from Pokemon being gay and transmasc. However, I'm NOT going to attack people because my headcanons don't align with theirs and vice versa.

☆ That being said, I post a lot of shippy stuff, mostly revolving around said headcanons.

☆ I ship OC x Canon. Don't like it? Feel free to block me and move on.

☆ I'm in a system, and occasionally, one of my headmates will post on here instead of their own blog / our system blog, so if something seems different with me, just know that it's one of my headmates posting or goofing off.

☆*^.~DNI LIST~.^*☆

☆ If you apply to any of the below, please don't interact with me or any of my posts.

☆ Basic DNI criteria.

☆ Queerphobic people, including aphobes, TERFs, or SWERFs, as well as truscum or transmed people.

☆ NSFW/Minors DNI/NSFT blogs.

☆ People who think cringe culture is normal.

☆ Proshippers/Comshippers/"Anti-Antis".

☆ Zionists/People who support Israel.

☆ Conservatives & supporters of Elon Musk.

☆ Anyone who I block. Don't try & find a way around it.

☆*^.~TAG LIST~.^*☆

☆ Information on the tags I use on my posts.

☆ #shingetsu online - My general posting tag, all of the posts I make myself are tagged with this, but reblogs don't.

☆ #ask hugh - Like the one above, but this one's for asks.

☆ #hugh art tag - Tag I use for my artwork.

☆ #hugh oc tag - Posts that involve my OCs / Original Characters.

☆ #hugh's horrible hall of fame - Posts that involve me that I deem important. Usually it's just shenanigans.

☆ #i think my money is gay - Posts with Jay Eazy. It's usually just Megaman memes.

☆ #theatre of pain - Video posts, usually tagged this way for saving/archival purposes.

☆ #fav - My favorites tag. It's either important stuff or just funny stuff.

☆ #funnies - Memes / funny videos that I like.

☆ #save - Usually important stuff / references.

☆ #musik - Posts with music / that are music centered.

☆ #chefboy - Posts that include Crispin from Pokemon.

☆ #toothpaste boy - Posts that include Drayton from Pokemon.

☆*^.~USERBOX TIME!!!!~.^*☆

[whentheleahvesfall]

1 and 10 for the ask game?

Have I played all of the PMD games?

I have not and therefore I’m not actually really a true PMD fan, I guess I’m gonna die-

For real though haha, the ones I have beaten are Rescue Team DX and Super, which was my introduction to the series after having watched a playthrough of Gates on YouTube. I do have a emulator copy of Sky which I hope to eventually get around to playing as well as a digital copy of Gates I bought just before the 3DS eShop got shut down, so hopefully I’ll get the time to eventually play them whenever I get the chance.

Hopefully soon.

Very hopefully soon.

Definitely hopefully and maybe very well truly soon.

*looks at backlog of games*

…Ah shit.

Opinion on Nuzleaf’s character? Also were you surprised by that twist?

Yeaaaaaaahhh, Leaf Dad my beloved! I love Nuzleaf’s character in Super and eventually beginning to warp into beating Dark Matter just to love his surrogate child is probably one of the sweetest things a twist antagonist has out of any of the PMD games. He reminds me a lot of Gengar and Dusknoir who become both unlikeable in the main story but gradually both attached to the relationships of redeeming themselves to the ones they love.

For Gengar, his relationship with Gardevoir as her former partner makes his warped heart finally gain rest as he proves he has love inside of him even after making Hero suffer through absolutely horrible conditions based on nothing than pure conjecture. It’s his love that breaks the curse placed on him and that’s his redemption.

For Dusknoir, him betraying Hero and Partner and the player realising that Grovyle was a main antagonist allowed I feel headcanons to grow about what came after in SE5 and then PSMD which canonically comes after all three other mainline games (I think?) in the series. Dusknoir realising that he has something to fight for makes his love for Grovyle more apparent after their talk, and him even being willing to fight for an unlikely future just to see a sunrise means to me at least he grew into the person who would eventually care for Hero were they ever to reunite.

