#kinda combination of the games and anime you get the point

[alienate-it]

Have some Cynthia having to deal with the Pokémon sinnoh league, specifically with Flint and Volkner

[mysticcoffeecat]

Re: Post-COVID Stan and his Job, a Kind-Of Defense:

Soooo I know a lot of folks aren’t too happy about the fixed/final timeline’s Stan’s future job in the Space Force, and I get it. But I’d like to argue that it isn’t as far off base for his character as many folks give credit for. I’m not saying it’s the perfect job for him, but it’s not completely off-base, and I really do think the creators gave careful consideration to his job here.

Before I explain, first let me say that I do understand some of the frustrations and wish they would do some type of episode about the Space Force with Stan as a kid to establish his interest in it, or at the very least in a government job. It’s not like Stan hasn’t been to space before or had Space themed episodes (pinewood derby being a very underrated episode), but the Space Force is such a ridiculous concept that it could be a funny episode and parody and could help the ending of Post-Covid feel more well-rounded. They could have an episode where Stan has to get rid of the Space Jail his dad had created and dealing with the Space Cops or some shit like that.

I’ve seen some discourse asking why Stan couldn’t have been a musician or a vet due to his love of animals. To answer that - I think it’s very realistic that Stan didn’t end up a musician. I’m just going to leave it at that. Most people don’t make it in the music industry, and I really don’t think Stan would take it that seriously as an adult to try to navigate that. He’s not that naturally passionate. I think he’d more likely keep it as a hobby. It’s just the reality of things (though I think a fic in that direction would be valid and interesting. Lmk any fic recs for that).

As far as being a vet goes - look, I love animal lover Stan, but let’s think this through logically. He loves animals, and it’s adorable. But that’s exactly why he would HATE being a vet. It’s canon that Stan doesn’t do well with blood, and it’s canon that Stan does not do well with animals being in pain. Being a vet literally combines those two things together that Stan viscerally hates. He’d love being able to be around animals, sure, but he would hate having to perform surgeries/see animals suffer. It would deepen his depression, and he would be too queasy to handle it according to canon. Again, it’s one thing to see this in a fic and I think that would be cute. But in a canon episode? That would make no sense and would be contradictory to several established character points.

So if being a vet or a musician are off the table, where does that leave us? What are some of Stan’s strengths, or some things we know about him that would translate well into the professional field?

Well, we know he loves board games (this is not a one-off from an episode, there are SO many instances of Stan and his complicated board games, whether they being showcased in the background of his bedroom, or him playing them)- and these are not surface-level board games like Settlers of Catan (which I can totally see him looking down on as a ‘way too easy and therefore boring game’). We’re talking about games that take grown adults years to master, let alone learn the complex rules. Not sure how many of you have delved into these types of games he likes, but some of those games are almost like learning a whole new language, and the amount of strategizing you do in the types of games he likes is very high (and we know that Stan can strategize/think quickly on his feet well).

His skills in board games translate into how he navigates the world pretty well. We also know that he shows high critical thinking skills (sometimes to the point of being too critical. Him being diagnosed a ‘cynical asshole’ by a doctor wasn’t just because of the depression- he kinda always has been one to an extent, even before that episode) and very easily sees through bullshit. He also is very adaptable with natural leader skills and is good at adjusting to his environment physically, so I have no doubt that he would be able to learn about, say, working a spaceship.

Basically, a lot of Stan’s strengths that I think are often slept on in the fandom overall are all the things that would translate quite well into some type of military or government intel analyst role. The ridiculousness of the Space Force also aligns with the ridiculousness of South Park in general 100% (there’s so much satire potential there). It also just went well with the political climate of the time the episode aired.

Fun fact: according to his uniform, he appears to be a Chief Master Sergent, which is the second highest enlisted rank possible. He also has an insane amount of awards on his uniform.

One of Stan’s weaknesses is that he has a lack of motivation. I can absolutely see him being unsure of what to do in life but not wanting to be like his dad and joining the military to help at least give him guidance/something to make of himself in his life when he lacks the motivation/structure to think of something himself. And then I can see it evolving from there as he joins the military/how it adapts to his own natural skills. I also think he would secretly like the status he would gain from ranking high up.

Btw this is kinda off topic but I completely head-canon that Craig also works in the Space Force with Stan. Also, Stan is not short (look to the screenshots). . Looks to be the tallest of the main four, followed by Kyle, Kenny, then Cartman who is quite short.

[anarchy-and-piglins]

We know CC techno is basically an SCP at this point. Like I can vaguely recall his face, kinda. That got me thinking of actual SCP techno. Maybe he’s the host to a parasitic SCP (blood god) or maybe there are two of them combined (him + blood god) or maybe just him. Something that makes him only vaguely memorable. There was a young man covered in blood at the bus stop.

What did he look like? Hmm, couldn’t tell you. I think he said something at some point. What was he wearing? I don’t know, but he was wearing something.

The SCP foundation is looking for this creature that causes security cameras to fizz and leaves trails of blood that match no known dna. They don’t even know if it’s human. No one can catch this anomaly. Dr. Phil of the Foundation is put on the case. Meanwhile, he takes the new intern, whose name he can’t quite seem to remember (it was tech something right? It was an odd name certainly. Dr. Phil’s degree in ancient history told him it was in old one.) is helping him track the Scp down. The new intern is weird, admittedly, but Dr. Phil’s other inter, Ranboo is also very odd, so he’s a veteran that this kind of thing.

Also, he keeps finding odd bloop stains on the new interns clothes. Concerning, but best not to ask too many questions at the Foundation.

I like the idea of the Blood God being an SCP with parasitic tendencies and Techno being the guy who it attaches itself to. Since it's in line with my dsmp headcanons (ie. Techno himself not being the Blood God but merely a conduit).

The Blood God would be SCP-(insert random number) and Techno is designated by the foundation as SCP-(insert same random number)-A. Though, aside from the parasitic god, he's literally just some guy. He gets taken into custody by the foundation both for his own safety and that of others.

When containment procedures are met, interacting with Techno is not dangerous and actually pretty chill. On the contrary, the Blood God gets agitated when its host is agitated, so keeping Techno safe and sound is actually paramount. He has a bed, gets fed well, and the head scientist (a Dr. Philza Craft) is free to interact with him to offer companionship, sometimes letting his interns interact with Techno also.

Containment procedures are pretty simple:

No blood should ever be within 15 feet of Techno, unless he spilled it himself. This includes blood samples or dried blood.

A bell must be provided for Techno to ring every few hours.

Once a month, Techno must spill blood as a sacrifice to the Blood God. Animals suffice, but humans are better. The amount of blood needed to sate the Blood God can be variable and depends on how agitated it is.

Strategy games such as risk, chess, competitive video games, etc should be provided. Games that Techno can 'win' in seem to keep the Blood God calm for longer and lower the amount of blood needed for a sacrifice.

Techno is functionally immortal (doesn't age and seems incapable of bleeding out, despite feeling the pain of any inflicted wound). Attacking him or trying to harm him usually ends terribly for the attacker. They did a lot of tests at first - also to figure out the containment procedures. But Dr. Philza currently doesn't allow tests anymore, they were both too distressing for Techno and too costly in Class-D subjects.

Killing Techno would be possible, but since the Blood God would just attach itself to another mortal, it's more interesting for the foundation to keep Techno locked up.

[lovelykil]

Killua hcs for a s/o who works at a book store that sells manga and anime stuff and games? (There’s a place similar to that at the mall I like) but keeps getting hit on by customers (nothing bad just like innocent flirting since they don’t know she’s taken)

also I know you don’t rlly write for killua anymore so feel free to ignore this! 💥 have a nice day

headcanons─

: ➛killua

hc; reader who works at the book store that gets hit on

note; PAUSE I love the book store 😔😔 I will not be ignoring this

the silverette comes and visits you every so often at your job whether with gon or just himself.

he likes to look around, slowly wandering to where you're at. He'll maybe fuck around and switch some books cause he's an asshole

he only does this to get your attention though and you always catch him in the act with that mischievous grin painted on his face. His unique hair isn't something you see everyday so it's very easy to spot him.

you're handling a customer, trying to scan their manga and a few pieces of merch from that anime series whilst watching him intently.

you shake your head at the boy with an unphased look, putting the customer's items into the bag. Killua from afar, smirks and quietly walks away from the scene. He grabs a random manga from a shelf before sitting somewhere close to the register.

you sigh, it wasn't an extremely annoyed one just a 'my gosh this boy' one if that makes sense

when you sigh it triggers the customer in front, he quickly notices and says something.

