#icons four of diamonds

[execk-the-creator]

Next up with my Lineless Pixel Icons...

The Sinnoh Elite Four and Champion!

Like the Gym Leader Icons their colors are taken from the official Ken Sugimori artwork (albeit adjusted for style).

The color of the checkered backgrounds correspond to the primary types each trainer uses, except for Cynthia of course.

Cynthia’s color comes from the “???” type colors from early games, as I tend to use the old “???” as a representative of wild-card trainer type specialty.

Two more sets of icons coming soon! (More will come afterwards, these are just the ones I have complete at the moment)

[pegging-satan]

Ok WOW s3e3 was so overwhelming omg riMBAUD?!?!??!!!!! Holy shit like and chuuya got his hat? ThATS RIMBAUD’S HAT?!??????!!! And my god, don’t even get me started on “only a diamond can polish a diamond” AAAAAAAAAAAAA the way that line confirmed skk and zskk AT THE SAME TIME AAAAAAAAAAeEEEEEEEEEEE AAAA oh my GOD

[the-jewel-catalogue]

The Queen's Platinum Jubilee Brooch

The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee brooch was made by award-winning British fine jewellery designer, David Marshall, and his team at their workshop in London’s iconic jewellery quarter, Hatton Garden. The piece, which represents the four nations, was commissioned by the Goldsmiths’ Company as a gift to mark Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee.  

The brooch – made of 18 carat white gold; platinum; 97 round brilliant cut diamonds (2.50 carat); and 7 fancy cut diamonds (0.40 carat) – was inspired by the four nations of the United Kingdom, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, represented by four diamond set swirls and the national flowers: the rose, the thistle, the daffodil and the shamrock. Seven diamond set bands represent the seven decades of the Queen’s reign. Buckingham Palace proposed the addition of the lily of the valley given the significance of the flower in The Queen’s Coronation bouquet.

[live-emotion]

Utapri Live Emotion Character and Group Intro

If you or your friends are new to Utapri or not, here are some convenient links to the Live Emotion introductions for you to get familiar with each character and group dynamics before the game releases.

★★★★★★★

STARISH ★★★★★★★

Group Colour: Gold/White Group Icon: Star

Character Introductions: Otoya / Masato / Natsuki / Tokiya / Ren / Syo / Cecil

Group Introduction: Starish is an idol group belonging to Shining Agency, and consists of seven members: Ittoki Otoya, Hijirikawa Masato, Shinomiya Natsuki, Ichinose Tokiya, Jinguji Ren, Kurusu Syo, and Aijima Cecil. With their distinct outstanding idol qualities and their performances that dazzle like rainbows, they have attracted the attention of the public.

KIR☆MEKI EMOTION Live MV Preview

◆◆◆◆

QUARTET NIGHT ◆◆◆◆

Group Colour: Silver/Black Group Icon: Diamond

Character Introductions: Reiji / Ranmaru / Ai / Camus

Group Introduction: Quartet Night is an idol group belonging to Shining Agency, and consists of four members: Kotobuki Reiji, Kurosaki Ranmaru, Mikaze Ai, and Camus. The group was formed by bringing together the individual talents of members who were originally pursuing solo careers in other fields like music, dramas, film, and variety shows.

SONG LETTER Live MV Preview

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

HEAVENS ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

Group Colour: Navy Blue Group Icon: Heart / Broken Heart Character Introductions: Eiichi / Kira / Nagi / Eiji / Van / Yamato / Shion

Group Introduction: Heavens is an idol group belonging to Raging Entertainment, and consists of seven members: Otori Eiichi, Sumeragi Kira, Mikado Nagi, Otori Eiji, Kiryuin Van, Hyuuga Yamato, and Amakusa Shion. They're known for their unrivaled performances that are supported their intense presence and strong sense of unity.

GLORIOUS ANGELS Live MV Preview

[pilfappreciator]

ATTENTION TROLLS FANDOM!!

This is very important. Mostly to me but maybe you guys have been wondering this too idk but anyways:

How does troll reproduction work exactly?

Cuz I'm genuinely curious. I dont think anyone on the series production team has said anything and so far I've seen absolutely no one touch on this subject but as someone who's always had an interest in the habits of creatures (both fictional or otherwise), I kinda sorta maybe NEED to know this otherwise I'll never be able to sleep peacefully again

Full disclaimer that I'm specifically talking about the whole egg situation, I am NOT ASKING HOW THEY GET IT ON IF I WANTED THAT ANSWER I'D GO TO DEVIANT ART OR TWITTER OR WHATEVER LAWLESS PLATFORM GOD STEERS CLEAR OF. This discussion shall remain STRICTLY educational, thank you very much

But anywho. Let's dive in

So trolls come from eggs. This is basic knowledge. First instance of this phenomenon (as far as I know, I've only seen the movies) is from World Tour.

