#for some reason it makes me think of the little sprites in games I used to play

[tenebris-lux]

- chapter 112, Rhythm of War

This just made me chuckle, because Dalinar does this a lot. He did it a lot in book 1 and ever after, so it’s his default posture in my mind when I think of him. Hands clasped behind his back and staring out the window majestically.

[qwertyprophecy]

Update on The Dark Queen of Mortholme!

Phase one is now essentially completed for art, code and dialogue. Onwards to phase two; because every good boss fight needs that part where the boss gets unhinged and gains a whole new set of attacks.

I too have chosen to be unhinged and made a design for the Queen's final form that gobbles up animation work hours like nothing I've done before with pixel art.

Concept sketches under the cut:

Initially I didn't have any ideas beyond doing a more monstrous design that amps up the Queen's features and takes cues from the shapes and colours of her original spell animations. However after writing the dialogue leading up to the transformation I immediately landed on a specific concept.

The transformation is an outburst. It's a manifestation of the Queen's terror and defiance towards her approaching death. She's unraveling, and in doing so she's channeling more of her innate violent power that she doesn't usually let out. She's essentially been having a long argument with the Hero about who they believe they are. Thus far she's gotten by being all smug and detached, but now she's losing and forced to reveal more of her true self to continue.

So her final form's design should convey 1. an outburst, and 2. the unraveling of a false front. Her base design's spikes, hair and skirt all erupt out into the wilder shape language of her shadowy spell-tendrils. They can handily be used to draw the eye from all directions towards the center of her chest, where I wanted to have this cracking pattern, like something hidden inside her is coming out. It's bright as if blindingly powerful, yet the cracks make her seem more damaged and vulnerable than her base form.

Continuing with the theme of an inner self showing through, the skirt's interior is also more visible than before. The flared jellyfish-esque shape connects with the deep sea vibe of the tentacles and contributes to the drama of a nonhuman silhouette.

A big thing for the silhouette is of course the massive hands. What's the thematic explanation for those? Absolutely nothing, I just think they look cool and dangerous.

Finally, lot of asymmetry was also introduced, both to increase the visual interest of such a large sprite, and to make her look like she's really losing it.

---

A note on animating this monstrosity: I've been trying to come up with a whole lot of cheats to keep a complex sprite like this as animated as possible without spending the rest of my life making this game. Early on I decided she should float, just so her idle animation can also be a moving one.

Secondly, the sprite is cut up to pieces so that I can keep reusing the loop of the writhing tentacles while moving her hands, for example. This is not something I like doing because in believable animation, motion in one part of the body always affects the other parts of the body. Treating a character as one entire whole when animating will make them feel more tangible, but alas, it's a compromise to avoid spending a hundred years in pixel-pushing jail. Like, I would love to see those tendrils flutter around behind her as she swoops across the room for her attacks, but... it'll be a lot more reasonable to move her as little as possible and instead add oomph to her attacks with some effects animations.

Anyways thank you for reading about monstrosity, she might be a pain in the butt to move but she brings me joy

[a-very-sneaky-mimic]

Successfully finished my map of the airship from my fic!

"If I Too Am Forgotten, Will You Look For Me In The Stars?"

(Was originally gonna be three decks but the last one is just empty cargo space so its not worth the effort lol)

(As I've said before, quite a few sprites are just edited/taken from the game, but any stuff that you don't recognize from the game is made by me.)

I've also annotated some neat details/notes! ^^

Annotations and non annotated version below the keep reading thingy.

------------

2. Star windows! ✨The light from them is faintly visible on the floor of the dandelion room!

1. The control console for the airship! It has a comically oversized compass, and reasonably sized barometer and a wind-speed-cup-spinny-thingy- you know what i mean.

Anyways it also has two little magic-crystal-wishcraft-orb-thingys that the pilot somehow uses to control the ship- idk ill figure that out later, they've got little stars in em though cause i think it looks neat!

3. Dandelion room! I think in my fic I may have described patterns all over the room- but imma retcon that to just the circle thingy depicted here, it only glows when the ship is actively being flown- so technically its impossible for the dandelion to be visible while the symbols are glowing but idk it looks cooler this way.

4. Hey! See those constellations?! Those are the irl zodiac constellations! all of them are as accurate as I could make them, with correct number of bright pixels for stars and lines in as close to true lines as i could make them

5. So all the stuff in the house is sorta low detail cause its frozen in time, so I got to be pretty creative coming up with details for the door!, it's got stars everywhere and even the writing along the top!

6. Odile has blocked her window on purpose, she doesn't need any more reminders how high in the sky they are :P

7. Mira has her ~bonding papers~ she needs distractions with the new emergency haha

8. Bonbon and Nils rooms! They're pretty barren, as they're both a bit mentally lost atm :(

But Bon has some of the food & spice supplies stored in theirs and Nils has Bon's sleeping bag in her room due to nightmares that may or may not occur in the futureee.

9. Loop aint gonna make their bed.

B. The stairway to the cargo bay! As I said before, i didn't map it as its basically just alot of empty space and crates & barrels etc.

Why is it "A" now instead of "10"??? Because the annotation circles I made didn't have room for two digits in this font! And I wasn't about to start over with bigger circles :D

A. Sif and Isa's room is arranged for optimal cuddle configuration.

C. Somebody's keeping an eye on the fam! (/◕ヮ◕)/

D. How does a stove work on a wooden airship???? IDK magic probably

------------

Now at long last I can start writing the next chapter 🙃

[samuelmorgan3d]

Update:

-I've added over 15 new conversations with Mabel, Wendy, Pacifica, Soos, McGucket, Robby and many others.

-I added some sprites in the form of gifs to add a little more movement.

-I've added more animals and monsters that move either during the day or at night.

-I was able to improve the FPS quite a bit

Here is an example of a new dialogue with McGucket:

McGucket: (running around wildly, arms flailing, screaming) Aaaaahhh! Dipper! Dipper! Everything behind me—it is gone! It is just—poof!—vanished into thin air! I cannot see it, so it must not exist anymore!

Dipper: (rushing over, concerned) Whoa, whoa, calm down, McGucket! What do you mean everything is gone? What are you talking about?

McGucket: (eyes wide with panic, grabbing Dipper by the shoulders) Dipper! Do you not see? Only what I am looking at exists! If I turn away from something, it just disappears! whispers What if everything behind us is just… gone forever?

Dipper: (trying to stay calm, but confused) McGucket, that is not how the world works. Just because you are not looking at something does not mean it stops existing. It is still there, trust me!

McGucket: (freaking out even more, spinning around in circles) How do you know?! Have you ever seen behind you without looking?! I turn my head, and—bam!—nothing! It is all an illusion! We are living in a giant lie, Dipper!

Dipper: (facepalming, trying to reason with him) McGucket, listen, everything is still there. It is like… uh, a tree in the forest. Just because you are not looking at it does not mean it falls down, right?

McGucket: (clutching his head, eyes darting everywhere) But what if the tree does fall, Dipper?! What if it is all just disappearing, piece by piece, whenever I am not looking? What if I am the only thing that is real, and everything else is just… rendered when I look at it?!

Dipper: (pausing, narrowing his eyes suspiciously) McGucket… are you trying to say that you think reality is, like, a video game? That it only “loads” what we can see?

McGucket: (nodding frantically, pulling at his hair) Exactly! It is all a trick! The universe is saving processing power by not rendering anything behind us! We are trapped in some kind of simulation, Dipper! A big, glitchy simulation!

Dipper: (half-joking, half-worried) Okay… even for Gravity Falls, that sounds pretty out there. But if that were true, we would have bigger problems than just what is behind us, right?

McGucket: (looking horrified, whispering dramatically) You are right, Dipper… What if I stop existing when you are not looking at me?!

Dipper: (sighing, shaking his head) McGucket, you are always here… even when I am not looking. I promise.

McGucket: (nervous, but slightly calmer) You think so? You really think the universe is not just cutting corners and making us all disappear when we are out of sight?

Dipper: (grinning reassuringly) Yeah, I think so. Pretty sure you would still exist even if I turned around… though I would rather not test that theory right now.

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Melon Bug (again)

Debut: Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island

(I wanted to write some more about Melon Bug, and I liked the original post just fine, so this post will be a continuation since that one was so short!)

An isopod! Oh, joyous day! It may not look like one at all with that big ol’ nose, but when it’s rolled up, there is no mistaking it! Here’s a very fun fact: when an isopod curls into a ball, it’s called conglobation! Use that in your everyday lives.

Melon Bug technically isn’t an enemy, you know the drill, weird Mario friends, that usual thing. When curled up, Yoshi can lick them up and spit them out, defeating enemies they hit! Could this be the first instance of weaponized isopods?

