#kinda funny that i pick the ghost characters as designs i like while my main oc is a skeleton

[skeletalheartattack]

Who was your favourite mario character as a kid, and who is it now?

honestly? that's a pretty tough question for me to answer, because i played a lot of mario games growing up, and i don't know if younger me would've been able to choose a favourite. in terms of established characters, i think a safe option would likely be bowser; he was always my pick in Mario Kart 64, Melee, and Brawl. though in terms of the entire series as a whole, i liked the luigis mansion ghost designs a lot.

a favourite nowadays? i'm not quite sure. if i had to pick an established character, it'd probably be wario or waluigi. in terms of the entire series, i like the Mario Sunshine boos design a lot... but that's narrowing it down too small because i like a whole lot of designs from the franchise, so it's really hard to pinpoint.

[meteor752]

So...I just watched The Rise of Skywalker

And it was...a movie

Now, if you don’t want it spoiled, then don’t click keep reading, because I will immediately start after that.

Got it?

Good

Now that that’s out of the way

THERE IS A CANON LESBIAN COUPLE IN STAR WARS AND THEY SHARED A KISS, I AM DEAD

Sorry I just had to get that out of my system

I am not a movie critic, and for the most part I just enjoy a movie unless it bores me. But I have been saying that I will do this review, and I will, so I will just go over important part by important part.

Good?

Good.

The first scene

This is, hands down, my favorite scene in the movie. The way they introduced Palpatine and that we never really see his face in the scene is really menacing, but still oddly hilarious.

I mean, the man is hanging there quoting himself. He later literally said do it!! I’m surprised he didn’t start to tell the story of Darth plagueise the wise.

Plus, the fact that Kylo doesn’t want to join Palpatine and become his apprentice, but just kill him, is really cool to me. It shows a little different side of his character, that he wants to be his own and not just the next Vader.

Also, after Palpatine saying “I created Snoke”, there’s a blink and you’ll miss it moment of a deformed looking Snoke in a cubicle, so that’s that character's backstory. He was a failed clone all along!

Poe, Finn, Chewie & the Spy

The start of this scene is just pure fluff between our dear space husbands and their mom’s, husband's dog.

The revelation of the spy was cool, but I kinda immediately guessed that it would be either Hux or Phasma.

I really liked the chase scene, plus the banter between the characters. Character interaction is a thing I love in franchises, and this movie does a good job with it

Master Leia

I LIVE FOR LEIA TRAINING REY TO BE A JEDI

The Rey training scene though was...unnecessary, dunno why it was there.

Rey’s always been a kinda on-off character for me. I like her when she’s loose and chill instead of a “badass”. In this movie...I mean she has her moments, but for the most part I didn’t want her there

C-3PO, R2-D2 & BB-8

The fact that BB-9e wasn’t in this movie is a crime

I like Threepio, like most other fans, but he’s just like always been...there for me. In this movie though, holy shit did he shine!

To be quite honest, he was probably one of my favorite characters in it, just because he kept that lightheartedness in an otherwise angsty movie, with some occasional fluff.

What I really like about him is that they made this his movie! Artoo and BB-8 were barely in it, and when they were they didn’t do much, so Threepio could really shine! Literally, he’s made of gold. The latest eight movies he’s basically been bullied by every character on screen, no one really seems to like him (Poe did it in this movie, so it’s still a thing) but they gave him a lot of screentime and I like that!

I don’t like BB-8. He’s mostly there to sell toys, and I get that that’s what Star Wars is all about these days, but don’t make it obvious!! Cough, cough PORG!!!!

Artoo was underused as kriff in this movie. He did basically nothing, despite being one of the franchises most popular characters. My favorite moment in the movie however is when Wiped Threepio And Artoo reunite, and he actually sound HURT when Threepio doesn’t recognize him!! He calls him his best friend okay!?!?

Lando

!!!!

His introduction was so fricking cute! Chewie just went to hug him instantly, because that poor fluffy boy has lost enough!!

Threepio going to explain who he is, and Rey just going “We know who he is!” Is so heartwarming, like he’s a war hero! People idolize him that’s so cute!!!

Knights of Ren

Will get more into them in another section, but look really cool but really underused

Stormpilot, Jedipilot, Stormjedi & Stormjedipilot

Let’s get this over with

All three of the first ships are evident in this movie.

Rey and Poe arguing about BB-8 and The Falcon at the start of the movie...is basically all we get for Jedipilot but what’d you expect?

Poe making Finn general, their banter throughout the movie, the little very unnecessary fight they had, the reunion at the end of the movie-

THIS

Rey: So what were you going to tell me?

Finn: We’ll take it later

Poe: What, you mean when Poe’s not here?

YOU JEALOUS BRO???

Finn wanting to tell Rey something was most likely confessing some feeling for her, but then they survived and yeah, and it was fucking dropped?! Did JJ just forget about that???

Plus, I’ve never noticed this before, but Finn yells Rey’s name a lot.

The reunion hug between the three of them at the end of the movie is what kinda made me like Stormjedipilot. Poe and Rey holding their hands over Finn’s back while he buries his head into their shoulders, like yeah I like that.

Chewie’s “death”

I, to be honest, kinda wanted Chewbacca to die a little here. It would have made Kylo’s turn so much more compelling.