"oh what's the matter? Is the manga I picked not to your liking?" The man grabs his wallet. Your attention was brought back to your working space quickly, you let out a light chuckle with a head shake.

"no no, I adore Death Note, it's just a.. long day I guess." The guy nods as he finds his card to pay. He hands you the card and you take it to slip it in the device.

"I understand Mondays are crucial." He laughs which makes you smile at the accuracy of his statement.

you slip the plastic out and hand him back the card, "seems like you get it." You once again smile, a polite and gentle one as you hand him his bag. He smiles back, reaching for his bag.

"you have a nice smile you know that?" His compliment throws you off for a moment considering Killua was just a few feet away, it was such an innocent thing to say but coming from a man.. it might make kil get the wrong idea.

you laugh nervously, covering your mouth. "uh thanks." He takes his bag and nods before leaving though he studies your face once more. Out of the corner of your eye, you could see your boyfriend flipping through some random manga, you take a breath.

maybe he didn't hear that.

"can I buy you coffee sometime? There's that Cafe down the street if you know what I'm talking about." He points in the direction of the Cafe. Your eyes grow wide at his proposal, unaware of what to say next.

your eyes immediately fall onto the ground to reply. "uhmm I'm not sure, ahaha.." suddenly the floor looks exquisite today.

the guy talks some more, trying to persuade you otherwise until you eventually get another customer and he is forced to part away.

after your shift is done you breathe in and then sigh, making your way to blue eyes. Though he wasn't in his spot anymore but now in your personal space.

"you have a nice smileee, huh??"

"OH KILLUA jeez!" You jump back, obviously startled at his presence appearing in front of you so quickly. He stands with his arms tucked with an irritated facial expression.

long ass intro 😭🙏🏾 but anyway

I wouldn't say he's jealous but rather annoyed? Or maybe a combination of both.

annoyed because who do those people think they is flirting with his gf like.. 😒

and jealous because you're HIS, and he's kinda afraid someone will sweep you off your feet, and as soon as he knows it you've found someone else.

so to avoid this from happening he usually lingers around the register, you know usually annoyed killua stuff

when your break comes though you make sure to bring him to a secluded space, away from the public eyes to showerr him with kisses and words that make his face flush. Since he doesn't really do public affection you usually do this when he comes to visit.

"you know you can't stare down the customers when they open their mouths to say something." You smile, grazing your thumb along his cheek.

"at least I didn't do what I did last time." He sticks out his tongue as you remember. "Throw a book at them? Yeah I guess.." You snicker, pulling a piece of his hair to twirl around.

"have I improved or what?" He asks, grinning in the moment as you mess with his hair.

"killua you threw a gojo pen at a guy last we-"

"have I IMPROVED or WHAT"

[ganondoodle]

Hello 👋

Swallowing my nerves at last to send you an ask! I was just wondering, what inspires your designs? Are their inspirations in stuff like movies or games? Or just things you come up with yourself?

i .. honestly its kinda hard to tell, sometimes i just randomly think of something, like some detail, or color combination and try to incorporate that into a design somehow; it can come from anywhere, like the color scheme of a pithaya/dragonfruit is something i have been wanting to make a design with for ages but havent come up with anything good in all those years ;O;

im a very easily fascinated by color, espeically in nature, like sometimes i just stop and stare at something like i froze in time bc i just woooooooooooooah color! i probably look like a weirdo doing that though

its really hard to pinpoint anything specifically, the most is probably .. other artists? i guess? which always makes me nervous bc my memory is shit in most areas of life and i worry myself to pieces whether i unintentionally "stole" an idea and just dont remember and think it was my own, it goes further that sometimes i see something that makes me want to draw a similar concept but dont bc i dont want to 'steal' even if that couldnt be further from my intention (have been accused of that before ..)

that said for my ocs specifically .. most are rather old and have just kinda evolved out of their awkward first iterations (shargons first iteration was a hauro-howl- copy that was really just some human covered in feathers .. another oc was once a hellboy copy but in green- havent drawn nor redeisgn them in ages lol), the biggest inspirations for them is a mix of animals, bonus if you dont see them often- im a big shark, whale and sea creatures in general nerd so i tend to take from them as a priority but always trying to be less directly animal and mostly just .. features that work together

Eadrya is one of the newer OCs- i started to write but then looked at my folders and oh they are from 2017 .., i even made a design timeline for them how much they, and my art, have changed back in 2020, so thats also way outdated now lol (they apparently started as a whale .. thing? its like a pokemon evolution lol)

this is them now (i like this sketch still, though shargons design is now also outdated lmao)

this ones from early 2023 so also outdated now but you get the point

for demons i try to be a bit more wild on shapes and colors while still adhering to the rules of how they work (humanoid form, demon form, animalistic, one element each and more or less made to fit that, 4 arms is very common, look to be bost scary and wild but also something that would make you stop in tracks and stare in awe and fear if you crossed paths)

often times designs just kinda .. happen, i have maybe the idea ok i wanna make something with a white and red pattern also moose or those big horned cows are cool and kinda scary so maybe sth akin to that (though this one is technically a redesign too- its also pretty much entirely different)

for non demons but still non human i go for a much more restrained design, mainly inspired directly by an animal and giving the color scheme a good spin, plus adding unconventional body shapes, like ki'ita is also a good example, her old idea was just orca anthro pirate and just by making the white green instead in her most recent redesign already adds that little spin to it

that can have its pitfalls though, as i often fall into the big arm small head small legs scheme over and over xD

alot of it is trial and error, deciding on the colors can take me hours bc im always searching for my little rule of having one contrast color that shows up in very few places to draw attention to it (like with Eadrya its those bright yellow eyes and thingy at their tail)

and that is all about myy own ocs, when its fandom stuff it works kinda similar though, either in the connections i wanna draw or just thinking it further- like how deities in destiny work also just kinda .. happened like an ever derailing train

like for demise i was at first really just im gonna give him horns bc horns are cool and he got those on the starting mural in the game- so how his hair work? well maybe it isnt hair actually and just unbound energy, im making him a deity too and fit hylias design to his so, yeah, then so how does it work, ok he gotta have a skeleton still, but what if his entire actual body is made up of pure magical energy with its core in the ribcage? with the core in the ribcage >:3c and the scales you see are just like cooled down lava as an armor bc his thing is fire and earth !! the normal blood? is a thin layer of skin imiated from mortals to keep the scales together and flexible so if he ACTUALLY gets hurt hed bleed magic that looks more like lava and any normal blood you see is just the armor- so why does he have a skeleton still instead of being just energy? maybe its gotta be bound to something OH and what if all of the deities started as mortals like a mirror to the trio later on and the gods cannot have direct influence to the worlds so they needed a right hand that is neither god nor mortal but both by killing a mortal by whatever their element will be (demise burned, hylia drowned etc) and their skeleton and spirit is kept but put into a body of magic- OH what if their spirit core is like almost piloting their bodies like a mech in a way bc if youd look close youd see that every strand of magic is actual a hand of their spirit so it makes it more weird and other bc hed be able to reach out with thousands of burning claws of all shapes and sizes like the beheaded forest god at the end of mononoke- SO if hed lose and arm or something all those strands would untangle and rearrange his bones back together-OH MY GOD the whole armor idea works so well for ghirahims dark armor so what if demise had two swords once and lost one and since has forged an armor similar to his own for ghirahim out fo fear of losing him t---

and that all is a process that happens over several weeks and months not rarely while i am drawing something mindlessly and suddendly *have a thought* and omg that makes so much sense-

so "what" inspires my designs? an ever derailing train of thought about making cool thick monsters that arent the evil thing to get rid of for once? cool color schemes? idk it just kinda happens??

[finisnihil]

Do you have any jingluo rambles or headcanons :3

I'd like to know more ☺️

Oh hi thanks for the ask! I don't typically talk about my more fanon ideas because I usually like to do analysis/theories of the canon material, so most of the time I write my headcanons and stuff into my fics or whatnot but! I'm totally happy to talk about some of them!