The Player's Guide says "These feisty hoppers transform from bug to melon and back again." Feisty? They're only slightly more feisty than a real pill bug! And a real pill bug has a negative Feistiness Level. I don't think whoever wrote this has played the game, since Melon Bug is harmless! I also don't think they know about real pill bugs, because they clearly can't cogitate conglobation. A bug transforming into a melon? How unrealistic! What do they think this is, Trip World?

I think "Melon Bug" is a very good name. An incredible name, even! When Melon Bug curls up, it, obviously, resembles a melon, what with both being round with stripes. While real pill bugs don't really have "stripes", their tergites (armor plates) do give a "lined" appearance. If you ask me, Melon Bug could be a good name even for real terrestrial isopods!

What do YOU call pill bugs? I've always called them roly-polies, but they have so many wacky names. Woodlouse? Yeah sure, a bug that lives under wood, why not! Butchy-boy? I don't get it, but it's funny. Then there are all the names comparing them to pigs which I just do not get, but groundhogs also get compared to pigs in common names a lot, so maybe people just don't know pigs as well as they like to think. And THEN! England gave them a bunch of CHEESE-related names. What is happening over there? Are British people somehow making cheese from isopod secretions? Why would you call this creature a CHEESELOG? That's a straight up food! I kind of love this name for them for being so ridiculous! Anyway, my point with all this is that Melon Bug would be more actually fitting than the majority of the common names these have been given, but sometimes it is more fun to be unfitting!

Isn't it weird how Melon Bug's art doesn't quite look like the sprite? Such bulging eyes in the art, but little dots in-game... well, we now know the reason!

Remember Super Donkey, from the 2020 gigaleak? I feel like it's been far too forgotten for how interesting it is! Anyway, as I mentioned when talking about that game, Melon Bug was originally designed for it! It seems like the Yoshi's Island art was drawn before they decided to shrink its sclerae, and lighten its colors, but after they decided to give it little red shoes.

If you grew up calling roly-polies something else, or if you know fun names from other languages, I would love to hear them! And I hope you love and appreciate these creatures! They are so common and easy to observe, so rather than get jaded to their presence, celebrate them, and you will be able to find delight whenever you turn over a log!

[maleyanderecafe]

Where Winter Crows Go (Visual Novel)

Created by: Pri Karin

Genre: Romance/Horror

Where Winter Crows Go is very pretty, but also the amount of Chaga jokes that Cherry and I made- Anyways, the UI and artwork that are used for this game is very pretty and it's pretty cool being able to sort of change Aspen's personality based of choices is also pretty fun, though currently it's mostly fluff with fairly little yandere content. Hopefully we'll see more of it in the future.

The MC's default name is Aspen so I will refer to them as such.

The story starts out with Aspen driving to a remote winter area as a get away to relax after their job. They end up having car troubles after they veer and crash thanks to a crow in the middle of the road. Frustrated and far from the town they were going to vacation at, Aspen trudges through the snow to find shelter. They end up finding a cabin in the middle of the woods and knocks on it before passing out. Upon waking up, we see that a man named Crowe has taken them into his cabin and is currently making them food. Crowe will end up cooking them food as well as giving them Chaga tea. The next day, while Crowe is doing something, Aspen hangs around in the living room and ends up picking up a book from the bookshelf. When Crowe walks in, he will be embarrassed since the book Aspen is reading is a book that Crowe wrote himself. Crowe brings Aspen out to go look for their car, and while they are outside, go foraging while having a nice picnic in the middle of the snow. Crowe also gifts Aspen a pair of gloves while they go out. The next day, Aspen has a dream about a crow, warning them about Crowe. Depending on your relationship with Crowe, Aspen will have different things to say, ranging from stating that they trust him, to feeling indifferent to being wary around them. After waking up, Aspen decides to try to head back into town, but Crowe stops them. Aspen gets angry at Crowe for trying to stop them, with Crowe making up excuses like the fact that there might be a blizzard. Angry, Aspen basically goes back into their room to try to calm themselves down.

I will start out by saying that Where Winter Crows Go has a very pretty UI and artwork. I've said this a lot but I genuinely really like it when visual novels and just games in general have a UI that fits well into their story, with Where Winter Crows Go having a more black and regal looking UI to fit in with the more style of winter it's going for- reminds me a bit of the black fences that you often see in winter scenes near houses. The artwork is also very pretty, from the sprites themselves to the CGs that we see, to even the small images of food-they all look really wonderful. Aesthetically, the game itself is very well made. It's also nice that there are various ways that the MC can be presented with more meek, uncertain and playful options available.

In terms of story, Where Winter Crow Go feels a bit more like a slow burn as we're shown various activities that Aspen does with Crowe, from cooking and eating, to reading to drinking... a lot of Chaga tea, to going out to explore with Crowe. As such though we don't really get to see too much yandere stuff with Crowe himself, other than a couple of lines of possession and him trying to keep Aspen inside of his cabin through various excuses. It's also likely implied that Crowe has some sort of connection over actual crows, likely the one that caused Aspen to crash in the first place was somehow correlated with crow himself, along with possibly the crow in the dreams and the various ones we see while outside. I think the voice actor does do a good job of depicting Crowe, even if he physically does sound like he wouldn't be 30 (but who knows, am I right). But as I said, we don't really know much about what type of yandere Crowe will be based on the small bits that we see in the demo. I feel like he's much more of a lighter yandere, though we also don't know the reason why Crowe is interested in Aspen in the first place since as far as we know, the two have never really met before. Again, hard to say because we don't have too much information about him as a yandere. He does seem pretty smart and fairly reasonable at least in terms of how he speaks, so I would imagine he's probably more of a protective yandere if I had to guess, but it could be different in the future. Although seriously, this guy really is addicted to Chaga Tea.

Still though, the game is fairly impressive for a demo, having already a couple of days out with very pretty artwork, good UI and a fairly long script from what I can see. I am curious to see how this and their other games will unfold in the future.

[loremaster]

BOBA AU - CHAPTER 1 EXTRAS

I had actually drawn a few more things than could fit within the 30-image-per-post limit. Here are the ones that didn't make the cut, with commentary!

(tw: mild animal abuse, n*zi mention, suggestive themes)

Zilch's animal companions. I named Carmina Burana and Tortellini, Gucci and Bosch were named by my friends - though Bosch was supposed to be called Hieronymus, it just didn't fit on the nametag lol

I wanted to illustrate some examples of Zilch casually mistreating/neglecting the animals but this was as far as I got. I don't think he would be a full on animal abuser, just... the type of person who likes having a bunch of pets to show off but doesn't really think about properly caring for them. He likes the aesthetics of animals much more than the logistics.

This was gonna be the chapter cover and I forgot. Oops.

This was just practice drawing the church characters from their sprites.

Zilch: I must say, it's an unexpected pleasure to run into another kindred spirit around here. I'm Zilch~

This scene was actually cut deliberately. I drew it before I decided exactly what the Nun's issue with Zilch would be and then once I did, I felt like it didn't fit anymore. Zilch is still excited to see someone else with ears and tail like him, but in the final version, he's a lot more derisive about it.

I imagine the Nun is, like, an actual animal-human hybrid whereas Zilch is a furry with a wallet that can afford bioengineered bodymods. (One day, my friends... one day...)

Zilch being flippant and Halara being dismissive/tsundere. Couldn't really find a place to put it but I still like the drawing - even if I did accidentally give Zilch human ears.

By the way, you might notice Zilch hasn't been wearing his cap. There are two reasons. One is to show off that his ears aren't actually connected to it. If I had the time to go back and redraw the prologue with him wearing it - so Halara's "holy fuck" reaction makes more sense here - I would. (Not really worth trying to fix though, not until the rest of the story is done.)

But the other reason is that upon looking closer at Zilch's original design, I thought it was a little too evocative of Nazi imagery and wasn't really comfortable with it. It's not really the same style of hat, sure, but combined with the swastikas in his eyes??? yeah no way is that not intentional. (I redesigned his eye symbols to be catlike slit pupils instead.)

I get he (or, the hitman, I guess) is supposed to be a villain, and a minor one, in the original game... but here I'm gonna flesh him out a bit more. So I guess in that sense the removal of the hat symbolizes his growth as a character beyond his terrible awful fascist upbringing lol (more on that in the Gumshoe Gabs soon)

If I were making this an actual game it would be fun to have Yuma get a fun little added gameplay element of using Zilch's Forte like he does with Halara's. He gets some little animal friends!!!

