#but very similar vibe and the game overall aesthetically similar imo to a lot of xv

[pansy2005]

the thing about me is i love the depths absolutely favorite part of the game so far have probably spent half my playtime down there. sooooooo so scared of them. and keep ending up exploring them at 2am

[alitgblog]

speculating what the s8 islanders will look like as an excuse to draw lol idk why im not going in order here's the sports physiologist

ok so obviously my art style is a bit simpler than the game's and I didn't take a ton of time to render it but I think the elements are there and here's my reasoning (warning this is long lol)

the disclaimer is I read the application once and then started drawing so I think in my head I got it confused and thought this was gonna be the Bobby/Rafael cutesy fun guy of the season and rereading it now I realize I am wrong, but I still stand by certain choices.

Sports physio/cycling thing was a big thing for this. I think he shouldn't have very defined abs but the game will draw him like that. Cyclers tend to have skinnier torsos but bigger thighs/legs and I didn't draw the legs bc I'm lazy but know that in my head, he's got thick thighs. I didn't draw him with like a huge chest or arms also because of that, but because it's still LITG, he does have some definition on his arms, just not a lot. I really think I could see this guy working in sports physio.

And because he takes care of people for a living and is the "big romantic," I think he needs to look very charming, to a point where he's almost disarming. (This is where I got it in my head that he's the Bobby/Raf of the group bc lover boy vibes. Personality wise he feels like Rohan imo who is similar). Therefore I drew a lot of his features as very soft (softer jawline, fleshier nose) but also just big round eyes to draw you in. I looked at Tyrique from love island season 10 for a bit of inspo because I think he's got such a pretty face but still is pretty masculine, and he has big round eyes so that's why I did that.

I also decided on curly hair, in part because of my confusion with Bobby/Rafael, but also I think it adds to the charm because it's clearly styled but tries to look effortless. I used a younger picture of Dev Patel for it. That's also why he has a little bit of facial hair to help age him up but also works with the aesthetic I was going for. The piercings are fully a self indulgent add-in, I just it's attractive.

Ok so this is where it gets confusing because I did intially draw some sharper features on him and had a different color palette for his skin and hair. I was imagining him as "spicy white" just because Bobby and Raf are mixed so they would change it up just slightly for this guy. I think nothing that's too contrasting to make him look brooding like Joyo. So initially this was definitively a tanned white guy with curly reddish brown hair, some facial hair, and a defined nose, and then I was like this is really close to Rocco. So I changed some features and some colors and here we are now at ethnically ambiguous? I'm not gonna think too hard about the ethnicity of this character because this is fake and it's fusebox's problem when they release the real character.

Looking back, if I redrew the character, I'd go for full or half South Asian just because I did use dev patel as a hair reference. But also maybe just hopeful because aside from Angie, the other South Asian rep in recent memory I can think of is Marshall (messy), Ozzy (messier), and Suresh (messiest), so I just think we should get a cute one. (also Priya, Rohan, and Arjun who aren't nearly as bad but only one of those is a LI and they're sort of dead right now so)

anyway overall the process of drawing him was kind of a mess because I had confused some things in my head and like I said, was accidentally drawing Rocco (underrated design btw) but this was the first one I did and I don't think I'm right, this is just a fun little activity for me and he's the first one I drew so I wasn't very sure about a lot of things.

so if you read this far congrats for getting though my ramblings. The next ones I'm doing aren't nearly as complicated 😂😂

[felassan]

Some overanalyzing/rampant speculating (bc its fun) thoughts on the new piece of concept art:

beautiful

I hope Christian posts new DA4 concept art from now on like he did when he was on Anthem, when it was on a pretty regular schedule :D! Per their tweets they have a lot of awesome never-before-seen art for the game

Matthew on Twitter describing the DA text/rayed icon as the logo

Overall it has kinda magi-steampunk/cyberpunky-almost? vibes. Not high or dark fantasy. It seems that they’re aiming for a specific ‘feel’ with the aesthetic and such of this game, or this region within it at least, that’s distinct from what we’ve seen in prior entries to the franchise. This is consistent ofc with the similar scenes in the most recent trailer

I love the dramatic lighting. The red light pouring out of the windows of the building on the right calls to mind red lyrium of course.. also makes me wonder about a Minrathous ‘red light district’

There’s also a red glow emanating from a gap in the side of the satchel at the person’s hip. What’s in that pouch?

Also. the juxtaposition/contrast between red and blue

Location seemingly confirmed by Matthew Goldman to be Minrathous. Compare the architecture (building structures, window shapes, towers, balconies), signs, dark lighting etc with this trailer scene, it’s very similar. I bet this person could even look up from the street that they’re standing in and see the floating semi-circle building in the air.

