#i think the devs just really liked space and stars and wanted to include it anyway! cant fcken blame them ig except i can a litle

[petorahs]

wait actually the star imagery and p5 kinda goes hard even if it's not as obvious as, say, p3 and its moon imagery. as a resident sun/moon/stars/earth imagery h03 this is deeply important to me

from what i've gathered with persona 5 and its stars:

-Hoshi to Bokura to, (with the stars and us) is the final theme of vanilla p5, which sings of stars, obviously. It's essentially about joker and the PT moving on with their past pain into the next part of their lives.

Interestingly, Our Light in p5r continues the "stars representing a bright, youthful, hopeful future" theming with the lyrics:

That pain will guide me / Towards the stars of the sky that shine above me even when it's essentially a grief song lol.

-Persona 5's dancing spinoff titled "Dancing Star Night"

-P5 UI has these flashy black and white stars everywhere when you know where to look. actually theres nowhere else to look. theyre pretty out there.

also the social stats bar

-JOSE.... 😭❤️ everything about him... his shop.... him n joker sitting together underneath a blanket of stars... theyre so ☹️❤️

so far this is all pretty neat! again, i bring it up because you wouldnt think of stars when talking about persona 5. but i feel the devs definitely intended this.

these next ones are more speculatory but;

-Fallen angels like Lucifer or even satan are likened to falling stars. Fitting that the protagonist's initial persona resembles a demon, not to mention his final one outright being satan. Fallen stars are oft deemed defects but they're stars nontheless... in this way i think Joker's meant to be that very fallen star cast away from heaven?

-persona 3 is obviously moon-themed, embedded into its narrative and gameplay as it is, and it could be argued that the game following it is sun-themed too. persona 4, with its flashy yellows fits with the sun and its glory. persona 5 being star, kind of evokes the feeling of being the hopeful child brother of the two? the game was meant to be a love letter that both refreshed the formula and calling back to the series as a whole, for old and new fans alike... that leaves the earth, which pairs with star well. earth's parallel can also be heaven/sky, and p5's later parts kinda hammering down the "taking back the heavens from false gods!" narrative imagery (especially in vanilla's final boss. u be fighting angels as minibosses cmon now) it kinda tracks! so now star-heaven-sky are all synonymous to me. either way it all fits.

this all leads me to think p6 could have earth imagery, actually. if it's also going to be color-themed as green as fans are speculating, that's fitting!

maybe the social commentary this time would be "reconnecting with earth/nature" as the whole world's kinda experienced/experiencing that since the pandemic..? persona games being a product of the technological advancements of their time can also tie into that, since people depend on their devices more than ever, so maybe nature's (forceful) reclaiming can be an intriguing concept for them to explore... not that we'll know anytime soon!

[littleeyesofpallas]

man im in a weird headspace recently... first The One headcanons, and now this... that's a lotta thoroughly dead content i'm giving brain space to

So, in the now tragically forgotten and buried jrpg franchise, Wild Arms, there was this whole fun gimmick where the wild west influence extended into other tangential americana as well. there's heavy borrowing from D&D, and horror films as well as westerns, and classic romanticized cowboy mythos and such... So in any case the games also had a few cross media spinoffs, including a TV anime and a shortlived manga.

There is a character in the manga named Jye-chi-ka[ジェチカ] which the brave, lone scanlator team, TurtleParadise --back in... what, 2010?-- romanized as Jessica. But I don't know if that's correct.

For context, the other two leads in the series are named Ma-ku-shi Re-mi-n'-to-n'[マキシ・レミントン] transliterated back into Maxi Remington, a clear reference to the Remington Arms Company, his sister, ko-ne-tto[コネット] taken to be something like Conette or Connett, and Gy[ギィ] who they called Guy, as in the French name, which I think was the correct choice. But as you can sort of see, apart from the Remington bit, the names don't appear to be overt references to anything else to help triangulate Jechika's name.

Jechika is btw a member of a minority group of native American analogs within the Wild Arms world, semi-consistent across different games, called the Baskar. Some other Baskar have been named things like...

Tim Rhymeless and Colette Mapleleaf in WA2; both rather innocuous names... And the family of Gallows, Shane, and Halle Carradine in WA3, much more overtly referencing the iconic scene of lawless frontier justice, Shane from the movie Shane, and Halley's comet plus actor David Carradine, probably tied to this thru the now infamous cult classic TV show, Kung Fu, where producer meddling outed Bruce Lee as lead in favor of having David Carradine play Kwai Chang Caine, a wandering shaolin monk in the wild west.

But this all, as you may be catching onto, also does not help establish clear patterns to help with...

Some random NPCs have names like Harold, Ellen, Cordell, and Laraina? Funny enough these I can sort of tie into references with a bit of guess work.

Cordell in particular stands out as a less common name to have picked here, and I want to assume it's a reference to Cordell Walker, Chuck Norris' star character in Walker Texas Ranger.

In the context of wild west icons, legendary outlaw, Ellen Liddy "Cattle Kate" Watson is the first to come to mind.

I have no idea what to make of Harold... Harold Gould? Semi-famous character actor in TV and film of the 60s-70s? He hardly seems reference worthy, he didn't exactly have a lot of standout roles... Harold McCracken? Sort of famous painter of pseudo-historical wild west scenes? Are those names a random Japanese game dev would have really been able to stumble into in the 2000s? It's the name "Harold" it could be practicallyanyone...

And technically "Laraina"'s name is actually written ri-re-i-na[リレイナ] so that one could just be a localization flub. Actually, it appears to be how they japanized the name of Wynona Rider's character in the 1994 movie, Reality Bites; the character's name is Lelaina Pierce. It's far from being a western but it does take place in Texas, for a Japanese creator maybe that's cowboy adjacent enough?)

So I dunno... Maybe it is Jessica and it's just a weird choice of names because the manga author doesnt have access to the core creative team's specific sensibilities. Maybe it doesn't matter because the core team's sensibilities are also unstable. And if anything, it feels vaguely slavic to me? Like, the way those phonetics roll off the tongue to me sounds like it ought to be something like Tetscheka? Dzhetgya?? Czeschka(like the painter)??? But why would anyone have named a native american analog in some sort of pseudo-slovenian?

I realize this is a cold case. And one without any real answers. But it's one of those things that drives me nuts when I look up somethings simple like, "What were those characters' names again?" and then find myself having wasted the morning on a wild goose chase and now i'm late for work...

[dykeza]

Edit: this post is too long it’s going under read more so I don’t feel as evil tagging it okay thanks. Hi guys it’s me the asshole again can I say smth possibly controversial and tone deaf? Okay thanks .

I think a terrible amount of backlash towards SSO is done under the assumption that SSO is a small team that became a large Horse Game Corporation with a monopoly on Horse Games in the last 13 years . This is not true. SSO is still a small game worked on by a small team (there’s frequent posts on their instagram featuring basically the whole team— including like the Singular Lady that models all the horses. Like that’s One Person, Maybe More but Not A Lot More). Just bc it has more polish does not mean it’s suddenly not made by a small team in a likely rented office space who strive to pay their workers fairly. Lots of ppl on Reddit saying shit like “I wonder if the higher-ups at the sso company make it so the designers can’t do whatever they want :(“ There aren’t any higher-ups. It’s important to me that you know that. SSO hiking prices and lowering rewards and releasing smaller and smaller updates CAN be a bit shitty, I’m not saying it’s not. I’m saying there’s nuance that’s lost when a bunch of primarily older teenaged and adult women and queer ppl— (I am aware how insane that sounds but I don’t think many straight cis dudes are rockin with the horse game, and if they are they’re not the majority) —are yelling in Instagram comment sections about how shitty the SSO dev team is because they (checks notes) have to raise the prices of their horse game because they have to maintain a livable wage for themselves, pay rent and utility bills on their machines and spaces that they need to even make the game, and pay for marketing and other expenses, in a global post-Covid hyper-inflated economy. So woe is you that star coins cost more. A 10k star coin gift card used to be 108 dollars around my neck of the woods (America) and now it’s 79.99. That’s less money btw in case you can’t do math because you’re too blinded by your rage over game designers, artists, developers, and coders being paid more than peanuts to update the same fucking game for 13 years WEEKLY. Okay man. Whatever. Old man yelling at cloud over here. A lot of this has been building for months-years now but the Medieval Arena update really like, made it apparent to me for some reason. Maybe it’s cuz I like the update I think it’s cute I think it’s nice and small and quaint. But like— it’s So Obvious that the Medieval Arena and all its little additions and the future ones were made by a small team of people who just, wanted to have a fun Renaissance Fair in their game that they make. Bc yknow, again, they’re updating and making a game that they are paid to update and make because they want to update and make it. Sorry you don’t like shitty jousting mechanics and a cute lil fairground . Do you also hate the sun for shining? Oh you miss the old events? Oh you hate that sso is all corporate and lifeless now? Should we tell everyone? Should we invite Bella Hadid? Have you even once considered that maybe the people who make the game are People making a Game, and they can do whatever they want with their game? You, yes you, can also do whatever you want. You have the hands that create. You don’t get mad at an artist with a canvas and paints for doing art the wrong way, right? So why is it okay to get mad at an artist with a computer and a coding software for doing art the wrong way? Every horse, building, character, clothing, tack, tree, bush, boat, car, and all the hundreds of other things in this game are made by hand by dedicated people but yeah, you’re mad that they Chose To Do Something THEY Wanted To Do over doing the thirteenth birthday event in a row to appease a bunch of people who never seem to be happy with their art anyway. Fuck off. Sorry for yelling. I’m not sorry but sorry for yelling. Please die.

[ideahat-universe]

This is very disappointing news. Not only are flufflepuff videos in my personal archives but the brony fangame I've been working on has Flufflepuff type ponies as a playable class. There was even a planned Flufflepuff style NPC and maybe even Flufflepuff herself if the game really took off.

So what do I do? Do I remove this character now that I've been made formally aware of it?

I do actually believe in separating art from the artist. I have archives of Smorky Kay despite knowing exactly what he did.

I watch Rurouni Kenshin and consider it one of my all time favorite anime despite knowing what the creator was doing.

But that's consuming artwork. What about creating it? Well, a ton of artists were directly inspired by Ren and Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi (does anyone notice a pattern emerging?) and aside from hating what he did they all don't resent being inspired by his work, in fact for those who still remember Ren and Stimpy it's still considered one of the best cartoons of its era if not one of the most influential.

Sea of Stars at one point had Jirard the completionist in their game and removed him when he got in hot water, however Hat in game devs didn't remove Jontron from the game despite the hot water he was in at the time.

So what should I do? Well, let me think.

The whole idea behind my game is that you play various Pony archetypes, not just as teammates but at various points you change to different kinds of ponies. Artistic liberty had to be taken as some pony features over lap with each other with small differences through the generations of the franchise's existence as well as stretching

For instance, you can play as a fairy pony which is several different types of fairy like ponies made into a cohesive singular design and class.

A similar thing had to be done when creating Gem Ponies which are just different versions of a glittery, gem themed, or otherwise crystalline pony type.

I recently added Zebra as a class and it oddly enough has overlap with Flufflepuff in terms of theme (Manipulating chaotic power) except unlike the Zebra class which is fairly balanced, Flufflepuff is broken. The most recent direction I was going with the design was that Fluffpuff style ponies could pull things out of hammer-space or different effects would happen based on the use of items and what equipment they have on. You couldn't wear armor but the defense was really high outside of a 200% weakness to fire.

But here's the thing. There is nothing like Flufflepuff in the official Pony Archives. Every other Pony Class has official representation in the show and the game is generally about representing as much of the show's original IP through the 1-4 generations as possible.

