#i also love seducing monsters that take the appearance of what someone finds most attractive! always fun

[ocularose]

hey rose! idk if you read dungeon meshi or even care about anime/manga but in the manga there’s a section about succubi and they’re based off mosquitos! since they’re shapeshifters they don’t look like mosquitos but their babies are literally just oversized mosquito larvae. anyway when i saw that i thought of you sghagssh

I tend to avoid anime/manga due to my sex-repulsion but i hear a lot of good things about dunmeshi! i really like the chicken chimera girl!

i didnt know about these though and oh. 🤯 dem AND mosquito, AND female-only meaning the transmasc potential is endless? AND they're implied to have body horror mouth proboscis?? (according to the wiki. i havent seen any pic or fanart of said proboscis) they're so good sounding, definitely my type of monster 🥲💖💖💖 might inspire me to do something similar but in my own way... Thank you for bringing them to my attention i love them!!

[taylorlynn-art]

⭐️ Underneath It All ⭐️

by Strawberry Moon Rose

🍓🌙🌹

This is a one-shot I conjured poking fun at how based on appearance, Sailor Moon characters can really confuse a person. Taking place in the anime world, but with the Starlights cross-dressing like in the manga instead of using a physical disguise.

Also, it got me thinking, what if the Sailor Starlights came to Earth at the end of SuperS? It had to have taken a while to establish their idol group before debuting.

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or any of the characters. They belong to Naoko Takeuchi.

🍸

Soft jazz music drifts lazily around the bar. The flashy neon light of orange and green illuminates the Amazon Trio as they sip from their drinks in hand. Ice cubes slosh and clink as Tigers-Eye slams his glass down on the table in frustration.

"Man, we got scolded again," he complains. "And we're doing our best too..."

"She doesn't have to yell at us like that," Hawks-Eye agrees. "If catching Pegasus were that easy, we would have found him by now!"

Fish-Eye tips his head back daintily, sipping from his cocktail glass. "There are just so many targets, how are we supposed to know which one he's hiding in? It's like finding a needle in a haystack."

Hawks-Eye brushes through the photographs scattered across the bar top. "Hmm... None of these women are really catching my eye." He plucks a snapshot of a girl with braids and waves it in Tigers-Eye's face, knowing he has a thing for younger chicks. "What about this one? You interested?" he inquires.

Tigers-Eye yawns. "Too plain."

"How 'bout this?" Hawks-Eye tries again. If Tigers-Eye doesn't do something, he'll have to do something, and he isn't in the mood for another failure and reprimanding from the old hag, Zirconia.

"Too old."

"And this one?"

Tigers-Eye makes a face and waves his hand dismissively. "Ugh, not another guy. See if Fish-Eye wants him," he says.

"What? Where? Lemme see!" Fish-Eye slides off his stool and squeezes between his cronies. Hearts form in his blue eyes when he catches a glimpse of the target. "Oh my gosh! You're kidding!" He snatches the photograph out of Hawks-Eye's hand so fast it's nothing but a blur.

"What're you getting so excited about? He's not nearly as handsome as I am," Tigers-Eye says, unable to conceal the tinge of jealousy in his voice.

"He's right," Hawks-Eye boasts. "We're much more good-looking."

"You two don't know who this is?" Fish-Eye asks incredulously.

Tigers-Eye and Hawks-Eye stare at their friend.

"It's Seiya Kou from the Three Lights!" Fisheye kisses the picture and twirls around. "I'm so lucky!"

"Never heard of him," Hawks-Eye comments in a voice as flat as cardboard.

"Me neither." Tigers-Eye tosses his orange hair. "He must not be that popular."

But Fish-Eye isn't listening to them. "Oh my, I wonder what kind of girls he likes? How should I approach him?

Tigers-Eye and Hawks-Eye swivel around in their seats and reach for their drinks. By now they know it's useless trying to talk to him when he goes gaga over a target.

"Cross-dressing again?" Hawks-Eye sounds bored.

"Why, of course!" Fisheye gazes dreamily at the glossy portrait. The celeb is clad in a red suit and yellow tie. A bright rose is stuffed in the breast pocket. Ebony bangs fall messily above spunky blue eyes, accompanied by a microphone and crooked smile.

Fish-Eye giggles. Seiya Kou... Even your name is beautiful! I'll seduce you for sure!

🎸

"Thank you! Goodnight everybody!" The lead singer gives a final wave into the sea of faces. The crowd erupts into applause as the Three Lights exit the stage. It's a warm Saturday night and they just wrapped up their second concert at the venue.

"Great job tonight, guys. They absolutely loved you." Their manager gives each member a pat on the back.

"Thank you, sir," Taiki replies politely. "We did our best."

Seiya accepts a towel from a stage worker and dabs the sweat off her forehead. She cranes her head up to the night sky, breathing heavily. Princess... Where are you now? Can you hear our message? They have only been on Earth for two months, but she and the others are already used to cross-dressing as a boy band.

"Seiya, we are heading back to change," Taiki calls over her shoulder.

"You coming or what?" Yaten taps her foot impatiently.

"Huh? Oh, yeah." Seiya shakes her head and follows them down the corridor to their dressing rooms. The high from performing hasn't worn off yet, and she hums the whole way, a bounce in her step.

Once she reaches her assigned room, Seiya shuts the door and starts collecting her things. The open window allows a humid breeze to drift in, carrying the sweet fragrance of a beautiful spring night - cherry blossoms and rain. She can still hear the murmurs of the crowd in the distance.

Knock. Knock.

"Come in!" the Starlight calls absentmindedly, figuring it's Taiki or Yaten.

Creak... The door creeps open. When Seiya glances up, she catches her breath.

Standing against the door frame appears to be one of the most gorgeous women Seiya's ever seen before. The beauty's pale-blue hair is tied in a high ponytail that cascades in lustrous waves to her hips. She wears a flowing white dress and strappy sandals.

It's like she forgot how to speak. "Can I help you?" Seiya clears her throat and quickly fluffs her hair.

Fish-Eye smiles and brushes a stray curl out of his face. "Actually, you can," he says in a high, silky voice.

"Oh? How so?" Whenever a cute girl is in sight, she can't help it - she's always been a flirt.

Fish-Eye giggles and casually eases the door shut behind him. "I really enjoyed the concert, Seiya. You shine like a true star out there. I was wondering if I could get a souvenir of some sort to make the experience all the more memorable..."

"I'm flattered," Seiya replies smoothly. She closes the distance between them in a few swift steps, drinking in Fish-Eye's sparkly perfume. "What do you have in mind?"

"An autograph would be wonderful." Fish-Eye bats his mascara-coated lashes. "But anything from a superstar like you would make me the happiest fan in the world."

A grin spreads across Seiya's face. They gaze at each other for a few seconds, holding a teasing conversation with their eyes. Seiya reaches for a blank notebook resting on the nearby table and pulls a marker out of her pocket. Gliding close to the pretty stranger, she says, "And to whom shall I make this autograph out to?"

"To 'Sakana'," Fish-Eye says breezily.

"Sakana, huh?" Seiya smiles quizzically at him. "That's a cute name you have."

"You think so?"

Squeak, squeak, goes the marker as Seiya scribbles out the autograph. She signs her name with a flourish, tears the paper out of the notebook, and hands it to Fish-Eye. "There you are," she declares.

"Oh, thank you so much! An autograph from my favorite male idol! I'll treasure it forever!"

Still smiling, Seiya puts her hands in her pockets. "Anything else I can help you with...?"

Fish-Eye carefully folds the autograph into his purse. "Oh, perhaps there is..." he purrs.

"Yeah?"

"But it's a bit of a secret..." Fish-Eye fingers Seiya's collar, pulling playfully on her tie.

"I'm intrigued," she whispers.

Fish-Eye stands on his tiptoes and whispers enticingly into Seiya's ear, "I'd like to get to know you better..."

"Is that so?"

He outlines the buttons on Seiya's jacket. "These ties can be tricky, can't they? Let me assist you in taking it off..."

Seiya chuckles. "That sounds quite tempting, but you see, I have to go soon... The others are waiting for me," she answers honestly, regretfully.

"Oh, they can wait, can't they?" If Fish-Eye gets any closer, they'll be a grilled cheese sandwich.

"I'm sorry." Unwillingly, Seiya gently pushes him off her. "You're extremely attractive, Sakana, but... I can't. I wish I could, but I can't."

Fish-Eye draws back as if he'd been slapped across the face. He widens his eyes innocently. "Why not?"

'Because you'd find out I'm a woman and then our image would be ruined', Seiya wants to say, but responds, "I'm not who you think I am."

"What do you mean? I know who you are. You're just making an excuse, aren't you?"

"No, I-"

"Fine." Fish-Eye steps back. The corners of his mouth crumple into a scowl. "I see how it is. I guess it's goodbye to you then, isn't it?"

Before Seiya can respond, a blue curtain appears out of the air and drops over Fish-Eye with a whoosh. It raises to reveal his true self - bubbly blue outfit, scaly hands, and black Amazon marking on his forehead.

"Who are-?!" Seiya stumbles back.

"ONE!" A red board rises from under the floorboards, slamming into the Starlight's back.

"TWO!" Cold, metal clamps bind Seiya's wrists and ankles.

"THREE!"

Seiya screams as her dream mirror emerges, taking shape bit by bit. Harsh light blinds her, and wind whips her hair all over. It feels like someone is reaching into her chest and ripping out her insides. What's going on? What is this?!

Once it stops, she slumps forward in exhaustion, supported only by the painful cuffs pinning her to the plank.

"Now to take a look inside your beautiful dream mirror!" Fish-Eye saunters towards the trapped idol. He grabs hold of the glowing mirror on both sides. It's shining brighter than any one he's seen before! His eyes glimmer in hope. Could this be the home of Pegasus after all?

"Y-You lied to me! Who are you really?" Seiya shouts, raising her head. It's obvious by the flat chest and deep voice that this monster is male, and on top of that, the enemy! How could she fall into his trap? Anger and humiliation course through her veins. She thrashes harder, but cannot break free.

Fish-Eye chuckles, but doesn't reply. He stretches the mirror on both sides like putty and dives his head inside her dream mirror. Seiya shrieks in agony.

"Where is Pegasus?" he says aloud, looking all over. But instead of finding a winged horse with a golden horn, he sees flowing images of a beautiful, red-haired princess catered by three female guardians in black uniforms.

Fish-Eye throws his head out of the mirror in horror. "H-H-How dare you deceive me! That's my job!" he cries, his voice wavering. I fell for a woman in disguise? Impossible! This can't be right...

Skin crawling and cheeks burning, Fish-Eye stands back. How humiliating! "What a waste of a trip. Well, either way, I suppose you'll have to die now, Seiya. Come out, my Remless! Superstar Daistuaa!"

A creature climbs out of his shadow - a skinny girl with a guitar as a torso and a microphone as a tail. She snaps the cord like a whip and says in a mouse-like voice, "It's showtime!"

"I'm leaving this up to you, Daisutaa," Fish-Eye barks.

"Of course!”

A black hole rimmed with water appears in the air. Fish-Eye does a backwards somersault into it and vanishes.

The dream mirror returns to Seiya's body and the board and restraints disappear. She falls to her knees, feeling dizzy and weak.

"Hello, everybody!" Daisutaa sings. "I'm so happy to be here! I've got a super great show for you!"

Seiya glares up at the Remless. A phage? No, it's different... She reaches into her pocket for her transformation brooch.

"Uh-uh! Please turn off all cell phones and electronic devices during the show!" Daisutaa lunges at Seiya. They crash into the wooden table which breaks into jagged pieces beneath them. Seiya groans, her back throbbing, and tries to throw the Remless off her. Daisutaa's three-inch nails are like knives, poised at her throat.

"Get...off...me!" she grunts, turning her head to the side in a feeble attempt to avoid the monster slicing her jugular.

"You want an encore, you say?" Daisutaa crows. "Alrighty then!"

Bam! The dressing room door slams open, nearly flying off its hinges.

"Star Sensitive Inferno!"

"Star Gentle Uterus!"

The Remless snaps her head up, frozen like a deer in the headlights as the two combined attacks hit her head on. "What? Aghhh! STAGE OUT!" she wails, crumbling to glass. The shadow on the floor fades, and a billow of smoke dissipates in an upright spiral circle. The Dead Moon magic is gone.

"Seiya!" Maker cries, hurrying over to her.

"What happened? We heard you screaming." Healer kneels beside Seiya. "What was that thing? A phage?"

"So they have invaded here too?" Maker murmurs gravely.

Seiya coughs and shakes her head. Grunting, she pulls herself into a sitting position. "No, it was something else..."

Healer helps Seiya to her feet. "Well, either way, it's gone now. Let's hope we never see anything like it again."

"Yeah. Just forget it happened," Seiya mutters, flushing as she recalls Sakana.

She knew she wanted to.

✨

"Back so soon, Fish-Eye?" Tigers-Eye swings around in his chair at the bar.

Ignoring him, Fish-Eye plops down in his usual spot and pours himself a drink. In one sip, he downs the entire thing and reaches to refill the glass.

"Whoa, easy!" Hawks-Eye jokes. "Did it go that bad?"

Tigers-Eye's green eyes dance. "That Seiya dude rejected you, didn't he?" he says gaily.

"Can it, you two," Fish-Eye grumbles, studying his red nail polish. "You don't know the half of it."

"So what happened?" Hawks-Eye asks.

A bloom of red appears in Fish-Eye's cheeks. "Let's just say that underneath it all, Seiya Kou wasn't who I thought he was."

Tigers-Eye smirks. "I could have told you all those boy bands are bogus."

"Shut up, Tigers-Eye. Just shut up."

[hamliet]

Reflections of Su XiYan in Scum Villain’s Female Characters

I did not realize it was MXTX ladies week until yesterday. :( So I want to do a post/meta on the amazing women in each novel (not without critique), so let’s start with MXTX’s first one!

Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System, which while it may have more obvious narrative flaws than TGCF or MDZS (it sets up some plot points it kinda drops later, whereas TGCF and MDZS pretty much maximize every single aspect of potential), I actually think is just as rich, clever, and coherent thematically as MXTX’s latter two novels.

The plot points that are dropped, though, are actually almost entirely related to the set up the female characters as deconstructing the idea that they were just things for Original!Luo BingHe to collect. While it does do this to an extent with Su XiYan, Ning YingYing, and Sha HuaLing, it kinda… dropped the arcs halfway through for Ning YingYing and Sha HuaLing, and sets up but never really begins Liu MingYan’s and Qin WanYue’s. 

Su XiYan’s arc, though, despite it taking place in the past and being told to us, is entirely about refuting the role the men in her life ascribe to her... and all of the other female characters--all members of Original!Luo BingHe’s harem--represent a part of her. You could get, like, really Oedipal if you wanted to, but I’d rather not beyond simply saying it’s a pattern in stories that is definitely present here. Aspects of her story and character are reflected in each of the women who are love interests in Proud Immortal Demon Way. 

Our first refutation of how men treat and categorize Su XiYan is through her foiling with Ning YingYing. 

Shen Yuan notes that Shen Jiu sexually harassed Ning YingYing:

the original Shen Qingqiu had designs on Ning Yingying... [he] had dirty thoughts towards his lively and well-behaved disciples. Several times he tried to lay hands on them and almost succeeded at that.

Which is what the Old Palace Master did to Su XiYan:

He turned to focus his stare on Luo Binghe’s quietly sleeping face... nThe Old Palace Master gazed at him for a long while then sighed: “When you close your eyes, you resemble her the most. And also when you’re being cold.”

His eyes traveled over Luo Binghe’s face greedily. If he still had hands, he would have reached out to fondle as well.

However, the Old Palace Master never got anywhere with Su XiYan, because she fell in love with someone else and thereby refutes the idea that she’s his tool. In the original, Ning YingYing is rescued by Luo BingHe in the original. In the novel, Ning YingYing’s arc is about her discovering self-sufficiency. She doesn’t need rescuing from Luo BingHe; she can rescue herself, as is shown when she leads Ming Fan and the other disciples into a fight to protect Shen QingQiu’s honor after his arrest. When someone slaps her, she slaps back, twice--but Shen QingQiu gives her the energy. I would have liked (and think her arc was heading towards) her to grow to be competent on her own as well. 

Next, Sha HuaLing.  

Sha HuaLing represents TianLang-Jun’s assumptions about Su XiYan: that she was a deceptive seductress who would betray him for her own desires. However, in reality, like Sha HuaLing does in Proud Immortal Demon Way, Su XiYan betrays her race (for her, humanity, for Sha HuaLing, demons) for love. 

Sha Hualing was a pure-blooded demon, cruel and ruthless, cunning and artful, but fell irrevocably for Luo Binghe. After getting together with Luo Binghe, don’t even speak about killing for him; she even dared to do an outrageous thing like betraying the demons for him. 

Su XiYan, however, was never given the chance to fight back. In the actual novel, Sha HuaLing does much the same (betrays the demons), but Luo BingHe does not love her and she knows it. I think this is a good ending place for Sha HuaLing, assigned to fight against her father in the final battle (which she does), but we’re told rather than shown her development and we’re not told what led to this decision, which is a shame. 

Sha HuaLing is perhaps most directly foiled both in Proud Immortal Demon Way and in SVSSS by Qin WanYue. 

Qin WanYue, much like Su XiYan, is considered the perfect disciple of the Huan Hua Palace. Regarding Su XiYan, it’s noted: 

“That woman had shocking talent, was intelligent and sensitive when making decisions, and she had the aura of a tyrant. The Old Palace Master loved and cared for this private disciple. He thought of her as a pearl that should be protected in his hands and trained her to be the next Palace Master of Huan Hua Palace. No matter where he went, he would bring Su Xiyan along with him. The importance that he placed in her was abnormal.”

Qin WanYue’s symbol is a pearl that lights the way.

Luo Binghe picked up Qin Wanyue’s Night Pearl that had fallen to the ground and raised it high, as though it were a beacon. It awakened those who had frozen in place.

Not to mention in the original novel Qin WanYue loses a child in a miscarriage caused by someone else (Sha HuaLing) much like Su XiYan almost lost Luo BingHe when pregnant with him. Qin WanYue clings to Luo BingHe after the loss of her sister as something who might be able to offer her happiness. She’s not much different than Luo BingHe growing up parents and clinging to ShiZun: she who lost her sister and then clings to the person who saved her. But in her case, Luo BingHe does not return her affection, and I really had hoped/ expected her arc to end with her finding her own path.

Qin WanYue is also tasked with an action beneath her (much like Sha HuaLing): taking care of the Little Palace Mistress, the Old Palace Master’s literal daughter and hence another foil to Su XiYan. Her defining trait is her pettiness and cruelty, the latter of which Su XiYan is also said to have been capable of, as she began spending time with TianLang-Jun in an attempt to bring him down.