The whole image has very Tevinter Nights vibes, specifically it’s especially reminiscent of the short crime story “The Streets of Minrathous”. That short was written by Brianne Battye and followed mage private investigator Neve Gallus, who works out of Minrathous. N.. Neve? (don’t their legs look asymmetrical? like one has a ‘spur’-like thing and one has a sort of diamond-shape thing going on? Neve has a missing leg below the knee on one side which has been replaced by a dwarven-made leg. could easily just be stance or asymmetrical costume design for rule of cool, but)

The person, a mage, has a really cool outfit. I like their kinda androgynous vibes. like you could read this person in several ways imo

Look ma, a mage with pants. I like how the outfit still has a robey aesthetic and the person is visually clearly still a mage based on outfit, but it’s practical and they have pants

Have we ever seen a mage hat like this in DA? It’s very classically wizard/witchy in style, like HP almost. This person does look rather like an archetypal sorcerer

The jaunty brim of the hat reminds me of those DAI-era Inquisitor wide-brimmed/jaunty hat concepts

The hat is cute

Going by the lighting emanating off parts of their staff, they seem to be in the midst of casting. The part of the staff that’s made up of floating parts reminds me a bit of the equipment with floating parts of the Triangle Guys, but it’s not so obviously/overtly gold and triangular so it’s probably incidental..?

Also wanna point out the serpentine-draconic design of the head of the staff, classic Tevinter design there

The repeating scale-like diamond shapes on their hat, shoulders and at their waist really reminds me of the similar scale-like repeating pattern on the outfit of this character from the recent trailer. They’re different classes (this one a mage, that one with the dagger a rogue probably) but this aspect of their outfits is similar. I’d guess what we’re looking at then is a faction, members of the same specific faction? Also, the dagger person is similarly located in a dark but brightly-neon-ly-lit Minrathous alley

The golden cylinders held at their waist probably contain scrolls

their clothes seem to be dry despite the rain. passive stay-dry magic? remember Felassan’s spell to do this that he had in TME?

The blue lantern-like light near the top is probably the kind of magical lamp that was the job of mage lamplighters like Myrion to keep lit

Who is this individual? Just a random to demo an aesthetic, an NPC, a companion, a version of the PC...?

[hinasaki]

okay i finished arise so here are some thoughts:

(non-spoiler thoughts first, spoilers below the cut)

combat is very fun. everybody is fun to play as. i am bad at game but i still had a ton of fun trying everyone out in the arena

boost artes and strikes are good and useful. mystic artes are real easy to trigger, even advanced ones. i’ve triggered some of the advanced ones by accident, that’s how easy they are

i was dubious about the skit style change at first but i got used to it, and it’s fine.

camping is good and i loved the little scenes you could get between party members

the world is gorgeous. the painting style they went with really just looks amazing.

okay, spoiler time

some specific thoughts on characters first:

alphen: he’s fine. i’ve been spoiled by velvet in all honesty because i love a protag who isn’t all Good and alphen is definitely Good. they did a good job keeping the mystery of his past going and he has a lot of very nice interactions with other party members. he’s fine.

shionne: my wife is a bitch and i like her so much. shionne has a good arc and the way her relationships with each of the party members grows feels really natural. saw the reveal about her thorns coming a mile away but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. i care her and want her to be happy. I especially like her very cute friendship with rinwell

rinwell: baby. rinwell also has a really good arc! the way her opinion on renans changes over the course of the story feels very natural - she doesn’t immediately stop hating renans after meeting shionne and dohalim and even after she grows to love them she still occasionally slips up. she’s good. i like her

law: baby #2. most of law’s story is front-loaded which had him feeling a bit detached as far as the story went in the later chapters but i still very much enjoyed having him around. he’s a sweet idiot. he’s absolutely a teenager.

dohalim: i love him. consistently good interactions with other party members, he has very good scenes with alphen, shionne, and rinwell. i was VERY pleased that he got a lot of focus during the lenegis part of the game. i loved his arc of learning to cope with his guilt and growing from a Ruler into a Leader.

kisara: i wanted to like kisara. i really did. i tried. i kept hoping for a magilou moment (aka a single moment late in the game where everything crystallised and i fell in love with them) but it never came. and i’m sad about that because there are some genuinely cool things about her! there are good bones! she has some really nice interactions with alphen! unfortunately a lot of her scenes end up being either her talking about her brother or her trying to mother everyone and i am just.... not here for that

overall i liked the party. they’re not my fave but i did like almost everyone quite a bit. i felt like their evolution from working together out of necessity to found family way very well done. it was natural. i keep saying “natural” because the arcs really did feel that way. they flowed nicely and almost never felt forced or hurried. it was nice!

now, because this game has basically attempted to pair up all of the party members.... the ship opinions....

alphen/shionne: holy shit tales did a het ship that didn’t feel forced! their relationship flows very nicely and they grow closer slowly over the course of the game. i don’t feel like it’s a luke/tear tier canon ship but it’s good. Them getting married in the end credits was very cute

law/rinwell: very very cute. not entirely sold on rinwell’s feelings but that’s fine, it reads pretty much entirely like law has a crush and has decided that saving the world isn’t really the time to bring that up. it’s cute.

