#d) striker probably?

[sidestriker]

@spidersins requested a surprised starter!

It takes one bullet for the guy he's actually here for to go down, which Striker still considers a waste of angelic steel.

Striker hadn't been paying much attention to his target's accompaniment; he doesn't generally involve himself with Sinners if it's not for the job, and killing them doesn't exactly evoke much of a need for subterfuge. That said, just about anyone who's ever been to the pride ring would recognize Angel Dust's face.

He's a little more surprised than he should be to have run into such a celebrity. Not that Striker's really starstruck, having only ever really seen any of Pride's pornos in passing, but he's never met someone so well known by coincidence before.

This, unfortunately, complicates things.

Striker had been prepared to take out the witness as well, but seeing as that would probably get him uncomfortably high up on the shit-lists of some pretty powerful people in Pride, he resolves to settle for the slapdash plan of talking his way out of trouble.

"Well, well! Didn't think I'd be runnin' into a celebrity today." Striker grins, a well-crafted cover for his disgruntled mood. "Lucky for you, I'm not exactly keen on buttin' heads with the poor souls in Pride who'd riot if an imp put a bullet in your brain. Sorry 'bout your arm candy; a job's a job."

[gentlemanthiief]

hullo friends, i will be returning shortly. been busy and recovering from some irl shit, but things are slowly getting better bit by bit and my akira muse has been pestering me for attention and pointing at the massive pile of drafts i now have sitting in my folder lol.

i don't wanna say i'm 100% back yet bc these next couple weeks i will be planning a visit to a family friend as well as meeting up with my old roommate at some point, but i will be around more frequently. i hope everyone has been doing okay, i hope to have good news soon.

[heavens-angriest-winner]

why does Stolas have straight up a yaranaika face in the closing scenes. am I insane

[crashlanding-skywalker]

[Fox babysitting the 501st]

Kickback: How old do you think I am?

Striker: Kickback, age doesnt matter.

Striker: You can die at any time.

——————

Tag: I’m not an idiot, I just lack all common sense.

Tag: Like, I can build an entire flying ship with complex circuitry.

Tag: But you can bet that I’ll be doing the Tide Pod challenge.

——————

Ringo: Without ugly, there would be no beauty in this world.

Attie: Thank you for your sacrifice, Contrail.

——————

Nax: I know it's sad but death is a natural part of life and by the time I finish this sentence, a hundred people will have died in Lothal.

Matchstick, visibly distressed: WHY DID YOU STOP TALKING-

——————

Fox, playing with Ridge: Axe, where are you going?

Axe: To seek the company of the only one around here who's got any sense.

Ridge: And who's that?

Axe: Myself, Rid.

——————

Hil: You know, not every problem can be solved with a knife.

Echo: I know, that's why I always carry two.

——————

Jinx: Hi :).

The 501st:

Jinx: Everyone's bones are wet.

Fox: Why would you say that?

Jinx: Nobody was saying hi back :(.

——————

Fox: You're a loose cannon.

Echo: No, I'm not. Am i a cannon? probably yeah, but a loose cannon? Is that what you think of me, Fox?

Kix: I think you play by your own rules.

Jesse: No way, he thinks rules were made to be broken.

Fox: And those are all attributes of a loose cannon.

Echo: No, I'm just a reckless renegade.

Echo, pointing at Fives: He's the loose cannon.

Fives: *smashes a chair*

——————

Fox: Why can’t y'all just get along?

Vaughn: Because most of us are assholes, Commander.

——————

Echo, holding a knife: Imagine stabbing someone with this knife.

Kix: It would instantly cauterize the wound which means the person wouldn't bleed, so it's not very useful.

Fives: If you want information it is.

Attie: Why would you STAB a person when you can have TOAST?

——————

Echo: We should normalize not loving family members.

Dogma: You can just say “I hate my dumb fuck uncle” or whatever.

Dogma: Talk like a normal person.

——————

Kano: Remember what I told you.

Contrail: Don’t be a cunt.

——————

Attie: I think I should be allowed on ghost hunter tv shows.

Swoop: I think that would be dangerous for the ghosts.

——————

Hawk, to Dogma: ARE YOU

Jesse: Fucking.

Hawk: KIDDING ME?! YOU

Jesse: Fucking.

Hawk: IDIOT!

(silence)

Appo: What was that?

Jesse: Fox banned Hawk from swearing, so I’m helping him out.

——————

Swoop: I'm sorry. Please talk to me.

S. Fox:

Swoop: Hello? World's most amazing person?? Sweet pea? Precious cinnamon roll that's too good for this world, too pure?

S. Fox: 'Sorry' doesn't bring back my fucking froot loops.

—————— Tucker: "you should be at the club" Tucker: I can't go to the club, I'll be in there saying shit like "perchance" and "thrice"

——————

Boomer: I think I should be allowed on ghost hunter tv shows.

Swoop: I think that would be dangerous for the ghosts.

——————

Echo: Bet you can’t eat 15 crayons.

Fives: Bet you I can!

Fox sipping caff while checking to make sure Rex and Cody are still on speed dial, and goes back to reading the paper:

——————

Fox, entering the kitchen:

Fox, sees Hardcase: What are you doing?

Hardcase: Oh, I was just gonna light this chicken on fire to see if it turns into a phoenix.

Fox: It's 3 am...

Hardcase: *puppy eyes*

Fox, sighs: We can try it later

——————

Fox: Is anyone d-

Kix: Depressed?

Dogma: Drained?

Voca: Dumb?

Fives: Disliked?

Fox: -done with their work...

Fox, calling Rex: What is wrong with you kids...

[cinnamon-stixs]

I FUCKING LOVED MASTERMIND HADUFHHDUIDF I HAVE TO RAMBLE ABOUT IT!! SPOILERS LOL

also warning this is long as hell

-Andrealphus's house is surrounded by snow, as is his whole theme. It kinda reminds me of the mythology of hell's frozen center.

-I fucking love stella guys. I'm sorry. I hate her so fucking much and I want to shit on her dreams, and that is EXACTLY why I love her character so much. I'm so glad she's getting more development.

-Andrealphus didn't know about the deal, just that Stolas cheated. So Stella REALLY didn't tell him much.

-I like Andrealphus's peacock theming

-"Now you fucking know!" icon.

-I really like the detail of them using Moxxie and Blitz's mugshots, as well as Millie's wanted poster. It's a really good illustration of how authority figures will do anything they can against minorities, and really pushes the themes of classism and oppression in the show.

-Blitz immediately running to delete his search history, me core.

-He's so scared of going to jail again :(

-"We are going to beat you! But only a little!"

-She's exactly like her fucking dad. She cares SO MUCH deep down, but puts on that 'indifferent asshole' attitude to protect herself.

-"The shredder is jammed!!" D:

-These poor interns

-Blitz, of course, crashes immediately.

-Moxxie uses 'Blitz' instead of 'sir'

-THE MUZZLE. I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL MYSELF.

-I wanna note as they walk in, Satan is acting in place of lucifer, since he's too busy with the Hotel stuff. He claims he was in hell BEFORE Lucifer, but I take that with a good spoonful of salt.

-"Is this about the orphans?" HUH?

-Dude these motherfuckers keep deadnaming Blitz and it pisses me off! Like I get that's the point but still.

-The sloth and envy sins are here!

-I really like Vassago. It seems like he really cares about fair due process in general, but he also seems to have some sort of beef with Andrealphus.

-"Since when is ATTEMPTING a crime illegal am I right?" You stupid bastard.

-"LIES!!" STFU

-I've seen a few people question why Andrealphus would go straight after Blitz instead of Stolas, since he wants him gone so bad, but the answer is simple. Andrealphus KNOWS there's pretty much nothing he can do to demon royalty, especially since Stolas was considered above him on the Goetia food chain. Going after the imp, a member of an already extremely marginalized group, was simply a safer bet.

-I wish Ozzie and Bee spoke up more. It seems ooc, but at the same time we don't know how big the power imbalance is between Satan and the rest of the sins. (Aside Lucifer)

-"A responsible and handsome Goetic demon such as myself-" You should kill yourself, NOW!!

-They never wanted to let him speak up in the first place.

-"Put his kind to shame" BRO HE BAGGED DEMON ROYALTY.

-wtf is up with Satan and his little meditator twink assistant

-YES VASSAGO!! BRING UP THAT HE'S NOT HERE! IT'S ABSOLUTE BULLSHIT THAT STOLAS WASN'T INFORMED AND CLEARLY INDICATES ANDREALPHUS HAS OTHER MOTIVES!! YES HE SHOULD BE SUMMONED!!

