#i find it so funny that the main plot of the story was basically kicked off by the Cat King’s pathetic crush on him

[v0idwraith]

[spocksocksrock]

ok I saw the reblog of your star trek books post about someone asking for recs someday, but I’m impatient and have decided I am not gonna wait and that I will send the recs ask MYSELF dammit!!

I feel like i’ve never gotten into the books because I’m worried they will be bad, so if you have any TOS/DS9 book recs I would LOVE to hear them — I have consumed all Star Trek content made up until this point and am so so desperate for new material

thank you SOOO much for asking i love any excuse to talk about st books!!! (though it is kinda funny cause that same person talking about recs did end up messaging me already lol)

for TOS i would say the best ones are:

Killing Time by Della Van Hise — famously gay and for good reason, it’s just blatantly romantic spirk content. it’s all about how they are meant to be together in every alternate universe and that they are soulmates <3

Spock’s World by Diane Duane — bones, kirk, and spock go to vulcan because the vulcans are considering leaving the federation. really great plot and super accessible characterization for the main three!

Vulcan’s Forge by Susan Shwartz — follows two plots- young spock figuring out that he wants to join star fleet, and older spock dealing with kirk’s death and trying to move on. it’s really not as sad as it sounds and it adds so much to spock’s character imo.

id honestly also recommend the novelizations of the movies, they definitely add a lot of new content

—

DS9 is harder cause i love soooo many of these but some of the best are:

Hollow Men by Una McCormack — kind of a sequel to the episode ‘in the pale moonlight’, garak and sisko go on a trip to earth to deal with dominion war stuff (and everyone else has shenanigans on the station)

The 34th Rule by Armin Shimerman — basically quark whump, him and rom are sort of kicked off the station and go to a prison camp and the rest of the characters have conflicting feelings about this (it’s a bit overdramatic at times but i love quark-centric stories so 🤷)

Fallen Heroes by Dafydd ab Hugh — this one is pretty crazy, quark and odo suddenly travel 3 days into the future and find the entire station is dead, like Everyone died, and they have to figure out what happened and fix it (i love quodo and there’s a scene where quark vacuums odo up, need i say more)

Saratoga by Michael jan Friedman — sisko is meeting with the other survivors from the ship jennifer died on. there’s sabotage, intrigue, betrayal and such and then the b plot is that odo has to pretend to be quark. so basically an average ds9 episode lol

there are definitely a lot more good ones but it depends on what characters you like and what kinds of stories you’re looking for ya know? please please message me if you want to talk ab it more!!!!

[absolutely-normal-about-x]

Can you tell me about this fabled Zelda/Megaman crossover? I am very curious because there's not a lot out there

Ah hahahah that Au, funny enough I was working on that a while back never really showed it to anyone cause of idk. But I maybe I can dump a bit about it haha. :)

So it obviously set BOTW universe cause it’s basically where I have the most freedom/flexibility with it *Looks at the Shekath tech and the Zonai*

It’s meant to be a loose adaptation of the story of BOTW but with X characters living in that world and what their Races would be so *Whips out le list*

An important note I tried to keep their origins from their main canon close but with my own personal flare into it (you can piece things together lmao)

X- “Hylian” (Cause he ain’t really a Hylian lmao) has a unique connection to the Zonai. Was found by Cain, an archaeologist that studies ancient Sheikah tech and the history of Hyrule. While he was researching the lost ruins. But discovers a shrine (Basically proto Shrine of resurrection). Accidentally awakens him from his unknown slumber with no memories of his past, but only a letter of his old name. Is taken in as his adopted grandson, both of them live in Hateno Village.

Hes still a pacifistic sweetheart, that has a great passion for science and history (Becoming Purah’s apprentice), but also an impressive mechanic as he was able to reverse engineer sheikah technology (and by extension eventually Zonai) to create his gadgets, he wanted to protect innocent people from threats okay-. The buster was very much in its prototype phase (that becomes completed into the Zonai Buster in TOTK) as he works on it throughout his journey across hyrule.

He’s also shown to be somewhat abnormal for a Hylian, despite his smaller chubby size he is shown to be and have strange dark blue-ish spots around skin, and horns slightly protruding out from his head and a strange symbol on his forehead

Zero: A half Gerudo, half Dweller (Basically a chimera created by a Wily) a powerful swords man. That roams the gerudo dessert after being discovered/Awakened by the Yiga Clan (and if you know how Zero first acted in prior joining the hunters you know you know). Roamed the Gerudo dessert for god knows long and being pacified/watched over by the Gerudo tribe. Who’s trying to find someone important to him from the vivid memories that he holds on.

“Something completely unnatural and yet…natural the embodiment of destruction that choose to be a hero”

Are you may know X and Zero were the proto Zelda and Link from 10,000 years ago (After the sealing way their backstories are be eh entwined ur honor) so the basic g

Axl: Korok (LET ME COOK LET ME COOK OKAY?!) we know that Korok’s used to be low key shapeshifters and such. He rediscovers that lost ability so he can interact with Hylians and leave Deku Forest to learn more of the world. So I want o lean into that as a bonus he tries to recover the masks (ya know the ones Majoras Mask :3). It’s also like funnier to see a smoll Korok being capable of kicking butt and still being a deadly sharpshooter.

Marty- Zora (she’s from a different Zora’s Domain like Yoma, she’s a shark Zora) coming from a far off Sea, she ended up on Hyrule during her travels accidentally gets tangled up in the mess but goes along with it for the thrills. But also to help out the people the hyrule (she’s the first companion that X gains)

Marino- Sheikah, left her village to pursue as a thief, def has beef with the Yiga. Basically stealing what the they stole from her people. Low key

Massimo- Goron, THE BIGGEST SOFTIE, but also the soft spoken and timid (Yunboo’s big brother maybe??)

Cinnamon- Rito a Dove cause she has that vibe yo- but still she’ll be the cutest Dove man. Also probably the first Rito to gain healing magic called Gentle Winds.

So basically the plot

“X and his grandfather were living peacefully in their village of Hateno, working in his grandfather’s workshop and small library. But not all things are well as X is haunted by nightmares of a forgotten past and calls for help from an unknown girl calling out to someone to defeat “The calamity” (Hi Zelda). The increase onslaught of monsters were starting to be a concern him as he goes off to a journey, along the way he meets friends and goes alike and soon discovers buried secrets that lay deep in the Ruins of Hyrule”

Link’s there too since the story takes place roughly around the first BOTW. But Events are separate from one another since Zonai stuff and the Depths is sorta of a bigger focus!

That’s what I can say for now it’s kinda some brain storming stuff but it’s fun ya know-

[shinysamurott9]

2024 Games: Pokemon Scarlet

This is certainly a weird game for me to look at. This wasn't a game I went into with much of any negative bias, unlike Sword, where I skipped it due to the negativity surrounding the game at the time, I did actually buy Scarlet on day 1. But I didn't get too far into it before falling off because of other stuff. So I ended up sitting on it for over a year until now as I needed to complete the game to get the ribbons and marks needed to complete my Ribbon Master Quest. And what I got from it was one of the strangest games I've played yet one I've enjoyed a lot. This is gonna be another really long read so keep that in mind.

So when I initially picked up the game I didn't so that much in terms of Game progression. What I did do however, beyond the basic intro stuff leading up to the school, was at the very start of the game when I saw a Riolu at the edge of a cliff and was like "hey I wanna catch that" but I couldn't get over because I didn't have Korraidon yet. But my experience with Legends Arceus kicked in and came the thought of trying to throw a ball to initiate a battle from the other side of the cliff. Turns out this idea got me way more than I bargained for because doing this warped me to the other side of the gap, letting me break out of the area I was supposed to be and explore the whole region before ever entering the school. I shit you not by the time I was done I had almost half the pokedex and a lvl 40 Skeledirge. It was incredibly funny ngl.

But after that when I eventually got back on track I basically just did the remaining intro stuff until you were set free to explore. At which point I wasn't really feeling it, so I put the game down. DLC flew by, stuff happened and it all led up to a couple weeks ago when I had to pick it up again to complete my Ribbon Masters. I initially didn't really vibe with the game. My first day back playing it was basically just me wandering aimlessly, avoiding the main objectives because I wanted to put together a more substantial team beyond Skeledirge and Tinkatuff and I also just wasn't really feeling any of the mons I had in the box. I also do tend to make a conscious effort to use team members I haven’t used before, but a lot of more interesting stuff available in Paldea were mons I had used before. I think it's a combination of this, almost the entire dex being available to you from the outset if you really want it and me being slightly overwhelmed by that that led to this feeling.

This train of thought hilariously led me to awakening and actually catching Chien fucking Pao with no badges, though I never actually ended up using it due to not beating all the gyms first so it was disobedient til near the end of the game.

This first session ultimately ended when I went to take on Great Tusk and subsequently capturing it. I opted to do the Teal Mask DLC from here, this is where the game started to pick up for me. It was a whole new area to explore, tons of new mons to find and use and a nice little side story to get invested in. By the time I was done I was way happier with the team I was using, including a random full odds shiny, so that was awesome.

The Teal Mask was also where the story really started to click with me I think. SV story is very much a character focused one, with the plots mainly being centered around how the player character helps and interacts with the other characters around them. And to complement that, SV probably has one of the best main casts of human characters in the series. Teal Mask brings in Carmine and Kieran who I both really like. Kieran needs Indigo Disk to be fully discussed but most of Carmine's character is here.

