#helmet comparison not included

[facingthefossegrim]

Chapter 452: Forgotten

Spoilers for 19 Days, chapter 452: Forgotten

I'm gleaning a lot of information from this one; looks like Mo Guan Shan's either changed jobs or acquired a second one since the Christmas update (bro looked like a bus boy taking out the garbage in chapter 224). I'd put my money on He Tian having a hand in this hook up (it wouldn't be the first time he's recommended him for something with good pay, and it seems like a job Mo would enjoy).

I'm wondering if this takes place before or after the Christmas proposal, though, since He Tian's hair looks so different, but that could be either a stylistic change or HT just dressing up for a nice dinner. Either way, I'm not seeing any rings, but maybe they don't always wear it? Or it could be under their clothes? (It would make sense for Mo not to wear it on the job, but would HT ever go without it?)

Something to consider is that we know HT was away for a while before the Christmas events, and perhaps him being away was what soured the relationship pre-proposal. 🤔 But then if this took place before that, why would Mo not continue with this job? (So it makes more sense that this took place after Christmas, but they just aren't wearing the rings.)

It's fun to see the consistency of both character's habits here; He Tian blowing smoke in Mo's face yet again (as he did in chapter 224; so rude), and also being quickly swayed the moment Mo offers him a gift. The value doesn't even matter; we know He Tian's love language is gift giving among others, and he softened right up with this chapter. XD

Mo also has the same ride, but a different helmet this time around. Doesn't seem like the type of person who has much, but also is really into the things he's into, so. It's not a stretch to say he has multiple helmets or replaced one with the other.

Some images for your enjoyment:

[dkettchen]

how to appeal to voters of any party in this country: ask for funding for the NHS, they love that shit here 🌈🩺💊

(no but for real, fund the NHS holy heck, the waiting lists have breached containment of the trans & mental health services by now! as someone who's a patient at like 5 different specialist departments, it's rough out here)

[twopoppies]

The article is in Spanish, but it's a very trustworthy source from Argentina. That Roger was a fucking leech, hope he rots in jail

https://www. infobae. com/sociedad/policiales/2024/11/08/pesos-argentinos-para-comprar-droga-negocios-en-comun-y-dias-libres-el-oscuro-control-de-rogelio-nores-sobre-liam-payne/

This is so fucking disturbing. I know fans have had a bad feeling about Roger for a while. It sounds like they weren’t wrong.

Today, Nores is charged with abandoning Liam Payne and killing him , as well as supplying and facilitating him with drugs, in a relationship that sources in the case describe as “almost Maradona-esque, a friend of the champion , like those who surrounded Diego at his worst .” To charge him, Madrea and his team analyzed 800 hours of footage from the CasaSur hotel and opened Liam’s phone. In addition, they took a large number of testimonies, including that of Liam’s father, Geoff Payne.

Liam's father said the same thing that the courts were able to confirm through the analysis of communications and the comparison of other testimonies: that Nores, after meeting Payne in Miami at the beginning of this year, became the force that dominated his life. If the Payne family wanted to know how the singer was, then they should contact Rogelio. He was not just another friend of Liam's, under any circumstances. Geoff Payne himself said it: "Roger" was always the intermediary. "He is better than ever," he would have told the family when asked.

And this explains the charge of abandonment of a person. It is not about the fact that the businessman did not come to the singer's aid, but about the long road that led to the CasaSur hotel.

The businessman would have become a sort of de facto manager . Although they did not have a specific contract in this regard, sources in the case say that Nores operated as an "investment advisor" and that they had business in common in view of Payne's possible return to the world stage. For this, the singer's recovery from his addiction to drugs and alcohol was key. He just had to be detoxified.

Nores accompanied Payne in a deep detoxification treatment in the United States. There, a psychiatrist prescribed sertraline, the antidepressant that was found in the toxicology test on the singer's body. The specialist said it clearly: if you mix alcohol and cocaine with sertraline, the result can be lethal.

Then, another treatment in Spain was carried out, which also failed. So they ended up in Argentina. Payne was put up in a prestigious five-star hotel that was used to hosting big rock stars. They kicked him out of there. They even visited a local psychiatrist, who testified in the file. After the five-star hotel, they both went to the Patagones polo club with the singer's last girlfriend, Kate Cassidy, where the singer was photographed wearing a helmet and heels on a horse. They spent a few days there. However, Payne quickly became nervous and left the place.

Thus, they arrived at the CasaSur hotel in Palermo on the Sunday before the death. Liam did not even have a bag. There, according to the testimonies and analysis that are part of the case of the prosecutor Madrea, Nores' control would have been much more evident, with alleged orders to the hotel staff to report each expense. Nores, this time, managed Payne's expenses , while receiving calls for each whiskey, champagne or tequila that the former One Direction member ordered, with physical money delivered at the reception. The evidence also speaks of "free days" when Liam could consume cocaine.

The day he died, precisely, was a “day off.”

Thus, Nores frequently returned to the hotel to top up the bill. Payne, meanwhile, insisted on the phone, asking for Argentine pesos to pay the dealers who offered him cocaine, with photos of the bags they offered him and the corresponding prices. The prosecution suspects that Nores had obtained cocaine for him himself, which led to the second charge against him.

Meanwhile, hotel cameras filmed Liam as he wandered the halls , drunk and with a distant look.

For the time being, Nores is free, with his passport handed over to the courts and a ban on leaving the country, while he awaits being summoned for questioning by Judge Laura Bruniard. Article 106 of the Criminal Code, which defines the crime of abandonment followed by death, speaks of “anyone who endangers the life or health of another, either by placing him or her in a situation of helplessness, or by abandoning to their fate a person who is incapable of taking care of himself or who must be maintained or cared for, or who the author himself has incapacitated .” Here, the alleged supply of narcotics plays a key role.

If convicted, he could face up to 15 years in prison. Given the amount of the sentence, the crime is not bailable.

[vintagerpg]

This is NECA’s Ultimate version of Grimsword, the evil bruiser from the second wave of LJN Dungeons & Dragons toys, originally released in 1984 (OG version of Mr. Sword included for comparison). I will never understand why he isn’t called Grimflail, though, as the snake flail as always been his signature. It ties in with his ridiculous snake-themed armor!

Which, speaking of, I think the original Grimsword is both cool and objectively ridiculous, and previously suspected that the mix of cool and ridiculous would make it difficult for an Ultimates style figure to come off properly. As usual when I speculate, I am wrong! All the ridiculous elements are still here — the torso snake, the snake shield, the snake kneepad, the mohawk on the helmet, the bizarre ear-spikes, the faceplate that reminds me of a ‘80s dirt bike helmet. But somehow, none of that stands out as ridiculous. Partly this is just down to the quality of the sculpt and the paint job. But also, I think a lot of it is a result of physique.

Grimsword is a monster. He’s frickin’ huge. He makes Warduke look small — he is nearly a head taller! And he just hulks. It is a little hard to see in the photos, but he is just of a size that would be terrifying in real life scale. You’d take one look at that guy and feel all your bones breaking at once in your imagination. A beast. I love it.

[katerinaaqu]

Honorable Antilochus

Yes I guess I couldn't help myself and I just HAD to draw Antilochus too! Thanks to some AMAZING reblogs and comments such as @loco-bird and @deadbaguette to my two one-shots involving him

The Lament of a Life

What makes the Heart Beat

And I just HAD to draw him! And trace my favorite artwork of his! More specifically the vase art that once again is mentioned to my ask reply to @lightningthunderstorm

Of course it is obvious that I had to use the one and only vase I know that includes him as a base and then I of course added details! For starters dunno I wanted him to have his long hair down (because again yay for "long-haired argives") and his long strands of wavy hair in his artwork as well as the obviously puffy hair under the helmet gave me the impression of a person with very long hair so yeah! Had to try!

(His hair was also inspired by my dear friend @artsofmetamoor !!)

I was particularly intrigued by the shape of his bangs! I thought they were very cute and gave him even more the aura of youth so I had to add that detail to the sketch

Of course I also included mycenaean-inspired clothes and I thought about adding a small bead necklace as well! For some reason I imagined him wearing a carnelian and turqoise necklace! It does give me some air of both strength and calmness!

For colors again I was adding some average coloring for Greeks; olive complexion, brown eyes and hair (somehow also was inspired by my other sketch of Patroclus, somehow adding them in some sort of a side-by-side comparison

(Patroclus has slightly more tannish sheen to his skin and wooly curly hair, Antilochus has some more creamy olive skin and wavy silky hair instead)

Antilochus was also described like Achilles being "fast in feet" and he had an amazing killing count in the Iliad. Somehow that made me imagine someone relying on speed and stealth rather than arm strength so I gave him a slightly leaner bodytype to partially match Achilles too.