However, the mistress isn’t really set up with the potential for an arc like Qin WanYue is. 

From time to time [Qin WanYue] would cast a teary glance at Luo Binghe, as if expecting something...

[Sha HuaLing:] “how many times have you failed to seduce the lord yet still refuse to leave? If you don’t leave that’s fine, but you’re incapable of looking after even a single person. Her cultivation isn’t even as high as yours. You’re her senior martial sister. You didn’t stop her early and didn’t stop her late. All you did was to let her make this unreasonable scene in front of the lord. Who are you putting on this pitiful and wronged appearance for?”

Qin WanYue isn’t weak at all, but she puts on a weak act for Luo BingHe, hoping to attract a rescuer like she needed back then. I initially expected her arc to end with her accepting her strength and moving on form Luo BingHe (and from the little palace mistress). I still think it should have. 

And then we have Qiu HaiTang, whom I don’t think is set up as much for development as the others despite having more backstory on her. 

Still, Qiu HaiTang she was a woman mistreated and shamed by what had happened with her fiance Shen Jiu--just like Su XiYan was shamed for what happened with TianLang-Jun. 

“That’s right, if she hadn’t been so ill-fated as to fall for Tianlang-Jun’s wiles, she would have had such a bright and promising future and be a person of great renown today.”

“I don’t care what fantastic rewards are promised to me━having an affair with a demon and getting knocked up with a monster child is just plain disgusting. This kind of merit, I wouldn’t accept even if it was served to me on a silver platter.”

“Su Xiyan was probably too ashamed to remain, and thus ran away from the sect master.”

The thing is, all these roles--perfect disciple with great potential, brave enough to betray everything for love, endearing and caring, mistreated--none of these really capture the complexity and beauty of who Su XiYan really was... which is represented in Liu MingYan, the noted female counterpart to Luo BingHe, the main female lead. Liu MingYan conceals her face, which is too beautiful to be seen. 

Liu MingYan, like Si XiYan, remains mysterious; Shen QingQiu never sees her face uncovered, and the audience never really gets a clue as to what is going on in her head besides the mention that she cares deeply for her brother. Again, this is something I think could have and should have been developed more; she has the set-up for an arc with her conflict with Sha HuaLing being dazzled by her beauty and with her loyalty to her sect and brother, but it doesn’t go anywhere. She said to be “the number one female lead!” after all, and I think it’s entirely possible for her to maintain her aura of mystery and still... have an arc. Su XiYan did, after all, and she was dead before the novel began.

In the end, no one really can define whom Su XiYan was exactly, because she’s dead. What ultimately mattered, what defined Su XiYan’s legacy, was her final choice to save her son (and yes, it’s fair to critique that it’s again about a man, but it’s her choice). That’s why the story, in its penultimate chapter, has Shen QingQiu telling Luo BingHe: 

“Su Xiyan risked her life to give birth to you... 

“If I were in her shoes, I would not hesitate to drink [the poison for a fetus] regardless of how lethal it is. Then, after escaping from the water prison, I would absorb it all into my own body. Regardless of how agonizing and horrifying the process is, regardless of the price to be paid, regardless of whether it would be a painful death, I would never let this child suffer any harm.

“This is how I see it. You can take it as just an interpretation because there is no one who can tell you what Su Xiyan was thinking before she breathed her last. But if she really saw you as a disgrace, she didn’t need to do anything more. She could have just lowered you into the Luo River, on the coldest days of the year, in a harsh and frozen landscape━how could you possibly survive?... she also need not use the last of her strength and energy to put you in a wooden basin and push you away to safety…… You don’t even need to wait for someone to save you at all since you would have already become a wandering soul who met his freezing end in Luo River.

He’s healed, and he no longer needs to try to recreate his mother figure in over a thousand beautiful women like he did in the past. He can heal. 

Imo, it would have been even more powerful if the women then stepped out of these roles more completely, and became their own people. But I really do like all four of the main women I discussed here, and someday I’ll write more for them. 

[alextriestowritestuff]

House of Hades Read With Me

Hey everyone, I’m back with an update. If you haven’t been following this thread, I’ve been reading the Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan. I read the first three books in this series back in 2012 and never finished. If you want to know my background with the PJO series and my thoughts on the Son of Neptune (I started my re-read with that book because Lost Hero is trash imo), you can find that here. My thoughts on Mark of Athena is here. So let’s get into the House of Hades 50% update that will include spoilers so you’ve been warned. 

Okay so I’m going to use two images to convey my thoughts on this book so far:

Okay so let’s address the first image... um. I’m fucking terrified. I’m scared of Percy and I’m scared for him and Annabeth (She told him that she loves him ahhhhhh, I need him to say it back tho). My past read with me’s have been pretty harsh on the HoO series so far but I really like this book so far. Dear gods, please let the other half of the book be good! Rick you’re doing amazing sweetie (kind of-we’ll get into it). So far, I’ve cried at Percy and Annabeth thinking about each other and how tired and hungry they are. And when Percy and Annabeth were surrounded by Kelli and the other empousai and I really thought it was done for them (I know they don’t die but the fear I felt was real) then Bob came in and saved them. And when Percy was surrounded by the Arai and Annabeth was temporarily blinded by a curse. Like he literally says, if I’m going to die, I’m not going to let them hurt Annabeth and he went out fighting (out meaning unconscious in this case) ughh my heart. It was torn out of my chest!! 

Brief pause because the Arai said that Calypso cursed Annabeth because Percy left her and I just can’t really emotionally deal with that fact because Battle of Labyrinth is my favorite PJO book BECAUSE of Calypso’s appearance. I’ve held a torch for that girl to find happiness for years and to think she cursed Annabeth (Obvi she didn’t know it’d actually affect Annabeth years later), that shit kills me. But I remember thinking in the Last Olympian why Percy didn’t ask for some sort of amnesty for Calypso when he was telling the gods to claim their kids, etc. So I’m glad he realizes he f-ed up there but ugh why Calypso?? It’s okay, I know that her and Leo get together so she’ll be happy eventually. I just have to wait. 

But let’s also talk about the fact that I’m starting to feel bad for monsters? Annabeth and Percy have been reflecting on what it’s like to be sent to Tartarus by a demigod and slowly reforming. And all the curses the Arai gave Percy were manifestations of how he killed those monsters so he felt their deaths which seeing him in pain, put me in pain. Like Rick don’t do this to me. I don’t want to feel bad for monsters but I do. I’m curious to see how this experience will change Percy and Annabeth’s willingness to kill monsters in the future. I really like this presentation of the monster’s perspective, I think it’s very interesting. In relation, I’ve noticed HoO is a lot darker in theme (even before this book) just by the way they phrase things. Like the demigods will say ‘kill monsters’ or ‘kill’ very easily compared to PJO where I felt that death was sugar coated because it was a middle grade genre. Most deaths were off screen (off page?) like Beckendorf’s. Or not very grim. And this series is much more in your face about it, especially in House of Hades. It was hard to get used to at first but I think it shows maturity, it’s well within the realm of YA to kill off characters and explicitly say so it’s just strange going from PJO to this imo. 

Moving onto the next image, the slowly being seduced one. AHAHA Um can someone tell me why I was briefly seduced by Frank and Percy?? So Percy, I’m always seduced by, that’s not new. But him being scary makes him 100x more attractive. Like imagine if Percy had been on the titan’s side? The gods wouldn’t have had a chance. Here’s some quotes:

(This is after Percy kills Arachne, on pg 6) Percy kicked the dust on the rocks, his expression grim and dissatisfied. “She died too easily, considering how much torture she put you through. She deserved worse.” Annabeth couldn’t argue with that, but the hard edge in Percy’s voice made her unsettled. She’d never seen someone get so angry or vengeful on her behalf. It almost made her glad Arachne had died quickly. “How did you move so fast?”

Then when Percy convinces Bob to kill the reforming Hyperion, Annabeth thinks this: 

How was he keeping his cool? The way he talked to Bob left Annabeth awestruck…and maybe a little uneasy, too. If Percy had been serious about leaving the choice to Bob, then she didn’t like how much he trusted the Titan. If he’d been manipulating Bob into making that choice…well, then, Annabeth was stunned that Percy could be so calculating.

He met her eyes, but she couldn’t read his expression. That bothered her too (22). 

Like what?!?! Please come pick me up, Uncle Rick. I’m scared. What’s happening to Percy?? I need them to get out of there STAT! I have no theories as to why he’s acting like this (maybe it’s the energy of Tartarus) but I’m excited to see where it goes. But Scary Percy is also right up my alley so ugh, I’m conflicted. 

So next, Frank. Rick did something hella problematic here but before I get into that, here’s the line where I was slowly being seduced by him:  

Frank was faster. He lunged at Trip and slammed him into the wall, his fingers locked around the god’s throat.

“Think about your next words,” Frank warned, deadly calm. “Or instead of beating my sword into a plowshare, I will beat it into your head” (19). 

Like ngl, that choke thoo?? I’ve never been attracted to Frank but my god, the dangerous tone, the threat. I had to put my hair up and get a cold glass of water when I read that. Frank was the last person I thought would do something like this but I am not mad at all. Very Ares of him.

What I am mad about, however, is the fact that after this scene, Frank (or it’s Hazel that notices) notices that he’s becoming taller and better built. Because Mars/Ares gave him a little ‘grow spurt’. Now let me say this: I’m not one of those people who think that everything problematic was meant to be intentionally offensive/stereotyping/harmful. I know that Rick has had his fair share of controversies ever since he’s been incorporating diverse characters. That comes with the territory of writing marginalized character-I’m black and I still have watch myself in how I portray black characters. He has do the research and I don’t he did it. Sorry. 

And I’m sure I haven’t even caught half of the problematic things brought up in HoO (there’s times where Hazel’s hair or skin is described as cinnamon, like food when other non black characters don’t get that kind of description. Also the fact that her name is Hazel like Hazelnut has always bothered me but I digress). Back to Frank’s growth spurt. Prior to that, other characters have described him as a bit on the chubbier side, baby faced, ‘big guy’ (that bothers me tho but that might be an internalized societal mentality that any word like fat or big = bad. And that’s not always true but I personally don’t feel comfortable calling someone that), etc. And he’s of Asian (spec. Chinese) descent. For what it’s worth, I’m not Asian so this may be out of lane to talk about but from my personal life experiences, Asians tend to be on the smaller end of the scale when it comes to size. I am 5″7 ish, size 6 and I would be considered overweight in mainstream Asian stores but in Western stores, I’ve never had an issue fitting in something or finding my size. I also tend to have a lot of options fashion wise. I have an Asian friend (Lmao I feel like one of those yt people who are like I have a black friend so I can say this and that. sorry I’m trying to get a point across) and she is plus sized. She doesn’t fit into the straight sizes in America so by Asian standards, she’s considered anywhere from moderately to morbidly obese. And she faces a lot of judgement from her Asian relatives because of it in addition to the fatphobia that has infiltrated American society as well. 

My friend doesn’t see a lot of representation for Asians her size. If she does she sees Asians that isn’t as thin and small, it’s people with my size who are considered thin by Western standards but ‘big’ by Asian sizing. My problem with having Frank be given a growth ‘spurt’ is that it’s erasing that plus sized Asian representation. This wouldn’t have been a good thing to do to ANY character that was plus sized but do you see where it’s even more problematic to do because of his Asian ancestry? It would’ve been fine if at the end of the series, he got hella fit and happens to be more in shape because of all the fighting he’s done but to be given that growth spurt implies that there was something wrong with his size in the first place. And so far, the other demigods have been taking him more seriously (Frank notes that Leo has stopped teasing him as much) which is kind of thin privilege esque to me. Frank may not be my favorite character but he deserved respect, no matter his size. I think this growth spurt aspect was hella problematic and Rick shouldn’t have done it. It was also unnecessary as hell. He looked fine before and could do everything the other (thinner) demigods could do just as well.

This is getting long so let me get to my last couple of points: Nico and the many, unnecessary POVs.

As y’all know by now, I think Nico deserves rights. He deserves friends and place to call home where he belongs. Both Frank and Jason didn’t want to be alone with Nico because they thought he was creepy and I can see where this is a set up to eventually have him fit in but damn, he’s just a kid. Be nice to my son. I feel like one of those mom’s who just wants their kid to make a friend at school. Will Solace as his love interest please come sooner. Again, I’ve been spoiled to this. I’m interested to see how this pans out and if this relationship will be a kind of aside mention like the fact that Grover and Juniper are dating or will it be given the same focus as opposite sex couples like Percabeth and Jasper. And I already knew Nico liked Percy but I didn’t expect it to come out in the way it had. It makes his relationship with Percy make a lot more sense. And I see how Nico could view him in that sense after Percy saved him and Bianca in Titan’s Curse and how he was like the real life version of his Mythomagic games (also I totally forgot he played that, he’s not that excited little boy anymore ugh, his innocence left ever since Bianca died). Overall, I think Nico being gay was handled well-Jason’s reaction was very straight but supportive so he gets a pass there. My point is Nico deserves the world. That’s all. 

The POVs. Again, I don’t know if people who aren’t writers would have an issue with the POVs in this series but I do. So far, we’ve had Hazel, Leo, Frank, Annabeth, Percy, and Jason narrate. I said this before, Rick needs to stick to 3 or 4 POVs because this shit don’t make sense. Annabeth and Percy are in the same setting together, they can’t even go on side quests because they’re in Tartarus so like why do we need both of them to narrate?? If they separate at some point, maybe. Don’t get me wrong, I love their narration but it’s jarring as hell to keep bouncing from POV to POV. I also saw somewhere that they don’t get a narration POV in Blood of Olympus in which case, I sure as hell don’t want to be reading the POV in the HoO characters who I don’t really jive with except Leo. So Hazel is going to be important to the Mist thing whatever, it makes sense she gets a POV (and she hasn’t had one since tSoN/same with Jason but the Lost Hero instead) but Frank and Leo? And I really thought since it’s 5 demigods (Percabeth in Tartarus) they’re going to be able to do side quests with all 5 of them that we didn’t need so many POVs but guess I was wrong. Idk it’s driving me insane, Rick should’ve done third person omniscient (Think Harry Potter and it can still follow different people like Percabeth in Tartarus). 

Damn, if this is how much I have to say about the first half of HoH, I’m really excited to get back to reading the last half. I’m HELLA looking forward to have Reyna join the quest temporarily (where I left off, she is on her way to the 5 demigods). I want the Piper/Reyna/Jason thing to be resolved (a lil drama would be nice) so Piper can stop being annoying and insecure. I want to know who Coach Hedge has been talking to and is he a good guy? Oh and another thing that’s been bothering me is Gale, Hecate’s polecat? It just farts all the time. And I have to remember I’m 20 and this books isn’t targeted to me so juvenile humor isn’t funny to me anymore but it’s just kind of gross and unnecessary?? 

Anyway, I’m going to have to start a new post for the last half of my HoH read with me because this thing is long. But you guys, I am invested into this book. It is on par with my love for PJO books so far. I could give this book a 4.5 stars (despite some faults) if it keeps going this way. Thanks for reading! 

[gascon-en-exil]

Joining the Game Late: S3E8 “Second Sons”

Synopsis

The Hound catches Arya up with the main plot. The Titan’s Bastard enjoys money and getting rimmed (by women, of course). Melisandre tells Stannis about the lambs. Davos is Stannis’s morality pet, but he’s not doing a great job at it.  So much impending marital incest, and no one’s happy about it least of all Cersei who’d much rather the real thing. Joffrey continues to find inventive ways to be a dick. Melisandre seduces Gendry so he can get sucked off in a very bad way. Tyrion is too drunk and honorable for his own wedding night. The bishonen Second Son betrays his captains for a protagonist, where have I heard that one? Sam explains how names work to Gilly before facing a scene from The Birds and finally doing something with that dragonglass.

Commentary

The wedding at the center of this episode is fantastic, as it leads to a bunch of great scenes and great performances by all my favorites that hit perfectly one right after the other. It’s never explained why the wedding between Tyrion and Sansa has to come before the other two being planned - maybe that’s in the book? - but I’m not complaining. Tyrion shows he can be just as entertaining a drunk as Cersei, Joffrey vacillates between petty bully when he takes away his uncle’s footstool at the ceremony to complete monster when he comes up to Sansa and casually tells her that he’s going to rape her that night (he doesn’t), Tywin is still very much in charge, Olenna’s having her fun (”your brother will become your father-in-law, that much is beyond dispute”), Shae is still pissed but is quietly approving that Tyrion didn’t sleep with Sansa, and Cersei is done with the Tyrells and isn’t bothering with propriety anymore. She delivers the monologue explaining the significance of “The Rains of Castamere,” necessary knowledge for the next episode, which is by itself a not-so-subtle warning, but then she throws Margaery off completely with an explicit death threat. Not at all appropriate, but we know that Cersei has her limits. Also, Sansa still has her symbolic doll from Season 1 that’s obviously meant to represent loss of innocence. I’m surprised it’s still in the show after it was a visual focal point of her scene with the Hound last season.

Everything else in this hour though doesn’t hang together quite so well. I’m going to use two examples to illustrate this, and leave the other material for when it reaches more of a point (except to point out that when Melisandre is getting Gendry in bed the base of his shaft is visible for half a second...while she’s showing full frontal. Typical.). Let’s start with this episode’s other source of female nudity. Daenerys’s scenes in this episode at first feel like a rehash of the one last time, with her “negotiating” - threatening more like - someone in a tent outside Yunkai while her visitor makes disparaging remarks directed at her, her entourage, and her ideas about slavery. This time it’s a trio of mercenary captains making lewd passes at her and Missandei, and the result appears to be more or less the same...but then the show follows them back to their camp where they draw lots to see which one will have to sneak into Dany’s camp and assassinate her. Turns out it’s the long-haired one who’s morally opposed to prostitution (even as his companion points out that mercenaries also sell their bodies, just in a more violent way), and when he infiltrates the camp and comes before Daenerys he’s there not to kill her but to present her with the heads of the other captains and offer to join her. This setup is such typical Fire Emblem that I laughed a bit while watching it, the most conventionally attractive of a group of enemy mercenaries swayed to the playable side by a pretty woman. They might as well have played a recruitment track over this scene. However, this being GoT the pretty woman in question is naked at the time, which could be considered a power move since she’s so clearly unimpressed by this guy even as he’s ogling her but...I don’t know. Dany’s messaging is just so damn confusing; I get the impression that nobody involved with this show had any idea where her character was headed, so they just threw a bunch of stuff (and fanservice) at a wall to see what would stick. In any case, on top of Jorah we can now add a mercenary army to the list of people following Daenerys specifically because they want to tap that. Lovely.

