#i think? this kinda counts as a fan character if it's not a canon design

[fridgefanatic]

If Riku's canonically a Dream Eater, then it stands to reason he'd look like one in Monstropolis yeah?? (monster-Sora already looks like a Chirithy, notice)

Anyways some design notes

He's the same (or adjacent) species as Dean Hardscrabble from Monsters University-- though not a centipede taur for Reasons

(SquareEnix probably prefers consistent proportions across world specific models to make rigging easier, and therefore would not design him Like That)

His wings and elytra are at his waist since from my observation, they like to put things at waist length in Riku's designs. When folded flat against the thigh it looks like pockets.

He would use the lower wings mainly for gliding, to generate extra lift (given the length of his tail)

I'm debating moving the position of the Spirit sigil to his back, between his wings-- 1) that is consistent with its placement in DDD, plus 2) his wings would also contextualize it like a Nightmare

[deeeshka-14]

useful(useless) popee the performer OC guide/tips!!!!

hello everyone!!! my name is dishka, and im an PTP fan since 2019! recently, i did an OC and thinked alot, looking at ptp characters to make it more canon-like. soooo i wanna share what i noticed in characters designs that may be useful for making OC's! lets start

APPEARANCE: based on colors, mostly.

okay, let's take a look at PTP characters:

so, when you first looking at those characters, you can mainly notice the colors, maybe. its like 3-4 main colors(not taking shades of one color as different. also im not sure if white counts!). there is ALWAYS some print on outfit(stripes on popee's jumpsuit, stars on kedamono's shorts) or its just double-colored(papi's jumpsuit). i guess i should say there's something like a main theme in character. even if im not sure about "animal" theme(because kedamono is just a straight up wolf and popee is still a human just in animal outfit), theres space theme in papi and marifa(who wasnt in the show but i still count her!!)

i also may say that her colors is limited too, so this works with all characters, yeah. ALSO i noticed that everyone has something on their head(mask/hat), so i guess that's important too, even if maybe not necessary. to quickly show how I did it, i'll just leave my oc here:

so, basically, theres limited colors, a theme, i also added this neck thingy to match circus better... and i did it kinda close to ptp author's artstyle bc i wanted to.

PERSONALITY/STORY: short af

so umm theres not alot to say about how to be with a personality but there's always like maybe 2-3 traits in character, like they are very simple, nothing too complicated. ofc you can do it as you want, but if you wanna make your oc as close to canon as possible i recommend not overdoing their personality & story. just think of like... how are they acting near canon characters maybe?? what would they do in different situations?? where they came from, why are they in the circus?? and something basic like that.

sooo thats all i can say!!! sorry if this guide was useless, i just wanted to do this bc i uhh wanna share things i noticed??? and all goodbye and wish you luck with ocs

[ioser-boy]

rahghghsh phighting fans finally appearing on my dash!!!1!1!1

this isn’t a request (although I do have an oc) but how do you feel about coil???

also could u give me some kewl fun facts about ur paintbrush oc 👉👈 /silly

AHH HELLO HELLO!

IM SO GLAD YOU ASKED ABOUT PAINTBRUSH /GEN

WILL YAP ABOUT THEM UNDER THE CUT!!!

me personally i actually really like coil!! i’ve heard some people say they don’t like his design but honestly i think he’s super neat :}

okay YAPPING TIME.

WEHEHEH OKAY soooo i’m gonna try n yap in small bursts just to make it easier to digest :}

Paintbrush is actually like my 7th (8th? idk i’ve lost count) phighting oc!!

Phighting abilities:

Brush is a melee phighter!

they’re based off of this ^ gear that was posted for an event back in 2018

their paintbrush works like that of a sword (think splatoon paintbrush? kinda?) and then the palette is a special ability that’s pretty much a weaker/smaller version of boombox’s shield :}

lore stuffs

In terms of Brush’s lore it’s a littlleee scattered so stick with me here.

Paintbrush, or Brush, is a 23yr old artist who used to live outside of Crossroads and is factionless (as of now, that might change). They showed up in Crossroads because they had been commissioned to paint this super big mural and they decided they wanted to use the commission as an excuse to take a little vacation.

after visiting and meeting a ton of new people, Brush kept deciding to extend their vaction- until eventually they realized they didn’t want to leave and just started living in Crossroads permanently!

They’re pretty shy upon first meetings, but once you get to know them they’re rather rowdy and chaotic :]

(there’s actually a ton of outside lore for paintbrush but it’s apart of an AU I created that I may share? I don’t know if you guys would be interested in it seeing as it’s 30% my oc’s and then 70% canon characters but i’ve worked pretty hard on it so who knows.)

little fun facts

Brush uses They/Them pronouns!

Paintbrush mainly hangs around Sling, Boombox and Skateboard

Brush and Skateboard don’t like each other very much, but they’re pretty chill for the sake of their friend group

Brush’s father, Dragon (or Jupiter, name is pending lmao), actually joined them in their little vacation to crossroads

Paintbrush met Rocket through their father’s connection to Zuka. Brush finds Rocket pretty cool, but doesn’t talk to him out of fear of him blowing them up

Brush is terrified of P.Bucket and Valk

Brush thinks Dom is pretty cool

Brush absolutely hates The Broker and hardly tolerates Medkit.

Okay! That’s it for my ramblings. Thank you for the ask!! I genuinely got so excited seeing someone ask about my oc in my inbox, so again, thank you!

Have a good rest of your day :}

[myths-tournaments]

Awful Characters Round 1 Part 2 (8/8)

Propaganda under the cut!

HISOKA MOROW

He's genuinely (unfortunately) a really cool character and good villain imo, and his character design SLAPS!! He's very entertaining onscreen and even though he's REALLY weird and creepy and I don't condone anything he does I can't help but love his character. I also love his voice and his REALLY GOOD character song. In a character tournament I saw some people saying in the tags that people who like him are "not to be trusted" and kinda saying people who like him are bad. That made me feel kinda not great tbh. I must keep reminding myself that HE IS NOT REAL and it is OKAY TO LIKE HIM!!!! I can like the guy while also understanding that he sucks and his actions are bad!

Why I like this character: He’s a fantastic villain, his character design rocks, his theme song is excellent, he’s funny, he’s unhinged, he has hips for days, and he has a glowing boner. Why he deserves to be in this tournament: He’s, uh, like, kind of an actual pedophile. Like, he’s specifically aroused by powerful opponents, but one of the sources of that is the protagonist who’s like 12. So. Yeah. …Also he regularly kills people, I guess. Have you seen twitter users calling their fans bad people: No but I’ve seen tumblr users do it, if that counts.

He's popular in the fandom but also you WILL get called problematic by tiktok teens for liking him. Like yeah,, I get it,, but liking his character doesn't mean I condone his… less than savory behaviors. This clown is still hot and charismatic and very skilled with nen how can I Not enjoy when he's on screen?