My other Homeric Character sketches:

Diomedes

Odysseus

Calypso

Patroclus

[kaethefangal]

Tim had quit his life as Red Robin. When he was younger he was so proud to be Robin, so happy that he got the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fight by Batman’s side. Everyone thought he was destined to do great things, and honestly so did he. He would’ve never dreamed of leaving Batman’s side. That was until he found out about Jason. 

Finding out that Jason died made him hang up the cape. He couldn’t bear to carry on a mantle that wasn’t his. He knew Dick willingly quit, leaving the Robin position vacant. But Jason hadn’t willingly died, and Tim could never feel comfortable in that suit knowing it belonged to a dead kid. The second robin was great, and Tim could never live up to him, and he didn’t want to. He didn’t deserve to. A few years after he quit being Robin, he resurfaced as Red Robin. Because once you lived life as a bat you could never go back, not really. It was a perpetual struggle of constantly looking over his shoulder, constantly wondering if the woman staring at him was planning something or was just admiring his clothes.

 As of now, Tim acted as an information broker.  He worked with the entire Justice League and all heroes/vigilantes, including Jason. When they’d first met Tim was bleeding out on a rooftop after he’d won a fight as Red Robin but had taken substantial physical damage. He’d been expecting a punch in the face for replacing him or at least some kind of anger or resentment. Tim was surprised when the man’s first words to him were ‘Rough night?’ and even more surprised when Jason patched him up and sent him on his way. He’d only worked with Red Hood three times when he found out the man smoked weed. ‘I thought Red Hood was against drugs?’ Tim had asked him as he watched the man light a blunt. ‘Red Hood is against selling drugs to kids. I look like a kid to you?’ Jason asked with a raised eyebrow. Tim had just shook his head and turned back to the screen that was in front of him.

Tim was focused on his current case, his brows furrowed in concentration as he went over a file that the Titans needed from him when he heard those familiar three knocks at his window. He turned his head to find Jason standing on his balcony, his helmet on. Tim stood up to let him in because at this point they’d worked together enough to be considered friends. It’d started out with only interacting for crucial cases, but they grew on each other. Tim enjoyed Jason’s laid-back but still about-business attitude and in turn, Jason savored Tim’s non-judgemental and sarcastic personality. They complimented each other well, after all, albeit in different senses and categories, they were both emotional and social wrecks. Tim was a social recluse because he didn’t know how to understand complex human emotions and Jason was anti-social because he didn’t care about human emotions.

“What’s going on?” Tim asked as he lifted the window. Jason landed inside silently, which was ironic in comparison to his imposing build.

“Nothing. Just need these scanned,” Jason pulled a case holding 5 vials of green liquid from his jacket.

“Got it. What are they?” Tim asked, taking them from Jason and placing them in the chemistry analyzer that sat at his workstation. He sat in his chair, facing away from the man behind him, which was a huge show of trust in itself.

“No idea. Grabbed ‘em off some dealer I caught on the street today,” Jason replied.

“Is said dealer still with us?” Tim asked curiously. Personally, Tim didn’t kill. He couldn’t handle knowing he’d taken a life. Though he didn’t care much about Jason’s killings it still made him feel better knowing Jason was becoming less violent and more understanding.

“With us meaning..?” Jason asked with a hint of amusement in the robotic edge that his helmet put on his voice.

“In the world of the living,” Tim put out bluntly.

“Yes. In the hospital, but alive,” Jason said, taking off his mask.

“Doesn’t it get hot inside that thing?” Tim asked, turning around to face Jason.

“Better than being dead,” Jason shrugged, taking a seat on Tim’s bed.

“You’re never gonna let that one go, are you?” Tim chuckled.

“Would you?” Jason shot back lightning-quick.

“Fair point,” Tim conceded. The chemical analyzer dinged, catching his attention. “Looks like a drug called Viper,”

“Damnit, I should have killed him,” Jason scoffed.

“Bruce wouldn’t like that,” Tim said for nothing else but a reaction.

“Since when do I care about what Bruce likes?” Jason looked at him incredulously through his domino.

“Fair point, go ahead, kill the man,” Tim waved a hand dismissively towards the window.

“And you wouldn’t have a problem with that?” Jason asked in disbelief.

Tim fixed him with the look he always gave Jason when he asked a dumb question. “Viper is a deadly poison, and he was selling it. I’m not saying he deserves it, but he deserves it,”

“So you’d help me?” Jason asked with a small grin.

“Why would I help you kill a man?” 

“I meant help me find out where he got it from and shut the operation down,”

Tim knew the answer was yes, and had to stop himself from shouting it. He pretended to think about it for a few seconds before shrugging. “Sure, sounds fun,”

Jason’s grin grew and Tim couldn’t help but smile too. 

“I’ll swing by again tomorrow,” Jason said, standing. It was then that Tim noticed Jason piling all his weight onto his right leg.

“What’s wrong with your leg?” Tim questioned.

“Nothing. My leg is fine,” Jason replied. He began walking towards the window again but Tim noticed the slight limp he moved with. 

“Okay,” Tim sighed, kicking Jason in his left knee. 

“Fuck!” Jason shouted, falling to the ground.

“Thought there was nothing wrong with your leg?”

“I said my leg, not my knee,”

“Your knee is a part of your leg,” Tim called, making his way to the first aid kit he kept in his bathroom. He inwardly chuckled at how Jason attempted to hide his injury from Tim. 

He bent down, opened his cabinet, and looked for the shiny white box with the red plus sign on it. 

He returned almost as quickly as he left to find Jason lying on his bed.

“Either the pants come off or you roll them up,” Tim said as he sat the first aid kit on his bed and opened it.

“Roll it,”

“I’m not your maid,” Tim scoffed. The smile on his face betrayed how he wanted to sound but he didn’t mind much. “Not my doctor either but here we are,” Jason countered smoothly. Tim always enjoyed his and Jason’s banter, not that he’d ever tell the other man that.

Tim stared at him unimpressed. Jason scoffed and pulled his left pant leg up. Underneath it was a deep gash that was poorly stitched up. Blood leaked out of the stitch and it looked infected, yellow pus seeping out around the edges.

“This is one of the worst stitch jobs I’ve ever seen,” Tim said. He got on his knees and began cleaning the stitch with anti-septic.

“In Roy’s defense, his hand was injured too,”

“You should’ve told someone, this is dangerous,”

Jason huffed out a laugh. “That’s an occupational hazard baby bird,”

“Stop calling me that,”

***

Tim watched Jason jump out of his window, the man leaving with a shout of, “I’ll get you some new sheets!” 

Tim hadn’t noticed the blood-soaked sheets on his bed until after Jason was already gone. Tim could do nothing but sigh and begin getting ready for bed. He walked into his bathroom, taking in his appearance. His eye bags were still dark, and his face was still on the grey edge of pale. His eyes were tired, almost lifeless. He was beginning to see his skin clinging to his bone, a telltale sign that he hadn’t been eating. He sighed and looked away.

He brushed his teeth and washed his face almost robotically, avoiding locking eyes with himself in the mirror at all costs. 

He replaced his sheets and got into bed, letting his mind take the wheel.

Viper.

They were already aware of the effects of the drug, it slowly melted away calcium that the bones needed and left it’s victims with dust in place of bones, killing them slowly and painfully. It allowed for a small period of inhuman strength, which was unbelievably dangerous. Solomon Grundy was a prime example of why people out of their minds should not be given super strength. He only hoped they could shut the operation down before Viper spread too much. 

***

“Plan?” Tim asked warily. Jason had come crashing into his room with a look of pure rage on his face a few moments earlier. He’d explained to Tim that there was a new variant in Viper that allowed the victims to live longer and made them susceptible to suggestion. Tim didn’t like drugs that made people susceptible to suggestion. Jason had his theories on what the drug trafficking rings could use it for, who they could sell it to, and none of them were good. The way Jason paced as he spoke made Tim worry that he’d jump into action without a plan.

“My plan is to track down the piece of shit that started this and paint the wall with his brain,” Jason spat.

“Jay as of now you and I are the only ones on this. If you die who will help the victims?” Tim questioned in an attempt to be the voice of reason. 

Jason stopped pacing to think, at least that’s what Tim assumed, he couldn’t tell much from the helmet.

“Fine. What’s the plan?”

“Where’d you find the dealer last night?” Tim asked, turning to his computer.

“Corner of fifth and Eagleside,”

“There’s a warehouse not too far from there. I say we check it out, and if it’s a hit, follow it,”

“And if it isn’t?”