I really like her, she has a really good character design and her character arc, while short, is compelling. She goes from someone who is, almost xenophobic for lack of a better term to someone who grows far more accepting as she helps you recover the masks from the Lousy Three. She's hard on Kieran, in a way that I feel like she regrets as they drifted apart on Indigo Disk, but she does care about him. She does also have a bit of smug bastard energy that I do enjoy when it's done right.

Teal Mask also has... H e r

I'm gonna be real here, I think Ogerpon is genuinely the best legendary we've gotten in general, which is saying a lot in a generation that knocks it out of the park in that regard. Her design is simple but adorable, she has one of my favourite stories of any legendary, not just her backstory but also how she bonds with you and how that plays into Kieran's arc, and her gimmick with the masks is incredibly fun to use in a playthrough. Especially so if you play like me with a rotating team of more than 6, Ogerpon can slot in anywhere with how you can change her type to fill any holes you might have in terms of types.

I think Kitakami was really what I needed to get myself in gear and get back into the game. When I got back to the main game, the path I was inclined to follow most was the Titan path with Arven. This was partially for practical reasons as that's how you upgrade Koraidon, but also because of Arven.

I think Arven's story is amazing. He starts out as kind of a dick, pawning Koraidon off on you and wanting nothing to do with it. But you come to learn this is more from frustration towards his mom, feeling like she cared more about it and her research in Area Zero than him growing up. And also because she's given him basically no help with his current goal, healing his partner Mabosstiff. In a series that focuses on all these grand adventures, which this game definitely still has mind you, Arven is incredibly down to earth. At the end of the day he's just a guy who wants to help his sick dog, which is incredibly relatable.

To get a little personal here, I've basically spent my whole life around dogs. We've had plenty across my family growing up. Of course, most of them passed away as I grew up. They were treated well, it's just how it goes. But it does suck, seeing them grow old as their health deteriorates. So I completely understand Arven going so far to help Mabosstiff doing literally everything he can to help save him. And at the very end, when you get the last Herba Mystica, Arven takes a breather. He seems almost resigned, with motions that feel like he's saying he's done all he can do, and now he can only wait and let whatever happens happen.

There are very few things in anything that make me very emotional, but seeing Mabosstiff get up and bring his pokeball to Arven, and Arven being so overjoyed seeing him healthy again, genuinely gets me a little teary eyed. It's genuinely one of the sweetest scenes in all of pokemon. I think the titans path is also helped overall by having the most ties to the final story, it leading into the reason we go down to Area Zero to begin with, thereby giving it an edge in importance over the other two paths.

Speaking of the other two paths, I think they're also pretty solid.

I actually ended up liking Team Star a bit more than I expected. I like that ultimately they just boil diwn to friend group who found solidarity in each other. But they went too far and were too stubborn to back down, because they don't feel like the school did anything to fix their issues. So Penny has to have you step in to dismantle the whole thing so they don't seriously harm their futures. It's a neat story honestly. Not sure how I feel about their postgame side story. It's neat helping them get back on track with things, I think my main issue is that some of them are hard to recognise. Like Mela and especially Eri look like completely different people. One thing I do really like about Team Star though is all their music is canon and composed by Giacomo. It's genuinely really cool. Especially imagining him just going off when he made Penny's one.

The gym path was probably my least favourite of the three paths. It's not bad by any means, it's just the typical song and dance we've come to expect from pokemon at this point. I do enjoy most of the gym leaders, they're fun with plenty of personality. Iono and Larry were personal highlights for me. My issue is that I think the gym path highlights a notable issue with how the game doesn’t really lean into it's open world structure very well. Despite a major selling point being you can do the badges in any order, there still is a set order to do them with the levels they're at. While I think it's a good idea for the start of the game, with some badges being objectively easier than others, I feel like this structure would benefit a lot by having weaker gyms scale up to match where you are if you beat a later badge first. Say you beat Larry first. You could then have Katy, Brassius, Iono, and Kofu scale up in levels to match whoever would be fighting next, so you don't just steamroll everything below the gym you beat.

The real highlightof the gym path is unquestionably Nemona. I think she's a really interesting take on the typical rival in pokemon. Instead of going on the same journey as you, she's already become a champion. She is a savant in terms of battling and she worked hard to get to that point, it's like a hyperfixation for her. But she's reached a point where she's far beyond any of her peers and it leaves her almost alienated from them cause no one else is as into battling as her. It's an interesting way to take the phrase "It's lonely at the top".

That's of course where you come in. She follows you on your journey, starting fresh with a new team, even intentionally picking the starter weak to yours for an extra challenge, I love how they actually have a reason for it this time. All the while along the way she helps you to get stronger offering advice in the gyms and helping you keep sharp in battles. All so that you can become a worthy challenge for her. And when you do beat her at the end when she's not holding back, she's ecstatic because she finally has a true equal, or potentially even a new level of strength for her to work towards. It's a genuinely really cool way to handle the rival here. My one gripe is that I don't think we ever see what Nemona's original team was. Maybe she used Orthworm and Dudunsparce as she only uses them in her final fight when she isn't holding back, but everything else is from the team she trained along the way.

Then there's the final story, and the true ending of the game. Where as the other stories were focused on your friends, The Way Home is Koraidon's story. It's in the name, as the story has you delving into Area Zero, the place Koraidon came from in the first place.

Area Zero is easily a standout location in the game. It has an absolutely perfect vibe. It has this pure, untouched feel, not just as if no one has been there in a long time, it feels like somewhere people are outright not supposed to be. And the music conveys this feeling absolutely perfectly. It's especially great because it's motif is heard in other places like Tera Raid dens, and later it's subtle part of the Terrarium themes in Blueberry Academy and the Crystal Pool in Kitakami.

The vibe of the track, especially the vocal parts, give it a similar feel to stuff from the Xeno series. It's so perfect.

I think it's really interesting to me how Sada, basically the closest thing to a main antagonist this game has, is already dead when you arrive, and has been for some time. But you need to fight through to her machine to shut it down and prevent more Paradox pokemon from coming to the present. It's a pretty simple plot held up by how the characters experience Area Zero itself. All of this culminates in the final fight against Sada's AI. It's a really neat fight that is genuinely difficult. In no small part because she uses exclusively Paradoxes, many of which you could literally have never encountered at this point, giving you an unknown element to contend with. The battle concludes with you taking down her Koraidon with the pokemon you've bonded with throughout the entire game, the one pokemon not affected by Sada's pokeball lock due to technically being owned by her, your own Koraidon, who got you this far to begin with. It's a genuinely great moment as Koraidon overcomes it's fear and takes down it's counterpart who drove it from Area Zero to begin with.

This concludes the main plot, with an Ed Sheeran Jumpscare for some reason, but the story does continue in the Indigo Disk where you become a transfer student for Blueberry Academy. Blueberry is an absolutely fantastic location. The Terrarium is really cool area to mess around in, with tons of new pokemon to find and use, the blueberry Quests are a great addition too. On paper they seem like busy work, but they're so easy to passively complete with solid rewards that they make for a good thing to do in between objectives in the Terrarium. Which really helps for the other main draw of Indigo Disk, the League Club.

I think the League Club is a super underrated part of the DLC. There's a bunch of stuff to do with it by customising the room itself, developing the Item Printer, a great addition in itself, and upgrading the biomes in the Terrarium, letting you get all the starters from Gen 1 - 8, genuinely really cool. The best part of the League Club though is all the character interactions. Initially you'll only meet the BB League E4 in there. But as you play through you'll get the ability to invite basically every notable character in the game there and eventually Carmine and Kieran will appear there too. It's great for fleshing out their characters, and also facilitates special interactions between characters who wouldn't get the chance to meet otherwise.

I love all the little Easter Eggs and references in this DLC too. There's the League Club rooms, specifically monochrome and futuristic, being massive call backs to Unova, each of the biomes being references to old locations like The cliff biome referencing the Nature Preserve, The Savannah Biome references the Kanto Safari Zone, and the Coastal Biome explicitly references Alola. Idk if the Polar Biome references anything, maybe Mt Lanakila? And the Meloetta event? Which requires you to open the camera app with the sepia filter? An amazing call back to the guy from Castelia who remembered Meloetta's Relic Song in Sepia Colored Memories.

And now I get to the story of Indigo Disk. Just as the main game did with Nemona, the DLC went a really interesting direction with the rival trope. You first meet Kieran in Kitakami and while things start out well, your encounter with Ogerpon puts a rift between you and him. He always had an affinity with the Ogre and wanted to meet it for so long, and when he finally meets her, Ogerpon doesn't trust him, despite hearing about her story and admiring it his whole life, she favors you. All the while everyone around him seeks to exclude him by hiding the truth about Ogerpon's story. Even when he goes the extra mile and reveals the true story to the village, leading them to finally accept her after decades, potentially centuries of them rejecting her and her former partner, she still favors you, leading you to fight him for who gets Ogerpon, which you do eventually win.

This kind of breaks Kieran, feeling like you took his place in his story. And in the time between then and Indigo Disk, he kind of goes off the wall a little. dedicating everything to becoming stronger all just to beat you, even becoming Champion of the BB League in the process. But in turn he starts lording over the other members, kicking out anyone he deems too weak despite how arbitrary that might be. This man is literally going insane, twitching about and smiling like a maniac. Part of it is just an act but it's hard to say how in his own head he is.