Nuzleaf’s plot twist definitely hurt when I saw it, as for Hero, the first Pokémon they met is also the very one who supposedly “wiped all their memories” and him going as far to turn them to stone made me go “holy shit” and sit there for a minute to process what happened. After you realise that he’s been nothing but a pawn for Dark Matter the entire time, I feel once he eventually reconciles with Hero and sacrifices himself to attempt to defeat Dark Matter means he would really end up showing love for his child much in the same way Carracosta did. And I really, really want to imagine during when Partner leaves, that Nuzleaf pours his heart and soul into looking after his grieving child.

Hero’s lost everything.

A purpose in the world, as they already fought Dark Matter. Their lifelong friend, one they knew in TWO different eras, and one which they fought alongside as their shared story. Their will to see into the future (hence my PSMD fanfic title 😂).

And rather than kidnapping Mew to reunite themselves with Partner before eventually connecting with them once you reach Master/Grandmaster rank in the game, I think he just wants to do nothing more than to support his lost child for as long as it takes.

Giving everything he has just to make his child happy again. To smile again.

I never really liked the epilogue depiction of his character (the cream gravy line makes me laugh though), but the welcome home line and the found family trope always makes his bond feel really special and hopefully if I can eventually get around to doing it, I definitely want to write a chapter or a one-shot focused squarely on just those two.

Then it can just as much become the Hero’s main story after the Partner had their turn. :)

Waffling aside, thank you so much for the ask!

[recusant-s-sigil]

So you know how the card combat system in CoM is never brought up again in the mainline series (non-mobile games)? This got pretty long, so it’ll be under the cut. Spoilers for Union Cross. TLDR: Ven’s presence in Castle Oblivion is what made it have the card system.

According to the 8th of Ansem the Wise’s secret reports in KH2, “[Castle Oblivion] consists of 13 floors above and 12 floors below ground, with the contents of its ‘White Rooms’ transforming in response to its visitor’s memories.” Those memories are etched onto cards, created by sampling specifically Sora and Riku’s memories. Who is the first person we see create these world cards?

Marluxia, who also teaches Sora how to use the cards to his advantage in combat for some reason. Come to think of it, why does Marluxia show Sora how to use the cards? In-universe, I mean. And how do the CO-assigned Org members know how to use them as well? But I’m getting off-track. We’re here to talk about why the cards are the combat system, not how the characters know how to use it.

Castle Oblivion is a place tied to the Age of Fairytales by its inhabitants, both as the Castle and as the Land of Departure. Ven is from then, as are Marluxia and Larxene, who both end up there. Eraqus is (probably but not confirmed to be) descended from Brain. Xehanort calls the Land of Departure a second home and is also related to a Union Leader, Ephemer. Remember, the contents of the White Rooms reflect the memories of the Castle’s visitors, so what then would happen if someone resided there? Would their memory, no matter if they consciously are aware of it or not, affect the whole castle to such a degree that the combat system reflects that of a bygone era?

Did you know that Kingdom Hearts χ, the browser game, used cards as its combat system? Ever wonder why Flick Rush exists? Dark Road also uses cards in its combat system, though it’s less a game of War and more “hit the enemy with sleights as fast as possible before their turn arrives”.

In Unchained χ and Union Cross, instead of cards, your player character uses Medals, which function basically the same but are exclusive to that specific game. Medals don’t show up anywhere else in the series, unlike cards.

At the end of Union Cross, it’s revealed that the events of Unchained χ were taking place inside a datascape, a digital recreation of the real Daybreak Town. Makes sense, then, that Medals only appear in that specific stretch of time/gameplay. We also discover that Dream Eaters, both Spirits and Nightmares, are actually wielders whose hearts have been kept safe by their Chirithy, transforming it into the technicolor Pokémon ripoffs of Dream Drop Distance. Only makes sense that they’d use cards for Flick Rush in that case, right?

Ever wonder why Luxord’s title is the Gambler of Fate when his attribute is time? Cards and dice, the main weapons he and his subset of Nobodies use, have been associated with fortune-telling since they were invented. Card reading, especially Tarot, are popular forms of attempting to predict the future or find out something important about yourself and others pertaining your/their destiny. But in this series, destiny is never left to chance, meaning no need to gamble. Perhaps Luxord is hoping to game the system while staying within the rules.