-God I love Vassago I hope he's a reoccurring character

-"didn't want him to go through the trauma of facing his aggressor' is such a thinly veiled argument, but no one fucking cares because Blitz is just an imp.

-WHY IS STRIKER HELPING DEMON ROYALTY. Does he hate Blitz that much because he associated with them? Is he getting paid? Was he threatened?

-"If I wanted to kill Stolas, I would've done it myself." Good point, HORRIBLE wording.

-"oh he just fucked himself over."

-I am so sorry your boss is a fucking moron

-PLEASE Bee and Ozzie you can do better than "He probably has a good reason for all of this!"

-Bee throwing dick popsicles at Mammon, I love you girl.

-God I hate this classist piece of shit

-He KNOWS smthn is up.

-The immediate cut to a Mammon joke after our mcs are SENTENCED TO DEATH really shows how little higher class demons care about imps and hellhounds

-We obviously know They're not ACTUALLY gonna kill any of them off, but I was still biting my fuckin nails dawg

-What an EVIL move.

-Fizz and Ozzie's full conversation before this. So, Ozzie most likely had no idea the trial was for Blitz.

-Side note, but I'm kinda surprised Fizz and Ozzie dating wasn't brought up aside from that line from Mammon about Ozzie and Bee 'associating with the lower class'.

-wtf is up with Satan? If this were any other sin, Ozzie would not HESITATE to clock their ass. Just look at s2 ep7!

-"NOT THEM YOUR HIGHNESS!" What if I cried.

-"you're acting kinda ruby" GET OUT OF HERE TWINKIE

-"I suppose I created impkind to be obedient" Motherfucker those are people.

-"Just axe the mouthy one" It's so in-character for Blitz to not assume himself to be the mouthy one

-He still careeeesss augh!! He sounded so distressed

-"We'll pretend to care" So accurate! Ouch!

-"Moxxie, stop. This big red bitch never planned on hearing us out."

-HER FACE. "Just take care of Loona for me" WHAT IF I FUCKING CRIED.

-Fun fact this is the part of the episode where I started bawling like a loser

-"I love you guys" I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL MYSELF. IM GONNA DO IT FUCK

Uhh I have to reblog to continue this bc I hit the image cap halfway through lmfaoo

[tigreblvnc]

YOUR LIFE IN BLUE LOCK — @soleilonthesun

BACKGROUND HEADCANONS;

♤ You were probably invited by Ego, “We need a few calm and collective people to act as natural leaders. Even in Blue Lock, structure is needed.”

♤ So you were scouted for your level headedness on field and overall encouraging vibes :D

♤ I believe you accepted just because you were interested, and were excited to explore a new environment anyway

♤ During Ego’s whole speech, you had to make a decision. It was either risk your future to reach your true goal, or fall back and continue to live in our mundane society.

♤ Of course, your parents would advise you to take the latter. But this was your choice, wasn’t it? Entering Blue Lock would be your best chance at reaching your goal.

♤ After all, if you didn’t accept, it would take ten fold effort, and even more risks. If you didn’t accept, would you ever truly be happy with the path you set yourself on? You refused to live with that sort of guilt. So you vowed to win. To become the person you always wanted to be.

♤ To be someone who could be looked up to.

COLOR AURA;

♤ Lime Green

♤ #9cf569 (example, not necessarily exact)

♤ I KNOOWWW IT MAY NOT SOUND THE BEST- BUT LEMME EXPLAIN

♤ It’s a strong colour for sure, but of everyone I really do think you’re the only(or one of the few) person who could pull the colour off

♤ NO IT WOULD NOT LOOK LIKE FART- THATS NOT MY INTENTION CHAT U GOTTA BELIEVE ME

♤ Lime Green is NOT a colour you could ever ignore. I think it’s presence would be very indicative of yours on the field.

♤ Green means go right?

♤ The vibes, comfort, assurance, and encouragement you bring, it fits green.

♤ I spent quite a while deciding on this one. Green was one of the first to come to mind, but I was hesitant to finalize it (maybe it was the fart effect, im not sure) but playing around with the colour wheel, it really did seem best fitting.

♤ Green isn’t necessarily a loud colour, at least it doesn’t come first to mind when you think of one, but it certainly isn’t quiet, or easily look passed.

♤ Within the colours of pigment, Green isn’t actually a primary. But in the colours of light, it is. It’s the core of many other colours, and is needed to balance the others out.

♤ But it still isn’t usually considered a primary colour, due to its absence in pigment.

♤ And yet it’s still a lot of people’s favourite. The few Green likers I know are very passionate and dedicated, especially since there isn’t another colour that gives similar vibes.

♤ Lighter blues and purples often give the same vibe, majority of reds are still very red no matter how you tint it, etc. ♤ But lime green wouldn't be generalised

♤ If you break down the pigment, it is just blue and yellow. It’s an interesting blend, given that one is known to be incredibly energetic, and the other completely calm. Green’s a good blend.

♤ But yes, green.

TEAM SELECTION;

♤ Ubers! You want to advise the others on your team yes?

♤ Thatd be pretty hard if you were on a more… violent team- it could definitely work, but I think your teammates on Ubers would even ask for you opinion at points

♤ I think Ubers is a team that needs more structure, determination, and overall leadership.

♤ Nothing bad to Snuffy, but they’ve got incredibly good players(imo) (ex. Japan’s national defender, Japan’s Ace, one of bllk’s best strikers, and one of bllk’s best defenders) but I wouldn’t say they’re using them all that well… (pls no dox /j)

♤ In Uber’s you could advise(control) marjory of their players, using your imagination to throw together fun play plans.

♤ Ok yea Barou probably isn’t the happiest with it, but the rest of the team is more than eager to try something new!

♤ Playing with Ubers would also help with your weaknesses. Since they have an incredibly stable defensive line, you don’t have to worry or hesitate as much. Staying static and overthinking will eventually decrease as you learn to trust them on field.

♤ I won’t speak much about off field… Individually, Ubers is an interesting set of people…

♤ They wouldn’t bother you too much though (but Aiku will probably try-)

♤ I think overall, Ubers gives you a strong base to work with, allowing you to do what you’d please from there.

♤ + They probably would benefit a lot working with someone like u! So even if they aren’t necessarily your first choice, they’d probably throw in a good offer for ya ;)

BEST FRIEND;

✦ My dear dumb bunny.

✦ Admit it, you didn't see that coming!

✦ As soon as I saw the word "magic," I knew I had to pair you with the magician of the team.

✦ You two share much more in common than you might think. And as I like to say: I'm shocked that you've never noticed the resemblance between you and Ness all this time.

✦ You're so similar. Two big idealists, dreamers, poetic souls, both passionate about things that don't exist.

✦ You hit it off right away, from the very first day, the moment you joined the soccer club. I believe the saying "birds of a feather flock together" is true.

✦ Typically, you cry in each other's arms when you suffer a defeat, go through a hard time, or get overwhelmed with emotions. You're completely in tune with being hypersensitive, and you own it fully.

✦ I think that if Kaiser weren't around, Ness would spend his time glued to you.

✦ He just needs a little human warmth, poor thing.

✦ He needs a sun, not a winter.

✦ To life, to love.

RIVAL;

✦ And I hope you're catching my drift with this matchup.

✦ Aren't Ness and Noa the perfect opposites?

✦ Emotion versus cold logic.

✦ You're rivals in the sense that your ways of thinking and doing things are very contradictory once you're on the field together. But it's also quite a challenge for each of you.

✦ I also think you'd have had quite a bit of trouble with Noa regarding your place in a team where he's present. Luckily, that's not the case.

✦ Besides, I like to imagine that Ness struggled quite a bit during his years at the Bastard München club, with his way of being so opposite to what Noa represents.

✦ So yes, Noa is that intimidating coach who gives you a knot in your stomach before every training.

✦ But he's also a likely path for your future development.

✦ Will you seize the opportunity, or stay in your comfort zone?

✦ It's up to you, little sunshine.

POSITION ON THE FIELD;

✦ Midfielder.

✦ I think you do a great job of being a bridge between people. A human bridge, I mean.

✦ That is to say, you're skilled at connecting one person to another, and this also applies on the field.

✦ People can trust you to make passes that are both surprising and game-changing for your team.