There were never any frizzy hair pony toys. I'm not even sure if a Chia pet pony happened. That does mean I'm not obligated to keep this class in the game. If I had it in here because I wanted to include a popular non canon race, well, It's not going to be much more popular in the future.

But what if I changed it? If artists inspired by Jon K went on to make their own mark and not be weighed down by the source of inspiration. Maybe I can do the same.

Perhaps it's time for a League of Legends style rework....

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Skeeter (again)

Debut: Super Mario 64

Do you feel it? The surface tension? Could it really be? It’s Skeeter! Y’see, Skeeter is a real All-Star, as in, we already made a post about them long ago! It might’ve even been our very first post to break 100 notes! But also as in, Skeeter has a lot of fans here! And we owe it to all those fans, myself included, to make a more in-depth Skeeter post truly worthy of Skeeter, I think. So let’s begin! 

Of course, one of Skeeter’s biggest fans is Princess Peach herself, given she comissioned a painting of one for her castle! There are a couple paintings of enemies in this game, but this one feels the most candid! It is really just a Skeeter, scooting in its natural habitat! And that painting leads to... Wet-Dry World? Hey! We live there, don’t we? More reason that Skeeter really deserves a spotlight on this blog, then! They’re basically our national flag! What better funny little guy to welcome you to, well, y’know. That!

Let’s talk a bit more about what a funny little guy this is, and how funny, and also little. Skeeter uses the tried and true Mario 64 technique of designing enemies: Orbs! Spheres! Orbs are the same viewed from every angle, so you can save them as sprites and conserve that sweet, sweet cartridge space. 

It gives them an undeniable charm though! Like, this is a bug that looks like a molecule! It really is just a ball with little legs, a funny dangly orb on top (to denote Silliness) and two big googly eyes! 

Say, looking at those googly eyes... Skeeter looks a bit sad, doesn’t it? Oh no! What could possibly be wrong in Skeeter’s life, do you think? It has such an idyllic lifestyle, scooting about the surface of the water... But even a Skeeter has its troubles. You shouldn’t try and assume what people are going through, y’know! I won’t pry, Skeeter, but if you ever need to talk about it...

Now the Skeeter market is constantly changing, and Skeeter needs to be adaptable to keep up with the times! That is why Skeeter’s been redesigned in basically every one of their appearances! Each era needs a different Skeeter, and Skeeter will deliver!

Well, all but one of their appearances, at least, because Skeeter makes a sneaky little cameo in Mario Party 3′s Woody Woods board! Do you see them? Have a good long look, because they’re in there! They were just a static image, but Mario Party Superstars had the gall to not bring them back when they remade this board. Can you believe that? I really ought to write a letter to complain!

The Mario Party 3 devs may have liked Skeeter, because they went as far as to make a special Robo-Skeeter for one of the minigames! In Ridiculous Relay, three characters take turns piloting different wacky vehicles, one of them being... this wonderful Skeeter mech! Wow! 

We only ever see this design from the side in-game, but thanks to modern technology and The Models Resource, we can witness it in all its glory! It really is so perfect to reimagine the antenna as a funny robot antenna! Wouldn’t you want to sit in there? Pilot it, even? 

Anyhow, introducing Mario 64 DS Skeeter! While some may lament the loss of The Classic Skeeter, if you ask me this is a basically perfect modernization! Plus, I think those original low-poly 64 designs are most charming on the N64 itself!

This one keeps all the core Skeeter traits, such as the Funny Dangly Orb, but the new big conjoined eyes are very adorable, and make it no longer sad! They even gave extra detail to its feets, emphasizing that they are suction cups! And there is something very soothing about its new shade of blue! Hey, isn’t it a similar colour to Robo Skeeter? I wonder if that was a coincidence! 

Personally, I would like to own both versions of the Skeeter painting and display them in my home, side by side, so all of my visitors know I have impeccable taste! Although maybe not in our apartment, because I’m not sure what happens when you place a portal to Wet-Dry World within Wet-Dry World. 

Our next Skeeter design is from... hold on a second! Silly me! This picture isn’t from Video-Game’s, it’s from Real life! You may have already guessed, but Skeeters are based on a certain real-life guy named water striders! Or pond skaters! Or water skaters, water scooters, water skippers, water bugs, Jesus bugs, and of course, water skeeters, which is where our beloved Skeeter got its name!

These bugs are well-known for their ability to Hang Out on the water’s surface, without sinking! How do they do that? It’s the Surface Tension, baby! In the grand scheme of cool things bugs can do, this probably isn’t that impressive, but it’s Pretty Cool in its own right, don’t you think? I like how Skeeter takes the ripples they make on the water and turns them into little suction cups! It’s cute!

Hopping back into the virtual world, our third Skeeter is from Super Mario Sunshine, and wow! This sure is  ! I mean all of Sunshine’s enemies look funky, but this is something else, huh? I guess I do quite like the colours and the Funny Shoes, but the eyes look a bit... scary! What has this Skeeter seen? Do I even want to know? 

Two things you should know about Skeeter in Super Mario Sunshine, pal. The first is that they aren’t called Skeeter, they are called Blue Spiders or Pondskaters. They aren’t spiders, but I guess they are Pondskaters! The second is that if you jump on them, you will bounce super high. I do not know why that is. 

Last but not least, Mario Galaxy 2 redesigned Skeeter once more, and... well, maybe not the least, but this one isn’t my favorite? They made its legs a lot shorter, and took away the iconic dangly thing in favor of a more compact skeeter! This does look more like a guy you can jump on, from a game design perspective its probably a lot better, so it’s not all bad! Besides- this one is pur

Of course the funniest thing about this one is its face! Not only are the eyes a little detached from the body like a classic Banjo-type Rare guy, but they are oh-so unimpressed! This guy would say “yeah yeah, laugh it up, pal”.

With how each Skeeter clearly shows a different mood, you know what that means! It’s extremely marketable relatable memes! Sure to go viral! Which one are you feeling today, Trainers? 

Yet legends tell of a fifth Skeeter... A Skeeter so mysterious, it even has its own page on the Super Mario Wiki..! Yes, it’s Skeeter from New Super Mario Bros., which I get to use bold for because its technically a different enemy! This guy is called Bomb Skeeter in Japanese, but for the English version they left it as just Skeeter, making the distinction kind of confusing! In my last post I exploited this confusion for comedic effect, but now I won’t do that anymore. It’s time to be serious about this. 

Still, isn’t this guy fantastic? It’s so much wider than your average Skeeter, plus magenta and teal is one of my favourite colour combos! It’s got everything the 64 DS design has and more!

The reason for their wideness, of course, is because they are filled with explosives! These Skeeters p**p bombs at you, as demonstrated above, and they can even break through blocks! I think this is a real clever way to adapt Skeeter to the second dimension- giving them a vertical hazard makes them an even bigger threat when you are swimming below them, and makes them even more special! They didn’t even have to do this, because Skeeter would probably work fine in 2D. But they did! Hooray! 

That may be all the Skeeters I have for you today, but the journey of Skeeter is far from over! With all the Skeeters we’ve gotten, more are sure to follow... at some point! If you are reading this from the year 2032 and enjoying a brand-new purple and orange Skeeter design from Super Mario’s Crazy Castle, with one raised eyebrow and slicked-back hair, hello! Know that you are living in the best future!

[inhuman-obey-me]

not a request, but do any of the mods have opinions on Raphael in game?? I’m really hoping the devs are hinting to a new character but 👁👄👁 idk. He seems to have a chip on his shoulder regarding humans and Beel described him as “sarcastic”. I just (grabby hands) want some conflict

We got a lot of various tidbits about Raphael in Season 3, and it certainly seems like he’s being set up as a more major character for Season 4! From what we've seen so far, it seems perhaps less that he has a chip on his shoulder about humans in particular and more ... that he gives us yet another look at how the Celestial Realm operates/behaves. 

So yes, let’s talk about ✨ Raphael ✨.

(spoilers for everything below, of course)

We’re first introduced to Raphael after Solomon’s cooking does some weird dream time-travel shit and wake up to Angel!Asmodeus finding us in the Celestial Realm. 

One of the first things he does is check to make sure that MC isn’t with Raphael, as he’s currently avoiding him since he went to a human world party. And what does Raphael think of an angel sneaking off to go to a human world party?

Raphael thinks it’s a wicked and immoral thing to do. Interesting. 

As you meet the other brothers as angels, Raphael's name is mentioned a few more times, all basically around the fact that he's going to get on their case -- especially on Asmo's. Mammon mentions that he saw Raphael walking around looking for Asmodeus and he had his spear on him, which Asmo is not too happy to hear. Asmodeus also mentions that Raphael has probably been badmouthing him to Lucifer, and Lucifer later tells Asmodeus to take care of the situation lest he find himself "at the pointy end of Raphael's spear".

So, we get a pretty clear picture that Raphael is pretty strict and enforces the angel ways by, well, force.

( Fun Fact: There is a probably a reason Asmodeus in particular seems to be the one shown getting in Raphael's crosshairs -- in the Book of Tobit and the Testament of Solomon, Raphael is the angel that thwarts Asmodeus and his demonic, dastardly plans. )

But Asmodeus isn't the only one who didn't get along with Raphael. During the test to get your first star for your sorcerer's license, Beelzebub makes a mention that Lucifer and Mammon used to go and gang up on Raphael together, arguing with him. This is the first hint we see that Lucifer didn't actually get along with Raphael either.

Later, during the second Celestial Realm "trip" (the fairy trick), this is reinforced by a bit more direct information from Lucifer in regards to Raphael. When Satan and MC run into Angel!Lucifer, he starts complaining about how Raphael is dumping a bunch of work that is not Lucifer's responsibility on him, probably as harassment since the brothers are always getting into shenanigans. Truly, he never got a break huh. It's Lucifer who says that Raphael always has something snide or sarcastic to say to him.

A bit later, Lucifer also talks about how he doesn't really have many angels to ask for advice, listing the other seraphs and noting that Raphael in particular is "generally snide and unpleasant".

So, pretty safe to say -- Lucifer did not like Raphael and the two did not get along.

The next tidbit we get about Raphael's personality and who he was is when going to the amusement park with Belphegor to meet Diavolo, and this one is slightly different. Belphegor recalls a moment where he got lost in the Celestial Realm and ended up stuck in a tree. Who came to save him? Surprisingly, Raphael!

When you ask Belphie if he liked Raphael, this is his response:

Belphie seems to extend the most grace in regards to Raphael, but mentions how he always looked sullen & irritated and that at times, he seemed like he could be a demon in disguise. He basically is constantly bossed around by Michael and looking after his every need and whatever he says.

So! We've gathered that Raphael was/is a snide, sarcastic, unpleasant, irritable, and overworked high-ranking angel. The brothers for the most part did not get along with him, and he seems to strictly adhere to the Celestial Realm's way of things.

So, that brings us to Raphael's role in the story . . .

When Barbatos visits Luke at the Angel's Halo to pick up some coffee to take over to Serenity Manor, Luke mentions that he's been worried about Simeon. He says Simeon has been spacing out a lot, and seemingly avoiding Michael.

That's when Barbatos asks if Michael made the request for Simeon and Luke to come to the human world in person, and surprisingly, Luke responds no -- it was Raphael who said it. Or at least, it seemingly was, as Luke cuts himself off due to his cupcakes being ready to take out of the oven.