The other scene I want to talk about is this episode’s climax, given to us by Sam and Gilly of all people. I say that because this is their only scene and the last time they appeared was two episodes ago, and yet for all that scattered pacing the show uses this climax to reveal a plot point that will no doubt be crucial to understanding the big battles in the final seasons. Sam uses that dragonglass he’s been holding onto since halfway through Season 2 to stab a White Walker, instantly destroying it. This would have been a strong climax had there been sufficient buildup to it, but here it feels completely random. The writers needed a big moment to end the episode - the one immediately preceding the Red Wedding! - so they tacked this quick but very important action sequence onto the end of a dialogue between Sam and Gilly about baby names and how much their fathers suck. To be fair I’m not even slightly invested in the two of them as a pairing - Sam is such a painfully transparent author avatar, and the best thing I can say about Gilly so far is that’s she’s not blatant wish fulfillment material but comes with a lot of her own baggage including parental rape - but the lead-in to the White Walker is this confused pileup of symbolism where a flock of cawing ravens roost in a nearby weirwood tree and warn the pair to come out of their makeshift shelter. Are ravens associated with White Walkers now, or was it actually a warning sent by some supernatural being? Is this going to be relevant to any other plotlines any time in the next three or four seasons? No idea on the one, and I rather doubt it on the other. My understanding is that the equivalent book scene comes earlier, when Commander Mormont is still alive, so I can say with confidence that as with Theon this is another case of the show stretching a small and undeveloped story point in the source material out over too long a period of time. 

Alright, time for the really big shocking twist!...that I’ve known about for over half a decade, but I’ll try to act surprised.

[the-energon-hole]

May I also have headcannons of TFP Megatron, Knockout and Predaking with female reader who never experienced genuine romance? She is usually confident and suave, but when it comes to romance, she is not. She quietly confesses that her previous exes never appreciated her nor made her feel beautiful, safe and warm: only wanting to use her. Then the mechs do what her exes failed to do, making the reader feel loved from their compliments, gentle caresses and telling her why they love her.

((A/N - I went a little slow with this one because I didn’t want to mess it up- it took me awhile to think about it so I hope you like it ))

Megatron

-To say that Megatron has never experienced genuine love would be a bold face lie probably told by the Autobot propaganda committee to make him look like some kind of unfeeling monster. He felt a deep love for all his fellow Cybertronians to the point he would overthrow an entire government in order to get them the freedom of choice they so truly deserved, he loved his position as a gladiator in the pits of Kaon as he was big on entertaining the masses with his bulk and combative wit, and he somehow found himself in some kind of romantically love with a squishy little human that managed to charm and seduce him in a way no one before her had ever accomplished, he was sure many have tried as he was quite the catch back in the days of his youth, but as time went on and he became a battle hardened and deeply scarred warlord- well, the prospect of bonding became a thing of the past. Yet, here you were, simply leaking regality while still possessing such a flirty and sensual attitude that it was hard to resist any command you threw at him. You could snap your fingers and demand he serve you his soldiers head’s on a spike and he would do it if it gave him any kind of chance of winning over your seemingly cold and unfeeling heart. It was actually kind of dangerous if you look at it objectively, the great and powerful Megatron becoming an enamoured slave to an insignificant and feeble little human, but really when has playing it safe and staying in one’s lane ever actually accomplished anything meaningful or significant. It was the risk takers and the trend setters who would always be remembered and always be kept in histories light as the ones who have made an impact to the way society was run, and he was hoping that maybe by being a said trend setter that maybe you would keep him in your radiant light that he has been craving to be in since you began to prove your worth to him in a way no other Cybertronian ever had before.

-You had him wrapped up around your little finger and the power was beginning to go to your head as you noticed so many vehicons refused to look you in the eye as you passed them by them in the halls of the ship, and you also noticed all of Megatron’s subordinates showing such great respect by offering up their frames as a way of pleasing you to get into your good graces so many times that it made your heart flutter a little with delight to know you can basically do whatever you wanted and get away with it because you were the favorite of the biggest and baddest bot in all of Cybertronian history. Truthfully however, at times, you felt like all of this attention and doting on should be given to someone who is more deserving of it than you. You were never seen as the most prime specimen of beauty in your culture and a long streak of messy and bad break ups seems to only continue to taunt and emphasize that to you. Lovable as never something you thought yourself to be as time and again you have been shown that every single one of your partners had to be that constant reminder that you were far from perfect and that you deserved to be alone forever because you were not their ideal woman. It was depressing honestly, and you sometimes had bad days where you couldn’t function because of those taunting and dark thoughts, they were there to remind you time and again that you were the embodiment of bitter energy and that romantic love will always be something that is unattainable by you- no one understood that as they would spout some fairy tale nonsense about everyone having their proverbial prince charming and how everyone will experience this amazing euphoric feeling in their lifetime. It was a load of crock, which was why you stopped sharing your secret affinity for things like finding your one true love amongst so many individuals- it was like trying to find the sheep amongst a pack of wolves, impossible and something you cannot foresee yourself being able to do. It hurt, but you know what, life goes on and you have to go along with it.

-This wasn’t a conversation you were really that willing to have, as it all started when Megatron expressed his “undying devotion” to you and exclaimed how he wished to hold you in his spark as someone who was more than just his dear little human spy and that he would do anything to keep you happy and safe so long as he is living and functioning, you got angry as you didn’t believe him. You yelled and screamed and called him a liar- and it seems this wasn’t the reaction he was expecting, it wasn’t that the feelings were not mutual, you actually felt great attraction towards Megatron, you just can’t trust yourself to know a difference between romantic attraction or sexual desires. The not being able to distinct between the two has gotten you in so many bad situations that you just decided completely to ignore those feelings. You broke down just thinking about it as you told this magnificent mech that it wasn’t him it was you- so many before have tricked and lied to you to manipulating you into thinking your romantic feelings were real, but really it was just them taking advantage of you and abusing you to the point you still question your emotions to this day. It frustrated and angered you more than it did make you cry, but all of these emotions surfacing, well it was hard to not become a little emotional remembering all of the bad shit you had to go through to get to this point. That was when Megatron stopped speaking words as you felt him grip your face to look at him from your position on a countertop- you had no idea what was reflecting in those normally cold optics, but you could have sworn in that moment there was a shimmering sparkle that was present that made you stop feeling so anxious and feel some kind of comfort that you never have before. That was all this moment was, just staring into one another’s eyes- his reflecting genuine love and compassion while you were sure yours reflected fear and anxiety but also a little bit of a new emotion that was a mix of hesitant understanding and a little bit of longing. You wanted to kiss him in that tender moment, so you reached up and he lifted you so you can nuzzle and plant a small tender kiss on his faceplate. Is this what love was, real romantic love? It felt good- and it felt better knowing Megatron was a mech of his word and would love you with his whole being without anger or an ounce of mistreatment.

Knockout

-You two had a whole lot in common, considering your personalities were almost one in the same. He enjoyed being the shiny and outstanding mech who was colored a deep and enticing color that it made others stop and admire his appearance whether eti was the mindless vehicons or some humans who noticed his alt mode parked outside somewhere- you liked to dress up and show off your appearance while wearing designer and beautiful clothing that made people stop and stare because they were admirable and jealous while wishing they could too look like that. You both also enjoyed having laughs and trading quips back and forth that others might interpret as hurtful exchanges but really were just sweet and innocent words that indicated you both were playing a long standing game that was only reserved for the two of you to know the rules and partake in. It could be constituted as flirting as you weren’t afraid to admit that this mech was most definitely the most attractive of all the Cybertronians you have come to witness- true he was rather a bit of a coward, but he was good looking so he had a pass to be just that. You were a little afraid of dying as well, and really, who in their right mind wasn’t afraid of a premature death so when things get to hot for you two to handle you are always the first ones to bail and retreat back to the sanctum of his lab on The Nemesis ship. It was fine though, as he was always there to check you for wounds and you were always there to buff his finish and vacuum his interior should anything happen to his appearance- it was nice to have someone to fall back on like this, and though you have thought that so many times before you had someone to “ride or die” with, maybe Knockout was the real deal this time? You hoped so, he is a good friend and the best being in the universe- you hope nothing can spoil this fun and fulfilling relationship. You two were one half of the same person after all, which was why the friendship was soon beginning to bud into another thing- it was there, but you didn’t know really what that thing was. Knockout has an idea of what this relationship was slowly stepping into but he didn’t want to rush you into anything, he knows your past and he wants to handle this with as much finesse as possible. That was a good thing, as finesse was his middle name so to speak, and there was no way he can screw this up… Right?

-There were so few things that Knockout had a genuine love for besides himself- he loved Breakdown as much as any mech could as they have been long time companions and long time brothers, he has a real love for the practice of medicine even if that practice is more for the dissection in order to learn and understand things first hand from the source material, and now he can say he has a genuine love for you and all of your quirky and interesting habits. He gets all star opticted when you laugh with that angelic tone and he has to stop himself from swooning when you make a bad joke directed at someone like Starscream and Soundwave because you were just so genuinely unafraid of them- it was a flex of your strength and power of them as an asset to Megatron and he loved it. You were just a human, but you were such an important key to their victory, it was intoxicating knowing not only where you attractive to look at (even if you deny it) but you were also intelligent and witty. You truly were the best rival to have when it came to having your little conversations to where you were so snarky that it made his spark swell with a new kind of emotion that he has never really experienced before. Breakdown told him it must be love but he doubted it, mechs like Knockout don’t fall in love and get tied down by some femme, no matter how amazing he thinks that femme is. Breakdown laughed at him after that, saying how similar the two of you really were, as unbeknownst to Knockout you also asked Breakdown what was going on. Wow, you guys even go to him for the same advise- it was so amusing watching you two just be so blissfully unaware of what was there that sometimes Breakdown wants to just smush your faces together until you kiss and have that “electrical shock” moment that you get when you share a moment with the one you love. You both have had a bad string of relationships however, so he will not pry or force anything and let the two of you figure it out on your own, because really that is what it comes down to. He can’t tell you both anything because you are both equally as stubborn and have to learn your lessons the hard way.

-Knockout knows your hard past and your ex lovers, Breakdown knows your hard past and your ex lovers, and you hated comparing what you have to the cherry red mech to what you used to ahve with those asshoels who made you feel so bad for having any kind of emotions towards them. You were experiencing new feelings you couldn’t describe, but you were also experiencing some old one that you wish would just go away so you never have to worry about them again. Your guts would get all funny and fluttery when you were in the same room as the Decepticon medic just like it had with some of your exs before you, but you felt so calm in his presences that it made you second guess the things your heart was trying to convey to your stubborn and angry brain- why did your body and soul literally have to ruin such an enriching and quality friendship by making you feel like this?! It must have been Knockout who said something, because you were so tight lipped about how you felt that it must have been him to bring it up, but there it was out in the open after one of your famous quip battles was stopped dead after he (or maybe it was you, no one really remembered) uttered the words “you say that you hate me, but in reality My Dear, we all know you love me as much as I love you”. You got a little panicky as you apologized for something, you are not sure what but you just kept repeating it as the good doctor could swear his breath was caught in his vent systems- well, this was not the finesse he normally had and you made him so damn nervous that the beans were spilled before he could even come up with a game plan. Here it was tough out in the open, and once you were done apologizing Knckout decided tha titwas going to be now or never to open up and try to have a for real moment with you. He stroked the top of your head with his claw as he tousled your hair a little while twirling it a little around his digit, he just let instinct take over as he has never done something like this before as he was just a broken as you were when it came to love, he went from stroking your hair to touching your face to which you froze and looked p at him with concern- there was something else plastered on your face however, it was complete trust for the mech before you. He wasn’t like all the others before him, he actually took the time to call you beautiful and he actually liked to listen to your sass and your slightly harsh words and he could meet your challenge when it came to all of these conversations you were having. You saw nothing but relaxed content and a warm disposition as he stroked your face gently with his claw that was really sharp enough he could rip you to ribbons if he wanted, but he wont, and you knew he wouldn’t- and that it what love must feel like, because you trusted him completely with anything and everything, and it was nice to feel so free instead of so caged so you couldn’t help but start laughing and giggling at how nice this situation turned out to be. He laughed too out of solidarity, and in that moment, you knew everything was going to be ok.

Predaking

-He was still very new to this world only being created and imprinted with whatever that mech wanted him to know and he has only known the kindness and compassion you have shown to him- you were not like all the others aboard this floating hell hole whom were fearful and angry at him for who he really was. He actually found himself getting excited and his spark will hammer inside of its case as he anticipated you stopping by daily and telling him all the different kinds of stories you had to speak about. He has learned so much about you in such a short time like how you weren’t particularly being forced to stay on the ship against your will, but you weren’t exactly aloud to leave it either- you were an asset to Megatron’s plan and that kind of made you a prisoner in this cage just like him. Humans weren’t all that interesting to him, but it gave you a reason to speak to him and it was enough for him as he wanted to hear what you had to say when it came to all different kinds of subject matter. You told him all kinds of fascinating tales from the human world from things about human history to things about fantasy and fiction- he found himself entranced as you spoke to him about yourself more than he was enticed by tales of heroism and politics. You for some unknown reason were an ire for his fascination, and you for some reason cause all of these strange and primal instincts to bubble up inside of him that give him the urge to just hold you close to his body so that he can bask in your warmth and maybe get a chance to get drunk on and inhale the scent in which he is teased with whenever you get up close to him and touch his body in a friendly way- you were fascinated by his tail and wings and it made him a little proud and vain to know his physical appearance impressed you in any kind of way. He thought you were a rather attractive human even if the only comparison he can make were to those of the Prime’s ally, either way however, your aesthetic pleased him and ignited all kinds of wonder and emotions he has yet to actually sit and ponder upon. Once you were comfortable enough around him and you ran out of stories to tell, you told him all about you and who you were as a person and all of the thoughts and opinions you had buzzing around inside of that small but cute head of yours. He was so enamoured with you and he has no idea why, but he made it is job to protect you whenever he can, so long as he is around no one will ever hurt you again- and whomever these “exes” were, they better watch their backs.

-He can list all day the things he likes about you, but one thing he can claim was his favorite quirks he saw in you was your need to name everyone on the ship- you gave designations to all the Vehicons to which you listed to him any time they passed by the cage while they were slaving away under Megatron’s laws. They didn’t seem to mind as you always had good names to give based on everyone’s forged frame numbers, but the one you gave to him made him feel even more vain and attractive than when you were stroke and touching his skin absentmindedly as you sat with him during those quiet nights to just talk about anything and everything. You called him a “King” and he felt himself melt a little as he purred unintentionally as you laughed a sweet laugh that made his spark sputter with content comfort and slight nervousness. You rambled sometimes when you just sat there and talked about nothing in particular but that’s ok, because it gave him a chance to sit here with you and just  quietly contemplate his new upcoming emotions- which was not allowed in the current political rule in which you both live, when it was just the two of you however alone in his cage he was allowed to think and to feel however he wanted and it was the best moments he has ever had in his short and hard life. He thought about all kinds of things when he had the chance from all things ranging  between the best ways to get away from Megatron to what it would mean for him if he just stayed and stuck through that overzealous mech’s stupid orders of violence and anger, but his favorite thoughts, the ones he finds himself having even now as you lay against him sleeping because you too have had an exhausting day and even rambling quietly to him was tiring- the thoughts most pleasing were the ones of him taking you away form this place and stashing you somewhere safe until he can figure out what is really going on in this world and what his best options for survival were. It hits him every now and again that he doesn’t really belong anywhere as there were not others like him that existed in his world, but yet he felt right at home when you two were curled up in his cage awaiting the next day of forced labor and agonizing moralistic dilemmas. He didn’t think he could ever be poetic but being in your presence and anytime you graced him with your company he felt as if the sun itself manifested into the form of a beautiful femme that preferred his company over all others.

-Another thing that always caught his attention about you was the way you always were able to stand up for yourself even if the situation was dangerous and no one was around to protect you. It was a sign of your unwavering confidence and stubborn knowledge of knowing you are right in your moralistic actions against those known as the Autobots, you were so amazing to watch as you yelled at Starscream for pushing his luck by trying to mess with you and “not really kill you but injury you a little” because he felt like flexing his imaginary power hold over you- you were having none of his nonsense that day and you weren’t afraid to tell him where he can go shove a rusty pipe. Starscream wasn’t very amused by it and in a moment of weakness on Predaking’s part he jumped into action to stop that annoying mech’s hand from hitting you off your position on a console on the outside of his cage by transforming into his alt mode to loom over the offending mech with his own sheer height and prescns. Predaking uttered words along the lines of “if you so much as touch my beloved one, I will rip the spark right out of your chest and make you regret the day you were ever created”. It worked as Starscream laughed nervously as he does when he is threatened by ones bigger than him and excused himself spouting some nonsense about his daily duties recalling his attention elsewhere, and Predaking knew he was going to go tattle to Megatron in hoping he would dole out a punishment. He wouldn’t however and would just scold Starscream for starting a situation he couldn’t really finish and for distracting others from doing their everyday jobs. He noticed a shift in your personality after that- you were unbearably quiet and you did not sit close with him in beast form as you normally would have and that made him so nervous and a little scared. Did he do something wrong earlier by protecting you from Starscream? Were you offended that he stepped in to stop a physical attack on your form because you had some plan to make him look a fool instead? His mind was so busy buzzing with all that he thought he could do wrong when you took it upon yourself, as you always do, to be the one to break the silence and address the problem in the room. You told him that it was kind of him to protect you but you couldn’t possibly be his beloved because a King like him deserved someone so much better than what you could offer- you beartted yourself as being bland and unkind and he almost balked at the sheer idea that you thought yourself to weak to be his most beloved. He just huffed in his beast form and dragged you closer to him  with his tail while he nuzzled his face against your body- and he was blown away by how good you smelled and how warm you felt, yes, if you would have him than he would try his best to prove to you that you were worthy of his love.

(05/07/18)

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Monsters and Mythological Creatures

So, someone asked about monsters, and since I’ve been hoarding this long list of mythical beings for one of my own stories for the last like, three years, I decided to finally share it! This list is divided into categories for specific types of creatures. Each creature is accompanied by a definition or description, where it’s from, and other useful information.

Here we go:

SPIRITS AND GHOSTS: 

Arae(Greek Mythology): Female spirits of curses, particularly curses that are placed by the dead, on the person responsible for their death.

Banshee(Gaelic Lore): A female spirit who brings death to her victim by screeching or wailing. Often depicted wearing green or red robes, with hair being described as either orange, red or yellow to mimic the flicker of flames. Can appear as a young beautiful women, or an old and frightening ‘hag’

Black Dog/Hell Hounds: Usually depicted as large, ghostly looking black dogs that come from hell. Typically, they roam the streets at night looking for pray to drag back to hell or devour. 