✦ This is the true strength of this matchup: placing you as a midfielder gives you the chance to prove your worth. You can combine your creativity and imagination with the rational thinking of passing to the best player at a key moment in the match.

✦ It's this position on the field that will not only strengthen your value in Ness's eyes, but also counter Noa's belief that a creative, free spirit has no place in a high-level match.

© TIGREBLVNC 2024 | OCTOBER '24 MATCHUPS EDITION.

[stabbyfoxandrew]

Hiii

I'm really curious about what 10 bought, so I'd like to ask for some more arsonist Neil/firefighter Andrew for wipw, if you feel up to it. Thanks! :D

I hope this week is better <3

WIP Wednesday (10/16) | Arsonist Neil / Firefighter Andrew AU (Part 249)

Andrew lets 10 shush him and sets his phone down on the arm of the couch so he can eat kettlecorn and watch the game. See, Andrew's really never cared one way or the other about exy. But Kevin he cares a great deal for, that's why he sometimes happens to tune into ESPN just as a Jaguars game begins. It doesn't happen often. Just every now and then. Once in a blue moon.

When they're scheduled to play the Panthers, or any other particularly formidable foes. See, the Panthers play rough. Maybe not as rough as the Ravens used to, but close enough. Within the first ten minutes they've picked up a red card and 10 has employed every curse word Andrew's ever heard at least once.

"I can't believe that ref!" 10 shouts. "Is he fucking blind?! Where's his damn dog? That cunt just blatantly tripped our dealer!"

The dealer is not Andrew's, but he hums in agreement with the rest. The Panthers' striker just stuck her racquet out and now Washington, that's the name of Kevin's favorite dealer, is sprawled on the court clutching her right wrist to her chest. She'd tried to catch herself with it and failed. The announcers wonder if she's seriously injured.

"You think it's broken?"

"Probably sprained if anything." Andrew answers, then watches as Jeremy Knox— the saint of saints— offers his teammate a hand and helps her to the court door. It's a home game so the crowd cheers for her as she exits and is replaced by a guy Kevin can't stand.

[totallynotmelol]

Okay, so I just watched Apology tour and tbh I think I liked it better than Full moon, probably because Stoltitz got more screentime this time, it was mostly focused on them. Anyways, there is some things I want to point out.

Okay I'm not gonna show ALL the parts of apology tour because that would be lots of screenshots. Anyways, I'll be starting from here. When Stolas tells Blitz he think he acts like Striker Blitz gets mad, yes. Then he tries to come up with an excuse or like a reason why he's not like Striker, but can't really to come up with one.

Then he says to Stolas: "I-I stopped him the first time, didn't I?"

Stolas is shocked by that, which you can see.

I kinda feel bad for him here a bit, I mean, Blitz didn't tell him Striker was after him. If he had told Stolas maybe he wouldn't have gotten hurt.

"The first time?" You can see, Stolas reaction is still confused and surprised.

When Blitz hear him saying that he looks a bit confused himself.

He tries to explain that he had stopped Striker the first time. (Which he actually did. For those who don't remember it happened in S1 E5)

Then he suddenly realise...

I feel bad for him, now :(

He didn't mean anything bad, he didn't think it would affect Stolas by saying that.

You can see that he looks away too, he is nervous and don't know how to explain. He knows he messed things up again :/

Okay, I kinda get Stolas frustration. Blitz didn't tell him and he is probably wondering why he wouldn't do that. Why he wouldn't tell Stolas that someone might've come after him.

It just breaks my heart when you see Blitz really is trying to solve things but he just messes it up more.

Omg look at Stolas reaction :(

He looks so desperate and don't know what to do :/

The sadness in his face is just so painful to watch

You can see as Stolas is talking Blitz is starting to feel kind of guilty for his actions.

He is slowly looking away, sad-looking...

:(((

He looks so helpless and lonely right now!! D:

STOP I DON'T WANT TO CRY. NOT TODAY.

[hezuart]

Hey! Dyt that they have Ruined Striker’s Character in Helluva Boss? I Loved The Striker that we had in Season 1 but in Season 2 it feels a bit off for me, I don’t know where to put my finger on it. It’s like he lost that sense of character that he had in Season 1, It’s hard for me to explain it. I guess I shouldn’t have expected as much for This Series but sadly Love it and would it be Bad if I thought that Striker and Blitz should have ended up Together and take his offer in The Harvest Moon festival Episode? (if they did take that offer, I would’ve loved to see them taking down some Overlords in Hell, Plus Something about Their interactions made me Ship Them More Than Stolas, Wondered what actually happened if he joined the I.M.P?? I mean he nearly did but Oh Well) and Also Blitz has a Horse!? Does Loona know about this!? WT-!?

Reasons why Striker's character is "ruined" since season 2:

1. His arrogance has been upped to a ridiculous degree (big d*ck statues of himself) He was only arrogant around Moxie because they hated each other, but Striker showed off in physical skill and song. Not sexually? 2. In season 1, he was stealthy, unknown, and very cunning. In season 2, he is brash, famous, and dumb. (He tries to kill Stolas in a public setting without protecting his own identity, he's apparently a well-known killer for hire in Wrath, and he doesn't kill Stolas immediately after finally tying him up in the alleyway. 3. In season 1 he wiped the floor with Moxie, Millie, and Blitz, while in season 2, randomly, Millie & Moxie and Blitz defeat him easily and twice, making him look pathetic. 4. In season 1 he was hired by Stella, a high-class goetia to kill Stolas, and thus was provided angelic weapons to do so. He hates upper-class demons and to be working for one is a high level of irony that adds more to his character; but it also hinted that he was playing dirty, that he would eventually use these weapons to turn against Stella to kill other high-class demons to fight against the political power balance (which is what he invited Blitz to) and Stella provided a great boon for him; extremely rare, dangerous weapons. In season 2, he's seen working for Crimson. However, he is the one providing his resume, almost begging to be hired by a (supposed to be) low-class IMp Mob Boss, but outside of maybe money, Crimson has nothing of value to offer in comparison to the hot deal that was Stella's offering. 5. In season 1, he is brutal but thorough with his attacks. He doesn't play with his toys. In season 2, he drags Stolas's torture out, messing around and playing with him for no good reason. (Yeah, Stella ordered that, but she ordered it LATER, AFTER Stolas was captured, and even that is against what season 1 Stella wanted, she wanted him dead ASAP. There is no reason to torture Stolas, especially if it leaves things open for him to escape. 6. His voice actor changed. Bosco does a really good job, but it's just not the same. Striker was probably the best villain in the series, and now he's just kind of a villain of the we(a)k kind of character I just don't care about anymore.

His character was only slightly better in the Fizzarolli past episode, but just seeing him dumbly pay attention to Fizz's song just solidified he's a joke now. Season 1 Striker would never do that. He would have sniffed out Blitz and gone after him immediately. Maybe have even shot Fizz; Crimson ordered him not to hurt him, but I dont think Striker would give a damn at that point. I agree that Striker and Blitz would be a far more interesting dynamic. Actually fighting against the power instead of Blitz just... sleeping with said power. Blitz wrapped himself up in Stolas, basically becoming his s*x slave in exchange for the book. Blitz even runs a business for sinners, sinners of which are dangerous towards imps and overpopulating Hell's upper layer. Striker offers him an out, Striker offers him everything. He offers him change, he offers him a chance to be someone. Stolas on the other hand still hasn't changed his classist attitude. A part of him will always disrespect Blitz, and I don't know if the writers will ever address it at this point. I mean, Blitz was confirmed to have been attracted to him. It very well could have happened.

[feizon]

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

warnings: none - !sfw

summary: y/n is a volleyball star who's teammate happens to be obsessed with a certain team's striker. For her friends birthday, she decides to get her a signed jersey but ends up trending because of a specific "encounter".

note: fem!reader x nagi seishiro / (f/v) = favorite vehicle / not proofread

'I can't believe I'm fucking doing this...'

Yet here I was, driving myself in my (F/V) to a football stadium which I swore I would never step foot in since the age of 12.

Despite my better judgement, I didn't really have a choice since I already had a #11 football jersey that need to be signed and a bought ticket which is probably worth my rent right now. I wish I was joking.

"Holy crap- there's barely any parking."

I step out of my vehicle with my (F/C) sweatshirt, sunglasses and black biker shorts as well as my (F/C) sneakers to match. My hood and sunglasses where on to hide as much of my identity as possible, the last thing I need was my face trending all over twitter about me going to a football stadium despite my open dislike for the sport.

