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nagirambles · 2 years ago

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Hi you can take your time on this one . I’ve been wondering if you could redesign the star dress how would you redesign them ? (Me for an example I would given Lucy cat ears since loke has cat ears. Virgo star dress chains , Taurus more of gladiator look to be honest . Sagittarius dress not my fave outfit but I do adore her/his magic for that one . That’s all I can think of for now lol )

Whew! Thanks so much for this ask. I think I've mentioned them all over the place before, but I've never actually listed them one by one. I shall now be rambling like hell, be prepared. Before I ramble on mine though-- omg. those ideas are good. Loke's dress should definitely add cat ears that would be the cutest thing. Virgo's needs chains! Taurus' for a gladiator look, oh that would be cool.

Disclaimer: I think all the designs are decent enough and I do not actually want to change all of them. But since I've been asked if I could redesign them, I'll be listing ideas for all of them regardless if I like the originals or not. Also note that I’m not really addressing the fact that this is anime and of course some designs aren’t as detailed as they could be to be easier to draw, I’m just rambling, yeah? I’m also not thinking too much about powersets yet.

Also note that the pictures I add are just visualized ideas because I’m not very good at explaining, not actual references, alright?

Yeah this is going to be long lmao. Read more! ->

Alright, going in Zodiac order!

Aries. Definitely lots of wool. Either a soft sweater with puffed sleeves, or a cute short flowy winter cape. I'd like her dress to feel a bit defensive, so a puffy cape. I'd like to think of fluffy gloves and boots. Aries is a fairly modest character (she was uncomfortable with being asked to service men) so she'd be dressed comfortably, not showing any cleavage. I think a short dress would be cute, but for a battle dress for someone that fights like Lucy, I think Aries would go for comfy shorts like her own jumper-type clothes-- or maybe a skirt that fluffs at the end to complete the winter look?

Taurus. It's good as it is, perfect for Taurus. But she could also have a leather jacket, or alternatively, a checkered shirt tied like a crop top to complete the cowgirl look. I kind of like the asymmetrical pants, wish the shorter side was a bit longer. But short shorts or full-length ripped jeans would be good too. I love this dress as it is, so not much changes honestly. If I wanted to add anything it’d be more accessories and badges to make it look wild westy.

Gemini. I like the court jester/magician look a lot! Super unique. I do wish it were cuter as an outfit, though. They emphasise right now on being different colours, rather than asymmetrical. If I could choose, I'd make them clown or carnival-themed, sort of the cute little roadside magician or maybe even court jesters? Makeup, puffy frill sleeves, suspenders, mismatched high-knee patterned socks, toys and rainbows. They'd appear different each time--- sometimes she'll have a cape to hide a Doraemon-variety of things you just need, other times she'd maybe even wear a mascot head! This is the fun and jokester dress, and Lucy would have a hard time chewing them out for messing with her dress design, because 'awww, it'd have been funny!' 'NOT WHEN I'M FIGHTING IT'S NOT!'

Cancer. Love the Chinese vibes as they are, so if I redesign it, it'll be closer to Cancer's personality and image. Honestly, despite (or maybe because of) the first Celestial World Dress we see, I think when things came down to it for battle, Cancer would choose something that’s practical over something flowing and pretty. Nothing casual though, he’ll choose something that looks smart casual at least, something like a work uniform. I like to imagine a waist apron or belt to put small scissors in. In this outfit variety, I’d love for the main weapon to be huge scissors that Lucy has to make swing her body weight around.

Leo. Hear me out. If Loke could, he would go immediately for a wedding dress. But that aside, Leo’s dress is gorgeous enough as it is-- if I redesign it, I guess it’ll be for practicality? But anyways. Rather than just an evening gown-- I kind of want fur. Not soft, woolen ones like Aries, but fuzzy ones, you know, like the one he wore as Loke. I’d go for a more ‘punk’ image than a royal one to match his Loke phase. I’m thinking high collars lined with fur, long flowy vest but free arms and legs, because Leo is the leader and he’s extra like that. I’d like to think there are lion connotations everywhere, from gold accents to fur-lined skirt ends, cheetah prints, cat ears and a lion’s tail belt. Definitely stilettos, excess rings and accessories to maximise damage-making capability.

Virgo. Virgo doesn’t mind if she does panty flashes, so the maid uniform can stay. Though, definitely add chains, maybe wound around her arm. Since Virgo’s thing is that she’s a blatant cesspool of sexual kinks... well, first, I think I want to mention that Virgo doesn’t care about herself, but she cares about Lucy’s modesty to some degree (she covers Lucy’s skirt in the hgih winds of Eisenwald arc, leaving herself vulnerable). If she decides that Lucy should go more battle-based, first, I want Lucy to have a slightly longer maid dress, maybe slit in the side or have a design to tuck it up for battle so she can look unsuspecting and harmless when not fighting (something Virgo also does is look the part of being ‘undercover’). Lucy should have a variety of things hidden around her garter, from knives, to guns, to her keys. I love the idea of a combat maid,

Scorpio? I love the practicality of her current one, but Scorpio could also put her In rockstar clothing. Colourful neon cropped jackets, fishnets, plenty of loose accessories, bright-rimmed sand boots. High ponytail, definitely. Does this make sense for sand? No, so if we went on that route-- definitely armoured boots and arm guards, but go for a more flowy look, loose clothing for sand travel. Not too much though, maybe just baggy pants and a sash to keep it together, and a head scarf.

Sagittarius. The leprechaun/elf thing is super cute, wish it were a bit more unique than just whole thing green though. I’d give her a hooded cape, probably brown, and instead of just sleeves, a full archer’s brace on both arms. Of course, the open crotch is stupid on the original dress, give Lucy a short skirt that doesn’t show her underwear to the world. At least one more flap that goes over the front, I’m fine with the slits so they can look like tinkerbell. Though, to be unique, I’d like if her hair was down in a low and/or loose ponytail instead, to be under a hood.

Capricorn. I’d love if he went the businesswoman route, to look like a librarian or secretary. Glasses, horns, braids, all those can stay. Honestly I’m thinking something like a mysterious bookkeeper in a mystical library. I’d think he’d give her a longer dress, and Lucy would look really studious and modest. It’d really make her writer side shine, and that side of her never gets enough shine. I know Capricorn is a combat-type spirit, but Capricorn’s dress should have been more of an intellectual skill dress than a combat one-- maybe in this dress, she can think faster, decipher faster, and wield magic to almost the same level as maybe Jellal or Mystogan who can write high-level magic from scratch.

Aquarius. I need y’all to know that aquatic swimsuit designs have so much potential to look extravagant and gorgeous. I can’t believe Mashima would keep giving us disservices with swimsuits when there’s so much potential here. Like, why stop at just the swimsuit-- give us ocean-themed accesories like pearls, mermaid-themed styling choices. I’d love a long, billowing shawl around her, not just around the waist but around her as well. Mashima puts Lucy in a lot of twintails for these dresses and they’re cute, but I think a long mermaid-tail braid, or even a waterfall braid would be gorgeous.

Bonus: Libra. Definitely Arabian dancer clothes. This is one of the few that kind of go without saying. While Scorpio kind of has sand-weather middle-east clothing as well, I think it should primarily be Libra’s thing. Going full out in this aesthetic--- maybe to be modest, head scarves, layered sashes and skirts, and of course, a ton and a ton of shiny, jingling accessories on every limb.

Bonus: Pisces. Pisces would go with something skintight, maybe competitive swimwear or diving wetsuits. Definitely let’s not have the stupid open chest thing Mom Pisces has, but it’d be cool to see minimal armour pieces implemented into that kind of design, maybe the suit is made with material that feels like scales? I like to imagine this dress has two forms to be unique, since it’s the paired fish. One for offensive focus, one for defensive focus. Mom would have a long gorgeous dress that looks like water with plenty of layers, mother of the sea and all. Son would have the wetsuit armour. Of course, they’ll wield a trident. To set them apart from Aquarius, they would have fish-themed accessories specifically.

Bonus: Leo x Virgo.

I’ll think of these two ways, if Leo is taking the forefront of the concept, or if Virgo is. If Leo is, I think this can go full royal. Go from a maid outfit into practical royal-esque clothing, shorts and cravat, adorned with as many accessories and badges as possible because both Leo and Virgo are into that. To add in Leo’s animal connotations, a huge, royal cape with fur lining the ends, emblazoned with their logos on the back. Style her hair wild and powerful.

If Virgo’s taking charge, a cat-eared maid, complete with new animal prints, cuter apron, and shorter skirt for close-combat practicality.

Bonus: Aquarius x Scorpio.

Alright, here we go. They clash strangely because one of them wears water clothing and the other sand clothing. I’ll be thinking of Scorpio as the ‘sporty variety’, by the way.

If Aquarius is taking charge, a long shawl-type swimwear would work, with a high slit. I want to give her a long scorpion tail, but of course, a thin one that can look elegant, not the clunky armour in canon. I’d love if this gave her a bit of devilish connotations, and Aquarius would go on to look a little evil with dark, evil antagonist sort of vibe. I’m thinking of a ‘little devil’ vibe because Scorpio’s got the ‘punk rock’ thing going on, so if she doesn’t let out her infamous violent streak here, when?

And yes, all swimsuit material. Because swimsuits are versatile.

I think Scorpio would look for a bit more practicality, so competitive swimwear to emphasize the thighs. Since he wants to emphasize armour so much, let’s see how that can work. As seen here, Azur Lane knows the balance between clunky metal and minimal fabric. So the main problem of the canon AxS dress is the metal parts are way too big and impractical. Give Lucy a smaller tail. Ditch the gauntlets and boots, or at make them much less clunky, leading in to high stockings and sleeve gloves. Honestly, we don’t need the tail for her-- make it a whip sword. Give Lucy a huge clunky sword that can extend like Renji Abarai’s sword, shaped like Scorpio’s tail.

Bonus: Aquarius x Gemini.

If Aquarius’s taking charge, it’ll be a mermaid tail dress, alternatively layered with blue and white. Definitely needs a train, frilled like waves behind her. I’m thinking a kind of cartoon queen dress, the kind with really high collars that frame around the head? I think snow white had a bit of it? The original gemini dress has it too. That, plus something like the headdress part too, all patterned and adorned to give the Gemini court jester look.

