#he is a very unique creation and such a neat concept.

[a-trying-writer]

considering i finished the hh fanfic, house cat, on my ao3 i might just post the bullet points here, of used and unused ideas, for fun. probably for future use. we will see.

[Cat gets recognized by the person that ran her over. They have a panic attack in the background.

Dave says to Cat, that she doesn’t belong.

Cat and Dave have a spat, which may Veronica intervene, and tells Dave that he is wrong.

Cat appreciates Veornica’s kindness, but takes Dave’s words to heart. Still works despite it, but can’t focus.

Goes home to Maison to talk. And most importantly, asks to hold his hand. They do.

But will it change the outcome?

Cat will become unsure about her place in the valley.

Hence the theme of being an outsider, such as the original title.

Make any changes if needed, but keep focus in these ideas.

Future note: Maison knows about Cat’s want to move and travel. She’s not good at keeping secrets from him, though, is it really a secret, if it is intentional?

Lots of things and ideas to be think about.

“Home Is...”

“Where the Heart Was.”

Cat becomes lovesick.

Veronica knows, Dave finds it disgusting to see someone fall for a REALTOR, but keeps it to himself.

Cat becomes touch-starved.

Cat clings on Maison.

But does she go through with it?

Or does she get scared?

Cat sees a romantic comedy movie and gets conflicted about love, due to a wedding scene.

Is her relationship with Maison considered as such, or is it too late?

What is Maison’s thought about her?

Can they fall in love?

She isn’t sure what to do or how to feel.

But maybe they can figure something out.

But will it change the outcome?

No.

Cat will still leave because she is an outsider. And she herself doesn’t feel happy, even if the feeling is requited.

Cat doesn’t belong to Maison, nor vice versa.

So her decision will be made in the next chapter.

The fate of Veronica and Lucky will also be in question, and may leave.

For another story will begin, separated from the fanfic.

Which is still a wip.]

the results werent perfect, but i had fun. and im excited to see what the future has in store for the series. but thanks to personal conflict, i thought it will be for the best i just create something original for my own sake. i love the game and i love the character a lot, but i cant rely on another's idea for long. but i love to talk about it and come up with theories still. there is so much to think about and i loved exploring something new as scared as i was to share it.

i hope to see more hh fanfics too, because the art ive seen on twit is great. i wish it was a little more pop on tumblr. its a short funny horror game. but im rambling.

catch ya around folks.

[starry-bi-sky]

surprise phantom doodles for 'late at night when the nightingale sings' '

i was brainstorming today after classes over Danny's ghost form in 'late at night when the nightingale sings' and decided to draw out some concept ideas! Specifically for when he was eleven and freshly ghosted.

Canonically, as per "Before the Nightingale Sings" Danny was wearing one of his parents' jumpsuits when he died, meaning it was much too big for him going into the portal. As Phantom it shows -- now, I'm still learning how to draw baggy clothes, so his clothes aren't nearly as baggy as I picture them being, but I hope I got the general feel across. -- by how his suit seems to sag off him, with Danny using bandages (or, more likely hair ties) to cinch his gloves off at the wrist because they tended to slip and fall off.

He has an even greater tendency to float as Phantom, not just because of the ghost thing, but also because his boots are so big and heavy that he tends to trip over them if he's walking or running. They're loud and clunky, and I'm thinking that eventually he just ends up getting rid of them at some point because they're so in the way.

The shading over his face is something I came up with while drawing, and while I hope to be able to keep it, I might end up dropping it before it gets written into the fic. My idea was for it to kinda like, be a unique way to represent his love for space by having a shadow darken over his forehead that steadily gets lighter the further down his face it gets, and in the shadow-y parts are star-freckles, but I'll need to see how it looks digitally before I confirm it. It looks cool with just pencil and paper, but whether or not it looks cool (rather than busy) in color is a different story.

His eyes are probably my favorite part! But I'm also a sucker for inhuman looking eyes. His pupils are, as you'll notice in the pictures, noted to be white, and shaped like four-point stars. His hair is also meant to be shorter, but I didn't feel like testing my short-hair-drawing-skills with the concept drawings for Phantom just yet.

The "new ghosts have a very specific feel" thing was another thing I thought of as I was drawing, and I thought it'd be kinda neat. The townsfolk are scared of Phantom initially because of the whole "ah! a ghost!" thing, but also because Danny's legitimately giving off like, the worst "not a deer anymore" vibes ever. Not unintentionally, mind you! But still giving them off.

I don't know how to articulate it well, but new ghosts have this "new car" feel to them that, to the living, feels pretty similar to encountering a liminal space, and it's because of how fresh the ectoplasm is in their creation. They're still "fresh out of the oven steaming" so to speak. They invoke a sense of unease and foreboding that's pretty unique to new ghosts, like a combination uncanny valley and "I have a bad feeling about this".

To ghosts it feels different! New ghosts don't spook the other dead like they do the living, so this is only a phenomenon with the humans. To the other dead it's more like that "new car smell" except its that "fresh ectoplasm" smell that tells them the other ghost is fresh out the grave dirt. This feeling usually fades after a few weeks.

It gets cut off, but the drawing in the corner says "death scar is in center of chest rather than on his arm" and that's because I've mentioned before that I think Blood Blossom Danny's death was a little different in comparison to typical fanon. Rather than being killed by the button electrocuting him, the fabric of reality tearing a hole straight through where he was standing did! Luckily for him, Danny was dead before the pain could hit.

As a result, Danny's got a pretty large but luckily relatively unnoticeable "blast" scar in the center of his chest, and while he doesn't have that big ol' hole as a ghost (most of the time), his chest was the last to physically form. His ghost formed right behind Sam and Tucker, which was a very trippy experience for their already traumatizing experience. They could see Danny's physical core, which pulsed like a heartbeat and cast the whole room in a light like the aurora borealis, before it was steadily encased by his physical body. Very horrifying to see. Danny doesn't remember this. It has a tendency to go numb sometimes, and he developed a habit of rubbing his chest.

Technically Danny does have a pair of goggles too -- but I haven't mastered drawing goggles yet, and I didn't wanna mess with drawing them. So for now, he's gone goggle-less for doodles. I do think his ghost form -- at least clothingwise -- has changed by the time he's 13, but I'll need to put some extra thought into it.

There are some other things I'd like to incorporate too -- like his interests outside of Space -- into his ghost form, but again, that'll take some brainstorming, and probably doesn't initially set in until later.

[lovely-showtimes]

HIHI, could I request a reader who’s a vocaloid producer (like deco*27/Mitchie M) with Ichika, Kanade, Minori and/or Akito???

Hope its not too much TY <3

producer. ♡

characters - ichika, minori, akito, kanade.

type - hcs.

a/n - wow sorry i took so long to get to this !! i thought this req was such a neat concept when i first received it and i'm honestly shocked it's taken this long to get around to it honestly ... also, im fairly sure a couple of these charas have been in events related to learning how to tune vocaloids, so if anything in here contradicts those events please forgive me i have not read them </3 enjoy

Obviously, Ichika has always admired Vocaloid songs

She's wanted to try it for herself for as long as she can remember, but seeing how expensive the software is, she can't

Until she met you, of course

Learning you were a Vocaloid producer and that you shared her passion for music probably made her love you more than she already did

She will gladly listen attentively as you explain how it works to her, even if she's heard it before from certain videos

She wants to hear you explain it, after all

Seeing the process of making these kinds of songs that she's loved for years is so exciting for Ichika

When you temporarily leave the room to grab something, you come back to see her tentatively making Miku sing a few notes

"...Ah! I-I'm so sorry for touching your things without your permission!" "No no, it's alright. I'd like to see what you make." "If it's really alright, then..."

You two will eventually make a song together, and it will sound amazing, trust me <3

Minori enjoys quietly watching you work away at the laptop

It's a bit of a toss-up, sometimes she'll be utterly silent and sometimes she'll ask you a billion questions at once

Every single time after you finish making a song, Minori's already crafted choreography for it in her mind and eagerly performs it for you

So if you're the type of producer to use animation/dancing in your mvs, you have a wonderful choreographer to help you plan it out!

Minori always tries to get the rest of MMJ! to cover your songs with her after you release them

Even if they don't want to, she'll probably post solo covers anyway

You'll also catch her humming your songs when she's distracted by something

If you tell her about it, she proudly tells you it's just because your songs are so amazing, they always get stuck in her head!

Minori loves her talented partner so much, after all!

Akito didn't know much about Vocaloid songs before he met you, really

Yeah, he's listened to a few songs once or twice. Yeah, he covers them constantly. Yeah, he knows Hatsune Miku personally, but that doesn't mean anything

Suffice to say, he learns a lot from you

He's asked if he can watch you make music before, which you didn't really mind

You thought it was boring to him, though - all you really do is sit there quietly as you work, occasionally humming or singing the melody you're trying to create

Until one day, Akito suddenly comments on the creation process as if he's used the software multiple times before

It definitely shocked you, but you're happy to know he does pay attention

If the music you make is his style, he'll probably cover it himself or with VBS too

Although, when they find out he only wants to cover your songs because they're your songs, he gets relentlessly teased about it...

Kanade is already used to making songs digitally, plus she's used the Vocaloid software before

The two of you end up making songs together a lot

You've probably collaborated with 25ji multiple times, plus Kanade and you often like making songs on your own

Aside from that, you two can often give each other help or criticism when you work

"Hey, Kanade. What do you think of this song so far?" "It flows very well, and your tuning of Rin sounds very unique and refreshing. However, maybe you could tweak this part..."

Although, while Kanade knows how to use Vocaloid, she usually focuses on melodies more than the voice software

So she's learned a lot by being with you

And likewise, you've learned a lot about composing from her

You're each other's biggest fans, really

Your songs are very comforting to Kanade. She'll find herself humming them on instinct when she's stressing herself out from composing

If your songs are on the gentler side, she'll probably put them on when she's trying to sleep

(Usually she doesn't try to sleep though, she just ends up falling asleep on accident...)

[fandomsoda]

What is your most unpopular headcanon about ink?

This is a hard one as I’m not sure how exactly to quantify popularity-

ok I think I found two that work but I wish I could think of something more divisive because I love Inkcourse, but I’ve not had many people directly hate on my headcanons

first of all is my interpretation of his attitude towards Error, it’s very unique. Ink doesn’t take Error seriously, viewing him as the far less powerful being that he is, but this doesn’t result in contempt. I mean sure, there is that small rush of adrenaline when behaving with an attitude of despisal, but it’s not true hate or negative feelings. He likes to study Error like something in a petri dish and Error is where he learned most of what he knows about “normal soul-having being emotional experience” (explains a lot tbh) and thinks he’s just kind of neat. He sees Error as a cat whom he studies and sometimes gives kisses on the forehead but the cat always wants to claw at him 24/7. Not very controversial, I know, but still something I don’t see often, at least not exactly like this.

My more intense one is that Reaper is a more befitting official “counterpart” for him than Error is. No, creation and death aren’t directly congruent concepts, but the way Ink and Reaper operate is much more of a yin and yang scenario. They don’t interfere with each other often, viewing one another as necessary everydays. They’re also immune to one another, Ink can’t die and Ink can’t create anything directly and bring about life in the larger multiverse with Reaper being able to bring death but not harm Ink, both guardians and helpers.

this was a really hard question to answer tbh but here you go °w°’

[catherinek-g]

Modeling tips and tutorials :)

David Neat:

This site include all the tips and tricks that go into and help make realistic looking textures for your sculptures. These tips range from which materials work best for specific things too what tools you will need to use and the methods recommended to create these textures.

