#it means so much to me and really emulates the efforts they've put into this group and each other

[into-the-voiddddd]

"Our dawn is hotter than day" - seventeen

[yandere-wishes]

Okay so not an ask more of a Headcanon based on observation and the character he is based on, but I see Honest Fellow as someone who would both idolize/emulate and resent the rich. By his design his clothes, while they pay homage to Honest John with the patchwork pantleg and the misding pinky tip on his one glove seem very well-kempt, on top of that his hat and cane are practically emaculate that cane alone couldn't have been cheap though I wouldn't put it passed the sly fox man to have either swindled someone out of it or stole it from them outright. Point is I'm getting wants to be a rich man but hates the rich people vibes.

All of that is set-up for my headcanon that if he ever had a S/O you can bet he would get them jewelry and expensive clothes. Basically just adorn them in finery he had acquired through whatever means (cough, likely stolen or purchased with dirty money, cough) and proudly have them stand by his side. The thought to use them as a pretty little lure to catch even bigger fish might cross his mind, but I doubt he'd ever use them like that. Personally, I feel like he'd be to possessive to do that even if his darling wanted to help like that, after all what if he let's them go off alone and someone tries to take advantage of his poor darling? He doesn't think they're weak or foolish per say but who could protect them better than him? I think he'd have a difficult time even leaving them alone with Gidelle (only 90 percent sure I got that right), of course he trusts Gidelle, well as much as he can truly trust anyone anyway, but he's the brains of the outfit and unless he's personally by his darlings side he won't ever be truly assured something won't go wrong.

Let's say that darling isn't quite so understanding or compliant, his possessive side would certainly get worse. He can't leave them alone for one second qhat if they try and sneak off. Perhaps to save his pride he'd be a bit delusional, they're just a sweet little naive skittish thing that doesn't know any better, possibly they've never known a love as deep and unshakable as his, it's only natural there would be a learning curve for them and who better than he to teach them? I highly doubt he'd ever use physical punishments on his darling, probably doesnt like punishing them as he thinks they are just still learning, but that doesn't mean he won't find other ways to punish them if necessary. I do think if they actively tried to run he wouldn't waste a minute getting something along the lines of a necklace with a chain, something fashionable but functional as a reminder while they're learning, if that reminder isn't enough though he might go for a bejeweled pet collar and leash. If all else fails isolation in a secure location with him as their only source of human, or well beastman, contact would certainly allow them to see how much they needed each other. Whatever he has to do to make them understand it'll all be worth it later once they're settled and he can spoil them like they deserve.

TLDR: Honest Fellow would love to lavish his S/O in (possibly ill-gotten) finery and would actively and proudly show them off on his arm. Everyone can look and admire, but only he is allowed to touch.

This has got to be the most effort anyone has ever put into something they sent in my ask box!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

Okay so right off the bat let me say that YES!! This is canon I don't care what anyone says.

I can see him as "wanting what they have" but "not wanting to be them". Essentially he wants the ability to give his darling the best of everything. Yet still ultimately preserving his own "personality". Like you said Fellow hates the rich. They're insufferable, self-absorbed and loathsome, but he'd be lying if he said he didn't crave the glitz and glammer.

Now I can kinda see Fellow only really interacting with his darling at first to use her as bait. Winning her over with expensive gifts and pretty cloths (all from dirty money ofc) and sure darling does start to fall for his tricks. But here's the thing, the moment his darling begins to show the tinest interest in him Fellow FALLS HARDER!! All of a sudden he doesn't want ANYONE near his darling! Just him only him. Sooner or later his darling will start to feel suffocated, she'll be desperate to get away from him. Forsaking the pretty presents and charming "boyfriend" for just a moment of freedom. But Fellow's a sly fox, always one step ahead. He knows how to ensnare his darling before she's even run away.

Overall Fellow will lavish you, treat you like a queen, getting you anything you desire (through underhanded means) but you'll never be allowed to leave him. Forever trapped by his side on the island of pleasure…

Quick question is Fellow meant to be the same age as the third years or is he older??

[twinklestarsprites]

Go play EGGCONSOLE

The Switch has basically turned into a game historian's dream come true, with classic titles getting ported, remade, remastered and localized for the first time all over the place. From Hamster's weekly Arcade Archives, to M2's fantastic as always work with Sega Ages, and Nintendo's own library available via their online service, there's no shortage of great titles for anyone who wants to revisit their own childhood, or just dive deep to better understand the past.