Egg pops out of Guy Diamond's hair, egg hatches and BOOM, (literal) baby. Now I understand that this whole sequence was probably just a gag and a way for DreamWorks to implement another (merchandisable) addition to the cast HOWEVER this sequence also raises a few questions

First off, as far as I know Guy Diamond has no partner (again: I haven't watched any of the spinoff shows). Either that or maybe the other troll was a sorta one-night-stand/no-longer-in-his-life kinda situation? Which is great either way cuz its shown he obviously cares for his son and we at Tumblr appreciate a loving single father no matter the circumstances, but if my former theory is correct than that would imply that trolls are capable of reproducing asexually. Like onions.

Now if that hypothesis is, as they call it, "cap" then that would mean that some sorta hanky panky has to go down before an egg comes into question. And if that's the case, does this mean that male trolls are traditionally the ones who carry the eggs?

But that can't be right, can it? Afterall, World Tour gave us yet ANOTHER egg scene later on in the movie

In Cooper's flashback, we clearly see Queen Essence being the one carrying the eggs meanwhile King Quincy is eggless. Now, as far as i see it, this could be explained either one of four ways:

1) Quincy was the one who actually produced the eggs and Essence is merely holding them for her husband (since her hair seems more fitting to be a makeshift nest compared to Quincy's)

2) Female trolls are the ones who produce the eggs. Guy Diamond is just a trans icon

3) Troll reproduction differs from genre to genre

4) There is a... *sighs* a/b/o type of dynamic among troll kind where certain trolls are capable of giving birth/siring children depending on a secondary gender

In regards to theory #3, this could also explain why Guy Diamond seems to reproduce and hatch an egg in such a short amount of time (like 5 seconds I'm pretty sure) as opposed to Queen Essence/King Quincy who's eggs presumably went a while longer before actually hatching.

Actually, speaking off eggs, are trolls the only species in their world that reproduce that way?

Because now that Band Together has officially been released, we now know for certain that it's possible for different species to crossbreed. Biggest example? Resident DILF Bruce and his giant muppet wife

(Credit to @captainunderkrupp )

When I saw these two... I swear...

And these two already have a shit ton of kids okay so like... either Brandi was the one giving birth or trollsona Daveed Digs was over here pumpin out eggs, which I mean-

DO YOU SEE HOW BIG THESE THINGS ARE COMPARED TO BRANCH AND POPPY?? Believe me I am PRAYING that Bruce gave himself some serious maternity/paternity leave because my guy is honestly a trooper

But yeah any thoughts? :))

[theroyalsims]

ROYAL WEDDING: WHICH TIARA WILL ANYA WEAR?

Aside from guessing which designer has been tapped to make Anya's dress, people are also taking bets on which tiara she'll wear on her big day!

The recent banquet only intensified people's curiosity over which tiara Anya will be wearing for her wedding. That's not exactly an easy decision to make, considering HRH has quite a lot of tiaras at her disposal. So here's a quick look at some of the sparklers that we *might* see atop HRH's head come her much-awaited wedding day. We split the tiaras under four categories: The Favourites, The Diamonds, The Necklaces, and The Emeralds, plus a bonus category!

THE FAVOURITES

The Brindleton Foliage Tiara

The diamond and ruby piece was given a rebirth by Queen Emilia when she dusted it off and had it repaired and slightly altered. The tiara, considered a blood princess tiara, can only be worn by blood princesses. It's been a hot minute since Her Majesty has worn the piece, and it's now perhaps more associated with The Crown Princess.

The Stafford Tiara

The impressive tiara, which features a graduating scroll motif, is an 18th birthday present by the Stafford Royal Family to the Crown Princess. Personally dubbed as "her favourite," HRH has worn it through the years, and she even wore it for her official portrait a few years ago. We won't be surprised if HRH picks this stunner for her royal wedding!

THE DIAMONDS

The Brindleton Comb Tiara

The Brindleton Comb Tiara is one of the most unique and versatile pieces in the royal collection. The all-diamond diadem is composed of three individual combs. Each can be worn individually, or they can be locked into place to form the tiara. HRH has worn it a couple of times, and she seems to prefer to wear all three combs in one go, making it seem like she has a halo of diamonds that goes all around her head.

Brindleton-Rennaux Tiara

Speaking of versatile, the latest tiara to join HRH's collection is also quite customisable, thanks to its removable central diamond, which can be replaced with accompanying "extra" stones. The piece has garnered the nickname "Brindleton-Rennaux Tiara." It was commissioned by Prince Jacques for Anya's thirtieth birthday. The diamonds used for the piece were derived from the private collection of Prince Jacques' mother, the late Queen Theodora of Rennaux.

