#defense wise he’s pretty solid

[katfreaks-hidyhole]

The actual +10 character I was working on, Bruno the Masked Reveler!

Am glad to get him finished in the last 1hr half of 2024

[thirstnotes]

| Rivals To Lovers - Clark Kent - Part Twelve - Clark Kent, Superman|

Pairings: Clark Kent x AFABBlackCurvyReader

Warnings: abduction, Red Hood, mild confusion, language, minors DNI, violence, Dark Clark, Murderous Clark, manipulation, Jason being angsty

I'm so sorry this took so long, ya'll. Life is happening and I was at a loss for what to write at the same time. I'm very sorry to ya'll that are in love with this. I haven't forgot about you, I promise! Thanks for all the likes and love and reposts!

If you don't like it, don't read it.

No one could've predicted that Clark would actually have gone through with it. Not even he himself. But there he was, standing in a room full of men he never even bothered to even speak to, blood splattered across his chest from their attempt to destroy him.

The Gatling gun was a solid touch too.

Arguably this could've been spun as a case of self defense by any of Bruce's army of lawyers. They'd defended way worse. But really, there was real no reason to involve them, seeing how no one was left alive and no one was going to report lack of harassment from the local assholes. So it was win/win.

Bruce's dirty work was done. By someone willing to kill.

More specifically willing to kill for you, but semantics.

He picked up what Bruce asked for, looked at his phone and started typing.

Done.

It wasn't long before he got a response.

That was quick.

They weren't too bright.

They never are. Anyway, assuming you're headed to her apartment, I think it's wise to let you know that Y/N isn't there at the moment.

Clark stopped mid-flight.

Bruce's phone began ringing. Bruce exhaled.

"Where is she, Bruce?"

"She's at a high-rise on my side of town. A colleague of mine is entertaining her."

He neglected to tell him that Jason had her with him. Given Jason's record, Clark was likely to panic even more. Granted, telling him it was a colleague of his probably didn't ease his thoughts. It was quiet for a moment on his end before the phone hung up.

Shit.

He was angry. Angry and homicidal. He had to get to Jason first.

Which was going to be a challenge since Clark was now heading in that direction.

Broken shards of his phone rained into the river he flew over as he sped towards Gotham. He had no idea what Bruce had planned, but he was furious. Why did he feel the need to have you taken from your apartment when he'd already decided to do what Bruce had asked? He was doing far too much.

Had he not have crushed his phone he could've asked about why you were taken

Maybe Bruce didn't know about it

Then again, Bruce usually knew about everything.

So he didn't want to hear it.

He'd had enough of Bruce's bullshit.

As had you.

You eyed the masked man sitting across from you. He seemed very amused by your anger towards him. At that point, you hadn't said anything more to each other after his talk with Bruce, but he seemed pretty content about it. He was pretty well armored, so hitting him with anything in the room was probably useless. That and his reflexes were probably on point if he worked with Batman, so you knew it was useless to try.

In the first place, if he worked with Batman, he must have been a "good guy", so it was strange that he had decided to kidnap you. But you didn't know the motivations or morals of superheroes. In the back of your mind, you reminded yourself about Clark and his intent to "steal" Lois from what'shisface.

Y'all know his name

Anyway, it reminded you that Clark was just as human-like as the rest of you, despite his alien origins. He often hinted that Bruce was dangerous, but maybe your bae was dangerous too.

No, he was definitely dangerous

The thought of it excited you more than you wanted to admit. A powerful, deity-like being choosing you to be his everything didn't sound like a bad deal, but you had never really considered the baggage that came with it. It was also terrifying.

"Penny for your thoughts?" he interrupted in a tone that suggested he was definitely smirking. Your eyes rolled to him, but rolled back to the window that you half expected Clark to crash through any moment.

"Just thinking. What are you getting out of all this? Why abduct me for Bruce when you know 'Golden Boy' is probably gonna kill you for it?"

"So you acknowledge you're important to him. Interesting," he said in the same tone which made you want to smack him.

"You wouldn't have taken me if you knew I wasn't, so cut the shit. What's this whole thing about?" you demanded in a less edgy tone, as you did when you conducted your interviews.

"If I haven't made it abundantly clear, it's about you and Bruce. Like I said, you've been driving him to distraction. So much that his focus has been on Metropolis lately. Which isn't a problem, unless you're Gotham's protector. Whether you know it or not, you're a liability for us unless..."

"I'm here," you said, completing his thought. You couldn't believe this stupid ass plan. Was he seriously planning to make you choose between Clark and Bruce? The whole thing felt incredibly pre-school and immature, but this dude seemed as impulsive as they came. Especially since he was risking life and limb to convince you to choose his favorite.

He seemed content to your understanding of his goal in this, but you were still unsettled as to why he was so calm about a potentially murderous Superman heading there to destroy him and probably everything he loved. Something didn't sit right.

You continued to mull over the thought until your eyes caught a familiar form in the distant sky. Clark. He hadn't seen you yet, but you guessed that all you had to do was say anything aloud and he'd hear you.

"You have something up your sleeve."

It was mostly to catch Clark's attention but it was a genuine theory that you were curious about. He didn't respond, instead looking at his phone. Clark hadn't budged either, but from the looks of things, he hadn't heard you.

"So now you don't have a smartass retort?" you provoked a bit louder, trying to catch his attention. You had no idea the range Clark could hear at, but apparently it wasn't as far as you thought.

"I mean, I could mention how your ploy to catch his attention isn't working, but I think you might be figuring that part out already," he said, still looking at his phone.

You're eyes flickered between him and the window. True enough, Clark hadn't budged, but you were realizing it wasn't because you were out of range.

"I'm broadcasting a high pitched frequency from several places that only he can hear. It doesn't do much, but it makes it a bitch to try and find you by listening for your voice. But seeing how he does that whole x-ray bullshit, I'd say we have a few minutes longer to hang out."

Your eyes floated to the phone in his hand, which was in a heavy, most likely shatterproof, case. He put it back into his arm plate, which closed it off from your access, so there was no point in trying for that either. Your blood boiled.

No. There was no use in losing your temper.

That'd only give him more of the upper hand. He expected that of you

You damn sure weren't in the habit of giving assholes what they wanted

You took a deep breath, straightening the skirt of your dress as you sat back in your seat. "Say I do choose Bruce. What's to say I don't change my mind?"

He was hesitant at your sudden cooperative shift. "Not my business. I'm only here to set the stage for you to choose. Bruce is a big boy. If you say enough, he'll back off."

You raised a brow. "If he's such a 'big boy', why'd you do all this instead of letting him approach me instead?"

Sensing you were levelling with him, he plopped down across from you again. "Bruce drags his ass. Especially when it comes to women. Sometimes drastic measures have to be taken to force his hand. To be honest, Bruce is the only choice here. Either you choose him, or I put an end to all this right now."

You didn't like the sound of "put an end to all this"

Not because of the grammatical phrasing either

His tone implied he had plans to keep you from "distracting" Bruce ever again

Was it really that deep???

Your eyes rolled to the side. "With friends like you-"

"Shit gets done," he finished, subtle laugh slipping from behind his mask.

As if on cue, the wall behind him violently seemed to be blown to pieces. The pictures and lamps fell with a helpless crash while you ducked as best you could on the sofa, covering your head for added protection. You were vaguely aware of your captor hovering a bit closer, shielding your unarmored body from any debris--not something a person bent on unaliving you might be concerned with--but your eyes were mostly focused on the figure walking through the hole in the penthouse.

"Clark," you breathed, a relieved feeling rushing over you. However, the Clark you knew wasn't there. This was Superman. A very pissed off Superman. His cold gaze swept over the armored man in front of you.

"Get away from her," he demanded, his tone sharper and colder than you'd ever heard from him. You've heard him be sarcastic, even a little cold and vindictive. But this. This was deadly.

"Easy, Flyboy. I haven't laid a single finger on her," Jason smirked.

He didn't respond. Instead, using his lightning speed, his powerful grip was around the man's throat, lifting him from the floor. You watched, polarized by the sight, unsure if he was bluffing or really about to snap his neck.