ELIAS BOUCHARD

He manipulates the main character consistently, makes a character cry by telling him how much he looks like his dad, forces the knowledge of her father's dearh into a different characters head and ends the world through aformentioned manipulation of the main character

(this is about jonah!elias to be clear, og!elias is a different character) i love him so much he's so much fun but i'm not very open about it because he's the main villain and some people are very weird about it,,,, i have seen people say he's a personification of capitalism and if you like him you support capitalism or you didn't get the point of tma (which is just wrong, tma is vaguely a metaphor for capitalism yes but also for a lot of other things and elias isn't even a capitalist he runs a non-profit?) so many people call him homophobic or racist (because he's technically from the 1800s) and say if you like him you're a bad person but there are literally no canon basis for that at all (plus. he's literally a fictional character) i have actually seen a parody of the miku binder thing with elias to say that people who like him are just like people who woobify jefferson. which. what. you'd think people would latch on to the brutal pipe murder or the eye gouging that lead to body possession for his quest to be immortal or the constant manipulation to call him a terrible person but no apparently?? (or the. y'know. literally ending the world)

[quinnonimp]

trying 2 get into drawing splatoon!!!! any tips??? u make them look so gummy i love it

aaaa tysm ^_^

& ty for asking !!! though uhmmmmmmmmm im not really a great source at explaining splatoon anatomy & art traits tbh ! (specifically for inkfish, which is what i assume youre gonna be drawing if ur getting started)

i kinda just draw them as plain humans with tentacle hair and big ears, ive barely ever cared to analyze the way they are canonically presented to interpret into my own art - instead the style came naturally to me over the years after making many ocs & being a fan for so long, while bending the rules to whatever i find most comfortable

soooo if youre looking for a person to explain to you on how to draw inkfish in an accurate way then sorry i am not that guy pal . but if u just want my own personal opinions then sure ! if anybody wants more specific rundowns i can try, but for today ill only talk a little about hair:

first off, the simplest one

^ the way i color tentacles really depends on the style (its quite different when im working with aliased (aka pixelated) brushes or simplified styles, then i have to be a lot more concsious about my color choices) tbh but the one ive been doing the most recently is like the pictured above . im not good at explaining my coloring process in general to be honest, so i cant give much advice on that especially when it comes to splatoon since i just do whatever

^ now onto the wordier stuff ! its good to give more weight to the tentacles than you would with untouched human hair, since in the end these are literally pieces of flesh lol . inklings have more weight at the lower ends of their tentacles while octolings have it at the mid-to-higher ends, the weight is hand-in-hand with the thickness (as in mass) . also, i think its a canon attribute that octolings have thicker (as in density, and sometimes in mass, as shown with the enemy octolings) tentacles than inklings like their irl counterpart, but dont take my word for it since i dont know where the source is, i just like keeping it in mind art-wise since it makes sense for their real-world counterparts

personally when character designing i like to stick to the 4-tentacles = octolings, 6 tentacles = inklings rule, but even the canon characters will sometimes break it (though, from my recollection, it only breaks that rule by having less tentacles (shiver, frye, acht, marina in side order)) so i dont force myself to keep it if the design can look better with more or less pieces . however, limitations can definitely inspire creativity, so its a good starting point to stick to the canon tentacle-count

thank u for the question, feel free to ask more, though i will probably answer quite late as i usually do . now i go back to drawing yuri

[welcome-to-green-hills]

Heyy!

I finished watching Sonic Prime few days ago and I have some questions cause Im new here:

If I want to know more about Sonic lore, where should I start? I like the Prime so is there anything that has this (or identical so i can count as one) universe? I guess sonic characters have mostly the same lore. I just want to have some organised versions of Sonic that I can count as one history and know abt them more

Hope you understand! Have a good day btw ^^

Hey Darlin’!❤️✨

Not to worry, I’ve got you covered. To me, the best way to understand Sonic lore is to play the games. I say that because each game allows you to interact with a surrounding environment, a character, and key elements of what makes Sonic “unique.”

With Sonic Prime, you kinda have to have some sort of knowledge with the series in order to follow it. Though it’s debate on where it lies in game canon is up to you. My take is that it’s diverse enough to be considered it own universe rather than joining another.

I think if you enjoyed Sonic Prime as a whole, you might like a game called “Sonic Colors.” This Sonic will be different than what you’re used to, but I think that you’ll enjoy him. He’s still got the love and care for his friends as he does in the show. That, and I think it’s got a similar tone to the show if you like that direction. If you prefer darker stories, go with the Adventure Series. They’re quite beloved and still talked about today even if they came out 20-some years ago. To understand who Sonic is as a person, in my opinion, play Sonic Unleashed and Sonic and the Black Knight.

I’m also an advocate in watching the Sonic movies. These films are designed in a way where it caters to longtime fans, as well as new fans. They take the important elements of each game in order to tell its story. This version of Sonic is meant to be portrayed as a fairly younger version of himself. He goes on a self-discovery journey to figure out who he is and how he grows up to become the best version of himself.

The fun and exciting thing about Sonic is that it’s always an adventure! It’s a series that’s meant for everyone with its own special story to tell. Some Sonics that you encounter might be different depending on the universe with wide ranges of his traits. Think of it as taking a sample on your Sonic Journey. You might like one more than the other. And that’s okay! Take time to try things out. In short, start with the games. Specifically Sonic Colors. I think that if you loved Prime, then you’ll love the game. Also watch the films. I think that you’ll love them too! I hope this helps, my dear!

[headcanon-territory]

☆ ~ Part 6 review and rambles - by a person who has part 6 as their first TV series watch -> reasons why because of that one edit in instragram that made it look cool

☆ CHAPTER 1 - Herlock Shomes arc aka Lupin III snooze fest ☆

>Ok to simply start, Part 6 has one of my favorite character designs in the series, I really love work of the Art Director of this Part and 2 of the specials they worked in

-But Part 6 Lupin is too attractive for me that I'm not normal when he comes up sometimes

-On a scale of attractiveness Teal Jacket is up there with Koike Lupin and CGI Lupin

~☆

>Art direction good, Animation was rough on them though

> especially the car scenes girl those are part of this series' core that it's kinda funny - they could have cheesed their way in making it cool by yknow by cutting the fps and do some squashing magic but I dont think budget and time can make up anything for it

>I should watch Part 5 for more Albert and Yata especially Albert because Yata, in comparison to what I said in the movie review post is actually... ok just not as exceptional as Prison of the Past Yata

>Ok to the biggest flaw this part have done - The Sherlock Holmes arc that took half the season

-ive been 2x speeding that whole thing because to simply put: It's almost all talk, the characters are cramped into one scene standing so awkwardly, NERFED ZENIGATA

-they should have some time to flex out the thing with Lily and Lupin because it feels so off that she immediatly knew that Lupin didn't kill her father with ease. Girl let the mystery be a mystery like how did she easily move on when that girl is trauamatized by his mere presence the first time she saw him

>And Sherlock and Lupin immediatly resolved their conflict with eachother when Sherlock disguised himself as Zenigata despite how they advertised part 6 as Lupin vs Sherlock

>SERIOUSLY ONE EPISODE WITH THEM INSIDE A LITTLE RESTAURANT WITH CRIMINALS?? THE TALKING TOOK HALF THE EPISODE IN ONE SETTING

>The Angel Fossil episode was written by Mamoru Oshii right?? Man nice to know he got a chance to show off a piece of his cancelled idea back then

-but instead of The little girl actually being an angel from the original pitch it's that blonde dude from the beginning actually being The Archangel, Michael.

-its an interesting plot but sadly was boring

-Do like that Heaven is canon to Lupin

>The time period episodes are the ones I only enjoyed along with the episode with a treasure hunter Grandma - Sad that they were kinda fillers and could have been used for more stuff with Sherlock

>GOT YURI BAITED FUCK

>God I don't think the production crew was enjoying the first half the moment theyre done with that and immediatly up with some Lupgang shenanigans felt like they can stretch their legs again

>I'm not a Sherlock Holmes fan but the closest thing that I watched related to this series is The Great Mouse Detective and I'm telling you TMS, you guys fumbled such a concept about Lupin III against Sherlock Holmes

>the story was almost all talk, they explained that shit to you with no proper buildup I was 2x speeding this shit in one day before school starts

>"Pops is not a badass" TMS count your days

~ CHAPTER 2: The Tomoe Arc ~ Mommy issues fuckfest ~

>Now Tomoe arc is the good shit and I'm so mad that the Lupin vs Sherlock thing was the thing that advertised Part 6 primarily

>infact all of my screenshots from Part 6 is from this half of the series

>Ok we have the Lupin fangirl episode, a Fanfiction episode, the episode with the fashion designer and Goemon -- THOSE ARE MY FAVORITES - AND THEY ARE ALL CONNECTED TO THE ARC THEY WERENT FILLERS??