If Gemini’s taking charge, then I’m thinking a cuter direction-- a balloon skirt, the type that are round and puffy like a tutu or something with frills around the edges? Not sure if you understand what I mean, but balloon shorts is fine, point is, with string adornments it could look like a jellyfish. There are swimsuits in this sort of design, too, so it also fits with Aquarius! Maybe if we wanna go for sexy, complete this design with a tube top + a bit of a frill choker in Gemini colours.

Bonus: Etc ideas. These are a bit messy.

Gemini with anyone else-- starting with Cancer, they’ll go on the magic Kaito route with the stage magician look, suit and tailcoat, top hat, etc. Of course keep the split-colour theming. For Aries, definitely put her right into a mascot costume. I would think mixing with Virgo would give us a strange butler-maid mix, maybe even literally split down the middle. For Sagittarius, go full on with the leprechaun theme, shorts and suits and hat and toe boots and all.

For Capricorn, Lucy should transition from modest librarian to sexy librarian. Yes, I just said that. Gemini would piss Capricorn off and that’s the point, I want to see it. It would be the funniest damn thing because Lucy would love it while Capricorn loses his mind about immodesty. I like to imagine it happening and Capricorn just freezing in the middle of battle to go “GEMINI, WHAT DID I SAY.” Jokes aside, a warlock coat or something in a dracula direction would be incredibly cool as well.

Also, Gemini and Pisces would be interesting. I’m thinking a stuntman-type concept, but that’s about it for what I can think of now.

I think Scorpio on a delinquent route would mesh amazingly with Aries-- a fun, comfortable casual fit, with woolen hoodies, sweater sleeves, fun, pastel frills, loose socks and sneakers, something right out of instagram outfit aesthetics. Leo would add animal designs on it. Taurus would have so much fun with this clothing theme, especially if we ignore practicality. Cancer and Scorpio can go in a marching band direction.

Scorpio would probably fit amazingly with Libra, because they’re both middle-eastern inspirations, design-wise. I’m thinking a ‘wandering Egyptian bard’ sort of look, traveller’s cloaks, sashes. But I think I’ll use the ‘rockstar’ theme for the others because it’ll clash too much with Libra.

I’d like to think Aries is most concerned about looking comfortable over genuine practicality. Anything she gives would look like something people would actually wear on the daily, because Aries is modest and comfy and cute and she’s very concerned about that above all else.

I’m thinking for an Aquarius mix, she would go for a one-piece dress type swimsuit, with frills instead of wool since that won’t mix well with water. There’s be plenty of sheep designs, though, layers of frills to look fluffy enough. For Capricorn, an old-fashioned peasant dress. I think it’d be cute if Cancer mixes and just straight up turns Lucy into an actual magical girl design. For Virgo who’s in charge of royal connotations today, I’m thinking a unicorn princess vibe.

Generally, I’d think putting Leo with anyone would give them animal features. Scorpio? Ah, add some cute cat ears on that hoodie, please. For Aries, I think ditch the royal connotations and go straight up animal costume. Fluffy woolen dresses, mittens, boots, cat ears, and of course, comfy shorts so Lucy can go full animal. Cancer or Taurus? Ah, get ready for one sexy cat...

Libra? Oh dear, this needs to be sexy, put some animal prints and fur on all of that, please. Definitely mix the ‘sexy’ aspect of Libra with the punk side of Leo-- that means animals stripes! Loke wears tiger stripes sometimes on his tie, so it’s fair. Cheetah prints, etc, those things would be cute. Definitely something easy to move in like dancer clothing, but more practical eg less sashes, more fur. But definitely tons of accessories for the same reason as the Leo clothes.

Aquarius with anyone shouldn’t immediately go to swimsuits, it should go to ‘sea connotations’ in general. Sea accessories and wave-like frills, swimsuit fabrics, bikini tops or swimsuits hidden underneath more practical clothing, etc. For a Cancer mix, marine navy uniforms. I think Leo would add a formal captain’s coat, but Virgo would go with a corset and petticoat.

For those that remain swimsuits, they could add their own flair to it, Sagittarius could make it more fairy-like, water spirits or jellyfish-like (I’m making his thing the ‘fantasy archetypes’). I think Capricorn will give Lucy a long, formal mermaid hem dress, complete with a boa.

But okay, I have one thing I’m very firm on: Aquarius and Taurus? It needs to be a pirate-themed swimsuit, complete with the hat. IT HAS TO BE, okay? It’s a perfect mix of concepts. Sea bandits, land pirates, cowboys, it just works.

I like to think Cancer turns everyone into a uniform of some sort. I just think it’d be a cute theme to have since he’s always in smart casual. For Virgo, I’d think he’d go the boyish route, with a sort of young prince’s formal clothing, coat and double-breasted and all. Capricorn, I think it would be interesting to go for a mage priest-type costume. For Taurus, definitely full on cheerleader. I definitely want to make a point that her hair needs to be absolutely gorgeous in all of these.

For Sagittarius-Cancer specifically, hear me out... equestrian clothing.

I’d like to think Taurus adds a country vibe to most things. For things he can’t country like the royal suits or Scorpio’s modern fits, he’ll find a way to double up the sexy instead, like off-shouldering maid dresses for Virgo. He’d also make a sexy librarian dress for Capricorn to piss him off, though I think he won’t change it even if Capricorn complains, unlike Gemini.

He’d clash strangely with Aries, but I think they’ll find a compromise on the little red riding hood route.

I want Virgo to hold most of the royal connotations, honestly, just to set her apart from the others that are also in formal-looking suits. A mix with Libra could make something like an Arabian queen.

But specifically, I think Virgo and Capricorn will give Lucy a formal, noble lady’s dress. Something befitting of a fairy tale princess.

To set Sagittarius apart, I want him to have all kinds of fantasy elements in his dresses, not just elves. With Virgo, he’ll make a rogue hunter. With Leo, a cute werewolf (lion?). Aries can have full control of this one, a simple black dress with plenty of wool at the ends and the collar, maybe even give Lucy actual horns and style her hair into curls. Of course, all of them will definitely have bows and arrows in some form or another, eg Taurus would be a wild west gunslinger with crossbows? Oh and, magical girl phase #2 with Sagittarius and Cancer, without wool though.

And Gemini would be just a straight up flamboyant clown, high-collar cloak, two-toned masquerade mask, top hat. Speaking of masquerade, a Capricorn mix could be a full on masquerade theme, evening gown and all.

Alright, I’m exhausted, I had way too much fun with these.

If anyone read this far, thank you!

To summarize.

Aries would turn everything wooly, pastel, fluffy, and comfortable.

Taurus would dial up the sexy x2, or he would give things country, old fashioned- kinda vibes including cowboys, pirates, country girl/farmer/peasant, etc.

Gemini would take everything in a magician or amusement park clown direction, including magical girls, court jesters, pierrots, masquerades.

Cancer would turn everything into a uniform of some sort. (Work uniforms, not school uniforms). His theme would be looking professional.

Leo turns everything in wild, delinquent, and animalistic theming, with a bit of an authoritative ‘leader of the bad boys’ vibe.

Virgo holds all of the royal connotations, from maids to knights, to princesses.

Scorpio takes a punk, rockstar direction. Musical vibes would be his thing, from fantasy bards to marching bands to opera singers.

Sagittarius would have all of the fantasy connotations. Starting with elves and leprechauns, to RPG roles like hunter, werewolf, fairies.

Capricorn would have modesty as his main focus, ‘pride of a noble’ and all. He would focus on making Lucy look fit for an audience with the king, responsible and well-kempt at all times. This is different from Cancer in that Lucy would be the served instead of the one serving, and differs from Virgo in that it doesn’t go as far as ‘royal’. Just noble, beautiful, and proud as a Heartfilia. He’s a bit old-fashioned, too.

Aquarius would be the sea, of course. Swimsuits, and everything of a marine connotation including navy uniforms, pirates, and mermaid hem dresses.

Libra would take everything in a middle-eastern inspiration, Arabian kinda.

Pisces would be marine connotations as well, but they’ll take it in a specifically leotard-armour inspiration, kinda like most mecha anime girls.

#it's an ask #fairy tail #it's a headcanon #fic related rambles #the menace celestials

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beautifulterriblequeen · 3 years ago

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B2:S - Chapter 3

Much of this series will be about the differences and additions in the novel version, and how they contribute to my understanding of story canon. But there will be character appreciation, the odd theory and headcanon, and suchlike as well.

Here be Lujanne, Callum, Rayla, Ezran, Bait, and Soren goodness!

Spoilers for Book Two: Sky below.

Lujanne having excellent fitness for all her walking around the Moon Nexus, and she's so energetic that Callum has trouble keeping up with her! She seems like those active grandmas who almost never stop moving, who have a lifelong supply of endless stamina. It makes me wonder if Lujanne will need that level of fitness for some upcoming conflict.

Callum feeling really hungry over not eating grubs and then still deciding he'd rather be hungry. It makes me wonder all over again how Lujanne got to the point where she eats grubs, considering that other Moonshadow elves we know of back in the Silvergrove don't. I still love my hc that the giant leech ate all of Lujanne's moonberry bushes and she's taking her revenge. Whatever's going on there, Callum is definitely not at that point yet.

When Lujanne asks Callum how he knows she's real, he thinks to himself that he'd put up with just about anything from someone who was going to teach him magic. That's a great parallel and foreshadowing for Viren's student/master relationship with Aaravos! And it's telling that neither student gets exactly what they hoped to get. Lujanne doesn't actively teach Callum any spells, because she believes he can't learn Moon magic at all. Aaravos does offer Viren power, but it takes him to some very dark places - literally and figuratively - and the cost is terribly high.

Callum sees a moon shape among the ruins, and Lujanne explains that the Moonhenge layout is an intricate rune that uses the structures themselves as part of its symbols and power. That's apparently a thing even with ordinary Moonshadow villages like Hollow Wood in the east, which is the coolest idea I've seen in a while: city planning as magic runes!

Yes, that's the same shape as the pendants Ethari made for himself and Runaan. Protection? Home? Feelsiness? A sense of safety and belongnig for all cycles and seasons?

Wonder what this Moonhenge rune stands for, then, and how much of this landscape is included in that rune. I bet it's more than we think!

But it makes sense now, how toppling the stone pillars would disable the spell the druids would cast to connect with the Moon Nexus lake. Breaking the infrastructure of the Moonhenge breaks the rune.