Sure, he'd abducted you and put you there and part of you was thinking he got what he deserved

But you didn't really want to see him die for it

Though, something wasn't right. Clark stumbled and his grip weakened around his throat until he'd dropped him altogether.

"Clark?!" you gasped, rushing to his side as the Red Hood corrected himself and caught his breath.

"See now that....That's why I prepared this little contingency," he said, one of the compartments in his wrist gauntlet overturned and revealing a glowing green stone in it. Kryptonite.

You'd heard and written about it's effects before, but it was the first time you'd seen it first hand. It looked radioactive almost. It was a sickening green, but you weren't the one feeling its effects. It was Clark.

His breathing was steady, but he looked drained, his forearms shaking from exposure to even that small bit. The chamber rotated shut again and Clark looked to breathe normally.

"You okay?"

He flashed you a soft, but brief smirk. "Are you okay?"

"A little rattled, but nothing I can't handle," you joked smoothly, not wanting the masked asshole to think he'd gotten the best of you.

Jason straightened himself and plopped on the sofa across from the both of you again.

"Now. Since I have your attention-"

"Jason," Bruce's voice called from across the room with every authority of a father. Jason didn't seem deterred a bit. In fact, he relaxed further into his chair.

"Bout time you got here."

"What you're doing isn't necessary," Bruce said evenly. Not unlike someone talking someone from a ledge.

You got the sense that you were a subject that was talked about before, though you didn't really know the context.

This time, he took his mask off, his eyes fiercely aimed at Bruce. He tossed a bitter chuckle at him.

"It's not necessary? Funny, for a while there, I thought this little tryst was all you seemed to fuckin' care about. You couldn't even come to see her when she called you."

You looked between them. Was he referring to Selena Kyle? Whoever that was.

Bruce exhaled. "I was busy-"

"Right. We're all supposed to understand how you piss off to play playboy while she's fighting for her life right now-"

You jumped when he screeched suddenly, his body stiffening as a jolt of electricity hit him. As he collapsed, a smaller, curvier form stood just behind him, taser in hand. Catwoman.

"Tantrum's over, Junior," she said, stepping over his body and meeting Bruce across the room.

"I might've known you'd keep your eye on him," Bruce said, eyeing her with an eerily similar look he was giving you in the park.

Your reporter senses were tingling, sensing the obvious history the two of them had.

The soap opera had taken a sudden left turn

At this point you didn't care anymore

You had a headache

(was Jason okay, or...?)

(he's breathing. it's fine.)

"So I take it the dress-" Bruce said, his eyes flickering over to you. You suddenly felt self conscious and exposed being brought back into the conversation.

"His idea, my execution. I mean. I couldn't very well let him undress an unconscious woman like a creep," she said.

You found yourself liking Catwoman quite a bit

Of course, you wondered why she'd help him if she knew what he was doing was wrong in the first place

But, truly like a cat, she had her own logic and reasons

Still, you were relieved that Jason hadn't seen all your business while you were out cold

"After I heard he was speeding off towards Metropolis, I couldn't bring myself to let him make a dumbass of himself. Call it a favor for my favorite Bat," she winked, though he looked less than amused to be owing her anything. She tapped the tip of his nose before exiting through the generous hole in the room made by Clark.

Then it was quiet. You helped Clark to his feet, though he seemed to be regaining his strength fairly quickly after the stone was securely back inside Jason's armor.

"You must think the worst of me," Bruce said, running a hand through his hair.

"I never really though much of you to begin with, but I'm sure you have an explanation," Clark said, still sounding thoroughly pissed.

Though not homicidal, so that was something

Bruce seemed to be wrestling with idea of telling you everything, but given the situation, it couldn't be helped. Jason had forced his hand.

"Strange's goons poisoned Barbara with a synthetic drug."

"I'm guessing that's why you needed this," Clark said, handing Bruce a vial.

Bruce took it, immediately scanning it with his watch. "The compounds in the poison is the only way to create an antidote. She left a tracker with one of them as they fled the scene and it pinpointed them being in the outskirts of Metropolis. Going in alone might've meant suicide, or worse, them smashing the vial. I needed to send someone they weren't expecting."

Your eyes drifted to Clark, who looked to have simmered down considerably. He was definitely not someone you'd expect. Your eyes swept down his solid form in his blood-stained spandex- Wait...

Did he kill for that vial?

When you'd imagined Superman, you always pictured a dude that always knocked out bad guys and sent them to jail, not to the cemetery

"What did you do?" you asked quietly, turning towards him. He didn't look at you immediately, instead taking a deep breath.

“When I saw you two on the street, I knew it was the perfect way to get him to do what I needed,” Bruce spoke up, sounding oddly like he was trying to defend him.

Clark’s eyes narrowed dangerously and Bruce didn’t say anything more, surrendering the situation to him.

Clark turned to you, his eyes softening considerably.

You knew what he wanted to say. What he was ashamed to admit. But you were done.

“Take me home," you said before he could even find the words to offer.

He quietly lifted you in his arms and effortlessly sailed from the window, leaving Bruce and Jason behind.

(Part 11)

[real-fire-emblem-takes]

Lemme do a small gameplay take cuz the takes ain't flowing much:

I think the Hoshido sisters are some of the best units out of the siblings.

Hear me out! And maybe this is just my luck with the rng gods but listen!

We know Ryoma is like the most OP with a rather good Def and Res and with Astra very early on (as in like a few levels after you get him), he is pretty great without using extra seals, anything else is a surplus.

However the rest of the siblings both in Nohr and Hoshido don't share this trait, you could make the case with Leo since he gets lifetaker not long after getting him but it takes SO.LONG. to grow his sword usage so he could use his ice blade that has a better attack than the Brynhyldr (yes i had to google the name).

So let me give you a run down, this is with heart and partner seals mostly btw (i didn't want to use friendship yet cuz omg i need to do a lot of math and give it a lot more time) not just growing to the one that makes more sense for the character.

I feel like after Ryoma in a 1 to 9 list of sibling units in Fates it's Hinoka. She can get without external help Rend Heaven and Quixontic (the latter helping any other active abilities) and can get Amaterasu which just really fits with the character because she is the nicest (besides Elise) to all of the army remembering their names and being considerate with em.

In my first run I married her to Hinata which gave her Astra and vantage and, because of the Quixontic, she was a fucking killing machine. You also can really make use of her magic stat with the bolt nagonata, she just snipes almost anyone that gets in front of her.

Camilla has a very similar situation, with Savage Blow very easy to get and Lifetaker as well, she is pretty great. However with her axe she doesn't snipe as often as Hinoka, maybe that's just my luck, i have them both on the same level. Bolt axe also works super well with Camilla. I think Camilla's biggest problem is her rather low Res compared to Hinoka, since both have very similar defense and both could easily crumble with a small arrow.

Then Sakura and Elise are super close in ranking but Sakura wins because she has pretty solid defense and resistence, which some might say it's not that big of a deal, bit with Mirage and Miracle and Renewall she is a great tank, just give her a shining bow and she is sniping bitches left and right, i also gave her Lethality with Saizo and can easily get Astra with Hana, so she is a BEAST.

She was the only one that could resist really an attack from Anankos, unlike the rest of the sibs (from what i was able to see, again my luck and opportunity didn't allow me to test all) that would end with like a third or an eight if their life after attacking Anankos, she was left with 5/12's like almost a half and with dragon ward it was better, she was chilling.

Elise is also fantastic, especially of you get her Savage blow and lifetaker, with the moonlight tome, she can take maybe 2 rounds at most, but she is still a glass canon all things considered, she does base like 70 HP a lot of the time but they can easily kill her.

Leo, again pretty great overall with Savage blow, Lifetaker and I was able to give him Sol with Charlotte which really helped him because he is also a bit of a glass canon just that he doesn't pack as much punch as Elise can, magic wise.