This "tutorial" is more like a process video of how the creature was made and less like step by step explanation as to how it was done and what methods were used. There were a couple of notes and tips throughout the video that were shown at the corner of the screen but it was mostly just a video showing how they got to the outcome. Overall the quality of the sculpt is very good and it look like it has been planed out well but it wasn't a very informative tutorial.

This video was entertaining and has a good balance of comedic elements and information, including semi-detailed instructions so that you can follow along more clearly and create similar outcomes as seen in the video. The creator explains why he has chosen certain materials and explains what properties they have and also shows the mistakes that were made during the process. The quality of the sculpt is good and the overall concept is interesting and unique.

This video is a time laps of the creation process of the sculpt so it's less like a step by step tutorial however in the beginning, the tools and products the sculptor used were shown. This video being a time lapse helps in seeing how they went about each part of the piece and what tools they used. The end product of the video is very nice and super detailed.

This video is a nice mix of a time lapse and a tutorial as he's explaining what hes doing and his thought process whilst it's happening. I also like how he goes into some detail of the methods hes using. The overall final product looks really good and unique, having a very well thought out design.

McKenzie has a very nice and universal style when it comes to his sculptures with all of them having really well thought out designs that are full of detail and look professional. His work ranges from stylized pieces to more realistic looking ones that still have that whimsical nature to them.

[taffingtons]

so i have mixed impulses on this...

canon definitely says they dont gain or lose weight, but its only mentioned in a couple of terminals and not backed up by anything else. imo, the "weight doesnt change" thing was somebody coming up with something that they thought was 1. silly in regards to the "synths love fancy lads" idea, and 2. a good excuse as to why synth mcdonough wanting to be a courser was a ridiculous idea

in the end, though, its fatphobic while simultaneously making zero sense. we see the synth creation process -- it straight up looks like they're lab-made humans that get synth chips implanted. the fact that you cannot tell a living synth from a human is very big and very important and heavily emphasized -- both by the institute, and by the surface. why would they bother re-engineering the way human metabolisms work when that would make synths stand out?

i can't remember where the "synths don't age" concept came from (wrt the text), where i'm pretty sure "can't procreate" is implied through unreliable narrators rather than directly stated. (for example, deacon saying he and barbara were trying for kids, so like. sweeping gestures at deacon's everything)

this is a lot of hemming and hawing about what i remember from the game itself and not properly answering the questions. LOL

synths and metabolism -- canon is bullshit on this one. i'm keeping "they inexplicably love fancy lads" though just because it's cute (and doesn't break the major "can't tell them from humans" rule). the real reason why synth mcdonough can't be a courser because he doesn't have the temperament tbqh (and because SRB already considers him disposable)

synths and aging -- i'm the most torn on this one. on one hand: yeah, breaks the major rule, but on the other, i imagine the institute wouldn't WANT to do such long-spanning projects with synth replacements. we are told over and over that S9-23 won't be able to grow up, but is it unique to him? it could be considered in line with shaun's intentions for that "project" for S9 to represent his forever-childhood

synths and procreation -- i can see this one being true, solely so the institute can control the population. it also doesn't break the major rule tbh. but it would be neat if, like in fable's (prev) works, they actually manage it through hormonal control via synth chip, and they actually can if they get their synth chips removed

Question for the Fallout community.

Not sure if this is factual or simply my headcanon. I think that Synths don't age and can't procreate. It's actually a large theme in my fanfictions and poses lots of issues for many characters.

True or false for you?

[startistdoodles]

Top 5 legendary Pokémon trio you liked??🤭

OHHH interesting question!

As per usual with my rambly posts, I'll explain under the cut as to not take up a bunch of space 👌

5. Legendary Beasts (Raikou, Entei, Suicune)

I absolutely love the designs of these three, I think they’re so distinct and majestic. Although their capture method is a bit frustrating (as roaming legendaries tend to be) it always delights me when I’m just going through a random patch of grass and I can hear the distinct battle theme start playing. It’s such an adrenaline rush.

Of the three, Suicune might be my favorite. I love its blue and white coloration and the wind-like tails make it look very mystic. I also loved the role it played in the Celebi movie, I think that’s why I was drawn to it as a kid.

4. Lake Guardians (Mesprit, Uxie, Azelf)

Unlike most of the “mini” legendary trios, the lake guardians have an important role to play in their story. Their power is used to summon one (or both) of the deity Pokémon, and you have to rescue them. They also assist you in return for saving their lives. I love their designs and how each of them are based on a type of forest spirit (a sprite, a pixie and an elf/gnome). And not to mention...their battle theme? Is such a banger.

Of the three, I think I like Mesprit the most. Not just because it’s the one that most closely bonds with the player canonically, having been the guardian of the lake where they grew up, but I also remember fervently chasing after it when it was roaming and it was the first legendary I ever caught. It also sounds like it’s saying “owo” which is an added bonus.

3. Legendary Golems (Original) (Regirock, Registeel, Regice)

I’m gonna pretend for a moment that the Hoenn regis and the Galar regis are separate groups for this because I have stuff to say about the original trio. I love how the game doesn’t explicitly tell you about the hidden Regis, but you do get hints and bread crumbs laid out about these sealed chambers that need to be opened. I actually didn’t even know about their existence until I was reading the Emerald handbook and it said something about a secret passage underwater on one of the routes. It was such a thrill going to uncover this ancient tomb and deciphering braille to solve puzzles. It made me feel like an actual archeologist uncovering something huge and mysterious. And again with the battle themes...just listen to it. It’s incredible.

Of the original regis, I think Regirock might be my favorite? There’s not really a particular reason, I just think he’s neat and a big ol clunky boy. Ün ün ün,,

2. Tao Trio (Reshiram, Zekrom, Kyurem)

Black and White are my favorite main-series Pokémon games and these legendary dragons play a part in that. They’re designed so flawlessly, with Reshiram being very soft and fluffy while Zekrom is tougher and more sturdy-looking. And Kyurem is the frozen empty husk left behind. I love the fusion that Kyurem has with the other two, but it makes me curious why it can’t fuse with both simultaneously. These three were all once one being, but it seems they can’t all fuse together anymore. I’d be interested to know the lore behind that.

My favorite in this trio is Zekrom. I’m bias, I got White version and bonded with him. His body shape reminds me a lot of Palkia (another one of my faves) with the bipedal stature and the wings on the back. I just think an electric dragon is such an amazing idea and Zekrom does the concept flawlessly.

HONORABLE MENTION: Weather Trio (Groudon, Kyogre, Rayquaza)

I couldn’t pick between them and the number one spot so consider these three to be in the 1.5 position. I won’t ramble about them too long, but their designs are amazing (especially in their primal/mega forms) the lore within the story is so good, their powers are so iconic and their battle theme in ORAS is absolutely LEGENDARY PLEASE LISTEN TO IT-

Kyogre is my favorite of the three, but Rayquaza is a close second. I love its cry, its design (orcas are my favorite aquatic animal) its primal form is AMAZING and it would absolutely win in a fight with the other two with all the water and ice type moves it can learn. Kyogre is the mvp.

1. Creation Trio (Dialga, Palkia, Giratina)

This was probably the most expected on the list, lol. The creation trio has always been my favorite group of legendaries and their powers have fascinated me since i was but a wee 9 year old playing Pearl. The myths and legends around them are so fascinating and they’re the start of the Pokémon franchise actually giving a deeper amount of lore to their story. How the world began and the god-like Pokémon behind it. Not to mention the revelation of a world that is parallel to our own and keeps the balance between them in check. And the trio’s designs are unlike any other Pokémon we had seen at that point. Very otherworldly and embody their respective elements very well.

As for which one is my favorite...that’s a toss up. I love all of them, but I am a bit more partial to Palkia. I love its design, its robotic wings and the pearls in its shoulders are so unique. Its cry in the game and in the anime are both just so alien-like and one of my favorite cries in the whole series. And also its typing of Water/Dragon is SUPER good, it’s a real tank.

Anyways that’s about it! Thanks for the ask, this was fun to think about~

[amessageonthewind]

Something a friend and I have briefly talked about is...the idea of Chara and Gaster’s relationship pre-his disappearance.

Like, the idea is just...fascinating to me.

Spoilers below for Undertale and Deltarune, if you care at all about it

There’s that one jokey comic about Gaster doing a checkup on Chara and Chara jokingly telling him about made-up blood types (as evidenced in the vessel creation screen in Deltarune Chapter 1).

But, I wanna run with that.

Because Gaster built the CORE, but he was also helping Asgore try to escape the underground. Entry #17 in the True Lab does exist, implying that Gaster did work in that laboratory before Alphys was there.

So...what happened?

I think while Chara was living with the Dreemurrs, Gaster was their doctor. And through this relationship, this was how Gaster came to learn about Determination and its potential uses. But as Chara began to realize what Gaster was doing, they got more uncomfortable. Since this is before their plan with Asriel to cross the barrier to get six human souls to free the underground, I think maybe Gaster had a similar plan. Or at least wanted to use Chara in some way for their status as a human to try and break or pass through the barrier.

So...Chara pushed them into the CORE, causing Gaster to essentially be scattered across reality and erased from existence, save for a few stray pieces of him.

And since his lore is so elusive and vague, a lot is up to interpretation.

Now, why do I link these two so heavily together? The short answer is the Japanese translation of both Undertale and Deltarune.

You see, what isn’t as obvious in the English game becomes more obvious in the Japanese translation due to the nature of the language itself. The way Chara speaks to you at the end of a genocide run is...very specific. It’s an incredibly formal form of Japanese that isn’t used very often, and isn’t used by any other character in the game. Gaster has a similarly unique stand-out way of speaking in the translation.

The vessel creation screen in Deltarune Chapter 1...is very telling. During the creation, by going off of what we see in the Japanese translation of Undertale, it’s clear that Gaster is the one speaking to us during the creation screen.

Before he’s cut off by Chara, and Chara discards our vessel and sticks us with Kris.

Why? Who’s to say? Chara is known to have a morbid sense of humour and clearly has a lot of feelings on us as a player in Undertale, though it’s incredibly subtle if you’re not playing genocide. And if Chara had a previous relationship with Gaster, it would make sense that they would want to intervene and mess with whatever he’s trying to do in Deltarune.

And since both of them exist in a state of nonexistence, Gaster sort of living in the lines and between the boundaries of reality and Chara being...well, dead and sort of a haunting spirit we were able to influence in Undertale (somewhat) based on our actions.

I just think the idea and theoretical history between Gaster and Chara is a really neat concept, especially when considering the implications their relationship would have on consequences and decisions afterwards.

[algernoninwonderland]

Miraculous is playing one big game of Calvinball with its magic/power system and it undermines the show quite a bit

TL;DR: Miraculous has, at first glance, a very basic power/magic system… Only whenever it tries to get more complicated than “Moon Prism Power, Make up!” it ends up being an unspeakable mess, due to poor creative decisions that don’t allow for the audience to truly understand what is going on and why, outside of “whatever the plot requires so that we can get to the next scene”. 

It may well be because the people making this show wanted to shift their attention to kwamis and their powers in the future seasons, but holding onto that for seventy-something episodes has done the show a disservice.

Longg isn’t the kwami of Perfection. Longg is the kwami of being a cool dragon. And sometimes, being a cool dragon is enough, you know? Instead of doing complex things poorly, you can tackle simple concepts really well and people won’t think any less of your creation, au contraire.

Throughout the history of the superhero genre, a pretty nifty thing most creators have understood is that you need to explain a bit of how and why the hero’s powers work. Superman is superpowered because it’s all a matter of gravity, a fact underlined in the very first issue of Action Comics, in the very first page of Superman ever. The X-Men are mutants. Sherlock Holmes was bitten by a radioactive detective.