The subject is dropped and the scene moves on. We see a text conversation between Barbatos and Lucifer (in the Fantastic Three chat) afterwards, where Barbatos mentions he has something he'd like to discuss with Lucifer while he's over. Presumably, it's about his suspicions on what's going on with the Celestial Realm.

From there, the rest of season three plays out, and then we get to the after credits scene.

And lo and behold who shows up? Raphael. And Simeon is ... not thrilled to see him.

Given what we know of Raphael's personality, plus Simeon's expression here, we can safely assume he says that line rather mockingly. "Brother" seems to be a general term angels use with each other, like brethren of an order, but it almost seems to sound like a threat here. Remember your place kind of vibes.

Simeon puts on a polite smile and says he's so glad Raphael could stop by, and then we get an ominous text conversation between Diavolo and Lucifer to end the season. Diavolo has received troubling news from the Celestial Realm, news they should be concerned about, news about Simeon.

Now, Season 3 has had numerous scenes showing that Simeon is feeling a bit distant from the Celestial Realm. We have:

Luke's concerns earlier, about him spacing out all the time and avoiding Michael

Simeon's mysterious meet up with someone that Belphegor thought he recognized

Simeon's confession that his happiest time in the Celestial Realm was when the brothers were still angels

The fact that Simeon was demoted -- he used to be one of the highest-ranking angels as a seraph, but was demoted to archangel at some point (you can read our two fics here and here which expand on our headcanons and thoughts around this)

Simeon's PTSD-like reaction to seeing God/Father during the boogeyman incident, which shows someone's biggest fear, and is convinced that the boogeyman was showing his fear and not Lucifer's (which we agree with)

We also saw in Season 2 that Simeon has no issue talking back and being snarky to Michael. All in all, we can pretty confidently conclude that Simeon is on thin ice at best, and at worst? He's very likely in some real trouble.

So Raphael showing up at the Angel's Halo to greet Simeon in such a manner certainly makes it seem like he will have a much bigger role in Season 4, and if you're looking for conflict, he's probably come to deliver.

He is the strict, snide, sarcastic, unpleasant angel that does all of Michael's dirty work. He upholds and enforces the Celestial Realm's ways, which we know includes looking down on demons and certainly doesn't seem very forgiving to misbehaving angels either.

Raphael isn't here to be Simeon's friend.

Lesson 60 Hard Mode shows that Michael has sent a sealed envelope listing the next two exchange students that will be arriving in the Devildom from the Celestial Realm, and Asmodeus and Mammon both express shock at the two names they listed. They obviously recognize them. Could one of them be Raphael? Maybe, but it's not clear. Guess we'll just have to wait and see when Season 4 comes out.

Either way, we too are certainly looking forward to some conflict and major stuff going down in the new season. 👀

[felassan]

Check out this video interview with Mark Darrah, ‘On Anthem’s Launch, Dev Advice, And Leaving BioWare’. It’s interesting and pretty substantial. He talks about a bunch of different things, including his YouTube channel, things BioWare could’ve done differently, crunch, whether he’ll write a book about his gamedev experiences, gamedev pitfalls, Anthem’s troubled development, the development of projects he worked on including DA2, cancelled projects (and what happened to them) including Jade Empire 2 / ‘Jade Modern’ / Revolver and Mass Effect: Corsair, the reasons why he left BioWare and Dragon Age 4.

I recc giving the whole thing a watch, but if you’re not able to, here are the Dragon Age 4-related quotes and other especially interesting-to-me portions transcribed for ur convenience! (under a cut due to length):

Mark: "There is a tendency for projects that are small to think they're amazing, because it's so much easier. Like when I ran Sonic [Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood] - it was a 20 person team - it's just so much easier to make things go smoothly than when you have a 200 person team. So I think that we've made progress, but as Dragon Age pivots into production and that team gets bigger and bigger, it will be interesting to see if that's true or if it's just the blindness of being a small team. Like when Inquisition was in the throes of shipping, both Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem would love to talk about how they were 'doing things right!' and then they fell in totally different holes, but still fell in a bunch of holes after Inquisition shipped. So I do think that there is a hubris that comes from a project in early development where you feel like this time you've figured it out."

---    Mark: “As Dragon Age [4] was moving towards production, I could see that like, the team, I've been told by people that they've never met a team that more wants to be in production than Dragon Age team. But what ended up happening was, in order for the team to really explore the space properly, we had to sort've train them to be in pre-production. But that meant that that team no longer really wanted to be in production, they wanted to be in pre-production. And so, looking at what was going to be required to pivot that team into production, it wasn't a challenge that I thought I was up to any longer. I think that team, once they get into the mindset, is capable of moving entire mountains, and will move entire mountains, but they need someone that can lead them through that."

Interviewer: “Yeah, from the outside it's striking that you and Casey Hudson left at the same time. It sort’ve definitely implies a ‘fuck this’ moment for the two of you. If it was just you saying ‘I can’t do it’ then it’s understandable.”

Mark: “Yeah, no, I mean, it’s hilarious, because, we definitely were not coordinated. That was, as near as I can determine, there was nothing that triggered us on the same moment other than maybe just a sort’ve mounting, just, like, this friction, being at the, I would say, the GM and EP, the point at which the [something?] friction and the project friction meet, and you’re just sort of grinding there. But I don’t think there was a massive injection of anything late last year that triggered that. Not that I can point to. For me, yeah, I do think it was, weirdly, a coincidence. Casey and I have stayed in touch, we didn’t leave to go form a studio together or anything.”

---

Interviewer: “Are you being torn apart a little bit internally about that pressure of, ‘I know if I just made a video that said, The Secrets of Dragon Age - not even Dragon Age 4, whatever the hell that thing’s called at this point - but just, The Secrets of Dragon Age: Origins’, like, you know that  audience surely would show up. I imagine there’s that community that’s screaming at you, like, ‘Tell us something we don’t know about Dragon Age, tell us about the future!!’, versus, trying to play it a little more straight and actually offer gamedev advice.”

Mark: “Yeah, for sure, absolutely, like, looking at, there is an entire segment of YouTube which is ‘Dragon Age fans talking about Dragon theories and watching the trailers and picking them apart’ and I could do that, and that would be, I feel like that would almost destructive to everybody, because I could deflate all the theories, some of which are completely completely wrong, some of which are amazingly right. But I think, like, I don’t think the community actually wants that. They might sort’ve think they do, but I think if I just sort’ve pulled away the curtain, I think it’d be like, ‘Ohh.. but now what are we gonna talk about? :(’ Like I don’t think that anybody wants that honestly. It would be great for my metrics but I don’t think anyone really wants that.”

Interviewer: “And not to offer you advice, but like I think there’s somewhere in the middle. Like when they have the next teaser trailer for the next Dragon Age project, you could do a reaction video to that and it would be your most viewed thing by a mile, and you wouldn’t be stepping on anybody’s toes.”

Mark: “Yeah, I have thought about that exact thing. Cause we’ve now moved, I think, beyond the horizon of anything that comes out of Dragon Age at this point, like if they’re at EA Play, and I don’t know if they’re at EA Play or not, then whatever that is will be something that I didn’t have anything to do with, so we’re reaching the point where I can now, I feel like, start to provide, yeah, reaction videos from the perspective of, an incredibly well-informed outsider.”

---

Interviewer: “And you must know, even though you’re not inside the studio, like, just have an appreciation how much that [MELE’s good success and good reception] can do for the studio’s morale. I’d imagine it’s just night and day.”

Mark: “Oh, absolutely, like. Andromeda and Anthem being the last two things before the remaster, that is a cloud that hangs above the studio for sure.”

Interviewer: “Yeah, I mean I remember visiting for Dragon Age: Inquisition, it must have been, and it was still, like, the Mass Effect 3 ending, I feel like, even visiting the studio for two days, you could feel that like, funk, of just like ‘ugh, good Christ, we’ve gotten the crap kicked out of us’.”

Mark: “Yeah, I mean. The Mass endings is an interesting one for me. Because, it’s not the choices I would have made to end the game, but those are the choices that were made. I wonder... I don’t like ultimatums, and I feel like with Mass 3, the team kind’ve gave into an ultimatum. The community was so angry that we then released new better endings to ‘fix it’, and it’s not that that’s a bad piece of content, that’s a good piece of content, but I just worry that, the internet today, seems almost like... a reaction to the Mass 3 endings. Almost like, the internet learned that if you just yell loud enough you get what you want. And I don’t think that’s real, because it’s Mass Effect, it’s not Star Wars.”

Interviewer: “But I mean, if it wasn’t the ending of Mass Effect 3, it would have been something else in that era of Voices On The Internet Being So loud that it causes a big company to pivot and be like ‘Okay, we’ll try and make you a little bit happier, please just relax everybody’.”

Mark: “Yeah, totally. So I mean, I don’t think Mass Effect bears the brunt of the blame of toxic fan culture. But certainly it’s one of the very first examples of that culture managing to make something happen.”

---

Mark: “Now I do feel that maybe I overlearned that lesson, because, something that I did a lot on Anthem was talk about how, you know, ‘this is not a BioWare-style game, this is not gonna have the storytelling that you’re used to’. And I think maybe I overstressed that. I do think that at the end of the day where we are with Anthem today, if you were a BioWare fan that liked all our other games, and you play Anthem with an eye to playing it as a storytelling game, it’s certainly not our best, but it’s not bad.”

Interviewer: “So Anthem marketing and messaging was hurt because you were overlearning the lessons from Sonic, that’s the takeaway?”

Mark: “I do think so. I do think that like, I don’t think it was from the marketing perspective, but I do think that both Casey and I overstressed [that]. We didn’t want people to get mad at us for making a game that wasn’t a very good storytelling game, so we wanted to get ahead of that message and say like, ‘it’s not a very strong storytelling game, it’s a game about all this other stuff’, but, at the end of the day, it is a storytelling game, it’s still in there. And those are the people that stayed away. And if those people hadn't stayed away, I’m not saying the game would have suddenly done [awesome], but it would’ve softened the narrative a little bit, I think.”

Interviewer: “Yeah, yeah. I mean, I’m sure you understand this better than anybody, but that’s such a loaded term to say ‘This is a BioWare-style game’, and obviously there’s that era of EA where they were trying to say that every project within EA was a ‘BioWare-style’ game and so, it’s interesting to hear you kind’ve, hemming and hawwing about how much to lean into, ‘no no, this one is 100% BioWare, this one is 73% BioWare’ - it’s such a murky thing.”

Mark: “It absolutely is, I mean, and I even said these things. Like we made MDK2, well, we made it, so I mean is that a ‘BioWare-style’ game? Is Baldur’s Gate a ‘BioWare-style’ game? But if it is, then how is Mass Effect a ‘BioWare-style’ game, and certainly I don’t think anyone would argue that Mass Effect is not a ‘BioWare-style’ game. So that term has to evolve as the studio continues. But I think for whatever reason, for a variety of reasons, I guess, with Anthem we were worried that maybe we’d pushed it a bit too far. And then I guess we did.”

Interviewer: “Did you enjoy any part of working on Anthem, or was it just a matter of putting out so many fires that it was just nothing but stress til the end?”

Mark: “It was stressful for me. I mean. I have a weird - the last ten years of my career at BioWare seemed to involve a lot of helping people land their planes. And that’s what Anthem was for me, I wasn't there from the beginning. I was helping to land it. I think there’s a satisfaction that comes with landing a game, with finishing a product, and I felt that with Anthem as well, and there were a lot of talented people on that project that I’d never worked with before, and that was great. It was great to, y’know, figure out these people that had only ever worked on a Mass Effect, that I’d never worked with before, their skills and abilities. I really like understanding the strengths and weaknesses of a person and building around that. I didn’t really have an opportunity on Anthem to do that because y’know, we were just trying to get the plane on the ground, but I think, having learned about what those people could do, that’s very gratifying because it lets you imagine what you could do with them in the future.” 