“Then we look somewhere else. The drug hasn’t hit the streets hard yet or else Bruce would know. We need to stop it before its next shipment,”

“Right. I’ll-”

Tim’s police radio went off, and he whipped his head towards the noise on his desk. ‘Hostage situation at Gotham Bank, calling all units,’ 

Tim turned his head back to Jason, who’s figure had just leaped out of his window. Tim could do nothing but sigh and run a hand down his face. He really hoped this wouldn’t get them killed.

[hellsite-proteins]

STOP POSTING ABOUT AMONG US! I'M TIRED OF SEEING IT! MY FRIENDS ON TIKTOK SEND ME MEMES, ON DISCORD IT'S FUCKING MEMES! I was in a server, right? and ALL OF THE CHANNELS were just among us stuff. I-I showed my champion underwear to my girlfriend and t-the logo I flipped it and I said "hey babe, when the underwear is sus HAHA DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DI DI DING" I fucking looked at a trashcan and said "THAT'S A BIT SUSSY" I looked at my penis I think of an astronauts helmet and I go "PENIS? MORE LIKE PENSUS" AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHGESFG

ඞ

letter sequence in this ask matching protein-coding amino acids:

STPPSTINGATAMNGSIMTIREDFSEEINGITMYFRIENDSNTIKTKSENDMEMEMESNDISCRDITSFCKINGMEMESIwasinaserverrightandALLFTHECHANNELSwerestamngsstffIIshwedmychampinnderweartmygirlfriendandtthelgIflippeditandIsaidheyaewhenthenderwearisssHAHADINGDINGDINGDINGDINGDINGDINGDIDIDINGIfckinglkedatatrashcanandsaidTHATSAITSSSYIlkedatmypenisIthinkfanastrnatshelmetandIgPENISMRELIKEPENSSAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHGESFG

protein guy analysis:

this is a weird looking structure. i haven't shown you the confidence rating, but its not far off from the red colour i chose. the most immediately apparent factor is how long and spread out this protein is. when i rotated the structure from how it originally loaded (second image) to the significantly worse looking one (top image) i was genuinely taken aback. there are some interesting elements of secondary structure visible, including two parallel beta strands, some more twisted sheets and a couple helices. the loops look messy as always, but with how far apart the two areas connected by the loop are, this feels reminiscent of a flexible linker. of course, neither half of this protein is functional in the slightest, so that's a mildly ridiculous comparison. this protein seemed so goofy that it only felt fitting to display it with the flattened graphics that i find give it an even more cartoonish appearance.

predicted protein structure:

[sailorsoapbox]

Not Sailor Moon related, but I'd like to share this gifset/analysis of cinematic parallels between The Castle of Cagliostro and The Great Mouse Detective with you. This was a Patreon request, so consider this post a preview of what you might see if you subscribe (Tier 1 starts at only $1/month)!

Today I would like to do a quick piece showcasing some of the cinematic parallels between Hayao Miyazaki's The Castle of Cagliostro and John Musker & Ron Clements' The Great Mouse Detective. Famously, both films' climaxes take place inside the workings of a clock tower. As many Disney animators, Musker & Clements included, are known to be fans and admirers of Miyazaki's films, it is quite likely that TGMD's climax is an intentional homage to TCoC. Here are five similar scenes from each film (reproduced as animated gifs) that I would like to discuss in particular:

The Villain's Entrance: Notice that both the Count and Ratigan take advantage of the clock tower's gears to sneak up on their enemy. Their figures are similar - large, hulking bodies, swishy red capes, and an unusual head shape. In the Count's case, his head shape is changed by his goat-shaped helmet, while Ratigan's angular pointed rat ears contrast heavily with Basil's rounded mouse ears. Interestingly, the Count moves vertically, while Ratigan moves horizontally. Both villains are temporarily thwarted by their respective Damsel in Distress warning Our Hero about the impending attack. 

An Unfair Battle: Both films feature a battle to the death on an unstable surface - Caglistro's being on moving clock gears, while Mouse Detective's battle is on Big Ben's clock hands which are slippery from the rain. As mentioned earlier, both the Count and Ratigan have large hulking bodies which visually contrast between Lupin III's and Basil's lanky and significantly shorter frames. The Count and Ratigan are also armed (with a sword and rat claws respectively), whereas Lupin III had to improvise with a long wrench. Basil is completely unable to defend himself, which accords with his characterization as being entirely Brains, not Brawn. Lupin III is an adventurer, so he fares much better in this battle, but it is still heavily weighed in the Count's favour.

A Near Miss: Both movies feature a brief scene where one of the "good guys" is nearly crushed by the clock gears, only to survive from a split-second escape. Both Damsels, Clarisse and Olivia, are relatively passive in the battle and are heavily protected by Lupin III and Basil. Clarisse, being a young adult rather than a little girl, is noticeably braver and more proactive during the battle. There is brief tension when Lupin III almost looks like he will be crushed, but because of his reputation for getting out of any jam, the audience never has to worry about how he will escape. In comparison, Olivia is helpless to save herself from being crushed, and Basil has to take advantage of his knowledge on the physics of clockwork to rescue her. The scene with Olivia is significantly longer, drawing out the tension.

The Villain Unmasked: Both battles take a turn when the villain is literally, and figuratively, unmasked. A gleeful Lupin III shatters the goat horned helmet, instantly making the Count look less intimidating and more like the pathetic man he is. His stance immediately changes from murderous and dangerous, to bewildered and annoyed. The result reminds the audience that for all his ambition and bluster, the Count is just a petty criminal with delusions of grandeur. Ratigan, in comparison, shatters his own "mask." Merely spotting Basil and Olivia trying to escape from him shatters his mind, and he destroys his own illusions of good breeding and sophistication. Ratigan might be a charismatic and brilliant criminal mastermind, but when he doesn't get his way, he reveals himself to be nothing more than a feral rat.

Falling From The Clock Tower: Clarisse, who is more proactive in this battle than Olivia (for understandable reasons), attempted to knock the Count off the tower to prevent him from activating its secret. He kicks her off him in retaliation, but she and Lupin III managed to fall into the water. They are miraculously (if implausibly) unharmed, and it eventually turns out that their falling off the tower saved their lives, as the Count would be gruesomely crushed between the clock hands triggered by the secret mechanism to point to midnight. In comparison, Big Ben itself is what causes Ratigan's demise. The tolling of the tower's bells (also at midnight) would be already deafening for a human, but are completely disorienting for a rat. Disney are known to kill off their villains by having them fall off something (so as to imply their deaths rather than showing a body), and Ratigan's death is another example. Interestingly, Ratigan's fall from the tower is implicitly shown to be fatal, which contrasts with Lupin III and Clarisse's survival. The films' respective target audiences also are a factor in how their villains are defeated - Cagliostro is aimed at an older audience, so while the Count's death is not explicit, his demise is far more visceral. Knowing exactly where the Count's body is (and what has happened to it) is a more potent image; we know Ratigan likely won't survive his fall, but we don't know where his body will land.

They're pretty good movies, y'know.

[ash5monster01]

Perfect to Love

Pairing: Steve Harrington x FemReader!PlusSize

Warnings: fluff, mentions of bullying, body image issues, fat shaming, angst, trust issues.

Summary: Beth Walker was used to living in the shadows. She had only one friend and anyone else who paid her mind usually bullied her for her size. So she learned to keep her mouth shut, her head down, and her heart closed because she had to accept the fact that she would be nothing more than the fat girl to people. That is until Robin decides Beth needs more in life and that might just include a boy who she never would’ve thought could see her for who she truly was.

word count: 1,326

→ Part 1

Masterlist

"Bertha!" chuckles from teenage boys followed the sneer that came from Colin Matterson's mouth, football captain, and all around douche. Beth recoiled into her self as heads turned to look at her and her peers chuckled. People thought they were clever adding two little letters to her name, instead they were just mean.

"Eat shit Matterson!" Robin stood and yelled to which the boy just brushed off and continued on his way to a seat in the bleachers. Beth felt her breaths coming out in heavy paces but she appreciated Robin for sticking up for her. "Don't listen to him Beth, he's an asshole"

"You know I ignore him" Beth told her, adjusting the strap to her marching band helmet. Robin took notice of how her flute trembled in her hand despite the tough facade she was putting on.

"Still Beth, people like him aren't going to matter by the end of the year" Vickie piped in. Ever since the three had been placed beside each other in the line up they had gotten to know each other. They also learned that Beth was super cool despite being silent most of the time. Things used to not be so bad until Barb Holland passed away, leaving her to be the only bigger girl left in their grade.

