#hes my best built unit tbh

[itadorey]

sometimes i remember how aventurine won the poll for prettiest/most attractive hsr character and i giggle

[bluegiragi]

I just have to say I LOVE how giant you draw Ghost. He is built like a TANK and could crush a human skull with his biceps. Fucking massive bug beefy boy, you're the best, I love your art, your depiction of him is my FAVORITE

wow thank you so much!! i really love the idea of ghost being just a massive force of nature -i never considered drawing him any way other than an absolute unit tbh

[notupforpolo]

tumblr in early medieval europe

🔮abbottadjecent Follow

Honestly it's been great since the romans left, I haven't had to pay taxes in ages

🔮abbottadjecent Follow

THE FUCKING BRIDGE JUST COLLAPSED

63 notes

🌳faubourg-hater Follow

I can't believe queen Balthild is still on the throne. She just killed another bishop, this time in Lyon, and people still support her just because she freed some anglosaxon slaves

It's a disgrace

🛐saintadalbertprayer Follow

She's executing corrupt bishops who commit simony and you're complaining? Queen Balthild has literaly built so many monasteries and are still financing them, made a multitude of corrupt practices illiegal and united Neaustria and Burgundy with Austrasia yet you can't look past that since she's anglosaxon?

🌳faubourg-hater Follow

Do you really believe that? Truly? Because then you're simply to trusting and maybe you should just retire to one of her many monasteries because you can't serously be so naive. The bishop she appointed in Lyon is one of her closest advisors. If that isn't corruption i don't know what is.

🐮Beet-enjoyer Follow

I kinda enjoyed simony tbh

#It was just a simpler time #It's was nice to always know who was going to be bishop #Waldebert just isn't hitting the same as the last one

88 notes

🛐saintadalbertprayer Follow

Our local saint was just canonized!!

🌲faubourg-hater2 Follow

I'm sure they were. Are their family still on the throne perhaps? I thought you were agianst corruption in the church?

🛐saintadalbertprayer Follow

Why are you camping on my posts? I am genuenly happy because our saint was recognised by the pope and that's a huge thing

🌲faubourg-hater2 Follow

I camp on all hypocrites' posts

🛡vikingrights

You two are still doing this?

22k notes

🛠city-superiority Follow

👞Sonofknut Follow

LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

🥩Humblefarmer Follow

#my father got murdered by a cordwainer #and he did it in the square so the murderer wasn't even hung at the gallows #just fined and put in the stocks #so brazier sweeeep

Huh?

🏰Eastfrancianheart Follow

Well someone's a lombard

2556 notes

🔮abbottadjecent Follow

Man the road to my village is breaking down

2 notes

🏰Eastfrancianheart Follow

My wife and her entoruage just arrived from Northumbria and she's soooo cute!!

she's the one in red

#!!!! #I'm sooooo excited we've been bethrode for eight years

263 notes

🛐saintadalbertprayer Follow

I HAVE BEEN VISITED BY OUR LORD GOD!!!!

🌲faubourg-hater2 Follow

Pride is a sin

4 notes

🏟Byzantinerights Follow

Y'all I think user faubourg-hater was killed by the church???

32 notes

🔮abbottadjecent Follow

I miss the romans :(

232 notes

[faceglitchsworld]

It's the 12th of March here and one of my most popular series is back!

Happy birthday Hwon 🥳

Please look at the collage I made for him 🥹

Ok, no, maybe I should put some explanations here because if you followed my birthday letters from last year you might wondering where is the baby pic...

Well...

I didn't find it.

I'm sorry I'm dumb, I don't know if he ever posted it or if Google betrayed me but I didn't find it. That's why you get this messy collage. BUT I tried to give a sort of theme so have him: interacting with my biases, him being a model, THE SELFIES 😭 and he during one of my favourite eras recently.

I think I did a pretty good job tbh.

And now, after all this yapping, have the letter for him.

Ok, maybe starting this letter will probably traumatize everyone but, well, I've stanned Kingdom after Hwon joined the group.

...

Ok, now you can pull the guns down, it's not my fault ok? I just wanted to listen to another group my mutuals were stanning, I came late 😭

So, I needed to put this because I know that, unlike the other fans who were there before me, I never felt the same estrangement the others got when Hwon joined the group. Probably if I was there too, I would have been estranged. But it didn't happen. Hwon for me was someone who has been there since the beginning. At first I even thought that he was the oldest member! Then I discovered that he's actually one of the maknaes...

No, I'm still not getting over that he's one of the youngest, I can accept that he's the tallest but not the youngest NO! I REFUSE!

After I've discovered that he wasn't there since the beginning, my perception of him changed drastically. And I kinda feel bad for him at first. Like, imagine finally debuting but only because you're replacing someone else (because let's be honest, GF let him debut for the sake of saving the universe they've built since the beginning) and your fans will probably always remember you that. I don't know you all, a start like this isn't the best if you ask me and I think Hwon was aware of this too.

And that's why, in my opinion, he worked hard, I think even harder than the other members for gaining his own spot and not being remembered as a simple replacement. Heck he even became a model! A solo one, mind you! And even if he was his first time, he did everything perfectly. The way he was walking, his way to stare at the crowd, everything was perfect.

And I think I wasn't the only one who noticed that because, in my opinion, it's not a case that he's the one who starts singing Dystopia and its own choreography. I mean probably they made him do it also for story reasons but, let's be honest, you don't choose the one who starts the song only because the story requires you to do so.