THE NECKLACES

The Queen Astrid Necklace Tiara

This all-diamond tiara was an anniversary present to Queen Astrid (Anya's maternal great-grandmother) from her husband, King Frederik. It was originally meant to be a necklace, however, the late Queen commissioned the royal jewellers to transform it in such a way that it could be worn as a headpiece, too. The Crown Princess has worn the tiara twice - at Princess Katrine of Arendahl's wedding, and more recently during last week's Selvadoradan Banquet.

The Debonne Tiara

Another necklace-cum-tiara Anya seems to love is the Debonne Tiara. The piece was a present from Lady Amarie Debonne to the late Queen Astrid. It features a dainty floral motif, which includes diamonds and pearls. The headpiece is set in yellow gold and it matches Anya's engagement ring perfectly! HRH has also worn this tiara twice - first during her state visit to Tartosa, and she also wore it for her engagement photoshoot.

THE EMERALDS

Queen Ophelia’s Birthday Tiara 

This now-iconic tiara was a birthday present from King Leopold to his wife, Queen Ophelia. The piece is also very flexible, and can be worn with emerald pendants, pearl pendants, worn with just the diamond hoops. The Crown Princess has donned it a handful of times, and should she wear it for her wedding, it would be a wonderful way to honour her grandmother.

Brindleton Lace Tiara

According to Brindleton customs, brides are encouraged to wear emeralds on her wedding day for good luck, so The Brindleton Lace Tiara definitely fits the bill! It forms part of the Brindleton Emerald Parure, and most people probably remember it as the tiara that Anya "stole" from her sister Eleanore during the latter's wedding a couple of years ago. Whether or not Anya will be petty enough to wear it to her own wedding, guess we're going to have to wait and see!

Queen Emilia's Birthday Tiara

This meaningful diadem that features a large central emerald was an 18th birthday present from King Leopold to his daughter, then Crown Princess Emilia. Through the years, many royal heads have worn the tiara including Crown Princes Anya herself. There's a chance Anya might choose this as her wedding tiara given its relevance and history, and of course, as a way to honour her mum.

BONUS CATEGORY: THE HONOURABLE MENTIONS

While some say that brides should not wear pearls because their tear-shaped appearance symbolises tears to be shed due to a sad marriage, others claim that pearls are good luck and signify a fruitful and successful union. Some pearl tiaras that could be worn by Anya include The Queen Astrid Diamond and Pearl Tiara (L), which she wore to her visit to Selvadorada; The Brindleton Bow Pearl and Diamond Tiara (C) which features an array of suspended teardrop pearls; and the Brindleton Clam Tiara (R), which HRH once wore in an official portrait.

Of course, Anya could surprise us all and pull out a long-unseen tiara from deep within the royal vaults, or even a newly-commissioned piece for her wedding day! Either way, we're quite certain it'll be a stunner, just like all the other tiaras HRH has worn in the past.

One thing's certain, though. All this tiara talk has us desperate for more royal wedding updates!

[tyxaar]

SCAR CRIMES LIGHTING ROUND!!!

I've been getting a lot of asks in my inbox about this post relating to Scar's crimes lol.

Indeed they are.

@numbah-7-knd and @david-tennants-left-ear I've already talked about the cannibalism here, but the soul trading comes from Last Life! He made soul contracts in order to trade Lives with other players. Also he might've sold his soul to the Vex? I dunno the lore is weird so that's mostly my own headcanon lol.

@zev-the-traveler Possesion and patricide, the perfect pair! So possession is also in the weird hazy Convex lore zone, but for a while the Vex masks possessed Cub and Scar to do their shenanigans. With that context they they end up possessing False by giving her one when she helps with a prank. Source As for the patricide, that's simple! Etho is Scar's dad in the Life Series and he murdered him all three times in Secret Life. Same for Cleo's final death! :P

@welsknightenjoyer @mocah @neurotic-sinkhole and @fuck-edfrugs Ah yes, this. The Geneva Convention violation is the only crime on the list that was committed by real life content creator Scar! He used the Red Cross symbol in the Scarland medical office. However, that symbol is protected by the Geneva Convention and it's very much a crime to use it outside real Red Cross operations.

@weirdocritter Here we go!

Well, the war profiteering in S6 was kinda iconic lol. Concorp made SO many diamonds off the civil war that Scar and Cub were actually giving them away basically to stimulate the economy by the end of the season.

The cannibalism is also a fucked up favourite, that one part where he talks FAR to enthusiastically about eating the NHO is so on-brand lol.

Trading of souls is really spooky if you take it out of its original context!

Now, the one I'm most uncertain about is Oathbreaking. That happened in Third Life with the no-kill pass, especially with the Bdubs situation. That's a bit of a toss-up but considering how much they both care about keeping promises, yeah, I'd count it.

