#if this really was a darkstalkers character what would it be called?

[madhattersez]

Model Kit Build: "Gundam The End" by Bandai

Hooooo boy, this one was super-weird. In the best way. I LOVE this crazy-ass design. Every time you build a gimmick for this, there's always a crazier one coming up in just a few more steps.

First things first, I have to mention that this is a pretty rare kit, but I only paid $6 for it! I saw it in a Japanese auction and it showed the above parts being already put together or loose - the seller couldn't guarantee that all the parts were included.

Thankfully, all of them were indeed there, so I really got a steal on this one!

Let's just talk about the visuals of this model first. While it's a majority black and gray unit, it has so many splashes of bright colors, too. Just look at this sticker sheet!

And here's the main unit, all done. What a radical weirdo! Aside from the unique design (including double horned boots, pyramid-shaped helmet, psychedelic shoulder eyes, and chest that opens up like a fang-filled mouth), he's also packing two Dirty Harry-style revolvers.

How can it get any more interesting?

Well, this is some of his shielding, which looks like a giant, silly choir robe. They convert to bat-style wings, too. Because, of course they do.

"But, wait," you might say, "What about those big yellow hands? What's up with those? Can you, like, make them flip someone off or something?"

Lawl, yup.

And I had considered keeping the middle finger pose on them both for display thinking that would be hilarious, but this guy's hands have additional Gundam heads inside the palms... which can open up and shoot lasers.

Sorry, "fuck you" fingers, but that's way cooler.

What the hell else can we add now? Well, how about a fetus?

So, yeah, this Gundam has another little Gundam living inside of it, connected by an umbilical-looking cord. Sure, that's totally normal. Oh, his name is "Narwhal," by the way.

Even though having him pop out of the chest covers up the top of the main unit, I just had to pull out every single gimmick for the final pose... Behold:

Holy shiiiiiiit, right? This dude fuckin' rules.

This Gundam looks more like a Darkstalkers character than a giant robot.

And that's sweet. Definitely one of my top three favorites now.

For more of my model kit builds on Tumblr, click here:

[starrysharks]

i usually just post about reassassination and ultimate excalibur alongside less developed stories/universes but brother i have a LOT of stuff that i either hardly talk about or never talk about at all publicly ,,, mostly because they don't have any character designs done yet 💀

[wings-of-fire-confessions]

I don’t like people saying characters are boring, for one, thats not always unrealistic, some people don’t act in particularly interesting ways, and two, most of the characters called boring can be explained.

Riptide: We see so little of him, there is no way to really say much about him beyond surface level.

Willow: Honestly I have no idea where people calling her boring are coming from. Sure she doesn’t have anything outstanding about her, but she is plenty interesting and seems realistic to me. She is funny, she seems to have a lot of options about what is right and trys to be the best dragon she can (controlling her emotions, maybe a bit more than she should, managing her anger effectively and using it when the time is right.), and she is smart.

Moon: She doesn’t seem boring to me either. She never had positive interactions with other dragons before Moon Rising, so it makes sense she would be anxious, it also makes sense that a lot of that anxiety would go away when she started to interact with other dragons in a positive way. We also don’t get her point of view as much after her friendships are established, so she could still have that anxiety, and just hide it better. It also makes sense that she could be manipulated by Darkstalker as easily as she was, when he started talking to her she didn’t know what to expect from other dragons, and likely expected the worst, so it would make sense that she would want to trust the dragon who had been only friendly to her. she was also used to being able to judge dragons by their thoughts, the only thoughts she could get from Darkstalker were the ones he chose to let her see, giving her a very biased view of who he was. I would like to add that I can relate to Moon a lot, and some of my experiences are similar to hers, so most of my explanation is based on personal experience, I was homeschooled until high school (recently), and had a very hard time interacting with people, after making friends I was much more confident with other people, much like she appears to be.

I also would say I am similar to Willow in that I try to see the best in people and don’t want to punish whole groups of people because some of them act badly, especially due to manipulation or personal life.

Conclusion: Most of the “Boring” characters are realistic and can be relatable, not every character has to be extremely flawed or outstanding to be interesting.

.

[auranova26]

Mei-Ling Design Notes and Inspiration 2/2

If you stumbled on this randomly, please go read part 1 first before engaging any further. Please and thank you.😊🙏

With that disclaimer said, now we gotta talk about the Dark Embrace Burst for Mei-Ling. To be frank, most of the origins of how I came to give it to her and Hsien-Ko is basically already stated in Hsien-Ko's design notes, so you can go there to get an idea.

However, I would like to talk about some aspects of Mei-Ling's design in this form. The first time I drew her, it was super simple.

The first big note of change was with @capyguava rendition of Mei-Ling.

The additional markings on Mei-Ling's face were honestly beautiful, so I reworked her face to incorporate some of those ideas. Later on, made a render that fully showed of some other details.

The markings at her legs and feet and the mirror on her back. Having the mirror on her back was not only a call back to how the mirror was on her in her main timeline design, but also just really love the idea of how all that Qi and Corriyami in her body just sprouts out from there. This shot from her ref sheet shows off how there are some changes to the mirror as the story progresses.

The latest full render of her Dark Embrace steps up to show how her shadow can really look.

However, I want to give special notes to these two commissions made by O_C_o_r_v_o and aamiraglia.

I love the ideas they gave with the way her shadow can look. Like a flame or like water. It is sublime and I want to keep these in mind for future illustrations. Last note about the shadow: the shadow dragon. While the form her shadow can take is only limited by Mei-Ling's imagination, I really want to note the dragon. In a way, it is a form of catharsis for Mei-Ling. Utilizing the form of a dragon to bring down those who oppose her and Hsien-Ko. But also, it makes her feel connected to her mother as the shape of the dragon is similar to their mother's dragon form. The memory of that night is still quite strong. Makes it feel like her mother is aiding her in battle. It is ferocious in appearance, like Mei-Ling in this burst. But it is still eerily beautiful in a way with its majesty, like Mei-Ling.

Now to talk about Mei-Ling when she was human.