There's a physical sensation involved with the visuals that Historia Viventem brings up! When that one ghostly druid walked through Callum, he felt icy cold. Like in ghost stories. I really wonder about what exactly Historia Viventem is doing when it activates. It shows truth, "what really happened here?", so it must have some kind of time-related element, maybe tied to how the moon always repeats the same cycles or something. But it also seems to draw on the spirits of any living people involved in the flashback, because Callum could physically feel that wispy shape passing through him. So very interesting!

Orrr... is that all wrong, and there's something else at work with this spell than time? Maybe the world beyond life and death can act as an imprint of the things that have happened in the living world, and the spell that Lujanne (and later Callum) casts taps into that place, with perfect recall. I'm looking really hard at the sentence that says "dozens of translucent elf ghosts" and "phantom Moonhenge" and "lost in their own world" here.

Lujanne says more here than in the show about the world beyond life and death, being her mysterious Moonshadow-mage self. She says that "beyond" and "between" might both apply to where this other plane of existence is, and she doesn't much care which. With all the relativity swirling around this place, and not much in the way of empiricism, it's sounding like perhaps multiple conflicting ideas might actually coexist in such a place, allowing more ideas to fit there than we might normally believe is possible. Which is a fascinating bit of worldbuilding. Basically, every headcanon anyone has ever had about the Moon Nexus could all be true at the same time, for all we know.

Oh oh oh, Callum coming in soft with a secret wish! He takes one look at the Moonhenge and immediately thinks of finding a way to see his mom again! Poor boy, my heart! I'd say that could be another interesting parallel with Viren, but then, who wouldn't hold that sentiment?

Oh my, is this another breath of life into Ye Olde Ley Lines headcanon? Lujanne mentioning the Nexuses again, so soon after talking about the runic design of the entire Moonhenge, makes me wonder if the six nexuses are in fact giant runes. On Earth, the places where ley lines cross are called nexuses, and there are those who believe those points got marked with ancient structures, like Stonehenge and many many others. If Xadia were crossed with magical lines which naturally formed nexus points where they met, and if powerful magical runes were built across those entire areas, well. That would be cool beans, fams. Can I smack a map of Xadia and release a spell like Luz Noceda does? Because ngl that is my first instinct here.

Lujanne has got to be missing some grandkids to spoil, right? The way she's always whipping out cake and ice cream for Callum, and she's so grandma-ish about it. Headcanon about her being Runaan's mom aside, she is canonically lonely and she's very sweet to Allen and Ellis and I think she's missing whatever family she once had in the past. She may never get to have that family back, so she's finding a new one among the humans who live nearby, and I think that's sweet. Found family isn't just for the young.

But Ellis is straight up gonna be her fave, I bet, because she didn't turn up her nose at Lujanne's illusion food!

Ezran and Bait have a lot more to their relationship than was visible in the show, and I'm so excited by it! Ez can tell by looking at Bait's colors that he's not truly jealous of Zym, even if he's really grumpy about the dragonling taking up his favorite human's time.

And Ez thinking a lot about his dad and the things he's taught him. They're soft leadership material, and I love that so much! "Pick your battles" and the importance of encouragement. Ahh, my heart. Ezran, you're going to be such a good king.

But wait a second: both times that Bait gets extra grumpy in Zym's first training session, Ezran has just mentioned something about flying. Guys, I think Bait wishes he could fly, really badly. And that's his biggest problem with Zym, and with Ezran teaching Zym to fly, instead of Bait who doesn't have wings so. Bait is so old that his secrets have secrets, and I'm really curious how flying fits into them now!

Rayla, Dramatic Assassin: "I need to patrol for dark forces." That's what Lujanne called the source of the purple wisps that found them. I wonder if that's an official term all Moonshadows know, or if Rayla is just taking her cue from a veteran Moon mage. And I wonder how far Rayla is falling into the apparent pattern of "one mage, one assassin", since she does spend a lot of her time patrolling without being asked.

When Callum tells Lujanne that he was bad at prince stuff, and she asks if he didn't give up and got good at those things anyway, it's an opportunity for Callum to embrace subverting his parents' expectations in favor of seeking his own path, which is a primary theme of the show. But Lujanne is a couple generations older than Callum, at the very least, and I have to wonder what her upbringing was like. Is her version of success the one she took? Was she bad at magic once too, but she persisted? She is very soft and doesn't want to kill anyone.

Maybe Lujanne had dreams of doing something else with her life, but she felt she had to pursue the destiny that others handed to her, so she studied magic as hard as she could, and she did get good at it, but using it to defend Xadia from humans is not what she wanted to do with her life. Whether there's a parallel between her and Ethari on that point, there's one between Callum and Ethari, I think. How much of your life are you willing to let others direct for you?

LISTEN I WAS DYING AT THE EAR BREAD SCENE OKAY

This is my new favorite Soren and Claudia moment ever. Soren loves him his bread, okay. Even as earplugs for Claudia's sleep ocarina tune. The fact that it's "super effective" makes me think of a Pokemon defense. The fact that he learned it at camp, where he also learned about Moonshadow Madness, is hilarious. Later on, Corvus doesn't know Soren by name, but I still love the idea of Corvus being a kind of Strider-esque camp instructor, filling the ears of his young charges with all kinds of useful tactics like ear bread for magic spell songs (which actually seemed to work as intended), and warnings about the enemy elves' blood-themed tactics (which may or may not come back around in BH)

I thought they were gonna go in a kind of deep direction when Soren still wanted his ear bread back, but then he just. Eats them. Just noms them. I love this kid. Give Soren all the bread!

#book two: sky spoilers #book two: sky #b2:s #tdp spoilers #ToX spoilers #gloaming glade spoilers #lujanne #callum #rayla #ezran #tdp zym #soren #tdp claudia #tdp bait

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kanesthirstblog · 3 years ago

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NSFW ALPHABET: ABE HARUAKI

A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

Requires lots of aftercare but also wants to take care of you. Very clingly, like, will latch onto you and cuddle you for the rest of the night clingy. You should probably give him some reassurance or comfort, he seems like the type to stress about whether or not he was any good to you once the fun is over.

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

Hmmm... Totally the sappy kinda guy who tells you he loves all of your body and thinks it's beautiful and 100% means every praise he sings you about it. He loves everything about you from your soft hair to the tips of your toes.

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

God. Just imagining him sprawled out on any surface with an exhausted yet dopey look in his eyes, covered in his own cum (and/or yours of course!) after a few rounds of sex really makes me feel satisfied. Really can't explain this one

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

Secretly a bit of a masochist but also scared of being hurt so he never asks even if he really wants to.

Also secretly owns a couple erotic novels he used as "research" when you first brought up wanting a sexual relationship. Since you are his first, he would want to see how he's supposed to act in that scenenrio so he could please you properly. (But damn was he shocked when you wanted to be the dominant one. That wasn't in his books.) Haruaki learns the importance of communication that day.

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

Dudes a canon virgin y'all. This also excites me.

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

Secretly loves it when he's on his back so he can see your face as you ride him or peg him. He just thinks you're the prettiest person he's evermet and loves watching you even as you tease or toy with him.

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

He's a sappy guy. Would probably look at you like a puppy who sees someone they really love. Besides that he's have that dopey look like he's never been happier than he is in that moment, smiling up at you.

Once you've had sex a couple times he might start opening up more, cracking jokes and asking shy requests from you.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

Yup. Makes sure he's nice and clean especially

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

He really tries hard to be romantic but he has 0 experience in this area and often fumbles his way through it by trying to be sweet and make you feel good. Very bad at saying romantic things and would probably give up after a bit before he dies from embarassment.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

Tbh I actually think he'd barely masturbate if he did at all. This is partly because I actually have an asexual headcanon for him and partly cause in canon he seems really put off by sexual things if not being outright afraid of them.

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

Contrary to some of the fandom headcanons, I don't really imagine the sailor uniform thing as a kink. It just seems like a typical fixation or something that gets played up for laughs to a strange degree. But maybe thats my ADHD dumbass brain projecting my ADHD onto a fave. (Off topic but him knowing everything about sailor uniforms, from design to creation, being able to make them himself, getting happy any time he sees one, ect. Are headcanons I have because his weird fixation with them reminds me of my fixation on rocks, mushrooms, and jewelry.)

HOWEVER

Praise kink. Body worship. He'd love to be pet gently while you tell him how pretty he is. How you love his soft hair or his long legs or slender form as you lightly trail you fingertips down his body or card fingers through his hair. And he would do the same for you too.

Might at least try pegging, and then realizes he actually likes it when you hold him down and pound his ass.

Would be too embarrassed and a bit scared to bring this up but actually likes the idea being treated roughly. If you could pull at his hair and bite him even a little bit he'd practically melt in your hands.

Might try bondage if it's light. Soft hand cuffs or silk ropes are the way to go.

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

At home. Anywhere is fine as long as its at home

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

The fastest way is probably being physical with him or just stripping for him. He gets embarassed and tries to hide but you know he's aroused, you can feel it when you sit on his lap.

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

He'd probably not be okay with having more than one partner. You might frighten him if he starts feeling like you guys are ganging up on him.

Public/semi-public sex is a no go. Especially since he is a teacher, he wouldn't risk his job on the off chance you both get caught.

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

I think he actually might no be very into oral at first. But will give or recieve though you may have to hear some complaint about it being kind of unsanitary or something. He's also kinda bad a giving oral but what did you expect? He's a virgin.

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

Personally prefers the slow and sensual kinda sex but you set the pace regardless so ultimately it's up to you. He won't be turned into a stuttering mess right away if you guys take it slow.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

Alright with it as long as it stays private. You'll be the only one asking for these but try to get him in the morning before he leaves for work so you can corner him against a counter. Its best when his back is turned so you can grab his hair and lick along his throat, nipping here and there. He'd shiver in your arms as you trail a hand down to undo his pants

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

As long as it isn't a risk to him (would probably be too scared to try knifeplay) or job (no public/semi-public sex) you could probably talk him into it.

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

Hmmm... Depends I guess. I feel like he might only be active for a round or maybe 2 before he starts slowing down. You could still pound the guy into the mattress but he'll have those half lidded doe eyes cloudy with exhaustion. He'd wrap his arms around you loosely as if you'll help ground him to the waking world and try to hold you closer to him.

At that point you should definitely ask a few times before you start another round to make sure he's okay and reassure him that it's alright to stop now. Strikes me as someone who could easily fall into a place where he'd hide his desire to stop just so you can use him for your own fun since it makes you happy. That could be kinda bad for his mental health.