Back to world cards. Doesn’t the way they work seem oddly familiar? They use the memory of a person to project a world for them to interact with within a single location. Sounds very much like the Book of Prophecies creating worlds from the future it saw (the memory of that future etched in its pages) for wielders to collect Lux from the safety of Daybreak Town, since the actual worlds are too far away to get to besides using a Corridor of Darkness or similar.

I could go into how Skuld, Sigurd, and the Dark Road Norse Name crew connect to this (and possibly speculate about Sigurd’s role in Missing-Link), as well as the strange pods in CO/the Mansion and the significance of the Master’s Defender Keyblade being the one used to lock away the LoD but that’s more research than I could possibly stomach right now so I’ll save that analysis for another time. Besides, that’s more related to fate in general and not specifically cards so it’s probably best to keep that separate anyways.

If you made it this far, I want to thank you for reading! This is something I’ve had on my mind for a while and it feels great to finally get it down on paper (or rather, in a post).

[jumpscaregoose]

hello wonderful mutual, may i inquire what shaman king is?

you've triggered an unskippable cutscene be prepared. was it me calling hana kentacoded that did it for you

shaman king is uh... certainly something

editor's note I go on about the history of the shaman king media franchise for like. way too long and I'm not deleting it so. plot summary starts after the flowers anime image

it started out as a shonen adventure manga created by a mangaka named hiroyuki takei which ran from 1998 to 2004, where it somehow Ate Shit And Died, leaving the manga ending unfinished somehow (idk I wasn't there)

it got its first anime adaptation in 2001

this anime had 64 episodes and covered a complete story. hey goose but if it aired in 2001 and the manga ate shit in 2004 how did they- they didn't. they made shit up. remember kanata dying on the cross? take that extend it to cover half the story and make it FUCKING AWESOME

shaman king 2001 has this impeccable Vibe to it that I really love (the only other thing I can think of with similar impeccable Vibes is sk8). a lot of fans prefer this anime to the manga and I can't blame them it sure has its perks. it also has its downsides. which is mostly terrible dated character designs and diverging from the manga if you're not into that.

I love this show though this is what I rewatch when I want any old shaman king in my spare time

but what's this? a whisper on the wind? that's right baby

SHAMAN KING KANZENBAN MANGA

that's right- between 2008 and 2009 the entire manga was reprinted to get its "true ending", including redraws of some panels

later in 2012 BAM SHAMAN KING FLOWERS

yes there's a full mainline sequel. flowers itself ended in 2014 when the magazine it was in Ate Shit and Died. the story was continued in another manga, The Super Star, before last year the magazine publishing TSS, say it with me now,

Ate Shit and Died (yeah Takei has real bad luck with that)

and then, just a few years ago...

BAM SHAMAN KING 2021 REBOOT ANIME

finally, an anime adaptation of the kanzenban manga, true ending including... this is where I show up. finally! I needed something to watch on a long car ride in august 2021 and happened to download the first eight episodes on netflix, a decision which would have no repercussions on my life philosophies or me as a person (lies)

there are pretty mixed feelings about this anime overall (the pacing goes fucking BRRRRRRR that's for sure) but I can credit that thing with getting me into shaman king and restructuring my brain so it has a special place in my heart

(it's also what I first get people to watch when they agree to shaman king with me. you should really read kanzenban instead because it's better)

lastly there's the flowers anime airing right now

(yay excitingggggg)

and like. soooooo many more sequel prequel and spinoff manga. and also all of takei's works (I'm planning to read ultimo soon because someone said that's where the spirit based on the vermilion bird came from and that has a common ancestor with allen sugasano so I'm going) oh shit and funkuro/funbari chronicles the mobile game that is either closed or on its way out. and so much more

I'm not going to explain every one of them because I realized you probably wanted. a plot summary. so

copy pasted from my mankin slideshow:

"laid-back Asakura Yoh is a shaman, someone with a connection to the afterlife. He participates in the Shaman Fight, a tournament to determine the next god. Hao, a mysterious and overwhelmingly strong shaman, wants to use the powers gained from becoming a god to wipe out humanity. Shenanigans ensue across multiple continents and the boundaries of life and death."