>Me rn

>She got most of them from Pinterest boards

>I would have those photos as my pfp btw

>I like sweet man Lupin alot that's why I refuse to watch the more harsher lupin media because sweet lupin is such a comfort character

>I'm sorry Part 6, that whole monologue of Lupin in the trailer going "I'm a villain, I do bad stuff" goes nowhere in this series because Teal Jacket Lupin acts specifically like Cagliostro Lupin especially when he's with Mattea

>also Mattea kinda deconstructs the trope of the innocent girl character that we always have in the movies especially how Lupin treats her

-man she is fucked up but sad they didn't show her story more clearly

>Actually all the "Dangerous Women" that appeared each episode also deconstucts the whole thing with the NPC girls from the movies existing there for Lupin to solve their problems with how all of them are containing pieces of a puzzle that Lupin has to solve for his own problems - only for that problem to escalate

>The episodes that distances itself from the plot were fun that I didn't mind

>I'm gonna peg you Lupin

>I'm so horny for Teal Jacket Lupin save my soul

>Stupid snork minimi outfits

>Also the fact they even explained why the Lupgang are shown cooking dinner and have turns is because of Poker

-isnt that the most (unconvetional) marriage thing ever

>Even the 2nd half dosent Yuri Bait you this immediatly is superior than whatever the first half tried to offer

>Ok now the Tomoe arc has some unavoidable flaws, of course the ending and the reveal was lackluster and turns out that Tomoe was just chilling somewhere but hey what else can they do

>But the 2 episodes before the ending was wow..

>slowly and surely we are trying to figure out the nature of Tomoe through all the perspective of the girls and only in Episode 22, we finally got a peak of what Tomoe is capable of

>and how fucked up she is - Tomoe is doing all of that just to get Lupin back??

[TW:S/A AND SUICIDE MENTION]

-She has to fuck up lives of girls especially with Mattea and Mariel like girl?? You are manipulating a girl that she loves the guy that raped her???? And even got another girl in the scene to shoot the men Mariel interacted with and shoot herself after

>Wow how everything is set up and all comes together is great. sad that they all end up standing there in the last confrontation

>Also the surreal parts and fucked up lupin is what I came for holy shit look at that

>Tomoe's plan can't work dawg has his gang on the back of his mind

-Also the cage symbolism

-i really fuck with these scenes

>tomoe those cards aren't meant for you and Lupin that's meant to represent The Lupgang and their poker nights in order to see who's cooking dinner

>Fujiko's symbol item was a lipstick?? but what else can represent Fujiko

>Should have some Zenigata in there because of them being in eachother's subconcious

>Also fucked up Lupin shots goes so hard

>I should watch Mamo I need to dissect the lupins

>I absolutely love Tony Oliver's performance I was interested on how hes gonna work this past episodes out especially that this cast started with this series on crack

>The ending was saved by the conclusion being Polycule love wins

>and the lupgang being important to Lupin kinda shows too during the episodes with the ladies and how they are also connected to some of them

>seriously hold up

-You woke up from a hypnotist's trance because of your "companions"

- Your 'partner' shoves a cigarette into your mouth that was from his MOUTH

-said that they have dinner duties when one of them lose to poker

>Yea Fujiko you simply said that one episode regarding the lupgang, "I wouldn't call them exactly friends"