Off the bat, she doesn't really look that different compared to the major changes Hsien-Ko underwent when she became a jiangshi. However, I still wanted there to be some kind of difference. The biggest thing would be her hair. This is where Murai Shinobu comes back into the picture. I cannot say enough my love for her designs of Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling and how much her 'Share' doujin means to me and helped to influence some aspects of the sisters for me. In a way of tribute, I wanted Mei-Ling's hair as a human to have the same general style that Murai draws for Mei-Ling: a straight bob cut.

Overall, rather normal and nice for this young mystic warrior. Her hair color was also different. While Hsien-Ko as a human had cool shades of black hair, I wanted Mei-Ling to have more warm shades of black for her hair. Not too drastic a change in hair color when she becomes a jiangshi. Her eyes were also changed. Again, kind like what Murai did, I went for some shade of brown for Mei-Ling's eyes. As for her clothes, once again a bianfu. As a twist, the colors of this bianfu are the reverse of her later beizi's color scheme. Also gave her red trousers as to keep her whole color scheme being very warm and vibrant.

In Darkstalkers, some crossover games they have appeared in, and even a number of anthology stories, Mei-Ling has been shown to be able to move and talk. To represent herself, she has a simple cartoon face of a pair of eyes and a mouth.

That is all well and good, but I wanted to go further. I got inspiration from this very funny random sprite of a card of the sisters doing a costume swap.

With that swap, Hsien-Ko became the ofuda. However, her ofuda form has her hair and a hat. I wanted to do the same for Mei-Ling. My first time drawing that is shown in the 'Jiangshi Tongue' piece I made.

Expressive and cute. However, when going about making the ref sheet, I stumbled upon this picture made by the wonderful artist skm_nnm.

I adore the idea of Mei-Ling being able to fly like a little paper spirit! Which… to be fair she is. So that detail is now part of her ofuda form for Cryas Darkstalkers. Some tweaks here and there, namely making her still feel like she is paper being and thus flat but giving enough details to her hair and hat in this form.

That should wrap things up with this very long two-part blog. I hope you can understand my sheer love and adoration for both sisters, especially showing a lot of love for Mei-Ling as she really deserves it. 😊💛

Lot of searching and thinking with an end result I am super proud of. I hope you take care and have a good day!

[mk-wizard]

15 Video Games that could translate well into a TV series or Film

Hi, everyone. I mentioned in my last post that my favourite Final Fantasy game Final Fantasy 4 would make an excellent TV series as long as it stays true to the source material, but after thinking about it, it’s not the only one. And with the success of the Mario Brothers film, I think other iconic stand a good chance at making a great show. Note that some of these game have already been made into movies or shows, but I mention them anyway because they still have what takes to translate into amazing TV shows or film when they’re respected and the follows the source material. And above all else, culture wars and politics stay out of them. Games and fantasies are a neutral territory for everyone. I will also not mention video games that already have great shows or movies made out of them, so I will not bring up Sonic the Hedgehog.

1- Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (anime series): This is the best LoZ video game in opinion and it had a very episodic feel to it within itself. It has been adapted into manga four times and I can confirm as someone who read them that they were all great. With that said, this game could definitely translate beautifully into in anime TV series. Heck, the illustrations in the manual were fit for an anime as they were.

2- Chrono Trigger (anime series): This is another video game that feels episodic for obvious reasons and it has a tight cast. Plus, the art was already made by Akira Toriyama who also did the art of several Dragon Quest video games which also got several successful anime spin offs. Plus, the characters are very well developed and animated. My only nitpick is that I would not give the hero Crono a voice. In fact, I think it would be better and a very nice twist if he was mute because you don’t need to be noisy to be a hero. Also, this anime would have to be drawn by Akira Toriyama. Period.

3- Secret of Mana (aka Secret of Mana 2 in Japan) (anime or cartoon): This game’s story and visuals are a fan favourite and are beloved even by adults. Plus, I could imagine this anime/cartoon as a big hit with kids too. However, it has to stay true to the plot and the characters have to be in character all the way down to their true names.

4- Resident Evil (CGI film): Now, I know what you’re all thinking, but hear me out. When I propose making a movie out of RE, I mean RE 1 the video game. Not a spin off, not a reimagining, not an AU and not a self-insert fanwork that got greenlit. I mean a film that stays 100% true to the plot of the game that started it all. Of course, we can leave out the puzzles and just reference them instead. Also, I would have the narrative switch between Chris and Jill. Who knows? Maybe a proper movie will remind Capcom what RE really is and set it back on the right path.

5- Silent Hill (CGI or live action film): Considering a revival of the video game franchise, perhaps a proper movie is in order. Like my RE suggestion, I can easily see the first game translating into an amazing film. Harry Mason is so underrated and he deserves more respect than being called “feminine” for being a good dad. He’s also a very relatable character because he isn’t a man of action. He’s everyman who dearly loves his daughter.

6- Darkstalkers (anime series): Usually, fighting games don’t translate well into film or shows because each character’s story is too unique and you usually too big of a cast to work with. However, Darkstalkers is the exception because it usually 90% of the same cast, each character’s story intertwines and Morrigan is a pretty badass heroine. She as “strong female” as they come. She kicks butt, is independent and she’s got style. Plus, she did it all FIRST long before Bayonetta.

7- Final Fantasy V (anime series): Like FF4, FF5 which I admit is also my second favourite FF game, has an amazing and unique story which would translate beautifully into an anime series. It has a tight well developed cast that makes you laugh and root for them, Bartz is a charming hero, ExDeath is a delightfully evil villain and the art and music of the game is stunning. However, it has to stay true to the source material unlike the attempt that was made in the past which was pretty bad.

8- Dino Crisis (CGI or live action film): This video game was made to be film material as it even feels like the long lost sister of Jurassic Park. It is also another video game that has a strong female protagonist Regina who breaks all the molds. Like with RE, I would just reference the puzzles and I would true to the source material, but I would forgive some liberties because the setting is supposed to be in the future and now, that future is past. Plus, you can’t go wrong with dinosaurs.

9- Dead Space (CGI, live action or cartoon film): Not much to say here except that this franchise already had an animated prequel, so why not just go the whole nine yards and make the first game into a film? The twist at the end is one of the best twists in writing I have ever seen. The story alone plays out like a modern Lovecraft film.