So it is my personal headcanon that Kylo did not know that Chewie wasn’t on that ship, and for a few minutes he actually thought that he, Uncle Chewie, had died. Because I couldn’t be the only one who saw a bit of pain on his face.

Kijimi

I first did not like Zorii, mostly because I thought she and Poe would have had a “relationship”.

Though, when Rey held a lightsaber against her throat, and she just impressively said “Not that it matters, but I like you.”

Gal, you GAAAAY

And also that twice, twice, Poe asks if they should kiss and she dismisses both tries, that I like. Good job movie, god job.

During the raid, you can hear female Stormtroopers, and I think that’s really cool. We’re in movie nine and first now does there exist female Stormtroopers that isn’t Phasma!!

Threepio’s wipe is sad and I liked it, but I feel that they made it a little too sad, considering it was afterwards mostly played as a joke and then they gave him his memories back

Hux the spy

Again, Chewie should have remained dead, but whatever.

I have no problem with Hux as the spy, I was just sitting in the theater mumbling ‘Fulcrum’ while my brother was looking at me weirdly, but what I don’t like is what they did with it.

For Hux just to be shot by some General we’ve never met before is just the equivalent of a letdown, especially since so many people like his characters. Including me, he’s one of the best parts of the Sequels!!

Rey Palpatine

Just so everyone knows, I saw this coming. I mean sure, I still liked the Qui’ra theory more, but when Palps started talking about how he knew who the girl was, then I was just like okay she’s a Palpatine.

What I don’t like is how they don’t talk at all of how this came to be. Like, I don’t even know which one of Rey’s parents who’s Palps child. Who the hell did he fuck?!?!

So yeah, whatever twist, bad execution.

Endor’s Stormtroopers

THIS SCENE IS A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF WHY I DON’T LIKE REY

They often do this in movies. Heroes have to do something, they can’t do anything at that moment so they have to wait, main Hero does it anyways.

IT’S ANNOYING AS HELL

Finn and the Ex Stormtrooper I can't remember the name of’s bonding moment was cute, but I just kept thinking to myself “Are they siblings? Because it wouldn’t be the first time this has happened,”

Finn getting mad at Poe is weird as shit and I don’t like it.

Dark Rey vs Rey

Huge letdown didn’t like it next

Rey vs Kylo, final battle

It was...fine, I guess. I like that Rey fucking stabbed him, that was cool.

Leia dying to redeem Kylo was dumb! I get that they needed to kill her off in a natural way and not just off-screen but come on!

Plus, if you would ask me, Kylo didn’t need a redemption arc. I think he should have died. As a bad guy.

Han Solo And Lightsaber Toss

Han Solo talking to Kylo was cool, though how does it work?? Was it a vision? Luke manipulations the force? Kylo only saw what he wanted to see?

That Kylo just tossed his lightsaber was symbolic and stuff, but a really stupid decision from his part. How are you gonna protect yourself now, huh? THE FORCE?!?!

Rey going into Exile

THIS SCENE WAS FUNNY AS SHIT!!

Just, Rey, thinking that every Jedi goes into exile, when they don’t feel like dealing with it anymore, and she’s fucking right!!! Yoda, Obi-Wan And Luke would be proud!!!!

Luke’s force ghost also has nearly identical hair to Anakin, which is adorable. Dunno how many that noticed that, since the people I’ve talked with about the movie didn’t, but that was literally all I could think about.

Knight Leia

When Rey picked up her lightsaber, my brother beside me was like “That’s Luke’s green one!” And I got mad because that’s not his lightsaber design at all. Know your facts bro!

That Leia was a Jedi is understandable, I mean was Luke not going to train her? But I’ve always seen her that she could use the force, but didn’t use a lightsaber because she’s badass.

I kinda also wanted her blade to be purple? I think it would have fit her much better, as she is probably the most balanced Jedi we’ve had for a while and she’s got a lot of anger that little Skywalker, but blue works fine I guess. Better than green.

Star Wars Endgame

I liked this scene, it was cool, Artoo got something to do, and Finn and Rose riding those horse thingies is an inside joke between those two at this point, convince me otherwise.

Lando And Chewie arriving though, and the First Order stating that they are “just people”, was really beautiful. Cool scene all and all.

Rey and Palpatine

Palps is still quoting himself! He fucking said “Do It” JJ knows what’s up!!

One thing that I’ve been trying to figure out since I saw the movie was what the hell was Palps’ goal? He said for Rey to strike him down (Said the same to Luke, is he suicidal??) and then he would become? Apart? Of her? What?

I’m sorry, but that doesn’t make any sense.

Kylo vs Knights of Ren

So these are Kylo’s guys, right? His inquisitors, per say.

Except these used to be Jedi, his clanmates, his friends.

So why the kriff did they all turn against him like that?? AND WHY DID HE JUST FIGHT THEM BLINDLY DUDE THESE WERE YOUR FRIENDS!!

If I could have changed anything in this movie that has nothing to do with ships, then it would be that at least ONE of the knights would have supported Kylo and not just blindly turned against him.

Though I must say, Rey giving Kylo Luke’s lightsaber through their bond, was pretty badass.

Palpatine steals Kylo and Rey’s bond

The. Fuck.

WHAT KIND OF FORCE POWER IS THAT?!?!