And he didn't work hard only for his place songs wise but also for building his relationship with the other members. If you've read my letters from last year, you know that I always think that there's always a member who gets well with all the others, the member who keeps the group united after the leader. And Hwon, in my opinion, fits perfectly with this role.

To be fair, of course he probably has his preferences and he's closer to some members instead of others. I mean, look at how cute and adorable he acts towards Ivan every time he shows with him my heart melts. Well, I always melt with Ivan but when he interacts with the others I melt even more. And Hwon manages to give me such adorable moments he's like a big brother to him I'm...I'm yapping again.

Apart from me remembering how Ivan is cute and precious and my bias, what I wanted to say is that Hwon is the one who's always with the others at every moment. It's the main reason why I thought he was the oldest at first. If you noticed all the pictures where he interacts with the other members, he's always there. Whether it's because he wants to be funny towards Dann, whether he wants to participate in something the Hyung Line is preparing, whether it's because he wants to be affectionate towards the maknae, he's always there. And it's a quality that I always appreciate and love from someone.

Dear Hwon, we've finally reached the end of this letter. To be honest I wasn't even expecting to write this much about you because recently I didn't catch up too much with Kingdom. I even wonder if I gave you an accurate description of what you actually are. But if there's at least one thing I'm sure I didn't mess up is telling you that I'm proud. I'm proud of what you achieved and what you gained in so little amount of time. I'm proud that, despite your not so easy position, you gained the love from both the fans and the members.

I can't say more, except keep saying that I'm proud of you.

My birthday wish for you is that you'll keep and grow what you gained and that you'll receive the same amount of love from us.

Since you've already made the live, I can just wish you to spend the rest of the day happily with the members and that you'll manage to talk with your family. Have a good day, little wolf, you deserve it.

Happy birthday Hwon 🐺

[mxescargot]

OC masterlist

misc/multiple universes

garv (fishboy)

prima (tropey good guy)

vindicta (tropey bad guy)

ursa (dark magic bounty hunter)

ari (light magic bounty hunter)

urban fantasy/superhero

premise: a timeline that diverges several years before ours where a significant minority of the population across the world contracted strange illnesses that led to various magical powers; focuses on the Eastern United States (aka what im familiar with). themes of disabled justice and solidarity.

micheal (he/they): friendly college kid who always puts others before himself, teleportation powers

jem (any pronouns): an old self-insert, shapeshifting powers

ayaan (he/they): kid with unique powers that mess with the fabric of reality, of particular interest to the villain

emilia (she/her): sociologist studying how superpowered people interact with a society built for non-superpowered people, recently gained fire/energy/plasma powers of her own in an accident

saiorse (any pronouns): software developer and emilia's spouse. he does not have superpowers

alison (he/him): evil CEO (maybe also politician?) looking to take advantage of superpowered people for his own gain. especially young, powerful superpowered people. i do not know how to write villains tbh

eren (she/her): micheal's classmate.

haru (they/xe/it/star/she): your average edgy 14 year old.

aaliyah (she/they/flor): your average edgy 14 year old.

high fantasy: the world of An

premise: weird mix of some of the history i'm interested in, with a technological level of around the 1840s to 1860s? focuses on a governmental transition from absolute monarchy to parliamentary democracy and the greater inclusion of ethnic minorities in the political system and society as a whole. the people are sorta kemonomimi-hobbits with mammalian and insectoid features. also has eldritch shit going on in its magic system.

these are some of my oldest characters and have changed a lot, their original concept was a "five elements" thing and that still shows through.

the names are based on my conlang :> i didnt try to make the romanizations look pretty, just functional, so uhh ⟨v⟩ is a schwa and most letters correspond with IPA values but idk if thats accessible. here ill replace j with y and v with whatever letter looks best, you can see the mess of the "official" spellings in the tags. they dont exactly have a gender system like ours so pronouns are what i imagine they'd use if raised in our culture and language yk

baa'oni (they/she): activist reviving the long-suppressed/erased (idk what the right word is) life-related magic practices of their ancestors. name translates to "sundew"

lausa (she/her): noble who uses her position of power to help incite change, eventually becomes prime minister. romantically involved with baa’oni, causing suspicion and controversy. name translates to "shadower"

laanya (they/them): self insert. former water magic student reconnecting to it after trauma, also tries to get involved in activism. name translates to "river delta"

treyii (they/she/he): young and uncertain, pressure is put on him to achieve great things and they don't know where to belong. name translates to "sparks"

unnamed character referred to as "wind guy" (they/he): a vengeful prince with command over the weather.

star wars

premise: focuses on jedi fighting in the clone wars. i mostly made these characters in quarantine lol

aiya (they/xe): twi'lek anakin skywalker on a budget. padawan during the clone wars, becomes an inquisitor.

rakiss (she/they): mirialan; Aiya's fellow padawan and very close to xem. killed in O66

haalas (he/him): togruta; aiya's strict master, very loyal to the light side of the force itself and scared of losing another padawan to the dark side. survives O66, but is eventually killed by aiya, who blames him for rakiss's death.

malice (they/she/it): dathomiran zabrak who was the first padawan of haalas. left the order and turned to the dark side, but isn't with the Sith.

ekiv (she/her): rakiss's master, also a mirialan, and longtime friend of haalas. mom friend, but only because she's a people pleaser with massive gifted kid burnout. survives O66; assumes a new identity and learns how to heal.

hizta (any pronouns): tusken ex-bounty hunter who now runs a droid repair shop on coruscant. acquainted with aiya before and during the Clone Wars, aids the Rebellion.

penelope (she/they): human; old colleague of Hizta's. generally fairly cold and professional until you get to know them; actually very affectionate.