Yea because THEIR YOUR BOYFRINEDS!!!! YOUR STUPISF BOYFRIENDS!!!1!‼️‼️

>also the series after this was Lupin: Zero and weirdly never shows Lupin's mom but what they show is that Grandpa Lup and Dad Lup are also terrible parents so therefore: Lupin is the result of unproper care when he was a kid, genetics by horrible people and his only loving figure was a creepy woman that manipulated him

~~~~ END - What could've been & Zenigata ~~~~

How everything was set up in the tomoe arc and how that part of of the season was enjoyable enough I do wish They executed it better because alot of ideas had so much potential

Especially some scenes in the middle of the sherlock Holmes part

Like Zeni telling Yata to leave because the case is not safe for him since he knows the lengths Lupin can go and plus Sherlock Holmes but Yata refuses as he won't leave his teacher. Cool right?? And then got fucked over with the lack of Zenigata just for Sherlock to shine.

The overwhelming lack of Zenigata was the biggest flaw this part done even for the 2nd half. The writers don't wanna handle him that they put him in fucking jail for some Yata screentime. I love Yata but Yata content in exchange for Zenigata's??

And Zenigata was the guy that found out Tomoe's hiding spot for the audience to know but he came there last minute

And even they put the usual lupgang shenanigans in the last second

But in the end: Part 6 was saved in the second half but was still overshadowed by the very very undercooked first half that would have worked If the production team even tried

and The cast being so enjoyable kept me going but it really shows that without them I wouldn't have watched anything from the part at all..

~ ~ ~ ~

Sivhghgh,; you can even watch the 2nd half without the need of watching the 1st - It's fun and fun angst

[review-anon]

Thoughts on Leon Kuwata?

And now we are onto 11037 himself.

Now Leon's design is what I question about because he's supposed to be the first male character designed, but he looks a lot less plain then Sayaka does. Was Sayaka designed before Leon? Must be or maybe he was gonna be a punk rock guy before they went into baseball? Given how Distrust was working out, could be the case.

I mentioned this on Min's entry but Danganronpa Chapter 1 deaths are either people you think would be important, or people that can't last more then one chapter. And Leon fits the latter as having a Ultimate who hates their talent seems to be interesting but there's only so much you can do with that. And what's funny is while some different victim combos made it so Sayaka could have lived, Leon was always the culprit. Whenever it be Kyoko, Junko or Sayaka, Leon was always gonna stake a girl.

People often shit on the 11037 thing but this is a case of something lost in translation. While English is taught in schools and a good chunk of the Japanese population do know it, its kinda like Spanish for Americans or French for British, something people find boring and not worth their time. And so having it spelt as LEON in English when your main audience is Japanese is actually clever as imagine if it was say in Spanish, you wouldn't pick up on it so it was a very good clue. Unfortunately once it comes over to the West, and we English speakers see it, its obvious as day and we are just left wondering how stupid the cast isi.

I already mentioned how Leon was more sympathetic in the manga version but I want to address another misconception about the murder and that's why Sayaka targeted Leon given how as an atllethic he would easily overpower. Well remember that Leon often shirks practise so his muscles aren't as good as they should be. Meanwhile idols have to do a lot of dance routines so they are actually quite healthy and strong, so Sayaka could actually overpower Leon. Plus I think another reason she targeted him was she was pissed how he thought music would be "easy" compared to sports given all Sayaka had to work towards to achieve her goal, she would see this as an insult.

Leon's execution though I consider to be one of the most brutal in the franchise as he's literally stoned to death. And given it was a Distrust execution that got barely any chances it shows why, which makes me horrified to consider what the others would have been like. We know Junko would have gone like French Queens would have but what would the other deaths been like? I don't think I want to consider it.

And the other tragedy is unlike Sayaka who fans recognise has been given shaft by canon and give her some one ups, Leon doesn't get that as he barely gets anything in any of the askblogs and is reduced to comic relief. Unfortunately when you are considered a meme character, you ain't gonna get much.

And its not like I'm gonna be any better so don't count on it.

[noctilu-uca]

THIS IS A CHARACTER STUDY OF FUCKED UP CHARACTERS!!!!!!!!! I DONT CONDONE ANY OF THIS SHIT I JUST THINK THEY ARE A FREAK AND I NEED TO PUT THEM UNDER A MICROSCOPE and also kinda fandomstudy just read ok tw sensitive and triggering topics though

(1,839 word count) I was talking to some fellow fans earlier and they got to the topic of character popularity and socially convenient character designs

Things i had never considered before .

Very IMPORTANT things on a characters perception

So basically what brought it up was a character being brought up, roman. Now I know like only 1 person will know who i'm talking about BUT ! his character is extremely important for the point i'm making. And roman isn't very popular in this fandom, he has some fans, yes. As does every character but he is not nearly as popular as the others. Someone had pointed out that they thought he would be more popular if he had the "pretty boy" archetype design that's been booming in popularity as of recent. which is definitely a good topic to hang onto, but that's not very much the issue here. we will get to that later though.

Roman as a character is traditionally masculine, short buzzed hair, short eyelashes, muscular ect ect all the things you would associate with tradmasc fuckboys. This is very important to the way he behaves and thinks, he very much values masculinity and denounces femininity of any kind if its not from a tradwoman.

Note that everyone i'm going to mention is fucking awful and disgusting please. and this is also horror. topics mentioned can get very uncomfortable stay wary soldiers

Anyway despite roman's traditional masculinity, he is still a very attractive character !! He is considered one of the more attractive ones in canon too. His personality though ? Yeugh....

Hes a "white knight" feminist whose actually a misogynist and active has issues with anger and PHYSICALITY .

Aka everyone thinks hes going to beat his girlfriend one day. He hasn't yet, but there is very much an underlying *when*

Now, this is like whatever ok we expected that its tlc everyones fucked but whhhyyyy does everyone like sibling kisser and sti guy more ??

I mean hey one of these fuckers actively preys on their step sibling, but why is he regarded as one of the better characters ?? (He absolutely is but that's a story for another day)

Thats because of MODERN DAY SOCIAL INTERACTIONS AND STANDINGS !!! That has been my conclusion

During the conversation i saw a lot of people start commenting on roman's main characterization points. Namely how oddly *realistic* he feels. How its hard to conversate and build a character *to* conversate with him. Its hard to, genuinely. its not easy to immerse yourself in his character and enjoy the things being told.

With the others, you can build off their behavior easily. Fall into tropes, make new ones, make your own spin on their set behaviors and motives. Vincent wants his step sibling, build off the step sibling and their fucked relationship. Soren wants power and to ruin his academic rivals reputation, build off his need for power and control and his social killer status. Marcus wants to ignore consequences and stay ignorant about his drug dealing and usage, build off his need for consequences and make him realize. And so forth, there are many different situations, and many different reactions you can pull.

But roman ? He doesn't *need* anything. His only motive is to keep his practically unknown one-off murder hidden. And his behavior doesn't help with his lack of motives. yes, there is the fact he is inherently abusive. the way he keeps his girlfriend, Madeline, under wraps. isolating her, trapping her in only what he finds acceptable and such.

but that's not fixable through him, there is a reason Madeline has her own POV. you need to get *her* out, not him.

This is not me saying his character is bad and unlikable as a specimen, he is extremely well written and his motives are understandably realistic all things considered.

But his behavior is very reminiscent of current time red-pilled conservative young men. Yknow. The ones who go on podcasts to bash women they will never meet ever for being "whores" and not wanting children

I find that Roman's fatal flaw as a character is that he is too similar to people that we actually *know*.

Now, realism in characters is very good !! We of course want characters to feel fleshed out and actually *possible* to be obtained as a real person. But !! The difference between sibling freak Vincent, mind games Soren, OD Marcus, self harm Heathrow... Is that they aren't nearly as common to run into than pro trad conservative Roman

You wont see someone like Soren often. someone who manipulates and blackmails for their own gain. Sure, they exist !! But you have less of a chance of meeting someone like him. He is obtainable, he is someone you *can* know. But hes rare.

Roman? Walk into an average american school and listen around, i'm sure youll see some of his dialogue regurgitated straight from the mouth of a fucked up teen boy

Hes someone you interact with often, even if not directly. So... Why would you gravitate toward that?

Media like this, as realistic as people like to make it, is all supposed to be fantasies rather than realities. So when you bring realities too close, youre going to get some unhappy reports

Of course, people love roman as a character and still like his codings and characterizations, its just that its so much harder to actually favour him. Why would you favour the douchebag you see everyday ? Unreasonable

Instead, people jump to the more "real fantasy" characters like Heathrow. Will you ever meet someone who forces you into dangerous situations and tries to get you killed so he can die right alongside you because of some fucked up meaning of love ? Probably not. But the possibility isn't entirely gone. If you wanted to talk to some fucked up trad red pilled asshole, just go to school at that point why need roman you know ?