IF YOU CAN JUST STEAL A JEDI’S FORCE BOND, WHY DIDN’T YOU DO THAT WITH ANAKIN AND OBI-WAN PALPS?!?!? HUH?!?!?!

But for real, stupid decision, could have gone without it.

Jedi Rey vs Sith Palps

It was cool, a cool moment, I sat excitedly and whispered to my brother all the voices I recognized, I think Ahsoka could be heard??

...

I looked it up and yeah her voice is there, which means that she’s dead R.I.P Snips.

One of the better scenes of the movie, though I think it’s cheating because of nostalgia and love for these characters.

(I LOOKED UP WHICH THE VOICES WERE, AND WE’VE GOT FRICKING AAYLA SECURA, LUMINARA UNDULI, ADI GALLIA AND KANAN JARRUS!!!)

Reylo

*Sigh*

Ya know, I really hoped this wouldn’t happen. I almost wanted to skip this, and really make all the Reylo fans mad.

But I have to talk about this.

This kiss, should not have happened.

Now if you are a Reylo shipper, that’s good for you, I ship way stranger things than that, but to actually make it canon?!?!

Kylo having a crush or something for Rey? Sure, I can understand that’s he’s pretty much obsessed at this point. But for Rey, badass Rey who is pretty lesbian, to have feelings for Kylo? THIS IS NOT A HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP PEOPLE!!

And that they made a toxic relationship canon, but not a gay one, really says something about Star Wars doesn’t it.

Death of Kylo

I laughed out loud during this scene. Not joking, people around me were annoyed. And that his clothes didn’t disappear? Is Kylo a naked force ghost? Did he do that for Rey?

Wait

Don’t answer.

Happy Rebels

The Lesbian couple that kissed was obviously queerbaiting, and you should never praise that, but that is probably all we will get Gays, so let’s just take it and cry on the inside.

Is that Stormtrooper gal Lando’s daughter? Because my brother whispered that to me, and I got those vibes too. Or is she way older than what she looks like and we were supposed to see her as a love interest?

The hug was cute.

Rey Skywalker

I will never accept this as canon ever.

To see the moisture farm again was nice, I liked that.

And for Rey to finally have her own lightsaber, and a yellow one too (I read a fanfic where she had a yellow one, was that like pre-seen??).

But the Skywalker thing...eh.

I would have found it cute if she’d said Rey Palpatine, as if she’d embraced her origin and decided that the name Palpatine isn’t just to be afflicted with the emperor, but also with her, the last Jedi.

Also, did she go into exile? Because damn, those Jedi do that a lot!

All in all, I liked this movie! I wasn’t bored a single bit while watching it, as there was always something going on, and I like when that happens. I don’t think that had happened since Empire with a Star Wars movie.

It isn’t in my top three, but it’s up there, and better than The Last Jedi.

Though I must say, they did take some things from Return of the Jedi and put it in this movie, specifically the ending.

Though I must say, and don’t hate me for this, it was better than Return of the Jedi okay bye

[therearemorethanfivenights]

Chapter 11 is up!

I’m spending my quaran-time wisely by writing about a dead teenager hunting for her killer.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/11674818/chapters/56827993

I’m also working on art, some shorts about characters we’ve yet to see and a backlog of chapters for if/when I lose momentum again. Planning ahead is important, kids.

Continue reading under the cut-

It had been a fair few hours since Marie's strange episode, and she was up and about once more. Up, about, and ready to follow her first lead. "Seriously, do you think I would hide something like being the witness to a god damn murder from everyone? I'm literally designed so that I can't do that." Mangle was sat sorting through a small box of mini LEDs. She was there, she was the one who screamed and was dragged off, it was impossible for it not to have been her. "That's my point exactly! Unless it was some insane near-death vision - which it definitely was not - then you were there. Yet somehow, you don't remember a thing. That can't have been an accident!" Marie grabbed her friend's shoulders tight, startling her. The tiny bulbs scattered at her feet, some finding there way through a gap in the floor panels of her den and dropping to the floor below. 

"Ifreann... what do you mean? You think someone wiped my brain? This isn't a movie Marie, and even if that was what happened, the only person who could have done that was..." She trailed off as she thought. The whole thing made more sense than she wanted to admit. If anyone had seen a crime, the criminal would want to remove the threat of them talking. So it was entirely possible that she had seen her friend's murder. By that logic, any one of the animatronics could have been a witness to or even assisted with one of the murders. But they couldn't. "Fixing our mechanisms is tricky, but doable. Rewiring a whole bunch of stuff in our brains, so to speak, is nigh on impossible. At the time of you getting shanked-" "Tactful as always." "I was the only person capable of doing anything remotely close to that. There was only one man who could have done it to such a degree of 'not-fucking-everything-else-up-as-well', and he was definitely dead by then." She finished, muttering further as she began the grueling task of tidying the bits on her floor. Marie paused. She was right, of course. Everybody knew the fate of William Afton, he had killed himself shortly after the Bite had occurred. Unless...

"What if he wasn't dead. What if he isn't."

"What?"

