#i like building characters and making teams

[thevulturesquadron]

I have to say, hard agree with the original post and this addition. I love, love, love Veilguard and it turned to be my comfort game and it will be for a long time, but there are some things I had to wrestle with, especially on the first playthrough.

I fell in love with Rook and with the companions. I just couldn't shake the feeling that taken as it is, without the layers of meta and all the discussions, and especially when it comes to the companions, the game seems to say "Rook is also here".

You can look and point at very specific scenes or lines that contradict that, but they feel like a telling, not a showing of something. I liked the lines Rook was shouting during the Weisshaupt mission. They are the one bullishly moving forward, half-baked plan and pessimistic party in tow. You get to see their character and what, presumably, makes them be important to the team and assume a leadership position. I like that because it shines a light on them and helps build up the character a little. The main story beats are so good, like when you fight the two dragons, the way Rook just pushes through and doesn’t let the gods win - it’s superb! But it also leads to a feeling that the main story moments are disjointed from the meaty parts that are supposed to tie everything together. There should've been more scenes, more opportunities for Rook to stand up and show *why* people choose them, choose listening to them.

It's hammered over and over how they are the one keeping everyone together, and are responsible for keeping them all afloat. But I have to be honest, there is a lot of dialogue that left me feeling like the therapist of the group. Supporting the companions and helping them is fine, I am here for that. But it's weird when that feels like Rook's only input for a good chunk of their interactions.

I hate poking at a game that I still really really like when there's so much bad faith criticism floating about. At the same time, I still think it's good to talk about some of the stuff that didn't work. It’s funny, since BG3 was brought up in a very good argument: I would replay Veilguard a million times over BG3. Both games I enjoy and love, but Veilguard will always feel, to me, more personal, more in-depth, if you will, when it comes to the characters, the lore, the story. It’s also why I care more about it, enough to be vocal about the things I wish we could have had more of, or that could have been done better.

What’s really jumping out at me on my second playthrough is that the writers of the first three games understood that your character was the main character. The Veilguard writers clearly thought that the main characters were their characters, the companions.

Every scene is about setting the companions up as cool or competent or sympathetic. Often, this is done at Rook’s expense. The companions get all the witty one-liners; Rook’s attempts at humor not only frequently fall flat, but are frequently called out for falling flat (even when they’re completely automatic and the player has no say in them).

The companions have all the knowledge and skills; Rook just brought them all together and gives them all pep talks so they can focus. I’m trying to edit out all of the comments where Rook is like “Um… what????” from my videos, and let me tell you, it takes WORK. There are A LOT of them. I can count on one hand the number of times when the Inquisitor or Hawke comes across as dumb, but it seems to be a built-in, unavoidable part of Rook’s character. I have not selected a single “purple” option in all of Act 1, and Rook is still coming across as the kid who tries to be the class clown to cover for the fact that he’s always confused. Rook’s role in most scenes is to say “Uhhh… what?” so that the companions look smart.

Rook is always the one offering sympathy and never the one getting it. No one actually comes to comfort you after Varric’s death. No one asks you how you’re feeling about having to lead the team now that Varric is gone. No one tries to reassure you or give you advice for dealing with the trickster god haunting your dreams. We’re told that Neve could keep Solas out of your head, but she never actually offers to do this for you. No one comforts a Shadow Dragon Rook when Minrathous is destroyed or a Grey Warden Rook when Weisshaupt is destroyed. Rook’s problems don’t matter. Only the problems of main characters matter.

Rook is a secondary character in their own story.

[multiseb21]

speaking of the Italian red teams, the juxtaposition between ducati and ferrari’s teammate pairings is gonna be so interesting to watch play out. because both teams have their “homegrown” boy who has, for all intents and purposes, made this HIS team, and then boom here comes this 7/8 time world champion, widely argued to be the best ever, who was once the team’s public enemy #1 (and also potentially the nation of Ita—), waltzing into HIS house accompanied by fanfare fit for a king.

Pecco is already out here proudly standing atop that gentleman hill he’s willing to die on. all while paul revere-ing that Marc can, has, and will be “the ungentleman” in battles. we all know him. the morally corrupt faye resnick marc marquez. Despite that. You can tell they’re trying. They’re cordial. Behaving for their Ducati daddies. Things will be awkwardly ok…until they aren’t.

Ferrari on the other hand? Already looks great. PR is great. Lewis is showing off the world’s most cinematic first day of work. Ferrari’s golden boy, Charles, is presumably chilling inside his gilded cage (the cage has no lock)(he put himself in the cage and refuses to get out). There doesn’t seem to be any awkwardness. We all know the “Helloooooo Lewis!” that shook the world. i mean, Lewis isn’t gonna shack up with him in that cage, but they’re in pretty good place. Much more outwardly stable than Marc and Pecco. Everyone say thank you Silvia. Lewis and Fred are going bald4bald just like Marc and Gigi are going eyebrow4eyebrow.

but unlike Pecco and Charles, Marc and Lewis were forged in fire. presumably fire straight from hell. experiencing the horrors of being Fernando’s teammate. as a rookie. and having the audacity to beat him. while BALD. And then Marc well. yeah. I’ll leave it at that. Builds character. Makes them certifiable psychopaths. Point is. they’ve got that dawg in them. marc’s dog is a weiner dog, but size doesn’t matter. lewis cosplays his dog on instagram. like I said. psychopath. Sure, Pecco and Charles are crazy, but I’ve yet to see them hit a level of crazy that registers on Lewis and Marc’s crazy bitch Richter scale.

All of that to say, I hope they all bite each other’s dicks off. amen? amen.

[taddymason]

Thinking about Jay’s role in the team, and I know I’ve mentioned before that Jay’s main themes are family, and that if given the choice between his close circle of loved ones and the greater good he’ll choose the former, but also another thing that sets him apart from everyone else is the reason why he’s a ninja. With characters like Zane and Cole it’s mentioned multiple times that their purpose is to take care of others, those who can’t protect themselves. Nya and Kai also have this duty/responsibility theme that makes a lot of sense considering the circumstances they both grew up in, and that they both have in common that they want to prove themselves at first and then focus on the role that “they’re supposed to” play (aka; Kai accepting that his role isn’t to be the green ninja and that his duty is to protect Lloyd, and Nya accepting to stop being the samurai X which was her way of proving herself even without being a ninja and in the end becoming the water ninja). Lloyd has a mix of all of this because he's constantly the chosen one in every situation since he was 10, and it's all he knows as a way of life, but back to the topic:

Jay has nothing to do with this.

And I'm not saying that Jay doesn't care about helping people, or anything like that. It's just that it's very interesting that he's the furthest away from having this motivation to be a ninja. Even Wu, in one of the books, confirms that Jay in the pilots saw the opportunity to be a ninja as an excuse to have exciting adventures after a rather humble life in which Jay was going from one hobby to another.

And while the other roles in the team always come back to the theme of protecting others and all that, the reason why Jay is chosen instead is because he's a dreamer. In the flashback and the Ninja of Lightning book Wu explains that the reason he chose Jay was precisely because he had this ability to think outside the box and motivate others with his sense of humor. In almost every first season there is an instance where Jay quickly adapts to a situation just by seeing the other side of things that others don't see, and having this amount of skills: He's the one who discovers how to do spinjitzu, who finds the temple of light, who adapts first to space/digiverse, who does best in the Ninja Roll episode, etc. It's not that Jay is the smartest or strongest, but give him anything and the guy, in some unconventional way, will try to take advantage of it and build a spaceship out of literal scrap metal.