Someone said during the conversation that they knew someone like Soren and that they very much disliked Soren because of that experience. So the concept of "attainable" characters has some backing to it. even though people might gravitate to characters similar to oneself, its those who had a negative experience with someone that acts similarly that affects the characters perception.

I think this is an incredibly important aspect to character creation, Think about how your characters comply to the real life people you know and or are aware of, and know how that affects their audience perception. Use it to your advantage, it's very interesting and makes a lot of sense when put into theory. Of course there is an audience for real life people depictions but an overwhelming majority wants fantasy that feels real.

Overall, the looks of a character matter heavily, of course, but not as much as people think. even if Roman fell into the "pretty boy" archetype, most of his audience wouldn't change. yes there would probably be a little bit more in favour of him since... well. pretty. unfortunately that's a truth. but his behavior would still feel increasingly troubling to enjoy or "defend" in a way.

Now I know that this sounds like I'm somewhat advocating for the demolition of these types of characters, but i'm really not. characters like these are crucial to our self perception, fandom spaces, and even morals. lines get drawn in behavioral ideals and sometimes what reached way past the line for you isn't even cutting it for someone else. If these characters did not exist, i feel as though our perception of others would get very skewed. In a way, these characters show and remind us of our actual realities. These things are real, they exist, don't forget that.

if we were to ignore the realities of people like this, we wouldnt get very far in our social progression. Now i know many people dont very much concern themselves with interacting directly to these kinds of thoughts, but ! Think about it. The less aware we are, the less we portray these sorts of things, the less change we see in our enviromental thinking. Its something very commonly experienced, which is why so many varying groups of people fight for their representation. It works both ways.

But luca !!!!! If people dont like characters too closely related to reality, why do people like characters that relate heavily to *their* reality?

Well. Simple. As i said before with the "attainable" characters: people like characters that relate to oneself. Thats generic info, yeah, everyone knows that. But theres a level of reliability thats needed for a character to have as much popularity as they have.

Lets take doppo kannonzaka for example, one of if not the most popular hypmic character. People love him !! Hes relatable in the sense of modern day struggling. People hate their jobs, people hate the current economic state and how its forcing them into keeping jobs that are terrible for them just because theres no other option. But not many people will explore this outwardly.

So...

They do it through characters.

While being rooted in reality, he is *still* a fantasy. He portrays the emotions rarely shown out of private. The thoughts and feelings of average workers, the things they arent allowed to say publicly without fear of repercussion. Theres no harm in liking a character, right?

Thats the main difference i see in this dynamic. The Outlets, and The Plug-ins.

The Outlets are what allow people to express themselves, the "real fantasies"

And The Plug-ins? The things people need to stay conscious about their enviroments, the "realities"

Personally, i think this is something to keep in mind as an audience and as a producer. When interacting with media, i see many people dislike characters that fall into "the plug-ins" category. Simply for the reason that they represent something seen as distasteful to publicity. This feels like the wrong way to go about things. First and most of all, the producer has a right to create what they wish to express in their stories. It is 1. Never okay to harass them for such, and 2. Never okay to interact with such media with a mental blockade preventing you from truly understanding the medias intent.

That last one was mostly in reference to fans that take themes and situations out of context because they find the inherent thought of it "bad". Thus resulting in the bashing of that media without truly knowing what it represents.

Now of course, there are acceptions to these things. And it is perfectly okay to choose what and which media you immerse yourself in based off of your tastes and personal feelings. But thats not what we are here for right now.

But disliking plug-ins for being plug-ins? To me, it seems small minded.

So this is me politely giving my observations up, and asking whoever reads this to think about the way they interact with media.

You dont have to like them, but appreciate your fandom plug-in and reconsider how you see their point in the story and its themes.

[cyandreamz]

YEAH YEAH YEAH 2, 16, 17, 18

and 20 ! i like asking 20 (asks aren't open on your ace attorney sideblog btw)

(Oops maybe side blogs can't accept asks? Oh well I'll just have to answer them on my main blog instead of my ace attorney side blog then :P)

2: a headcanon you weren't sure about at first but have come to like!

Before playing aa4 and aa5 I wasn't sure about hcing Apollo as a trans male and Athena as a woman and austic. But once I finished both characters intro games I've come to adopt these hc's myself as I can see both of them socially transitioning as kids. Plus Athena having super sensitive ears and struggling more with that as a kid is very relatable as that's an austic trait I have (unfortunately it doesn't allow me to hear peoples emotions and just means I can't cope with vaccum cleaners and hand dryers (TT O TT)) so her backstory definitely led me to hc her as austic lol.

16: a tiny detail in canon that you want more people to appreciate

I think the visual choices for sure. From both Miles and Franziska mimicking Menfred in both design and sprite animations (with Miles doing it more as a rookie and Franziska doing it even more than Rookie Miles), to small details like Phoenix having slightly shorter hair in aa3's flashback case (which I don't think enough people notice and often draw "Feenie" with same hair length, probably because it's that length in every other design, including child design), Ema's adult outfit having references to highschool uniform even in SOJ but doesn't straight up look like a highschool uniform thank goodness, Klavier looking more like his brother at 24 than at 17, and the list can go on and on and on!

17: the thing in canon that everyone loves and that you also love

I think I've seen enough people talk about how much they love this for it to count as an answer :3. The diversity of relationships. I'm all for romantic and/or sexual ships (I am a mulishipper lol) but, I do appreciate that in canon we have so many positive and friendly relationships between siblings, co-workers and friends with no hint of needing to "take things further" because they don't need to! Even with huge age gaps, characters can and will get along as friends! Which in society is seen as strange (at least it's seemed that way to me growing up. I remember in primary school I once got in trouble for having a friend that was "too young" & was told I was weird as a teen for getting along with adults??? So strange).

An example of a fun interaction between characters imo is in case 5-3 is when Athena is talking to Phoenix early on the case (I think before the body was found, can't quite remember sorry) because he clearly see's her as both his young employee, but also as a friend, and Athena both looks up to him, and is also able to joke/jabs about him, like saying she thinks he probably looked scary in college XD

18: a fandom tag that you track

I don't follow tags, I've looked at a few tags and honestly don't enjoy using Tumblr like that. Much prefer to look at the for you and following tabs instead of going there the popular posts in a tag :P

20: your very first fandom!

So even though I've casually observed fandom spaces since I was 12 I never engaged in fandom spaces until my late teens. It's hard to pin point which was my first fandom since my early fandom experiences consisted of jointing a bunch of Facebook groups (which wasn't really fun as only one group didn't have consistent drama and infighting) but I think it's a tie between the Gorillaz fandom (as in the band, been a long time since I've listened to them lol) and The Sims fandom (which I'm still kinda apart of, Sim fans are definitely more chill on Tumblr, but I mostly stick with Sims 2 side of fandom).

thank you for sending this ask ✧⁠◝⁠(⁠⁰⁠▿⁠⁰⁠)⁠◜⁠✧ it was a lot of fun answering all the questions

Fandom asks post can be found here!

[yanderefairyangel]

It's interesting seeing all these people saying they refused to pull, because of the lead. All the other avatars are also about the same in popularity so it makes sense they're balancing them out. yeah? And yes some prefer the other gender it's normal to have a preference but they are about equal and that's why they try to treat them as such Alear as far as I know if very equal I don't know who is more popular. The girl is slightly more popular (Byleth) or the boy is slightly more popular (Robin) but it's close right? But *Corrin*? Girl is ten times more popular than the male and they will lose money if they backpack her to the male version, far more than Alear would have cost them, that one I'm very curious on what they'll do tbh will they keep the balance or go for the $$$

Well yes, see Anon the Avatars are all bound to popularity like others characters Kiran being the sole exception because they dont really have a canon appearance outside of the hood

If we take Mark for example they got only 1 alt because 1) Mark isn't really popular 2) Mark was meant to be androgynous and thus gender ambigious so designing alts for them is... well near impossible not to mention the voice actor

This is Mark in official art btw

The best we have is a sprite in the game and the alt duo with kid Lyn which speaking of

Look who's in front despite not being the lead

But that alt aside Mark never got a proper appearance and possibly won't until a long time since Kid!Mark is easier to make appear androgynous than Adult!Mark (not that IS really seems to care in regards to Kiran but still)

Then we have Kris

Since Kris isn't really popular because 1) New Mystery only came out to Japan 2) a lot of people seems to have passionate hatred for them because they weren't in the og and their inclusion's execution is lukewarm

So as a result they have taken quite some time to come back, much like Robin and Corrin despite being customizable IS prefers to use their default appearance for anything alt related