"William, the guy who built you. You said that he was the only one capable of fiddling with your head with that level of precision. To wipe all traces of an event without leaving a weird gap in your memory that would make you suspicious. What if he never offed himself, but just made you forget who he was... describe him for me." Marie had a hunch. "What, William? Well, he was... he was... I... I don't remember anything about him." She stopped picking at the floor. "But, he was always elusive, right? Not many people saw him and we only did during the early days. We never saw him after we were installed at the restaurant. At least... I don't think we did."

It suddenly made sense. Or at the very least, more sense than it had before today. If her theory was correct, then it would explain why, despite being walking security cameras, nobody had seen anyone suspicious. They were programmed to find everything about this guy completely normal, no matter how much creepy lurking and luring he may be doing. But while she had a plausible suspect, there was no motive. "I'm going to think on this a while. You, uh, have fun with your blinky lights." She said, handing her the closest one before floating out the door and away. 

Dawn had been listening in as best she could. "Marie, not to butt in..." She emerged from the shadows beneath Mangle's den, squeezing awkwardly past various shelves. "I just wanted you to know... if I can help at all... like with all of this..." Marie smiled, trying to seem as unfazed as possible. "I know. I'm fine D, really." She continued towards the door. Dawn frowned. She didn't really understand any of this, and that bothered her. Normally if Marie had a problem she would tell her. She felt useless. "Actually..." She stopped. "Mind if I ask you something? Just wondering-" "Yes?" "Before you started here... There was a time between you and Afton right? When there was just, nobody doing repairs?" She asked. "No, I mean, yes there was nobody here. I think mostly it was just Mangle doing what she could." Dawn replied. "It's weird though, even with a robot brain, it would have taken a long time to figure out everything she has. So, before she knew what she knows... lucky there weren't any major problems, right?" She laughed nervously. "Huh."

Mike and Amy were still sifting through what information they could find on the Bite of '87. "Remember how this was just supposed to be a nice walk around to work off lunch?" Amy teased. She was enjoying their conspiracy hunt to a degree, but they'd reached an impasse a few articles back. There was the motive for murder but nothing could prove that the man was alive, let alone anywhere near the establishment at the time of the first murders. "I know." Mike was uninterested. If he wasn't here he'd be obligated to be at 'home' with his 'family'. No thanks, there had to be some way to prove him either right or wrong, either would be preferable to listening to his extended family argue about political bullcrap. And then the Puppet hovered in.

"Hey, how you feeling? I overheard something had happened. Blow a fuse?" Amy asked sympathetically. Chica came by to explain that something strange had occurred on her way to see exactly what that meant, but they were too absorbed to follow. "Yeah... something like that." Marie peered over at the screen. "So what kinda smut are you looking at?" She asked, half-joking.

"News stuff."

"So no tits? Disappointing." She sighed. Amy raised an eyebrow. "I'm kidding. Mostly. What kinda news?" "We have this theory, about our killer, but it's nothing to worry over." Mike turned the monitor to show her the current article. "I mean, it involves a locally famous suicide being faked and a cyber-child, so probably in the realm of the crazy and slash or impossible." He scrolled absentmindedly onward. Marie immediately tensed up. "Mike... Is this the case of one William Afton? Because boy-howdy do I have some interesting insight into that mess." She made an uneasy grin. Mike nodded, almost amazed. He got up from his chair and let the Puppet sit down, uncaring as to whether it would make a difference. He perched by Amy on the desk, who seemed just as stunned. "We... have the motive to believe he's the one doing this, but there's no way we could prove he's still around. If we could then maybe, but right now we've hit a wall." He explained. Marie nodded slowly.

"Funny, I have the opposite problem. I can prove he was around I think, but not why." She said. "But you might not believe the 'source' exactly."

Mangle hadn't remained in her den for long. The more she tried to think of her creator, the less she seemed to actually remember, and this was bothering her. So she decided to ask around. Crawling through the vents, she tried to think of her earliest thoughts, before she had arrived at the pizzeria. Vague memories floated around. A voice, she could remember a voice, but was it his? It was polite, asking her things, always amazed by her answers. That had to be him.

"Toy Foxy? I wanted to ask you something." He said. "You're voice is different. It used to be the one I gave you, do you remember?" He imitated a voice she barely thought her own. "But now it's something different. Why is that? Do you know what it is?" She remembers feeling pestered, but she always answered. She had to, being considerate and helpful, but she didn't feel like it at times. "It's... Irish, isn't it? I just prefer the way it sounds. It feels like... the other voice is good, but it's yours. I want this one, it sounds like me. Why? Are you offended I didn't like what you gave me? Because I'm not changing it now." She laughed. She was much happier then, if a little annoyed by the barrage of questions.

She crawled out of the vent and down into the main hall. Below, Toy Chica was sat on her phone. Everyone had seemingly scuttled away, presumably coming to terms with today's revelation, but Toychi seemed to be entirely over it. "I've seen weirder things on the internet, in case you were wondering why I haven't curled up in a corner. I can see your reflection, y'know." She said, not looking up. Mangle extended her neck as far as possible to continue the conversation. She always misjudged how high the ceiling in here was. "Hey so, how much do you remember about William?" She asked. Toychi shrugged and continued to look at her various social media feeds. 