Interviewer: “Yeah, if things aligned magically, but for you you realized it never was gonna align, and it was always just right on the horizon of being able to cobble this amazing talent together and focus it down.”

Mark: “Yeah, I mean - I think that I, the mistake that I made on Anthem, I think the biggest mistake, was I’m used to getting a team that pushes back on me in a certain way. So as I’m sort’ve pushing the stick down to get the plane to hit the runway, I’m used to pushing it sort’ve too far, because I know that the team is gonna push it back and then we’re gonna end up where it should be. And I think that given the state of the team on Anthem when I came on, and given the differences in personalities of the leaders there, versus the ones that I’d been working with for ten years, that’s not what happened. I think if anything, I pushed it down, and then they grabbed it and pulled it even further, because they were desperate for help in decision-making, and I was providing decisions. And they were grabbing onto that, and so I thought we were on this glide slope [motions], I was aiming at this glide slope expecting that we were gonna be like [this], but instead we were like [this], and so we, yeah, we landed that pretty rough. But, I mean, it was my call, I’m the one that said we shouldn’t push to move this, not because I thought it was perfect, but because the only path I could see to making it way better was moving it a lot. And when you’re in the last eight, nine weeks of a project, I could only see like, if we were gonna move it, we [would] have to move it like a year. And that’s - in a public corporation that’s a hard argument to make.”

---

Mark: “One of the most expensive things a project can do is slip. Because, your team, when you do that your team is at its maximum size, so if you got 200 people working on a project and you move a month, well that’s 200 staff months, you just got a bunch more expensive just by moving a month. Whereas actually adding more people, well if you only got a month left, to add 200 staff months to a project, you gotta add 200 people, that’s a lotta people. Moving the date is one of the most expensive, and you can reach a point where it’s like, look, it’s not worth it, if we move the date it’s gonna cost more to continue this project than it’s gonna make, so we’re not gonna. But rarely is that the case, you’ve already spent the money you’ve spent, so the only cost that matters is the cost going forward.”

Interviewer: “So, do you regret not pushing for Anthem to be delayed a year or was it good just to get something on the ground so that we could start building to take it off again with a living game?”

Mark: “Yeah, honestly, I don’t regret it, the [team/game?] was tired and it didn’t have another year in it, and I think a lot of the things that are super obvious now, some of them we knew, some of them we knew, like the balance, we had done one, clean balance pass, by having QA come in and hotseat their way through the game over Christmas break. Like literally playing the game 24 hours a day. We’d done basically that once. So we knew that, we knew that. But a lot of the other things kind’ve only came out once it was out in peoples’ hands. I think the path that I wasn’t capable of seeing at the time that could’ve maybe resulted in a better game would’ve been to put it into beta, like a real beta, in the state that it was in, and run it like that and then release it a year later. But I don’t know if there was the will to do that frankly. There might be now... I think Anthem taught EA a lot of lessons.”

Mark: “[on Cyberpunk] I think many of the same things happened there [as with Anthem]. They had a team that was tired and it wasn’t ready but they couldn’t see the path to getting it more ready. If the team is too tired, just taking another two months just isn’t gonna get you what you think it’s gonna get you.” [source]

[rainofaugustsith]

Rain Plays SWTOR: Spirit of Vengeance Survival Walkthrough

As we head toward 7.0, I thought it would be a good idea to check in with a Spirit of Vengeance Survival Guide, 2.0. I have my own feelings about SoV - namely that it's boring, tedious and was tuned way too high for a main story solo flashpoint - but let's move on to the actual guide. 

This is a guide specifically for those of you who just want to get this flashpoint over with so you can move on. 

I personally would advise trying to knock this flashpoint out of your story progression BEFORE 7.0. We have no idea how hard content is going to be once you lose some of your abilities and utilities, so if you have any characters who are planned to continue with the main story, I'd take them through now while you have all of the tools in your toolbox and are familiar with them.

After literally months of complaints the devs finally toned down this flashpoint to a more manageable level, but there are still a lot of mobs that hit hard, and it's still really long. When I went through with canon Viri and Lana at level 50, with Viri fully geared toward 306, I moved right along through the flashpoint without difficulty or deaths. It still took almost exactly an hour. It's even longer when you're contending with Rass Ordo and a lot of cut scenes. 

You will want to gear as well as you can for this - you should not have to since this is a story/solo flashpoint in the main story, but it will help you here. Remember you DO NOT have to group to get good gear. There are numerous solo missions that will give you gear up to 306 - the Mek-Sha Tradehouse missions, Personal Conquest each week, solo flashpoints, including the Onderon weekly and daily missions. Other suggestions: 

1. Buy and use the Supplied Kyrprax Command Stim, available at any medical droid in the flashpoint, including the one when you first land on Ship #1. If you're doing this as part of the main story, you unfortunately still have Rass Ordo as your companion. Rass Ordo, despite being influence level 25, still has the AI of a cardboard box. You'd be better off bringing along a Jawagram as your companion. This stim will up your presence for an hour and make him slightly less incompetent. 

2. If you can, equip yourself with the Life Warden tactical. This tactical drops fairly frequently from personal conquest and other gold gear boxes. It essentially gives you an extra heal in a tight situation and can come in handy. 

3. Medpac on your abilities bar. You hopefully won't need this, but have it handy just in case. You may want to invest in the Supplied Kyprax Med Unit medpac, which will heal you AND your companion. 

Within the flashpoint, some general caveats. You're looking at quantity, not quality here. It's just a lot of NPCs piling in on you. 

1. KILL THE HEALERS FIRST. KILL THE HEALERS FIRST. KILL THE HEALERS FIRST. Just about every mob here has healers. They have different names on each ship: 

- Varad Churl

- Darmanda Medic

- Ashade Lorekeeper 

If you don't kill the medics first the fights will be even more interminable. Get rid of them. 

2. Remember there are kolto stations in a lot of the rooms, not just the boss areas. 

3. Be very careful because there are a lot of mob groups close together. Watch where you are blasting/Force-whatevering because you don't want to pull more than one group at once. 

4. Get your gear repaired as often as you can. If you've fought a tough mob and there's a medical droid nearby, go to it and patch up, even if it means you have to backtrack. 

5. Get really familiar with any AOE (area of effect) skills you have. Know where they are on your abilities bar and how to use them. Given the mobs in this flashpoint, anything you have that can clobber several NPCs at once is welcome.

Now, here we go.

SHIP #1: 

Banquet room: after you fight the first mob and take the elevator, you will find yourself in a large "banquet room" with a lot of mobs. Pick a straight line and go forward, taking care not to veer too far to the sides. If you wander, you'll invariably pull the mobs on the sides of the room. 

The rest of this ship is pretty straightforward; it's just a lot of mob NPCs converging on you at once, over and over again. 

Gorga Brak: Straightforward; stay out of the red circles. Be aware that Rass Ordo will helpfully stand in these circles and let Gorga set him on fire, so don't expect any help during the fight. 

SHIP #2: 

More of the same: lots of mobs, now with Dar'manda nameplates. The Dar'manda medics try to hide more than the healers on the other ships, sometimes even going behind crates or other barriers, so keep your eyes peeled for them. 

First thing of concern here: after a few rooms of mobs, you will arrive at the notorious jumping puzzle. Just stay on the right side of the room and walk along the beam. There are a few jumps up onto pieces of metal but they are not hard, ambitious jumps. Otherwise you just have two places where you have to make sure your character drops down onto the beam and not into the flames. Angle your camera overhead so you can see what you are doing. 

Now it's time to go through the notorious Room After The Kitchen. As the name would suggest, you will know this is coming when you go through the kitchen. All the NPCs in the kitchen are neutral; leave them alone and keep going. The next room is a ballroom and you will find a lot of mobs. 

You can get through this room by fighting only two mobs IF you watch where you are fighting and blasting. I like to try to get the first mob up onto the stairs so there's less of a chance that anyone else in the room will be disturbed. Kill the medics first. Then go straight foward - right through the fountain - and up the stairs to the second mob. I again like to try to fight them in their alcove up the stairs so I don't pull the other NPCs in the room. 

You will now go down some corridors with more mobs - the space is tight, which in a way is good because you can't aggro more than one mob unless you really try. If you are going for bonus missions there are some rooms here to visit off the main path. If you're just trying to get this damned flashpoint over, continue straight down the hall toward that green arrow. 

After taking the elevator you'll get to the tether room, and a yellow message will flash onscreen about it. There will be a very large mob here with a lot of Dar'manda Commander silver NPCs. If Rass Ordo decides to up and die on you, it may be here. Remember there's a kolto station to the immediate right of where you walked into the room. 

Click the blue box to release the tether. Do NOT get too close to the rancor in the cage, Goldie. Back when SoV was first released, she'd aggro on you even from in her cage, and you couldn't kill her or get out of combat. They seem to have fixed that bug, but you know how that goes. 

Bask Sunn: Kill. The. Medics. First. After that, Bask Sunn has a wicked knockback, but he can't knock you *out* of the ship anymore. Remember Bask Sunn leaves a crate with your loot (look on the bridge), it's not on his person. 

SHIP #3: 

Your first challenge here will be another room with a lot of intense mobs. Take care not to pull more than one mob at once. Rass may decide to try to die here. 

You will quickly reach the sniper room. It's a long room with two snipers by the far doorway, shooting at you. Don't try to engage them; just keep running forward. As you cross this room, you will drop through the floor. It's a long fall but you won't take any damage; it's what the game wants you to do. 

Rass will not fall with you, and you will have a room of tentacles to fight on your own. Hit Unity and Heroic Moment BEFORE you fall, when you are still in the sniper room with Rass. You can use your HM abilities against the tentacles. If you really  have trouble with them, try to get out of the garbage pit; you will find a kolto station at the top of the small ramp. 

Now we come to...oh look, another room with a lot of mobs. They're so creative here. Do your best not to pull more than one at once, kill the medics, you know the drill by now. 

Troya Ajak: No special tricks. Stay out of the red circles. Her songbird volley is nasty, but she's perhaps the easiest boss in this flashpoint. 

FOURTH SHIP (The Spirit of Vengeance, I think?) 

Thankfully this is almost a straight shot to the final boss encounter, and there's a medical droid just before it. You may wish to wait for your Heroic Moment to cool down if you have recently used it. 

The silver NPC in the small mob right outside Heta Kol's area sometimes does not die. If you find that they keep recharging to full health, walk past them, put Rass on passive, and wait by the medical droid.  They should eventually give up and go back to their original spots and you can go on. 

Heta Kol: This fight has mercifully been toned down. There are two stages: 

You'll fight Heta Kol straight on. She has a serious knockback, but there aren't any special tricks here. 

1. Stage One: fight Heta. 

2. Heta disappears and a mob appears at the bottom of the stairs. There are two medics, and the Commanders will have knockbacks to keep you from killing the healers. 

3. After all the mob NPCs are defeated, Heta will return. Keep trying to hit her. 

4. Heta disappears. This time there's a mob with two gold Varad NPCs and two weaker ones at the stairs, plus two silver Dar'manda snipers on the platform. If you have any AOE skills, make sure they are available here so you can take out as many as possible at once. You may wish to consider saving Heroic Moment for this point so you can use Orbital Strike if you have it. Rass Ordo loves to die at this point so be mindful of where your kolto stations are. You might need the kolto for him, even if you don't need it for you. 