"I know, just hurts that he's right" both girls instantly gave offended looks, quickly muttering off how she was one of the most prettiest girls they knew but sometimes those comments didn't hold a lot of weight opposed to the mean ones. Beth knew it was wrong to not think her friends were sincere but if Colin Matterson was the one calling her beautiful things would be a bit different. Being seen at all by somebody new would be different.

"Beth nobody is perfect and you in comparison to Colin Matterson is a thousand times better and I mean it. You have more personality and good qualities in your pinky finger than he does all together" Beth offered a smile because a small part of her knew she was right. Yet after years of opposite comments there was still a small part of her that believed Robin was just saying it to make her feel better.

"Thanks Rob" but Robin knew she still didn’t get through to the girl and that thought frustrated her more than anything. Beth deserved to be seen for the amazing person she was, somebody like that shouldn’t have to hide from the world because of some stupid standard of beauty. It pissed Robin off to no end especially when she knew if Beth looked how people thought she should look she would be the most popular girl in school.

Robin kept this in mind throughout the entirety of the pep rally, walking Beth to her car, and waiting for Steve to pick her up. She was frustrated not only trying to find a way for others to see how amazing Beth was but for Beth to see herself as such. Robin knew what hating yourself could be like, it took years for her to accept being gay. Some things you can’t change and the sooner you learn to accept them the happier you’ll be. Yet since she couldn’t come up with a sure fire way she continued to be frustrated.

“What’s with you?” Robing looked up from the returns she was stacking to see Steve leaned against the counter giving her a confused look.

“What do you mean?” she asked and he quickly chuckled, a shake of his head swaying some stray hairs loose.

“You’ve barely said a word since we’ve gotten here. Normally you’re going on and on about how cute Vickie was at band practice today. You being quiet is weird” Steve told her and Robin finally sighed, falling against the counter like she had finally given up.

“It’s Beth” Steve rose his eyebrows in a suggestive way and Robin shook her head against the counter top, a sign that it wasn’t like he thought.

“Beth Walker, you remember her?” Robin asked and Steve shook his head which only caused Robin to sigh harder.

“She’s my friend and easily the sweetest girl on this planet but she gets terrorized at school, she doesn’t even know how cool she is because of how terrible to other students are to her” Robin explained and Steve suddenly felt guilty for not knowing her despite being a grade ahead.

“Why are they bullying her?” Steve asked, curious as to what reason someone would have to treat a sweet girl badly.

“She’s bigger, kinda like Barb but shorter. They call her Bertha” Steve cringed at the mean name, even he could feel the sting of it.

“That’s awful Rob” he told her and she nodded as she lifted her head from the counter.

“It is and Steve she is so great. Like the coolest chick you’d ever meet. She drives a brand new corvette and the kids still treat her like shit” Steve smiled at Robins defense for the girl, the thought comforting him to know she’d do the same for him.

“Have you tried telling her this?” Robin let out a small groan as she started to pick at a stray string on her shirt.

“All the time but I know she doesn’t listen. I can’t blame her though, when the same people keep building you up and hundreds of strangers tear you down it doesn’t do much. That’s a battle meant to be lost” Robin wished that her words could resonate with the girl but the only way they would is if someone like Colin Matterson finally came around and started saying them. Then suddenly it hit her. “You used to be a dick right?”

“Woah, what the hell?” Steve held his hands up and Robin rolled her eyes.

“You know what I mean Steve, you weren’t the best guy back in the day” Robin defended and he dropped his head.

“That’s way harsh Rob, you know I’m not like that anymore” Robin nodded and began to move around the counter to face him.

“Well yeah, you’re super cool now. But guys like Colin Matterson still think you’re King of Hawkins?” Steve thought about it before nodding, he graduated with the Mr. Popular reputation even if he still didn’t feel like he had it.

“Not that I’m proud of it but yeah, those guys all still think I’m hot shit” Steve said as he crossed his arms. “So what’re you getting at?”

“Meet Beth, hang out with her in public, if people see you with her they might realize it’s not her size that matters” Steves eyes widened, totally not seeing where this conversation was going.

“I don’t know Rob-”

“Please Steve, she’s so great. It doesn’t have to be right away, I can bring her to a movie night or something. She just deserves to be seen for who she is and I can’t help her with that but you can” Steve pressed his hand to his eyes, thinking about it for a moment before turning to her.

“One movie night, then I’ll think about it” he told her as he pointed a finger at her and she began to jump and cheer. “You’re something else”

“And you’re the best Steve Harrington, truly” Steve tried to hide his smile but he couldn’t help it as he watched Robin become so happy over the thought that she could help a friend.

If Robin had claimed this girl was so special maybe it was worth a shot. Hell he never even really thought of Barb as big, it was mainly Tommy and Carol that ever bullied people for things like that. Yet he realized he wasn’t much better never even realizing her when he knew most of her grade because of Nancy. The size didn’t matter to him, but if he didn’t like her and started bringing her around wouldn’t that be just like using her?

a/n: if this is a story you guys would be interested in plz let me know, I am also aware I have not finished my Rooster Series yet but I do have the outlines for the remaining chapters so I wanted to get a head start on this. I think the concept would be cute and I’m a sucker for the fact I think Steve Harrington would be all about plus size girls. I think this could be a cute short little series <3

let me know if you want to be added to the tag list

[shizukateal]

Miraculous Ladybug Magical Girl Fashion Review -Part 1

Preamble

Ok, so. What do you people generally think of as a "superhero outfit"? Spandex, right? Tight-skinned, uninterrupted spandex covering almost all the body, or at least not straying away from the body line if you're a girl and only get a swimsuit. Maybe a cape (hood optional) depending on how dramatic you are to add some flow or, if you're a woman, your hairstyle will do that job. Otherwise you can have some form of helmet or headpiece to distinguish yourself, and that's it. That's the extent of options you have. If you're extremely lucky, they might allow you to wear a jacket.

While this description might be a bit of an exaggeration (not by much, though) I think we can all agree that this is a very restrictive set of rules to work with. It's very hard to make something that completely contours to the body visually compelling. It's hard to distribute colors and shapes and patterns in a neat way that makes you stand out when you have to compete with thousands of millions of characters with the same 3 allowed bodytypes (lean, broad, or Woman™️). Which is why we should clap even more at designs like the DC holy trinity and especially Spiderman, who not only has a fantastic design in spite of how alienating it should be, but whose look is also currently inspiring thousands of artists to make their own variations, technically also including today's very own Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

This is all a very lengthy way to say that some of the MLB people wear their fursuits better than the rest. Skin-tight onesies with fur patterns are not something everyone can pull off. Doubly so with how inconsistent the art direction in the show is, with everyone in the cast reaching different levels of uncanny valley and swagless drip. I personally think that many of them would do better if they thought a bit outside that box of "standard superhero fashion" and went for something more specific to the personalities of the characters, but there are some winners amongst the rabble. Much like the writing of the show itself, the show's design averages into a trashy sludge pile that still manages to look tempting thanks to some unexpected moments of competence. Let's sort through the pile *cracks knuckles*

Ladybug (standard and ultimate version)

You'd think it would be easy for me to just say "yeah, the bland, near fully uninterrupted polkadot bodypaint onesie is both boring and silly and the other more balanced version is a LOT better by comparison" and leave it at that, but unfortunately I also have to talk about the hairstyle. And the hairstyle is wrong in a very specific way which I don't have concise terms for, so I need you to pay attention and stay with me here.

The pigtails work well for Marinette. They are distinct, practical, realistic enough while bordering just slightly on the fantastic, and their mild childishness enhances Mari's romantic nature. In theory they also match the polka-dot theme and they are not impractical considering the function of Ladybug's suit, but they still go against what it's trying to do. There's probably a concrete term in shape and action line theory that better educated people than me know about, but to give you the gist of what I mean I'm gonna do another Shitty Paint Edit™️ so I don't go in too many circles explaining myself:

Ok, you get what I'm trying to say here now? The pigtails match the balance of this specific pose, but the suit is too skin-tight and it highlights Marinette's neck, so they interrupt the buildup. They don't even work well as pieces of flow for contrast, because the hair is so stiff and the ribbons are barely noticeable. Compare to itsanarkee's cosplay and how much better she looks because she has an updo. The worst part of it all is that, usually, matching a body-paint suit with a hairstyle to provide contrast in a female superhero is, like, babyshit, the bread and butter of superheroine costumes, but Astruc managed to find the one hairstyle in the world to make it work wrong because he was to proud about Marinette's design to change anything. Just give her the fucking buns already.

