#i do still plan on her being a designer too but especially this era

[pynkhues]

I'm sorry if this comes off as rude but why would you make Madeleine be a prostitute in your story when she could just be a seamstress as she actually is?

(x)

Ah, you're okay, anon. I had actually thought about that earlier in plotting, but changed my mind on it, and that's ultimately for a few reasons:

I write in closed-POV, which means that whoever I'm writing doesn't really get the chance to interact with other characters outside of their individual experiences. The result of that when creating an AU is if there are characters I want to write into bigger roles, they have to be able to interact with the POV-character on a regular basis.

This fic's going to be alternating closed-POV between Louis and Lestat (so chapter 1 will be Louis, chapter 2 will be Lestat, chapter 3 will be Louis, chapter 4 will be Lestat, etc.) so I need the characters I want to write more to be able to transition between Louis and Lestat's respective storyworlds, which is a bit of a challenge because Louis might run what's effectively an escort service, and Lestat might be a sex worker, but Lestat doesn't work for Louis.

I want Madeleine (and Claudia) to be at these society events and to try and seize power where they can, but ultimately still be on the backfoot due to social standing. If Madeleine's a seamstress, she'll be completely cut out from major parts of the story, and less likely to be transitioning between storyworlds / less useful to the plot in the way that I want her to be.

I want to explore Louis' relationship with Madeleine in a way that reflects the complexity of their power dynamic, and while I could kind of do that with her as a seamstress, I think there are more interesting things to explore for me creatively if she works for him, and that there's a neat thread there to tug in terms of her there as someone beneath him who he doesn't truly know falling in love with someone he cares for as a daughter.

I'm also curious to explore a Lestat-Madeleine dynamic, and having them on a relatively equal footing as high-end sex workers in the Parisian aristocratic social court just seems really fun to me?

Also always here for the unhinged parallels between Louis-Claudia-Lestat-Madeleine in every flavour!!

And look, I call it the courtesan au, but that's just a fancy way of saying it's a sex worker AU, which it is. A few of the characters are going to be sex workers.

[read-write-thrive]

edwina / edith in her lingerie as inspired by @hannaloony and @arisprite ‘s fanart !!! this one’s on the simpler side but I’m planning to do a companion piece with charlotte (and might do more with the backgrounds to really sell the whole “getting ready in their respective eras” thing, not sure yet) and hopefully doing something a little more suggestive with the both of them, again inspired by @hannaloony ‘s piece but using my own interpretations of fem!payneland w/ butch!edwina and fem!charlotte bc i love them

(side note: I know everyone is using Edith and not Edwina but I think Edwina suits my interpretation better for some reason ?? something about ppl hearing “Edwina and Charlie” and getting jumpscared when Edwina is the butch is funny to me,,, still undecided if she uses any nicknames but I’m open to suggestions lol)

previous artwork I’ve done of these characters can be found here: part one (original duo piece) ; part two (alt outfit for Edwina, Edwina sketches) ; this is part three! ; part four (lingerie!Charlotte ;)

notes on the costuming choices for anyone interested:

- i specifically designed these undergarments to work under either of the outfits I’ve given her so far!!

- I decided on combinations as her base layer as they were seen as younger/more casual/athletic, all of which im aiming for with this design. technically these are probably too plain for the era, especially if she was attending a girl's college/finishing school where sewing and adorning and the like would have been taught, but I wanted to keep the masculine energy so I figured some ruffly hems and blue ribbon was a good enough middle ground

- the color palette is inspired by several reproductions I’ve seen online as well as keeping with Edwin’s blue color motif/existing palette

- researching the corset took AGES so here’s a rundown: I wanted it to keep with the casual/sportswear look so I went with a sports corset, meaning it wouldn’t have any hard boning (it was just the hella reinforced material without the actual bones/metal), would have elastic at the sides, and would most likely be an overbust corset despite that not being the trend during the Edwardian era (for the most part/to my knowledge). the examples I was inspired by of sports corsets technically didn’t have visible garters, but literally every other corset I saw did and I can't imagine why sports corsets would have to have the more impractical thigh garters ??? surely you also want to keep your stockings up when running around ??? so I gave them to her anyway

- im keeping the socks/stockings the same as my other illustrations but honestly i struggled to find similar historical examples :/ surely someone at some point wore some heavy duty knit stockings, but maybe my idea of knit is just different from how knit garments, especially socks, were in the era ? regardless im keeping them like this, especially since Charlotte has pantyhose on and I feel like silk/cotton stockings would look too similar

- i went back and forth on a corset cover, but ultimately went without one bc 1. it gave me a more interesting way to pose her lol and 2. i couldn't tell if corset covers (and similar garments that went over top what we have here) would have been worn with athletic attire ? like I have her in bloomers in both of her outfits thus far so I figured no petticoat or slip, but early brassieres/corset covers/bust improvers/etc are just a big ??? from me

- a note on her hair: so if you look at all three of my illustrations of her you’ll see that her hair is totally consistent and while I can try to say that’s intentional it’s really just bc I keep going back and forth on little details about it. for example, in the first illustration her ears are completely exposed vs in the second they’re mostly covered—the exposed ears read as more butch to me but also would’ve been pretty inappropriate and I wasn’t sure if that’s an area would Edwina would rock the boat too much, hence me going back on it in the second illustration. also, I’ve gone back and forth several times before on it her hair is actually cut short or if it’s worn in a faux/“nervous” bob (which I just learned that name for lmao). on one hand, having it actually cut short is 100% more butch and leans into the practical/athletic vibes. on the other hand, it would be a drastic move for a repressed, bullied, 16 year old at an all-girls school to pull, plus it would put her ahead of the trend by several years. in the end, I think of it this way: the Edwin that we meet reads as effeminate to a modern audience, but 80% of that is through mannerisms, not direct costuming, and even what we do get from costuming is skewed bc we are a modern audience perceiving an Edwardian subject. so I figured sticking Edwina with traits she could wear as either masc or fem but chooses to wear bin a more masculine style would shorthand that sort of how-you-wear-it approach to gnc (plus I’ve been there done that when closeted so it felt extra fitting)

- that whole rant aside: I went with the faux bob but, in the name of her being in the process of getting ready, wanted to show it in a half-done state that we would never see Edwina in otherwise ! the idea with the undone side is that she’s taken out the rags she wore her curls in overnight (I don’t see her using heat but if she did it would be before this) but only tucked half up before putting her corset on. is that the actual order of how you would/should do this? fuck if I know. I also am not 100% certain if the curl pattern/hair density is accurate between one side of her head and the other, but without an exact reference this is the best you’re getting

- speaking of things being out of order, I do know that if you’re deciding to don a corset anytime soon, it’s best to put your shoes on beforehand! especially if they’re lace-up boots like our girl here wears, as bending over in a corset to tie them is not fun. thankfully, she’s in a sports corset so it wouldn’t be too bad, plus she has to step into her bloomers so I figured keep her in her socks was the right choice

- there’s a halfhearted attempt at a background here with some dark wood panelling and red/orange/brown tones thats honestly just me wanting some contrast/interest while also keeping it simple. we'll see if i do anything more complicated than that anytime soon lmao, these pieces take long enough as is !!

hopefully tumblr doesn’t fuck up the cut (again) so not everyone has to read all of this, but tysm to those of you who do!! I put a lot of thought and research into these pieces and love sharing what info I find so feel free to talk to me about any and all of it !!!! and hope you enjoyed ofc

[ladyluscinia]

Ok so I was talking to @brigdh in this post about how Lily being a secret affair Zweig baby doesn't really compel me due to reasons BUT I do think rolling around the timeline more has given me an even better idea of how all the pieces can fit together so. Thoughts.

The Facts: In 2011 Atlanta (mid-late July) Tashi and Art are engaged with an unconfirmed length of time until the wedding (but the US Open Series is 7 weeks so certainly late-September is the earliest calendar availability), Art is on a winning streak toward the US Open that he will fail at some point after this, and Tashi and Patrick hook up (not realizing Art sees them together for a moment before they vanish). Lily is an unconfirmed age but can't have been conceived more than a few months out from this point, since if Tashi got pregnant in Atlanta that would put Lily a few months past 7 at New Rochelle.

Now, the timing here is a bit odd for several reasons. Tashi strikes me as pretty neutral on motherhood in her 20s/early 30s era. Like if she really didn't want a kid she wouldn't have one. She's not a bad mom. But at the same time she does have her mom in their entourage to do most of the childcare and is actively fuming about her husband wanting to retire to spend time with his family, so, like, I think you can reason motherhood fulfillment wasn't an urgent need for her (especially since waiting until Art's sports career 30s retirement would have been fairly normal behavior? I could easily see her actively wanting a kid when it becomes less a "not now" and more "not ever" decision, too). Art clearly wanted a kid, and that's exactly the kind of thing that couples vaguely discuss before engagement to make sure they are compatible.

It's just that, well, trying for a kid during your engagement is odd. Accident baby is a possibility, but Tashi has lots of money, access to birth control, and a highly regimented health and nutrition team living in her family's pocket and probably designing their life health plan + daily medication and supplement intake like a normal person could never dream of. It can always happen but like. The odds. So I don't see her getting pregnant in Atlanta in the first place (and as previously mentioned don't find Lily being Patrick's narratively interesting enough to one-in-a-million the whole thing either 🤷‍♀️).

What does happen in Atlanta? Art's first mental wobble.

He doesn't win the 2011 US Open despite being the favorite to do so. Knowing Art and the whole Art/Tashi/Patrick mess he probably got into his head, slipped into a downward spiral, and imploded dramatically. Tashi would have complicated feelings about that but also, crucially, she did just cheat on him with Patrick and even though she doesn't think he knows... Maybe it's possible she feels a bit guilty for the cheating and a bit more guilty for the undeniable possibility that she somehow threw off Art's game due to vibes or a distracted coaching slip up or something. Maybe this is complicated by their upcoming wedding which was going to be a celebration and turns into a consolation prize, and how this kind of loss cannot be good for Art's inferiority complex about how she is really bad at reassuring him she does love him.

Maybe Tashi is lying in bed just before the wedding or on their honeymoon or even on their actual wedding night and she's been thinking about Patrick and Art and how to say I'm sorry and I still love you without acknowledging she did anything wrong for days, you know, and maybe she finally decides this is the best idea she's got.

And then maybe she turns to Art (silent in the dark) and says, unprompted, "Let's not wait. Let's have that baby now."

[eyeballth3vampire]

Ok so, since I keep seeing no one talk abt her uh… don’t mind me, I’mma just rant abt Cherri bomb and stuff bc why not >:]

Cherri Bomb imo, should’ve had A LOT more to her design and I mean A LOT

Now although Cherri’s design is not as bad as the others (well her Design is decent ‘ish but just rarely), ever since I first saw her design I always felt underwhelmed by her design especially now.

There isn’t really much to say other than the usual colors blend in problem and such

But imo I find this redesign to be quite lazy because this literally just her design in the Addict Video, and I just wonder, why? Could viv not think of anything creative when redesigning her after the addict video? I ask bc there is literally so many ways viv could’ve made Cherri’s design to look very cool and unique! Like yea, I know this is viv who we’re talking Abt and her creativity can only go oh so far BUT STILL!!!

“But Kat! What could viv add/change Cherri’s design to make her more ‘unique’?? After all you can’t change perfection-“

DON’T. TEST ME.

Like I said there are literally MANY GODDAMN WAYS viv could’ve made her design more unique! Infact, I can literally share some ideas I have / things that would’ve made her design better

1. Literally changing her Outfit.

Like do I even have to explain????? Her outfit is absolutely hideous and imo doesn’t suit her like AT ALL. Her Outfit is literally a bunch of ripped clothes with the most atrocious colors I’ve ever seen. Her outfit would’ve honestly been more cooler if she had Punk attire! It would Honestly fit with her personality really well! Like REALLY REALLY well! And if viv doesn’t know how to design characters with punk attire then there are LITERALLY endless amounts of references of punk outfits that viv could use when she was designing Cherri and these images are not just any references of punk fashion but rather punk fashion that was LITERALLY FROM THE 1980S!!! Y’know, THE ERA SHE DIED IN??

HECK, THIS OLD REDESIGN I DID OF CHERRI (that I plan on updating after I finish making this post with a bunch of other redesigns I’m doing) CAN LITERALLY BE AN EXAMPLE ON HOW PUNK CAN FIT CHERRI’S PERSONALITY REALLY WELL!!

LITERALLY THESE ALT OUTFITS SHE WORE IN HER LONG GONE INSTA ACCOUNT ARE ALSO GREAT EXAMPLES OF THAT TOO!

If viv used one of these outfits as her main one that would’ve been fine too! Like yea I would at first question why viv chose one of these outfits but other than that I wouldn’t be as pissy as I am with what we got bc it fits her character.

2. Make her have doll elements or som idk

Ok. I know what y’all are gonna say.

“Kat. Why do you want Cherri Bomb to be a doll? Velvet’s literally right here.”

Uh huh, I know that but like hear me out on this

I feel like Cherri being a literal doll could honestly work imo! Heck, if Cherri was a doll, the weird anatomy she has can literally go in viv’s favor! Since dolls most of the time don’t really have realistic bodies, like literally look at this thing if ya don’t believe me

But jokes aside, I do genuinely think it would be an awesome idea! I mean there are literally many dolls out there (even dolls from her era too), that viv can use as references if Cherri was gonna be a doll too! Cherri can literally be a punk rebellious version of Barbie for all I care (I mean like cmon are you gonna tell me that wouldn’t be so cool?)

She doesn’t even have to be specifically a doll either if viv didn’t want make her one, she can literally be an action figure too! (Unfortunately I can’t show anymore images bc I’m a the limit for adding photos in one post but hopefully you get idea)

3. GIVE HER A DIFFERENT FUCKING COLOR PALETTE FOR FUCKS SAKES!!11!1!

Blah blah blah Cherri’s palette as mentioned before in this post sucks!

