#its so versatile and editable i love it. now you can finally use all the appends at once easily!!!!!

[bmpmp3]

I KNOW every person says this about every medium, art form, hobby, etc. ever, and always specifically about whatever time they get really really really into said hobby BUT i do genuinely think, at least from a software perspective, that we're probably on the cusp of some kind of vocal synth renaissance. the scene never died or even wavered, but with the sheer amount of new software coming out both paid and free, voicevox getting a singing update,stuff like OpenUtau making compatibility easier... i don't care for subscriptions so im only interested in their perpetual licenses but i will admit voisona's subscription model for voicebanks has a lot of benefits for those who just wanna use a voice maybe once or twice.... there are so many robots to make sing you guys. there are so many.

[recurring-polynya]

Hello! Long time lurker. I've really enjoyed reading your work and especially love Heart is a Muscle and the way you characterise all the different relationships in it! My ask is how do you think Byakuya finds out about RenRuki. I feel like it would be one of those moments where subconsciously he'd see it coming but at the same time still be caught of guard and manage to be very Byakuya about it.

This was one of those where I wasn't quite sure if it was an ask or a fic request, but the fact is I have an old chunk of story sitting around that addresses this very question. I guess I intended to someday throw this into some post-Heart is a Muscle story, and maybe I still will, but who knows if I'm ever going to get there, so you can have it now. Takes place after everyone gets home from the Blood War (where Rukia and Renji had to confess to each other in the middle of bankai training because I thought it would be cool it was weighing on their hearts)

(I wrote this in 2019 and gave it only light edits)

| read on ao3 | request guidelines |

⚔️ 🕶️ 💕

The sun was starting to go down when Kuchiki Byakuya arrived at Practice Field #3. On a normal day, work hours would be long over, although one might find an industrious officer out in this part of the division grounds, training on their own, or a few of the younger ones playing a game of pick-up football. Tonight, it was quiet.

It had been nine days since Kurosaki Ichigo had defeated Yhwach.

A young human girl was perched on the fence surrounding the field, chatting animatedly with Byakuya's ridiculous adjutant, who snapped to attention when he sensed the approach of his commanding officer.

"Good evening, sir!" Abarai Renji barked. "Thank you for agreeing to this! I hope you don't mind, but I asked Inoue Orihime to come."

The girl hopped off the fence and bowed deeply. "Hello, again, Captain Kuchiki, sir!"

"Worried that I won't hold back?" Byakuya asked with a coolly raised eyebrow.

"Oh, I know you won't," Renji replied. "She's here so that I don't hold back."

Byakuya guffawed, and one side of his mouth quirked up. "Congratulations, Lieutenant. You've finally managed to say something humorous."

"You feeling good today, sir?" Renji asked, just a tinge of concern in his voice. "You feeling up for this?"

"I am fully recovered, thank you," Byakuya sniffed. "Yourself?"

"Feelin' good, sir."

"Then let us begin."

"Oh, one last thing, Captain. Would you mind leaving your scarf with Orihime, here? I wouldn't wanna get my blood all over another one."

"Truly, Lieutenant, you are on a roll today," Byakuya noted, unwinding the scarf from his neck and draping it around Orihime's.

"Oooh, it's so light!" Orihime cooed. "It's like nothing!"

"I'll tell Kurosaki to get you one for your birthday," Renji teased.

"Are you ready now?" Byakuya demanded.

"Yep, enough stallin'. Let's do this."

Orihime hopped back up on the fence and called up a shield in front of herself. "Good luck, Renji!" she called.

Abarai shot her a wink and took up his position on the field.

Byakuya placed his hand on the hilt of his sword, but did not draw it.

Abarai drew his and silently released into shikai. He bounced lightly on the balls of his feet. "Might wanna release, sir."

"I shall be the judge of that."

Renji gave a little nod. "As y'like. BANKAI!"

It was common knowledge that Abarai had unlocked a second level to his bankai in the Royal Realm. Byakuya was looking forward to seeing it actually, but he wasn't particularly concerned about it.

Byakuya knew quite a bit about zanpakutou and their releases. It did happen occasionally that a sword would reveal itself in stages, but it tended to retain its essential character.

Hihiou Zabimaru was an excellent bankai, powerful and versatile. It required immense spiritual pressure, iron concentration and significant amount of mental bookkeeping, Byakuya was given to understand. It had served Abarai well in his ill-advised hijinks up until now, but the fact was, it would not be truly formidable until Abarai himself had another half-century or so under his belt. It was too bulky, too finicky, too fragile. There was no other way to master bankai like that, only experience. Byakuya knew a quite bit about bankai like that, himself.

Abarai launched himself at his captain, blade swinging.

Byakuya went to shikai as he drew his zanpakutou, petals pouring forth from his sheath and forming a shield in front of him.

Abarai's blade sliced right through it.

Byakuya flash-stepped away, sweeping Senbonzakura's blades into a more solid foundation, only to find them knocked out of the way by a giant skeletal hand. Another flash step, another regrouping, and Abarai was there again.

Suddenly, it dawned on him. Hihio Zabimaru had been a joke. A prank. A giant, heavy, impossible-to-use freight train that Abarai had taken in stride, as he did every other misfortune that fate heaped upon him. It was a shadow, an echo of Abarai's real bankai.

So-oh Zabimaru also took immense spiritual pressure to summon, that much was still true. But the bulk, the unwieldy mass was gone. It was as if though Abarai's new spiritual armor was plugged directly into his spinal column. It moved with him weightlessly, astonishingly fast.

Something else had changed, too. Something about Abarai's spiritual pressure. It was more unified, more focused, more together. For the first time out of the many, many times Byakuya had fought his lieutenant, he did not feel like he was being attacked by an angry, flailing youth, but that he was facing a worthy adversary.

Byakuya was being pressed harder and harder to defend against Abarai's assault.

And the fact was, he was not fine.

The injuries inflicted on him by As Nodt were grievous. He was lucky to be alive, and if it weren't for Kirinji's healing springs, he probably wouldn't even be able to summon his zanpakutou. His soul was damaged, and although he had made a miraculous recovery, he was not completely made whole. His speed was close to what it once was, and his bond with Senbonzakura was as strong as ever, but his power and endurance were greatly compromised. He could go to bankai if needed, but it was extremely taxing, and Shuukei Hakuteiken was, at the moment, out of his reach.

He thought it wouldn't matter.

Abarai had never even come close to beating him.

Abarai wouldn't notice such a weakness and furthermore, was too sentimental to exploit such a--

He had brought Inoue.

Abarai knew exactly what he was doing.

“BANKAI!” Byakuya called out.

Abarai smirked. “You shouldna let me get that head start, Captain.”

---

"Renji, he's waking up!"

The world swam into view, tinted orange.

"Hey, Captain!" Abarai's grating bark rang out. "How you feel?"

"I feel fine," Byakuya snapped, starting to sit up.

"Lie down please, I'm almost done, but not quite," Orihime said firmly.

Byakuya put his head back down on the ground, and replayed the last few moments of the fight in his head.

Abarai had come out aggressively, going to bankai immediately. He had never allowed Byakuya to gain a solid footing, and pulled out his strongest attack, which Byakuya had never seen, as soon as he possibly could. Byakuya hadn’t even been able to get a good look at it, he only had the impression of fangs before becoming completely overwhelmed. Abarai, who knew his attack patterns, who knew that it took him a minute or two to work up a full head of steam, had bet everything he had on defeating Byakuya immediately and it had worked.

It had been a rout, an utter humiliation.

Byakuya could still beat his adjutant, surely, but he could no longer plow him over with superior strength, and certainly not in his degraded condition. He was going to need to think up counterstrategies. And some of them were not going to work.

He looked down at his chest and realized that his shihakushou had been sliced from shoulder to hip, and was soaked, absolutely drenched with blood.

"You didn't cut me in half, did you?" he sneered.

"No, you were definitely all still, um, attached," Renji clarified.

"Not by much, though," Orihime mumbled.

Renji nudged her firmly in the shoulder.

Orihime waved her hands, and the healing bubble collapsed into nothingness. "All done!"

Abarai held out a hand. With a twinge of reluctance, Byakuya took it, and let the younger man haul him to his feet.

Orihime scrambled up, pulling the scarf over her head, and offered it back. "Thanks for letting me watch! That was a really fun fight! You're both so, so strong and it's so much nicer when no one actually wants to kill each other."

"Hey, we don't wanna keep everyone waiting, right, 'Hime?" Renji said, glancing sideways at his captain. "We got dinner plans, everyone's leavin' tomorrow."

"Yes, Rukia mentioned it," Byakuya replied dryly.

"You okay to--"

"Stop checking on me, you fool. I have said I am well and I dislike repeating myself."

Renji nodded quickly. "Thanks for the fight, sir. I'll see you in the morning."

Three hours later, Byakuya sat in his office.

He was thinking.

He was thinking about the current state of the Gotei 13, the captain-less squads, the loss of highly seated officers. He was thinking about his Third Seat, who had never exactly been lieutenant material and was currently on medical leave after having his sword-arm completely reconstructed.

Byakuya looked up at the sound of the door opening.

"Uh, hi, Captain," Abarai said, clearly surprised to see him. "What are you doing here so late?"

"This is my office, is it not?" Byakuya snapped.

"Well, sure," Abarai replied, walking over to his own desk. "I left my sunglasses here," he explained, sticking them on top of his head.

"It's dark out," Byakuya pointed out.

"I'll need 'em in the morning," Renji shrugged. He frowned thoughtfully, then pulled open his filing cabinet and withdrew a folder. "Speaking of which, I was gonna give you this tomorrow, but as long as we're both here..."

He crossed the room and extended it.

Gingerly, Byakuya took it, then squinted at the notation on the tab. "Strongly Worded Letters to the Management of Squad 11?"

Abarai's eyes widened. "Oh, no, that was just to keep people from poking around. It's actually...well, it's pretty obvious what it is," he finished lamely.

"You aren't ready,"' Byakuya snarled.

"I'm...what?"

"Yes, your new bankai is very powerful, it is true. But just because you have run roughshod over a few enemies with it hardly means you're ready to strike out on your own. You need more training, more control. A bankai like that can land you in hot water as well as it can save you. Furthermore, there's a shortage of competent lieutenants, it would be foolhardy indeed for you to set forth without experienced backup, and don't tell me you're even thinking of the Seventh. I have heard how you and Lieutenant Iba are when you two are unsupervised."

Abarai's face was twisted in utter befuddlement. "Sir, what are you talking about?"

Byakuya flipped the folder open and stared at the neat stack of papers within. "This isn't an Intent to Test for the Captains' Exam," he said, taken aback.

Renji made a choking noise. "No, sir! Cripes, sir, I just got a new bankai, why would I leave? I need you to help me learn to use it. An' I wouldn't leave you, anyway, not while you're still, you know. From the As Nodt thing. Also, who the hell wants to be captain of anywhere but the Sixth?" His voice rose steadily in both volume and pitch as he babbled.

"There is no need to shout, Lieutenant," Byakuya frowned, looking down again at the stack of papers.

It was a copy of form RHCA-48-006-C, an application to become a Family-Approved Suitor.

Stupidly, Byakuya's eyes drifted over the names written into the form's blank spaces. "With the submission of this form, Abarai Renji, Assistant Captain of the Sixth Division of the Gotei 13," (did he really need to write all that out? It barely fit in the space) "requests the approval of the Kuchiki family to court Lady Kuchiki Rukia, Assistant Captain of the Thirteenth and First Daughter of the Kuchiki."

Oh.

Oh.

---

Byakuya sat in the garden, on the bench near the koi pond. His brain was chasing about in aimless circles, much like the fish in the pond.

"Brother?"

He looked up from the water. His sister was still dressed, despite the late hour. Byakuya recalled that she had been out earlier with Abarai and their human friends. Her hair and makeup was different from the way she wore it for formal events, sharper, wilder. It seemed surreal that parts of the city had been reduced to dust, while others had come through virtually untouched. That despite it all, life continued on.

"Are you alright?" Rukia asked, her brow creased with worry.

Byakuya smiled at her gently, affectionately. He thought about the great lengths he had once gone to protect her from the world, and now she, a woman with one of the most beautiful and deadly bankai he had ever seen, was fussing over him.

"I am fine, Rukia," he reassured her. "Will you sit with me?"

He had expected her to perch at the other end of the bench, a nervous bird, always ready to take flight. Instead, she sat close to him, and with an egregious disregard for propriety, took one of his hands between her own, holding it in her lap. "Renji's sorry, you know. He thought he should have waited another week or two, but I said--"

"He should not be,” Byakuya said stiffly. “Another week or two would have made no difference. I do not wish to speak of it further."

"Did you have something to eat--"

"Did you know that my lieutenant is in love with you?"

It was dark, so he couldn't see if Rukia's cheeks turned pink, but he did catch the shy smile that crossed her lips before she turned her face away self-consciously. Long ago, he had caused her normally unflappable sister to make that face once, maybe twice. It was possibly his greatest achievement.

"He, ah, mentioned something to that effect the other day,"

Byakuya was fairly certain that Abarai wouldn't have proceeded without Rukia's buy-in, but he felt it prudent to double-check. "I take it you... reciprocate?"

She made a pleased little hum. "He only happened to mention it at all because I had just told him that I was in love with him."

Byakuya often enjoyed whimsically deriding his ridiculously hardworking and absurdly devoted adjutant, even more so in the presence of his sister, whose affection for the man had long been obvious, if not the degree of it. But he couldn't bring himself to make jokes, not right now.

"You do not need my permission to take up with him romantically," he pointed out. "You and I have had a long-standing agreement, that as long as you were discreet about it--"

"Renji and I don't want that," Rukia interrupted. "I mean, we do. We do want to take up romantically." She made an odd face at having to say the phrase out loud. "But you're very important to both of us. We wanted you to know. We… wanted you to approve."

Byakuya glanced over at the young woman who he had adopted so many years ago, and yet, had only recently become his sister. She was, in so many ways, much like himself in his youth. Brash. Stubborn. Willful. Too brilliant by half. Byakuya adjusted his hand in hers, and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"You know I am a sentimental fool," he began, and Rukia turned to look at him again with an expression he couldn't quite parse. "I think it is embarrassingly obvious how fond I am of both of you."

Emotion broke over Rukia's face. "It is not, Brother," she tried to scold him, though her voice cracked at the end.

"He hardly deserves you," Byakuya went on.

Rukia rolled her eyes. "The two of you are so--"

"But at least he acknowledges that, and seeks to remedy it," Byakuya ignored her. "I shall be watching closely to make sure he does not become complacent, but if he continues on his current trajectory, he may eventually become worth your affection."

"So, are you going to approve his stupid form?" Rukia asked.

"That," replied Byakuya, "is a different matter."

"Oh," Rukia said softly.

"Becoming a Family-Approved Suitor has nothing to do with whether or not I like him. It is an opening of negotiations, a proof of suitability for marriage. Surely, you two don't…" He trailed off when he saw Rukia looking away again.

"We've only just started figuring this out," she admitted. "But it's not...out of the question."

"Oh," Byakuya replied. He'd always had the distinct impression that his sister had little interest in matrimony, although he knew as well as anyone the difference the "who" of the equation could make.

"That presents...a difficulty," he admitted. "The Family would not take it well. They already think I have been too selfish in these matters.”

“That’s so short-sighted,” Rukia muttered. “So he doesn’t have much money or a name that goes six generations back. He’s got bankai. He’s incredibly strong. The family hasn’t even produced anyone who can pass the vice-captain’s exam in the last hundred years.”

"You misunderstand me, Sister," he clarified. "Bringing Abarai into the family would be a tremendous benefit to me, personally. I lack for neither money nor familial pedigree. The only thing I lack is a family line. A young man of immense spiritual pressure, with no family ties of his own, and an inexplicably fierce loyalty to myself would be of great benefit to our line and perhaps to our family as a whole. It would not be very advantageous to those who are jostling to prove themselves the best among a number of poor choices. The family has not been to war in a long time, and many forget how important it is to maintain our strength. I have not forgotten.”

Rukia’s eyes widened. “You wouldn’t name him…”

Byakuya made a horrified face. “Of course not.” He frowned. “Not for the family. But the Captain of the Sixth need not also be the head of the family. I told the Head Captain a year ago he was the only one I trusted to replace me in that regard, although I doubted my posthumous opinion would be respected. I suppose I should tell Kyouraku the same. This would make things a bit smoother, I suppose.” He was quiet for a moment. “I will need to think on this. I might.... I might need to talk to Grandfather. I… will do what I can.”

Rukia eased her hand from his, and slid her arms around his waist and leaned into his side. “Thank you, Brother. I love you.”

Byakuya closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He hardly deserved her, either. He pulled one arm out of her hug and rested it gently around her shoulder. “Thank you, Rukia,” he said softly. Another deep breath. “I love you, too.”

Her only response was to hug him just the teeniest bit harder.

[pensoluv]

what you’d gift your s/o in genshin, and reactions to you gifting them: albedo

(according to alphabetical order, playable characters edition, no children, teenage characters are paired with whose age I assume is the same as them) (gender neutral reader) (multiple options!)

Options

(ik y’all have different tastes and physical levels, so let’s goo <3 I hope some options also suit our peeps with wheelchairs/crutches)

Option 1:

After looking around Liyue (or asking the Traveler twins to help you look around) so you can get Albedo something he won’t usually find in Mondstat, you opted for a sturdy notebook. It was hardcover with a specific coating, so if your bf spills something from his experiments, his book would be undamaged. It’s also made with the finest Liyuean paper, with an ancient lost method, and thus was very hard to find, much less persuade its creator to sell you it. Hard-earned approval and a lot of costly materials went into it. You went an extra mile for it just because your studious boyfriend grumbled about the normal notebooks breaking easily. Sure hope he likes it! Not going to tell him how you got it though, at least not the details. Let him think it’s a simple gift. You wouldn’t want him to not use it at all.

Option 2:

You went hiking and scaled mountainous terrains to get Albedo the rare ingredients he wanted for a big experiment. Albedo likes to stay in and just purchase necessary ingredients, so acquiring those violetgrasses and qingxins would be impossible for him since no one in Mondstat sells those. You also went to the top of Starsnatch Cliff for cecilias. If he desired to use them in other ways, it would work too! Brightening up the place; commissioning perfume, potions or food; these flowers could be quite versatile aside from for experiments. You gently set them in a vase and left a note on his desk. The notecard is your favourite colour, so he’d know when he comes back from his lab. That’s the perks of him having an athletic adventurer partner <3

Option 3:

You have been complying all of your sketches of Albedo (for several weeks), and now that your sketchbook finally has a proper cover, it’s time. As you lightly cleaned up the sketches, you flip through and glimpsed into the memories you immortalised on paper. Some are charcoal/pencil sketches, some are watercolours, some are acrylic paints. You drew more than expected tbh, and you hope Albedo would like it.

One of the memories: When you two were in Dragonspine, you made him wear a husky beanie, fluffy earmuffs, fleece jackets and dog-paw mittens; while you wore your favourite boots, scarves and [winter clothing items of your choice]. He grumbled at first, but he retaliated when you agree to wear cat-ear earmuffs to his amusement. You got to draw your pink-nosed, boyfriend as he caught snowflakes in his pale palms, long eyelashes crystallised with snow. His eyes lit up as you smiled at him warmly. Even though you caught a cold and needed to go back, he carried you back afterwards. <3 you drew this one in your warm home, with him setting up the temperature mechanisms.

Reactions:

Option 1 (Liyue notebook)

Albedo is amazed at the special notebook you got him, and treasures it a lot while still using it. He only uses it for his greatest experiments, and to jot down your smol comments on what you like. He gave you a kiss and you sat in his lap while he studied his notes. You got more snuggles than usual <3

Also, he got super nervous when he accidentally spilled water on it, even with its repellent features, because it was a gift from you. It’s kinda sweet seeing him fuzz over things he won’t usually mind just for you. He also gets angy™️ when other people try to pry it away from him. You give him extra hugs for those cute moments.

Option 2 (Rare ingredients)

His face lit up at the gift but not surprised. You always do little acts of services for him and it warms his heart every time. He appreciated your effort in acquiring them and keeping them intact, since it’s challenging even for an adventurer. He was about to thank you and remind you to be careful if you planned to do dangerous things again next time, but he found you snoring with a wet head of hair (context: you showered before he came home). You must have been exhausted. He smiled and gently put a towel underneath your head, then readjusted the blanket to cover you snugly. He went back to work, but not before kissing you on your forehead.