like I said before it's a shonen adventure manga so it follows a lot of tropes, but I think it does them pretty well and in its own way. if you read through the entire mainline manga (kanzenban, flowers, and tss) it's clear takei has a lot to say through his work and he's pretty explicit about his view of the world (shoutout to evil triangle who invented capitalism)

takei's writing and research can be kinda iffy at times and I would never say his work is for everyone but I love it to bits and it has really helped me out over the years

my personal favourite pieces of shaman king media (besides kanzenban) are:

Red Crimson (spinoff of the main sequels following an adult legacy cast, brilliant story about love and grief except for the Horrors)

& a Garden (prequel spinoff about the hanagumi witches, side characters from the first manga)

2001 anime (explained this one already)

if this has interested you go read the kanzenban manga and then come back for sequel recommendations

need more information? I got you

my beginner's shaman king slideshow (if you're reading this within an hour of posting you might see me updating it dw about that)

the patch cafe fansite which has up to date news about the entire series

there's also the funbari hill discord's tumblr account, which reblogs a lot of great shaman king stuff. everyone there is lovely and it's a great community (it's actually run by a mutual of mine hi frost 👋)

I ALMOST FORGOT THE SEQUELS FANSITE WHOOPS (run by an incredible artist and has some fun information about the sequels)

please tell me if you want clarification or more specifics I'm bad at explaining this concisely

[styrmwb]

I beat Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail (for now)

Just in case my tags didn't work there's spoilers here don't read if that scares you!!!

Critically acclaimed MMO returns! I took a break from the game for a good while due to burnout, but I've been looking forward to this expansion release since I heard the first trailer theme. While I might not be super into the MMO gameplay right now, XIV has always captured my heart with the story and the "first-time" experience. Not to mention, being an FF fan who's played all the mainline games, XIV's theme park setting is really fun for me to point and be like "yoooo that's from this game!!!!" Dawntrail was no different in this regard.

Obviously, since this is an MMO expansion, I know more stuff is gonna be released later down the line. This is just me writing for the base experience available on release day. I'm also gonna format this a little different than I usually do.

The Good Parts

Characters

I really did love everyone this expansion. When it comes to people we already knew, I loved how Krile and Erenville got more of a spotlight. Krile I feel has always been a sort of... There scion, which makes me sad (I also never finished Eureka so that's on me!), so it made me happy to have here there the whole time. I thought her story arc was really cool, and I was astounded, being all like "holy shit she's from another reflection???? what???????". I was skeptical on Erenville being a main character at first, cause he didn't really grasp me in Endwalker, but that quickly went away here in Dawntrail. I liked his sane man bit, and his arc in the latter half of the story with his home and mother really hit me hard (and I mean HARD.)

New people!

Wuk Lamat is our main character this time, and I really did love her from the moment I saw her. It was really nice to see a more silly character in the beach episode expansion, and I'm a sucker for the person who's power is heart, rather than anything else.

Gulool Ja Ja is the second person who really caught me. This man is a friendly loving mexican grandpa, and the game continued to show that he was like, the best dude ever (which is really funny considering his name! (this joke will be clearer later)). I want him to be MY dad, I swear. Unfortunately, nobody that cool and awesome can stay around, which makes me really sad.

Koana was unexpectedly great, and I can always relate to a loving brother.

Bakool Ja Ja was SUCH an unexpected role; I loved his initial cartoon villainy, but then for him to turn around to be something greater, and knowing his struggle, was really entertaining.

I HATE Zoraal Ja (in a good way), and the entire second half I wanted nothing more than to destroy him.

Sphene was interesting. I couldn't ever place what she was at any point in her story, but I did overall think she was a really cool character for the story. I felt for her.

Gulool Ja is a precious child who has done no wrong and I want the lizard baby to smile forever. He didn't deserve ANY of this.

Those are all of the major characters I think deserve individual talking points, but everyone else was really great in some way. I loved the Hanuhanu a lot more than I thought, especially considering that I didn't care much for the Vanu; Wuk Evu's stupid bit of freaking out then Immediately being fine always tickled me; The Yok Tuy were super cool, I loved their culture and role in the lore; Ketenramm was such an unexpected surprise, and since my character is also a Sea Wolf I get excited whenever one becomes plot relevant. Otis is Steiner, and we love him for that. Finally, I loved the unique energy Cahciua brought to the table, and she CRUSHED me at the end.