Ritual sacrifice!!!! Actually has happened like, four times on count lol. This man can NOT stop joining cults. There's the Convex Cathedral with blood on the offering altars, there's the constant boatem hole sacrifices, there's sacrificing Bdubs to the Moon, and most recently he's tried to sacrifice his friends to the Magic Mountain Bell!!! Or, well, told them they have to at least.

Ah yes, sale of human remains!!! He tried to sell Lizzie's spine (although it was prolly Jim or Mumbo cause she died in the void lol) to Joel. It's really wild when you look at it lmao.

Identity fraud is a littttle abstract, but he's worn so many random disguises and various characters that I'm almost certain there's some in there somewhere. Also, it seems pretty damn likely that Pirates Scar "murdered" S8 Tycoon Scar in order to get off the hook (pun intended) for all of his crimes.

That's a typo I swear!!! AJKSHDsfkjhfdkjsd. Anyways, I've replaced it with Treason on the OG post now.

[dreaming-of-mogai]

Base Self Ship flags for:

Toxic

Hateship

Complicated

Pretend Dating

Friends with Benefits

Relationship Flux / Wavership

[ID: four flags. The first one is a grey scale version of the toxic self ship flag without the smaller symbols. The symbol itself is a toxic icon. The second one is the same as the first, but with the smaller symbols in the middle line.

The third is the toxic self ship flag, which is the same as the second flag, but with multiple shades of green. The fourth flag is symbol-less and has color. End of ID]

[ID: four flags. The first one is a grey scale version of the hate self ship flag without the smaller symbols. The symbol itself is a Skull icon. The second one is the same as the first, but with the smaller symbols in the middle line.

The third is the hate self ship flag, which is the same as the second flag, but with multiple shades of indigo. The fourth flag is symbol-less and has color. End of ID]

[ID: four flags. The first one is a grey scale version of the complicated self ship flag without the smaller symbols. The symbol itself is a lightning icon. The second one is the same as the first, but with the smaller symbols in the middle line.

The third is the complicated self ship flag, which is the same as the second flag, but with multiple shades of yellow. The fourth flag is symbol-less and has color. End of ID]

[ID: four flags. The first one is a grey scale version of the Pretend dating self ship flag without the smaller symbols. The symbol itself is a tear drop icon. The second one is the same as the first, but with the smaller symbols in the middle line.

The third is the Pretend Dating self ship flag, which is the same as the second flag, but with multiple shades of sky blue. The fourth flag is symbol-less and has color. End of ID]

[ID: four flags. The first one is a grey scale version of the Friends with Benefits self ship flag without the smaller symbols. The symbol itself is a Planet icon. The second one is the same as the first, but with the smaller symbols in the middle line.

The third is the Friends With Benefits self ship flag, which is the same as the second flag, but with multiple shades of Seafoam Green. The fourth flag is symbol-less and has color. End of ID]

[ID: four flags. The first one is a grey scale version of the Relationship flux / Wavership self ship flag without the smaller symbols. The symbol itself is a Wing icon. The second one is the same as the first, but with the smaller symbols in the middle line.

The third is the Relationship Flux / Wavership self ship flag, which is the same as the second flag, but has color. The colors are blue, purple, white, medium pink, light pink and yellow. The symbols are light blue. The fourth flag is symbol-less and has color. End of ID]

Temp base flag i made for now:

[ID: its a symbol less self ship flag in greyscale. End of ID.]

Type: self shipping, not a gender

Tagging: @fictoflags @radiomogai

Created: 10 / 22 / 2024

[ID: a medium pink with light pink banner with dark pink text that reads "DNI: Anti Endos, Anti MSPEC gays/lesbians, Anti Furry, Anti Therians, Anti Kin/IRL, Discourse, etc." It also has Pink Diamond from Steven Universe both on the left and the right. End of ID]

If i got anything wrong I'm sorry! Dyslexia is hard on me again lately. /gen

[voguefashion]

Françoise Hardy wearing a gold-plated metallic minidress by Paco Rabanne in 1968. Made with nine kilos of gold and 300 carats of diamonds; composed of a thousand platelets and 5,000 gold rings, and adorned with 22 monumental diamonds that edged the neckline. The iconic dress was at that time “the most expensive dress in the world”, and was guarded by four armed bodyguards.

[wen-kexing-apologist]

Bengiyo's Queer Cinema Syllabus

For those of you who don’t know, I decided to run the gauntlet of @bengiyo’s queer cinema syllabus, which is comprised of 9 units. I have completed four of the units (here is my queer cinema syllabus round up post with all the films I’ve watched and written about so far). It is time for me to make my way through Unit 5- Lesbians, which includes the following films: The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love (1995), Bound (1996), Water Lilies (2007) [Skipping for now until I can get access to it], Saving Face (2004), D.E.B.S. (2004), Set It Off (1996), The Handmaiden (2016), Carol (2015), Imagine Me and You (2005), Two of Us (2019), Rafiki (2018), and The Color Purple (1985).