dohalim/kisara: bad. bad. bad. i’m glad it’s just tease because i can pretend it’s not happening. they have some really good platonic moments! they have a nice dynamic as people learning to be equals! it’s extremely uncomfortable to throw romance into that mix! and i feel like it was a *huge* disservice to kisara for the writing to push her into this ship. it just felt bad. not to mention this alongside the haha she’s like his mum jokes just ughghghhghghghghgghhg NO.

as far as the plot goes, it was pretty good. we had a clear goal from the beginning which is always appreciated, only to have the rug pulled out from under us at the end in usual tales fashion. i saw somewhere someone said it had a plot structure sort of like legendia and LMAO TRUE with the one month time skip. the game as a whole reminded me quite a bit of tales of rebirth funnily enough - similar plot structure, themes regarding race dynamics, some nebulous force being the cause of a lot of suffering... it’s a tales plot. it’s not particularly groundbreaking but the characters really carried it and made it compelling. also i just loved the design of the final dungeon. the thorns are Aesthetic.

The main problems I had with the game were the amount of spelling mistakes in the subtitles, or where the subtitles didn't match the dialogue. It's most noticeable with the battle lines but happened in other places too. I didn't have a problem with CP because I kept an eye on it and I was playing easy mode but i can see it being more than a little bit of a pain. Like. Why? And also, just as a side note, did they ever mention how shionne got to dahna? Because I might have just missed it but HOW DID SHE GET HERE? did she come down for the crown contest and just chill for seven years? Did she steal a starship and come down by herself - in which case what happened to her ship that we couldn't use it to get to lenegis? This feels like an important piece of information that we just.... never find out.

speaking of reminding me of other tales: oh boy! there were a lot of times i felt reminded of older titles, which made me real glad i’ve played almost all of them now. i talked about legendia and rebirth vibes above but also MASSIVE graces nostalgia what with going to space. i know twin worlds could be referencing a number of games too but the specific dahna/lenegis/rena structure reminded me a lot of eternia with inferia/orbus barrier/celestia and it was just nice. i can’t remember where? maybe pelegion? but the general aesthetic gave me big xillia vibes. i’m not sure how many of these were deliberately intended to invoke nostalgia but i’m glad for it - it really felt like a love letter to older titles (like zesty was supposed to be) while also clearly moving towards a new future for the series.

I'm not sure how I felt about there not being much of a primary antagonist. I guess it helped push the theme of forgiveness because really how can you blame a sentient planet for everything wrong with the world when it has no concept of human morality. I guess it's just my personal preference since I prefer the conflict to be a clash of ideals or wills (again, I'm spoiled by berseria). The sidequest where you get tiny little bits about the lords felt tacked on too. The lords largely felt cartoonishly evil but I guess that's probably so we don't feel bad killing them lmao. Vholran needed a whole lot more build-up IMO as a foil to alphen because he ended up feeling like he was just... there. There wasn't much to him. I wanted to know more about why he was the way he was but I guess we'll just never know.

overall i wouldn’t say arise is one of my favourite games but it was definitely an enjoyable experience! i’d absolutely recommend playing it yourself if you get the chance!

[theharellan]

101 DRAGON AGE QUESTIONS | not accepting

for the sake of reducing the number of ooc posts i’m answering these all in one and just @ing the people who asked the questions! thank you for them all!

if you sent me one of these btw and rbed this meme yourself and i didn’t send you something, please let me know! i want to send you things back and must have missed you reblogging the meme. this includes non-mutuals.

1. How did you get into Dragon Age? | asked by @kaaras-adaar & @dreamerlavellan​

Sort of by accident, actually. It was the summer between my freshman and sophomore years in university (2011) and summertime is generally a time of inactivity and depression because I cannot tolerate the weather here. My dad happened to own Origins and I picked it up because??? Fantasy? RPG?

Starting the game I saw you could play as a dwarf, who have been my favourites in fantasy since a child as The Hobbit is among my favourite books. Then after that I fell in love with the worldbuilding for dwarves and Gorim, my first actual Dragon Age love. I was more or less hooked after that. DA was actually not my first Bioware game, I was obsessed with Jade Empire as a kid so like Origins appealed to me immediately despite being far less fun to play than literally any other Bioware game I’ve ever played. The characters and world more than made up for it.

I beat it relatively quickly and my dad bought Dragon Age II which had come out earlier that day, actually against my suggestion because I’d heard it wasn’t good. And in this instance my dad forgetting something I said turned out for the best because I ended up enjoying DAII more in some respects. While it took me a while to join the fandom as a content producer I was a consumer and certified DA trash from then on.

2. Have you finished all three games? | asked by @kaaras-adaar

Kskjdfs yes. I’ve beaten each at least 4 times, but probably more like 8. The only thing I haven’t played are some of the Origins DLC because as much as I enjoy my replays I am so ready to be out by the end of the game (and I have the worst luck with Awakening bugs) and I also don’t have Sebastians DLC b/c his never goes on sale individually and I refuse to spend more than like $4 on him.

3. How long did it take you to finish the series? | asked by @kaaras-adaar

I honestly don’t know. I think it took me like a week to beat Inquisition without 100%ing it, I’d say my first playthroughs all probably took about that long. I tend not to do everything in my first playthrough. Like shard collecting didn’t happen until round two, etc.