10- Castlevania (cartoon or anime series): I know this one recently had a series, but it was bad. The jokes were not funny, the plot was boring, the characters were not likeable or in character, and the obvious hate towards Christianity was in poor taste especially because the real Castlevania is religion neutral and positive. The art was solid though and the source material makes for a solid TV series. However, when creating a proper series for this franchise, you have to accept that it has Christian themes. If you can’t, then you shouldn’t be working on it. Plus, if you want to adapt it into your own way, the best blank canvas Belmont to use is Simon and even then, please make him likeable and a hero we can root for.

11- Parasite Eve (anime film): This video even felt like a cop-horror movie and considering it is actually the sequel of a novel with the same name which also got the film treatment, it would be great. However, I would make it an anime not live action especially consider what Mitochondria Eve and the monsters look like. In fact, this game had a manga based on it and it was nice. And Aya Brea was unjustly forgotten. She deserves to be remembered and known.

12- Marvel’s Spider-Man (cartoon series): Honestly, I’m surprised that this game was not pitched as a cartoon series first because THIS is exactly the type of Spider-Man we want to see more of. We’re long overdue for a non-child-friendly Spider-Man as it is. My only nitpick is that it would look even better and the facial expression would be more passionate if it was animated in 2D.

13- Final Fantasy VI (anime series): This was my brother’s favourite FF game and I have to admit that it was FF’s last great game before it developed an identity crisis. When I think about it, it can work, but you would have to condense the cast in such a way that some characters become secondary or tertiary ones. The main cast would work for this story in order for it work as anime would have to be Terra, Locke, Celes, Edgar and Sabin. That’s it. They have the most impactful roles in the story and the plot only moves on as long as they are there. Don’t get me wrong, I like the other characters too, but their stories are very personal and they are more like team mates towards one of the five main characters.

14- A Plague Tale (anime or cartoon series): Both Innocence and Requiem feel episodic and play out like a TV drama within itself. It is a beautiful story worth animated as a cartoon or anime because you don’t see many like it. The bond between Amelia and Hugo is absolutely touching and while it sad, it’s a beautiful kind of sadness.

15- Metal Gear (CGI or cartoon series): Did you know that Solid Snake was actually inspired by both Rambo and Van Damme? Well, that alone says a lot. Snake has the personality of a TV character to begin with and the series could play out like multiple seasons of a series that could become a cult classic. My only proposal is that one you do Metal Gear Solid, stop. After that game, everything got weird, contradictory and confusing. Also, let’s animate it. The actors who inspired Snake’s look are too old to play him and I can’t imagine anyone else doing so.

[purplekoop]

Forgot to mention that among my projects I haven't talked about here yet (which... okay that list includes War Bots and that's it, so not a lot yet) is a platform fighter starring a cast of monsterish or otherwise creepy characters, Darkworld Showdown.

The idea started around late 2018 as a simple collection of basic original characters designed for a smash-like context. There wasn't really any theme or anything tying them all together, so I just went with the idea that they were all from different whacky planets. As a result, the game was called "Worlds Showdown", implying the whole thing was a... well, showdown between worlds. The two characters I clearly remember from this time were a pirate monkey and a sort of cannon robot. I also had the idea that the game could be 2v2-based (eat your heart out Multiversus), so the characters had specific moves that interacted with teammates. The pirate monkey could ride on a teammate's back and shoot their pistol freely, while the cannon robot would be able to fire a teammate as a projectile. There were some other concepts that were less defined, like a space jester who could place a static orb as a hazard on the map, or a martial arts girl who looks relatively unimpressive at first, but then powers up to a form even beefier than your average traditional fighter mascot man.

As I made more characters though, I began to realize more and more that there wasn't anything holding it together, and the concept suffered as a result. Characters would have a somewhat unique concept or characteristic, but nothing really tying the game together thematically to make it stand out from any other fighter with a cast of whacky original characters. What I needed was that theme to give the game an identity.

So then I stumbled on a video that introduced me to Darkstalkers, a game I'd primarily heard mostly in passing and in crossovers like Marvel vs Capcom. For the unfamiliar, Darkstalkers is a traditional fighting game from the same company behind Street Fighter, starring a cast of monsters and other supernatural beings, such as the poster girl succubus Morrigan, or just. A thing called Sasquatch. The characters have notably whackier movesets than what was the norm at the time, and there were other mechanics like air dashes that would become a recurring staple of the genre. While the series hasn't had a new entry since the late 90s, it's lived on in both its appearances in other Capcom games and in Skullgirls, an indie project that serves as a spiritual successor, featuring similar character theming and taking heavy inspiration from its mechanics.

I only just played the game myself recently, but back then all I needed was that basic hook.

Monsters. Creatures. Other creepy dudes. That's what this idea needs.

So the name got a simple upgrade from Worlds Showdown to the marginally less generic-sounding Darkworld Showdown as an homage to the game that gave the little push of inspiration that made this project one that I want to see through.

The basic story is pretty simple: Earth gets plunged by an unknown force into a perpetual night, and all the supernatural forces previously lurking in the shadows have come out to play. Demons, vampires, and all manner of other creatures are unleashed, while the world tries to reconcile with the unending darkness.

Seeking to end this eternal night, a secret government organization tasked with keeping the paranormal in check tries to find whatever the cause of the darkness, codenamed the "Darkworld Trigger", and put a stop to it. The leader of the organization is Miss Reil, whose day job is being a famed horror film director, and she's not above using the resources of her organization to make her movies more exciting. She acts as the game's announcer, and the framing of the game is all based around cheesy old horror movies, with the playable roster all being the star creatures to the features.

I'll post more about this one whenever I'm randomly in the mood for it. Y'know how it is, motivations come and go. Expecting to be a little distracted starting tomorrow. I have some designs already made for this project, but it's been so long since I did new art for it that I'll probably refrain from posting unless I've got something that still holds up or I do something new.

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Super 102

WULL IT’S TIME!

IT’S TIME!

IT’S!  RIBRIANNE!  TIME!