Today I will be talking about

D.E.B.S. (2004) dir. Angela Robinson

[Run Time: 1:31, Language: English] [Content Warning: there is one use of the r word] Summary: Plaid-skirted schoolgirls are groomed by a secret government agency to become the newest members of the elite national-defense group, D.E.B.S.

Cast:  -Sara Foster as Amy -Jordana Brewster as Lucy Diamond -Devon Aoki as Dominique -Jill Ritche as Janet -Meagan Good as Max ___

This write up will not be very long because this movie is not working with substantial, in-depth, layered messaging. BUT HOLY SHIT IT WAS SO MUCH FUN. This is a shitty little cult classic that sees a paramilitary agent (who was recruited from some secret questions in the SATs) and a supervillain falling in love and running off into the sunset together. 

So, I’ve seen low budget films that have quite a lot to say and know it can be done, so I was curious about how in-depth this film might go into discussions of law enforcement, mostly because in the evil lair there is a sign that says The Only Good D.E.B. is a Dead D.E.B. But this is a light hearted comedy piece so though we do get Amy literally saying she’s a cop, there is not a whole lot of like anti-cop sentiment or anything in the film. 

The premise is a spy and a supervillian literally crash in to eachother, have some level of instant connection, the spy has her queer awakening and runs off with the supervillian, is rescued essentially mid coitus, and the supervillian is inspired to start returning all of the things she’d stolen over the years in an effort to get Amy to leave D.E.B.S. and just be in love with her. It’s riddled with hilarious sound effects, forcefields made of plaid, and a SECRET TUNNEL! 

What it does is show that the world’s most wanted supervillian is pretty chill, very gay, and has maybe been portrayed as more ruthless than she actually is (yes that is in fact Madam Super Villan dancing with her henchman in the gif above). What it does show is that little Miss Perfect Score on the secret spy test does not want to be a spy but felt obligated to do so because she was good at it. I did enjoy the repeated questioning of standardized testing, Lucy asking what the spy test tests for and Amy realizing that she doesn’t know and never bothered to ask yet that test was deciding her entire future. 

But again this was SO. MUCH. FUN. to watch and I would recommend it to many people even as just like a silly little wind down film if they were in need of a quick pick me up.

Also there was lots of gay kissing, which I feel is important to note. 

Favorite Moment

My favorite moment was Lucy breaking in to the D.E.B.S house to see Amy the first time. What an iconic piece of comedy: the plaid forcefield around the property that matches their school uniform, Lucy cutting a hole in the forcefield with what legitimately looks like a sonic screwdriver from Doctor Who, jumping over laser detectors on the grass that are also plaid, and climbing up the wall with those like hand-held suction cup things with the most hilarious and incredibly incorrect popping motion every time she sticks the suction cup to the wall. 

Favorite Quote 

“Yes, well, the poster child doesn’t know it yet but she’s into me.” 

I love when queer people recognize queer people, and appreciate that because Amy is young and was just getting out of a relationship with her boyfriend that she might not know her own sexuality yet or have a full understanding of what she is feeling. But Lucy Diamond is an established, adult, queer woman who definitely sees the way that Amy is acting around her and understands immediately what is happening. 

Score

10/10 

For this moment alone

THAT SAID. I do feel the need to justify this scoring. I tend to score things by what they put forth, so a show with campier premises and executions like this one would be scored almost exclusively by vibes. Things like The Miracle of Teddy Bear, for example, which takes itself incredibly seriously, has multiple layers of messaging, and incredibly realistic depictions of queerness, homophobia, and domestic violence is something I would score with a number of actual story telling factors in mind. 

This gets a 10 for vibes, I don’t think I had a single critical thought in the entire hour and a half watching it and I was having a fucking BLAST.

[sekaithemystic]

Neve Gallus Analysis and Theory series [Part 3]

Minrathous is broken,” Aelia spat at me. “I know,” I said. “But you aren’t the one to fix it.”

The section under this contains spoilers from the game.

[part 1] [part 2]

Circle and square diamond - Solas, Neve and the future

Shapes, right. Very interesting. Let’s start with Solas and circle first.

Solas and/or circle seem to appear everywhere in the last few teasers: the 2018 teaser, the 2020 teaser, the 2022 cinematic trailer (which is later shown to be part of the cinematic prologue of Veilguard). The circle has been seen to be the sun, the moon, the symbol of the Evanuris (especially when it’s a circle with borders), even the Veil itself.

After finishing the character creation, Solas is shown with a circle in the background again, only this time, there is also a square diamond outside the circle. Quite the noticeable change from his usual circle.

The scene shifts to Minrathous, and there you see another circle, which seems to be the moon behind the Archon’s Palace.

Here, the circle and the square diamond appear, along with Neve Gallus, with the moon being inside the square diamond.

So what’s with Neve and square diamond?