Chat Noir

He serves cunt. Pops pussy, if you will. The only very mild itch it gives me is that I can't see what his ears are attached to and it bothers me, although he's not the only one with that feature and I understand why they would want to hide a hair band especially in his design. I can forgive that when everything else in this design is genius. The belt tail. The way his mask sharpens his features alongside the hair and ears. The flaps on his boots and gloves that highlight how his movements put more weight in his joints. The acrylic claws, the paws on his boots. The lines that highlight his figure in just the right way. The fucking bell. Chat is easily the best design amongst the heroes.

And while this my purely subjective interpretation, I truly do think it's understated how much this outfit manages to sell Adrien's clark kenting. It makes complete and perfect sense to me at least that Marinette wouldn't recognize him like this. Adrien is just slightly generically pretty enough that you wouldn't assume they are the same person just because they're both blonde bishies, and the contrast between the two personas is high enough that it could be realistic that some people wouldn't put them together if they are not looking for that connection. Doubly so for Marinette, who is way too enamored with Adrien's personality of generic un-disruptive niceness with a touch of rich boy angst to fully reconcile it with Chat's outright spicier demeanor lightened with Pathetic Wet Beast Energy for potability.

Rena Rogue vs Volpina

Yeah, this one merits a comparison. It's a perfect example to elaborate on my first rule. Lila already stands out as another of the best human designs amongst the cast, and the sleaze she exudes lends itself a lot better to this slick body-paint tightness and form-highlighting curves. The tail-sash around her waist is also brilliant. She'd probably look even better in something more grounded, but the fact that she's already pulling the outfit off like this is still an accomplishment.

Rena Rogue on the other hand... well, everything around her head is very good and cute, and I especially appreciate the eyebrows on her mask. On paper I also like the top with its longtail, but overall Alya looks a lot blander than Volpina, because her outfit doesn't reflect her personality the way it does Lila's. It's not ugly, even if the patch of white starts to bother me because it has no interruptions as it goes down. In fact it succeeds in making Rena look kind of adorable, really, but Alya is not a cutesy girl, and tbh the overall general texture of the outfit is a lot more body spray-painting-ish than Volpina's, which also makes it look cheaper in a bad way.

The Fox miraculous may be summarized as the power of Illusion, but both girls represent two facets elaborating on that concept: where Lila is the Fox as Deceit, Alya is the Fox as Cleverness. So Lila may be... smart manipulative -Ok, sincerely speaking Lila Rossi is the single most blatant Villain Sue I have ever seen put onscreen, but what I'm trying to get at is that while she -supposedly- has some cunning, her pettiness and eagerness to speak on the fly is -or rather should be- a contrast to Alya, who goes around sniffing for the truth and thus always has a fuller picture. Because remember: the best liars tell the truth. So Rena's outfit should reflect that. It should be less slick and more street-savvy, something that the pendant with its long chain is especially well suited to.

Speaking of all these thematic parallels, am I the only one in the fandom who is extremely weirded out that Lila isn't a rival to Alya? Like, aren't they extremely obvious foils beyond both of them being fox-themed? The girl who bases her clout on lies vs the one who searches for the truth? The girl who pretends to be friends with Ladybug while bullying her civilian identity vs the girl who is friends with both? Have the writers ever exploited this ever since I stopped watching?

Carapace

Nino is almost perfect. I am genuinely impressed at how well they chose the angle of this costume. It's so easy for me to imagine a much shittier version with an ugly cowl/spiderman wannabe facemask -because other characters in this series take that approach-, but taking a page out of spider-gwen's book instead paid amazing dividends. He looks great as teenage not-mutant ninja turtle.

He only has two significant faults. One is that I feel his goggles should be tinted opaque orange, and he should wear a mask over his mouth and nose. You know, make the clark kenting a little easier, the stealth more pointed, maybe he can have a cool graffiti of a turtle beak over the mask for a sprinkle of his actual personality. The second is that the partition he chose for his crotch area is a bit iffy and yes, I am very sorry to talk about this. The shape of the partition itself is not bad but it's the same color, so it doesn't actually help the transition all that much and instead, sadly, it only brings more attention to the middle. My suggestion is that he should take a page out of Rise of the TMNT's book and make the plastron into actual armor that goes from his chest to his navel, instead of just a logo on the front. Then he can either wear black shorts or he can go the Rise!Casey Jones route and wear pants that are slightly baggy but still cinch to his ankles.

Then there's only one last thing he needs to be completely perfect and that is having an actual relationship with Master Fu since he is the direct successor of his miraculous and one of the first characters to be akumatized on account of his resentment towards adults, so I feel like there's a whole bunch of narrative foiling potential not being explored there, you get me?

Queen Bee vs Vesperia

Zoe's face is more interesting and I appreciate that, as well as the design team giving her a braid, but Chloe still wins this one. Vesperia's outfit is reasonably cool on its own, but it does very little aesthetically for her. Perhaps if the colors of her top and pants were inverted it could work, but there's something about the aggressive sharpness of its lines that Zoe's bubbly face is not matching, made worse by the black being at the forefront. That might not be a problem in civilian outfit, but only because that look is balanced with other colors. Or rather, I think she also needs a more casual fit to pull it off instead of a skin-tight jacket. I also get what they're trying to do with her bangs and I would love it were it not for the fact that it doesn't look good in this artstyle. Chloe also has that problem with her hair, but Queen Bee's style fits her a lot better in a much obvious way, and for added points I think Queen Bee wears the cord as a belt better too., so congrats to Chloe on her one win, I do hope the writing allows her to have proper character development later instead of constantly resetting her to square one for conflict.

[pawborough]

Howdy everyone!

Happy Valentine's day folks! We have the long awaited contest results in this update, as well as some small updates to fauna, and a new system for accessories.

Contest Winner

We previously held a sweepstakes to win a Design An Accessory Tier (1st place) and Monarch Tier (2nd place) and we can now announce the winners!

(We want to apologize for the low quality of the video; we wanted to crop out the advertisements on the website we used)

Over 580 people entered! 

Congratulations to our winners Emma and Erika!

Thank you to everyone who entered!

Fauna Updates

As previously seen with the Featherbeau, Kintsune, and Javasqueak, we have been updating all the fauna art to match the new style overhaul.

Here is a comparison to the old artwork.

Toshi has very minimal changes. There are some minor color and shadow touch-ups, but as this was our most in-style original fauna, very little change was necessary.

Here is the new and old art.

Like the Featherbeau and Kintsune, the Phantowl has a full overhaul. With a more dynamic pose and better detail, we hope to invoke spookiness in the new design.

The new and old designs are below.

Accessories + Dye system 

Speaking of designing accessories, we've finally begun production on our accessories! Here is a preview of what we are working on, showing illustrations of the original Gilded Helm and Iridescent Trail!

Our focus is on adapting challenging items. For example, the Helm, and similar helmet items, provide unique challenges when on fluffy breeds. 

Here are a few previews of our solutions so far:

And here is a preview of our first backer-sponsored design!

Lastly, we’re very excited to announce a system we've been workshopping. 

Accessory dyes! 

PawBorough is built by the players, and it is in our interest as players to have as much quality customizability as possible. We want expansive options! All the recolors!

Accessory dyes will allow users to craft any accessory on the site into a different color. 

The system we are designing incorporates “standard” and “special” dyes. 

Standard dyes are a set number of colors which will be compatible with all accessories, meaning all accessory items get a blanket number of recolors. 

“Special” dyes will only be compatible with certain items, and will include alternative colorings such as rainbow, pastel colors, gradients, patterns, etc! 

The benefit of such a system means all items will get a set number of varieties, and it lets us expand upon certain pieces to include alternative or unique colorings. But it doesn’t commit us to an undoable recolor demand. 

We’re still working out the kinks and pain points, such as easy to see information on what takes a special dye and what doesn’t, but we hope this will prevent item bloat, give users more creative control, and overall improve the gameplay! 

Site Themes 

We’ve started workshopping the Borough themes with our completed assets. Take a look at these previews! 

Zenith 

Luna

Pawprints

Next let’s look at a cute feature we have on the backburner. 

Ever imagine your cat has polydactyly? While we can’t break lineart, we do have a fun new feature for rare cat collectors. Every cat will have their very own paw print on their profile, with a very very small chance of having a sixth toe!

There are 55 unique pawprints!

Have fun trying for cats with silly paws ~

Stonehide texture

We’ve upgraded our asset technology! The rainbow sheen seen here on the scales of the Stonehide was a breakthrough in our coloring limitations. This texture will be applied to mystic breeds in the future and bring further quality to our assets!

Great stuff! 