i also have some underdeveloped clone trooper OCs

hollow knight

cornu (they/them): HKsona. void-corrupted snail shaman capable of harnessing both soul and void magic.

unnamed fairyfly OC

[overheaven]

i really love the take that Hitoya is pretty emotionally stunted and that’s why he really connects well with Jyushi and Kuko. some people like to call him their dad figure but i’ve always (half-joking, half-serious) said he’s their babysitter. like someone who’s maybe not totally secure either, but at least older and thus wiser about the world. i don’t think he’s immature, but yeah i get a lot of “it’s alright, i’m 35 and i don’t know what i’m doing either” energy from him.

compared to Jakurai who has war trauma and literally adopted and effectively lost his own kid, Hitoya is (imo) a pretty neat example of a character who has less “shocking” or w/e you wanna call it trauma that has discombobulated him. death of a loved one and bullying are very overt trauma, but there’s something unique about how that type of trauma is contained to settings like the family unit, school, etc. It’s more pervasive and less shell-shock. If that makes sense. Hitoya and Jyushi both lost a caregiver / older loved one; Jakurai, a parent, lost his child. Different dynamics of maturity.

Jyushi is, of course, also coping with very similar trauma, but he’s only 19 and he has an older friend who’s been through that already to help steer him towards a more effective path of healing— which Hitoya only knows because he’s already made the mistakes, suffered alone, and built a whole new life path because of the devastating events in his past. He did it all on his own! How many years of study and hope (years of young adulthood!!) did he lose when he threw his original goals into the trash? And now here he is, a successful adult with a really illustrious career, but like. Has he really healed? idk.

i could probably make a case for Hitoya’s “he likes money” character quality being born of insecurity rather than greed or anything too tbh but the best contrast for that is Rei and we honestly don’t know what his real deal is so LOL we’ll postpone that idea

and i have similar feelings about Sasara and Rosho and how they navigate the emotional trauma of neglect but that’s a whole other post because i’m very invested in DH and could write a lot more in-depth meta about them lol

anyways that’s my thoughts on Hitoya since he keeps saying hi to me in ARB, cheers 🥃⚖️💜

[lumafly]

Physical DPS Mika complete :D I wasn't expecting much and just wanted to run him for fun but he's surprisingly really good! One of my best built units tbh!!

Running 2pc/2pc on the physical sets with Homa (80/80), 8/8/6 talents at level 80/80. His current team is with Rosaria (cryo res, nobless buff plus ~10% crit rate), Fischl (battery plus electro) and Yun Jin (normal atk buff). He's been hitting 19k normal attacks fairly regularly (not tried with food yet) and can do more if I max him and Homa to 90 and crown talents etc. He's super fun so far! :D

[alicentsgf]

Aenys is so me tbh. Astrology bitches that faint at the idea of making a decision unite!!!!

oh my god i just realised my best friend is an aenys too and now i feel bad for calling him a wet blanket... in fairness he wasnt really he just wasnt built for the world of asoiaf rip. like you aenys types seem very nice but i hope you never get put in charge of a nation u kno

[mlynar-nearl]

heya so sorry i havent asked anything in a long while lifes been really hectic haha and i only rmb'd that i said id ask more after i saw ur latest mytol fic (oops....)

anyways it was a really beautiful fic !! i really like the way you write about uncle nearls grief and the way he and toland just go through it, one step at a time, but only when uncle is ready to move on and all. i just think its really neat man....

also on another thought i would love to hear more about ur oc (as always!) how do you think hed fare as a deployed operator tbh ? like putting him into ingame contexts such as uh trials of navigators/is2/sss settings, how do you think hed react? since technically such enemies are pretty... uhm, lets just say the power lvl in ak is cracked. yeah, so how do you think shealtiel would do ? im just curious to know more ww and i think putting them into ingame contexts are cool and fun (hehe) ps trials of navigators is.... i hate the ultimate trial and i hate mandragora i havent started ch 9 out of laziness but i hate her so much alr also wow this is a very long ask im very sorry haha i hope ur well <3

LMAO no please don't worry and take care of yourself! glad you liked the fic, i think grief is such an integral part of who mlynar is and how he interfaces with the world right now. think i made a post about that last night. he grieves for his brother and SIL so, so deeply, and you can see the through-line to why he's so against what his nieces are doing. he doesn't want to lose them, too.

as for my oc! shealtiel! i love him!

i think in terms of gameplay he would unfortunately be pretty niche, but niche in a way that i specifically enjoy, haha. i've said in response to another anon (unless that was you? dunno) that he would be my personal favorite archetype, the deadeye sniper, with a focus on debuffs/crowd control. fartooth is one of my favorite units (eternally glad i built her) and i think she doesn't get nearly enough credit for what she can do if set up correctly. i think shealtiel would need a functionality similar to fartooth's dodge ignore to see stronger use in things like IS and TFN, but in my experience, snipers fall off so hard in SSS that i see basically no way to legitimize any but the strongest of snipers (chalter, pozy.) i think that the funniest/ideal thing for his lore would be that he works very well as a counter to enemies and bosses like andoain, who rely on not being blocked and high dodge when he sets down the dodge field. since andoain is his mortal enemy (?) (questionable at best) it makes sense for him to be a concerted counter to these things. plus, the grappling rope arts i gave him just applies well to crowd control, and that would probably see the most effect on enemies that are unblocked/cannot be blocked.

i'm so sorry about mandra. she's suuuch an annoying boss sometimes. my pro tip is that in her second phase you can bait her into dropping the pillars on herself with a FRD or similar and the pillars deal her true damage. you can also bait her laser beam by dropping two ops on her. eg surtr + nearlter s2 where surtr baits the laser beam and nearlter does the real damage. or use ranged damage to keep her from having anything to attack (gg, pozy typewriter, my beloved fartooth although the last section of ultimate trial has very few fartooth lanes). hope this helps !