Xander, though a great tank, he really needs someone else active in battle to help him dispatch cuz both Siegfried and his Lance don't pack as much punch as like Raijinto for example. I was able to give him Luna besides Aegis and Savage blow because i married him to Beruka but it still had quite a but to be desired.

Takumi, maybe i didn't grew him right, bit he is more of a glass canon than Elise frfr, he can barely, maybe endure a turn tbh. The Fujin Yumi being only 2 range really makes him super vulnerable and, even with rend heaven and quixonic, maybe astra and vantage or lifetaker he could be better but idk he was just very brittle overall, which is interesting cuz he actually has a more than decent defense.

Azura for me was the hardest to grow, maybe because i married her with Jakob un my Rev playthrough, maybe with Arthur or Kaden (her husbands in my conquest and Birthright plays) she could be a bit better with Sol and 5+ HP or Rend Heaven and Quixotic, cuz i only was able to get her some falcon knight and kinshi knight stuff that isn't súper active or helpful. Maybe with miracle and renewal too but idk. She really needs some armor jeez.

Anywho my ranking from strongest sib to weakest:

Ryoma (good base, can get great surpluses)

Hinoka (super flexible in the best ways, could both be a super or an amazing healer)

Sakura (great tank with healing abilities, give her magic bow and bang bang)

Elise (Glass canon that could endure more if you train her more)

Camilla (Great unit but doesn't snipe as much and cannot heal so she is more of a one trick wonder, sadly. Maybe if she were a War cleric, she would rock)

Leo (also very flexible but not enough to be great, gotta kneed him and work him to be great)

Xander (Good tank, needs a lot of help killing tho and a lot of kneeding too)

Takumi (also need a ton of kneeding to be good but fujin yumi really leaves him vulnerable multiple times)

Azura (cousin, put on some armor you are gonna die for the 35th time PLEASE-) (maybe in a level with a ton of sourcerers, since she has actually a pretty good res, with a hexlock spear, a javalin and a good protect buddy and healing buddy, it would be a massacre)

.

[cafecourage]

I have been thinking about haikyuu a lot recently and their dynamic in the team compared to how I think the Chain interacts. Please if anyone wants to add on or add their thoughts, even if you haven’t watch the show, it’s always fun to discuss these things! :D

TL DR: Let me tell you about how I think the Chain’s dynamic and reference one of my favorite animes. It’s a lot underneath have fun understanding my tired brain.

Lets start with Time, automatically I am going to say he is the foundation of the chain. Time is the guy that all the boys rely on. Time isn’t flashy, he isn’t the strongest, but he is solid. If Time is out then things start to crumple a bit. Not because there is lower power but like I have been saying Time is reliable. Also I think it’s funny if someone drew Time as Daichi in this scene.

I still laugh at this panel with hindsight. But I genuinely want this.

Warriors is a tactician, he is a setter in the team. I feel like Warriors is the type of person that while he is a strategic and thorough person. He is completely able to vibe with anyone given he has enough time to be with them. This man thinks even in the middle of battle. Yes, while he is an Suga type he also gives me Akaashi or Kenma vibes.

Twilight is an Ace. He is the strongest physically and the most heavy hitter of the group. He is there to do crowd control and break down barriers. He is the tank. I don’t think there is more to be said. If people want someone to be the muscle it’s Twilight. I don’t know who to compare him to tho, he ain’t an Asahi type.

The person that is both a defensive and offensive person is Legend. He is definitely a middle blocker, but the reason I think he can swap at the drop of a hat, is because the amount of stuff he has. He can quickly look at a situation and go “I got something for this” and pull out a magic weapon that will help.

Another person that is a swap is Wild. I think he is like Johzenji the party team. In the way that he is unrefined and easily able to adapt to his surroundings and other people around him. Wild is holding back probably most of the time since he is so used to being alone. That doesn’t mean his attacks are worse, it just means he can be anything, anywhere at anytime in a battle.

Four and Wind are both more defensive fighters. They are both small and had to figure out how to fight people five times their size. Four is obvious he is the Libero of this weird volleyball metaphor. He really is the safety net, he is on the look out to see who need the most help. Because let’s be real in video games normally the smallest enemies are the most annoying ones to fight. Wealthier or not that is true irl I will just say Four will probably make it so. I can see Four mostly helping the heavy hitters to make sure they aren’t blind sided. But he is also probably zooming around the battle field to see who needs the extra hands. I’ve been comparing the boys to people so I guess Noya in this case or Yaku.

Wind, though, is defensive in the same sense of Hinata, where he is the ultimate decoy. Wind needs to be more aggressive in fast and quick succession. He is probably the most chaotic attacker because of it. Yeah, he has training but he is also trained in pirate. There isn’t much to say other than Wind is probably adjusting to more traditional fighting. I mean this boy is probably more similar to Wild in attack style but with the slight formal training. Even then he was trained by an old man in his isolated island village.

Hyrule is a glass cannon. Yes thats because of the blood thing. However, even with that I think Magical wise Hyrule is the most powerful as he doesn’t need items to do his spells. But also his attacks can get out of hand really fast. But he has been using them for a long time and as we saw he can control it pretty good. Ironically the first time I drew Hyrule I gave him freckles because he reminded me of Yamaguchi so if im bias i am bias.

Sky as much as I love him, I don’t know where he would place. Even though he is what started this whole things. Like it’s something to be sad that he killed god, but i don’t think he is necessarily fighting on the offense. Sky is the moral and emotional support, just like Tanaka is to Karasuno. This means more after battle wise where he doesn’t show emotional weakness if something went wrong. Even durring battle he isn’t getting pissed off or outwardly stressed. I suppose he is like time as well where Sky is reliable. But if Sky is taken out it’s more mentally panic as the person that keeps everyone positive is down and is hurt.

Anyway I am going to go watch the stage play again because i miss the music.

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

HIII MACINTOSH i forgor 2 ask this earlier BUT. free card 2 talk about ur cauldron thoughts now that u know they r doing unethical human experimentation & also the other two members of the triumvirate etc Know About It... if u want... do u have any pepe silva redstringing going on.... eyes emoji eyes emoji.... anyway HI i would love so much 2 bother u more abt deadwood & also worm stuff i have been. thinking abt fucking nhw all day. its dire. unfortunately it is friends & extended family socialization hours for mee <333 anyway hope u had a good day!!!

OUGH THE EXTENDED FAMILY SOCIALIZATION..... you are so so so strong dude. sending u all of my remaining energy in the form of LONG FUCKING POST ABOUT WORM LETS GO.

OKAY . put that under a cut bc i know I'm gonna ramble. I have so many thoughts and none of them are coherent.

FUCK CAULDRON MAN. LIKE . THEYRE AWESOME. BUT THEY JUST FILL ME WITH SUCH A SENSE OF DREAD. they feel like. to me. they feel like the Big Bad of worm . not so much in the final boss kind of way but in the "underground corporation that is morally bankrupt enough to do unethical human experimentation seems to have its fingers in basically every single cape organization out there." maybe that's overstating their reach a bit but. THE PROTECTORATE ?!?!?!? LEGEND!??!!??! the fucking slaughterhouse nine apparently !?!?!?!?!?!?! what are u gonna tell me next, they fucking. made one or all of the endbringers or something !?!?!?!?!?!?! (<< this is my most wild theory but in my defense i don't know anything about simurgh yet and that one seems suspicious in some way. if I'm right about this I'll crawl on my roof and scream at the sky.)

ok ok ok thoughts feelings emotions yes. but also. taking a second here to lay out the facts that I think I know so far. 1) cauldron is doing human experimentation (awesome for me). pretty straightforward. 2) AT LEAST ONE of the protectorate capes are cauldron-made. We know about legend (and battery but shes not at the same level legend is if i remember correctly). it was KIND OF IMPLIED???? that eidolon might be too??????? what the fuck were they talking about injections with him. sus. and if 2/3 are cauldron capes. why would alexandria be any different. what the FUCK the implications of this are insane. 3) they have also created VILLAINS. and while they say they actively discourage it, they also admit that they cant exactly stop it from happening. and also tjeyre proven liars. they specifically told battery to let siberian and shatterbird escape. siberian's creator/real body/whatever the hell he is to her had the cauldron brand. which leads me to think that shatterbird is probably a cauldron cape too. trying to cover their tracks???? pretty disastrous if two of the SLAUGHTERHOUSE NINE show up with identical tattoos that can be traced back to the shadowy underground organization that also created some of the most revered heroes. thats a fucking timebomb waiting to happen.

wait as im typing this. i think im confusing the protectorate and the triumvirate. you know what i mean i hope. i also know what i mean but unfortunately i am Stupid and there are So Many names. anyway moving on.