I walk in, submit my ticket, enter the actual stadium and finally take my seat in the best row possible. The jersey was in my leather, black backpack which had a volley ball charm and random cartoon character keychains and stickers all over it from carnival prizes. I sit with my arms crossed as I wait for the players to make their entrance. A large cup of (F/D) and a bucket of popcorn by my side to numb my misery for the next 90 mins, it's not like I hate the sport with every fibre of my being, It's actually the fans. If you ask me basketball is definitely superior, second to volleyball, but that's not a conversation people will ever be ready to talk about.

The football players start to walk into he field as the stadium gets noisier by the second. People cheering and chanting as I simply sit down and munch on my buttered popcorn.

'Thank goodness that these people aren't in my line of vision.'

Amongst the teams fileing in, I notice a tall (like really tall) white haired man make their way onto the pitch. I lift my sunglass up slightly and narrow my eyes just to make sure I'm seeing things clearly. He has large gray eyes that you would expect to be full of expression but hold literally not a hint of interest in them. I look down at his uniform and notice the #11 written in large on the back of his jersey, my mouth drops as I realize that my friend might actually be on to something.

"He's actually beautiful, wtf."

I mumble low enough so no one else could here. I quickly snap out of my trance as the voices of the crowd screaming snap me back to reality. A sudden pit of nervousness could be felt in my stomach as my eyes continue to follow his every move. For a split second, I notice him looking towards my direction as I pull the drawstrings of my hoodie to hide myself from embarrassment.

'Ok.. so maybe this might be A LOT harder to do than I thought. Should of just bought a signed jersey on Amazon.'

The match finally ends with the screaming of fans from my side of the stadium as the counter finally hits 90:00. My mouth dropped, TO. THE. GROUND. As I try to process wtf just happened. A specific athlete managed to score the winning goal within the last 3 min, made 4 goals beforehand and manages to look as if what he did was normal. Anyone could tell that I was visibly shaking from all the adrenaline coursing through my veins simply by watching.

'THAT WAS SO- THAT WAS SO-'

I didn't know if it was my speechlessness or the running of a bunch of fans, trying to get a closer look at the winning team, that caused me to stutter so much. I blink a few times before I grab all my things and run just as quickly as them towards the same direction. The set up was like the one you would see in concerts, silver railing that reached just above my torso and many others to prevent fans from getting any closer.

I quickly grab the jersey from the safety of my backpack as I noticed a specific player about to enter my line of sight.

'I will get this signature, EVEN IF ITS KILLS ME!!'

But as if my motivation was some sort of sin, one of the many fans begins to constantly nudge me in the shoulder with her elbow as another does the same on the other side of where I stood. I lightly curse to myself as I begin to nudge them back. The nudging escalated until I was shoved forward harshly, causing the cheap railing to break, my hood and glasses falling off in the process as well. I close my eyes shut as I await to be greeted by the cold, hard floor. But to my surprise, (probably not yours lol) I don't. And it scares the shit out of me more.

I quickly cling to the piece of fabric shielding my face from a very toned chest as I feel a gentle set of arms wrap around my shoulders. I internally shudder at the sudden context as I mentally curse myself out, the grip on the jersey long gone as I finally find the courage to look up at the person who saved me from becoming the next meme of the month.

I'm met with a pair of gorgeous grey eyes, opened wide probably because of the sudden reveal of my identity or the quality of the railing.

'Kill me now.'

I give him a nervous close-eyed smile as his eyes casts over to the now wrinkled #11 jersey on the floor, his brows furrowed in the process.

"Haha, you wouldn't mind signing that right? It for a friend yk..."

@feizon

[wealmostaneckbeard]

Critical Role Plays Lancer (hypothetical)

What if the core cast of Critical Role played the table top Mecha role playing game Lancer? Here are the CR cast members paired with the most entertaining mechs for their style of play:

Travis Willingham in a HORUS Balor

In the major D&D campaigns Travis has shown a preference for melee combatants who engage with dark unsavory powers. The Balor is a huge mech that eats other mechs using nanite swarms. Those same nanites probably contain the consciousness of freedom fighters-turned-terrorists-turned-into-a-hive mind. It's a perfect match! If the Balor is equipped with an A.I. called a Non-Human Person then there is a possibility that Travis's pilot-character could get eaten by his own mech!

Laura Bailey in a Harrison Armory Barbarossa

Laura apparently likes long-range damage dealers and typically those are very delicate and agile characters. It would be intriguing to see how she'd handle the Barbarossa. The Barbarossa is a tanky behemoth armed with the APOCALYPSE RAIL, an anti-warship weapon that requires the user to stay still in order to charge. It would be very interesting to see if the pilot that Laura creates would fire into a melee scrum and potentially kill her allies to achieve victory. She could play around with the anxiety her pilot would experience while screaming "Get Clear of the Blast! Firing!" Or she could role play as someone totally ruthless who justifies friendly fire with the fact that dead pilots can be flash-cloned and mechs can be salvaged.

Marisha Ray in an IPS-N Tortuga

Marisha Ray is from Kentucky. The Tortuga has Shotguns. The synergy is naturally there, you guys. Joking aside, the Tortuga would give Marisha a lot of role flexibility, she'd be able to defend her friends from enemy advance or she could push into the fray headfirst. If her pilot is tech-savvy, she could even engage in some cyberwarfare which the Tortuga is kind-of good at. Plus the Tortuga comes with a really boring A.I. that could act as the straight man for whatever jokes Marisha's character would come up with.

Talesin Jaffey in an SSC Mourning Cloak

Mr. Jaffey would probably go with a homebrewed mech if given the choice. Since I cannot imagine the Eldritch Mechanism he would craft, I am forced to prescribe him a Mourning Cloak. It is one of the few mechs capable of teleporting, which it doesn't do very precisely. There is a slight chance that Talesin might roll poorly while determining teleport distance, causing his pilot and mech to go... someplace else... and only reappear after the scene is over. He and the game master could have a lot of fun with that.

Liam O'Brien in a HORUS Goblin (warning: robo-codpiece, or maybe you like that kind of thing, IDK)

In tactical table top action, Liam shows a propensity for complexity. And nothing is more complex than the little Goblin which contains more electronics within it than is physically possible. The Goblin can hack allies to make their systems better, hack enemy systems to make them much worse, and even hack reality to make Things happen. Liam could reprise some of his favorite shticks like "I'm just a little guy, give me uppies," and "This goblin is named Nott and is my best friend."

Ashley Johnson in a Harrison Armory Genghis

In the first two major D&D campaigns Ashley played melee damage dealers and then branched out into a wildfire druid in the third. So a striker type mech that plays with fire would be consistent with her previous choices. Enter the Genghis, the carefree pyromaniacs choice of mechanized chassis. The mech builds up heat from weapons like it's Krakatoa flamethrower or a GMS Thermal Lance and then releases it in a blistering-blinding heat cloud. Incendiary damage continues burning victims until they douse themselves so Ashley can just set and forget. Finally I'd love to see what kind of pilot Ashley would come up with who would use a mech that's just as terrifying as the Balor.

Sam Riegel in an SSC Swallowtail (oh gods... please excuse the terrible mspaint job... hopefully this looks funny in a good way)

In D&D, Sam seems to like playing as unconventional back-line characters. He's been a tricky bard, a sneaky goblin/halfling rogue, and most recently a literal healbot with rage issues. So I think the Swallowtail would be a good fit for him. It's less of a mech and more of a high quality holographic movie studio on legs. It can make simulated stunt doubles of allies, use it's cameras to focus in such excruciating detail that invisible subjects are revealed, and even turn itself and everyone nearby invisible so they don't mess up the film shoot. Sam's pilot character could be some kind of propagandist or movie set manager who is infuriated by how messy actual warfare is.

Finally, Last but not least:

Mathew Mercer in an IPS-N Lancaster

I would be automatically fascinated by Mr. Mercer's interpretation of galactic human society in the year 5016u and the journey he would take his players on. But if he was a player then it would be interesting to see him controlling a Lancaster, the apex of mobile field repair platforms. Anything bad that can happen to a mech (damage, burning, hacked, immobilized) can be undone by the reliable Lancaster and it's limited pool of resources. I'm confident Mercer would be able to manage those resources wisely although it would be funny if he didn't. Role playing as his pilot, we'd get to see Matt do his best futuristic tow truck operator impression, which I think would be a very gratifying experience.