So if you’re like me-- and I know I am-- you’re probably watching this arc and wondering where the hell Universe 2′s team is during all of this.   We’ve been following U7 the whole time, and we just saw a bunch of stuff with U6 and U11 in the last few episodes.  U9 got erased, so they’re accounted for, and U3, U4, and U10 have provided a steady supply of jobbers for the main cast to whale on. 

But Universe 2 has been largely absent from this battle, except for a scene or two where their Yardratti fighter, Jimiz, tussled with Goku for a bit.  They’ve suffered zero eliminations so far, and while they also haven’t eliminated anyone else, that’s not the object of the game.  The team with the most members standing at the end is the winner, so as of this episode, Universe 2 was technically in the lead, even though they haven’t done anything.  If a team could make it through the entire Tournament of Power without fighting while the other teams whittled each other down, that would totally work. 

However, that is not Universe 2′s strategy.  In this episode, Brianne de Chateau, the team’s captain, basically calls out to everyone else on the stage to watch her perform her transformation.  I don’t know why she waited this long, or what her team was doing until now, but they clearly weren’t hiding from the competition for any strategic purpose.  She’s literally inviting everyone to watch her.

So the big gag here is that no one in this cartoon outside of Universe 2 understands any of this.  Pell, their Supreme Kai, starts marking the fuck out, and Helles the Destroyer provides a running commentary on every move her team makes, but none of it really makes any sense, and none of the other characters get it either.  I mean, I like Universe 2′s gimmicks, but I’d be lying if I said I understood any of this.  But I’ll try to explain it as well as I can. 

So for starters, Brianne is part of a trio called the Kamikaze Fireballs.  Or... Tokkou Hintotama.  Or... the Maiden Squadron.  The Dragon Ball Wiki can’t make up its mind.  We’re not off to a great start.  Geez, I could start a sideblog just trying to unpack Team Universe 2. 

All right, let’s soldier on.  Brianne’s the green-haired lady in pink, and that’s Sanka Coo on the left in blue, and Sousu Roas on the right in yellow.  I like her li’l hat, that’s adorable. 

I’m not totally dense here.  They’re clearly doing a Magical Girl/Pop Idol thing with this, although the rest of Team Universe 2 looks like a mishmash of completely unrelated genres.  From left to right, we have:

Bikal, a rejected Darkstalker character

Jimiz, an OC based on a single filler scene from an episode of DBZ (respect)

Rabanra a demon kid or something?  I don’t know

Zarbuto: Former star of the 1940′s sci-fi serial  Zap Astro’s Star Patrol.

Zirloin: A big blue dude in a Roman Soldier costume.

Also there’s a couple of snipers on the team, but we’ll get to them later.

Anyway, despite the aesthetic clash, the whole team is into Brianne’s love act, so they cheer her on as she and her partners to their big Magical Girl transformation.  Everyone watches, transfixed by confusion, resentment, or curiosity. 

Except for 17, who shoots hand lasers at them.

Everyone bawls out 17 for this.  In his defense, the Fireball Angels or whatever they’re called were wide open, and he already spared the last two girl opponents they ran into.  They’re here to win this thing, aren’t they?  But Goku wanted to see how much stronger the Kamikaze Maidens got, and he’s no stranger to long transformation sequences.  Also, Top buts into this argument, since he’s a big proponent of theatrics and elaborate poses in battle.  So 17′s like “Sheesh, fine.”  And the Fireball Squadron goes back to start over. 

Okay, so let’s be clear about this.  Lot’s of smartalecks out there love to poke fun at this stuff, and say things like “Why don’t they just shoot the hero during the long transformation sequence!”  This episode answers that question.

1) 17 just tried it.

2) It doesn’t work.  The ladies aren’t even hurt.

3) Everyone yelled at him for being impolite.

4) They’re just gonna start over again, so you might as well lay out and let them finish their spot. 

5) They don’t fly the ring to Mt. Doom because Sauron has flying monsters who would intercept those eagles you’re thinking of.  You’re not clever.

So yeah, we’re starting over.  That’s fine by me, I could watch this stuff all day.  KISS COSTUME CHANGE, ACTIVATE

  LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-OOOOOOO-VE GUN!

People try to tell me GT wasn’t that bad or the Zamasu Saga wasn’t that bad.  All I know is that I really dreaded sitting through all those shitty epiosdes, and this one is a breeze.  Everything’s so colorful and I like how the tournament stage looks like a Road Runner cartoon now, and nothing hurts.  Anyway, Brianne turns into Ribrianne, which has always confused me because it’s just her first name with two more letters in front of it.  

Sanka Coo becomes Kankusa, which.... they just rearranged her name for that, didn’t they?   Also she’s another cat lady, so if you missed the one from Universe 9, we’ve gotcha covered.

Sousu Roas becomes Rosie.  Well... that’s just a regular ass name.  That’d be like if Billy Batson said “Shazam” and turned into a guy named John.

Fuck yeah!  Fireball Ballfires Squadron in full effect! 

So first off, Ribrianne starts shooting pink hearts and pink smoke everywhere.  It’s not really clear what this is or how it works or what it does.  Helles just keeps talking about how it’s ��love” and “beauty”, but that doesn’t actually convey any information.  At best, it just raises further questions. 

Top refuses to inhale the stuff...

But Goku takes a sniff, because why not?   It doesn’t seem to hurt him or anything. 

The Team U7 guys are unaffected, which they seem to consider a sign of their discipline, and they point out Roshi isn’t bothered, even though he would be the most at-risk.  He credits Puar for helping him overcome his uncontrollable horniness, so is that what this is?  Did Ribrianne shoot pheromones into the arena?  Is she trying to make everyone too horny to fight back?

I mean, part of the gag here is that the trio is supposed to start out pretty and then get super-extra beautiful when they transform, but Krillin thinks their transforms are kind of a step backwards, while Universe 10′s guys all seem blown away by how hot the girls are now.  So whether Ribrianne is beautiful is a subjective matter, which... I mean, that’s an interesting approach to a character, but it also gets kind of confusing.  I don’t think Ribrianne would be Roshi’s type, and yet he acts like he’s achieved something by resisting her charms.  The U10 guys are seduced by her, but it doesn’t matter because most of them are already eliminated.  And then you’ve got Vegeta, who seems to find her so revolting that he can barely stomach fighting her. Then again, Vegeta acts disgusted by everyone. 