There aren't really many examples of this in the later seasons, BUT, it's worth noting that Wu also chose him because Jay knows how to motivate others with his sense of humor. And what does he do in S12 when he's separated from the others and trapped in a video game? He makes a resistence to oppose Unagami and inspire people who were also trapped in that game.

With all that being said, I just wanted to point out how distinct Jay's role on the team is and his motivation for being a ninja in the first place. It's not like he has this heroic duty, or necessarily wants to do justice, he's just a guy with a normal life who wanted to have exciting adventures and tap into this creativity of his and do some good in the process if it ended up working out. Which is sad with how things are right now but whatever…

[talenlee]

4e: The Pinball Wizard

Back in the heydays of the 4th edition community being a community that all met on a single forum and shared a common lexicon and all that, there were phrases, truisms, slang and tropes we recognised and used to speed our way through conversations. This was true of 3rd edition too, since the community was actually, broadly speaking, the same thing, but that community kind of uprooted itself and moved on to other places, while the 4th edition remnant seems to have not really coalesced in a subsequent form. We don’t really have a 1d4chan or Brilliant Gameologists or deeply intimidating Pathfinder Subreddit as places to scare people off, and instead it’s stuff like…

Well, this blog post might get shared on the subreddit. Hi reddit! I like you even if we don’t agree about Blackguards!

Anyway, thing is, there are things that now have no meaning except their place in 4th edition conversations, and are functionally un-googleable because they’re very generic ways of just using words, or maybe, were named after something else. Back in City of Heroes there was a powerful supergroup known as the Green Machine, that was entirely team-buffing healers that refused to heal, and that’s not a term you can search for meaningfully. Another group that existed and that shares its title with today’s subject was a group of kinetics, where everyone could use powers to make everyone else fire off at super speed, showing you don’t need good powers if you can fire off your best powers every second.

They called themselves the Pinball Wizards, and now, if you go look for what that means in 4th edition D&D you kinda find nothing.

Here’s the story of one of the more distinct power level errata of D&D 4th edition, where in 2011, a single sweeping change to the way the rules worked destroyed a strategy and in the process brought something ridiculous down to merely really good.

This build was a combination of two basic parts, which were well and strictly defined under 4th edition rules. The first is zones. A zone is an effect, made by a power with the ‘zone’ keyword so you knew where to look for it, that looks at that area for some reason. Some zones are used for things like a healing aura, or a space that a character can move around in freely, but very commonly, a zone is used to represent an effect that’s bad that lasts. This can be a bunch of falling shards of glass, a cloud of toxic venom that hovers in a space, or a ground teeming with sharp, jagged vines on thorns.

Zones are extremely cool, make no mistake, and they tend to fall into the toolkit of the Controller. Controllers want to deprive enemies of actions, and zones are a great way to give enemies a bad choice: Stay in an area to do something they want to do, or spend actions getting out of it. Since zones do a good job of representing effects like rings of fire, or clouds of poison, or raining ice, it’s stuff that hits the wizardy feeling of editions past.

The other part of this is forced movement. 4th edition had a family of these effects known by their more specific names of push pull slide, but these are ways to change where enemies are positioned and everyone who complains about fighters in 4th edition is usually complaining about these and they are cowards. These effects show up everywhere, but undeniably, if you’re looking at the people who will do the most of them, you want controllers.

The build that worked out of this was known as the Pinball Wizard. You played a Wizard who used one of a number of long-lasting powers that created a zone that did something dangerous when someone entered it. Then you used your other powers to slide something in and out of that zone over and over again. Wizards got more than a few powers that did slides, and they got access to items and feats that improved their slides. You could use a slide effect to turn two squares of slide movement (and we’re talking like, 4-8 squares for builds that are trying) into like, 40 damage.

At level 2, when tanks are happy to have 40 hit points.

Anyway, you might be thinking the sensible solution is to make it so that these zone powers are limited in how often they can have their effect – and it kinda makes sense, narratively, in the context of the world, right? Like, an enemy or person isn’t going to breathe more if they run back and forth through a poison cloud.

In 2011, Wizards released an update to the compendium that added that rules information to every single damaging zone power in the game, with a note of the when, and an article explaining why they did it. It was a perfectly reasonable rules update made through a digital system they had and realistically speaking, the only thing to mourn is that there’s now no good reason to ever let a player get away with this use of these powers together, because it’s pretty silly.

The system that was left after this change was obviously a better system. It had a clear, specific template that it could use thereafter and while it did lose some edge cases, it was implemented thoroughly and comprehensively in a way 3rd edition almost never managed to execute. This was because of a central control system, the compendium, but it also spoke to a problem that a game normally about disconnecting and engaging with a very material play space was going to have to confront head-on.

Basically: This kind of errata existed in the rules, sure, and if you download a rules compendium, every power that can be changed mentions the 2011 change. But the books don’t. The books still have the rules change and to learn how the game works, you have to know it. Or you have to use a digital compendium, which presents a new problem for a game that is meant to work with paper and dice.

These were inevitable evolutions of technology and they interest me because they kinda present problems and solutions at scale. The actual problem of a wizard stacking a bunch of redundant effects together to kick an enemy through the boundary of their zones as a single incident was not a meaningful problem to a table. If it’s a problem, it’s a problem that has an administrative option to work with – the Dungeonmaster can look at it, and decide it’s too good and talk to the players about it. That problem is solvable almost instantly if everyone in the group and game has a good relationship and respects the DM.

But if you made the game, you don’t have a problem that can be solved on the spot. You have a problem of all the players, in a communal space, who bring it up and ask if it makes sense and consult with one another and now you have the problem that looks like at scale your product has a flaw and you need to address it to make that flaw not look like you don’t know what you’re talking about. Oh, what makes a good game is important here, it isn’t not important.

It is neither a good thing nor a bad thing.

It is a thing that few games get, not really, unless they’re very big, and trying to do a lot. It’s barely something that even the next tier down of games need to care about. Errata happens, people care about making the books better. But most people don’t have a comprehensive central database where they can update all the powers that use a particular wording.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[bluebirdsfeathers]

Corporate Life

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Relationship: Ceo!Wanda X Butch!Loser!Reader

Summary: The disappointment of not being picked to be Wanda’s intern wasn’t going to stop you from settling into corporate life. Especially since you were assigned to work with her brother, Pietro, and she always found excuses to visit.

Words: 2.4k

Warnings: age gap relationship (R is early 20s, W is like 40), no smut here but we might get there later (no promises tho).

A/N: I have an essay due that is less words than this and yet here we are. I’m going to introduce more marvel character each part. I have no idea how many parts this will end up being, but I know how it will end.

Part 1

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The subway on a weekday morning was something you knew you’d never get used to. Everyone in a rush to get somewhere yet somehow nobody was moving even remotely fast. It was a miracle you’d gotten on a train and not just swept away by a mudslide of office workers. Heading into work you made you was straight to the elevators and back up to the third floor. Today you would be assigned to a department of the paper, and the anticipation was making you nervous. Unlike yesterday you were slightly early and where shocked to find you were the first one there. Taking a seat inside the conference room you were told to meet at, you pulled out your phone and began scrolling Instagram.