Frankly, her design has a lot of square diamonds: her fascinator (especially in this shot, is purposefully angled parallel to the outer square diamond), her earring, the back of her outfit. Even the top of her fascinator also has a circle inside a square diamond. And it’s not just Neve, Tevinter seems to have square diamonds everywhere, especially in its architecture. Just look at the Archon’s Palace.

So what does this tell us (aside from the fact that I might be crazy)?

We know that the Evanuris can call upon Archdemon aka the Old Gods and for now there are two Old Gods left of seven: Razikale and Lusacan. We suspect that there are connections between these two factions somehow. This post is just to provide further proof that there is something here between the Evanuris and Tevinter (or the Old Gods) and maybe, maybe Solas and Neve will be involved in it, or at least take a crucial part in this.  

Random tidbits from me to conclude this fever dream

Neve is going to be possessed by Razikale or Lusacan. I’m a bit on Razikale, because the High Priestess of Razikale gave birth to the First Archon of Tevinter Darinius, so if Neve being Radonis’ bastard is true, we are really going full circle Tevinter here. 

The first quest is “The End of the Beginning” and the objective is “Find Neve Gallus” in Minrathous. How cool would it be if our final quest is “The Beginning of the End” and the objective is still “Find Neve Gallus” in Minrathous? From the release date trailer, we know that a battle (most likely the final one) will happen in Minrathous based on the fact that the Archon’s Palace is in the background here.  

The loading icon for Veilguard, if you don’t know, is made of circles, square and four-armed star

And that is the end of the series. I hope you enjoy these crazy posts!

[loquaciousquark]

Patch #7, meet playthrough #6. This is the fourth time I've played Tav & it still took me over an hour to get through character creation.

One thing I'm really getting into this time which I didn't expect is modding. Customizing them, specifically. Nothing big--I actually really dislike 99% of the popular face/armor/appearance mods--but just little QoL things that won't matter to anyone but me. Things like figuring out how to edit the super immersion-breaking descriptions of the singular dye mod I do use, or fixing minor cosmetic errors in my downloaded dice skins, or adjusting the width of the hotbar-widening mod I just found today.

I'm laughing at myself as I do it, too, because it's a metric ton of effort for a) an audience of one, and b) to make the mods as unnoticeable as possible. No matter what game I'm playing, I always strongly prefer my mods to be as lore-friendly and as invisible as I can get them, and BG3's no exception. I don't want branding or typos in the item names and descriptions. I don't want "This dye make leathers red/black and if there is any metal it will be silver" popping up on a tooltip in game. (Heck, the only reason I have a dye mod in the first place is that they changed the Ocean dye after my first playthrough and I wanted to recreate the original.)

I don't want "AREIL'S DICE - Diamond dice Mod" next to Behir Blue and Shining Honour. I don't want the hotbar at the bottom of the screen 12 full columns wider so that it hits the sides; I just want it two columns wider. Just enough for a half-dozen more spells for Shadowheart. No big new buttons. No big spell icons with a jarringly different art style. Just little, invisible changes that someone passing by wouldn't even be able to notice which ever-so-slightly improve my experience.

Anyway, my latest project is that four of the dice skins I downloaded (all from the same maker) have flawed face covers--that is, the opaque triangle that hides the rolled number while adding up the bonuses on screen. It turns out that triangle's a .DDS file, and it turns out it's not hard at all to edit .DDS files, and now that I've learned the difference between .dds and .DDS (because boy there is one!!) I feel confident I can make a new face cover that isn't so clumsy and clunky and obviously a player's creation.

It's been really fun unpacking these mods and learning how they're built & how the files are created. I don't have any desire to create my own, and I still haven't touched anything that requires meshes or 3D construction, but it's a new way of exploring how I game, and I'm really having a blast!

[ilikekidsshows]

Since you mentioned the name several times now I looked up who Nikki Maxwell is. From the basic description of her on her wiki page I can kinda see some similiarities to Marinette and now I wonder if you have some more in-depth comparisons between the two to share that would explain your remark on Marinette beeing a copy of her. I think the description of the character doesn't make her seem particularly unique and a character-type I'd expect to appear often in these kind of youth novels.

---

Sure thing! Here's some fun facts about the Dork Diaries series, one of the most best-selling kids’ books of the 2000s, that have been translated into 50+ languages, including French:

Nikki's iconic look is having her hair in pigtails.

She often babysits a small girl with pigtails.

She is a good artist.

She is, despite her poor self esteem, very talented in many areas.

She is extremely clumsy and prone to getting into embarrassing situations.

She gets overly embarrassed about the most inconsequential things.

She has a tendency for highly exaggerated panic spirals, where she comes up with imaginary scenarios that are full of fantastical events and are often illustrated in an anime/manga style.

She gets mad easily and it can take her a while to get over perceived slights.