So finally, these two go at it, and it’s my favorite pairing from this tournament, even though it doesn’t really amount to much.  They put a quick sequence of Vegeta fighting this big pink clown lady in the opening credits, and I was blown away by how awesome it looked, and so I was looking forward to Ribrianne ever since.  In this episode, they finally throw down, and the same cool fight sequence gets recycled here, with a little more thrown in for good measure.

I can’t explain it.  Maybe it’s the color scheme, or the fact that Vegeta is my second favorite DBZ character.  Ribrianne looks like his complete opposite, like they shouldn’t even be in the same cartoon.  She looks like an elementary school teacher who went a little overboard with her classroom’s Halloween party.  But she sees Vegeta coming at her and she’s like “Let’s go, jackass!”

I just love this image of a cutesie character just taking it to Vegeta, and he’s not gonna back down because he’s a Saiyan warrior who doesn’t run from a fight... except...

Rirbrianne comes at Vegeta with this rolling attack (Fireball of Me!) and Vegeta can’t bring himself to strike back.

He’s just too grossed out.  I don’t know if this is a fatphobic thing, or he can’t handle Ribrianne’s face looking like an old-timey TV screen, or maybe the rolling made him dizzy.  Or maybe the love smoke finally got to him.  Anyway, he backs off.

That suits Ribrianne just fine, as she hits another opponent instead and eliminates him.  Dyrasem, if you were wondering.  And yes, he’s a Universe 10 guy. 

So what about the other Jumping Bomb Angels?  Well, Rosie goes after Goku, and seems to do okay, although Goku’s been hustling fighters this whole Tournament, so “doing okay” against Goku is kind of a tricky thing to judge.  Still, you gotta hand it to these gals.  They jumped right in and went after the biggest cats in this tournament. 

Same with Kankasu, who’s determined to punish 17 for interrupting their transformation sequence earlier.  This is no place to hold a grudge, as Universe 9 already demonstrated.  But Kankasu is driven by animal passions or something, so she’s not exactly the level-headed one of the team.

She seems to have 17 on the ropes, just scratching, clawing, and biting him at will, but then he throws up his force field and shuts her down without any trouble.  He’s got infinite stamina, so it’s pretty easy for 17 to rope-a-dope someone.  I’m not clear on this spot, but I get the impression that Knakasu is somehow stuck?  Like, maybe she ‘s trapped within the forcefield instead of just clinging to the outside of it?

17 nearly eliminates Kankasu, but she’s saved by her teammate Bikal.  Good hustle, ladies.  Nice to see a team that watches each other’s backs.

Uh...

Okay.  Uh...

Yeah, I’m pretty sure Kankusa and Bikal are an item, you guys.

18′s like “Ha ha, those lesbians really wrecked your shit, 17.”  And 17′s like “Shut up, I was too distracted thinking about my cool park ranger job.” 

Now 17 means business.  To be fair, there’s dinosaurs at his job, so I can see how it would be hard to get in the right frame of mind for this event.  Anyway, he takes out Bikal first, so she won’t be able to save anyone else.

This enrages Kankusa, which also makes her fight sloppy.  17 gets the upper hand, and when Ribrianne tries to assist, Kankusa tells her to stay out of it.  Ribrianne respects her decision, which sort of exposes the team’s weakness.  The whole love thing is a great motivator and it keeps the team united, but also makes them a little too sentimental for their own good.  

Somehow she gets 17 up in the air and leaps after him, right into the path of the big light that shines down on the stage...

And this was 17′s plan.  He bounces off the surface of the light and launches himself back at her with an energy blast ready to go.  Is that even legal?  The Grand Zenos allow it,since it’s cool. 

17 congratulates Rosie for a battle well-fought, sort of like his muted appreciation to Piccolo when they fought in DBZ.  Then he blasts her out of the ring. 

Well, now they can hold hands on the bench, at least. 

So 17′s looking pretty great right now, but he’s also incurred the wrath of Ribrianne.  This looks like a pretty good cliffhanger, but I’m pretty sure the next episode has nothing to do with this at all.  I guess we’ll see.

[paranormeow7]

man I just unlocked a childhood memory bc of a terf :[ I used to play this game called pocket fighter all the time, it was like this flash fighting game with a bunch of assorted characters from different games drawn as chibis. My favorite to play was Hsien-Ko from Darkstalkers, not because I knew who she was or even because she was good, but because I really liked how she looked (I still do her design is sick as hell). I would play the game off of shitty ad filled flash portals during class instead of working CONSTANTLY bc I liked it so much. I genuinely attribute Hsien-Ko and Pocket Fighter as to why I love fighting games so much nowadays. I’ve been looking for this game for years on end and I remembered all of this because of a terf with Hsien-Ko as their pfp… what a way to unearth a childhood memory LOL

[wondereads]

Weekly Reading Update (08/05/24)

Reviews and thoughts under the cut

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez (10/10)

This book blew me away. It has amazing characters, unique writing, and a plot that may not seem complex at first but is incredibly satisfying and holds great meaning. The way this book plays with perspective is unlike any I've ever read before, and it blends seamlessly with the worldbuilding. The characters are a little larger than life, like heroic figures, which is exactly what they should seem like, but they're also incredibly human as this story often takes time to give voice to people that would usually be forgotten. This story is all about cultural identity, storytelling, and family history, and the framing device works spectacularly well in getting those messages across. It essentially uses an epic legend to depict the process of reconnecting with one's culture, and it's made all the more concrete by the fact that the author's culture (he's Filipino) comes across so strongly. This book took me a bit, a week and a half, but it's absolutely worth the time and I especially recommend for any fantasy fans looking for something new.