“I’ve never understood the obsession with social media,” A unfamiliar voice broke the silence, and you jumped slightly putting your phone down, “My apologies I thought you heard me come in.” Wanda smirked walking towards the other end of the long table, placing down some files, before walking back towards you. “I thought the paper was branching out into social media content?” Your voice came out a little higher than usual. Wanda stopped behind you placing a hand on your shoulder and giving it a light squeeze “We are… but that has nothing to do with me.” She said with a laugh before leaving the room.

It wasn’t long before the rest of the interns showed up along with Dr Banner, as he told you to call him, who you’d met yesterday. He looked to be around fifty with greying hair and a permanently sad expression. One of the first things he’d done was list his multiple degrees and explain how he’d ended up working here as an environmental science editor. The Westview Paper was one of the oldest most prestigious news sources in the country, maybe even the world. It had been in the Maximoff family since the 1950s, now being run by Wanda since her father’s retirement. Today you would find out what department you would be interning in for the next six months. Dr Banner handed out an envelope to each intern, rambling on about how pointlessly dramatic this all was and how he had other more important things to do than this. Everyone was quick to open their envelopes, the wait was just too much.

Your file read ‘Sports and Fitness’ in bold at the top. You’d been on the women’s basketball team in college and had spoken about it in your interview, you loved sports so this should be a perfect fit, but you couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed, she hadn’t picked you. “Lads look, I’m Wanda’s intern!” You turn to see Theo, who in this moment you decided you hated, holding up his file to the room looking far too smug. “I guess that proves I’m the alpha here.” You didn’t even entertain him with forced laughter like the others, you simply grabbed your bag and file and left to find a quiet spot to read. You discovered you’d be working for Pietro Maximoff, a quick google search told you that was Wanda’s brother and the head of that department. The file told you everything that would be expected of you over the next few months, some big and small goals as well as a weekly schedule that by the look of didn’t have you meeting with Pietro for a few hours.

To kill time, you decided to have a wonder around the building, the tour yesterday had given you a better understanding of the layout, but you still weren’t confident you could get from a to b without getting a little lost. Round every was another impossibly long corridor lined with doors and window into almost identical rooms that occasionally showed signs of life. As you rounded what must have been the fifth corner you saw a now familiar red head seemingly yelling at a room of men in suits. You stopped walking unsure whether to turn back or keep going like you hadn’t seen anything but before you could react the door to the room opened and the men hurried out, their heads held low like children after being told off. Your eyes went back to the room where Wanda stood, eyes closed, taking several slow deep breaths. Deciding it would be best to leave before you stumble upon something else you weren’t meant to see you turned around only to be stopped by Wanda calling your name.

“Y/n, what are you doing here?” It was hard to read her tone, and a pit formed in your stomach worried you’d upset her. “I was just… familiarising myself with the building. I’m sorry I didn’t mean to.” You stumbled all over your words. “I should go I need to meet Pietro soon and I…” Wanda’s eyes lit up and a smile graced her face “Of course you’re his intern, why don’t I walk you?” You tried to politely refuse her offer, not wanting to be a bother, but she out right refused to take no for an answer, especially after you let it slip you didn’t know where his office was. Turns out it wasn’t far, one floor down and across the walkway and you where there.

The sports department was unlike the other places you been shown so far. It was lively with open plan desks, no cubicles or grey walls, instead hanging around the room was a variety of different countries flags and sports team memorabilia. The staff talked freely amongst themselves; you expected the noise to die down when Wanda entered but it didn’t. You watched her talk with them and share a joke or two, a stark contrast to the rage you’d seen her display moments ago. “Now where is he?” She asked the man she’d been talking to.

“Wanda!” You heard an excited voice call from across the room, “Wands! I was beginning to think you’d forgotten about this side of the building. We’re still being published right?” Pietro’s smile was the same as Wanda’s, warm with a slight hint of mischief. He was much taller than her, with bleach blonde hair and light stubble. “This must be y/n? Great to finally put a face to the name.” He said giving you a playful tap to the arm. “Look Wands I would love to catch up, but I need to get y/n settled.”

“Actually, there is something I need to talk to you about, but we need to discuss that in private. Can I steel you at some point tomorrow?”

“Yeah sure, you have my schedule so let me know when you are free.”

With that Wanda gave you both a smile and left.

Pietro made fast work of the power point he has prepared, and you were glad to hear business wear wasn’t mandatory in his department. Which was a relief as you only had two formal shirts and you’d already worn both. He sent you home early after reassuring you the missing hours wouldn’t come out of your wages and any disappointment over Wanda not picking you was gone. You were going to really enjoy having him for a boss.

The rest of the week went by quickly, you had so much work to be getting on with and so many people to get to know. Your desk was right by Pietro’s so he could keep an eye on you and help you when you needed it. You looked at the clock, it was quarter to five already, almost time to go home for the weekend. That was something you were excited about. This internship only had you working Monday to Friday, that meant you had the whole weekend to yourself. As you hit save for the last time on what you were working on you heard the door on the far end of the room open and looked up to see Wanda followed closely by Theo.

“Hi, Pietro, this is Theo, Theo this is my brother, Pietro. Y/n, you remember Theo, don’t you?” You nodded and watched as the two men shook hands. Yes, you did remember Theo, how could you forget a man that reminded you of all your high school bullies rolled into one and served with a silver spoon. “What do we owe the pleasure?” Pietro asked playfully.

“Oh, you know, just making the rounds, checking on all the new recruits at the end of the first week.”

“We are? I thought you said you needed to check on something important?” Theo said obliviously and Wanda gave a nervous laugh. “The wellbeing of my employees is important Theo. Now y/n how have you been?” You tried and failed to meet Wanda’s eyes as she gave you her full attention. “Good.” Was all you could squeeze out; you didn’t understand why she still made you so nervous. “He hasn’t been working you too hard has he.” Her voice was light and had the same playful tone as Pietro’s. Finally, you found it in you to look her in face and were surprised to see a slight blush that almost matched your own. “No, he hasn’t.” you said leaving an awkward silence in the air. “Well, we better head off, enjoy your weekend, and I’ll see you Monday.” Without another word Wanda left, Theo once again following closely behind.

It wasn’t long before the excitement and novelty of your new job wore off and all you longed for was the weekend. You’d gotten to know lots more faces around the office, even the lady at the front desk. You learnt her name was Pam and she wasn’t a huge bitch like you initially thought, she was just going through a divorce and her ex-husband, Jerry, was the worst. Somehow, you’d managed to develop a sense of normalcy working in this place. The only thing that kept you on edge were the surprise visits Wanda would do to the department; she was always finding a reason to come down here. Most made sense, like visiting her brother, checking on what stories were being published, but other times it felt like she was going out of her way to poke her head in seemingly just to talk to you, which hadn’t gotten easier yet.

Earlier today, while waiting for a copy of an article she’d tried to start a conversation with you. “I like your t-shirt.” Wanda said as she sat on your desk. “t-thanks, I like your blouse it’s… pink?” You said in return, unsure what to say. “What does it say? Radio head? I didn’t think young people listened to the radio these days.” She said lightly grazing her fingers across your arm. “Oh, Radio Head are a band… like music and stuff.” You shifted awkwardly in your chair, turning back to focus on your work. Pietro returned with the article and Wanda got up and left, giving you a light pat on the back as she walked past you.