What I definitely didn't expect was for classic Japanese computer games to start ending up on the console, much less in North America. For a long time, these games have kinda had a forbidden fruit appeal for Westerners, a last frontier of games that was difficult to navigate due to the language barrier, the aging hardware, Windows cannibalizing all other operating systems during the 90's and of course, few of the games being exported over here, but it's gotten a lot better in recent years, mostly thanks to D4 enterprises.

They started with Project EGG, ostensibly Japan's equivalent of GOG, and after a few other ventures on various platforms, they've decided to port their most classic titles to Switch under the label of EGGCONSOLE, including, as I mentioned earlier, on the Western eShop. This seems odd at first, but considering the vintage of these games, they don't have that much Japanese text to parse, and often using joysticks and controllers back in the day, rather than keyboards, meaning they transfer to typical console controllers rather easily (you can still use an emulated keyboard in-game, if you wish).

As you can imagine, not all of the games have aged super gracefully; the action titles are straightforward enough, but the adventure games or RPG's with more complex systems and labyrinth-like levels are a bit too incomprehensible, though the releases have a lot of effort put into them to make sure you can see what they're all about, from level selects, to savestates to rewinds.

The three titles I've definitely put the most time into are Thexder, Silpheed, and Relics. Relics is definitely the most stymieing of the three, but it's so cool I keep trying to slog through it; it's got a body stealing mechanic which is always great, and a cool biomechanical aesthetic way ahead of its time.

But the two titles that are the easiest to get into are sort of a duology that compliment each other, as they're both by Game Arts and insanely impressive on a technical level; Thexder and Silpheed.

Silpheed is insane. I was aware of the Sega CD release before, but I didn't realize it was a sorta-sequel, sorta-remake of the computer original, and that it was basically Star Fox running on an 8-bit computer. I dunno how they got wireframes and polygons like this on the PC-88, but it's insane. The actual gameplay is pretty good, nothing compared to other shmups of the era and especially now, but the level design is pretty good and the weapon loadout select is pretty great, and adds a strategic wrinkle.

Thexder is a sidescrolling mecha-action title, and again, the technical prowess on display really steals the show. The animation on the robot as he lethargically strides forward, then turns into a plane blasting enemies down with an Itano Circus-type laser really makes the whole experience and feels really satisfying, even if the enemy layouts are a little too insane, at times. It's also nice to have a perfectly emulated version on a console since the Famicom version, developed by pre-Final Fantasy Square, was a bit of a disaster, and the PS3 remake (which included the original) is probably gonna be delisted soon.

It really does fill me with a glee that these titles are so much more easily playable now; you can really see how some of them shaped and molded more accessible contemporaries (such as the streamlined RPG's on the Famicom) while having their own identity that would never really be replicated. I'm super excited to see what other titles they rerelease down the line, though I'd really like to see titles from other platforms, like the PC-98, MSX or X68000. Looking at the upcoming titles, they seem to be sticking to PC-88 for now, but there's always hope for the future. For how much we (kinda rightfully) complain about game companies not doing enough to preserve the past, you gotta pay due respect to the few that are, to serve as a blueprint of what we need more of.

[suckishima]

Tadashi for the character ask please!

Yess thanks for asking!!

First impression: "that guy with tsukki" :(. figured he was doomed to be background fodder and i honestly didn't really think about him at all until he went to ask for help for jump floats and then i was like "oh? semi-relevant background fodder? to teach me, the audience, a new kind of serve?" lmao

Impression now: Yamaguchi Tadashi light of my life lol. he's so cool! he's got a good sense of humor and honestly he's snarky once he's comfortable with people and i love to see it. i also love the way he learns to combat his insecurities head on to become more comfortable with himself. i see him as being pretty action oriented rather than thought oriented—not to say he isn't smart, i definitely think he's got some brains too, i just mean i think he thinks of an idea and then acts on it pretty quickly once he's landed on it, and even when he is anxious about something, he still does something about it, he pushes forward in some type of way. plus his ultimate motivation of "i want my body to move the way theirs does, i want to be next to them and know how it feels to look that cool" i think is really fucking cool and relatable.

Favorite moment: this is so tough! but i think it's when he yells at tsukki during tokyo training camp. i think a lot about the courage it must have taken for him to run up to tsukki and even initiate that conversation, let alone let it escalate to the point it did. bc at that point tsukki has barely even tried despite having all the necessary tools at his disposal, but for yamaguchi he's been putting in actual time and effort to try and learn a new serve, and he's already been put to the test in a game and failed. he's already experienced the thing that tsukki is so terrified of, and yet he keeps pushing for more. and to see tsukki, this guy who he has admired and who has set the bar for what's "cool," to just not even try, of course he's mad about it! but to be able to gather that courage to actually say something about it i think is really impressive, especially when it becomes clear that they've never had a conversation like that before. it says so much about yamaguchi and his priorities/motivations.