But the thing that bugs me most in her color palette is literally the gradients in Cherri’s hair

Like every time I saw Cherri pop on screen in the hh pilot (and I do apologize if I sound dumb), the gradients on her hair would change ALOT to the point it kinda felt inconsistent…

The only time the gradients in Cherri’s hair felt consistent was in the addict video but that was only bc viv had to LITERALLY SIMPLIZE her hair so the animators wouldn’t have an hard time animating her god damn hair (kinda wished she did the same with the rest of the designs but oh well)

And that’s all I could think of (for now), if anything I can prob just make reblog to add on to this post, Uh Ty for reading this critical rant post thingy I have going on, I’mma go to bed it’s literally 3am for me rn at the time of making this and uh idk bye ig

[kinmokusei-stars]

I've had these two planned for ages, and they're pretty relevant characters to Kouko's past, so let me introduce you to Sakura and Toshii! It's a simple drawing, but I just needed a small reference for them! ⸜(*ˊᗜˋ*)⸝

(Long description below, beware LMAO)

Remember how in that one drawing of anger-era Kouko, I mentioned a close friend dragged her out of her blind rage and taught her everything she knows about how to stay mellow? That guy was Sakura, a sleepy wandering monk just a couple years older than her, who ended up becoming a travelling partner of hers!

And a character who hasn't been mentioned much yet, is Toshii! The second travelling partner she had, and a skilled archer and hide trader. These two and Kouko were a travelling party for a long while there, taking on odd jobs to earn a living and picking up life skills along the way. Their time together only ended after a rift formed between two of them that Sakura couldn't mend.

They all became friends when Kouko was seeking training and vegence, with Sakura being the one to offer her to come with him and Toshii, who were already a duo. He was mostly going around helping with fighting aggressive demons and assisting with healing, while Toshii was learning quickly how to survive on the road and becoming skilled at archery and hunting. They were essentially an inseparable trio for ages, with Sakura being a supportive older brother figure, and Toshii and Kouko being a pair.

Sakura helped Kouko rein in her anger and taught her how to handle it in a more productive way, channeling it through physical training to grow stronger, and hobbies like cooking and refining her swordfighting. When he got too tired to walk (which was more often then you'd think), once Kouko got strong enough, she'd carry him on her back, piggyback style.

And Toshii was actually Kouko's first love. Toshii brought a positive spontaneity into her life and her playful mischievousness balanced out Kouko well in the somber time she was in. They were young and smitten for a while there. They'd play wrestle and throw silly jabs at eachother, but they couldn't last forever, and after a realization about Toshii's true identity, Kouko lashed out and broke things off immediately. Her and the two went their seperate ways, even if Sakura did his best to ease her mind and keep the group together, the damage was already done, and it was an extremely deep betrayal.

Nowadays, they don't run into eachother often, but Kouko thinks fondly of Sakura and holds nothing against him. And though she's settled down in the recent years, there's a lingering bitterness she feels to Toshii for lying to her.

When they do run into eachother, Sakura and Kouko hit it off like nothing happened, and she happily carries him on her back when he starts to doze off, with much more ease than before. He never stopped being her brother figure LMAO

She doesn't speak to Toshii. And even if Toshii respects her boundary, she's admittedly still hung up on her, especially seeing that nowadays Kouko is much more confident and happy then she was when they were together.

They eventually make up, but that's WAY down the line. They become friends again once they finally sit down and overcome their past problems. (Even if Toshii admittedly would have some, thankfully lighthearted, beef with Inuyasha.) Kouko doesn't have any romantic feelings for her by then, but she's finally able to look back on their past without the bitterness that hung over it, and they can be a friendly trio again, even if they're not with eachother all the time like they were before.

They're mostly side characters, but they're still relevant enough that I wanted to share them! Especially because I love Toshii's design so much LMAO I had a clear vision for her from the start. (๑˘︶˘๑) I likely won't draw these two often, but they might pop up from time to time! I have a silly drawing including Sakura I'll either post tonight or tomorrow!

(This description was a behemoth, it was such a pain LOL I might go back through and try to edit a tiny bit more after a bit)

[h0neysuckleblue]

fem!William cosplay

In honor of sherliam week 2023, I'm gonna start posting about my plans for a hopefully historically-accurate cosplay of William! :D

i'm planning on designing 4 outfits: professor, noblewoman day wear, noblewoman evening party wear, and traveling wear. I'm probably going to be actually making one of the first two or both. I could also throw in a teagown, loc outfit (though i honestly think it would just be the same as canon anyways?), sleepwear, specific design for undergarments, etc, but we'll see if i'm still interested in that later

when I first came up with the idea sometime in july or august, because i am such a historical costume girly, i was like, so i would do a male one except i know that i would never wear it outside of the cosplay, which would be a waste of my money and limited energy. So, i decided to just do a female adaptation of his canon character design and made a ~1878-1879 corset, with plans to make combinations (for that sweet sweet in-character practicality), corset cover, etc. Then, as i was working on the design, i ended up coming up with a whole au/justification for an actual female ver. of william that was publicly known in-universe as a woman who identified as such with the og william also being publicly known as a girl, because if he was still a boy, then f!william would have had to cross-dress. Also, if anything i'm saying is irl historically wrong, i'm literally begging for you to tell me and forward resources about what im wrong about.

So, essentially, in the 1860-70's, specifically including ~1876 - 1879, there doesnt seem to be as much popularity towards women being highly educated through universities or being teachers at universities as it is in the later victorian era, though there already has been precedent set for a couple decades of women graduating from college. So, if a female william (f!william for short) was a well-off and decently mid-high ranking noble lady from a family with an earl/count title, it could be presumed that trying to be a "perfect noble" (wo)man would not involve being more noticeably progressive in such an eye-catching manner. However, considering that in canon william doesnt try to downplay his intelligence at all publicly, given that he is known as a mathematical genius who graduated and became a professor at a very unusually young age, even f!william would probably be stubborn enough to fully go for it and achieve the same results, with a lot more opposition from strangers. Admittedly, a woman would not have been allowed to attend Eton, because it's all-boys, and being titled a professor means that you've been hired as a professor at a university, and i imagine it'd be hard to get a bunch of likely sexist-ass old men to hire a young woman as a professor, but let's say she did manage to do it, especially with the backing of a respectable noble family name. So that means she's a ~19 y/o publicly-known-as-21 y/o to ~23 y/o publicly-known-as-25 y/o who is going to be starting to teaching mostly young men, who are almost entirely well-off to noble status, in ~1874-1878. That's the tail-end of the first bustle era and in 1876 the natural form era starts until early 1880's. So i looked at a lot of fashion plates and extant garments from this general time period to get a sense of both eras to design a dress that was first made during the first bustle era to be fashionable to that time that was then retailored to fit the natural form era's fashionable silhouette but also not being too fashion-forward since i dont think she would try to keep up with that more than necessary as it isnt her priority, because it's possible, even likely, for f!william to be more practical/frugal by choosing to have an "older" outfit retailored to fit a new era's style than have an entirely new outfit made. Side-note, there is practically no way to pass off the button-up shirt collar design as a historically-accurate fashionable lady's collar, so dont @ me about that. Currently, this is the design i've settled on for the professor design, which would be worn while teaching at Durham uni and possibly also as daywear on the days she has to go to work there.

the dominating collar scheme for all the daywear options is brown, and while i could have used more red in accordance with the canon red tie and eyes, i again know that my wardrobe doesnt do red, so that wasnt really a choice in terms of the main body of the dresses if i want to be able to wear any of it normally. This one also needs to have the color layer updated. For the professor outfit, I was keeping in mind a relatively simple/modest design- for a noble lady- but especially in the back where male students would probably see a lot of (since she would be also writing on the blackboard), because anything too complicated or eye-catching could be "distracting". i didnt want to make it too modest because the students and coworkers are also of similar social class to f!william, so there is some expectation of dressing well for her station but also not being too distracting for the young male students :/ i'm still considering toning the design down more, but im not sure how....

this is what i have for the normal noble lady daywear, hopefully appropriate year-round because i dont feel like designing a new outfit for like all 4 seasons. since it was by far more fashionable for women to wear brighter/lighter colors (usually more adorned by trims in matching/accenting solids rather than patterns for any time of year) during this time if it wasn't winter, in which case it would be dark but still rich colors, i made the browns a lot lighter to compensate for the fact that i'm trying to a. keep close to canon design and b. again, i want to be willing to actually wear it normally, so no reds or pinks as a main part. the big red ribbon will just be tacked on lightly so i can take it off when i'm not cosplaying. I also try to incorporate more of the pressed pleats trims as a nod to william's whole thing about perfectionism, precision, and preparation, as well as him being a math nerd, but like that also ties into the... 3 P's?? so *shrugs*. I also just love the trains of the natural form era so of course I had to add that here, where i can go wildly unpractical, in comparison to the professor one, which does have to account for a good bit of walking by foot across campus and possibly through town. this is also subject to change, but i like to think it's mostly set in stone here.

i also designed a black coat as a noblewoman adaptation of the one william wears in canon, which you can see him wearing when he and albert are at adam whitely's park opening speech. I'm not entirely sure about the exact nature and design of the embellishments, but its probably going to be some amalgamation of beadwork and embroidery. i'm actually also going to be making this, straight up because i want a black coat anyways lol. too bad it's not in time for this years winter. i didnt actually draw out the design for the hat but i was planning on a black base hat with brown and red decorations to tie it to any of the daywear clothes, including the coat, and maybe with a sheer white veil in the back? that was in fashion like during at least the mid 1870's. I'm also adapting the cane to an umbrella/parasol. while it'd make more sense to be a delicate litle parasol, i already have a normal-sized black umbrella with a silver metal handle, so that's like a perfect prop that mimics the dark wood cane with a metal handle that william uses in canon, though my umbrella doesn't have a sword hidden in it haha.

also, as a fun aside, in 1873, there was a brief trend for women to wear a ribbon choker that tied in the back with long tails as an evening wear accessory. so this is a sketch of a painting's outfit, dont remember the name though, that was painted in that year. Correction, I just saw that I wrote it down and its name is “Too Early”. I couldn't help but think up a fun little au of an au where f!william, who would be 18 y/o publicly-known-as-20 y/o, was at a ball and sherlock, male or female? (though i think a female sherlock would be kind of weird considering his canon bias that women are emotional, not as logically intelligent, and delicate :/), was also dragged there by mycroft or something when he decided?? to briefly visit england instead of presumably??? staying at whatever college he was studying at in paris. So, i was originally thinking that it would be such a cool image of sherlock lightly grabbing the tail ends of a red ribbon choker that f!william was wearing with a similar vibe as that sherliam manga vol. 14 cover art, as william turns to look over her shoulder at sherlock. But then, i obviously had to justify it to myself, so i came up with the whole above scenario and i guess they ended up meeting and becoming interested in each other a la canon but earlier and at some point in the night, william was teasingly staying (physically) one step ahead of sherlock and the image is when sherlock finally managed to catch william.

so i guess i'll post updates as i go? i'm definitely estimating this to be a year(s)-long project, considering all the research, patterning, and sewing i'll be doing. i'm also planning on doing a photoshoot with the cosplay when i'm done, so i'll be posting those whenever i have them ready.

edit: I just briefly skimmed a little of the history of female scholars, and apparently the first one to become a professor during the Victorian era is credited to Edith Morley, in 1908 at the age of 33, though there were some other women who also attended a male-dominated college around the same time as her in the 1890’s. Thus, for f!william to have been able to get that professorship or even attend and graduate from a college with a proper degree ~1869-1873, that would have been seen as even more extremely radical, which would have made her stick out in high society in a way that would make it harder to convince targets like lord Enders that she was similarly elitist and a “proper” noblewoman. She also would have had to convince both count Rockwell, her guardian, and the college itself to allow her to attend at ~14 y/o publicly-known-as-16 y/o and maybe even graduate with a proper degree, probably through a lot of machinations on her part, not to even mention being a professor. The only advantage to be found is that she’s seen as a noble, so there is some influence to exert to match male-dominated college chairs.

[speedbooster]

Journey Through Archie Sonic - Part 2

The Rest of the Original Mini-Series

Making this a bit later than I intended, but life gets in the way sometimes-

Anyways, like I said a few days ago, I'm going to try to make this a weekly thing. If you wanna read the previous part just click the 2nd tag and you'll find it pretty easily.

This is going to be a bit disjointed until I can figure out a better way to do this, but that's enough stalling I think. So without further ado, let's jump right back in!

Sonic the Hedgehog Mini-Series #1 - Mar. 1993

This is honestly a pretty sick cover. I've never really been a fan of the western designs they used back then, especially with the stupid mohawk they gave Sonic which just looks wrong to me, but the way Robotnik is drawn here is... kinda awesome. He's very imposing, his hands reaching out to grab him while Sonic speeds off with Sally in his arms, not looking the least bit worried while the Princess is clearly not as certain they'll be making it out.

Solid cover. 8/10

Similar to the last issue, this is broken into a four issues in two parts. The first dealing with Sally trying to get herself roboticized so they can figure out how it works, and the second dealing with... fish.

Not going to summarize too much, but I do wanna go over a few things;

1: Apparently Robotnik is... actually a robot here??

Obviously, that doesn't stay the case since... well, that becomes an entirely separate character, but it's still really confusing to me because... he doesn't look like one?

Maybe they just mean he's a cyborg? Cause that would actually make sense given his design.

Idk, it's weird

2: Sonic, what the hell does that mean??

I mean, it's probably a reference to "Sonic Twosday," the promotional event they did in America for the release of Sonic 2, but it feels kinda forced-

3: WELL MAYBE IF YOU HAD EXPLAINED YOUR PLAN TO YOUR ENTIRE TEAM INSTEAD OF WORDING YOUR PROCLAMATION LIKE YOU WERE A COMPLETE IDIOT THINGS WOULD'VE WORKED OUT DIFFERENTLY

Like unless I missed something, there is literally no reason she couldn't have told them. They weren't being watched by Robotnik, and she left a note telling them she was planning to meet with him to discuss Robotnik returning the kingdom to her, so she could've just told them her plan, and asked them to retrieve her boots afterwards so they could've figured out how to undo it, but NOOOOOO

I get that this is during the gag era days and I shouldn't take this that seriously, but this genuinely irks me... so much.