Talons of Power by Tui T. Sutherland (8/10)

Coming up on the end of the second arc, this book was decent. I bumped up its rating since it had some genuinely crazy reveals that have been built up to since the beginning of the first arc, but I did find this one a little repetitive. I understand that Turtle obviously suffers from extreme anxiety and it is likely over-emphasized due to the younger target audience, but I swear half this book was him going around in circles. I did like that he didn't just get over his anxiety at the end. He just becomes the poster boy for "do it scared," which is a good message for kids. It was genuinely frustrating to see Turtle enchant all kinds of one-use things when there were a billion different spells he could have cast to get rid of Darkstalker or remove his magical influence from everyone. I will say though, I did love that Qibli and Glory were the only two to pick up on the magic as the two "street smarts" characters in either arc. While I like Turtle and love this series, this book was just frustrating to read at some points.

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo (CR, 50%)

The dread that filled me when the characters started talking about a magical tournament...I don't hate that trope, but it has been so overdone in modern fantasy that I'm just absolutely sick of it. Luckily, I'm halfway through and the tournament is sort of a background thing and is more of an assessment than a competition. I like the characters, but I don't feel super strongly about them, and the romance feels overall unnecessary. I love a romance subplot, but this one feels like it was added just to cover Bardugo's bases.

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson (CR, 26%)

So far, this book seems right up my alley. It's full of political intrigue and incredibly thorough worldbuilding. Unfortunately, there isn't really magic; this is basically the real world with a new geographical layout, governance systems, and an empire that is an amalgam of every terrible European imperialist power. I think Dickinson doesn't know how to write children, and things are over-explained sometimes, but mostly I'm enjoying this read and think it could be really strong.

Ash and Roses by N. B. Snook (CR, 7%)

I'm am sick to hell and back of Beauty and the Beast retellings (one of only two retellings available in romantasy, the other being Hades and Persephone), but I'm also dedicated to reading every book I've gotten through Stuff Your Kindle, so here I am. So far this book isn't egregious with decent writing, but it has done two things I dislike. First, the main character's name is Abilene, a suitable high fantasy name, but she is called Abby. Please no. Commit! Second, Abilene is obviously pretty privileged being a princess, but she seems wholly aware of that privilege and completely class conscious, which is not only a boring choice but an unrealistic one as there is yet to be anything introduced that would explain this difference in ideology. Hopefully this gets better.

Only by Rachel H. Drake (DNF @ 10%)

Both Goodreads and Storygraph tell me this is the first book in this series, but it must be a spin-off or something. This book starts off with the main character talking about all these people he knows and his history with them, and none of it is explained or really described at all. WHO IS WILLIAM? I sure don't know. The only explanation is that I missed a connecting series somewhere, but the writing isn't good enough for me to try and hunt that down.

[gobbun]

Well that week felt like it went by quick! I’ve been sketching a lot of character concept stuff to figure out some of the features I want to have or possibly try out on the gobbun.

First up was overall height and shape. I really like the internets take on goblin girls as just these absolute shortstacks. Sir Mix-a-lot truly was a prophet. I’ve doodled a number of goblins in previous practice as I had mentioned, 3 head, 4 head, and 5 head, each having their own charm. As much as I like 4 and 5 head for proportions to keep things a bit more in the realistic realm, with this being a bunny crossbreed I thought that shorter, 3 head height would fit better for her. That will have more of a narrow chest and a push out at the hips, so either a bottom heavy hourglass or the oval ribcage and larger square for the hips.

Also since she’s a bunny, I really wanted to push the thick legs, them powerful kickers! Digitigrade and probably just end with some small foot paws, sorta kemono style. I want to blend the goblin skin and the bunny fur feel, so I’m going for a Felicia Darkstalkers like transition from skin to fur. Arms most likely as well. I’m still undecided on the hands or paws. Do I do small and cute, nondescript paws or big ferocious monster hand-paws with big claws or something. I’ll have to play with some more sketches to make a decision. Of course even though the main torso will be skin, she has to have a nice fluffy bunny tail. I typically do a more pointed tail, but maybe a round poof tail would be better? I’ll have to try that out.

Ears are another big decision point. I could go normal goblin, upwards bunny, or even larger lop-ear style bunny. I think I’m leaning towards having them be vertical, but with a big range of motion to flatten out like typical goblin ears. This will be her only ears too, not cosplay style where she has goblin side ears and bunny top ears. So I’m positioning them still on the sides, but pointing upwards. I think I’ll keep the outsides as goblin skin with a fluffier inside? I’ll have to do more sketches and color tests to make a real decision. I still need to try out more hairstyles. I kinda just made the one so far and ran with it, but I like it. It’s a bit messy with some ends that stick up, an ahoge, and I’m not sure what you call it, front pigtails? Twin tail bangs? I went with simple cylinders toward the bottom for now, but I may change those up to bows or something in the future.

Lastly I’m thinking one last furry accent, a neck poof of fur. Not sure how weird that will look once I move to color though, since the torso is all skin as well as the face. Do I have fur around the neck like a collar? I’ll have to play with that and see if I want to keep it.

Phew! Yeah, lots to consider still, but I’m really liking how the initial design is shaping up!

[goddamnwebcomics]

I’m unsure it was intentional on either your part or the comic’s, but you hit the nail on the head with the nickname B.B.; it’s a common wolf-themed name as the initials of Big Bad Wolf. Darkstalkers has a character called B.B. Hood based on Little Red Riding Hood, I remember an artsy visual novel called Adventures with Anxiety where the anxiety is represented by a red wolf called Beebee, and the main character of Fables (which is based on fairy tales) uses the similar Bigby. And there are a lot more, those are just the ones I can think off of the top of my head.

By the way, if it was up to me, I would’ve named them Warren and Aurora, after Warren Zevon (who wrote and sung “Werewolves of London”) and Aurora Aksnes (aka AURORA, who wrote and sung “Running with the Wolves”).

Oh really? I think B.B. would’ve worked way better than Bluebird, that would keep her mysterious, almost supernatural.

Also, what??? That’s where Kraw got it from???

[auranovabloggers]

Hi there people. Just wanted to give my personal words regarding how the process of helping @yourweebmystic with this Darkstalkers media drive was. Let me tell you, it was a journey. So... I don't know exactly when I started helping them with the drive, but the first anthology manga I bought was this one:

Vampire Hunter: Darkstalkers' Revenge by Sony Magazines. The biggest reason I bought this was because of the story, 'Monsters and The Secret of Immortality'. Why? Because of the way Mei-Ling looked based on some preview screenshots I saw.