Bogle(Gaelic Lore): A ghost like being whose sole purpose is to frighten and confuse humans and other creatures.

(El) Coco/  Cucuí (Typically Hispanic or Latin american Folklore) : A ghost like monster, much like the american boogeyman, used to strike fear into children. The description changes among different cultures. Sometimes described as ghosts with pumpkin heads, as large rattling skeletons, a female humanoid alligator like creature, or even a dragon like creature. (as a child, I imagined them more like skeleton ghosts) 

 Demons : Malevolent spirits from Hell 

Fox Spirits (Popular among Asian Folklore) : The Fox Spirit or the Nine Tailed Fox is a common spirit among east Asian cultures, usually depicted as a familiar with great magic power. They are often devious or mischievous, with a bad habit of tricking people. Usually, they are also capable of shape shifting into beautiful women. They can be a good, or a bad omen. Known as the  húli jīng (fox spirit) in China, the kitsune (fox) in Japan, and the kumiho (nine-tailed fox) in Korea.

Gashadokuro(Japanese Mythology): Spirits of people who died of starvation or in battle, and did not receive a proper burial. They take the form of massive skeletons, apparently 15 times taller then the average human. They roam the world after midnight, capturing lone travelers, and biting off their heads to drink their blood. They are said to be invisible and invincible. Though they can be warded off with  Shinto charms, and it’s said you can sense their presence if you hear a loud ringing in your ear. 

Ghosts: Spirits of the undead that are trapped in the world of the living. Often resemble what they looked like alive, can be good, bad or neutral. 

Grim Reaper: The Physical embodiment of death, arrives to take your soul to the after life. 

Hulder or Huldra (Scandanvian Folklore) : Beautiful, seductive, female forest spirits that are primarily human with the exception of having a cows tail. Apparently come from beneath the earth, sometimes claimed to be a forgotten child of adam and eve. They are known as coal kindles, they would watch the fires of travelers while they slept, and ensure they would not go out. Males of this species are said to be hideous, with grotesquely long noses. 

Ifrit (Middle Eastern): A death spirit believed to be drawn in by the life force or blood of the murdered. They tend to be fiery in nature(literally), and are said to either take the form of the deceased they were attracted to, or the form of Satan himself. Can be good or evil or neutral, but mainly considered to be malevolent, vengeful, evil, ruthless, or wicked. 

Ittan-momen (Japanese Mythology): Now, this one sounds pretty harmless, but do not be fooled. Ittan-Momen is a sentient roll of cotton that flies through the air at night, and attacks and kills people by smothering them. 

Incubus: No, I do not mean the Rock Band. An Incubus is a male demon that lies upon it’s victim, and supposedly steals their life force by having repeated sex with them. Their female counterpart is called a succubus. 

Jinn (Arabian and Islamic mythology and theology) : Jinn, or more popularly known in western culture; the Genie, is a powerful spirit with free will, and thus can be good, evil, or neutral. Usually depicted with no spiritual form, or as humans with different animal parts, or as shadowy ghosts. Jinn play many different roles in different cultures. They are often seen as living in a parallel world to the human world. 

Keres (Greek Mythology) : Daughters of the goddess Nyx, spirits of violent or unpeaceful death. 

Kobalos (Greek Mythology) : Depicted as small, mischievous creatures that took to messing with people. They often pranked, frightened, or stole from people. In myth, they stole from Heracles while he slept. In one version, he gives them away as a present to the Lydian Queen. In another version, he forgives them, and lets them off the hook simply because he finds them amusing.  Greek myths depict the kobaloi as "impudent, thieving, droll, idle, mischievous, gnome-dwarfs", and as "funny, little triksy elves" of a phallic nature. So they’re essentially annoying yet sort of funny gnome/elf/dwarves that resemble erect penises. Isnt mythology fun. 

La Llorona aka The Weeping Women (Popular in northern and southern american folklore) : Usually the Ghost of either a women who was scorned by a man, and now she hunts for other awful men. Or, the Ghost of a women who cries as she searches for her dead children. The most traditional or typical story tells of a women who drowns her children in the river out of spite when her husband leaves her for a younger women. After realizing her children are dead, and she can not find them, she drowns herself as well. In the after life, she is not permitted to move onto heaven. Her soul will not be able to find peace until she finds her children, and thus she is doomed to wander the earth in search of them. In some stories, she will take lone children that resemble her own, and drown them in the river so they can take her children's place. 

Lamia(Greek Mythology) : A beautiful queen of Lybia. It’s said that she was a mistress of Zues. In one version, Zues’ Jealous wife Hera steals all of Lamias children, and turns her into a demon that hunts and devours others children. Other versions say that Hera killed all of Lamias children, and driven by the grief and suffering of her loss, goes insane, and starts stealing and eating others children out of envy. The repeated horrid act turns her into a monster. There is also a myth that Hera forced her to eat her own children, then cursed her to never be able to close her eyes, so that the image of her children's death will forever haunt her. Zues later grants her the ability to remove her eyes to appease her grief. In some descriptions, she has serpent like features, or the lower half of a snake. In others, her face is distorted. No matter the story however, it’s Hera’s fault. 

Lares (Roman Mythology) : House hold or guardian spirits that each family traditionally has around their grounds. Statues of domestic Lares were typically placed at the table for family meals. Their presence and worship seemed to be very important. 

Mare(Germanic or slavic Folklore) : a Ghost/ Spirirt or Goblin that sits on the chest of sleeping victims, and forces nightmares upon them. Other legends depict them as beautiful women that go into the dreams of men and seduce them before killing them. I personally prefer the sitting goblins. 

Neck or Nokken (Germanic and Scandinavian Folklore) : Water Spirits usually depicted as a a shadowy monster lurking in the water, it’s eyes just above the surface. Other times, it’s described as a beautiful young man playing the fiddle or violin while resting in the water. Their enchanting songs drew women, men and children to them. Sometimes they are said to be peaceful, and will simply play for the humans, or possibly even move into the home of one who has fallen in love with them (though they often do not stay long), and sometimes they are said to lure people to their death with their beautiful song. Don’t know about you, but I would totally take a cute guy playing the violin underneath a water fall over a creepy water submerged shadow, any day. 

Nymph (Greek Mythology) : Minor Nature Gods or spirits that tend to animate nature, and are viewed as beautiful, and free young (typically) women. There are several different types of Nymphs; Celestial Nymphs, Land Nymphs, Wood or Forest Nymphs, Plant/Flower Nymphs, Water Nymphs, and Underworld Nymphs. The most common are Dryads, that are Nymphs of the trees. Naiads, which are fresh Water Nymphs(ponds, fountains, springs, etc), and Auras which are basically air nymphs, or breezes. 

Poltergeist: (German for Noisy Spirit or Noisy Ghost) A Ghost that is capable of physicaly capable of sitrubing the human world. They are known for hitting, biting, pinching, scratching and tripping humans. They are also known for moving or levitating objects, and making loud knocking sounds. 

Sprites: Elemental, fairy like beings that are invisible to humans. Can be good or evil or neutral. Sylphs are sprites dedicate solely to the element of Air. 

Tikoloshe (Zulu Mythology) : A goblin, or dwarf like water spirit that can become invisible by drinking water. It is regarded as mischievous and evil. They can be called upon to cause trouble or to harm others. Best case scenario, they scare kids. Worst case scenario, they can bring you serious illness or even death. It’s usually described as a gremlin like demon with gauged out eyes. 

HALF HUMAN/ HUMANOID CREATURES: 

Aeternae: Creatures who supposedly attacked Alexander the Great, and killed many of his men with their bony, saw like protuberances that came from their head. 

Asanbosam (West African Folklore) : Hairy, ogre like vampiric creatures with iron teeth and iron hooks for feet. They live in the trees, and attack their victims from above. 

Adze (Ewe Folklore) : Another vampire like being in the form of a firefly, but will transform into a human if captured. In human form, they will possess people. People who are possessed are thought to be witches, and the people around the possessed with be affected negatively. As a firefly, they can phase through doors, and will suck the blood of sleeping people. The victims will eventually fall ill and die. 

Bisimbi Bi Masa (African Folklore) : Water Nymphs that reside in the Congo. They’re described as beautiful and seductive spirits that live in natural watery areas. They are known to cause awful skin diseases, which only their own haunting cries can cure. Which is weirdly twisted and cool? 

Brownies(Scottish FolkLore): Small, humanoid like creatures that sneak into peoples houses at night to do chores in exchange for their favorite foods. They will stop tending to a house if the owner misues them, or if their gifts of food are instead called payment. 

Changeling: A fairy infant left in the place of a human infant that was kidnapped by fairies. 

Centaur (Greek Mythology) : Upper half of a man, lower half of a horse. Wild and free creatures, that tend to be good in nature. The most popular is Chiron, who was refered to as the wisest and most just of all centaurs. He trained the some of the most famous greek Heroes, such as; Achilles, Jason, Perseus, Theseus, Ajax, and some stories portray him training Heracles as well. There are several different types of Centaurs;  Ichthyocentaurs, which are centaurs who have the tails of fish, Winged Centaurs, Onocentaur which has the bottom half of a donkey, rather then a horse,  Cyprian Centaurs, which are bull-horned centaurs,  Lamian Centaurs, which had Ox horns. 

Cyclops(Greek Mythology) : Giant One eyed humanoid monsters that typically captured and ate people. Legend says no one was able to escape or hurt them. 

Dwarf: A Short, stocky, scraggly looking humanoids that typically live underground in mining communities. 

Elf: A race of humanoid creatures who typically have pointy ears, and excel in magic. 

Empusa (Greek Mythology) : A demigod or monster that drinks the blood and eating the flesh of sleeping men. They are depicted with flaming hair, and are said to have one bronze leg, and one leg of a donkey. 

Erinyes or Furies (Greek Mythology) : Female deities of vengeance, there are typically three of them;  Alecto or Alekto ("endless"), Megaera ("jealous rage"), and Tisiphone or Tilphousia ("vengeful destruction"). They are depicted in several different ways. Sometime they are said to have snakes for hair, or dogs heads in place of human heads. Sometimes their skin or eyes are said to be as black as coal, and sometimes they are portrayed with bat wings. Their victims die in torture, and they are more ancient then most of the Olympian gods themselves. 

Fairy: Humanoids with great magical abilities. Legends and myths about fairies vary greatly from culture to culture. They are not always good. They have free will, and are often mischievous. Never trust a fairy. 

Futakuchi-onna (Japanese Mythology) : A women with two mouths. One where it normally should be, and a second, fully functioning mouth on the back of her head, beneath her hair. It’s said that the hair parts, and the skull splits open into a mouth, and demands food. If it is not fed, it will shriek, and cause the women awful pain. This myth is apparently derived from ‘how little women eat’. 

Gegenees (Greek Mythology) : Six Armed Giants

Gnome :  A small, humanoid creature who lives and moves beneath the earth. I once had a whole book on gnomes, and this thing was written like they were observing some kind of animal?? Like they talked about Gnomes like they were real creatures and I was entirely shook. Did you know Gnomes only gave birth to twins? Cause I didnt. There was a whole section on the sex lives and birthing system of gnomes. I’ll never unsee that section. I gave the book to my friend, cause I’m 99% sure she’s a gnome. Never piss off a Gnome. 

Goblin : A  grotesque, troublesome little creature with a strong greed for gold and jewels. Very Mischievous. Goblin is probably still one of my favorite words. Say it ten times, really fast, do it. 

Golem(Jewish Folklore) : A humanoid(ish) like creature made from clay, mud, or stone that is magically animated. 

Gorgon (Greek Mythology) : The snake haired (and sometimes snake-bodied) women who could turn people to stone just by looking at them. The most Famous being Medusa. 

Graeae (Greek Mythology) : Three old women who shared one tooth and one eye among them. They took turn using it. In mythology, Perseus held their eye for ransom until they told him the whereabouts of the items he needed to kill Medusa. 

Harpies( Greek Mythology) : Half bird, half human, embodiment of storm winds. They typically swooped down and dragged away (bad) humans, and carried them to their punishment. 

Hecatoncheires (Greek Mythology); Because those guys with the six arms just arent enough, let me introduce you to Hecatoncheires, aka the hundred handed ones. That’s right. One Hundred Hands. They also have fifty heads, and have unimaginable strength. Thankfully, there are only three of these guys. 

Hobgoblin : A type of Brownie who is inherently less helpful and more mischievous, even to the point of causing harm if antagonized.

Imp : Small, mischievous creatures who liked to play pranks on people.

Jorōgumo (Japanese Mythology): A spirit that can shape-shift into a beautiful women. Often Depicted as being half pretty lady, half terrifying spider. She’s sometimes shown controlling small, fire breathing spiders. This is the thing of my nightmares; a hot lady who turns into a partial spider, that controls other, smaller spiders that breath fire. Because pretty girls arent intimidating enough, you gotta go and mix them with spiders, right?

Manticore ( Persian Folklore) : Head of a human, body of a lion, tail of a poisonous porcupine, or a scorpion. 

Mermaids  and Sirens : Sea creatures with the head and torso of a woman and the tail of a fish. Sometimes good, sometimes evil. The evil ones are known for (sometimes singing) and luring sailors to their deaths, and dragging them down to the bottom of the ocean to devour them. 

Minotaur  (Greek Mythology): The creature with the head and legs of a bull and the torso of a man, who guarded the exit to The Labyrinth.

Moirai (Greek Mythology): The Fates. There are three of them, typically seen in white robes, and are the incarnation of Destiny. They control the thread of life for everything. They ensured the birth, life, and death of everything. Every being was at their control. 

Ogre : An ugly, oversized humanoid creature with great physical strength and little intelligence. No shrek jokes, please, None. 

Orc : A large, ugly humanoid similar to Goblins. They tend to be evil, brutish, aggressive and repulsive monsters. Though they are based off many other mythical beings, Orcs stem more from J.R.R Tolkeins books, and rise in fantasy games like Dungeons and Dragons and World of Warcraft. 

Penanggalan (South East Asian FolkLore) : a detached female head that fly's about on its own. As it flies, the stomach and entrails dangle below it, which apparently are apparently hit by the night light in such a way that makes them appear like fireflies.. During the day, it appears as a normal, human women. It’s said to usually be caused by witchcraft of pacts with demons. 

Pixie :  A small humanoid creature with pointy ears who likes to cause mischief.

Sasquatch : Large, hairy, man-like beasts that live in the woods. Types of Sasquatch include Bigfoot, and the Yeti. 

Satyr��:Half-men, half-goats who were wild, lustful, and all around fun. The god Pan was one of these. Pan was the god of the wild, and apparently liked to scare the crap out of people in the forest, and that’s where the word panic comes from. 

Scorpion Man : They have another name, but it’s way long, and I can’t find it right now. But they’re men who have the head and torso of a human, and the lower half of a scorpion. They are featured in the Babylonian version of The Epic of Gilgamesh. 

Shapeshifters :Humans who can willingly take the form of any animal. Honestly, the idea of shape-shifting has always weirded me out. Because honestly, it sounds painful. Like, if you shape shift into something much smaller and structurally different then you, say, a bird for example, where do your bones go? Like, i figure some of your bones shrink or stretch with you to fit the animal, but some animals don’t have the exact same amount of bones as humans, so like, where do the bones go?? I’ve been asking this since I was like then, I have received no answers. I am concerned. 

Sirens : Man-eating beautiful women whose song compels men to them. Not always mermaid like creatures. Sometimes depicted as fully human, or as partially bird like. 

Sphinx(Greek Mythology) : The half-human, half-lion that forces those it meets to answer its     riddles, or die. In the story of Oedipus, the riddle it gives is “What is the creature that walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon and three in the evening?” the answer to which is Humans. As we crawl on all fours as infants, on two legs for most of our lives, and with a cane in our old age. 

Valkyries (Norse Mythology) : female divinities who choose people who died a heroic death in battle, and then guide them to Valhalla. 

Vampire: Probably one of the most famous of monsters. The undead human like creature that drinks the blood of the living.

 Wendigo/ Windigo ( Algonquian folklore) : A monster or spirit that is associated with Cannibalism, murder, and greed.  They are often seen as either Humans turned into monsters by their sins, or humans that are possessed by evil spirits. Wendigos are associated with winter, wilderness, cold, cannibalism, greed, murder, famine, and starvation. They are often depicted with human, deer, or tree like features to imitate the wilderness. 

WereWolf: Yet another Classic. A human being who transforms into a wolf, or a wolf-human hybrid creature either by night, or by the full moon. 

Wraith(Scottish/ Gaelic folklore): Evil Spirits who can not pass on, and torment the living. Usually depicted as Shadow like figures.  

Zombies: The animated undead, rotting corpses who consume the flesh of the living. 

ANIMAL AND BEAST LIKE MONSTERS: 

Airavata (Hindu Mythology) : The Mythical white elephant that carries the Hindu God Indrua. It is said to be spotless white, have five trunks and ten tusks.

Basilisk : A legendary reptile who could kill a man with its stare, it’s said to be hatched by a chicken from a reptilian egg. 

Bake-kujira (Japanese mythology) : The ghostly skeleton of a dead whale that surfaces the water. It’s said that it’s presence brings a curse to either the area it’s seen, or to anyone who spots it. 

Catoblepas (Greek Mythology/Ethiopia) : A creature from Ethiopia, resembling that of a buffalo or a wilder beast. It’s always looking downward, because it’s head is too heavy. In some descriptions, it’s gaze could kill you, and in others, it only ate poison vegetation, that made it’s breath poisonous as well. 

Cerastes (Greek Mythology) : A serpant so flexible, it had no spine. It’s depicted as either having two large ram horns, or as having four small horns. It’s said to hide in the sand, with only it’s horns peeking through the surface, waiting for unsuspecting Prey to approach it. 

Chupacabra (Latin American Folk Lore) : A monster known for feeding off of livestock, especially goats. It’s name translates to ‘Goat Sucker’. The two most common descriptions of El Chupacabre are that of a strange wild dog that is mainly hairless, with a prominent spinal ridge, sunken in eyes, and large fangs and claws. The other descriptions shows it as a large reptilian creature with leathery or scaly green/gray skin, and sharp porcupine like needles going down it’s spine.  Unlike most predators, El Chupacabre drains it’s pray off their blood, and sometimes their organs, rather then eating the flesh. 

Cerberus(Greek Mythology) :The three-headed dog that guards the entrance to Hades. It’s name is supposedly derived from the greek word for ‘Spotted’ or ‘Spot’. The capturing of Cerberus is claimed to be the final, and most difficult task of Heracles 12 trials. 