"Come on, I need to know because of reasons." She swung her face so her hair covered Toychi's vision. "Important reasons." She affirmed. Toy chica sighed and did as she was asked. "I remember he was from England. And like, he was married I think." She said, trying to push Mangle's head away. "But nothing personal? Nothing the just us, his life's work, would remember? Or even what he looked like?" "Of course I remember... huh. That's... totally not ok. I have an amazing memory, how the hell can't I remember that guy?" She immediately began searching her phone. "I remember he gave me this, maybe I took pictures," she switched to the internet, "Google knows everything, maybe they have a picture!" She was becoming increasingly distressed. "Mangle! What the fuck does this guy look like?!" She cried.

At this point, Toy Freddy had emerged from backstage. "What the heck are you yelling about now? Is anyone else secretly a ghost?" He wasn't feeling up to any more ghost shenanigans. However, this didn't seem like something he could ignore, given the frantic pace at which Toy Chica had begun waving him over. "What colour hair did William Afton have?!" She asked, still aggressively applying as many advanced search keywords as possible. "What? How the heck would I know?" He responded. She barely acknowledged this, still scouring her device. Mangle clambered not-so-gracefully down from the ceiling. "Was he fat, or thin? What colour were his eyes? Did he have freckles? We should know, man, but we don't! Why?!" Toychi dropped her phone into her lap with a small thud before burying her face in her arms on the table. 

"I mean, yeah, that is a little unusual. Maybe it's a glitch? Or maybe we just don't remember? Ten years is a long time." He sat beside her. It was strange but surely there were more important things happening than trying to remember one man. "A glitch for all of us? And I have over a thousand people's names, faces, birthdays, favourite flavours of ice-cream... We can't forget things, not really, not unless we delete things ourselves." Came a slightly muffled reply.

"Ok, but why does he even matter. He made us then dropped off the face of the earth, big deal." He said. He was actually quite interested in helping find out just how exactly someone had removed all traces of themselves from their minds, as William no doubt had done, and why, but Toychi was in hysterics and he wasn't prepared to encourage her.

All the while, Mike continued to compile his resources. Marie decided it'd be best to let him handle things. She felt a little bad since as it was, everyone else was cleaning up this mess that she was at the center of, yet she was just idly floating around and keeping as far from it all as she could. Aside from the notes she'd been compiling, it was all down to the others. But she was far too tired to deal with anything more. She ducked into the arcade and flopped haphazardly into her box once more. She stared into the darkness, admiring herself. She had done fairly well, all things considering. 

"Why me though?" She asked aloud. It was an interesting question. From Mike's debrief, she knew who had killed her. At least, she thought she knew, because she was an outlier. The other victims were all connected. All were friends of Michael's older brother, William's nephew he'd taken in according to what little she remembered about her brother's friend's family. Then there was Alex, who could possibly have been a part of the group that hurt Michael. He wasn't, but William couldn't have known.

So why? She remembered the basement, the safe room. But that made no sense either. She was smarter than that, she watched horror movies all the time. How in the world could a total stranger have lured her into the basement of the Pizzaria?

Then she saw it.

It was a gift box, very like the one she now resided in. Aside from its sudden appearance, it could have been mistaken for a completely ordinary wrapped box. Something a child could have left for her or forgotten before closing the other day. It was Christmas after all. "Alright then." She said. Maybe she'd overlooked it, she wasn't exactly thinking straight. "Happy Hannukkah, me." She picked up the box. It wasn't small at all, yet it barely weighed anything. There was a small tag hanging from the bow. She squinted to read what it said, "You are not alone. If you awaken them, they will help you find him. They will help you hunt him. They will grant revenge... Ok, this is some weird shit." She dropped the box on the floor. 

"Revenge is for losers anyway." She laughed through her nose, amused by the idea that she'd want revenge. Really, she just wanted this guy found and dealt with for the sake of others, for Alex. She eyed the box with suspicion. "What does it mean, 'they'. Other kids? The ones from before?" That made sense. It didn't make any sense at all because this was all insane, but then again she was a ghost so she was already pushing her own beliefs. "Maybe..." Against her better judgment, she picked the box up again.

"Maybe I should let them out. Or bring them back with this thing, whatever it's for. I mean, if these are the other kids... what harm could they do, right? If they're vengeful I can stop them, I'm more powerful. I think." She wondered exactly how powerful she was. Enough to put a stop to some stupid toddler tantrums. She grasped the ribbons on the lid of the box. She tried once more to recall what happened the night of her death, secretly hoping that she wouldn't need this supernatural pandora's box to fix this if it even could.

It was the eve of Halloween, the eve of her birthday. "God, and then he just gets up as if nothing had happened." She was hanging around the alley beside the pizzeria, "Hey, mind letting me in on those?" She referred to the box of cigarettes in Vincent's hand. "These things kill you know." He said but still offered her one. He hadn't been ok since the Bite had happened. It was weird the place was open so quickly after such a massive accident, but it was probably something to do with corporate greed or whatever. She was more concerned about her friend. 

"Look, you need to take time off. I couldn't give any less of a shit what your boss says, this place should be shut for the rest of the year and you need help." She brought a cigarette to her lips and lit it. A terrible habit for a kid, she knew, but she was running out of legal ways to stave off stress. She sighed a long trail of smoke as he shrugged at her. "Don't shrug, you know I'm right." She said, resting her hand on his shoulder. He brushed it away dejectedly and continued to stare at the floor. 