Basically, what happens in most cases is, the creators come up with a set of rules to sort of explain the storyworld so that you know to manage your expectations, so that the storyworld feels more cohesive too. That’s what I call a neat way to allow your audience to suspend their disbelief and feel more involved in the story being told! Things happen and are allowed to happen a certain way for a reason in-universe, there is a kind of logic proper to the work of fiction being built that makes it easier for the audience to fully get into said work.

In Hunter X Hunter, Nen is a pretty cool concept that is well-defined, we see what it is at first with no explanations, and it’s hella intriguing, which makes you want to know more (and that’s deliberate) and then the manga explains it to you a few chapters later and for the most part, Togashi sticks to that definition. And now we understand what is going on and how. Cool, right?

What do we have here? Creative decisions that are often given justifications in-universe to make them more believable in the context of the story being told, even though they are ultimately arbitrary decisions which can be challenged (see how Superman’s powers changed over time, for instance). You can toy with these explanations and that makes for great comedic potential, just look at One Punch Man!

Magic can be a little murkier for sure, because magic doesn’t necessarily follow rational logic. I won’t be getting into the soft/hard magic talk here. Still, if you want your audience to understand what is going on and if you’re not a complete hack (looking at you Joanne Kathleen), you tend to set up some rules so that the audience can grasp what the hell is going on, understand why something is really impressive or really basic. Is it really such a big deal that a character is able to master that one spell? Why? Ursula Le Guin and Brandon Sanderson are really good at that, and manage a good balance of mystery and understandability.

Miraculous fumbles the bag pretty hard when it comes to how its magic/power system works. Which, after 70-something episodes, is not great. 

Part of it is due to the exposition style Miraculous has chosen for itself, which could be great but ultimately isn’t, and part of it is due to poor definition in the first place.

Miraculous hates exposition dumps most of the time, and I think it’s actually a good thing. No one wants to feel as though they’re sitting through a boring class instead of having fun. Well done, guys! Exposition dumps often make you all the more aware of the artificiality of a story. And so, Miraculous mostly relies on context cues as a means of introducing you to the world. They just show you the thing and trust you to understand and interpret it properly. And sometimes, it works really well!

I still sincerely believe that Stormy Weather is a fantastic first episode, and it does its job amazingly well. In 24 minutes, you learn the very basic outlines of how stuff works, relationships between the characters and superpowers. Yes, it’s very basic, but that’s fine, you can’t drop all that new information on your audience all at once. We understand that the power within the Miraculous, that of the kwami, allows for its wearer to transform. This comes with nifty perks, heightened agility, reflexes, amazing strength, magical accessories, and special quirks unique to each of the Miraculouses.

Are we good so far? See, if we stuck to that, it’d be fine. Not mind-blowing but pretty okay still. Doesn’t have to be too complicated to be enjoyable, just look at Sailor Moon!

And then Miraculous tried to spice things up and communicated its ideas so poorly that the arbitrary decisions taken by the writers are glaring, and seriously affect the audience’s suspension of disbelief and enjoyment. 

The kwamis aren’t just cutesy mascots, they’re gods. And yet their powers are very limited. Why? Well, the show doesn’t really bring that question up, we can only try and infer things. Now, what are these limitations, and why do they exist in the first place? I’ve got a vague answer to the first question (a time limit for transformation once the special power is being used).

The answer to that second question is very unsatisfactory, and that’s the only one I’ve got: “because the plot requires it if we want to do such and such thing”. Which is an answer that applies to absolutely all creative decisions in fiction, yes, but there’s usually more to it as well, in competently-made shows at least, it’s not so transparent. Why is Marinette able to wield so many Miraculouses at once? Well, it’d look cool and it’d make her look powerful, so why not! But Adrien can’t. Why? He just can’t. No explanations whatsoever. Just because. It’s magic. Shut up and watch the show.

Well, that’s not entirely true. We’ve got fleeting remarks about being able to unlock kwami powers and maintaining a transformation for longer and whatnot. The problem is, they’re just that, fleeting remarks, and worse, they are so scattered across the show it’s really easy to forget about them in-between episodes, especially since the release schedule is absolute nonsense (it isn’t the creators’ fault, but it certainly has an impact on the way the audience engages with the show). So no, the show isn’t going down the “just roll with it” route, not entirely… And that makes the lack of proper explanation that much worse.

It feels as through the few rules there are in Miraculous are being made up on the fly and… Heh. That’s just not great.

It doesn’t help that the powers themselves are… Really something, huh?

Chat Noir’s power is the only one that really fits with what his kwami is meant to represent. Destruction. Easy to represent, right?

Creation is trickier, that requires being imaginative, and Miraculous isn’t terribly imaginative when it comes to its lucky charms. Hey kids, did you know that you could use a ladder to stop an ice-skater? How creative! I mean you could also use salt to melt the ice, or a baseball bat to smash his kneecaps, then… The point is, being convoluted isn’t the same thing as being creative, and while Chat Noir gets to decide what he destroys, Ladybug gets an item thrown at her and you better believe she’ll find an use to it… How is that creation exactly? Is the lucky charm popping out of thin air creation? That’s a bit underwhelming, isn’t it?

Tikki represents convolution, Nooroo is the power of creating minor antagonists…

I had to check the Wiki to remember what concepts the other kwamis are meant to represent. There’s a disconnect between that and the way powers are represented on-screen. Pollen isn’t the kwami of Subjection. Pollen is the kwami of stabbing people with a stinger. How do I know that? I watched the show and nothing else.

If you want your audience to not be confused, if you don’t want your story to feel completely arbitrary to your audience (though it’ll always be just that), maybe take the time to explain things that are crucial for the understanding of the storyworld’s inner workings. You don’t have to give everything away in the first ten episodes, not at all, but you should explain them at some point, take the time to do so if these are more complex concepts that are crucial to your show. And if they aren’t key to your show, you don’t have to include them, and I promise no-one will notice.

[happi-tree]

On The Style and Effectiveness of 1-A Hero Costumes - Part 2/5

Part 2 of this post!

NAVIGATION

Part 1 2 3 4 5

INGENIUM / IIDA TENYA

It’s armor time!!! Behold a man. 

What I don’t like:

The costume seems too bulky for a Quirk and fighting style that optimize speed. And while it’s true that cars are pretty bulky but still go fast, it’s equally true that certain types of cars are designed to go faster. The current design reminds me most of a semi or a big SUV, but if the costume was more streamlined along the lines of racecars or sports cars, it would help take off the extra weight that the bulk provides, leaving Iida lighter and more streamlined - therefore, faster. 

Some examples of slimmer armor include Go Go Tomago’s from Big Hero 6 and Jim Lake Jr.’s from Trollhunters. And while I get that his body type inherently lends itself to being tank-like, lightening up on the bulk would probably be great for him.

The exhaust pipes out of his back confuse me. They bring some car energy, which is entirely welcome, but they likely hinder balance and motion, which is bad. They leave him looking a little unbalanced, and since so much of his strength and his fighting ability focuses on his lower body, having excess superficial material protruding out of the sides like that doesn’t seem to lend him any favors. And even while it looks cool, it just seems like it would be uncomfortable? Especially since a lot of runners - Iida included - like having full range of their arms to help propel them forward. The pipes might get in the way of that.

Here’s what I like:

The overall aesthetic. I love how this look both makes sense with Iida’s Quirk and personality and plays with elements of his older brother’s costume. It simultaneously puts across some knightly vibes - which is genius, considering how chivalrous and rule-following Iida typically is - and also calls to mind Transformers and cars with the emphasis on the engines and some of the more mecha elements.

The support! Armor is such an easy way to protect yourself while also getting some serious style points. His most essential areas are covered - neck, chest, arms, and legs - which is especially important considering that Iida’s legs are integral to his Quirk and his fighting style. The helmet is also a really good choice, considering this boy is essentially a human car. He looks a bit intimidating wearing it, which is good for fighting Villains, I suppose. Class dad is protected.

And a misc. note:

You know how after Iida’s special Recipro Burst move, he has to wait awhile while his engines cool back down? I think it would be really neat if he implemented some cooling technology into his Hero suit (similarly to Todoroki’s temperature-regulating gear). Theoretically, if he could find something that worked a bit like coolant for his engines, he would have a much quicker reaction time - and speed is the main facet of his Quirk, so it would probably help a lot!

Overall: Very good at providing protection while having a bomb-ass aesthetic. Not quite so good at being built for speed.

I CANNOT STOP TWINKLING / AOYAMA YUUGA 

On the other side of the armored spectrum… we have this kid!

What I don’t like:

*Edna Mode voice* NO CAPE! Why do I not like the cape? Capes can snag on stuff very easily and it would be an easy thing for Villains to target and use to unbalance Aoyama. Longer capes are especially susceptible to getting trapped under rubble, torn up, or covered in gunk from the environment (which is not the Look he seems to like). I feel like a shorter cape would get a similar message across while minimizing the potential dangers that a long cape poses. Of course, Aoyama can be trained via experience to utilize his costume effectively with the full-length cape, but when his life and the lives of others are on the line, I’d rather not take that chance.

The shades. I get that they’re iconic, but they’re taking rose colored glasses a bit too seriously. 110% will fall off his face and also messes with the princely Vibe the rest of his costume provides. I do like their Elton John energy, though.

Not a bad thing, but I just want to know how his belt works.

Here’s what I like:

The overall aesthetic. I love how the costume’s obvious “princely knight” vibe reflects so much of Aoyama’s character. 

The support here is also really good! Working the belt into the theme of his costume so seamlessly is very innovative and I love that for him. Getting the knee pads and shoulder pauldrons to match his central laser both adds to the uniqueness of the outfit and also pushes that royalty theme since they look very similar to inset gems. 

The color scheme. Purple, silver, gold, and black look very classy and regal together, and I appreciate how the royal purple ties back into the concept of European royalty, which is very in-character for this boy. His pantaloon-looking things??? Neato.

Overall: Eh, okay. Ditch the glasses and shorten the cape. Superb, you funky lil knight light.

CREATI / YAOYOROZU MOMO

Here we are! I’m finally taking a crack at one of the most highly debated hero costumes in the entire show, and like a good portion of people, I’m gonna be extremely salty about it. Yaomomo doesn’t deserve this - none of the girls deserve this. These are my thoughts:

What I don’t like:

The absolute lack of support. For any aspect of her. Nothing about this costume is protective (other than maybe the partial high collar). Her most vulnerable areas are exposed, and while it makes sense for easy Quirk usage, it does not make sense for a girl who’s fighting homicidal maniacs on the front lines. The most glaring area in need of support is obviously her chest, as nothing substantial is holding her bust in place. However, so much could be done to work with the benefits of Creation and against its weaknesses that is not being done in this costume. I’ve seen quite a few redesigns that include a sports bra with a front zip closure, which is worlds better. With the show being set in the future, having a slightly mechanized costume with the ability to retract certain pieces at the press of a button would be useful and likely doable considering Yuuei’s own Support department. Gloves would probably be a good idea to give Yaoyorozu a better grip on harder-to-handle Created objects, such as heavy metal machinery. 

The over-sexualization is, obviously, disgusting. Nothing about this costume says “Hero.” What it does say, in-universe, is that someone had the absolute gall to approve and send this outfit to a 15-year-old girl about to be thrown headfirst into training for an extremely dangerous profession. It says that giving a person in their freshman year of high school an overly sexualized outfit meant for combat training is okay (it isn’t, for reasons I can’t even begin to explain). This more closely resembles an outfit for a lingerie or swimsuit model than it does for any type of superhero, which alone should be enough to warrant some serious changes - especially, as I have stated, since the girl is only 15!