7. Favorite DA:O backstory? | asked by @dreamerlavellan & @fatefaulted

I’ve played through all of them and I enjoy them all except Cousland, but my favourite is Aeducan. I enjoy the politics, the culture, the aesthetic of Orzammar. I love Gorim Saelac and the surprising amount of depth to this character who is designed to be thrown away after the prologue. I love how it ties you to the Darkspawn threat in a bigger way than any of the origins accomplish. I love how it ties you to the Orzammar plot later in the game, and playing Aeducan first is probably one reason why I adore that branch of the game. It’s a good origin that establishes its world really well and has great characters to boot.

11. Share a pic of your favorite OC from any DA game. | asked by @dreamerlavellan

I just want to share pics of my girl and Solas’ future husband.

Ian Lavellan, non-Inquisitor written by @theshirallen

Thora Cadash, dwarven Inquisitor and default Inquisitor for this blog written by... me lmao.

22. Favorite DA2 party combo? | asked by @fatefaulted

My main Hawke is a mage Hawke, so this party is horrendously imbalanced, but: Varric, Merrill, Isabela. They all just like each other and I think that’s neat. Although in act one my favourite is probably Carver, Merrill, Isabela / Varric. Unfortunately the game doesn’t want me to have a warrior in my party.

24. Favorite main-story quest from DA:I? | asked by @kaaras-adaar

It’s hard to pick between In Hushed Whispers and In Your Heart Shall Burn. I love seeing the red lyrium’d companions and the dark future of Thedas, and speculating on what happened in the intervening year. I love reflecting on what it must do for the Inquisitor to see that and have it be undone. I think it sets up the rest of the game really well, and in ways Champions of the Just doesn’t do quite as well.

In Your Heart Shall burn is a simpler quest but I think the power and emotions in the quest are so raw. Playing this the first time was riveting and I was on the edge of my seat. The triumph of closing the Breach, the strangeness of your first encounter with Cole (whose appearance at the gates is another reason I prefer IHW tbh, I think it’s more tension building than Dorian’s), Corypheus, crawling through the snow. Capping it off with The Dawn Will Come and the journey to Skyhold idk, it’s just such an emotional high point in the series that every time I replay I get goosebumps.

25. Favorite DA:I place? | asked by @fatefaulted

It’s a tie between the Frostback Basin and the Emerald Graves. I love the lore in both, as elf trash I prefer the lore in the graves especially if I can include the Din’an Hanin into that category. But the Avvar lore and Ameridan is also Very Good, and while I adore the giant trees of the graves the Frostback Basin clearly was able to have more resources poured into its design, and as a result the different sections of the map have so much more character.

A close runner-up is the Hinterlands, as I think the quests there are fun and it feels like home. I enjoy returning to it. Which is good, b/c I’ve played through it... a lot... I think loving it might be a coping mechanism, but also I love the vibe of the early game that’s best captured in the Hinterlands.

32. Favorite DLC mission overall? | asked by @fatefaulted

Trespasser is up there with Shivering Isles as my favourite DLC ever produced. Its hits every emotional beat I think it needed to hit, set up the next game with greater detail and intrigue than the initial epilogue, and I’m honestly dying to get to replay it again on Thora despite what it does to my nerves. The first time I played it I could feel my heart beating faster like wtf me.

37. Blood magic: yes or no? | asked by @hopewrought​

Would I use it myself? No. Morally I think it can be reprehensible but also neutral, much like any other magic in the game. In certain characters I think even if used for good it may encourage unhealthy habits, but I think it can be learned to be engaged with in better ways.

59. Who was written really poorly? | asked by @theshirallen you can’t hide behind anon I know it was you

Oghren fucking Kondrat. When I think about the reasons Origins is my least favourite game he is among them. With Oghren there was a really good chance to portray an alcoholic abuse victim, suffering from severe mental health issues, and still mourning his wife, with the respect it deserves. Instead he just... is a gross sexist dwarf and his alcoholism is mostly played for jokes. And then he comes back in Awakening and... continues to be a gross sexist dwarf whose alcoholism is mostly played for jokes.

There could have been some really interesting stuff with Oghren, the Warrior caste of dwarves I think would suffer from issues similar to qunari warriors, where when they can no longer fill the purpose society has dictated they must serve, what then? They can’t do anything but fight. There could be comradery with Sten, or perhaps Zevran or Alistair, or any of the companions who have had the path their lives took dictated to them by societal forces they had no say in (even if they are happy with that direction). There are snippets of good stuff in here, the line “let us show them our hearts, Warden, and then show them theirs” is one of the best of the good-byes the game offers us imo. It’s a shame about what came before.

Like there are other characters, such as Sera, who I think were done dirty by their writers, but Sera at least got some growth in the DLC and there were attempts to address criticism of her character. Oghren in Awakening was just kind of a take two of an already poorly-done arc.