#4: Sonic can not only swim but breathe underwater

Not going to give them too much flack for this, since this was still very early days... but it still feels wrong.

He also later on starts running out of air during a fight, and continues to talk which hurts my brain, but he does get it back by swallowing an air bubble, which is neat.

5: If this actually comes up in the main series, I will be very impressed

This could earn them at least 10 brownie points.

But that's it for Issue #1. Still a decent read despite my frustrations with the first story, though I think #0 was way funnier. Like no Swat Bots dancing in the fire this time, not as many dumb sign gags. You can really tell they were still trying to figure this out.

Anyways, time to move on to-

Sonic the Hedgehog Mini-Series #2 - Apr. 1993

This cover's alright. Doesn't really tie into anything going on in the story (At least the last issue had Sonic saving Sally, even if she didn't want to be saved), and the background is a little bland. But it's eye-catching and definitely has some charm to it.

I'll give it a C-

The story here is probably my favorite out of the whole mini, as this time we've got a story that spans all four parts of the issue, and has some nice attention to continuity which I did NOT expect.

The premise here is that Sally is about to be crowned Queen (kinda), hoping to use the magic of the emeralds atop her father's crown to keep them safe and maybe help defeat Robotnik.

Interesting that we're introducing yet another set of powerful gems here. I'm really curious to see if these come back later on.

Anyways, this is probably the only major issue I have with this story-

Whomst the shock are all these guys??? Since when does Antoine have anyone under his command?? Isn't like... the entire joke about him at this point that he's really full of himself but can't do anything right??? And literally every other issue in this mini has it be JUST Sonic's group in Knothole, so where did they even come from???

Anyways, the pig turns out to be a spy from Robotnik, who stole the Freedom Emeralds to scatter them around so they can't use them.

Also... apparently revealing you're a robot turns you purple??

(Insert William Afton joke here)

After this, the pig tries to blow them all up, but Sonic saves them with that bit of continuity I mentioned before.

They're actually referencing one of those joke pages from Issue #0, and they continue to do so throughout the rest of the mini. I really like this! It turns a one-off gag into actual lore, making it serve the purpose it was meant to by showing off his different levels of speed.

So now, Sonic has to team up with the other Freedom Fighters in each part to get the emeralds back. He technically worked with Sally in the first part, and now he's forced to work with Antoine here, Tails in part three, and technically Rotor in part four (though really he just repairs the crown after Sonic gets all the gems back). Still, it's a great set up, and it leads to two jokes that got small a chuckle out of me.

The first one being-

... like I wanna hate it, but I just can't. Especially with how Antoine is completely unaware of it for the rest of this issue. He genuinely was so lost in his own head that he never thinks twice about it.

And the second is during a revisit to that underwater cave from last issue (Meaning that either this is a different Chopper or they're never going to follow up on his report... which is sad)

Like I'd normally be questioning how they drew all that with only a green marker (when there's not even green on Sonic yet), but the "I should've noticed they only had four fingers" line just gets me.

... yeah, if you can't tell I'm not the target audience for this. I think way too hard about this stuff, so books that are just trying to have fun rarely work for me. But this is what won the poll-

Still I am enjoying these more than I thought I would. Even when the jokes don't land, they're usually so charming in the way they're told that I don't care.

There are a few more bits from part IV I wanna bring up that I liked.

Namely, RETURN OF THE STUPID SIGN GAGS

I missed you so much

Also, very cursed Sonic on the right there. Somehow they only miscolored one of his arms, and I hate it. But that's old comics for you-

AND THEY SOMEHOW DO IT AGAIN

And yet, I don't care because the swag on this Swat Bot as he deploys the trap is so funny to me. He even rhymes with Sonic's quip as he turns around to mock him! I love this guy!

I'm going to headcanon this is the same guy who was dancing in the fires of Uncle Chuck's chili dog stand in Issue #0. I shall dub him... Steve. Swat Bot Steve. My new favorite character.

Finally to end the issue we have this page which is just-

I mean do I even have to say anything? It's perfect.

He even popped in from underneath the usual THE END! thing on the last page so he could go on this rant. I love it

Finally, the last issue of the mini-

Sonic the Hedgehog Mini-Series #3 - May. 1993

This cover is... charming, I guess. Very Looney Tunes-esk, but still kinda... eh-

It gets ⭐⭐

This issue is also just kinda weird. The first two parts are extremely confusing-

Sonic gets cornered by Robotnik, falls off a cliff, and then has what I can only assume is a bizarre dream caused by a concussion because... I mean-

We start off with this, Robotnik curses him and his Uncle which then causes-

... I am so shocking lost rn. This doesn't even make any sense with the context from the rest of the issue

Chuck adopts Ivo after he loses his parents, and we get... this cursed thing.

I hate him. I hate looking at him. Please make him go away-

He steals some parts from Chuck's tractor, which causes him to nearly get run over by it, which he decides to blame Chuck for, even after his robots rat him out.

... I feel like Robotnik just invented a new form of cursing.

So he decides to make a mech out of every appliance in the house, Sonic beats him, and makes me even more confused as to how Chuck was responsible for any of this when the only thing he did was adopt him.

... I'm just gonna blame it on the concussion and move on.

The second story features Sonic pretending to be roboticized by wearing a bear trap on his face so he can trick Robotnik to do... something. I actually don't know what the plan was-

Something made even worse by the fact that both Sonic and Sally decide to trick Tails into thinking it's real, which he then decides to spread the word by making his own newspaper.

This feels completely unnecessary, and as it turns out-

IT ABSOLUTELY WAS

I can appreciate that Robotnik gave Sonic the job the Buzz Bomber wanted, and Sonic's little line here but like... WHY TRICK TAILS INTO SPREADING THE WORD IF YOU WERE JUST GONNA WALK RIGHT UP TO HIS FRONT DOOR SONIC!?!?

Like... poor little buddy did nothing wrong, and he gets to believe his hero turned on them for literally no reason.

Robotnik decides to test Sonic's loyalty by having him check out an alert at one of his factories, where we see a "Robot Chuck" being forced to make Crabmeats.

Now I was going to complain about this, especially since we later see Muttski who is DEFINITELY a robot-

But again, this is another way of showing continuity between issues. This is how Chuck looked in Issue #0, so this is how he looks here. And since I know this does get fixed in the actual series itself, I can give it a pass. It's at least staying consistent with its... inconsistency.

Anyways, Sonic runs back to Robotnik and tricks him into blowing up a Buzz Bomber Factory by telling him it was the coords for Knothole village, we get this little one liner as Buzz Bomber morns the loss of his entire family and Sonic leaves a bear trap on Egghead's rear, and that's the end of the mini series.

[FINIS]

Overall, this was a fun read even if it was kind of a mixed bag. Issue #1 kinda sucked, this issue was all over the place, but Issues $0 and #2 were a really good time, and gives me hope that this might not be as much of a slog as I was expecting

Next week, I start on the actual series. Hoping to tackle at least four issues, but we'll see how that goes. Thanks for sticking with me through this very long post.

Catch you on the flip side!

[chocodile]

Lmao just know I'm brainrotted and am mentally making both my Xatts Anthros but more animal aligned than anthro Xatts cause Xep is based on a hare in my mind so I wanna turn her into a gangly limbed uncanny hare freak (lovingly) with stupid big ears who just generally has major something is very very wrong with her vibes and probably delights in torture and maiming like a little freak and would growl at Hayden ears pinned back in aggression showing, sharp back teeth that definitely probably shouldnt be there if he looked at the rabbit Xatt anthro too long.

Meanwhile sweet bun Xatt is stuck with this terrifying lanky maniac and is just shaped smaller squishy and ever so soft and fluffy with such delicate gentle paws and a light step. And Xep just wants to dress her up and admire her prize. But also probably has something a bit wrong with her as well. What exactly idk but probably don't get caught snooping somewhere you shouldn't by her. Cause I like the oh a cute lil lady <3 - oh there's something wrong with her actually. Maybe magic idk like I like the idea of powers especially darker magic making her perhaps just as deadly as the maniac hare.

Cause both being Xatts they're both dangerous just in slightly different ways bun is a cutesy lure with the unexpected jaw while Xep is cunning and moreso hunts and I think that'd translate over making them both deadly in different ways. They probably have some sort of work deal pact, not sure what or why I like them being in a fucked up partnership cause dynamic. Bound by blood. I'm just so brain rotted and so normal about this XD with so many mental images of art I'll never make but oof I wanna. I just thought you had a right to know your hayden world stuff urg it consumes me I love thinking about it its so fun.

Also I just like uncanny Valley hare lanky wrong and unnerving paired with a small fluffy and trustworthy bunny rabbit. Like the brain is vibrating at mental imagery of that the opposites the cute correct adored and the terrifying incorrect feared, always kind of bound to the other inseparable almost. Idk I can't fully explain it but thoughts go BRRR

In regards to the designs, any proportions you wanna draw them with are totally fine! You can draw 'em anthro with human proportions and clothing, you can draw them quad, you can draw 'em like Bugs Bunny and anything in between. Xatts can come in many shapes and sizes! A long gangly uncanny one sounds cool.

Also, having something "wrong" with 'em and a slightly ominous streak is very much in character for Xatts...they tend to be a little odd and feral at the best of times--it's mostly a matter of what their individual "bad" percentage is and how good they are at controlling it.

Also, your description of your two as a tag team sounds very endearing! I'll keep that in mind when I do your Xatt sketches… (still planning that, just catching up on stuff and in a bit of a digital art slump at the moment)

In regards to Hyden's reaction, I can certainly say he'd be rather creeped out by a Xatt. Once the surprise wore off, though, he'd be fascinated by this strange, new, potentially magical creature… careful, Xep, don't let him get you on the dissection table!

In the current version of the Amaranthine story, Xatts aren't canonically present--they're more of a free-floating monster idea that could be plugged into any setting--but they were originally part of Amaranthine back in 2009.

In the original 2009-era backstory for Xatts, they were born from the Shadow. Given that Hyden was the one who released the Shadow upon the world in the first place, that would have made him their accidental "father", in a way.

The connection between the two isn't canon anymore, but just a fun little bit of trivia. :)

[mahounomanga]

Mai (a.k.a. Mai, the Psychic Girl)

I am extremely grateful to live in a time where English translations of manga are as accessible as they are. There are plenty of titles I either plan to cover on this blog, or have covered already, that would not have been accessible to me just fifteen years ago. Even if we're only talking about official releases, we are in an era when I can walk into my local Barnes & Noble and buy volumes of semi-recent magical girl titles like Cosmo Familia, Machimaho, and Nirvana. Today I want to take a look back to the beginning of that legacy, and examine what was probably the first magical girl manga ever to get an official English release.

Mai is a 1985 manga written by Kazuya Kudo and illustrated by Ryoichi Ikegami. The story revolves around Mai Kuju, a 14 year old girl with powerful psychic abilities, especially psychokinesis. At first she mostly uses her powers to amuse herself when bored; however, she catches the attention of the Wisdom Alliance, a shadowy organization tracking young psychics worldwide. Mai is one of five teens the Wisdom Alliance has taken an interest in, and once she realizes she's being followed, she has no choice but to go on the run. Encountering danger at every turn, Mai accepts help from those willing to offer it, but when the going gets tough, the tough get psychic.

The story is highly serialized, gradually building on itself and undergoing major status-quo changes along the way. Usually these changes have to do with who Mai's allies are at any given time. One of the things that stands out to me about this manga is the number of people who come to Mai's aid. Ordinarily this kind of character-trying-to-escape-from-a-myserious-group story carries a message of "trust no one", and I was honestly glad to see that subverted here. These supporting characters (usually) don't detract from Mai's story, but reinforce her as the emotional core of the narrative. Oftentimes, Mai's reaction to the events unfolding around her are given as much focus as the events themselves, especially early on. I found this series more compelling than I expected, and even with a chapter count higher than any other manga I've read for this blog yet, it was decently easy to get through. It helps that the chapters were short and well-paced. Lavishly detailed panel compositions draw out the action in some scenes and sell the more tender moments in others.

Not everything about this manga is great though. A content warning is in order for violent and erotic imagery. The violence is used sparingly, and it often conveys the emotional impact and stakes of the narrative, but still, the headsplosions felt unnecessary and caught me off guard. The horny stuff is generally pretty tame, but it does show up more frequently near the end. There's some occasional nudity and inevitable panty shots during the flying scenes, which, whatever, but Mai sustaining outfit damage during the final battle felt completely uncalled for. The political implications of this story are a bit messy as well. Not just in the sense of dated gender relations and gender stereotyping (though there is plenty of that too). The Wisdom Alliance alludes to real-world political systems and historical events in ways that can be hard to parse what the author was implying. They even go so far as to draw comparisons to the Third Reich in terms of the amount of power the Wisdom Alliance holds, which feels questionable. Not to mention, there's some racial stereotyping going on with the psychic kids from other countries. Japanese and white characters in this manga are almost always drawn attractively and/or with realistic proportions, while the Mongolian and Vietnamese boys are... visually distinct let's say. Almost everything about the way they act and talk feels like it's designed to other them, and it's really uncomfortable to read honestly.

The series was co-created by Kazuya Kudo and Ryoichi Ikegami, with Kudo on writing duty and Ikegami drawing the manga. Both worked with Kazuo Koike early in their careers; Ikegami providing illustrations for Koike's 1973 manga I Ueo Boy, and Kudo being one of the first students of Koike's renowned story writing course, Gekiga Sonjuku, in 1977. Both men also worked predominantly in adult-oriented manga with dark and mature themes. From what I can tell, Kazuya Kudo never illustrated any manga, all his stories I know of were drawn by other artists, but he continued writing manga well into the 2000s. Mai is perhaps his best known work, though he is also remembered for Pineapple Army and Nobunaga, the latter of which was also illustrated by Ikegami. Ryoichi Ikegami has been making manga since age 17, and he is still active in the industry as of this writing. Like Kudo, he usually collaborates with other mangaka, drawing rather than writing. One of his earliest works was the 1970 Spider-Man manga co-written by Kousei Ono and Kazumasa Hirai. Three of the manga he drew for have been adapted into OVAs: Kizuoibito in 1986, Crying Freeman in 1988, and Sanctuary in 1996.