-More so a theory I'll die on the hill of but I do think Luocha is an Emanator, I have a post explaining my evidence here! It's not the most fleshed out because it was one of my first posts on here but yeah!

-One of my big Luocha headcanons is the flowers blooming out of his hair according to his emotions. He's considered an Abomination of Yaoshi, a term only really used for Mara-struck, and the Mara-struck typically have mutations of like ginkgo brances/leaves growing from their bodies. I think it'd make sense if Luocha also displayed Mara symptoms in his own weird way!

-I like to think Luocha can kinda "eat/digest" Mara. To me, Mara reads like a weird combination of rabies and chronic wasting disease. Vultures are a favorite bird of mine and they have extremely strong stomach acid, strong enough to digest rabies. They help manage the spread of rabies because of this and I can see Luocha's body functioning a similar way with Mara. Something percieved as scary or gross (Emanator of the Abundance/a scavenger that eats predominantly dead animals) but being essential to the managing of a healthy ecosystem because they perform a thankless task.

-Jing Yuan has crows feet. Even though the Xianzhou people don't really age past a certain point and their bodies stay that way no matter what (see: Dan Shu and her explanation of disabilities on the Xianzhou which is incredibly interesting) he is 721-ish years old and he smiles a lot. I think it'd be sweet to see evidence of that, that despite everything he still can smile so much it leaves little lines of joys in his face.

-Jing Yuan to me is more of an acts of service guy (His being General shows his love for the Luofu because taking care of its people is the ultimate act of service). I think Jingliu was also more of an acts of service person because to her fighting was all she lived for, for a while, so her showing love is wielding her sword for somebody (like wielding it against Baiheng to free her). I think that's a way Jing Yuan kinda embodies her yaknow? As for Luocha, he's more a quality time person. He's a traveler who doesn't really have anywhere permanent to call home so he likes to soak up as much time with the people he loves as he can before he's forced to move on again. He also likes receiving gifts because they're momentos of those people he can carry with him.

-I think Luocha would like to garden but he's never had a permanent place to do so, so when they get together he just takes over Jing Yuan's garden (which is suffering due to Jing Yuan's busy schedule) and rules it with an iron fist. The neighbors are jealous.

-I saw this post propose that Jing Yuan might be half Foxian and I really love that idea so that's something I like to chew on

-Both Luocha and Jing Yuan are strategic people and Luocha is one of the few people who have successfully outsmarted Jing Yuan so I imagine their enrichment is playing strategic games together. Western chess (my beloved), General's chess, Go, etc. I imagine Luocha is better at western chess and Jing Yuan at Go and General's chess, simply bc those were the games they were raised with.

-Luocha runs cold and Jing Yuan runs hot. Adding to that, if Luocha is an Emanator, he's probably stuck in this pseudo-death limbo so I imagine he's cooler to the touch. Meanwhile, Jing Yuan is very alive and pretty active, therefore warmer to the touch. Jing Yuan likes to nap resting on Luocha because it's like having a cool pillow and Luocha likes it because Warm. He would also like to tease Jing Yuan by putting his cold hands on the back of his neck or something and make Jing Yuan jump due to not expecting it.

-Being General is a demanding and exhausting job. I can imagine Jing Yuan doesn't really spend a lot of time on self-care in that aspect. He has a planet-ship to run after all so he probably doesn't care too much about what shampoo or soap he uses. Luocha is appalled and uses his connections as a merchant to acquire quality stuff (some of which is better for foxian hair types) to systematically switch out when Jing Yuan isn't paying attention. Jing Yuan obviously notices but he doesn't particularly care, later noticing his skin is less dry and his hair is way softer and healthier.

-Jing Yuan can cook but it's a 50/50 on if it actually ends up eatable. His job can be tiring and I imagine sometimes he's just too dead tired to stay awake and the food burns or whatever. After him and Luocha get together, Luocha will cook or he'll check on the food for him.

-I've been pinging around the idea of Jing Yuan having narcolepsy

[grandmother-goblin]

And another thing I kinda miss about Early Access Wyll was one of his implied flaws: his drinking (potentially alcoholism).

There were two scenes in Early Access that kinda pointed out that Wyll might have had a bit of a problem (one of them might still be available in some form, but I haven’t seen it in a while so I’m not sure). Or, at the very least, turned to alcohol when things piled up.

1. The Wyvern Whiskey scene: I LOVED this scene! It was the first time the player got to see Wyll’s Blade of Frontiers mask really crack. Just him, sitting on the ground, drinking really strong booze straight from the bottle. I want to say this scene occurred after either dealing with Fezzrak or Spike, but I can’t remember.

2. The tiefling party: if Tav turns him down romantically, he tells them to go have fun and that he’s got a “tankard keeping him company” (I think there is still some version of this in the game?). Which, on its own, the dialogue doesn’t seem like much, but in combination with the Wyvern Whiskey scene, I was kinda like “uhhhh Wyll? You okay?”

Then, of course, with his idle camp animation where he always had a drink in his hand, it made it kind of easy to assume he might have a little problem.

Idk, I found that part of his character really interesting (maybe because I related to it due to my own experiences) and some part of my brain is still like “yep, when Wyll gets stressed, he goes for the booze”.

Anyways, I loved that Wyll had a really strong, obvious, flaw like that and part of me kind of misses it. I love Full Release Wyll, don’t get me wrong, but I remember the Wyvern Whiskey scene being one of the first things that really made my brain start rotating him around in my head lol.

(This is totally not serious rambling. Ignore meeeeee)

[dazai-fan-page]

So after rereading this post and seeing a lot of new shit about fyodor being smarter which, to be honest I'm not sure if smarter is the right way to say it, I've got a new Dazai vs Fyodor post.

About the whole "who's smarter" bit, I'm not sure smart is the thing being measured here, it's definitely a part of it but this whole thing has been about strategy. About getting inside the others head. Playing his game if you will (song plays in background)

"Fyodor planned to get stabbed by the vampire" I'm not gonna say no he didn't but I think its possible he didn't plan to get stabbed when he did, he did want to end up taking over Bram but I'm not sure he planned to go right then and there. Combining the anime and the manga, he seemed to be genuinely surprised at Dazai surviving (not saying he couldn't have faked that just pointing it out) and why would he want Dazai alive? What does that serve? Another person to fight? Someone who actually has a shot at beating him?

No I think he planned on winning that game, taking the antidote and then having the vampires kill him. That'd get rid of Dazai (someone on the same intellectually and has almost beat him on several occasions) Chuuya (who has corruption) and Sigma (who could tell people what he is), not only get rid of them but maybe even gain back Nikolai.

Second bit of this kinda takes a sharp turn out of my (at best iffy) theories and into more. idk takes that have been annoying me for the last few hours? Yeah those.

"Fyodor used Dazai's trust against him" Not that I saw, I saw him take over Bram. And I'm fairly certain PM Dazai would've also used a Vampire to "kill" Fyodor so same outcome there'd just probably be more bodies behind him.

"Chuuya's so out of the loop lmao" Well yeah, honestly the fact that Dazai's putting it together is impressive considering we the audience are getting visual from Sigma and a dialogue explanation from Dazai. Chuuya's not seeing what we are, of course he doesn't know what we and Dazai and Sigma do. How would he? He doesn't have any of what he needs to figure it out

[hajihiko]

Ahhh, I'm sorry if this doesn't make sense, but I'm curious to know what changed Hajime/Izuru's mind in the universe your art takes place in? Like, what made him go from not caring about anything because everything was boring and meaningless, to trying to enjoy life?

I don't really remember what it was in the anime, but it was probably hope. And like, that makes sense if you think about it, considering that's the definition of hope, but hope doesn't usually just happen like that, you know? Especially not to someone who probably had never felt it since the whole Ultimate Hope thing (ironically). In my mind, it's hard to imagine what it could have been, considering nothing ever phased him. I know that whatever gave him hope doesn't have to be that deep, because that's how it is sometimes, but I was wondering what you think it could have been (or more importantly, what you consider it to be in your art)!

Also, this is kinda unrelated, but I find it so cool how much your art makes me really think about the characters. It's amazing how you're able to really see how you've fleshed out the characters through you art, and honestly, you are probably one of my favourite artists because of it.

But anyway, sorry about this long and random rant 😭 Idk why I spend my time analyzing the character and point of view of fictional characters, but I guess sometimes the ADHD brain goes brrrrrr.