The overall aesthetic. There is no aesthetic reading for this costume other than “sexy”, which, as I explained above, is very problematic. Sure, the exposed skin makes sense for her Quirk, since she needs access to skin in order to produce items with Creation, but nothing about this outfit denotes anything about her personality. Yaoyorozu Momo is a gentle girl who has been shown to have self-esteem issues from early on in the show, and just knowing that makes me wonder if she feels uncomfortable wearing this. If she’s totally comfortable in this look, good for her! But comfort in our clothing factors so much into our mental states, which translates directly to our physical performance - it’s the same reason why having clothes that fit you and your style well make you feel more confident and more content. And especially if Yaoyorozu wasn’t quite expecting the amount of skin revealed when her costume was given to her, it could likely have added on to her self-esteem issues as seen early in the school year.

The skintight fit of what amounts to a glorified bathing suit is not conducive or acceptable whatsoever. With such a powerful Quirk, Yaoyorozu needs all the protective material she can get - which, as I said in Uraraka’s analysis, is quite simply not possible to fit under that bodycon fabric. Some padding at the very least would work wonders, and bulletproof material would serve her even better. 

Once again, heels are not good for any kind of running or fighting! At least it’s a block heel, which is marginally more stable than, say, a stiletto, but still.

The literal bookshelf on her ass. It makes no sense to put it there - it’s an inconvenient place (what if she needs to sit down?) and it looks incredibly awkward to move around with. Besides, there’s absolutely nothing stopping that book from falling at the slightest jostle. At least give her a proper holster or implement it into a toolbelt like some of the boys have. 

What’s with the belt? Can it hold emergency supplies? Or is it just there to make it seem like she’s wearing more than a deep v one-piece? I’m at a loss here.

Here’s what I like:

The color scheme. Deep red, white, and pale yellow look good on her! The color ratios are also pretty good in my opinion. Unfortunately, this is the only good thing I can say about her getup.

And to round us out, some misc. notes:

I feel like the book could be done away with entirely and replaced with something digital. This universe is set multiple centuries into the future, and I think something like a holographic data set would look slick, enable for faster search time for whatever info Yaoyorozu would need, and eliminate the bulk problem completely. At the very least, there could be a smartwatch-type gauntlet to pull up info with a larger screen to enable easy reading. Really, the lack of support for Yaoyorozu’s look is devastating because she could go so many directions in creating an outfit that works with her Quirk’s strengths and against its weaknesses.

Overall: Awful, a disgrace, and a disservice to one of the coolest, kindest characters in the class. I would kill for her to get the outfit she deserves.

INVISIBLE GIRL / HAGAKURE TOORU

Wow, look! Two travesties in a row! One more and I get a bingo!

Hagakure, I love you so much, and I am so, so sorry that the yahoos over at the Support company thought that this was a good idea.

What I don’t like:

Uh. The fact that there isn’t a costume. There is literally no in-universe rationalization for this. Surely, they have the technology. Just look at Lemillion! Togata Mirio’s Quirk is literally phasing through materials (including his own clothing) and they made him his own non-phaseable costume by weaving his own DNA into the fabric! Even if they don’t have the technology (they do), I know that Hatsume and probably the rest of the Support students would immediately jump on the chance of creating a fabric with the ability to switch between visible and invisible modes. 

Once again, the sexualization of minor Hero students continues to disturb me. Who in their right mind thinks it’s okay to send a naked teenager out into a live battlefield just because she’s less likely to be noticed that way? This line of thought surely doesn’t account for stray bullets or falling debris, nor does it account for this poor girl’s peace of mind. She should be focused on getting the job done and saving people, not worrying about how it’s too cold for her to work properly or how there’s nothing between her body and a loaded gun except for the air between them.

The gloves and shoes seem like they’re kinda. Missing the point of contributing to a stealth Hero costume? Yes, they’re good so that Hagakure can be easily recognized among her allies, but does she just have to stow them wherever when she needs to go fully invisible and hope she can find them once the mission’s over? Plus, Hagakure will always, at the very bare minimum, need something to protect the soles of her feet. Walking barefoot just for everyday civilian stuff would cause a lot of problems, but Heroes likely have a lot of broken glass, broken nails, debris, and other nasty things on the streets where they fight. Tetanus is not fun to have. 

Here’s what I like:

The gloves are a nice color, I guess?

Some misc. notes:

I gotta say, I’ve seen SO many good takes on outfit redesigns for Hagakure (same with Yaoyorozu) and the fandom collectively has some wonderful ideas on how to go about creating a costume for her. Personally, I think it would be cool if she had a full-body suit that could change between visible and invisible modes - that way, she would be easy to identify in head counts and it would likely be easier to see places where she could be injured after a fight. At the very, very least they could pull a Lemillion and have her outfit infused with something from her own DNA so it can disappear as she does while leaving her at least covered.

Overall: So, so bad. Please give this girl a suit. I’m tired. 

TLDR Part 2:

Great Costumes: 

Good: Iida

Okay: Aoyama

Questionable: 

Bad: 

The Absolute Worst: Yaoyorozu, Hagakure

[anarchscry]

Let's hear it, tell us about Mage

Mage: the Ascension is a tabletop roleplaying game (originally released in 1993) set in the World of Darkness, a darker reflection of the real world where crime is more common, the working class is even further beaten down, and society is more apathetic to the problems of the world. Also, monsters are real, and some of them prey on humanity from the shadows.

Most of the World of Darkness games (including Vampire: the Masquerade and Werewolf: the Apocalypse) focus on playing as the monsters in the shadows, dealing with things like vampire politics or fighting against the cosmic force of decay and corruption. Mage focuses on, well, mages. Within the context of the game, mages are people who become aware that reality is more flexible than most people assume, and by taking the right steps, they can do the impossible through magic. Well, mostly that.

There are three(-ish) major factions in Mage. The one that is generally the default player option is the Council of Nine Mystick Traditions, usually just shortened to “the Traditions”. They believe that magic should be embraced, and that humanity should be Awakened to their full potential. (Considering what the world would be like if people were capable of throwing fireballs is left as an exercise for the reader.) The nine Traditions come from very different backgrounds, however, and often disagree on exactly what that end goal should look like, which limits their ability to effectively pull it off.

Somewhere between protagonist and antagonist (depending on your personal view of them) are the Technocratic Union, or often just “the Technocracy”. Technically they’re mages, but they don’t see themselves that way. They don’t “do magic”. They utilize advanced scientific principles that are simply beyond the understanding of the average layman. They don’t have strange vision-quests that advance mystical understanding. They have breakthroughs of understanding of those advanced scientific principles that allow them to better utilize those theories. The Technocracy’s long-term goal is a neat, orderly world where everything operates according to easily understood science, without any of this messy “supernatural” stuff going on. Doing so might snuff out all creativity and drive to change the world in major ways, but that’s the trade-off between freedom and security. The Technocracy is also very, very organized, and might actually be able to pull it off.

Fully on the antagonist side are the Nephandi, a group which initiates new members by putting them into their own personal hell where they’re forced to embrace all the things they see as wrong, perverse, and evil, which in turn inverts the part of them that makes magic possible. They can still do magic, mind. It’s just that all of their magic is channeled through destruction rather than creation. For example, a normal mage might teleport by traveling along the metaphysical connection between two points. A Nephandus might do the same by destroying the concept of distance between those two points. Nephandi are bad news, and everyone wants them stopped before they unmake reality.

(There’s also Marauders, who are less a faction and more of a phenomenon. Essentially, they’re mages who fall into a sort of magical “insanity” (for lack of a better word) known as Quiet that warps their perception of reality, and reality shifts to match that perception. Marauders are also bad news, but more because they’re capable of causing mass chaos depending on how far their Quiet can reach.)

Now, obviously, having even a small group of people capable of warping reality would radically change the world. Imagine someone being able to throw fireballs, teleport from place to place, or turn vampires into lawn chairs. Now imagine two people like that fighting. Fortunately, there’s a cosmic limiter on mages that prevents that kind of thing from happening, known as Paradox.

My favourite description of Paradox is “reality’s way of bitchslapping you for messing around with it,” which is pretty accurate. Essentially, whenever a mage manipulates reality in a flashy way (like throwing fireballs down the street, or firing a super-tech plasma cannon), they accumulate Paradox, and eventually that Paradox snaps back like a rubber band with varying effects. Depending on how much Paradox goes off at once, it could be anything from a splitting headache, to vanishing into a pocket dimension, to bursting into eldritch flames that erase you from ever having existed. Basically, Paradox is bad news, and should be avoided at all costs. Fortunately for the mages, subtle magic (referred to as Coincidental magic) generally doesn’t accumulate Paradox, so if you can keep your magic from being obvious, you can do magic relatively safely.

With that out of the way, we can cycle back around to that post about Cain and Abel, and how Cain was the first murderer. Hopping over to Vampire: the Masquerade briefly, the origin story for vampires in the World of Darkness is that Cain killed Abel and was cast out of Eden into the lands of Nod. While in the lands of Nod, Cain was given four chances to repent for his deeds and seek forgiveness from God. Each time, Cain refused, and each time he was given a new curse, which ended with him becoming the first vampire. Caine (now spelled with an E at the end for some reason) eventually Embraced three new vampires, who in turn Embraced more, and so on down the line. There’s some other lore there, but it’s not important here.

Mage interprets the story of Caine and the creation of vampires slightly differently. See, before Abel was killed, murder just wasn’t a concept that existed in reality. It was effectively impossible, the same way that magic is effectively impossible without being a mage. And it was also very obvious and flashy. So according to the Mage view of things, Cain was essentially a mage, killing Abel was an act of very flashy magic, and those curses that transformed Caine into the first vampire? They were a unique and very unusual form of Paradox backlash that turned Caine into a bloodsucking undead monster.

People who prefer Vampire: the Masquerade to Mage: the Ascension very much do not like this way of interpreting things, since it re-centers an entire group of supernatural creatures as being an extended Mage thing, but I still find it an interesting take on the whole thing.

[sirpoley]

On the Four Table Legs of Traveller, Leg 3: Character Creation

In part 1 of this series, I described how Mongoose Traveller's spaceship mortgage rule becomes the drive for adventure and action in a spacefaring sandbox, and the 'autonomous' gameplay loop that follows.

In part 2, I talked about how Traveller's Patron system gives the DM a tool to pull the party out of the 'loop' and into more traditional adventures.

In this part, I'll talk about Traveller's unique character creation system, and how it supports the previous two systems.

Brief Overview of Character Creation

Traveller's character creation is weird, and it was the first thing house-ruled away by my old DM—and I can see why.

Traveller character creation is a minigame of sorts, in which you first generate ability scores (much like in D&D), then pick a career. You make a stat check to qualify for the career, one to 'survive' the career (more on this later), and one to advance. Every time you qualify for the career and/or advance, you get a random skill or stat boost from a table related to your training. In the Army and Marines, for example, you're very likely to get combat-related skills, while as a Merchant you're more likely to get something like Broker or Admin (which tend to be more useful, surprisingly).

You also roll once on a life event table, in which your character might fall in or out of love, make friends or enemies, study abroad, and so on.

You then advance four years in age and try again, and continue for as long as you want. If your character gets too old, they start suffering physical ability score consequences, though these can be bought off with semi-legal anti-aging meds, the consequence of which is starting with high amounts of medical debt.

Rolling to Survive

If you fail a survival roll, you're permanently expelled from your career (but can start another one), and often suffer major debilitating injuries in the form of sweeping permanent ability score damage, though this can be bought off by going deep into medical debt. It's technically possible to die in character creation if your physical ability scores are reduced to zero in this way, in which case you would start over. For that to happen, the player would have to decline treatment—basically, they're making a choice to give up and start over. This is a kind of extreme "safety net" against playing truly worthless characters, I suppose, though I haven't seen it happen yet.