I imagined Zilch would ask to be carried, but Halara won't do it without getting paid an exorbitant amount. And then Zilch forks over the cash on the spot. Yuma screams internally. If he had that the whole time why were they even trying to negotiate over the coat???!? Why does he still have his own debt to pay if Zilch could just cover the whole thing up front????

Halara has to pretend not to be enthusiastic about this opportunity.

Shinigami is... there, I guess.

Martina my wife driving around her little parasite of a boyfriend. Ms Electro please call me

Was originally gonna have Seth say that out loud but then I remembered he doesn't want to lose his job. (It's okay, he loses it anyway.)

(Also yes this is pre-Vivia-DLC.)

And then the mystery is solved!

Zilch feels indebted to Halara for saving him from the Nail Man, and wants to follow their example, turn it around, treat his animals better... his act of goodwill here is extremely performative, though. But, hey, everyone's gotta start somewhere!

Ultimately I cut this scene after coming up with the cat bed idea. (Was very tempted to have Halara cruelly taking the coat from the boy, but just decided to skip it instead.)

So Zilch kinda idolizes Halara now... which is fine... but then the morning after he really lets his simp flag fly.

Congrats on your furry boyfriend, I guess?????

A doodle from the margins of this comic way back when.... which finally has a place to belong! \o/

Zilch's fursona. His "zursona," if you will.

Thanks again for reading! I love everyone's comments in the tags and I'm so glad you all like my version of Zilch especially. Excited to develop him some more in future chapters >:)

[project-lumen]

Hi, Red Spring anon here again (I couldn't think of a better name lol) :-D I have come with some ramblings and a few questions bec I am too curious for my own good.

So, I have come to the conclusion that since Red Spring was not mentioned in your guys' response (:0 you guys responded! woah - me) I am going to assume that it might (!) happen. I hope. If not, then I guess I'll sit in my room staring into the distance while the kazoo cover of "My Heart Will Go On" (from the Titanic movie, which I still have not seen yet, lol) plays loudly (/j). If you're doing it tho (or plan on maybe doing it, this blog has been up for, like, a week so far, I don't expect y'all to have your entire plot ready yet lol) don't tell me! I want the surprise when I (1:) play the game, or when I (2:) get to help with the game (hopefully) and thereby spoil myself.

But! Martren confirmed!!!! He's so underappreciated it's so sad </3

Also, having Scar as your favorite is very real. He's just so icon

Just saw the art guide earlier today and I am stoked! Especially for the SL style, that's a really cool take on it! Also LL being retro/90s vibes we love to see it

I took a glimpse at the lore post earlier (Lore(tm) <3 my beloved) and *ooooh I am interested*. I also had the funny thought earlier that since there are a bunch of Watcher Apprentices watching the games through the other players, does that mean our wonderful WC just keeps ending up with the winners of each season? Because if so, that's really funny. WC either has extreme mc energy or is unreasonably lucky and either way it's hilarious.

Right, questions. That's what this blog is for but *man ranting about how happy your guys' response made me is also a very appealing idea*.

So, y'know that one Instagram thingy of Jimmy praying to the Watchers? Will that be in the game (or can we influence Jimmy in some way)? I just think it'd be a cool thing to have in the story, like a brief peek into the mind of 1 Jimmy Solidarity. Or just whatever he's praying about, I guess. Idk how praying to the op eldritch beings works. If not, weeeell it just happened off camera and that's why it's not in the game, clearly, because I am definitely, 100% a game dev, I'm the secret one and I steal your internet speeds (/j).

Also, on Porl because I had an idea. So, she goes all insane and stuff in cannon, but can we potentially have the divorce squad *not* be the divorce squad? Can we have Pearl and Scott and Tilly (and Pearl's other 50 million doggos) as a happy little family? Can we somehow ruin the divorce squad even more? They're just so fun and messed up, I love them.

Also, kind of a joke question but also kind of not (i'd be funny if this was treated with 100% gravity for no reason), can we definitively prove that Etho is washed up? Can we disprove this? Can we at least make him pay child support for his children (/j)???

Also (I will find a better word to use someday I swear), I am excited for the snails. I don't know how it's gonna work but I'm excited nonetheless. I also read this fic where everyone was *really* sleep deprived because of the murder snails and I think that'd be funny to show by all of the sprites looking like they haven't slept in 48 hours, thank you for coming to my TED talk, that's literally all I have to say rn.

And, last but not least, Joel should hit Scott with his car, that's actually part of the True Ending, where Joel just drives around committing traffic violations and hitting people with his car instead of winning and then the Watchers come down from Watcher Land or wherever they live (i forgot the name but Watcher Land sounds like an amusement park so it's staying) and so Joel hits them with his car too trust me this is how he wins Life(tm).

Thank you for listening to my ramblings, have a nice day/night/evening/morning, and drink water and eat some food plz take care of yourself (that goes to all of you).

This is really long, sorry! - Red Spring Anon (i will come up with a better name soon, promise!)

Hi hello there Red Spring Anon! Nice to see you again, Arto, Pinkie and Kori here :3

First off, thank you so much for your ramblings that is what our blog is for! I think we might have to either hire you or steal your ideas/hj and you don't get to know which one is the /j part

Alright so, let's go over your points, starting with Red Spring: We can confirm that it will happen and our local Treebark expert has been brainstorming about it! We don't want to spoil too much but it'll be awesome, trust

The Art Guide was so much fun to make, and we are very glad you all liked it! :D (personally my favorite is the Wild Life style solely because I had a very clear idea of how Tango would look like :,> -Kori)

Also yeah, no, the main character energy with the WC is truly strong, maybe it is fate?

Jimmy praying to eldritch deities™️ would be pretty neat! Maybe in battle he could get a move that the next turn gives him a boost! Ooooooh, and there could be a chance that boost either doesn't happen at all or ends up being a nerf? :0 That would be a good idea to spice up battles, but out of that there could be maybe a little hidden Jimmy altar in the overworld, a funny reference to that, special cutscene and all! Just don't steal our internet pretty please :D

About the Divorce Squad, we can surely include them like a dysfunctional family instead of whatever they had going on in Double Life, all depending on your choices as a WC, we just need to take the script and try to solve it in a way that makes sense, but we will figure it out. Also about Etho, picture me this: he is a pretty mighty opponent in Third Life, we nerf him in Last Life, then nerf him more in Double Life to the point of just being support for Joel, and then in LimLife you can just one-shot him with any move and has a special move called "absent father" that makes him run away from any battle, but if you are able to defeat him, he gives you an item called "child support money" that you then give to Cleo, how's that? >:3 /j, probably

THE SNAILSSSSSS

(Might sound like a joke but my current placeholder sprites for test purposes in Unity are snails I sketched, 100% true)

We haven't gotten that far in script things, unfortunately, but bet that in the future we will have good snail mechanics :,]

And True Ending, yeah no I think you might have read our minds, Joel hits Scott with a 1970 Dodge Charger and then crashes into the void, breaking the simulation Truman Show style and messing up the continuum. Trust, that is what happens.

Thank you for sharing your ramblings Anon! Really nice to read them, you too take care and have a good day!

-Team Rocket

[irayoeywa]

the game name ✧

part seven

neteyam sully x fem!omatikaya!reader

warnings/notes - fluff, utumauti is the na'vi name for banana fruit, characters speaking na'vi unless stated otherwise, lowercase intended, gif is not mine, divider creds to shifterium.

na'vi words used (with translations) - ikran - mountain banshee atokirina - wood sprite tsahìk - spiritual leader marui - a woven canopy-like structure made for living in yovo - a na'vi fruit utumauti - a na'vi fruit olo'eyktan - clan leader

< part six part eight >

series masterlist main masterlist

it happened again.

this doesn't happen twice, right?

you and neteyam were hanging out in the forest, like usual. you were sitting on the mossy forest floor, with a visor in your hand. neteyam had mentioned that his ikran riding visor had been damaged so you offered to fix it for him.

neteyam on the other hand was laying on his back a foot away from you. he had his eyes closed as you quietly worked on the visor. the two of you sat in silence, just enjoying one another's presence.

the sound of the forest calming to you, that's why you did most of your weaving here. your eyes had peeled away from the visor to look at neteyam who was laying there peacefully, his chest moving up and down with each breath he took in and let out. you weren't sure if he was sleeping or not.

you were about to put your attention back on the accessory when something came into your view. it was an atokirina. and it was floating towards you. you stayed still, waiting for it to land just like you did the first time.

when it finally did, you sat in shock. it was hovering over the visor in your hands. you felt the gentle touch of the seed for a brief moment before it floated away. your eyes watched it leave your eyesight. you didn't realize that you had zoned out until you felt a touch on your knee that nearly made you jump out of your skin.

you turned to see neteyam with his hand resting on your knee as he looked at you, "you okay? you look a little shaken up."

your parted lips sucked in a small breath before you shook your head, "yeah no, uh- i am fine."

the words seemed to have no effect on the boy in front of you as he continued to look concerned. you decided to lighten up the situation so you pushed his shoulder lightly, "but you look well rested, had a good nap?"

neteyam's face morphed into a smile, a small chuckle leaving his lips, "i really didn't expect to actually fall asleep."