Thank you for sharing your art; I hope have a great day or night!

depends on the universe! But I'll assume you mean my general post-game stuff.

I've said it somewhere before so if it's old bread to you bear with me, but basically, it was a genuine dedication to face the big horrible awful feelings that come with trauma and life in general, and also the brain boost of getting to skip the slow growing part even for just a while.

My idea is that Izuru and Hajime are not two separate identities, rather, an amnesiac and horribly traumatized boy was given a moniker he didn't care to accept or deny. It's not like he had any other name to go by. That was Izuru Kamukura.

The brain has these neural pathways of how it responds to things, and his all got burnt out so he could respond with an appropriate talent each time. As a very simplified example, someone might respon to threat with the Flight response, because it worked in a dire situation and the brain decided "that saved us, this is how we will respond from now on".

Hajime, in the game, gets a sudden bump out of those pathways, enabling him to feel things properly and be fully present in his life. Thematically, the big Super Sayian moment is him deciding to not fall into old, but true and tried, brain patterns, and instead taking on the horrific experience of being human, with all the messy Emotions and Failures that comes with it.

When he wakes up from the game, he still struggles, but the artificial boost from his old thinking as well as a conscious, strenuous, painful effort to not repress himself anymore but instead face the things that he did and were done to him, make him able to carve himself into a new Him.

Not the same, in the sense that WHO could say they're the same as they were before a simulated murder game that revealed that you were a killing machine terrorist and so were your friends. But the same as in, he's Hajime Hinata and he decides what exactly that means. To want is an emotion, and he wants to become someone who can experience life fully, and chasing that single feeling of Want opens up the doors to everything else. You might've heard this before but "before you change, you have to want to change".

So in short. What enabled him to get Hopeful so to speak was the combination of a brain kick (you could call that a metaphor for outside help), and a concrete decision to try to do the difficult but right thing. Sounds kind of boring maybe, but everything else comes later - like his interest and care for his friends, an enjoyment of philosophy and the arts, a pleasure from being useful and helpful, a serenity from accepting things as they are, and a thrill that comes with strong genuine emotion (from my own life, sometimes a single moment of !!!! can carry you on for months).

Yes the whole thing is a metaphor for getting better with mental health stuff. It's personal to me okay 😂

(also I like the idea from Miggys fic that his human connections override the apathy and distance so as long as he's around the people he loves he can hold onto what keeps him going)

I love thinking about and building on characters too! Spending tons of time inspecting them like a specimen 🤝 people (and therefore characters) are very interesting to me so I just like rolling them around my brain. Thank you for your interest and kind words!

[izzy-the-chaotic-gremlin]

Hello I have some fellers for y'all to meet

MEET SMG 8 AND SMG 2, cus cuz why not let's add on to this little bandwagon of eights we got :]

This is SMG 8 ⤴️

And this is SMG 2 ⤴️

Rants about them under cut!

Let's do 8 first!

She is extremely short, like 3 ft and a half kinda short

She is extremely energetic and kind of chaotic

She is the meme guardian of animation memes! And yes I'm talking about the kind that we all went through a phase constantly watching when we were seven

Using the ink pen that she has across her back she can draw anything, and those drawings can come to life aka anything she draws becomes reality

She has a pet Smurgle, here I put an image below so you all know what I'm talking about

She is on par with Mario's level of power but she doesn't use said power because she doesn't want to hurt anybody, she she does use her power is to cause chaos with her friends though >:]

She's a regular at SMG3's restaurant

She is extremely creative plus she has ADHD, and combining that she can practically make anything as long as her mind is up to it

She's good friends with Tori and Boopkins

She is surprisingly dirty minded, she's also the one to always initiate the kiss or the one to push her partner up against the wall and kiss them >:] she's also the one to suggest the dirty times in bed *wink wink*

She is a DemiGirl and lesbian

She is biologicaly male, and no she has not had bottom surgery cus she wants to have babies at some point in her life, also because, and I quote this from 8 themself "its makes me more cunty"

Her pod looks like this

oh dear God what am I doing

Hears some extra details

Her hat design ⤴️

The design of her eyes ⤴️

My head cannon relationships that she has with the other 8's

@bear-boi-5 Smg8 : honest to God she views him as an older brother figure / Uncle figure, also I headcanon that she will sit there and stand in front of him jumping on her heels and grabbing at the air a above her saying "up up!" Over and over until he finally snaps and picks her up, oftentimes she'll climb on his shoulders and just kind of ride around

@strange0-0storm Smg8 : honest to God she imprinted upon him like a baby duck, she will literally just follow him around everywhere he goes, what I'm trying to say is she really looks up to him and she just really really likes him in general, he's also a older brother / Uncle figure for her PS he's the funcle aka fun unkle :]

@mrfellsans Smg8 : she just observes him from afar like he's a creature that must be studied for science and research, she does like him though shes just not too sure about him

Ok let's do 2 now!

She's also pretty short like around like 4 ft tall

She is extremely protective of 8, like if you dare lay a finger on it she will make you say nighty night for a couple of days lafmo

Do you surprisingly strong physically, like the girl has flipping abs and everything

She has a black belt in karate

She has multiple tattoos that are unseen the eye, the only ones that you can see are the ones that go up her arm around the back of her shoulders and down to the other arm (aka the snake one)

Her tail works like an extra hand

She usually keeps her eyes closed like Falin for Dungeon Meshie, she does open them though when she is feeling a strong emotion or just surprised angry aor scared

Have yall ever seen The owl House? If you haven't or if you have two's magic works exactly like how that characters in TOH's works! She does the whole circle in the air thing as well (reference photos so you get the idea of it) also pls go watch The Owl House if you haven't seen it, its really good :]

She's the mean guardian of really old and timeless means, like the whole IS THAT THE BIET OF 87? and BUT THATS JUST A THEORY, A GAME THEORY! She also deals with TV show and movie meams like Cursed cat Alastor and this random ass screenshot for movies that get made into memes

She has a heavy Russian accent

She knows fluent Russian, German, and Japanese

She is female and lesbian

She calls 8 親愛なる and 私の愛 (親愛なる translates to my dear and 私の愛 translates to my love)

She has a pet cursed cat Alastor aka this thing

(oh Lord)

She is a year older than SMG 3 and SMG 4

She's also regular at SMG 3's Cafe

She has a crush on SMG 8 :]

She is super sleep deprived due to her staying up and making theories on games and movies, or just staying up all night watching Mat Pat lafmo

Her pod looks like this

Extra details on her (I'll add the rest later in a diff post)

Her eye design ⤴️

My head cannon relationships that she has with the other 8's

@bear-boi-5 Smg8 : she doesn't trust him at all, the only reason that he's allowed around SMG 8 is because 8 likes him too much for 2 to safely take them out, but if 8 dare lay even a finger on SMG 8 SMG 2 will imady make him say nighty night for a couple days

@strange0-0storm Smg8 : eh shes alright with him, I mean she doesn't fully trust him but it's not to the level of Bear-Boi's 8

@mrfellsans Smg8 : she likes him and considers him a good acquaintance :]

[matenrou-fan]

Beel, Levi and Asmo with chubby! fem! s/o who have low self-esteem

Was fighting thoughts about ordering delivery for fast food and then a sudden idea came to my mind...! (p.s. I lost the fight)

Femreader, fluff, hurt/comfort, Asmo being mischievous a little bit;;

-He has no idea why you think about yourself so low and can't believe he actually loves you.

-Beel is so big, like, really big. And you love him, don't you? Then why did you think he couldn't feel the same passion for you?

-If you have a tummy it just means you are eating well. And that he has something to squeeze and kiss, as much as your thick thighs too.

-Don't you dare to try diets or something. Beel doesn't mind if it was because of some health problems or something, but if you just tell him that you want to lose weight because you feel ugly, he will stop you.

-He may not be that good with words but he will try to explain to you how much he loves you and that's real happiness not in your figure but in your heart. So you can be pretty and beautiful in any form and shape, the main point is confidence and he's willing to help you work with that.

-"S/o.. i.. I really love you.." - it was kinda hard to talk so intimate without getting embarrassed but Beel threw away his shyness, knowing that you need some comfort right now. - "I love you and your appearance the way it is, because you are already perfect and without any flaws.. Like a big Cheeseburger…"

-He wants you to be healthy and happy, and there's nothing better than a big portion of your favorite meal, don't you think? So now he will take you with him in cafes more often, he hopes eating together will be less nerving for you.