You woke up to him making tea with the remaining cecilias after experiments. He definitely didn’t save them up just to make his partner smile with relaxing, aromatic teas. You grinned and leaped into his arms, and he had to catch both the cup of tea and you at the same time. Good to see your strength training with him paid off ;))

Option 3 (Your sketchbook of Albedo)

He’s super proud of your artistic abilities and internally ‘aww’-ed at how dedicated you were to fill out an entire sketchbook with his image. He blushed when he saw your drawing of him wearing husky beanies out of embarrassment and the cuteness of you drawing that in the first place. You got more hair ruffles <3

He let you take his introverted self out more, seeing that you loved spending time with him so much; and began to secretly make more artwork about you as well. He also praised your work a lot and would show it off to his other more artistically-inclined acquaintances if they happen to visit.

[dailycharacteroption]

Beastmaster (Pathfinder 2nd Edition Archetype)

(Art by Konstantinos Skenteridus on Artstation)

 Some players and GMs dislike companion creatures, but those that love them often really love them, and there are always those who wish they could have multiple at once.

First edition did this a few different ways, with druids, rangers, summoners, and even occultists if we count that sha’ir archetype, but since those options gave you your multiple companions all at once, many considered them to be tedious in all but experienced hands, with a single player’s turn taking up a considerable amount of time as they decided what each companion would do.

While I disagree that this was so bad that it needed to be gotten rid of, today’s subject for 2nd edition offers a solution by having the character have access to only one companion at a time, dismissing the others to forage and hunt while remaining close enough by that the hero can swap them out as needed.

The Beastmaster, no matter what their base class is, prove to be quite capable figures that can always rely on their various animal companions to have an answer to the current conundrum.

What is true of all beastmasters is an uncanny gift for understanding animals, which allows them to befriend and bond with more beasts at a time than most. They might have a supernatural ability to communicate empathetically with animals, or simply understand them more than they do people.

 The start of gaining this archetype grants an animal companion, which can be in addition to any other animal companion that you may have. Once you have more than one, you can switch between them by calling them while out in the wilds.

Naturally, one of their earliest feats grants yet another animal companion. Such a beastmaster can only master up to four animal companions at a time total, including those gained from classes.

These companions are so loyal because of the care that these naturalists give them, and as a result, one of the most common tricks that they learn is how to heal their companions with minor magic.

Another such spell lets them thicken the hide of their current companion to better protect them.

The advantage of being a beastmaster is that all of their companions mature at once, gaining greater strength and autonomy.

With their knack for communing with beasts, they can gently coax the behavior of most any beast, not just their companions.

For many, their empathy with animals transcends to a form of magical telepathy, allowing them to see and hear through the senses of a companion, at the risk of being unaware, which can be quite useful for scouting.

They can also push their companions to fight harder and move faster, causing them to perform more actions at the cost of their own time.

The beastmaster’s companions also continue to develop as well, gaining their full potential.

The potential telepathy of a beastmaster can also become a more commonplace thing, letting them issue orders mentally from a distance.

Enlarging companions is a staple of using magic to support such beasts in combat, and these naturalists can learn to do just that.

Calling upon their companions spiritually, beastmasters can briefly gain the support benefits of a non-active companion for a brief moment.

As one might expect, they also learn to fight in deadly tandem with their companions, overwhelming foes.

Like any good companion-based class, this archetype eventually grants all companions a specialization.

Finally, the most powerful beastmasters can have multiple companions present at once, though their ability to command both is somewhat limited.

Do you love animal companions? Do you wish you didn’t have to pick and choose just one? Do you want a versatile selection of animal friends to tackle any situation, such as a mighty beast for combat, a smaller one for scouting, and so on? This archetype might be for you. Picking it for any class that already grants companions puts you on the fast track to having multiple, but if you’re willing to dedicate the feats to it, any class can use a strong animal buddy or three, be they bodyguard for a caster or a steadfast ally for a martial type. Naturally, any feat options that make you better at supporting allies are good choices for any such build.

 Good roleplay with an animal companion is a desirable part of roleplaying any companion class, and that’s especially true when you have multiple. Consider how it is that your character met and bonded with each one, to say nothing of their individual personalities.

  Distraught and worried, the beastmaster Milas cannot find her hawk companion, and is desperate enough to ask for help searching the forest for him. The culprit of this birdnapping is a curious ittan-momen, which is torn between decideing what to do with its new captured plaything.

 Blooded with the power of the element of air, Birdcatcher Norki does not catch avians for food, as other goblins might, but rather, to make friends! The goblin sylph is always looking for new birds to befriend, and is especially excited about the prospect of finding large running birds from across the sea.

 Legends tell of a brave and daring warrior and beastmaster who once sought revenge against a terrible evil, and succeeded. That was half a century ago, and now the granddaughter of that warrior seeks to emulate his legacy, but she has yet to bond with any sort of animal yet. In fact, most seem to avoid her.

[tommybaholland]

Hiya! I was wondering if I could request a one-shot with Sugawara where the reader is his best friend and secretly loves him but he doesn’t know? Then maybe another person catches his attention and the reader starts to distance themselves from Suga to try to spare themselves the hurt? Then maybe turns out the other person was just using Suga/wasn’t serious bout him and he realizes that the person he really loves is the reader but now they’re staying away from him and just angst and fluff and dramatic confessions?? Sorry if it’s far too much detail, I get carried away. Your writing is amazing, keep up the fantastic work!

somebody, some body

featuring: sugawara 

goddddd i’m so sorry i am late with a post AGAIN. this has been way overdue to be posted actually, and last night i finished it and was almost done with editing but accidentally lost everything i added and edited in the draft :// so thank you for being patient with me! this ended up being pretty long, so hopefully that makes up for the wait :) anyway, i really liked this idea! i have a little personal experience with this kind of situation, so it was fun to explore those feelings a bit. thanks for requesting and enjoy!

you didn’t always know that you would be in love with koshi sugawara. your dynamic was always friendly, and nothing more. so where did you go wrong?

when you think back to your history with suga, you could never find yourself resenting any time you spent with him. it all started when you moved into his neighborhood and as a shy child, you didn’t have the easiest time making friends. but he was a kind boy who was around your age and made it easy for you to form a bond with him. after all those years, neither one of you had changed that much. you were still reserved at heart but, he was the one who pushed you to things that you both could enjoy. 

one is joining the high school volleyball club together. you weren’t usually one to go outside of your comfort zone, but with him, you felt like you could do anything. he had you fuel your enthusiasm and you had him to thank for that. volleyball ended up being a great idea because it was quite a versatile sport that anyone could play. you found that you were quite athletic and took a liking to the libero position. there was just something exciting about digging a ball off the ground and rolling on the floor to get back up again. also, it looked pretty cool. 

so that was great until you hurt your shoulder during a game, which ended up being more severe than it seemed. now you couldn’t lift your left arm very far over your head unless you wanted to dislocate your shoulder again. it was already a tough recovery period because all you wanted to do was get back to the game. 

he was there with you for the entirety of it and even though he mostly encouraged you, he had to make sure you knew you wouldn’t do anything to hurt yourself. you felt helpless. it was the lowest he had ever seen you and he did everything he could to lift you back up again.

that was something you could never take for granted with him. 

the thing about you and suga is that you were in constant contact, especially during school. if it wasn’t sending each other funny memes or tiktoks, you were either on snapchat with each other or texting. sometimes simultaneously. 

are you alive?? 

yeah i’m awake, unfortunately

what do u want sugar-wara 

whoa how are you up this early lol and sugar is my thing ok

let’s go get sweet buns before class

ur right, it is ur thing. ur sugar-wara

okay i’ll meet you by the light in 15 

there was a lonely intersection in your neighborhood with a red stoplight that seems to have malfunctioned and now the light never stops blinking. you and suga lived on the same street, with the intersection being a perfect place to literally meet in the middle. 

“hey, sugar-- uh oh. someone doesn’t look so sweet today!”

he was always so peppy in the mornings. 

“yeah, well, maybe if someone didn’t wake me up with their annoying texts..”

“if you really don’t want to be woken up, you’d put your phone on do not disturb. you can thank me later for being your alarm clock.” 

he gave you a bright smile and a few head pats before you set off down the road to your favorite bakery which happened to be on the way to school. you didn’t go every morning, but most days it was necessary for you to start your day off right. 

“how’s the team looking this year, mr. vice captain?”

“pretty good, actually! four first years joined the team and one of them’s over six feet tall. our blocks will be unstoppable!”

 there were several things you loved about suga but, if there was one thing you enjoyed most, it was hearing him get psyched about volleyball. even though you couldn’t play anymore, his undying enthusiasm for the sport made you feel like you were living through him vicariously. 

“and there’s one who’s on the shorter side, only a little taller than noya. but he seems to have so much energy and drive, it’s just-- i don’t know, i have a feeling we could actually make it to nationals this year.” 

“wow, that’s great!” 

“you should come to practice and see them! also we just got asahi back so i need to make sure my sets really land.” 

“kou, you know i love watching you guys but isn’t that what kiyoko’s there for?”

“well, yeah, but you know how i play best!”

“yeah, sure. it’s not like i have anything better to do.” 

“you never let me down!” 

 his smile never let you down. 

it was your senior year of high school and it felt like things were going to be nothing but great.

“so...speaking of you knowing me best,” he started rather hesitantly.

“what would you do if i...made you dinner?”

“i...what?”

“oh, uh, oh, no. not, like, i make you dinner but, like...rei finally agreed to come around tonight and i thought i’d make something for them.”

“oh, um,” you tried to force a smile. “yeah, i think they’d like that.”

“yeah? you don’t think it’s too cheesy or anything? we haven’t hung out very much but i’d thought it would be a nice way to show them that i mean what i feel, you know?”

“yeah, yeah! that sounds perfect, kou..”

if only they knew that they were so lucky. 

you knew about this person, rei. they were your teammate and even a friend at one time. they transferred to karasuno during your second year and you bonded over your shared interest of the libero position. they didn’t get to play much that season until you got injured and had to quit playing. 

to see them fill that position so easily, it made you feel so type of way. a way that suga couldn’t know because even though he was there for you, he couldn’t deny his feelings. you remember when he told you that he liked them. about how he’s liked them ever since they came to karasuno and about how he was nervous to talk to them. 

and guess what?

you encouraged him. you encouraged him to try to pursue someone who you knew and liked, so now you had to hide that you were envious of both their position on the team AND the fact that your best friend is in love with them. 

at first, you tried to look at it as a positive point. you were still friendly with them, but volleyball was the only thing that connected you so you didn’t talk to them that much anymore. but now that suga, the person you’re closest to, was talking to them, it opened up the possibility that you would be able to reconnect with them. you had to be supportive. you were his friend, his closest friend, after all. 

-

the next morning you didn’t wake up from a text from suga. no, it took several snooze buttons to wake you up, which already put you in a bad mood. 

it’s ur turn now. are u alive??

i actually woke up to my alarms, how weird. u must be dead lol 

also have you done the english assignment yet? i need serious help >_<

you weren’t afraid to double, triple, even quadruple text him because more often than not, he did that to you. sometimes he’d even send longish paragraphs as he did later that day when classes had already started. 

hey sorry today has just been filled with fun and thriving and good stuff! rei asked me if i wanted to meet up with them before school last night and they made me some sweet buns and they were soooo good. i think we’re going to eat lunch together with some of their friends from vbc. ugh english sucks for me too. idk why you think i’m good at it

you almost jumped at the gesture to reply. it was never this long that he would go without text you at least one dumb thing. 

haha it’s okay don’t be sorry! so i guess last night went well?

also ur great at english sugar-wara what r u talking about??

it surprised you how quickly they seemed to become so friendly. it was kinda weird that he would already be spending a lot of time with her and now meeting all her friends. he probably already knew of them though, with volleyball and everything. the thoughts of how long you would have to wait for a reply crept in your mind, but that was quickly erased by an elapsed period of only a few minutes. 

yeah it went great! they had never had someone cook for them before, so they really liked it. this morning they told me they’d show me how to make fried eggs bc i said i dont know how to use a stove lol 

wait you made a whole meal for this person and u don’t know how to use the stove??

i used a crockpot and microwave ok :// don’t make fun of me dingus 

well a stove would definitely broaden ur horizons lmao that’s nice it went well though 

thank you i hope its going well 

that conversation was truly the end of the beginning. 

Every day after that seemed to happen the same way. you’d wake up, no text from suga. he hadn’t even replied to what you last said the previous night. you didn’t see him much either, but you knew who he was with probably. you would still stop by at volleyball practice where you did get to see him but they were there also. so you found yourself dipping out a lot more. 

it just felt weird. seeing him talk to someone he didn’t even know before. they didn’t even know him. even when you two were on the team together, they never once showed much interest in him and now it just seemed strange that they would. 

the transition was particularly difficult for you, as much as you didn’t want to admit it. one night you were so overwhelmed with work because you had waited too long to do it. frantically texting suga was an understatement. 

you knew you couldn’t put all your reliance on him but it was weird that he wasn’t replying on a school night as he was just as much a procrastinator as you. you dragged yourself through the night, trying to put together a somewhat coherent speech for english the next day. which, again, started as it had for the past few weeks. you still hadn’t heard from him, but it doesn’t even matter anymore. by the time he replied, it was almost embarrassing on your part. 

oh my god y/n i’m so sorry i didn’t reply sooner. i tried to get all my work done early so i could hang out with rei last night and i was asking my mom for advice and she told me to just pay attention to them as much as possible so i just wanted to be with them, you know? but i really hope you didn’t beat yourself up too much about it and that you got at least a little sleep. i’m sure your speech went well :) 

you sounded desperate for his help and meanwhile, he’s genuinely trying to show someone how much they mean to him. could you look any more stupid? 

you didn’t even want to reply but you felt like you had to. 

no don’t be sorry koshi! if anything i’m sorry i was just super frustrated in the moment and didn’t know what to do. i managed to pull something halfway decent together i think so it’s all okay now 

was it okay though? 

that was when you realized that things would never be the same. you’re his best friend and that’s simply it. you mean something to him, but not the same something that they mean to him. you couldn’t go to him when you help because then you’d be taking his time away from someone who wanted to feel that special meaning. it was a hard pill to swallow, for sure. but there were still several questions that lingered in the potential of what your relationship could be.

isn’t it possible to be both a best friend and a partner at the same time? you didn’t see any problem with it, so why couldn’t it be true? 

-

two weeks past and suga, your best friend, decided to let you in on some news. 

going up against all these powerhouse schools is definitely tough but it’ll help our team in the long run. we’re really amped to play seijoh soon but also i have an s/o now who can come and cheer us on 

WAIT you guys made it official?? when?

haha we’ve been official for like two weeks now 

oh well that’s great! 

(what the actual hell.)

months went by and you saw suga maybe two or three times. and only saw him, usually with the rest of the volleyball team or with rei and their friends. you texted now and then but it wasn’t the same. you had to accept that it wouldn’t be the same, so you did. you had a good group of friends who you spent more of your time with, as well as trying to focus as much as possible on school. entrance exams were coming up and you couldn’t let this be your downfall, even though you and suga had previously talked about possibly going to the same college together. but that wasn’t important anymore. 

you had your priorities and suga had his. 

which was the biggest reason why you decided not to go to the game against aoba johsai. you told him that you would try to make it, if schoolwork and college prep courses would lend you the chance. you were just trying to focus on yourself and work hard in on your own. you still texted him just to show that you still cared. 

sorry i couldn’t make it to the game! how did it go?

we lost :’(( we were so close too 

oh no :( i’m sorry kou. but i know you guys will get them next time!

he never replied, which only made you want to grow further from him. 

summer vacation rolled around and it was about a month out from suga’s birthday. a strange text appeared from someone you didn’t expect. 

Hey so I wanted to get manga for suga for his bday but I cannot for the life of me remember which ones he has so can you try to casually ask him which ones he has? like the next time you guys talk about manga or something?

you felt weird that they were asking for your help, considering that they now spent more time with him than you did. but you weren’t going to completely ignore them either.

to be honest we haven’t talked a whole lot lately but i’ll try to subtly ask him 

Okay awesome thanks!

what were you thinking of getting him?

Deathnote lol nothing original

hmm maybe the new aot volume? 

Yeah, that’s a good one. Or maybe BNHA

yeah that too! do you still want me to ask him? 

Yeah could you? 

yeah sure!

Yay thanks! 

okay i’ll let you know what i find out

going through with this was even worse. if it were you, you’d take him to see his favorite artist in concert. he wasn’t never much of a concert guy but he would talk about how badly he wanted to go see them live. or a more lowkey and personal option would be to customize a crewneck for him. you had a knack for designing and decorating plain-looking clothes and he would try to do it himself but would always remark how much better yours always turned out. 

but this time you’re simply the messenger and wouldn’t get that chance to get him something you know he’d love. not that he wouldn’t like manga, but it just seemed like they weren’t putting a ton of thought into it. maybe you couldn’t blame them though, it had only been a few months that they had been dating. 

that conversation honestly seemed more out-of-the-blue than anything, but you were hoping that suga would be as oblivious as ever. it didn’t even matter in the end because he never even answered your subtle way of asking. you didn’t feel like double texting because a.) you hadn’t done that in months and b.) it seemed too obvious. 

in the end, you did all that you could do and told rei that you had no information to provide, even after a week had passed. that was your, now monthly, interaction with suga that month. 

but it wasn’t like you weren’t thinking about him. 

your interactions moved from text to strictly snapchat, where you would hold streaks for considerable amounts of time. but every time you seemed to break contact with him, you found yourself blaming them. but you couldn’t blame them. they were with him, dating him. they had a right to claim a spot by his side. you had learned to pull back and just live your life. 

but life didn’t want you to have a great time either. albeit through a simple app like snapchat, he was the one asking you if you were okay. at this point, you would probably just deflect but somehow, you found yourself telling him about how you didn’t do so well on your entrance exams, despite having done what you could to prepare for them. you just thought you were so focused to do well, but maybe it was too much focus. you told him it would be alright. another notification came through.

snapchat from sugar wara  

you opened it to a selfie of him, one that was angled upwards to position him looking right up into the camera, his wide hazel eyes being the centerpiece of the photo. the caption simply said, “promise?”

and that was when it happened. you felt something different in your heart like it was knocked around in your chest. you smiled at the simple response and replied, “yeah i promise!!” 

it felt strange, but you finally admitted it, 

you were in love with koshi sugawara. 

timing was, without a doubt, a demise in all of your previous relationship endeavors. you could never seem to get that part right, also coming in too fast or not knowing if you should wait. you had only hoped that someone you liked would like you just as much. so catching feelings for someone, strong feelings at that, was not part of your current life plans. let alone with suga, someone you were, at one point, extremely close to. 

you know so much about him and what scared you was that your confession would be the only one that could mess up whatever relationship you had left with him. why couldn’t you just enjoy where you stood with him? why should your selfish feeling have to get in the way? 

stupid was an understatement as you how you felt. he was still dating rei, and that didn’t look like it was going to end anytime soon. you didn’t know what to do or how to cope. you can fight your feelings, but they can’t change right away. and for as long as you’ve known suga, the history you’ve shared with him, it seemed like these feelings weren’t leaving anytime soon. 

you spent the next couple of weeks trying to get everything out, while simultaneously trying to forget. you vented about it to your friends and while most of them offered advice, you stuck with just remaining stagnant. one of them suggested that you confess to him but that was what you feared most: that your feeling would become so overwhelming that you had to do something impulsive to relieve them. he would probably never talk to you again. there was nothing you could do. he was in a relationship with someone he really likes. why would you try to ruin that for him? 

you didn’t go to any of the preliminaries, mostly because of prep courses and trying to prepare for the next round of entrance exams. you still kept up with suga and saw that they won in the game against seijoh and we now going to the finals against shiratorizawa. you swiped up on his story and typed a simple, “omg that's amazing!! see I knew you guys could do it.” you continue to scroll through your phone, not thinking that much about it until a notification popped up.

sugar wara is typing…

snapchat from sugar wara

yeah it was great! Wish you could have been here though :(

me too! college prep courses seem to have been taking up all my time :P

is there any chance that you could try to find time to come to finals? 

we've been trying to get all the support that we can

plus it would be nice to see a familiar face there :) 

yeah i'll see what i can do to try to be there!

 wymd a familiar face? hasn't rei been going to the prelims?

they have been but we actually broke up about two weeks ago

i sort of initiated it but i promise it's okay

your eyes almost fell out of your head when you read that 2 weeks ago you were talking about how you were in love with him and were and decided to accept that it wasn't going to happen. now you're hearing that at the same time they had broken up? It seemed odd and... bittersweet. 

oh no i'm sorry kou :(

you bit your lip as you couldn't help but ask.

wdym you initiated it tho?

so kageyama has been killing it as our setter especially with his quick attack move with hinata 

rei was worried that i wasn't being treated fairly bc i'm a senior and vice-captain and all that. i tried to reassure them that i just want to see our team thrive and go to nationals but they still were worried about it and would talk about how they would go to games and never see me play once

it's been hard especially that it happened right before the seijoh game and now before finals

yeah i'm sure it's been difficult 

but don't beat yourself don't blame yourself so much! the team needs your support just as much as it needs players. nobody could replace that :)

thanks y/n :) i appreciate you so much

although you thought you would be happy, you can’t help but still feel weird about this whole thing. you felt like the ball was in your court but your bum arm couldn’t receive it properly. your feelings for him had been strong and you felt like you had to pack them all the way so now it just felt wrong to let them flow out again. but now that there was no conflict of interest, did you have to hide your feelings? 

it was more complicated than it was before. you didn't know how anything was going to play out at all and that kinda scared you. you did know one thing though, and that was how to be a loyal friend to suga because that's all you ever were from the start and that's what you could and would be for the future.