The memory of that encounter played on your mind as you got ready to leave work for the day. “Y/n! Hey, I need to head to a meeting, I know you’re about to go home but can you go upstairs to Wanda’s office and drop this off? She needs to approve it before it goes to print.” Pietro handed you the latest copy of the sports news magazine, Wanda was big on seeing the final product physically before it was sent of to print so you agreed to drop it off in her office. She was never there anyway, far too busy to sit down with the election cycle going on. You headed to the lift pressing the very top button to take you all the way to the thirteenth floor, Pietro had given you his ID to get clearance to do so. Once the elevator doors opened, you walked into what looked like a living room, but what was just a very fancy looking wating area. There was a door to the left you assumed to be a bathroom and two large doors straight ahead that must lead to her office. You thought about whether to just leaving the magazine on the coffee table but before you could the large doors swung open.

“I don’t care who his father is! I’ve had enough of him! Who does he think he is anyway selling information to…” Wanda stopped her tirade when she saw you standing there with an expression of shock on your face. “Y/n? What are you doing up here?” She slightly snapped at you.

“Pietro told me to give you this.” You held out the magazine visibly trembling. “I’m sorry Ms Maximoff, I didn’t know you’d be here.” You voice shook slightly as you tried to stay calm while rapidly pressing the elevator button. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, I’m leaving now.” The doors finally opened, and you hurried inside. “Y/n wait I didn’t mean to…” Wanda’s words were cut off by the doors closing as the lift took you back to the second floor. Breathing heavily, you tried to calm yourself down. You should have just dropped of the magazine and gotten out of there. Why must you always get yourself in these types of situations? You hoped it would be a while before you’d next see Wanda, maybe she would have forgotten all about it by then. Realising you were still clutching the magazine; you headed back to the sports department. Placing it on Pietro’s desk, along with his ID, you wrote a post-it note apologising, hoping he wouldn’t be too disappointed with you. All you could think about on your commute home was how angry Wanda looked over whatever it was she was yelling about. It scared you how she can be so warm and friendly one second then completely switch the next. Sometimes you forgot how rich and powerful she really was.

Once inside your apartment you kicked off your shoe’s and sat down on your mattress now being held up by your nice new bedframe. The money you’d earned from this job was improving your life greatly. You’d bought a new pair of trainers without having to wait for your current ones to be falling apart. If this mistake today ended up costing you your job, you’d never forgive yourself. Taking out your phone you decided to take your mind off things by clearing out some work emails you hadn’t gotten around to today but at the top of your inbox was a new message sent only five minutes ago. It was addressed to all the interns and marked urgent.

The subject read: ‘Meeting tomorrow 9am, Floor: 3 Room: 24B’. A new wave of panic washed over you when you saw it was sent by Wanda.

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inspired by this post by @wandaslittlehorns

[laswells-ashtray]

I have returned from the depths of the void that's called depression! :D

Anyways, hello again. Ever since I've been reading your posts of different rambles and all that about different cod characters Mac has somehow wormed his way into my heart. (Curse the Scottish characters somehow always worming their way into my heart)

Something that I thought of while trying to catch myself up on some things I've missed was what if Mac was the one who got hurt on a mission instead of Price? Either by the usual occurrences or even trying to protect Price on a mission. Or even possibly being left behind on purpose by another captain that was willing to do anything necessary to get John on his team, even if it meant leaving a fellow captain behind on a mission to the enemies.

(Also I'm slowly starting to try and get over my fear of asking not anonymously, which I think is a good thing for me. Makes me happy about it. :D)

Always try to keep your depression with a sword and eat some yoghurt. It's the only way. Anyway, hello anon. I am proud of the people telling me that I've made them a MacMillan fan because I know fuck all about that man and I just write him based on the people around me and their Scottish-isms.

John wants to scream. He wants to scream and break everything in sight, storming through the lifeless halls like a twister. His fury sporadic and terminal.

He doesn't, he sucks in a breath through gritted teeth and holds it until he hears another beep, breathing out.

Captain MacMillan is a highly sought-after man, proficient and minacious. He's virtue. Righteousness in the shape of man. A blinding beacon of integrity, the type of good that stings to lock gazes with because it isn't achievable in any other form.

Now, he looks half-dead and human. Painfully human. The dread drapes itself over John's shoulders like a weighted blanket. The room feels glacial, goosebumps racing up John's arms as his eyes linger on the blanched face of his captain.

The room is dizzying with timelessness and eternity. It feels ungodly. Like those interminable moments in a confessional as you await the man who cradles your absolution. There is no salvation here, only silence and wasted breath.

Every part of him aches, the lingering prickling sensation under his skin is torturous. He has no injuries, only reluctant hope to get him by.

Mac doesn't fit on the bed, his shoulders are too broad as is his waist, and his legs are too long. The bed is fit for John, the man who belongs in it. It was his originally but he'd never known a Scot who wouldn't dive in front of a bullet like the scar would be a badge of honour.

The bullet should've pierced his flesh, blood should've wept from his wound and he should be the one with a machine monitoring his heart rate. Not Mac, never Mac.

He should've been pacing around John's hospital room, a string of thinly veiled Scottish threats as he glowered at John's unconscious figure. The sergeant should've woken up to his captain ranting and raving at him, skelping his lug before pulling him into a bear hug and letting John slump against him as he radiated heat and comfort.

Instead, he stares at the body of one Captain MacMillan and no one stares back. No dark blue eyes, like glaciers crashing down into the ferocious, thrashing waves below to offer him consolation in such a dull, pallid room.

Truly, he's alone. The entire building reeks of chemicals, antiseptic doused over every molecule in the foundations. It's sterile. There's no scent of Mac's Vaseline men's deodorant that smells as ridiculously cheap as it looks. He's never smelt a deodorant that dries out your lungs quite as effectively as that one, he longs for that smell so much that it throbs in his chest. There's no faint smell of cigarettes because Mac had decided his life's mission was a lung cancer diagnosis, John can't remember the last time he smoked. He'd had to leave the room to do so.

He wants the other man to wake up, wants to scream himself hoarse and shake him until he gets the message. His life is not with more than John's.

He sighs, uncrossing his legs and lifting his elbows from the arms of the chair to cross them over his chest as he slumps back in the unbelievably firm, craped seat by MacMillan's bedside. He tries to blink away the stinging in his eyes as they watch the rising and falling of the Scotsman's chest.

If he tries to listen past the beeping, he can almost hear it.

"Am awright, son."

[o0chiyami0o]

Second chance:

Pt 1. The Saviors

Lil warning before we start

Listen uh, I'm making a series because uh I want to. Judge me or not, I have a K9 dog with me(totaly a dog). But anyway other that I'd hope you all enjoy this lil series of mine, the reader have a bit of personality and hit of same backstory from a character, I'm not gonna really reveal who I was refering to but I'd love for you lots to keep guessing 'till someone guess it right:). Also, I'm not good with their accents so I might just slip in some the words I know, sorry.

Everything is dark and you can't even see a thing, is your eyes even open? Are you even alive? You keep asking yourself that. Your lungs feel full as if water were filling it each time you tries to took a breath.

Soft murmured can be heard but from where? You can barely make up the words they're saying "Poor soul" "Barely reach late twenties" "lord forgive this soul". And some you couldn't make up, soon the soft murmured became more louder and the voices adds up.