-Will try to compliment you more, especially about your appearance. Despite it looking like all he thinks about is food, he's pretty attentive and always notices when you buy a new skirt or get a new haircut.

-"You look so.. um.. tasty in this dress.." - Beel gets closer to you and takes your hands, smiling happily with a little blush on his cheeks. - "And the way you smell is so.. delicious.."

-Well maybe he's a little bit awkward but he's trying his best! After all, he just wants to always support and help you..!

-He doesn't care how much you weigh, for him you're still so small that he can easily lift you up with one arm. See? That means you are not that fat, so don't worry, darling..!

-You may be sad because in all that anime he watches so many pretty girls with such unrealistic thin waists.. How can he look at you and feel something after seeing so many pretty fictional characters and so many beautiful cosplayers..?

-When you tell him about this he will get shocked. How can you think like that?? After all that love and care he put in you?? It's not fair..!

-"Since when do you start thinking like a normie, caring about your weight and everything?! The real otaku's mind has thoughts only about new games and shows..!" - he scoffs, but then looks at you with a worried expression - "Come on, there's no one who will be cooler than you.. Even Ruri-chan says that personality is more important than appearance, but you're great in both ways, so why do you care??"

-He's really surprised how someone so precious and cute can have low self-esteem. If someone will combine all his waifus the result still will be not that adorable and stunning like you..!

-He absolutely loves your big thighs, as he can lie on them while playing on his phone. It's much more comfortable and warm than his pillow so don't you dare try to get rid of these plump squishy things..!

-Levi will try to find some anime about cooking or some that includes plus size characters, so you will feel better. When you are so sad his heart hurts more than when he died right as the boss got like 1 hp left in his favorite game.

-Also.. What did you say about all these cosplayers? He now makes you a great outfit so he can prove to you how much more beautiful you will look in cosplay than all these people..!

-"Here..! Try this!" - he drag you to his room and show you a dress that looks as if it would be worn by some magical girl like Sailor moon. - "Come on, you will look hella cute in this..! After all, it's my work, and I always pay attention to all details, don't you see?"

-Will make one of your photos like his avatar in social media as he really can't stop admiring your beautiful form here.

-Levi will use any opportunity to show you his love, maybe sometimes not with the real words but through text as he's too embarrassed to say something like that out loud but still.. Despite he hates when Asmo doing this, just for you, he will add extra hearts in the end <3

-Honey.. From all people on this planet.. you…?!

-He's stunned. Speechless. Will probably give you a side eye for a moment. Come on, baby, beauty loves confidence, and if you keep being so shy about yourself you will never shine bright..!

-If you will avoid him because you are afraid that you're not worth his attention, the attention of the most beautiful, skinny, precious demon in Devildom, then he has no choice but to annoy you everyday.

-Expect a bunch of text from him with millions of sweet words about your cute appearance and breathtaking figure. Also will shower you with presents, from small lipstick to a whole outfit.

-"S/o..! Oh, my precious charming goodness, here you are!" - he gets closer and, before you have time to react, pepper all your face in small quick kisses. - "Are you sad again about your figure? Stop it, there's no one who has such a mesmerizing and beautiful body as you have..! And I'm willing to show you how truthful my words of love are in any way you want me to, darling..!♡"

-He's a pro in fashion! And he knows how to enhance the beauty of his little beloved girl, finding the right clothes that suit your stunning look.

-So yeah, Asmo will take you with him to all the shops now. He thinks that if you refresh your wardrobe a little then you will also refresh your mind. You will be able to look at yourself from his view and realize just how much potential you have.

-"Hurry up, there's at least five stores that I wanted to show you..!" - he takes your arms and leads you through the streets - "You know, shopping always helps me forget about everything, so come on, let's enjoy our little date today, hehe..!"

-There's no one who will outshine Asmo in beauty. Well, at least among demons. Cause among people there's no one who will outshine you, and he will repeat it to you until you will remember it, darling.

[takami-takami]

More venting, sowry. Actually embarassing to be doing this with this pfp, bye. Interact (like button) if you read.

Trauma, grief, sui threats, animal harm, abuse (not going to label it. Just assume it's in there). This is kinda long. It's honestly just a trauma dump but I'm just tired of holding it inside. Anyways.

Hiiiiii i'm so fucking stressed ^-^ Re: the situation with my dadddd. ^-^

Uragh. There was a huge argument last night. It's very harrowing living in this house. One day, you spend 2 hours talking someone through "dude this is literally wrong" and they're just... Chipper. Smiling into the phone, "uh, yeah. I know? Why do you think I did it?"

They detail to you exactly how much they want another person to hurt, to suffer, over a slight against them. Over "disrespect." You spend careful effort not to tell them how their actions made the other person cry, in case they find sick satisfaction in that. You listen to them detail the way they feel absolutely no remorse because they are incapable of such remorse. They only cry when recounting their own pain. They never cry for another. When another person cries that's sport, that's "games."

And a few days later, he's smiling asking you how you're doing. And everyone else is "trying" with him. I don't blame them, it's self protection.

Honestly. I think part of the problem here is that I'm just describing This week. Instead of a lifetime. You know?

Because I've sat through my dad telling me how people are pawns. Faceless. I've watched him boast with glee about how manipulative he is, how he wears the title "master manipulator" with pride. How he's the smartest person, how he's above everyone else. Don't mistake this as praise for him. In one of the hundreds of times he's talked to me about this he got six times seven wrong.

But anyways. I've seen how his face morphs into a smile slowly, crawling up his face as he gets me upset.

I'll give an example. One of the many times he basically tried to kill himself in front of us or said he was going to, he explained that the reason why is because he's personally experienced grief, and that's why he chose to do it as a punishment. Specifically so that we could feel the overwhelming experience of pain and anguish. He likes that kind of shit. Makes him feel all vindicated, ya know?

But he provides for us, cuz he cares about us or whatever. I mean, we're "extensions of him and he owns us" and all, if I'm being cynical; but he definitely is capable of love. At least, love the emotion, not the action. The problem lies in that he is physically incapable of feeling empathy, remorse, or guilt. Not having empathy itself is fine, by the way, like tons of people don't have empathy and are perfectly chill people but the problem lies in that he really doesn't have that "off" switch to stop him from doing sadistic things. It's a really bad combination.

I mean I guess there's fear. Of god, of being a bad person, of being like his father. I honestly don't know what's holding him together at this point.

It's just... A lot. Dealing with someone like this as your dad. But things are "better" now. Right? He just terrorizes mom now. He just picks fights now. It's not like "before." When he threatened to slice my pet rabbit up. When he threatened to [redacted] me. When he did something to me I don't want to talk about that I read is actually a war crime. Torture. You know? Stuff like that.

I feel... So much disgust in my body. I feel so much rage and shame. I don't even know why I'm posting this. But anyways.

It'd be an insult to call this "my story" or whatevs because it's nothing like that. I'm just... Tired. I thought I'd be happier not talking about what happened but I'm not. I probably won't feel any happier saying this either. But who knows.

I haven't been able to do my schoolwork. I'm supposed to get it done by tomorrow. I have to leave wednesday for my trip. Haven't done shit all day.