Chimera (Greek Mythology): A monstrous hybrid that was Part-lion, part-goat, part-snake. In some descriptions, it has the head of all three, in others, it has the head of the lion and the goat, the lions body with the goat hooves, and a snake for a tail. In another description, it might be the head of one, the body of another, and the tail of the other. It’s really one big game of mix and match. Sometimes they also breath fire or have wings. 

Cockatrice :A flying creature that is part-rooster and part snake that could supposedly kill with it’s stare. It’s said to be hatched by a reptile from a chickens egg. Pretty much the opposite of the Basilisk. 

Dragon : Giant, flying, fire-breathing reptiles that are known for stealing and hording treasure. There are many, many different types of dragons that range from culture to culture. I could probably make a whole different post, just on the different types of dragons. 

Griffin  : A creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle. Sometimes, it also has the tail of a snake. Griffins are popular among several different cultural mythologies. 

Hippalectryon (Greek Mythology) : An odd hybrid of a horse and a chicken. It’s front half is the horse, its back half is the chicken, including tail and wings. There is no solid idea of why such a myth exists. Some say it’s a creature of Poseidon, and meant to protect ships, others say it’s just a grotesque hybrid to amuse children. Some say it’s a pointless creature with no real purpose other then for decoration. Why else would someone make a rooster horse? 

Hippocampus (Greek Mythology) : A sea creature with the upper body of a horse, and the lower body of  a fish. So, it is yet another odd horse hybrid from greek mythology. 

Hippogriff (Greek Mythology): Because there’s no such thing as too many weird horse hybrids, meet the Hippogriff. Which has the front half and wings on an eagle, and the back half of a horse. 

Huallepen (South American Folklore): A weird creature that lurks in lakes and ponds. It has the body of a (usually hairless) sheep, the head of a calf, and the twisted feet of a seal. It only comes out at night, and it’s said that if a pregnant women sees one, her child will come out with a muzzle and twisted limbs. 

  Hydra (Greek Mythology) : The giant nine-headed serpent who grew two new heads for every one that was cut of. The task of killing this beast was given to Heracles during his twelve trials. The only way to kill it, without it’s head growing back, was to smash the heads, and then catch them on fire. 

Ladon (Greek Mythology)  : The large snake like dragon that wrapped itself around the tree of golden apples in the garden of the Hesperides. Apparently slain by Heracles. 

Isonade (Japanese Mythology) : An enormous, shark like sea monster that hides beneath the waves in the oceans of Japan. It’s massive hook like tail and it’s fins are covered in sharp barbs. 

Nemean Lion (Greek Mythology) : The giant lion with impenetrable hide. This creature is killed by Heracles during his twelve trials, he later wears the skin of the creature as an indestructible cloak. 

Kamaitachi (Japanese Mythology) : Also known as the sickle weasels. These mischievous creatures are thought of as either wind spirits, or spirits that ride in on dust devils. They slash as people with their long, sickle like nails. 

Kappa (Japanese Mythology) : Typically means ‘River Child’, these creatures are demons or imps that reside in the fresh water. They are often described as having a pool of water above their hand, that reflects their habitat and their own life force and their power. They are said to be about the size of a child, and somewhat human like in figure, with reptile like scales, a shell,  a beak, and webbed hands and feet. They are usually either green, yellow or blue. Kappa are used to warn children about the dangerous of wandering near the water alone, as legends say the creatures will lure people to water before dragging them in and drowning them. They’re also said to peak up women's skirts, play pranks on human, attack humans, and even eat human flesh. All around, probably safe to stay away from Kappas. 

Kraken (Norse Mythology) : A famous gigantic sea monster that’s known for attacking and sinking ships. It’s often depicted as a massive octopus or squid, sometimes with terribly sharp teeth. 

Orthros (Greek Mythology) : The lesser known, but probably just as adorable, monster sibling to Cerberus. Orthros is the dog with two heads, instead of three like it’s more famous sibling. It guards the giant Geryon ‘s cattle. 

Odontotyrannos: A beast that supposedly killed or incapacitated many of Alexander the Greats men.  it had a black, horse-like head, with three horns protruding from its forehead, and  it exceeded the size of an elephant. Locals apparently called this beat the ‘Tooth-Tyrant’

Ophiotaurus (Greek Mythology) : The Cow Serpent.  So the Greeks gave horses a rest, and made up this thing, which has the upper body of a black bull, and the tail of a serpent. It’s said that whoever could kill this beast and sacrificially burn it’s entrails would gain the power to destroy Olympus and it’s gods. 

Pegasus: The Winged Horse. 

Phoenix :The golden bird who, at the end of its life, burst into flames only to be reborn again from it’s own ashes.

Thunderbird : The giant bird that creates storms by flapping it’s wings. 

Tikbalang (Philippines Folklore) :  A tall, bony humanoid creature with the head and hooves of a horse and disproportionately long limbs, to the point that its knees reach above its head when it squats. It’s said to lurk in the forests and mountains of the Philippines. They like to scare or play tricks on travelers. They can apparently be avoided by wearing your shirt inside out, verbally asking for passage, or being as quite as possible so as not to disturb them. 

Unicorn: A magical Horse with a single horn protruding from it’s forehead. 

Uchchaihshravas (Hindu Mythology) : A snow white, flying horse with seven heads. It’s said to be the best, or the king of horses. 

Yacumama (South American Folklore) : A massive sea serpent believed to live in the mouth of the Amazon river, and near by lagoons. It would apparently suck up and devour anything with in a hundred passes of it. Local natives would blow a large conch shell before entering the water, believing the sound would force the monster to show itself if it was present.

That’s all I’ve got! I hope you liked it, and I hope people find it useful, because honestly, this thing took wayyyyy more time then I thought It would! 

If anyone would like to add on any creatures I missed, or if you’d like to add something to any of the creatures that are already on the list, feel free too! 

Note: I’ve gone ahead and edited, and added a couple new creatures from African Mythology that someone recommended! 

[aion-rsa]

50 Best Fighting Game Final Bosses from Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Tekken, and More

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When it isn’t about rage-quitting against your best buddy sitting next to you on the couch, or some guy playing against you across the country, fighting games are all about beating the arcade mode. Doing so means defeating the pesky final boss.

We’ve fought so many final bosses over the last 30+ years. Whether they’re godly megalomaniacs or bloodthirsty loners out to prove they’re the best, there are pleny of cheap-ass villains standing in the way of character-specific epilogue cutscenes.

So I’ve decided to rank the 50 best final bosses in fighting game history. This ranking includes both default final bosses and special secret bosses, but they have to be the last guy you fight. That means characters like Goro, Cervantes, Apocalypse, Vega, and Antonov don’t count. I’m also not counting games like Street Fighter Alpha and Vampire Savior where there’s no real set boss and different people have different final opponents, which is why Jedah isn’t on the list.

Now let’s face it straight!

50. JINPACHI MISHIMA

Tekken 5

I think this is the moment when Tekken’s story started going off the rails. Don’t get me wrong, I still love the lore of the series, but after doing a game about Heihachi vs. Kazuya vs. Jin, they decided to go further and bring in Heihachi’s dad. And he’s possessed by a demon because why the hell not.

But really, the reason he’s possessed is because otherwise he’s the one member of the bloodline who isn’t a jerk. That doesn’t make for a good boss design. In Tekken 5, he takes over the Mishima Zaibatsu and sets up a new King of the Iron Fist tournament ASAP just so somebody strong might be able to kill him before he completely loses control and wipes out all life on the planet. His ending cutscene even has him cry blood over this because he’s that hardcore.

The tragedy is that, in the end, he was killed by his great-grandson Jin, but Jin came out of it learning the wrong lesson. Jin, suffering from his own possession problems, went and took over the Mishima Zaibatsu and started a world war as part of an elaborate plan to commit suicide by putting a giant target on his back. It took two more games for him to finally get his head on straight.

49. SILBER

Buriki One

SNK shamelessly ripped off Akuma, but at least the studio did it with style. Coming from the lesser-known fighter Buriki One, Silber is a Victor Creed-looking urban legend who is obsessed with increasing his power and challenging worthy opponents. At the end of the game’s big MMA tournament, when the player is ready to face his fellow finalist, your opponents’s busted carcass is instead knocked through the entranceway like a punted football. The mysterious Silber takes their spot.

Win or lose, Silber’s response is to just quietly jump off and exit the arena. The endings are mainly about the winners being asked by the press what the hell that was even about. And if you unlock Silber and beat the game with him, he just leaves the press hanging by jumping off into the distance.

Silber also appeared as a hidden mid-boss in King of Fighters XI, but his fighting style lacks anything really bombastic. No fireballs or energy explosions or anything like that. Just brutal karate with his flashiest move being a flipping legdrop.

I do really get a kick out of how one of his King of Fighters intros has him throw a non-descript martial artist to the ground before jumping into the fight, like it’s his regular thing to kick some schmuck’s ass and take their spot in a tournament.

48. SHANG TSUNG

Mortal Kombat

Mortal Kombat’s attract mode sold the game by going, “Yo, check out this huge claymation beast with his four arms and topknot! He will break you in half if you even blink!” But this unstoppable monster was actually second to some floating geezer. Surely, that at least had to mean that Shang Tsung was a special kind of threat in his own way.

Indeed he was. A shape-shifter was a fantastic gimmick for a final boss, especially since it jibed with his tendency to eat souls. Even though he was turning into other playable characters, the insinuation was that you were more or less fighting all the dead warriors from the years that he had absorbed into his being. Then Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa played the HELL out of him in the movie and his legendary status was solidified.

While lesser on the totem pole in later games, Shang Tsung regaining his youth made for a good trade. It’s just too bad that once games were on discs and had loading times, Shang’s tendency to morph mid-match took a powder. As one of the final bosses in Deadly Alliance, it just didn’t feel the same. He was just some guy.

47. SOUL EDGE/INFERNO

The Soul Series

As far as I’m concerned, the Inferno concept peaked in the first game. Cervantes was an evil dude, but he was still just a pawn. As shown at the end of that fantastic CGI intro that still holds up to this day, the swords were really running the show. So after taking down Cervantes, the swords came to life to fight you as a more powerful version of Cervantes with a flaming skull head.

The development of Siegfried wielding the Soul Edge and being transformed into Nightmare was a wonderful twist and selling point for the sequel’s storyline, but it made Inferno look a little redundant. The flame body was neat, but he was just Nightmare with a weaker design. Inferno never really had a personality of its own. Then Bandai Namco started having Inferno adopt random movesets, but there are like a dozen characters like that in SoulCalibur.

The concept of Inferno did translate well in SoulCalibur V where they showed that the Soul Calibur sword has its own counterpart in Elysium. It appeared in the form of a scantily-clad Sophitia in order to manipulate Sophitia’s son, Patroklos. Man, Inferno may be evil personified, but at least it didn’t try to seduce Siegfried by turning into his dad in a speedo.

46. MISS X

SNK Gal Fighters

The Neo Geo Pocket Color game SNK Gal Fighters features an all-female roster in a comedic story about a mysterious Miss X putting together a Queen of Fighters tournament, with some kind of wish-granting talisman up for grabs. When you reach the end of the game, you discover that Miss X looks an awful lot like Iori Yagami wearing a mask and a dress. While many of her opponents aren’t fooled, nobody outright says Iori’s name, and Miss X insists she isn’t who they think.

But also, please don’t tell Kyo about this.

Of course, she still fights exactly like Iori Yagami and is flanked by Iori’s former King of Fighters partners Vice, Mature, Billy Kane, and Eiji Kisaragi. Miss X is REALLY committed to the act, but it’s never really explained why she’s created this whole disguise.

Miss X made a few more appearances too, including when Dimitri performs his Midnight Bliss attack on Iori in SNK vs. Capcom: Chaos and as a DLC character in SNK Heroines Tag Team Frenzy.

45. SAGAT

Street Fighter

As the boss of the first Street Fighter game – which nobody really cares about – Sagat being on this list is more of a courtesy. While a difficult opponent, Sagat’s position as a final boss isn’t really that memorable. If anything, he’s defined by his defeat here. It’s why he has that cool scar on his chest, why he suddenly has a Dragon Punch knockoff in the sequel, and it’s the crux for his redemption story and frenemy relationship with Ryu.

Sagat’s spot as the original Street Fighter boss actually helps build up M. Bison and Shadaloo in general. He returns in Street Fighter II, scarred both physically and mentally, while physically stronger and more driven. Yet he is still only the penultimate boss, showing that this time he’s outranked by a big-chinned dictator.

44. ZEUS

World Heroes 2 Jet

World Heroes 2 Jet doesn’t have any character-specific endings. Instead, the endings are based around Zeus, a jacked behemoth who watches your penultimate victory from a balcony, acts jazzed about finding a worthy opponent, then makes the grandest of entrances by flexing off his suit (revealing body armor underneath), walking down some stairs, and kicking the doors off the entranceway.

A regular old pain in the ass, Zeus’ reaction to his defeat is decided by how much health the player has left. If it’s a close match, he’ll berate you until realizing that it was a fun fight. If the player has half a life bar left, he’ll threaten to kill them the next time they meet. If the player has almost all of their health, Zeus will mope as his henchman Jack tries to cheer him up. He insults the player, then cartoonishly cheeses it across the image of a map.

What makes this so golden is the iffy English translations. Here are some of Zeus’ lines from his endings:

“Why you, you, YOU… YOU CRAZY FUNSTER! To think that you were this strong!”

“YOU FILTH, YOU SLIME, YOU LAWYER! To think you had such power… But, heh, heh, heh…it was a crazy, hip time!”

“Hey, you. Still can’t walk and chew bubblegum at the same time? Oh, nooooooo!”

Classic.

43. DARK KAHN

Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe

Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe felt like a joke someone made about Marvel vs. Capcom that someone else took as a serious suggestion. Quality of the game aside, the two worlds meshed well together, which is why we’ve seen the two parties meet up again a few more times. Mortal Kombat and DC, for the most part, didn’t so much match up as they complemented each other.

One pairing in particular matched up perfectly. Darkseid and Shao Kahn were both evil overlords, two peas in a pod. Rather than fight each other or team up, they did one better: they merged.

Dark Kahn isn’t exactly better than the individual characters but this modern Amalgam design still kicks ass. Darkseid’s stony flesh mixed with Shao Kahn’s skull face to create a lava beast who lives to blow up the multiverse.

Dark Kahn IS…OUTSTANDING.

42. MISTER KARATE

Art of Fighting

Just because someone is designed as comic relief doesn’t mean they can’t have their moments of serious competence. See also: Deadpool, Mankind.

Mr. Karate started as the original Akuma type. In Art of Fighting, Mr. Karate was a mysterious mob enforcer who happened to look and fight just like protagonist Ryo Sakazaki, but with a different head and more damaging attacks. In another light, Mr. Karate’s tengu mask could be seen as silly, but considering how brutal he was, it was easy to see it as a threatening symbol of martial arts dominance.

After that game, where it was established that Mr. Karate was Ryo’s father, Takuma Sakazaki, who’d forced to work for the mob, he became a secondary character. He showed up in King of Fighters regularly as just Takuma, but became something of a joke. When he appeared in the Mr. Karate mask, he acted like a total goof and everyone rolled their eyes at his lack of self-awareness. But comedic or not, there were still moments here and there that made him look tougher than the rest of his family combined.

But it was SNK vs. Capcom: Chaos that revitalized him. Depicted as Akuma’s SNK counterpart, Mr. Karate was given both a silly base version and his “serious” boss alter-ego, who reminded the world of what kind of force he was in his Art of Fighting days. Right on.

41. ASMODEUS

Mace: The Dark Age

The Nintendo 64 was lousy when it came to compiling a fighting game library, so we had to do the best with what we had. Mixed in the shallow pile was Mace: The Dark Age, which was like if the guys who made Mortal Kombat were tasked with making a SoulCalibur game. The basic story was roughly the same: an insidious, medieval weapon of ultimate power falls into the hands of evil and everyone wants a piece. The difference was that while the Soul Edge brought demonic chaos in its wake, with its wielders just wandering around destroying stuff, the Mace of Tanis brought demonic order, as its wielder used it to rule Eurasia and its corrupt council.

This created a conflict where everyone wanted a shot at holding the Mace. Not just the heroes, but also conniving members of the Council of Seven because they’re evil and power hungry. And wielding the Mace of Tanis? None other than Asmodeus. His name popped up in exposition dumps but he didn’t even have a pre-fight profile image. You didn’t get to see him until you actually faced him in the final battle and, all in all, he met the hype.

For all of the limitations of the Nintendo 64’s graphics, Asmodeus looked amazing. He appeared as a gigantic, reptilian demon so big that only his upper half was peaking out of a portal. His offense wasn’t much to talk about, as it was mostly just swiping attacks and pounding at his prey, but damn if he didn’t look like how a final boss should look.

40. MUKAI

King of Fighters 2003

The 10th and 11th King of Fighters games released in the final days of the franchise’s classic art style, and included some great designs, like Oswald. But while the bosses in these games looked and moved exceptionally, they were mostly really lame otherwise.

Mukai from King of Fighters 2003 provided a great balance, though. He didn’t have much going on besides being the harbinger for lesser villains, but he looked totally sweet and his stone-based motif led to a fun boss fight that wasn’t too hard to figure out. Admittedly, I’m a sucker for the glowing lava design usually reserved for rock creatures, but making that classic design monochrome feels fresh and absolutely badass.

Too bad he died like a punk in a random cutscene several games later.

39. KULL THE DESPOILER

Way of the Warrior

It’s disappointing to me when a ridiculous and/or stupid fighting game doesn’t have that final boss that just pushes it further into hilarity. I’d love to discuss ClayFighter here, but it’s not like N. Boss or Dr. Kiln were anything to write home about. Tattoo Assassins is a total trip, but there’s not much to say about its big bad Koldan. Death from Time Killers is just lame and ugly to look at.

Way of the Warrior is an extreme piece of garbage and sweet Jesus does that translate to its final boss, Kull the Despoiler.

This 3DO classic is one of several Mortal Kombat knockoffs that tried to cash in on digitized graphics and bloody violence. Other features included a White Zombie soundtrack, hideous backgrounds, a character who just a regular guy’s sprite but enlarged to look like a giant, and a couple boss characters brought to life by mid-‘90s CGI.

After the player has gone through the main cast and a CGI dinosaur named High Abbott (with another CGI dinosaur watching from a throne in the background), we take a trip to the citadel graveyard stage. There’s a memorial statue of the great warrior Kull that suddenly breaks apart to reveal that his living, 8-foot-tall skeleton is inside.

“Not even death shall keep my name from the Book of Warriors!”