-

it was the friday before the finals game. 

you decided to stay late after school to maximize your focus on studying. it seemed to have worked because the sun was going down before you knew it. you wanted to get ahead on work so you could go to the game tomorrow. you and suga had been talking more recently and while it wasn’t as much as it used to be, it was more than it had been in the past several months. 

you quickly gathered up your things and left school for the night. the pretty orange and pink sky lit your way home through the quiet town and into the residential parts. at that point, the dark had met and light and-

“y/n! hey, wait!”

you turned to see none other than suga, jogging up behind you to catch up. you smiled at his sudden presence, looking past him to see the small group of the rest of the team. 

“hey! funny seeing you here.”

“yeah, haha,” he chuckled, catching his breath from suddenly running a considerable distance. “are you going home?”

“yeah.”

“can i walk with you?”

“of course.”

great! so i’m guessing you stayed late at school? you’re still wearing your uniform.”

“oh, yeah,” you affirmed, looking down at your monotonous outfit. “i just wanted to be all caught up on work and studying so i could go to the game tomorrow.”

“oh, yeah? that’s good to hear! yeah, we were-- we just had a late practice. coach left before us but we wanted to stay a little longer.”

“i hope you guys win tomorrow, it seems like you’ve been working really hard.”

“yeah, i hope so too. we’ve come a long way in such a short amount of time, it just feels like we can’t stop now.” 

you nodded in agreement. there was a beat of silence just then, and while it wasn’t awkward, it felt like something was lingering in the air.

“so, um,” he spoke up after several seconds. his eyes met yours and you felt that pang in your chest again, quickly looking away. “it’s been a while, huh?”

“yeah. yeah, it has, i guess,” you laughed lightly. you reached the intersection with the never-ending blinking stoplight and you turned around to face him.

“but i guess i’ll see you tomorrow, right?”

“yeah. yeah!”

“okay, get some sleep. goodnight.”

he nodded and you grinned at him before turning around to walk the rest of the way home until his voice stopped you again.

“hey, y/n?”

“yeah, kou?”

he looked down and all around, anywhere but your face.

“i, um, i know things have been kinda weird between for a while but it’s made me realize that i missed you, a lot.”

“yeah, i missed you, too.”

“but it’s also made me realize that i enjoy spending time with you and talking to you. like, even now, just talking to you makes me feel-- i don’t know. it makes me feel at ease like i’m home. and i’d really like to spend more time with you because i, um, i really like you.”

“you, you what?”

“i really like you, sugar.”

in all the ways you had imagined this happening, you never thought that you would feel your face fall to a frown, your heart beating in your ears. something just didn’t sit right with you about it.

“i, i, i don’t know what to say...”

“it’s okay if you don’t! i just wanted to tell you.”

“but why are you telling me this now?”

“do you-- do you not feel the same?”

“no. no! i’ve been wanting to hear you say something like that for so long, it’s just. you broke up with rei not too long ago and-- i don’t know. something isn’t right about it.” you shook your head, unsure of what you were trying to say.

“it’s how i feel,” he shrugged. “i just wanted to tell you and have a good feeling to hold onto to make tomorrow a little easier.”

you looked at him in disbelief.

“oh, so you think you can confess all that to me right before this big game and that i’ll automatically reciprocate those feelings when you just broke up with someone not even a month ago? i’m not a second choice--”

“no, sugar, listen, that’s not how i meant it at all--”

“no sugawara.” those words made him go quiet instantly. you never used his full name, there was always some sort of play on it, so this was serious. 

“maybe that’s not how you meant it, but that’s how i’m taking it. i’ve been wanting to tell you for so long how i felt but i wanted to respect your feelings so i didn’t. so please, respect mine. i’m not the good luck charm that you can just confess to and expect that it’ll all be okay. this just isn’t right. i’m sorry, koshi. 

your voice broke as his name left your lips, tears beginning to fall. you didn’t even give him a chance to respond, a rush of adrenaline telling you to quickly turn and get out of there. 

-

you didn’t get much sleep that night. 

it was hard not to think about your conflicted feelings over suga’s confession. you had hoped for that moment for a long time but the timing simply wasn’t right. how funny and ironic is that? you thought your timing was off. maybe you were meant for each other in that way. you couldn’t help but let your feelings get the best of you and you were beginning to become what you feared most from him. you thought he would immediately reject you and make you feel bad about ever saying anything about how you felt. but the roles are reversed and that was the part that blindsided you the most. 

you didn’t think that how you reacted was wrong but you also couldn’t imagine how he was feeling right now. he just wanted to feel good right before a big game but that backfired right in his face. some might call it karma, but part of you thought he didn’t deserve it. 

the pressure was setting in as the game went into the fifth and final set. what made it worse was kageyama wouldn’t be starting that set, his nose bleeding from the spike he took to the face. suga was genuinely thrilled to be a teacher, a mentor, and a support system for his fellow teammates. he didn’t mind that another, rather talented, setter had joined the team because that meant he wouldn’t have to worry about passing the position over to someone who he thought didn’t deserve it. 

he almost forgot he was actually a player on the team when everyone looked to him to fill in. this was his moment and it just happened to be at the most overwhelming part of this game. Both teams were tired while simultaneously running on pure adrenaline to see who was going to come out on top. 

suga had an opportunity, not only to start the set but be the trailblazer for their success. 

the nerves set in as he held up the paddle with the number nine on it, kageyama holding it up with him for a moment. It was symbolic in a way. suga always thought he’d be passing the baton to him, his successor as karasuno’s official setter, but this felt just as sentimental. Suga hadn’t played much this season but he got to watch the team grow into something that it once was: something great. They’ve had their share of loss and strife but it finally seemed like they had come so far and the only direction they can go is up. 

the nerves set in as he looked around, anywhere to ease them. His eyes automatically went to the team banner, black with the simple word ‘fly’ written over it, where all the school and their supporters were watching. he went down the line quickly but the wave of a hand caught his eye. his eyes shifted back and felt that familiar grin on him.

it was you. 

“c’mon suga! You can do it!”

and so he did. 

once the final ball hit the ground, the room was quiet with shock. it had been tight for most of the game but no one really expected this outcome. they were going to nationals. daichi, suga, and asahi embraced, taking in the satisfying feeling of victory. 

after the awards ceremony, you were buzzing with excitement for them, trying to calmly follow the rest of the crowd out of the gym. you could tell they were somewhere along the hallway as another crowd formed to congratulate the winning team. you weaved in and out of it, even getting on your toes to see if you could spot a familiar head of gray hair. 

you finally caught a glance at him from afar, his smile growing as his eyes locked onto yours.

“y/n!”

you mimicked his expression and found your feet moving quicker than your brain could process. he put in the same amount of haste to meet you in the middle. you both stopped at about an arm’s length away from each other. his flushed cheeks and slightly red but glistening eyes held your smile as you decided to speak first. 

“hey, kou.”

“hey, sugar.”

another minute couldn’t be wasted as you finally crashed into one another. it felt better to hold somebody that you knew and genuinely loved. you could be sure that he felt the same way as he held your body tightly against him. 

heyo haikyuu night! send any requests right here..

[evansyhelp]

✧  TEXTURES  –  A TUTORIAL BY EVANSYHELP. 

In this (long and image-heavy) tutorial, I’ll be showing you how I make textures, as requested by a very kind anon. I use Photoshop CC 2019 but you should be able to replicate my methods on most editing software. Please like or reblog this post if you find this helpful!

Index.

Ethically Sourcing Your Images.

Finding The Right Image.

Making Your Texture.

Other Tricks I Use.

Quick Recap.

Making Textures Without Images: Speedrun.

Outro.

Ethically Sourcing Your Images. 

I will be explaining a couple quick ways to make textures without any images at the end of the tutorial, but since my personal favourite way involves images and that’s specifically what the anon requested, that’s what the majority of the tutorial will be focused on.

The first step, naturally, is finding an image to use. My personal favourite site is Unsplash, but there are plenty of options out there. 

What you need to keep in mind is what kind of license the images have. Unsplash is free for personal and commercial use with no attribution required, which makes it perfect for things like this. There are more sites like this in my free for commercial use masterlist (linked at the end of the post), but unless you’re using them in products you’re selling (like graphic commissions), the commercial aspect isn’t something you need to worry about. Just check the site/photographer’s rules to make sure you’re allowed to edit the images for personal use, and whether attribution (credit) is required. 

Another important thing to keep in mind is that these sites typically never allow you to redistribute the images as they are. That means you can’t just go to Unsplash’s texture category, save the images without any changes, and reupload them in a texture pack on Tumblr. That’s stealing. We don’t do that.

Finding The Right Image.  

Knowing what kinds of images will make good textures is a learning curve. My first couple texture packs are rough compared to what I make now, because I basically taught myself with no guidance and learned through trial and error. But with practice, I learned what worked and what didn’t. 

You want your images to be HQ, either with no ‘subject’ (ie. a person) or with a large background. Higher contrast is better but not super necessary. You should hopefully be able to envision what kind of texture you want to make before you even touch the image.

Making Your Texture. 

For the majority of the tutorial, this is the image I’ll be working with. Credits can be found in the link at the end of the post. 

Open your canvas. You can make specialised textures, like 100px for icons or 540px for Tumblr graphics, but I personally prefer to make them large for versatility. I’m using 800px in this tutorial. Once you’ve chosen your size, upload your full-size image into the canvas. This is where the fun begins!

Drag the image around into a nice position. Or use Edit > Transform to rotate, flip, and warp the image in different ways. Or use Edit > Free Transform (Ctrl+T) to change the size or the angle more precisely. Or probably some combination of all three! With Free Transform, make sure this aspect ratio anchor is selected so you don’t butcher the quality of the image, unless you’re warping it intentionally:

This is all very individual to each image you use. You might want to flip one, shrink another, put another at a 30 degree angle. Just experiment until you end up with something you think would look awesome as a texture. For the sake of providing a good example, I flipped this image vertically, shrunk it to 80% its original size, and rotated it until it looked like the smoke/cloud was coming from the bottom right corner. This is what we have:

Then we move onto enhancing. Textures work best when there’s a lot of contrast because it’s easier to manipulate the blending modes. So if your image isn’t already high contrast, these adjustment layers (Brightness/Contrast, Levels, and Selective Colour) are your new best friends:

If you don’t see this on your Photoshop, go to Window > Adjustments and it should pop up. Again, just experiment, because different images will require different things. Essentially, you want to make the darks darker and the lights lighter. Something I like to do is add a Selective Colour layer and use the Black slider. Pick out the primary colour of the image, and then Whites, in the drop-down menu, and move the bottom slider (left to lighten, right to darken) until you’re satisfied. Like so:

So with those Selective Colour settings and the following Levels settings, here’s the before and after of my image.

Much better contrast! If you want to end here, you can, but I personally prefer grayscale textures a lot of the time because it makes it more versatile. Instead of being forced to make a blue graphic because this image is blue, I can make any colour graphic I want with one simple black and white Gradient layer. Photoshop does have a default Black & White adjustment feature, but I prefer using Gradients.

Pro tip: if your image doesn’t have a pure black, you can keep the darkest parts of your image dark by using the left slider, shown below. 

A lot of the time, I’ll also decrease the opacity of that Gradient layer, to somewhere between 80% and 95%, so just a hint of the original colour comes through. This gives it more dimension in my opinion, while still keeping it mostly neutral. Here’s 100% vs. 85%:

You may find that you want to add a little more contrast after. With this texture, I decided to grab another Selective Colour layer, pick ‘Black’ in the drop-down menu, and pull the Black slider up to +40. I also settled on 95% opacity for the Gradient. And here’s the final product!

Other Tricks I Use. 

That covers how I make a lot of my easier textures, but here’s a quick run-through of other, slightly more complex tricks. I’ll be working with this image (again, credit at the end of the post):

This, of course, is not as obviously texture-worthy as the previous example, but I love textures with strong lines, so here’s how the magic happens! I wanted to get rid of the detail on the bottom half, so I used the Polygonal Lasso tool to select it:

Then I used the eyedropper tool (the 4th symbol under the polygonal lasso in the image above) to select the blue of the sky and, on a new layer, painted that selection completely blue. I decreased the opacity to 90% just so it wasn’t a total block colour, but not enough that you can really see the lines. I repeated this process for the sky, so it looked more consistent with the bottom half.

Then, using the eyedropper tool again and making a new layer for every colour, I went in with a small soft paintbrush and painted out the harsh vertical lines on each segment of the stripes. I didn’t want to make them totally perfect, but I painted over the bulkiest interruptions. 

I added a black and white Gradient layer, using the slider tool I showed you before to darken the darks and lighten the lights, and decreased it to 50% so that it wasn’t totally black and white but still more neutral than the original. Here’s the result:

Another fun way to shake things up, which unfortunately will require Photoshop (CS6 should be fine, not sure about earlier versions), is the Filter Gallery. Go to Filter > Filter Gallery, and you’ll find a TON of effects that change your image drastically. Most of the default settings are nightmarish, but you can play around with the settings panel on the right.

Here’s just a few results that are possible with the Filter Gallery, labelled for convenience. You can view the HQ versions in the link at the end of the post.

Quick Recap. 

So you don’t have to reread this obnoxiously large tutorial every time you want to reference it in the future:

Choose a HQ image.

Resize, rotate, flip, and/or warp.

Enhance the contrast.

Black and white!

Paint over problem areas!

Filter > Filter Gallery.

Making Textures Without Images: Speedrun.

We’re almost done! There are some tools built directly into Photoshop that can allow you to make textures completely from scratch, and I’ll briefly cover my favourites here. 

The first is pattern fill layers. I spent too many years not appreciating the patterns feature in Photoshop, but they’re great. Go to Layer > New Fill Layer > Pattern, click ‘OK’ on the box that pops up, and another box will pop up to let you choose your pattern. 

By themselves, they are UGLY. It can take a while to figure out how to use them. But if you change the scale, change the blending mode, and change the opacity, you have thousands of textures at your fingertips. And if you add two or three together? Billions of possibilities. I can do a more in-depth tutorial on patterns if y’all are interested, but here’s two examples I just whipped up in a matter of minutes, using two patterns on each:

The next feature is gradient fill layers, and the gradient tool. Go to Layer > New Fill Layer > Gradient… to select a gradient (or make your own!) and an angle, OR use the gradient tool (featured below) to drag the gradient across your canvas manually. On its own, boom, that’s a gradient texture. Paired with a pattern or put through the Filter Gallery? Even better!

The last is brushes. Brushes can be great for textures because there are so many kinds. You want to make a paint splatter texture? Paint splatter brush sets are everywhere! You want to make a smoky texture? You can get brushes that look like smoke! Smudged? Scratchy? Grunge? Halftone? Light leaks? Torn paper? Brushes have your back. 

With all of these features (and things like actions, too!), your saving grace is going to be this little cog wheel shown below, and the list you’ll find under the Reset/Save/Load section. There are SO many more options built directly into Photoshop that you don’t even see right away, because you have to add them manually from this little cog wheel. 

And you can download countless more patterns, gradients, and brushes from sites like Brusheezy and DeviantART. A couple tutorials on downloading and installing them can be found in the link at the end of the post, but remember, download these things ethically. If you want to sell products that use a custom brush, it’s your responsibility to find brushes that are free for commercial use. If you don’t want to credit the creator, it’s your responsibility to find resources that don’t require attribution. 

Outro.

I think that’s everything, guys! If you found this tutorial helpful or otherwise enjoy my content, please consider supporting me on Ko-fi! I offer exclusive rewards, like custom graphics, to everyone who donates. 

Due to Tumblr’s latest rules about links, you can find the credits list, the promised bonus tutorials, other important links, and the full-size HQ versions of the textures made in this tutorial over here.

Thanks for reading!

[onepiecereactions]

One piece scenario: Lovely Ace (English edition)

Title: Lovely Ace

Pairing: Ace/Marco (friendship)

Note: Humor, around 2 000 words.

Lovely Ace

A blue lightning tore the sky darkened by clouds of black ink. The First Division commander transformed into a flaming phoenix in a tenth of a second, soaring through the air, slicing through the air with phenomenal speed, and crashing down full force on his target. His foot, coated with haki forcefully smashed the ice giant. Shards flew to the point of impact, freeing Admiral Aokiji's arm. The admiral, despite a second of surprise linked to the strike force of the Emperor's second, quickly came back to his senses. At the same time, ten cannonballs flooded the ship of Whitebeard's second fleet. Several pirates, injured by the attack, screamed in pain. Behind the smoke created by the blast, Vice-Admiral Momonga appeared, running towards the Second Fleet Commander, already battling Vice-Admiral Smoker.

Marco saw in the distance the body of Vice-Admiral Momonga quickly coated with haki, including his weapon. The phoenix didn't have time to tell his brother about the surprise attack. This minute of inattention costed him a lot, Admiral Aokiji put haki on his hand, gripped the right ankle of the pheonix which was then push into the air. The blond barely had time to feel the bones of his phoenix freeze from the admiral's haki, when he slammed hard against the cliff. He internally cursed himself for that second of inattention that would cost him and his brothers a lot, and passed out.

3 hours later.

Vista grabbed the escargophone and waited for his father to answer, his body wet with sweat.

“Father, we had to change course and head south. He started. The slowness of his voice showed the fatigue the commander was feeling. He continued quickly, however.

“The First Division encountered two warships from Marineford when they were just a few miles from the island. On board were Vice-Admiral Smoker, Vice-Admiral Momonga, and Admiral Aokiji ... "

He paused for a moment when he heard his father grumble on the other end of the line.

“The second division was closely following the first so they were able to help them. The two divisions still suffered a lot of damage, we have a lot of injuries. Fortunately, the Third, Fifth and Eighth Divisions arrived at time. We managed to get them to turn back and leave. ". He finished.

« Perfect, thank you, son. How are Ace and Marco, go help them manage the ships if they are too tired. » He ordered in a deep voice.

Vista took a few seconds to respond.

"Ace is coming off with a few bruises, nothing too bad, he was still on fire after the battle. Vista paused to take his courage.

"What about Marco? How is Marco Vista? Why isn't he calling me? "

Vista managed to hear a hint of concern in his father's voice.

“Admiral Aokiji used his haki to freeze him while he was transformed. Apparently he would have smashed against the cliff. The layer of ice is extremely thin but robust, he is completely trapped in it. Ace became crazy and insisted on taking him himself to the island’s hospital where we docked. He didn't want to hear anything despite his own injuries. He took Marco with him about ten minutes ago. The other commanders and I decided to let him do it and make him promise not to try to melt the ice himself but to just take him to a doctor and ask for a specialist. » Explained the swordsman.

After a short moment of silence from the two pirates, the captain thanked his son and hung up.

20 minutes later, ten kilometers from the port.