[djsherriff-responses]

Personal opinions and general character design critique regarding the Nymphs from Rayman (spoiler: they all suffer from having same face/body syndrome and the designers being too horny to consider other design elements)

Betilla: I feel her origins redesign was a downgrade from her whimsical style in the first game, but I also do understand why they wanted to change her, as origins was meant as a reboot of the franchise and they wanted Rayman to be the only limbless in the Glade of Dreams. But since origins ended up not being a series reboot (with its plot only existing in code) and Rayman having skins/costumes who are meant to be different limbless characters anyways , changing Betilla drastically was already meaningless in the long run , much less the choice to make her be a basic hot nymph

Outside of it being impossible to Google her name in front of family , I personally don’t mind how she looks in Origins as the red hair contrasts really nicely with the greens, if you really wanna push some symbolism imagery here you can make arguments the red + green is meant to be reminiscent of flowers or berries. Ultimately though it is just a green bikini outfit with thigh highs and the only real connection to her role as the nymph of the forest/jungle area of the game is the colours, and maybe the odd stitch work pattern

Which is a bit of shame as you can easily replace the blue stars of her old design with an actual star-ish looking flower called Bletilla (literally one letter off from her actual name) or other flora

I don’t think the issue was they wanted to give Betilla a redesign that had sex appeal , I just think they went in the wrong direction with it. Considering that she played a large role in the old educational games and she was a sort of mentor figure to Rayman (if not just straight up his mother depending on one’s headcanons), they could’ve given Betilla a personality and sex appeal by making her a hot teacher type character (who may or may not count as a milf), hell give her signs of age like small wrinkles to really get the point across she’s older than most of the player characters, and she’s aged like spicy fine wine

Her design in the first game is adorable while giving her the vibes of a mature fairy god mother type mentor, but I don’t think it would work in the more modern Rayman games without some updated tweaks. It is pretty though and does has more personality than her origins design, and the other nymphs for that matter

Holly: I like that there’s some actual details on her and some colour variation compared to her sisters, even if she’s 3 out of 6 nymphs whose main colour is some shade of blue

Besides giving her an outfit that isn’t a skirt and bra, I think her design could better reflect that her domain is the desert of dijiridoos by having some musical elements to her design. It’s kinda odd her tattoos/body paint (which do look good on her and her skin tone) don’t reference musical notes at least, wasted opportunity there

I have this issue with Edith and Annetta as well, but I’m a bit confused about why dead animals seems like a popular fashion choice for these ladies , especially since (in the origins game) none of the nymphs are shown as fighters (not saying they’re incapable, the game just doesn’t show them as such) and we’re not giving lore hints about it? I’ll talk more on this issue when I get to the other two , but it’s odd that Holly’s domain is populated by birds and she’s wearing a bird skull

Was it a nightmare and she kill it? Is it a beloved pet and she couldn’t part with them even after death? 🤷‍♀️

I can’t really think of any alternatives for her or the other two animal hat sisters atm, but at least it’s looks badass even if it doesn’t do much personality wise, so points for looking cool at least

Edith: Edith I think is the worst design of the sisters , hands down, no competition. I mean , what is there to really say about her? “Oh we have a level based around a combination of spicy food and ice drinks with dragon butlers , how should we design this chick?”

“Just put her in red with a lizard hat”

Almost nothing about her design reflects her domain besides that she’s blonde and wears red , and that’s only half of the domain she’s meant to be part off. Her outfit pattern could’ve at least have some reference to the ice levels, or give her literally anything to connect her to those ice levels

I also don’t like how her hair is styled, the colour is fine but the shape looks ugly

Incredibly morbid Edith walks around with a dead butler on her head, especially considering the final boss/king of her level is also a dragon. Unlike Holly and Annetta, I can’t even give Edith credit for looking cool because it’s just more red on a very red and bland design

…… do you think Edith uses her corpse hat as a hand puppet?

Annetta: While I think it’s a weird choice to have nymphs of nature walk around with corpse head gear (much less ones of their domain’s general population) I think Annetta is the most justified of the nymph sisters to be wearing a hat made of a dead animal

Considering that her domain has a notable fishing population and she’s already dressed in fish scales, Annetta wearing a fish skull does actually contribute to showing the lore of her as a character and her connection to her domain. Unlike Holly and Edith , I don’t need to come up with some theory about their fashion choices when Annetta’s reflects already existing lore in origins (what little of it at least)

I personally do think the outfit looks ugly and plain uncomfortable, but I will give this design some credit for having one of the more visually detailed designs by virtue of her scales alone, and it actually makes sense for the nymph whose domain is the literal ocean to be in a skimpy outfit, even if her shell bra has to be glued on to her boobs

Unlike Edith’s outfit colour which is just red, Annetta’s has various shades of blues and teals that are reminiscent of the sea. It’s pretty I like it

Helena: Much like Edith there’s not that much to say here but what I can say is mostly positive

Helena’s a pretty standard design of “blonde chick in cool blues with white fluff details” and yeah that’s generic usually, but here I really like her. I think it’s how the fur and cloth looks textured along how her hair front is styled that makes her incredibly cute to me

Yeah, Helena is a simple but cute character design

Weird that a mountain nymph who has to live through cold weather wears a skimpy outfit with her bare thighs out , but I’m gonna assume that’s because she , much like her sisters, was designed to be sexy first and given aesthetics after they made the body model

Fée de la Mort/VooDoo Mama/Big Mama: As cool as she looks, when compared to both her monster form and the other nymphs , you can tell she wasn’t planned to be one of them, especially when you look up Mamma Hite

I bring that up because while Fee has a good design, she is also a visual metaphor that reflects Origins’ identity: a failed series reboot whose plot was scrapped in favour of goofy extremism (or sex appeal in the nymphs case)

So about Fee’s actual design: I personally don’t like the pink used on her and would’ve liked her Nymph form to reflect the monster form besides the hair

probs to the fact she’s the only nymph with her own pose which already gives her a lot of personality , but the combination of her tattoos, bone jewellery and her baggy looking eyes really sells the fact she’s from the land of the livid dead and thus sticks out amongst the other fairies, even if you ignored the bat wings she has

visually she does work as a undead fairy of the underworld who likes to rock and roll, so job well done with that

I kinda do wish they stuck with the frog though

[morgan-the-lonely-brick]

Hiii~~ coming onto this blog to do Terror propaganda. Follow my terror sideblog @leadandblood , this is just my main. That said:

Welcome to The Terror (2018)!

Here are things that I love about the first season that might convince you to watch it too (without spoilers)

The fandom is absolutely amazing!!!! I have never had such wonderful comments and tags under posts. And they're all really talented and just wonderful

Gay love.

So much gay love oh my god everyone is gay-

Heck, there's even straight love if you're into that

Old men <3

Absolute angels and absolute demons, that are SO fun to watch

The show knows it's characters incredibly well

They are well developed and act believably in all instances i can think of

If what they do doesn't make sense in the moment it's gonna later

"Here's a guy. Now lets find out how many fucked up things can happen to him before he goes insane or khs"

Representation! Gays, amputees and POC

The main main cast is mostly white men but when there's someone else it has significance to the story or bears a deeper meaning

The visuals are stunning

Amazing camera work

The sound design!!!! Oh my god!!! It's so gooood!!!

Insane paralels game. You won't even notice some of them, but they make sense once you do

The love and care that went into this show is incredible

Very rewarding upon rewatch - different views on scenes and characters and such

You will be finding new details for several rewatches (im on my 6th and still finding stuff)

THE ACTING OH MY GOD THE ACTING

Jared Harris - and his insane ability to portray any combination of emotions with one expression

Tobias Menzies and his goddamn microexpressions

Just to name a few, but honestly they're all amazing

They're also very nice to look at

Prepare to get hurt in the most creative ways possible - it KNOWS how to hurt you and it's... Kinda satisfying

Whump galore!! Emotional and physical. Comfort and no comfort. Just take your pick

It's finished, so they can't fuck it up anymore lmao

The sheer horror of being stuck in the arctic with little to no food and everything wanting to kill you /pos

Things that might turn you away

The sheer horror of being stuck in the arctic with little to no food and everything wanting to kill you /neg

Racist characters. it's the 1800s :///

Death. Oh god there's so much death

Oh you have a favourite character? Well, he dies :/

It is a tragedy through and through.

When you think it can't get any worse, yes it can

So many side characters that you'll be learning their names for the next few days to come

They're 95% white men that look the same when you start out

Bad things happen to animals :(

There's quite a lot of gore... Open skulls, deep wounds, amputation, disease, burning to death, mauling, i could go on

At one point alcoholism and suicide

There will be poems

Overall just a really really great show, i am in love with it

[otakween]

Digimon Tamers - Episode 27

This episode was really fun and it felt like a lot happened. Pretty bizarro conceptually. As usual, I have QUESTIONS! The digimon blind watching experience is full of questions.

Notes:

Never thought I'd see a digimon riding a motorcycle. For a second there I thought we were getting a motorcycle digimon lol.

The "rider-less" bike reminded me of Stephen King. Evil/possessed vehicles is a pretty cool concept and combining that with this whimsical fantasy village was a new twist.