Mai was originally published in Weekly Shounen Sunday, a Shogakukan publication, from March 20, 1985 to April 2, 1986, for a total of 53 chapters. The series was reprinted by Shogakukan in six tankobon volumes between July 1, 1985 and July 18, 1986. Media Factory reprinted the series twice in the 2000s, first as three volumes between 2002 and 2003, then as two volumes in 2006. Most recently, Shogakukan published a digital version of the original 6 volumes on April 28, 2020.

But of course, that's only the manga's Japanese run. This series was also translated into Portuguese, Italian, Chinese, and most famously, Mai was among the first manga to be officially published in English. Viz Media collaborated with Eclipse Comics to release the series as Mai, the Psychic Girl from May 19, 1987 to July 12, 1988. Mai (, the Psychic Girl) would prove popular enough with western audiences to warrant multiple reprints, which Viz continued to handle after Eclipse went defunct in 1994. The chapters were compiled into four volumes in 1989 (this time by Titan Books), and a three volume Perfect Collection was published by Viz from 1995 to 1996. Such a widescale release at the dawn of the North American anime and manga boom means that this series is decently well-remembered, seemingly moreso in America than in Japan. (Though that could also have to do with the Japanese title being so nondescript it's difficult to search.)

In fact, Mai, the Psychic Girl was so beloved that there were talks of adapting the manga into a live-action film. This project languished in development hell for decades and ultimately wouldn't see the light of day, despite a script being written and a soundtrack being completed but never released. Over the course of the film's troubled and inconclusive production, it was worked on at different points by Sony, Columbia Pictures, Tim Burton, and Francis Ford Coppola, with Burton expressing interest in the project as recently as 2010. It's unlikely a Mai, the Psychic Girl film will ever happen now, but still, it's kind of a cool side note.

Anyway, back to the manga's English release. I had my concerns going into this, given some of the xenophobic attitudes of the time, and especially because of the tagline on the cover that reads "She is pretty. She is psychic. She is japanese." (Lowercase j? Really?) Thankfully the translation job doesn't seem to lean too heavily into that kind of orientalism. I don't have a secondary translation to compare it to, or a copy of the raw Japanese text, but at the very least the character names are unchanged and the localization team didn't try to hide that the story is mostly set in Japan, in contrast to later and more infamous localizations. There are some nods to American pop culture, such as Mai singing Walk Like an Egyptian by The Bangles in the first chapter, and cameos from recognizable cartoon characters like Snoopy, Garfield, and Mickey Mouse throughout, but from what I can tell, these were in the original. As far as I'm aware, there were only two visual edits made. One was a nude scene being removed from the initial run, which was restored in later printings. The other, and more substantial edit, is that the whole manga is "flopped", a term that refers to the mirroring of pages and panels. Flopping was a common practice in early manga localization given that Japanese books read right to left whereas English books read left to right. Weirdly enough, the flopping here seems a little inconsistent. There were a couple of times I caught details switching sides from one panel to the next. It's not egregious but it is noticeable.

No magical girl manga was officially localized in English before Mai. But I did specify at the beginning that this is probably the first magical girl manga ever to get an official English release. Which raises the question: is Mai even a magical girl manga in the first place? That's... debatable. I talked a little bit about psychic magical girls before in my post on Sennome-sensei, and I stand by the assessment I made in my initial post defining the boundaries of this project that the magic in a magical girl series doesn't have to be literal. It can instead derive from sci-fi or supernatural elements such as E.S.P., so long as the story otherwise meets the criteria of the genre, namely that the story is female led and driven by her using her powers. Therein lies the disconnect with this series. The number of supporting characters in Mai, the Psychic Girl is staggering. That's not a problem in and of itself, after all, many of these characters are pretty fun. Hands down my favorite is Intetsu, a university student with a big heart who might not be a full-on himbo but is at least himbo adjacent. But the sheer number of other characters means there are some chapters, particularly in the middle section, where Mai doesn't appear much. She's still the main character mind you, (no other character gets more focus, and the story manages to continue being about her even in her absence), but it's still a noticeable difference from other titles we've covered. It doesn't help that even when she does show up, there are a couple of stretches of time during which she refuses to use her psychic power to avoid inadvertently hurting anyone. All of this is without even taking into consideration authorial intent: i.e. I doubt the creators intended to make a magical girl manga. Mai, the Psychic Girl draws influence from a lot of different genres. It's an absolute kitchen sink of tropes ranging from martial arts and sword fights to international espionage and government conspiracies. If Kudo and Ikegami wanted to throw in a power trinket or a transformation, it would not have felt too out of place. And yet, this series does not contain any recognizable magical girl signifiers of the time, nor does it draw any influence I can identify from magical girl works that came before it. That's just not the kind of story they were trying to tell.

But despite everything I just said, there are plenty of moments in this manga that feel magical girl-esque somehow. There are certain narrative and visual cues that are not exclusive to the magical girl genre, but are still very prominent within it, which do show up in Mai in some capacity. For one thing, Mai has a puppy named Ron which spends so much time with her, he ends up developing latent psychic abilities of his own. This manifests as extrasensory perception of danger, which he uses to warn Mai of incoming threats, much like some mascot characters do in certain later magical girl works. Mai also has two best friends (named Yumiko and Rie) who are average schoolgirls from whom she has to keep her double life a secret. I was actually pleasantly surprised by how often they reappear in the story, as they and Mai genuinely care for one another, and their friendship very effectively establishes that despite her abilities and the danger she consistently finds herself in, Mai is an ordinary girl. Speaking of how Mai relates to others, the Wisdom Alliance eventually calls in one of the other teen psychics, a German girl named Turm Garten, to help eliminate Mai. A major story arch revolves around the one-sided rivalry between Turm and Mai, the latter of whom just wants to be friends, and it's very much evocative of the dark magical girl archetype. I also feel the need to point out that the series starts with Mai having a prophetic dream, something that jump starts the plot of a few high profile magical girl works. And lastly, we find out early on that in the Kuju family, psychic powers are passed down matrilineally. Mai comes from a long line of female protectors, and this revelation influences the way she thinks about her destiny.

Mai, the Psychic Girl is a mixed bag in just about every way. Some aspects of it are deeply artful, other aspects are atrociously tacky. There are things about it that have aged like milk, and yet it does boast some historical significance. I like it for what it is, even if it's not my usual cup of tea. It's not what one might expect from a magical girl manga, but if you enjoy magical girl stories, you might enjoy this.

[popculturebuffet]

Peanuts: Eggs Benedict for Spike, : A Character Analysis Charles Schulz 100th Birthday

So this review came about in part because of the strip above. This strip is from the comic Breaking Cat News By Georgia Dunn. It is awesome and I plan to cover what we have of it so far next year. Turns out this wasn't just one legend of their time honoring the grandfather of comic strips... practically every strip had a tribute for Schultz on this day and it's hard not to see why: Without peanuts we woudln't have comic strips as they are and it's hard to find a comic strip creator who hasn't mentioned Sparky as an influence in some way great or small. While there were many titans after him, again just see above or look at Calvin and Hobbes own massive influence on the genre among many others. So I felt even if it had to be a bit of a rush job as a critic who deeply loves and appricates comic strips I had to do something for the day. And I figured since Georgia showed her own love of Spike, I too should express why I love this character so much especially since many are either unaware he ever existed or if they are don't seem to like him for one reason or another. So this is my tribute to Spike an din turn Schultz brillance at creating characters. And trust me it's not the last time i'll touch peanuts. I have a LOT to say about peppermint patty too, but she has so many memorable arcs and moments their best covered on their own at some point. So for those who don't know who Spike is, no judgement; Spike is Snoopy's brother. He.. looks like this.

As someone who also frequently looks like he hasn't slept in a lifetime and has an unruly mustache, I naturally relate to him. Spike has a just great design: he looks like snoopy.. but Schultz made him lankier (though he becomes a tad less slim in later apperances), gave him that sweet fedora and of course gave him resting depression face.

Spike was first introduced in the mid 70's. The 70's might be my faviorite decade of peanuts, something I realized during my recent peantus frenzy when I figured out 80% of storylines I remembered, held dear and desperately searched for in a collection came from this era. Cherished stories for me such as Charlie Brown getting a baseball stitching shaped rash and wearing a sack on his head, instantly making him the president of camp, Peppermint Patty finally finding out Snoopy's "A Beagle?" and being unable to say anything else, Woodstock sending Snoopy a bill for a broken heart, Charlie Brown's brief stay in the hospital, Lucy throwing linus out only for Rerun to be born ruining her brother free plans, and of course Peppermint Patty meeting the little red haired girl.. and crying because the poor kid feels she'll never be that beautiful or loved. Some wonderful stuff happened here so it's no shock my faviorite character entered in this storied decade where Schultz was at his peak. As for how he simply entered visting Snoopy, with Snoopy happy to have him. It also had a rare human moment for Lucy, with her taking it upon herself to feed spike and fatten the guy up since he'd clearly last eaten last march. Granted she takes the tv out of the living room and gives him Linus' bed because Lucy, but it's still a kind act to a dog she barely knows whose related to a dog she barely tolerates on a good day. Spike would get a small arc after this returning to Needles, but clearly he caught on with fans , schull or both, so he'd return after. With this Spike would get fleshed out, having his own fantasy type existance but in his own setting. He was isolated from the rest of the cast and while he'd still visit, he was largely a one man act Schulz would bring out when it suited him. Spike is mostly seen alone with his cactus, holding clubs, talking to it, having fun, and ocasionlaly installing a window. It's a melancholy lot in life, which fits right in with our usual crew, and it's both played for pathos and inspriation to me. He lives a quiet life and can feel lonely, but yet makes the most of it: like his brother he has his fun with the life he was given. Sure he woudln't mind a warm house or bed, but he dosen't mind sleeping next to a cactus, having someone give him mickey mouse shoes or what have you. He's again relatable as I don't get out much, and osmetimes yo ujust have to find the best company in yourself you can. He's relatable in that we're all alone sometimes and sometimes you just have to accept yourself, how crappy thigns are and do your best to make them better. Spike is a simple dog, with a simple life... but he's a very good boy and deserves more love. .and to show up in adaptations more. Seriously spike it up. He's fucking majestic... and like his creator.. he's sorely missed.

[valkyrieblogs]

continuing my second playthrough of 13 sentinels: aegis rim in an attempt to do more analysis and character study. i FINALLY UNLOCKED HIJIYAMA AGAIN and write so very much about him and okino. i have so many feelings about them.

this time i’m covering:

nenji ogata (25% - 37%) (in which i talk a little about okino and manipulation)

2nd area shibugaki city 0002

tomi kisaragi (0% - 12%)

2nd area shibugaki city 0003

yuki takamiya (28% - 42%)

2nd area shibugaki city 0004

natsuno minami (25% - 37%)

2nd area shibugaki city 0005

nenji ogata (37% - 50%)

takatoshi hijiyama (14% - 28%) (in which i talk a lot about the shifting levels of trust between hijiyama and okino, okino's decision to let hijiyama back in when he would isolate himself from anyone else, hijiyama's fantasy when he recalls meeting kiriko for the first time, and in general talk so very much about their dynamic help)

nenji ogata (25% - 37%): escape failed

this time got the loop where ogata successfully stops kisaragi from getting on the train, and they run away... i love ogata just desperately asking everyone about the key, even wajima.

and then at the end when he meets okino again... him getting okino's attention when he says he doesn't care about the key, he just wants kisaragi to be safe. and how okino just takes that and realizes he can use it, force ogata to focus by saying that he can help kisaragi if ogata gets him the key. i love the way that he gets this information and completely uses it for his own benefit to manipulate him! it's so good. i'm sure he's thinking, again, that this is more efficient than just explaining to him. after all, we know okino is willing to overlook a lot if it means advancing his plans and getting one step closer to saving humanity. what's a little manipulation in the face of that? he's a person where i feel like the ends justify the means. not to the point of ida and his cruelty, but enough. (since we know that okino will eventually explain, if pressed. he would just prefer not to, especially if it's unlikely the person will understand or believe him.)

god, i forgot how short these loops were with ogata. it feels almost like a palette cleanser.

oh! and i finally unlocked kisaragi with this. at long last...

2nd area shibugaki city 0002:

hmm, i'd forgotten how the fourth generation sentinels were designed by okino after he'd had exposure to the deimos and had taken inspiration from their designs. god i love how okino reacts to it, though.

hijiyama: is that true?

okino: he makes it sound so cool. i was basically copypasting random design elements with no idea how it'd actually work.

i love how much okino being sloppy with coding and other design elements is just a recurring thing.

tomi kisaragi (0% - 12%): prologue

god i really love kisaragi being from what is essentially our era while she's looking around showa-era japan. her reacting to the phonebooth in particular is how i feel if i still see a rare one these days!

i love her absolute lack of tact when seeing ogata and his hair. treating this like it's an exhibit or a place she's going as a tourist, more than anything else! without regard for the people she's interacting with! we already know she has so little tact to begin with (it's one of the things i really like about her), but there's something about it coupled with how she's basically here as a sector 3 refugee, and how surreal all of it must be for her to see. no wonder she's even ruder than usual! i doubt any of it feels real to her.

also poor ogata when he also got this treatment from miura, too.

i find kisaragi's approach to age kind of interesting when this happens. in her head it's like everything's fossilized as it is in 2025, especially when she talks about the people in her class being old enough to be her mother. but i think it's just because she hasn't actually met them yet, so she can't conceptualize them as living, breathing people who are, in reality, just as old as she is. even the way she talks about her own age is interesting, though—that she doesn't know how old she is, technically. i guess because she's thinking that she wouldn't be born here, yet. it's so different from how i conceptualize it, where it's just like... well, you were 15 then, so you're obviously still 15 now. you're still you.

i'm actually kind of surprised that we don't really see tetsuya ida interacting with this kisaragi. i know part of it is because he's pretending he's dead after the sector 2 infection, but i honestly would've been curious to see him interact with her in some capacity when... here's kisaragi again, flesh and blood, a human. even if she's not his kisaragi. it would've been interesting! tetsuya ida encountering her, having to talk to her, see for himself that she's this real person, separate from his kisaragi, and likely still making the decision that no, he would have rewritten her data with his kisaragi's if given the chance. but also seeing these echoes of the kisaragi he used to know one loop ago, before explosions and lost data.

watching kisaragi interact with gouto here, and i keep thinking back to that moment in shinonome route where she tries to help shinonome get away from him. i keep wondering what motivates her to do that in that moment, if there's something in particular that makes her distrust him, other than his clear affiliation with shikishima.

god i love kisaragi thinking she can find leverage on shikishima in her school's library. her school which is also associated with shikishima. it's actually no wonder that ogata goes here, when i think about that.

i still really want to know how miwako, ogata, and kisaragi end up getting caught in this shift despite where they're located. i know that, at this moment, this is when sekigahara and shinonome are having a confrontation over at the shifter in the science room, and that's what causes all of them to accidentally shift to sector 3. but i really want to know what's up with this targeting. shinonome and sekigahara getting caught up in it makes sense to me, but the rest of them...

god, i really love them getting stranded in sector 3 like this. the survival element of it is so strangely cozy to me. having to scavenge for things, them camping out, trying to keep themselves safe while avoiding the deimos (or androids). it's so good.