You must fight this silly skeleton warrior, who is armed with a bloody hammer and iffy voice-acting, all while the guy who made Devil’s Rejects is singing. A fitting finale for such a game.

38. HEIHACHI MISHIMA

Tekken Series

In terms of pure power, Heihachi is one of the weakest boss characters in relation to his series. He’s played the final boss a few times in the Tekken series, but these fights are always less about him being the ultimate force of destructive evil and more about his importance to the story as a scheming bastard with the occasional redeemable moment as a human being.

It’s also about how he measures up to his son, Kazuya, the would-be protagonist who is ultimately more evil than Heihachi. The first game’s plot focuses on Kazuya as a vindictive monster who smiles at his father’s assumed murder, and Tekken 4 finally brings the three-way generational conflict between Heihachi, Kazuya, and Jin to a head for the first time. Then in Tekken 7’s story mode, Heihachi gets his final battle with Kazuya in a war that’s been ravaging the whole world.

Despite being hilariously unkillable in the past, Heihachi appears to be dead for real now and it’s solidified his true purpose as a final boss: to pass the torch to his son, who is both stronger and straight-up worse as a human being.

37. ATHENA

SNK vs. Capcom: Chaos

If there’s anything resembling a story in SNK vs. Capcom: Chaos (not counting the completely bonkers Hong Kong comic adaptation), it’s that all the street fighting going on in the world has caused havoc on time and space. Beings from the past and future have ended up in the present. By the end, it gets so out of control that by defeating Shin Akuma or Serious Mr. Karate, you create a rift that sends your character to Heaven or Hell.

(Let’s rock!)

If you’re in Hell, you fight Capcom representative Red Arremer from Ghosts ‘n’ Goblins. If you go to Heaven, it’s SNK’s Athena, but not the annoying pop star from the Psycho Soldiers team in King of Fighters. It’s the original SNK Athena from the sidescroller where she’s a bikini-clad goddess. Funny enough, despite there being pre-fight dialogue specific to each pairing, none of the King of Fighters crew pay any lip service to this.

Rather than annoying you with constant screams of, “PSYCHO BAAAWWWWW!!!” this Athena uses lots of summoning and shapeshifting powers to get the better of you. If King of Fighters Athena brought out a giant baby chick to destroy her opponents, I’d probably choose her more often.

If you lose the fight, she transforms you into an animal specific to the fighter. If you win, you get to meet God. Either way, it’s a pretty eventful day.

36. ABYSS

SoulCalibur III

I was thinking of putting Algol on this list before realizing that I have absolutely nothing to say about the guy. He was fine. Nothing especially memorable about him.

In terms of end bosses wielding both the Soul Edge and Soul Calibur, Zasalamel’s final form, Abyss, is where it’s at. Mainly because Zasalamel is one of the last great SoulCalibur characters (along with Grizzled Owl and Harley Quinn Gollum). He’s a fantastic neutral warrior who ironically uses a Grim Reaper scythe despite being cursed with immortality and wanting a permanent death.

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After Zasalamel is transformed into Abyss, you actually begin rooting for Zasalamel to come through. This is his chance to put a stop to his endless cycle of resurrection, but it’s unfortunately turned him into an uncontrollable demon.

In the end, Zasalamel comes out of it better. During the experience, he sees a vision of the future (our present), and after reverting to his normal self, he goes from, “I must use the two swords to kill myself for good!” to “I have to prevent the two swords from ever killing me because the future looks fun as hell!”

Which reminds me, where’s my Zasalamel in Tekken, Harada?!

35. ONAGA THE DRAGON KING

Mortal Kombat: Deception

After Shinnok disappointed Mortal Kombat fans, Midway decided to introduce a new final boss who was a Shao Kahnier Shao Kahn. Fortunately, Onaga worked.

Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance made an effort to clean the slate and start fresh, removing Liu Kang, Shao Kahn, and Goro from the board. Having Shang Tsung and Quan Chi share the final boss spot went against that attempt for freshness, but Midway made up for it by planting the seeds for the sequel.

The whole plot was about introducing the Dragon King – the most Mortal Kombat villain name possible – who ruled Outworld before Shao Kahn. They built up anticipation through the game’s lore without showing him or even outright naming him, and we just knew the heroes were on a collision course with something monstrous. Reptile’s ending, in which his body was possessed and mutated by the Dragon King’s soul, made it definite.

Deception revealed that Shang Tsung and Quan Chi defeated the heroes, but it didn’t matter. Onaga was back and he made the two look like jokes. Things were already dire after the good guys lost, but now there was also this 10-foot-tall tank covered in scales with gigantic dragon wings just sauntering around.

Unfortunately, he got stuck being archenemies with Shujinko and that dude straight-up SUUUUUCKS!

34. NECROSAN

Primal Rage 2

The holy trinity of almost-to-completely-finished fighting games that didn’t get released are Thrill Kill, Tattoo Assassins, and Primal Rage 2. Primal Rage 2 is a fascinating unreleased game that not only had action figures, but a novelization that I would love to read one of these days. It’s always crazy expensive on eBay, though.

The first Primal Rage didn’t have a final boss, but legend has it that Atari Games originally planned to introduce Necrosan in an updated version. Instead, the studio saved him for the sequel, and while the game never saw the light of day, he simply rules too much for me to ignore. Much like King Ghidorah, Necrosan is an alien invader in a world of Terran kaiju. An extremely well-animated winged dragon skeleton coated with muscle tissue, Necrosan looks metal as hell. His backstory complements his look too: he singlehandedly kicked the asses of all the beasts from the first game.

Also cool is the twist that the big meteor that caused the first game’s post-apocalyptic origin was actually an egg housing Necrosan who planned to conquer the planet for his race.

33. KRIZALID

King of Fighters ’99

After spending several years doing the Orochi storyline, King of Fighters finally moved on to something different: mad scientists. The NESTS Cartel was a neat idea in theory, but the further the story went, the more they revealed themselves as dorks. In other words, don’t expect to see Zero or Ignis on this list.

Krizalid had a great look…er, well, his first look. That coat with the fur top covering his jaw was great. The more flexible S&M garb from when he burns it away, not so much. He made for a great first threat in this new story, especially due to how the endings painted him as a tragic figure and made NESTS look like bigger dicks because of it.

For all his posturing, he’s just a deranged clone, pitied by the heroes and exterminated by his bosses at the first opportunity. Then again, maybe they were also annoyed that he got rid of the coat.

32. SHINNOSUKE KAGAMI

Last Blade

The Last Blade games are some of the most underrated titles in the SNK library. Despite only having two installments, the series features plenty of interesting moments, including a redemption arc for its initial villain, Kagami. Originally guard of a portal to evil and darkness, the high-and-mighty Kagami lost his faith in humanity and decided to use that portal to wipe out life on Earth and purge mankind completely. Using his refined swordsman skill and ability to wield flame, he killed a lot of people to help pull off his scheme.

In the end, he was defeated by the hero character Kaede and banished himself into the portal to be tormented. But was resurrected to fulfill his original role as guard of the portal as well as help take down Kouryu, a former victim of his whose reanimated body was possessed by evil from within the portal. This made Kagami second guess his role in the initial adventure, deciding that humans aren’t bound to evil after all and may even be good.

I always liked how he’d have a normal stance in the first round, but after taking a loss, he’d levitate half a foot off the ground. It’s just ominous enough without having to completely change his style.

31. SUPERMAN

Injustice: Gods Among Us

“Evil Superman” has been done to death. It can be used well, but a lot of the time you just end up with Brightburn. Injustice: Gods Among Us did a decent enough job by taking an interesting episode of the Justice League cartoon and leaning harder into it. The main difference between the two Supermen was that, while the animated version was driven, he wasn’t as mentally cracked as his video game self.

The animated Superman still had Metropolis and Lois, but Injustice Superman lost them both at the hands of the Joker. As shown in the better-than-it-has-any-right-to-be comic book tie-in, Superman began his reign of terror by killing the Joker in a fit of anger, and bitterness, time, and betrayals caused him to become obsessed with order and a world where there was no war because he said so. It didn’t help that so many of his superfriends sided with him.

Superman is so regularly pushed as the top guy at DC that it’s not that surprising he’s the final boss in a DC fighting game. In fact, the only way to beat him was to get the good version of Superman to do the job.

30. NU-13

BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger

When I played through BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger’s arcade mode, I made sure to use Ragna the Bloodedge last. The fact that he was the protagonist, yet very rarely appeared as an opponent for everyone else’s arcade mode path made him seem special. This ended up being the right way to play the game as his dialogue with Nu-13 hit me like a train.

BlazBlue’s plot of, “Wait, I think I understand, but… No, you lost me,” means I can’t fully explain what Nu-13’s story is but the gist of it is that she’s some kind of experiment gone wrong and she’s showing up around a portal that’s messing with the time-space continuum. Everyone comes across her in arcade mode and she usually greets them with extremely dry robot talk throughout the boss fight. When she meets with Ragna, she suddenly acts like an excited schoolgirl who has been pining for this guy and writing his initials in her diary. It’s extremely off-putting and unexpected.

As a boss, she’s a great fit for the game, which takes place about 200 years into the future, but Nu-13 is the only one truly diving headfirst into the futuristic look. Even the game’s resident cyborg Tager comes off lacking compared to all the crazy sci-fi shit Nu-13 has going for her.

29. KARNOV

Fighter’s History Series

There is a holy trinity of ’80s video game asskickers who are remembered fondly due to a mix of genuine nostalgia and internet irony: Abobo, Mike Haggar, and Karnov. The latter fighter is a fascinating bloke. Not only did he star in his self-titled platformer game, but developer Data East also decided that this dadbod adventurer should just show up in several of their games like a mascot. This is why Fighter’s History is treated as a sequel to the original Karnov game in which the bored treasure hunter holds a fighting tournament with lots of his money on the line.

Fighter’s History is such an obvious Street Fighter II clone that Capcom tried suing Data East. The game’s only real saving grace is the use of Karnov as the carrot to lead you to the end. And while the sequel/update of the game is just the same cast with the bosses playable, Karnov looks completely different. In the first game, he’s completely jacked, albeit extremely short. In the next game, he’s taller and fat with a nasty stomach scar and has moves that allow him to morph his body like Jake from Adventure Time.

I suppose if it wasn’t weird, it wouldn’t be Karnov.

28. PYRON

Darkstalkers Series

When the gimmick of your game is that all your characters are Japanese takes on classic monsters, it’s only logical that the biggest threat is extraterrestrial. Pyron is far from the best alien in a video game, but he does the job here as both Silver Surfer and Galactus wrapped in one.

Seriously, look at his ending. If he can turn as big as the sun, he probably could have saved time by leading with that. But what do I know? I’m just a human who hasn’t been murdered by a vampire with stupid hair.

Pyron gets by with his design, which looks absolutely beautiful in that mid-‘90s Capcom arcade animation. The rippling energy waves of cosmic flame almost make you forgive him for what he was like on that terrible Saturday morning cartoon show.

27. MASTER HAND

Super Smash Bros. Series

Chucking a bunch of Nintendo icons into a game and trying to make a narrative out of it is a fool’s errand. Luckily, Nintendo didn’t overthink it too much and just decided, “They’re figurines or something having an imaginary battle.” It’s Lego Movie meets Secret Wars.

And after so many dream fights like Mario vs. Link and Kirby vs. Yoshi, who would be at the top of the ladder to threaten the heroes? Bowser? Ganon? Andross? King Slender?

No. It’s a hand. Just a big, disembodied glove dead set on crushing the player. I suppose Nintendo didn’t need to have a recognizable final foe. The four-way Nintendo slugfest was enough. So why not have a big hand that can do silly big hand attacks? It’s just the bizarro icing on the cake at this point.

I love how random Master Hand is. It’s a boss fight version of the Toy Story toys revolting against Sid the bully. With every new game, Nintendo had tried to add needless context, and this has caused Master Hand to expand into transcendent final boss concepts like Crazy Hand and Tabuu. That’s just a special kind of weird. Imagine creating a giant hand as your villain and then in each sequel thinking to yourself, “How do we build on that?”

26. KRONIKA

Mortal Kombat 11

Despite rebooting the series’ winding and convoluted storyline, Mortal Kombat 9 ended on a low note. Sure, Shao Kahn was dead, but so were most of the heroes just as Shinnok was preparing to make his own move. Meanwhile, Mortal Kombat X, while not having the happiest ending, culminated with most of the major threats taken off the board. Kahn was still dead, Quan Chi was dead, Shinnok was just a head, and Onaga’s resurrection was prevented. Things were looking up for once!

But in Moral Kombat 11, a cosmic Tilda Swinton appeared as not just Shinnok’s mother, but as a meta representation of video game designers at odds with the story. Kronika wants good and evil to war with each other on equal enough footing forever. The status quo doesn’t allow enough juice for what she wants, so her plans include bringing back dead characters with a hand wave, reverting characters who have developed farther than she cares for, and even rebooting the franchise itself.

Even her kind, the Titans (higher up on the chain than the Elder Gods), play into this. Scorpion’s ending shows that reality simply won’t exist without the backstory that his wife and child were killed, all because the Titans deemed it so. These games are getting dangerously close to the fourth wall.

Meta or not, Kronika is a fantastic addition to the Mortal Kombat mythos. That endless time-reverse Fatality of hers is one of the highlights of that game’s many kills.

25. ULTRON SIGMA

Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite

Despite its huge roster, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 didn’t have much in terms of Capcom-based villains. Plus, the big boss was Galactus. Where do you even go from Galactus in a sequel? For Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, bringing Galactus back was a no-no due to Disney being stingy with the Fantastic Four property at the time.

But Capcom had a pretty good solution. First, introduce Sigma from Mega Man X into the world of fighters. Second, bring in box office superstar (at the time) Ultron. Third, take a page out of Dark Kahn’s book and merge the two into one being. They’re robots. Robots love that shit.

For the record, the most hyped I got for this game was the stinger on the announcement trailer where they showed a shadowy Ultron sitting on a throne with Sigma’s glowing eyes appearing on his torso.

Not only do you get each meatbag-hating robot on their own and in merged form, but then there’s the over-the-top design of their final form. Transforming into a nightmarish and gaudy final form is Sigma’s MO, so it’s nice to see Ultron just go with it.

Yeah, Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite didn’t have staying power, but it did have a giant Sigma head with Ultron’s body sticking out…as well as that head-scratching plot point where Thanos made a gauntlet powered by Ryu’s inner evil for the sake of throwing fireballs at Death. See, that’s why you need arcade mode endings in games like these. Let your crossover freak flag fly.

24. VICTOR ORTEGA

Ring of Destruction

Saturday Night Slam Masters is remembered well enough, partially due to its SNES port, but few talk about its sequel Ring of Destruction, which had more of an emphasis on fighting game mechanics. Players of only the first game would still recognize Victor Ortega, as he’s the Billy Graham/Hulk Hogan guy in the intro, tearing his shirt off. Though not part of the game’s roster, his identity is revealed if you’re able to beat the game without losing a single match.

This mountain of muscle was a previous CWA champion who was so dominant in the ring that he left out of boredom. Getting the first game’s best ending has Ortega return to challenge your wrestler, ending in a cliffhanger.

The sequel is about the Capcom Wrestling Association being invaded by heels representing the Blood Wrestling Association. This situation piques Ortega’s interest, as hewants the last man standing to challenge him for the title. He proves to be a pain in the ass to take on — not only can he uppercut so hard that fireballs fly out but he was busting out jumping Yoshi Tonics all the way back in 1994!

23. ZANKURO MINAZUKI

Samurai Shodown Series

In fighting games, having a katana means getting some extra range and damage. In a series like Samurai Shodown, what does one do for an extra range advantage when everyone is armed with a sword? Easy. Create an 8-foot-tall Brock Samson samurai guy with a katana befitting of his size.

Zankuro is one of the rare examples of a character who talks about “the demon within” but isn’t actually possessed by one. Ryu is a good person despite having a magical dark force inside him threatening to turn him into a rage zombie. Zankuro is just an asshole. He slaughtered villages of people because killing people is his vice. And really, who’s got the skill to get in his way and tell him to stop?

But the outcome is inevitable. He has to die. In Samurai Shodown III, Zankuro had a fake-out death followed by a real death, just as he lamented his horrible acts. He was be sorry about his sins, but sidestepped having to live with them.

Except…he keeps getting resurrected.

22. DIO BRANDO

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure

It’s kind of crazy how popular Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure has become in the US in the past few years, especially when you look back at how niche it was in the late ‘90s when Capcom’s Jojo fighter hit the arcade, Dreamcast, and PlayStation. Back then, the best you could do was find some low-quality manga scans and hope that someone online could translate them. All Capcom had was the manga and a few episodes of an anime, but they still managed to turn those into a kickass video game adaptation.

Dio was a major part of this. His moves and animation set him up as someone who could be cold and collected one moment and a slinking psychopath the next. The way he’d jump off-screen, return with a steamroller, and smash you with it while laughingly clawing at the vehicle defined what kind of series-carrying villain he really was.

The biggest mark against him is that regular boss Dio is not nearly as cool as his faceless counterpart Shadow Dio, based on the stretch of the manga when nobody knew what Dio’s powers actually were but understood that he was scary as hell.

21. WOLFGANG KRAUSER

Fatal Fury Series

SNK did Krauser dirty. His appearances in Fatal Fury 2 and Fatal Fury Special made him the most epic boss fight of the era. First off, the dude was so jacked that he was able to burst out of his chest armor with a mere flex. Second, he got this epic line:“I’ll chisel your gravestone! Sleep well!” Most importantly, his background music was only a version of “Dies Irae” but it was played by own personal orchestra during that fight!

Dude wasn’t even up to no good. He was just an intense man who wanted a good fight. Even in defeat, he stood back up to dramatically yell, “You were perfect! I have met…my match…” before collapsing. Legendary presentation.

Unfortunately, then we got the second Fatal Fury anime, where SNK inexplicably got rid of Krauser’s amazing purple mustache. Why would you do such a thing? That mustache never did anything wrong.

He was almost completely forgotten by the time King of Fighters rolled around. He appeared in King of Fighters ’96 with a lanky redesign that made it look like he had a swimmer build, but everyone knows that Krauser needs to look like 2003 Triple H.

Oh, well. At least they didn’t get Ray Park to play him in a movie.

20. FERNANDEZ

Waku Waku 7

Waku Waku 7 is one of the liveliest and enjoyable fighting games that nobody has ever heard of. With one installment to its name, this Sunsoft creation has a handful of anime archetypes and knockoffs fight to free a magical fairy and earn a wish. In order to release the fairy, they have to grow into a giant and take on the kaiju known as Fernandez.