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

You'd be the one with all the toys tbh. But you can sure as hell use them on him.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

He's not much of a tease but if he's feeling playful, he might play up the innocent look of his. He really is a pretty innocent guy actually, but he knows you love that sweet look he's got to him and he will use it on you.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

So damn loud. This guy would moan and beg loudly, scream your name and plead for mercy, for relief as you all but eat him alive. Might even cry and whine and beg. Oh, but he tries to be quiet so he doesn't risk disturbing anyone. He'd purse his lips and turn away from you while you play with his body in an attempt to stay quiet but he always gives in quickly. It's easy to turn this guy into a whimpering, begging mess no matter how many times you do this.

You'll know when he's tired because he will be unable to make much noise besides low pants and gasps. Probably best to wrap things up at that point before ya fuck him unconcious.

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

I have a few actually.

-Has a hard time saying no to you. He's a bit cowardly and overthinks and he would be afraid to lose a first relationship. This is potentially hazardous to his mental health because he might say "yes" to something he doesn't want for fear of losing you. Consent is important though so even if it's difficult at first, keep checking to make sure he's alright.

-I actually headcanon him as a sex indifferent asexual. He can 100% live with sex or without it. Doesn't matter to him, though he's terrified of trying it for the first time.

-The first time you tried to get him in bed, you pinned him to a wall and he was terrified because he thought you were trying to shake him down or harass him. (Well, the latter part was true but not the way he expected.) And then you kissed him and he straight up broke, wrapped himself in blankets and hid under the futon for the rest of the day. Disappointing? Sure, but damn was it cute.

-I'm actually caught up on how he would take to dirty talk tbh since a lot of it I've seen or heard involves some form or another of calling your partner a slut or whatever. Seems to be popular. On one hand if he's secretly a masochist, he might be into it. But on the other, he also seems like he might take anything you say to him to heart and beat himself up over it and would ultimately not like it. Also probably would not be comfortable if he did the dirty talking and assuming he manages to make it through the night without apologizing to you for everything he says, then you'll hear it when you finish.

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

Mandragora patterned briefs. You cannot change my mind on this one.

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

Not very, so he's pretty chill about it.

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

Depends on how much you exhausted him but it usually doesn't take that long.

Bonus:

Some more cute Haruaki.

#youkai gakkou no sensei hajimemashita #a terrified teacher at ghoul school #abe haruaki #haruaki abe #nsfwheadcanons

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vaguely-gestures-to-the-void · 3 years ago

Text

Hindsight: My thoughts on Loki (2021)

Welcome back folks. Read the innocence dying inside me as I accept that this show eats my expectations for lunch and leaves me like it's going to buy milk.

As a side note from what I said in my first review, here’s an interesting article. Apparently I was clowning because the Gobi desert scene was filmed (probably? idk) with the tech from the Mandalorian. I think the studios were the same. Oh well. https://www.atlasofwonders.com/2021/06/loki-filming-locations.html

Episode 4: THE NEXUS EVENT

Pre-title scene

The new perspective of Asgard is incredible.

Oh baby Sylvie, what did they do to you. Also, RAVONNA??

The TVA through a child’s eyes is heartbreaking. The mixed use of shots that were familiar (the feet walking into the TVA) and new (the TVA logo on the floor) convey how though routine, this is an alien experience for Sylvie.

She too wants to help the man being dragged in. Maybe Sylvie was a better person than Loki, the TVA taking her away was what changed it.

We don’t see Casey, but iIt’s the same ‘sign here’ guy. The changing perspective and music really alters the mood created, contrasting the whimsical procedure we followed in episode one.

She hadn’t even said much in her life. They knew how to influence the audience’s emotions, that's for sure. Props to the actress, I felt genuine concern for her before I remembered that she’s acting.

TVA

Ravonna probably underestimated Sylvie as a Loki, a mistake that cost her greatly.

The golden doors.

Ravonna looks tense and a bit fearful.

Scattered throughout the episode are eyes watching. George Orwell’s 1984, anyone?

Big Brother is watching.

Mobius! He’s a good friend to Ravonna, but there’s a power imbalance.

Ravonna is shaken. Her past failure is haunting her.

Someone edit the “What? How?” into “Wow.” It’ll be a service.

Lamentis - 1

Loki’s apology and Sylvie reflecting on her childhood are the conclusion to the previous episode. Faced with death, Loki realises that her goals were hindered by his actions. His apology is the first time he acknowledges he had something to do with it. Sylvie’s offering her emotional vulnerability in the form of memories. Her mind and experiences are her most prized possession because they’re all she has of the person who she was as Loki, her childhood and what she was supposed to be. Her glorious purpose, what really makes a Loki a ‘Loki’ was her life.

THEY TRUST EACH OTHER. THIS WAS WHAT CAUSED THE NEXUS EVENT.

C H A R A C T E R D E V E L O P M E N T.

Ravonna pointed out that Loki will always be a “lying scourge” but they went against this. In any timeline, this could cause a nexus event. They found a middle ground.

“That should be setting off alarms if someone steps on the wrong leaf.” I had a whole idea about entropy and the timeline being an isolated system but I struggled to define an isolated system, and thus I couldn’t use the whole irreversible process causing entropy to grow causing a br- if you have a clue of what I’m going on about, or want to know more, I’ll explain my thoughts. I can understand why this isn’t scientifically accurate and I’m no physicist.

The unbranched timeline means all the things that were speculated - Wanda’s kids, what happened on Saakar, all of it - is gone.

“Any news on C - 20?”I called it! B-15 is having doubts! Her subtle unease building up throughout the ep is perfect!

Most settlements have a street design that can be from space. Sharru doesn’t.

“No. We may lose... ...you’re amazing!” Damn it literally took the end of a world for Loki to change as a person.

“Their smiles. If that isn’t people accepting their deaths I don’t know what is. Man, I just want both of them to be happy.

Please don’t let that be the love theme, it’s so pretty.

The music fading into the TVA theme as they get separated is so sad.

Time Theater 25

Back to square one in terms of trust with these two, but now they have history and hurt feelings too!

Oh Mobius.

Cycles are a part of who Loki is within Norse mythology (from what I know, correct me if I’m wrong). This scene is conflict.

Loki needs both Mobius and Sylvie to incite change. One can empathise whilst the other believes in him.

Mobius believes in Loki like no one else in the TVA. He treats him like an individual, they developed a bond in episode 2, so his disappointment and anger were genuine. This is reflected in their dialogue.

Even when Loki was going through all the Feels in ep 1, he didn’t shout at Mobius. It makes it more heartbreaking when Mobius laughs and dismisses him after the “TVA is lying to you” thing. His laugh was so bitter, it’s like his belief that Loki would be the variant to prove that variants were individuals had been shattered. What Mobius doesn’t realise is that Loki was genuinely trying to warn him. The trust between them was fragile but Mobius needed to come to his own conclusions before he could see that Loki had broken out of the mold the Time Keepers set for him.

“Just kind of an asshole and a bad friend.” Y’all, Mobius doesn’t rise to Loki’s baits. He’s so hurt.

I can’t be the only one that thought Loki was going to be brainwashed when they saw the red door. Turns out it’s just a time cell.

I love Mobius but he makes me feel so conflicted. Oh shit, he’s my problematic fave.

Watching Loki get his ass handed to him by Lady Sif shouldn’t be this funny.

This particular memory reflects what Mobius will talk about later, Loki being abandon by the people around him.

Putting Loki through a memory that was physically and emotionally painful was nasty. If you hear something horrible, over and over especially from a friend it would take a toll on your self-perception. Mobius was hurt by Loki leaving him, he’s getting revenge whilst doing his job and getting into Loki’s head.

Ravonna’s office

Ravonna has hang ups from failing with Sylvie. Who she is and what she knows is going to be interesting.

Heck I just realised are Mobius’ lapels not real? They look fake.

I wonder whether the “mastermind” thing was foreshadowing the next ep.

Am I the only one who thinks this isn’t the first Loki Mobius has dealt with? Could that mean there’s a reunion next ep?!

“Variant pet.” There’s a culture of dehumanising variants within the TVA.

The cuts showing both B-15 and Mobius’ faces reminds me of ep 1, but now there’s a new angle to things. B-15 certainly sees things differently.

Time Theatre 25

Lady Sif would kill with short hair. Or long hair. It’s Lady Sif, she’s a badass.

Loki’s exhale reminds me of how he tenses before a fight.

Notable things about this scene:

Heavy use of metaphors to trade jabs.

The lights are shifting in a consistent pattern, scanning the room almost.

Shots are constantly moving and cutting.

Loki’s speech pattern changes when he’s lying. Nice touch there.

When they start arguing in earnest, the shots are close ups of their faces, not circling around each other.

Loki was at first willing to talk to Mobius if he was treated with respect, the way they engaged in episode 2. He also wants to trust that Mobius won’t kill him. Mobius dismisses him (rightly so, his trust is gone) and Loki’s pride about ‘not working for anyone’ gets in the way rather than listening to each other. Loki’s behaviour is cyclic and his lying about Sylvie affirms Mobius’s understanding that Loki won’t (or maybe can’t) change. I wouldn’t be too surprised if Mobius is a Loki, the man’s uncannily good at reading him. He deduces that Loki and Sylvie have a bond and unsettles Loki to get answers out of him, because he knows that’s the only way he can force Loki to reveal his cards. He definitely wasn’t expecting Loki’s earlier admission to be the truth. What Mobius did was not right, but it sure was effective.

“No. Not partners.” I believe this. They had an understanding, but their goals differ. Maybe just give Sylvie her own show.

“Guess you don’t do partners.” MOBIUS WHY ARE YOU SO BUTT-HURT? Probably to make Loki feel bad ik, but it’s still funny to think Lightning McQueen is salty.

That memory really hurt Loki. He stuttered.

Loki fixates on Sylvie rather than his own freedom. This was the cue to Mobius to start interrogating.

Bruh, the feeling they were experiencing better be friendship.

This made me uncomfortable because I was so sure we weren’t gonna get a romantic subplot that I related the characters to my actual family relationships. Marvel. Why?

The music combined with Mobius’ subtle shift in demeanor from irritated to mockery was very unsettling to me. I never realised how good an actor Owen Wilson was.