2nd area shibugaki city 0003:

not too much to say about this one, since it's more just about the deimos evolving and expanding its reference data when creating more deimos... i do just appreciate okino still calculating during all of this, anticipating what may show up next based on the current evolution of deimos, and coming to the conclusion that they may end up facing other sentinels at this rate.

i do also just keep thinking about okino always being a bit cynical, if not still realistic. but i think that attitude is so interesting for him to have while for so long (after the sector 2 infection), he was working alone to save humanity. that he pushed through that nagging that i'm sure was at the back of his mind and yet, kept working on it anyway.

yuki takamiya (28% - 42%): girl with red glasses

not too much to say about this loop, so far... mostly a lot of retracing steps trying to get access to the girls' washroom.

it's surprising to me how 426 seems to intentionally hang back when miwako is present. while she did apparently spot him while he was in tamao's body, it wasn't automatically suspicious, but he's obviously careful. also how 426 kept his distance from ogata—and was right to do so, since he knows the real erika aiba!—when he shows up on the rooftop, making some feeble excuse that won't possibly work on takamiya.

and with this... i finally got the girl with red glasses ending, which means i finally unlocked natsuno again. after all this time!!

2nd area shibugaki city 0004:

once again, i love the fact that amiguchi used to be such a punk when he was younger, actively fighting alongside ogata. we know the reason for tetsuya ida's image change, but i wonder about amiguchi's, since he obviously had something that made him reconsider his behaviour. although he still hangs out with ogata. but we've heard before how he's at least tried to pare back on that behaviour, like ogata mentioned in a previous destruction mode where he talked about amiguchi trying not to steal bikes anymore.

natsuno minami (25% - 37%): my best friend's meddling

it's been so long since i've been able to play natsuno's route... i really appreciate that she's been running around trying to find miura since she got back to sector 4, even if we don't end up seeing it.

god i really like ogata, but i'm always so put off whenever he ends up making these more objectifying comments. like here, where natsuno is running away from the SIU, and he just gets so distracted by the idea of them undressing her to search her. or like how he was back at the locker room, too. i get he's 15/16 and all, but!! this is less a criticism and just my own preferences where i'm just not a fan of this. like, he still does the right thing and tries to help her, but!

i keep thinking about how i don't have too much to say about natsuno herself. i actually like her a lot, and i really like her route. i'm just less compelled by her as a character, so have less to say even though i enjoy her a lot.

2nd area shibugaki city 0005:

it's interesting to hear gouto talk about when he simultaneously piloted eleven sentinels in sector 2. especially since it sounds like he still could control them—it was just that their processes were influenced by the deimos, too. it makes me wonder exactly how that works? if in setting them to be more automated, it also gave universal control some level of control over them, even if it wasn't to the extent of the deimos. but then that makes it sound like similar things could've happened with the biped units preceding the sentinels, too. hm. maybe just because the sentinels in particular utilize D-code.

i also appreciate that kurabe quickly picks up what's going on, that he's clearly suspecting that these aren't just the automated sentinels that they lost. and that this is confirmed by okino post-battle, too.

oh hm, post-battle okino mentions again how he never intended to have the sentinels piloted directly, just like he does at the end of hijiyama's route when he realizes that they're in their growth pods. the other thing about the first generation sentinels that i find interesting that okino mentions here is that as a result, they have a less stable connection to their pilots than the other generations do. that's why they have limiters, since they were intended just to be autonomous.

GOD i love hijiyama hearing about this and immediately being so down to take off the limiter, even if it means it'll put more strain on him. he's just!! so willing to do what needs to be done to succeed in this situation, no matter the personal cost. i know i touched on this before, but i really believe that it's not that he doesn't value his life, he just values the lives of others more. and he is, at his core, very much a soldier. he's prepared for this!

okay, and with this... i'm locked out of destruction mode again until i advance amiguchi's story.

nenji ogata (37% - 50%): victims of poison

another loop... this time it's the one where shinonome appears, and ogata follows her.

it's interesting seeing him run into tetsuya ida here, given that he's never met him. it does make me wonder how all of this is being generated by ogata's brain. especially since this seems like a more sympathetic tetsuya ida for once, too. admitting that sekigahara and shinonome are just collateral damage. even seeming a bit sorry about it. but also how he has this really pessimistic view, even saying that "mankind was the cancer all along", which feels more in-line with 2188 shinonome's views.

yeah. i just really wonder where ogata's subconscious seems to be getting access to this information. especially since i think in one of the next loops is when he encounters 426, too. if it's maybe a result of how his innerlocitor works, and what it communicates with, and if that's where it's pulling some of this information from...

god i love how okino is still refusing to give ogata any answers. he's only really responding to confirm or deny if what he's looking for is the right thing (or the right people), and nothing else...

and with this... i've finally unlocked hijiyama. IT'S BEEN SO LONG.

takatoshi hijiyama (14% - 28%): that damned okino

god, i love how even in his consider: tsukasa okino, he's still mulling over how he was just posing as kiriko... and his justification for agreeing to help okino, in that if he does it, it can help them win the war. in japanese the second line in this is a little different from the english ("ロクな者ではあるまい"), where rather than saying "i don't know what he's up to", he's remarking on how okino probably isn't a good/respectable person? but that he's going along with this anyway because of how okino can help him.

i really do see hijiyama as having these two points he fixates on most: the pacific war (and later applying that focus and determination to saving everyone from the deimos), and okino. ever since it really clicked to me how he has this tendency to get so singularly focused on certain things, and refuses to move on from them, i keep thinking how it's these two things more than anything else. it's even reflected in his thought cloud to some extent, if you want to think about those as a reflection of what the characters have on their mind at any point, rather than just a game mechanic.

oh, this part just before hijiyama recalls meeting kiriko for the first time... in english, he talks about time passing being like a fairytale, but in japanese he refers to a specific one? 浦島太郎, urashima tarou.

i love this flashback so much, and how clearly distorted hijiyama's memory is of it. we see an objective view of it in miura's route (no. 034, "sentinel pilot cadets"), but in hijiyama's recollection... his focus is immediately on kiriko, and only kiriko. as the scene progresses, tamao and miura both fade into the background, disappearing from the scene. and, more than that, the dialogue changes, too. he's not bumbling or awkward, accidentally spilling military secrets. he's smooth and flattering as he talks to kiriko. calling her stunning, talking about remembering this day forever because of it being the day he met her. her calling him a funny guy (using 面白い, which can be used for either "funny" or "interesting") being more flattering, rather than a comment on his mistakes. even the way he views her. before she was more composed, amused. but in his memory of her, she's more demure, and even blushing. even the fact that she continues in his memory, saying that, "you seem pretty incredible yourself, takatoshi-san"! plus even the fact that she calls him "takatoshi-san", rather than "hijiyama-kun", using his first name and signalling a slightly closer relationship... (even if it's still using -san.)

hijiyama's recollection differs so much from the original that it's clearly part-fantasy, and it makes me wonder just how many times he's thought back on that memory, for it to be so different in his mind. if in going over it, again and again, it caused him to slowly lose his grasp on what it was actually like at the time... especially when you think about the timeline for this, where this meeting was in october 1944, and this is now about seven or so months later (since okino didn't flee until november, and the deimos invade in may). i'm sure it's a memory he's gone back to a lot in that time, with how clearly he's still in love with kiriko (and by extension, okino), even now.

also, a small thing, but: i appreciate how hijiyama changes his speech depending on who he's speaking to. when he talks to kiriko (and other women as well, iirc?) he switches from ore/kisama to using watashi/anata instead.

meanwhile, hijiyama's interrupted from his reverie by okino showing up: his authentic self. i can only imagine what okino thinks as he walks in on what appears to be hijiyama talking to himself as he plays out this scene... no wonder he's amused. and despite what hijiyama knows now, he still reacts and blushes when okino talks to him. i just!! no matter how in denial he might be, his feelings are the same as they've ever been. he just has more to wrestle with as he works past the betrayal of kiriko's real identity, and also okino's gender.

i appreciate how so much of this exchange is a reflection of how hijiyama doesn't trust okino. that while okino's level of trust for hijiyama is the same as before (if not better, because he tells him the truth and shows him his hideout), hijiyama's trust is really shaken after finding out the truth about his identity. which makes sense! but i think it's interesting to see the way the balance has tipped at this point.

i'm also still thinking a lot about okino's decision to let hijiyama into his life even to this extent. post-sector 2 infection incident, we know that he hides his sentinel, and flees to sector 5 where he changes his identity so that no one will find him. we know that he works alone to bypass DD-426. we know he views hijiyama and miura as little more than guinea pigs to experiment on, at least at first, and that's why he feels awkward around them when they first meet. when sekigahara successfully finds him (and he realizes that sekigahara is hiding the identity of the person who installed DD-426), that's when he decides it's time for him to go.

but with hijiyama... when hijiyama chases after him and finds him before he flees sector 5, he explains himself, even though he doesn't have to, and even though he assumes that hijiyama will not understand. (normally, he doesn't want to bother with the effort with most people.) and he even admits to hijiyama that he'll miss him, and so he obviously formed a real connection with him, even while posing as someone else. and when hijiyama arrives in sector 4, okino studies him, watches him for awhile. he knows what hijiyama's been up to. where he's been living (or more accurately, where he hasn't been living), how he's been surviving with working manual labour, and how he's never given up looking for okino this whole time. and when he finally does run into hijiyama one day... he doesn't run from him. yes, he leaves the scene, but he allows himself to be followed. he allows hijiyama to find the hideout. and he's even thoughtful, buying his favourite food for him when he knows he lost his meal that day. and when they finally reunite properly, hijiyama fully realizing who he is... he invites him to stay, and even says he wants his help. for someone who, until this point, has been in self-imposed isolation, it really says a lot about his feelings for hijiyama that he actually lets him get involved. even if he's not telling him absolutely everything yet.

anyway. hijiyama's own distrust. okino was expecting him to stay back at the hideout and wait for him, because obviously, showing him the hideout was already a reflection of his trust, right? and i think it's what he expected with the hijiyama he's known up until this point. but hijiyama's really been shaken by everything, so of course he has doubts, and doesn't want to let okino out of his sight again. the safest course he knows is to follow okino until he can be convinced he really isn't about to run away again, especially when okino is his only way of getting back home. and yet, despite that, he does fully believe that okino will fulfill his promise. or at least, he has no other choice. i wonder if, on some level, it might even be a little bit hurtful to okino. but i think he's also enough of a cynic to understand where hijiyama is coming from, even if he expected him to act differently.

i also appreciate that even here, while okino seems willing enough, he does still push back a little, bringing up whether or not hijiyama will even believe him about what he shares. but hijiyama sees through that as an excuse, dismissing it. he's not just blindly following along with things. he wants to understand what's going on, and what he'll be doing. and hijiyama is determined enough that it's difficult for okino to say no, even if he still omits information here.

one of his evasions is already what the deimos are. but it makes sense that he chooses not to explain; after all, that's not relevant to what he wants hijiyama to do. why should he bother explaining? i feel like this is another example of okino and his tendency to cut corners where he can. unless it's necessary, he would prefer not to do it. (we also see this with ogata when he continually refuses to explain what's actually happening when he's searching for the key.)

god, this part where hijiyama initially responds, and okino actually looks a bit mad at him, saying he knew he wouldn't believe him! wasting his time. i feel like people continually underestimate hijiyama and his ability to understand things. but i think so much of it is that they mostly see how he is around okino, where he's continually flustered or stumbling over himself. but in other situations (like in destruction mode), he's actually pretty competent! and he does, through miura, have a working understanding of a lot of these concepts, even if they're through the sci-fi novels he used to read rather than through lived experience. but this is another one of those situations where okino looks down on his intelligence. and again, it makes sense. after all, okino sees him when he's not at his best, because his feelings for okino usually crowd out everything else. (except in those situations where his fixations align: protecting okino, as we see toward the end of his route, and in destruction mode.)

i appreciate how after hijiyama's gotten some answers, he seems less combative, immediately asking what okino wants him to do.

oh, this line when hijiyama chooses to leave... it's just slightly different in japanese. instead he talks about being naive/honest to a fault ("馬鹿正直") by blindly following okino's orders when he chastises himself, so it again comes back to the fact that he doesn't fully trust him. in english i feel like he just sounds like he's being defiant, instead. ("you can't just let okino tell you what to do!")

when hijiyama leaves and comes across amiguchi and fuyusaka talking, the localization kills me yet again. in japanese he's using 男女交際, just talking about men and women interacting (and his opinion actually seems even stronger because he uses 怪しからん ("outrageous/inexcusable/disgraceful")), but translating it as "this kind of... hanky-panky has no place here" is incredible. i love it. what a choice. i also find it amusing that he feels so strongly about this despite his own interactions with kiriko, although we didn't see them as much when he was acting in a more professional capacity. maybe he was more careful in other instances, since he seems to make this clear distinction that this is unacceptable in this particular setting. but then even here, he can't help but comment to himself that he thinks that fuyusaka is cute, too. i think he has this really clear vision of how he feels he (and others!) should conduct themselves, especially in certain settings, but his ability to actually do that... isn't quite there.