Known as Fernandeath in Japan, Fernandez is a large, black ball with a smiley face, bat wings, ball-shaped limbs, and a glowing aura. The giggling beast seems cute at first, but the more time you spend with it, the creepier and more malevolent it becomes. Its eyes turn red, it sometimes has pointy teeth, and at times it’ll turn full-on demonic.

There are some silly move animations thrown in there, but getting devoured and then shot out of its butt like a cannon can’t be the most enjoyable experience out there.

19. JUSTICE

Guilty Gear

Guilty Gear gets a lot of flack for its confusing plot and ridiculous titles, but the gist of the story is unique and surprisingly simple: Once upon a time, humanity took part in a devastating war called the Crusades, where they fought against robo-mutants (a cross between SkyNet and the Age of Apocalypse) and barely survived. Now, with the world reaching borderline utopia, it’s constantly threatened by the possibility of going back to the bad old days. In other words, we missed out on seeing the exciting, explosive, action-packed era of this fictional world, but we absolutely have to prevent that from happening again.

Adding to the terror is that Justice was never fully destroyed in that war. She was simply sealed away for all eternity, which never lasts in fiction. In the first Guilty Gear, losing to this lizard mech meant endless death and destruction. But through her defeat at the hands of Sol Badguy, we not only got a tragic origin story for our main hero that explained what the hell a “Guilty Gear” is, but Justice opened up this world to the possibility that the Crusades could return in various ways despite her death.

18. BRAINIAC

Injustice 2

When your first game is all about Batman taking down an evil Superman, where do you go for the sequel? Easy. You figure out a threat so huge that both Batman and Superman have to put their feud on hold in order to save Earth. The logical choice is Darkseid, but NetherRealm went in a smarter direction with Brainiac. Even though he’s an established character in other continuities, Brainiac had yet to show up in any form in Injustice canon, so the studio could treat him as a brand new threat.

He was the perfect fit, too. Since he was the one responsible for blowing up Krypton, the game used this backstory to also introduce Supergirl and gave us a villain that Superman would hate just as much as the Joker. Even in defeat, Brainiac’s plan created another violent moral argument between Batman and the murderous Superman.

Above all else, Brainiac felt like a big deal. His moves during the boss fight made him seem like an even more advanced take on Doc Ock. The inside of his space ship added to his cyber nightmare aesthetic, too. Last but not least, he was voiced by Jeffrey Combs, whose chilling delivery made him sound like the most menacing threat in the universe.

Sorry, Darkseid.

17. THE GENERAL

Kaiser Knuckle

Kaiser Knuckle is your average Street Fighter II knockoff from the early days of fighting games, and there’s only one reason anyone remembers it at all. That reason is the General.

At first glance, he’s little more than a blatant ripoff of M. Bison. Then you fight him. Without a doubt, the General is the absolute hardest boss in fighting game history. He’s unbelievable. Not only are his attacks unfair variations of Bison’s offense, but he has a move where he releases Green Lantern construct projections of himself in various directions.

He’s an afront to God and when he wins the round and calls himself a perfect soldier, it’s hard to argue.

16. RYO SAKAZAKI

Fatal Fury Special

Some time after Mortal Kombat gave us Reptile and mere months before Street Fighter gave us Akuma, Fatal Fury Special introduced a very special hidden boss: Ryo Sakazaki. Sure, King of Fighters ’94 would be released within a year, but this was our first time seeing a major SNK fighting game crossover. This was the first Terry vs. Ryo matchup.

One of the reasons this debut hits so hard for me is that Ryo and the Art of Fighting crew never seemed to be too prominent in the King of Fighters games. There are two main continuities when it comes to SNK’s fighters. King of Fighters puts everything together and says it all coexists in the same era. Meanwhile, Art of Fighting, Fatal Fury, Buriki One, and Savage Reign are on a staggered timeline. With Art of Fighting taking place in the ‘70s, it means that the Ryo in Fatal Fury games and Buriki One is a hardened, middle-aged legend and not just another young upstart like he is in King of Fighters.

In other words, Ryo showing up in Fatal Fury Special isn’t just an early crossover, but a passing of the torch.

15. EYEDOL

Killer Instinct

Killer Instinct always valued character designs first and everything after. Ninja, robot, dinosaur, T&A secret agent, boxer, Native American, skeleton, werewolf, ice creature, and fire guy. Then came the story.

To that effect, Eyedol, much like Spinal, is a tribute to the stop-motion fantasy movie monsters of the old days. Specifically, he’s a two-headed version of the cyclops from the 7th Voyage of Sinbad. He made for a memorable final battle, thanks in part to the cheap-ass healing ability that he’d spam while the other fighter recovered in between rounds.

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Eyedol was the last classic character released for the Killer Instinct reboot, and they redesigned the HELL out of him. Depicted as a holy chosen champion turned demonic and ogre-like due to his own ego, Eyedol’s two-headed cyclops look was explained as the result of having his head cleaved in half down the middle, then being resurrected. The wound is healed, but not undone, resulting in some gnarly body horror.

Much respect to his old ending, which was not only a parody of Blanka’s Street Fighter II ending, but by having his would-be mother refer to him as “Billy,” it becomes both a sly reference to Double Dragon (Billy and Jimmy) and musician Billy Idol.

Get it?

14. GILL

Street Fighter III

Following up on M. Bison was never going to be easy. For a long time, he was the poster boy for fighting game final bosses. For the third major installment, Capcom needed to introduce someone who felt different but also as big a threat as his predecessor. Rather than introducing “M. Bison’s boss” or “M. Bison’s dad,” the studio instead went in a completely original direction with Gill. Was he powerful? Yes. Did he use street fighting tournaments as a front for some kind of maniacal scheme? Yes again. Was he the ultimate evil? Well…I guess that depends on your thoughts on organized religion.

Rather than a villain delusional enough to call himself a god, Gill might as well BE a god. And he both wants to be virtuous, but he’s also an egomaniac about it. It’s definitely a fresh take on the mustache-twirling monsters in these games. Even Alex, the main character of Street Fighter III, only wants to fight him to get revenge after for his mentor, who Gill beat so bad in a street fight they had to send him to the hospital. Alex doesn’t seem to really care about the whole new world order cult gimmick.

With Street Fighter III being such a beautiful-looking sequel, Gill also brought the novelty of an asymmetric 2D character who wasn’t just mirrored when he looked in the opposite direction (i.e. Sagat’s eyepatch switching eyes depending on where he’s facing). That fit well with Gill’s mastery over fire and ice.

Screw him for that cheap resurrection power, though.

13. KING LEO/TRUE KING LION

Savage Reign

A lot of times in fiction, futuristic designs are based on the decade when they were conceived. That’s how we got King Leo, a villainous champion in the future of the Fatal Fury/Art of Fighting timeline, who looks hilariously try-hard ‘90s. The angular mask/boots/codpiece combo, the boxing gloves with sword, the ridiculous flat-top mullet, the cap, the ab window, etc. He has it all. He is pure extreme.

In both Savage Reign and its sequel Kizuna Encounter, he’s playable but not really. King Lion is selectable from the beginning, but it becomes apparent that he and the final boss are two different entities. Playable King Lion is an impostor meant to test the challengers, while King Leo is the far more powerful real deal.

Even when Jyazu appears in Kizuna Encounter as the actual final boss by impaling King Leo with his giant sword, King Leo is still able to later shrug off that major wound in a post-credits sequence. God, I wish that game had a follow-up.

12. GALACTUS

Marvel vs. Capcom 3

I’m surprised it took Capcom so long to bring in Galactus. The studio had the giant boss thing going in its Marvel games with Apocalypse, Onslaught, and whatever the hell Abyss was, and probably should have gone with Galactus for Marvel vs. Capcom 2, but I guess Capcom wanted to do multiple forms for the battle and that’s what Abyss brought to the table. Fortunately, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 finally brought in the Eater of Worlds.

Galactus isn’t the kind of guy who is supposed to get taken down by Ryu and Wolverine, but considering Capcom made a Marvel fighter where Spider-Man can take down an omnipotent Thanos, and that there’s an in-story reason that Galactus isn’t at 100%, one can give this story a pass. He still fights like Galactus should with cosmic energy beams flying all over the place.

Probably the best thing about him is his silly appearances in various endings, like being put on trial with Phoenix Wright as his defense lawyer or an annoyed Wolverine telling X-23 to get Galactus’ defeated body off his lawn.

11. MARIE KORBEL

Skullgirls

The Skull Heart from Skullgirls is terrifying and interesting enough to build a fighting game story around. It’s a demonic relic powerful enough to grant you any wish you’d like, but it will possess you in time. How fast it possesses you depends on how selfish your wish is, but the sad fact is that no matter how altruistic or heroic your actions are, every wish is selfish on some level. To use the Skull Heart is to damn yourself and doom everyone else.

That’s the tragedy of Bloody Marie. She grew up an orphan, abused and treated as a slave. Her thirst for vengeance was justified, but it didn’t make a difference. As the all-powerful Skullgirl, it was only a matter of time before she lost herself completely and slaughtered everyone. This struggle translated to her appearance, which seemed normal enough…until you notice the glowing, bare ribs peeking out the side.

Marie has several forms, and each one depicts her as being less in control until she’s just scraps of bone being manipulated by the Skull Heart. Defeating her not only means wiping out a young girl who really doesn’t deserve it, but for some of her challengers, it means they’re walking towards their own tragedy with the Skull Heart.

10. ONSLAUGHT

Marvel vs. Capcom

Capcom pulled off a miracle when it made Onslaught cool.

In general, Onslaught is like the Star Wars prequels. A solid idea in bullet points, but terrible in practice. The idea of an insane Xavier/Magneto/Juggernaut hybrid commandeering all the Sentinels and becoming such a threat to the Marvel heroes that the only way to stop him is to send a purified version of the Hulk after him sounds so awesome, but…well, ‘90s comics are ‘90s comics.

Marvel vs. Capcom’s Onslaught makes for such a sweet boss fight and is a big improvement over Apocalypse, who bypassed the normal-sized battle for the sake of immediately turning giant. Onslaught is Magneto on steroids, who turns into Apocalypse on steroids, and works because ‘90s Capcom was so damn untouchable.

We’re at a point in pop culture where War Machine is a mainstream superhero and “Lethal Protector” Venom made more in the box office than the Justice League. Onslaught is still considered a very specific time capsule that’s yet to be redeemed, which makes Capcom’s use of him here that much more impressive.

9. OGRE

Tekken 3

Tekken is like WWE where it’s so much better when isn’t focusing on the old man running things and his shitty family. When the bosses aren’t part of the Mishima bloodline, they’re usually some kind of unearthly being. You have your Egyptian demigod, you have your goth lady wearing sludge overalls, and you have your Aztec God of Fighting.

Ogre is the one Tekken boss who doesn’t directly tie into the Mishima family. It’s refreshing and makes the whole world feel bigger. He’s a completely unrelated force who reveals himself by beating the crap out of different mainstays in between Tekken 2 and 3. Granted, it was more impressive early on because Ogre got credit for wiping out so much of the early cast. But those guys returned in later games, and it seems Ogre only really killed the first King and MAYBE Jun, who sucks so good for Ogre.

Outside of non-canon stuff, Ogre didn’t last long in the Tekken series, but his death brought forth the rivalry between Heihachi and Jin, springboarding the Mishima war into a new direction. It was also explained that the Ancient Ogre form was defeated by Paul Phoenix, which is sadly one of the last times that character was treated like an actual threat.

8. OROCHI

King of Fighters ’97

Nailing the landing on a long-running story isn’t easy, and it’s truly impressive when a franchise pulls it off. Fans of Avengers: Endgame know that feeling well.

While the first King of Fighters game was all about Rugal, his return in King of Fighters ’95 built on the idea that he was tapped into a greater power that dwarfed him. Then King of Fighters ’96 continued that by showing us Goenitz, who was also a player in Orochi’s game. Even Iori Yagami – an antihero who wanted nothing to do with the evil god – was powerless to be anything but its bloodthirsty pawn.

King of Fighters ’97 not only acted as the climax to this whole saga, but it really felt like the peak of the whole franchise. There were great King of Fighters games afterwards, but this was where everything really felt like it lined up. And so, after all this build up, we got a team of Orochi worshippers, two insane pawns slaughtering in his name, and one guy so insane and bloodthirsty to start with that he shrugged off the magical need to go feral. Then by the time you got to Orochi, he felt like a true final boss that they spent several years building towards. He was the right level of malevolent celestial being and, while challenging, was never too hard compared to other SNK bosses.

As the exclamation point, most endings in the game warned that he’d be back someday. The only way to truly do away with him was to beat the game with a very specific trio of fighters, which happened to trigger one of the coolest endings in the series. The following arcs of King of Fighters would try to build towards other masterminds, but none of them held a candle to Orochi.

7. DIZZY

Guilty Gear X

As I said earlier, the true conflict of the Guilty Gear series is that shit was bad long ago, and the heroes have to keep the world from unwinding back into that chaos. When it came to the villainous Justice, things were pretty cut and dry. Justice had been released from her prison, cloned, and even resurrected at times. But Dizzy was a deeper take on the idea. She is the daughter of Sol Badguy and/or Justice and is an omega-level threat who could very well relaunch the war between humans and Gears.

It just so happens that she’s also an innocent, young woman who just wants a peaceful existence, someone who just wants to be left alone where she can’t hurt anyone. Despite being possibly the most powerful character in the series (give her Instant Kill attack in Guilty Gear Xrd a look), Dizzy is left alone in the end. She ends up finding friends, love, and even has a son.

6. THANOS

Marvel Super Heroes

Marvel Super Heroes is a very loose adaptation of Infinity Gauntlet, and that’s part of the reason the final battle with Thanos work so well. You spend all game accumulating Infinity Gems, adding more power-up options to each fight. Then Thanos steals them away and you have to take on a fully-Gauntleted Mad Titan in front of a backdrop very reminiscent of the big heroes vs. Thanos fight from Infinity Gauntlet.

Now, for those of you who haven’t read the comic that inspired Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos got the Infinity Gauntlet and became omnipotent. A bunch of heroes dogpiled him, and Thanos even gave himself a handicap to make it the slightest bit challenging, but the heroes still lost BADLY.

So here you are, playing as Spider-Man or Iron Man or whoever, having to have a kickass one-on-one brawl with Thanos and having to do alone what almost 20 superheroes couldn’t do in the comics. But because fighting games exist in a reality where everyone can win (and not just Jim Starlin’s Jim darlings), everyone — from Psylocke to Juggernaut — stands a chance at dethroning Thanos and truly earning the Infinity Gauntlet.

5. RUGAL BERNSTEIN

King of Fighters Series

I’m a huge fan of this character despite his tendency to be a bullshit SNK boss. Fighting him in King of Fighters ’94 should be banned by the Geneva Convention. It’s just that…man, the dude has so much swagger and radiates such coolness that I can’t hate him. He’s Rugal Goddamn Bernstein and we’re better for knowing him.

As with most early villains of fighting games, Rugal is overshadowed by his replacements. Shang Tsung works for Shao Kahn. Sagat works for M. Bison. Heihachi is the son of Jinpachi. Eyedol is the rival of Gargos. Geese is the weaker brother to Krauser. Rugal got the ball rolling in his own way as a way to build to the Orochi storyline, which practically defined all the following King of Fighters storylines. Yet in the end, despite being the first step in the saga and being killed for good during the second entry, Rugal has solidified himself as THE villain of King of Fighters. Dream match games and non-canon adventures tend to just go with Rugal as the final boss by default, usually with some extra bell and whistle, my favorite being God Rugal from Capcom vs. SNK 2. A coked up Rugal with Akuma gimmicks is my kind of boss battle.

Rugal is mostly a collection of awesome motifs and special attacks, but I also love that he’s just as defined by his number one weakness. Yes, he’s good enough to crush a team of three like nobody’s business, but he has his physical limits and his downfall is that he doesn’t see that. In canon and as God Rugal, he loses because he absorbs and uses up too much power for his body to handle. It’s nice when a villain is done in by their inability to leave well enough alone.

4. SHAO KAHN

Mortal Kombat Series

The worst thing I can say about Shao Kahn is that, while I dig the way his latter appearances lean into his “painted on the side of your van” metal design, he will never be as completely rad as he was in Mortal Kombat 2 and 3. Probably because loud growling doesn’t hold a candle to his eerie whisper and proud laughter.

Kahn is more intimidating than most bosses. The attract sequence in Mortal Kombat 2 showed a silhouette of Kahn reading Shang Tsung the riot act followed by a more direct look at his appearance, and it was immediately clear that this guy was absolute trouble. The first game tried to make Goro seem terrifying, but we knew that he was still second to Shang Tsung. Shao Kahn was THE boss, and we knew that, even if we climbed up that ladder (with Kahn STANDING ON TOP A MOUNTAIN), Kahn would be the end of us.

And a lot of the time he was. He would beat you with a war hammer, kick you across the room, and taunt you and you’d love him for it. He was so perfect as a boss that Midway simply had to bring him back for the next game.

Even after taking a backseat in the subsequent games, Mortal Kombat Armageddon’s story revitalized him by making him the winner of what was essentially the Mortal Kombat Royal Rumble. It was such a tragic turn of events that Raiden had to go back in time to stop it. Even with nearly all the good guys dead, it was all deemed worth it just because Kahn was killed. At least for a few years.

3. M. BISON

Street Fighter Series

As a kid, I was always confused about why this bus driver was running his own fighting tournament, but that feeling was replaced by my rage at his damn slide kick and arm-hook throw combo. You have fire-hand powers. You don’t need to be that smooth, dude.

Bison isn’t as deep a character as Sagat or as hardcore as Akuma or as naked as Gill, but he is possibly the hammiest final boss in the history of fighting games. All the various actors who have portrayed the character seem to be taken by the infectious fun that comes with playing him, whether it’s Raul Julia in the first live-action movie, Gerald C. Rivers and Kenji Utsumi in the games, Richard Newman on the cartoon, and, hell, even Neal McDonough had his moments in that crappy Chun-Li movie.

As the first final boss that anyone ever cared about, Bison is a wonderful pile of escalating craziness. Over time, he’s become a comedically-jacked guy with a constant smile whose plots involve Buddha statues with laser faces, running over Ryu with a bigass truck, shoving his soul into gender-swapped clones, and dropping satellites onto civilization for the sake of causing chaos. Capcom can try to write him out of the series, but he’s just too iconic to destroy for good.

2. AKUMA

Street Fighter Series

It’s crazy to think how Electronic Gaming Monthly did an April Fools’ joke about there being an enhanced version of Ryu as a secret final boss in Street Fighter II and Capcom decided, yes, that’ll do. That’s how one of the most iconic fighting game characters ever was born.