On the backend, we've not done many notable new things this month, but we're continuing through as we prepare for a dedicated alpha. Longhairs were stuck with file processing complications, but we're working them out and working in tandem!

Speaking of alpha, we're looking at opening free applications for alpha and transitioning from solely an internal to a semi-external volunteer test. More information on this as we grow closer. 

To Summarize: We showed updated Beta, Toshi, Phantowl and accessory assets, the dying system, two new site themes, a cute pawprint feature, and a new texture for mystic breeds.

What to expect next month: Further accessory assets, potential alpha update, and asset and software updates.

Note for Tumblr users: Something went wrong on our end, and while this update got posted to Kickstarter, it somehow did not got posted to Tumblr. We have re-uploaded it now for proper record keeping. Our sincerest apologies.

[reconstructwriter]

So I Finally Finished Attack of the Clones

...for the very first time. When did this movie come out again? I am late, is there still room on this bandwagon? Anyway more thought vomiting on this movie...

Sith Pattern: I do appreciate that Palpatine is old, rich, white male fascist. Dooku is old, rich, white male fascist. Anakin shakes things up a bit by starting out young and poor but he’ll get there and has the rest down. Meanwhile our heroes are Padme Amidala, Mace Windu, Yoda, Bail, etc. Would have loved for George Lucas’ original casting of Obi Wan to have gone through! This does make Mirror!verses and morality flip AU's very weird because the Galaxy is being saved from aliens by three white guys? Unfortunate implications aside I can suspend a lot of disbelief about laser-swords and magic IN SPACE but I gotta draw the line somewhere.

Anakin’s attachment: Is well-shown here with convenient comparison to Cleigg – her husband and her son, the two who should love Shmi the most. At her funeral Cleigg is all ‘you’re in a better place. Thank you for the time we had,’ vs Anakin’s ‘I wasn’t strong enough to save you, I won’t fail again’ and ‘I miss you’. Exact opposites. Cleigg was entirely focused on Shmi while Anakin was focused on himself.

Also Anakin’s focus kinda screwed up Obi Wan’s mission when he wasted precious moments FINDING Anakin to get his galactically-important message through.

Mace Windu Not Killing Dooku: Shatterpoint, along with some fanfics, has Mace beating himself up for not ending the war by killing Dooku but my man you’re too hard on yourself! You only killed Jango when he decided to fuck around and find out with you in the death arena. Dooku did not fuck around and find out so your only chance would’ve been to throw away all your Jedi morals and stab him in the back! Thus risking becoming Darth Tyrannus 2.0 and screwing the galaxy.

Jango why did you fuck around and find out? I get Mace held a laser sword to your throat and you had a working jetpack going into the arena…but that arena is No Man’s Land. Even if Galidraan was canon you could’ve stayed back and taken pot shots.

The scene with Boba giving one last keldabe kiss to his father’s helmet is heartbreaking! Ouch!!!

Padme: So I kinda get being willing to confess her terrible taste in men on Space Fantasy Death Row. She doesn’t want to live a lie and is straight up expecting to die so what does it matter if she confesses? And then she does live so consequence time! Still feels like she’s ignoring the genocide – or George Lucas is ignoring the obvious implications. Genocide does work for foreshadowing Jedi genocide and Nazi comparisons (boy howdy does it!!!). But murdering every single member of an entire tribe down to the babes in arms doesn’t work for ‘Anakin doesn’t Fall here, he just dips his toe in the Dark’.

Padme otherwise doesn’t seem too terribly out of character throughout. She stands her ground against Anakin and where she does give in – rescuing Shmi – or chooses to go after Obi Wan? Well both did do her immensely big favors it’d be weirder if she brushed them off. Plus, rescuing both comes with additional benefits – no assassin will look for her on Tattooine (it worked before) and Obi Wan’s rescue could offer the opportunity to discuss peace with the Separatists before war happened.

And it did – in the cut scene :P

Dual with Dooku: So Anakin did put his duty first when Padme fell in the (barren, sans enemies) sand with an ally but damn if his attachment to her wasn’t still affecting him. The hot-headed idiotic attack was the worst possible timing! Why does everyone beat Mace up (including the man himself) for not killing Dooku but give Anakin a pass when he had every chance of ending the war Right There if he’d been able to keep his head on straight for two minutes.

The End: As with the first movie, we end with Mace and Yoda clearly knowing what the Sith are doing, though they're split with Mace believing Dooku while Yoda thinks its a trick. And I think they’re both right because I read somewhere Dooku and Palpatine were hoping to sow doubt between the Jedi and the Senate but also was telling the truth – from a certain point of view. Anyway, they aren't oblivious. Yoda straight up says the Shroud of the Dark Side has Fallen.

The last scene really drives that home! How the beginning of the war is the beginning of the Empire. The war kills the Republic and this is repeatedly smacked into our brains with the imagery of Palpatine standing at the head of everyone else, the most powerful Supreme Chancellor ever as the army of white-clad troopers marches out into the galaxy below him. The Destroyers lift off. The Empire’s freaking theme music plays.

Overall the movie had its high points and stinkers but that was a damn fine end!

[katyspersonal]

What are your expectations/theories for Messmer?

I have a few! I even considered making a predictions bingo on him specifically to check when DLC comes out! XD But overall the predictions resulted from me and @val-of-the-north bouncing the ideas around 🤔 I'll need to link a few of other posts here too to help clarifying some relevant topics!

___________________________________

1) I think he is one of the children between Marika and Godfrey, or maybe even her first-born!

At first I was also thinking that him having red hair was a damning evidence that he had to be born from selfcest, like Malenia and Miquella! But Val brought this to my attention that in ER manga, which is apparently on a stronger level of directing than BB comics from my knowledge, Rykard is a blond!

So Val suggested that genes can work a funny way since Marika and Radagon are still the same person, and if Rykard got Marika's golden hair gene even from Radagon's body, the reverse is possible and someone in Golden Lineage could have red hair even from Marika! I also agree because Miquella is venturing into the Shadows Land presumably to discover Marika's secrets:

(Famitsu interview with Miyazaki, taken from this ( x ) post) But Messmer to me feels like he would be fully aware of every Marika's dark secret there is! I joke that he is very Lucifer-coded, but actually Satan-coded is a better comparison. He is the holder of "Hell", where the 'graceless' beings and those rejected by Golden Order reside, like that ancient Misbegotten(ish) creature! If he was the third sibling of this kind, why would he know more than Malenia and Miquella? (I mean, surprise me!) But if he had been there from the very start, carrying her (God's) punishment, then sure!

My other clue towards that is that he shares the "spartan" aesthetic in his clothes with Godfrey and his Duelists ( x ) (and actually Goldmask too)! This whole thing with leg wraps and waistwrap!

2) He is the first to historically partake in Dragon Communion, and the inspiration of Drake Knights

There are dragonic features about himself, the design of his armour and his snakes! Initially I thought of Dragonic Sentinels too, but their whole deal is to combat Granssax, who I concluded attacked after Farum Azula war and Placidusax' lord was fled. More than that, their deal is 'electric' line of dragons specifically, whereas Drake Knights and others who that partake in Dragon Communion are not picky! They eat dragon hearts to take their power, and that includes 'fire' line of dragons, like Greyoll and her spawn!

I speculate that he was the first person historically, with the bright idea of eating dragon heart to take its power, and this is where his fire powers came from. Fire is associated with heresy, but in his case it was both: assuming powers of dragons was heresy itself (so, before Godwyn made dragons 'friends'), but fire powers came from it! As a Demigod, he also did not meet the same miserable fate as Magma Wyrms! He had the privilege to really take something useful by being not mere mortal.

3) The snakes, therefore, are part of his body!

There are two of them, and I assume they're growing from the base of his spine and function like his tails! If Placidusax is anything to go by, this is part of him developing multiple heads but in the way that would not mess with his body too much. Funny enough, I had two dreams of Gwyndolin as a baby, and in both Gwyndolin as a child only had two snakes that did work as tails, so maybe I am biased!

4) Rotten Duelists also take inspiration from him

I am resharing the image by Val from a post I've already linked, but whereas they elaborate sign of Godfrey and hatred for the Giants in their design, the snakes around their arms and on their helmets are supposed to refer to Messmer!

I imagine Godfrey and Messmer being that super cool OG battle duo. Duelists feature two kinds of 'heresy' in their design - the snakes and the symbols of the Giants, and I assume they were proudly wearing these before being driven from the Coliseum! Back then symbolism of "taking power from the enemy" was something honourable, and so was what Messmer did - becoming 'sinful' to be the more powerful weapon of Marika was courageous and virtuous of him. So, snakes were also fine to proudly depict in the clothes! Until it was not:

5) He is banished for (attempted) burning of the Erdtree

This theory is coined in by @val-of-the-north! In this ( x ) post it is explained better, but in short, there are evidences that the big golden Erdtree we see is an illusion, most interesting one is ashes being all over Leyendell even before defeating Maliketh. So that's why it no longer is giving its blessed sap and is "only an object of faith" now, though its lower part is still physical of course. I agree with this idea!