A story with crazy details and designs for characters, I tell ya what. Eventually after that, just started snowballing where I would go on Buyee and ebay to find and purchase whatever manga Weeb didn't have in the drive. I'd scan, clean-up, and send the files to Weeb so she could get them into the drive so we could share with many of ya'll who likely never seen this stuff since it just is little known in the public eye and conscious of the Darkstalkers fandom. As time went on and we had a list of manga we had and didn't have, things started getting harder. Beyond scouring the typical sites to buy second-hand manga, I had to implore more unusual tactics to get what I wanted. Going to the Darkstalkers wiki that had very barebone entries on the different manga, they interestingly had ISBN (International Standard Book Number) of each manga on their pages. From there, I was able to hunt down some other tricky manga on other places, like amazon. The most bizarre one was on a website called abebooks.com from a co.uk part of the site. I'd like to share the cover of which one it was, but my receipt doesn't really help and I can't find any info to corroborate which Vampire Hunter Manga it was. But yeah, we would search high and low. And yes, we did quite a pretty penny to get some of these purchased. But in good time, we managed to track down, scan, and document them into the drive! And it was rewarding to be part of a passion project that a friend started. 😃

While there are now more official manga left to purchase, there are still stories that we could get translated. During the height of our hunt, we did translate certain stories...mostly those with Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling cause I am biased. But yeah. Maybe we will pick up one day with getting more translations, but for now we are pretty content. We got stuff to do and make. Cheers everyone!😎🤚

Did you know it’s officially the one year anniversary of the Darkstalkers manga drive? Maybe go do yourself a favor and check out some obscure, officially licensed Darkstalkers mangas (including audio dramas!).

And to those that are already aware of it’s existence, thank you to for showing support for the drive <333

Link to Drive

[wuzhere75]

I love WoF AUs that go “what if different eggs got taken for the dragonet prophecy” and we get a different set of dragonets for an alternate version of the 1st arc.

So yeah I decided to make my own (I’ve gone through a couple of different iterations, but this is the most current.

The quirk here is that I basically thought “wait what if the dragonets where everything Morrowseer had wanted”. Like they just ended up with with a perfectly normal set of a Mud, Sand, Sea, Night, and Skywing. No replacement-that-is-of-a-different-tribe-because-one-of-the-guardians-fucked-something-up. No obvious hybrids. They get left alone for another year, and emerge from the cave to the chaos of the events of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd arcs all at once.

(Also another quirk is that they are all related in some way to a canon character; Asha and Hviter are also still alive)

Bigshadow (She/They)

-She’s the big soft himbo-type character. Due to severe nearsightedness, they’ve always had difficulty reading/writing. The guardians just assume she’s dumb, but she really loves learning and art.

-I can’t remember if it’s canon that Secretkeeper and Morrowseer had tried to had dragonets before Moonwatcher and that they had “lost” them, but I decided for this AU, an attempt had produced a viable egg and Morrowseer decided “what would be a better dragonet to lead the dragonets of destiny than my own”, stealing the egg and flying through the night to the cave.

-Due to this, Bigshadow was partially exposed to the moonlight of the Brightest Night, giving her somewhat unreliable psychic powers. Most of the time she misinterprets them as being very weird dreams/intrusive thoughts.

-Shortly after Morrowseer did his year-prior check in, they start to feel a strange presence in their dreams and swear they hear someone calling to them from outside the cave when things are quiet (*cough* *cough* Darkstalker).

Mangrove (He/They) (yes I know there is already a canon character named Mangrove; it’s a sick name)

-Gumpy quiet sad man who’s in to medicine and nature

-In this universe, Gill gets a “funny feeling” during the Brightest Night and decides to take what would be Tsunami’s egg so he can “be with his new daughter during her hatching”. Webs, then, takes one of the male eggs instead when he breaks into the hatching room.

-The AU Sandwing minder; Jackal (more on her later), was a little too rough on him when was younger during fight practice (maybe I should have featured a scar somewhere in his design?). Due to this, he abhors violence.

Mole (She/Her)

-The softly spoken nerd who gets picked on for not being the big strong meatbag Mudwing the guardians had wanted. She has a secretly love for war history and is probably really good at strategically fighting (in a real world AU she would be an American Civil War or WWII nerd).

-Asha couldn’t get Cattail to give up Clay’s egg, so Crocodile (remember that lady?) gives Asha “her” blood red egg (she actually stole it from her sister, Toad) at the last minute.

-I originally had her as being from a non-blood red egg Crocodile just painting red but the Sandwing minder probably just would have incinerated her.

Coyote (Any Pronouns) (I’m not sure about the name; I wanted something related to new world deserts but not named after a cactus and I don’t feel like Gila or Mesa fit).

-Apathetic bastard who hates everyone except her adoptive siblings (basically as far as you could get from Sunny without being an outright evil asshole).

-In this AU, Dune never left the Outclaws (the dragonet that would have been Sunny is raised among them). Due to this, a different Sandwing minder was chosen from the TOP; Jackal.

-Jackal was…umm…very devout to the prophecy and willing to “weed out anything that wasn’t promised in the prophecy” (she probably would have killed both Glory and Sunny immediately, Starflight not having psychic powers probably would have set her off as well).

-Jackal stole the egg of her brother, Corsac, a general in Blaze’s army. Corsac and his wife, Bison, caught her in the middle of the act, but she got away (they would later have a son, Pronghorn, like the one from JMA).

Shrike (They/Them)

-The artsy goth kid who loves supernatural stuff (they go wild every time Hviter or Webs starts talking about amunism).

-Kestrel in this AU either doesn’t have Peril/Sky in the first place or chooses to fuck off into the mountains with her kids (perhaps with the help of Soar/Chameleon?). Maroon (name also pending), a different Skywing, is instead chosen. Due to Maroon being less “high profile” than Kestrel, he is chosen to steal the Skywing egg, being more familiar with what hatcheries are more or less highly guarded than others (unlike, say, Hviter).