"i told you, it’s soothing out here." you smiled. you brought your eyes back down to the visor in your hands, it was fixed but you could tell that it would just break again if you gave it to him now.

"hey, do you mind if i give this back tomorrow? i have something that would make it more secure." you said, looking up neteyam.

"yeah, that's fine. i really appreciate you fixing it for me, you don't have to." he spoke.

"what are friends for?"

that’s what brought you here, walking through high camp. you needed immediate answers so you quickly made your way to the tsahìk's tent. the first time when the atokirina landed on your arrow, you came up with an endless amount of reasons for what it meant. after many days of thinking about it, you finally came up with the conclusion that eywa saw something special about your friendship with neteyam.

but what did this mean? instead of an infinite number possibilities running through your mind, it was blank. you were sure netayam didn't see it being that he woke up as it was floating away.

you needed some guidance and who better to speak to than the omatikaya's tsahìk. when you finally made it to her tent there was someone leaving. you waited for them to walk away before you took a deep breath and slowly opened the tent flap.

mo'at was there with her back to you, she was putting away her things. you assumed that the person who just left was injured and she tended to their wounds.

when she finally turned around you greeted her, "oel ngati kameie mo'at."

she returned the custom and gestured for you to sit down. you took a seat and looked at her.

"uh.. i believe the great mother has sent me a sign but i am not sure how to interpret it." you said, awkwardly looking around the tent. when you heard nothing in response, you brought your eyes back to her. she made a gesture for you to continue.

"oh uhm i was out in the forest with a friend and i was holding something of theirs and an atokirina came and rested on what i was holding.. but this isn't the first time this has happened. it happened about a month ago but i just assumed the great mother was telling me something about our friendship but now i am not sure."

this is the first time you had actually voiced out the occurrence to anyone. you didn't tell any of your family members and you and neteyam definitely didn't speak about it.

mo'at sat for a moment before she started to speak, "the great mother sees the bond you have with this person but you may not.."

you sat in confusion, what does that mean?

"i may not?" you repeated, but as a question.

"you may not realize the importance of this relationship which is why you received another sign. whether it is platonic or romantic is for you to decide my child." she answered.

once you were done talking to the tsahík, you thanked her for her knowledge and guidance before leaving and heading to your family's marui. once you got there, it was empty, indicating that you were alone. you felt relieved because you needed to process this information by your lonesome.

you took a seat as the tsahík’s words continued to replay in your mind as your brain tried to make sense of them.

‘the great mother sees the bond you have with this person but you may not..’

you felt a strange sense of comfort when you were with neteyam. you were only friends for a couple months but you always felt secure and comfortable with him. your friendship felt safe. so you figured that eywa was confirming your thoughts.

but the second sign was different. it even felt different. the fact that it happened while neteyam was sleeping made it clear to you that the great mother only wanted you to see it. but what did she want you to see exactly?

'you may not realize the importance of this relationship which is why you received another sign. whether it is platonic or romantic is for you to decide my child.'

now what does that mean? was that her way of saying you take him for granted? you truly appreciated neteyam, so how do you not realize the importance of your friendship with him.

after a couple minutes of pondering, a figure entered the space which caused you to look up. ri'an walked in, bow in hand.

"what are you looking for?" you asked, watching him walk around the marui seemingly looking for something.

"my riding visor. i left it right over here yesterday." he huffed, pointing to a spot that was now empty. his words made you look to the right of you, neteyam's visor sitting right beside you. it brought your thoughts back to him and what mo'at said.

maybe ri'an could provide some insight of his own.

"can i ask you a question?" you asked the boy who was still looking around, moving things around to find his visor. "yeah." he responded without stopping his investigation.

you took a deep breath, "do you think i take neteyam for granted?"

ri'an paused, the basket in his hand being calmly being put back down. he knew that visor wouldn't be hiding under the basket but he just had to be sure. he turned to you and it was quiet for a moment before he uttered one simple word,

"yes."

OH?

it took you a couple long seconds to actually respond and when you did all you could say was, "i'm sorry, what?"

"y/n you didn't tell him your name for months.. and tuseya told me that you avoid him when you're around other people. and before you say you don’t want any unnecessary attention, if neteyam was really your friend, a few extra eyes wouldn’t matter, right?”

ri'an was right. you were so stuck on the fact that being friends with neteyam would bring unwanted attention that you're kind of pushing him away. thinking about it now, you were surprised that neteyam didn't just leave you alone altogether. especially after you didn't tell him your name right off the bat.

when you didn't respond ri'an added on, "look, i don't think you mean to take him for granted but you do."

after another moment of silence, you let out a deep sigh, "i see that now."

"finally!" ri'an cheered and you glanced at him. he was smiling, holding the now found visor in his hand. you recognized it because you made it for him. a lot of the things in your family's marui were made by you. they were always grateful for the things that you provided.

"but why'd you ask me that? did somebody tell you that you take him for granted?" ri'an asked now sitting next to you.

"yeah, eywa." you responded nonchalantly.

ri'an looked confused before his eyes widened, "do you mean-"

"yes. yes i do." you interrupted him since you already knew what he was about to ask.

you spent the next couple minutes explaining to ri'an what happened and your talk with mo'at. out of all your siblings, ri'an was the one you were the closest to. even though he's an extrovert and you're an introvert, he matched your curious nature.

maybe it was a good thing that ri'an walked in when he did, he opened your eyes a little bit more.

the next day, you were attempting to calm your nerves as you walked through high camp. your hands were clammy from the nervousness you were feeling. and in your anxious hands was neteyam's now fixed visor thanks to you.

after your talk with mo'at and ri'an, you realized you should start making an effort in your friendship with neteyam so you decided that you would go to his family's marui to give him the visor. even though you chose to do this, that didn't make you feel any less anxious.

when you finally made it to the olo'eyktan's family marui, you peered inside before making your presence known. the only people inside were his parents. the only two people you were hoping weren't there.

they were talking and laughing with one another. you would've smiled if you weren't scared shitless at the moment. after letting out a breath, you walked in.

jake and neytiri turned their heads to the figure that walked in. they both recognized you right away. you were the girl that is supposedly friends with their oldest son.

you brought your hand to your forehead before bringing it down, "oel ngati kameie jake sully and neytiri." you greeted them properly. the last thing you wanted them to think is that you aren't well-mannered. to your relief, they greeted you back.

"what brings you here y/n? are you looking for neteyam?" jake asked you. neytiri just stared at you waiting to see what it was that you came for.

you glanced back down at the visor in your hands and nodded, "uh yeah, i fixed his visor and i was just coming to return it to him."

neytiri's eyes fixated on the visor in your hands but said nothing. jake nodded, "he's out right now but you can leave it here for him if you'd like."

"sure, can you just let him know that i brought it?" you asked, placing it on a small stool near the entrance.

"we will." neytiri finally spoke, her eyes meeting yours.

now even though neteyam's father is olo'eytkan, neytiri scared you the most. she was one of the most skilled archers in the clan and she always looked like she was silently judging everyone.

"thank you." you smiled awkwardly before bidding your goodbyes and leaving as fast as possible. once you were out of their eyesight, you let out a sigh of relief. you may have been a little awkward but you were respectful and you made it out alive and that's all that matters.

neteyam finally made it back to his family's marui. recently, he had asked kiri for her help on something. so they went into the forest right after breakfast to finish up what she was helping him with.

it was now afternoon time when he and kiri got back and neteyam was hungry. when he got back home, he knew his parents wouldn't be cooking any meals until later in the day so he decided that he would settle for a couple of fruits for now. when he went to pick up the basket of freshly picked fruits near the entrance, he saw his visor sitting on a small wooden stool. he paused and picked up the accessory instead.

"y/n brought that here for you." neytiri spoke. she saw her son eyeing the visor.

neteyam looked up at his mom in surprise, "she came here?"

neytiri nodded and neteyam looked back down at the visor. a smile spread across his face. he knew you were shy around most people and it was clear you didn't like much attention. the way you basically ran out that day when his family showed up proved that. he just thought you needed more time opening up and he was more than patient. so the fact that you actually came by to give him his visor meant a lot to him.

"she seems nice." neytiri said, grabbing her son's attention once more.

"she is." neteyam confirmed. he then glanced over at kiri who was obviously shocked at her mom's statement but when she met neteyam's eyes, she smiled.