Gameplay

God damn! They showed up this time for real! All of the big fights felt like they were really bringing their all for mechanics; they felt harder than usual, and I felt invested in each fight rather than feeling like I was running the motions again. I'm very very excited to see what the future raids are going to look like, if the base dungeons and trials are any sign.

Story

Getting brought to a new place, and having the core of the story being "learn about new cultures" I thought was really cool, and very befitting of a "cool down after saving the world" expansion. I really loved the contest (or Amazing Race as a friend of mine put it) style of the Succession. The second half was absolutely insane; once you finish cowboys it goes insane, and I was IN for the ride. It hit me with heavy emotions for characters I hadn't even met yet, I got angry with the ones who instigated all of the needless pain; I felt Invested. Really though, to kinda bring it back to my first point, the coolest part about the story was

The World

Ha, see what I did there? Maybe not a great transition, but whatever. I think Tural is one of the coolest places in the game in the sense of it really ties together the planet, and completes a picture of representing our real life world in fantasy. I LOVE when games veer away from the classic European or Japanese into more cultures, and Dawntrail did that PERFECTLY. Having the main city and areas be inspired off of Latin America was super cool, and then once you go north you hit the southern US with American accents and Native American theming!? Dude! Every single zone was a pleasure to see its real world counterpart, especially since this time everything was closer to home to me.

Music

It's Final Fantasy XIV. I could literally end the section there. I think I'll make a full on list way later when the whole soundtrack is out, but from the first trailer I was hooked. Other than the main theme, a couple standouts for me personally are the Yak T'el day theme, which had a wonderful vocal track and melody, and Zoraal Ja's trial theme, which got me pumped with Metal Gear Rising vibes. I think this expansion's motif game was VERY strong overall.

Graphics and Visuals

I'm not much of a graphics guy, and hell, I had to play my game on the lowest possible setting cause my computer sucks, but I could STILL tell this expansion looked great. The colors, the textures, the models, and the visual design of everything captivated me. The realism/lower tech fantasy of Tural, and the futuristic cyberpunk/apocalypse of Alexandria; it was all so cool to look at. I was also amazed by the cutscene technology this time around! I feel like the animators hyperpowered up with Hildibrand, and they really showed their skills! The action, the transitions, it was all so so impressive and I can't believe that it's only going to get better from here.

Another very important part of any XIV content, that really ties into all of the above, is

The Soul of Previous Final Fantasies

Does that title make sense? I dunno. I really do think I might make a separate post on this one, but Dawntrail feels like two previous mainline games: IX and XI (really unfortunate to read out but let's ignore the obvious jokes yeah?) put together. The expansion as a whole feels like XI, more specifically Treasures of Aht Urhgan, and having knowledge of that story was something I could use while playing this story, and I had a blast to see how many plotlines I could predict. The latter half is where all the IX comes in, and since that's one of my favorite FFs, I am not complaining. From the literal presence of straight up Alexandria (holy shit!!!) to the themes of death and souls, it was a joy to see IX finally get a whole spotlight in XIV. VI got a little love with Pictomancer and Valigarmanda being in there, but that was really about it (still awesome though!) I'm very excited to get more XI goodness in the raid series.

The Not so Good Parts

Bleh. I usually like to be really positive when I'm writing about a game, cause we have enough negativity when it comes to talking about games (there's whole youtube channels where their identity is just to talk shit), and like, it's exhausting to keep doing that. But unfortunately, I do think Dawntrail suffers in some key areas that soured my experience.

Gameplay

So, like I mentioned at the start, I took a break from XIV due to burnout. Something that XIV noticeably has, is a pattern. This is a very formulaic game, which like... isn't by itself bad? But I feel for an MMO, you gotta have some shakeups. But here we are again, with an MSQ that's mainly dialogue, and walking. I feel like I'm a person that like, usually doesn't mind this! But even I could see the fact that there were places they really could have turned into gameplay segments, and could have gotten more risky with their quest design (XVI also had this same issue, and this was my same struggle with that game). Let me cook the tacos myself. Let me shoot the enemies on the train. Final Fantasy has stupid one off minigames, bring that into this. I think giving the story more interactivity would have done it justice. I know they can kill it!