[icharchivist]

Emotional support Percy

*nods wisely* emotional support Percy. He was doing his best even with the most rudimentary of kits.

tbh i've been keeping any versions of Percival i had in my teams since i started the game.

like in order i had SR!Percival > Summer Percival > Base Percival > Light Percival > Grand Percival.

and ever since then i always kept the "best" Percival i could in any of my fire or light teams, even when his kit was growing outdated.

(like his base SSR kit is really outdated but i had it in my fire parties until his grand came out regardless just because in term of raw power he was my strongest attacker. and tbh his Light is extra dependant on having Crest support, so honestly there's better units, but i built my teams around Crest just for him.)

so yeah...

and it's why he's this high in EM Level:

the gap will never cease making me laugh. Emotional support always.

[the-kipsabian]

if u don't wanna do this many, that's ok, but 9 thru 19 :D

9. Your favourite "era" in Wrestling? honestly probably the early 2020 to mid 2021. i know thats very specific, but its also very much when they had to get more creative with it, and they could push the limits and do a lots of cool stuff that was different from the regular. im not a fan of really any specific era, everything has its goods or bads but i do like modern wrestling more in a sense that its more accessible and has generally better content imo

10. Best looking title belt? i dont really pay attention to belt designs... but the asia dream tag team titles from gatoh move are gorgeous honestly. must be one of my favorites

11. Worst looking title belt? personally i always hated the first aew womens belt. it looked like a cheap plastic toy in comparison to all the other titles

12. Best "Big Man" style wrestler? (Doesn't have to be a man) idk if i have a favorite big man honestly. was never really my type hmm. i mean. if it doesnt have to be a man, does jade cargill count? she is a big tall strong woman and i'd let her step on me. idk what big man means LMAO

13. Best "Little Man" style wrestler? (Doesn't have to be a man) since hes a high flyer angelico totally counts, right? hes tall but he has a very little man style. again, i have no idea what this actually means ajsndkjasnjk

14. Favourite feud? ..if you know me this answer is sssoooooo obvious but. kip sabian and orange cassidy. the mind games still go on. im eating this whole feud like my life depends on it. its so fucking good

15. Favourite faction? going by whats first in my head, united empire. i probably have others but yeah

16. Favourite authority figure? scott d'amore is the only one i respect tbh

17. Favourite style of Wrestling? (Technical, High Flying, Hardcore, Comedy, Spot Fest, Strong and so on) i dont know if i have a specific style i like the most, honestly. i adore a lot of them for different reasons and in phases, i guess like high flying and comedy will always be my favorites. tho ive been leaning a lot into having an interest in technical wrestling in the past year too, so theres that. but i just like a little bit of everything, im not very picky

18. Favourite gimmick? okay so theres. two answers to this. one you already know im sure lol. cause i goddamn fucking ADORE kip sabian. this man is a creative genius and tho they are heavily downplaying his character atm, knowing how its built and how its supposed to function is so fascinating to me and makes me love it cause its honestly very convoluted and not played straight whatsoever and its. so good. the best goddamn thing and i hate it when people are like "no thats stupid" just cause they dont get it like. theres for once a neat and interesting thing in wrestling and ppl complain cause its not something handholdy. sorry tangent anyways the other answer is the original monday night messiah seth rollins. god complex beyond belief my beloved

19. Favourite match type? royal rumble. forever and always

[sampoenjoyer]

this is a very silly and fun post (AND VELITE X ARGENTI MENTIONED OMG I LOVE THOSE TWO, IN MY HEAD THEY ARE DATING) But also wanna add a nerds perspective: Argenti is genuinely insanely good. I've used him both MOC occasionally, as well as pure fiction, he's definitely built with pure fiction in mind and man does he pop off. If i do a dedicated 3 harmony + argenti team or even just 2 harmony + 1 sustain that man goes wild. Doesn't even have to have physical weakness. If you have huohuo he becomes even better since with her he can pop off more ults, thus more dmg, and his ability to basically store up a second ult in pure fiction is really useful.

In MOC he hasn't a good buff in a while however I remember beating one or two with him, and I definitely think he'll be good in apocalyptic shadow (especially if you're like me and you lost 50/50 and didn't get your Boothill :,( )

BUT NO YEAH HES A GREAT UNIT, HAD HIM SINCE RELEASE AND HE'S ONE OF THE BEST ERUDTION UNITS IMO. Also he has the benefit of being rlly F2P friendly. Like his eidolons whilst good are not so insane their game changers the way some character's are, plus whilst HuoHuo is defintiely his best sustain, he also works fine with almost any sustain in game I have used him with Luocha, Gepard, Aventurine, Lynx, and Gallagher at various points and he works well with all of them. His best four star support is Tingyun obviously but his other harmony can be pretty flexibly tbh. I prefer a turn advancer (Bronya for now but if I had sparkle she'd honeslty be a viable option) but if you need to use bronya for the other team he can basically have any support thats not hyper specific, like I could see slotting Ruan Mei, Robin, or Asta in even though they dont 100% fit his playstyle becuase he COULD benefit from all them. Finaly in tersm of LC's theres a lot of good Erudtion lc's and few Erudtion chars people tend to use. AND THIS IS COMING FROM SOMEONE WHO HAS JING YUAN AND PLAYS QINGQUE. Personally I use the BP LC, however seriousness of breakfast and Genius's Repose are actually really good options for him. Also, I haven't checked the new Herta LC but it's probably good for him.