Your eyes finally flutter open only to meet with blinding white light as you can't feel yourself breathing, yet here you are, awake but the blinding light make you second guess it "Poor soul, it's not your time yet. I'll bring you back there but not at the same place you use to be. Be as brave as you're before." the voice say, sound so soft and soothing but something about it make you feel unease.

Before you could quest whoever's voice was it, you soon felt like yourself falling. The blinding light is no longer in view as you find yourself in a what seem to be a bulding with a gasp escape you once you feel yourself breathing again.

"What.. the fuck" you breath out as you clutch into your chest, everything felt so wrong and different as your eyes flick everywhere. The sounds of people yelling, screaming, gunshots and more chaos. Just what the hell is happening here? You ask yourself as you stand up on your feet before a groan escape you, everything hurts.

You look down at yourself before took a notice the bruses and wounds on your body which make your eyes widen 'What happening?' You repeat in confusion, you didn't have time to think before the door, that already broken anyway, kicked down by a male "Captain, foun' someone" he say, talking to the mic that were resting on his ear.

You took in his appearance, a soldier, what you can see from his uniform as his hair.. is somewhat unique for a soldier. Whatever it is, make you tense up once you saw his uniform. "Yer okay, bud?" He ask as he approach you, clutching the gun he holding while he keep his guard up.

You just continue to stare up at him, your mind telling you to fight or run but you remain still with body tensing. One time you're drowning and the other time you're here. Weird.

"Gee, could use a medic, kid" he say as he crouch down in front of you. Kid? You ask youself, this man doesn't seem to be older than you in any thought. "Come, let me help ya" he says as he put away his gun and carry you up in his arms. An arm behind your knees and the other behind your back.

"S'tense, wha' happened to ya, Lass?" Ask the man as he keeps his focus straight, running toward what seems to be a helicopter. His question remains unanswered as you keep your guard up when he steps into the vehicle only to meet four other men with the same uniform as his.

The sight make you tense up even more than you should which make the man who holding you took a notice of it "found 'er still breathing in one of the building. The other already left with the others suvivor" the man explain to his team as he sit down on the barely enough space in the vehicle.

"This is why I told 'em to check every building even there's no call out for help" mutter a man who sitting across from you, seems to be the oldest if you take in his appearance but look can always lie. "The medic is busy, let 'em be" say another man who offer you a sympathic smile.

The man who still holds you in his arms shift slightly to help you have a comfortable position while all of you fit in the small space "we're going" a gruff voice say from the pilot seat before the helicopter start do lift off from the ground.

"S'tense, where did ye find 'er?" Ask the man from across of you, tilting his head slightly as his bear shifting every time he start talking "one of the broken building, colaps as soon we leave. Lucky 'er" say the man who still holding you in place, giving his teammate a grin.

"Lass look traumatized" say the other man, who give you a softer gaze as if trying to help you ease up, that didn't help thought. "Wouldn't imagen wha' happend there, the town were turn upside down by tha' maniac".

That gets your attention as your gaze flick to the man who just talk. A maniac? Surely they just being overzealous but nothing is impossible to you anymore.

———

You can't remember shit. You're now in a medical room where they tend your wounds and bruses. They ask you your name, you say your name to them but it feel wrong to say as if it's wasn't even your name to begin with.

When the medics leave the room to let you heal, you hear the door of the room being open to reveal the man who save you "how 're ye doin' lass?" Ask the man as he approach your bed. Staying silent as you look up at him while laying down on the bed "not much of a talker are ye?" He ask, after a while he notice you're not going to answer him.

He soon called out your name with a grin on his face ",heard they called ye' that" he say as your head nod comfirm his words which make his grin widen when he knew you're not fully ignoring him. "Call me Soap, Bonnie" he say as he watch your expresion, wich to his supprised, you let out a short laughter.

This fact make him tries to pull out more of your laughter from you by making some jokes in hope to ease you up, some were so bad that manage pull out a louder laughter from you.

But soon it come to an end when one of the nurse tell him to leave you to heal, you watch him walk out of the room as he give you a grin before leaving the room.

You now left alone in the medical room, you glance to your side to find an open window that reveal the night sky. You look outside from your bed, looking at the stars as you still confused what will happend next since you know nothing of this place neither how you got here.

The stars held no answer for your questions as you found yourself slowly falling asleep, maybe tomorrow will answer at least some of the questions that have been flooding in your head.

[egophiliac]

(almost) four years in, and I finally had time to draw something for the anniversary! woo! 🎉🎉🎉

[sealbuffed]

post covid south park game where everyone still calls you the new kid but you're a grown ass adult who has lived there for thirty years

[jcogginsa]

I do think it's worth doing some analysis of how story's are typically structured in Dragonball.

As the series protagonists, they tend to become narratives that are very light on screentime for the protagonist, up until the end. Toriyama tends to sideline the main character, usually in a manner that increases their power, and then have them come in to save the day when the stakes are at their highest This is harder to notice in the early portions, the Pre-Z era for lack of a better term, because a lot of that material is tournament ars, where the structured format of the fights mean that Goku doesn't need to get silo'd away from the other leads in order for him to be in reserve. The kernals of the Toriyama formula start being developed in the King Piccolo arc. Goku is off doing his thing, the other characters are off doing theirs. They fail, Goku wins. The difference is that what Goku is doing in that arc is given equal narrative complexity and screen time. He's not just training, he's going around and doing stuff. The True Formula shows up in Z, wherein the Saiyan Saga starts by killing him off, so that he can have the next tier of training. Then when the action starts, he's got to get to the battlefield, which gives the other gcharacters time to do stuff.

We see something similar in the Frieza Saga. Goku is left behind on Earth, so that he can dedicate his own journey there to intense training. There is a bit of a hiccup here, as he gets to pull the "show up and save the day card" against the Ginyus before being sidelined again to build him up for Frieza. The pattern repeats in Cell. Goku is sidelined with the heart virus, and then sidelined with the Hyperbolic Time Chamber training. And then Goku dies at the end, in what was intended to be a torch passing moment. And contrary to popular belief, Gohan at the time was popular enough to pull this off. Contemporary Populairty polls have him in 1st place while Goku is in second. It could have worked.

People look at the Buu Saga, which has Gohan getting knocked out of the plot in order to get a power up, as evidence of some kind of immeadiate back lash against his charater, but it probably isn't. He's just getting the main character treatment. He doesn't gt to be part of the action until the climax. The supporting cast, which now includes Goku, are the ones who get to do things.

But Toriyama does decide that the protagonist switch wasn't working. The stated reason was that he just didn't like writing Gohan as a lead, feeling his personality wasn't suited for the role. And his lack of interest showed through to the audience, as Gohan's popularity dipped back below Goku's. The decision to make Goku the lead again probably happened after he got the traditional main character sideline, and it probably also contributed to Toriyama's decision to end the series. Goku's story was over, but Toriyama didn't think the story could go on without him, so the Story ended. and then we get the continuations, where the Z formula is discarded entirely. Goku is front and center the whole time, because tha marketing team demands it. And this is at least part of why Super's Goku feels like a regression. The plot requires that Goku be less capable because he can't beat the bad guy in the first episode. (the other part being the many ways in which Toei just isn't as good at writing him as Toriyama)

How would you write Majin Boo and Yamcha in the Tournament of Power, instead of Roshi and 17?

Honestly, Buu would be pretty game-breaking. I can't really conceive of any reason why Buu wouldn't absorb Jiren and anticlimactically waste everybody else fighting in the tournament.