“Our interests are aligned.” Once Mobius tells him the truth, Loki does the same. I really hope this is the extent of their relationship. Just let them recognise one another as equals. Please Marvel.

Mobius’ hands twitching, the slight swallow. Yeesh, he certainly doesn’t think Loki’s lying, but he’s not about to accept it.

Loki’s head shake is sad. He knows he can’t convince Mobius.

“That I can respect. I mean the lies you tell yourself.” This was the best writing imo. Loki doesn’t make any final attempts to connive his way out of the situation because telling the truth to someone he’d trusted had failed. He willingly walks into the Time Cell.

Time Theater 47

B-15 being unable to support herself, having to rely on the structures around her to stay upright. This woman deserves so much y’all.

WE NEED HER NAME MARVEL.

You better appreciate her beyond shipping her with Sylvie or istg.

The music is so mournful. It just emphasises how much everything changing is going to hurt not only the main characters. Lives change because of the TVA and the events of this episode, it’s not overlooked by the writing or music.

The poster and the 1984 parallels. Exquisite!

Sylvie not sitting straight made me snort.

Ravonna Renslayer’s office

More Theremin music! This time I’m pretty sure it’s Carnival of the Animals, XIII. Le Cygne (the Swan) : Le carnaval des animaux: No. 12, Le cygne (arr. For theremin and piano) by Clara Rockmore.

Fun fact! Clara Rockmore influenced theremin music and the instrument and was a virtuoso of the instrument. Give her a google, it’s worth it. Also look up Leon Theremin, he was (among other things) a Soviet spy. There’s a great Wiki spiral for anyone there.

Mobius was probably being lined up for a high position in the TVA. Damn.

TemPads are personal, or have different levels of clearance.

Mobius didn’t stop interrogating Ravonna throughout that scene. He knew that she wasn’t telling him the whole truth.

Sleight of hand wasn’t shown how Loki and Sylvie do it, they didn’t use misdirection.

Ravonna knows something is up with Mobius. Maybe he hasn’t been around for long if this is his ‘career case’.

The pacing becomes really fast like in the end of episode 2 as conflicts get resolved. Buckle up comrades.

2050 Roxxcart Disaster

I don’t have much to add, it’s a powerful scene.

They use close ups whenever a truth bombshell is dropped.

The music varies considerably between these scenes, each one has a different tone.

“We’re the same.” With what she knows of B-15, Sylvie knew not to be smug when delivering the news about B-15’s life.

B-15 crying in the rain hurts.

“I looked happy.”

TVA archives, Time Cell, Time Theater 25

The floor opposite Mobius is FE3, above it is 3FG.

Oh Mobius.

C-20 deserved better, I'd love to see her later in the series.

The music goes from mournful to harsh and we’re left in silence when it cuts to the Time Cell.

“You told me to shut up.” Loki can be salty sometimes.

“Do you really think you deserve to be alone?” Mobius is rattled, he wants to unsettle Loki.

The music starts to build somewhere between “...your connection... “ and Loki saying “‘WE?’”

The faint tinkling reminds me of the Avatar (blue people) score.

“How about the word of a friend?” This is Loki’s olive branch. When he admits Loki was right, their trust is tentatively reinstated.

The music is finally back to that chaotic theme we know. I think it’s the TVA’s theme.

“You can be whoever, whatever you wanna be, even someone good. I mean just in case anyone ever told you different.” Mobius corrects what he says in the first ep.

They are friends y’all I’m so sad.

Mobius can lie through his teeth like it’s nobody’s business.

Pruning hurts, Mobius’ face is in agony.

Loki’s tears. GIVE THEM ALL JETSKIS.

Ravonna takes a moment to compose herself.

Time Keepers (the final smackdown)

Why are the last 10 minutes always so insane?

Loki’s eyes only show hurt. I’ll leave.

Ravonna’s so sharp, she instantly catches Sylvie’s wet hair.

All of our expectations from the trailers always get yeeted out of a window because the scenes are never really what we think they are. I get that that should be expected but it’s refreshing that the writing is never what we think it is.

Did anyone else notice the egg timer/infinity sign murals on one of the hallways to the left of Sylvie?

Ravonna is so cold (and yet I’d simp for her).

The M.C. Escher staircases I see you set designers/CGI folks.

B-15 just gets knocked out. They better not kill her for no reason or I riot.

I’m pretty sure that Sylvie ripped off one of Ravonna’s TVA badges (or buttons) when she fought her.

Sylvie’s the better fighter, she’s had to use it more often though.

The elevator doors stay open.

It would be so funny if we get an elevator scene where Sylvie is just dragging Ravonna somewhere.

They really led us on with the Time Keepers, particularly the middle one. I was somewhat convinced there’d be something more to it. I’m interested to see where it goes.

Ep 4 review

I really don’t have much to add with these last two episodes. I’ve definitely come to appreciate that no matter whether you liked the writing of the show or not, it’s never what you expect. Is that a good thing? I guess that that remains to be seen. Nonetheless, I appreciate how much effort went into this series. It’s been a fun romp, I’ll be back with my reviews of the final episodes. I’ll also stop posting Loki content to my blog because the Gods know that my followers don’t read this lol.

I’m just going to survive until the season is over and then hopefully keep my sanity together until the next Marvel content or at least Dr. Strange.

Here's the link to my episode 3 review.

Thank you all for being here, you're wonderful my loves.

#loki #loki series #loki review #loki (2021)#loki spoilers #spoilers #man how is this fandom gonna cope? By fixating on other TV shows? Good luck lads.#I'm gonna go buy milk at this point #they better not mess with B-15 or istg #B-15 deserves none of this #give mobius a jetski #and give loki therapy #and Sylvie too pls my babies need rest.#boy if Mobius is a Loki variant I'm going to grab my popcorn because the circus that this fandom will turn into will be legendary

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bbq-hawks-wings · 4 years ago

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Who are your fave characters in bnha (aside from hawks) and your least liked. In a "i dont like this one as a character or/and as a person" kind of way or even they're just meh to you.

This is a good and surprisingly complicated question! I'll try to give at least three from each category with my reasoning as I like most of the characters for one reason or other but marking down favorites and least favorites is not as straightforward as I first thought.

I love that most of Horikoshi's characters are either loveable, likeable, enjoyable to hate, or leave a benevolently indifferent impression. There's not really many characters that get on my nerves for just existing.

Except Mineta. He can die in a ditch. But that's too easy for our purposes he doesn't count. This time...

Mina is a character I just really am drawn to every time she shows up. She's described as a people person, and as a cautious introvert who often feels the need to put on appearances to make friends in a "you do not have a high enough friendship level to unlock my tragic backstory" kind of way, I feel like if she were a person I could just relax and enjoy myself around her. She isn't dismissive of people's real fears or insecurities and prefers to let herself be the best she is right now in all of her dumbass glory. I really, really love her even if I don't give her a lot of love often.

Iida is another character I gravitate towards despite not showcasing him often. I'm just always happy to see him and his dorky, admirable self. It's like you could look up "square" in the dictionary and his picture would apply to basically all possible definitions, but it's a good thing. He's conscious and proactive even if he seems overbearing, and it's just his way of protecting his family and friends' security and happiness. It makes me feel like I would be safe and cared for in his presence, you know? Bonus points for his wholesome adoration of his big brother (who is also a majorly underappreciated background character, imo), and I can't help but headcanon him as autistic. I literally can't not see it every time he shows up at this point.

Gotta give the last spot to Fatgum. Another detail about Horikoshi's character writing I adore is that the "obvious" thing about a character usually does not end up taking up the bulk of their characterization or is usually never focused on for too long. They have lives and identities outside of one or two traits. Being huge and fat like Fatgum in a Japanese society that usually runs smaller and thinner than the rest of the world (and that is never canonically shied away from) would usually be focus of his entire character in most other series. Here, it's just a blip on his entire sheet - an important one to be sure, but it's just been embraced as a part of who he is from so far back it's beyond old news for him. Confidence, focus, determination, and enabling others' personal growth is where it's at as far as he's concerned, and I am here for it! He's just so set and comfortable in his skin that he's got more than enough to give others a boost if he can offer it.

Horikoshi has a lot of empathetic characters that feel more like people than tropes (especially in the world of anime overrun with cookie cutter personalities to fill flashy but otherwise empty character designs), so there aren't many characters I just genuinely don't like or care for. That said, there has been a pattern I've been noticing, and wouldn't you know it happens to correlate with traits I don't like in real people, either.

I cannot stand people who can never admit they can be wrong. I mean those people that might say how everyone in their family or all their last group of friends hate them/left them or how their ex was crazy and when you ask if maybe they had any idea why they go, "OMG, I don't know! 😭😭😭 I just can't seem to find anyone who will love me for who I am, warts and all. 😇😇😇"

Sure, Jan.

So about the villains! To be fair, not even close to all the villains fit this bill. Most of them I either unironically love (like Rappa and Gentle Criminal) or love to hate (Dabi and Shigaraki). It just so happens that no "hero" character happens to grate or push my buttons in a way that leaves me either negatively ambivalent towards them or outright hating them. (Save one...)

Toga. Get your pitchforks, folks! BBQ is on the menu! I actually don't hate her or even dislike her. She's just not a character I can have sympathy for for very long. In a situation I couldn't just walk away from and hope to never see her again, she'd get some stern words a la Ochako a long time ago. Especially at her age I get where she's coming from and how she feels, but while asking people to just conform without question under threat of punishment is not inherently good, it's not unreasonable in her case and it's troubling she seemed to one day snap and decide she was being unduly repressed and killed someone when she looked like she otherwise had a normal life. I completely give her some grace for clearly having an "pretend it isn't there and it'll go away" kind of help, but she's capable (at least now) of realizing why people are repulsed by her behavior and that it's not unfounded. She needs much better help than what she got and certainly more than what the League offers.

I have similar problems with Spinner. He has a reasonable-enough justification for wanting to lash out at broader society, but he largely refused to help himself before the League of Villains and he'll always be working with a handicap in my book thanks to that. If he was living with parents and couldn't escape to a larger city with more inclusive attitudes towards heteromorphs I could understand, but it looked like he lived alone and either managed to finance his lifestyle or supplemented with government aid anyway, so points lost there as well. He relies on others to give him meaning, first Stain and then Shigaraki; and even then only acts on it because they give him permission to act out his aggressions in an environment that doesn't hold him accountable for it or ask him to do something constructive to change it. That came out harsher than I intended, but I really am not able to give him much room either way in this case.