UHHHHHH . FUCK. theory wise. i dont know if i have any solid theories other than the fact that i think cauldron as an organization will turn out to be the bbeg. also that thing i said about the endbringers except thats less of a theory i actually believe and more of a "wouldnt that be fucking crazy huh". i dont think i have enough information yet to guess at their MOTIVES but... i think its going to turn into a "the whole system has been corrupt from the beginning and the difference between heroes and villains is more of an act to keep the rest of the world in check than anything else." i keep going back to that thing one of the brockton bay heroes said in the first wards interlude. where one of them said something like "that would ruin the show" thats a thing that happened right????????? the fuckingggg. merchandization of the heroes drives me a little crazy. theyre like celebrities. actually no theyre more like a sports team where you root for them to beat the "bad guys" and obviously its not that simple because the villains ARE terrible and are doing awful things with their powers a lot of the time (kaiser, the s9, etc etc) but also like... you have ppl like the undersiders and faultline's crew and the travellers. who are just like.... people with a goal. BUT YOU ALSO HAVE THE HEROES. WHO. fuck!!! after this last interlude!!!!! fucking alexandria and eidolon, two of THE MOST heroes in the world!!! are aware of and ambivalent to unethical human experimentation and will continue to allow it to happen!!!! and on a smaller scale youve got armsmaster (everything about him) and miss militia ("just shoot her in the head dont worry about it") and also the entirety of the child soldier- i mean wards program. like. its all so fucked. its all SO fucked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and cauldron probably has their greasy little paws in all of the leading parties!!!!!!

god i am so NOT good at putting my thoughts about this kinda shit into words but just know i have been fucking blender microwave comboing this for HOURS now. the kitchen is a MESS. i KNOW theres something im forgetting here. augh. may reblog this with more thoughts later. i was originally also gonna tlak about nhw a little bit but GOD im jsut thinking about cauldron now.

[thevoidscreamer]

Hey all! Transgender military spouse (and parent to a transgender kid and friend of several transgender service members, transgender former service members, and transgender family members) here with some news.

The NDAA, the defense bill, is headed to President Biden's desk to be signed. I do not expect him to veto this bill. What's wrong with it? A lot of things, but today we're going to talk about how this will impact my family's ability to access lifesaving care. Let's get into it.

The bill bans the military health program, TRICARE, from covering some gender-affirming care for the transgender children of service members "if it could risk sterilization." This is vague terminology. Science-wise, many things could risk sterilization. We know from literal decades of research and practical application that puberty blockers alone and HRT alone do not cause sterilization, but is that enough of a buffer to warrant its coverage by TRICARE? Seeing as TRICARE doesn't cover gender affirming surgeries or vocal training for grown adult dependents (hi, that's me), I'm going to bet not.

The anti-science and pseudoscience spewed by non-experts (and an even smaller percentage of the already small 1% of people who regret transitioning) has been effective in radicalizing politicians and right-wingers against HRT for pre-teens and teens. Words like "mutilation" and over generalizations "you send your son to school one morning and he comes home a girl," are used to monger fear among those unable or unwilling to sit down and crack open a bonafide research study. Some people in my current audience fall into that category.

So let's clear the air with a few facts.

Puberty blockers are usually prescribed to adolescents 10-13 years old and are meant to be used for about two years while the kid figures out which puberty they want to go through. They undergo regular checkups with a pediatric endocrinologist on hormone levels, blood biomarkers, and bone density during this time, while also attending therapy sessions with one or more mental health doctors. Aside from the therapy sessions, this is all the same treatment received by kids with precocious puberty, who are between the ages of 6 and 9 years old with early pubertal presentation.

This has been the treatment for those kids for decades, which is why doctors and scientists are pretty dang solid on the side effects, optimal length of treatment, and general wellbeing outcomes for patients.

According to the Mayo clinic: "GnRH analogues don't cause permanent physical changes. Instead, they pause puberty. That offers a chance to explore gender identity. It also gives youth and their families time to plan for the psychological, medical, developmental, social and legal issues that may lie ahead. When a person stops taking GnRH analogues, puberty starts again."

According to UCLA Health: "If the pubertal blockers are started in the later stages of puberty, you may already be making fertile sperm or eggs. Some people choose to preserve their sperm or eggs before starting pubertal blockers, to keep options open about how to build a family in the future. If you later wish to have genetic children, you would likely have to stop the pubertal blockers and proceed through most of your own biological puberty in order to achieve effective fertility; this may take several years. This would mean you would develop some features of puberty associated with your sex assigned at birth; for some people, this could be distressing."

What about full HRT (testosterone or estrogen)? Test and E are generally not accessible to people younger than the age of 16. If received right on the heels of hormone blockers, THIS may result in infertility. However, those patients who are ONLY seeking full HRT without having done puberty blockers, which is most patients receiving full HRT, are typically able to come off of that HRT and achieve full biological puberty and even procreate.

You've heard of men getting pregnant, right? Those are transgender men who have gone off their testosterone specifically to have biological children. There are, however, other options, for transmascs who don't wish to carry their own child. Namely, egg harvesting, wherein the man goes off of testosterone and receives a hormone injection to stimulate the overproduction of eggs to be harvested and frozen for use at a later date. Both of these methods do require the person to have developed and retained their gonads (testes and ovaries), which is achievable by allowing the body to go through biological puberty (which may be assisted in some cases by additional HRT).

Testosterone and Estrogen are both present in the human body regardless of sex. These hormones do not permanently sterilize a person. So, no, HRT does not generally result in infertility. Gender affirming (lower) surgery, however, can.

Gender affirming surgeries are not available to transgender minors except in extreme cases, and in those extreme cases, it is top surgery, not lower surgery. Gender affirming cosmetic surgery is available to (and undertaken by) cisgender minors starting at 15 or 16 years old (in the form of augmentations, reductions, body shaping, rhinoplasty, and face shaping), and should also be available to transgender minors in the same age bracket.

Lower surgeries are not accessible to minors, and most people under the age of 25 cannot get approval to receive them due to providers not wanting to undertake the liability of possible regret -- even though the regret rate for transitioners is 1%, whereas the overall surgical regret rate average for ALL procedures is 14%. Even in adulthood, transgender men are less likely to be able to access gender affirming lower surgery (hysterectomy, metoidioplasty, phalloplasty) than transgender women, due to doctors' collective reluctance around medical care for people designated female at birth.

No children are receiving gender affirming care that would permanently sterilize them. So why? Why this provision in the NDAA about gender affirming care that "may" sterilize minors? Because of successful fear-mongering and the anti-science movement. Because of the relentless onslaught of anti-trans advertisements during the 2024 campaign season. Because of the unwillingness of self-proclaimed allies in our current institutions to stand by marginalized groups.

I do not expect this policy to remain at a military level. I fully expect that, come 2025, we will see a massive stripping of the protections and supports painstakingly put into place over the past decades, aided and abetted by the democratic party, then glossed over as not being that bad by people who claimed to be our friends. In the next four years, I foresee my gender affirming care, which is covered by TRICARE, suddenly needing to come out of my own pocket. My kid's already will, come the new year.

Ultimately, though, I think that it will be about more than gender affirming care, but queerness in general as a concept -- I foresee transgender service members either erased or forcibly separated. I foresee emboldened discrimination against queer workers and queer students and queer families seeking housing or other support. I foresee bathroom bills and sports bills, and all these things that do not require scientific support, though they may falsely claim it.