-This version of the dragonets have made a giant cave mural with the help of Asha and the Maroon. Shrike is the primary contributor to this mural even though the other dragonets have “grown out of it”. Mostly, they paint Bigshadow’s “dreams”.

-They are intrigued by Bigshadow’s dreams and is the only one who thinks they are more than just dreams.

-They make jewelry out of bones from the prey animals the guardians bring them (originally I was going to include a necklace with some skulls and stuff, but that shit’s hard to draw).

-I had no smooth way of tying to fit this in but he is either the half-sibling or cousin (I haven’t decided) to the Skywing False Dragonet, Flame.

[eyesanddragons]

I have an issue with how the books handled Fathom and Turtle's story, cause like, okay Fathom ends his story still afraid of himself, okay, okay, that works, the story is tragic and no one gets out happy, okay, I can accept that.

And in a way Fathom lives through Turtle, I'm pretty sure Darkstalker outright compares them at some point (I have no citation of that but I remember it, uh, so take that as you will I guess) But still Fathom and Turtle have a lot of parallels to be drawn, with both being animus dragons terrified of themselves, characterized to be shy and rather pacifistic, and unassuming, oh and also both being seawing royalty.

But, Turtle still ends his story, and thus Fathom's story, being concerned with soul, which is strange to me cause IN HIS BOOK Turtle REFUTES this, page 272 Talons of Power: "Maybe losing your soul isn't the right way to describe it," Turtle said. "Maybe it's more like...the more you use your power for anything. It makes it harder to go back, only forward into more bad things."

AND REALLY ARC 2'S ENTIRE MESSAGE IS ABOUT BREAKING FREE FROM THE SHACKLES OF EXPECTATION AND FATE, THE IDEA THAT YOU HAVE OR WILL BE TO BE SOMETHING! But that's a completely different bigger post.

Turtle is a character shackled by his fear, scared of himself due to a perceived "destiny" and he ends his story still SCARED OF IT, and yes he says he's 'not scared of his magic anymore' but that just doesn't line up with what's happening in the text. DoD page 376 has this paragraph:

"The Soul Reader had revealed a much higher level of good than they have feared-and Turtle's own soul was almost entirely good to his delight." and page 377 has this: "That's all right," she said. "I know you're trying to use your magic as little as possible, I can figure it out some other way if I ever wanted to. Turtle tapped his skyfire armband. "But I can use it, if you ever need to. Qibli's soul spell is really well-written."

Now look, I have no issue with Turtle wanting to use his magic as little as possible, that's his choice, it's his magic.

My issue, is with the concept of The Soul itself, other than it just being a really cheap plot thing used to justify Darkstalker's fate, it's something that's really messed up when you think about it.

Turtle has a literal soul measurer, and I feel having an artifact that tells you how good or bad you are, "objectively", would mess anyone up.

Now I think the soul reader and the concept of Soul is complete nonsense so I'm biased, but you can see by his actions that Turtle is still, concerned with soul, he says he's not afraid anymore of his magic but, that's only because he thinks he's protected from becoming evil, and the idea that Turtle has to be protected from becoming evil, is a problem here. He hasn't actually moved on from the fear, his fear of himself, he has he just slapped a Band-Aid over it and called it a day.

He's not afraid...not because he's confident in himself and what he believes in, but because his friend gave him a spell that "protects him" as I said, its a band-aid that ignores the actual problem, and thats really sad

[eyesanddragons]

YOU FUCKIN GET IT! YOU GET IT! I love Moon's relationship with her powers so much because in-text she has been directly called out by Qibli. He says to her face that she focuses too much on people's thoughts and not enough on there actions which Moon is confused by, why would she not trust the thoughts of a person? After all those are the most inner workings of a person? This then leads to Darkstalker, because due to his manipulation and Moon's Worldview she's easily taken in by him. Darkstalker is her friends and Moon Knows Darkstalker has good intentions. Admittedly she doesn't know about the Icewing Plague or the many other things he did but this does affect how she sees him. And he is Manipulating her to feel Responsible for Him. Moon feels responsible for Darkstalker so she stays with him because of that. We really do need to talk about Darkstalker's Manipulative and Unhealthy Friendship with Moon more often I feel like it gets overshadowed by everything else but as you mentioned Moon doesn't really get that much time to be a character which is just really sad.

AND OH GOD THE VOLCANO THING YOUR RIGHT- MOON MOST LIKELY WOULD OF SEEN IT! Moon just has as lot of things going for her and I think it's sad that she gets relegated to Love Interest Position later on in the story. This actually causes many problems with her character relationships, you can't really get a good handle on how she feels about certain people. My go-to example of this is that Moon in Winter Turning is the one who gives Winter the grace period yet in Escaping Peril Moon wants to leave before it's up and doesn't think Winter will come back because he's "too loyal to his family" That line actually bothers me a lot cause it implies Moon has seen what his family...does to him and instead of being concerned she's taking that as evidence that Winter won't come back to Them and that just bothers me...It just feels uncharacteristically mean if that makes sense.

OK NOW ONE FOR MY HATERS....(DEVIL EMOJI)

WHATS UR LEAST FAVOURITE POPULAR CHARACTER?

(NO DISCOURSE OR JUDGEMENT FOR THIS REALLY THIS IS JUST AN EXCUSE TO COMPLAIN ABOUT A CHARACTER U DONT LIKE!!!!)

[shiftywing]

How would you rewrite Qibli?

qibli's a funny character for me bc i i think he has a lot of potential but in my own au/rewrite ideas i tend to change up his character a lot, mostly making him very gray in terms of morals (summed up a little bit here) so how he should be changed with the character he is canonically doesn't cross my mind often. i do have a few ideas, mainly that his flaws be amplified and he gets some actual consequences. like the guy was really out here creating sandstorm and burying literally everything and just seems to get away with it? i also think his arc about being power-hungry could've been a good one, but i don't actually remember it going anywhere? from what i remember he rejected darkstalker's offer because he didn't trust him, not because he didn't want the power (i may be wrong on this maybe, idk it's been a while since i've read the books). idk i just think he should be allowed to do more morally questionable things while at the same time being called out for it.