60. Who do you wish had been given more story? | asked by @hopewrought​

I wish Briala had more, like that she had some impact on the story in universes where Gaspard isn’t crowned with her as his puppetmaster. She and the elves reappears in that but not if you reunite her with Celene or exile her, and I think it would’ve been neat. I also wish she’d had a chance to interact with Solas in some small way given how many parallels were drawn by one of his own agents during Masked Empire.

I also wish we had more about dwarves in general in 2 and Inquisition. We get some great lore in Inquisition that was set up in 2, but with our only dwarf companion being Varric, who honestly has a relationship with his race that at times is comparable to Sera’s, it pulls a few of its punches. I really think they have dwarves set up to be important players in the next game, with their architecture featuring heavily in the dev diary, buuut no dwarves to be seen. So who knows. Just give me dwarves in the next game who aren’t Varric Bioware pls. Let me kiss one maybe.

61. Favorite NPC? | asked by @kaaras-adaar​

I’m not going to count advisors even though they kinda are NPCs and I’m going to answer one for each game so uhh...

Origins - Anora

DA2 - Feynriel

DA:I - Krem

Bonus - Lord Woolsley, the only unproblematic DA character

63. Best story moment? | asked by @ghilannainguideme

It’s a tie between the journey to Skyhold and the talk with Solas at the end of Trespasser and the resulting disbanding of the Inquisition (if you so choose). I really can’t separate them because I think the reason Trespasser works so well is how it calls back to the very beginning of Inquisition and that moment with Solas in the snow. It’s triumphant and sad, something’s ending, the fellowship is breaking, but you know all of you will continue to work towards a better world apart.

In DA:O I think it’d be saying good-bye before the final battle and in DA2 I think the moment where you can tell the Arishok he was right to take in the elves who killed that guardmen is good. Probably one of the reasons why I think Hawke-Arishok work so well as a protagonist-antagonist combination.

81. Favorite fanfic? | asked by @ghilannainguideme​

I don’t read a lot of fanfic, actually. Save what I read on here, which I do count, but idk if other people do.

My favourite writers to read are @theshirallen​, obviously. Joly wants to tweakIan’s personal quest but I think the version they have written now is still very good and you can find it here. I love reading Peace’s stuff and find their smut especially spicy in the best possible way, you can find a Merrill/f!Mahariel piece here! Gaia doesn’t write on Tumblr much these days, but she wrote a wonderful Tug/Sketch (the companions from Leliana’s Song) that you can find here.

I follow so many talented writers and I can’t list them all but here are a few I can fire off real fast: @theshirallen / @ghilannainguideme / @seahaloed / @sabraelin / @valorcorrupt / @mercysought / @hopewrought / @ofrevas / @skyheld have all moved me with their words at some point, be it in fic or rp.

82. Favorite fanart/fanartist? | asked by @ghilannainguideme

Again I just can’t choose jsdfks.

The easiest way is to just link my Solas fanart tag. Obviously this favours Solas artists, however, so also here’s a link to thedaswlw where there’s a boatload of amazing fanart all of wlw.

Of people I’m mutuals with I know @abracafockyou, @kaaras-adaar, @dalathin (currently inactive but I gotta link them), and @syntharts​ are all very talented artists.  I’m also a big fan of destinyapostacy, nipuni, elbenherzart, starscollected (on twitter), and many more.

97. What’s your favorite DA mod? | asked by @ghilannainguideme​ & @hopewrought​

I’ll chose one as many as I want to apparently from each game again, b/c why not?

DA:O - I have to admit I find this game hard to mod because nothing can really salvage the gameplay or look of the game. I need Better Dwarf Model so I don’t have to look at the odd dwarf proportions in the game (the women have arms for days). Mostly I have armour mods. I like Grey Wardens of Ferelden so I can match Alistair in the final batte and have everyone in uniforms in Awakening. I do like Kirkwall Exports because I can put Zevran in the robes of the notorious pirate tho. I haven’t used this mod yet but I also love this mod I retweeted this morning.

DA2 - Again, I don’t mod 2 very much. You could probably make some kind of chart for correlating my enjoyment of a game versus my urge to mod it, with the more I love a game means I want to mod it more. With 2 I enjoy the combat and overall design of the characters more so I mostly use a couple of tweaks, my favourite is Ishs Scarf for Merrill which just adds a cute blue scarf to Merrill and hides the fact that elves in this game have weirdly long necks. Oh and a mod to fix the weird hand dirt.

DA:I - Equal Opportunity Solas mod, I bought the game again on PC just to use it. Being able to play Solas/Ian for screencaps was everything tbh. Other mods I enjoy are More Banter, which while I have better luck with banter it is nice to be able to count on it. I installed it this latest pt and I have heard location comments that have never triggered before. Black Hair for Everyone has changed my life because finally Thora doesn’t have grey hair. No Dirt Buildup is also amazing, as the dirt can cause some really weird blotting on PCs that’s especially noticeable on dark-skinned Inquisitors.