FINALLY ARGENTI IS RLLY FLEXIBLE IN PURE FICTION. I've used him as a hypercarry and as a sub dps in a team with herta and himeko, and managed to get like almsot 40k points so he's really good. Genuinly if you're thinking of pulling Jade for pure fiction and not cause you like her character/design/smth like that, I would heavily recommend Argenti more.

NOW IF YOU'RE PULLING JADE PURELY CAUSE YOU LIKE HER OR HER KIT OR SMTH THEN GO WILD JUST SOME NERDY ADVICE. ALSO SORRY HOPEFULLY THIS MAKES SENSE I WOKE UP LIKE TWENTY MINUTES AGO.

I made a shitpost powerpoint that blew tf up on twitter so I might as well post it here too. Argenti rerun hype 🙏🌹

[penrose-quinn]

TR 258 thoughts. Mostly Taiju. Also spoilers under the cut.

I've been trying to grasp why I don't like Taiju appearing in particular. This isn't a rant btw. I'm just thinking haha.

I can't blame anyone who got excited on his entrance and it's awesome that he's on Toman's side because Taiju's built like a fucking unit and everyone needs the manpower, especially when they're in the receiving end of the fight.

The thing is yeah, he's still an abuser (I'm a little biased over this because BD arc is an emotional ride for me) though I also don't think Taiju is the kind of character that necessarily needs a redemption arc. But it sort of feels like it's going that direction in this chapter for some reason.

It's just that he already had a solid character arc from start to finish. He was a good antagonist, if not one of the best ones in the series. Wakui wrote him in a way that made him despicable but human. One of the things that make BD arc interesting for me is that Yuzuha and Hakkai don't have to end the arc with a "I forgive you" but it concludes with them saying what needs to be said and going on their separate ways. Honestly? That's realistic and way more satisfying. Then Wakui steps it up and does this interesting thing with Taiju by helping Takemichi in the Manila timeline. Not because he owes him, but it's motivated from the fact that he still cares for Hakkai. It doesn't redeem him much, but it shows that he's a nuanced character.

Taiju's story feels finished tbh. But who knows? TR has always emphasized how fate plays a big role in the story, regardless of the timeline. Things keep circling back; things keep repeating, overlapping. Maybe, Taiju reappearing right now is supposed to mirror his reappearance in the Manila timeline where he helped Takemichi. I mean, we do see this with Kazutora too, with the Bonten and BD bad timelines in a way. Maybe, it's something like that.

So here's my second point. Practically, everyone needs more manpower so maybe Mitsuya asked for his help. Narratively, why is he here when there are other characters who have a good reason to fight in this war?

Enter, Kazutora and Takeomi.

The former is because we've been shown time and time again that Kazutora is determined to save Mikey. With Pah-chin’s return and Draken's death, I was hoping what's left of the founding members would team up to save their friend. But of course, I'm aware Kazutora is still in juvie (ngl, he's safer there too) so it just isn't possible right now, unless Wakui pulls out something batshit insane again hehe.

On the other hand, Takeomi has every reason to show up here. I'm sure he will. Because if there's anyone who has a shot at redeeming himself in this fight, it's honestly this guy – as an older brother to his siblings and a friend to BenWaka. Besides, he still has a large role to play regarding Senju and Sanzu's backstory.

On another note, I think it isn't fair to not consider why Taiju has to be brought back into this arc. So here's just my two cents.

With his reappearance, I can't help but think if this ties back to the Black Dragons somehow.

All the former BD members are present. Even mfing Shion is there. Let's all just wait for Takeomi, he'll come. Since we started this arc with the First Gen BD, I'm hoping this is what Wakui actually set up for Taiju. Maybe, he'll get punched by Benkei too haha. I don't think Taiju being here is a fanservice-y moment. But, really, I'm just hoping they talk about Shinichiro again ✌️ and it could just be a stretch, but also maybe, maaaybe, have an Inui flashback. Sadly, the latter seems unlikely now because at this point, everything is either heading to Sanzu's backstory/time-leaper reveal and a possible Black Dragons reunion (+BenWaka backstory).

[princeofpasio]

Looking at the new pairs from the datamine :)

This is JUST looking at the kits, not necessarily stats or grids. Lots of techs this time around.

SS Hilda & Victini

She’s a physical fire striker again... Her moves seem pretty lackluster, but her self-buffing is where she shines. Max attack when entering battle, and then max crit rate and sp.atk after her Trainer Move. Recharging the move gauge after attacking is also nice to help off-set her 4-gauge move. I expect her grid will have nodes for increasing damage against burned and/or confused enemies.

I’ll be honest, I’m not a fan of Downside Up on units that already max their stats; I feel like Downside Up is more interesting as a scaling mechanic to increase a pair’s power as they use moves that would otherwise debuff them. At least on SS Steven, not all of his forms maxed his stats; but on SS Hilda, it just seems like it’s functioning as a slightly better Impervious.

SS Hilbert & Genesect

This is an... interesting way to incorporate Genesect’s forms. Basically: his attack move is bug type, unless the target is weak to fire, water, electric, or ice, in which case his move becomes that type. I saw people predicting Genesect’s forms being similar to SS Steven’s, where you choose which type you want at the beginning, but I think this is actually a smart way to let Genesect keep its Bug strength alongside the other types; the rebuffs and Supereffective Up on the Trainer Move are also nice touches. The major drawback to this pair is gauge usage and set up time, but the right team can off-set that easily, and I suspect he’ll some grid nodes to help.