"go." she then mouthed. neteyam nodded before grabbing a few things he needed before setting off towards his ikran.

when neteyam arrived at his destination, he unloaded the basket of fruits off his ikran and started walking towards the lake. the lake he goes to during his free time and more importantly, the lake where he met you.

finally reaching the lake, he was not surprised at the sight. you were there, feet submerged in the water while your fingers worked on something new.

"hey." neteyam spoke, causing you to look up from what you were doing. you smiled before looking at the basket of fruits in his hand.

"what's that for?" you asked.

"i wanted to hang out with you but i'm also very hungry so i thought we could eat together." he answered, placing the basket down next to you before taking a seat as well.

"and how did you know i would be here?"

"when are you not here?"

"fair enough." you chuckled before setting your new half made anklet to the side. you grabbed a yovo fruit while neteyam picked up an utumauti. the two of you talked as you ate the fruits he brought.

"oh and thanks for fixing my visor, i really appreciate it." he said.

"you're welcome.. and to be completely honest, i was so scared going to your marui earlier."

"why?"

you looked at him, "your mom is terrifying. i feel like if i make one wrong move she'll shoot an arrow through my chest."

neteyam laughed at that. he knew his mom was intimidating but she's always been soft and endearing towards him and his siblings. it was always his father that berated them whenever they got in trouble. in some cases, neytiri was the one that saved them from jake's punishments.

"well, she said she likes you." neteyam smiled.

your eyes widened, "really?"

neteyam nodded. you put your head down to hide the smile that was peeking through. after being scared that his parents might not like you, it felt relieving to hear that you left a good impression on his mom. hopefully the olo'eyktan felt the same way.

since your head was down you failed to notice neteyam seemingly giving himself a quiet pep talk. he closed his eyes and did a silent prayer before grabbing something and turning to you.

"so i've been meaning to give you something." neteyam spoke.

you lifted you head to see him moving the basket of fruit to the side so there was an open space between the two of you now. he then scooted over so that space was now filled with his body.

you sat in silence, patiently waiting for whatever it is he wanted to give you. his hand was currently in a fist, he looked down at his hand before opening it, revealing a necklace. you followed his line of eyesight, seeing the accessory.

you smiled, gently taking the necklace from his larger hand, "did you make this?"

he nodded, "uh, yeah. but kiri helped so i can't take all the credit. i know it's not as good as the stuff you make but-"

"no no no. this is amazing. thank you." you smiled. you brought the necklace closer to your face to get a better look. it was woven nicely from a white material. you then noticed a couple of colorful pieces connected to the rim of the necklace.

neteyam seemed to already know what your next question was so he decided to answer before you had a chance to ask, "i also added some beads.. the ones from my hair."

your eyes immediately left the necklace and went to him. he looked nervous to say the least, which makes sense.

in omatikayan culture, acts such as giving gifts, giving something significant to someone else, and giving your own beads to someone are all signs of courting.

but neteyam surely isn't trying to court you.

that's not what's happening right now, right?

this series was originally supposed to be 7 parts so this was going to be the last one but i hate odd numbers so i expanded it to 8.

taglist - @fanboyluvr @liluvtojineteyam @arminsgfloll @squidalapobre @jjkclub @angelsamor @netedoongie @im-in-a-pansexual-panik @hana-yuri @riatesullironalite @camilo-uwu @audigay @jkeluv @marsbars09

[ebonysplendor]

psst 👀 you should check out “Where He is King” by mellowbile on itch.io

Hmm...heard 👀

TL;DR: He's a joker, a jester, an absolute clown...but the pain that he puts us through is no joke

That was horrible, I know. I couldn't think of anything else. Plz let me live ._.

Game Link: https://mellowbile.itch.io/where-he-is-king

Notable Features: Nameless MC, Female MC, Demon/God LI(?), Yandere LI(?), Choice-heavy story Spiciness: 0/5 -- Unless you're into the whole dismembered from the inside out thing, then 5/5. No kink shaming here LI(?) Red Flags: 5/5 -- Physically abusive, Torture, Sadist. That's about it, but it's pretty gruesome/vivid stuff

Wanna know more? Not if you're not at least 18! Y'all were good until it got updated a few days or so ago due to the gore. Anyways, if you're part of the 18+ club, let's get into it!

!! C O N T E N T !! !! W A R N I N G !!

He looks more like a jester to me, but it may trigger that whole fear of clowns thing...just a heads up

So, this one was a request, which I'm always excited about, so of course I had to give it the old college try. To be honest, I saw and played this the same day that I had gotten the request (hence why I wrote the whole "y'all were good until a few days ago" thing, because it was a few days ago at the time), but I really wanted to get that Trembling Essence review out first, and then, I started adulting and lost track of time, and then a month went by, and yeah. Not to mention that I was looking FOREVER for a particular ending; I'll get into that more once the review portion comes along. Anyways.

Now, admittedly, this one wasn't too much of my style but...actually, just take a look at this:

I actually appreciate the disclaimer because, admittedly, the first thought I had was "This feels gorey for the sake of being gorey", but after remembering what they had said about it being more emotionally charged writing, I realized that it actually was pretty emotionally charged. Like, the writing itself was actually pretty solid and the art? Ugh, I loved the visuals. Those of you who have been rocking with me for some of my reviews know that I get completely undone over sprites, CGs, and all that visual stuff.

Admittedly, I don't really have too much to say in the intro. All that I want to say seems more appropriate for the review portion, so I'm going to go ahead and jump into talking about the game itself. As per typical, I'm going to tell you as much about the game without ruining the game itself.

So boom.

We're on the run. Well, let me rephrase that: we were on the run, but our ankle is kind've AFK, at the moment, and running isn't really an option right now. Just as a little backstory, the reason why we're trying to get away from him is because everything is literally going to shit, or Hell, more accurately. Villagers are disappearing, children are either becoming runaways or being abducted, and there's this hypnotic music that's (assumed to be) always playing in the background from a taunting distance, being just barely heard. Not long after, a devil -- that was intentional, by the way, because he's not the devil, but a devil. He ain't that special, but he's still dangerous -- catches up to us.

Friedrich "JunJingl" Marchosias. Yeah, I jumbled the pronunciation of that last name, too, but just know that that's his name lmao.

Naturally, he starts to taunt us, calling us a "broken toy" because our ankle is sprained, and we aren't much for running right now, which makes his pursuit less amusing for him. This wouldn't be such an issue if, one, Sir Jester Douche wasn't a literal psycho and a pretty serious threat, and two, we weren't literally the last human alive. That's right folks: we're what remains of humanity. Okay, well, maybe not that dramatic, but it seems that way because the people that would've been in the surrounding area are either dead or they were a part of his army, but that's not reassuring either because he only took the children for his army -- we're a full grown adult, so our fate isn't looking too good.

At this point, he's getting pretty pissed at us. That's because he's been talking mad shit this whole time, but we've been silent throughout his whole lil' speech. Like, oh, pardon me for my brain shutting down and putting survival at the top of the list, my good sir.

We indulge in his arrogance briefly, but just long enough for us to stall him while we make a gameplan. Now, here's the thing: if we make a run for it, we're probably going to die because our ankle is pretty messed up, but if we stay and keep talking to this psycho clown...we're probably going to die.

Huh. Okay then. With that being realized...

We bolt. We are outta of there. Point blank period, because it's like, if our chance of death is pretty much inevitable, we may as well make him work for it.

That's kind've falling flat though, because he's right on our tail, and he's not even putting in the effort while doing it. We can't worry about that for too long though, because we hear this music playing and...oh shit.

It's going from bad to worse. Now, we have to worry about his entire army chasing after us, too. It doesn't matter though because survival is still at the top of the list, no matter how slim or nonexistent the chance may be; we keep running. We run and run and run and run until we get to this well. Granted, it may have been a stupid move, but we actually managed to get a good bit of distance, and we stop to get a drink from the well. Like I said, probably a stupid move, but shit, we don't have much of a chance of survival if we're dehydrated. ...Actually, we don't have much of a chance of survival if we are hydrated, either, but a bitch is thirsty, so we get that damn drink, or so we thought we were going to. What we were expecting was a well full of rainwater.

It's full of blood.

We don't even have time to be scared before Friedrich pops up behind us. With our survival instincts kicking in, we get on our gangster shit. We notice that the bucket was silver and recall how a lot of the things in the village had been replaced with silver dupes because it could ward off evil. When I say that we got a good ass grip on that silver bucket...

And absolutely knocked his shit in?! We blasted the hell out of him with that bucket. Look at this man's face.

Lmao, no babes. Not that face.