Why is this Good Again?

This way of creating characters is shockingly different from any that I've seen before. The character that you end creation with might not have any resemblance at all to what you sat down and intended to create, which was a huge source of frustration, as a player, in my last two campaigns. It's more common than not to, for example, come up with a concept for a dashing space pilot and end up with a 98 year-old-that-looks-34 white-collar office worker who's got a laundry list of grievances against various corporations who have fired him over the years.

When I've seen this system work well, it's because players went into it with different expectations that they would in D&D. For a D&D campaign, you usually come to the table with a more-or-less fully-fledged character concept, then roll stats (or point-buy) and fill in the boxes. In Traveller, it's more like spinning a wheel and seeing what you'll get.

For the kind of campaign that Traveller assumes, however, this is perfect, and here's why.

First, it sets the tone of the campaign. Traveller is very different from most D&D-esque RPGs. It doesn't provide any guidance for or benefit from, for example, balanced encounters. By creating mechanically unbalanced, unpredictable characters, it is telling the players from the start that there are sharp edges to this game and they have to stay on their toes.

Second, it generates crucially important NPCs for the campaign. Those life events—and some fail-to-survive rolls—often create allies, enemies, rivals, and contacts: NPCs that are guaranteed to be met during the campaign. The book provides tips to the DM to ensure that these NPCs have access to spaceships, as they can be found on the random encounter tables. But here's the fun bit: the Player will be just as pissed at their rival, Captain Morgensen (or whatever) as their character is supposed to be, as he was (according to the events table) instrumental in getting them fired from their career as a space scout. By generating these characters during character creation's life-simulation, it gives them a real, emotional connection that leads to a lot of fun during play. These NPCs can easily function as Patrons (which, as explained in part 2, are the keys to adventure), or can provide paths to Patrons.

Third, it has the potential to start the characters massively in debt. The clear optimal path in character creation is to pay off any injuries by going into medical debt, and chug analgesic anti-aging pills like they're Skittles in order to keep advancing down your career paths, or start new ones. As explained in part 1, Traveller's 'loop' functions best when the PCs are swimming in as much debt as possible. The more debt, the more motivation to travel, and thus the more space pirates and space dragons and space princesses and whatever that they'll meet.

Fourth, it familiarizes them with the setting. The book provides quite a few career path options to the Players, and uses the same to generate its NPCs. Thus, just by reading through the career path options available to them, Players learn a lot about the world of Traveller and the kinds of people they might meet, without having to read lengthy setting handouts or pages and pages of lore or anything like that.

Fifth, it creates gaps in the party's expertise, which encourages hiring NPCs. It's virtually impossible to end up with an adventuring party that can cover every skill required to operate a spaceship, for example. This encourages hiring NPC crewmembers to fill in those gaps, which really helps make Traveller 'work'. A lot of the party's time is going to be spent on their spaceship, so the more people who are on there, the better from a roleplaying standpoint. Also,  

That said, it's not perfect, as…

There Are Some Real Limitations

Mechanically, the main issue that's come up with Traveller's character creation is that it's entirely possible for the party to be missing one or more vital skills, or for a character to be lacking something that would be key to making them 'work'. Traveller's basic dice mechanics harshly penalize untrained skill checks compared to attempting even slightly-trained ones, and some roles can't be easily filled in by NPC crewmembers. If your character never rolls to learn the Gun Combat skill, for example, they'll more likely than not miss every attack they make in the whole campaign. The party can overcome this by hiring marines, for example, but the player might still be bored every time a gunfight starts.

This can be mitigated by, say, letting that player control their hired NPCs in combat directly, but as the game doesn't really provide a lot of guidance for who plays hired NPCs (the DM? the player that hired them? The party as a whole, by vote?), the DM and player will have to come up with their own solution. Since they might not even realize that there is a problem that needs to be solved, this can easily lead to traps (for example, if the DM assumes full control over hired NPCs, many battles will lead to the DM just rolling checks against himself/herself over and over in front of an audience) that generate frustration.

Mechanics aside, there are some narrative implications for character creation that might strike many Players as quite weird. Most D&D Players default to making their adventurers whatever their races' equivalent of early-20s is. Sometimes there's an old wizard thrown in to spice things up, but I'd say 9-in-10 characters I've seen are 'college-aged.'  

Traveller strongly rewards old characters. Sometimes very old. Don't be surprised if the average age of the Traveller characters is the same as the summed age of all of your Players. This isn't necessarily bad—immortal, eternally-young sci-fi characters are kinda neat—but it's also pretty limiting, and may not be within the Players' expectations. If a Player wants to make a character who's a young hotshot just starting out, the rules will punish them severely. They'll have virtually no skills, no money (or debt!), no ship shares (units that track ownership of the spaceship), and no NPC connections.

Making it Work

I'm not going to change these rules until I'm more familiar with the system, but my gut says that many of the game's skills (such as Computers, Comms, and Sensors, or the two skills that govern two different, but similar, kinds of environmentally-sealed armour) could be consolidated to reduce the odds of a missing skill torpedoing a character. I also think flexibly passing back and forth control of hired NPCs between the DM and Players will solve a lot of problems, but deciding on the fly who is in control in a given scenario will probably take some experience as a DM. I’m vaguely aware that there’s a second edition of Mongoose Traveller, which may have done some of these things, but I haven’t played it and as such can’t comment on it.

I think for a satisfying experience, you have to make it clear to your Players not to try to build their characters to a pre-imagined concept, but rather come up with a concept as they play through their character's life. Also, tell them upfront that, in this particular sci-fi universe, anti-aging technology has allowed for the rich and powerful to stay eternally young, and that they can expect to have already retired from one or more full careers before the campaign even begins.

Next up, how this all ties in with random encounters.

[biostudyblog]

Personality

Personality is a very commonly used term, however it’s very difficult to define- some psychologists argue that it is biological and thus innate while others argue it is the accumulation of your individual experiences. An example is the idea behind Type A and Type B personalities- Type A people tend to be high strung, competitive, and ambitious. Type B people tend to be more laid back. 

Psychoanalytic Theory

Sigmund Freud believed that personality was set in early childhood, as children go through his proposed stages of development (oral, anal, phallic, latent, genital). During the phallic stage, as pleasure moves towards the genitals, young boys go through the Oedipus crisis, and young girls go through the Electra crisis when they feel competition towards their same sex parent, and attraction to their opposite sex parent. Freud believed that as boys and girls notice their physical differences, girls experience penis envy (I really hate Sigmund Freud), and boys experience castration anxiety, where they fear they will be castrated if they misbehave. To protect themselves against this, they use identification as a defence mechanism. Identification is when people emulate and attach themselves to an individual they believe threatens them- this leads to boys attaching to their fathers and detaching from their mothers. Fixation on one of the stages of development can cause certain personality quirks- for instance, fixation on the anal stage may lead to someone with an anal expulsive personality, describing someone messy and disorganised. It may also cause an anal retentive personality, where the person is neat and hyperorganised. 

Freud believed most human behaviour comes from the unconscious. We spend a lot of mental energy keeping unacceptable thoughts in the unconscious mind. There is also the preconscious (containing everything we could potentially summon to conscious awareness) and the conscious (containing everything we are thinking of at a given moment). He also thought that the personality came from three parts: 

The id, which exists from birth is in the unconscious and is made of instincts and psychic energy- he thought there were two kinds of instincts, Eros (life instincts) and Thanatos (death instincts). Libido drives life instincts. The id is controlled by the pleasure principle which is the desire for immediate gratification.

The ego follows the reality principle. It emerges around ages 2 or 3, and operates partly in the conscious mind, and partly in the unconscious mind. It negotiates the desires of the id and the limitations of the environment.

The superego is also partially in the unconscious mind and partially in the conscious mind. It emerges around age 5 and is the conscience. The ego often has to act as the mediator of the superego and the id.

The ego uses defence mechanisms to protect the conscious mind from threatening thoughts. Some of these include:

Repression- Blocking thoughts from conscious awareness

Denial- Not accepting the truth

Displacement- Redirecting feelings towards another person or object.

Projection- Believing that the feelings one has towards someone else are actually held by the other person and directed at oneself

Reaction Formation- Expressing the opposite of how one truly feels

Regression- Returning to an earlier, comforting behaviour

Rationalisation- Coming up with a beneficial result of an undesirable circumstance

Intellectualisation- Undertaking an academic, unemotional study of a topic

Sublimation- Channelling one’s frustration towards another goal (often viewed as one of the more healthy defence mechanisms)

It should go without saying that a lot of Freud’s views are criticised for being nearly, if not completely impossible to study and prove. His theories have very little predictive power, and is seen as overestimating the importance of early childhood and sex. Finally, a lot of Freud’s views are very objectionable, and likely were guided by misogyny. His ideas of penis envy, and that women have weaker superegos seem to be based more on bias than empirical evidence. Feminists like Karen Horney and Nancy Chorodow suggested that if women were jealous of men, it was because of the advantages men enjoyed in society, rather than a simple desire to have a penis. They suggested the idea of womb envy, where mean are jealous of women’s reproductive capabilities. 

Psychodynamic Theories

Freud’s followers developed offshoots of his theories. These new approaches are referred to as psychodynamic or neo-Freudian approaches. Carl Jung proposed that the unconscious is made of 2 different parts: the personal unconscious, containing the painful memories and thoughts the person doesn’t want to confront, termed as complexes, and the collective unconscious which is passed down by species, explaining certain cultural similarities. The collective unconscious contains archetypes which are universal concepts we all share, such as the shadow which represents the evil side of personality, and the persona which is people’s creation of a public image. Alfred Adler focused less on the unconscious, and more on the conscious role of the ego. He believed people are motivated by the fear of failure (inferiority) and the desire to achieve (superiority).

Trait Theories

Trait theorists believe that personality can be described by specifying peoples main characteristics, which they view as stable and motivate people’s behaviour. Some trait theorists believe the same basic traits can describe all people’s personalities (this is a nomothetic approach). Hans Eysenck believed that by placing people on an introversion-extroversion scale and a stable-unstable scale that he could describe their personalities. Raymond Cattell developed the 16 PF (personality factor test). More modern psychologists like Paul Costa and Robert McCrae felt personality can be described using the big five personality traits; extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to new experiences, and emotional stability/neuroticism. In order to reduce the massive amounts of terms we use to describe people into 16 or 5 traits, factor analysis may be used. This is a statistical technique allowing researchers to use correlations between traits to see which cluster together as factors.

Other trait theorists (ideographic theorists) state that using the same set of terms to describe everyone is nonsensical. Instead, each person can be described using a unique set of traits. Gordon Allport believed that a full understanding of someone’s personality was impossible when disregarding their personal traits. Allport found that a small number of people are so intensely influenced by one trait that it informs nearly everything that they do. These traits are cardinal dispositions. There are two other types of dispositions: central dispositions and secondary dispositions. Central dispositions have a larger influence on personality than do secondary dispositions.

Biological Theories

One of the oldest personality theories was biological. Hippocrates believed that personality was determined by the level of the 4 humours - blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm. Biological theorists view genes, chemicals, and body types as the primary influencer of personality. There is growing evidence that the human personality is partially shaped by genetics. However, little evidence exists supporting the heritability of specific personality traits. This varies based on the type of trait- height is more heritable than intelligence, for example. However, evidence suggests that temperament (someone’s emotional style and way of dealing with the world) is heavily influenced by genes. One example of another early biological theory was William Sheldon’s somatotype theory. This theory identified 3 body types- endomorphs (fat), mesomorphs (muscular), and ectomorphs (thin) and associated different traits for each of these body types. A lot of Sheldon’s research, however, only showed correlation.