Monoma. Ah, yes. The Exception™. Sorry, buddy. It's not like I don't get it. You've got a lot more in common with Bakugo than you probably like, but your brand of inferiority complex is just... Unhinged? Grossly inappropriate and misplaced? My dude, you gotta stop trying to knock others down to make yourself feel better by comparison, you can and will destroy your life doing that. I get that having a quirk that requires you to play second-fiddle is infuriating, but that's where you really need to leverage your individuality and be certain what defines your character in a vacuum. At that point you can find a way to leverage other's quirks in ways even they can't because of the sole fact that they aren't you. I know easier said than done, but I am rooting for you, buddy!

That was fun! Thanks for the ask! It's interesting to break down my gut feelings about the characters like this. I enjoyed it a lot!

#she speaks

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hillnerd · 4 years ago

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Did you like Legend of Korra? I was so excited to watch it but it never made me feel anything and after a while it became a chore to watch it until the end. Obviously it was impossible to reach ATLA's standard of perfection, but i never expected it would be this bad, because 4 seasons and i never understood what the story was or what's the moral of the story. Everything seemed rushed and were happening just to happen without having a bigger picture in mind.

So, I didn't much like Legend of Korra. Like you, I was very excited for the series, and like you I felt there was no ‘bigger picture’ in mind.

It started off with me not getting invested with the main teen cast. I found them to be a little one-dimensional with character arcs that fell flat or did not feel earned.

Example- Korra's first character arc in season 1- with her being unable to be spiritual, she loses her tie to her bending/spirituality- then, apropos of nothing, she can avatar state and has it all back because she randomly talked with Aang. This was a repeating pattern within the series. More thoughts:

There would be big character reveals that are interesting, then they'd immediately get thrown out and/or nothing much would be done with them.

The characters were knocked unconscious/kidnapped just about every episode.

The different villains would start off as interesting, but then they'd kill them off.

Character relationships between the teens felt flimsy and didn't have build ups I got invested in.

I felt like the creators used humbling Korra via torture/trauma counted as a character arc/growth- and honestly it felt a bit liek torture porn for no reason. Like, how DARE this woman be cocky? Let's DESTROY her episode after episode.

It had some AMAZING ideas for alternate bending practices, and I loved some of the cast (Tenzin and Lin Beifong I LOVED.) But the main teens felt more like tropes than fully fleshed out characters for me.

Mako and Asami were so stiff and boring when their backstories were super interesting and could have been these amazing motivators. Bolin was adorable, and my fave of those main four- but I didn't like a few of the arcs they chose for him.

Korra was never going to be my fave character because of her personality and dumb decisions, but she was fine and I think they WASTED her character arcs. (I've never been big on dumb cocky jock characters who aren't funny/clever/lovable and don’t even have a tragic backstory. They just aren't my fave. :P)

Korra had a few moments in there that were very powerful, and I loved when she had that moment with the airbender dude on the bridge- moments like that were really great, but too few and far between. Even the animal characters were more about the DESIGN than their personality.

I loved the look/design of much of the world they developed. It was interesting, though felt waaaay too 'American' instead of feeling like a truly asian-based culture? It felt like they thought 'ah, the 1920s! Aka, new york!' which was sad, because the way traditional culture of Asia got blighted out by Westernization in real life was a huge tragedy- and they had this chance to really go 'alternate development of technology/culture' with the world- but instead were like 'Modern=Super Western.' Varrick was a fun guy- I had a ball when he was on screen- but yet again it all felt very 'we're taking this straight from American history.'

I love that they had a bit of a lesbian ending to the series- but not gonna lie, I felt like Korra and Asami's actual on page relationship was lackluster, had no chemistry besides what they LOOKED like together, and just felt as flat as every romantic relationship we saw. (Seriously, the only one that had something going on was Jinora/Kai? Like, even Tenzin and his wife didn’t do much dynamically.)

The best characters were the ones tied directly to the original Avatar cast- Aang and Toph's progeny. They had some amazing characters and moments there. Honestly, they could have made Korra be Sokka's grandkid and had her take a bit more after him and Suki- that could have been cool, but instead they did nothing with either of them. :(

They kind of took a huge dump on our original cast at times, I felt- and honestly seeing the original Avatar and having the mechanics of the spiritual world/Avatar cycle so spelled out felt a whole lot like when star wars did midichlorians. It just took away a lot of the magic and didn't do much for the series, to me at least.

So yeah... There is interesting stuff, great designs, and it had a bunch of potential- I just think it never was fully realized as it could have been. I feel like the strongest suits of the creators are their imaginative takes on ways to use bending, ways to fuck with people, and their designs. They seemed WAY more invested in the adult characters when it came to internal motivation/character arcs/personality/history etc. and I WISH they’d just stuck with them when they were younger, to be honest. They were way more interesting than any of the teens/kids. I’d love to see ‘the Aang Gaang’s’ kids doing adventures way more than anything I saw with Korra and her pals.

#Anonymous #legend of korra #lok critical #legend of korra critical

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mahou-furbies · 4 years ago

Note

Loving the recents precure posts! I think your insights are really interesting :0 I’m interested on your thoughts on the fairy designs! Only if you’re up for it of course ^^;

Thanks, it’s nice to hear they’re appreciated!

I’ts no secret that I’m not a huge fan of the mascots (since they often feel like a superfluous story element that’s included just because the formula requires it, and a lot of the designs come across as “we gave this small creature big eyes and small mouth so you must find it cute”) so this probably won’t be very positive.. But alright, let’s go through the mascots. I’ll also put a few words on the personality/role in the story if it’s a season I’ve seen because when else am I going to write about these.

Note: I hate high-pitched voices and speech patterns that have the character repeat their name at the end of every sentence, but there’s not a lot of point to write that under every entry. But you can imagine a “the squeaky voice is grating, as is the speech pattern” complaint whenever applicable.

Futari wa Precure

We start with kind of nondescript cutesy critters, especially the first two are about as basic as they come. I used to make “Pokemon” like this as a kid, like you get two round shapes for the body, some nondescript tubby arms and legs, huge eyes, and then the only distinguishing features are the ears, tail and markings. The Futari Wa mascots don’t really move me in any direction.

[March 19 2023 edit] personality-wise Mepple is unbearable and Porun is even worse

Futari wa Precure Splash Star

Splash Star continues in the same way as its predecessor and I still have nothing to say. Or I guess I like how the last two make me think of something you’d see in a video game.

Yes! Precure 5

It feels like I never hear anything of Yes!5, and the only thing I run into anything else than a random fanart once in a blue moon is complaining about a Cure’s relationship with one of the mascots, or how Milky Rose is annoying. But we don’t speak of that here at Mahou-furbies now since I haven’t seen the season, so it’s all about the designs.

I really like the darker squirrel, squirrel is the superior animal, and most importantly it has a really pleasing colour scheme. Also there isn’t anything stupid in it, and it looks soft and not overly cutesy. Wouldn’t care for the lighter one that much (and upon closer inspection it doesn’t even look like a squirrel), but together they work well enough.

Then the pink one, Milky Rose I believe? Huge fluffy ears are cute, but her face looks squished and at least in this pic she has too many accessories. Penguin isn’t particularly cute to me, must be the eyebrows, but not too bad. And the last one... It doesn’t even have a face...!

Doing this ranking taught me that Yes!5 has some kind of collectible mini fairies. There’s too many of them for me to make a collage and rank each one individually, so I’ll just say that if you’re going to have a lot of critters with no common theme, do go all out, and all out they did go. Some are humanoid, some are animals, some are objects, there are all kinds of shapes... They remind me of the little collectible toys that represent stuff you’d find in a shop, like there was apples, shirts and toilet paper with faces. My faves are triangle bird cloud, sassy pineapple star, star onion, another triangle bird, goo bunny, and heart shaped cat bread. What is going on here??

Fresh Precure!

Tarte best mascot

Tarte appeals to me by not being a cloyingly cutesy and not having a squeaky voice, but still looking reasonably cute. The long body shape helps him stand apart from the rest of the mascots, since most of them are more on the round side. His muted colour palette is also pleasing. And he’s fun to be around too in the anime; his relationship with Kaoru-chan is entertaining, always love to see what the pair is up to. Finally I like how we see that he has life outside being the Cures’ mascot, like this guy has managed to land a cute fiancee!

Then Chiffon... Let’s just say that I’m Very Much Not a baby person, I didn’t play with baby dolls as a kid (my cousin had one and we cast it as the leader of enemy troops). And it is not a good prospect for a show if it’s going to have a crying baby, or expects me to find characters taking care of it endearing. So Chiffon was pretty much dead on arrival since she doesn’t really do anything to address this issue, but I can say in her defense that at least she’s a non-human creature so the connection to human babies isn’t as strong. Colours are also pleasing. And begrudgingly I have to admit that the baby mascots tend to have more involvement with the story and the characters’ relationship with them is actually relevant, so at the very least they don’t feel only like they’re there just because the formula requires a mascot.

As for the keys, not a fan of inorganic mascots, I like soft animals and also they feel way more merchandise-driven than animal based fairies. Also my memories of Fresh are getting hazy but if I recall correctly the Pickruns felt rather superfluous to the story, like the Cures were sometimes invested in them, but they weren’t really treated as proper characters so it felt quite hollow to me. But design-wise at least their faces are cute and I like how everyone has different eyes and accessories, so if we must have sentient keys in the show I guess these are perfectly serviceable designs.

Heartcatch Precure!

The Heartcatch mascots are sort of in the same camp as the ones from the earliest seasons, like they’re not bad, but not particularly memorable either. I still find them more recognisable than the Futari wa mascots though, but maybe it’s just that there’s four of them with a very similar design and I like themed teams. The colours are a bit off with the first two, the turquoise clashes with the pink, but with blue it’s almost monochrome. The other two fare a bit better.

And then there’s the big one... well this certainly is different from the norm. I certainly complain about overly cutesy mascots but I’d still prefer them to have some level of cuteness.

Suite Precure

I find it hard to believe that these cats are from the same season, but that’s what the wiki says so I guess I have to believe it. Not a huge fan of either... The first one feels too cutesy but also kind of bland while the second one is rather overdesigned. But if you remove the arm and tail jewelry it’s more like a regular cat with a lot of neck fur which I can dig.