Okay WTF, digimon age now?? The Tsuchidarumon village had little baby Tsuchidarumon and elderly wrinkled Tsuchidarumon. This has never been a thing before that I can recall! Why would data-based creatures age like that anyways? Also, this brings me back to the previous episode. Are you tellin' me that there are "kid" versions of Jijimon and Babamon that look the same but are smaller? What about the previous forms for the Tsuchidarumon, do they digivolve from a baby form into a baby Tsuchidarumon or...? I'm definitely overthinking this, but I've gotten pretty deep into the franchise at this point and visually aging outside of digivolving was not a thing before!

That baby Tsuchidarumon barely reacted when its relative died lol. I guess they didn't need to make the moment that dramatic, but then don't kill digimon so casually!

Juri just eats dirt and likes it? Was that supposed to be her being polite or is she just a freak?

We got the doggo deva! I really like his design, probably one of the best yet (I could do a tier ranking at this point). Funny how most of the deva have that same, cryptic way of talking. Definitely a cult.

Jian and Jian alone looked off model this episode lol. They drew his eyes very rectangular for some reason.

Culumon's 2 seconds of screentime were completely pointless. The weird binary forest was kinda neat though.

I have a crack theory that Terriermon is aware he's in an anime. The fact that he's constantly like "meh, it'll work out" makes it feel like he knows he has plot armor lol

Choromon (lil baby metal mouse) was really cute. When they introduced him I was thinking "oh boy another baby digimon I'll have to raise in a video game eventually."

Excited for Beelzebumon, but he totally blew it when he was like "I'm Beelzebumon" at the end there. Who are you talking to? You look like an idiot now. Also, I had to double check that that was Impmon's digivolution because they didn't show it happening really (I know it's literally in the title, but still!)

Guilmon and Terriermon were extra cute in this episode. I love them so much! Juri was kinda cute too, she's growing on me. (Not that I ever disliked her).

[shortjohnred]

Slay the Hollow: Voices as MCs

WARRING: This blog might contains spoilers for both Scarlet Hollow and Slay the Princess. You have been warned.

I'm a huge fan of Black Tabby Games' Slay the Princess. A lot of people have talked about this game in detail but not nearly enough have discussed it's equally excellent sister game Scarlet Hollow. So, to show my appreciation for both games, I came up with a fun little idea: what if the voices of Slay the Princess were main characters in Scarlet Hollow!

For those who don't know, in StP, you acquire different voices based on your choices through out the game. And in SH, you can choose two out of seven traits that unlock new dialogue options and give you abilities that can help out in certain situations, and depending on what trait you have you can completely circumvent certain choices.

In this blog, I will combine both games by making the voices the main characters they were always destined to be by giving them what traits I think they'd have.

Some rules first:

1: I will not be including the Hero nor the Narrator. The Hero because honestly, I feel like this personality isn't super consistent between routes. As for the Narrator, he's kinda hard to pin down. Besides, the game makes it pretty clear that he's different from the other voices so I don't really see any reason to include him.

Just so we're clear, our voices are the Stubborn, Broken, Cold, Paranoid, Cheated, Hunted, Opportunist, Contrarian, Skeptic, and the Smitten.

2: Each voice ONLY gets two traits, just like the game (and NO, hardcore mode does NOT count)

Here's a list of the traits and what they do:

Powerful Build: Makes you buff and athletic, gives you a greater appetite, and makes you more intimidating.

Mystical: Gives you a sixth sense when it comes to the supernatural, and makes you kinda weird.

Talk to Animals: This one is self-explanatory.

Street Smart: Makes you good at lying while being able to spot liars, you can better read people, and you can pick locks.

Keen Eye: Makes you more observant and pick up on small details that most would overlook.

Book Smart: Gives you an encyclopedic knowledge on various topics and you can read faster.

Hot: Makes you physically attractive, an adept flirt, and gives you an aura of charm that makes people like you by default.

3: I can't give two or more voices the same two traits. This one is here just to make things more interesting and to avoid repetition.

With that out of the way, let's get to the list!

Stubborn: Powerful Build + Talk to Animals

I'll be honest, I couldn't really think of a good build for the Stubborn. I definitely feel like Powerful Build alone fits him best due to his single desire to fight, but none of the other traits really fit him as well. Mystical: never gave me that impression. Street Smart: some have suggested this one, however I disagree, a key word they overlook in Street Smart is "Smart", and frankly, the Stubborn is an idiot. Keen Eye: he doesn't seem very observant (doesn't help that there's only one thing on his mind). Book Smart: same logic as Street Smart. Hot: I mean, I guess he's kinda of a flirt in the Razor but he doesn't come across as charming.

I chose Talk to Animals because it technically effects gameplay the least. Even if you try to ignore them the other traits will pop up and effect gameplay whether or not you want them too, while you can completely ignore Talk to Animals (just because you can hear what they doesn't mean you have to acknowledge them). If anything, Stubborn would probably consider this trait to be more of a distraction than anything else, but at least it's a manageable one, where the others are not.

I imagine that Stubborn would be a hardass that's impossible to get along with as he's the type who solves all his problems by either punching or yelling at them (sometimes both) and always gets straight to the point, never wasting time on questions. He'd probably develop an obsession with Wayne due to his confrontational nature, taking every opportunity to fight him. And much like the Adversary or the Razor, he might even grow attached to Wayne, even going as far as to attack Reese because Wayne is HIS rival and no one else can take that from him. Whether or not this obsession would turn into romance, I'm honestly not sure, let me know what you think about that.

Broken: Mystical + Talk to Animals

I gave the Broken these two traits because I believe both together would make him miserable. Being able to see and hear things that no one else can sounds absolutely maddening. I think Mystical fits him due to his connection to the Tower, while the Cage shows us a more empathic side to him so I figured with Talk to Animals he's give the creatures of Scarlet Hollow a voice (basically, he'd be more open about this power than the others).

I imagine that he was bullied a lot as kid for his strangeness and his only friends were animals. He's very subservient to beings he sees as being above him and lacks any agency, so he'd blindly listen to people like Tabitha and Sybil without question while being viewed as a weak willed coward by others. He'd also feel tremendous guilt for the major choices of episodes 1 and 2 so he'd try make the ultimate sacrifice in episode 3 (whether or not Tabitha lets him do that depends on their relationship).

Cold: Mystical + Keen Eye

The Cold is the embodiment of apathy. To me, he definitely gives off a Mystical sort of vibe as he was able to keep Quiet sane during the Moment of Clarity, and because he doesn't waste time on concepts like emotions he's a bit more observant than some of the other voices.

Like in StP, the only thing he cares about is seeing something new. So he'd probably just go where ever the wind takes him and follows others lead. Others would have a hard time getting along with him due to his apathetic (and sometimes downright rude) nature. Though he might develop a sort of kinship with Sybil, but unlike the Broken, instead of seeing her as someone above him, he sees her as someone who's kinda like him, someone who sees the world for what he believes it truly is rather than what others perceive it to be. And kinda like Stubborn he'd rather get to the point than waste time with questions.

Paranoid: Mystical + Book Smart

I gave him Mystical because it is sorta like a less cool version of Spidey Sense, and the Paranoid is always looking out for danger, hell, it might even be the reason he's so "Paranoid". As for Book Smart, I didn't originally come up with this one, that was the idea of @salty-an-disco, so I wanna thank them for inspiring me. And thinking about it, it makes sense as Paranoid actually seems pretty intuitive, he's the only reason why Quiet was able to survive being near the Nightmare by manually operating his autonomic nervous system, there's only one other voice who can do something like that and I also gave him the Book Smart trait (but you'll have to get though the rest of this to learn who).

As for how I imagine him being in SH, he's someone who is ruled by fear. He doesn't trust anyone, yet alone someone he just met, and even less of a long-lost cousin who only NOW decided to get in contact with him only to invite him to funeral of a woman who has it out for his recently deceased mother. He's untrusting of everyone he comes across in Scarlet Hollow (even if he has no reason to be so suspicious of them) and questions everything he's told.

Cheated: Mystical + Street Smart

I swear, this is the LAST voice with the Mystical trait! As for the reason I gave it to the Cheated is the same as the Paranoid. But unlike Paranoid, instead of fear, he's ruled by spite, so instead of logic, he tries to understand how people work, hence the Street Smart trait (another idea of @salty-an-disco).