"No offense Marie... but you don't know jack shit about what's going on right now. You don't know anything and you never will. You can't." He glared at her. Something was definitely off. His voice kept faltering, changing almost. Like his whole person was just an act. It scared her. But she thought she understood. "Just focus on keeping yourself safe, ok?" He tried to smile at her. She was a child, of course, there was no way she'd understand how this worked. Vincent sounded almost like her father, in a terrible sort of way, but it was fine. They'd both suffered, he was trying to push her away for both of them. She understood that.

Her face that night was a mess of make-up and grime. She'd looked for hours but he was gone. Her throat burned from trying to make her voice heard over the crowds of kids rushing to and fro. Nothing mattered anymore. Her parents, of course, blamed her. And for once, they were right, everything was her fault. But even now, as her mother wailed into her father's lap, as her father retold what they knew to his fellow police officers, she was going to fix this. She slid her window open and climbed outside. She clutched the only thing that seemed to bring any comfort, a doll of the Puppet, a gift from Vincent for her birthday last year. She hurried to the bus-stop. There was only one bus this late, she'd be walking home, but it didn't matter. She hopped on and dropped a large handful of change through the tiny gap.

Getting in was easy. Vincent taught her a trick with the back door into parts and services. "Alex?" She cried softly into the darkness. She wished she had a torch, this place was much creepier in the dark. She stumbled through the small warehouse. "Alex?" She was trying to be as loud as possible and as quiet as possible, she knew there'd be a guard on duty and the police could get here soon. She felt a little less concerned about the guard, she'd met Scott once and he seemed like a nice enough person, but he'd also likely call her parents. 

"Alex?" Her voice echoed through the corridors. Eventually, she found herself in the arcade. She pushed her back against the wall and slid to the floor. This was it. Alex was gone forever. "Marie? Oh my god Marie what are you doing here?" Vincent's voice. He flashed a light through the door and approached her spot. "You! Where were you! He's gone, he's gone, it's your job to stop this stuff!" She kicked at his shins. "I'm sorry..." She began to sob again. Vincent knelt by her and offered his hand. "It's ok, we'll find him. Follow me." He said. She sniffed and cleaned her face as best she could.

They slowly made their way through the halls, checking every inch for any sign of Alex. "What are you even doing here, I thought Scott worked nights?" She asked, checking under each table for any scrap of evidence. Vincent handed her the torch. "Switched shifts. Work keeping me focused, you know?" "Like, focused on anything special, or focused on not..." "I said you know, didn't I? Got to keep going." He looked around. "I'm going to head back to the office, maybe some security footage will help. Think you can check the other rooms yourself?" He tossed her the keys and headed off before she even replied.

It'd been some time. What was he doing? She began heading towards the office. A door. Staff only. Maybe...

Stairs. Cold. Pain.

"No."

Marie stared at the box. William was a sure fit for everything, but he'd need access to the security footage to delete any evidence, and he had no idea who Marie was. She'd stumbled on Alex's body, sure, but how would he have known she was there if he was just popping in to murder a child then leaving again. He'd have to have been in the building, in the office to watch where she went. "No." He'd have to be working in the pizzeria, with an alias as a cover. "No." He would have to have been someone that she trusted, and who trusted her as much. "No. No that's ridiculous."

Michael used to call Vincent 'dad'. How did he know how to help Mangle and Dawn? Scott always seemed like Vince was his superior when he wasn't. He could always somehow buy her all sorts of nice things on pittance pay. Henry's kids own the place, yet they let Vincent get away with things anyone else could be fired on the spot for. He could mimic voices so well, was it such a stretch to say is 'real' voice was a fake too? Things she'd never questioned before suddenly seemed to pile up. He first talked about doing everything themselves, keeping the police and the victim's families as far away as possible. But he would never hurt her, he cared about her, he was her best friend.

Then, without her meaning to, the bottom of the box tumbled to the floor, the top still stuck in Marie's grip. The arcade machines flashed violently as a group of masks resembling the cast's old animal heads appeared, much like her own. They fizzled into small balls of light, then vanished. A message appeared on one of the cabinet screens. 'Give gift', it read. 'Give life', it read. Marie let the lid join the rest of the box on the floor. The screens went black again and left her in the dark.

"Oh no."

[weirdmarioenemies]

It’s another Wario’s Woods masterpost!

Yeah! The one I kinda sorta hinted at an entire year ago! So we’ve already gone over the wonderful little basic monsters that Toad can pick up and toss around and tragically blow up with bombs. And the bosses in the NES version are, for the most part... generic. Disappointing. Not worth mentioning.

But then we have the SNES version! There is a whole cast of wacky opponents for Toad to face in his quest to defeat Wario. Let’s waste no time looking at each and every one!

Katsini

Starting off strong! Katsini is a very well-dressed purple fellow who looks a lot like Tatanga, the villain of Super Mario Land, who we have really not covered yet for some reason, wow. He is full of charm, but also kindness! Unlike most of the bosses, he encourages Toad. How nice!

Galrog

Galrog’s mouth doesn’t always hang open like this, but I’m glad it’s the image the Wiki uses. As you can see, he is some sort of cyclops/ogre type thing, but this shocked face is really the main attraction. He’s still in training, and asks Toad to go easy on him. I bet you were judging him based on his appearance until you read that! Shame on you.