5. Heta Kol returns with a much more serious knockback and red circles of doom that increase in size and are hard to avoid. You're going to get thrown around a lot. ETA with thanks to @vespertine-legacy: The circles can be interrupted, which may make this fight easier.

And...you're done. Thank the stars. 

[guynamedultimax]

What if Kirby had a traditional fighting game?

Listen, I know I should’ve done more “FNF fighting game characters” but i doubt anyone cared for that, and even then I lost a bit of interest, so if you actually cared sorry about that, you can still come up with whatever you want for the characters I didn’t talk about!

That being said, I think all Kirby fans here know Kirby Fighters 2. Personally speaking most of it was just the same as Kirby Fighters Deluxe BUT there were five playable Dream Friends. FIVE. Priority to the Copy Abilities a bit too high, isn’t it HAL? Sometimes it feels a bit barebones if you ask me. So I’m here to discuss what would a non-platform Kirby fighting game be.

THE GAMEPLAY

It’s the same as any basic fighting game, there isn’t really that much that the Kirby franchise can offer to make the genre a bit more varied, and that’s mostly due to the fact that Kirby makes friends wherever he goes and combat is pretty much straightforward in these platforming games, the crazy stuff comes from learning specific moves with each copy ability/character in the games and that’s also true for this game.

THE PLOT

I have quite a few ideas for how this can go:

-It’s a “what if” re-telling of Kirby Star Allies where Hyness’ ritual (somehow) also causes space-time rifts across the entire universe to be generated, pulling in Kirby villains from previous games but also allies, which would ALSO explain Dream Friends in the game’s canon a bit more properly.

-It happens in an AU. Plot would basically be Kirby Battle Royale’s but instead of shooting a loadshit of Kirbies onto Kirby, Dedede would just call upon all of their friends to fight for that cake before things escalate and Dedede loses control of the tournament to greater evils, forcing him to work with Kirby to stop the threat, be it old or new.

-Another AU idea but this time it’s original/based on Milky Way Wishes. Galactic NOVA appears every thousand years above Pop Star’s skies, and everyone tries to fight for the right to get the wish. Villain wouldn’t necessarily be ONLY Marx though, most of the Kirby villains could easily win against him if they get to NOVA and get their wish granted. Which means yes, all plots happen at once and Kirby has to deal with everyone at once.

-The least interesting idea: it’s Kirby Fighters 2′s plot but without tag team duos and with all Kirbies replaced with the roster.

THE ROSTER

Now we’re about to have some fun.

RETURNING CHARACTERS: The Dream Friends (and Kirby, of course)

-First up, all Dream Friends are coming back. You don’t even need to change their movesets that much, just add/tweak things, but just for funsies (and for a specific reason too) we’ll also give them specific copy abilities or more than one to categorize them.

-Kirby is the specific reason. He has the same moveset as his Smash Bros incarnation, although he incorporates more copy abilities (and also super powerful stuff like the Star Rod that he usually uses in endgame fights) in it now due to being a traditional fighting game. And yes, he still has his inhale. Using it will have the inhale be replaced by another move in-game, the closest one to a “neutral special” in the opponent’s arsenal. His copy ability is therefore, Smash Bros. And since the game has multiple super moves, we can make his gimmicks from the Kumazaki games the super moves: his level 1 would be a random Super Copy Ability from Return to Dreamland (cutscene is random everytime but damage is always the same), his level 2 would be using the Robobot Armor to stomp foes around, ending with a giant ground pound/fist to the ground and his level 3 is Hypernova Kirby due to the inhale being one of his most unique properties.

-Meta Knight and Dedede will also have heavy Smash influences but they’ll also use techniques from most of their boss fights, such as Meta Knight splitting himself in four clones temporarily for an attack or Dedede actually pulling out an axe instead of his hammer for some attacks based on his Triple Deluxe incarnation. Their copy abilities would formally be Sword and Hammer but with heavy Smash Bros inspiration. Meta can also call in for the Meta Knights to help him in one of his unique super moves. They’d all be there except for Sailor Dee and Captain Vul (one’s an alternate costume and the other is never seen outside of dialogue text).

-Bandana Waddle Dee’s moveset incorporates both Spear and Parasol, but due to the Spear being his most used tool he’ll be categorized with that.

-Marx is the first character with Unique as its own copy ability due to his arsenal being entirely based on his boss fight. Inhaling Unique characters doesn’t always allow Kirby to get copy abilities but when it happens he usually has their most basic move replacing the inhale. Gooey is in the same situation, but i have no idea what would Kirby get from him as an ability since he’s technically player 2 in the Dark Matter trilogy’s first 2 games. Rick, Kine and Coo would technically be categorized as Unique only because they have Fire, Water and Wind in their moveset. You could say they’d be stance characters while Marx is a zoner and Gooey a rushdown character.

-Dark Meta Knight is categorized as Mirror, and Adeleine (with Ribbon as an assist of course) is Artist. Daroach would be Animal, which is missing since its debut in Squeak Squad, as far as I can remember, but he naturally still retains his moveset of calling the Squeaks to help him.

-It’s pretty easy to categorize Magolor as ESP, and Taranza as Spider, while I have no idea what would Susie’s ability be even. Spark? She is mostly around in the Robobot Armor to be fair. The Three Mage-Sisters would be treated equally to the Animal Friends

THE NEWCOMERS

-NAGO, CHUCHU & PITCH: The other set of Animal Friends. I theorize a moveset revolving around the Cleaning ability like in Star Allies would be easy to make, although it can also incorporate moves from other abilities that have been in Dream Land 3.

-CHEF KAWASAKI: I think it’s safe to say this one is pretty easy to do just like the returning Dream Friends. He has a unique moveset in comparison to Chef Kirby that also has him use Kirby’s Final Smash from Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

-LOLOLO & LALALA: Aside from pushing boxes and Gordos they can be the Ice Climbers of the game, and most importantly one of their super moves could have them fuse into their original form in the anime to reference that further.

-SHADOW KIRBY: A clone (in terms of moveset) for Kirby that lacks the inhale ability and has more attacks based on his appearances in Amazing Mirror (and also on Kirby’s unique ability to split in four in these games) and the Kirby Fighters spinoffs. Simple as it is.

-THE MIDBOSSES: They all play the same as their fights too, so doing a paragraph for each of them would be a bit redundant. I chose to add minibosses in because most of them are pretty iconic among Kirby enemies and some of them are also technically friends of Kirby’s. I picked Bonkers (whose coconut throwing and some special moves could make him different enough from Dedede if you ask me), Mr. Frosty (also because we don’t have an Ice-based character in the game), Buggzy (which I can see being the ultimate grappler), King Doo (because we don’t actually have a Waddle Doo in the roster and he’s technically not only their king but also the most unique of them) and Grand Wheelie (look, I like Wheel as an ability ok? it’s like playing as Sonic in a Kirby game)

-KNUCKLE JOE: Taking stuff from both his Star Allies moveset and his Assist Trophy from Ultimate PLUS a few references to the anime and you have the ultimate Shoto character in the Kirby franchise. Ryu mains, this is the character for you.

-GIM: Look, my three favorite abilities are Yo-Yo, Wheel and ESP, in no particular order, so I HAD to include him and the Grand Wheelie. Magolor covers for ESP enough. This lil fella looks more unique than most of the generic Kirby enemies and even among the copy ability ones he’s always been a bit of an oddball due to being a robot. The trickshots you can do with this copy ability make Gim perfect to camp, so he’d be a pretty good zoner as well.

-TAC: He’s been a Helper in Super Star where he also has an unique moveset. Expanding on it and on Tac being generally a copy ability thief could mean more copy abilities can be implemented in a moveset, probably even more than what Kirby can do. Also his design just screams potential to me.

DLC FIGHTERS

WAVE 1: Spinoff Dream Friends

Cuz these guys have been done dirty by Star Allies’ devs. Elline would be the other Artist character in the game and call for Claycia’s assistance in specific attacks. Prince Fluff would play mostly just like Kirby himself did in Kirby’s Epic Yarn and implement specific transformations in some attacks, ending with the tank one from the end of that game. Then we have Gryll. If you know how to make a Tetris/Puyo Puyo based character in a fighting game then good for you, I absolutely don’t know how. What I KNOW however is that she has a float like Peach’s in Smash Bros and I-No’s in Guilty Gear.

WAVE 2: Dream Villains

These guys would all play exactly like their boss fights. Hyness and Sectonia would remain mostly unchanged while Haltmann in terms of moveset is the same as Susie, just without every non-Robobot move that she has.

WAVE 3: Clash of Blades

THAT’S RIGHT, IT’S ALL ANIME SWORDFIGHTERS. They all pull from their boss fights, but Morpho Knight is gonna be a bit more unique compared to Galacta, Dark Meta and Meta Knight, having in the swordfighter equivalent of Akuma’s Raging Demon. Meanwhile, Dark Matter Swordsman and Galacta Knight are completely faithful to the source material, but they’d probably be a bit nerfed due to Galacta’s universe-breaking powers. (you can bet that if we get the remaining legendary heroes who sealed Void Termina in future games they’d be their own separate Wave 5 DLC pack)

WAVE 4: Revival of Old Faces

Nightmare and Drawcia are back and they’re here to stay! Their movesets don’t really need that much changes. Void however is an entirely different beast. He’d be a mix of Kirby, both Zero incarnations and Dark Matter. His design wouldn’t just be giant orb that switches between Kirby and Dark Matter faces, he’d be Kirby-sized and with legs and stubby lil arms like the pink puffball. And you can bet your ass he’d be broken as fuck.

SKINS

If a character’s appearance changed across the series’ history (like Marx Soul, Girl Blob Gooey, Shoppe Magolor, Mecha Knight, Dark Taranza/Taranza in the Super Kirby Clash games, Masked/Shadow Dedede, Anime!Knuckle Joe, Parallel/Pres. Parallel Susie, EX versions and so on) they’d just be an alternate skin/palette swap for the specific character. Multiple characters of the same species with little changes (like a normal Waddle Dee or Sailor Dee, or literally all Kirby colors including Keeby) are the same. I’m also debating on how Dark Mind would be a skin for Nightmare or if there’d be a skin inspired by him for the Dark Matter Swordsman. Zero and Zero Two would probably be turned into palette swaps/outfits for Void (imagine a white Kirby cosplaying as Zero Two that’d be so cute lol).

ATTACKING ASSIST CHARACTERS

Characters who appear in other characters’ attacks. Like the aforementioned Squeaks, Meta Knights and Claycia. Normal Dark Matter would appear in DM Swordsman’s attacks in some capacity outside of the eye laser and the Gordo Throw would return from Dedede’s previous Smash incarnations alongside the Waddle Dee Throw from Brawl. And naturally Magolor can call in the Lor Starcutter for one of his super moves. I am actually considering giving Tac the ability to throw random items/enemies at opponents, with the Bomber being one of these. It’d be a very RNG attack with the Bomber being the best outcome, blowing on the opponent’s face.

HELPERS

All characters in the game can be called on for an Helper attack, that can help you in some form against the opponent by either damaging or tampering with the opponent or by having you get healed or with some buff. Outside from the playable roster enemies that give you copy abilities would also be Helpers, but the specific ones I’m not so sure on.

BOSSES

Characters you can fight in Arcade mode, in Story mode or in a specific Boss mode. There’d also be a Ganon’s Fury (Hyrule Warriors) inspired mode where you’d play as the bosses pitting them against each other. I specifically picked Dyna Blade, Whispy Woods, Landia, Star Dream, Kracko, Great Edge, Pyribbit, Ice Dragon, Fire Lion, Masher, Grand Mam, Metal General, Kibble Blade and Pon & Con.