I think he had to do something bad because of the huge sealed eye possibility! Ranni and Melina also have an eye sealed, and both are Demigods that had their 'privilege' within the Golden Order removed in one way or another. Messmer, on the other way, wows to burn whoever is devoid of grace, so I doubt that he would willingly divest himself of it! Whereas he's been heretical for dragonic powers and the 'Satan' to her system to take care of the 'sinners' from the beginning, but he got excommunicated from the family and likely erased from its records! Bonus points if Godwyn being the first in the Golden Lineage is just what they tell people now!

6) GEOOOOOORGGGEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

I've always had a feeling that whereas everyone is anticipating him to become the first true Soulsborne sexyman, something just has to put a dent in it. Just something to sour the character. I can't explain it, it is like sixth sense...? But I think I finally know what it is. During answering this ask, I payed attention how even with other things put in consideration, he still appears to be loyal to his mother and the purpose she intended to him. He speaks defensive against her letting the "unworthy" to become a Lord. Like... this is not necessarily something weird, it could just be strong loyalty even against his self-interest like what we see in Maliketh or Morgott, but there is just strange sixth sense about perhaps some Freudian shit going on in his head that I can't shake, and not anti-climatic one after what they did with Mohg.

7) Motivation for attempted burning of the Erdtree were themes of ambition and perfection

I will link a couple of posts (with pictures) in which I explained how Erdtree is itself a Crucible and how I theorise existence of Omens resulted in denying and loathing the thing ( x ) ( x ). They're not too long tbh, and in both I forgot to bring up the fact that Ancestral Followers worship Minor Erdtrees :') But the main point is, everything sacred will eventually rot and die, however, giving the way to a new thing to sprout from it, and that was something Marika was unwilling to accept. Erdtree and Golden Order, were supposed to be Eternal, like herself.

Marika made everything that reminded of the other side of life, like Misbegotten and Omens, illegal, and ensured immortality in the best way she could, but Messmer took it even further. He attempted to remove the 'life' aspect of the Elden Ring, to separate the sacred power granted to his mother and relatives from the earth. So, from from inevitable death, from ever rotting, from 'cycle'... from everything "imperfect", so it could be just the one perfect, pure, 100% spiritual thing in their hands. + I think what he did happened after Gloam-Eyed Queen fiasco, so that was another point in realising the instability and imperfection. + to draw from the previous point, he might have been really pissed at Greater Will itself on behalf of his mother.

Except, what he did was not something even Marika would agree to. Greater Will specifically sought this "imperfect" world FOR its "imperfections", to gain form and purpose through births and deaths and feelings and struggles from the amorphous empty cosmic state. It was suffering from its superiority, there was nothing to love or hate or want. It gives me the same vibe as how in BB, the Great Ones are willing to trade their perfection for simple joy of loving a child; they don't need to give birth since they're immortal and their genes are not in need of surviving, but there is just... nothing in this immortality. This is something Messmer would not understand. Sellen is another example of this mindset, aspiring for the things the "perfect" beings were willing to escape. It is always the case of 'greener grass' lol

But yes, absolutely no one appreciated the attempt to separate the Elden Ring from being rooted into mortal "flawed" things. I think he still thinks he is right, and that whatever little dialogue he will have should contain quite the vitriol.

8) In the second stage of his battle, he will become far more dragonic.

I expect at least something happening with the snakes akin to becoming his wings. Maybe he will even turn into a dragon, a two-headed one! + also if there is no particularly gruesome (lethal) visceral attack by his snakes I will rebel lol

___________________

Soooo yeah... This isn't much, but my imagination is weak when I have limited information x) I have also seen an idea that the thing that pierces Marika's body might be his doing since he is titled the Impaler, but for now I think this is not the case! Her hammer is full of similar sharp shards of Elden Ring, so I think this is just another shard, or, perhaps, something Elden Beast threw at her. Red coloration comes from being bloodied! Marika was a mortal once, after all!

[blueiscoool]

Gold Glass ‘Roma’ Unearthed in the Excavations of the Rome Subway

A very rare and refined piece of gold glass representing ‘Roma’, the woman symbol of the Eternal City, has been discovered during the construction of Rome’s Metro C metro line.

It is the first time that any representation of Roma in gold glass has ever been found, according to archaeologist Simona Morretta of Rome’s special superintendency.

Describing it as “extraordinarily refined”, Morretta told news agency ANSA: “Golden glass is already a very rare find, but this has no comparison”.

Originally the base of a drinking glass, the discovery features an image of the female deity – the personification of the city of Rome – wearing a helmet and carrying a spear.

“The thousand-year history of our city never ceases to amaze and enchant the world,” the mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, wrote in a tweet.

The recently found personification of the Eternal City has no writing on it. She is dressed in an Amazonian-inspired outfit, has a diadem on her forehead, and a helmet with a plumed crest. Over her chest, she carries a spear. The curls in her hair and the scrollwork on the helmet are both beautifully crafted details.

Gold glass is a high-end glass that has a decorative design in gold leaf fused between two layers of glass. The majority of surviving Roman examples are drinking glass bottoms that have been cut off.

Morretta said the precious artifact did not belong to the military barracks found during the subway works – which was abandoned in the middle of the third century and subsequently razed to the ground – with preliminary studies suggesting the glass is from the start of the fourth century.

The gold glass artifact will go on display in a new subway station museum that will include an in situ exhibition of the barracks.

By Leman Altuntaş.

[kuiperblog]

Why the movie villain’s henchmen always wear masks

One of those “can’t unsee it” things about modern action movies is the fact that, overwhelmingly, the generic bad guys wear face-concealing masks, particularly in mid-budget direct-to-Netflix action movies. (My definition of “mid budget” here also includes “high budget” Netflix action movies where the bulk of the budget was clearly spent hiring Ryan Reynolds.)

I dislike this for many reasons, but high among them is that it deprives the stunt actors of the opportunity to act with their faces.

For contrast, watch a Jackie Chan movie: a huge part of the fun of Jackie Chan action scenes is the incredibly human reactions that people have when delivering (or taking) punches. When the hero is punching bad guys, it’s not just about the punch itself, but the reaction of the guy who’s getting punched! When someone gets kicked in the face or takes fist to the stomach, I want to see him react with obvious pain!

Even if the stunt actors aren’t amazingly emotive actors, it’s nice when all of the bad guys (even the “generic”) ones are visually distinctive. For one thing, it makes it easier to tell the “generic” characters straight from each other -- it’s simply harder to keep track of the action when the hero is fighting five bad guys who are all basically identical. You can try to get around this by giving the bad guys face-concealing helmets that are visually distinctive, though doesn’t make a ton of sense from a lore perspective, considering the entire point of a uniform is.  (Functional uniforms are, by their very nature, and by definition, designed to be uniform. It doesn’t make sense for the Galactic Empire to come up with unique helmets for each individual stormtrooper.)

But apart from the practical issues that come from all of the mooks being indistinct human-shaped blobs, there’s just the fact that as a human, I am  deeply biologically hardwired to find human faces compelling.  Human faces and bodies can be so delightfully idiosyncratic -- no two people look the same!

And therein lies the problem for the moviemakers.  Because if you wish to show dozens of unique human faces, then you need to have dozens of unique human faces.

If all they need to do is be excited faces in a crowd, then you can get extras. But if your movie is about a protagonist delivering bespoke acts of violence to dozens of generic bad guys, then those bad guys have to be played by stunt actors. And if you show us the stunt actors’ faces, audiences will start to notice when you start reusing stunt actors. (Even if we wouldn’t consciously register the fact that Chris Hemsworth is punching the same guy he just killed five minutes ago in a different action scene, our neural circuitry is really good at noticing familiar human faces. As Mike Stoklasa is fond of saying, “You may not have noticed it, but your brain did.”)

So, if you only have half a dozen stunt actors, but the movie calls for dozens of bad guys getting punched or stabbed or shot, then you have to cover their faces.

Realizing this has given me a greater appreciation for movies of this genre that don’t hide the actor’s faces. For example, Nobody is perfectly willing to show us the bad guy’s faces as they get punched, shot, and knocked around, which is great, because it’s a movie that is specifically about the consequences and brutality of violence.