As the be-all end-all final villain of Dragon Ball, Buu's ability to just eat whoever's stronger than him and gain their power for himself is completely busted. It makes it very difficult to write him into scenarios where he is a struggling underdog trying to compete with a superior foe.

Which is probably why Super snubs him so much. This is a character who has near limitless regeneration on top of the ability to turn every single fighter in the tournament into candy and he can just absorb everybody who's stronger than him whenever he runs into a brick wall. That's great for an overpowered villain that we need to find some way to beat, but terrible for a protagonist who needs to be challenged.

Like. It cannot be understated how devastating Buu's Candy Beam would be here. He can spread it over a wide area. He could literally step out onto that stage and Gobstopper every fighter from every universe simultaneously.

And sure, some of them would be able to Universe's Strongest Jawbreaker that shit. But it's still kind of purpose-defeating if like 80% of the assembled fighters are KO'd in the first three seconds. Buu just waves his antenna and erases anyone who isn't Power Levels enough to compete with Vegetto? Okay, man. There go all the fun fights for the weaker characters. Buh-bye.

Even then, if they aren't allowed to fly, like... how are they supposed to fight now? Is Gobstopper Jiren just supposed to spend the rest of the arc rolling into other gobstoppers super hard to ping them off the field?

Actually, that sounds amazing. XD

But in an AU capacity, not in a "This is seriously the plot of the show" capacity.

I don't think Toriyama would have kept Buu around if he wasn't planning on closing the book on Dragon Ball shortly after. Buu joining the supporting cast is very much a "Fuck it, we're done anyway" decision that the series is now paying for, and its solution is to just... find ways to conveniently kick him out of the cast over and over again.

Going into the Tournament of Power... Like, right from the get-go, Buu is going to be nerfed by the rules of the tournament. He can't eat people. That would probably be how you get around the "Buu just deletes half the tournament roster" problem.

He's just. He's not allowed to use his powers. Sorry. Buu has to fight with one hand behind his back. Dem's the rules.

I don't know if he would actually abide by that rule. He might just end up disqualified after eating Toppo. Buu is a selfish, impulsive hedonist who reflexively lashes out at authority. He's just gonna do whatever he wants and let the chips fall where they may.

But if Mr. Satan tells him not to eat anyone, he... probably won't eat anyone? Might still Candy Beam them though. Turning them all into marbles and rolling them off the stage would technically be within the terms of a "NO EATING PEOPLE" restriction.

Buu's crowd control options are bad for the narrative integrity of a battle royale. Even right now, I'm trying to figure out how he could be involved and still having to write around his powerset rather than being able to incorporate and challenge it to its fullest.

I don't know. It's honestly difficult to incorporate him in a way that would be respectful and utilize him in interesting ways without letting him dominate and break the plot.

I think he could work as the villain of another universe's story. Have Buu take the field as the threat that's gonna carry us to victory until fighters from another universe find a way to team up and take him down.

But for the life of me, I can't get around, "Why doesn't he just Candy Beam the entire arena?"

...

As for Yamcha, I probably wouldn't write him into the Tournament of Power. Yamcha quit during the Cell arc and I'm entirely happy to let him. If I was writing Yamcha in Super, probably the only thing I'd do with him is properly introduce his new girlfriend from the end of the Cell Games.

Put an actual name and a face to her, so the fandom can stop ignoring her existence when they complain that Bulma condemned Yamcha to die alone and unloved.

I mean, I'd pick Yamcha over Roshi, to be sure. I feel like the series has forgotten that the Muten-Roshi isn't Goku's "One True Master" or anything like that. Goku has a lot of respect for the man who set him on his path, and he wears the Kame-senryu dogi out of that respect. But he learned everything Roshi had to teach him and left him in the dust long ago, a fact that made Roshi proud.

That story is over. The Muten-Roshi is a 300-year-old man who just wants to enjoy his retirement. Stop trying to make him relevant again! And also just. In general. Stop trying to make "Goku the wide-eyed pupil" happen again. It's done. He's a master now. Let him be a master.

Lotta beefs with DBS.

But yeah, while I agree with the criticism of "Why Roshi and not Yamcha", it's only to the extent that going with Yamcha is still kicking the can down the road. I cannot conceive of a single way that Yamcha's character or the story would be enriched by the Tournament of Power, that wouldn't just feel like hollow fanservice.

"Yamcha got to WIN A FIGHT AGAINST SOMEONE. This one's for you, Yamcha stans! Okay, he's done, someone punt this dipshit off the stage."

Which. To be fair. A lot of the ToP is hollow fanservice. I... did not like that arc very much. Or DBS as a whole, for that matter. So I'm probably not the guy to figure out the best way to utilize characters in it.

But for me, I'd be more interested in a proper Yamcha epilogue that closes out his character on a satisfying note and sends him off, than in desperately trying to drag Yamcha back into the game and shackling him into a status quo he already respectfully bowed out of.

[electric-plants]

synergy?? dps and supports?? um sure i guess that’s important but the main thing to consider when building teams is actually whether or not the characters are friends👉👈

[whumpbug]

GUYS IT'S TIME. i now introduce.....

THE SCARAB CREW!!!!!! 𓆣𓆣

(scarab is the name of the ship they are all on do you guys get it. because. whumbug. beetle. scarab. the ship is shaped like a beetle--okay im done)

the vibes/tropes are: sci-fi/space fantasy, dysfunction junction, found family, accidental child acquisition, AND MORE!!!

HUGE thank you to @lemlem21 for listening to me Yap about them and helping me iron out a lot of the details!!! also for recoloring some of the skincolors!!!!

i apologize in advance. this is a long post. please please feel free to ask questions because this can get confusing. there are 6 characters all with complex traits and names so please ask me for clarification if you need it! i apologize for all the reading guys (˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥⋆)

OKAY! ONTO MY SPACE SILLIES! they are Everything to me.

༶•┈┈୨♡୧┈┈•༶

THE EXPEDITION PROGRAM (TEP):

okay just before i start, i want to briefly explain why all these people are together on a ship.

in this universe, theres a central government that spans across many planets in neighboring star systems. this is known as the Provinces of the Allied Galactic Empire (PAGE). this is the explored and "civilized" part of the galaxy.

recently, there have been more attacks on PAGE-affiliated planets and systems from the unexplored galaxy (known as the Outer Sector, or just Outsec in shorthand) and PAGE intends to get to the bottom of it.

and that's where Scarab Crew comes in! multiple teams were formed of people with exceptional talents in their species/planets and were sent on multi-year long exploratory missions under the name The Expedition Program (TEP). the scarabs are one team of many!

TEP's goal is to record and report all that they find as well as identify threats and/or the planets responible for the attacks. they are to come back with information and new technology that would make PAGE stronger and more well-rounded!

༶•┈┈୨♡୧┈┈•༶

NOW ONTO THE SILLIES!! i used different picrws for each of them to match their Vibe

(also i added pronounciation guides to the best of my abilities i hope it helps im sorry in advance)

✮⋆˙

Captain Nieven Alaric (Nee-ven Ah-la-rik)

pronouns: he/him

role: captain/leader/correspondence with PAGE

planet of origin:  Asto’is (species: Asto’isian)

age and height: late '30s to early '40s / 6 ft. 0 in.

description: the competent, calculated, and and cold head of The Scarab. he was a well-off government official before TEP, but unfortunately, he lost his family in an attack by Outsec rogues. he is a man hardened by life and unwilling to get attached to others again and because of this, is very efficient when it comes to running his ship. still, efficiency is not always the most important thing when it comes to leading a team. this is something nieven must learn.

species-specific traits: horns on the top of the head-- very interconnected with the central nervous system. decorated as a sign of age and/or accomplishment. also, asto'isians have pointy teeth! they are carnivores!