Harley Q

Wowee! This is a fun one! Harley Q is certainly designed with a jester or harlequin in mind, but clearly not just someone in a suit. Could this be... a wild, natural jester? Not the domesticated kind we’re so used to seeing? Her dress thingy is constantly spinning, too! Fun! And sort of reminds me of Dimentio... another important villain we haven’t covered yet for some reason! Because we have our priorities in order covering silly stuff like this!

SamSpook

A very bold decision to give ol’ Sam a green pumpkin head instead of orange, and I’ll give them bonus points for that! His body is suspiciously similar to that of the plumbers... but the combination of overalls and pumpkin immediately makes me think “farmer”! But not just any farmer, of course. If he were to grow pumpkins, they would be his children! I don’t know how that would work! So it’s time for the next one.

Sven

The thing that immediately strikes me about Sven is his art style! A bit different from the others, don’t you think? More dynamic and Looney Tunes-like! A scrappy little furball. Like Wild Mike from Barnyard. Remember that? I do. I remember them claiming that the official website revealed Mike’s species. It didn’t. Don’t believe the media. Wait, this is supposed to be about Sven, isn’t it? Well, he’s got a viking helmet and boxing gloves! That’s a neat combination I’ve never seen before!

Parrotor

Parrotor is apparently a mix between a parrot and a monitor lizard, but is really basically a parrot with a lizard tail. But there’s nothing wrong with that! This is a very Funny Bird we see before us.

Mssr Boo

This is the good stuff right here! A slightly French ghost! A very simple ghost, but I love simple ghosts! And I love simple things wearing hats! It’s the best thing for them to wear!

Aqualea

Aqualea is a mermaid. An angry mermaid. That just so happens to be exactly like one of the bosses in the NES version! That mermaid’s name is Mad, and I don’t know if she’s actually angry, but we can assume so. Since her name is Mad.

Razor

And we go right from one kind of fish person to the other kind! As recent film has shown us, Razor is the sexy kind of fish person. Has anyone ever found mermaids sexy? Probably not. That would be weird! Despite Razor’s appearance, he is very philosophical. I guess unexpected personality traits is a theme here!

Tad Rock

OH YEAH!!!!! Tad Rock calls himself the coolest player around, and while something like that is usually a very pompous thing to say, you can tell by Tad’s name and fashion sense that he is telling the truth! 

Thak

Hm. Sorry, Thak, Galrog already fills the niche of “ogre thing”, and does a better job if you ask me... but your teeth are cool! Very sharp! I’m sure you’re great at eating meat!

Lizardon

In case you didn’t know, Lizardon is the Japanese name of Charizard! This is likely no surprise at all, but I’ll take this pudgy purple goof over a Cool Dragon any day. Lizardon is also hilariously full of himself, claiming that he’ll crush Toad’s dreams of fame and be the star of the next game! I’d play it, honestly.

Sarissa

Sarissa really nails that “cute girl” type of design that’s so popular, I think. If this game was more well known, she’d probably be the most popular opponent! Along with Harley Q, because people REALLY love wacky jesters, and... I want to say Tad Rock. People love things that are radical! Anyway, I never got all the cute girl hype, but I am digging Sarissa’s fashion choices.

Mangylox

Now this is a real classic “monster”! A big ol’ hulking figure completely covered in hair, wearing shoes... wow! Even more Looney Tunes vibes! I think this is a good time to talk about what the character dialogue is like in this game. Behold Mangylox’s mighty lexicon!

“I've been waiting for you. You have been impressive, but now it begins. Instantaneous decisions will be necessary. Know this--my abilities are unmatched!”

Dedar

Goblin time! We got a goblin! Or maybe more? Dedar is like a combination of goblin, imp, elf, all that good stuff, and I think the result is pretty great! She doesn’t even have a nose or a mouth, and we all know that the fewer facial features, the cuter a design is!

Carlton

Carlton sure is a knight, I guess. Or maybe a sentient suit of armor. That would be more interesting. Either way, he may be the least interesting character here. But that’s okay! Because next up is the penultimate opponent! What could possibly be even more imposing than an iron-clad warrior? Tremble in fear before...

Harry H

Harry the Hare! Yup, the final opponent before Wario himself is a smartly-dressed hare named Harry. You might expect that he’s well-mannered, too, and he even refers to Toad as a “woodlands hero”! I think he’s probably quite a nice fellow who’s really here to make sure Toad is ready for the final battle. Don’t you just love Harry Hare? I do!

...and then there’s Wario! We’ve talked about him in depth, though, so there’s not much to say here.

With that... I guess we’re done with Wario’s Woods... I don’t want it to end! I want more funny creatures running around and stacking smaller funny creatures! Please, Nintendo... acknowledge this game... make weird Wario games again...

But let’s not end on a sad note. Which one is your favorite, besides  Wario, of course? Vote now!

https://strawpoll.com/3re4411p

[3wisellamas]

Character Creation Tag

Tagged by @the-golden-ghost​

I...don't talk a lot about my OCs on here.  ^^;  But, for the purposes of this thing, think I'll rant about Kelly, since I just think she's neat.  If you don't know her (and you probably don't), uh...think big blob alien.

1) What was the first element of your character that you remember considering?