Behaviourist Theories

Behaviourists like B.F Skinner have a very different view on personality. They believe that behaviour is what determines personality- the reinforcement contingencies that one is exposed to is what creates personality, so by changing someone’s environment, you can change their personality

Social-Cognitive Theories

These theories meld together behaviourists view of the importance of the environment, and cognitive psychologists focus on patterns of thought. Albert Bandura believed that personality is created by the interaction between a persons traits, their environment, and their behaviour. He based his model on the idea of triadic reciprocality (reciprocal determinism)- meaning that each of these 3 factors influence the others in a looplike fashion. He also posited that personality is effected by a sense of self-efficacy- people with high self-efficacy are confident in their ability to do things while people with low self-efficacy feel powerless. The level of self-efficacy determines people’s actions, and as a result, the outcome of those actions. George Kelly created the personal-construct theory- suggesting that people, as they attempt to understand the world develop their own individual systems of personal constructs. Thus, personality is based on how people see the world. This theory is based on a fundamental postulate that states that behaviour is influenced by cognitions. Finally, Julian Rotter created the concept of locus of control. People either have an internal or external locus of control. Someone with an internal locus of control feels responsible for what happens to them (”hard work leads to success”). Someone with an external locus of control believe that luck and outside forces determine their destinies (”what family you’re born into determines success”)

Humanistic Theories

Most of the previous models, such as behaviourism and psychoanalysis are deterministic- which is the belief that what happens is dictated by what happened in the past. Neither support the idea of free will- which is the ability of someone to choose their own destiny (you goh the chance ta change yer fate!) The humanistic perspective is sometimes referred to as the third force as it arose in opposition to the determinism of behaviourism and psychoanalysis. Humanistic personality theories view people as innately good and able to determine their own destinies as they exercise free will. They stress the importance of someone’s self-concept (a person’s global feeling about themselves) and self-esteem (a person’s evaluation of their own self worth)

Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers are the two most influential humanistic psychologists. They both believed that people are motivated to self-actualise. Rogers created self-theory- the idea that although people are innately good, they need things like unconditional positive regard from their interactions with others in order to self-actualise.

Assessment Techniques

When assessing personality, reliability (consistency) and validity (accuracy) are extremely important. Depending on their theories, psychologists methods for studying personality may differ. 

Psychoanalysts tend to use projective tests, where they ask people to interpret ambiguous stimuli. For example, the Rorschach inkblot test, (where someone describes an inkblot) or the thematic apperception test (where someone describes what’s happening in a picture). Psychoanalysts believe these tests are outlets to project unconscious thoughts. Many people view projective tests as unreliable. A more simple and widespread method of personality assessment is self-report inventories where people take questionnaires, providing information about themselves. These kinds of tests are referred to as objective personality tests, versus an interview which would be called a subjective personality test, due to the potential for evaluator bias. An example is the Minnesota multi phasic personality inventory (MMPI-2) which is the most widely used. These tests can be viewed as invalid, however, as people may not be honest when answering questions. Radical behaviourists reject both of these assessments, preferring instead to observe behaviour in order to determine personality. 

People tend to be curious about what personality assessments say about them, however this curiousity tends to make them easier to deceive. People tend to see themselves in vague descriptions of personality- this phenomenon is named the Barnum effect (after P.T Barnum) and is abused by people like astrologers, psychics, and fortune tellers.

[rockmiyabideusexmachina]

2020 Megaman Valentine’s Day Contest - Cat. 1 (Talent) Results!

Thank you to everyone again for your patience! This is getting posted way later than I wanted to. As much as I try to keep it short and sweet, I never do, so bear with my walls of text. 

For the talent category this year, the theme was about killing Mega Man with kindness. More specifically, entrants had to create their own original love/Valentine’s-themed Robot Master or equivalent boss character that was created to defeat Mega Man with the power of love! Even though the theme title and concept alluded more to the classic Robot Master character contests, designs for any series were acceptable. But other than one Navi and one Reploid entry, everyone stuck to a Classic-series themed creation. So you were all pretty consistent! 

There were a total of 16 entries for this category this year. Thank you all for your participation! It was extremely hard to choose winners for this category, because you all had really clever and creative concepts based off of this theme. So thank you for thinking up such clever and cool characters!!

Also thanks to Reploid 21XX for the coloring book prizes and for some additional insight. 

Again, raffle prize winners will be contained in both posts, so keep an eye out between your name and your art. Not all raffle prize winners are contained in this post. I’ll be contacting all winners soon enough, so sit tight! Might be late after work tonight, so don’t panic if you don’t hear from me right after this is posted.

Your category winners and full gallery of entries are right here, after the break:

Category 1 (Talent) -  Dr. Wily’s Greatest Creation: Killing Mega Man With Kindness

[Full Talent Gallery]

1.) @mo-sketchbook​:

*For coming in 1st, mo-sketchbook has won $100 via Paypal, or a prize of their choice up to that value AND a Rockman 7 Coloring Book.*

First and foremost, I appreciate all the effort you put into covering so many aspects of your creation, from the various design viewpoints, weapon get form for Mega Man, and showing the weapon in action. I really loved all the things you integrated into the design to give off the feeling that it is a love-based character. The “love bug” form, cherub-like Heat/Plug-type facial features, and how you utilized hearts in different ways for his design and powers. 

I’m no Keiji Inafune, but I feel like this is a concept he would greenlight, in terms of it following his Robot Master design formula. It doesn’t need to be super detailed or flashy, but still fits the mold very well! The thought of the hearts missing their target and love energy then getting weaker is actually pretty clever, too. Cute, and I wuv it. 

2.) @peachycircuits​:

*For coming in 2nd, peachy has won $50 via Paypal, or a prize of their choice up to that value AND a Rockman 7 Coloring Book*

As usual, on the technical side of things, your art is one of the more polished and clean entries of the bunch. Combining a couple different aspects - swans as a creature known as a symbol of love, bonded for life like in marriage, and turning that into an inseparable pair of Robot Masters, was a clever way to think about your design, in terms of the theme of this category. 

And then echoing that with the iconic Swan Lake, making them ballet dancers, is like taking Tundra Man and Gemini Man’s concept up another notch. Plus, not gonna lie, amused seeing Mega Man getting equipped with a tutu. LOL So even if it’s not as heart-themed as most of the other entries, I totally liked how you thought outside the box a little bit for this. 

3.) Komito Amae:

*For coming in 3rd, Komito has won $25 via Paypal, or a prize of their choice up to that value*

I figured a cupid-styled arrow theme would pop up in a bunch of entries, but your Reploid, Beta, here caught my eye. Both in terms of the hearts, arrows and wings incorporated into her armor, and the pretty sweet looking buster that she and X both have equipped. 

While I’m not sure how it would play out in the game, I think it would be interesting to suddenly take control of random enemies in a stage, and be able to change perspective as them for a short time, after you have shot them. Whether it would be to take out an enemy horde, or perform a task X can’t that the enemy could, it would be different! Can’t see it quite having the same powerful effect on a Maverick boss, but it’s certainly neat to think about how that could work!

And the rest of the wonderful entries, in alphabetical order by alias: 

@autobot-bumblebee​:

*Raffle Prize Winner*  Dreamwave Comics: Issue 4 Page 15

I’m sorry you didn’t win a cash prize this time! Please don’t take me hostage! I totally loved the creative vintage chocolate factory mascot backstory, along with making your entry like an Ariga-styled character sheet page. Certainly get that retro feel with her clothing design. Her rose blade kinda reminds me of other hand-turned-blade-like-weapon characters, such as Alan Gabriel in the Big O or Ed transmuting one in FMA. Which is always a snazzy transformation for a robot!

@drewblossom​:

In all honesty, if I hadn’t placed you in the humor category, I think this would have very likely been somewhere in the top 3 for this category. A cuddly teddy bear with a massive Ariga-Quick Man-sized heart for a chest, extending flailing tube arms, who just wants to hug Mega Man to death is so amusing and awesome of a design. Hugs for everyone!

FluffyFrostyFury:

Your take of heat-seeking arrows and the added high jump powers were certainly a different take compared to the other cupid-styled creations. Definitely would be nice gameplay bonuses when equipped. I like how Mega Man also has the wings sprout out of his head, to mimic Cherub Woman’s pigtails, rather than the usual spot you would assume, on his back. 

HealerCharm:

Hahaha, I love how your creation has caused Mega Man to wave the white flag after falling in love...wait, it isn’t White Day, and he should be giving her a gift if it was! XD Her hair tied up into a heart was a creative touch, much like how her dress flows into all those heart shapes. Adorable!

@inanehipsterslang​:

Um, can...can I count on you to vote for Bernie this election year?

Remember kids, it’s what’s on the inside that counts, looks don’t matter. Everyone deserves love, even those you consider ‘vermin.’ This was certainly an unexpected take on the theme, and gave me a good laugh, too. ‘Boiling-hot water...with a hint of citrus!’ It burns, but it smells so lemony-fresh!! XD But the two different moves fit together well, to protect and attack. 

I like how you still incorporated a heart shape into Rodent Woman’s design with, both in her chest shape and the “nostril” area which is echoed in the Rodent Rover. And also props for giving her the non-armor form, unique compared to other entries. 

Mattasaurs:

On the one hand, your design feels so different for a Robot Master, and maybe more Navi-like. But then I get the Astro/Galaxy-type eye vibe, and sort of a Plant Man~ish body with Devil hands feel, and see how it’d fit into Classic. It’s a unique look, and I liked it the more I inspected it. I really do love the idea of the heart bubble entrapping more and more enemies, and the big ol’ group hug ending up bursting their love bubble. It’s a different concept that stood out!

Minnie:

Our Navi of the bunch combined the love bug and cupid design, but your concept changed up the attack to suck out the energy of it’s target. Which almost made me think she should have an arrow-like mosquito nose, to feast on her target that way. XD I liked your wing shield concept and RiCO-styled skirt of hearts. Rock gets some cool shades in his Love Soul/Cross form, and I get the ProtoSoul vibe, with the shield transferring to his arm as well.

@pstart​:

Another Heat/Plug-type design Share Man looks cute and sleepy, but is also “clumsy and weak.” His ability is to share body parts, so “the danger is in him sharing his less than ideal parts with his opponents.” It’s a totally neat concept, to see Mega Man lose his buster almost by accident, and now be powerless to stop Share Man. His split color scheme drives home the concept that his parts might not all be his own, and sort of a Frankenstein bot at times. Props to that idea!

While his weapon gives Mega Man the power to make enemies docile and sleepy, I really almost want to see Mega Man get dumb parts of enemies, too! Helmet switched to a Met helmet, Batton wings, a big Suzy eye! It’s now I’ve got your power...but...but what am I supposed to do with it? XD

RetroNinjin:

Unlike most others, your entry pushed the heart theme heavily in her armor design around the entire head and shoulder parts, so I definitely felt the love vibe. The color scheme fits well. Just would have liked to have had seen a little more information about her attack and concept.

RoninApprentice:

Mega Man having a “Wing Man” to set him up is a hilarious and clever idea! I give you kudos for thinking outside the box a bit on your concept and theme here. The shipping chart certainly drives the idea home, too. You still give him a classy/formal look, and keep the wing man aviation origin apparent in his attack style. Certainly a different idea having the heart bowtie transfer to Rock’s helmet in the form change, but it really doesn’t look that bad there, opposed to around his neck like it would be normally.