99. Where would you live (Ferelden, Orlais, Free Marches etc?) | asked by @heysales​​

Probably Ferelden. It is fantasy England and hey if I make it past Inquisition maybe nothing will ever happen there again. Somewhere in the Free Marches might also be chill. Not Kirkwall. Maybe Starkhaven? Honestly tho I just want to live in the Frostback Basin. Have a spirit friend. Shake hands with nugs.

101. If you could meet your Warden/Hawke/Inquisitor, what would you say? | asked by @dreamerlavellan​

If I met Thora I’d tell her I’m proud of her. She’d be confused, but that’s ok.

[caramellody]

As someone who hasn’t watched ninjago since like,, the green ninja was revealed .. what the FUCK is going on in the show? Idk abt spoilers bc I’m so bewildered and can’t piece anything together

Yeah, I think of ninjago kinda like rvb in the sense that the moment you drop off of ONE season, the later seasons are so buckwild and a mess to keep up with. I’ll definitely try and give as best of an explanation but I am also prone to rambling myself (there's like 11 whole seasons since I'm assuming you fell off after late season 1 to go though) so i’ll put this in a read more. I’m also assuming you don’t care about spoilers but just for others who might(?) know i’ll be talking spoilers for almost everything, there may be somethings i don't mention because, there's a lot, but just as a precaution i gues dhfijkhfdsj

EDIT: this actually turns out to be VERY long even when opting certain  things out in order to make it shorter

-Season 1 and season 2 (Rise of the Snakes and Legacy of the Green Ninja) are easily the most straight forward episodes of the series. it’s all about training Lloyd in being the green ninja to defeat his father. Lloyd grows up at one point? it’s so buckwild because its in the episode where the OG 4 turn into kids (and yes theres a reason) and Lloyd has to use this tea to turn them back (as well as make a revived monster go extinct) and as a result he ages up like the rest of them. Aside from that and the inclusion of the overlord (an even worse villain who actually possesses Lloyds dad), season 2 is all about prepping Lloyd up for that final battle

And TECHNICALLY, season 2 was where it was gonna end, the franchise was basically discontinued after season 2, but then was brought back up for a 3rd season, which is where things get more character-focused.

-Season 3 (Rebooted) revolves around technological advances (you might even consider it cyberpunk-ish in concept) and the main villain is the overlord who has basically taken over everything in the city. this season introduces P.I.X.A.L whos clearly set up as Zane’s love interest. There’s also this REALLY stupid love triangle between Nya, Jay and Cole that everyone pretty much unanimously hate because its done so forcefully and is really there just so that jay and any could have romantic drama (which. is dumb even for 2014 standards). it ultimately culminates to Zane fuckin DYING (but its okay he's a robot) in what is still such a banger of a theme. the end of the season teases that he comes back. Also Garmadon isn’t a villain and is easily one of the best characters in that season, he acts like the father Lloyd needed for so long, its not overtly important to the plot but it’s a big dynamic shift compared to S1 and S2.

-Season 4 (Tournament of Elements) takes place months (it's not explicit but it's assumed that its a year) after s3 and the gang have all broken up, but Lloyd tries to bring them back together. they all get invited to a tournament that claims they have Zane (that gives me mortal Kombat vibes) with all the other elemental masters (by this point they are able to use their elements without the need of weapons as a proxy like in seasons 1-2). Zane’s revealed to be back and in a new robot body and the main bad is the guy running the tournament. 

-Season 5 (Possession) is all about ghosts! the gang meets Morro, who was a former student of Wu who was training to be the green ninja but never became it because that was lloyds spot. he then ran off on his own to change fate but died and later comes back as a ghost to take over Lloyd. this season also has Cole turn into a ghost and Nya officially joins the team as the water ninja. 

-Season 6 (Skybound) is all about sky pirates, after being released from his lamp, djin Nadakhan tries to find his old crewmates. he also finds out that his homeland was destroyed as a result of the events of season 5 and goes all out to make the ninja criminals for what they (unknowingly did), this is by all means a Jay and Nya season about their own struggles but its also one of those seasons that never happened because jay literally WISHES to retcon all of season 6, so this season never ‘technically’ happened

-Day of the Departed is a special that mostly focuses on bringing back old villains who were killed, but mostly focuses on cole slowly being forgotten.this special is specifically important because Cole becomes corporeal again (and he gains a new ability)

-Season 7 (Hands of Time) is a time travel season, theres things relating to Kai and Nya’s past and their parent’s connection to the main threat in the present (I'm sorry if i don’t sound as enthusiastic compared to other seasons season 7 is imo my least favorite so there’s not a lot i can say about it) it’s also the last season were the original designs are used!

-Season 8 (Sons of Garmadon) is the first season that came out AFTER the Ninjago movie (which for the record takes place in a separate universe, the characterizations are different despite their appearances being similar.) it revolves around a gang (called the sons of garmadon) trying to collect the three oni masks in order to revive lord garmadon again (and they’re successful too)

-Season 9 (Hunted) takes place RIGHT after S8 (specifically a week after). Lloyd and any are forced into hiding while the original 4 ninja and wu (who is a baby, this is a plot point that begins at the end of season 7. they find a baby in s8 and that baby ended up being their original master) are trying to escape the realm they ended up stranded in after the events of s8

-Season 10 (March of the Oni) another that takes place right after season 9, the oni (who are hellbent on destruction) basically invade all of ninjago and the ninja have to stop them. this is a simple 4 episode season that really acts more like a movie than a season.