[spookky-aint-spooky]

*pops into your inbox*

Heya!! If you don't minnnd… I would like to know more about your OCs pleassse!!! ✨💖 :)

Okay, sorry buhbye!

Noo don't apologize I'm glad to see you :D

I'm not exactly 100% sure what to talk about so ur getting rambles and bios lol sorry (songs I mention are linked)

Aduna (Moth Demon, HH OC)

-✨ very very fluffy ✨

- Brazilian

- Trilingual (fluent in English, Portuguese and Spanish)

- Overlord (kinda??) with a decent amount of territory in the Entertainment District

- Like a mini overlord if that makes sense

- Artist and singer

- Her post-finale theme song is prob "A Pearl" by Mitski

- Vox's ex and #1 slanderer lmao

Sabrina (Fishcubbus, HB OC)

- Leviathan's estranged kid (long lost daughter of royalty trope go brrr-)

- Only reason she didn't know he was her Dad was because she was the result of a one-night stand lol (praying for her even tho I'm the one that controls her lore 😭)

Has a trident for some reason, can summon it like Charlie can summon her pitchfork (the cousins are twinning ✨💅)

- Absolutely loves swimming/the water, feels really connected to the Envy Ring where she was born

- Her theme is either Little Wolf or Fish Inside A Birdcage (prob the latter)

- Her main story arc is basically just her Dad saying "I'll pay my child support if you bring back these criminals"

- Gets kidnapped by Striker at some point but idk when exactly

Vincent (Gravity Falls OC, my silly gay boy)

- The OC most based off of myself lol

- Raging bisexual

- A transmasc creature

- Chaotic Neutral

- Surprisingly knows how to play DD&MD despite not even having a highschool diploma (he needs to go back to school 😭)

- Favorite flavor of ice cream is cotton candy

- Likes musicals. Refuses to take Epic the Musical and Hazbin Hotel songs of his playlist

- Speaking of, he introduced both those musicals to Ford and that six-fingered nerd has not been the same since

- Theme song is definitely either Stick It To The Man or Timber

Nyx (my other HH OC, literally my first ever fandom character I made 😭)

- QPR w/ the fishy boi (Baxter)

- ✨sKatEr GuRl 🤪✨ but like in a "she will fall flat on her face and look stupid doing it but still think she looks cool" kind of way

- The venom in her scorpion tail isn't very toxic with just a simple jab, but it sure can hurt like Hell if she can keep her stinger under the skin

- Absolute fucking gremlin, refuses to exist anywhere without causing a problem lol

- Has probably sung "Open Arms" to Baxter at least once

Has a very loose contract with Velvette, which is why she has her gold glowing eye (symbolism ig ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯)

Cherry Pitt (Cuphead OC)

- Another trans man because ✨ projection ✨

- Sold his soul for safety and security after his orchard got wrecked by a storm

- He has since restored said orchard

- Lives on Isle One

- CuNtRy BoI

- Proud gun owner (should not be a proud gun owner)

- Childhood buddy of the cup bros; rekindled their friendship post-game

- I like to imagine that his weapons he uses in his boss fight are cherry bombs (cherry pun lmao)

- Def a Morgan Wallen fan

- Has the personality of the guy that makes noise complaints for a party several blocks down

KK that's all I really got tysm for the ask :D

[second-wife-playbook]

Hunger Games Simulator! Second Wife Playbook Edition:

(this seemed fun so here's a progression of how this silly simulator went some some of the pals I've RPed with, and a few I haven't, just to fill in spots :D Enjoy, and let's see if Coronis makes it to the end!)

The Districts:

The Bloodbath:

(Oh no Blitz!!! Well, Stolas, looks like you're gonna be single this round, sorry D: Also Stella coming in for the FENCING MASTER with a sword and sweet Zal punching Octavia is too much JESUS)

(Stolas you bastard! Losing Blitz really turned him! Also GOOD LORD CASS I thought your specialty was TEA not EXPLOSIVES)

End of Day One:

(....well. Good luck Babybird O_O)

Night One:

(WELL THERE GOES THE HEIR TO THE THRONE AND THE MARQUISDOM GODDAMN. Stella you burned your ice-queen bro alive HOW IS THAT AN ACCIDENT. Also Stolas and Cori?!?! Striker, wake up, he's stealing yo girl!)

Day Two:

(Again, Cassandra and Striker seem to have switched, that goat is OFF THE CHAIN. Coronis running to higher ground? Trying to get away? ALSO STELLA WHAT THE HELL YOU MURDERER YOU KILLED ZAL AND YOUR BROTHER???? IS THIS A GOETIA PURGE?)

End of Day Two:

(Slim pickings but Cori is still alive!....And so is Moxxie and Millie aww, couples survivin)

Night Two:

(Moxxie???? Moxxie YOU'RE A MARRIED MAN MOXXIE. Also FINALLY Striker getting in the royal assassination! Sorry Beelzy you didn't deserve it (probably). Stella not killing her husband?????? What?????)

Day Three:

(WELL THERE GOES THE WIFE GOOD GOING MOXXIE. Also did Cori learn to steal from Stolas??? ALSO NOOOOO STRIKKKKERRRRRR!!!!! And then Stolas too?!? This is getting intense!)

End of Day Three:

(So far Stella and Cassandra are the most RUTHLESS BITCHES EVER on this. Coronis still survives though! And no kills, just staying alive. I am sad the Bros Stalker and Striker are dead, fare thee well my cowboys ;_;)

Night Three:

(The theater kids with musical numbers are SINGING! That's oddly cute. Poor Cori though, just singing softly to herself :'( )

Day Four: The Feast

(I think maybe their are no supplies and memoirs for Coronis, because her parents don't like her. Also Ozzie running from this brutal Goat-Girl is amazing given Cass is getting so brutal this round. Poor Beelzabub didn't get to the Feast though awww)

(OH CRAP THERE GOES CASS! I guess all the killing didn't save her big ol' goat feet from making the wrong step. Also Coronis and her sister teaming up a little??? This can't possibly go wrong-)

End of Day Four:

(Only Cassandra died but GOD what a player! Five kills and taken out by a landmine. Sorry about your luck. But Cori still holding out!!!! Let's see how long that lasts-)

Night Four

(......well that didn't take long. So long Cori. You were sadly no match for the wily possum.)

Day Five:

(Disturbingly normal, though I see the Lust Pals are teaming up. Stella has got PLANS for that makeshift slingshot and all of them involve murder, just you wait!)

End of Day Five

(We lost Coronis ya'll ;-; But she's down in Hell with Striker now, so it's all good.)

Night Five:

( YOU SPARED STELLA????? BRUH SHE KILLED LIKE FIVE OR SIX PEOPLE!!!)

Day Six:

(This is getting tense.....)

Night Six:

(WHY CAN'T YOU GUYS TELL YOUR DRINKS APART?????? Also you four are seriously messed up telling ghost stories with Stella, she's gonna MAKE YOU a ghost)

Day Seven:

(OH NO STELLA OH NO. OH AND POOR BABY BOY DAMIAN!!! He's with his big sister now-)

End of Day Seven:

(err....there's only four left. this is about to pick up rapidly)

Night Seven:

(Oh Moxxie baby I hope that doesn't come to haunt you. Also Verosika SLIT HER THROAT she's just going to kill you later-)

Day Eight:

(eerrrr.....guys? what are you talking about????)

Night Eight:

(OH MY GOD ONLY THE GIRLS ARE LEFT THE GIRLS ARE FIIIIGHTINGGGGG)

Day Nine:

(Stella honing those killer instincts. She's had enough of high-society life and now she's a rutheless killer.)

End of Day Nine:

(It's coming down to the wire. These feisty ladies are bound to end one way or another!)

Night Nine:

(OH MY GOD THERE GOES VEROSIKA. Yui learned a thing or two from the wife. It's now Bird vs Fox! Who's it gonna be!??!)

Day Ten:

(.....what?)

(WHAT?)

(THIS IS THE TWISTED ENDING STELLA WINS??????????)

(Well that was interesting! It made sense Coronis never killed anyone but MY GOD Stella was the unexpected victor in my opinion! Among killing her brother and countless others though????? Not bad!)

(Thanks for reading this! Hope you enjoyed it!