@star-crossed-swords​:

Different from the other cupid concepts, Eros Woman utilizes a Search-Man like targeting system to hit her targets. I like the heart scope addition over her and Rock’s eye when they go into firing mode. You took a different approach to the wing concept compared to others, echoing Cinnamon’s hairstyle in many respects. But it certainly fits with the rest of her design nicely, and looks good for Mega Man’s equipped form.

@star-shaped-soul:

Love that you were able to both include a drawing and your own sprite, to mix in with the weapon equip ones. That is one powerful crush Mega Man has on his enemies now! I feel bad for Crush Man with how big and heavy those snare trap hands of his are. This seems like a Robot Master too cute for Wily to design; more like he stole him and added horrible, cruel hands onto him! This is taking a crush on someone to a whole different level! XD

Yuri Kadry:

When equipped with Cupid Man’s power, I like the visor Mega Man gets. I think this is also a clever use of the weapon, having enemies shot attracted to one another, causing them to collide into each other. Well thought out! Love the original sprite art, and he stands out nicely against the pinks and purples in the background. 

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Psycho Analysis: Van Pelt

“A hunter from the darkest wild, who'll make you feel just like a child.”

Jumanji is already one of Robin Williams’s most enjoyable films, being a fun dark fantasy adventure film based around a supernatural board game, and while the board game itself is technically the main antagonist, its desire to test its players is given form in the maniacal hunter Van Pelt. And while I certainly would not argue that Jumanji is the deepest film ever made or anything like that, I think there is a bit of unique symbolism and interesting character quirks that make Van Pelt an enjoyable antagonist.

Actor: Johnathan Hyde portrays Van Pelt, and interestingly enough, he also plays Alan Parrish’s father. This bit of casting is honestly brilliant; think of the description of Van Pelt quoted above, used to announce his arrival from the game into the world - he is said to “make you feel just like a child.” And who above all others makes Alan feel just like a child at this point? His father.  Van Pelt thus becomes symbolic of Alan’s parental issues, which makes his overcoming Van Pelt in the end all the more poignant and powerful. On a more meta level, it is an amusing coincidence Robin Williams starred in a film where the father and the antagonist share an actor, something typically the case when it comes to Captain Hook/Mr. Darling in theatrical adaptations of Peter Pan, whose eponymous character Williams had played five years prior to this film. It was likely unintentional, but it is an amusing thing to note.

Motivation/Goals: Van Pelt is clearly a creation of the game, a hunter conjured up by whatever poor schmuck draws his card and given a form that will cause the most psychological damage as well as the most physical damage. To that end, he relentlessly pursues Alan with the intent of killing him, with nothing stopping him and very little actually slowing him down. In fact, Van Pelt seems to be indestructible, likely a side effect of his supernatural nature. Nothing short of beating the game is enough to defeat him, and his goal is just to make that as hard as possible by targeting the one who brought him out. It’s a simple motivation, but it’s pretty effective and allows room for all the other insanity of Jumanji to take the stage without him overshadowing it entirely. He ends up feeling more like an extension of the game’s will than anything, and that’s honestly for the best.

Personality: Relentless, implacable, and clearly very bloodthirsty: these are the traits that define Van Pelt. Considering he’s just another manifestation of the board game, he didn’t even need a personality, but as the game tends to exaggerate real life dangers of the jungle, so too did they exaggerate the stereotypical “Great White Hunter” character into its perfect form. An interesting thing to note about him as that he seems to have a certain respect for Alan, and despite being incredibly dangerous and skilled never seems to land a single hit. An interesting idea is that perhaps he is intentionally missing as part of some ploy on the game to help Alan overcome his father issues and truly mature; of course, it could just be that Van Pelt enjoys the chase more than he does the kill.

Final Fate: Alan calls out “Jumanji,” ending the game and causing Van Pelt to be sucked back into the board. This version of Van Pelt would never be seen again, for obvious reasons; using someone else’s symbolic antagonizing force would be a bit weird, no? Van Pelt does show up in a different form in this film’s sequel, with some more intriguing powers but a lot less plot relevance and personality.

Best Scene: In an amusing and darkly comical scene, Van Pelt decides to forego any form of background checks while attempting to purchase a fancy new gun, instead opting to dump a pile of gold right on the gun shop clerk’s desk. Thankfully it is not this ridiculously easy for mentally unstable lunatics to buy dangerous weapons and perform horrible crimes with them, and this sort of thing only happens in fiction… Ahem.

Best Quote: His introductory quote: First, a bullet from offscreen whizzing by Alan’s head, followed by: "You miserable coward! Come back and face me like a man!"

Final Thoughts & Score: Van Pelt is definitely more of a living setpiece, an obstacle to be overcome much like the other supernatural critters the game unleashes, but he’s one with a lot of dramatic and thematic weight to him, seeing as he represents Alan’s conflict with his father that is set up at the film’s start. He’s quite similar to the T-800 in a lot of ways, seeing as he is a hyper-competent implacable and unstoppable assassin sent by a fantastical force to ensure the continued existence of its creator, with a dash of Captain Hook thrown in for personality and the little bit of symbolism present in theater adaptations of Peter Pan. 

Van Pelt is a solid 7/10 for the level of symbolic brilliance he brings to the table, but I can’t justify rating him any higher because, ultimately, he is just another figment crafted by Jumanji to make the game more entertaining, meaning he has no real backstory, goals, or motivation and exists only to cause trouble. Still, for what he is, he’s more entertaining and intriguing than he has any right to be.

But you know who isn’t entertaining or intriguing?

Psycho Analysis: Russell Van Pelt 

Ok, so that was unnecessarily dismissive and harsh. I actually think that the iteration of Van Pelt from Welcome to the Jungle has some pretty interesting concepts going for him. Ultimately though he’s kind of done in by the fact that he is the villain in an 80s video game, albeit a supernatural one. And 80s video games were not exactly known for their intriguing, complex villains.

Motivation/Goals: So this Van Pelt actually has a backstory, and it’s kind of interesting too: he was once a determined archaeologist who just wanted to have some proof of the Jaguar Shrine... unfortunately, said proof was the Jaguar’s Eye, which is the Chaos Emerald seen in the picture above. 

Here’s the problem: as he is a generic antagonist created to oppose our heroes, he has no motivation other than that he wants to use the jewel for nebulous nefarious reasons. He kind of just exists to be a threat, and yeah, it makes sense, but it is a bit of a letdown compared to the original. In fact, he’s very much a non-action villain and doesn’t even really directly confront the heroes until the very end, and even then it’s not like he has some spectacular throwdown. You’d think the guy with the one magical glowy eye would put up a better fight, but maybe Dr. Sivana and Sans Undertale just set the bar too high for glowy-eyed super battles.

Final Fate: The heroes return the eye, and he collapses into a big pile of rats and bugs. Why does he do this? I’ll get into it more below. Needless to say, he’s beaten in a way that lines up with all unsatisfactory 80s video game endings. 

Final Thoughts & Score: I definitely don’t hate Russell Van Pelt, but I think that he ultimately fails to even come close to recapturing the magic the original Van Pelt had. This is despite of, amusingly enough, having just about everything the original lacked: he has a backstory, he has intriguing powers, and he looks genuinely intimidating. The problem is that nothing is done with him and his motivations aren’t explained at all, and he ultimately lacks any sort of personality to try and glean some entertainment from.

It stings all the more because he utilizes one of my favorite tropes: The Worm That Walks. Essentially this trope is when a character is, in actuality, a mass of worms, bugs, or whatever other creepy critters you might want in there. Oogie Boogie is one of cinema’s shining examples of such a villain, and something of the gold standard; these sorts of villains are fun and creepy when utilized correctly. As you might of guessed, with Van Pelt... they don’t. It’s kind of just there to add to his creep factor and doesn’t much come into play very often. When he does utilize this strange power to store animals inside himself and add them to his hive mind, it’s suitably disturbing and eerie, but it’s not a major focus.

Still, I don’t think I’d give him more than a 4/10. Yes, he is a generic doomsday villain, but at least in this instance there’s actually a legitimate in-story justification for that. And even if they don’t use it to its full effect, I do think that his powers are really cool and the backstory he has is pretty neat. I think I would have preferred if they just tossed aside the backstory stuff and go for the more psychological approach of the original, but I guess that wasn’t exactly in the cards. Ah well, you can’t win them all I suppose.

[thisiswhatwereupagainst]