STAGES

There’d be quite a lot of stages, but I haven’t thought out specific ones except for Green Greens, Butter Building, a Ripple Star stage, one for Dedede’s castle with stage cameos by Tiff, Tuff and Escargoon from the anime and every final boss’s fighting arena.

THE MUSIC

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is gonna be nothing compared to this one. We’re getting all the important music from all pre-Kumazaki games, all music from Kumazaki games and spinoffs, and online arrangements with focus on orchestral (Desolo Zantas), metal (GaMetal, of course) and EDM (Acid Notation, Qumu and various others), including stuff like Itoki Hana’s vocal arrangements. We’re going all out on this one.

Aaaaand that’s it. Thanks for coming to my TED talk. Stay hydrated.

[meggannn]

i'm interested in hearing your thoughts on garrus being shoe-horned into the best friend role if you want to talk about it!

I may not be able to talk about it as much as some people who are super Garrus-critical, but yes I can try!

this really becomes a problem in ME3 more than the other games. basically my understanding of Garrus’s writing in ME3 is that they were well aware that of the fact that he was a fan-favorite, and didn’t want to threaten that, so they made it his crux. they took most of the fandom’s feelings for Garrus and decided to reflect that in Shepard’s relationship with Garrus, but by doing this, they basically ended up pretending a relationship had been there throughout ME1-2 that existed in some player’s heads. of course, Mass Effect is an RPG (well, sort of) so in theory... your best friend could be whoever you want to be, so with that in mind, it’s a little strange for a dev team to go “your best friend is this one character and we will write all of his scenes around that assumption.” unless they really want to play up the fanservice, I guess.

when he’s introduced in ME1, people joke about how they would never not recruit him, but it is a possibility—you could run through the entire game having only met Garrus in the Citadel Tower and never spoken to him again—in which case by meeting him again in ME2, it is a little strange to see that guy you barely remember from the Citadel in the last game show up, but not entirely unwelcome, because at least you, like, recognize him. it’s a little odd how you banter like old friends by making fun of his scars, but what is straight-up bizarre is how in the next game, ME3, Garrus talks about how he was there with you fighting Reapers from the beginning. of course, not a lot of people would specifically go out of their way to avoid recruiting Garrus in ME1, and very few people probably naturally avoided him standing by the elevator in ME1 (which is the only way to not recruit him if you don’t find him in Dr. Michele’s clinic), so the odds of someone not recruiting him in ME1 are low unless they intended to, but it’s still possible.

come ME2, I think they chose to forget that. a few lines have changed in 2 if you don’t recruit him in 1, but not many. remember in ME1, Garrus was an optional squaddie, who had an optional side quest, and his relationship with Shepard there was very much superior/subordinate, or as some people interpret it, more mentor-like. the most personal they get is when they talk about their jobs, the difficulties they face making moral choices, a bit about their families, and Spectrehood. it’s a nice introduction to Garrus’s character but the lines are drawn pretty clear between their roles; by the end of ME1, given the canon dialogue, the closest I’m personally willing to believe of their relationship from helping him deal with Saleon is “subordinate I am fond of,” or post-Saren after Garrus leaves the Normandy, “ally I can call on later.”

and then Shepard dies and is gone for two years. by ME2, when you meet up with him again, I actually find this jump from “subordinate” to “ally/friend” works for my Shepard, but it might not for people who never really engaged with Garrus or even liked him on the SR-1, or those who weren’t thrilled with the idea of him... basically running off to kill as many people as he could on Omega after Shepard got themselves spaced. if you don’t romance him in ME2, he has so little content in ME2: his recruitment mission, post-recruitment convo, loyalty convo trigger, loyalty quest, and post-loyalty convo. if you romance him, you get several more scenes, but compared to other romanceable companions like Miranda or Jack—whose attitudes toward you change the more you talk to them—or even Samara, who you can just chat with while looking out at the stars, Garrus’s platonic relationship with Shepard seems to stall after the Sidonis quest: you gain his loyalty for the suicide mission and then you’re assumed to be all cool. realistically, they could’ve given us a lot of reasons why Garrus might not want to talk—he’s probably still reeling from getting his face blown off and confronting his betrayer again, or if you don’t let him kill Sidonis, maybe he could’ve gotten pissed at Shepard and confronted them—but that’s me trying to justify a lack of content. truthfully there’s very little non-romanceable Garrus content in ME2 to build up that “best friends” angle they want to sell in ME3.

in ME3, you DO get more content that shows how naturally “at ease” he feels working with Shepard: his recruitment mission, longer conversation trees when he joins, more banter from squaddies—including Garrus—on missions, him inviting you to go bottle-shooting, a scene with him after every main mission where he asks you how you’re doing, if you miss Ash/Kaidan, mutual struggles over the burden of leadership, worrying over his family, etc. by this point though, if you didn’t romance him, he’s treating you like his best friend even though he basically ignored you all of ME2. again, you could rationalize that time as his social awkwardness on a Cerberus ship, or him dealing with trauma, but in my friend’s words, it’s really more of bioware telling-but-not-showing that they really wanted you to like this guy but waiting until the last game to give him consistent scenes with the player that reflected that closeness.

on paper, Garrus makes a lot of sense to be close to Shepard, because assuming you recruit him in ME1, he’s been fighting Reapers with Shepard in every game, but also... so has Joker or Chakwas or Tali, for the same reason; so does Ash or Kaidan, for being the only Alliance teammate who was there at the beginning and end (assuming they didn’t both die); so does Liara, for being there every game and only abstaining in ME2 because she was still dealing with the fallout of saving your life (there’s lots of criticism of her being “forced” on the player too and while I agree with some of it, that’s a topic for another time lol). Bioware does introduce Garrus early in each game—I don’t know if this was intentional, because they knew he was so popular so they wanted to give him to the player early—but then he has so little to say in ME2, the game about building relationships, that introducing him early just means he stands around for half game talking about calibrations. a lot of fandom, especially shakarian fans, end up filling the gaps of ME2 with their own headcanons, myself included, to make the relationship development feel a little smoother, but the trouble there is when we start treating it like it was always canon for everybody.

I know it seems weird to complain that such a popular character should’ve had even more content—there are lots of other characters just as or more deserving who got really screwed over (coughs Ashley)—but in my ideal world, they all would’ve had more content lmfao.

[silver-wield]

I’ve just read the hypocrite comment from that Clerithox, I was totally flabbergasted that there is some CA that really-really-really-really do think that CA is canon and CT is fanon??? (WTH) I mean, ship what you like but don’t exposed yourself to be mentally unable to comprehend game’s plot/story/narrative & ignoring all the documented evidence (SMH) …. Psssst no one need to know you’re unwise.

So over on my twitter account I actually have the entire cult blocked and I mute all their tags so I don't see any of this unless it's sent in the group chat I'm in. Why am I saying this? So yall understand that I don't go looking for it and actually can't see it even if I tried. And yet, here is a list of all their bs takes about Tifa and the game so far for this year.

A year of cult bs in chronological order. A lot of these are repeated at different times during the month.

January

• 2020 was the year of Aerith

• Clotis want Tifa to die

• FF7R will be different

• Clotis want Tifa to have Aerith's arc

• Body shaming Tifa

• Barifa

• S7 residents didn't ask about Aerith after the plate collapse so they deserved to die

• Cloud is single in AC

• Aerith won't die and will save Cloud in the lifestream scene

• Cloud's heart "skips a beat"

• The number 8 is proof

• Editing scenes to remove undesirable canon lines

• Tifa gets blown away first in the Sephiroth battle opening cut scene, so that makes her weak

• Tifa's a badly written character

• Tifa has no backstory

• Nomura "hates" Tifa

• Aerith's key art of her staring at the blue sky is about Cloud

• Aerith's red dress scene and second dress bgm are validation

• Tifa is an overhyped bartender

• Tifa's weak (again)

• Body shaming Tifa (again)

• Hollow

• Tifa's weak (again)

• Aerith has better reflexes than Tifa

• If Cloud and Tifa are a couple why is the ending of FF7 such a downer?

• "Aunt" Tifa

• Body shaming Tifa (again)

• Cloud "couldn't refuse" Aerith

• Tifa respects Cloud's personal space

• EC and 1st Soldier were announced together so are clearly about the same thing, which isn't Zack

• Cloud listed 7th heaven in AC as 7th heaven so he doesn't love Tifa

• Body shaming Tifa (again)

• Aerith will live and fix Cloud's mind in the lifestream scene (again)

• Tifa got rejected because she asked if Cloud loved her while he was asleep in otwtas

• Ever Crisis is about Aerith, the Cetra and Jenova

• 7s till the end is Sephiroth warning he'll kill Aerith, so Cloud can save her

• Aerith and Sephiroth is a healthier pairing than Aerith and Zack

• Tifa didn't want to save Aerith

• Tifa's weak (again)

• Tifa's fanservice

• Body shaming Tifa (again)

• Tifa's weak (again)

• Tifa's a martial artist so should save herself

• Tifa's weak (again)

• You can see the pencil outline of 13yo Tifa's boob in her concept art - Roberto Ferrari is a pervert

• Aerith is the default heroine because the Amano art said so

• Fanart has no right showing Cloud and Tifa in the church

• Cloud, Aerith and Sephiroth are the FF7 "trinity"

• WoFF is FF7 canon

• AC Cloud getting stabbed in the shoulder is a callback to Aerith being stabbed in the back

• Tifa asked Cloud to talk in otwtas and that makes her a bad person

• Tifa is a "raging cishet"

• Ultimanias are just extended information

• Cloud dances for Aerith

• Aerith will ride the Hardy Davidson in part 2

• Barrifa (again)

• The whole plot of AC is Cloud losing "the love of his life"

• Barrifa (again)

• Tifa's weak (again)

• Tifa didn't want to save Aerith (again)

• Stars are their motif

• 7r posted a gif of Cloud, Tifa and Aerith so that's validation

• Triggered by fanart (again)

• Aerith will live and be with Cloud

February

• Barifa

• SE bias because they liked a cloti art

• Body shaming Tifa

• Tifa's "useless"

• Tifa was friendzoned

• Cloud wants to rape Aerith (it's just a joke though so that's okay)

• Getting triggered over fanart likes (again)

• Tifa's "useless" (again)

• Tifa didn't want to save Aerith

• Tifa was friendzoned (again)

• Tifa's "over praised"

• Haha we got 9 love songs

• Cloud wants to rape Aerith (again) (still just a joke, though, so that's okay)

• Cloud said he was a soldier on purpose because he wants to rape Aerith.

• Tifa should die

• Body shaming Tifa (again)

• Tifa's overly included in the game

• Tifa's useless (again)

• Barrifa (again)

• Tifa should die (again)

• Aerith saved everyone in AC

• Aerith's resolution is a love confession

• Hamaguichi is one of them because he had a photo taken on the church set

• Tifa's a "generic Asian girl"

• Tifa's white and appropriated Asian culture

• Tifa's fanservice

March

• List of 12 reasons why Aerith loves Cloud that includes her blocking the hallway to prevent him leaving, and stalking him.

• Tifa respects Cloud's personal space and that's bad

• Aerith will live because the devs wouldn't waste money remaking the story the same way.