After S10, the series sorta gets a soft reboot. the previous seasons are still canon, but there's a clear tone shift (and animation shift) in the show overall)

-Season 11 (Secrets of the Forbidden spinjitzu) is broken up into two parts

(The fire Chapter) revolves around the ninja trying to find something to do and ultimately opening up an ancient tomb where an ancient group of snakes lives 

(the Ice chapter) builds off of the fire chapter, zane was sent to a different realm and the gang goes out to save him, but the realm they end up in is controlled by a powerful Ice emperor who is trying to freeze the entire place.

-And finally, Season 12 (Prime Empire) is a tron-styled season where Jay goes inside a video game, the gang goes out to look for him before finding out that the A.I in that game is trying to get out and forcing people to get trapped in the game in order to leave.

Season 13 (Master of the mountain) is the upcoming season, and it seems to be very DnD aesthetic, and all about cole which is gonna be exciting 

And that's all there is to it dbhubjfdsbhjdsj idk if you expected me to go on a FULL ON ESSAY and for that i apologize in advance, but...there's a lot going on in this series and it's such a wild ride

[thespoonisvictory]

have you read six of crows or all for the game? a lot of people think they’re similar to the raven cycle

I'm a huge soc fan, but I've never read aftg, though I've heard about it

as for whether they're similar, I think they're both found family fantasy, but beyond that, completely different vibes. soc is very grimy, much more morally ambiguous characters who are coworkers to family while trc is more whimsical road trip buddies with a side of drama. they have similar bases but overall, not rly that similar aesthetically or plot wise imo

[d-druxy]

@nebulaleaf @itrhymeswithtable

Omg okay, I feel so validated rn.

So basically:

I felt pretty Lukewarm about her metaverse design from the get go. But It really started to sink in how lackluster it is, when I had to experience it firsthand when I tried to redesign her myself.

My Ann redesign went off very easily in comparison (if you wanna check it out here’s the link) and the main reason for that is that Ann has a very established concept and aesthetic that you can base her redesign off. Namely femme fatales, female super villains and Dominatrixes.

Makoto… doesn’t really have that imo. Her design has a lot of different aspects that go in a bunch of different directions. I couldn’t even really tell you what her design is supposed to be. “Biker” might be the easiest reply considering Johanna. But honestly Skulls design does a better job at that too.

Overall her design looks like it could pass as anything.

I’d be inclined to agree that it could be… a biker, a punk, a battle shonen protag or maybe even some type of superhero.

Her design simply doesn’t commit strongly enough to any of the ideas.

There are the obvious Biker and punkish aspects to her design, with the leather and spikes. As well as some knight-ish vibes, because of her mask, “breastplate”, “pauldrons” and iron tipped shoes. I can even read some cowboy-ish aspects into her design because of her assless chaps, scarf and revolvers.

Makotos is supposed to be the tough hardass and similarly to Noir has some repressed anger issues imo (at least in the metaverse) and yet her outfit doesn’t give me any of that. She struts around in a skintight catsuit with a corset top and assless chaps which draw attention to her butt. The only thing that gets even close to “rough” looking are the spikes.

And then we have the Problem that Queens design is the only one that misses pretty much most of the other established design rules that the phantom thieves' designs follow.

Such as a correlation between the Phantom Thief and their Persona, in either color palette or similar design language and their main color, which is most easily recognizable by the color of their gloves.

As well as a red element that connects all of the phantom thieves to Joker and each other, to make them look like a cohesive unit.

(Joker: Gloves; Skull: Scarf; Panther: Suit, Fox: mask, katana, tail; Queen: eyes; Futaba: Goggles; Noir: brooch)

On that front her whole color palette is wrong, she has no dark blue gloves and her colors are basically dark greys and black. Something they started to rectify with newer artworks and figurines. (They seemed to change it randomly in the first game too, at least in the animated sequences)

To be fair tho most of the girls fall a bit short on the “mirrored Elements from their personas” part.

But yeah. All in all Makotos Visual Concept just falls very Short for me. It just feels confused and somewhat lazy. They could have gone in several different directions with the design, but like the majority of the girls, her design is (basically) akin to a skintight catsuit. It honestly often feels like Atlus is afraid to obstruct the girls physique in any way, lest you wouldn’t be able to see the direct outline of their bodies anymore.

They just never seem to push the design quite as far once it’s about a female character.