I imagine either him or his mom is/was a gambler, but one bad gamble ruined their lives (or just his) and combined with Vivian's hospital bills put him in massive dept. He probably feels a strong envy towards Tabitha because she inherited the family coal mine and lives in a big house while he recently lost his job and got evicted from his apartment (and he assumes she didn't give the estate proper maintenance just to insult him, and if that sounds like a leap in logic to you that's because it is). He keeps his cards close to his chest, doesn't let his guard down around anyone, and tries to see all the possible angles.

Hunted: Talk to Animals + Keen Eye

The Hunted tries to think like an animal, so why not give him the ability to Talk to Animals? And while I wouldn't say he's really "smart" he does seem pretty observant like how he was able to tell the Narrator was afraid and in the Den he figured out that the mirror was just an illustration based on the wind.

To the Hunted, survival is all that matters, and he's not going save anyone unless it's convenient for him (though he's gladly save Gretchen over Duke), so if someone's in danger it's their fault for putting themselves in it instead of running away way when they had the chance or trust the warnings they've been given. But while he won't go rescue anyone himself he'll at least try to warn them of the danger, whether or not they'll listen to him is not his problem.

Opportunist: Street Smart + Hot

Some of these were pretty hard to figure out, but this one was surprisingly easy. The Opportunist is a manipulative being with only one goal: being on top. For some of these it's not really a matter of them actually having these traits, but rather which would they choose for themselves. Opportunist will gladly to lie and charm his way though any problem and doesn't show his true colors unless he thinks he's on top, like how in the Princess and the Dragon he was more than willing to kill the Princess knowing Quiet was inside of her, but when Quiet returned to his body he suddenly tried act like he was always on his side, but truthfully the only side he's on is his own.

That would also be the case in SH, always trying to butter up everyone just to stab them in the back the moment it's convenient for him. He would regularly lie to and flirt with people just to get them to trust him and would always invite Tabitha to events and take her side because she's the one with the most sway in Scarlet Hollow (but he's gladly stab her in the back the moment he gets the chance). I wonder how long he'd be able to keep this up before the others catch on.

Contrarian: Powerful Build + Street Smart

Remember how I said the Opportunist was easy to figure out? Well, the Contrarian is the opposite, as it was really hard to come up with something that made sense, and even now I'm unsure if this build really works for him. I'm fairly certain Street Smart is a good fit for him because it's useful for causing mischief, but I'm not confident in the other one.

I considered swapping Powerful Build for Talk to Animals since it's unexpected and Contrarian is all about doing the opposite of what you expect, plus, it would allow him to meet the goat. But I didn't because 1: outside of those two things there's really no reason to give him that trait, and 2: that would mean four out of the ten voices would have Talk to Animals, and that's already a problem with the Mystical trait and I want to have at least some variety.

The evidence for giving him Powerful Build are, 1: a running joke with the Contrarian is that he wants Quiet to throw the blade out the window and while I don't think an action like that requires much effort successfully throwing and object out a window does require at least some strength, 2: in the Fury he convinced Stubborn that they don't need the blade to Slay the Princess and depending on your choices he was right, 3: in the Apotheosis he helped Quiet throw the blade right into her eye, 4: in No Way Out, he made Quiet throw the blade out the window without the player's input and it's my belief that if a voice can successfully take control of Quiet's body despite resistance and without the help of the other voices must have some level of strength which is a logic I will use for another voice, and 5: during the end of the Razor he seem confident that Quiet could throw her out the window despite how big she's become. The only thing I don't like about this is the idea of Contrarian being buff (at the same time it's also not something you'd expect)

I imagine his relationship with Tabitha would be similar to the Narrator as he would like getting on her nerves, but not for any malicious reason but rather because it's fun for him. He'd have an appreciation for Tabitha (even if she doesn't feel the same way about him) and would have the best relationship with Stella as the two have a few things in common, she'd be the only one he wouldn't mess with.

Skeptic: Keen Eye + Book Smart

The Skeptic was another easy one for me. Like the Paranoid he's a very analytical mind, but while Paranoid is ruled by fear, Skeptic is ruled by logic, plus, he's the only other voice that seems to have some measure of control over Quiet's body, the difference being that while Paranoid manipulated his ANS to keep him alive, Skeptic was able to shut off his heart when he refused to slay himself. It's no wonder why they worked together so well in the Cage, and speaking of the Cage, he was kinda obsessed with data points in that route. Along with a more logical mind he's also observant as in the Prisoner he pointed out the empty chain and after slaying her was the only one who noticed that something had happened to the outside world before Quite even opened the door.

Like in StP he would be very logical wouldn't trust what's he's told unless it made sense to him or could be proven true. He would greatly distrust Tabitha, Sybil, Wayne, and Dr. Kelly as their the kind of people who would "talk in circles" which he absolutely hates. He also wouldn't trust Stella or Reese, but not because he dislikes them. In the case of Stella, it's because she's proven to be capable of lying, is incredibly reckless, and chooses to believe in cryptids over a more plausible answer like mountain lions. And as for Reese, it's because there's something about him that puts him off but can't say what exactly (a fear that would be justified in episode 4). Kaneeka would be one of the only people in Scarlet Hollow he would trust as in his mind she's one of the few in town with her head screwed on right and because she's also a skeptic, and not only that, she might be the one to help him get over some of his old biases (or maybe I'm the biased one because Kaneeka's my favorite, who can say?)

Smitten: Powerful Build + Hot

The Hot trait is perfect for SH players who want a little romance on their journey, and while it's not necessary for romance it does makes things a little easier, and I know the Smitten would capitalize on this if given the chance. Sure, he's not subtle about it, but he's the only voice that explicitly shows romantic interest in the Princess. And he can be pretty smooth at times like how he knew how to gain the Thorn's trust and kiss her. As for Powerful Build, there are a few reasons, 1: he seems like the type who would sweep someone off their feet (and people can be pretty heavy), 2: when combined with the Hot trait it gives you himbo dialogue which I think works for Smitten since the Princess is the only thing on his mind, and 3: he has the ability to completely control Quiet's body.

What I mean by that last one is that he's probably the only voice who can completely take over Quiet's body without help and despite Quiet's protests. He's made Quiet self-destruct in both of the Damsel's chapter 3s (making him stab himself in the Grey and ripping his chest open in Happily Ever After) even when the Narrator, Hero and Quiet himself told him no, the only other voice who could probably do something like this is the Contrarian, but he only does it briefly. The only other voice who kills Quiet is Skeptic but he can only use the blade if Quiet let's him, otherwise he'll shut off his heart instead. As for other voices who tried to take control of Quiet, when the Narrator tried to take control Quiet was able to fight back, when Broken tried taking control the Hero was able to rest control away from him, and Opportunist was only able to take control when Quiet was outside of his body, and when he returned Opportinist was helpless to whatever Quiet decided. And I'm pretty sure most of the other voices like the Stubborn, Paranoid, Cheated, and Hunted would take control if they could but they don't (I don't think Cold would care to do this even if he could).

I'm fairly confident about my trait choices, however, I'm struggling to figure out who Smitten would fall for. Obviously he's going to have a romance arc in this game, the question is "with who"? None of the existing romance options are similar enough to the Princess to say definitively who he would romance. If you have a guess of your own there are eight romance options, five the game's page will tell you about: Stella, Kaneeka, Oscar, Reese, and Avery, and three they won't tell you about: Wayne, Dr. Kelly, and Sybil. Please share your answers with me, I'd love to hear them! As for my guess, I'd say Reese because in a way he's the closest to the Princess, he has a similar disposition to the Thorn, like the Princess he's also trapped in a basement (kinda), he appears fragile, seems like a genuinely nice person like the Damsel, and much like the Princess as a whole he has the power of transformation (minus the thing about perception) being able to turn into a monster as well as control the environment around him, and I know Smitten isn't turned off by sharp teeth or any other freaky features as he still loves the Princess even as the Fury and Razor. But that's all just a guess and I'm not 100% sure of this. Again, if you have your own answer, do let me know.

And that's all ten voices! Like I said at the beginning I won't be doing the Narrator nor the Hero, and for the Princess and her multitudes, NOPE, that is a very daunting task and this list was hard enough as is. Finally, most of this is just my opinion, if you have a different list in mind feel free to share it. And thank you for taking the time to read this, that means a lot. bye!