✮⋆˙

Hari Khurana (Huh-ree Ku-rahna)

pronouns: relaxed he/him

role: engineer/medic/chemist

planet of origin:  Earth (species: Homo Sapien)

age and height: mid to late '30s / 6 ft. 2 in.

description: a simple human that started from the bottom. hari grew up in a trailer park, raised by his older sister when his father worked 3 jobs to put food on the table. since he was little, it was known he was a genius when it came to stem subjects. into adulthood, he excelled in every stem job he took on. still, no one expected him to get singled out when TEP was recruiting. aside from his smarts, hari is cheeky, sly, a bit of a Bastard™ but he also has tremendously big heart. he's passionate about what he does, no matter how hard it can be for him sometimes.

species-specific traits: despite his brains, hari is... a defective human. due to malnourishment as a child, he has a plethora of health problems that worry his team to no end. some include: asthma, lactose intolerance, allergies to many foods, marie antoinette syndrome, POTS, among others. he is also a below-the-knee amputee on his left leg due to an accident in his teens.

✮⋆˙

Nylathrania (Nyla) Qifir (Nye-lah-trah-nya Kee-feer)

pronouns: she/her

role: pilot/navigator

planet of origin: Harye (species: Haryen)

age and height: mid '20s / 5 ft. 7 in.

description: the haryan are an extremely superstitious, winged race that place an extreme importance on flight. when a child was born with in inability to even lift her wings because of nerve damage, you can imagine it did not bode well. nyla was passed around from household to household with no place to call home. she wants to prove herself to her homeland by becoming the most successful pilot in TEP with her pride and joy of a ship, The Scarab, but even that will never make her good enough for her people, and consequently, herself.

species-specific traits: the bat-like wings and short horns are trademarks of the haryen people. unlike nieven's, nyla's horns are simply bony-keratin structures as extra protection for her brain. her wings are a bit smaller than other haryen's due to muscle atrophy.

✮⋆˙

Ytzel (Zel) Mixca (Ee-tsel Micsh-cka)

pronouns: relaxed she/her

role: gunsman/conflict strategist

planet of origin: Huelxa (species: Huelxcan)

age and height: mid '20s / 5 ft. 4 in.

description: born to a planet of war, zel grew up around bloodshed and violence throughout her life. in her culture, getting close to people was discouraged becasue you never knew who would be on the other side of the next civil war. she was often forced to fight her siblings and friends (to an extreme level) as a test of strength, so she comes off as abrasive and rude because violence makes her feel in control. it's a familiar pattern. she hasn't yet learned that love does not need to be painful.

species-specific traits: the huelxcan actually have a second pair of arms! these arms sit slightly more towards her back, in the middle of her rib cage. the huelxcan people also have evolved with enhanced hearing, and wear accessories on the ears to enhance it further.

✮⋆˙

Vin’ri (Vinny) L’aoh (Vin-ree Luh-ow)

pronouns: they/them

role: scribe/recorder/photographer

planet of origin: Z’edin (species: Z’edinra)

age and height: late teens (17-19) / 5 ft. 9 in.

description: vinny is heralded as the voice of reason when tensions are high amongst the rest of the crew. they are level-headed and approachable, making them an instrumental member of the team. but their secret? they're so lonely. in their culture, it's customary to stop being affectionate with children when they reach about 14 to encourage growth and independence. vinny didn't have a problem with this at first, but now that they're so far from home? they feel the need for comfort more than they'd like to admit.

species-specific traits: the z’edinra all have a prehensile tail that is about an armspan in length. it is capable of grasping, and can hold their body weight. also, z'edin is an ice planet which leads vinny to be prone to overheating in even mildly warm environments quite easily

✮⋆˙

Ren "Alaric" (Rehn Ah-la-rick)

pronouns: he/him

role: healer/newest member (not with scarab crew initially)

planet of origin: Siea W5M (species: Amb’toman)

age and height: about 7 years old / 4 ft. 3 in.

description: ren's parent's were killed when he was only 4, and he was taken to Seia W5M to be sold as a commodity-- his species is sought after for their abilities. he was under the ownership of a man for a few years before he escaped and has been on the run ever since. he covers his eyes with a blindfold to conceal the signature trait of amb'tomans-- white scleras lacking a cornea. because of his years blindfolded, light tends to overwhelm him. he is skittish, flighty, and in need of people who will take care of and love him.

species-specific traits: the amb'toman are a desert-dwelling species that evolved healing abilities to cope with the harsh climate. the short version of how the abilities work is essentially: people spend a certain amount of energy to heal themselves of injury or illness. ren can spend that energy all at once on himself or another person to heal them exponetially faster. the draw back is gets extremely sleepy after healing, and tends to be unable to stay awake

༶•┈┈୨♡୧┈┈•༶

RELATIONSHIPS: ask me about them!!! there are Some romantic relationships but i also love platonic and familial relationships so ask about whoever you'd like! i'm aiming to start the story early on to when they first meet so it'll be fun to develop their relationships as i write!!

PICREWS: 1 2 3 4 5 6

BONUS: here is all their height differences (ren is itty bitty guys)

༶•┈┈୨♡୧┈┈•༶

and that's it!!! thank you SO much if you've read to the end, it honestly means so much. and like i said before please please PLEASE dont be afraid to ask as many questions as you want (about specific scarabs, or the crew as a whole but just know if its the crew it might not be as detailed because. theres 6 of them.) these characters can get confusing and i want to make as easy of a reading experience as i can!

i hope you enjoy my little passion project and im so excited to develop these sillies further!! (✿◦’ᴗ˘◦)♡

tagging: @sethlost and @mellowwhumps (≧▽≦)

[thisispoggers]

I love Toni Vern’s antics why is he such a goober when most of his schemes could have actually won him a game if he weren’t so egoistic and a dumbie

[flying-cat]

ok bc reddit was kinda rude i wanna ask here too. what characters do you think i'd benefit from having (besides the obvious ruan mei and robin)? which characters that i already have should i prioritize? should i pull for lingsha or jade or do i not need them?

[diaryofamadsunwukongfan]

Sun Wukong

Race: Faunus

Nationality: Vacuo

Ethnicity: Mixed Vacun & Mistrali

Weapon: Ruyi Bang & Jingu Bang

Gender: Man

Sexuality: Bisexual

Starting Age: 18

Birthday: Summer 1st

Aura Color: Yellow

Handedness: Ambidexterous

Complexion: Tan

Eye Color: Blue Im so sorry

Faunus Trait: Monkey Tail

Occupation: Haven student, Junior Detective, Boy band lead singer

Previous Occuppation: Thief (wanted for arrest in 5 places)

Long ago in a distant land, there once was a clan of nomads that traveled the desert. On one of their travels, they found a crying rock. Wondering how a simple rock could make such a sound, the strongest of their number took his weapon and struck the rock with all his might! The rock was split in two, and inside was a baby monkey faunus that had been crying all along. Not knowing where the baby had came from, the nomads decided to keep the boy and raise him as one of their own. This is the legend of Sun Wukong.