And when you do eventually fight him, he has an absolutely busted team even including competitive monsters like Incineroar and Grimmsnarl. Yet despite that it's a team that fits him so perfectly. I love when they delve into characters with the details behind their teams, like N using new pokemon from the surrounding area each time you fight him or Ghetsis Hydreigon knowing Frustration and actively hurting itself with every attack. Kieran's team is absolutely perfect in this regard. Every one of his pokemon says something about him all the while putting up one hell of a fight. That's another thing, I genuinely love that that this DLC actually puts up a challenge. BB Academy is called this elite battle school and the trainers sell that idea very well. Every trainer actually uses held items and have actual strats for the most part. The bosses actually have full teams of 6 which is shockingly rare when you're not looking at Champions for some reason.

Once you take down Kieran he and Carmine accompany you to the deepest depths of Area Zero to help Briar search for Terapagos. The under depths are also a fantastic location atmosphere wise and probably the best visual treat the game has to offer. Kieran's encounter with Terapagos is genuinely great, how it's just this tiny little guy that goes up to you because it's the first thing it sees. But Kieran's in such a bad headspace as it is, and after what happened with Ogerpon the very notion that he'd lose another legendary to you causes him to freak out so hard that he immediately Master Ball's Terapagos, which was genuinely fantastically foreshadowed by a Master Ball being the prize for champions in the BB League.

The Terapagos fight is neat enough, very funny that it can outright cheat to kill Carmine's Sinistcha and Kieran finally jumping in to help is great. Terapagos as a legendary is interesting in it's inspiration. It's possibly based on Lonesome George, the last Pinta Island tortoise of the galapagos islands. Much like George, Terapagos is seemingly the last of it's kind and despite internally having a 50/50 gender ratio, the Terapagos in the underdepths is always male. Honestly it's wild that a pokemon that can just casually manipulate time and become the source of terastalization used to be a regular species of pokemon.

That being said it's also very vague about what it and the terastal phenonmenon are supposed to be. It can time travel to some extent which is definitively shown with the secret scene at the crystal pool, but also there's all the weirdness with the paradox mons. Some seem to be genuine ancestors to present mons like Roaring Moon but also stuff like Brute Bonnet which just make no sense to have existed millions of years ago. I also find it strange this same phenomenon allows for pokemon to channel different types which is a kind of random pair of traits for terastalization tbh.

Speaking of, the Stellar Type. It's weird. Defensively you basically don't change at all bar gaining a weakness to Stellar Type moves, all three of them. Offensively however, you gain a power boost for every move type, 2x for the users' regular types and 1.2x for everything else, but unless the user is in a Tera Raid or is Terapagos, it only gets that boost once per type per battle. It's kind of underwhelming for something that is supposed to be using every type at once, and feels weirdly outclassed by normal terastalization in most situations.

Once you beat Terapagos, there are two major things available to do afterward. The first is the aforementioned Crystal Pool event, which has Terapagos bring Sada back in time.As a result of her conversation with you, you become inadvertently responsible for Koraidon's name, giving her the white book that led her to the underdepths in the first place and with the right dialogue options, you give her the idea for the AI, effectively making the entire game one giant bootstrap paradox. I think it is actually a pretty neat idea honestly. And it fits pretty well with all the paradoxes in the game already.

Then of course there's the secret third dlc chapter, Mochi Mayhem.

Mochi Mayem is pretty interesting though I have mixed feelings on it. It's a special third DLC focusing on Pecharunt who is the Mythical Pokemon for Gen 9. What I like is that it seems to be a return to form for mythical pokemon in game. After three whole generations of mythicals just being handed to you by a pokemon center guy, Pecharunt actually has a proper event in game that has you catch it yourself. Mochi Madness is also far more elaborate than any of the previous mythical events having a whole extra story that nicely ties up the main game, Ogerpon and Kieran storylines. It's a fun little story that gives us some great interactions between the characters. On that front it's especially nice to see Kieran and to a lesser extent Carmine interact with the main game trio after the two groups being cleanly seperate for the game before now. While I do enjoy all of this, I do have two notable issues with it.

1: Pecharunt

Now I like Pecharunt. It's essentially the trio master for the loyal three, their equivalent of Arceus or Regigigas for comparison. I think it has a neat design and story but here's the issue with that. None of it's story was in the game. Instead Pecharunt's backstory was revealed in a short animation uploaded to pokemon's YouTube. This video revealed Pecharunt was under the care of an old couple who loved it dearly, but, wanting more of their affection, it fed them it's binding Mochi to secure that for itself. But in turn, Pecharunt's possessive nature turned the couple into the worst versions of themselves, making them greedy and seemingly only having Pecharunt around because it would bring them what they wanted. Turning what seemed like genuine care into something far more superficial. This is what sent Pecharunt to Kitakami to take Ogerpon's masks, and we know how that turned out.

It's not that this is a bad story, quite the opposite honestly it's a pretty good one that explores how despite Pecharunt having a lot going for it, with a loving family and comfortable home, it's own toxic traits ended up leaving all that a shadow of what it was. But it all comes back to that one issue that it isn't in the game itself. Now look, I'm a Mega Man fan, I'm more than familiar with important or beneficial information or stories being tucked away in external sources, many of which are far more obscure and inaccessible than a YouTube video. But I do wish they included at least part of this somewhere in the game itself. As it is Pecharunt basically has no story presence beyond being the present threat for the story at hand and being the master of the Loyal Three, a logical assumption with its music and use of the toxic chains.

The other issue however is not actually to do with the the story itself but rather how it's accessed.

2: Mystery Gift

The most common and understandable criticism of mythical pokemon is that they are limited by design. In the past they have always been available exclusively through limited time events available through Mystery Gift. On the surface Pecharunt actually seems to be an improvement in this area. It's distributed the same way but at this point in time, there is no definitive end date for the distribution and that is good. But I'm not sure how long that is going to last, while that isn't an issue right now, eventually the servers it uses will almost definitely go offline. Maybe that's just because that's something I'm thinking about more with the recent closure of 3ds and Wii U online servers, but idk, that eventual but pretty realistic possibility rubs me the wrong way. In this case I think it's especially egregious due to the fact that unlike other mythical events, there is more content than just the mythical event locked behind the Mythical Pecha Berry. Once you beat Mochi Mayhem, Carmine and Kieran will start appearing in the League Club and you gain the ability to invite Arven, Penny and Nemona as special instructors. So without access to the berry, you lose access to all of their interactions in the club room, their true final rematches and their special trade mons, something you definitely want to be aware of if you want a Paldean Tauros, Sinistcha or anything from the Skwovet, Eevee or Applin families with the partner ribbon. To be fair, this logic could well be applied to the DLC as a whole but that at least could still be accessed via cartridges that have it built in.

Before going into the final conclusions on the game as a whole here's some miscellaneous stuff I couldn't really mention before now.

The Partner Ribbon: A massive part of the League Club that I glossed over was that it is the gateway to postgame rematches with every character that can be in the room. That alone is fantastic but if you interact with a charater in the clubroom enough times They'll trade you a pokemon with the newly added partner ribbon, which when it's assigned as the mon's title, they'll be sent out as "Drayton's Duraludon", "Kieran's Applin", "Nemona's Tauros" etc. It's really neat for ribbon collectors honestly. I hope this becomes a staple for future titles, it'd be really cool for stuff like N's pokemon if we ever get BW2 Remakes that properly reimplement them.

I appreciate the new evolutions in this game. Some are kind of odd and arguably unnecessary, like Kingambit or Archaludon, but I still like them. A lot were definitely well deserved like Dudunsparce and Farigiraf.

Continuing Gen 8's train of thought, it is incredibly easy to properly optimize a pokemon for competitive play, it's certainly worked, I'm more interested in competitive than ever. The changes to Ability Patches letting you change between normal and Hidden Abilities freely, Hyper Training now only requiring a pokemon to be level 50, and the easy availability of however many bottle caps and vitamins you need letting you train a pokemon however you want in the span of like 10 minutes tops all help with this. The mirror herb in particular is a fantastic addition here too, letting you essentially copy egg moves from one pokemon onto another meaning you can even get otherwise unavailable moves onto a pokemon. I've already made extensive use of it to get stuff like Sacred Sword on my Samurott or Fake Out on my shiny Incineroar from Wonder Trade (Thanks Evil Cal Zone). Effectively any pokemon can be made optimal for competitive use at this point, and relatively quickly too. Really the only thing you don't have control over is getting lower IVs, which realistically you'd only want for speed if you plan to run a Trick Room team, which to be fair is a somewhat valid critique as I can say from experiencing it on both sides that Trick Room is a very powerful strategy. Everything else though? You're good. If a pokemon you're attached to from your playthrough is good for the team you want to run, you are completely able to build it almost however you want and that is fantastic.

Union Circle is one of the single best multiplayer mechanics ever implemented in a pokemon game. It's already a lot of fun to mess around with your friends in the world itself, but it is also fantastic on a functional level as with the exception of the Box Legends and the DLC Paradoxes, a Scarlet player can naturally catch every violet version exclusive and vice versa. It reminds me a lot of BW2's key system that let players access select version exclusive content like the Regis or White Forest/Black City. For better or worse, version exclusives probably aren't going away any time soon, so if they are to stick around, Union Circle is a fantastic way to handle it.

There are also some miscellaneous negatives as well unfortunately.