Idea for a story: again, so many! but same for tsukki actually, i wanna write something that focuses on yamaguchi's time while he's the only karasuno first year player with the team while everyone else is at camps. great opportunity for bonding with the upperclassman, and yachi too!

Unpopular opinion: not sure i have one tbh. i guess i don't really like when he's portrayed a perpetual victim in fics. like yeah he got bullied as a kid but i think (assuming we're in a mostly canon universe) that he has the confidence now to stand up for himself in pretty much any situation. oh, and i hate the 'tsukki as his savior' trope. yamaguchi fights for himself over and over and over again in canon.

Favorite relationship: it's gotta be tsukishima doesn't it lol. i said this in my ask for tsukki too, but it's the push and pull. the way they each see something in the other (whether they individually acknowledge it or not) and want to emulate it, to be more like the other in order to be a better player and a better person, despite both of them knowing the real devastation that failure can cause. the way their shared experience with the akiteru situation affected them each differently but ultimately is the core of why they know they can push each other, so good.

Favorite headcanon: honestly this is almost canon with how many extras it's in, but he takes a picture of every dog he sees! sends them to tsukki. responses vary

send me a hq!! character 🏐💖

[happymetalgirl]

Opeth - In Cauda Venenum

Opeth's fan base still seems to be reeling from Åkerfeldt and company's stylistic departure from the very progressive death metal they helped pioneer and build a huge reputation on and to the growl-less retro-prog they pivoted so sharply to on 2011's Heritage and onward. I mean, Damnation and the softer gothic acoustic folk rock ballads sprinkled throughout their catalog should have at least cushioned some of shock to Opeth fans, but it still caused one of metal’s more prominent uproars of this decade and there seemed to be hopes for Åkerfeldt's growls and the death metal elements to return in some degree on the two albums that followed, and it seems to me at least that Opeth's fan base has only now come to accept that this cleaner prog rock retrocelebration is the band's solidified direction in this later stage of their career.

While I, like many other Opeth fans, revere and prefer the band's brilliant balance of death metal and prog rock on their pre-Heritage work, the band have certainly more than earned their opportunity (if you’re of the mindset that a band has to earn it), and fans' patience, to try out something new for them. Like most fans though, I have felt that this new direction has only halfway played to Opeth's strengths, and often come off as indulgent 70's prog worship rather than a fresh Opeth-unique take on it, which was most evident on the band’s most recent “observation” before this one. While it started off really well with its title track and "The Wilde Flowers", the band's 2016 effort, Sorceress, was a painfully unignorable exhibition of this lapse in songwriting to prop up this old-soul prog aesthetic and probably my least favorite Opeth album to date. I mentioned Opeth earning our patience earlier though, and this album is why.

While it was a trilogy, Pale Communion was my favorite of Opeth's prog-rock-era albums, but In Cauda Venenum has finally found them putting a more expressive and intriguing spin on this growl-free progressive rock sound they've been cultivating and is definitely the best album they've released in this style. While the past three albums, even in their better moments, have been rather laid-back and content to mimic prog legends, Opeth finally get back some of that grandiose instrumental ambition that lit up momentous and often conceptual albums like Blackwater Park, Still Life, Ghost Reveries, and My Arms, Your Hearse. The dual release of the album in Swedish and English editions makes the band’s larger artistic investment quite apparent just on the surface, as Opeth’s contextual gesturing often tends to be, but the band do follow through in the meat of the project too.

Once again, In Cauda Venenum plays with the growls and death metal on the bench (not fully retired for this analogy since they still stay true to their older songs’ original style at live shows) and with Åkerfeldt’s smooth clean singing and Joakim Svalberg’s synth playing taking more of the spotlight in their place, as the drumming avoids excessive double-bass and blast beats and the guitars rely not on on/off distortion to drive the loud/soft dynamic of the band’s more tempered prog rock sound. Opeth's quieter songs and their prog rock albums have highlighted their gothic flair, but this album takes it to a more exuberant level that I am glad to hear getting the spotlight again. The opening song, “Livets trädgård” (“Garden of Earthly Delights”), dims the lights for the album’s show through a smooth build of synth-orchestral ambiance before the pre-released single, “Svekets prins” (“Dignity”), breaks through the silence with bombastic, Devin Townsend-esque choral gusto and into a dynamic and deliciously riffed gothic prog ballad. The little touches like the chimes and the synth strings in the back do a lot for the song's various sections soft and loud, and the sludgy drums help give the harder sections this monolithic feel, while Åkerfeldt's hums give the softer sections their extra haunting edge. The album's lead single, “Hjärtat vet vad handen gör” (“Heart in Hand”), follows along a more traditionally heavy progressive rock/metal pattern, but with similar instrumental grandeur; the chugging riff underlying Åkerfeldt's soaring vocals and the faster, flashier guitar playing across the rather consistently turned-up, yet still adventurous, instrumental work (until the honey-sweet acoustic outro) show how even in this style, Opeth are not just reliant on loud/soft dynamics to drive their prog.