i also love how he can't help but comment on how fuyusaka has no taste in men if she finds someone like amiguchi attractive. because of course he has opinions on whether or not men are attractive. big fan of bisexual hijiyama.

god, also hijiyama reacting to overhearing miwako calling him cool, too...

i can't get over the slight affect okino puts on in this scene where he does this false confession to ogata. his voice sounding slightly lighter... even using "anata" instead of "kimi" like he normally would to refer to him. i also love ogata just absolutely falling for it.

i also can't get over hijiyama being completely distraught over this, falling to his knees, in japanese even saying that this is a lie! plus even referring to kiriko as being his woman, as though they were in a relationship already? i know we never actually see his confession to kiriko, or how okino (as kiriko) responds, but here he's acting so possessive! i've been writing a fic that references it a bit, and my own headcanon is that she maybe had to run away before she got to respond properly, but... he sure acts like they're a couple already, here. despite all his protestations when he's faced with okino directly, too.

god and then him charging right over to ogata and knocking him out, unthinking. how he seems shocked by his own actions, remembering himself. i also love the way that okino strolls over to him, makes sure that he's close before accusing him of being jealous. and hijiyama being unable to face him, turning away and denying it. it's honestly incredible how deep in denial he is when his feelings are so obvious.

and then hijiyama being almost... sheepish after. apologizing, saying that okino can like whoever he wants. meanwhile okino is taken aback that he thinks he actually meant it. but i love how okino also doesn't get distracted by this, and just goes right back to business. saying how this is actually opportune for him.

i love how despite all of this, hijiyama still checks with okino that the only reason he confessed to ogata was to get a chance to analyze him. even if he's calmer here, he's still jealous. still worried that okino might feel that way for someone else. even while he still wrestles with his own feelings for okino, and tells himself he can't be in love with a man!

i really love how when they're talking about the sentinels here, and counting on using those against the deimos, okino uses hijiyama's knowledge of the pacific war to help him understand the situation.

it's so strange seeing the jump from that scene to hijiyama waking up in the abandoned factory, tied to a chair, wearing the headgear. obviously when we play through ogata's route, we know that they successfully brought him back there, and tried to find the key through him. yakushiji shows up then to rescue him, and knocks out hijiyama. so okino must've come back to the factory to find him like that, dragged him up the stairs, and then tied him up. because he's unconscious here, i also assume this is when okino likely would've made modifications to hijiyama so that he can use sentinel no. 12. we don't see any other opportunities where he would've been able to do that.

god i love hijiyama going back to being combative here, wanting to be untied, remembering again how okino is a dangerous person.

okino's line, "this isn't all that different from the old days in the factory lab" really makes me wonder about how much time they spent together, especially since it sounds like it was just the two of them? i desperately wish we got to see more of them back in sector 5. there's also a little left out from the japanese, where okino says that he would tamper with hijiyama like this, and that's when hijiyama starts blushing.

i love this part where okino is talking about how from his biometrics, it's clear that despite what hijiyama is saying, he's actually enjoying this. in japanese he even says he's happy/pleased with this. there's also something about the fact that when okino is usually so shameless, even he's blushing a little in this scene when he says these lines, calling him a pervert.

also okino's surprise when he sees that hijiyama cannot stop thinking about him. which, while he denies it, is still true!! and even okino calls him out on that, saying that he's lying to himself. i love that he flaunts this knowledge when hijiyama is so desperate to deny it.

i also just think about okino a lot in this scene, and how he has such a clear disregard for other peoples' autonomy, and even privacy. with ogata, he doesn't care about manipulating him if it means he'll get what he wants. and he needs to be ruthless about it, because his goal is to save humanity. and while what he was doing with hijiyama was initially more of the same, then he ends up being more focused on hijiyama himself. his reactions and responses, and how he feels about him. he stops being goal-oriented for a moment. other than his little moments with shintaro, hijiyama really is the only other thing he allows to capture his attention, and that he's willing to spend time on. even when he has much more important things to do.

in some ways i think that willingness to give that time to hijiyama says a lot about how he feels for him, when he's unwilling to do that for anyone else? obviously here it's all still a bit twisted by his lack of concern for hijiyama's own wants, although the biometric data allows him to argue otherwise, since he sees that hijiyama secretly likes it.

i really wonder what else okino got out of this. especially since the next part of hijiyama's route actually makes it sound like his feelings for okino intensify, rather than liking him less for his treatment of him here. he recognizes okino as dangerous, but he's drawn to him despite everything, and is so attracted to him anyway. okino, meanwhile... at this point i feel like he's still playing around, although he clearly enjoys it and clearly cares for hijiyama, and wants him to stay. it's not until the yakisoba pan scene after shintaro that i feel like his own feelings toward hijiyama start to change.

[wutheringmights]

I just read the newest chapter and I loved it! ♥ ♥ ♥ I was wondering if you had some hcs about the engineer that you could share?

Awww I'm glad you like it! I just spent 5 minutes trying to figure out what "HCS" meant before realizing I'm a tired idiot who can't read lol

But yeah! I got some headcanons for the engineer/Spirits I can share!

These headcanons are a mix of things I generally believe for any iteration of the Hero of Spirits and a few things exclusive to CTB. It's pretty obvious which are which.

Technically this is slight spoilers since most of this is not mentioned in-story, but Warriors is a such a self-centered asshole that I'm not sure when I can get him to explicitly ask about Spirit's backstory lol

This got super long and kind of just became me talking about Spirits's entire backstory, so enjoy:

Spirits is sixteen during the course of Spirit Tracks, mostly because that was the vibe I got from him when I first played the game (I made him younger for CTB)

He's not descendant from Wind (who I maintain disappeared instead of settling in New Hyrule); instead, he's Aryll's great grandson

His family name used to be Outset, but when everyone who originally immigrated from Outset island took on that last name, they changed it to Aryll to reflect the family matriarch

So Spirit's full name is Link Aryll, though there is a branch of his family that uses Macaryll instead

The Aryll/Macaryll family is huge; everyone has at least six aunts and uncles on all sides of the family and they can trace back how they are related to Aryll

"I'm Grandma Aryl's third son's second daughter's fifth child." -someone Spirits is related to, probably

He actually never met his great grandmother; she died before he was born.

Spirit's dad was full-blooded Lokomo while his mother was Hylian; his mother passed a few months after he was born after never truly recovering from childbirth while his father died in a fishing accident when he was eight

He went to live with an aunt and uncle who owned a general store; their relationship was polite at best. The aunt and uncle told Spirits upfront that they intended to give the store over to his cousin when he was older so Spirits needed to come up with his own life plan

Spirits didn't necessarily mind since he never wanted to work in a store for the rest of his life, but the ultimatum made it clear that they didn't care for him like a son

To this day, their relationship isn't strained and he doesn't hate them. But whenever they meet, he's overly polite; they're more acquaintances than family

He's cool with his cousin though. They have different interests so they aren't best friends, but they're okay.

Spirits also always had his spirit-sensing abilities. It's really like a sixth sense to him, as normal and automatic as seeing and hearing; he actually didn't realize this wasn't normal until he was a little older

His abilities at this point are limited to sensing vague ideas of a person's spirit (if they're light or dark, etc.), and seeing ghosts (which are really rare. You have to have a lot of power yourself to become one)

(Note: I'm not the only one who headcanons Spirits as having spirit sensing abilities; if you know who can up with the idea, please let me know so that I can tag/credit them!)

The elder of his village told him that select Lokomo had minor spirit sensing abilities, and those who did were traditionally made elders of their villages; being more of a follower than a leader, Spirits adamantly dismissed that idea and refused to be trained on how to hone his spirit senses. He also never learned any of the religion behind it

Which was a little worrisome since his abilities are way stronger than most

Besides, he's always liked trains and it's been his dream to travel around the kingdom as an engineer; being some town's elder would get in the way of that

Anyway, Spirits had to pass a written exam before being accepted as an apprentice engineer, so he's very studious and has a lot of drive (pun unintended?)

He went to live with his Uncle Niko during his apprenticeship in another town; Niko isn't related to him, but he's been a friend of the family for so long that everyone secretly thinks he's actually related to someone and they just forgot who

Niko is his real family, hands down. Those two are as thick as thieves and bring out the wild side in each other

A preteen Spirits used to think Niko was a little lame and kind of embarrassing, but now that he's older, he's all for Niko's weird old man-ness and has even picked up on some of his weird old man-ness himself

That being said, they're both disasters. Neither can clean or cook or do any kind of housekeeping and their shared house is cluttered with Niko's art projects and Spirit's half-finished tinkering

Growing up, Spirits had no idea he was related to the legendary Hero of Wind; Aryll died before he was born, but even in life she was filled with too much grief over her missing brother to discuss it often. Within the family, being related to the Hero of Wind is a rumor at best.

Of course, Niko knows but keeps it a secret from Spirits; once he got back from his LU-adventure, Wind told Niko about the curse of the Hero's Spirit. Then he went missing post-New Hyrule's founding, which really drove the terror of the curse home. Niko thought he could keep Wind's family from falling victim to it by not inadvertently encouraging them to follow in Wind's footsteps

So Niko kept it a secret

And obviously, that didn't work

Spirits' quest to save New Hyrule resulted in him realizing that he needed to embrace his Lokomo heritage and get a handle on his spirit powers; Anjean gave him a little training during his quest but afterwards he traveled around the kingdom to find as many people as he could with abilities like his

They were all really excited to teach him what they knew, especially the religious aspects of the abilities; Spirits is still not the most religious person, but he at least understands and embraces the cultural significance of what he is able to do

This is where he learned how to read a person's Spirit to get an idea of their life experiences and the kind of person they're like; he can also detect where a person is without having to put much effort into it

At Zelda's encouragement, he also got more sword training from the Castle Guard. She offered him a place among them, but he turned it down in favor of remaining an engineer. He still helps around as a swordsman when he can and will act as Zelda's body guard

Speaking of which, he and Zelda are 100% in love. Their relationship started out as puppy love but over the years as matured into a deep connection built on mutual respect

When he's working on designing new engines or parts for his trains, he occasionally brings his drafting materials to the castle gardens so that he can work alongside Zelda; sometimes she falls asleep leaning against his arm and he has to be careful not to shake her awake as he works

Whenever she need to go anywhere in the kingdom, she rides in his train and teasingly criticizes his conducting; he takes a lot of pride in his conducting, but he lets her get away with it since her critiques are objectively hilarious

He keeps a tiny pictograph of her taped to his dashboard

But there's a bit of a problem with their relationship, and it's that he doesn't know if he wants to be the prince consort or not. He does love her, but that would mean giving up being an engineer in favor of being stuck at the castle all of the time

Plus, he's doing great as an engineer; he's saving up to open his own garage that produces his own train designs

Eventually, he leaves for the War of Eras

His experiences with Warriors leaves him more sure than ever that he doesn't want to be the prince consort, resulting in him ending his relationship with Zelda shortly after he returns home

It hurts for a long time to be around her since all of his old feelings keep coming back, so he keeps his distance for a long time; it takes a few years for him to go back to hanging out with Zelda as friends

But now she's approaching marriage age, and he spends a lot of time when he's on body guard duty super jealous of these princes and ambassadors from foreign kingdoms who try to court her

But again, he knows he can't be in a relationship with her so he respectfully and silently pines over her (I'm just a sucker for pining, okay?)

Okay, more random headcanons that are a little less sad

Spirits likes super spicy food, but since he can't cook to save his own life, he just eats whatever he can get his hands on

He's super dirty all of the time, just the epitome of scrappy; there's always a smear of oil somewhere on his person

He actually really hates bathing and only keeps his curly hair in check to comply with train safety regulations

He's really polite and a little shy, but once he loosens up, he gets talkative and personable

He's also very contemplative; he likes conducting so much because he gets to spend long stretches of time alone with nothing but his thoughts

His trauma/stress response is to shut down; he goes quiet, loses energy, and sleeps for longer periods of time

He tends to gravitate towards socializing with people who are older than him, which gets him labeled as being no fun by his peers (despite having someone as cooky as Niko for a uncle)

Post-adventure, his best friend is Linebeck III. They're drinking buddies. Neither can really explain why they even like hanging out as much as they do

(I just like the idea of Linebeck accidentally getting attached to one kid and his whole bloodline getting forever tangled with Wind's; they're bros for multiple lifetimes)

Not only is Spirits good at designing and building new machinery, but he's great at tinkering; he can fix almost anything and will buy broken things on purpose just to have something to fix

No one really knows he's a hero; he doesn't like the attention and, at his request, Zelda did her best to keep his involvement with Malladus a secret

Because not many common people know about his adventure and records of New Hyrule are very rare, he's considered in Warrior's time to be a forgotten hero; some scholars believe that a Hero of Spirits may have once existed, but if he did, no one really knows who he was or what he did to serve the bloodline of Hylia

[tyrantisterror]

The ATOM Create a Kaiju Contest 3-D: Entry Roundup

You’ve been patiently waiting for the results of the ATOM Create a Kaiju Contest 3-D, and now... you have to wait a bit longer, but at least you’ve got an entry roundup with lots of sketches and a good bit of feedback for all the entrants!  My goal is to get the finalists illustrated in a week or two, and after that, the grand prize winner will be announced.  But, for now, the official entry roundup!  After the cut:

I should note that while I sketched these in the order they were submitted, my scanner saved the documents with random names, so they’re a bit jumbled.  You know, just in case you’re like me and would get confused noticing that it’s almost in chronological order but with some entries jumbled around.

@bugcthulhu’s Obsideban was designed as a counterpart to Rohobaron - the Black King to Rohobaron’s Red King, if you will.  Or, well, Black Queen in this case, as Obsideban also takes her personality from the “delinquent girl” archetype in Japanese media.  Bug’s designs always ooze personality, and I had a lot of fun translating this big, gnarly retrosaur into my own style.