As for the jewel thingies, as I said in the henshin ranking I find them very uncute and they feel very merchandise-driven in the same way the Fresh keys do. And they don’t even seem to have any other different traits than colour so that’s just boring.

Smile Precure

The first one is kind of in the same category as the Futari Wa mascots. Kind of nondescript and doesn’t speak to me on any level or feel memorable in a sea of cutesy magical girl mascots. I guess I like the curly ears? Having a human form is also a plus. Lion is pretty similar but I like the calmer colour palette and the “hairstyle” suggests more personality.

Doki Doki! Precure

The animal quartet is a similar to the Futari Wa mascots too, but since there’s now a set they’re more memorable. Not a huge fan of the aggressively monochrome colour palette and I’d like it if at least the accessories were some other colour. The pupil-less eyes also feel somewhat hollow. However even if the designs are pretty basic I still like the customisability aspect here when everyone follows the same design principles, and it’s also fun how they have their theme card suit incorporated somewhere (except Davi unless you’re really generous with the inner ears). And points for everyone having a human form, especially Davi’s was good, and she was a great mentor figure to Makoto who would otherwise have been all alone. And based on what I can remember Lance had a fun dazed personality.

Then we get to my least favourite mascot. Ai had all the aspects why baby mascots are so objectionable to me (screaming, causes trouble, expectations that taking care of babies is cute) and also didn’t even have the decency to have a grown up design as a reward for our suffering. And while I can be a bit more forgiving on the babies lower on this list due to at least looking somewhat cute that doesn’t save Ai because I find this a flat out uncute design. The worst problem is the eyes; this is clearly a humanoid character but the eyes are the mascot button eyes and it just looks creepy, and position and colour of the eyelashes makes them look like some kind of tumor or leech to me. The colour palette also comes across as tacky and the outfit is unmemorable, but at least the hair is ok. Being reminded of her existence every time I watch Cure Ace’s otherwise good henshin (KYUPIRAPPAA!!) isn’t a good moment... Some silver lining to Ai’s existence could be that at least she had a point in the plot, but when DokiDoki ultimately was about how awesome Mana is that doesn’t amount to much.

Happiness Charge Precure!

Out of all the main mascots I think HapiCha got the least cute one. I’m like, what are these, there’s various design elements combined without much rhyme or reason. Somehow they feel very unbalanced to me with their enormous heads and tiny bodies.The small ears also make their big bald heads feel even larger. I guess the backpack balances the look a little, but that’s another thing, the permanent bag that’s only used for creating the cards doesn’t feel too nice to me either. The huge jewel doesn’t have anything to do with any of the other accessories in the season too if I remember right.

And this is another thing that I could have put up there in the catch-all hate category with the squeaky voices: not a huge fan of how so many have their faces so low on their heads. I guess it’s because of the low face looks like a baby and is therefore cute, but the ginormous foreheads seem to have an opposite effect on me and I’d probably like many of the mascots more if you moved heir eyes up a bit. The high mouth is also an issue and sometimes it even dips to uncanny valley, the mouths should be lower than eye level as far as I’m concerned.

In the anime Ribbon was really annoying, Glassan and PhanPhan were more on the ok side. And I do like that with the accessories there’s the element of customisation, but I wish there was more to that, such as with whatever the spiral thingy is supposed to be, like if it’s a hair tuft couldn’t they style it in different ways? And finally them creating the PreCards felt very tacked on and just adds to the pile of how the cards are implemented poorly in the story.

Go! Princess Precure

Pafu is probably my favourite mascot after Tarte. She is simple enough but with the long fluffy ears is still recognisable. And I loved the eyecatch pics where her ears were styled in different ways. Also she had a similar personality as Haruka, kind of an underdog (pun not intended) and not so in-your-face as some of the other main mascots.

Aroma is alright too, again a really simple design but with the odd tail shape and head the tuft that makes me think of cream on his head the design is just about detailed enough. He is also a butler which is a great thing to be.

Miss Shamour had a fun mentor role and I liked her stern but supportive personality. Design-wise this is an enjoyable take on a cat; you can still tell it’s a cat even if it takes a while to notice what’s up with the ears, and whatever it is hanging from her head makes the otherwise simple cat memorable (also heart tail). Kuroro is an ok cat and I like the orange spots, and being so fluffy is a good contrast to the smooth Miss Shamour. Face is maybe a bit too woobie but he’s more of a minor mascot so I don’t mind him.

Also everyone has a human form so props for that.

Mahou Tsukai Precure!

As I mentioned in the henshin item ranking I’m not a fan of teddy bears so Mofurun doesn’t appeal to me. But for a teddy bear she’s not all that bad, the colours are nice and warm and the hearts and stars are a nice detail. And they’re in the Cure colours too! I’d like them to stand out a bit more though. Also points for the starry eyes.

Then the kid... This is Cure Felice right? Now we take a little break from hating babies because I’ve always enjoyed looking through Felice’s many forms. I’m a sucker for seeing characters at different ages, and getting to see them gradually grow up is always awesome. Also all the kid forms are decently cute, and it’s a bit of a mystery to me since especially the youngest one has similar proportions as the HapiCha mascots. Maybe some of it comes from with the knowledge that we’re not supposed to spend the entire season cooing at the baby with a head bigger than the rest of its body so I’m more forgiving. Also this feels more like these are designed to be kid forms of an actual main character rather than only existing as the baby mascot, which has resulted in cuter faces.

But in any case I like all three forms, they’re memorable and the outfits and hair have just the right amount of detail for each stage. Not a huge fan of the latecomer Cure having pink in her colour palette yet again but that’s more of a Cure design complaint rather than something to do with the mascots, and as it is the pastel colour scheme is quite harmonious. Also I’m always ready for unique eye designs.

Kira Kira Precure A La Mode

Pekorin has fluffy colour-changing ears and I appreciate sticking to the theme of the season with the cream look. Not so surprisingly I’m not a fan of the face, designs with the lower eyelid covering the eye like this must be used with care or you get closer to the kind of manic cutesy grin that I dislike. A Bib gives me flashbacks to babies but at least Pekorin is more like a child and it fits the food theme. Story-wise I would have loved for Pekorin’s part to be larger since it would have been a good coming-of-an-age story, but unfortunately it didn’t get a lot of screen time. Finally, heart eyes!

I tend to favour male mascots since they’re less likely to be cutesy or have shrill voices, but I’m not so big on Chourou. In general I’m not a fan of designs which cover the eyes, but otherwise the look is ok for a geezer fairy. But his role in the story felt rather unneeded, like I felt he only existed as the adult manager so that the girls wouldn’t get to run their cafe on their own.

Kirarin and Pikario have pretty basic designs but again being a part of a set helps them. Apart from the cute eyes they don’t raise a lot of emotions in me, but I guess I like how the friendly Kirarin has soft fluffy ears and the edgy Pikario has the spiky ones. Not a huge fan of the shade of blue for Pikario and it’d be nice if they had different... head accessories.

Hugtto! Precure

It’s a baby again. But same as with Felice this feels more like a character than a mascot so it’s not so bad, like remove the forehead jewelry and this could be a main character’s sister’s baby from episode XYZ. So it’s not bad as some of the Mascot Babies, but still has the issues with the expectation that I find babies cute, and doesn’t even come with the gradually growing forms of Felice or have any particularly memorable details.

Then the hamster. When Hugtto was announced I unsurprisingly wasn’t a fan of the baby and none of the girls interested me either, but I seriously considered picking the series up just for the hamster man... For starters the colour scheme is warm and pleasing, and most importantly we’re going for a ‘cool’ vibe rather than cutesy. But of course this is a hamster so the coolness ends up being funny, like it’s an earring and a chain, watch out we have a badass here! Then in human form we see this cool guy in a leather jacket lug around a pink baby in a baby carrier, that’s fun contrast. Not a fan of his voice though based on the clips I’ve seen.

Star Twinkle Precure

I have heard that there were people who were not fans of Fuwa’s second design and I’m among them too, but I wasn’t a fan of the first look either. And the culprit is the face which kills the whole design for me. The mouth is so high up that it’s almost between the eyes. Also I don’t really like this kind of wavy cat mouths. The eyes would also look better if they had pupils but that’s really a thing with almost all of the mascots.

But other than the face the design is good, palette is cute, she looks soft and fluffy, the space iconography makes the design recognisable and fits the theme of the season, and I like the tiny eyebrows and star eyes. Also points for having different looks for each zodiac, but they don’t do much to me because I just don’t care for looking at Fuwa’s face in any context. But let’s take this opportunity to go through them anyway:

Aries is round and fluffy so therefore cute, I like the patterns on Taurus, Gemini is a bit creepy but also fun, not a fan of the protrusions on Cancer and thinking about how they’d wiggle creeps me out, Leo is just Cure Gelato, Virgo would be a very pretty girl if it wasn’t Fuwa, got nothing on Libra, Scorpio makes me think that she’s wearing a bikini, centaurs apparently don’t suit a creature with a less than 1:1 head-to-body ratio so Sagittarius is a bit weird, Capricorn looks like an old man, Aquarius is a bit dumb with the “drop of water in a pot” motif but I like it, and seashell ears is a fun idea on Pisces. Moving on!

As for the pony form, something about it just bugs me. Maybe it’s that I’m very much not into the MLP designs, or maybe it’s that the non-horse head doesn’t match the horse-like body. And that doesn’t look like a cute little unicorn horn, it’s more like an awkward party hat, or one of the drills in Gurren Lagann. But at least the mouth is now lower, colours are still nice and the overall design is still memorable and distinct from the other mascots. However it was such a disgrace that we got this huge “omg Fuwa has a second form” in the middle of the season but then she didn’t evolve any further, like give us something really cool or graceful or epic for the finale! Now this just feels like they wanted to sell a new toy.

Fuwa had some similarities with the baby mascots in that I remember some episodes where taking care of her were plot points and sometimes she behaved like a toddler, and they were difficult for me to sit through. Fuwa being the Thing the bad guys want did give her more role which certainly is better than the pointless mascots who serve no purpose than giving some exposition in the first few episodes, but since I really don’t care for Fuwa it wasn’t much use for me, even if there was some effort put into building the relationship between the Cures and her. If I remember right the finale had huge drama with how Fuwa should have been sacrificed for the future of the universe or something and of course the heroes were all “no! we must protect Fuwa!!” and I was like how about we do take this great opportunity to get rid of Fuwa...