The song “De närmast sörjande” (“Next of Kin”) sways through a roller coaster of smooth rock fusion and explosive synth symphonics and guitar dazzling that give the song such a cinematic feeling to it, like it belongs in the climax of a Tim Burton movie. The somber piano balladry during the verses of “Minnets yta” (“Lovelorn Crime”) really turns up the drama in a way that Opeth don't often go for, and, while I wish it carried over to the more instrumentally enhanced sections, I'm loving it here. The strings that come in later to boost the heartfelt sorrow of the song and Mikael Åkerfeldt's harmonized vocals are absolutely gorgeous here. I kind of wish the band put the prog on hold just for this song and stuck to the somber gothic balladry they were playing with so beautifully, but the song still is a highlight for the album as it is.

The song “Charlatan”, for me, is another particular highlight because it captures a mesmerizing Meshuggah-esque groove in its prog-rock, something even djent-focused imitators can't seem to capture the essence of very often, if at all, even with 8-strings. Yet Opeth have done it here with your regular bass guitar and a little distortion. But aside from that, the dissonant synth work is a cool bit of flair for the track, and the band do well again to play excitingly with relatively heavy instrumentation all throughout the song's main portion before its hymnal outro.

“Ingen sanning är allas” (“Universal Truth”) finds the band kind of back in old habits with the acoustic prog worship again, though the swelling strings shine again through the relatively meager composition the band comes through with this time around. Despite showing off some high range, Åkerfeldt's mostly monotonous vocal melody feels more at home with Sorceress than the lush orchestration that carries this song. The creepily slinking bass-range piano melody of “Banemannen” (“The Garroter”) brings the album a sense of welcome darkness and tension akin to being followed through the woods. The woodwinds and the fluttering guitar embellishments sprinkled atop the lighter strings help give the song a sense of enveloping atmosphere, but it's the constantly shifting keys that give the song its attention-holding uneasiness as it shifts back and forth from paranoia to self-assuredness.

The 12-string acoustics and the prominent woodwind melody of “Kontinuerlig drift” (“Continuum”) are probably the only real differentiating elements on the track as the band find themselves slipping back into Sorceress mode again for a bit. I do like the more bombastic solo section in the song's middle, but Åkerfeldt sounds pretty tuned out by this point unfortunately, and the song could have used a bit more of the fantastical imagination that the previous tracks are so strengthened by. The closing song, “Allting tar slut” (“All Things Shall Pass”), fortunately ends the album on a theatrical and conceptual note with huge bursts of orchestral instrumentation and cymbal crashes backing thematic calls back to "Minnets yta" ("Lovelorn Crime") as Åkerfeldt's passionate vocal delivery guides the climactic and lush arrangement toward a fulfilling conclusion.

If they needed to, Opeth have certainly justified their shift away from death metal and into more bona fide progressive rock for the past eight years with this record, and it's because they finally stopped focusing so much on emulating their prog idols and trusted their own prog rock instincts and chemistry to bring out a unique and vibrant form of progressive rock. They've always been about going big and putting a lot into their music, and the massive orchestral instrumentation here helps fill the void the growls and blast beats left behind. And in a way, it feels very much like an old-school Opeth album just without any death metal involved. It's a heady, super-moody prog-fest with all sorts of twists and turns that feels like they have purpose and build toward a wonderfully fulfilling experience. Only time will tell, but I hope that this album serves as a breakthrough for the band, an artistic oasis after years of wandering through the desert of 70's prog imitation. I hope this guides them going forward as a blueprint for success in the absence of death metal. I hesitate to say they should have been doing this for the past three albums, but I don't know if they necessarily had to go through Heritage and Sorceress to get here, as this album builds on much of the signature dynamic from their classic albums with a sonic pallet far more expansive than anything explored on the past three albums. Regardless, I sure hope this is the album they chart their course with, as it is undoubtedly the more advanced form of their prog rock evolution.

Heritage's deliverence/10