@toothlessloveshiccup‘s Argonox is the first - but far from the last - monster in this breakdown that brings in a bit of fantasy influence to ATOM’s roster.  A golden-fleeced ram with a vicious streak, this sheep is both treasure and dragon at once.  And while it wasn’t written in the monster’s profile, given the Yamaneon-rich nature of its wool, Argonox might be able to replicate the healing power of the golden fleece too!  A very fun mammalian kaiju and excellent entry.

@highly-radioactive-nerd submitted Gunmetal Jeeves, a robot butler who can gigantomax temporarily create a holographic/hard light version of himself to fight kaiju.  That detail was a late revision added to the entry before the contest’s deadline, made after the creator realized that ATOM allows for some truly ludicrous bullshit, which is something everyone should exploit when making entries for this in my opinion.  Also, this is a robot butler who can size shift.  Revel in its awesome absurdity!

Ultranerd submitted Rajasaurus, a dimetrodon-like synapsid kaiju with electric powers.  His origin specifies that the electric powers are a result of the volatile nature of the Yamaneon deposits he mutated under, which is an interesting idea.  That’s another theme that cropped up a lot in this contest’s entries, actually - people really wanted to play with what Yamaneon can do.

Case in point, @polygonfighter’s Yamaneolith takes the Monolith Monsters homage at the heart of Yamaneon even more apparent.  I like the implication that there is a second mineral-based lifeform at the root of this Yamaneon cluster’s anomalous behavior - a parasite, perhaps?  It brings up some interesting possibilities.

@ariccio50 submitted Kukulkuzana, and damn is this a cool spin on the body plan of my martians.  I made a few changes here and there (splitting its tail into two is probably the biggest one), but tried to keep true to the original design, because holy hell is it gorgeous.  The idea that this is a mountain-dwelling creature is really intriguing to me, as it looks like a sea creature, but at the same time, that flexible and low-slung build WOULD work pretty well in mountains, and it’s just the right mix of plausible weirdness that makes for a fun alien design.

@akitymh submitted Aramzados, a Venusian monster that’s basically an organic hot rod car.  I like the idea of organic machinery being the gimmick for Venusian kaiju, and Aramzado’s does it subtly enough to not feel like that gimmick is the sole thing going for it.  I especially love this monster’s stange, apparently mouth-less blade-beaked face.

@virovac submitted Rurzar and Zar Rider, a Beyonder kaiju and mecha (respecitvely) that were both modified and repurposed by humans reverse engineering Beyonder technology to make, like, a motorcycle-saurus essentially.  It is a delightfully absurd concept, and a very, very detailed one (13 pages of description).  There’s a dark undercurrent beneath the sillyness, though, as this pair show that humanity might still be following the same path as the Beyonders before them.

@dinosaurana brings us Krangor, a humanoid monstrosity of living kelp!  The goal here was to create a Jack Kirby-esque monster dude, complete with the gibberish name and all.  He’s also made out of kelp, which feels very classic 1950′s monster-y despite me not being able to think of any monsters that were explicitly made of kelp.  I love him.

@kiryuthechimera submitted Genkakurah, a psychic retrosaur with some draconic features.  Though his substantial powerset is probably the biggest distinguishing feature of this kaiju (given that most ATOM kaiju pretty much have the same standard powers), what really draws me to him is that reptilian pseudo-beard.  It’s just a fun detail!

@glarnboudin submits Tiratola, and see, there’s that fantasy influence again!  Even more explicitly dragon-y than Kraydi, Tiratola still manages to toe the line between sci-fi and fantasy enough to fit ATOM as is while still cementing its ties to my own slice of fantasy fiction.  Man it’s good I’m doing a Midgaheim book next, huh?

@dragonzzilla submitted Scuttlebutt/Argonautilus, a hermit crab kaiju who lives in/with a hollowed out mecha.  That’s a twist I can’t recall ever hearing before, and the idea of a kaiju and a mecha having an equal partnership that doesn’t involve one being grafted to the other is really intriguing to me.  A very unique concept!

@evolutionsvoid submitted Fleagor, an enormous flea who has no idea what to do with itself now that there’s no creature large enough for it to parasitize.  I love that concept - it takes the core idea of the giant bug kaiju archetype (i.e. unsettling the audience by showing how terrifying small, “insignificant” creatures would be if our sizes were reversed) and really turns it on its head.  The name also plays on the Universal Monsters, who were a huge part of 1950′s pop culture thanks to their movies being re-released in that era, so all and all this one is very on brand for ATOM!

@skarmorysilver submitted Lilacorn, another entry that plays up that Midgaheim/ATOM connection.  Reinterpreting the mythological unicorn as an Cenozoic wooly rhinoceros-inspired monster gives it a very unique look, both in ATOM and in the general world of unicorns, and she has a bad-girl with a heart of gold personality to boot!

dracosaurus-rex submitted Florasaura, a two-headed plant/retrosaur hybrid monster.  I love me some plant monsters, I love me some retrosaurs, and I love me some rhyming the word “flora” with other words that contain similar vowell sounds, so this one has me written all over it!

@downtofragglerock submitted Sauroguana, a delightfully odd flying retrosaur.  There’s a great deal of charm to the original illustration that this sketch doesn’t quite capture - it’s a deceptively simple design with a lot of personality in it, and with those unique leg-wings it really doesn’t need a whole lot of frills to stand out.

Draxi submitted Brakan, an unimpressive burrowing retrosaur kaiju whose mastery of illusions allows it to convince other kaiju it’s actually a big, super-powerful badass that’s the ultimate fighter in the universe.  It’s a delightful parody of the concept of a fan self-insert god-mode character, with a really fun story built into it to boot!

@quinnred submitted O.N.I.A.C., a mysterious cocooned kaiju whose chrysalis has been turned into an organic computer of sorts by the people studying it, and seems to possess a fairly advanced intelligence for a kaiju.  It’s a really bizarre and ominous idea, with built in intrigue given how vague its nature is.  Is it just a kaijufied butterfly/moth who got stuck mid transformation?  A relative of the Mothmanuds?  Something else, perhaps equally alien?  Good story potential here.

shadyserpent submitted Vespilitor, a bat/retrosaur hybrid made by the nefarious Spooks Organization.  A mercurial prankster whose tendency to stir up trouble never crosses the line into maliciousness, he’s the kind of monster who would make a great foil to a lot of ATOM’s cast.  I’d especially like to see him in a prank off with Ahuul - it’d be like Bugs Bunny fighting Daffy Duck, but on a kaiju scale.

@multiversefan submitted the Yamaneon King, a nomadic kaiju whose refusal to settle down causes problems as he stirs up trouble at kaiju sanctuaries all over the globe by showing up unannounced and stirring up the locals.  He was basically designed to be a monster that the kaiju sanctuary initiative would struggle to deal with, which is a good idea for a post-ATOM Volume 2 story conflict.

Sir K submitted Jadeera, a kirin kaiju that can actually forcibly convert most of its body to Yamaneon to enter a dormant, statue-like state in a loose homage to King Shisa.  Though the fantasy elements are far more present than I usually prefer for ATOM kaiju, I think it should be noted they’re pushed that far for a purpose - a theme in Jadeera’s entry, which continues where its creator left off with their submission to the previous ATOM create a kaiju contest (Yokaigon), is that the world of kaiju is more complicated and challenging than many are willing to accept, which is a theme in ATOM itself.  Yokaigon’s more supernatural/occult powers are based on the ghost parascience of my setting, which ATOM has delved into a bit (Pathogen being the big example), so it’s not as out of left field as some might think.

@cerothenull​ brings us our final entry (unless some got lost thanks to tumblr’s shitty tagging system), the flying spider Naeranti.  She’s a kaiju spider who uses silk to make complicate hot-air balloons, more or less, and that’s just delightful.  ATOM could always use more spider-monsters, and with a really unique gimmick backing up a wonderfully distinct look, Naeranti is sure to stand out among her fellow giant arachnids.

Well, that’s the roundup!  In a week (or two, depending on how much my hand cramps) we’ll have the five finalists, and sometime after that, the grand prize winner!

[ultrahpfan5blog]

Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Season 5 Retrospective

Finished season 5 rewatch a few days ago. Season 5 was an eventful year for the show, on and off the screen. Off screen the show got cancelled on Fox, had a huge public outcry over the cancellation which included several celebrities, and then got picked up by NBC all in 48 hours. It was an exhilarating time as a B99 fan. Lot of stuff happened on screen as well, Jake and Rosa were in prison, team got them out, Jake and Amy got engaged, Rosa came out as bisexual to the precinct and her parents, Holt was in the running to be NYPD Commissioner, Amy became a Sergeant, and then Jake and Amy got married. Eventful season to say the least. Its also my favorite season of the show.

Honestly, this season is about as close to perfection I felt with a season. In other seasons there are at least an episode or two which I felt were meh or problematic. Season 5 is near flawless. I think Return to Skyfire is the weakest of the episodes but its still pretty fun. There are several episodes of season 5 that all rank in the top 10 B99 episodes in my opinion. The show also takes some risks with a couple of experimental episodes. There are episodes with a lot of heart, there are episodes that absolutely hilarious, there are ensemble episodes, there are two hander episode. some excellent new guest stars, and many great recurring stars.

I think the two prison episodes are pretty interesting. Tim Meadows as Caleb is absolutely amazing. He is so likable and low key hilarious that the fact that he's a cannibal who eats children always feels like a dark surprise. He and Andy Samberg make for a fun duo. The first of the two episodes is particularly fun. The show doesn't hesitate to show the danger of Jake being in the prison, especially the situation he finds himself by the end of the premiere. The show does connect one story to the next pretty seamlessly with the end of the Melanie Hawkins story connecting the the Seamus Murphy story which then connected to the Holt commissioner story. There are also a couple of really good experiments in experiments and story with The Box and Show Me Going. The Box is B99 at its most confident. Apart from Gina very briefly at the beginning and Boyle very briefly at the end, the entire episode really hinges on only three characters. Jake, Holt, and Sterling K. Brown's Dr. Davidson. Its a brilliant showcase for all three actors and all three characters. I believe Brown got a Guest Actor Emmy nomination for his performance and he's brilliant as the smarmy Dentist who really is in control for majority of the episode. Braugher and Samberg were old pros with their dynamic at this point and this is fantastic Jake and Holt episode because you completely get why Jake wants so badly to prove that he's right in front of Holt why being cast as the screw up and the idiot in the interrogation frustrates him so much because we know how much Holt's approval means to him. We also see why Terry call Jake his best detective back in season 1 because of how he riles up Davidson to get the confession at the end and getting the approval of Holt that he wanted. Its an incredibly satisfying episode and one of the show's best imo. Then there is also 'Show me Going' which is a surprisingly tense episode in which nothing tense actually happens on screen. The episode does a great job working with the fact that the only knowledge the squad has is that Rosa is on the scene of an active shooter situation. Basically we are in the same situation as the characters. Since all the characters are on edge, so are we. The show does a nice job balancing humor and recognize the danger of the situation.

The season has probably my favorite B99 episode and definitely by fav B99 Halloween episode with HalloVeen. Whereas the last three Halloween episodes were predictable or spoiled from the promos, this one actually threw a genuine surprise. I knew Jake and Amy would get engaged some point in the season, but I expected it to be on the much hyped 99th episode. Instead it can much earlier with HallowVeen and its a delight from start to finish. Its great to rewatch the episode because you pick up little signs that Jake was a bit more desperate to win than usual. First when he says that planning for the heist is what got him through prison time, and then when he says to Boyle that he has to win this time and this heist is way too important. On first watch, these details just slip by as regular overzealous Jake but they have additional poignancy on repeat. The actual proposal moment is handled beautifully in a very peraltiago way where it is both funny and romantic, with Charles' reaction being the cherry on top. There are quite a few strong related episodes that follow. The Venue being a fun return with the Vulture, Two Turkeys being a TWW reunion with Smits and Whitford returning as Amy and Jake's fathers. Its a better Thanksgiving episode than the previous season Smits appearance. Bachelor/ette party is another glorious episode with wild, fun shenanigans with Reginald VelJohnson appearing as himself. Jake & Amy is a very typical wedding episode where everything goes wrong but its perfect in all the right ways. Its heartwarming and sweet. You get more examples of how Jake and Amy are perfect for each other with Jake knowing the inside and outs of how Amy stresses out, and then ending on a wonderful B99 wedding with Fred Armisen returning to make a cameo appearance as Mlep(clay)nos. The episode was designed to work as a series finale since the potential for cancellation was there and while it leaves the season on a cliffhanger about Holt's job, its the sort of cliffhanger that we could have interpreted positively if the show hadn't gotten picked up by NBC.

The 99th and 100th episode of the show were also memorable. The creators chose to acknowledge the 99th episode in a way that most shows acknowledge the 100th episode, in true 99 style. Its a full ensemble episode barring the absence of Chelsea who would return on the 100th episode. Its a typical road trip episode which kickstarts the Holt commissioner storyline. It also is the episode where Rosa comes out as Bi to Charles. This was obviously a big story for Stephanie since she is bi as well and she championed this story. It gets explored in further depth next episode, but Stephanie Beatriz gets to do some of her best work in these two episodes, showing her vulnerability without losing her toughness. Game Night honestly feels very true to not just coming out as Bi to your parents but true to any child who has to confess something that would be against their conservatives parents' values. I think Game Night is a fantastically bittersweet episode and Danny Trejo is brilliantly cast as Rosa's father. The episode positions him as the parent whose reaction Rosa is most worried about and I love how they show that while its difficult for him to grasp the concept bisexuality, he comes around to accepting it and accepting Rosa. But the episode is still bittersweet with Rosa's mom not having come to terms with it. Its also an excellent Rosa and Jake episode where we see Jake endure incredibly uncomfortable situations to help Rosa. Its a characteristic that helps make Jake so endearing that he's willing to cross all limits for his friends.