As of now they have only 1 alt, M!Kris seems to be more popular than his female counterpart and I think it's notably because of his ship with Katarina since they often appear in official material together and it's the Plegian alt

So before Robin it seems that Avatar characters weren't really popular and I mean... a good chunk of the fandom hate them and would rather have an non avatar lord but the Japanese fanbase tends to like self insert characters so I guess IS ended up trying one last time with Robin, they saw it worked and iirc they decided to make more Avatars

Anyway so the Robins

Male characters in Awakening tended to be more popular if I recall

M!Robin was third most popular male character after Chrom and Owain and before Gaius, Lonq'u and Inigo

F!Robin on the other hand was second most popular female character after Lucina and before Tharja

So the result in popularity compared reveals that they are fairly of the same popularity that being said M!Robin is more popular than his female counterpart

Male Robin has a total of 7 alts counting his legendary and brave alt, 5 if we count the seasonal/fallen/bride banner

Female Robin has 7 alts however she... well is kinda being used more than her male counterpart to promote Grima as she has 3 alts (legendary, rearmed and halloween) in her fell form while he has 2 (fallen banner and halloween)

This ... has made fans of F Robin unsatisfied because despite having a balanced number we all view Grima has a separate entity from the Robin so if we take out the grima alts this means M Robin has 5 alt whereas F Robin has ...4... and 3 seasonal... and she lost her legendary alt to Grima

So the take away is that even when the number is balanced there can be weirdness like this

Now unto the Corrin.... Oh God

Corrin is a weird case because unlike Robin who seems to be equally liked in both westerns and eastern fandom, most people in the western side seems to hate Corrin while the Japanese fandom loves them

Regarding their popularity, F Corrin was 1st place of the popularity poll while M!Corrin was...5 place after Jakob and before Ryoma

Now compared to the Robin you can see the disparity between the two

And thus Male Corrin has 6 alt whereas F Corrin has 7 alt one including her brave alt, otherwise 6 and both have 5 seasonals

So that's fairly balanced despite the huge gap in comparisons right ? Well... thing is that while in some bases such as Adrift, Ninja and Harvest they are both released at the same time, in other cases F Corrin gets an alt first and her male counterpart has to wait for quite a moment to get one, such was the case for their legendary

There isn't any Grima to hickjack the numbers but this time it's the time period that is unbalanced

Now unto the Byleths

If I recall correctly Byleth was either 4th or 5th place for the popularity poll after the lords, both of them

On the western side tho F!Byleth seems more popular but it also seems to be true as well in the east

M!Byleth has 3 alts and F! Byleth has 4 however... one of them is her brave alt so this means they have 3 alts each

What gets a bit muddy is that M Byleth like M Robin has an additional appearance in duo alt (Sothis/Byleth halloween and Chrobin valentine art) whereas F Byleth is part of the duo with Male Byleth

Now unto the Shez

Hopes was... kinda a bad sell after 3H but people tend to like Shez and they are equally popular it seems

They both have the same number of alt however F!Shez got a new one and for quite some time she was the only one with a Legendary alt

That said they both got their summer alt at the same time which... is quite a surprise from IS as every female avatar got their first seasonal to be a summer alt whereas male was either winter or new year in the case of Corrin

As for the Alear, they are rather equally popular : both got 1st place in the popularity poll which is the most popular an avatar can get

F Alear seems more popular in the west and M Alear in the east

F!Alear released first, then we got no Engage banner until the Brodian banner where Male Alear released

Then they both got their legendary but F Alear got her first

and then their seasonal but again F Alear got her summer alt first so having Male Alear being the lead make it balance

Now thta's for FEH for the outside material we have figures and amiboo : the smash release were even, all male avatars were the main and their female form was the alt

In Warriors, Male Robin and F Corrin were the main, the female and male form were to be unlocked

The female avatars got a figure first but Male Byleth recently got one that i recall ?

And finally we have the drama cds so for Robin and Corrin at least there is balance there as well but Engage didn't got one yet

In the manga's case, F Corrin is the one to be featured for the fates manga however... the protagonist is Leo... aka the most popular male character of Fates

So yeah popularity is a huuuge factor however the Avatar are more or less balanced and in the case of the Alear there is no real debate of "unfairness" or anything like that

(sorry for the long answer)

[deadtiredghost]

Hello dear. How are you?

Wouldn't it be cool if Metalhead had a female voice in new tmnt cartoon tales of tmnt iteration. Idk why I thought it was gendered as female despite being a robot. Until lately I heard it saying "I will protect mutants" in a male voice. What do you think.

Was that a missed opportunity?

Well hello dear, I'm doing just fine and hope you are too :]

When it comes to cartoon characters' voices there has been many a time that I have seen a character, assumed one thing, and been wrong (according to canon anyways). But I'm a big fan of headcannons and I can understand why someone would want Metalhead to be femimine, especially with traditionally the only female character in the main cast being April - it could diversify the voice types we hear in the show.

Now, I havent actually seen tales of the tmnt yet, but as far as I'm aware with the new series they keep the mutanimals there as side characters, which honestly meet the "diverse amount of voices" quota in my eyes. I was immediately taken with Wingnut and Leatherhead in the movie, but with so many characters right off the bat, it was a little overwhelming.

I think, in light of so many different characters and so many different voices, it was a missed opportunity to make Metalhead mute again, like in 2012, which would have made Metalhead a bit more unique amonst the rest of the cast - again I havent actually heard my voice or seen the design, I'm tryna go in blind.

But something I thought about when reading your question was maybe making Metalhead have a siri voice - that would have been funny.

I kinda love when different iterations of shows mix it up, how drastically different the interpretations of Metalhead are from 1987 where Metalhead takes on all the voices of the turtles and April (I cant remember if he used Splinter's voice or not) - and there is so much potential in that which I think was handled poorly! But Metalhead was such a minor character in 1987 so there was barely a chance rlly - to 2012 where Metalhead doesn't have a voice at all, to 2003 where Metal Head is a whole ass superhero with no relation to Donatello.

In all honesty my favourite interpretation was 2018 (if you count Shelldon as a Metalhead itteration) because of the father-son relationship between Donnie and Shelldon that we were ~☆gifted☆~ and I would love to see more interactions between whatever Metalhead version they spit out next and the turtles (all 4 of them preferably but beggars can't be choosers).

But yeah, going back to your original question, I think I'm more focused on the show establishing if Metalhead is a true AI or just a robot with no free will. Because if Matalhead is a robot, in universe it's voice can be changed, so I think what voice and identity the 2018 seemimgly-sentient-AI-that-is-Shelldon chooses to keep says a lot about his character.

2012!Metalhead was just a robot that everyone treated as an object, while 1987!Metalhead is a bit of a mess looking back and idk if he is meant to be sentient but he was programmed "with the turtle's brainwaves" whatever that means and is referred to as a male so... ya

Looking at other robot characters such as my beloved Data from Star Trek and the androids in Detroit: Become Human we can assume that either they use the pronouns and voice assigned to them because it's easier for humans and they don't care, or because it's what they grew to identify with, and then you have characters like Baymax, who I'm pretty sure are just Robots that we personify and find loveable.

Making a whole generalisation, I always like to interpret robot characters with Janet from The Good Place levels of non-binary assertiveness (unless they used to be human... Mr Honeycutt I'm looking at u).

So, with that in mind I think that if Donnie gives Metalhead its voice then the type of voice gives us some sort of insight into Donnie's character, and whether or not Metalhead has sentience or not has interesting implications too. But apart from that, feminine voice or masculine voice: it doesn't rlly bother me.

[kitkatopinions]

Hey KitKat I have a question and sorry if this is a weird question:

Is there anything wrong with liking certain rwby characters that are not as popular?

I like Neptune even with the small scenes he had in canon yet I have met fans that didn’t like my opinion because of the whole dance arc.

I understand he is not perfect but I think the part that really bother me is that when I try addressing their character flaws apparently I was the bad guy?

Why is their character immune to criticism when they have just as much flaws?

I don't think there's anything wrong with liking pretty much any character so long as the flaws the character has are acknowledged and (if included in writing) are actually written as flaws.