The Second Fleet Commander's race was steady despite the fatigue his body was beginning to feel. Flashes of Marco's accident flooded the dark-haired man's mind, wondering a thousand questions at a time. After an hour of running through the rainforest, Marco frozen under his arm, Ace finally saw the town’s entrance. It was a more developed island than most of the New World islands. Big buildings framed the streets and gave way to well-maintained main roads where the majority of the inhabitants traveled by bicycle.

He continued his course and rushed down to the first street that came, looking for a sign or any other way to find his way. At the turn of the second street he ended on an huge boulevard full of life. A food market was set up in the central square where children and pets were running.

Ace rushed into the building on the corner of the street and ended his run in a tavern. He ran to the bartender, Marco still under his arm.

"My friend is seriously injured, do you know where I can find someone to treat him? I have been told about a hospital on the island? The commander asked hastily.

The bartender, surprised by the pirate's fury, remained silent for a moment, analyzing the situation.

Ace urged him to answer, while remembering Makino's conduct lessons.

“Well, it's more of a big clinic than a hospital. But I think you'll find someone good there, they're pretty versatile and know a lot about everything. It's a long building surrounded by trees ten minutes south of the boulevard where we are. On exiting, take the first right, continue straight for 7 minutes. When you see the first cherry trees, the clinic will be on the right. "

Ace thanked him warmly and rushed out of the tavern.

He arrived into the building ten minutes later, scaring those present.

« My friend needs medical treatment now, he's been frozen over an hour ago now. » He yelled in the hall.

He then saw a woman, the secretary, get up from her desk and run down the halls. Ace remained stoic for several minutes, catching his breath and trying to calm his mind. He then noticed the few people present, patiently waiting their turn in the waiting room. But he especially noticed the dogs, cats, and some sheep next to their owners.

" What… ? » Ace had no time to think any longer, a man in his fifties in a surgical gown and gloves rushed towards him. He was followed by another man carrying a stretcher. The man grabbed the frozen phoenix and put it carefully on the stretcher. He invited Ace to follow him as he walked through the halls of the clinic.

"What is the species of this bird, how old is it, and is there any medical history I should know? The vet asked quickly.

Ace waited for a moment, surprised by the turn of the situation.

"Uh, I… phoenix, from the phoenix devil fruit, in his thirties, and uh… uh… he's wearing glasses." The two caregivers stopped in the middle of the corridors.

" I beg your pardon ? "

“I am Ace, commander of the Whitebeard Second Fleet. And that's Marco,whitebeard’s vice-captain, he faced Admiral Aokiji who froze him a few hours ago. He then hit a cliff and… that’s all. "

The three men looked at each other dumbfounded. A question hung over: was there a need for a doctor or a veterinarian in this case?

The vet looked at Ace's head, completely lost, and huffed loudly.

"Okay, I guess that's going to be for us then. Levi, get him into the rehabilitation wing. You will leave him in the horses balneotherapy pool for two hours, at twenty degrees. Then you will put it in the chicken incubator, same temperature, until the end of the evening. You will evaluate its constants and its general condition every hour. If needed, I have the escargophone on duty, you can call me. » Ordered the vet to his young graduate colleague.

As the younger left with Marco's stretcher, Ace followed him, asking Levi if he was allowed to stay with Marco during treatment.

"Pet owners are not allowed to stay during treatment and are kindly requested to wait in the waiting room," Levi recited, as if it was the twentieth time of the day that he was repeating it.

The two men stared at each other for a moment.

"Ah yes, um, I think since it's not really a bird ... Arrgg, come if you want but don't touch anything and let me do my work."

Ace nodded and continued on his way behind Marco's stretcher.

The commander of the first fleet was installed according to veterinarian protocol. After an hour, Ace noticed that the ice was slowly melting, not breaking. He could even begin to see his brother's right foot (or the squeeze? The paw?). He informed Levi, who grabbed a device, read some information from it, reassured Ace, and pulled out an ID bracelet to fill out and put on Marco's healthy member.

"Just the usual protocol" Finished Levi before handing the bracelet to Ace.

Ace took it all over the place and tried to fill it in the most adequate way possible. In view of the final result, Ace burst out laughing but followed the instructions and put the bracelet on the phoenix.

The next day, around noon.

The door to the First fleet dining hall slammed open, letting Whitebeard's vice-captain pass through. He seemed slightly tense and pissed off.

He was greeted by his brothers with multiple hugs and sake proposals. However, this was not enough to calm the commander down. He seated alongside Namur who had remained with his fleet to help the First and Second fleets recover from the previous day's attack.

"I am reassured to see you on your feet Marco, you scared us a lot. Namur began quietly, offering a full plate to his blond brother.

"Did Ace manage to get you to the hospital? We tried to reach them in the evening to hear from you, but we never succeeded. They must have been overwhelmed "asked the fishman.

"Besides, where is Ace?" "

"If you haven't heard from me it's because lovely Ace didn't take me to the hospital but to a clinic. "

Namur, not knowing what to answer because not seeing the problem of private medical clinics, let him continue. He notices his brother's gaze darkening and his fists twitching on the table.

"This moron took me to an animal clinic." Marco finished.

The room then became silent, giving everyone time to integrate the information. Then, a shower of fat laughter appeared in the room.

Marco tried to stay calm as much as possible.

He noticed that Namur kept silence as much as possible and thanked him inwardly.

He finished his plate, swallowed a tall glass of sake, took a piece of paper from his shirt pocket and left, an escargophone in his hand.

"I will call father. If you want to get Ace back he is locked in the sheep pen in the veterinary clinic, in the south of the town after the forest. " Marco finished before slamming the door and disappearing from the room, still to the laughter of his brothers who were struggling to get over it.

Namur, taking advantage of Marco's absence, let out a laugh as he imagined his brother surrounded by sheep. He inspected the paper Marco had left on the table before leaving. He then recognized an identification bracelet, but unlike those he had seen before, he understood that this was only for animals.

He turned it over, read the second fleet commander's childish handwriting and couldn't help but burst out laughing.

“Name: Marco the phoenix.

Owner: Portgas D Ace.

Person to notify and number: Mr Edward Newgate, escargophone number XXCOCCXCCO. "

End.

[ronnytherandom]

I started Writing My Thoughts On Things Again, I'm Sorry

15/8/2021:

Mass Effect Legendary Edition (Whole trilogy w/ all dlcs, Adept Class, Hardcore difficulty, 68 Hours):

Still brilliant! I adore this series. The first Mass Effect was one of the first games I ever played back in 2010 and Mass Effect 2 is one of the games I’ve played the most accruing several hundred hours over multiple playthrough from 2010 onwards, while Mass Effect 3 is a game I greatly appreciated but have more mixed feelings towards. Retrospectively as much as I liked the first Mass Effect, I did not nearly appreciate it enough back in the day. For a first entry in a new IP it is incredibly fleshed out with interesting Lore, an intriguing story and a cool galaxy to explore. I appreciate its combat far more now than I did back then but would still argue it is relatively weak in comparison to more modern titles and its own successors. Though the VA is rough in some places it is excellent where it matters, especially in the case of Sovereign whose iconic dialogue on Virmire is etched into my brain. A key element of the first mass effect I felt was sorely missing from the later entries was its exploration. While the galaxy grew routinely larger no game after the first had a drivable Mako, a vehicle I adore, and further lacked the opportunity to land on and explore the terrain of alien worlds for resources and side missions which I feel lends a lot to the atmosphere of the setting and could be made even more compelling using updated technology and a larger selection of assets and interiors which might have emerged from the higher budget successors. As it is I appreciate its inclusion in the first game. Mass Effect was also my first encounter with impactful choices in a video game and this is certainly something I appreciate but leads me to a major criticism specifically targeting the dialogue wheel layout as it is strange to me how you can puzzle out all of these possible dialogue outcomes but put exactly all of the positive outcomes behind the Upper Left dialogue option. While this is less pronounced in the First entry as the Renegade dialogue fills roughly the same purpose while sounding more badass, it becomes truer throughout the series as renegade options routinely just become nasty and exclusionary.

Mass Effect 2 innovates in some key ways which I have grown to appreciate more in the past 20 hours of play than I did when it launched. Primarily, its focus on characters and your relationships to them. Barring a couple of notable exceptions I found myself greatly invested in every single member of the Normandy crew and I think it’s a remarkable feat that each crewmate could be written to be so sympathetic, relatable and interesting in a world so full of appreciable elements. I would go into specific examples but id end up listing every character except Miranda and Jacob. This of course plays well into the Suicide Mission narrative which is perhaps my favourite overarching plot within the trilogy as it incorporates not just all of these incredible characters and plays upon your investment in them but also relies on the threat of both the Reapers and Collectors which are two excellently designed enemies which I find significantly more compelling than Saren and the Geth or Cerberus and the Reaper Husk Armies. Mass Effect 2 has a powerful horror element composed of the Collectors phobic horror and the reapers cosmic horror and it does wonders for the game’s atmosphere. I remember at this moment the Collector soundtrack which, like the rest of the soundtrack is absolutely excellent. Inasmuch as I would criticise it from a purely musical perspective for being simple at times and perhaps overly repetitive it perfectly fits the camp space opera that is mass effect. Galaxy Map and Suicide Mission are absolute bangers. I would hesitate to call the combat great. Playing the game as a weapon heavy class is superior, I’d argue as even with an armour build dedicated to decreasing ability cooldown it is too long to adequately utilise the powers of ability heavy classes like the adept. Additionally, ability play feels far more limited than in the game’s predecessor due to the limitation of this games skill tree elements which are frankly a step too far in simplifying the interface. It doesn’t massively affect enjoyment of the game but I couldn’t help but note every time I visited the abilities menu how much I missed Mass Effects abilities menu. So while I would say Mass Effect maintains a very well balanced game with regards to combat, roleplay and story, Mass Effect 2 eschews combat and mechanical roleplay in favour of an excellent story. Additionally while lacking an exploration aspect the more structured side-missions found by scanning planets throughout the galaxy create a lot of fun moments and interesting gameplay, emblematic of the fact that mission design vastly improves between this game and its predecessor.

Mass Effect 3 goes some way to resolve its predecessor’s imbalance as the majority of the game possesses enhanced combat, a much better abilities mechanic and an excellent story. First the addition of more mobility, loadout and engagement options benefits the combat greatly, while the addition of more complex enemy types than previous games pushes you to fully utilise these new options. A massive reduction in ability cooldown combined with liberal cooldown reduction bonuses in the skill tree means that abilities are very useful and versatile and you generally feel very powerful. Sometimes too powerful if you’re thinking from a balancing standpoint but given it’s a single player game this criticism is much diminished and being powerful is fun regardless. The skill tree system in this game forms a synthesis between its predecessors’ systems and comes out the better for combining a regular sense of empowerment with interesting choices within your own character build. All of this contributes to a much-improved combat experience, especially over Mass Effect 2. This also lends itself to the old multiplayer system which I honestly enjoyed when it launched (who cannot love a playable biotic Volus?) and feel is sorely lacking from this legendary edition. I would argue the only real problem with the multiplayer was requiring a player to engage with it in order to achieve the best story outcome; the actual multiplayer gameplay was thoroughly enjoyable and it gave players the opportunity to experience combat as an STG agent or a Krogan Warlord which were both fulfilling experiences from my memory. The aforementioned story is truly excellent and successfully builds off events in previous games but primarily succeeds due to Biowares exceptional character writing which persists from Mass Effect 2. Even in the case of its worst side mission content but especially in its primary missions the stakes and outcome of events are thoroughly compelling and the involvement of beloved Normandy crewmates is bound to incite intense emotions. This is possibly the only game that makes me cry multiple times throughout a normal playthrough. Unfortunately my goodwill often runs out when it comes to consider the ultimate ending of this series which I do not approve of. I admit there are mitigating factors: you should not play the mass effect series for the culmination of its plot. This series lives and dies with its characters and all of the major character arcs reach satisfactory endings before the final moments of Mass Effect 3, so the final moments have no real meaning as the thematic purpose of the series is achieved by galvanising the galaxy and uniting all these disparate races into a single force to fight the Reapers. Thematically the game is a success but the extent to which it utilises the choices the player has made, upon which the series builds its reputation, is limited in scope. This can likely be laid at the feet of the leaks of the original story ahead of the games launch which pushed the developers to create a new ending to avoid spoilers, but the quality of that ending is poor as it boils all the choices made throughout the series down to selecting the colour of a space laser. To make an odd comparison, this is why I think Game of Thrones’ and Mass Effect’s endings are different kinds of bad. Mass Effect reaches a fully satisfying conclusion in the moments immediately after launching the final mission, whereas Game of Thrones built its whole series asking the question “Who Will Sit The Iron Throne” With the final answer being “Actually, no one” after slogging through multiple series which did not live up to the quality of the first. Mass Effect answers its dramatic question of “Can Shepard Unite The Galaxy Against The Reapers” satisfactorily following sixty hours of excellent content and the colour of the space laser doesn’t actually matter. It just hurts to think that the finale could’ve been so much grander and more interesting. I would recommend the games, the disappointment of the finale doesn’t even come close to outweighing the grandeur that is the rest of the experience of Mass Effect 3, let alone the whole series.

There are only a few pieces of content I had not encountered prior to this Legendary edition playthrough. The Mass Effect DLC Bring Down The Sky is fun in that it adds an interesting combat experience with incredible stakes and immerses you in a stellar scale event, but the experience is very short. As part of the legendary edition I recommend it but having to pay extra for it at its time of launch I would have found it disappointing. Mass Effect 2s Overlord DLC is very good, introducing fun combat encounters, an opportunity to operate the fairly fun Hammerhead vehicle (even if it doesn’t live up to the Glory of the Mako) and explore a nice open environment with a truly haunting ending which is a kind of non-choice but it is gratifying to make that choice anyway. Additionally the visuals in the final station when interacting with the VI elements are very nice. The Arrival DLC is also quite fun, with a pseudo stealth section to open it, something which I believe occurs nowhere else in the series. The general element of operating solo is quite novel for mass effect as I believe outside of this moment, the opening of the Citadel DLC and the final moments of Mass Effect 3 there is no point where you fight alone. The indoctrinated nature of the project team does not come as a shock but regardless the dlc is enjoyable as a combat experience and the scale of destruction shown necessary to even slightly inconvenience the reapers lends a lot to the scale of their threat. I do not believe I played any DLCs in Mass Effect 3 before, insofar as I did not consider From Ashes DLC content as it was already on the disk and all buying the day one dlc did was activate it. Leviathan is very interesting from a lore perspective and does interesting things with its investigative process but I find it to be a relatively passive and uninteresting experience for the most part. Omega was more my style with a lot of good combat and interesting new enemies and a bit of bombast besides but still left me largely unmoved. Citadel was excellent but mostly for its “endgame” content rather than its story content. Despite featuring many hilarious moments throughout the actual plot it failed to interest me but I was definitely there for all of the fun character moments and the party is absolutely hilarious.

Ultimately a hearty recommendation but with tempered expectations for the finale.

Deaths Door (True Ending, 13.7 hours):

A Delight. Deaths Door is a charming little game about a bird that stabs things and I love it. It is incredibly impressive that this was made by a team composed of two people. The gameplay is fun in all regards. Navigation is a good time especially when all of the environments are lovely and full of personality. Obstacles come mainly in the form of puzzles and these are at a sweet spot between ease and frustration without being at all complex. Combat could’ve used a bit more work, primarily to create more meaningful distinctions between weapons or add a little depth, but it is still engaging and good fun. While the main bosses are challenging and satisfying to defeat, I worry over the side bosses; perhaps something could’ve been done to make them more distinct from one another? But a small gripe. I like the world, the aforementioned environments are well realised, the general aesthetic is artful and distinct and the story is good if slightly sparse. One notable element is the dialogue which is very good with a quick wit. The finale of the main game has the right amount of spectacle and weight while the endgame is cool and fantastical, with an ample supply of secrets and collectibles to find. Over all the music is incredible, soundtrack full of absolute bangers. I really enjoyed completing this game and I’d recommend it to anyone who’s into action adventure and souls-like games.

The Bad Batch (season 1):

This was Allright. To open I cannot overstate how good the animation and art of this series is. It is routinely beautiful and well-choreographed. Visually there are no complaints. The problems begin with the opening episode which I feel overpromised on a relatively dark take on the Star Wars universe by immediately dropping us into an Order 66 plot full of death, danger, brainwashing and the threat of an emergent empire. Now granted this series never explicitly promises that all of this would continue but I enjoyed these elements of the first episode and I was dissatisfied by their limited usage throughout the rest of the show. This is not to say I disliked the show, I did enjoy the characters who are all good fun, and most of the plots were good. This series I felt had a lot of filler episodes, which I’d simply describe as episodes I enjoyed less due to underwhelming plot or conflict, but they were still enjoyable despite what id perceive as a lesser quality. The show also “suffers” from what I’d called Star Wars Syndrome of Filonitis which is how Everything Must Be Interconnected, with regular cameos from extended universe characters which I feel is beginning to get a bit much. These features feel to me more often like nostalgia grabs rather than organically featuring a character in service of the plot and development. For example, I appreciate the Captain Rex feature as that served to highlight the inhibitor chip problem and drive the characters to seek a solution, however I appreciated Rafa and Trace’s feature less both because I’m less attached to those characters (especially Rafa) but also because the episode didn’t serve any particular purpose or create any particular set piece which couldn’t have been achieved without those characters. This is a similar issue I have with The Mandalorian, I adored season one as it was relatively self-contained and only featured vague or subtler references to the wider canon: to contrast season two is full of cameos from the wider universe sometimes for no reason other than to have a cameo when those roles could easily have been filled with new and creative content which doesn’t rely upon nostalgia to make something interesting. Ultimately Bad Batch is worth watching for the characters and the good episodes, it is fun and entertaining, it just has its issues.

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 1: The Phantom Blood:

Its uh, its not good. Now that’s a very broad statement, as to assess this show critically at all is to take it far more seriously than you should, but to be more even handed the show certainly has a bunch of fun elements. Only from a story perspective, there isn’t really that much there; and from a pacing perspective it needs to be seen to be believed. I’m certain that if you condensed the show down to a reasonable size for the amount of content it has, you’d probably have a movie with a two-hour runtime at most which would be quite enjoyable but on a whole this first part wastes about 80% of its time on overlong drawn-out internal monologues and the dilated timeframes of the show’s fights. It also has an annoying habit of overemphasizing the weight of a moment or the genius of a characters unexpected action usually with no less than three people commenting on any slight manoeuvre which ruins the pacing beyond belief. Now I understand this is a staple of the Jojo series, only part 1 handles it very poorly in comparison to later parts. The fighting is especially hindered by this as most actual combat usually involves only four or five punches but they tend to take twenty minutes getting to each one. Additionally, Johnathan Joestar is pretty boring as a character with no notable qualities aside from being good both morally and at fighting. The intrigue of the stone mask is cool but this part deals in that very little. Like I say though, Part 1 is still fun to watch if you can disengage your brain and admire the potent meme quality of the series. It is not “good” from a critical perspective but it is incredibly amusing and the campness gives it a degree of charm. If you just want to watch a bunch of beefy men shout at each other and perform magic punches this is a good time. Speedwagon, despite being the worst offender of the “Explain Everything Twice and Ruin the Pacing” category, is still entertaining for the awful accent and endearing character. He’s also definitely in love with Johnathan and I will not be taking questions on that. Baron Zeppeli has a cool hat. Theres a lot of fun to be had as the show embraces the weirdness of everything that’s going on. So, check it out, it might just be a So-Bad-Its-Good Masterpiece.