SS N & Black Kyurem

This took me a bit to parse, but I think it’s interesting overall. You essentially just want to cycle between Freeze Shock and B Noble Roar, with Freeze Shock being a slow but powerful move with a relatively high chance of paralysis and B Noble debuffing the opponents, buffing yourself, and enabling more Freeze Shocks with Free Move Next. And if you don’t feel like doing that, then Ice Beam is there to freeze as well. Lowering the sync countdown by 2 is a decent way to offset the loss from Freeze Shock being a two turn move. I definitely don’t think this pair is for everyone (definitely not for me), but I think he’ll find a niche for Legendary Gauntlet.

Colress & Klinklang

My first thought is that this is an upgraded BP Clemont. I think it’s interesting that he can set up the debuffs he needs on the opponents, but requires his teammates to buff most of the stats he himself needs; somewhat reminiscent of his character in the games. A pretty straightforward pair compared to the previous ones: debuff the opponents and then attack.

Hugh & Bouffalant

I think this matches his character tbh. A somewhat self-sufficient recoil striker with a chance to remove recoil damage overall, and who heals before fainting the first time. Pretty straight forward I think. I like it. Not much else to say.

Lyra & Vaporeon

Love this for her actually. A support-ish tech with infinite rain using her sync. She’s mostly focused on heavily debuffing the enemy and improving team gauge with speed and low gauge moves. Even if she isn’t great at taking hits, that team wide Vigilance at base is nice. The only downside to her rain after sync is that it’s hard to get her sync in during the rain itself (similar to Silver’s issue with Solarize), but that’s minor. The most unfortunate thing is that she doesn’t appear to have an EX, which kind of sucks for a tech that really likes to sync.

Kris & Jolteon

Very similar to Lyra in being a tech with infinite zone after sync and decent team support; I expect Flareon will have Solarize at base. Kris’s less focused on debuffs though, and is predictably built for paralyzing opponents. Tbh, I feel like this kit is nothing special for an electric pair; the best she brings is Team Electric Current, aka a teamwide Impervious during Electric Terrain. Paralysis pairs are always good for Legendary Gauntlet though, so she won’t be bad to have on hand for that.

Lucas & Flareon

Yep, here’s the Solarize. Parallels the previous two pairs, but with a focus on burns. His TM is almost the inverse of Kris’s, boosting his own crit rate and raising the sp. atk of the team. I think he’s somewhere between Lyra and Kris in terms of usefulness. Nothing too special, but I can see him at least having use in the Stadium.

Elesa & Joltik

My hopes are dashed and my life is ruined.

Mostly kidding. Mostly. She doesn’t pair well with SC Ingo and Emmet at all. She’s mostly a self-sustaining support against and with Special Attack focused teams. Not super impressed with her kit honestly, but it seems in line with a lodge unit. Her team buffs aren’t super great, and it’s pretty unfortunate that she can’t buff her own self-healing, outside of maybe crit rate. Having Recuperation is kind of a wasted passive imo; there’s no real reason to sync with her otherwise. I would probably think better of her if she were a bug pair, but for an electric pair she’s pretty lackluster and can’t even paralysis. But who knows, maybe her grid saves her.

[mingy0u]

SVT as stereotypical Asian frat boys

TW// drinking, party culture, drug use, vaping

For legal purposes this is a joke and parody of socal abb culture and yes, I am Asian American and no, I don't participate in this lifestyle, well anymore kind of. Anyway I see a LOT of aus where kpop idols are portrayed as frat boys and it got my brain churning in and I came up with this gross headcanon. Generalization of asian fraternities in Southern California. ✨✨✨Hehe first shit post

#CherryLine

Grand Seungcheol is the senior president and the guy who supplies the alc, you venmo him at every party. Relatively well known, he's pretty chill and calls himself a grandpa because he doesn't rave anymore but will show up to parties and the club. Used to be the tank and will prove to anyone that he still has it, will literally go till the last man standing to prove a point. He loves to spoil his line and goes all out when it comes to gifts. His little is Woozi, who is also a DJ usually mixes house party jams and early 2000s rnb together, wouldn't be caught dead at a rave but went to LEDUSA bc Cheol talked him into it, rolled for the experience but wouldn't do it again bc he values his brain cells. Lowkey always has a lychee puff bar on him tho. He was able to get away with not picking up a little during his second year bc the pledge class was smaller, but ended up picking up Vernon bc they both vibe and like hip-hop. Vernon is chill, lowkey a soundcloud rapper and listens to Keshi and Khai Dreams. He's a resident sadboi, and stoner and will smoke you tf out if you have a sesh with him. Doesn't drink to get drunk, goes to parties for the vibes and will drink yogurt soju. He will take a shot with you if you ask and yes, he's out on the terrace most of the night.