Right now, federal and state laws prohibit discrimination against transgender individuals by most public and private insurance health plans. This means insurance companies must cover transition-related care that's medically necessary and it is illegal for them to deny coverage, in most cases. TRICARE seems exempt from this rule. Ultimately, I think over the next four years, those laws will change in an anti-progress fashion.

One of the provisions proposed by Republicans for the NDAA bill was not only to prevent coverage of gender affirming care for minors (which is already shitty) but to prevent that same coverage for adults. While the adult provision did not make it into the bill, the minor provision did, and it passed with overwhelming bipartisan support.

Yes, wages increased for service members across the board, at rates never seen before. But while some of my friends may be celebrating that fact, please keep in mind that while transgender people aren't incredibly visible in your circles, we're literally all over. There are so many of us on and around base (service members and family) and the fact that a removal of access gender affirming care for adults was even legitimately considered is a HUGE warning flag for all of us, as is the removal of access to gender affirming care for minors.

I don't know how to close this out, other than to say that I will never stop being relentlessly visibly queer, regardless of what's to come. I'm considering setting up a meeting group for queer military dependents and service members, though I'm unsure how I want to go about that. Let me know what you think in the comments.

Yours in grief and resistance,

B

Link to Reuter's article: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/majority-us-senate-backs-massive-defense-bill-voting-continues-2024-12-18/

[altocat]

The game’s network is currently down. So in the meantime, I’ll drop some tidbits.

-The game, as a whole, is basically an abridged version of the games. There’s no exploration, no NPCs you’re talking to. It’s a bite-sized version of FF7 and Crisis Core trimmed down without the full intricacy. I don’t mind this, as there are plenty of perks to make up for the the lack of scale.

-You have the option of auto-battling if you just want to clear the story. This can allow for convenience if you’re not as serious about the battle mechanic. Mind you, if your team isn’t strong enough, the AI won’t save you in a fight. 

-Fast-battling is an option.

-A few extra added scenes with Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge akin to Remake, but not excessively detailed as I said.

The graphics, for a mobile game, are pretty solid. No issues with the controls, really. Though the rare walking sections can feel semi clunky.

-Sephiroth narrates the opening, explaining the concept of the Lifestream.

-FOR FIRST SOLDIER, okay here were go. Plot.

-You play as FS trio Glenn, Matt, and Lucia, as I’d previously predicted.

-Game opens with the trailer cutscene of Sephiroth on his phone in the rain. A hooded Glenn (and possibly the dog??) ambush him asking if he’s looking for Genesis, which Seph gets kind of defensive about. Then they fight like in the trailer before cutting to a flashback.

-This is NOT the Wutai War, as previously suggested. Rather, it’s instead a new area on the world map.

-Glenn and his team basically crash on an island filled with monsters and team up with this random boy and his dog. 

-Story takes place in 1992, meaning Sephiroth is 12-14 timeline wise. He hasn’t shown up yet, though I’m expecting them to tease him before this section of the closed beta ends.

Overall, game is not bad. At least so far. Any major gripes I have would be the sudden shift in gameplay difficulty between stories, along with potential story decisions they make with Seph. My HOPE is that they really don’t pull a bullshit revenge plot with Seph killing the FS trio and thus, being unworthy of Genesis and Angeal in the future. I’d hate that. But so far, so good. I will finish this chapter once the servers come back online.

....The dog’s name is Refu btw.

[oddygaul]

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, and also just Scott Pilgrim

-footage from Rebuild of Scott Pilgrim

I watched Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, then realized it had been nearly 15 years since I actually read the comics, so then I re-read all of those. I wish I had just done it in the right order to begin with, because doing it this way really scrambled my thoughts about both works. In my defense, how was I to know Takes Off is actually a sequel? What am I supposed to do, read things?

I was pleased to find that the original Scott Pilgrim honestly holds up pretty well. Takes Off is clearly such a reflective work that I was expecting to find the original story a lot more problematic than I had in high school, but… for the most part, it really knows what it’s doing. Yeah, a lot of the characters are shitbirds, but they’re meant to be shitbirds. The entire point of the book is showing us flawed people who intermittently make shitty decisions, and giving them a chance to grow, reflect, and treat the people around them better.

So generally, I still really liked Scott Pilgrim. All the goofy-ass character art and the surreal, unexplained quasi-fantasy Canada bits that made it tick back then still work. This time around, I really appreciated the writing and dialogue for not only its bevy of solid jokes, but for how fucking weird it is. In the past decade or so, I think a lot of ‘quirky’ humor has homogenized somewhat into a particular tone. Call it Whedonization or globalization or internet brain or whatever you want, but it can sometimes feel like anything aiming to be comedic hits a lot of the same beats.

The Scott Pilgrim comics, however, are a weird time capsule and their own vibe entirely. These fuckers just talk like aliens sometimes. They say random stuff, but it’s not *holds up spork* random, it’s “shit sorry I was kind of half listening but I think the thing I’m about to say is relevant” random. It’s less big swings to try and land a punchline, and more of two people letting loose a stream of consciousness at each other, lending a sense of constant confusion to the proceedings. It’s absolute nonsense sometimes, and I was way into it.

This ties into a slight shift in my read on Scott as a character, too. I always just saw him as a huge asshole - and that led to my biggest issue with the movie, which was that Cera plays him way too meek and doesn’t suck nearly enough. Reading the comics again, though, while Scott absolutely does suck, he’s just so fucking head empty that I warmed up to him a bit more. He’s still an asshole that doesn’t take responsibility for how his actions affect others, absolutely, but also god damn he’s so dumb that it softens the blow sometimes.

There were some little details about characters I’d forgotten that I really love - like the fact that Scott is actually a really good cook, but does it purely through intuition without knowing what anything’s called.

Art-wise, I liked it a lot more than I remembered, too; it definitely starts out a bit rough, but there’s a lot of charm to the characters and their weird gremlin mouths. I also laughed at some of the manga inspiration I didn’t pick up on before; everyone’s got big anime eyes, sure, but the grey screentone Clip Studio pattern fills? The hiring of assistants to do polished background work as the author gets into the later volumes? Ahh, classic.

Takes Off was a lot of fun, too. I gather that a lot of the internet fandom is upset it wasn’t a straight retelling of the original story with killer animation, but man, you gotta let creators create what speaks to them. Bryan Lee O’Malley started Scott Pilgrim twenty years ago. He’s been both married and divorced since then. Surely he’s gone through as much growth and change as we all would in such a timespan - how could you expect someone to just re-tread the exact same ground on such a personal story?

I find it interesting how prevalent this trend has become in the past decade or so - a creator or creative team returning to an old work - seemingly out of necessity, as the IP has become such a juggernaut that it’ll happen with or without them - and refusing to just tell the story again by the numbers. Anno’s Rebuild of Evangelion is the closest spiritually to this, but even recent ‘remakes’/reboots like Final Fantasy VII and God of War 2018 have followed the same path - creators ruminating on the strengths and weaknesses of older work from a more distant lens to create something new. They all seem to have arrived at this methodology independently, too (O’Malley said he only watched the Rebuilds once Takes Off was written and well underway); it’s not about chasing the trend of an altered remake, it seems to just be a natural desire to reckon with the past this way.

Because of this, one of the reasons I really wish I watched the show after re-reading the comics is to have a better sense of the evolution, and the change in tone and message. Due to watching Takes Off while having only a hazy recollection of the original, I made a lot of assumptions about how the original work must have portrayed things, to explain what Takes Off’s themes were a rejection of: that by giving Ramona more agency, she’s less of a damsel in distress/prize to be won, and isn’t defined by her body count… when in fact, neither of those are really the case to begin with. Ramona has plenty of agency in Scott Pilgrim, she fights as much as Scott does, and really is only defined by her body count as narrative framework, not judged in-universe by the other characters* **.

*I think some of these misconceptions may have come from having rewatched the movie more recently than I read the comics, as the movie (if I remember correctly, which this entire blog has established I likely don’t) does tend to treat Ramona as more of an passive object. Her subservience to Gideon in the real world (rather than in her subspace mind prison) comes to mind.