@a-hell-of-a-time

@viagoetia

@helluvaoutlaw

@always-sleeping-in-his-grave

@moxxietude

@crystal-infusions

@keeperofquestions

@damian-morningstar

@holyfurnace

[formula-fun]

can I ask what kind of work charles does in his lab?

like is it squishy sciences with like kaijus and stuff or is it developing stuff for the jeagers

I have this image of him looking like he hasn't slept in a week testing some beam weapon thing, blowing up a building taking some notes and then leaving lol and observers are like isn't that-

I love the scenes of him and max beating the shit out of each other sooo much but I think lab charles is like drugs to me

and like lab assistants ollie and oscar lmaooo

too concept

Hahsha I will go further in depth with this concept just for you

So he works in a J-science development lab that’s doing r&d for the mark vi project (in the movie striker is a mark v if that helps) and the lab is divided into a few branches, so there’s basically a bigger branch that does the physical parts of the jaeger (like how do we make the arms stronger, how do we make it run faster, etc), and a smaller branch that does the like…neurological side (how do we make this easier for rangers to pilot/how can we make the interface more intuitive/how can we make the jaeger’s brain talk better to the pilot’s brains). This is the branch Charles works for!!

Their lab is basically a big room with the mark vi’s physical prototype brain (it’s kind of like a big computer except it’s the size of an SUV) and a drift rig for test pilots to do test drifts with it. Those tests churn out data sheets that sort of indicate whether or not the pilots and the jaeger are synchronized (the goal is to get all three synchronized obvs) but since drifting is a bit of a soft science Charles is there to help the engineers read between the lines of the data. He also manages the test drift sessions and the test pilots—he makes sure they’re not over exerting themselves, that they’re matched well, and he helps them interpret what happens in the drift since he has a lot of experience drifting but they don’t have quite as much. Test pilots are usually kids from the academies who couldn’t find compatible matches, so they’re not very experienced in a jaeger

He eventually becomes program director for the entire project, which is a TERRIBLE job that he HATES. fortunately he only has to do it for about a month tho

So basically most of his job is looking at data sheets and dealing with teenagers lol. He doesn’t get to blow up THAT much stuff, except for the Mark Vi servos which are unfortunately very finicky and explode a few times during the beginning of the project. But those are outliers, and that’s probably a good thing

[lassofics]

Gunpoint

Word count: 1.1k

Timeline: Post Season 3

Warnings: Gun violence, implied abuse, gunshot wound, potential major character death (left unresolved)

Summary: Beard runs into James Tartt Sr. for the second time. Only this time, James has a gun.

Notes: This fic was created and is being published as a part of #Whumpuary2025 !! PLEASE BE WARNED: IT IS VERY DARK!!

Beard doesn’t like to overthink things.

He’d had so many crazy nights out that almost nothing fazed him anymore. And he’d certainly been moments away from death before.

And yet, somehow, up until today, Beard had managed to avoid being held at gunpoint. Pretty impressive, actually, considering he’d been arrested before.

So, right now, standing in the club’s dimly lit rear parking lot, with James fucking Tartt pointing a gun at his face… Beard is pretty scared. Probably because he hasn’t taken anything today. Coaching required him to be alert.

Beard definitely had a memory of Tartt Sr. beating the shit out of him, then almost killing him with a fucking crowbar — but he hadn’t thought about it in years. Now that he’s thinking about it, that cruel look in the old man’s eyes hasn’t changed a bit.

Suddenly, the back door to the club opens, and Beard resists the urge to turn around.

“Oi, Beard.” The unmistakeable Mancunian accent makes Beard freeze. “You forgot your…”

Jamie stops, immediately dropping the wallet he’d been holding. The old man smirks cruelly.

“‘Ello, Jamie,” he says, keeping the gun pointed at Beard but moving his gaze over to his son.

Jamie’s entire body starts trembling, his hands coming up to cover his mouth. He’s seen his dad get violent plenty of times, but never in his life has he seen his dad with a gun. Though — and his blood runs cold as he realizes — this very well might not be the first time.

Beard stiffens visibly, but he doesn’t turn around. “Jamie, get back inside.”

“NO, Jamie!” his dad suddenly shouts, adjusting his grip on the gun. “Take one step, and… and I’ll shoot, I swear!”

Even if Jamie wants to try and call his dad’s bluff, to follow Beard’s instructions, he can’t. He’s completely frozen, like in those horrible nightmares when bad things are happening all around you and you can’t fucking do anything, and you try to scream but your voice catches in your throat.

Jamie squeezes his eyes shut. Please, God, let this be a nightmare. Let me open my eyes and be back in my bed, under layers of blankets. It’s so fucking cold outside.

He opens his eyes. His dad’s still holding the gun.

“D-Dad, p-please…” The tears come naturally; Jamie doesn’t even realize he’s sobbing until his voice breaks. Fuck, he can’t remember a single time he cried in front of his dad and didn’t get a beating for it. But he can’t hit Jamie with a gun in his hand.

Can he?

Beard just stands there, swallowing his fear. He hasn’t moved an inch. He and James are locked in some sort of fucked up staring contest, and the only noise distracting them is Jamie’s sobs.

“D-Dad…”

“Shut up, Jamie.”

Jamie doesn’t listen, his voice becoming a desperate whimper that sounds absolutely nothing like Richmond’s star striker. “D-Dad, d-don’t… p-please…”

“I SAID SHUT THE FUCK UP, JAMIE!” James roars, louder than Jamie’s heard in years.

Jamie just continues to stand there in disbelief, tears of fear and anguish streaming down his face. He’s not looking at Beard; he can’t. He just stares at his dad.

The silence stretches on, punctuated only by Jamie’s almost desperate sobs. Eventually, he just can’t stay silent anymore.

“This is about me,” he murmurs shakily.

James just laughs cruelly, slurring his words. “Of course it is. Because… everything is always about you, isn’t it?”

Jamie just shakes his head and wipes his eyes, wrapping his arms around himself like the scared little boy he was, all those years ago. “I-I’m sorry. I-I’m so s-sorry, D-Dad… I-I disappointed y-you…”

Beard tenses up even more. It’s downright heartbreaking, even more so that he can’t see Jamie’s face from where he stands.

“B-but I’ll be better. I-I’ll be s-so much better, I-I promise…” Jamie’s pleading now. “I-I’ll come back to C-City, I’ll see you every weekend, I-I’ll n-never pass the ball again… I-I’ll be w-what you always wanted m-me to be.”

Beard sees something change in the old man’s eyes — but even he can’t place his finger on what it is… until he speaks.

“That’s nice, Jamie,” James finally responds. His tone seems almost… reflective.

Upon hearing this, Beard nearly breathes out a sigh of relief. But Jamie, knowing that tone of voice is just the precursor to something way worse, feels a sense of dread wash over him.

“But I’ve heard that before.”

James raises the gun. Jamie, suddenly acting out of pure instinct, launches himself into action.

His dad’s wasted, meaning his reaction time is gonna be awful. Plus, Jamie’s a footballer. He may not be a defender, but he knows all too well how to give a rough tackle.

There’s just enough distance between him and his dad to risk death. But Jamie figures that if someone’s gonna die tonight in this fucking parking lot, better him than Beard.

Jamie roughly tackles his dad to the ground. He was right; his dad’s reaction was slow, but as he’s fighting for what quite literally could be his goddamn life, James’ wrist twists, and the gun goes off.

Jamie lets out an ear-piercing scream, one that almost shatters Beard’s heart, and falls to the ground, half on top of his dad and half on that cold, hard concrete.

Beard, having been frozen himself, quickly snaps out of it. He jumps into action, wrestling the gun from James’ tight grasp. Beard knows his way around guns; he’s been to the shooting range more times than he can count, so as soon as he gets his hand on it, he takes out the bullets and throws the unloaded gun aside.

“Jamie?” He grabs the young striker, a wave of nausea and horror washing over him as he sees the blood. Jamie’s not moving.

“JAMIE?!?” Beard all but screams, his previously calm demeanor evaporating in an instant.

Jamie still doesn’t move. Ignoring James, who’s still lying on the ground recovering from the hard tackle — he may have (hopefully) even broken something from it — Beard slips an arm under Jamie’s back, lifting him up and off his father.

The bullet is likely still lodged in the side of Jamie’s torso. There’s blood — a lot of it — and Beard has to clench his jaw to avoid from being sick. Jamie’s eyes are closed; he’s not moving, but he’s letting out little whimpering noises. Thank fucking God.

Beard picks him up in his arms, cradling him to his chest. Jamie looks so fucking young like this; it breaks his heart even more.

“Jamie,” he whispers, and for the first time in probably a decade, his voice breaks. “I’ve got you. Stay with me.”