The technical issues. It cannot be denied when discussing SV that on a technical level, it is a trainwreck. To be fair to it, it is nowhere near as bad as it was at launch, I never encountered anything too crazy, but it's still not great. Graphical bugs are everywhere, it is very common for pokemon to go into their low detail models and low frame rate animations despite being very close, there's a lot of pop in and the game lags a lot in areas where it really shouldn't, like menus. I distinctly remember going to the Peachy's shop in Kitakami and the game just straight up freezing for a solid minute as it tried to load the menu. A lot of people attribute this to the game being rushed as a result of the strict dev schedules pokemon games are subject to, and that is part of it no question. One thing I will always be firm on is that there was absolutely no need for this game to come out the same year as Legends Arceus. That game could have easily carried pokemon's holiday release with SV coming out the November after. Both games definitely would have benefitted from the extra time. That being said I think attributing these issues just to the tight schedule is oversimplifying it somewhat. I feel like these issues are a result of a perfect storm of variables in tandem with this. To Gamefreak's credit this was a pretty ambitious game for what they've typically done and something they've clearly been building to with SwSh and LA, but that also means that they are likely inexperienced with this kind of game. Combine that with the fact that this game would have started development in 2020, smack in the middle of a major pandemic, which undeniably affected the output of almost all game development studios? It does make sense that it turned out this way when all of these variables are considered. I'll be clear that I have no idea on the specifics that go on internally with Gamefreak during development, I'm only making the best assumptions I can with what I already know and very surface level research. I do hope that with future releases something like this can be avoided. Pokemon Z seems like it could be a step in the right direction being slated for 2025 and I do recall an article discussing how even the CE of the Pokemon Company acknowledged they may be going way too fast with their output and that changes could be considered. Granted being the head of a massive company like that, his word should rightfully be taken with a grain of salt. But still, it I think there is room for a little optimism at this point.

I think Shiny Pokemon were handled pretty poorly this go around. Shiny Hunting is one of my favourite things to do in pokemon so this aspect is particularly important for me. For the third time now shinies appear in the overworld which I have no problem with. But unlike previous instances like Let's Go or LA, shinies are not accompanied by any special particle effect or sound effect on spawn, instead they are just there and it is up to you to notice. On paper this honestly does not sound that bad but as many hunters know there are a disgusting amount of shinies that have barely any change or the changes are very subtle. This is awful for hunting in this game and requires you to be very aware of everything that spawns if the shiny you're looking for doesn't change much.

On the note of subtle shinies, it is an especially big issue for Gen 9. There are so many shinies that barely change for no good reason and it feels like there are far more than any game before now. For example:

Tatsugiri on paper is ok, but the Yellow form's shiny is orange which creates confusion between it and the normal orange form.

All of the future Paradoxes have a chrome color palette which is a mixed bag. It would be a fine color on paper, if not a little boring because they're all the same, but several future paradoxes already have chrome in their color palette leading to the shiny not changing much. Iron Treads is the worst offender but others like Iron Moth or Iron Boulder are pretty bad for this too.

There are of course the several shinies who just barely change for no good reason, making them incredibly difficult to notice in game, either from the lighting or just because the pokemon is so small to begin with. But none of that compares to:

Like come on what the fuck is this? I don't even know what to say about this like, someone saw Gholdengo, changed the color of it's grooves and just called it a day? I really don't like using this word in regard to game development or design but this is just lazy. It's less than that really because this honestly feels like they went out of their way to make a bad shiny. Like you could have just made it like silver or copper or literally any noticeable change to the gold and that would have been way better. But no, just the barely visible grooves. What is even the point of giving it a shiny at that stage?

Though honestly you could argue Gholdengo's doesn't matter that much because:

Shiny Locks! They are arguably the worst they've ever been. I have and always will, despise this mechanic. There is almost never a good reason for preventing a pokemon from being shiny if it is catchable. Recent games have been very bad for shiny locks. This list includes the starters, which is a god awful decision, arguably the worst mons to shiny lock, the various titans, all wild Gimmighoul for some reason, all gift pokemon except for Salvatore's Meowth, and all legendaries, including the ones brought back in the DLC. That last one in particular is awful as a large batch of returning legendaries has become standard implementation mid generation since ORAS, and we've always been allowed to hunt them, so seeing that changed is a really bad precedent for future games. The Pokemon Company know full well that a significant portion of their playerbase enjoy shiny hunting. It's a side of the fandom that is more acknowledged than ever with the official Twitter even recently putting out a very comprehensive guide on all the ways to boost shiny odds. So I really don't understand what they have to lose by not letting us hunt this stuff, it's not like they're doing anything with those unavailable shinies anyway. Literally none of the Gen 9 legendaries have received shiny distributions yet, hell we're still waiting for most of the Gen 8 ones. Imagine how cool it would be to hunt a shiny Koraidon and ride it during your playthrough, or hunting the gift Sinnoh egg and getting a random shiny Sinnoh Starter or even hunting the Meloetta event. So many cool hunts that we just aren't allowed to do because GameFreak said no. This is absolutely not a dealbreaker but it is a really annoying practice that I wish they would just stop doing.

All that being said, I think that about covers my thoughts on Pokemon Scarlet and Violet by extension. There may be more to say, such as how one could criticize how important the DLC could be to having a fully experience with how the game is lacking in some areas, namely post game content without it, effectively making an already expensive €60 game into an over €90 game, the lack of a battle facilty or the general quality of the pokemon roster this time around but I think I've said my piece.

I think overall this game gets a bad rep. One that isn't entirely undeserved. It has many issues which exist for a number of reasons, be they technical, structural or narrative, and those should be critiqued. But that also means a lot of the good parts of this game get overlooked or underappreciated. It's strong enough that I honestly think that if you just fixed even just the technical issues, this would be one of the best pokemon games. But even as it is I can't say I hate this game. I still enjoyed it quite a lot actually. I think given the way recent releases have been experimenting with open area type gameplay, this style of pokemon is likely going to be the new norm. If so I hope they do take a proper look at what SV did both right and wrong to properly refine it. We can only wait and see on that front, with how much cynicism has taken root in the pokemon community, I hope I can be right on that front.

As for where this game ranks on my ongoing tier list of games, I think smack in the middle of B is a good place to put it with how much I enjoyed the game.

[thiinka]

Ok, I have seen TONS of posts about Josh Hutcherson complaining or observing that, “he didn’t do barely anything after Hunger Games! I wanted to see him in more stuff!” And with the new trailer for it, some want more Hutcherson content before the FNAF movie.

Well. I have a Hulu original (looks safe from the evil mouse merge)/yarr harr high seas (looks like at least 1337x has all 3 seasons) show recommendation for you. It’s taken up welcome space in my brain, for many good and funny reasons. I’m not a Hulu or executive producer Seth Rogan shill, this show is just surprisingly damn good.

Future Man, starring and produced by Josh Hutcherson.

Josh Hutcherson is Josh… Futturman, a janitor at a local biotech research lab which is doing work on curing all illnesses. He finishes a particular video game in his spare time, which turns out to be a scenario sent from the future to the past as a way to find someone to save humanity’s future. Future freedom fighters Tiger and Wolf, the other two main characters, time travel into his bedroom, and the story kicks off. Turns out the biotech research lab isn’t doing the good work it says it is.

Yes, there is time travel. Multiple forms of time travel are used in intelligent ways to the service of the story and the characters, not just to “be smarter than you.” Alternate timelines, doomed timeline individuals, altered main timelines, facilitated by multiple kinds of time travel devices with different capabilities. You’ve seen time cops done before, well here they are again but better and funnier. You’ve seen a time loop done before, well here it is again but with more horrifying implications.

Yes, the characters do start off fairly one-dimensional. You have a weak gamer, a strong woman, and a tough man. Then both the main characters and recurring side characters have arcs and development that make sense with their foundations and personalities, both individually and as a group. It’s consistent, they use skills they picked up in a time travel stint, plot lines that affected them come back. Same thing with the world setting. I really don't want to spoil it, it's so damn fun to see these guys pick up skills and traits.

Yes, the humor is ALSO very crude and sometimes fluid-based. A couple of the writers also worked on Sausage Party. I don’t have a lot of points here: if you’re ok with sex and nudity humor erring on the (well done!) practical effects gross-wise, go for it. If you’re not, I hope you can forgive me but this show might not be for you. However, some of these physical jokes come back for the sake of the story and character development, sometimes in surprising ways. For example, something that happens early season 1 comes back in mid season 2 to connect characters, and it's an incredibly touching payoff for how crude the setup was.

For having such crude humor, with such a tropey beginning to the story, with such basic characters, I was shocked by myself a couple episodes in: I was really invested in what these guys would do next and what would happen next. Wacky stuff happens every episode that still manages to logically follow what happened before. I know, it's the minimum for a fun show, but it was also emotionally engaging. I wanted to see these jackasses win and understand and work with each other! With the least amount of damage to themselves and the world! Their motivations change and shift and become more personal and come into conflict with the goals of others and their group! Holy shit, these are well written dynamic people who remember (or don't ;) ) things that happened to them!

Did I mention there are three complete seasons, each with its own different but logically connected arc, that it’s a finished story, and it was not cancelled midway through? Give it a shot!

[friendofhayley]

Friendofhayley's Top Books of 2022 Pt. 2 LGBTQIA+ Magic

This Book Rec is on LGBTQIA+ with a magical element in them. This list contains 7 different books. Let's go!!

Kushiel's Avatar (Kushiel's Dart #3) by Jacqueline Carey | queer society

This concluded the Kushiel's Dart series through the eyes of Phèdre, a now powerful Duchess. In this installment (that has jumped years into the future) she tries any aims and leads she can to free her best friend from the island he was cursed to. It was very bittersweet to finish this book, Phèdre is such a brilliant and unique character. I loved getting to see fantasy Africa and Central Asia in this installment and see the twists made on Egyptian and Jewish culture in this world.

"We speak of stories ending, when in truth it is we who end. The stories go on and on."