• Hamaguichi is a dumdum because a fanartist claimed he spoke to her and said they'll have "their perfect answer"

• Over 10 love songs

• Tifa has a generic Asian face

• Cait Sith is confirmation because he said Cloud will lose his most precious thing and they assume that he meant Aerith

• Bracketing a picture of Aerith alongside one of Cloud who was protecting Tifa at the time

• Cloud and Tifa are just friends

• Cloud talks to Aerith more than anyone else in the game

• Hollow

• 7R is an alternate timeline and this time Aerith's aware she'll die and wants Cloud to save her, and Cloud is aware he needs to save her

• Aerith lives in relative luxury in the slums, how dare people hate her

• Tifa is a coward

• Roxas and Sora are Cloud and Aerith's kids

• Cloud confessed love during Aerith's resolution

• Tifa is an underdeveloped character compared to Aerith

• Cloud and Tifa weren't childhood friends

• Hamaguichi is a dumdum and supports the busted dinghy (again)

• People who like Tifa more than Aerith are boring

• The story is a sequel and Cloud and Aerith support Tifa in becoming an independent woman while she knows they're together and accepts it

• Cloud remembers Zack and doesn't say anything during the slide scene because he doesn't want to ruin his and Aerith's "date"

• The ending of OG is dumdum because of a mistranslated line

• Tifa is weak and clingy

• Edited scenes of Cloud's face centimetres from Aerith's

• Aerith's resolution is really Cloud's despite being labelled as Aerith's

This is just up to today's date 🤦‍♀️

[welllpthisishappening]

Fic Year In Review

Tagged by the wonderful @shireness-says and @optomisticgirl

Total number of completed stories: 

Three Captain Swan MCs

Seven Captain Swan one shots

One Bellarke MC

Six Bellarke one shots 

Four Blue Line extras

Eleven Tumbr-only stories

** that’s the stuff I published, there were (obviously) more Blue Line stories that are currently languishing in my Google Docs (remember when I wrote smut Dev and B??) and then also the Killian!centric witch fic spin-off, those nine vaguely spooky story chapters I wrote and never finished, far too many space pirate words anddddd the beauty and the beast fic. 

Total word count:  528,411 — but again, that’s just ao3

Looking back did you write more, less, or about what you expected to this year?

Honestly that is a lot more than I thought it was. To say that writing has been a struggle this year would be something of a massive understatement, so I honestly cannot believe it’s that much. Like...that feels like a lie. And obviously doesn’t include the stories I never finished. Let’s not talk about the stories I never finished. 

What’s your own favourite story of the year?

Connecting on the Wraparound was both a delight and a challenge to write. Partially because writing a multi-chapter is always a challenge, but writing in a new fandom with a hockey setting and trying not to basically rewrite Blue Line was a whole other obstacle I didn’t expect and very much enjoyed. Also, there was a delightful lack of real angst. At least in the relationship. At first I had every intention of them breaking up or something stupid, but then I was like—naw, not gonna do that, they’re going to kiss some more. 

Also But Once a Year was a surprise that I did not plan on writing at all, and my time travel trash self wrote like 50K in a week. 

Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the next year?

I signed up for @bellarkebigbang with every intention of rewriting and finishing the Beauty and the Beast AU. I have some new ideas that I didn’t think of last year, and I think we can go alternating POV and have some magic and multiple worlds and SWORD FIGHTS. I am who I am, y’know? 

And maybe the space pirates? I reread some chapters a few days ago and was like—hey, that’s not bad. So...that’d be fun. 

And and, I have so much fic I haven’t ever posted. It’s ridiculous. I should post my fic. I just don’t want to annoy the internet. 

Most popular story of the year?

By Ao3 hits: Connecting on the Wraparound

By Ao3 kudos: Hitting the Mark

By Tumblr notes: Drew Stars Around My Scars

Story of mine most underrated by the universe, in my opinion?

This is such a strange question because like—it is a genuine surprise that anyone clicks or reads anything I write ever, but if pressed I guess it would be One Foot In. It’s admittedly a very niche kind of fic, with lots of modern magic and, like, death plays a very prominent role. But I think it’s also some of the best banter I’ve written and I was really proud of taking the ideas of Pushing Daisies and twisting them into my own Once-inspired canon. 

Most fun story to write?

Like I said Connecting on the Wraparound was a lot of fun, and definitely how I got through winter sports. But just to keep things interesting, let’s also say On This Night and in This Light. I love writing modern magic stories, and coming up with the backstory of everyone who used Mills Personnel was a joy.  

Biggest surprise?

Writing in a new fandom! Despite how horrendously disappointing the end of The 100 turned out being, writing about Bellamy Blake and Clarke Griffin making out was a lot of fun and, as always, I was legitimately floored that people clicked and read and enjoyed everything I wrote. I’m super psyched to write in a fandom event and make those two idiots kiss some more. 

If you read this, consider yourself tagged. Seriously, tell me about your fic.

[sol1056]

hey! i noticed that you’ve written a lot about how voltron fails as a mecha series, and it got me curious about what a GOOD mecha series looks like. do you have any recs for someone whose only experience with the genre, quite literally, is voltron?

note: that is NOT where I wanted the cut. who knows what the devs are doing over there at tumblr hq.

-----

Welp, there’s more than one kind of mecha. There’s super robots -- where (in general) the robots are ultra-powered and relatively indestructible. Then there’s real robots, which will break down and/or run out of ammunition at the most dramatically critical moments. And then there’s a category that at best might be nearly-sentient robots, which have minds and motivations of their own -- but I wouldn’t say that’s a true category (in terms of the genre) so much as a distinction I've noted.

I’ve never been big into the super robot series (with a few exceptions), and I mostly find the combining robot genre to be frustrating. Former mechanic and engineer who currently works with AI, so a lot of the hand-wavey aspects are frustrating for me, especially in super robots where things mysteriously repair themselves and there’s never a struggle to upgrade/repair. (And don’t even get me started on the idea of controlling a bipedal reactive machine with only two foot pedals and a damn joystick.)

Which is all to say, I suppose I should recommend that you watch the classics, except I’m not really sure what they are because I’ve forgotten most of them. And frankly a lot of them are really shoddy animation by today’s standards, and life is too short to waste time on that. I’ll need to refer you along to other mecha fans to add their recommendations, instead.

Well, I can at least recommend Gundam and Macross, but that’s kind of like saying I recommend Doc Martens and Aididas -- that barely narrows it down, since there’s so many options within each brand. Everyone’s got their favorites in each, as do I, but any mecha series that’s stayed with me is one that found a way to either twist the core trope, or explored implications that other series glossed over.

Note: I’ve never seen any version of Eva, and never felt the urge to, either. Sorry. Ask someone else for input on that. Plus there’s also ones I’ll leave off here ‘cause they’re veering over into AI/robots/tech and less what would usually be called mecha, but they’re still worthwhile: Battle Fairy Yukikaze, Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex, Broken Blade, Last Exile, and Voices of a Distant Star all come to mind.

Gundam

For me, I adore the technical geeky touches in Gundam F91, but the story is total spaghetti, so you might want to skip that until you’re more familiar with the gundam tropes. (It was meant to be a series, iirc, got shut down, and they took the pieces and made a movie from it, so it’s... kind of compressed, to put it mildly). 

Gundam Wing and Gundam 00 are considerably less geeky on the technical (though they do satisfy the mechanic itch, with a bit more real robot, at least on the technicalities). I like the international core cast, and the way each series explores geopolitical dynamics. (That said, skip the second season of Gundam 00. It just goes totally off the rails into some really wild and wacky directions.)

A long-running concept like Gundam is recognizable across the series thanks to core concepts, and in Gundam’s case it’s the conflicts between imperialism and colonialism, war versus justified rebellion, and pacifism versus a first-strike as self-defense. What I liked with Wing and 00, in particular, was its central pilots felt more tied to (and aware of) the political ramifications of their actions.

I did watch about half of Iron-Blooded Orphans, which struck out in a new direction by having Mars as the colony instead of the lagrange points, but didn’t bother finishing. From what I hear, watch it with a box of tissues, as it’s a return to the classic kill-em-all perspective of the original Gundam series.

Macross

I’m sure someone else will tell you to watch the original Macross (the american version being Robotech, albeit highly edited). I know lots of people adore the first Macross series, but it’s just too late-80s for me. (The hair, my god, the hair.)

Personally, I prefer Macross Frontier -- the amination is much improved, though the fact is I also adore the voices of Yuuichi Nakamura and Aya Endō. Macross has some politics, but it’s mostly internal -- that is, the opponents aren’t human, so whatever debate there is about who’s right or wrong is mostly one-sided, since we only ever see humans doing the talking.

I tried to watch Macross Delta but it just didn’t do it for me -- and therein lies some of the issues (for me) with both Gundam and Macross. Because both have some core elements that they tackle in every series, it can start to feel a bit repetitive.

For Macross it’s always music, Valkyries (the mecha type for Macross), and a love triangle -- which sometimes isn’t even resolved. (I’ve read all kinds of debates about whether Alto ends up with Sheryl or with Ranka, but the series leaves it open.)

A good writer can explore these themes over and over, but between the two, I personally think Gundam has done a bit better of pivoting to take a new angle with each series. But at the same time, Gundam is pretty consistent about not building on a previous series -- with a few notable exceptions, most of its series are alternate-universe stories to each other. In Macross, they’re all continuations of the previous -- so if you’re not into its setup about aliens and weird diseases and whatnot, you’re only going to get more of the same in the next series.

Everything else

So here’s the series I like, but I’m not sure all of these would be counted as ‘true’ mecha by other fans (a debate I mostly ignore, so I’ll leave it to others to argue about that).

Escaflowne -- one of the rare breed of fantasy-styled mecha (Broken Blade being another one that comes to mind). The animation is strongly 80s, but the voice acting is superb, the story (originally meant to be longer, then budget cuts forced a much longer story to squeeze into half the episodes it really deserved).

[It’s also a series I’d call a harbinger, similar to tripping over little-known movies from twenty years ago and realizing every single actor including walk-on parts went on to be massive names. Escaflowne’s got that, but that also extends to its animation team, its director, its composer, on and on. All of them went onto work on some of the greatest hits of anime. That makes Escaflowne immensely (if quietly and somewhat subtly) influential, both for the genre and animation overall.]

Eureka Seven -- another not-on-Earth story. At first the mecha movement -- almost like surfing in the sky -- was odd, but they took some interesting physics concepts and made them not just worldbuilding, but integral parts of the story. Okay, I’m not keen on how the female lead gets successively down-graded as the hero ramps up, but there are some emotional implications of Massive Destructive Machines where Eureka Seven lingers that a lot of other series gloss over.

Fafner in the Azure -- another aliens-against-humans, but first off, I’m gonna say it: you either love Hisashi Hirai‘s character designs or you want to torch them with total prejudice. If you can get past that, Fafner is brutal to its characters well beyond most other series, excepting the earliest Gundams. Although (of course) the pilots are all kids, there are in-story reasons, and there are still adults running the show. And there are consequences, small and large.

Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion -- because what would life be if we didn’t have at least one mecha series with character designs from CLAMP. (Which, admittedly, I loathe, but somehow it worked here.) Can’t speak for the second season, but the first season played up something a lot of mecha bypass for just plain banging on each other, which is strategy. It caught me at the time, at least.

Full Metal Panic -- watch this after watching Gundam Wing and/or Gundam 00, to get the tropes they’re playing on with Sousuke Sagara (the ostensible protagonist who just cannot seem to relate to real human beings). I saw one description of him as “about as well-adjusted as a feral child” and that kinda fits. It’s more real robots, and of course parts require some hardcore suspension of disbelief (the commanding officer who looks 14, sounds like she’s 12, and has boobs that never occur in nature on a frame that teeny). But all told, a lot of fun and plenty of explosions.