@shattered-catalyst asked me what underused female Marvel characters that I’d like to see in the RPC. I misread it as asking what underused female characters I would like to see in a canon Marvel story, and started making this list. Then I realized what they ACTUALLY asked me---and answered it HERE-- but since I had this list started I thought I would post it! As a note, I tried to overlook my own biases for whom *I* simply want to see back in action, versus if there’s actually story potential there that I think other fans would genuinely want to see. It’s also by no means complete/comprehensive, so if you think someone is missing and deserves to be on here---you’re probably right! Feel free to add to it! BLINDSPOT - Blindspot is a female member of Mystique’s Brotherhood who was friends with Rogue, and had the powers of memory manipulation. After several missions, Mystique decided to cut ties with her due to lack of trust. Blindspot left, but not without wiping herself out of Mystique and Rogue's memories first, as she always covered her tracks, which is why Rogue doesn’t remember her (actual reason is she was retconned in, she’s a 2000s creation) Years later, when Rogue had become an X-Men, they would come into conflict once more, as Blindspot wanted to ‘save” Rogue from Xavier’s “brainwashing”, but Rogue would still leave Blindspot with her X-uniform to remember her by. Blindspot is unique in having been a Brotherhood friend to Rogue, as she was never shown as close to any of the other members, and was also mysteriously immune to Rogue’s powers. I think Rogue fans might enjoy seeing her in a Rogue story again, and perhaps learning more about their time together. CATSEYE - I think ALL the Hellions were criminally underused, and I know from X-Men/comics discussion boards that there’s an audience for their return. Catseye seems to be the favorite in terms of who people found most interesting, and I agree. A girl who believes she’s a cat who can turn into a human form, rather than the reverse, is a really neat concept, not to mention Sharon had a charming personality with surprising depth for what little time she got. There’s a lot that could be done with her return, and I think she could totally be the lead in a revived Hellions story on Krakoa, or a story depicting their time as Frost’s students at the Massachusetts Academy. CORDELIA FROST - Look, everyone loves Emma Frost, I think it’d be easy to get people interested in a Cordelia story. Not to mention the fact that like...Adrienne is dead, Christian was institutionalized, but Cordelia has been running around this whole time. She seems to have had some big plans once upon a time, what happened to that? Nothing ever came of it. Why not? What’s she been up to all this time? Also, we should finally get to see what kind of powers she has! I’ve seen it quoted around the Internet that Emma claims Cordy is “the Professor Xavier of empaths” but I’ve not only never seen the source for where she says this, she’s never demonstrated ANY kind of powers in canon, besides Emma not being able to read her mind. I would like to see what the “subtle, dark, and devious” Frost baby gets up to! DARKSTAR - Darkstar is a mutant and she’s been present in the comics since 1976. She’s been a member of X-Corps, as well as served in the Champions with Angel and Iceman back in the day. Yet her loyalty (coughBRAINWASHINGcough) has always brought her back to serving Mother Russia first and foremost. We saw recently though that Russia has gone back to its “All mutants serve the State or die!” position, and not allowing its mutants to go to Krakoa. It’s pretty easy to work Darkstar into a story about that, and finally exploring the way she was deeply conditioned to the point her “choice” to serve her country is probably anything but, and coming to terms with that at last. I’d really like to see a story like this, because Darkstar is kind of unique in that her brainwashing wasn’t a dramatic trauma-conga full of torture and abuse, she actually seems to have been treated well, she was just also kidnapped as a baby and never knew anything else. I think it’s about time we get a story that shows abuse doesn’t always “look like abuse” and how denial of someone’s agency can run so deep that their own choices that they THINK they’re making of their own free will, really are products of that. Also, her story could be an easy way to get my STARLIGHT fix, and FANTASMA on top of that. Remember, Fantasma was banished to Limbo, and pulled Starlight in after her. Why WOULDN’T Darkstar want to go rescue her teammate? And there’s a member of the X-Men who is mistress of Limbo and can open portals there, it’s totally easy! Darkstar enlists Magik (who has a huge fan following, and thus would get people interested) to guide her through Limbo so they can find Starlight and bring her home, but on the way they run afoul of Fantasma! Who, being a Dire Wraith sorceress, makes a great foe for Magik! PHANTAZIA - During 1990s, Toad struck out on his own and formed his own Brotherhood, which consisted of several old faces---Pyro, Blob, and Sauron (despite Sauron not being a mutant)---and a new one, the woman known as Phantazia, aka Eileen Harsaw. Phantazia had the power to manipulate electromagnetic energy fields. This allowed her to fly, disrupt machinery, and  disrupt the bioelectric energy fields and nervous systems of other living beings as well, resulting in pain, paralysis, loss of physical coordination, and in the case of superhumans, the inability to control their powers, causing them to fluctuate in strength, cease functioning altogether, or spew out uncontrollably. Not much is known about her personality, but she seems to have been well-educated, as Blob refers to her as “Ms. PhD” and tended to stay out of the arguments between her male teammates, ignoring them while she read books on scientific subjects, such as astrophysics. . She also displayed loyalty, such as when she also opted to stay with her teammates when only she among them was invited to Magneto’s new mutant sanctuary of Avalon. Alas, Eileen met a wicked fate---for some reason, she was one of the few mutants to retain their memories of the “House of M” reality shift, and the shifting back and forth drove her insane. She was last seen in a S.H.I.E.L.D. custody cell, babbling “House of M” over and over. I think Eileen was interesting. She had a cool powerset, hints of a personality, and was never much of a “bad guy” certainly not enough to deserve what happened to her. Female Brotherhood members are also pretty rare, so she catches my eye for that too. I like to think Xavier found her and fixed her mind, and she’s going to hang out with her old pals Pyro, Blob, and Toad on Krakoa. HAVEN - I’ve been yelling about her on this blog for like 5 years, but if you’re not familiar with her, Radha Dastoor aka Haven was a villain who ran a cult dedicated to bringing about the end of the world as we know it in order to usher in a golden age of peace. She only did this, however, because she was being possessed by a demon. Her real self was a kind, charitable woman who was just all about feeding the hungry, caring for the sick, and, as it happens, advocating for mutants. Though it had little to do with her villainy, Haven still found time to be a demon-posessed super-terrorist AND write books promoting mutant/human peace and give lectures condemning bigotry. She seems like someone who SHOULD have gotten saved from said demon, but no, she dies alone in the mud after being victim-blamed by a Marvel deity. Her entire arc is really misogynistic, she’s only possessed because she had sex once and then got pregnant, she’s basically punished for breaking the purity taboos of her culture once, and it’s also pretty...racist isn’t the right word, but she’s the first Indian and Hindu character in the X-Men comics, and a lot of her terrorist philosophy fed to her by the demon comes from actual Hinduism, which has unfortunate implications, as does the fact that the “brown woman with a funny religion ended up being a terrorist just like the government said so X-Factor attacking her before they were sure of this is okay” was part of her story. Eesh. Anyway, she was a very good person and an interesting character, I think bringing her back as someone trying to do good in the world again as a human ally to mutants while also dealing with what happened to her and what she did and her loss of 20 years of agency to possession, would be a good story. I at least want to see a cameo of her taking care of a bunch of orphan and refugee kids who are a mix of mutants, Inhumans, Warpies, aliens, and humans. LORELEI - Lorelei is another little-known woman from the Brotherhood of Mutants, and unique in that she’s NOT a mutant. At one point, Magneto used a machine to mutate members of the native tribes in the Savage Land, giving them super-powers. These Savage Land Mutates served him in their homeland, fighting the X-Men at his command, but he left them behind when he returned back to the rest of the world...all save Lorelei, who he took with him for his new Brotherhood, citing a possible “Pygmalion complex” for why. Lorelei was a beautiful blonde woman who could control men with her voice. However, she seems to have a childlike intellect, as she speaks very simply and in the third person, and doesn’t really seem aware of what she’s doing or why she’s being told by Magneto to do it. It’s a really worrying dynamic, and I also worry about Lorelei once Magneto just...kinda ditched her, I guess, and left her with Unus, Blob, and the Vanisher. Then she turns up back in the Savage Land serving yet another bad guy. Lorelei--or Lani Ubanu, as seems to be her name before Magneto transformed her--comes off as an unaware innocent that just gets constantly picked up and used by greater villains because she doesn’t know any better, and given that this is because of the powers Magneto gave her, I’d like to see that come back and have him take responsibility for her. And if she’s NOT as unaware and innocent as she seems, I’d like to see that, because she’s been around since 1969 and she doesn’t have a personality and she barely speaks! Flesh this girl out! MADELYNE PRYOR - I feel like this one is cheating a bit, because I’m not sure I’d say Maddy is under-used. She’s seen more action just this decade than all the others on this list saw in their entire careers COMBINED. It’s more than she’s just...not used well, in my opinion. 2000s writers generally seem to forget that her stint as the Goblyn Queen came from being infected by demonic energy and also insane (for VERY understandable reasons), and seem to think she’s just evil on her own. Not to mention they take all the depth out of her; she’s a character with a full personality of her own and some very fucked up struggles that she was not to blame for, but that all gets boiled down to “Scott’s sexy evil ex who is mad he left her so now she trounces around in skimpy clothes she never actually wore when she wasn’t possessed because EVIL LADIES ARE SEXY CUZ FEMALE SEXUALITY IS EVIL” and it’s just....u g h. When Maddy was herself, she actually was very heroic, to the point she sacrificed her life to save the world (her FIRST death, which everyone forgets). But she also has good reason to be really angry and bitter at the X-Men, and I don’t see her letting go of that even when she’s back in her right mind. So I think depicting her as an anti-hero, who saves innocent people yet works against the X-Men, would be a neat story, with the ultimate conclusion being her letting go of her grudge, not for THEIR sake but for HERS, to not have her be tethered to them any longer, not even by hate, and finally live a life that is HERS. MISS SINISTER - So, Miss Sinister is NOT Nathaniel Essex in a lady suit. She’s actually an entirely different person, and actually has a very sympathetic situation. She’s a woman named Claudine Renko, whom Mr. Sinister injected with a virus containing his own DNA. The idea was that in the event of his death, the virus would activate in her or one of his other test subjects, transforming them into Sinister complete with his consciousness replacing their own. But when it activated in Claudine after Sinister’s apparent (but in fact only temporary) death in the “Messiah Complex” story, Claudine did not become possessed by Mr. Sinister nor become him---not exactly. She became essentially a female clone of him, gaining aspects of his appearance (such as the chalk white skin) as well as his telepathic powers. He might also be how she got her wicked personality, but since we don’t know anything about her prior to this, that could just be how she was already. But she also suffered invasive memories of Essex's life, and that as a malignant presence within her mind, he was slowly killing her as a means of self-resurrection. He even managed to manifest briefly before being re-absorbed back into her. It was for this reason that she wanted to switch bodies with X-23, thus gaining Laura's healing factor, something she had wanted after her stabbing, and thereby freeing herself of Essex. The plan backfired when Essex took control of Laura's body and used her to mortally wound Claudine. Laura managed to overcome Essex's presence in her mind, expelling it through force of will. She was next seen working with Emma Frost on using The Mothervine, though Emma ended up turning on her. I remember feeling bad for Claudine when I read her story with X-23. Having someone else trying to take over your body is a pretty good motive for doing something as evil as trying to steal someone else’s, while also being inexcusable to do. It’s unlikely she was a willing subject for Sinister, so she probably isn’t to blame for what happened to her, but is to blame for her actions after, which is the kind of villain I like. Also, while she’s usually in lingerie ala a Black Queen of the Hellfire Club, she wore a really cute little normal outfit in a story with Sebastian Shaw and Daken...which ironically is when she actually was Black Queen! I’d like to see more of Claudine, and find out more about her story and who she was before all this, and whether or not she’s REALLY free of Sinister, as she seems to be now. After all...is anyone ever free of him? Bonus if she teams up with Madelyne Pryor! NOCTURNE - No not TJ Wagner, THIS LADY! I don’t think anyone (except me) is hoping for her return, as I don’t think anyone else really knows about her, but Spider-Man stuff is still popular so there’s no reason she couldn’t come back and have a prominent role in that. I really hope they go with the interpretation that she’s gay, since now is a time that they can actually have that open instead of coded, but more than just the representation of a gay WOC (which is awesome) I really am interested in her adjustment and journey into her new identity, and in particular her communication via empathy powers rather than speech. That really intrigues me about her. I think she could become very compelling and popular if brought back and handled well, perhaps in a story that brings back other neglected characters in the Spider franchise as well. SAT-YR-9 - Okay, so in the Captain Britain/Excalibur comics of the 80s, there was a woman named Courtney Ross. She was a banker and Captain Britain’s ex, and she became a side character, having adventures with the team and even besting none other than ARCADE through STAND UP COMEDY. Then one night, a version of her from another universe emerged in apartment, killed her, and took her place. This evil counterpart was Sat-Yr-9, who had been a cruel dictator in homeworld, and has been running around doing evil in 616 since while masquerading as Courtney. Captain Britain discovered the ruse and vowed revenge...but has yet to really do anything, probably because Sat-Yr-9 herself really hasn’t done anything since either. She popped up for a brief moment in the 2000s as the new White Queen of the Hellfire Club, but that’s it. I would like to see more of her, in that role or outside it. Given her connection to both the Hellfire Club and to Kitty (whom she was grooming under the guise of “Courtney Ross” and seemed to have big plans for, as well as some mysterious connection to that was never explained) I think she’d be great for the Marauders series. Or in the new “Excalibur” series that stars Psylocke as the new Captain Britain! I also think there would be interest in a story that finally resolves her murder of Courtney and shows Brian finally at least TRYING to make her pay, I still see it talked about on Marvel boards how unsatisfying and frustrating it is that Brian vowed revenge DECADES ago and has yet to do anything about it, and how much of a waste that makes Courtney’s death (Courtney was surprisingly popular with fans even to this day due to how she handled Arcade, it instantly endeared them to her...and then that’s RIGHT when she got killed off, literally the evening after) Maybe Betsy is the one who finally gets her at last! THRENODY - I think that Threnody’s coming back in the recent Deadpool series revived enough interest to justify bring her back yet again, and I think her baby being killed, however monstrous it was, means that fans are probably ready to see her get a happy ending for once. I know I sure am. ZALADANE - Zaladane was a personal villain to Polaris, and given that Polaris has never really had a book that was about her (as far as I know, I’m far from a Lorna expert) I think bringing her back as the bad guy for a Lorna solo series would be cool. I also would like it resolved if she’s Lorna’s sister or not. It seems to add up at the time it was written, but changes to Lorna’s backstory continuity since make it impossible. I think that a suitably comic-booky explanation could work for that, such as “she *is* Lorna’s sister but from another dimension, not 616, and also that explains how/why she’s in the Savage Land” or something like that. Plus it satisfies both the people who think she is and who think she isn’t.