My script about Makotos metaverse redesign is getting so long, I truly can’t shut up about how much I dislike her design. If anyone wants to talk about it hmu lmao

[lawlightfan42069]

Yo! I was thinking of something similar to your idea about knocking a song off each album. If you could make one song the title track that's not the title track on each album, which songs would you choose? And if you wouldn't change the title track defend why

okay lets go !! this is fun !!!! also get ready for a monstrously long essay. im going to do them out of order probably sdkjfsdf so this wont be organized But. well first off, on 1of1 i would pick u need me and Maybe this is bc im biased towards it bc its my favorite song but listen… i feel like they could have continued the 90s aesthetic w the song as well. it would have been a Different 90s aesthetic rather than the cheerful bright one they were going for But that song to me feels like playing a cyberpunk-y arcade game  and that is Very 90s so. i would have loved to see them 90s video game aesthetics in music video form i think it would have been interesting. 

i would definitely leave dream girl as the title track for misconceptions of you. not necessarily bc its my favorite song off the album in this case, bc its not, but bc i think thematically it works best. especially bc my Ideal title track from misconceptions of you would have been nightmare. so going from dream girl -> nightmare works Perfectly in a thematic sense and it definitely ties those two albums together even wore. especially bc moy’s sound was more upbeat/had a Brighter aesthetic, while misconceptions of me was darker Both in the aesthetic/packaging of the album and in the songs themselves. which makes sense bc its going from a happy dream to a nightmare. this is really my favorite concept and im going to be on my deathbed wishing nightmare was the title track bc i love this idea so much its so Perfect.

for odd i find it really difficult to say. the other day i was talking about shinee albums w someone (and we were comparing 1of1 to odd) and they said that 1of1 was definitely a more cohesive album w better flow, however it could have been intentional that odd didnt rly have a cohesive Vibe bc it was called well… odd. like an odd jumble of songs together. i think thats rly brilliant btw and true so!! see initially i would say ‘well keep view’ bc i got this whole dreamy summer roadtrip vibe from the teasers/pictures and all that But if you were to pick a different song then the teasers/pictures would reflect that. its harder to tackle bc theres not a Theme like there is 1of1 or the misconceptions albums. and i like the whole dreamy roadtrip aesthetic where everything seems floaty and is if youre seeing it through a filter. i really enjoy that. but i think odd eye would have made for a very interesting mv and an entirely different concept all together Which is cool,, i also think it does work in that it references something not matching and being Odd™ just like the songs on the album itself which is a good summary of the “theme” of that album, if there would be any. i think view is probably a better title track in terms of marketability and all that But thats besides the point. so yeah after reflection,,  i do think i would pick odd eye

for mttm theres zero question i would keep mttm as the title track its literally their best mv and its So unique and stand out. its an amazing concept that is just on an entirely different level. also i loved the rocky horror teasers stuff that was great !! and again the mv itself is the most unique one that shinee has done Ever so changing the title track is not a good idea here

now that we get 2 sherlock i start to find this difficult bc i just cant imagine any other song being the title track. this is the same for lucifer. both those songs are so Iconique and one of the most well known songs shinee has ever put out. they are legitimately iconic. i mean lucifer is straight up shinees most well known and universally adored song tbh. they are such mainstays in shinees overall Image that a timeline where theyre not the title tracks seem so different. this goes for ring ding dong as well there is No way i would ever change the title track to be anything but rdd ring ding dong has birthed us so many memes for like 8 fuckign years straight. and Also for replay (although thats a debut not a title track so),,, its their debut song i cannot change that Dude its such a defining moment for them and they perform it to this day. these are less “objective” answers probably but nonetheless my answers.

for everybody,, while my favorite song is destination as everyone should Know at this point i would pick queen of new york. like in fact No i would not chose symptoms to be title track although thats the most well liked from that album. i dont have a super strong for reason except for the fact that i think queen of new york would make for an interesting mv. for some reason i always imagine some of kind of retro futuristic vibe from that song. actually the very specific aesthetic i imagine is the one in this picture or this one. i dont rly know Why but i think of something really colorful and maybe slightly surreal looking but not in a dramatic way,, i think this aesthetic is interesting for a mv. and ok who am i fooling of course id also say destination. destination could have Amazing choreo and itd be so fun  i imagine a very fast paced mv where they go around zooming through like 20 dimensions and fight ppl or something. it could work in their military uniforms which queen of new york couldnt rly skjfskfd. 

now,,, the hello repackage. while hello is also one of their Iconic songs tbh ive got to say that id change the title track to a-yo. initially i felt that Urge to say obsession but i wont bc i think a-yo fits the aesthetic that the repackage was going for Aka something light and bubbly after lucifer. a-yo has the same general light and bubbly vibe as hello does, and i happen to like it better, so i think hello’s aesthetic could be preserved while using an (imo) better song so !!

right what the fuck am i missing. oh right the romeo album. id pick talk to you for no real reason besides that i like the song a lot skfskjdfsdf i think they could also preserve a lot juliettes aesthetic with it as well. its a good representative of the albums general sound as well, so thats good!! and its just a good ass song Dude

theres my fuckinf Essay on what i have done if sm hired me skdfjskdf its a little rambly (esp that one fuckinf paragraph on odd) bc i literally just wrote out my thoughts as i had them its a stream of consciousness thing. so yeah theres my answer kjsdfksdf im sorry for rambling so much !! thank u for asking i found this fun to do !!!!