Neptune is a great example and I also happen to like him, so this is a great place to discuss it. XD Neptune in canon severely suffered from the RWBY writers' misogyny, as he was written as a giant douchebag partially to prop up Jaune's 'nice guy' thing, but since the writers were misogynists, Neptune's own cool guy dudebro 'womanizer' thing was treated as not a big problem and not a deal breaker to the other characters even when he made women visibly uncomfortable and kept flirting like with Team NDGO and with Ilia. And since he was a side character without a lot of screentime and like zero growth, that's kinda like sixty percent of his character at least and the rest of it is pretty thin. In canon, there isn't much to him. And it's important that no one defends or refuses to admit that Neptune in canon is a douchebag who doesn't respect women. But also... Neptune is a fictional person. he isn't real, 'condemning him for his actions' seems kind of ridiculous, and making him better or making him get better in fanfics or just liking the rest of his non-douchey character traits and his design and wanting to have fun with that shouldn't be treated as bad. It's the same with any RWBY character, even much worse ones who have done worse things morally speaking than making women uncomfortable, like Ironwood, Adam, Emerald, Mercury, Roman, Neo, Cinder, Salem, JACQUES SCHNEE even. Like, I hate Jacques with the power of a thousand burning suns, he's evil and trash and I would never redeem him or have a better version of him in my headcanons (even though I love and value redemption arcs, I also personally think having characters that don't get redeemed and instead demonstrate examples of how even though everyone can be redeemed, some people won't be redeemed is beneficial) but if somebody else did... So long as they aren't excusing or defending his actions, so what? I write fanfictions about redeemed Kylo Ren and redeemed Count Olaf, so I have no space to judge.

People have this weird tendency to treat fictional characters like they're real people, like they need to answer for their crimes, like they 'can't change,' and it's so strange to me. Fictional characters are whatever people want them to be, and they don't exist, so their crimes are all fictional, so... Why would they 'need to be punished?' XD Also, the same people who have this 'we should condemn fictional characters,' 'how dare you like this character when they did X bad thing,' 'writing anything except hate for this character is abuse apologism' people... They almost always like a villain themselves. XD Whether it's a villain in RWBY like Cinder, Salem, Tyrian, Watts, Hazel, Raven, etc, or whether it's a villain outside of RWBY like the Joker, Harley Quinn, Azula, Darth Vader, Sephiroth, Catra, Lotor, Maleficent, etcetera.

But yeah, in general, I think you should ignore those people. If you like Neptune, more power to you! If you want to write fics or headcanons or what have you about Neptune realizing that the way he acted was wrong, even more power to you! If you write things where Neptune was never a womanizer or misogynist to begin with, cool! If people get angry at you over something like writing a teenage boy to deconstruct his misogyny or making said teenage boy not that way in the first place, then they're probably not people you want to know. Hope this helps. :)

[gothicprep]

so, wife and i finally got around to seeing barbie. and neither of us were particularly big fans of it.

stuff i liked. i'll get that out of the way first. i like that it's a huge box office success when theaters have really needed that post-covid. the set design and costumes were just my kind of garish. the opening scene was funny, and you can always count on ryan gosling to give it his all whenever he's cast in anything. and the "patriarchy is when men and horses rule the world" joke made me giggle a bit. the horses in general were an amusing running gag.

and. uh. that's about it really.

i've complained about this before, not with barbie, but i'm not a fan of the "movies that are for children, but not really" thing. usually they're aimed at critics instead, and this is *sort of* that. but also not really. i'm actually not sure who this is for, other than mattel, i guess.

this reminded me a lot of another movie, actually – disney's enchanted. and you could make the argument that the similar premise is responding to the same thing enchanted was. 00s pop feminism that criticized disney princesses usually included barbie in the mix too. and since people liked the meta aspect of enchanted back in '07, we've ended up with the live action movies that exist to reassure parents in my age group that the rodent empire has heard your cries, and they're aware, so it's fine to bring your kids to this. they've changed and grown as a person if you're going off the mitt romney definition of that word at least. they've changed their stories to reflect that. kinda. the princesses are girlbosses and they don't need a man. please clap.

the problem with applying this formula to barbie is that, unlike characters from an existing story canon – many of which, to be honest, were read very uncharitably during that blip in the culture – barbie is more of a concept. the movie winks at how barbie the idea is basically just whatever people want to project onto it, but it kind of falls into the trap of pointing things out in lieu of making a point. and while i do think that gerwig did the best with this that she realistically could, movies like this aren't in a position where they can thread the needle. after all, they're giving you this IP for a reason.

my wife also pointed out that it muddied the waters a bit to try and grapple with this all in a comedy where all the funniest lines end up going to ryan gosling, simu liu, michael cera, and will ferrell. my counterpoint is that kate mackinnon and hari nef had some great moments, but she's onto something here.

it's really difficult for me to watch something like barbie and really look at it in a vacuum. even though it has a different look than the other IP projects we've begrudgingly come to expect, i feel like i can't separate it from this broader picture of, like, integrity laundering. i went into it with an open mind, but left frustrated with it. you can make an argument for a remake. i guess. but this really shamelessly felt like a commercial.

on the bright side, this mostly negative review won't take away from the fact that this has been a much needed boost for theater attendance. in the end, that's what matters the most to me right now, i think.

[galactic-glamour-girl-posts]

All of Rosalina's Mario Kart Tour Variants Ranked

Rosalina got a lot of variants in this game, not including her base form or Baby Rosalina, she has nine. Mario and Peach I believe are the only other characters in the game that have more variants than her (unless you count all the Yoshi/Shy Guy/Toad colours, but those are technically different characters). Although this is unsurprising given that she's a fan favourite.

Not including base Rosalina or base Baby Rosalina, I'm gonna rank each of her variants. I'll rank these based on creativity, looks, and whether they fit Rosalina as a character in both look and purpose.

Last Place: Tanooki

This variant isn't outright terrible, I don't think Rosalina has a single bad variant, but this one is firmly in last place.

For one, it's not very creative. It's not a new, unique design, it's a powerup form taken from a main series game. Secondly, it looks kinda silly on her. Goofier characters like Mario, Luigi, or even Peach can pull off a look like this, but given that Rosalina is a more serious character, outfits like this are kinda awkward on her. Besides, she can already fly so it's not like she'd ever canonically need this powerup anyway.

Cat

Again, it looks kinda silly on her, but I like that it's black (with a slight blue tint) instead of aqua blue. Darker colours suit Rosalina, and honestly just make her look cool...as cool as she can look in a cat suit anyway.

Fire

Like the Tanooki and Cat suits, it's not very creative as an idea given that it's just a powerup form (I'd argue it's even less creative than them design-wise since they just make her dress and earrings red). Unlike the Tanooki and Cat suits, however, she at least doesn't look silly wearing it.

Fun (but unnecessary...funnecessary) fact, I used to nickname her Fire Form "Mrs Claus" when I played as her in 3D World as a kid because of the colour scheme.

Chef

It's not badly designed or anything, I just don't think a chef outfit suits her. I don't think she'd dress up to cook, it seems a bit too playful for her to do. Maybe it's the hat or something, the outfit looks a little too cutesy for her. I think an outfit like this fits Peach more, being a fashionista (and baking) is more her thing. Oh well, at least it's an original design.

Volendam

It's Rosalina in a traditional Volendam costume. I could see her gardening in this, wanting to learn about and experience some culture. Although I can't give it a lot of points for creativity, given it's based on real life outfits, it is pretty cool that this variant incorporates real Netherlandish culture. Otherwise...it's OK.

Aurora

I know people love this one, it seems to be the fan favourite costume of hers from this game. I agree that it's pretty, but I think it's slightly overdesigned. I'm also not sure when she'd ever wear it? To see an aurora? I know she loves space, but again, I don't see her dressing up just for that, especially something so intricate. Maybe she'd wear it to a fancy party, but...would her usual royal gown not do? Her main outfit is noticeably looser and a little more simple than Peach and Daisy's, being more of a nightgown. This fits her since Rosalina is meant to be a character that is cold of the outsight yet offers warm, motherly comfort, hence her outfit is reminiscent of nightwear, something comfortable to sleep in.

Swimwear

Iiiiiiiiiit's a beach outfit!

Yep.

It's an original design. Colour scheme fits. It's not overdesigned. It seems like something she'd wear while swimming or on holiday (maybe in Beach Bowl Galaxy?) The flower is a cute touch. I like that it shows less skin than Peach and Daisy's swimwear outfits (I'm not sl*t-shaming, this actually happens a lot, I made a post about it).

This variant's nice...next.

Detective

Yep, it's this high! Why? Well one, Rosalina dressing up as a child makes more sense than her doing it as an adult (not that adults can't enjoy dressing up, I just don't think it suits Rosalina as a character).

Two, I also like that the magnifying glass resembles her future wand and brooch. Very clever design choice.

Three, and most of all, I like what this variant says about her character. I like that this outfit emphasises her brain. I like the idea of her pretending to be a detective as a child, it's fitting given how wise she'd grow up to be, and implies that she was a precocious young girl. I think this was intentional, given that they doe something similar with Baby Peach. They give her a Cherub/Cupid variant, which fits how loving Peach would grow up to be. Design-wise it could be more creative, but I really like the concept.

First Place: Halloween

This outfit has everything I could look for in a Rosalina variant!

Design wise, I like the darker colours (the purple not only goes nicely with her fingernails, but is also reminiscent of the inside of her bedroom) and although it could look more distinct from her main outfit, it's different enough so that it's doesn't seem lazy (shorter sleeves, it covers her shoulders, etc.) The little blue bow is cute but not too cute whilst adding some blue to the outfit, making it fit her all the more.