300 (film):

This film was not so great in my eyes. I think there was one particular shot of the landscapes around Sparta which I felt was visually cool but everything else about the film lacked quality for me, barring practical effects which have aged significantly better than the graphical effects. The visuals are largely uninspiring, the washed-out colour pallet doesn’t help. Perhaps the dialogue was amusing at release but for me it’s all been memed to death. I can’t say any of the performances are particularly compelling, nice to see Magneto and Faramir though. The action could’ve been good and there are certainly moments where it has impact, but the constant application of slow motion I feel reduces the sense of power that should be there, like watching people fight on the moon. Ultimately, I can’t stomach it for two primary reasons: Historical inaccuracy and Racism, which feed into each other. The values of the Spartans do not accurately reflect ideas that historical Spartans held to and I must ask why? Historical accuracy is the default state, so to usurp those ideas in favour of others means the author of the graphic novel Frank Miller and director Zach Snyder replaced those ideas with purpose, in order to make the film more appealing to a mass audience or to express their own ideas perhaps? And the values they chose for the Spartans were freedom, justice and democracy which were things the slaving and monarchical Spartans did not believe in at least in the modern sense. This reeks of an imposition of the propagandised values of western nations on a historical society. This in itself would not be so much of an issue without the demonisation and perversion of the Achaemenid empire and the peoples therein. To establish the primary conflict as one of Civilised white westerners against barbarous non-white easterners, when historically the conflict was between two nations of a broadly similar heritage both possessing facets of good and evil, in the early 2000s? It feels as though some reactionary interpretations of the War on Terror have simply been recreated here with classical history as window dressing. Add to that reactionary attachment to the battle of Thermopylae as a representation of the western world’s struggle against the eastern world, in addition to other more problematic interpretations, and this film plays straight into extreme right-wing ideas of race. Cannot recommend, there’s a lot more better things you could be watching.

18/08/2021: Darth Vader (2015) comic (incl. Vader Down event):

This was really cool. The first comic I’ve ever actually read so I don’t have much frame of reference but I certainly enjoyed this. It was compelling, I’ve blitzed through this whole run in a single day. I think it serves a valuable purpose of demonstrating Vader’s potential and development between Episodes IV and V, as well as the nature of internal conflicts within the Empire. A side note, it is amusing that Palpatine identifies infighting as a factor in the fall of the Sith Empire and yet encourages it for his own political purposes anyway.  I felt that the art and style was very good and fit well with the Star Wars aesthetic, though I couldn’t say if it is truly excellent or just standard: it certainly wasn’t bad, though I think a few designs such as Dr Aphra’s ship were hard to read as it were. Speaking of, I think characters new and old were well portrayed. The titular Vader is unmistakably the same character as appears in the classic trilogy, similarly for Han, Luke and Leia etc. And it was a pleasure to see Chewbacca absolutely destroy someone. The aforementioned Aphra I thought was fine but she lacks distinction to my mind, the real star was Triple Zero and by extension Beetee who I thought were excellent comic relief in addition to being a genuine threat, something I can’t necessarily say I felt with regard to the antagonists. This latter part doesn’t matter overmuch, I think the purpose of these antagonists was more to present Vader with pressure to fulfil his personal goals rather than actually oppose him and they work well in that regard, but are unmemorable beyond their basic attributes. What I think this comic does particularly well is create a kind of puzzle narrative and its almost thrilling at moments when Vader’s plots might be discovered. As a result of this I am looking forward to reading more comics in future.

The Suicide Squad (2021): Highly enjoyable! A big step up for the suicide squad as a franchise and a lot more fun, playing into a brighter and more humorous genre than its predecessor to good effect; This time with good editing, soundtrack, direction… well good everything in comparison. I enjoyed all of the characters and their acting particularly the rivalry between Peacemaker and Bloodsport and Margot Robbie is still fantastic as Harley. They all pale before King however, who is endearing beyond belief and a lot of fun to boot. The “villain” if that term is applicable is very interesting and actually threatening, no mere beam of light into the sky! And the willingness to engage in more mature elements such as gore and character morality is of immense benefit, serving to distinguish it from generally more childish superhero media and reach towards more interesting themes around colonisation, foreign intervention, America and such. Only a reach towards however as I don’t think it ultimately says anything beyond “This thing, kinda bad and dumb”. As I saw noted, it observes the theme but doesn’t comment on it which is a shame as that would bring it all together quite neatly. I feel it can drag a little at times and sometimes the dialogue and specifically its humour don’t hit right but the rest is of such quality that it hardly matters. It looks good, sounds good and offers a chance to engage in a little mindless and bloody violence. I hope Harley keeps the javelin.

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27/08/2021: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 2: Battle Tendency: TW: Mention of Nazism, Discussion of Sexism

This is MUCH better. Part 2 covers most of the problems I had with Part 1. The Monologues are less egregious so the pacing is much improved; the lore is fully integrated into the story and creates a genuinely good narrative and Joseph is a much more compelling and interesting protagonist with a quirky and entertaining personality. The Pillar Men are excellent villains and the fights are fully engaging. Even when you know that Joseph will pull out a “And next you’ll say” twist at the end of a losing fight it’s still surprising simply by dint of the strange and wacky solutions he creates. And these adventures are even more bizarre, playing into the weird camp of the series which works so well. All in all, the quality is excellent here HOWEVER there are some highly problematic elements. The show being set in the 1930s is a neat part of the travelling through time factor of the series but when you’re globetrotting around Europe you need some solution to the problem of Nazis popping up everywhere and this show does not provide one, and fails so drastically to offer even a slightly critical perspective on the fascist characters. The noble sacrifice of Von Stroheim and his later resurrection and heroism serve to idolise a Patriotic German Nazi Officer, which is not good, and this unchallenged perspective on an Actual Nazi is troubling especially when the character himself is an unrepentant mass murderer. Additionally, the show has a horrible attitude towards women, who exist almost exclusively for sex appeal and romantic interest in this show. Lisa Lisa does demonstrate ability and character but when presented with genuine combat is relegated first as a bit of eye candy during the fight with Esidesi (notably eye candy for Her Own Son) and later as a Damsel in Distress during her fight with Kars. Women are frequently used as objects in this part; Caesar Zeppeli uses women as props by controlling them with his Hamon powers and Suzi Q exists only to be rescued from Esidesi and then to be romanced by Jojo. It’s pretty ridiculous to be honest. I am informed that this improves over the course of the series but as for this part in particular it is a lot of fun just so long as you can ignore some incredibly troubling portrayals.

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13/09/2021: Rick and Morty Season 4:

There is ultimately not much to say as Season 4 is simply more Rick and Morty and operates as such. It is good, even very good. It’s still very funny. Its voice acting is still the pinnacle of such work. It is still smart and has a lot of interesting ideas, only not to the extent of the copypasta fan boys. Its sci-fi universe is cool and its design and aesthetic are still excellent. I feel the show has passed a threshold however as there’s only so much time you can spend on the “dysfunctional family is dysfunctional theme”. I hope season 5 proves me wrong once I get to it, but season 4 is fun and I’d recommend it all the same, it’s just more Rick and Morty and I think that’s enough.

Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings: Spectacular! Very easily amongst the best if not The Best Superhero Movie (aside from Into the Spiderverse). To begin with complaints as they are limited, the colour grading was a bit dark in a couple of the fight scenes and in some moments of the climactic fight the CG effects are a little Too Much and distract from the central action of Shang-Chi, Xialing and a Dragon owning the shit out of a multiversal super spectre, which incidentally is fucking epic.  Additionally, the standard MCU comic relief dialogue is a little meh at times but what’s new there? They still need to get a handle on that, especially because this film was really strong when it was serious. As much as I love Ben Kingsley’s Trevor Slattery, he was just a tad much here. Aside from a few moments of weak dialogue however the rest of the film is excellent. Acting is good, effects are good, the film is quite beautiful primarily once Ta Lo is reached and the score is bangin. I appreciate most of all the fight sequences which to me look well-choreographed with interesting arenas which were always appropriate to demonstrate the characters abilities; the sequences serve to develop character and plot at key moments also. The way the camera is handled during the fights is also a big step up, with wide perspective and long shots rather than the snappy close shots of old which serve to really show off that choreography and don’t muddy your understanding of the flow of combat. There is a good thematic line throughout the film of reconciling the bad and the good of your familial and personal history, to understand yourself better and channel that into developing and achieving your ambitions and I adore how that ties in with Shang-Chi and Wenwu’s final confrontation due to the nature and treatment of the Ten Rings themselves. They are a very interesting fantastical element especially once Shang-Chi acquires them and the way that he utilises them create a very cool combat style I can’t wait to see more of, even considering that their full potential is yet to be unlocked. I additionally approve of how they have been differentiated from their comic counterparts which to my understanding are just slightly weaker infinity stones; thus, a one-to-one reproduction would’ve been a boring mistake to make. It’s a fantastic film, go see it.

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26/09/2021: Sable (20 hours, 99% complete) Sable has the makings of an absolutely fantastic game, it just has a few hiccups and hurdles to deal with. Thankfully most can probably be dealt with by patch as there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with the game; but a game should never be released in a state where it needs a patch to function normally. This game is incredibly buggy. Probably one of the buggiest games I’ve ever played at launch, and I preordered Skyrim. Most of my complaints are with the menus, which simply do not work properly sometimes, but there are other documented issues with collision detection and weird bike movement among others including one annoying persistent issue with the soundtrack being replaced by random ‘bong’ noises. For these reasons I cannot recommend the game Right Now until it is patched or if it is on a significant sale. However, once the bugs are fixed this game will be a stunning achievement. The story is good and leads to powerful emotional moments, aided along by an excellent atmospheric soundtrack and beautiful visuals. The style and colour give this game an exceptional look, though diminished by a fairly rapid day/night cycle. I understand that this creates a visual contrast to make the daytime feel more vibrant and impressive, but I would also hold the sun still in the sky if that were an option. The world is well built, with interesting lore and cool design work. Varied environments show off a range of colourful landscape all with their own distinct atmospheres and landmarks which are good both for navigation and exploration, this being the bulk of the game. Exploring these environments is satisfying for curiosities sake but also offers collectible Chums that I adore and an intriguing backstory and world history to consider. Riding a hoverbike is cool and fun, and the customisability is nice though I would take issue with the “balancing” of bike parts as the best bike can be acquired only a few hours in and must be bought, where bike parts earned through long quest chains pale in comparison. This annoys me as I believe players should be rewarded more for great deeds than for acquiring currency, besides which the quest bikes look cooler. This is of little importance however as the game is a very casual and chill experience, keeping an excellent balance where it is not strictly challenging but does maintain your focus and attention. This world is full of strangeness and a little sci-fi magic; though I would argue it could use more of this I think that would threaten to overwhelm the player when even this world’s most mundane elements are still stunningly cool. I think a thick coat of bugs covers what is ultimately a magnificent game with many cool things to explore and even marred by its worst features I still had a great time playing it.

27/09/2021: The Matrix

Brilliant. A very cerebral action movie which definitely earns its place as an iconic work of cinema and its clear to see why its influence is so widespread. Fantastic action with a clear and open perspective which utilises the interesting and dynamic cinematography that runs throughout the movie. I particularly enjoy how over the top the fights are in terms of environmental destruction and gestures as a whole, with a great deal of emphasis added by practical effects which I enjoy. Cool characters, good dialogue and excellent performances across the cast. And, an interesting world well-built and designed. The robots particularly are quite intimidating and I like their arthropodal form. All of the design works well to create the feeling of a greasy industrial post apocalypse which contrasts sharply with the boring homogenous simulation, the latter having its own value as a setting due to its familiarity which would’ve been especially prevalent when this film first released. I love the soundtrack, especially the final feature of Rage, but most of all I love how deeply you can read into this film and its meaning. Having watched many videos about it I was primed on the trans allegory going in and it is very clearly a present part of the narrative before even considering the context around the Wachowski sisters and their own experience. It is a very interesting part of the story and plays well into other themes built around deconstructing the illusions pressed on us by our society, drawing strong parallels between the struggles of living as a trans person and fighting against an imperialist capitalist society. It is worth watching for any of its constituent parts but together they form a magnificent work of art.

28/09/2021: Star Wars: Visions

The series is a bit of a mixed bag. It definitely overpromises with its first episode which is of a remarkably distinct style, is incredibly cool and has great wacky moments in addition to tasteful call-backs to the wider Star Wars canon. I love the umbrella sabre, it’s a fantastic idea and there needs to be more of them. From there a few episodes are fantastic, The Elder and the final episode, and id rank the Ninth jedi just below them, but the rest of the series is definitely not to my taste. The wide variety of styles on show are all fantastic and the animation is universally very good, just some of the plots are more childish than I would appreciate and the rest are simply not engaging for me to the point that despite a great deal of spectacle occurring I would often be distracted. It’s worth a look if you’re into animation and unique takes on star wars but I find generally lacking.

Django Unchained (2nd Watch) TW: Discussion of Racism and Slavery

Red Flag: Tarantino Movie is good. Very good. Stellar performances from Jamie Foxx, Kerry Washington, Leo Di Caprio, Christoph Waltz and everyone else in the movie to be frank; a special note for the trivia about Leo Di Caprio’s cut up hand during the dining room scene, a lot of respect for a man who can keep working through that kind of injury. We can go through a Tarantino Checklist say the film is well shot with beautiful environments; has excellent and witty dialogue with good attention to detail and mannerism; and finally has great and gory action which does not flinch from terrible injury and really appeals to a perverse bloodlust that seems to crop up from time to time in normal people. Strangely enough however, I could not recall if Tarantino indulges in his predilection for feet here. This film does indulge in Tarantino’s other predilection however and that’s the N-word, but here I respect it. Unlike his non-period works, the use of the N-word is a facet of slavery just as chains, whips and plantations are and slavery is the subject of this film which seeks to be historically authentic. If anything, the absence of the N-word would be very wrong in this case despite being the project of a white man as without it the film would lack the context of a key form of oppression that still exists today. I think Django does an excellent job documenting and commenting on the institution as it existed in the pre-war period. Django experiences every level of status a black person would encounter in this setting: first a slave, then a freedman, a black slaver and finally a Liberator and the final message of the film is that slavery deserved to be destroyed and any argument made for its return is horseshit which is kind of a “Duh” statement but with the state of modern politics and the state of education in the US it’s something that needs reiterating. You can interpret this beyond the bounds of slavery itself in addition, by arguing that there are existing powers in this world which seek to discriminate based on skin colour amongst other factors and create oppressed minorities for the benefit of a wealthy few with power and should the systems that create this environment be completely destroyed it would be cause for celebration. Beyond this I particularly enjoyed the historical authenticity of the environments, of the very varied biomes of the wilder parts of the US at the time, and the contemporary outfits especially King Schultz’ coat which I desire more than any item of clothing I’ve ever seen. The film is good at building suspense both in the moment to moment and through longer story arcs, particularly the second act, but I do feel like the 2nd act lulls a little, perhaps spends slightly too long reaching its climax. This is a great spectacle of a film which looks and sounds fantastic, puts excellent performances on show, tells a great story and has quite a bit of meaning bundled into it.

29/09/2021: The Road to El Dorado (Unfinished)

Despite not finishing it I think this film is actually really good. It certainly has a few elements which don’t fully gel with me but I enjoyed my time with it; I only felt like I should really be doing something else and that I wasn’t fully engaged with it, potentially as I’m not keen on cons and high stakes acting as it feels like a form of vicarious embarrassment for me which makes me immensely uncomfortable. Personal hindrances aside most everything about this film is excellent, I loved the animation and the very colourful world. The characters were fun, the voice acting good, the constant horniness was a great bonus also. I take issue with the music, much as it’s not my right to criticise Elton John, I feel it would’ve been better fully incorporated into the film. I enjoy animated musicals more when said music is diegetic and I think them beginning to employ non-diegetic music is part of what led to their downfall, outside of market saturation. Additionally, I was not a fan of The Trail we Blaze, just not a song that worked for me. I also appreciate the integration of 3d and 2d animation here as I felt the styles were reconciled better here than in most movies, especially for the time. I might take issue with what seems to be a plot about two Spanish men of the colonial age coming to central America and “enlightening” its people through humanitarian acts and music as that would reflect some troubling attitudes but I hold out hope that by the end of the film they decide to come clean about the lie, return the gold and help defend El Dorado from Cortez and his troops. Its enjoyable, I don’t feel drawn to finishing it though.

 30/09/2021: Hunters Moon, Ghost

Here’s a new one, music reviews. This single is pretty good I enjoy it a lot. Opens slow and gentle and rapidly builds into some strong rock with a very 80s feel which scans with Ghosts whole historical rock and metal style they’ve always employed but have gone in extra hard on since Prequelle. The lead riff the track opens on is really nice and I would love to have seen it explored further, but the heavier style that ramps up progressively as the song continues is still great climaxing on the 9/4 post chorus riff which goes hard as fuck and I love that bit especially. It feels like it would be spectacular to witness it live. The bridge is a moment I’m not so keen on, the initial bass work is a little bare bone and overly repetitive but it definitely picks up once the guitar and vocals come in, even if just for the final moments. The final chorus leads into a good finale though I think it’ll serve better on an album version with a transition into another track, as I usually prefer to be fair. Technically I enjoy all of the different sounds and effects employed on all the instruments, especially in that leading riff, all of which are played well with good time. The vocals are great as usual. It’s a great track, I feel it was maybe a little short and could’ve explored some of its musical ideas or given them a bit more time to breathe; perhaps less time could have been given to overrepresented elements like the bridge and given over to work more into the very atmospheric leading riff but this is still a hard and heavy rock track and I enjoy it greatly.

[digimon-digital-adventures]

Big Changes with V.14

So as I brought up in the pinned post, .14 is the current system in development for DDA and has added more changes in a single update than any other edition previously. Besides some general balance changes there’s been a lot of big updates which I’d like to go over here. This is by no means a comprehensive list, .14′s updates are just that big, but this will be me going over some of what I see are the biggest, most important, and most fun updates to the system.

Effect Changes

Effects now work differently than they did before. This is probably the biggest change to the core system and as such I want to talk about it upfront.

Now, when rolling for Positive Effects, the user rolls Accuracy and counts the Successes. Then the target(s) roll Health and count the Successes. For every number above the TN set by the Accuracy successes, add 1 to the duration of the buff.

Single-Target Positive Effects now automatically hit for 1 duration no matter what you roll for Accuracy/Health. Your friends no longer dodge your high-five buffs!

Multi-Target Positive Effects can still miss on a roll of 0 for Accuracy.

Melee tagged Positive Effects can target the user, allowing for self-buffing builds.

Positive Effects do not lower Dodge Pools anymore.

What does this mean? For one thing it means you want passable Accuracy but Accuracy is no longer the end-all-be-all of a support build because you don’t want it to be massively higher than your Ally’s Health stats. It also means being in Defensive Stance is the best way for you to buff in general, as opposed to Offensive Stance from before this update.

Negative Effects work effectively the same as before; roll Accuracy vs Dodge, count net successes for Duration. However, there are a lot of cool changes and new effects for debuffers to work with now. Be sure to check out the changes in the book. Personally I’m a huge fan of Lag and DOT and can’t wait to use them someday.

Tamer Orders

Tamer Orders are a spiritual successor to the old Tamer Qualities. When you hit a certain tier of power, you unlock the ability to use a Tamer Order. These are special types of things your Tamer can do and give amazing bonuses to your Digimon without relying on Charisma to Direct. These can range from applying a Taunt to an enemy, to healing your Digimon, to allowing  your Digimon to use your Fateful Intervention. There’s a whopping 15 Tamer Orders, so I can’t fit them all here. Be sure to check them out in the book.

Instinct/InForce

Too long has Weapon been the only way to build a Digimon. Instinct now stands out as a defensive alternative which buffs your Digimon’s Dodge, Health, and Movement. And later on you gain access to InForces; powerful mechanics you can now utilize to your advantage. Instinct cannot be taken with Weapon, so be sure to choose wisely what kind of build you want.

Twin Partners

There is now a system for having two Digimon at once! They progress differently than normal partners, and have their own special rules. However despite being much weaker early in the game they can be the most powerful Digimon by the time you reach endgame. They also have access to combination attacks by default, so be sure to check the rules out.

Signature Move Update

Signature Move is no longer just a way to apply Certain Strike and Armor Piercing (which have been changed by the way, check those out!). Now it’s a big attack with extra damage, but at a cost; you can’t use it until your third turn by default. This means the Quality is worth taking even if you don’t have Certain Strike and Armor Piercing on the move.

Naturewalk/Element Master/Domain Control

Naturewalk has been updated to a proper tree of Qualities. Naturewalks now can grant special effects and bonuses, like Naturewalk: Dark granting Darkvision or Naturewalk: Water granting waterbreathing. But now there’s more than just fluff reasons to take the Qualities; and it all ends with Domain Control. Domain Controls are powerful Qualities which last for a set period, but allow your Digimon to do even more cool things. Be sure to check the tree out in the handbook. Personally I’m the biggest fan of Shadow Vale, but there’s something for everyone in here.

Negative and Free Qualities

Something that never got fully implemented before: now you can take a small selection of negative Qualities in order to get a bit of DP back on your build. These can be incredibly fluffy, or ways to just add a bit of randomness to how you play.