Story

You might notice that I went pretty short with what I liked about the characters up top. I really, truly enjoyed the cast! But there is a glaring problem, and that is the balance of screen time. Wuk Lamat is the central, strongest focus, for the entire expansion. I love her! But like... maybe instead of always pairing me with her, I could get paired with my other friends? Maybe I could get Erenville for more than a zone and a half? Maybe Krile, who desperately needs more screen time, could have gotten... more screen time? (this is the one that REALLY gets me the most) I didn't hate anyone, but even I could feel that the balance of who was on screen getting focus was really off, and it hurts the story as a whole I think. They advertise us rivaling Thancred and Urianger, and the worst thing they did was block off a path before going right back to being friends with us, and I think rearranging how things were balanced could have helped that. Also like... why were the twins there if they barely got to appear? I wish they stuck back to grow (literally), while maybe G'raha could continue to stick around. The main thing this caused was fatigue, and that's something I hate feeling in a game that I love.

Estinien was fine though lmao he's so funny when he barely appears, absolute chad he's the best character in the game

Audience and Simplicity

This one... might be a bit more subjective. XIV has definitely been simplifying itself in recent years, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. But... I feel like in this expansion, simplicity is getting to the point where the story seems to be hitting you with callbacks and removing subtlety where I think I could have gotten the meaning of what they were saying myself? I don't think you need to keep repeating that the Milalla ran from snow. But... they did, and I feel as though this might be because the general audience of this game will complain when they do branch out, or will complain that they don't understand this, or that. It reminds me of how Pokemon Black and White were completely dunked on, and then look what we continued to get for years, and I think it's showing on XIV. I think the gameplay also suffers from this, as it almost feels like they're afraid to branch out because people won't like it. Sure, the fights are getting harder, but I can't help but wonder how many complaints I'll see on that, and how people are like "I only get 2 minutes a day to play I can't be thinking about where the sword will go".

I'm not great with being negative and critical I feel, so I'm sure my statements here are half-baked and lacking hard evidence, but these are posts about my feelings! Let me ramble. I really really do hope that the game can veer away from the path it's taking, because I think it'll be better in the long run, and it'll create a product that I KNOW can be amazing.

7.9/10. Amazing world, challenging fights, and incredibly impressive technology that shows how much the game has grown since the start, but also suffering from stale formulas, issues with balancing of characters, and writing struggles that make the great parts harder to appreciate.

[kogameh]

I didn't liveblog the epilogue like I did with Teal Mask since I moved my reactions to twt but my goooooood it was so GOOD 😭 I'm kinda obsessed with it actually. Everyone was so full of personality and there's a LOT you can dissect from their lines and interactions!! The writers really do a lot of care into them oh my god

Again there's a Lot to dissect even if the story is like. what. 1 hour long but fav highlights on top of my head are:

ARVEN BEING JEALOUS OF KIERAN LMAOOOO This is like THE popular headcanon when Kieran first existed and its REAL????

There's just a lot of lines where the gang def hang out a lot off screen like Penny going all "You want to meet Kieran because you want to BATTLE him, dont you?" at Nemona and Arven thinking Nemona is gonna jumpscare them when she went missing bc he predict her all too well augahaghah... I love when it shows that theyre close ya know...

Also some little details easily missable in dialogues like Penny (and Nemona?) having sweet tooth and Carmine's fav food being yakisoba, etc, I'm def scratching the surface here lol

AND THEN HOW ARVEN AND KIERAN BECAME BESTIES SO FAST DESPITE HOW THEY FIRST MET AAAAAAH i REALLY hope they get to play games and watch movies on that tv-

Actually the whole Paldea-gumi got along with Kieran fast like how Nemona is excited (but also scares Kieran) on finding another person to battle with...and Penny vibing with another introvert/shy friend... He deserves it sooooo muuuuuch

Uh. The whole zombie infection thing actually horrifies me (in a way it flinches me to see my favs being put in an embarrassing situation #&@%&@) BUT I will say I like how Kieran is the main tsukkomi here and some parts shows he still have his, uh, unwell side.