An Accident of Stars by Fox Meadows | queer/feminist world (kinda)

This story follows an Australian girl who falls into a portal into another world and lands in a political mess -- and she'll never be the same again. I loved how this new world was literally COMPLETELY unlike our own. Plants and animals weren't a mix of ours, they were completely their own. I loved every character and how nonchalantly free and queer/trans all the women were.

“Life is hard. Some days we get our asses kicked, but apathy breeds more evils than defeat. So, you know. Keep fighting."

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin | poly & queer characters

The Stillness is a land of constant shakes and phenomena since Father Earth started hating his children. This story follows characters who can (basically) Earth bend and it's super poly and queer. This book made me realize what epic fantasy should be, which is nonchalantly queer and POC-filled with no heteronormativity anywhere. A semi-depressing read though.

“After all, a person is herself, and others. Relationships chisel the final shape of one's being. I am me, and you.”

Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu | lesbian vampires

This book was extremely gay. I was cautious because I felt like maybe the show really emphasized it, but no. Carmilla is head over heels in love with Laura, and Laura is confused but into it. I loved that it involved an unreliable narrator as well. Dracula who?

“Yes, very—a cruel love—strange love, that would have taken my life. Love will have its sacrifices. No sacrifice without blood.

Summer of Salt by Katrina Leno | queer romcom

There is an island known for a rare (magical) bird. Georgina hates the time of the year when the bird researchers flock to her hometown, and it's even worse while she's waiting for her family magic to kick in. But another magic (love) also arrives. This book was amazing. It has a small-town feel to it, it made me laugh out loud, and the characters all feel real. I stayed up until 4 AM to finish it, and it was so worth it. I wish I could read it again.

"And she was funny, and interesting, and her smile was like a small revelation. Like she had invented smiling."

Widdershins by Jordan L Hawk | gay men

Two men get shoved into an occult mystery that might turn into a horror story. Also enemies to lovers and badass/nerd. This book was outstanding. It was so refreshing for a story to have a non-romantic plot with a well-written subplot in which there is no drama about the being gay part. It felt like any other brilliant story set in the Victorian(?) age but with gay main characters.

“Why did he have to be kind? If only he’d mocked me, or sneered at me, or merely tolerated me, then I would have known how to deal with him. But he insisted on being kind, on pretending I had some worth. How was I to defend myself against that?”

Peter Darling by Austin Chant | trans man MC + gay relationship

This story follows Peter Darling who has come back to Neverland after being away for so long. For some reason, he's drawn to Captain Hook and keeps forgetting something very big. There was so much hype about this book and it was worth it. At times the story was trippy in the best way and the romance was sweet and made sense.

“You know, I find that enemies are often the most satisfying people to share your secrets with. If you must tell someone, tell someone who's sensitive to all your vulnerabilities, on account of trying to exploit them.”

[beyond-dreams]

💫 tell me about Rackam/Granblue Fantasy!

looking with hyperfixation eyes,, i am SO sorry this is gonna be a very long post im love him

so granblue fantasy is a mobile jrpg/visual novel made by cygames and the rundown of the main plot is that the MC (referred to as captain) loses their dad (dad fucks off to the end of the skies to a place called Estalucia) and our job is Find Dad

Objective: Find Dad has all gone to shit: we end up creating a rag-tag group of adventurers that will explore the skies with us! (also the setting is fantasy/steampunk/there's a lot happening basically the main mode of transportation that's important is that everyone lives on sky islands and we use airships to travel)

the gang includes: Vyrn, the MC's little red dragon companion that raised them whenever Dad fucks off;

Lyria, a girl with blue hair and mysterious magical powers that the MC has a soul link to (if lyria dies the MC dies kinda thing);

Katalina, a knight that protects Lyria and god help you if you eat her food (its so bad);

Rackam, a helmsman that pilots your airship and doesn't get The Youth;

Eugen, an older adventurer that wants to relive his past and understand his daughter better;

Rosetta, a mysterious woman with magical powers and hhi im so bisexual. hi. (you find out later that she's a primal beast, essentially a small god of the world)

and Io, a literal child mage (she's 11 and can kick your ass. i love her)

ANYWAY yeah! that's The Gang - Rackam specifically is my blorbo bleebus <3 his backstory is that he's been trying to repair this airship called The Grandcypher ever since he was a kid, well into adulthood - he ends up losing faith in himself because it won't fly, but he regains his courage and fierce personality whenever he meets the MC and they start their adventure!

One of the running gags in Granblue is that Rackam ends up blowing himself up;; a lot - and it's even referred to in some of the meta gameplay its so funny

this is Mullin, my gbf captainsona!! Their story is that their siblings, Gran and Djeeta, start off the main story and they come in at the start of the second main story arc to help Find Dad (credits to @/solarpire and @/acequinox here on tumblr!)

Mullin goes through A Lot in trying to find dad, like throwing themself off a moving airship to save someone! we love a dramatic king - they also come back a Little Fucked Up but I'm gonna try to keep captainsona lore to a minimum

Rackam gbf my beloved;;; hes so [head in hands] hes very himbo and he plays the bass guitar and i love him

bonus fun images (live crew reaction)

[revui]

FOREVERLANDS HAS BEN SHAPIRO? he better be a villian but like a funny one

also who is transfemme puss in boots! i want her number

PFGHFD I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT THIS WAS REFERRING TO FOR A SEC

"lesbian ben shapiro" is the nickname i use often to refer to one of the villains, whose actual name is molly sims. i modeled a couple of her manners of speech after Real Man ben shapiro and she is genuinely the funniest person in the whole story. she's an atrocious human being and has Dead Wife Syndrome. she has beef with a 14 year old while working the most prestigious research job in the world. she's always wearing a fucking hat. she's a silly little girl, a grown adult woman, a miserable old man, but most importantly she is MY SCRUNKLY

she's functionally the seraph's right hand man, and she becomes a major problem when the seraph temporarily steps out of the plot and leaves her in charge, where she proceeds to cause general mayhem and commit acts of unthinkable cruelty. she winds up getting banished to earth for the crime of being bad at her job

NOW ONTO OTHER FUNNY GIRL!!!!!

her name is veerabelle poppins, and she's the kind of character people would zero in on as "the dumb one" or "the useless gay" because she's easily distracted, has a poor memory, and isn't great at controlling her magic, but 1) she reads all the time and is therefore very book-learned, 2) she's noted as being one of three people who can consistently keep up every time colum starts talking, a feat that even colum himself can't achieve all the time, and 3) she's one of two characters in the entire main cast who can fight effectively without using magic. the only other character of that nature is skyler, who has no magic and the obvious advantage of two years of assassin training. veer had no formal training with a rapier and she could still kick skyler's ass in a sword fight because she's been practicing for so long that she basically has fencing in her bones.

and also she's obsessed with cats. the top of her staff is carved into a cat, she made her own tiny cat plush, she meows at people, she wears a homemade cat ear headband... she's so perfect.

she does have a slight problem with fighting, though, and it's that she thinks she should be fighting with her magic. even though she would be more effective with her rapier, she believes that she should be using her magic because it's the way everyone else does. and she's not usually the kind of person to do something just because others are—she tends to go her own way, forge her own path, all that stuff—but magic is such a deeply ingrained aspect of life in the foreverlands, and strong magic is held in extremely high regard, so she thinks it would be a waste to neglect it. she fears disappointment more than anything, terrified of a future where she lets everyone down when they need her, so she tries to be good at the same things as everyone else in the same way as everyone else, but it doesn't work.

it's sort of a parallel to how people in real life will be told one specific way that things are meant to be done, and even when they find a way that's easier for them to understand, they'll be told that it's wrong just because it's not the same as what everyone else is doing.

[hazelcephalopod]

Alright it’s insomnia posting time. I am now half way through Preacher aka the end of season 2 -so however far along you consider that to be. Here’s my thoughts as much as I can coherently relay as of now (I will be using video game metaphors)-

Season one truly does feel like what was meant to be a short tutorial level but developers quickly realized once it hit play testers they had included too much and no one wanted to leave. Therefore they had to force you to leave by blowing up the entire town and 99% of the characters you had grown to care about.

I too would have fallen in love with Tulip bc a) Ruth Negga; b) she’s just the coolest most badass messy women ever.

Jesse is not a good preacher and it is so fucking funny. He’s not terrible, he tries, but he’s just not.

Im gonna stay mad at the insane messy throuple vibes forever. (Do they have the communication skills? Would it be good? Probably not and also maybe that’s one of the reasons it’s so interesting.)

those Angels were fucking right Genesis is not good for a person to have in them. Like it’s clear from the beginning and only gets clearer as time goes on.

All I have to say about Eugene is this poor boy deserves none of this.

this show loves side quests.. Killer of Saints did go somewhere. But. Where it the hell side plot going? (More under the cut)

I think that firmly brings us to season two. Aka. The story kicks off. aka “Jesse having just learned god is missing decides he will find him because that is what the power is for.” (Despite being told it is in fact just the offspring of a demon and Angel that, got out of its prison? Nursery? Sanctuary?)

The second season is basically the main quest needs to be explored but mainly in fetch quests. Meanwhile the player needs most of the parts involving Tulip and Cass so they get the “bad (midpoint) ending”. It’s also apparently an “I’m going to join the evil group despite all evidence that I should not” play through. (I’m ok with this actually it’s just I find putting it that way funny)

Aka. All of these people are very traumatized and secretive. Problems ensue.

On the one hand I get that Cass is probably written as having like attachment issues and stuff. On the other I am reading it fully as he just fell in love with these weirdos and assumes that’s probably not on the table at all but will take whatever he can get.