The boy was the most free spirited and reckless child the nomads had ever raised. While the nomads had taught all of their children that theft was okay as long as it was done out of nessacity, such as stealing food when you are hungry, Sun would steal at every city the nomads visited for the thrill of the heist. Even more infuriating, Sun was never arrested no matter how many times he was chased by authorities, which seemed endless to the nomads.

However, Sun's nature would help the nomads. Whenever they needed food or money, Sun would be the first to provide for them. But in Vacuo, it is every person for themself. That is why, when the nomads are lured into a trap and made to choose between Sun or the whole clan, they make the only choice a Vacun could make in that situation. Sun isn't even angry at them, even if it's not what he would do in that situation. A learning expierence, really.

For three days, Sun rampaged in Vacuo city. He couldn't find a way to escape, so he would make it the problem of everyone person there. It was only when Yù yin, the oldest and most beloved Huntress in Vacuo, appeared was Sun finally stopped. Using her semblance, Yù yin "pacified" Sun, and he allowed himself to be arrested. Using Quake Dust, Yù yin sealed Sun inside a cage made of solid rock, to be cut off from the rest of the world forever... if Starr Sanzang, a member of Sun's clan, hadn't become a guard at the prison he was being kept in. Without telling anyone, even Sun, she made tiny cracks inside his stone jail.

After a year of captivity, Starr smuggled in a Dust necklace and gave it to Sun so he could escape. And he did. Away from jail, away from the clan that gave him up, and away from Vacuo.

At 17, Sun traveled west of Vacuo, past the dark lands, and into Anima. With no one knowing who he is, and owning nothing but the clothes on his back, Sun wondered if he could start over here. He could turn a new leaf, go to school like always wanted to, renounce his wild ways... on his 18th birthday, Sun broke into Vasilias Enterpises and stole the experimental weapon, Ruyi Bang Jingu Bang. Unfortunately, Sun was out of practice and got caught.

When Sun was finally arrested, he was greeted by Leonardo Lionheart. The academy headmaster gave him a choice, face execution, or enroll in Haven Academy as a reform program student. Sun made the only choice he could make in that situation, and he has been happy ever since.

[moe-broey]

OKAY. I. FINALLY HAVE DONE IT. IT TOOK A LOT OF TESTING AND TROUBLE SHOOTING AND FIGURING OUT BUT I THINK I HAVE IT

My Askr and Co. team!!!!!!! Sometimes I switch one of them out for story stuff (full immersion lmfao), but!!! It's them it's the OGs 🥺🥺🥺

Alfonse is still pretty much the same, but since the Dragon Flower limit was increased, I feel he no longer needs Fury! Which, removing it does synergize better with Florid Cane anyway, beyond the Canto gimmick (having an Atk/Spd bonus if kept healthy).

Biggest thing I needed to figure out though was who I was giving the special skills to (from an extra Acsended Mareeta and Felix). I WAS tempted to give them to Alfonse (head empty he means everything to me) but I came to the conclusion that Ruptured Sky works too well on him. I even think it's fun from a storytelling standpoint, where he's consistent almost to a fault -- can result in him being reliable, or juuust missing the mark (he's still adaptable as well though!). PLUS! Both are speed based skills, and even With my speedy Alfonse build, AND even with all those Dragon Flowers, Sharena outspeeds him at lower investment.

So it did come down to trying to decide which would work best between Sharena and Anna.

Sharena absolutely needed to be completely revised, since I realized I accidentally doubled up on Null Follow Up on her weapon and B slot (and her C slot was a wimpy Threaten skill lmfao). Ultimately I felt Felix's kit synergized better with Alfred's Arcane I gave to her -- espp Bulwark keeping her healthy! In this way I think I accidentally made her a tank. Especially with all the stat bonuses coming together, on top of a damage reduction special. Really my ONLY bit of grief here is she no longer has her special attack voicelines........... I'm SO sad about that 💔💔💔 (HOWEVER. IT. IS REALLY FUNNY.)

She's just standing there..... Menacingly........... (quite literally with the Menace skill too from the Summer Dimitri manual that's up for grabs. I'm not so sure if it Suits Her storytelling-wise but tbh it's funny. GO GIRL START KILLING‼️‼️‼️)

As for Anna! I actually haven't touched Anna's build in years, she's not a unit I ever use outside of the once a month free orb and sometimes for story... last I left her was with Life or Death 3, Vantage, and a Spur skill. I wanted to keep in line with this initial build though... bc I feel like it suits her.

Outside of this one time (very early on, before I really put a lot of thought into things) I Never use Life or Death (I'm too cautious HAHAH) so I was comfortable giving her a Life or Death 4 I had laying around. BEYOND THAT. IT WAS. SUCH A NIGHTMARE. To figure out What the rest of her kit should be. A Lot of trial and error, testing, troubleshooting, everything. Because the BIGGEST THING is I wanted to keep Nóatún on her. She gets INSANE movement from it, and I felt like if I could Just Get This Right, I could pull off something as gimmicky as my Hit and Run Canto Alfonse. You have to trade SO much power for that movement, and she's already made of glass and paper the way I'm building her (but I am SO committed to this idea bc it's EXACTLY how I conceptualize her character in my mind -- strong starter, hard hitter, high movement = speedy and lots of experience on the battle field!! And SOMETHING in her C and Seal slots to communicate teamwork and commanding.)

EVENTUALLY. WHAT I THINK WORKS. Spurn helps her Not Die As Much/As Quickly (thank you damage reduction), and I think the balance between Oath/Solo skills gets the idea across.

BUT ALSO. THIS. THE MOST FUCKED UP THING I DESPERATELY WANTED TO SHOW OFF IT'S SO FUCKING GOOD!!!!!!!!!

LOOK at this. LOOK at how STUPID this is. How by giving Alfonse Odd Tempest HE IS. SO POWERFUL. HE MAKES A KILLER OPENING (EXACTLY AS HE ALWAYS SAYS HE WILL‼️‼️‼️). Reposition into Canto into look at him fucking go. He's fucking gone. Halfway across the battlefield. AND ANNA HAS FANTASTIC SYNERGY WITH THIS!!!!! Being able to get That One Extra Space thanks to Nóatún!!!!!!!! (Unfortunately this was a terrible matchup and she died instantly, but this is more for demonstration purposes 🫡)

I am a little sad that Sharena gets left on the back lines when this works out but. I think she's still doing her part. Esp since I'm testing out Ardent Sacrifice on her, where I typically exclusively only use Reposition and always have a healer. On top of eating hits, she also covers for her allies as well! Making sure they're okay :)

Finally! Takumi! I. Have no idea how he fits in here tbh I don't even know how Pathfinder works. But I love him so much so dearly and he's here because he's a highly respected veteran member of the Order of Heroes. Also everyone say thank you Alcryst for fucking finally giving him a usable weapon and decent skills (I have gone through SO MANY ideations of base Takumi builds and they have NEVER been on the level of stronger units he was ALWAYS WOEFULLY OUTCLASSED. Which is DEVASTATING bc I really like using base forms sometimes!!!!). I'm SO happy he's finally on par w stronger units now!!!! OH. AND. THE MAJOR THING ABOUT HIM ACTUALLY. Is once he gets the ball rolling he is procing Deadeye every fucking turn. Just like in Fates... 🥺🥺🥺 (killing and maiming and violence complete with a cheeky attitude and bravado!)