RahXephon -- this is another oddball one, because the mecha aren’t mecha, they’re golems (as in, creatures made from clay). For all that, there’s a lot of significant mecha influence and tropes at work. It’s held up pretty well, animation-wise, considering its age (from 2002). and while it’s the same ‘strange aliens attack earth’ plotline, it spins all that off in a completely different direction.

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (aka Gurren Lagann) -- don’t watch this one until you’ve seen plenty of others, though, because it’s a fondly affectionate send-up of nearly every possible trope from combining to super to real robots. Cranked up to eleven.

Knights of Sidonia -- of all the ones on this list, KoS is possibly my most favorite. It was an early all-CGI series, and a lot of people were turned off by that, but once you get used to it, the story can carry you along. Like Macross Frontier, it takes place in deep space, where a colony of humans fight for survival with an incomprehensible (and nearly unstoppable) alien foe. But KoS is true science fiction, with a lot of solid science driving its dramatic points. Also--unlike most of the others series--although the characters are technically human, they’ve also evolved as a result of their time in space. For one, they have three genders, for another, they don’t eat; they photosynthesize.

[bladesrunner]

tagged by @lilysjames, @dobrien & @downeyjuniors thank you 🧡

Quarantine Tag Game

are you staying home from school/work? not sure I can say so, cause I didn’t have to attend any of these even before the quarantine. now I’m staying home 24/7 anyway. if you’re staying home, who is there with you? two of my closest people, whose presence I always enjoy 💞 are you a homebody? I am 💯I only like my walks in the nature, these I really miss.  an event that you were looking forward to that got cancelled? E3 & UEFA EURO 2020, that was upsetting. cancelled summer trips are no joy as well. 😟 what movies have you watched recently?  the new ones include Paradise Hills, Vivarium, Gretel & Hansel, 1917. I also rewatched Prometheus, Interstellar, The Hobbit, Her (letterboxd is to thank for my thorough list). what shows are you watching? speaking of premieres, only 2 at the moment — Devs & Little Fires Everywhere. both are immensely good! the one I’m waiting for the most is Defending Jacob. I also rewatched The Knick, Big Little Lies, and The Alienist. 💙 what music are you listening to? pretty much the same I usually listen to — electronic, ambient, space, drone, movie & gaming scores etc + some new tracks that Apple Music assumes I’d like. what are you reading? several books at once, just as I like to. “To Cook A Bear” Mikael Niemi, “Beauty Is a Wound” Eka Kurniawan, “The Hero With a Thousand Faces” Joseph Campbell, “The Dream of Scipio” Iain Pears, “The Swerve: How the World Became Modern” Stephen Greenblatt — I guess that’s all, but I still need to organise my reading a bit. 🙈 what are you doing for self-care? quite a lot of invisible inner work, that can be summarised as “less thinking, more feeling”, that takes a lot for an INTP. 

✨tagging @myellenficent | @gwil-lee | @gothrey | @annehathsaway | @whatelsecanwedonow | @stars-bean | @isaac-oscars | @saoirser | @jlaws | @ciriofcintras and anyone who wants to do it!

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Alien Bunnies

Debut: WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!

Happy Easter! Yup, it’s the time of the year where families all around the globe gather to watch Illumination’s Hop (2012)! The day we celebrate the Easter Bunny, and her miraculous rebirth from a Cadbury Creme Egg (despite being a mammal)! If you celebrate it, I hope you have a good holiday! And if you don’t, well, I hope you have a good day regardless! It never hurts to wish someone a good day... buy yourself some chocolate, though. You deserve it.

Anyway! As I’m sure you’re very aware, this holiday was created in honor of rabbits, because everyone likes rabbits. I think we’re all so used to rabbits as the standard for cute fluffy animals, we forget they’re quite silly! 

Japan, on the other hand, is having a great time putting rabbits in space and all that. I’ve talked about the whole Moon Rabbit story before, but to make a long story short, Japan sees the markings on the moon as a rabbit making mochi... so, naturally, rabbits tend to be associated with outer space in general now. Which leads to, for example, the Star Bunnies from Mario Galaxy, or the moon rabbits from Mario Odyssey. But I chose to talk about these guys today, because they’re a lot sillier.

We first meet these funny fellas in the first Warioware for the GBA. In the events of Orbulon’s stage, Orbulon’s ship crashes into a meteor, and he sends a distress signal. These rabbits, which just happened to be passing by, decide to help, by pulling him out from his ship! And so they act as your life counter for the microgames. If you lose a life, one of them will just... fall into the void? Scary. Either way, they’re quite nice to be helping out like this! 

Or... not. After they go through all of the trouble of pulling Orbulon up to their ship, they suddenly decide to drop him back to his death. Why? Who knows! All he said was “Earthling, prepare to be dazzled by alien powers!”. Is he speaking to us? Are the rabbits the Earthlings? Do they not want to be dazzled? These guys are morally ambiguous, I’ll tell you what! 

In WarioWare Twisted, the bunnies appear as... Orbulon’s minions? When did this happen! I guess as revenge for their betrayal in the first game, Orbulon went and enslaved their people. He is an alien invader first and foremost, after all! Or they’ve always worked for him. Who can tell?

In WarioWare Touched, Mike is overpowered by his irresistible karaoke programming and decides to host an intergalactic karaoke competition on the Bunnies’ homeplanet! For some reason. As you can see, all their buildings are bunny-themed. But, if Mike is the only one doing the singing, is it really karaoke? 

Really, these Bunnies have made cameos in a whole bunch of games! Like in WarioWare Gold, where they show up in the game’s tutorials, and lots of cameos I can’t be bothered to list here. But it’s not just WarioWare, either! These characters also make quite a few appearances in the Rhythm Heaven series, which has many of the same devs (including the wonderful character designer)! In fact, the artwork at the top of this post is actually from Rhythm Tengoku... I tricked you all! 

I absolutely love Rhythm Heaven, but this post will get too lengthy if I talk about it here and now. So: more Alien Bunnies, under the cut! 

In Rhythm Tengoku, they make a few cameos in some remixes, like Remix 7 and 8, where they replace the soldiers from Marching Orders!

In the second game’s Remix 2, you can almost see them in the moon if you squint really hard. Sorry, this is the highest quality pic I could get! And it’s 240p!

Not only that, but they show up in the results screen for Remix 9, along with Play-Yan, and the little alien thing from Spaceball. Wow! It’s a real convention of great characters!

Finally, they’ve got a pretty big appearance in the third and fourth game’s Working Dough 2, where they show up in the background, as well as the results screens! Since this minigame is all Japanese-themed, and features living mochi, it’s a pretty obvious nod to the whole myth. But wait... are these guys from the moon? I thought they lived on that bunny-themed planet! Hm... maybe it’s a colony of sorts? And who’s that tea guy?

Ah, well! Based on all this, I can only reach the conclusion that WarioWare and Rhythm Heaven take place in the same universe! Which means, Rhythm Heaven is legally part of the SMEU (Super Mario Extended Universe)! Sorry, that’s just how it works.

We hope you’re looking forward to our next post, which will be about these things. See you next time! 

[badaxefamily]

A year ago today, I got news that was devastating to me, but entirely expected. I should elaborate a bit on exactly what WildStar means to me.

Being autistic, my brain latches onto things seemingly at random, and won't let go. They're called special interests, and technically are different from hyperfixations though there are similarities. Though whether the individual is hyperfixated on them or not varies over time, special interests tend to stick around at least in the background all the time and often last one's entire lifetime. I personally have a few special interests, including dragons, Pokemon, and as of the beginning of 2012, WildStar.

Somewhere around there, the last MMO I had played, Phantasy Star Universe, had closed or was about to close (I don't remember exactly) and I was actively searching for a new one for my brother and I to play together. My requirements were strict: No medieval fantasy settings, sci-fi of some variety was required, just like Phantasy Star. Lots of character and style, no excessive violence or sex, just fun. I actually found a site that lists ever sci-fi MMO that exists. Most didn't even make the short list for me, being too close to medieval fantasy, too serious, or too violent. Only one really stood out: a game still in development, the only information available being a cinematic trailer from 2011 and a few early "interviews" with the characters in the trailer. I was absolutely fascinated right from the start. The art style, the story of a ragtag bunch of exiles stumbling across something of galactic historical significance sure to lead to untold adventure, the undertone of a space Western! It was all perfect.

I eagerly sought out ever scrap of info I could. I listened to music tracks that were put on YouTube. The first song I ever heard was "The Rescue Mission", which originally played during a cutscene in the Northern Wilds, when the escaping Exile ship is destroyed. I didn't know that was its purpose at the time though, I just heard the masterful note-slinging of Jeff Kurtenacker. The song still gives me goosebumps to this day. I remember hearing that song for the first time and thinking "this is the one." I even got to play - sort of - in the stress tests. I say "sort of" because the point of those early tests was just to hammer the servers with too many people, which caused pretty much everything to break. I remember in Stress Test 1, only Dominion characters could be made, and some of them weren't finished yet (Chua for example), so I made a male Draken named Jedidiah because there wasn't a name randomizer yet and I was in a silly mood. I wandered around Crimson Isle, unable to really do anything because the lag prevented combat from working, but I was getting to explore! The world was coming alive. In early 2014 I was in the Winter Beta, and loved every moment. I also took my testing job seriously, diligently documenting anything that seemed off. I wanted to help make this work.

I could go on and on. The first time I saw Celestion (another "this is the one" moment), the time the Lolilopp challenge bugged and the hallucinations got stuck visible, the inside jokes, the strange creative processes my characters went through. But then my wrists would be tired from the typing. I have to stop somewhere.

Last summer, after months of no new content being added and uncharacteristic silence on the part of the devs, I and the other "oldbies" were suspecting closure was imminent. The publisher was NCSoft after all, notorious for never keeping a published title around unless it could go independent. I held out hope a bit longer than many, ever the optimist. But eventually I recognized what was happening. I started playing FFXIV, I could barely even log in to WildStar, knowing its fate. After the announcement, and the final farewell in November, even I was surprised by how distraught I was. Hadn't I known this was coming, for months? That was when I really realized that WildStar was a special interest. And that's important for many reasons. Special interests really have to be indulged in. Refraining, or worse, taking one away, is psychologically damaging. And unforgivable sin, a personal attack. And that is why I have such unending vitriol for NCSoft. They took away a special interest, something that has never happened to me in my entire life. No amount of logical thought can shake the instinct-level feeling that I personally was attacked, my joy stripped away by greedy and uncaring strangers. The best I can do is the Thumper rule: if you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all. There are still a few Carbine folks working for NCSoft, and I can't bring myself to say anything positive about what they're doing. The best I can do is remain silent. Other times - when in like company - I can be a bottomless mine of salt.

I don't want to end this post on such a sour note, so I'll relate an anecdote from Winter Beta: In Whitevale there's a quest where you're supposed to help the Pell with a ritual, and one of the things you have to do is interact with an Eldan machine. At one point during testing though, the machine couldn't be activated from the ground. The game would think you were too far away. The temporary solution to this was to climb on top of the machine and activate it from the top! At the time, the two factions couldn't communicate at all, so helping each other required getting creative. At least once or twice, I informed opposite faction players of how to get around this bug by /pointing at the machine, then jumping to the top of the machine and jumping up and down on it. Pantomiming and emoting were frequently used this way, but that instance is the only one I really remember. I just think player ingenuity is interesting like that.

I made friends in WildStar that I still like to pal around with. We’re still sending each other videos and memes on Discord with “Is this (character)?” or “This is H4H”. WildStar will never really be gone to me.