There are lots of fun and hilarious episodes in between. Craig Robinson shows up as Doug Judy in The Negotiations which is another fun ep. Kevin and Jake get a great episode dealing with their dynamic in Safe House. Rosa and Amy have some fun in White Whale as the Sleuth Sisters. Pimento returns in Gray Star Mutual for some more crazy shenanigans. Gray Star Mutual also has my favorite cold open of all time with Jake leading a suspect lineup in a rendition of 'I got it that way', totally forgetting the crime that he's got the lineup for. Its pitch perfect and I've lost count of how many times I've seen that cold open on youtube. It basically has its own fanbase and introduced so many people to B99. We also get to see Naseem Pedrad as Jake's sister Katie and the end up having a cute dynamic. David Fumero shows up in The Puzzle Master. There are also pretty funny episodes dealing with some serious subject matter such Jake dealing with his own doubts in his ability to do his job after Prison in Kicks and Holt dealing with gambling addiction in Bad Beat. All handled very sensitively.

All in all, this was a fantastic season for the show. I had a blast rewatching it and it ended the Fox era in spectacular note. A 9.5/10. Now on to season 6.

'

[kaizokuou-ni-naru]

The Voyage So Far: Enies Lobby

east blue (1 | 2) || alabasta (1 | 2) || skypiea || water 7 || enies lobby || thriller bark || paramount war (1 | 2) || fishman island || punk hazard || dressrosa (1 | 2) || whole cake island || wano (1 | 2)

this is still one of my very favorite nami panels. i think she’s really great through all of water 7 and enies lobby in general, actually, even though she isn’t really one of the characters in focus for a lot of it- like zoro and sanji, she stays pretty steadfast and very badass even though everything that happens, and never gives up on robin for a moment despite being one of the ‘weaker’ members of the crew. and it’s always fun to see her playing with lightning.

one of my favorite jokes from the first half or so of enies lobby is the strawhats both being completely unsurprised that luffy charges in ahead of them as soon as they arrive AND being able to find him immediately by following the explosions. they know him so well. 

luffy’s never been scared of dying, going all the way back to when he told coby he was fine with dying for his dream back in chapter two or three. that conversation is what his exchange with blueno here reminds me of- blueno asks him how long he intends to keep fighting, and luffy says until he dies, like there’s nothing to it.

it’s always been a trait of his to face death unflinching with a grin, so long as it’s for the sake of something he cares about, be it his crew or his brother or his dream, and i just really like that about him.  

i’ll go into it in the dressrosa post too, but i think it’s really impressive just how long oda held off on giving luffy any sort of significant power-up. he gets his first big power boost in the whole series here, forty volumes in. i’ve always liked that oda is very conservative with power boosts like this, because it both keeps the series’ powerscaling in check and makes the times it does happen much weightier. this is a monumental moment, and it feels like it.

also, i love the way gear two is drawn pre-timeskip, especially with the steam. it looks very cool and atmospheric.

i really like how united the strawhat crew feels throughout enies lobby, after all the internal turmoil and discord of water seven. even though the matter of usopp leaving the crew is still unresolved, they’ll all together once more, on the same page, and fully united in the goal of saving robin, whatever consequences it might bring. 

the tree of knowledge has such a cool design- it looks massive, and even more than that, it looks old. you look at that tree and you know its been there for easily thousands of years. its seen entire eras of history, and it would be priceless even without the countless books stored inside it.

and then it burns.

i’m so endlessly sad about the tragedy that is robin’s relationship with her mother. they never even got to see each other until their world was ending, and even then only for a couple minutes.

olvia is a very interesting character, because she’s someone who chose her dream over the people she loved. that’s not an inherently good or bad choice, but it is a choice she made, and it’s what led to the ending she and robin had to have. i’ve wondered a lot what might have happened if she chose the other way, if she never left or if she came back sooner or if she chose to flee the buster call with robin, and how different (and almost certainly better) robin’s life would have been if she had.

in a way, olvia reminds me a lot of kouzuki toki. they both die in order to fling a light of knowledge and hope into the future, and they both send their children away and choose to stay behind to choke on ash for the sake of a better tomorrow. 

i didn’t really notice until putting these panels together, but a lot of things burn in enies lobby. ohara burns, and the pluton plans and the world government flag, and enies lobby itself, and at the end, the going merry burns, too. if you extend it back to water seven, there’s the galley-la headquarters, too. in an arc that deals so much with the preservation and destruction of history and knowledge, it’s a fitting motif. 

the world government flag burning is still to this day one of the most striking panels out of a series full of them, in my opinion. in one act, the strawhats proclaim their absolute defiance against the world government, and their willingness to make enemies of the greatest power in the world for the sake of their friend.

it’s also another one of those moments that’s interesting to think about in the context of luffy’s past. it was a ship flying that same flag that shot sabo down, and while luffy wasn’t there to see it, i don’t think he’s oblivious to that fact, especially given how he says just before this he understands robin’s enemies perfectly.

dadan told him and ace that there was nothing they could do against the whole world, and luffy went and did it anyways.

sometimes i just think about how scary it must have been for robin, someone who’s been weighed down by the shackles of her past with no escape in sight for so very long, to open herself up and let herself hope, for life and freedom and a dream that’s always been out of reach. 

franky has a lot of really great moments between this arc and water seven- his conversation with usopp as usopp is working on merry and his talk with robin on the sea train are two others. it’s almost impressive how quickly he becomes an immensely likable character once we start getting to know him, given how he’s first introduced as an absolute piece of shit.

his burning of the pluton plans is a favorite of mine, and i think it might be because, like so many people before and after him, he’s choosing here to stake all his hopes on the strawhats, on luffy’s ability to pull off the impossible and on robin’s goodness. when robin’s only ever been chased and hated and called a demon by the world, franky chooses to trust her and luffy with the legacy his dad died for, and neither of them let him down.

monster point looks SO FUCKING TERRIFYING in enies lobby, and i LOVE it. look at that. franky is seven and half feet tall, and in front of monster point he’s tiny. monster point is huge, and dead-eyed, and a force of absolute destruction. i do kind of wish we got to see chopper go completely feral like this more often. he deserves to be terrifying!

i love how much FAITH all the rest of the strawhats continue to have in usopp throughout enies lobby. he left the crew and they really would have a right to be angry at him if they chose to, but it doesn’t even seem to cross any of their minds. they’re just happy he’s okay, and they include him again without missing a beat, because he’s still their friend and they know down to their bones they can trust him, even after everything. 

i’ve always really loved zoro and kaku’s little moment of post-battle banter here- zoro relays paulie’s message about cp9 being fired, kaku says he’s out of a job, zoro tells him to try the zoo, and kaku cracks up.

it feels very real to me for whatever reason, and i think part of it ties back into how well one piece handles morality with its characters- zoro and kaku are genuinely pretty similar people who get along decently, it just happens that they wound up on opposite sides. there are series where you’d never see moments like this due to the lines between good and bad being so firmly drawn, and i love how one piece blurs those lines so much they may as well not exist a lot of the time.

this is the other sequence, along with luffy climbing the drum rockies barehanded, that always makes me physically cringe to look at. it looks so painful. robin is so nearly powerless here, but not quite- she can still buy time for her crew to catch up, even if it’s only seconds, even if she risks shattering her teeth or even her jaw in the process. she’s spent so long giving up and has only just started daring to hope- she’s not about to go gentle.

there aren’t many panels that give me catharsis like this one. there really aren’t.

oda’s villains are usually complicated and awful and often a little admirable, if only for how clever or how terrifyingly powerful they are, but every now and then he comes up with someone who’s just pathetic and cowardly and pointlessly cruel. spandam is like this, obviously, and so is orochi, and the celestial dragons, and i’d argue flampe from whole cake island as well. and there’s nothing like seeing characters like them- weak, cruel people so assured in their own power and rightness- get obliterated.

one of the things i really like about enies lobby is that nobody really gets sidelined- everybody gets multiple chances to shine. luffy, usopp, and obviously robin are the most in focus, obviously, but zoro, sanji, nami, chopper, and even franky all get a bunch of individual awesome moments. oda’s ability to handle his cast satisfyingly is consistently really impressive (if sometimes strained in huge ensemble arcs like dressrosa or wano) and it really shows here, i think.

i just really love the entire climax of enies lobby. much like the arc as a whole, it just feels triumphant, even though the situation is extremely dire. luffy unlocking gear three, robin’s cuffs getting unlocked, usopp shooting spandam and the marines all the way from the tower of justice- it’s all just good, a long chain of much-needed victories and catharses, and it feels very good to read.

i’ll always be impressed by just how much characterization oda manages to give merry, a boat. she’s only really a character in water seven and the end of enies lobby, only about two chapters of which she actually speaks in. and yet i don’t think you’d find a single one piece fan who disagrees that merry’s death is easily one of the most heartwrenching in the entire series.

i love the reactions of the strawhats to robin’s thanks. they’ve just gone through hell to save her, most of them are beat to shit and they all risked their lives, and yet they all just smile, or brush it off, because to them there’s nothing else they could have done. it’s all worth it, so long as they got her back, so long as she’s safe and happy.

merry’s funeral just hits me in the chest every single time i read it. it’s tragic, of course, but there’s also something almost lovely about it, something peaceful about her getting to go out on her own terms, carrying her crew to safety one last time, defying every rule of the universe to do it. just like a strawhat pirate.

oda’s ability to communicate emotion through expressions really comes through here, too. merry has the only lines in this scene, fitting for her death in the limelight, but the shots of every other crewmate’s face let us know at a glance just what they’re all feeling and just how strongly they’re feeling it.

you know, i’d forgotten we only learn the name of the new world after enies lobby. we only get proper exposition about the revolutionary army and the yonkou here, too, despite them being set up since loguetown and jaya (or alabasta, or even chapter one if you count from shanks’s introduction) respectively. oda’s ability to parse out exposition and explanation so we always have just the right amount of information is really impressive- we always have more questions, but we also always have the feeling that those questions have answers, and that sooner or later they’ll be revealed.

points at shanks. i just think he’s neat.

it’s my opinion that one of the great joys of one piece is seeing luffy and the crew rise up in the world, and seeing them gain more and more notoriety. i love nothing they do ever happens in a vacuum- everything has impacts, and there are always outside eyes watching, and often those impacts are things that they never could have predicted.

ace and blackbeard is still, i think, definitely one of the coolest looking fights in the whole series. it’s not all that often we get to see two people with extremely flashy and showy abilities go all-out against each other, and the resulting fireworks are still really something to behold, despite how badly it all ends. 

[catgirlxox]

Why "Alien X-Tinction" Was The Best Possible Conclusion

(To The Ben 10 Franchise as a whole, as of Right Now)

In short, while the Ben 10 Reboot isn't without faults, "Alien X-Tinction" did everything it could to pay tribute to what came before it, and why the Ben 10 Reboot could even be anywhere near successful for it's intended audience and for modern age of Cartoon Network.

*Obvious spoiler warning ahead.*

Main Reasons

To begin with the obvious, emphasis being made on the existence of the Omniverse (something I feel like the majority hadn't paid enough attention to during and after the last iteration) was important for several reasons. For instance, confirming what I've been saying all this time! And effectively knocking down certain misconceptions about unfinished or uncertain topics left behind in the previous show. So I really appreciated that.

It gave, at least me, a sense of closure, even though I feel Omniverse's final episode, "A New Dawn", had tried to do that, as well.

Anyway, in doing that, they brought back the original continuity, in honor of what the fans wanted, but the main focus was still on the three main characters (Ben, Gwen, and Max) - something that I've heard a lot of the fandom say was their favourite thing about the series when it first started: going on a family road trip with the occasion alien adventure.

Again, giving the people what they want, while remaining within the confines of what Cartoon Network or the higher ups probably directed them to do with the new series.

It's a compromise that satisfies everyone.

I also can't help but notice they included a limited amount of characters. I'd even say specifically the "fan favourites."

I bring this up because a lot of newer characters and character dynamics introduced in the later installations of the series weren't always well received. AKA, characters like Kai Green (especially her relationship with Ben), or even the way Gwen and Kevin were portrayed in everything following the OS (including their eventual romance).

As such, the special stuck to its roots and gave us something purely "Ben 10": action-packed and focusing on family bonds. Rather than including any other side themes people are divided on. Media like this is made for the people who will watch it, after all.

Notable Mentions

I don't know if anyone else picked up on this, but - characterization consistency with the previous shows! AF Ben was written decently serious like his "mature" self (as the fandom loves to praise him for being). And, UA Ben came in obviously much more sure of himself, which is also consistent with the transition from season three of Alien Force to his rise to fame during Ultimate Alien.

Speaking of characterization, this was AF Ben's reaction to Alternate Max's criticism of reboot Ben, calling him out for being, as he said, "a stubborn brat." Personally I think that's a little harsh, but regardless, it's almost as if he knows what that's like, or something. Interesting touch on the producers' part.

Even if they didn't use a whole lot of aliens, the animators did also go the extra mile in recreating the previous designs for the each of the aliens the alternate Bens used. And, some of the transformation scenes from the previous shows too, as a call back for those who might remember.

Things like this make it clear to me that the producers did their research in the production of new Ben 10 content.

Responding to Criticism

Since the reboot is what it is, I'll expect it to get a whole lot of criticism anyway. But the most common complaints I've heard so far are regarding UA Ben not turning into any ultimate aliens, and the use of Alien X's powers being underwhelming.

In the interest of trying to see what the producers might have had in mind, I thought that, since a younger version of himself was present, UA Ben using the ultimate feature would spoil the near future for AF Ben, and therefore might change the path he takes moving forward. Hence him using aliens from the UA era, like Amphibian, but not ultimates.

I would argue it was done to maintain consistency in the original continuity, as well as the way the Omniverse was set up to work.

As for the alternate evil Ben's "nerfed" use of Alien X, well, I've got a theory about that too. First of all, he's not Ben Prime. He's clearly been through a lot of hardship, and it's taken a toll on his mental state, outlook on the hero life, moral compass, and general wellbeing.

His whole plan was created out of revenge and anger. He wasn't thinking straight. How can you expect him to ultimately defeat everyone with that kind of handicap? Even if he had god powers - he was using them though a cloud of negative human emotions.

Powerscaling isn't really my thing, but I'm sure there was something more he could do if he was seriously set on accomplishing his goal without clouded judgement.

As for myself, my only criticism is regarding why they couldn't just draw the UAF jacket and the Ultimatrix right. It's upside down for...seemingly no reason, lol. But I can look past it, I guess. It was just cool to see Ben Prime again.

All three of him, that is.