Free Qualities are all neutral for benefits; each has a tied in downside and are mostly for fluff. However they can be excellent ways to make your build more fun to play with. Both Free and Negative Qualities require GM permission.

Stage Bonus/Limitations

Stage Bonus is now implemented as a mechanic, mostly as a way to create smaller and non-DP related bonuses for certain things, as well as to limit the purchase of certain Qualities such as Weapon, Instinct, Armor Piecing, Certain Strike, and the like. Rookies can no longer just take 2 ranks of Weapon and Armor Piercing to punch well above their level. This was a very welcome addition for balance.

Mode Change/Burst Mode

I fully admit when I picked up DDA, I wasn’t as versed in terms. As such I missed Super Ultimate/Ultra as a stage and made Burst Mode the final stage of the system.

This is no longer the case. Ultra/Super Ultimate are now the highest stages, and Burst Mode is the capstone of the Mode Change tree. It allows you to effectively re-build your Digimon for a high cost, and depending on your Tamer Build grants extra special effects, many of which are callbacks to .12, AKA Rocket Tag Party Edition ™. Two Weapons are back on the menu!

Stealth Build Update

Sneak Attack, Hide in Plain Sight, and Shade Cloak have always been somewhat undervalued, as the former is very all-or-nothing, however the Substitute, Glamor, and Illusionary Overlay have all been added to give this type of build some more love. As of writing this post it’s one of the more recent updates to the system, so I haven’t had the chance to play with it much, but I look forward to it a lot.

Combat Monster Update

Combat Monster has been sort-of nerfed, upfront it’s more limited in how big its bonus can get. However, it’s now a tree type Quality. You can either go down the old Berserker path, or you can take the Brave Heart path. Brave Heart allows Tanks to take a special Stance and get more bonuses, and it caps with One for All, which upon activation shares your Combat Monster bonus with all your nearby allies. This has made a very teamplay based Tank setup which has been very welcome in .14.

Quick Healer Update

Quick Healer has been updated as a line; Second Wind will allow your Digimon to heal themselves mid-combat, thus giving more reason to dip into the tree than just out of combat usage. Regenerator has also been adjusted, be sure to check it out.

Summoner Update

Summoners can now create much more specialized minions; ranging from one big one to smaller, scout-based minions. This creates amazing versatility to a previously fairly basic type of playstyle, and I encourage everyone to check it out.

Range Update

How far you can attack has been a big concern in previous editions. With .14 there is a hard defined limit for your Digimon’s range, instead of it just being a practical limit. This is adjusted based on your stage and Accuracy, be sure to look things up before blasting away. This has been an excellent way to stop people from just sitting back and using Ranged Strikers to win.

And More!

There is so much to go over with .14, and I’ve barely scraped the surface (another thing to check out for example is the Cross Counter Quality). It’s late while I’m typing this up, so I’m sorry if I’ve missed anything major, but I cannot go on enough about how much I love the changes to the system. If you haven’t picked up .14 yet, please do as soon as you can.

Coming Soon

There is also a Quick-start guide in the works, made to simplify things a bit for quick reference. The book is amazingly detailed but we’re doing our best to make it easy to look up what you need as well. Stay tuned for that update.

[thr-333]

The Hero’s Journalist- Part 1

Since he was little he wanted to be a hero like All Might, unfortunately, he was quirkless. Nonetheless, his way with words landed him at the top of journalist, the one who interviewed all the sidekicks and the less know heroes. He is the Hero' Journalist, Who will interview even the villain know as the hero killer Stain and even enter the base of the villain alliance and try to interview their leaders and seek their secrets. Nothing will stop him to bring the truth to the light!

AO3

(thank @fantasiame for the title and description!)

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It had only made sense to Izuku. He chased heroes around all throughout the city. It hadn't really been his intention, to begin with, but one day he decided to post his opinion about a recent fight. It got some interest-- not a lot but that was to be expected. Izuku liked it, however. Some people would offer their own perspective which was always good to take into account. It also made it easier for the heroes in some small capacity(he wasn't so vain as to think he was making a big impact) but some people seemed more forgiving getting an in-depth analysis of the battle rather than the news trying to make it more dramatic.

But what Izuku really liked was the acknowledgment of his skill. It had been hard growing up quirkless. He was bullied or ignored, no one specifically targeted him thankfully but it was never easy.

When he started analyzing heroes it was because he wanted to be one. As he started posting his analysis more often things started to change.

He was decently popular at that point-- in his last year of high school(he hadn't been able to get into UA or any hero school for that matter but he knew there were other opportunities later in life so he didn’t let it dishearten him too much). There were people that followed him, regularly reading his stories but he most certainly wasn't famous in any capacity.

The big change came after a fight with a villain one day. The pro hero had arrived at the scene and did a lot of flashy stuff but Izuku noticed one sidekick, in particular, had been the crux of the operation. While he was being swarmed by the press Izuku waited to approach the sidekick standing off to the side by herself.

TinCan was her name. From what Izuku saw her body was made out of aluminum. It made her very lightweight but susceptible to crushing-- but Izuku had watched her buff out the dent in the fight and wondered how small she could be crushed down? She hadn't seemed hurt so maybe her nerves were less sensitive. He supposed it was an impressive quirk if nothing flashy. It had allowed her to move quickly and almost act as a human shield when the pro let their guard down.

He watched TinCan for some time talking to the victims of the fight. There were only minimal injuries but there was some property damage and some of the kids were scared. She stayed and cheered up the kids while they or their parents were getting patched up. Izuku snapped a few photos promising himself to ask permission before he posted them.

When they were taken care of TinCan looked over at the pro, still swarmed by reporters, and sighed. Izuku took that as his cue.

“Excuse me,” He waved slightly awkwardly to get her attention, “I was wondering if you could do an interview for me?”

“Me?” TinCan looked shocked-- Izuku knew he wasn't a professional reporter but- “Are you sure you don't want-”

“No!” Izuku felt bad about cutting her off, “You were amazing in that battle! I’d love to hear about your training and your quirk! You could go pro at this point!”

TinCan was even more surprised by that. Izuku wasn't sure if she could blush but it looked like she would be. Still, she gave the interview gladly. Izuku soaked it all up. She didn’t chide him for his millions of questions like the teachers usually did, instead getting more excited and passionate with each one.

TinCan hadn’t gone to a big name hero school so it set her back on her path to becoming a pro. She eventually got a job as a sidekick and had been there a lot longer than most sidekicks of her skill. A point Izuku kept coming back to, that she should start her own agency.

“I don’t think anyone would be interested,” She said sheepishly, loud enough for Izuku’s phone to pick up, “I don’t have a very flashy quirk and as it is I can be useless in battle if I take enough damage,”

“First, you don’t need a flashy quirk to save people,” Izuku said firmly, with much more confidence than usual, “As for trouble in battle take on sidekicks or work with partners, maybe you could even find someone to counteract the negative side effects of your quirk,”

“I’m not sure….”

“At least ask around,” Izuku encouraged, smiling brightly, “You have the makings of a great hero, you should go for it even if you don’t think it will work out you’ll never know until you try,”

“Man you’re persistent,” TinCan laughed with no malicious or blame, “I’ll think about it,”

“Thank you,” Izuku bowed, stopping the recording. It had not been a great set up, the phone propped on a trash can of all things, but their options were limited.

He thanked her and they went to part ways. The interviews with the pro wrapping up by now.

“Hey, Midoriya!” TinCan called when he was halfway down the street, “When I go pro you get dibs on the first interview!”

Izuku was stunned. Then a wide grin split his face.

“I look forward to it!” he shouted back. Then he got an idea, “Can she do it?! Yes she Tin-CAN!”

A smile split TinCan’s face and she looked like she was laughing, but raised her fist regardless. A declaration to everyone on the street. Izuku quickly snapped a picture. He’d have to ask to use it when she went pro.

When he posted the interview it got some attention, not a lot but he supposed that was the reason no one interviewed sidekicks. Not that he regretted it one bit. TinCan was a great hero, sidekick, or Pro.

It was months later when he got a message; TinCan was starting her own agency.

And wanted Izuku to be the first interviewer.

---

Izuku loved TinCan’s agency-- although it wouldn't be fair to just call it her agency. She had taken his advice and partnered up with two other heroes.

The metal hero: Platesmithier was the perfect fit. She was able to control thin metals, it lost effectiveness the thicker the metal. She worked as a support hero mostly staying away from fieldwork at her prior sidekick job. However, with TinCan she was needed in the field to help fix the other when damaged. Izuku had questioned Platesmithier extensively on all the gear she had made for the agency. It was impressive metalwork of course giving them intricate and lightweight armor.

Cloom, a name Izuku had needed some clarification on(apparently it was meant to be a mix of Cloth and Room also sounding like Loom, not very clear but it was cute and fit the bubbly girl). She had been stuck as a sidekick for a long time. Her quirk was extremely useful, able to make cloth that she weaved into a doorway to a new room, the size of which was determined by the size of the cloth. This was why he loved the agency it was originally a one-room office but with fabric pinned to every wall, its size was increased tenfold. And could easily be folded up and moved. Taking down the fabric didn't ruin the room inside just blocked the entrance. Cloom had been used as a sidekick to make agencies bigger in the same way. Izuku disagreed that was the only use and TinCan agreed with him. Cloom was able to throw the cloth over villains and fold it up making for an easy capture. It was unbelievable such a powerful and versatile quirk had been stuck as a sidekick!

Izuku loved the interview. They set up cameras properly, talking for hours almost more like friends at times. Izuku talked about all their experiences separately and together. Cloom and Platesmithier worked at the same agency. A hero in some of the top ranks who had seen their useful quirks. Both wanted to go pro but neither had the courage until TinCan came along. Apparently, she had been pestering people to find a metal bending quirk and had tracked down Platesmither. It took a lot of badgering but she had convinced them to join her as a partner. Both thanked Izuku for giving her the motivation that brought them together. Izuku stuttered and blushed saying they had done it themselves, but they insisted he take their thanks.

They talked about their plans for the agency well into the night. It was set up in a large city quite far from his own so they offered him a place to stay the night. He really really loved Clooms quirk as she hung up a sheet of fabric leading to a guest room. Izuku couldn't get to sleep. He edited and posted the interview that night. It generated a bit of a buzz-- always excited to see new heroes.

That buzz would be turned into a roar by the end of the next day.

---

They had been walking Izuku to the train station. They had wanted to see him off and wish him luck for his upcoming final exams. It was all fine- even happy chatting more about each other. Izuku took his camera out so they could send a video to him mum. They wanted to thank her for letting Izuku come.

Then the villain attacked.

They were the closest. Someone in the building across the street. A strength quirk. The guy was three times Izuku’s height. He took out the foundation running through it. The building was tumbling down. People were screaming. There were still people inside.

They acted fast. Civilians on the street in danger of falling rubble. TinCan shielding them with her own body, rocks leaving dents behind as she moved them to a safer area. Platesmither bent thin sheets of metal, acting enough as a shield for people to run away. Cloom pulled out a big sheet of fabric covering civilians with it. They guided the rest under the sheet, whatever rubble hit it fell into a different plane of existence leaving the people underneath safe from harm.

Izuku didn’t even realize he was filming.

With the civilians on the street safe, TinCan and Platesmither ran to the falling building. Cloom made sure to stop by him, giving him a sheet of fabric that he wrapped over himself, rubble falling right into it leaving him safe.

The villain had come out onto the street spouting his big speech. Izuku kept focused on the heroes behind him digging through rubble to find civilians trapped underneath. This vexed the villain, he charged right at Izuku who was still out in the open. Later he would note it was a great shot-- but right now he was terrified.

That terror morphed into exhilaration as TinCan ran up behind the villain, kicking him back. The effort sent her led bending the wrong way but Platesmither straightened it out quickly, still trying to rescue people.

“Don’t you dare hurt the INNOCENT!” She yelled sending another punch, her arm crumpled. His quirk worked as armor too, made sense with how he could run through walls and the falling rubble didn’t harm him.

TinCan cursed switching to use her weapons Platesmither had made. She managed to cause some damage, moving too quickly for the villain to catch.

It didn’t last.

Izuku’s heart sank when the villain grabbed her leg, crushing it in his grip. He looked in terror as the villain balled her up, like a piece of tin foil. He wasn't the only one, civilian who peaked out from the sheet cried and shouted. Platesmither ran over as the villain was distracted by gloating.

Platesmither started straightening out her body, Izuku hoped more than anything. More than meeting All Might. More than becoming a hero. That TinCan would be alright.

Where were the other heroes? They had to be coming soon! They had to be!

Platesmither managed to smooth TinCan out but she wasn't moving. The villain noticed and kicked Platesmither away, sending her sprawling down the street. Cloom shouted out but she was the only one spare to help the trapped civilians.

Izuku’s heart leaped when TinCan twitched slightly. There was silence in the street as the villain looked across at her, unimpressed. TinCan tried to raise her head but fell to the cement with a metallic thunk.

Izuku had to do something! He had to! He wasn't a hero. At that moment he realized, maybe even accepted he would never be-- but he could be a hero here in his own way. Just like the people dissuading him from his dream always said. But this didn’t feel like giving up on his dreams, it felt like starting them. Like passing it on to hopeful heroes and giving them a boost to what he knew they could be.

“CAN SHE DO IT?! YES SHE TIN- CAN !!!” Izuku’s confident shout, more confident than he had ever spoken, rang out across the street, over the only other sound being sobs and screams. Again, he had to do it again! “CAN SHE DO IT?! YES SHE TIN- CAN !!!”

“Can she do it?” Izuku looked over to a little girl peeking out from the large sheet, “Yes she Tin-CAN!”

“Can she do it?” two other people this time.

“Yes she Tin-CAN!” Now five more people.

“Can she do it?” fifteen people shouting.

“Yes she Tin-CAN!” Now it was more like thirty.

“CAN SHE DO IT?!” fifty, fifty people.

“YES SHE TIN- CAN!!! ” Everyone, every single person on the street called out, “CAN SHE DO IT?! YES SHE TIN- CAN CAN SHE DO IT?! YES SHE TIN- CAN CAN SHE DO IT?! YES SHE TIN- CAN,”

TinCan raised her head.

“CAN SHE DO IT?! YES SHE TIN- CAN CAN SHE DO IT?! YES SHE TIN- CAN !”

TinCan pushed herself up.

“CAN SHE DO IT?! YES SHE TIN- CAN CAN SHE DO IT?! YES SHE TIN- CAN !”

TinCan stood up shakily.

“CAN SHE DO IT?! YES SHE TIN- CAN CAN SHE DO IT?! YES SHE TIN- CAN !”

TinCan raised her arm in triumph, looking at the villain with righteous fury.

“CAN SHE DO IT?! YES SHE TIN- CAN CAN SHE DO IT?! YES SHE TIN- CAN !”

She lunged at the shocked villain, punching him. This time she didn’t crumble. This time Platesmitther had come to her side, keeping her arm strong. She didn’t need that though. She leaped up winding her legs around the villain's neck. He reached up to wretch her off crushing her legs in the process, right around his neck in a tangled mess. She bent backward along the villains back, jabbing at his sides. He moved down instinctively and she grabbed both wrists. Catching on Platesmither twisted her arms around the villains, effectively making her into a living pair of handcuffs.

Now it was Platesmithers turn, she kicked the villain down, using a sheet from Cloom to cover the villain. She quickly folded it back up trapping the villain-- along with TinCan.

They didn’t have time to worry about that. Izuku ran to the fallen building with Platesmither, helping Cloom with the rescue efforts. Thankfully other heroes showed up shortly after. There were casualties, and it stung, but most people made it out alive. And thanks to the others, the civilians on the street were completely uninjured.

The police came. Surrounding the cloth with heroes they carefully unwrapped it. The villain leaped out immediately, TinCan still wrapped around him but he had gotten an arm free. It didn’t last long as other heroes swiftly apprehended him. And soon he was in police custody.

TinCan was straightened out and met with an adoring crowd. She stood in shock for a full minute as people kept chanting her new catchphrase. Less with desperation and more in victory. Reporters swarmed her. She looked over their heads.

“Izuku!” She called, stopping the clamor to look at him, “You're doing our interview right?!”

Izuku grinned, taking out his phone. Only then did he realize it had been recording the whole time.

---

TinCan and the Crafty Bunch(It had been Izuku’s suggestion as both Cloom and Platesmitther had distinct skills in metalworking and weaving) became a national sensation. They were praised for how they handled the situation and the ingenuity of the takedown. They were projected to place in at least the top 50(Izuku bet it would be the top 30) at the next rankings.

This came with no small amount of fame for Izuku. He had the first interview with TinCan ever. Had her credit him to pushing her to make the agency and her now-famous Catchphrase. Had the first up-close interview with the heroes, long before anyone else. For a few days, it was only his interview that people could turn to, to learn more and it blew up. And he also had exclusive footage of the battle, topped off with their interview after.

To say the least, people took notice of Izuku, much more than ever before. News outlets tried to buy his footage off him. He would only accept selling screenshots knowing if they had access to all the footage he wouldn't have any incentive to get into the industry.

And yes Izuku wanted into the industry. It was kind of obvious now that he thought of it. He loved quirks and he loved heroes. He could ask questions for days. Sure he was a bit camera shy but he could get over that. No, Izuku wanted to be a reporter, a journalist, anything where he could learn more and help people because of it. It might not be the obvious help of a hero or medical professional, but many commented it made them feel safer how he unpacked quirks and strategies, opening their eyes to another side of heroics.

Izuku was offered a job at a small publishing agency. He had gotten an offer from some larger ones but they were more restrictive. This one was mainly a magazine publicist with only a few tight-knit workers with some freelancers. Recently they had wanted to make video interviews and articles to reach a wider market. It sounded perfect to Izuku he would basically have control, only needing their sign off. They liked his work and were content to let him do things his way. They were small but had good connections with heroes, known for being honest and not embellishing gossip, or at least staying away from the harmful stuff focusing more on a hero's favorite food or whatnot.

It all sounded too good to be true. Izuku worked part-time and when he finished high school it was a full-time job.

He loved it he really did. They actually scheduled interviews, letting him talk to pros instead of catching them after battles, not that he minded doing that. Apparently, TinCan and co had been vouching for him and many Pros and sidekicks were willing to answer a question or two.

Izuku liked talking to the sidekicks. His boss did too. It provided insight into the hero’s lives that usually wasn't harmful, Izuku tended not to share it if it was. The pros liked it less, however, as he somehow always managed to convince their sidekicks to start their own agency. They had started to combat this by offering to be interviewed instead. Izuku found it funny but easily agreed.

He loved his job, he really did and was so excited to see where it lead him.

He probably would have been less excited if he realized it led him directly into danger… all the time.

---------

This is just one of oh 9 au’s/fics I’ve come up with(and written) in the past three weeks. I’m doing fine. Whats obsession?

[gaminggambler956]

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[retro-rudy]

Logic- No Pressure Album Review

In summation of Logic's career, the foremost qualities that can’t go unnoticed is the dedication, respect and admiration the man has always had for the art of hip-hop. From the beginning, dating back to his Young Sinatra mix-tape series, in an era where trap beats were overtaking hip-hop, Logic arrived as a breath of fresh air with his conscious driven lyrics and entertaining flow, fueled by the boom-bap style he enjoyed from earlier influences such as Wu-Tang Clan, A Tribe Called Quest, and Mos Def. Logic lived up to the hype and expectations by delivering a successful debut album and painting a promising future, in which, considering how the industry measures success, Logic went onto surpass by reaching the heights of mainstream play and various award nominations with his next 2 studio albums. Amid the commercial success came the broader spotlight, the very one that emphasized his every move, and drew fluctuated criticism to an all-time high for the Maryland emcee. The challenges for Logic however were not the subjective opinions people had towards his music, but rather stemmed from the more personal jokes, memes, and the non-music related opinions that seemed to overshadow the music he was creating for audiences. In 2019, these unfortunate circumstances led Logic to step away from music and social media for some time with no public explanation to the reasoning of his hiatus. That was until the ever so unpredictable 2020 saw Logic emerge with a staggering album announcement accompanied by an unexpected retirement announcement.