[saikolikes]

I Played Persona 5 Tactica, Here Is What I Think About It

I have long awaited Tactica since the first announcement trailer (yes, the one that got "accidentally" published by Atlus). After playing through the main story + DLC I needed to sort my thoughts & have decided to subject every other person on the internet to it.

First of all a few disclaimers: Did someone ask me to write this? No Do I care? No Do I need to sort out my thoughts out loud? Yes :D There will be spoilers for the entire game + DLC so read this post knowing that! Lastly, this post is highly critical but it comes from a place of enjoyment of the game and love for the series. If that hadn't been the case, I would've never spent literal days collecting all these words in one place.

So.

Let's start by: have I enjoyed my experience? Yes, most of the time. Would I recommend the game to someone else? Now that is a good question. Let's start from the theory.

What does Tactica want to achieve?

According to this interview by Business Producer Nomura, Director Maeda, and Composer Konishi, P5T had -- extremely summarized -- three main goals:

Maintaining the Persona 5 allure and imagery despite having a different gameplay and visual style

Making a strategy rpg accessible even to non-fans of the genre and non-navigated trpg players

Capturing "the straightforward and highly passionate feelings of the high school students, along with a slightly precarious, fleeting danger inherent in their straightforwardness" (Maeda, quoting from the Persona Central article previously cited)

If we hold what it said into this interview as our sole criteria for judging the game, Persona 5 Tactica aces most of it. I will go into each section deeper as this post goes on, but this game was clearly made with passion by people who have very clear in their minds what Persona 5 means, sounds, and feels like.

There is only one problem: it's not as clear who this game was made for.

Who's Tactica targeted at?

At its core, despite being a game that most likely only the more passionate P5 fans will buy, especially so far from P5's original release and so close to both P3:RE and the (plausible?) announcement of P6, Tactica's main story is so clearly made with the intent of being enjoyed by every possible P5 fan that the hardcore fanbase would probably be the last segment of players I would suggest that should play this game. Right from the start, it supplies you with practical notes about who is who, what key places you need to know, and other recap information from the previous game -- a nice feature, and very helpful... but clearly targeted at people who haven't touched P5 since 2017, or at least haven't been participating in some form of fandom in the past 6 years.

Don't get me wrong, there is nothing bad with wanting to appeal to every possible player -- Strikers, too, was purposefully designed to be enjoyed no matter your starting point for the series, the game, the anime, or the manga (or none of these things, actually). I find some form of contradiction, however, in the fact that not only the DLC, which acts as a prequel to Tactica's main story, technically has light spoilers for Royal, but also... of all the people I know -- irl, on the internet, among gaming creators -- who played P5 the majority of them still has only played P5. They haven't been interested in the slightest in all these spinoffs that have come out in the meantime, not even in Royal. (more about this on Reddit)

My point is: at this point in time, with the infamous cow-milking reputation Atlus has especially regarding P5, the people who have bought and are going to buy the spinoffs no matter what are the hardcore fans. But this game isn't made for them for the most part -- and that is something that can sour the whole experience.

I won't get into the debate about the canonicity of the P5 timeline, but Tactica seems to have a few ideas and well-confused about the whole thing. Because the DLC is Royal compliant, even touches upon "Kasumi"'s bond with her sister, and is technically set parallel to Sae's Palace. Which sort of makes sense since Royal and Tactica share their producer (Wada). But then there is no mention of Royal canon whatsoever in the main story (01.29.24 EDIT: I stand slightly corrected, as Maruki does get hinted at... but I also stand by the fact he's not mentioned in a way that truly matters, and my point about the Third Kingdom I talk about later on is still valid). Sure, much like Strikers, Tactica does not contradict Royal. But between not contradicting and actively enforcing there is a world of difference.

During the game, specific events of P5 are referenced, much more heavily than what happens in Strikers, with Shido and the political scandal being addressed more than once -- to the point where the December calling card is what prompted Toshiro out of his subservient attitude towards his father. Even Yaldabaoth is mentioned and compared to Salmael, the Big Baddie of Tactica, something that in Strikers was left much vaguer ("it's been x months since we fought a god"). And this does not happen for any of the Royal content. Despite the DLC, the Royal-compliant DLC, very clearly linking its story with the main one. Even more, the Third Kingdom and Salmael have an unmissable resemblance with the themes of the Third Semester and what Maruki was planning, parallels so apparent that you would expect someone to at least hint at what happened between January and February at some point.

Instead, there is silence. The themes are loudly there (and I don't know if it's just me, but the Hideout -VT- ost has interesting similarities to Ideal and the Real - End Version -) yet not once, not in the slightest does Maruki ever get mentioned or referenced or hinted at. (01.29.24 EDIT: as I added before, Maruki does get hinted during a conversation that takes place in the Thrid Kingdom... but it's no where near how deeply interwowen Tactica's story is with the ending of vanilla P5. This is what I meant in the following sentence where I say there is a disparity of treatment because there absolutely is.) It's clear to me, given the disparity of treatment, that Tactica's main story doesn't want to contradict Royal in the same way that Strikers didn't, but Persona 5 vanilla is clearly the game you're supposed to have played before starting this one. Which, of course, is also reinforced by Akechi and "Kasumi" being locked behind the DLC. And I think I speak for a lot of people when I say that, if you're a hardcore fan (= most likely to buy Tactica), this probably isn't what you would have wanted from this game.

What Tactica does best

Tactica is a good game for the most part. As I was saying in my introduction, 2 out of the 3 main goals for this game have been not only achieved but aced.

Gameplay-wise, the loop can become quite addicting, especially between the last portion of the First Kingdom and the first half of the Second Kingdom, where imho the story peaks. The development team has done a damn well good job in reducing the structure of a trpg to its core and mixing it with what makes Persona 5... Persona 5. Much like the base game, for example, getting the upper hand through chains of One Mores and All-Out Attacks is basically how you progress through maps. Each Thief has his own Persona + 1 equippable sub-Persona -- even Joker can only use Arsène -- but they made sure to translate each different element into a different mechanic. I adored that, exactly like it happens in the first game, despite the combat being turn-based the characters seem to dance on the battlefield, with each action flowing into the next one as the hype builds up and either Lyn's voice or catchy drums accompany you turn after turn. Don't expect something too complex, as the game is designed to be accessible even to non-strategy players -- and surely I was disappointed by having to play with only 3 characters at a time -- but the fun is there, and to an extent, you can build each character how you most like them through a minimal but very efficient skill tree.

The music is another thing Tactica does very well. By now (Strikers, Royal, and Tactica) it's clear that Konishi favors aggressive guitars over groovy basslines and I didn't mind it one bit, as this became kind of his personal signature. The first portion of the game especially is full of banger hits that get later reprised and remixed as you progress through the Kingdoms. Some of my favorites:

Maxim, like many tracks, has an excellent use of percussions that resemble war drums

Tension, with clear Life Will Change influences

Infiltrate, back at it with the Life Will Change vibes and an exceptional use of strings that resemble horse hooves running on the cobblestones of a medieval city

Master of the Castle, which plays during the Marie bossfight, is an excellent mixture of the Tension theme with the addition of a more aggressive guitar and... bells! Because she's about to get married!

Amusement Park of Trauma, a strong detachment from the general mood of the Second Kingdom that perfectly serves its purpose

Recollection, a melancholic theme that through its notes perfectly sets the mood for what the player is about to go through as soon as they set foot in the Third Kingdom, much like Gentle Madman before it

01.29.24 EDIT: as the beta version of Last Surprise was discovered, I was able to catch a bunch of notes between 0.18 and 0.30 that I am fairly sure are present, rearranged/with guitars only, inside one of Tactica's OSTs too. I just can't seem to find it so I will add the specific one as soon as I spot it lol

Along the new tracks, some very neat rearrangements like Beneath the Mask (which somehow they managed to make it sound even more lo-fi than it already was) and Disquiet make their apperance, as well as a version of Prison Labor.

Also, contrary to what happens in the hellscape of info dumping that is the first hours of Strikers, tutorials are actually paced wonderfully here, and you get to be introduced to each bit of gameplay with little steps, and nothing gets shoved down your throat leaving you with so many information you actually have no idea how to play.