Lol not that one either...

Ah, yes. We...might have just plummeted our inevitable chance of death to an inevitable certainty of death...

And the story continues from this point, my friends! Actually! This is only one route of ten! Which ending is this you ask? Lol like I'm going to tell you. You'll have to play the game for yourself to find that out. Just be cautious, because it does get a little...messy.

Okay, so! ...Wasn't really my cup of tea, not gonna lie, but it wasn't bad!

First and foremost, let's get into the visuals of this game. The art was definitely pleasing to look at. Like, ugh, I love CGs and sprites and visual effects and all of that, and this game had a looooot of them. Like, take a little lookie look.

Chef's kiss work right there. I really, really, really loved the artwork. Definitely my favorite aspect of this game.

Now, like I said in the beginning, the gore was pretty "in your face" and definitely gives the initial impression of being gorey for the sake of being gorey; however, I made sure that I read it with the "emotionally charged" disclaimer in mind. Pleasantly enough, I actually could get that vibe. The dev gave the go-ahead for personal interpretations but, mmm, nah. Even though I'm not the most analytical person, I was going to let you all in on my weird thoughts, but nah, I think I'll pass on that for another day.

Put it this way though, obviously, I took it as a metaphor for being in pain, but hear me out (TRIGGER WARNING FOR SUICIDE BY THE WAY): it's not just physical pain, but that pain that you feel from the inside. You know, that internal pain that's so intense that it feels like it's literally tearing you apart from the inside out. The worst part about that type of pain is that, even though you want to die, there's something that's keeping you alive, and it feels like literal torture. To me, the game was a huge metaphor for fighting to survive but staying alive feels like torture, and you're just left constantly wishing for it to just end -- maybe a sprinkle of being haunted by past mistakes and a possibly wavering faith? (TRIGGER WARNING END). Anyways, that interpretation may make more sense if you decide to actually play it for yourself. Lol I guess I did let you guys in on my thoughts after all. Guess we're getting kinda close at this point, huh?

Also anyways, another reason why it took me so long to post was because for the LIFE of me, I could not frickin figure out how to get ending number 7!! At the time, the game was extremely new. Like, still in the box wrapped in plastic new, and I was like "Shit, I'm on my own, and I'm dumb". I spent so much time and literally revisited the game on different days to see if I had accidentally skipped something and found nothing new. I looked through the files, and I was like "Bro, I've literally seen all of these sprites and CGs. What am I possibly missing?". When I say that it was driving me nuts... BUT THEN! I WENT TO THE GAME PAGE AND I SAW THIS

OH BLESS IT. I WASN'T BEING AN IDIOT; ENDING 7 JUST DIDN'T EXIST. THE RELIEF THAT I FELT. At the same time though, I was like "...why was there no ending 7?" But minor concern. Very minor.

Overall, the game was pretty damn solid! Lots of gore for sure, and I definitely didn't mind it, but the initial reaction was gore just for the sake of gore; however, when you really give it a chance, the writing's actually pretty okay. My favorite thing about it was by far the art and my other favorite thing was that we got to blast Friedrich's ass with that bucket. That was so satisfying. I mean there were consequences, yeah, but we still got our lick in lmao.

Welp, that's pretty much all from me! I recommended giving it a solid playthrough or two! I recommend it so much, I'll put the link right here so that you can give it a try. Also! Apparently they have a tumblr page for their art, and I'll link that here as well! I didn't see anything for a donation, but if you find otherwise, I'm sure they'd appreciate the monetary support. If you're broke, like me, send them some encouraging words and let them know "Hey, you did a thing, and I think that you should continue to do that thing because you're pretty good at it!"

But yeah, I'm going to end it here so that way I can FINALLY get this posted! Sorry for being MIA for a little. Adulting really be adulting, and I am ill-prepared for it a lot of the time ^^;

Anyways! Remember to drink water, don't be dumb, and hope to see you around~!

Where He Is King

Dev's Art Tumblr

[midnighttrain-project]

Hello everyone! It’s time for another development blog!

Thank you very much for the support I received in the previous post! This time, the focus will be pixel art! In particular, we will talk about the creative process behind the new sprites of the remake.

As some of you may already know, MerúM is the artist in charge of the pixel art in Midnight Train. Let’s ask him some questions about it!

🌙🚂 Interview with MerúM 🚂🌙

Lydia: First of all, could you introduce yourself?

MerúM: I call myself MerúM. I am the pixel artist of Midnight Train: New Moon, and I am in charge of the sprites and animations of the characters. I also worked on Aria's Story and the previous version of Midnight Train doing the same job.

Lydia: The character sprites in Midnight Train: New Moon look quite different from the original version. Is there any reason for this change?

MerúM: Well, before the switch to RPG Maker MV, I was already working on the new sprites and animations for the Midnight Train remake. However, once we changed programs, I noticed that the character sprites were very small compared to the current screen dimensions. I decided that this was a perfect opportunity to redo the sprites from scratch as well, increasing their dimensions and detailing them more than the previous version allowed me, without wanting to move them too far away from the previous chibi style.

Lydia: Right now, you already completed all the characters sprites for chapter 1. Was there any challenge or something you’re really proud about? 

MerúM: After changing the sprites, the expressiveness of the characters has improved a lot. Characters now have many more unique animations and expressions, solidifying their personalities. I think this new style works very well with the aesthetic of Midnight Train’s world and makes them look quite unique from character to character.

Lydia: Could you describe your workflow and what programs you use to create your work?

MerúM: For my sprites, I use Aseprite. Before starting with a specific character, I tend to draw their base sprites and their walking animations. After this, I receive a list of events that will occur in the game related to those characters, and then I create the sprites and animations that fit into said scenes using the base sprites as a reference. Usually, I am in charge of designing how these scenes will look in pixel art, but with some more specific or complicated scenes I have received a quick sketch of how the sprite/animation should look like as a visual aid, and thus arrive at the version that best suits the scene.

Lydia: I’m just curious about something… Who is your favorite character from Midnight Train?

MerúM: I think all the characters are fantastic, maybe I could consider Neil Lawton my favorite. I think, in the end, we should all be a little like Neil. Even if you are afraid at first to move forward, just do it. This is what Neil does, he may be afraid, but he faces this fear to survive.

Lydia: Is there anything else you would like to tell us?

MerúM: What else could I say? I think Midnight Train: New Moon brings a story that will appeal to anyone who is passionate about mystery stories. By the way, it's fun to mention that in addition to Justice, Purity and some secondary characters, I have been the main designer of Larissa, one of the new characters in this remake. I hope you play Midnight Train: New Moon and get to know her!

🌙🚂 Progress 🚂🌙

I hope you liked the interview with MerúM! I wouldn't have been able to create my games without his help, as I'm pretty bad at pixel art. I'm excited to see all the sprites he will create for chapter 2! I personally can't wait to see Apollo's animations. Now, I want to report about the development of the game. I’m almost finished with the maps of chapter 2, so I expect to start programming this chapter very soon! Literally, there is only one map left…! I wanted to add a new puzzle to this map, so I’ve been stuck brainstorming ideas… Ahh, it feels like facing a final boss before proceeding to the next step.

Thank you a lot for your support and patience! See you next time~

[front-facing-pokemon]

Bro what do people have against green shinies... Some of my favorite shinies are the ones everyone hates... Ugh. In fact some of my favorite pokemon are the hated ones. I'm the OG klefki defender.

Anyways I'm the resident blastoise hater of the pokemon fandom. Wartortle had so much potential but they fucked him up and now like everyone likes it for some reason???