#AngelLine

Great Grand Jeonghan is the Senior VP and handles recruitment and absolutely loves the incoming pledge classes that he's almost everyone's pseudo and lowkey the rave dad. Hes the enabler and will make you take a swig if you make eye contact. He drives a white Lexus and is always down to give rides. His little is Hoshi, super chaotic dude, on a dance team and 2 project teams, and will also take 20 units...does he sleep? Idk. He will yike on anyone who will let him. He's known for getting asian glow and always has pepcid on him. Hoshi picked up Dokyeom, during his second year and tbh his ride or die, they have matching jerseys. He didn't intend on joining a frat but ended up going to all the rush events bc he didn't want to feel bad. He's the life of the party and resident hypeman, super loud and will make a fool out of himself to make sure everyone has a good time. Dk picks up Seungkwan as his little, Seungkwan only rushed bc he was bored and ended up getting a bid. He's the DD and takes care of everyone drunk, and makes sure the airbnb isn't trashed. He's the finance chair and will literally @ you in the groupme if you didn't pay dues. He makes the best totems tbh, will organize coordinating themed outfits for raves. Hoshi is super tempted to pick up again and picks up Dino as his second little and DK's twin. He spoils the hell out of him since he found out he's a dancer too and got him an engraved hydro and yeezys. Dino is honestly down for anything and Jeonghan’s rave baby. He firmly doesn't believe in chase, and will challenge Cheol to a drink off. He's really enthusiastic, is the favorite. Sweet talker and has a ton of abg upperclassmen wanting to be his "mom."

#SundayMorningLine

Great Grand Joshua is really focused on professional development and the philanthropy chair. He's all over campus bc he's super involved, but shows up to all the meetings. He's the guy who does all the talking at the booth. Rarely gets fucked up but when he does he blacks out and will text the groupme if they wanna get soondubu or pho for the morning after. He lost a bet and had to pick up two littles, Wonwoo and Jun, at the same time which hurt his bank account but doesn't regret it. Wonwoo is more reserved and the gamer, spends all his time playing league and has a pc he built himself with the rainbow setup. Wonwoo is lowkey a tank and can chug a bottle of soju in under 30 seconds, also has the longest record for winebag. Jun is the bro who everyone babies and calls wholesome, he send the groupme random memes and always in the booked studyroom hoping to see someone come by. He works at as a bobarista and hooks it up for anyone he knows, also really good at mixing drinks and makes the jungle juice. Marks you with a sharpie to count how many shots you took so far, will judge anyone who volunteerily drinks Svedka. Wonwoo picks up Mingyu as his little and they become gym bros, and go costco shopping together on Sundays. Mingyu runs a side hustle as a photographer and does grad shoots and the formal pictures, he's also the media chair. He prefers beer over liquor, can shotgun in less than 8 seconds. He will comfort any bro who's an emotional drunk and will listen to them talk about how an abg broke their heart, and then help them find a place to yack. Jun picks up Minghao as his little, and they're bffs. He's the hypebeast and collects sneakers, yes he uses bots for drops. Will give first pick to his bros before reselling. Lowkey a baller, and uses a hoverboard to get around campus. Brings Grey goose or henny to the party and won't drink anything cheap.

[jamesvanriemsdyk]

Best GMs and coaches in the league ACC to you?

we can start with gms because coaching is a bit more complicated. best gms in the league is easy to look at because like, who has a good team? who has had a consistently good team? whose locker room is the most cohesive, whose coaching staff is the best? who is the best at acquiring and keeping the best players, coaches, staff, etc? and you can see that in the way teams play. 

(putting this under the cut because it got long. and i mean Long.)

so, in no particular order: kyle dubas (leafs), steve yzerman (red wings, i will explain this later), don waddell (canes), julien brisebois (lightning), joe sakic (avs), and kelly mccrimmon/george mcphee (golden knights) (god i still hate that name and also will explain this later too) are the best in the league in my opinion. honorable mention to marc bergevin, who has held onto his job much longer than he arguably should have, but still has a decent team on the ice and a decent coaching staff, although the french rule does severely handicap them (i understand why it exists but it does, it just does). 

david poile (preds) is the longest tenured gm in the league (has been the preds gm since fucking 1997, thats insane, thats legit before i was born, what the fuck), and i do genuinely think he is very good at his job, and that he is very hockey smart, but oh boy have his recent decisions been suspect as hell, and that reflects in the state of his team. doug wilson (sharks), who is the second longest tenured gm in the nhl, is in the exact same boat (the karlsson deal is a nightmare, and also did he just forget that his star core was gonna get old and retire or ??).

with dubas, waddell, brisebois, sakic, and mccrimmon/mcphee all have the same basic strengths: they draft well, they have a fundamental understanding of their team structure and how to manage public perception of the team and everything that implies, and they have two fingers on the pulse of their locker room at all times. im not going to pretend to know as much about sakic and mccrimmon/mcphee as i do the eastern gms, but it doesnt take much to figure it out. look at the avs, and their locker room, the success theyve found after being dead fucking last in the league. look at the knights and their incredible success that theyve found after literally not existing before 2017. ive talked about dubas a lot on my blog, but its incredibly easy to see that waddell and brisebois do the same shit he does, and i can do a deep dive on them if asked. bergevin has moments of brilliance, like the suzuki trade and acquiring caufield and anderson, but things like kotkaniemi’s development and their entire blue line give me a massive pause, which is why he’s not in the main list. he’s a good gm. he’s just not the best.

in regards to steve yzerman: you have to understand that this is the man that built the tampa bay lightning as we know them. this man was gm of the bolts until fucking 2018. tampa bay has been a monster in the eastern conference for years, BECAUSE of the work steve yzerman put in. his team set the franchise record for wins, and he was the first and is the only lightning gm to have won gm of the year. look up the 17-18 roster. it is, essentially, the roster that won them the cup last year. make no mistake, i think brisebois is great, and hes on the list for a reason, but the biggest part of brisebois’ success was steve yzerman’s incredible hockey mind. brisebois essentially had to sell off a fourth of his roster, and the lightning are still a top team in their division and in the league, and thats why he’s there (it is so incredibly easy to fuck shit up post cup win), but the brisebois lightning would not exist without steve yzerman, plain and simple.

what steve yzerman is doing in detroit should be watched very, very closely by every single person in the hockey world. youre fucking nuts if youre not paying attention to them, not gonna lie. the mantha trade was excellent, if really sad if you know even a bit about the wings, but the amount of draft picks steve yzerman has amassed and the way he’s using the prospects and players he already has is really fucking admirable. mike babcock left the red wings organization absolutely in tatters, and i think, honestly, it was always steve yzerman’s plan to go home to detroit and rebuild. if there is anyone who is going to strike absolute gold this draft year, it is steve yzerman. watch the red wings, i am telling you, keep a beat on detroit. they are going to be good. its not an if, its a when.