Additionally, the story is quite captivating, especially if you pay attention to what can seem to be minor details. Right from the start, the sheer need to understand what the hell is going on is what drives you forward, and by the end of the First Kingdom and Marie's reveal as Toshiro's fiance, you start to understand that the scope of the entire thing is much more limited and personal -- which is something I appreciated a lot. Toshiro is a good character, his cowardice at the start isn't just a funny trait for the laugh, but a flaw that is deeply connected with his personal history and, much like with Zenkichi and Sophia, the team did a good job in tracing parallels with the other Phantom Thieves in order to quickly build empathy towards him -- with Haru and Futaba being the absolute best matches. The same thing happens with Erina, who shares the rebellious fire of the Phantom Thieves and leads the rebellion against Marie. What I loved about her is her goofiness, I was afraid she would be the nth Strong Female Character -- seeing as Kasumi was very much your Manic Pixie Dream Girl -- instead I found a lady with a sharp tongue and a strong heart, who's deeply loyal but doesn't hesitate to fool around. She's really valid, I admit I wouldn't have bet on her character to be like this but I'm happy they took this direction with her.

So... all is good, right? Why do I say that the game "is good... for the most part"?

Tactica's recycling problem

Fundamentally, and believe me it pains me very much to say this... Tactica doesn't have a lot to say, despite what its developers declared.

The game's themes, characters, morals, and climax are all heavily derivative of themes, characters, morals, and climaxes that have already been more than explored within the various iterations of P5. Past the final portion of the Third Kingdom, the repetitiveness of it all became seriously unbearable. No thing, big or small, gets spared: this is how you find yourself with Toshiro mathematically relating to all the Phantom Thieves, even when it feels forced; how you have the battle against Shadow Toshiro and then Eri that is 1:1 what we saw in Futaba's Palace with the fight against Wakaba; how you have the nth Deity Wished By Mankind that wants to rule over Free Will; how the "Fourth" Kingdom is nothing more than a recycling, reskinning, recoloring of what you already played through the previous Kingdoms -- mobs and bossfights included.

It really does a disservice to the game, the fact that so many of its final portions are stretched out to the point of exhaustion, I imagine only for the sake of justifying the cost of the game with more playtime, something that is deeply wrong, especially if we take into consideration that the game is actually sold at (less) than the current average market price (60€/$, compared to PS4/Switch games being 60-70 and next-gen games being 70-80). It kills the climax that Tactica so painfully had built up to that point, and it made me feel like completing the story was more of a chore I had to do in order to get to the final cutscene (which... is fine, I guess) than something I did with heartfelt conviction.

Moreover, the deeply derivative nature of this game causes more than some issues, character-wise. Because this is a game with the Phantom Thieves... but narratively speaking, they aren't the protagonists: Toshiro and Erina are. This leads to a weird situation where the group, who has by now 2 god killings under their belt, remains stagnant throughout the whole game, as they have nothing to learn or improve about them, and too often they become nothing more than the mask (ah-ah) of themselves, with characters acting just like their archetype -- Yusuke, the starving artist; Morgana, who gets angry when he's called a cat; Ryuji, the dumb guy who's the butt of the joke. Incredibly speaking, the one who feels less like herself is Makoto: in P5 she can be tough and confrontational, sure, but you have to provoke her, first -- she's usually kind and collected, with a sort of mom-friend attitude. Strikers played a bit more into her punk side, and Royal gave us her wonderful Showtimes with Haru and Ryuji... but in Tactica, she's straight-up aggressive and quick to violence, often excessively, often for no reason. I have no idea what happened with her honestly, the day of the wedding in the imaginary vignette she even accuses you, unprompted, of cheating on her. Are the writers Makoto haters?

Anyway. My point is, as much as Toshiro and Erina hit home and do their job as characters, and as much as it's heartwarming to have the whole gang together again... sometimes, especially near the end, it sure feels like everything is just an excuse to have more Phantom Thieves content. Which would not be bad! But it is the moment Royal gets ignored and all the progress and maturity they gained is erased.

Overall, I think Tactica has a great cast and great premises, but the final portion of the story has really been dragged for too long, and the amount of recycling between ideas, assets, plot points, and maps is... not great.

Tactica's mysterious mysteries

There is a whole lot that is never given clarification in this game, and well beyond the realm of plausible fan speculations.

So many things went unexplained or even unaddressed. The Metaverse should by all means be gone at this point -- yet it's still working, and the only comment you get on the matter is "I guess it can't be erased completely" which is fine seeing how it's so tied to the human subconscious but an element so important to the worldbuilding really is treated like Just A Thing That Is Said and never given more consideration. Additionally, it is said that Kingdoms aren't Palaces... but functionally speaking, we explore Toshiro's Palace. There are cognitive versions of his family and acquaintances, there are memories locked inside the maps, there is his Shadow... there is no formal reason for it not to be Toshiro's Palace! Except that they needed to market it like an Entirely Different Thing somehow! On this front, Strikers did a really better job in connecting to the canon worldbuilding of P5.

Another thing that goes entirely unaddressed is how exactly the Phantom Thieves have been summoned inside Toshiro's cognition. The game explains that Shido's calling card was what roused Toshiro from his complacency, and what generated Erina as the spark of his rebellion... but it's never explained how the Thieves got in, especially given that it's explicitly stated that they entered in a different manner than Toshiro, who was kidnapped by Salmael, Persona 4 style. All the weirdness of this new world, Personas not working as usual, the Velvet Room changing form... everything is addressed merely in passing, diverted back to Salmael's doing, or even straight up commented by Lavenza with "I have no explanations for this behavior."

Again, lastly, some things are brought up and never addressed again, like the fact Erina can plant the Flag of Freedom but the Flag itself, as a mechanic, only has relevance in the First Kingdom; or the fact that doors with a projectile on it are used to traverse Kingdoms and are what evoked the Phantom Thieves, but no one will ever explain to you what those are or why the Phantom Thieves don't traverse one back to return to the real world, instead they simply... *fades to white*

But what about the DLC?

The DLC is enjoyable but has, on a smaller scale, the exact same problems the rest of the game has.

Some bits of dialogue and character interactions sent me flying, like the way Joker can tease Akechi in a way he doesn't do with any other character or the fact that whether or not Akechi is a Phantom Thief is treated as a complicated matter, and you can trigger some interesting remarks about the whole situation going on outside of Tactica.

Aside from this, the DLC most than anything else suffers from being set in a pocket of time that needs to be wiped from memory, firstly because these three characters aren't exactly a trio yet and only had one interaction together before this moment yet they act like they're closer than that... and secondly because the whole Guernica situation is a parallel to Kasumi and Sumire's story. So it really hits the wrong way, and it even verges on horror if you have the hindsight, that Akechi, Joker and Violet have to save a girl that lost her sister and is being brainwashed to forget her... while Sumire is still "Kasumi."

I liked the setting and I liked the paint mechanic and I liked how frankly brutal and visceral some scenes are. That is exactly my jam! But I couldn't enjoy them to the fullest because I knew they would have amounted to nothing in the grand scheme of things. The memory wipe solution was in store, of course, I saw that coming, nonetheless I found it deeply unelegant, seeing as they didn't even try to offer an explanation as to why or how the trio had their memory erased.

Also, it makes no sense for Guernica to be active in the real world at that scale if only because there would be no reason for her to never be mentioned anywhere after, and I quote, "pulling a stunt like the ones from the Phantom Thieves."

On a final note, since I mentioned the base game's price... contrary to that, Tactica's DLC isn't worth the 20€/$ you pay it. Not only because it's very short (4-5 hours if you rush, 6-8 if you take some more time to maybe restart some maps or replay some dialogues and gush like I did) but because the experience is overall nothing memorable, and the additional maps aren't enough to cover that. I stand by the fact you shouldn't judge a game's price by its length, but length isn't Repaint Your Heart's sole problem, sadly.

My final thoughts

Overall, I enjoyed playing Tactica (save for the final part) and it gave me some really stellar content, like the fake wedding scenes, Ann's best characterization across the entire series, Erina as a character, and overall a new occasion to spend time with my favorite band of outlaws teens.

I'm glad I had more P5 content... but I still feel I could've gone by with no problems without Tactica. Which is a sad thing to say, but it's true. Because I loved Strikers and I would never want to live without having played that game. Tactica, well... despite me being hyped for it a ton, it made me come to the conclusion that I am done with P5 content, especially if it has to be like this. If I feel nostalgic, I'll just boot my PS5 and replay Royal for the second time. And for everything else, there is fandom.

Thank you for reading this far if you have. You can find me on Twitter, Ao3 and BlueSky!