-The ranting rambler

hello, ranting rambler! it's been like a whole month since i've answered any asks, hasn't it? rest assured, i've not fallen off the face of the planet—and i should really answer these more often as i used to. but here we are! you've got me this time. before i get into answering any asks, though, i've got a question for you, tumblr! no, not you, userbase (though perhaps you, if you know the answer)—i mean a question for you, [tumblr]! the website!

my inbox claims to contain 20 asks, before all of these i'm about to answer have been cleared out. however, i counted, and there are a grand total of seven asks here! this is not 20!

and for the record, when i answer asks all in one big post like this, i screenshot them and then delete them, then leave one there to actually put the post on, and after that, when i can confirm there are exactly Two asks remaining in my ask box (this one i am answering right now, and the original nose rater ask with anon turned off), and it claims that i have fourteen asks left in the box. this is blatantly untrue! what is going on. anyway, now onto the asks!

i don't remember if i was on the side For green shinies or against them, to be honest! i think it's a pokémon-by-pokémon basis for me. alien espeon is a little jarring, but can be cute when drawn like a screebo blorbo alien thing like folks tend to do. i like alien espeon when it's drawn like that. but in-game, it does come off as somewhat jarring!

it does make me wonder what's. so wrong with wartortle. i think it's cute enough—the wings on its head make no sense, and the color is definitely off when it's rendered as purple, but i don't think it's a total miss as a pokémon– wait, i stopped in the middle of writing this to go to a meeting and now i came back and re-read your ask and it turns out you're talking about not liking blastoise! although i still don't see why. it's the same color as squirtle, at least—and i think a turtle with big water guns on its back is just straight-up cool

unfortunately, the pokémon models don't include guns, typically! but it's long passed by now because i rarely answer asks anymore :(

well! i didn't expect those little words to catch on like they did. glad i could contribute to your brainrot, soldier o7

saw this one in the comments a couple times—today-i-learned! i do wonder why it didn't really get translated at all and just remained japanese. typically with names like these that are references to normal words they'll at least translate them into english—but this one remained the same

the models resource! this, the sounds resource, and the sprites resource are lifesavers when it comes to game archivism

okay. maybe blacephalon is slightly cute. when it's drawn like that. perhaps its model isn't doing it any favors

YES THIS IS THE VIDEO I MEANT!! although i referenced that a WHILE ago by this point because LOL it's been a month and a half since i answered asks!!! lol!!!!

anyway that's all the asks in my askbox. if you count these you'll notice they don't add up to 20. and that my askbox still says 14 despite the fact that there is only two asks in it:

there are evil phantom ghost asks in my ask box. they are going to attack me

[thygoddessouijathicc]

The DSAF Flipside sprites are wildly inaccurate

So I think I may or may not have posted this before but- I’d like to say some things-

DSAF’s Flipside sprites are something I often use as a means of determining things that are 100% true about characters, but I tried actually comparing them (using head size as the average to make sure all heights are accurate). And this was the result. While I do see Steven as short and headcanon Peter as taller than Jack at least even I can see this is��� probably not correct.

It gets even weirder when you notice that depending on where you are in the game sizes seem to change slightly, but let’s ignore that.

It seems like each one of these sprites (ESPECIALLY Peter) was made very separately from all others leading to major discrepancies. And look, while I do understand and I frequently do this as well… this is weird and feels like a little much.

This image is probably the most egregious example of “this can’t be right”. Because not only is Peter fucking massive, but I’ve heard the excuse of “perspective” and if perspective has anything to do with this, Peter is even bigger because he’s the furthest from the camera.

Honestly Peter’s Sprite seems to almost be a different STYLE from all others around it.

So yeah- it’s pretty fucking clear that whatever the case may be- These sprites don’t say much about the world of DSAF.

I mean- I don’t blame Doggo at all for this, indie development is FUCKING HARD. Sprites are HARD. Keeping anything consistent is HARD. All I’m saying is- people who, like me, are using these sprites as a means of trying to make things canon accurate- always keep the Peter Sprite in mind as a reason you should take them with a grain of salt.

Of course it would be REALLY FUNNY if this was canon accurate and I wish it was but from other art it doesn’t seem to be.

AU where the Peter sprite is canon.

[loz-furbies]

Oracle of Ages & Seasons Zelda

Nintendo can't make up their mind if the Oracles Link is the same one from ALttP or not and I suppose the same applies to Zelda. Personally I think that sure, let's give ALttP Link more adventures, but if I were to draw a compilation of all individual Zeldas I'd probably make ALttP and Oracles Zeldas separate characters since they have different enough designs. In the end I don't think it matters though and I seriously don't believe Nintendo cares either.

I played Ages first so this is based on her presence in Seasons linked game, not sure how different it is to the Ages counterpart.

Design

Speaking of character design, this is yet another time for me to bitch about the promo art and sprite not matching (fear not this will end soon as we move away from the pixel games). But seriously, why give her cute hair buns in the sprite if you're not going to use them! And more importantly that would be a unique Zelda design at least, because her actual look is one of my least favourites in the franchise. Like sure she's perfectly cute and there's nothing particularly stupid about the design either, but it's just so derivative. This is just the adult OoT Zelda design except in a younger art style and ALttP Zelda's cape. It's not an interesting or memorable look, and it also makes it harder for me to decide if this is a new character or not (and how to draw her). Like looks-wise it's clearly a different girl, but since there's grounds for the Oracle games to be ALttP sequels it's just so confusing.

Alright, moving on!

Character

This time Zelda does get a moment of being a bit more assertive than usual. She's told to stay safe during a crisis, but instead she shouts that she's going anyway and runs off to give a rousing speech to the villagers. But for the most part there's not much to Zelda outside her typical shtick of being the nice princess who gives exposition.

In the end credits we see every character once more, but Zelda's part is just that she looks at the stars alone at her castle while smiling happily, and while she looks cute, I don't get a lot out of that.

Role in the story

Story-wise Zelda doesn't get to do much. She's the one who sent help to foreign lands after she saw a vision of their downfall, so she takes a very active part in that, but it's all offscreen and ultimately her plan to evacuate the oracles doesn't even work. She then comes to visit herself, and her most notable contribution is to encourage the villagers. And sure I can take that, it's set up reasonably well that she becomes a symbol of hope to them (for GBC storytelling standards at least).

In the grand finale she gets kidnapped as usual, this time so that she can be sacrificed to revive Ganon, and there's nothing interesting to that.

Relationships

Aside from the character design, the biggest reason to consider that the Oracle games are not an ALttP sequel is that Zelda doesn't appear to recognise Link at all and introduces herself as if it was the first time they met. I'm willing to chalk this off as video game jank and it's more of an introduction to the player (for example Impa and the animal companions who you meet in both Ages and Seasons also don't appear to recognise Link in the second game you play in a linked game). I think it also makes more sense for Link to be the friend of the royal family since the game starts with him just sauntering to the Triforce unimpeded.

Not that it makes much difference because Zelda and Link don't have much of a relationship, even if Zelda spends most of the game not being kidnapped this time. However the game does end with Zelda giving a little kiss to him (and him getting all lovestruck about it), and I think it's cuter if they have some history together already.

Impa is also in the game, but she and Zelda don't have much to do together outside the standard princess-and-caretaker stuff. Zelda doesn't get any meaningful interaction with Din or Nayru either.

[benis-chillin]

Thoughts and theories on Sonic Prime

So, Sonic Prime has ended, good fellers, and since it's a Sonic thing, I shall simply say…

My feelings are mixed.

So, let's start off with just saying that the animation and voice acting? All good. If the English game cast blew up in a mysterious gas leak, these guys would make for fine replacements. The fight scenes are fluid, though do get a bit repetitive in the final few episodes(cause I think they were running low on budget), and everyone moves better than they have in the games…Maybe ever? Music is passable, but outside of the main theme, it's fairly forgettable. I think they used some game music in those sprites scenes that suck ass, so I don't see why they couldn't use a tune or two. At least use "All Hail Shadow" once, dude.

However, I feel that the writing and premise lets it all down. The premise feels like it would be better for a game or IDW arc instead of the rare animated series, especially since this show doesn't establish what Sonic's world is SUPPOSED to be like for new audiences. Sure, the games are at a decent level of popularity recently, and the movies have boosted the brand considerably in the public consciousness, but at least one episode before we start hopping around the multiverse would've made the stakes feel a bit tighter. Just because this is the game world doesn't mean you can skip basic shit like that. A status quo needs to be established for it to be shaken up.

And yes, I did say this is the game world. Prime is, by standards I will explain in a bit, canon. Sonic fans have been arguing against this because of little details, like Green Hill being used interchangeably with Sonic's world(even though they never outright state that they're the same thing, leading me to believe this is simply a weird writing quirk), Sonic not noting other Metal Sonics exist when Chaos Sonic is introduced(even though he never says, "I have never seen a Metal Sonic before in my life!" Or anything like that), and Sonic having particularly shaky characterization(bad writing doesn't dictate canonicity, as otherwise the 2010's games wouldn't be canon either).

All of this is not good writing, to be sure, and Sega should've cracked down a bit harder on that stuff while making this show, but nothing here outright contradicts canon, if you know what a contradiction ACTUALLY is. It's an ongoing problem in the Sonic community that they don't know how to lore at all, and Prime is a good example of this. You don't have to like Prime, but if you count Colors or Lost World as canon, then you have no reason to not include Prime. Otherwise, you're just basing canon on what you do or don't like, which is an AWFUL approach to canonicity.

Personally, I slot it between Lost World and Forces for the moment, but this could change at a later date. Now, let's sit down and speculate on some things.

What are the Shatterspaces?

Long explanation short, I don’t believe the Shatterspaces to be a traditional multiverse setup. They aren’t variants of Sonic’s universe in the traditional sense, but rather partial worlds built on “fragments” of Sonic and company’s collective psyche, and this concept can explain a few things.