(real quick on the knights situation: mcphee was the first gm of the knights, and was also president of hockey ops at the same time, and then in 2019 mcphee said he was just gonna focus on his job as president, but we all know hes still an integral part of the way the knights are run, and he and mccrimmon have kinda been building the knight together since the beginning anyway bc mccrimmon was originally mcphee’s agm. so. thats why theyre together)

as for coaches, it’s very simple. rod brind’amour (canes), sheldon keefe (leafs, yes im biased, we’ll get into it), jared bednar (avs), joel quenneville (panthers), jon cooper (lightning), barry trotz (isles), and mike sullivan (pens).

(disclaimer: obviously coaching is done as a team, and assistants and specialist coaches and staff are all very important, but the head coaches set the tone and organize the entire machine, if you will, so im going to be talking about head coaches as if theyre the entire coaching staff. its just easier this way im sorry)

im gonna just start with the easy ones: barry trotz, mike sullivan, and jon cooper have been in the league for years. cooper is the longest tenured coach in the nhl for a reason (again, just look at the tampa bay lightning. its the gm’s job to make the coach’s life easier and the coach’s job to make the gm’s life easier, and this is one of the prime examples of it in the league. its dope as hell tbh), trotz is one of the most respected coaches in the hockey world for a reason (the caps lost something when he walked. they just did. and now the isles are absolute hell to play against and that is largely the coaching of barry trotz, you legit cannot tell me im wrong), and while mike sullivan does have his faults, i think hes found a way to please both management and the crosby-and-malkin unit, which has been really really fucking hard to do. he also led the pens to back to back cups, which you can never really uh. ignore. lmao. so theres those three.

i know less about bednar, but again, another example of the coach and gm working together to make each others’ lives easier. sakic gets bednar the players and staff he needs to make the avs better, and bednar takes those players and staff and makes them into the absolute giant they are. it wouldve been really, really easy to fuck up makar’s development, or bowen byram’s, or sam girard’s, or ryan graves’s, or jost or mackinnon or rantanen’s, but he hasn’t, and he hasn’t just given up on players like burakovsky or kadri, he’s given them new life as players and made them more successful.

joel quenneville is the reason the bl/ckh/wks were a legacy team point blank period. sure they had the talent, sure the gm drafted well, but you do not get the legacy of the chicago bl/ckh/wks without joel quenneville. they fired him on a whim and it absolutely was a mistake, and the moment the cats hired him i literally out loud said ‘oh no’ because i knew exactly what that meant for the leafs and their position in the standings. the panthers are underrated generally, yes, but they would not be the powerhouse they are this season without quenneville. just look at q’s wiki stats. he’s absolutely unbeilevable. he won the jack adams in fucking 2000, before he’d even won any of the cups with the h/wks. i cant tell you what kind of a locker room coach this guy is, but i can tell you his teams win and win convincingly, and that firing him was the biggest mistake the h/wks have made in years.

whenever i talk about coaching, i talk about rod brindamour and sheldon keefe in the same breath every single time because there is no match, and i mean none, for the love inside those locker rooms. the avs, maybe, but my point stands. keefe and brindamour fucking BLEED team spirit, it is at the center of their coaching styles and their teams are good because of it specifically. marner and matthews are good, yes, and they always have been, but they have surpassed all expectation and then some with keefe. aho, teravainen, and svechnikov are good, yes, and they always have been, but they have surpassed all expectation with brindamour. brindamour and keefe have both hashtag played the game, so they Get It, and more than that, theyve grown and changed their understanding of the game as the game itself has changed, and so they can command the authority of their teams while also connecting to them on a really deep level. i should make a note here that keefe and brindamour are incredibly, deeply hockey smart, and that they are also just technically good coaches, skimming their wiki or nhl dot com articles will tell you that, but what makes them stand out to me is that their players would fucking die for them. the leafs would go through the end boards for keefe, the canes would do the same for brindamour. travis dermott said it best when keefe got promoted: boys wanna play for him. beyond that, the management skills both brindamour and keefe have are just frankly amazing (the amount of ego keefe specifically has to manage in the leafs locker room is astounding and he does it so incredibly brilliantly). the leafs and the canes are talented, yes, and would have been talented regardless of who was coaching them. but brindamour and keefe bring both of those teams from talented to exceptional, and the true mark of an amazing coach is not only how many games their team wins, but how they win them, and the leafs and canes have been winning games this year for and because of each other, and that starts with their coaches. what makes a great coach, to me, is not the talent on the team (though that certainly helps), but how the coach manages his players no matter who they are, and how he helps those players grow not just as players as people, because no matter how much pure stats people and twitter hockey dudebros wanna deny it, that shit does affect on ice play, and it does make good players better.

so theres my analysis of the best coaches and gms of the nhl, im so sorry this is so long, oh my god. also, shoutout to @bishops--knifetrick for sending me an ask about this literally a month ago that i just never answered, sorry for that, but here i hope this is good. :)