**Also, you could argue that the framework of the story itself being ‘guy fight’s girl’s evil exes in order to earn the right to date her’ is inherently placing importance on Ramona’s body count and someone’s romantic eligibility/desirability being defined by that but like… man that just is clearly not the vibe imo

If anything, I think the real lack that the show was trying to make up for wasn’t Ramona’s lack of agency, exactly, but a lack of screentime. Takes Off simply spends more time inside Ramona’s head, letting us see things from her perspective, and understanding the reasons for why she is the way she is and why she does the things she does. In some volumes of the book, she’s aloof almost to the point of feeling like a trope; it’s clear (especially later on) that there’s a reason for the way she acts, but the story just doesn’t necessarily communicate it very well. In the show, with Scott sidelined, we get to spend a lot of time with Ramona, understanding her thoughts and feelings, which is certainly a welcome change.

Anyway, intentions of the changes aside, I wouldn’t trade Takes Off for a straight remake in a thousand years; the sense of utter surprise I felt while watching the story take a hard left turn was exhilarating***. Plus, if the reason you love a series is the characters you’ve developed a bond with, what could be better than canonized fan fiction written by the original creator, showing your favorite characters interacting in new and novel ways? How could one not be excited to see Gideon and Lucas bro out and watch anime together? How could one not be thrilled to see Wallace Wells enact further chaos upon the whole province? More than righting storytelling wrongs, Takes Off is making space to tell more stories and round out everyone’s favorite supporting characters in a franchise that, due to the inherent density of its plot and setup, simply hasn’t had the real estate to develop all of them and let them breathe.

***Having just played through NieR recently, I almost felt like the show had scanned me, detected I had gotten Scott Pilgrim Ending A before, and was throwing some NG+ bonus content at me lmao

As far as the production goes, I was impressed overall, but thought it did suffer from some awkward timing and pacing issues. It’s stiff competition when your inevitable point of comparison is an Edgar Wright movie - even other live-action movies can seem stiff and slow compared to his frenetic pacing and constant cuts - but it still felt remarkably low energy at times, especially in the back half. Now, this is a problem you see a lot in anime dubs; English and Japanese are two very different languages, with different cadences and construction. Since a cast is typically required to dub over already existing animation, the translated dialogue often ends up being elongated and unnatural when it should be a quick back and forth, or hurried where it should have a little more breathing room. Given, though, that Takes Off was not only recorded in English before Japanese, but actually recorded before animation then animated to the dialogue (exceedingly uncommon), I was surprised the show still had this issue.

Regardless, the boarding in the first 4 episodes or so manages to be bombastic enough that this isn’t a problem; there’s a lot of wild camera angles and perspective shifts that keep things dynamic even when the dialogue itself isn’t moving too quickly. The animation highlight for me personally was the fight in the video store between Ramona and Roxy; great idea, incredible execution.

While Science Saru is the main production studio, I was intrigued to spy a bunch of other studios listed in the credits - WIT, Shaft, Ufotable, Trigger - but upon some further research it looks like they were just doing inbetween work.

Also the music includes slapped - I was jamming hard to Kidnapped by Neptune and Konya wa Hurricane, and then that United States of Whatever drop? unreal.

[thenamesblurrito]

another set of Aventuri mecha! populating this planet slowly but surely

Trionic is utterly unremarkable at first glance. he has no inclusions, scoured from forging. he has no outlier ability, and is in fact completely dull, being susceptible to heat and cold and weakness like very few Aventuri are. for anyone else, this would earn pity or scorn. for Trionic, it earns respect. he is one of the oldest citizens of Divinex, a member of Exosphere's original crew and a survivor of the crash. nowadays he's considered wise, gracious, and a voice of reason among some of the more complicated dynamics of the Divinexi High Court, despite not holding a seat himself. in reality, he was a simple cabin bot before the crash and scrambled to fake it til he makes it as a mentor to a newborn civilization. without anyone older and wiser around, he resorted to trying to imitate what he remembered of Alpha Trion. clearly something paid off, for he's been a good--if secretly frazzled--influence on Divinexi society for generations

Alpenglow has been trying to ignore her discontent with her peers among Valian high society for decades now. it started with a raid, scores of alien ships targeting eastern Nova Spectra. all her life, Alpenglow had been taught Valian ideals of protection, duty, and glory in war. she expected her city-state to act in defense of their neighbors, for the raid was well within reach of Valian's militia, and yet the Prefecture did nothing. as a travel guide and manager of border routes, she saw firsthand what the Spectral refugees suffered as they fled to Valian territory, and as a noblemech she saw firsthand the pity and apathy of her peers. her powerful pyrokinetic ability and important role keeping the airways clear as a flightframe means her social status is all but guaranteed, and her polite but distant attitude combined with her pretty colors and colorchanging alexandrite inclusions makes her alluringly mysterious. and yet, her discontent grows, slowly but surely...

Longlight is a right tough old chap. he's sturdy, clever, quick on his feet, and has a mean right hook. he's also a perfect gentlemech, charming and upright, with many stories of his escapades in the wilds of the Crucible Crests in eastern Valius. right now he's a member of the militia of Fortress Vitus. he has a more relaxed attitude towards the concept of chain of command than the local guard would like, but no one can deny that when he goes haring off after a criminal or a threat, he certainly gets the job done. he is most effective when working with his partner Scopeseeker. the two of them make a deadly sniper team, with Longlight using his blindingly bright outlier power of blazing biolights to pinpoint targets for her with laser precision, or light up the eternal night with more lumens than the sun. even his clear gypsum inclusions refract light in sheets, and everybody can see his roadster alt mode driving down the street from miles away

Scopeseeker is the moon to Longlight's sun. she's quiet, focused, and deliberate, easily fading into the background while he steals attention. she's durable but has no other outlier ability, even though the terrifying precision of her shooting is sometimes considered a power. she used to be a tracker before the militia recruited her, and the isolation of the icy wilds has always suited her better. Longlight is really the only other person in Fortress Vitus she gets along with, despite their differences. her subtle, solid brown diamond inclusions suit her subtle, solid personality quite well. in root mode, she makes a fantastic sniper, especially with her partner's help, but in tankette mode she's nearly unstoppable. it isn't often she has to put her skills to use, but the Valian militia are always reminded of her value when she does

[ooffmlsorry]

The One Piece OC

*Banging pots and pans* Time for the One Piece self insert OC post simply because I'm 90% sure I'm happy with her picrew after like 10 different looks.

Note: I'm gonna interject with Law and Straw Hat crew interactions because it's just more fun that way I guess

Her name is Kilala. It's fine to call her Kiki as a nickname, but usually it's Kilala. Luffy calls her "Lala" because if any syllable should be repeated it's the one that's already in her name lol "Like what??" He's so confused.

She's 22 See she's definitely not a self-insert because she's younger than me lol 🙃

I haven't quite figured out her full backstory but I know for sure the World Govt. screwed over her entire island for centuries. It's been broken a part over time. Basically mined and destroyed for its resources so that it's uninhabitable. It sunk a little over a 100 years ago. Some mistake it for Atlantis, but it's not.

She ate a devil fruit when she was so small she doesn't even remember it happening, actually. Like she was 3 or 4 years old. She knew nothing of DFs and just ate it, much like Luffy.

Kilala didn't spend any time on her native island. Her grandmother was the last generation to live on it. A lot of evacuees died at sea.

She was shipped away with her cat Moremi to attend a prestigious school. She was probably about 7.

The erasure of her island has been something that's plagued her her whole life so now it's her dream to catalog as many cultures as possible. She's essentially a folklorist.

To make sure nothing gets in her way she's really good with survival, basic medicine, and she's a pretty solid diplomat given she knows a lot about different cultures. Somewhat giving the Ranger dnd class if you're familiar

For self defense I imagine she uses a bow and arrow but in the grand scheme of things that feels pretty flimsy unless she uses Haki but I haven't decided that yet. But generally she's good with any projectile. She's also not too shabby when it comes to hand to hand fighting either.