(Note: This is purely fan speculation, and not Objective Canon Zone. We’ve gotten past that point)

Let’s break down each Shatterspace.

New Yoke is a dimension entirely overrun by the Chaos Counsel. Nature has been weeded out, and people live by the “mercy” of the Eggmen.

However, this Space is the only one with any Eggman variants, and this is very deliberate, because New Yoke is Eggman’s dream made manifest by the Prism. Remember, his robot was holding it when Sonic shattered it, so it’s logical that at least SOME of that energy came into his control. Hey, if anyone besides Sonic could control it, it would probably be Eggman, right? And when they make a giant construct at the end of Season 2, it looks like regular Eggman, so maybe there’s something to that?

But of course, that begs the question: Why 5 Eggmen?

Well, 5 Shatterspaces.

New Yoke-Mr. Doctor Eggman

The most similar to mainline Eggman, it feels best that he represent this Shatterspace.

Boscage Maze-Dr. Deep

The more zen of the 5, who may have more of a connection to nature than the others. For the crime of possibly having touched grass, I give this Shatterspace to him. The closest to a nature side that Eggman has.

No Zone-Dr. Don’t

This one is a stretch, but bear with me.

This version of Eggman is still a youth, likely to have wanted adventure and freedom before reality set in and he chose instead to zone out to his video games and other electronic forms of entertainment as a substitute for the action he craved. Eggman’s a playful sort when he’s not trying to rule the world, so it’s JUST possible enough.

The Grim-Dr. Babble

(Where the hell did he get a doctorate as an infant?)

A Shatterspace fairly undeveloped, its potential not yet fully tapped, much like dear Babble himself. Also a representation of Eggman’s childishness, though perhaps it more links to his feelings of being neglected as a child, as hinted at in the Frontiers audio logs? Who knows?

Ghost Hill-Dr. Done-it.

A shadow of the past, barely hanging on, just waiting to die out so the new hotness can take over completely.

Also looks oddly like Eggman Nega? Idk.

However, these are merely reflections of what the Shatterspaces already represent, which are aspects of Sonic's Personality…Save for New Yoke and Ghost Hill. The former is mostly Eggman’s domain, and the latter is just what was left after the Shattering.

Also, I believe the Shattering to be an event localized to Green Hill, and not encompassing all of Sonic’s world, which would explain why they use the terms interchangeably. I can’t fully explain WHY I feel that way, just have a gut feeling this is how it works. My main basis for this is the flashback in New Yoke where Rouge and Knuckles are just in Green Hill when the Eggmen take over, suggesting that perhaps they were “localized” when the Shattering redistributed them.

Oh yeah, let’s explain that. It seems that Sonic’s friends, along with ALL of Green Hill’s residents, didn’t have much control over how they were split among the Shatterspaces, but aspects of them clearly adapted to the worlds they were placed in. For example, Rouge and Knuckles both took charge of the Resistance in New Yoke, which fits them well enough. Knuckles commanded the Resistance in Forces, and Rouge is literally a government spy in the main universe, after all.  Amy likely defended nature in this world, and paid the price for it when the Eggmen turned her into a cyborg. Tails seems to have withdrawn into himself completely, becoming Nine. This universe was made by a villain, so these versions are the darkest ones we could get. The bad ending.

Anyway, back to the other ones.

Boscage Maze represents Sonic’s love of nature, and is thus dominated by it. The people who live in this Space are thus devoted to their natural world, which adapts to be a primitive society led by more primitive urges driven by the need for survival. Rouge naturally leads again, and her more devious nature shines through as a part of her survival instincts, but she’s still doing better than her New Yoke version. Knuckles leans so far into his naivete from growing up on Angel Island alone that it gets remixed into paranoia, Big is Big, Tails seems to have still been isolated to the point of going somewhat feral, but is accepted nowadays by his peers(and has a knack for technology when he finds himself somewhere that it exists), and Amy vehemently defends nature to the point of absurdity. Much like how New Yoke is an example of technology being too dominant,  Boscage leans towards going too far in the other direction. The people don’t suffer as much, but they still DO suffer in the end if they don’t work together for a better tomorrow.

No Zone is Sonic’s love of adventure, and everyone in this space represents that. Tails is at his best, being very sociable and accepted by his peers with no hesitancies, clearly. Knuckles' desire for “me beauty” might be a memory of the Master Emerald, but I wouldn’t put too much money in that. Another theory is that it ties into his role as a treasure hunter, without any echidna honor to reel in any greed. This is overall the most positive Space here, tbh. 

The Grim is simple possibility. The future, what lies ahead for Sonic. He rarely looks to it, never plans it out, instead choosing to just live in the moment, but it’s always there waiting for him.

And yeah, that’s it. The only remaining question is where are these Shatterspaces now that the Prism is restored, and the main universe returned to normal? Well, Sonic gave the energy back that the Prism needed and it didn’t kill anyone, so it’s likely that they exist permanently now, stable outside of the main “multiverse.” Different from a dimension like Blaze’s, and the split timeline caused by Generations. But that’s just speculation. Who knows if these concepts will ever appear again?

Idk, could make for a good fanfic.

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Fujitsumon

Debut: Digimon Pendulum 2.0 Deep Savers (kind of. It's a little complicated. But don't worry about that)

Fujitsumon is a darling little eyes-in-a-void barnacle! With their brown exteriors, they really do bring to mind Jawas, world-renowned eyes-in-a-void creature. This is a rare design choice for a barnacle, and a barnacle is a rare creature inspiration choice! Too rare! They are such incredible and fascinating animals, and should absolutely be represented as such, and not just background decorations!

Fujitsumon is essentially a Digimon by technicality, an accessory of a creature, and I'm fine with that. They're acknowledged as creatures, and that's enough for me! They're almost always seen attached to the surface of another creature, and that sure is barnacle of them!

This is their host, Octomon! Or Octmon, if you don't like the dub name, but I think Octomon sounds better. Octomon wears a clay pot on its head, and Fujitsumon live on top of that! This is a smart setup. If I lived underwater I would love to wear a hat that some barnacle friends of mine could live on! Fujitsumon and Octomon have a mutualistic relationship going on, where the barnacles will sense danger, and warn the octopus of it, getting the whole group out of danger!

The reason I wasn't so sure about Fujitsumon's debut is that in Deep Savers, Octomon's sprite looks like this, not nearly detailed enough to even depict some barnacles! However, it does seem like the official art was made around this time, so I might as well consider this Fujitsumon's debut too.

There isn't much to Fujitsumon, but I love it! It's cute, it's a barnacle, and it's almost a "secret" creature, and that makes it, dare I say, even more fun than if it was a standalone obtainable Digimon! A charming little oddity in the digital world.

That's what I thought until I found out this little barnacle has a whole dedicated ANIME EPISODE! YEEHAW! This is the best barnacle-related cartoon episode I've ever seen! Better than SpongeBob SquarePants episode 164a Barnacle Face! Why, even better than Benny the Barnacle (2022)! Can you believe it? Better than Benny the Barnacle? I can.

In this episode of Digimon Ghost Game, the human protagonist is tormented by premonitions of disasters occurring to everyone around him, revealed to be caused by a Fujitsumon settled on his head. A land mammal is no place for a barnacle! Wouldn't it be crazy if you could go to the beach and leave with a barnacle settled on your fingernail? What would you even do? I would probably feel obligated to dip my finger into the ocean regularly to let it filter-feed. If only we had air plankton!

This Fujitsumon, as well as others that are affecting other humans, come from one particular Octomon, who got so angry at his barnacles that they Left. These are no real-life, cemented-in-place-for-the-rest-of-their-lives barnacles! They can just get up and leave if they're bothered. I bet real barnacles wish they could do that! It would be so embarrassing to end up settled right next to a turtle's... hehe... I shan't say...!

Octomon's petty outburst was over his magic brain barnacles not using their clairvoyance to help him win at a mobile game. Now, because of his Gamer Moment, there are Fujitsumon stuck directly to peoples' heads, which can cause these heads to explode. Maybe he should have just played a good mobile game, like Pico Pets Puzzle! *high fives someone offscreen*

Don't worry! Everything's ok in the end, like it always is with invertebrate friends! Octomon apologizes, the lead Fujitsumon gathers the whole crusty crew, and everything is fine except for the physical damage that has already been done, but don't worry! The virtual invertebrates are all friends again! Squishy or chitinous, none of us have spines, and that's what matters!

If you know of any obscure barnacles in media, please let me know in the notes! And until the next high tide, remember to close your armored plates to prevent dessication!