Tulip deserves far better imho. Just in every aspect of life and storyline.

Jesse clearly suffering from trauma with some symptoms of mania triggered by the immense and inhuman power thrust upon him. Also the severe guilt being reignited by just about the most severe crises of faith. (I’m gonna be real honest I have some half formed thoughts on his trauma, depression, and quite possibly mania)

We all knew Dennis was not going to go well I think and it somehow did go worse. That was not just tragedy but utterly brutal as well in a way that surprised me. Truly believe Cass is probably holding back most of the time -in fact I’m pretty sure it’s firmly implied in the text. So hopefully that goes somewhere.

Jesse the grandson of the swamp witch who does black magic and maybe… voodoo? (I’m sorry that woman looks way to white for that but I admit I’m not well versed in that particular tradition so I will not say more; the show seems to be more focusing in her just being a witch?) (great cutscenes tho)

After they get to new Orlesns the show really becomes “Jesse finds a new cult led by a fascist asshole and uh. Everyone else has fucked up misadventures which Jesse doesn’t appear to even notice most of unless it directly applies to him.” (Aka we are off the group main quest here’s a bunch of individual side quests, decisions matter despite appearing completely unrelated. Will you talk to each other? Btw they do not)

I would be surprised if Jesse remembered who Dennis was by the end tbh. He was not paying attention to anything after they got rid of the Saint of Killers imho with his partners. At the very least I believe it was the last thing he was thinking about.

I am saying partners -yes I am shipper scum get over it- Bc they basically are presented as such by the end of this season. The vibes very much are “bordering on divorce” by the end of the season. Tulip and Cass break up with Jesse, in a diner for joining a weird cult and not paying enough attention to them and being extremely selfish. They are correct imho.

Again Tulip deserves better than this. (Spoiler- I know she gets better. Still. Also I’d have loved to see whoever Jesse actually explained -or perhaps didn’t- his plan to Cass)

they are getting so so divorced broken up and tbh. fair.

“I hate you” delivered in the most… truly trying to just hate him and not being able to way imho.

time for under the cut stuff

So the big points here are- does Preacher deal with fascists and specifically Nazis well? Tbh, I’m not sure it does but I’ve seen much worse.

First we have Herr Starr who is at minimum an authoritarian and I would go as far to say fascist. I’d go as far to say the Grail is heavily fascist leaning. Most of the Grail is just embarrassingly incompetent. Whereas Herr Starr despite the “funny problems” -tbh I was not really amused personally by “lol one of the idiot agents though he wanted a gay gang bang”. Its 2017 why? Who was like “yea let’s do that”. (I have several guesses) Anyway to put it very simply I think he’s just a bit… too cool? Now I admit his main character traits seem to be a deeply selfish desire for power for himself perhaps? I still think he’s a fascist but maybe other have a different read and I’m willing to hear it I guess?

Hitler. Why is he here? Is this necessary? On the other hand it’s a bold move and I could see them doing some subversive and cathartic stuff with him but I admit my own bias of having a strong disgust factor over… just the character. However he sucks, and everyone else except the nicest naivest person in hell agrees, which makes it tolerable.

[keanbeanproduction]

My Frankenstein Story!

OK I am writing this while driving in my car so I’m using my microphone so if somethings are misspelled well I’m not gonna fix it. I’m a little tired today, but here is the summary well the short plot summary without spoilers of the little Frankenstein story I am doing that takes place in my horror university as well as I’m gonna do a post on a Creature Feature story I want to do that take for my old Creature Feature movies but I love that but enough about that back to the Frankenstein story

I don’t exactly have a year I’m placing the story in so it’s a bit ambiguous but it’s very early on and like the timeline of the world and it starts off simply with the main character. Don’t have a name yet who is a drop out of med school and works as a mortician for his rather abusive parents, and he actually has a girlfriend who’s about to finish college and by the way, he only asked me to one year medical school because he was actually kicked out well he dropped out before they could kick him out so he DaniLeigh was never kicked out so that at least what he says.

So yeah, their relationship is going well. He actually brings her lunches that he makes basically a really really cute relationship. It’s funny because she’s like a punk of the school the delinquent of the town who somehow still gets good grades and causes trouble member of the wrestling team athlete everything going well for her one day when her boyfriends making her lunch hour character, he hammers get pushed around by bullies, who she beats and breaks one of her noses and of course it’s their anniversary, so they want to go out to dinner that night.

It’s raining that night, and his girlfriend is driving on her motorcycle. The bullies set up Face ID equivalent to sharp wires in the middle of the road where she bikes and it cuts her into pieces luckily, leaving her heart and head still intact not damaging the brain too much she happens to find her body and takes it back to his lab under the morgue and lock the door. She is able to preserve her body using the tech he’s made because that same night he creates a liquid solution from Axolotl DNA that helps grow back nerves and keep things like he’s able to pump it into some of her body parts to keep her alive so he has a plan. She starts slowly piecing her back together.

Problem is he also discover something called solar energy, which I am I have an entire thing about solar energy for the world. Basically it just means it’s energy that everything can have even lifeless things can have remnants of solar energy that could be left behind from just being around long enough But anyways enough about that turns out her soul energy is too weak for her body to actually fully come back but he just needs a restart, so how is he figure this out? Well, it’s because he was doing experiments on animals as well roadkill specifically stitching them into well, camera, taxidermy creatures, and bringing them back each one, however Been stranger and stranger, some of them acting like a mix of the animals. They are in some acting like the original, adjusting to the new party, finding out that if you use mostly organs from one creature or a Lucia 45 from one Animal lickd, see the head of a goat on the head of a wolf has already over the head of multiple animals on one body they’re all might try to fight for it. It’s rather complex I’m still trying to work it out but basically he needs something equivalent to human soul energy to restart it.

Finally, he uses his own parents having enough of them, uses all the energy in their bodies to restart her own and it works. The problem is this, despite having the liquid that could help regenerate parts of your body and fix the nerve damage well, most of it, she can’t really feel that much pain in her body anymore Know the big problem is some of her skin organs. All that stuff is now rotting because he took so long to actually get some of the liquid into it and some basically just in general complications infection, and all that stuff so with her now basically being a ticking time bomb before her body may fall apart completely. They both need to go out and get her new parts and luckily there’s an entire college full of fresh organs and limbs for them to use and skin graphs.

Which this would be the rest of the story now that’s just the beginning part with a lot more detail and character development but that’s mostly the beginning there it’s gonna go into the part about them getting the body parts and other shenanigans being a very horror comedy which I thought of of this idea long before Lisa Frankenstein I’m gonna be honest with you completely honest Frankenhooker is who are I get a decent man inspiration which I’m gonna make a very slight reference to it where he suggests that they could easily just go to the bad part of town and get power body parts there since no one would notice anyone from there missing except the pimps Which immediately she’s a grumbles at him not to do that he’s like fine fine, which is also a bit of revenge because she wants to get back at the people who basically killed her because she was killed and then basically brought back which he has this rock work where she can flick sewing needles because she’s a really good sewer and actually gets mad at the dude for his sloppy sewing job, which is why she sews on the body parts in skin graph later and even sows embroiders her own skin cause you can’t really feel it anymore or bleed that much being my own version of the Frankenstein she just kept feel that much pain in your head and everything just not pain.

Which that’s pretty much it if you see spelling mistakes that’s because I am doing this while driving and I don’t feel like fixing it. Well I hope you all enjoy. I’m about to do the one for the monster love story animals gonna pitch the idea for the Creature Feature one because I got a huge inspiration from an old comic book ad.

[italwayshadtobeyou]

I'm going to go with 7, because, while it has several episodes that suck, it also has realistic surveillance concerns, a capable adversary, and a coherent main plot. As someone who spent the middle third of season 5 grinding my teeth at the smart things Zachariah didn't do, it's a relief to see Dick Roman actually doing those things: He installs moles at credit-card companies; he publicizes the kind of car the boys drive; Frank even thinks he has access to the camera feeds for "[any motel] that even looks like it can afford security. He even takes the step of creating more Dick Romans to populate SucraCorp headquarters, just in case the brothers manage to get eyes on it.

Then there's Meg, a lesser villain but still a charismatic one. Even if I don't buy the whole "Lucifer loyalist" storyline, it doesn't change the story much, because there are a billion other reasons for her anti-Crowley agenda. She's funny, she has a great voice, and she's one of the few female characters who gets to be as direct and pragmatic as the males. (I do, however, miss Meg 1.0's sensible pixie cut and low heels-- dressed for sleeping in floors, skipping showers, and, if telekinesis doesn't prove enough, kicking ass. I realize that any version of Meg can rip her hair out by the roots if she needs to escape an opponent, and wouldn't even twitch at a broken spike heel... but my point is more that Meg originally didn't care about performing femininity, not when it didn't help her with her job.) She gets so many zingers. Replying to Castiel's line about "thorny beauty": "We've been through this already, I don't like poetry. Put up or shut up." On Castiel's chances of defeating a gang of demons: "I believe in the little treetopper." In response to Sam and Dean worrying about whether or not they're pursued for kidnapping: "Not if we shut up about it."

Lastly, I'd have to mention something that I think season 7 does better than any other, except maybe season 3-- and certainly better than any post-Gamble season. Here, the Winchesters' parents were still nobodies in the human world, their upbringing would elicit more pity than anything else, and all their status symbols, even their public identities, are fake. By the season's midpoint, they've lost the Impala and Bobby, too. Basically, they have nothing, except for themselves, one another, and whatever beliefs they cling to... which itself is limited by Sam's psychosis. What we see is raw, atavistic urges toward love and revenge, all philosophy filtered through their bizarre experiences. No matter how many patriotic action flicks Dean watches, they're essentially out of phase with modern, American, human society.