Logic, returned in 2020 as many anticipated, with his 7th and final studio album, No Pressure. The joint announcement of album date and retirement came on July 16th, just one week before the set album release date. While the announcement was abrupt and left many with lingering questions, the 1 week wait would eventually lead fans to the clear reasoning of his decision through No Pressure’s foundation of honest and convincing lyrics.

Right out of the gates, Logic sets the tone and premise of the direction he will take the album on the opening track, No Pressure Intro. Logic applies audio from the famous Orson Wells “The Hitchhiker” introduction, which Logic chops and edits perfectly to bring us into the album. Within the edits, Logic cites No I.D and The Incredible True Story to give the intro a fun twist that adds the thematic touch many have grown accustomed to in Logic’s discography. The fundamentally ear-hitting boom-bap beat produced by NO I.D could not have been curated any better for Logic on the opener. Logic and the instrumental go hand in hand as he delivers bar after bar for over a minute and a half before reaching an abrupt interruption that catapults you into the next track. “B*tch I’m too alive, like twins in a womb, come hither, consume” and “But it cost a fee to be the boss it cost to be, over possessions like an apostrophe.” are some of the more standout bars on this intro.

           On No Pressure, Logic’s overall mood comes off positive, natural, motivated and unforced which benefits each song on this record in its own way. On songs such as Hit My Line, Celebration, and Amen, Logic���s unhinged and unpressed mind state injects everlasting life and validation to the long peace, love and positivity advocate. Logic’s comfort with his current-self shines through on Hit My Line with a confident, worry-free chorus and candid verses as he persuasively calls on god for a fixing of humanity. Logic’s positive drive has been a stapled message within his raps since the beginning of his career and the messaged remains well intact on Hit My Line and the entirety of this project. The confidence he shows when he says, “They say they don’t want messages in rap, it ruins the art. Well here I am people, yeah, now tear me apart.” further endorses his attempt of leaving it all out for this record with no regrets. Even on the track, Celebration, where Logic taps into his braggadocio side of rap to pen out the worry-free mindset he now has and how there is nothing for him to prove to anyone, you can hear the freeing mentality he has as he spits:

“It’s been a minute now; my style is feeling infinite now. Used to people pulling me down, it ain’t shit to me now. Don’t let it get to me now: threw out my phone, they can’t get to me now.”

These tracks dwell on a cheerful and flamboyant tempo that Logic ceases throughout the entirety of the tracks. The same can be said for songs like Dadbod, Perfect, and 5 Hooks, that show versatility in terms of beat choices and the ability of Logic to naturally execute each varying flow that comes off as effortlessly in this stage of his career.

           Meshed in with the collection of the more upbeat and elated-expressive tracks, Logic sprinkles in tracks built off well executed hip-hop samples that serve up a heavier dose of conscious articulated bars. Dating back to the Young Sinatra mix-tapes, Logic has never been shy to wear his influences on his sleeve, and tracks like GP4 and Man i is prove this to the be the case in present day. GP4, a nostalgic tie-in with Logic’s Growing Pains’ song collection, which we last heard on Under Pressure, contains a sample constructed from OutKasts’ Elevators song from ATLiens. Given the track record of various and well-respected hip-hop samples Logic has placed on each of the Growing Pains’ tracks, this one fits cohesively with the bunch. Much like the previous Growing Pains’, Logic leans on his story telling to paint witty and mental pictures of a variety of thoughts floating in his mind. From adolescent memories, to admitting his once determination of becoming the greatest rapper alive now being inessential, Logic goes onto acknowledge how the greatest rapper alive might not even be rapping and is instead stacking groceries at an ordinary 9 to 5 with no care in the world, resembling much how Logic feels at this point in his career. On Man i is, Logic’s maturity and growth flourishes among the inspired instrumental created out of an iconic mashup consisting of OutKasts’ SpottieOttieDopaliscious, Tarika Blues’ Dreamflower, DJ Screw and Pimp C. Logic self-reflects as he looks back on where he came from and what he endured, to which through it all has led him to this point in life where he can confidently say he is sincerely proud of the man he has become. In hip-hop it’s made well-aware that high expectations are to be met when paying homage to classics and Logic absolutely fulfills the task on this one in a form that without a doubt places Man i is among the most prominent tracks within his discography. Open Mic\\Aquarius III keeps Logic on the lyrical prowess and serves as a bridge for fans to connect with the bar for bar artillery the emcee has long had. The beat switch that takes place in this track is superb with the pure hip-hop cypher sound of Open Mic interestingly transitioning into the more jazzy and mellow Aquarius III. The high-volume of bars continues immediately on the following track, Soul Food II. The deserving sequel to one of Logic’s held in high regards track off his debut album Under Pressure. Logic retains the format of spitting a series of bars as he did in the original Soul Food. It’s warming and evident to hear the growth in both, his mentality as a human and abilities of his craft as an artist when you hear both songs in sequential order. In Soul Food II, mentally, Logic remains as humble and passionate as ever while sonically the tone and delivery of his raps resonate with the listener enough to have them capture and break down his every word. This along with the metaphors within this song is what prompts Soul Food II to standout on its own and give its predecessor a run for its money, and dare I say, maybe even edge out the original.

           On the last leg of the album is where I find Logic taking the listener towards the conclusion of the album on a pure, passion driven energy specifically due to the openness of Dark Place, and the spiritually motivating Heard Em Say. Dark Place is the first of its kind for the emcee as it is by far the most personal track Logic has ever released. While Logic has been open about personal situations before, it has never been to the degree and sentiment he lets out on the track. What was meant to remain an unreleased and personal track shares a transparent view of his feelings regarding the real toll the amount of negativity and criticism took on his mental state.

“Writin’ rhymes was easy before the fame. Now I’m constantly overthinkin’ every line, it’s a shame. Rap used to fill me with joy, now it’s nothin’ but pain. I’m stuck in the game, tryna get back from where I came.”

 The entire song contains some of Logic’s most honest and heart-breaking lyrics that transport you directly to the most difficult year he experienced as a mainstream artist. “I’d love to end this on some positive shit. Hit you with punchlines instead of some derogative shit, but it’s okay to be sad sometimes and tired of shit.. I guess.” Logic becomes as relatable to the listener as ever with his sincerity on here. And while the song might show vulnerability, it’s okay. In the end the fan and artist label are irrelevant compared to the human label we all fall under. Another evident example of the earnest connection between Logic and his Rattpack. Fittingly so, the best in my opinion is saved for last. Heard Em Say easily ranks in the top 5 of Logic's entire released discography for me. From self-producing the song, to writing one of his most heartfelt verses, the song sums up as one of Logic’s most range defining cuts from an artist standpoint. The 3rd verse on Heard Em Say is one of Logic’s best verses from his discography, and impressively so isn’t due to the depth of lyricism, but due to Logic’s infinite passion heard throughout the verse. Logic grabs you with every word and instills raw emotion and inspiration with a hopeful send off in quintessential fashion Logic has long been known for.

After Confessions of a Dangerous Mind failed to reach favorable appreciation within hip-hop enthusiasts, and his fan base respectively; the project left many wondering if perhaps Logic’s better days were behind him. With unfavorable reviews and criticism weighing heavily on the emcee, Logic spent the better part of 2019 and 2020 writing raps vigorously on his Louis Vuitton rhyme book as he mentions on the freeing Amen. Logic stated in an interview with Nick Huff Barili of Hard Knock TV, that No Pressure essentially came to fruition out of his essential love for hip-hop no longer being intact, before coming to the conclusion of ending his career and delivering a final project in the form of which he came into the game with, a project he would give his every ounce of love for hip-hop to, to showcase pure hip-hop built on a foundation of bars and verses made up of the emcee’s best abilities. With executive production from No I.D, No Pressure achieves this and sees Logic set the record straight in his place among hip-hop. In retrospect, while the time apart might have been difficult, I believe both Logic and fans of Logic in the long run reached a perfect ending of a prominent and inspiring career. No Pressure serves as a celebrated accumulation and reflection of the inspiring emcees’ hip-hop career, the final chapter that gives the fan closure and comprehension for his farewell. Logic is now free of pressure and has found happiness by obtaining the greatest blessing in life, family. Thank you for delivering us this classic, and the best of wishes on your future endeavor Bobby. Final rating: 10

[dailyexo]

[NEWS] EXO - 181227 Billboard: “EXO's 'Love Shot' Album: The Producers & Songwriters Break Down Every Song”

"The long-awaited one-two punch of EXO’s Don’t Mess Up My Tempo and subsequent Love Shot repackage provided fans with two heaping doses of polished pop. From Daft Punk’s Tron to U.K. garage, EXO checks off all the stylistic boxes on their latest works, expanding upon and further fleshing out their diverse discography.

The sonic gambles have paid off: The Love Shot repackage has already swept iTunes charts around the world from Thailand to the United States, building upon the record-breaking success of its predecessor Tempo. The members of EXO are still going strong six years into their careers, with Love Shot representing a new apex for the boy band.

We spoke with the producers behind EXO’s greatest LP thus far for the stories behind the songs.

“Love Shot”

Mike Woods: Last year in January, we had a camp with Marz Music and SM. They had liked the song since January [2017] -- Korea's just very strategic when they release songs and how they brand everything around the song. It was purposely [for] the repackage album from day one -- not necessarily day one, but they were deciding between "Tempo" and "Love Shop" -- the original [title] is "Love Shop," by the way. So we kinda knew that the repackage album would have "Love Shot" being the title single.

We wanted something that was very, very performance-driven, very dance-driven -- something that would sound good loud and in an arena. We like the fact that it's kind of in a different time signature -- it's in 6/8, so that's not like a generic pop song. With Korea, we like to do things that push the boundaries, not super generic, because they're very musical. Things like that translate a lot better than they do in America. We really like the anthemic [sound] -- even [with] "Oasis," that's what we strive for. We like to do things that just sound big -- I feel like that's our niche with me, Kevin [White], and Bazzi. It's fun, big, and loud. We saved it for the last day 'cause we knew we wanted to end the camp with a bang, and in our heads, we knew what song we wanted to make. We had voice notes of it from the first or second day we got there, but we wanted to save it for the end 'cause we knew it would be a big song for them.

“Tempo”

Leven Kali: Two years ago I went to Seoul for the first time for a writing camp with SM, and we started “Tempo” during that trip. It took a few sessions after that back in the states with the rest of the writers [Tay Jasper and Adrian McKinnon] to finish it up, and then Digi, the main producer, brought it home with the final touches. We didn't know where the song would end up, but I'm grateful that it ended up with EXO because they always execute the records at a unique and high-quality level. I'm really happy [with] how it turned out and blessed to be a part of their story.

The song is inspired by a lot of different genres and artists, like Teddy Riley, OutKast, and Take 6. Adrian is one of the most talented singers and musicians I’ve ever met, and he really brought that doo-wop flair to the track. In K-pop they really encourage experimental arrangements, so we got to be creative with this one.

“Tempo” was so fun to make because the energy during the entire trip was on fire. We were working so fast, coming up with tons of good songs, and definitely dabbling in the Seoul nightlife. Digi and Adrian had started the song on one of those crazy nights, and when we got back to the studio, it was a party making the record. Gotta give a big shout out to the blue soju. Also, fun fact: The original spelling of the song is “Ttempo,” with two Ts.

Digi Chammas: “Tempo” was a huge group effort with the writers and they absolutely killed it. I feel like you can tell it was a group of us having the most fun making that song. The constant switch ups and harmonizing is how we like to work. When we do that, there is a lot of back and forth for months with fine tuning, especially the a cappella section because it’s so special. Adrian [McKinnon] is a genius with his harmony. It’s one of my favorite songs I’ve produced, and EXO just crushed it. Crushed it! Having a single with them is what I’ve always wanted, and to be a part of such an exciting release is unreal.

"Tempo" is an amalgam of R&B, funk, disco, EDM, and '90s house. It all goes together without trying too hard. The pieces just fit. Doing edits on the demo wasn’t annoying or daunting because it just never got annoying to listen to.

I wanted to bring a bright energy to their music while still letting it still be serious without being too serious. Also, bed squeaks. They just work.

“Trauma”

Keynon “KC” Moore: Since [co-producer] DaBenchwarma and I are both managed by 3Sixty Music Group we collaborate on many different songs. Danny [Smith, KC’s manager] is telling me he had a plug for 5 Seconds of Summer. And I know they wanted to kinda go [in] a crossover, kind of urban [direction], but still keep it pop. So DaBenchwarma sent me over a few tracks for that and I wrote to four or five of them. And “Trauma,” as it is now, was one of them. It was actually called "A Little Bit" originally. I wrote to that -- usually what I do is I'm a night owl. I'll write really late, like 3 a.m., and then I'll toy with the melodies in my head. If I can remember the melody the next day when I get ready to record, it usually works out. The next day I went in and recorded it, so when I sent it over to DaBenchwarma, that was one of the tracks he really liked. Danny sent the records over to the A&R for DNCE and Ryan [Jhun], but Ryan hit us back first and was like, “We really like this track -- I’m going to send [it] to SM Entertainment, but let’s make some changes before I pitch it.” We made all those changes, [and] Ryan hit us back [and] said, “They want this for EXO.” A special shout out Ryan’s team Marcan Entertainment because none of this would be possible without them.

Maroon 5's last album was very [influential] -- I have a friend that wrote on it and she's one of my biggest inspirations. I wanted to keep things simple -- I'm still working on really simplifying what we call "pop music," trying to strip things down enough to where it's still very much intelligent but easy for a two-year-old to catch onto. Maroon 5, definitely, I feel like I utilized some of their simplicity and took my own take on it from there.

To me, it's a progressively pop song in which it's simple, but it definitely has a lot to it if you really strip it down and listen -- there's so much going on.

Cedric “DaBenchwarma” Smith: When I started working on that particular track, I was working on some stuff for DNCE at the time, and KC was writing some stuff for them as well. One of the songs that we'd written to, Danny had just gotten a pitch from SM again. At the time I was doing a lot of urban music, and so… it took me a day or two, because I had to readjust myself, just kinda reset and get in a different zone for the type of track it is. 'Cause it's uptempo, guitar-driven pop, a lot of energy. And I had to readjust and reset to get it how I wanted it, and once I sent it over to Keynon, we just started vibing out to it. We were like, "Man, I think we got something here." And so we sent it over to Ryan Jhun; he and his team loved it but wanted to make a couple of adjustments to make it fit for EXO. After making the adjustments, Ryan sent it to SM Entertainment. They loved it but ask[ed] for some changes and edits in additional to the changes Ryan’s team requested, plus a rap verse was requested since it wasn’t in the original pitch. We made numerous adjustments so it could be more energetic so that EXO could showcase their dancing. They're just a very multi-talented group; we wanted the music and the track to reflect who they were.

I was listening to so much at [that] time. I don't like to listen to one thing too long -- I kinda get influences from a little bit of everywhere. A little bit of DNCE, Maroon 5 -- guitar-driven melodic tracks that just keep you moving rhythmically from top to bottom. For me, I was looking for records that have that strong guitar influence in 'em at the time. I think that's one of the things that caught [SM’s] attention, 'cause it gets your attention right from the front of the melody of the guitar, and it drives the song right on home.

Last time we did an urban R&B mid-tempo style [track]. But this time around, we just wanted to do something more upbeat. Like I said, they have so many talents, with their dance and the stage presence and the energy they give. We were doing a track, we heard the energy to it, we [were] like, "Hey, this'll be a little different than what we did, but I think it'll be perfect for them because of how versatile they are." One day they may do the R&B, mid-tempo [sound], then next they come out with [a] high-energy dance track, and they can kill it all.

“Wait”

Andreas Öberg: This is kind of an interesting story, because it's an older song. We did this back in 2014, so the name "Wait" is very appropriate. I've done many camps, over ten camps together with [SM] in Seoul, but this was in my own camp -- it was arranged by a publisher in Korea called Iconic Sounds. So we were doing a week of sessions, and we had one day off. We were gonna go somewhere, but for some reason we didn't. We were indecisive [about] what we were gonna do that day, so Jimmy [Burney] and I were talking and we had done a bunch of songs based on tracks, more full-on kind of productions. We said, "Oh, we have this afternoon off, why don't we just go to the studio, do something just you and I, acoustic guitar and vocals?"

Back then, EXO were already doing winter albums, so we were aiming at that. Shortly after the camp, [SM] said, "Oh, this is perfect for EXO's winter album." So we got it confirmed as a placement. It was supposed to, I think, be on one of those Christmas releases. But then for some reason, they said, "Oh, sorry, no, we decided to use it at a later stage." Through the years, at different times, they told me, "Yeah, it's about to come out." So we didn't pitch it elsewhere because we thought it was coming out, but it always got pushed. And now, finally, four and a half years later -- I think it was autumn of 2014 that we created this song. We were kind of joking about it, "Wait" being an appropriate title, but it ended up where we kinda intended it to end up. We're really happy with the results, how it sounds with EXO's vocals.

I had to re-record the guitar a month ago because they changed the key slightly. It's basically two channels of guitar, one [with] basic chords, a little bit of lower bass mid-range chords, and then there's one other channel where I lay out some of the chords in the higher register just to get a little bit more glitter. We wanted to create something emotional for the winter season. Not necessarily a plain Christmas song, but this is, I would say, a winter season song. I think in Korea, in my experience, the releases from the labels are very season-based. People and fans are expecting specific colors, chords, styles of music.

Jimmy Burney: Four years ago I was in Seoul, Korea at SM doing some sessions with my friends from Iconic Sounds, a very talented music production crew. I went to breakfast one morning with Tesung [Kim], who is the head guy at Iconic, and he asked me who else I had been writing with in the K-pop market at the time. I told him about my buddy Andreas Öberg who does really well in the K-pop scene, so they ended up flying him out as well. Andreas is a genius on the guitar. So after a few sessions of writing to fully produced tracks, I suggested maybe doing something a little more stripped down. He started playing this beautiful progression and the record just came together like magic. A year after that, we were told that EXO would be cutting it and releasing it. That ended up not happening that year; we had to wait a little longer... so long to the point I almost forgotten they even recorded it. It was a nice surprise to wake up and see that the repackaged album it’s on had went No. 1 in 60 countries [on iTunes]. So I guess it was well worth the wait.

I really wanted to do a record that captured raw emotion, and the best way I felt it would stand out was to write a song that was opposite of what we had been writing the whole trip. Don’t get me wrong -- I think uptempos, drums, 808s, synths, and other fun sounds are amazing, but there is nothing like the feeling of a real instrument, like guitar, piano. It was really fun to arrange this with Andreas who has a great ear for structure and harmony. When I recorded my vocals on the demo, I wanted to make sure that it captured the essence of raw emotion so that whoever ended up cutting it would feel it immediately.

Andreas and I started creating this song in the evening -- I was extremely jet lagged. We ended up taking a break and my friend Siwon Choi from Super Junior came and picked us up and took us to dinner and a night out on the town showing us Seoul. We got back to the studio after midnight and finished writing and recording “Wait.”

I had another song with EXO years ago called "Love Love Love.” I’m honored to be a part of another album, I think EXO are amazingly talented. Since “Love Love Love” had more rap elements, it was really nice to give them a record that was more vocal driven this time around.

“Sign”

Patrick "J. Que" Smith: We called it originally "Body Don't Lie," but I think it might've been a little too spicy, so they made some flips to it. But the process of writing it was super, super easy. I remember we got over there and HM -- Harvey [Mason, Jr.] -- brought the track to the table. This trip, in four or five days, we maybe wrote fifteen or sixteen songs. So we've written one or two songs, and Harvey comes in the room excited -- "I got one! I got it! I know I got it!" And he plays the track, and immediately everybody's hype. We sit down and we start writing and we start vibing off of each other. We blew through the song fast, cut it, dressed it up, played it for the crew, and they were like, "Yo, we love this one, we definitely think we wanna use this one." We got the call when we knew they were gonna cut it. The guys ended up recording it, and I remember being back in L.A. at this time, getting a call from Harvey saying, "Hey, it's going really well, they wanna know if you can write a rap for 'em." We sat down, banged out a rap really fast, and sent it back.

Before we started writing, that [concert aspect] comes up now. You have to picture it on stage. If you can't hear it being sung, if you can't see it being performed in a stadium, then it's not the record it needs to be. We've met them, and they're all amazingly sweet guys, but seeing them perform was just wild. It's like watching Clark Kent turn to Superman. They're so amazing and mild-mannered and good natured and super polite, and then when they step on stage, they just become these superheroes. When we sit down to write, you just understand that you can't write this song for Clark Kent. We knew that we had to write the song for Superman. If Superman can't sing this song, we're not doing our job.