“Ryu but darker and more powerful” could have ended badly, but Akuma’s always shined as the X-factor of Street Fighter’s roster. He’s more than just an evil final boss. He’s a malevolent force that is somehow neither good nor evil…which is for the best, considering Capcom eventually labeled M. Bison as literal pure evil.

What’s funny to me is how Mortal Kombat introduced the idea of the hidden boss fight with Reptile, then gradually turned him into the biggest jobber in Mortal Kombat lore. Akuma showed up, wiped out M. Bison with his so-powerful-we-can’t-even-show-you super move, gave you a nigh-impossible boss fight, and then Capcom made sure to keep him going as the guy who will make you shit your pants every time he shows up. When SNK made its SNK vs. Capcom crossover game, the team even put an ending in there where a bored Akuma challenged God to a fight.

1. GEESE HOWARD

Fatal Fury Series

As fighting games are ensemble pieces, so are their storylines most of the time. Fatal Fury, not so much. Fatal Fury is really the story of Terry Bogard vs. Geese Howard with a bunch of supporting characters. Even Andy Bogard, who has just as much a reason to be the protagonist as Terry, is relegated to being “the guy who is reluctant to sleep with his hot girlfriend.” Fatal Fury is really about Terry and Geese and everyone else is, at best, an extension of the two of them.

Geese is everything you could ever want in a final boss, unless you’re looking for a giant shooting lasers out his eyes. He’s slick as oil and tougher than brick, with a moveset that’s based around throwing you like a ragdoll or blasting you into the stratosphere. He’s the right balance of difficult enough to make you curse, but not cheap enough to make you throw the controller through your screen.

Not only is he unique in battle, but he just has so much personality. His cockiness is on another level. His every gesture makes him look like he knows he’s superior to everyone else in every way, but kicking their ass is a better use of his time than whatever else he has planned. Even his counter moves (“PREDICTABLE!”) make him seem untouchable.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

His canon death scene in the Fatal Fury games is also second to none. Hanging off a tower rooftop, he sees Terry reach his hand out. Rather than be saved and maybe even forgiven by Terry, Geese chooses to smack it away, let go, and fall to his death while looking up at the winner and laughing maniacally at him. What a boss way to go.

The post 50 Best Fighting Game Final Bosses from Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Tekken, and More appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/36SXXqS

[hellomissmabel]

Little Monster part 4

MASTERLIST

Pairing: Professor!Steve Rogers x reader

Warnings: A couple bad words? Mentions of drugging someone (e.g. date rape), mentions of sex but without explicit content. If this isn’t your cup of tea, please skip this part!

Word count: 1950

Summary: Y/N and professor Rogers have their first meeting. Steve finds himself aligning with a surprising ally.

A/N: I’ve been suffering from serious writer’s block. All I can seem to get on the page is crap. This is my attempt at restoring the balance and getting myself out there again. Hope you like it.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Y/N’s POV

“Good morning, Y/N. I’m glad you could make it,” he chuckles lightly, soft blue eyes watching me intently. “Before we get started on the course material for this week, I’d like to talk to you about something, something I’d like to bring to your attention. If you’re not comfortable about working with me after this, I completely understand.”

He clears his throat, waiting for you to speak but you don’t even bat an eye, leaving the professor with an uncomfortable silence hanging in the air pulled taut. The truth behind your lack of response is that your mind is elsewhere, in another dimension where you’re not in a relationship with Bucky and he’s not your superior.

“I wanted to quit teaching after the whole Sharon debacle, but the university would not let me. They need to keep an eye on me, keep me in line and the only way they can do that is by keeping me on as a professor. On a tight leash, so to speak.”

Absentmindedly you play with the hem of your shirt, thinking what it would be like if he tore it from your body. You register his words, but you can’t really find it in yourself to care. When you called Bucky last night, something was off about him. Sure, he ended the phone call with an I love you, just like always. But there was somebody there with him, presumably in his office back at the mansion. Was it Pietro? Were the rumours about Bucky wanting to have sex with Wanda true?

Professor Rogers comes back into your focus when he taps his desk impatiently, having taken notice of your mental absence. “So Y/N, believe me when I say that I’d rather live out the rest of my days in the countryside as a farmer than being judged for something I didn’t do on a daily basis.”

He looks away yet your eyes remain on him, levelling him up as a way of silencing the thunder inside your heart. He’s attractive but not in the same way as Bucky. This man is agile in his appearance, elegant in his poise and he most certainly looks like he can rip a log in half. Bucky, on the other hand, he is all muscle and a soft core. A little rough around the edges from time to time. Not to mention his thick thighs that make for excellent rides…

“You see, this is a trial. I’m on trial. They want to see if I can keep it in my pants and unfortunately you’re somehow caught in the middle. My sincere apologies, Y/N,” Steve finishes his monologue, gauging your reaction like a hawk stalks its prey.

“Don’t apologise when we’re obviously both on trial here.” He shoots you a confused look and you heavy out a dry laugh. “Ask your friend professor Wilson for his version of what happened after we conclude our meeting. But I can tell you one thing, if they want to know if you can keep it in your pants, they also want to know if I didn’t do anything to provoke you. If Stark hadn’t walked in on Sam with his pants down, trying to lift a half-conscious girl onto his desk… Who knows what would’ve happened.”

He swallows thickly, discomfort etched onto his face. The fact that disclosing your own reasons for your indifference seems like an easy thing for you to do, feeds his curiosity about you even more. “You see, students can often be little monsters with big mouths. They always complain. But in my experience, professors can be little monsters too. Little monsters with big reputations. Big mouths are more easily silenced, that much is true. But professor Rogers, you and me both know that big reputations are easier to kill than big mouths.”

He sits back in his chair, his expression blank and all signs of distress vanished into thin air. “Miss Y/L/N, please call me Steve. I believe we will get along just fine.”

It’s too early to wake up but you can’t sleep either. Your lover is snoring next to you, his right arm loosely wrapped around your shoulders while the other supports his head. Prying his arm away from you as to make an easy escape and avoiding waking him up as well, you slip off the bed and grab his discarded shirt on the way to the kitchen. You’re not hungry but you’ve got to do something to kill the time. So you decide to make yourself a club sandwich. At 5 a.m. on a Sunday morning.

“You’re up awfully early.” His groggy, gravelly voice falls like a symphony to your eager ears.

“I know,” you say with a soft sigh. His arms lock around your waist as he pulls your back flush to his chest, nuzzling his scruffy face in the nape of your neck, pecking your sweet spot. Turning your head, you kiss his temple and inhale the scent of his shampoo. He’s a health freak and the total opposite of you, but that didn’t keep you from offering him a taste of something sweet.

“Can I seduce you back to bed, babe?,” he asks innocently, his nose running up your neck and his lips suckling tenderly on your earlobe.

You shake your head, your voice still a little strained from last night. “I set the alarm for six a.m. anyway, so what’s another hour?”

“It’s another hour spent between the sheets, with me.”

“Steve…,” you complain but he quickly spins you around and crashes his lips to you, cutting off any further argument you could’ve provided him with. You rest your case and melt into him, his tongue effortlessly tangling with yours as his hands dance to your hips. With ease he lifts you up and as if on cue, your legs wrap around his slim waist.

“That’s professor Rogers for you, Y/N,” he chastises playfully, moaning when you capture his bottom lip between your teeth, looking at him through hooded eyelids.

He throws you back on the bed and climbs on top of you, nudging your legs apart with his knee to allow him to settle between them. He kisses you softly at first before the kisses become more heated, more needy and passionate. Steve’s about to lift up your shirt, expose your soft body to his lust blown pupils when...

“Y/N Y/L/N, can you give me two examples, please?”

Wanda nudges your side with her elbow, tearing you away from more pleasurable thoughts. She slips you a small piece of paper with the two examples to help you out. You look back and forth between her and the substitute teacher who’s leading today’s seminar instead of professor Rogers, your mind still a bit fuzzy from your hot daydream. Rumour has it professor Rogers called in sick, but rumour also has it that he got laid yesterday. Which one it is, you’re about to find out once you get the chance to ask Wanda about it. So you provide the teaching assistant with a satisfactory reply like any good student would. She doesn’t look in your direction again until class is over and Wanda albeit drags you outside.

“You’ve got to be on top of this class, Y/N! You were spacing out again, weren’t you?” She sighs in frustration when you look back at her and sheepishly shrug. “God, I’m so done helping you pass.”

“Wanda, come on! You know I need all the help I can get!”

She turns to face you, dramatically spinning on the balls of her feet. “Y/N Y/L/N. I don’t care anymore. I went to see professor Rogers on your behalf but if you can’t even pay attention in class, then I’m not going to stick out my neck for you anymore!”

Wanda storms off, leaving you surrounded by unfamiliar faces and an abundance of raging thoughts. You can’t tell her you’ve been having sexually suggestive dreams about professor Rogers ever since your first meeting with him. You can’t trust her because she’s just as much an object of Bucky’s affections as you are and you want to make sure he never acts on his desires. You can’t do that if you’re caught with Steve’s hand in your panties.

Steve’s POV

“She’s a little minx, that one,” I confess heavily, as if the words escaping my mind will somehow lessen the burden that comes with resisting her effortless charm and wit.

“You don’t have to tell me. Not just any woman sleeps around with Bucky Barnes,” Wanda responds, pursing her lips and blowing some smoke from her cigarette. “Does she know how bad you want her?”

She perches her feet on my desk and I shoot her a dirty look. “No, of course not. It would be like poking a hornet’s nest, asking another one of my students to get on her knees for me. Imagine all the trouble it could get me into.” Then again, she might be worth it, Steve thinks to himself. But Wanda doesn’t need to know that he gets hard just thinking about Y/N, that he gets off on seeing her in his lectures. “So how’s it going with that Barton kid? I know Y/N is trying to set you up with him.”

Smiling disapprovingly, she shakes her head. “Don’t try to change the subject, Rogers.” Wanda takes a long drag from her cigarette again, locking eyes with me and winking. “If you must know… Yes, she’s trying to set me up with Barton. It isn’t working. I’m more interested in Barnes.”

“Barnes is off-limits, miss Maximoff,” I warn her quickly, standing up abruptly and throwing her feet off my desk. “As long as Y/N is dating him anyway.” Pacing back and forth, I contemplate our options. “God, Wanda, I want to make her mine but I can’t.”

“You do know I only came to you so you’d write me a good recommendation and support my academic career?” I nod softly, encouraging her to state her point. “Well, I might be willing to give her a push in the right direction… In exchange for that other thing we talked about earlier.”

A deep sigh rumbles through me and as I exhale languidly, Wanda gets up from her seat and sways towards me, mischief written all over her face. “You want to fuck her and I want to fuck over Tony Stark. I know he’s your superior and all, but really, does it make any difference? He screwed both of us over.”

I place my hands on her hips, pulling her towards her and spinning us around so her back hits the wall. She looks so small compared to my tall form and as I tower over her, my expression dark and menacing, the grad student swallows thickly. “On one condition.”

“You name it,” she whispers, trying her best to press into the wall so she doesn’t have to touch me.

“You burn it, all of it. All the pictures. Nobody benefits from seeing your pretty little cunt on the frontpage of the university newspaper. Nobody benefits from seeing me punishing you like the disobedient little school girl you are. Your brother would be horrified but I bet Stark would have a field day. So burn it.”

“O-Okay” Wanda squeaks softly and I release her, chuckling darkly when I see the small red imprints my fingers have left on her arms. She flees my office without another word and even though I realise I’ve gone too far, that I’ve let my darkness take over for too long, there’s a part of me that revels in the fact I still have that kind of power over women.

Part 5

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[airadella]

The Game

Chapter 1: Game Start

It's already been a long day and you're finally getting to your car. You're really excited to be getting to your friends house to play his new video game. Unfortunately you just can't help but think about everything that happened over the course of the day.

Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong which includes the very beginning of your day. First off you woke up with a headache, after a nightmare that you can't even remember. Only to realize that your alarm didn't go off and now you're gonna be late for work. Then if that wasn't bad enough you get to your car and find that you're low on gas. When you finally do make it into work, you're not only late but you also find that your boss has decided to give you every single bad customer available. You couldn't help the relief on your face as soon as the day ended. Now you're in your car heading to your friends for an entire two days of playing this brand new video game.

Justin was so excited when he first heard about it. He couldn't stop going over how it had three different endings. The first ending he thought you would like, it's a Pacifist ending. That means that all of the characters get out of the game safe, sound and happy. The second one he said was less thrilling for you but gave a different aspect to the game. He called it the Neutral ending. Basically with that ending something happens and the only one to get a happy ending is the character you play. Not something you were particularly thrilled with but something you could live with. The third ending however was the worst, and unfortunately it was the one he was most excited for. He called it the Genocide run. In this run he said everyone had to die. Your favorite characters your least favorite characters and everyone in between. He knew that, that was the one run you would never do. However he was unsure how long it would take to finish the first two runs so you thought it would be a great way for you to to spend time together. After he told you about the game you did a lot of research on to it. You really like some of the stories that came from it. You especially liked some of the stories pertaining to a particular character in the game. You are really looking forward To interacting with this character yourself.

Your car finally pulls into the drive. When you get out, you walk up to the door. Justin always kids you about how you knock on the door, telling you that you don't have to. You always thought it was just the polite thing to do. Plus you know Justin. He has two roommates and sometimes the stories they tell say that hes not always decent when you get home. So while he may be your best friend you don't want to just walk in on him. So you walk up to door.

"Knock knock"

"Who's there?" came a voice on the other side of the door. Now you know who it is. Justin had begun answering like this trying to annoy you into walking in any way. What he doesn't realize is that you love it when he does this. It just makes you feel special like an inside joke. So instead of just walking in you answer.

"Hoping"

"Hoping who?"

"Hoping you didn't forget to order the pizza before I came."

You hear a loud snort come from the other side of the door, before it cracks open. "That was bad." he said.

You give him a sly look with a smirk. "Then maybe you should stop answering the door like that." he smiled.

You look him over quickly before heading inside. He was a full head taller than you with Sandy blond hair and blue eyes. He really was handsome though not your type. He was a princely type of guy, good at everything, loaded, and he knows hes attractive. Sometimes his arrogance did not sit well with you.

You wanted more of a knight. Someone a little rough around the edges, but would still treat you as a lady. That's really how the two of you met. There was a gamers convention in Chicago and he was dared to seduce the next girl that came, and that just happened to be you. You were flattered by the attention, but nothing about him made you "sing". That's what you call it when you're intrested in someone, for some reason you always feel like singing. When you turned him down, he kept finding you at different places and trying again. You had a suspicion that he couldn't stand rejection. Anyway because of his persistence, you found you had a lot in common. You knew you were never gonna date him, but that didn't stop you from becoming friends.

You stepped inside and walked past him to the couch. "You never did answer me about the pizza." You said over your shoulder.

"Yeah I ordered it. Told them to come around 5:00 p.m.."

"Nice!" You smile at him. "So where's this game I keep hearing about?"

"Undertale? It's on my console. Hold on and I'll bring it up on TV."

Justin had a lot of Tech friends, that always hooked him up with the latest in gaming technology. His version of undertale however was a PC game. Apparently his friends found a way to make his big TV the monitor for the computer. It was always interesting gaming with him.

Once he got it booted up, he announced that you should both try for the pacifist route first and see who found more and who made better time. You weren't interested in either of the other routes so you quickly agreed. You watched him play for hours only stopping long enough to get the pizza when it came. When he finally reached the ending it became a Pacifist Neutral Route. During the end there was a hint that you should get Undyne and Alphys together. Justin wasn't happy that he missed something, but gave you a turn.

Once you reset the game you became excited. You quickly went through the door to meet Flowey. You didn't like him, but trusted Toriel to come save you. You followed all of her instructions. Even when she asked you to wait for her you did (to Justin's chagrin), until you realized the game intended for you to wander on your own. You made friends with every monster you came across. When you met Napstablook he actually killed you a few times, before you became his friend.

You loved making friends, but you never were great at video games. When you made it to Toriel's place, you found that you really loved talking to her. You even slept, and found pie in the morning. Justin laughed at your expression of surprise and warmth at the gesture.

"Like you didn't know that was coming."

"What can I say? I just really get into character."

"Ha! That's an understatement and a half."

"Come on. You know that's why you play games with me. I bring the adventure to life." you said with a wide grin. He just laughed at you.

You stayed as long as you could, exploring every facet of the Ruins. Finally you decided it was time to move on. You had to fight Toriel. The entire fight killed you (literally and figuratively). She killed you about five times, before she finally let you go. You didn't even notice the tears streaming down your face until you left the Ruins. You moved passed Flowey and entered Sans domain. You grew excited. When you finally passed the large branch, you smiled. When you heard it snap, your smile got bigger. Justin looked at you strangely, but you didn't notice.

Through that first encounter you smiled, and laughed at every joke and pun. When you first saw the Papyrus you laughed even harder. Justin was trying hard (not really) to not laugh at you. You were laughing like you were trying not to be heard and failing miserably. Finally you were able to explore and make friends. When you met Sans and Papyrus again you really had a lot of fun. Every puzzle and pun made your face hurt because you were smiling so much.

Later to your surprise (and Justin's irritation?) after your date with the Papyrus, you were able to stay at the brothers house. Again you tried to drag out your stay in Snowdin. You explored every inch, and you even dragged out your date with Sans. It was so much fun. After that the rest of the game went pretty quickly for you. Only lingering on the parts that included sans. Justin's look became darker and darker every time Sans appeared.

When you met Sans at the MTT Resort, Justin nearly flipped when he threatened you. You laughed and reminded him that it was just part of the game. You weren't thrilled with that, but told yourself that if this were real he probably would have told you in a different way.

You got Alphys together with Undyne, befriended Mettaton, freed the amalgamates, then left to confront Asgore. When everyone showed up to stop Asgore your heart soared. That is until Flowey captured everyone. You really struggled fighting Flowey, so much so that you nearly as Justin for help. Then a new option appeared. You grew excited. You could save them. You could save Sans. Justin watched your face light up when you saved the punny skeleton. He knew you always got super involved with in any kind of roleplay, but he couldn't understand your reactions to Sans. More so he didn't like it.

Once they were freed it was already 2am. You were extremely tired, but also happy. Justin invited you to crash in his Room, while he had another go at the game.

"Sure that sounds good. Good luck beating my score.

"Don't worry I will." He said with a wry grin. You didn't trust that grin, but were too tired to think too hard on it. As soon as your head hit the pillow you were asleep.

_______________________________________________

This is also posted on my ao3 account. The more current updates as well as other stories I create are also there. Please check it out.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/12165669/chapters/27611373