This variant is meant to be a Halloween outfit, and sure Rosalina herself wouldn't go trick-or-treating, but I absolutely could see her taking the Lumas to go trick-or-treating on Earth. You can't see whilst she's front-facing, but the back of her render has large blue stitching, making it look homemade, and the use of her wand supports that idea. I love how this outfits utilizes her wand, using it to complete a witch outfit is both fitting and creative! Also, Rosalina built most of the Comet Observatory herself, so it's easy to believe she'd make a pretty good DIY costume.

So yeah. It looks good, it's original to Mario Kart Tour, it's look and purpose fit Rosalina as a character, and utilizing her wand to complete the costume was a creative choice. All done on their first try (this was Rosalina's first alternative outfit in the game).

I guess they peaked at the start!

[elizabethshaw]

thoughts on "echoes"!! under the cut bc of spoilers:

this boxset absolutely came out at one of the worst possible times for me (my busiest day of the week, at a time when i have 6 different exams, a presentation and also assessments for my home uni to prepare for), and i fear it may have regnited my 8das fixation somewhat which is. not something i have time for rn lmao. we'll see how it goes i guess! anyway personal stuff over now-

i definitely enjoyed it overall! i'm still not entirely sure where i'd rank it in comparison with the other post-stranded boxsets but it was a lot of fun, and it was (as expected) a joy to hear this tardis team together again :)

i will say however that i did have one major qualm with it, which is that i felt a bit let down with how little it followed through with the emotional plotlines set up in the preceding two sets. i got the feeling when listening to "what lies inside?" and "connections" that they were very much going somewhere with this team's (particularly helen's) emotional arc, and while i won't deny there were some nice scenes with them in this set, the fact that these threads were otherwise left to one side most of the time was a disappointment. there was potential to do some really interesting character work in continuation from the events of those previous episodes and it just. didn't happen. i don't want to sound too down about it because i did still really enjoy these stories, but i think this side of things was missing a little bit for me. hm.

anyway, episode-by-episode thoughts:

birdsong

i think this was my favourite of the set. i really love audio drama that leans into more horror-adjacent aspects (even though i'm not a massive horror fan otherwise tbh), and also love it when audio drama just gets kinda fucked up with it. this story hit on both counts for me :)

love that this continued the running trend from the previous boxsets of the episode starting with eight, liv and helen just getting to be silly for a bit before the Horrors inevitably happen :D

lowkey actually love the concept of barcodes as a written language! part of me wants to try and work out how that could work now

scots pine trees... it never rains... bracken... sand... they're literally in breckland lmao

saying that it does also have the Suffocating Quietness going on so i think i'm onto something here...

when the vortex previews for this set mentioned a family member of helen's first mentioned in doom coalition being relevant to this story, i wasn't expecting it to be the grandmother she mentioned in "ship in a bottle". however it was actually really nice to have helen's relationship with her developed further, and it was woven into the story well i thought

being Normal about the scene between liv and helen at the fireside. i am being so normal about it

"i'm not sure i could do this with anyone else, you know? everything from exploring strange new worlds... to talking about my family." i'm fine. i'm fine!!!

[putting on my clown shoes] this is how liv/helen can still be canon in some form before helen inevitably dies! :))

i love how vivid this story felt to me. i always end up getting visuals in my head as i listen with any audio drama but some stories end up, for storytelling or sound design reasons, or both, creating really clear and vivid pictures in my mind and this was definitely one of those

i hope to god that when i visit home over the summer and listen to these with my mum (who loves these audios but refuses to listen to them without me, which is kind of sweet of her), my dad is not in the same room. i love him but he absolutely would be asking me to pause it every few minutes so he could identify the bird calls and then also getting really frustrated when i inevitably end up being unable to guess any of them correctly myself lol. the pains of being related to an ornithologist

big fan of the way things got increasingly more disturbing towards the end. i do think the eight-liv-helen era has been lacking in terms of properly creepy stories (this is just my personal taste tbf), so it was cool having them properly lean into that for once. i have to say though the mental image of the scout's body with all the roots forcing their way into her eyes is not going to be leaving me for a long time

also thought the sound design was really well done on this one!! you could really feel the discomfort of the silence i think

got slightly choked up at helen and liv singing to bex as she died. i might have just been in a weird mood while i was listening to it but. yeah. it did something to me

anyway had a lot of fun with this episode! it had a lot of elements that appealed to me personally, and the character work it did was nice. i look forward to listening to it again one day :)

lost hearts

m.r. james episode!! i've only ever read two of his stories (both of which are products of me knowing this episode was coming haha), but was quite excited for this one regardless because a) ghost stories! and b) he's actually got connections to a village in the area i grew up in, and as i've never actually seen/heard any stories set where i come from in my life, it was neat to have a story in my favourite show, featuring some of my favourite characters, star someone more or less from where i'm from :')

have to say though i am disappointed to have lost the unofficial "will they namedrop great livermere" bet i had going on with my mum and brother. it's such a middle-of-nowhere village (it's not on the way to anywhere, has 3 streets (one of which is named "the street" and another of which is actually a dirt track), and you invariably see more chickens there than actual people), it would have been deeply amusing to me for it to have canonically existed in the dwu

loved all the direct (and indirect) callbacks to "the red lady" in this story! it felt fitting seeing as on some levels they do share certain elements in terms of plot/setting, and was also just fun for me as that is one of my favourite stories :)

was also a big fan of how active the story felt (not sure if that's quite the right word?) - each of the characters had a clear role to play and all the main cast got something to do, it never felt hugely like any of them were being sidelined, which does happen on occasion with 3+ person tardis teams

if helen had punched someone at some point in this story i honestly wouldn't have blamed her

"he's like the museum of cairo, stuffed inside a... well, a-" "a rude, ungracious little twerp?" oh my god askdfjdsfjkds

(let her swear!!!)

i like how the story was riffing off some of the plot/vibes of m.r. james' actual short story "lost hearts" (helpfully one of the two i've read)! it gave it that nice kind of connection, without feeling overly derivative and like it was straight-out copying it

my only main issue with this episode was that robert felt kinda underdeveloped. they started off well in his opening scene with liv, but i don't think we got enough of a chance to get to know him as a person after that point and i think the story suffered for it a little. i don't think it helped either that he's not a family member helen had ever mentioned prior to this episode, so they were essentially having to start from scratch and with everything else going on in the narrative, didn't quite find the time to give him sufficient detail

loved the emotional moments that were brought out when helen got erased... "helen, she's my- she's everything i have left" ough

and the salzburg parallels?? liv attempting to fly the tardis in a desperate attempt to rescue her friends, much like helen did? this is so... it's a lot

i won't lie, it did feel a bit odd to me that they would go to such lengths to avoid actually naming the uni in this episode as cambridge. i suppose it may have been to avoid spoiling the "it's m.r. james!!!" reveal at the end, but given that i think anyone who would have guessed it was him from the setting being cambridge probably would have guessed it anyway beforehand either from the episode blurb or the fact that the episode literally starts with him reciting one of his most famous short stories, it feels a little pointless. i mean i clocked it as an m.r. james episode when the set was announced and i had never read any of his work at that point lmao. not a glaring issue or anything, but felt like a weird choice

anyway loved helen getting to geek out a bit at the end... i love her :')

i think i'm going to have to relisten to this at some point so i can fully get my head around it but i did enjoy it!

slow beasts

this was a solid ep. not my favourite story this tardis team has ever had, but i did absolutely enjoy listening to it, and thought there were a lot of really good ideas in it!

the colonialism plotline especially worked really well for me, it felt pertinent in just the right sort of way. it's not necessarily something new for dr who, but i think it was definitely a good example of how to do it well.

i think "simple, but effective" is the way i'd sum this one up tbh. not exceptional, but it knew what it was setting out to do, did it, and did it well, and i think that worked. it did admittedly feel a bit strange after two more complex/experimental sort of stories, but i don't think that's any reflection on its actual quality

"here is the psychic paper. be confident. it only works if you're confident." "but... i- i'm not confident?" me if i got asked to use the psychic paper tbh

enjoyed the use of the translation circuit in this one :) i have a lot of thoughts on it as a general thing so i always like seeing the ways it gets utilized in different stories

so! had fun with these! a couple of things that maybe could have gone better, but overall a set of three stories i had good fun with and i suspect will enjoy listening to again. fingers crossed the december boxset is with these guys again and they do a bit more with helen's emotional plotlines next time :)