“Ooh La La La”

Digi Chammas: “Ooh La La La” came together so smooth. Bazzi is an animal with the pen. One of the A&Rs said something a little Latin would be amazing for EXO. Bazzi and I sat in the studio listening to this bossa guitar loop I had made with Justin Lucas right before I had gone out to Seoul. Honestly, [Bazzi] probably had half of song done within 5-10 minutes while I did the drums, haha. Then I just touched up the arrangement later that week before I left for L.A.. [Bazzi] knows how to write the catchiest shit ever. All I had to do was make it slap.

“Ooh La” is a Latin bop. It has low end and it moves. The inspiration for that was just EXO. When you have them as [the] goal, it’s easy to get inspired because you can almost already see them bodying it. You just know what direction to go.

Justin Lucas: The guitars throughout is me. It's got a bossa nova-inspired kind of groove. Me and Digi [Chammas] were messing around with the sort of bossa nova-inspired feel on the guitar, and then he sort of flipped that to more of the K-pop feel. We got together and played around with ideas, and while we were there writing, they sent some ideas. They said, "Hey, we're finishing the track, here's the bridge chords, can you do the bossa nova-style guitar over this section?" Once we started writing to the initial idea, it [took] about two days and it was done.

“Gravity”

Greg Bonnick, LDN NOISE: Whenever we start to work on records for EXO, we usually start by creating tracks freely and try to be as experimental as possible. Being fortunate enough to have worked on past records, we are quite connected to their journey, so therefore [we] have a feeling of what we would like to hear them do next as listeners and fans.

For “Gravity,” we started with a simple beat like Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean,” and then played a funky bassline. As we layered more sounds, it became more like a disco/funk hybrid and gave us a futuristic feel. We visualized the movie Tron and the soundtrack by Daft Punk for the mood of the song and added the lead sound from “Power.” The lyrics added to the theme, and then Chanyeol helped with translation.

“With You”

Mikey Akin, Sons of Sonix: We basically had the writing session for another artist by the name of Aston Merrygold who's based back home in London, and it was a writing session that we had with him. It was us, Varren Wade, and Aston. I felt like [Aston] loved the song, but he was still deciding his sound for his project, so the record was still open. And then Varren had a meeting with one of the representatives at SM, someone that was looking after EXO, and played the record to them in the meeting, and they loved the record. SM was like, "Yo, we would love to take this for our project." ["With You"] was [created in] May 2016, and it found a home eventually. [SM], they must have heard it top of this year or later.

Myself and Mo [Samuels], our whole production is based in fusion, a lot of fusion [from] our background, us being British and Nigerian. Being from southeast London, you grow up listening to so much garage, so much jungle, so much grime, so what we tend to do is we fuse elements of each genre that makes our foundations in our productions. So even though the record is an R&B pop record, you have the elements of U.K. garage in there. I guess that's kinda one of the reasons why the record must have stood out, because it's something new, but something they could relate to. We just added a different spin to it with the U.K. element. It's kinda like cooking, when you make [something] a certain particular way and you [add] extra ingredients, and you go, "Oh, this is new, I didn't know you could do that!" But you're not scared to enjoy the meal.

[Chanyeol's involvement] was more of a direction kind of basis, making it fit into EXO's vision for the song. Because you gotta understand, if someone presents to you a whole complete record, there's still things you might wanna change. When we were finishing off the record and doing post-production on the record, he did have his input in terms of if we could try this and move this section of the rhythm there and have a drop out here. It was a collaboration back and forth to get the best out of the record.

“24/7”

The Wavyz: The initial idea for “24/7” came together almost a year before it got released. Our team is constantly working on new stuff for K-pop artists, and this is one of the ideas that we felt super strongly about.

Funny enough, it actually was meant for NCT 127 originally. We didn't find out that EXO was interested in it until around March, which is when we started to rework some of the parts.

We were going back and forth with [SM Entertainment] about different options for the intro of the song. We felt like we hit a wall and were stuck until the engineers we work with -- Aaron Berton, Andrew Hey -- walked by whistling the melody from the chorus. That’s when we knew it had to be the intro!

Our goal for this song was always to make it sound effortless while still keeping a high, driving energy going throughout. We wanted it to stand out from the other records on the album.

“Bad Dream”

Bianca Atterberry: It was [titled] "Stranger" when we initially wrote it. Me and Deez and Mike Daley and Mitch, they played the track. Deez will have a track listening when we come in and then we'll sit down and listen to the tracks that they've created. We started with melody -- that's how I normally start in general. I'll hear it and then we'll come up with the melody, and [Deez]'s so good at hearing harmonies and backgrounds and little ambiances. His ears are crazy. Deez is a very hard worker, so he was like, "We gotta get it done." That's all harmonies, all backgrounds, all lyrics -- we [got] it done that day. I feel like songs that are made in the moment are best.

It almost sounds like a '90s R&B song [in] the intro, and then it just hits with this energetic drive to it. It has a whole 'nother drive, almost like a poppy drive to it. But I felt like the melodic pocket needed to be a little bit more open because the beat was moving a lot, so I didn't want the melody to be too fast. I wanted it to be something you could still sing to and vibe to, so I was just going through melodies. I just sang, girl, I don't know where it comes from! I freestyle [the] majority of the songs that I write -- I'll just come up with the melody and sometimes I'll have the concept within whatever I just came up with. I'm not saying anything, I'm just [mumble-sings], you know what I mean? Just hearing what naturally feels good in that pocket.

Of course [the inspiration] would be a '90s male group, of course. It's New Kids on the Block, *NSYNC, Backstreet Boys. Because I know that they have these supergroups and they're still in that '90s vibe but then they have these pop elements to them as well. They also dance like Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC, and it's like they all had a baby, basically. That's what the vision normally is for EXO and groups like that.

Deez: “Bad Dream” was written during a song camp hosted by SM Entertainment. Normally in SM camps, producers bring their tracks, and the songwriters choose one of them to work on based on the discussion between the writers, and also with the A&Rs. When I’m in those song camps, I usually get involved in the track and vocal producing and toplining. For this song “Bad Dream,” I worked as a vocal producer and topliner. This was my first collaboration with the co-topliner “Blush” [Bianca.] She has [a] classical voice, but at the same time, it’s very trendy -- you don’t see that very often. Right after I listened to her voice, I could easily come up with melody of the song. She’s absolutely one of the best U.S. songwriters I’ve met. Blush and I worked on the track in very extemporary way, as we both like that type of work.

In song camps, I normally create one song per a day, but the chemistry with Blush made us to do two songs on that day, and “Bad Dream” was the first song of the day. It took 6-7 hours for the toplining and the vocal production. [It] was a very satisfying session. I normally do not follow any leads, but for this one, I was exactly targeting EXO, as Blush’s voice gave me the inspiration.

When we were going through Mike Daley’s tracks, it was hard for me and Blush to choose, as most of Mike’s tracks were used during the previous sessions. While we were struggling, Mike played a track that I heard while I was in L.A. last year. Mike let me listen to the track at that time, and I kept that one since I really liked it. I was thinking of TVXQ. Mike didn’t remember the fact that he gave it to me already, and played to us. Blush and I agreed with working on the track, and result was more than great.

Mike Daley: Usually when I go out [to Korea], I try to have a couple tracks ready from my camp just to be able to start the first couple of days off, and then start making new stuff when I'm out there. But that was a track I worked on with a producer I work with a lot, Mitchell Owens. So we started working on a couple of songs and if you hear two different beats -- it started off as a guitar-R&B vibe [track], and then I just started messing with some of the chords and different sounds and got a whole different vibe in the verses. [I] tried to make it sound a lot different than the intro, 'cause I know that's the stuff Deez likes writing to.

I think their sound, it can't be anything regular, down the middle. It's gotta be a little left of center, just something that's engaging, because their performances are so crazy. That's what I'm thinking about with the track, trying to make something that performance-wise will be cool.

Some of the new EDM pop elements, I got some inspiration from that. But then still, the real feel-good R&B, boy band vibe, which is what I came up in with The Underdogs -- that's always a part of what I'm doing.

“Damage”

Greg Bonnick, LDN Noise: For “Damage,” we really wanted a bouncy hip-hop record but with [an] anthemic chant feel to the chorus, so even though the verses were laid back, the crowd could really engage with the hook. We started with a piano riff and clap and built the song around that, adding in different elements as it progressed. It was a lot of fun and something different for EXO, one of our favorites.

Deez: “Damage” was created during the same camp that “Gravity” was made. The work flow with LDN Noise was pretty similar, but I wanted to stress [the] bridge part of the song. As you can hear, the chord progression, the melody, [and the] harmonies of the background vocals in the bridge part are quite dramatic. Since the initial track was [a] very strong hip-hop track, I wanted to give some turn around through the bridge part, and it was very satisfying, as listeners could have more [of a] spectacle when they get to the final chorus, with the bridge.

Adrian and I [are] always obsessed with new topline[s] and fresh harmonies, and this song was particularly a challenge for us. I think we were just trying to make the topline of the chorus part with obvious counterpoint. We took a break to think out of the box, and boom, all the rhythm and notes of the chorus hit my head. Based on them, we worked on the catchy rhythm.

“Smile On My Face”

Iain James: “Smile On My Face” came together in Los Angeles at Brian Kennedy’s studio with myself and Sam Hook. Sam is very close friends with the artist Trey Songz, and the song originally started out as an idea for him. It didn’t take long to be produced, mainly because Brian already had a lot of the track in place, especially the chord structure. So it was really just a case of myself and Sam coming up with the concept, defining the lyric[s], and then creating the melody, which I remember being a lot of fun as we’re both singers.

In terms of inspiration for the song, I think it was clear from the start that we wanted it to be an intimate love song, something for a singer to really connect with, and have a catchy chorus -- which I think it really does.

The song I did for EXO-CBX was probably a bit more fun and upbeat, so I’m glad we could do something a bit more heartfelt this time for EXO. Something their fans could really connect with, and something that would really show off their vocal abilities.

“Oasis”

Mike Woods: The original title is "Running," and the chorus [was] "I'm on the run/Baby I'm running."

Kevin White: I think the first or second thing [Bazzi] did [was] the "Running" [part]. I think at first it was kind of a mumble, and then he transformed it into words. We work real close with Bazzi -- we have a really good rapport and really good working relationship. I think this is one of the earlier songs we did in the camp. I remember Mike playing the stabbing chords, and then that kinda hit in the verses, and I remember we were saying, "It'd be crazy if the drums hit with that and then cut out." So it's doing a lot of things that come naturally to us.

Mike Woods: With us and Bazzi working together, I think we always try to do something that hasn't necessarily been done before or the way that we've done it. That's a really big thing for us anytime we work collectively, it's always about "How can we push the boundaries?"

Kevin White: The big choral stack... we just knew it had to go there because I think we were really searching for that big anthemic chorus that everybody's gonna sing in a stadium -- that's always the goal."

Credit: Billboard.

[vallonde-laid-bare]

(!IMPORTANT EDIT: This has been revised since it was posted, making this version out-of-date. All content presented herein should be considered unbalanced/unfinished!) (Disclaimer: I’m really tired right now so forgive me if I ramble)

Aight, now we're getting into some of the heavier rules additions I've made. Let me preface this by saying I love wizards. I think they're just as versatile as clerics while having much more characterization flexibility. That said, I really dislike wizards in 5th ed. They just feel boring, with nothing that really projects that classic wizard feel. School specialization is much less of an impactful choice than in previous editions, and the bonuses granted by your chosen school are generally boring or require silly, exploitative combos to make use of. After finally getting around to playing one and being thoroughly underwhelmed, I decided to take a crack at actually making this class fun to play

NOTE: NONE of this content has been playtested yet. Between two seperate campaings, None of my players have chosen to play arcane spell casters, so I've yet to have a chance to see it in action. I can only image some of these options are overpowered, so it may have to be adjusted on the fly to adjust for player shenanigans.

Let me start by saying this was a major process. I went into 4th and 3/3.5 to find inspiration for the direction I wanted to take the various schools and new rules, and I think I found several ways to make the class and its options feel much more unique. Characterization is always the most important part of creating and playing characters, at least for me, and I feel like every option should strive to push that idea. Starting at the very beginning with implement masteries, you're already seperating your character from other wizards. Down with same-y features, up with options. I'm just going to kind of skim over all of the school and give my basic thoughts and process on the overhaul, even though I'm tempted to gush about all of them because, honestly, I think there's a lot to love here.

Of special note, SAVANT FEATURES NO LONGER EXIST. Cutting the time and cost to copy spells is so contrived and inconsequential that I see their inclusion as more of an insult than a gift. These have all been replaced with something that directly powers up the schools theme because that is way more fun. Also, these are meant to be mixed and matched with the schools as they exist in the PHB. These features all list which feature they replace so you can choose which one you prefer between the two of them when you reach a level that grants you a new feature. - Abjuration: I think that, of all the schools, 5e did the best with abjuration. The base features fit the theme nicely and it's actually a viable way to build a defensive wizard. A bit of a power boost and push 'em out the door with a pat on the bottom. - Conjuration: Lets face it: Summoning in 5e sucks. At lower levels you can summon creatures so rarely it that it doesn't properly lend flavor to the class, and at higher levels its completely outshined by massive, reality altering spells like wish and meteor storm or whatever. This set of features includes a once per day cantrip-level summoning ability and a direct upgrade to the weak level 14 feature from the PHB. Summoning spells are admitedly pretty one dimensional, so if you choose a large number of them to prepare you may come up short on versatility. I was looking for a way to circumvent that issue, and figured that a wizard specialized in summoning would know the spells well enough that they could spontaneously cast them. - Divination: I really like this one, specifically because of how flavorful it is. As you can see, there is no level 2 talent to replace portent because portent is just that good. It's powerful, it's fun, it's flavorful, I just can't see another talent that could be a viable contender for portent. I think expert divination is far to situational and makes little sense for the school, so I present prescience as an option I think it potentially equal in power but way more fitting. And finally, diviner's sight is, in my opinion, the most interesting roleplay option in 5th ed at this time. Imagine a wizard who has looked to far and seen too much, whose vision has been seared away by things no one was meant to see. UGH. So cool. The 60ft of blindsight is awesome and gets around some tricky tricks. - Enchantment: Enchantment already has some cool stuff going on, so I just wanted to make the spells harder to save against because casting something like command and then having the target save is the biggest waste of a turn in this edition of D&D. - Evocation: The biggest change here is elemental affinity, the almost surely broken way to play a real fire or ice or thunder or whatever mage. I think it's fine, but I can see it really causing issues if a player is specifically trying to exploit it. - Illusion: THIS ONE IS COOL GUYS. WOW. This suite of features straight up turns your wizard into a shadow caster. How cool is that?! Balanced from what I can tell as well, but it'll need to see play before I can be sure. - Necromancy: This is the one where I know I done messed up. I love necromancers. Love love love them. I'm an edgy preteen for them. I've also got a lot of thoughts on how they work, and I wanted to highlight some of that here. Necromancers don't so much command death magic as their magic simply manipulates life force. I feel that for a wizard so inclined, it wouldn't be difficult to simply turn that process around. What I'm trying to say is white necromancy and wizards with healing spells. I also added an option that gives the wizard a permanent hunter-style undead companion. Very, very cool but PROBABLY a bit too strong. - Transmutation: Transmutation is cool, and I really like the flavor of changing yourself to be the ultimate jack of all trades. As with everything else, the savant trait has been replaced. - Generalist: I really like the idea of this one, and it has a very classic wizard feel. More focus on the focus, a neat pet, and stronger spells? Yee. - Battle Mage: I'm not so sure about this one. I made these a while back before any of the other combat caster classes came out, so I honestly might end up just scrapping it.

Anyway, I'll probably be dropping some actual setting material next time, most likely the other section on arcane magic. It's blood magic all the way down, kids...

(Content PDF)

[kanralovesu]

What Karasuno vs Aoba Johsai From Haikyu Can Teach Us About Good Shonen Battles

This might be the coldest take of all time but I love Haikyu. What might be more of a hot take is that I put this anime on a pedestal right next to Hunter x Hunter as the greatest shonen anime of all time, but as of writing this I’ve only watched the first season so that’s really what I’m talking about at the current moment. The final showdown at the end of this anime between Karasuno and Aoba Johsai is by all accounts an epic Shonen battle and it puts up everything a good fight should and then some! I’m gonna look at fight from the angle of strategy, characters and superpowers (bare with me here) to find out how to improve other shonen anime (and maybe toot Haikyu’s horn a little). 

So first lets talk about superpowers so I can explain what I mean. Really the purpose of a superpower in a story is to communicate to the audience why dude A can do amazing thing B. Thing B is usually something pretty specific so the audience has an understanding of what’s going on when thing start going magical. The rules of a sports game might seem like magic to an onlooker so its a good thing we have roles to make information easier to digest. Setters through the ball to Spikers who spike it. The Libero tries to keep the ball in the air, the Middle Blocker blocks, the Server does a serve, etc. Unfortunately this doesn’t fully cover the overly complex rules of Volleyball and I do get confused when they randomly introduce something like the Libero (or backline?) not being able to cross a certain line and so the guy had to jump before that line to act as the Setter. I say Haikyu is close to perfect but these little moments where the rules of Volleyball can’t accurately be translated into a clean “superpower system” really hinder your enjoyment at that exact moment. Where this system works to their favor is in the Kageyama vs Oikawa matchup where it gives the audience a clear understanding that these two do the same thing so whoever does it better will win out. But of course, power systems on themselves aren’t actually that engaging narratively as if you always adhere strictly to what a power does you can’t surprise the audience. That’s why for narrative purposes you need to give powers wide possible uses while still setting it up as having narrow uses (think Bloodbending as an offshoot of Waterbending). This isn’t a problem for Haiyku like it is for normal superpowers because the human body is versatile enough to move surprisingly and counteract what has been set up as the expected role / superpower of the player. This happens when Kageyama catches the ball mid air before Oikawa can receive it and does a “one-hand toss”. Shonen anime NEED to employ similar techniques if they want their fights to be surprising and therefore engaging. Fortunately this is a place where most Shonen anime do pretty well.

Another thing shonen anime often excel at is creating engaging strategies. The range of strategies is directly proportional to the range of possible uses for superpowers. Something like mind control in Code Geass is so limitless that it enhances the strategy to an immense degree. As I’ve said, the human body allows the players of Volleyball to subvert their classical roles in multiple ways and as such the strategy is also incredibly dense. The part at the beginning of the fight where we assume its going to one person, then assume its going to a different one, and then assume its going backwards only for Kageyama himself to tip the ball over is one of the greatest strategic sequences in shonen anime! Then later we have great bits of strategy like Kageyama knowing Oikawa would toss to his friend in times of need (and Oikawa reflecting that back at the very end). Its also important to trick the audience as well as the enemy if you truly want a deception to have an effect. The camera work and editing of a movie / show accomplish this well but you can still deceive the reader in a book just as well. 

That brings us nicely to Character which is often something shonen anime lack even among the greatest. I’m not the first to say that a good fight should be like a conversation, drawing out the personalities of everyone involved. In Naruto we have plenty of exciting brawls which feature themes of “the genius versus the underdog”. I feel like Haiyku goes 10 steps deeper than that in this match and that is the main reason why it is one of the best shonen battles of all time. I think the main thing here is that its never just 2 characters having a conflict, its always more complex than that with different character motivations seeping into other character’s actions. The moment where Kageyama is subbed out is a perfect example of this. The battle could have easily between Kageyama and Oikawa and no one else but bringing Sugawara in lets them resolve his arc as well as progress Kageyama’s. We’ve been dealing with both those arcs separately up until now, but bringing them together and letting the cast mingle not only is entertaining but also drives home the message about teamwork. I think a good lesson here is to always try to one up yourself when writing character driven combat. Everyone has written a scene where the good guy overcomes his personal arc to overcome the bad guy but bringing in additional character arcs automatically gives your scenes more nuance. 

So that’s why Karasuno vs Aoba Johsai is one of the greatest battles of shonen history and you should be looking at it as an example of how to write a compelling shonen fight scene. Hopefully season 2 and 3 can live up to that amazing first set!

[vtqscot4265889-blog]

Best Free FLAC To MP3 Converter To Convert FLAC To MP3

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