She goes off on her journey to catalog cultures when she's 19, traveling with any normal ship up until the red line, and then sneaking on to pirate ships with larger crews to get her where she needed to go.

She ends up on Punk Hazard when the ship she was hitching on wrecks and basically survives there in hiding until she meets Law where she joins his crew because if anyone's gonna be in the center of what's going on in the world it's a member of the worst generation

Also because of her DF she'd be pretty useful in reconnaissance and Law can't deny a massive advantage

The way she has to bite her tongue to keep from asking Law a million questions about the Summit War.

And don't even get her started on the Straw Hats, she's like a more polite Bartolomeo. Although she does actually scream when she meets Robin because Robin is a little bit of her hero

So uh...that's all I'm gonna put for now because that's a lot. There's more especially interaction wise but eh...this is enough. If the mood strikes me I'll post again. Thanks!

[raayllum]

Gosh yes, your tags on that last post. Like, I don’t blame people for liking Viren, for enjoying his character, for finding him sympathetic (or attractive, even if I personally don’t). He’s a compellingly written character! But don’t be offended if people hate him or find him evil… he’s the villain, that’s literally his role in the story

"How dare this villainous character do villainous things" / "how dare the protagonist get narratively rewarded for making good choices" like do y'all even hear yourselves sometimes, y'know?

especially when - and i cannot stress this enough - tdp is for children and will ultimately have a happy ending. this isn't a grown up drama or tragedy or even a grimdark fantasy by any means. it's a hopepunk high fantasy story. people who further retaliation and violence and push people into inherently defensive positions are the 'bad guys'

like i love viren! i think he's very well written and interesting. he's a great examination of how we can lie to and martyr ourselves in a search for security that is also about status & wanting to feel special, about the harm done when trying to win a rigged system rather than solidarity in tearing a system down and making a new one. i appreciate his dry/deadpan sense of humour. he's also one of two primary antagonists in the first 3 seasons. and like, all that can coexist? it's multifaceted character writing? we all presumably passed grade 10 english class?

i also cannot emphasize the importance of being able to separate audience reaction or response from what a piece of art is actually doing or saying enough. "this story is bad because it was personally upsetting to me" without examples given or analyzed it is not well, analysis, it's just a currently very unfounded opinion. and sometimes stories are supposed to be personally upsetting, so like. you also gotta know your lanes

it's why subjective analysis is very useful but learning structural (objective) analysis is arguably more important. something can be structurally pretty weak but very enjoyable (frozen). something can be abysmal enjoyment wise but very structurally solid (1984, which i'd argue isn't meant to be enjoyed, either). and it's important to know the difference if you want to write actual analysis rather than opinion based stuff. analysis isn't necessarily better than opinion based pieces but analysis is more expansive because it can cover the subjectivity and the objectivity and more. which is precisely why i can read "the iliad" and think "wow that was good" but if i wanted to write an essay on it i'd have to do a lot more thinking because i'm demanding something greater of that artistic experience by virtue of wanting to expand on it

a lot of people take "art for art's sake" as a statement regarding the fact that art - which is inherently symbolic in its construction, even in what meaning we construe to words themselves - doesn't have to mean anything and fighting back claims that art should mean something. but i think of "art for art's sake" is more worthwhile to examine under the lens of "this art doesn't exist for the sake of capitalist consumption, but amid it, or sometimes precisely in spite of it" and like. very few things artistically have zero meaning precisely because meaning is also "what was the reasoning behind this" and if there is none (think a tattoo you got "just because") that's typically a subjective reflection of the creator and still indicative of their personality. sometimes the meaning is meaninglessness (nihilism is still a creation in response to us searching for meaning, after all)

i'm getting into the weeds now but the point is that there's definitely been an upswing in recent years of people thinking opinions = analysis and while that often is the case (particularly if that opinion is expanded upon enough to be grounded in the text and the text's context) it absolutely is not as often actual analysis as people think it is

[muggycuphead]

VBA - Squiggle effect concepts

Taking a moment away from the Drunk FancyJanuary to post this

So, as you guys might've assumed by the fact there are different "sketchbooks" in VBA such as chalk, charcoal and plenty more, there are different types of squiggles that, due to being incompatible material-wise w/ FPM, will cause him a series of reactions depending on the material and his body's own resistance towards it. Mind you, these squiggle effects aren't permanent, as long as he doesn't succumb to it, his own immune system will release the squiggle out (as if it's drained out or smth, gotta think that one too, oops) he will go back to his normal self, though it will leave short-term sequels that could be washed out with normal squiggles (yes they spawn on these worlds too, just not as multiple as back at home) So I did a small concept list of what they are and how he looks when he's under the effect of each Now, about these effects, let me give you a brief summary regarding each. Though there might be some missing effects (ie. digital squiggles from what i can remember rn), but in the meantime: *Crayon Squiggle Effect: -Hallucinations and tripping +Fluid movement and reflexes, ridiculous enough to give second-hand embarrassment that drops good points of ATK accuracy Basically FPM if he did shrooms, the moment he goes touchy touchy, the guy's gone from this plane of consciousness It's not too bad...as long as it's not a super squiggle(?), too many of these could wreck his psyche a bit too much (though not more than Venos' doing...but whatever that's for another day) *Watercolor Squiggle Effect: -Slowdown effect and weakness in ATK

+Can perform psychic powered attacks (to a tier)

TAROT BONK

The effect is mostly based on the fact watercolor, as a technique, is a pretty…slow material to work with (at least imo)

*Chalk Squiggle Effect: -Weak defense and lower jumping, paralyzation is enhanced if you stand still for too long -"Smoke curtain" + Short-term freezing touch when attacking

Minecraft skeleton husks like

Also Frozono

*Oil Squiggle Effect: -Fleaky mobility,broken aim and lackey balance +Can take grip on solid projectiles (ie. mice ammunition) and retrieve them if force allows it

^Imagine having this on world 3, coming across a mouse and when the guy shoots you go like

grab

S k a d o o s h

yeet

That’d be kinda neat

Kinda shit counter towards the main three problems but eh, you can’t win them all sometimes

*Highlighter Squiggle Effect: -Inner acid outburst, HP drains as a defense mechanism to avoid further, irreversible damage +Can poison anyone that tries to attack him if they get to touch him

One of the worst effects you can get…especially if you’re a no damage try-hard lmao

And boy does it hurt

Don’t wanna imagine what a super squiggle would feel like for this one…yikes *Unstable Graphite Squiggle Effect:

-Physical deformities and clouded judgement

+Slight increase of strength and reaction (can be a – without self-control)

I really need to tone it down with the ManlyBadassHero gameplays, don’t I…

This one’s from the same place that one down there’s from, and if you saw who’s the antagonist back in my old post, you could figure why this one’s the way it is

Still, y’all fucked up Garfield in the Lovecraft machine, why can’t I do the same huh

*Paper Squiggle Effect:

+”Ghost mode” –physical body goes on a ‘catalepsy’ like state (he’s not dead, his vital signals are just harder to detect via simple examination); invisible to any other sketch beings, except for psychics/paper beings

-Cannot attack or get damaged physically; core is exposed to psychic/paper damage

Next level shrooming…nah not really

*Sanguine Squiggle Effect:

-Human torch, HP drains faster if you stand still

+Automatic sprint and jump boosts (can become a – if not controlled properly); any attack towards him will partially backfire onto the perpetuator by lighting him on fire (sparks will fly off him in order to do so)

Not as terrible as the HL squiggle but it’s still pretty painful…so much for getting the SMB fire flower

Also this one design and the next were made beforehand, but I have them in a different sketchdump so…maybe some other day I guess

*Charcoal Squiggle Effect:

-Senses have been swapped; he can now see the noises and hear the figures that come near him based on the speed they come to him –faster, quicker to notice, and the opposite- (remember the drug brownies guy that called 911 cuz he though he was dead and said he could “see sounds” and “hear colors”? Yeah, I took that and made it a legit thing here –mostly was when I revisited it, I was like “wait this is half of how the charcoal effect goes, let’s just make it like this instead” and boom, here we are), but his eyes can’t see the entirety of the environment itself