Oh, right, Prunce exists too, I almost forgot since I was in bitching-about-Fuwa land for five paragraphs. I like Prunce, if only for not having such a high pitched voice and not having an overly cutesy design. In general I prefer fluffy creatures, but the smooth Prunce is also ok for a chance. Story-wise it was nice how the Cures used his stretchiness and ability to inflate in various scenes; it made him feel more like an actual part of the story. He often got the short end of the stick but didn’t get abused too much which also made him more memorable but wasn’t too mean. Finally I like his bag form too.

Healin’ Good Precure

The Healin’ Good mascots have the same head&body shapes, but otherwise they’re pleasantly different so they don’t feel like they’re in the “basic generic mascot” category, but due to the similar body shapes still feel like a set. Rabirin is the most basic both with accessories and colours, and since her eyes are lighter colour the empty-eyes effect is stronger on her. Pegitan and Nyatoran fare better; I like Pegitan’s fresh colour scheme and Nyatoran’s stripes, and Nyatoran looks like he is up to something.

Personality-wise Rabirin is a bit annoying and Pegitan’s wussines is somewhat one-note but he’s not so bad. Nyatoran is the best, he manages to be funny every now and then. I also like how the mascots get fairly many scenes together, makes them feel more than just obligatory mascots.

Latte is cute too and the pale beige with purple makes for a good colour palette (pink ribbon could be lighter). I’d probably remove the forehead jewel though, but otherwise her design doesn’t do anything stupid. In the story I’ve found it hilarious in a morbid way that they created a mascot whose Thing is... to fall ill all the time. Gotta feel sorry for the poor dog.

Let’s do the element spirits too. I didn’t like this face on Fuwa and I don’t like it here either. But apart from that the elements are cute, they’re the kind of trinkets I’d like to collect. I appreciate that there’s some variation with their eyes at least. The rain one is cute, it looks like it’s wearing a little raincoat, and I also like the apple one’s pastel palette. Water, light and wind also rank high for me.

[edit March 9 2023 for series starting here]

Tropical Rouge! Precure

Initially I felt lukewarm towards Kururun, but since then I've learned to appreciate their more subtle brand of humour. Like instead of being loud and annoying or cloyingly cutesy, Kururun's presence was more like "here Kururun is just being eerily weird in the background". The design is alright for a fantasy seal too, I'd like some other colour than the obligatory pink and the eyes not to look so empty, but overall it's still reasonably cute. Hear ears (?) are fitting for a magical girl mascot.

Also the Cure Kururun gag was excellent.

Delicious Party Precure

I like the DeliParty mascots, they're fun distinct designs with nice colours, but still look similar enough to be a set. I'd say Pam-Pam has the best design, but Mem-Mem gets points for being a dragon. The food form feels kind of gimmicky, like it just exists so they can sell a toy you can turn around itself, but sure I'll take it, it adds something unique to otherwise pretty basic designs. Also I like that they become a part of the Cure form, it adds at least a little bit of cohesion to otherwise very disparate Cure designs. Also also big points for everyone for having a human design and even a Cure form. And finally here's your regular reminder that it's so stupid that Amane never got a mascot partner.

It has been previously documented that I'm a huge fan of gradually growing designs, and Kome-Kome is no exception. I still think that Kome-Kome's role as the super unique fairy was handled poorly, but when the result is this cute I have to begrudgingly accept it regardless.

Hirogaru Sky! Precure

Not a lot new to say here, it's a baby again. Not the worst baby design at least and the pastel palette is very appealing.

Conclusion: The dark brown yes5 Squirrel and Hamster Man tie for the best design, Tarte is the best mascot when you factor in performance in the story (based on the season I’ve seen), and Go!Pri has overall best mascots when you account everything on all the fairies in the season. [edit March 19 2023] Kururun shall be added to the top tier of mascots.

#precure #mascots #ranking #Anonymous #responses #Hapuriainen bitches about children’s cartoons

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meandmyechoes · 4 years ago

Text

Something I wrote May 8th, 2020 02:44 about Rebels that I forgot to publish. But actually contain a lot of context for how I feel about reusing Ahsoka in general. I formally apologize for every ill will I had for Rebels Ahsoka’s design.

hot take: I don’t like Rebelsoka. Yeah, as if you can sum up my opinion like that.

Why I don’t like her is a really petty and subjective bias, so I am not being fair. The real problem I have with Rebelsoka was mostly my personal lack of enthusiasm in her art style and early on her role was... replaceable. Her unique place is as an ex-Jedi, which is why I’m glad and more accepting when they turn her story away from the Rebellion to focus on Jedi Business. Her early lines in Rebels was... delivering information that could easily been given to another rebellion officer. And it felt off to switch from that unsure teenager to this full-blown wise mentor.

With everything, the final verdict is of course, Rebelsoka is amazing. In the end the potential outweighs my complaints. Yeah, information feeder, cryptic vocabularies or poor cosmetic choices can be forgive in exchange for awesome duels, delightful mentoring and GOSH THAT ANGSTY “ANAKIN”. not that i hope we see more ahsoka stories but i hope we see more ahsoka stories you know. more than that 45 minutes of it ◔̯◔

As a TCW traditionalist, of course that was my definition of Star Wars. Bitter of replacement was a common feeling in the year 2015, but I’m also reasonable enough to expect a major stylistic change with Disney’s acquisition. So all in all, I am glad we at least have another show instead of none at all.

Even though I dropped out, I was there for Rebels in the beginning. If nothing, I learnt from Clone Wars not to underestimate a Season 1. Yes, no one from the Ghost crew captivated me the way Ahsoka did, but I liked them all equally. It was an enjoyable show when I judged it as an exposition and sanely do not compare it to the finale that Clone Wars was building. So Ahsoka coming back at the end of Season 1 really put me in a difficult place, when I thought I could move on to this new family, having accepted her departure.There were rumours, but I kinda expected her to set off the S2 premiere instead. I was also spoiled of that very last minute of revelation. Anyway, when she came back, and I heard Ashley’s voice, I just broke into tears. It’s literally a resurrection. I also couldn’t believe, that I actually get to see Ahsoka again in my life, and that she is suddenly so mature and wise.

It was difficult for me to adjust for two reasons: the art style and her maturity. I guess now I could put myself next to Anakin in 709 describing how I felt meeting Ahsoka again. I also really hated her art style in Rebels initially. She was... streamlined? had slick skin, but her lekku stripes are jagged, and i never get to see how her lekku grew into the shape they are now. and her whole facial patterns are different too?? and she actually doesn’t have clear sky blue eyes anymore? but somehow has deep purple eyes? and just all around no-no with the art style when it first came out. The style wasn’t an issue when you don’t have the my favourite as a veteran character for comparison. (say you don’t see me complaining about Hondo that much but didn’t they do him dirty) Even though I had no problem with her outfit or headdress, it’s just not my favourite of hers. and the fact that they’re forcing me to watch a cartoon character lined with age! and how tired she looks, with wrinkles! and pouches under her eyes! don’t do this to my poor daughter! let her stay happy and carefree as a 14-year-old 5ever! (18-year-old me holding an angry PTA sign)

It also closed a book on however I want her to be. stupid war in the stars making me accept canon. I would’ve been content with her just leaving and staying alive, when every fan set out on her dying before RotS. Yeah maybe she threw her entire ‘life’ away but at least, she’s not, dead you know. And seeing her thrown into another war, threw herself into another war, I wan’t sure I could handle that. The grief, the guilt, the regret, the sight of not seeing her standing by her family again. (good lord Filoni gave us the Rex and Ahsoka hug ;_;) I just want her to stay happy and carefree in my head okay?

and that constant battle of wanting to see more of your favourite character but also level enough to not want her to steal the spotlight form a promising new cast? and the lowkey distrust towards Disney that they brought in Ahsoka to trick more audience into a less-popular show? as a fake-ass apology? Are you suppose I’m ever gonna forgive you for cancelling Clone Wars even though you brought back its characters and basically made a TCW sequel? Are you asking me to overlook the damage, done to both TCW veteran characters AND Rebel’s originality if you don’t do it right? And when they really don’t give us much Ahsoka mid-season it was kind of.... *deflating high-to-low 7-note crescendo* If Disney is actually giving us “what the fans want”, it’s because we damn well deserve that apology without ever needing to forgive, less alone thank.

So anyway, I did dropped out of Rebels after the Season 2 finale. A bit of real world reasons too because I was getting busy in college and I have Rider, an all-year-round show to fall back on. So i just totally turned away from Star Wars in general after March 2016 where it was dead dead for Clone Wars. I caught up a bit of S3 but never finished it, and I’ve been on and off trying to do it to recover from TLJ but it didn’t feel enough (+ plus real busy irl)

I only even found out Ahsoka the White on social media and was utterly confused. Not sure if it was the best decision creative-wise then, and frankly hand’t given much thought since. But I definitely don’t mind Ahsoka Not Dying. I think I have more questions directed to this girl in person on her life and fashion and spaceship choices more than anything. You just sort of reached a point where like god let them rest.

I only wrapped up the series before I saw Walkabout. And there was like a 3-month gap since I started rewtaching late January after ep9. But I ran through the last season in 2, 3 days? It was really good. I didn’t expect it focus on just one planet, but the plot was good, even though the primary enforcer villain monkey just looks meh. Somehow strangely, the character I grew attached to is Kallus. You know, he is not in the main cast whatsoever so he really may not die? And the whole time as the finale draws closer I just was on the edge of my seat hoping none of my faves die. (Yeah the only mistake that finale made was sacrificing Gregor. not nice Dave.)

And the epilogue was amazing. The resolution again subverts expectation in a good way and gave us what’s plausible but not expected. And I love how the show actually balanced warfare and lore. The mythological episodes border on fantasy fairy tales but it still suits my taste. The balance is actually better done here than on Clone Wars. In a show titled Clone Wars, you kind of expect it to be about Clones and Wars. But Rebels connected the spiritual journey of the characters to the wider warfare. They needed the Force to train and guide them to their victory. And this prominence of the Force as a plot element and narrative influence is something I found missing in the later seasons of the Clone Wars (6 not withstanding).

The show made me genuinely escalates in loving these characters and gave us a well-rounded, complete Star Wars experience. It’s not my favourite, but it’s definitely a good show.

#tcw reviews #myechoes #why am i defending myself over nothing #this is a bit long and could be counted as meta but is actually devoid of reading of the text lol #ahsoka tano #star wars

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