Which I find interesting, because there's a long list of people(s) who've inhabited liminal social spaces, whom I find fascinating: Brigand kings, women warriors, Victorian demimondaines, pious pirates, and celebrity highwaymen. So it's probably not a surprise that I think the best settings for our world-saving heroes involve driving crappy cars, squatting in utility-free basements, and stealing from rich and poor alike. It's particularly interesting to me, personally, but I also think that it's more believable than land that hasn't been seized in over 60 years, permanent neighbors who never recognize them, and a fraudulent credit card that never fails.

im so curious. also tell me why

least favourite

[dr-drea]

lmao rwrb is actually the best queer book i've read. and it's not for the smut, smut does nothing for me since i'm ace. and you saying it's made for straight women?? girl, where? the author is queer, most readers are queer. you are entitled to any opinion on the subject you want, but keep your wank out of the tag maybe? since it's for people who actually enjoy the media you're shitting on?

I was contemplating for a while if I should respond to this/the notes on my post, if I should edit my post or delete it. I decided on keeping it, because people said some pretty important things in the reblogs (if you haven't read those, here you go).

When I wrote my post, I was pissed. I got the book recommended many times before, often with the words 'groundbreaking', or, like you said, 'the best queer book I've ever read'. I think with these descriptions in mind, I built up too high expectations. And I still think the book has flaws (such as the lack of development of side characters). I could see that a queer book was not judged with the same criteria a mlw book would be. I can understand this for queer persons because we are desparately craving representation. But many of the voices hyping the book up so much came from straight people.

Which is when I discovered the mlm fetishization part of the fandom. And I was pissed and angry and grossed out. I probably connected two things which should not have been connected, but my anger-fueled thought was basically: "Straight people are hyping up this book so much, because they like to fetishize mlm media."

That point did not only not at all come across in my post (because I chose the wrong words), I also did not think about how I would adress the entirely wrong audience for this (as there are many queer people on tumblr). Anyways, if you're still in the mood to read it, here's my revised, cooled down and more elaborated version of everything.

"Red White and Royal Blue" does not feel like a queer story written for queer people.

RWRB is a queer story by a queer author for queer people. I got the impression it was not, because on other parts of the internet the fandom is mainly run by the 'fetishizing' part. But, using a quote from the reblogs: "Just because straights decided to fetishize a queer book doesn't mean it is written for them."

"The two boys [...] are very straight-coded"

Okay, so for this I might have used a word which isn't even existing, my apologies for that, I'm not a native english speaker. What I meant (I'm sorry I still could not find the exact term for this) is that the two are very straght-passing (i.e. displaying straight behaviors). This is not a problem of the book specifically, but of queer representation in general (more 'feminine' queer men often get ridiculized/are 'funny side kicks' rather than multi-faceted main characters). I think this is an actual problem, but this was not really the place to adress it.

"I barely could see any queer struggles despite the public coming out"

My original thought was that the book told a 'watered down' version of the queer experience to make it more appealing for heterosexual readers. What I didn't consider is that queer people might have different expectations for what they want from queer fiction, such as a world with less homophobia (instead of seeing relatable struggles).

I'll use another quote from the notes for this one: "Can we have happy gay stories? We literally need it. It's fiction for a reason. We're trying to escape reality."

"I believe y'all wouldn't have enjoyed the book as much if it wasn't for the smut."

With 'y'all' I meant the fetishizing part of the fandom, which I probably should have been clearer about. The same as said above applies here, different people have different expectations for queer media. I still think some of the sex scenes were uneccesary for the plot development, but this is just my personal taste.

"I just wish people would stop treating it as the queer love story of the decade, because it is not."

I still stand behind that one. There are better queer books out there. And that is totally fine, especially since this was Casey's first book. I actually think "I kissed Shara Wheeler" (another book of Casey) is better (which is normal, authors progress with every book they publish).

I sadly think Iksw will not have the same popularity as rwrb because mlm stories still get way more attention than any other queer identity is (which I could write at length about, but I will spare you this essay). Just because this is a personal issue for me: please read more queer books. And read more diverse queer books, maybe about ace, trans and nb characters. They deserve to get attention as well.

Closing remarks:

I'm not really a fan of of bringing queer persons down, especially not when they are providing creative content. So in case I haven't made it clear, I never meant to shit on Casey McQuiston. Their books are really good, and an important contribution to the world of queer media.

I also never meant to make any person feel uncomfortable who enjoyed the book and personally related to Henry or Alex. If that was the case for any of you, I apologize.

(last but not least, if you're still around: sorry anon for using your ask for this. I didn't want to make another post with a reply, but I also didn't want to leave your criticism unanswered)

[lem-cup-rev]

ID: INVADED (2019)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

- some spoilers for early episodes -

Do you want to hear me gush? I’m going to gush in this one.

I was absolutely blown away practically from start to finish. In terms of cerebral thriller anime, this is almost definitely the most interesting thing I’ve ever seen.

The very beginning puts us in a simple, abstract scenario. It says, “this is a story about solving a puzzle.”

Then it unfolds a little more. In this procedural, our detective explores a dreamlike subconscious in a dreamlike state of mind. The team, meanwhile, observes his interaction with the dreamscape to draw deductions about real-world crimes. Upon understanding this premise, I fell in love instantly.

Frankly, the puzzles and deductions frequently lost me. A lot of times, I wasn’t sure it quite made sense. And yet it always did a fantastic job of bringing me back in. The stakes for the characters are really clear, and after a little bit I would start to have ‘aha’s about the last plot twist and what it meant. I had so many moments of pure amazement at the way the sci-fi and psychological elements came into view from a brand new angle that totally clicked, or the way established characters and rules came back with brand new relevance that made complete sense. Ultimately, the whole trajectory of the series felt like a really successful building of a twisting, speculative mystery story that knew what it wanted to be and had so much thought and creativity put into it.

The main characters are incredibly interesting and endearing, which was constantly a thrilling surprise given how grim the story is.

Narisago is a fascinating dual figure: when exploring the subconscious, he’s a carefree, charming detective. When he wakes back up, the weight of his personal tragedies and the violence he’s committed comes rushing back to crush him. I find him thrilling to watch like a running drill bouncing around on a table. His grimy dangerousness is palpable, yet his tender heart is painfully clear to us as well.

Hondomachi is a young field agent who begins to show an eerie aptitude for the darker parts of the job. One aspect of her design is extremely funny: I initially imagined she was supposed to be about 16, sort of averaging together the fact that she’s a police officer with the fact that she looks 12. She’s supposed to be like 26. But besides her being a cutie, I love her character quite a bit. She’s extremely good-hearted and sincere, and yet we immediately see her do things and react to things in small ways that offput and frighten other characters, until she’s confronted with the idea that there’s something genuinely wrong with her. Watching her navigate the different sides of herself is such a uniquely sweet and creepy experience.

The show has a really surprising sense of humor that comes out when you least expect it. The characters will be goofy and joke like real people in bizarre situations, and it creates this absolutely delicious feeling of naturalism. The range the writing has between horror, grit, and humor is just unique.

The series’ obsession is serial killers, and its excavation of the subject is so interesting. I think it kind of takes modern knowledge about the patterns and motivations of serial killers, and expands on it to create its own personal mythos, this in-story logic about the nature of “the drive to kill” and what it means about your brain if you are a killer.

The animation is wonderful. During more static scenes the art feels serviceable and efficient; but as soon as there’s more movement, the animation kicks straight into gear and conveys it with flawless realism and charm. And that goes both for fantastical action sequences and for small moments of mundane, characterful movement.

There’s honestly more I could say, but if you want a thick little pitch packet for why you should watch the show, there it is. God, what a bizarre masterpiece.

Anyway it’s basically Inception

[a-few-of-my-favorite-mangas]

Uncle from Another World / Isekai Ojisan

by Hotondoshindeiru

Manga Volume 02

Comedy, Adventure, Isekai, Seinen

Story  ★★★★☆  ||  ★★★☆☆   Art

Summary

Takafumi’s uncle returned from an alternate fantasy world after seventeen years, and now he’s (sort of) getting the hang of the twenty-first century. From YouTubers to modern netiquette, there’s a lot to learn for a guy who lives in service of Sega games. But as Uncle recalls his memories of ax-wielding battlers and draconic forces, Takafumi keeps noticing one thing: the swooning heroines who failed to catch his romantically oblivious uncle’s attention! Can Takafumi help him get a clue, or is it too late for such a die-hard gamer?

Review

I’m continuing to really enjoy this comedic manga, I guess I like dense, oblivious characters because the levels of obtuseness of the Uncle is just so hilarious that I’m right there with Takafumi and Fujimiya as they just can’t believe how his uncle keeps misunderstanding all of the advances of the HOT girls that keep hanging around and following him around... the ridiculousness of the situations is just very funny. Part of me wishes that the manga was just the Uncle in the Isekai world still, instead of 17 years later back in the real world.

I keep wanting these girls to find a way in to our world just so they can torment Uncle more, and maybe finally get lucky with him, I mean I don’t think he ever figured it out and well, those poor girls deserve a little affection after so many years of yearning! LOL

Uncle keeps crossing paths with Elf-girl, who he continues to unintentionally lead on. We meet Alicia and her two friends Raiga and Edgar who are adventuring heroes who Uncle befriends, but then wipes their minds. Mabel also returns, seems that since she has nothing to guard anymore, the villiage has kicked her out and she has to make a living now, but she hates to work. Uncle basically rescues, gives advice, and takes care of business as an OP badass, all from utilizing lessons learned from playing Sega games!