+Can turn outside attacks into graphite or charcoal HP, kind of like a power drain-conversion sort of situation (the later needs it to ‘taint it’ so to speak, hence the charcoal fumes coming out of him)

Why is this my favorite effect-

I’m considering doing an animation regarding that very 911 call with this guy sometime in the future…but I’m not sure

[dorianepin]

crazy to think that oscar has literally been a rookie for the past 4 years like the last time he was a returning driver to a series was with mfing r-ace. been thinking about how next year is going to become a real yardstick in measuring his growth potential which is honestly just wild because it's been so long since we've seen him actually grow season-to-season within the same team structure & competitive environment......... yes prema f3 to prema f2 is about as consistent as you can get and there are so many more variables in f1 but even so i feel like much of the discussion around him these days is strictly >"well the race pace is a measure of tyre management and track familiarity and nothing more!" but then it's also a question of quantitatively how much of the pace deficit will be annulled through accruing this experience and how much is just the gap in raw race speed beyond predictive measures... and of course when compared against (ARGUABLY) a top-3 driver on the grid i don't even expect this to be observable after simply one year but i guess what's interesting is that he's often been regarded as a "complete package" who attains success through well-rounded race management and i'm like... well that is good in that there is less mental coaching required for him but also limiting in that he's already closer to his maximum potential than someone rougher around the edges might be.

ngl it kills me how pirelli's tyres blowing up in qatar indirectly gave him the best pr ever by leveling the field off so much deg-wise lol... and then that inversely made people way more critical of his performance in austin when i think it was actually a really good weekend by rookie-dnf standards because 1) he was managing to finetune his weaknesses session-by-session despite the physical challenges of the track surfacing and sprint formatting constraints and then 2) he still held on pretty well after the oco contact in the main race.......... the one thing i'll say about op's racecraft is that imo he's been showing some really solid defense lately and he is usually in the right when it comes to racing inchidents it's just a matter of developing awareness of when it's best to engage in this stubbornness and knowing who is most prone to going bowling on the grid lol. lando is so keenly avoidant and purposeful/conservative in his overtakes (mxc red flag restart great example) but this too is something i think will come with time. (in this case specifically because i think oscar is mentally smart and shrewd enough to pick up on the same awareness)

only 3(.5) races left......... i continuously am just so ??? at the fan rating binary because i really do believe that even "bad" weekends like austin have their own personal highs and then the "good" weekends like suzuka need to be equally contextualized but i suppose that is not as fun as (waves vaguely at reddit wank). i just want [] total points and 4 p[] in championship and i will be happy <3 fun that oscar pretty much has p9 locked down at this point... wish the gap were closer to 63 but it's also already mildly embarrassing for him that he's all the way down in p8 lol this year's been rough for him huh.

[twstgameplay]

Hello. I’m a few hundred points away from SSS for both the Omni Basic and Water Defence exams that are currently on the EN side of the game. My teams are Dorm Pome, Dorm Leona + Birthday Lilia and Dorm/Union Vil, Halloween Rook, Dorm Trey, Wishes Idia + Robes Ortho respectively; everyone’s magics and buddies are fully-levelled except Ortho’s non-healing magic. Was wondering whether there are other teams I could try out to get those SSS’s, or I should continue praying for the stars to align.

I’ve sent my SSRs as an image. As for SRs, I have all the non-limited, welfare and Pome ones plus…- Apple Boa: Sebek.- Chef: Riddle, Deuce, Trey, Jade, Kalim, Silver, Lilia.- Gala: Ace.- Halloween: Trey, Azul.- Silk: Malleus.- Tsum: Cater, Floyd.

Thanks in advance.

—

For the Omni Basic, your team is pretty solid. If you already had the perfect run, it might be an issue of needing to LB a card. Strategy wise is to use Bday Lilia duo and then to finish with Dorm Rook duo so he would have his power boost.

For Water Defense, if your Beans Jade is high level and you can level his M1 heal, I use the following cards:

Union Vil

Dorm Trey

DW Idia

Robes Ortho

Beans Jade

Bean Jade provides a heal and gets a M HP boost from Idia and Union Vil gets a S HP boost from Jade. HW Rook provides a duo, M POW Boost, and S HP boost. But if your other cards are strong enough to end on 5-1, It would be safe to use Beans Jade heal on 5-2.

~ 👑

[sylvaridreams]

In case you're already taking questions from the combat ask game, I'm here for you Nightmare Courtiers: 2, 10 and 23!

ask game! for my courtiers Eldulis and Inoxiam 🙈😈answering these for early on in my canon when they're both still in the Court.

2. Do they like to fight? Is it something they only do when necessary, or are they always looking for a fight? Is fighting an important part of their life or something they actively try to avoid?

The two of them are opposites in this: Eldulis does not like fighting, or hurting people, BUT sees it as a necessary evil. He doesn't get into direct hand to hand combat regularly, but does regularly use his mind peeling ability to rip information out of people.

Inoxiam LOVES fighting. Or at least he loves beating the shit out of courtiers. But it's also something he often has to purposely avoid, to keep suspicion off himself. He's playing nicies while killing courtiers in his mind. :)

10. What weapons do they generally use? Are they particularly proficient with anything specific or have a preference of any kind?

Inoxiam uses and is proficient with a staff and daggers. Later on he gets trained a bit on pistols and rifles with the Canaries (because they hope to steal him and keep him around.) He's not very good with firearms overall though. He also is pretty solid with a shortbow most of the time.

Eldulis is old school and mostly uses a staff, or sometimes a hammer, but being that he is rarely ever involved in direct combat, it's more like... decorative/last line of defense. I don't think he'd be especially skilled with either one. He also lore-wise carries daggers, but again... never sees combat.

23. What utility skills do they tend to use? Is there any they can't use for lore reasons?

Without logging in to look at what they've got, I'm pretty sure it's:

Inoxiam: Assassin's signet, skale venom, spider venom. Lore wise he can't use thieves guild, because doing so would be... calling his Whisperskeeper for help :)

Eldulis: Arcane Blast, Arcane Shield, not sure what else? I need to look at their builds frankly. I think it'd be funny if he can't summon elementals for some reason.

[ponyrepress]

hey. prince of rage ryo and knight of heart akira

Nods along attentively. Ironically enough, I did dick around classpecting Ryo a few weeks ago and came to the solid conclusion of Derse & Prince, but aspect-wise entertained Light (course there's the whole Lucifer shit but also the media reveal fiasco), Hope(strong beliefs and all that shit, mentioning often but ultimately accidentally in some instances & purposefully in others destroying it), & Heart(Willll elaborate in a second). Completely blanked on Rage, but it does make a lotta sense on account of the ghosting Hope and strong conviction that merges into destruction etc etc. The reason I heavily entertained Heart is on account of the fact that A: routine emphasis on the importance of the human heart/spirit. B: Arguably destroyed pieces of Akira's identity by making him become Devilman. C: Made Psycho Jenny erase his memories in the first place to properly take the place of Ryo Asuka. D: Routine self-destructive tendencies. E: "This is who I am and what I stand for, and I can not give that up for anyone or anything although in hindsight I should've compromised," which also lines up with Rage. F: I dunno the arguable Satan splinters in spin-offs and shit? E: Trying come off as cool and collected at first and then failing miserably mixed with being seen as a cold person while being controlled by his emotions. Ya get the idea.

As for Akira, I understand the lines to draw of manipulation and exploitation of the self, but given his entire deal, I think Prospit Maid of Time is the best fit. "At their best, the Time-bound are empathetic and relentless problem-solvers. At their worst they are ruthless, defensive, and impulsive." Seems pretty on the nose. Maid-wise, Akira starts off as someone who's able to say no to shit, but not much beyond that. Miki's always there to fend off his bullies. Post getting Devilmanned, he's able to do whatever the fuck he wants forever and take his life by its reigns. And he also hits the negative end of the time aspect as shit wears on. Thumpsup 💯👍