Nobody does have one scene where the bad guys’ faces are covered -- they wear ski masks during the home invasion scene, because it makes narrative sense for them to do so. But ski masks still allow them to act with their faces during the intense moments! You get to see the fear in this guy’s eyes in the moment he realizes what’s about to happen to him.

Nobody’s credits list a whopping 35 names as “stunt performers.” (And that’s not including the actors credited as “stunt double.”)

For comparison, The Adam Project has 9 credited stunt actors. No surprise, then, that all the “generic bad guys” wear helmets. (Not that they get to do much “stunt” work in the moments before they get vaporized into flashing bloodless PG-13 approved CGI dust. Not only does the movie not let you see bad guys’ faces react after they get shot, but it doesn’t even want to let you watch their bodies collapse to the ground.)

By the way, since it’s the measuring stick that all movies get measured against these days, John Wick credits 59 stunt players. (Again, this is separate and in addition to the tally of “stunt doubles,” which is a different credit.)  The John Wick sequels each credit around a hundred stunt performers (John Wick 2 credits 103, John Wick 3 credits 94, John Wick 4 credits 100.)

The decision to cover everyone’s heads with face-concealing helmets can be a stylistic choice -- the Star Wars franchise showcases many of these, including of course the iconic stormtrooper, among many others. However, more and more, it feels like this not a creative design choice, but a practical one.

Movies are a product of human labor and talent, and that costs money. Like a lot of the things involved in making a good movie, hiring a lot of different stunt actors isn’t easy. But I always appreciate the movies that are willing to make the effort, because when audiences see it on screen, they can tell the difference.

[cidthesquid]

Monster Hunter World | Character Creator Chat

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Welcome back to CCC, (Formerly Character Creator Critique) where I just kinda yap a bit while working through a character creator. This Time it's Monster Hunter World! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Just as a bit of a disclaimer: this is just really my (mostly uninformed) views on design and character creation, I'm mostly doing this 'for fun'! And will mostly just serve as a 'snapshot' of my current views and perspectives. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I thought about going a bit further back, but I figured, this was the first entry designed from the ground up for an HD console, so we'll start here. (For reference, I'm playing on PC with no mods or DLC)

And wow, it's been so long since I first started this game, I completely forgot about the cinematic intro that's your first introduction to this new high fidelity world Anyways, let's jump in..

The First option is your basic Gener selection, and it appears that they use this to also showcase their diverse option for skin tones. ..being someone with darker skin myself looking to make a darker skinned avatar, you may think I'd see this as a good decision! But I think this misses the point. I by no means kind this offensive or anything, but I think the #1 purpose of any selection menu in a game like this, is to allow the player to make a choice, compare and contrast, one major area at a time. Yet, you can't simply compare the male and female character options here, even aside from the skin tone differences the expressions are different, hair color, eye color, ear shape, lip spacing, how light reflects off skin, etc. I'd argue it takes too much focus away from "what general body shape do you want", and instead gives you two wildly different character presets. A quick and easy fix would have been to start with two models with a closer look, and including an early option to set the skin tone, so you can have a more accurate comparison of that this initial choice is for. Alright, on to presets:

You have 10 charter presets to pick between, offering a few different styles. I'll aim to try creating my normal avatar for simplicity. So we'll start with preset 5, Next up us face:

We have 24 presets for this, with no advanced options for tweaking. But we have a good variety of face designs:

Next up is skin:

They offer a 2D-gradient scale map, With each corner representing a different skin tone with a center point of a fairly neutral looking tone:

This is not really a bad idea on paper, and it still means you can choose to have lighter or darker skin, But I feel that basically making skin tones a 2d graph, a lighter skin tone as your (0,0) origin point, it makes it a bit harder to dial in darker skin tones, as most of your quadrant would lean to the lighter side, but I still think they offer a pretty decent selection. There's also an option for wrinkles if you want to give your character an older or more grizzled look. Next up is hair style:

And this is where things actually get to be disappointing, I planned to be a little lenient on Monster Hunter, as you won't really see your hunter much when decked out in super cool looking gear, Like with a few other games, if you want long hair, you only really have the one I selected above, a 'priests' styled one, or wavy. Medium length is treated a little better, but the game favors short.

But I feel like the hair would be the one thing that would be most notable, since you have the option to disable your helmet when in cutscenes, or in all gameplay. it would be nice to see a wider variety on display, But, if you want anymore than what's shown above, you gotta buy them as dlc:

The hair color options are pretty good though, a fair number of presets, and a hue slider with saturation and brightness tweaks:

Next up is eye brows:

This is where the labels start to get a little confusing, it seems like you have two sections that both have a selection of eyebrows, But in fact, the top selection 'eyebrows' determines the eyebrows design and thickness, (16 choices) While the second "Brow Type:" adjusts the height and angle. (24) I ended up going with brows (6) and type (5), as or the more subtle/refined variant of the energetic look that the rest of these selections seemed to be pushing me towards. Next up is eyes, and it looks like we're getting some real sliders now!

30 eye shape options, a seprate2d-positioning sliders, and full color customization for both eyes. This may not seem like much but I feel like a few tweaks here really help open up the look, but may necessitate further tweaks to earlier steps:

Like I don't think any of these are 'clearly better', But (image 1) shows my brows choice with the preset eyes, But (image 2) shows when I selected larger eyes, as they fit my avatar's look better. they still work well with the original brows, but I decided to go back a step and re-evaluate. But while I previously passed over the thinner eyebrows, I feel they fit much better with the larger eye choice, and get me closer to the original slightly more mature look I was going for. Next up is nose:

As always, I never know what to do with these, (24 presets) I just try to pick one that's not too distracting, I guess. (someone explain noses to me -_-) There's also a position slider, but I'm not touching that. Next up mouth:

(24 presets and a position slider) This is also a little tough to pick, but I went with the slight smile, The original idea for this design was to go with my slightly sassy punk rock look, but because of the presets I've I've been stick with, I've had to dial that back quite a bit, to a 'quietly energetic', I was going to go with a neutral expression looking lips, but instead I'm going with #3's slight hint of a smile as I think it can brighten up the design overall Next up is facial hair:

(21 options with a few common styles, but I'll be skipping this) makeup gets a little messy...

You basically have two 'slots' both containing all of the same options. These options contain face paint, eyeshadow, lipstick, blush, etc. So basically, even if you just wanted a freckled look, and eyeshadow, you'd already have used up both slot, so no lipstick for you! The position and size sliders are a nice touch, allowing you to adjust how they're applied, but the 'color' options were extremely underwhelming, as both brightness/saturation mainly just change how transparent the color is on your face. The only option to adjust the actual color is 'hue' and it seems very imprecise, In the above image, I tried to give myself the most punchy purple lipstick option by pretty much maxing out the sliders for the color, and you can barely see it. You could argue that they don't want everyone walking around looking like clowns, but at the same time, 1.. that's my right. and 2, why not just offer a separate transparency slider? and color picker? This way we could dial in the exact color we want, and then adjust the transparency to fade it as much as we want. (make up finish like matte/gloss would be a nice touch too) expression:

I think this is for facial expressions, they all look pretty similar, I'm not really sure where these are used, maybe cutscenes and combat? Changing the default clothing is a nice touch,

This is pretty much your character underwear, but you can select between a few different styles and you can adjust the accent colors Alright, and the last option, (before plaico customization) is selecting the armor you'll be wearing when you start the game

And with that, we're done!

I think the creator in this game is pretty detailed, considering for most people you'll only see like 60% of their face, because of the way armor works in this game, I can understand why further body customization is not offered. But it would have been nice to at least have like a muscle slider or something, to give our character a more 'buff' appearance, even if it's just a texture. I really don't understand the point of the expressions, I think a "personality" option may have fit better with options like "serious, confident, silly, cute, and cool" would make more sense as options, And it would be even cooler if they affected your idle animations and walk/run cycle. but I get that it's asking alot. So maybe just better labeling would do,

overall, I had a lot of fun, making a character here, the only real disappointment was the free hairstyle options, the makeup was finicky too, but the lack of hairstyle variety for short and medium, in a game that does not seem to gender lock hair was really sad to see.

But, anyways, next up is Monster Hunter Rise, So We'll see how the creator changes for that game!

(Ok, yeah, that lipstick is a little intense, but STILL NOT PURPLE!) Next CCC: Monster Hunter Rise! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------Thanks for reading! I had a lot of fun making this, so I hope you had fun reading it as well!

As always, comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome! And If I describe something 'objectively wrong', or use the wrong terminology, feel free to correct me, I'm always looking to improve! (But If it's subjective/personal preference, please let me figure it out myself, so I find my own style! :D )