Also being a sgao enjoyer they DEF get a lot of moments and I'm so glad they teamed up 😭 It's funny how much people (including me) are expecting Kieran to be under the Momotaro's influence only for him to be the two survivors along with MC £^*@^@*@&

Speaking of, Pecharunt actually didn't get much role here outside of being the mastermind which def disappointed a lot of people wanting more lore on the Pokemon side so yeah....its kinda funny that THE main purpose of this distribution got put in the backburner like that. In fact both Indigo Disk and this event feels more character-focused over the Pokemons? ^#*@^@*^ Which is kinda a risky move considering most Pkmn fans can't rea-

In the end they did implied they hang out off screen but that left me wanting MORE... Can I get an iyashikei with just Paldea-gumi and Kitakami siblings PLEASEEEEEEE

The whole thing feels like a stupid B-movie plot and I LOVE it...a proof that some stories don't have to be a masterpiece if its already brimming with personalities and charm. Why am I seeing fuckers complaining over more buttons to mash just go back to previous gens if you want your bland ass mythical distributions via PokeCen NPCs or some shit!!!

I. would put my overall conclusion here but that means having to accept ScarVio has ended. I'm NOT doing that (inhaling copium). This is probably gonna remain the only mainline Pokemon I'll ever get attached to so...yeah...I'm gonna miss them a lot...

(Anyway I have to yell here because I have no one to talk about this event. Its lonely when you're just exploding by yourself hahhaah.)

[blazescompendium]

Shin Megami Tensei is 31 years old today.

image provided by Vesk Scans. Please follow her archiving work!

Yeah, Shin Megami Tensei for the Super Famicom is now 31 years old. It is surprising for me how a game that came out full 6 years before i even give my first breath on this Earth, would be so important for me and my life. But here we are.

Even after playing the entirety of the mainline franchise, and a lot of spin offs, this game still holds its position very well in my heart because it is such a unique game. First, i always loved mythology and religion, so much so that i pursued it as a career. It started when i was little, with the influence of my father who was a scholar (albeit amateur) of those fields. Religion always played a major role in my life, both for the good and the bad, and although i don't actually align with any religion at the moment, i was studying the bible in a religious school since a very early age.

So, when i found out about Shin Megami Tensei, it clicked really, really well with me. I know that it is just a game, and even if it tries a lot to be faithful, as a researcher and scholar of Mythology and Religion we got to say it not always gets it right. But it tries! And when it tries, it can achieve very good results, and that's why i love it so much.

And that was when i was a teen/young adult. Now i grew up a lot, and even started my career in those fields, and still regard this game very high.

The characters are great for me, because i love how this game can be incredibly inclusive. Your main character is not a destined hero, or magical being. It is just an average guy, going to the groceries when the world start to end. He lives with his mom, have its problematic friends, and lives an average life. He always acts like any other person would act, and even his looks are just average.

Now, the thing is that this game did not aged well, but its absolutely playable and very fun to play. The old SMT titles have this ''survival horror'' energy, where you have to take care of resources while advancing in the game. ''Should you use your complete party in this dungeon, since its dangerous, but risk to deplete your MAG stock?'' Stuff like that got me.

And this brings me to how much i hate Atlus as a capitalist company. They made this effort to show us they care about the anniversary of the franchise that kick-started their business, but did not do anything about it. Just shoved merch to the US audience, that is not available anywhere else. Us, from outside, just did not got anything from this ''anniversary''. And i thought the Persona 25th was bad enough lol. But i guess merch hoarders are happy?

And that was a big fucking lie

I honestly don't want anything out of the ordinary. If they could at least port the SNES titles to the Switch Online at the west, because its already available in Japan, i beleive we would be very grateful already. Playing and presenting this games for a new generation is a pain. And i believe Shin Megami Tensei deserves it as a series, not only for its uniqueness but also for everything this IP did to Atlus.

But hey, i guess we are getting something, right? We have a whole new Persona 5 spin off coming next week! I am so hyped to see the same characters, exactly as they were 7 years ago, in another story about teen rebellion or whatever.

Im sorry, SMT. We failed with you. But your legacy will never be gone. I beleive SMT message keeps relevant to this day, and even more so as the time passes by. The world is a very different place then it was in 199X, but still a very divided and extremist place. SMT was the only game of its time to tackle this issues.

Happy anniversary to Shin Megami Tense, as a great game as one of my favorite games of all time. I wish more people could play it at least once!

And yeah, to celebrate i think i will be beating SMT 2 tonight, after lectures!