She’s a bad liar but people believe her anyway.

She is a huge hypocrite, who often does things she claims to not do. (Unlike Marinette, her internal narration almost always points this out.)

She has a crush on a boy in her class, mostly based on the fact that he is nice, and her rival in school also likes him.

Brandon, said crush, is very popular but still a loner, and socially awkward.

MacKenzie, Nikki's rival, is a rich blonde bully who wears diamonds often (and very familiar-looking sunglasses at one point). Despite her vast resources, she always loses against Nikki in whatever they're competing in.

MacKenzie is a more classic “queen bee”, than Chloé, but does get called such canonically.

MacKenzie eventually transfers schools because she stopped having power and prestige over her classmates.

Nikki's biggest character flaw is a lack of communication, where she puts off telling people things she thinks they won't like hearing. (Unlike Marinette, she actually has to make it up to people when they find out she's been lying to them.)

A typical plotline in Dork Diaries is that, despite being well-liked, having devoted friends and caring parents, Nikki often hides her problems from them and struggles needlessly.

Nikki eventually gains a secondary love interest, André, who looks eerily similar to Luka in illustrations, in addition to having Astruc's favorite French guys' name.

Nikki's classmates include characters named Max, Chloe and Zoe, with Chloe and Zoe being closely associated with each other. (You know what I always say: two is a coincidence, three is a pattern, and we're now counting four same names.)

Many of these things are, to be fair, very basic school drama protagonist cliches. However, when it's this much similarity between two supposedly unrelated characters, especially with some of the highly specific similarities here, like the animesque imagine spots, it's a pattern and not a coincidence. Is the pattern that there's some template both Nikki and Marinette are based on (like how Vegeta and Hiei’s similarities are because they’re both based off the same older character), or did Astruc copy his protagonist from a mega hit of children’s, especially girls’, literature to try to copy that success? Who knows. It's not like we can expect Astruc to be honest about whether or not he copied Marinette's personality from literature.

I know Astruc hasn't actually read the stuff he claims to have read, so that's a point in favor of Astruc being a too lazy reader to copy someone else's work. However, he must have grown familiar with all these tropes somehow. You can’t hit this many hallmarks of a genre without being somewhat familiar with it, and this genre is the most prolific in literature, and there is research data showing that children often prefer either books or television, so he could reasonably expect the audience not to realize how copy-pasted Marinette is.

Miraculous and Dork Diaries share DNA. How directly they’re related I can’t tell, because I’m not that knowledgeable about the school drama genre.

[gattnk]

For every shadow there's a light source. For Malachia, there's Reina.

The superior villain pair of the show and the highlight of the first season, everyone! I would've kept them secret for a bit longer but my darling @angelsfriendsass did one of their famous crossover pieces showcasing my (until now) server-exclusive Reina so... I guess my hands are tied :P Here's how the magic happened:

The first thing I did when I set myself to revamp the Angel's Friends plot, was work on Reina and Malachia's role in the story. They're the driving force behind the plot in both the series and the comic, which meant it was crucial to determine what their story would be this time around: what would I keep, what would I change, and what would be tossed out entirely.

I looked into Igor Chimisso's work for Malachia and Reina to better understand his design work (he was a lead character designer for the series). I also looked into their theme songs for inspiration. My research brought me to four key words: light, shadows, opposites, and neutrality. Reina would be searing light, and Malachia would be creeping shadows. The "opposites" and "neutrality" concepts would tie them together and unify their designs.

I love the idea of protagonists seeing themselves mirrored by their antagonists in some way. Reina used to be an angel in the show and Malachia used to be a devil in the comics, so I cemented this into my own canon; they would mirror Raf and Sulfus quite naturally this way.

Malachia's new personality and role as a "creeping shadow" made me choose a variety of greys for him. Being a former devil, his focus on ambiguity and "neutrality" would fit well with him. Reina instead has more polarizing tones, dealing in extremes like the "searing light" she embodies: being a former angel, her line of thought would be more black and white, and this would be reflected in her dress with "opposite" hues.

You can't have a villain duo without complementary concepts, and what better way to represent complementary concepts than with complementary colors? I gave Reina yellow eyes and Malachia purple ones, and included "hints" of each other by adding shades of these colors on their counterpart.

Malachia has ochre accents, a yellowed shirt and bronze skin, very straightforward. Reina has dark magenta accents and her iconic blue hair to tie her to his counterpart. I considered white hair like her young self in the series at first, but it clashed with the dress; I took a page from her adult design and kept her silver bangs to frame her face instead.

Reina's shattered halo pieces are arranged over her head like a crown, a tongue-in-cheek reference to her name ("queen" in spanish) and her position of leadership in Limbo. Malachia instead used his shattered horns to fashion himself a diapason, like the one in the comics. The function of this tool is very different in my rewrite, but I'll keep the specifics to myself for now ;P

Also, I wasn't entirely sure where to include this, but remember how angels are tied to circles and devils to triangles? Reina, Malachia and other neutrals will be tied to a half circle on top of a triangle, kinda like a diamond with a round top. See how many of those you can spot around!