More story does start to develop in the current timeline, we meet more characters and deal with Youtube trouble. I’m not as entertained by the modern stories, but I do wonder where it is all going - will there be a story line developing? Right now, it is more episodic with little issues cropping up, with the main plot being Fijimiya’s crush on Takafumi and learning he is nearly as oblivious as his Uncle to her feelings (feelings that his Uncle picked up right away! LOL)... but so far most of the time they are watching Uncle’s Isekai adventures, not that I’m complaining - it is a lot of fun, I would want to watch too!

[perennii]

NTN THEORY: THE BODY ON THE COVER IS ALECTO!!

So I usually never use the braincells for theories bc I usually don't have them but GOD I have theories rn

In short: The Body on the cover is Alecto, the pilot is an amnesiac Gideon’s soul that's been shoved into her.

Supports!

1) If you compare how harrow described The Body in HTN, it matches up SO WELL with the cover art we have for Nona

God, so MUCH matches!!! First off, I can totally see how this could be, in Harrow's words, "a girl. Maybe a woman", since her age seems to be super ambiguous to me imo. Also, THE LIPS. THEYRE UNEVEN!!!!

ALSO THE EYES!!! TELL ME they don't look like egg yolks!!!

Also, take a look at the HTN cover:

Her face doesn’t match the description given on The Body in the book, she looks super different! Her nose is more narrow, her whole face is waaaay more round than the one on the Nona cover, and HER LIPS ARE EVEN. Thus, that CAN’T be Harrow bod on the cover!!!

2) Alecto and Gideon have A Moment in HTN, so it would absolutely make sense for Gideon’s soul to latch onto her so she can actually live lol. The last thing Gideon sees before dying in HTN is The Body, aka Alecto, coming to "claim" Harrow. We have a ton of precedent for revenants in this series, and we mostly likely have a soul body-share with Palamedes and Cam in Nona. What if Gideon's soul latched onto Alecto's body? We don't know how this could happen, but that's why this is a theory and not canon written by Tazmuir lol. If I'm right, I'm betting were gonna find out what exactly happened in the River in HTN.

3) From what we know of the plot the Blood of Eden want Nona bc she can do Big Shit, like "save them from the Nine Houses". As much as I love harrow Alecto is a grade A level heavy hitter.

And it makes sense they'd kinda know about her on some level bc they KNOW ABOUT THE RESURRECTION BEASTS.

From these passages, we KNOW that BOE knows about Resurrection Beasts, and more importantly, *know that can kick the shit outta wizards* (what we know as necromancers/lyctors). If they somehow found out they have A) a real life RB hanging around (bc I heavily subscribe to the Alecto is an RB theory) or B) someone who knows how the lyctors Work (which alecto also would), of COURSE the BOE is gonna want Nona. The catch? She doesn't know shit bc Gideon's soul is piloting the meat suit lmao.

4) I am very much for the “Harrow is the person Nona is dreaming about” theory, bc it actually ties into a sub-theory for this theory!!! Basically, that Harrow’s soul got taken along for the ride in Alecto’s body, and she is taking a niiiiice nap during NTN (she deserves it, okay?). This would also tie in to Gideon being the one with the power in the Harrow+Gideon dynamic in NTN and ATN. I think being the main body pilot would fit that little piece of info quite nicely. 

5)  THIS TWEET!!!!!

I think the use of “that body” (I scrunched my eyes so hard at “body”), rather than character/person/etc. is an incredibly funny play on words referencing what Harrow called Alecto all through HTN, THE BODY!!! 

EDIT: HOW COULD I FORGET THAT THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE PART OF ATN!!! If this was supposed to be Act 1 of a story about Alecto, it would make PERFECT SENSE for the body involved to be Alecto's!!!!

Anyways this is me right now:

[katerinu]

I have arrived at the Yashahime is Over Party! I never, ever wanted a sequel, I was much happier with my own opinions and headcanons as to what happened after the show was over. (As I'm sure many fans were.) InuYasha has always been this great, big sandbox, where you can do whatever you want. Yashahime basically came in and stomped on everybody's fun time, so now I'm just trying to rebuild what I had! This rewrite isn't exactly my thoughts to a T on what I think should have happened at the end, rather, I tried to keep in mind the premise of Yashahime and just... fix it!

I know that my likes and opinions tend to be a bit disjointed from the rest-- for example, I LOVED the filler episodes. To this day, some of my favorite episodes that I go back to rewatch have been filler. I like slow and steady, I like lots and lots of dialogue. But Yashahime? Not like this. Never like this. For my rewrite, this is no longer a fantasy romance action adventure whatever. This is slice of life.

For my rewrite, Moroha becomes the main character. The story follows her as she travels around Japan, basically meeting old friends of her folks, and meeting some new ones along the way. InuKag and MirSan live generally happy, peaceful lives, with the Root Head demon being the last of their major problems for a long while.

I love the idea that with InuYasha and Kagome being a committed couple in an "unusual" relationship with an "unusual" daughter, Kaede's village over time becomes a safe haven for weak demons, half demons, and like-minded humans. It expands into a vast and bustling town, with plenty of colorful characters in addition.

Sango spends a lot of her day training Hisui and Gyokoto. She doesn't go out herself much anymore, and has basically passed the torch to her children and, of course, younger brother. Her time is mostly spent now creating and repairing weapons, though her real passion is in experimenting with fabrics to create stronger, more resistant material. Miroku continues to travel (so long as he stops by to say hello to his wife once and awhile) alongside his daughter Kin'u, who basically apprentices under him. He's so proud of who she's become.

Moroha is at that age where she longs to see the world outside their humble home. She packs her things, says goodbye to her mom and dad, and sets off. I can totally see her keeping the bounty hunter job as it would be a great way for her to make money on her own. And with her being loved and reasonably fed, whenever she loses a head, it can *actually* be funny. She still uses the rouge to become Beniyasha in tough times, but without the red pearl. (No pearls in this, the pearls are stupid.) She made a promise with her momma to only use the rouge in DIRE situations, since it can be dangerous. Of course, she's looked over by grandpa Myoga... and Shippo!

Shippo is much older now, but given that he's a demon (and I do subscribe to the demons age slower HC, despite the shit I give it) he appears to be around, or a little younger than Moroha. They're about equal in power which means they have to work together a lot to get out of sticky situations. They act as brother and sister since Shippo was basically adopted by InuKag, so there's no romance between them. It's purely familial.

Over the course of the series, Moroha meets old characters, both filler and canon, from the OG series. (Some Shippo recognizes, some he doesn't.) They help out with whatever problem-of-the-week is going on, as the episodes are primarily laid back and focused more on character interaction and development. They meet old faces like Jineji, Botan and Momiji, Kanta, Bunza, and even Shiori!

Shiori would have an episode or two, going more in depth on half demons and their human nights.

To keep the "mystery" aspect Sunrise TRIED to do while also putting a long term goal/conflict in the show to prevent it from getting boring, I would include Towa/Setsuna. But here's the kick-- I would combine them into one character.

Zetsumetsuko would sometimes run into our main cast and cause issues, mostly based on what the audience infers is some kind of misunderstanding or jealousy. This character will butt heads with Moroha, similar to how InuYasha and Sesshomaru were, but with her having a bit more sass.

Moroha says they smell familiar, but she can't place her finger on it. Zetsumetsuko tends to say some cryptic stuff, saying she knows some info that Moroha doesn't. This character is basically a wild card, and is to keep the audience on their toes. It is of course, later revealed that this character is the daughter of Sesshomaru. (Not that it's hard to guess, haha.) It happens when the main cast run into Rin. Zetsumetsuko appears to try and cause more trouble, only for Rin to excitedly shout, "Sister!" And begin doting upon her.

With tensions eased, the characters manage to sit and chat calmly. Zetsumetsuko feels like she doesn't belong, and struggles to find a place in the world similar to InuYasha. They barely knew their own father, raised primarily by Rin and Jaken. She doesn't even know her own mother. Zetsumetsuko has been following Moroha out of a sense of jealousy, since they're related but their paths have been so different. She basically reveals how lonely she's been, too. Which leads to her joining the group!

I wanted to introduce Zetsumetsuko as the daughter of Sesshomaru at the same time I introduced Rin as her sister, basically cutting Rin out of the running for potential mother right away.

The mother would be Kagura, who... I don't have a design for, ah! I heard a lot of talk and rumors about Kagura having become a goddess and I think I would apply that idea to my rewrite. It would explain why Kagura wasn't around for Zatsumetsuko growing up. Ah, now I have to make a Goddess!Kagura design, hahaha.

In conclusion, my sequel would be made purely for nostalgia's sake. No retcons, barely even touching the original plot of InuYasha. It would be a way to see the old cast through new characters, who would be charming in their own right without relying on their parents, and would allow us to revisit one-off and filler characters again. The sequel wouldn't be a necessary watch to enjoy InuYasha, it would just be a way for fans to go, "Oh, I remember that character! Good times!"

That's about it! I worked really hard on the character designs and thinking about their personalities and how they fit in, so if you haven't yet, it would be nice if you took a look at the links I put in and read a bit more about their characters! Please feel free to ask questions, I'm not the best at explaining myself at length since my mind gets jumbled, haha.

Thank you!