It'll be a long time before they show up in my fic proper, but I still encourage you to keep your eyes open just in case while you read my rewrite fic. After all, Raf and Sulfus aren't particularly careful or subtle, so who knows what's lurking around the Golden School these days...

I'll Fly With You (rewrite fic) Art masterpost

[asoulwithadream]

Sherlock & Co - The Sign of Four (#1)

From the diary of a soul with a dream…

Firstly: let’s address the elephant in the room. THEY’RE DOING THE BOOKS!!! I’m super excited for this—I thought they were only planning to go through the adventures! I felt like this week’s episode was dramatic, and though I shamefully zoned out through a bit of it, I think some of the most shocking bits kept me entertaining and excited for next week.

I’m not sure if I like 10 WEEKS of waiting but I’ll do it for you S&CO

WHAT THE FUCK

MARY? MARY? MARY?

Oh, never-mind, we’re fine.

“My mind rebels at stagnation, Watson! Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere.” (HE SAID THE THING, HE SAID THE THING, HE SAID-)

The picking on the watch plating is giving me flashbacks to the drunk BBC charging port.

Cheap, sentimental, and superstitious <3

“There’s always a crime scene, for those that are willing to look.”

“Doesn’t matter, it’s a culture reference that 8 listeners might get” that’s such a mood

Hooooly shiny diamond

WIGGINS! WIGGINS! WIGGINS MY BELOVED!

“H&M? Dunno, really.” You icon

I think Bernie’s the real Gollum here guys

SHERLOCK- I feel targeted (Astrophysics is the science I want to study)

“Gave him a wedgie, stole his diamond.”

No it isn’t

NO YOU DON’T KNOW HER

MARY MORSTAN OH MY FUCKING-

I don’t know whether to be super fucking happy or absolutely devastated

New Sherlockian figure unlocked (Did we just forget about Moriarty?)

[boinkingbattlemechs]

Marauder IIC

One of the most notable IIC BattleMechs, the Marauder IIC is based upon one of the most iconic 'Mechs in existence, the Marauder.

Touted as one of the most effective 'Mechs of all time, the Marauder saw wide usage during the Star League era by all the Great Houses. The design was also much favored by both the Star League Defense Force's Regular and Royal units as well as its famed Gunslingers, with many examples taken on Operation EXODUS. The belief that the Marauder was a precursor to a new 'Mech design paradigm disappeared in the Inner Sphere as the Succession Wars dragged on; however, in the same year as the Second Succession War broke out the Clans developed a followup to the venerable design, later dubbed the Marauder IIC, representing the pinnacle of Clan weapons technology prior to the advent of the OmniMech. Like other IIC designs, visual similarities between it and its predecessor initially led ComStar to incorrectly label the design as a mere refit of the original.

It is to the credit of its original engineers that no new production variants of the Marauder IIC appeared until a wellspring of new technology emerged in the 3050s and '60s, with Clan Star Adder introducing a visually refreshed model carrying the then-newly developed Heavy Lasers that quickly spread to the Cloud Cobras, Goliath Scorpions, Snow Ravens, Blood Spirits and Diamond Sharks. The efforts of the mercantile Sharks would result in the further spread of the design to the Inner Sphere-based Invading Clans, followed by Clans Jade Falcon and Ghost Bear introducing new Marauder IIC variants and constructing new production lines for them on Sudeten and Satalice respectively during the Word of Blake Jihad.

As with the Warhammer IIC, the Marauder IIC is ten-tons heavier than its Inner Sphere progenitor, pushing it into the assault weight class, but otherwise the design matches the original's ground speed through the use of a 340-rated standard fusion engine. Though both designs carry eleven and half tons of armor, the Marauder IIC's use of more advanced ferro-fibrous plating gives it superior protection, with an endo steel frame freeing up weight. While structurally the Marauder IIC appears to offer little advantage over the LosTech refitted Marauders introduced by the Successor States, the blatant superiority of Clan weaponry allows the design to pound its opponents to pieces in short order.

Built around the Extended-Range Particle Projector Cannon, one of the most powerful weapons in the Clan arsenal, the Marauder IIC's weapon layout is typical of the standard Marauder, each pod-like forearm carrying an ER PPC paired with Medium Pulse Lasers. Where the Marauder IIC differs is with its torso weaponry, replacing the top-mounted autocannon and its vulnerable ammunition-feed linkage with another ER PPC, and adding a set of four ER Small Lasers. Twenty-one double heat sinks keep heat levels manageable, with an enterprising MechWarrior able to use volley fire to keep up a steady barrage of fire.