To be honest, she kind of came out of me trying to think about how her species would really work, or especially how they'd interact with the humans that had taken over their planet, back when the plot happened after a SUCCESSFUL human invasion.  Since I was still figuring out the characters in general I didn't have any aliens yet, it was actually mostly about the robots, so I just...made her up, to have a way of exploring that stuff.

2) Did you design them with any other characters from their universe in mind?

Admittedly, not really.  She was just...some rando, a test character that I figured I would end up plugging into a tiny part of the story eventually, after finally coming up with it.  Her having any real development or even being a major character wasn't a consideration for a while!

Heck, she still clashes with the non-gel characters a lot, kind of on purpose, to show how alien she is -- or, rather, how alien THEY are compared to her!

3) How did you chose their name?

Uh...picked it at random?  ^^;  Okay, I actually did have a thought process.  I came up with her full name, Alkeli, first -- a little play on the word "Alkaline", since she's made of an extremely basic/low-ph material.  Kelly was just a cute nickname for her that stuck.

4) In developing their backstory, what elements of their world played the most influential part?

Hoo boy, here we go.  Like I said, she was originally a VERY inconsequential character that I was just using for playing with concepts, but then I changed the plot to deal with the consequences of a FAILED human invasion of the aliens' planet rather than a successful one.  So, since the aliens were still top dog and actively trying to wipe out the few humans left, the human characters needed some leverage in order to survive.  I reworked Kelly as a character with connections to both worlds -- she's an alien, but was raised by the humans.  And I thought it'd be especially funny for her to technically be considered one of the main humans' "twin" sister as a part of that (I get a lot of joke mileage out of reactions to that little fact.)

5/6/7) Is there any significance behind their hair color/eye color/height?

Well, she doesn't have hair, so that's a problem.  She also doesn't actually have eyes, though she does have fake ones as part of her translator device -- them being blue really isn't too significant, other than her dad just picking it because it's his favorite color.  :P

Her height actually is kinda significant, though!  Most gel who interact with humans do so via translator devices, which give them a "face" and shape them to look a tiny bit more humanoid as part of it, but they usually still stay kinda blobby and close to the ground.  Instead, Kelly is super tol and intentionally tries to look more human-ish with hers, to show that she literally considers herself more human than gel.

8) What do you relate to within their character/story?

Let's see here.  Zero social skills, doesn't relate to really anyone at all, and is often a jerk to others without realizing it?  Check.  Forced by her parents into their own future plans, with her own dreams pretty much disregarded?  Check.  Low-key wants to be an artist even though she has exactly zero talent?  Check.  Total weeb loser who mostly just hides in her room playing video games all day?  Triple check.

9) Are they based off you in any way?

She might actually be the closest character in the whole thing to a self-insert.  ^^;  Which is saying something...

10) Did you know what your character’s sexuality would be at the time of their creation?

Nope.  I still don't even know.  Her species doesn't actually...reproduce, like at all (that's even a major plot point, since Kelly's birth and existence is VERY unusual!), but that's as far as I went in thinking about it.  Like to think of her as ace/aro nowadays though.

11) What have you found is the most difficult art form in creating your character?

She's actually pretty easy to draw in my usual 2D cartoony style, but...I honestly have NO idea how she'd work in 3D space at all, so if I ever tried to render her in any 3D medium it wouldn't go well.  ^^;  And neither does anything more realistic either -- did I mention she's literally a mass of semitransparent goop?  Trust me, I've tried.  It doesn't work.

12) How far past canon events that take place in their world have you extended their story?

I typically have my characters' ENTIRE lives planned out.  So...yeah.  All of it.  Not elaborating though, because spoil.

13) If you had to narrow it down to 2 things you MUST keep in mind while working with this OC, what would they be?

1.  Even if she's pretty much a human culturally, she is NOT one physically.  She works very differently from the other non-gel characters; she can only see in certain circumstances, for instance, and her other senses all work differently too, including ones humans don't actually have.  Her physical capabilities are also very different, too, which I gotta keep in mind for the various shenanigans the cast get into -- if everyone has to jump off a thing she can't follow them, but if they need anything underwater they'd be stupid not to go right to her!

2.  Her manner of speaking is also VERY different from the humans and robots, because like all gel she doesn't have a mouth and all her speech has to be translated -- can't slip up and accidentally have her use a contraction!  (until the plot twist that she's totally faking it for reasons and CAN speak like everyone else, hehe...)

14) What is something about your OC that makes you laugh?

She's definitely one of the snarkier characters, always taking shots at my more ridiculous characters and plot points.  ^^  Plus, take away her mask and she's...literally just a big angry blob of jello.  That sleeps in a tiny fishtank.  There's just something inherently funny about that.

15) What is something about your OC that makes you cry?

Just...a lot of her backstory, and how it shapes her attitude as an adult.  I put a LOT of the shit I've been through into her, good and bad, and sometimes it's...a bit much for me admittedly.

16) Is there some element you regret adding to your OC or their story?

She can be TOO standoffish and aloof, REALLY taking after her father, and her character development goes along some pretty dark routes.  It fits her, and is totally appropriate for her role in the story, but...unlike her dad, she isn't always a lovable asshole, and writing those scenes is NOT fun or easy, when she ends up making mistakes and hurting my other OCs and especially her family because of it.

17) What is the most recent thing that you’ve discovered about your OC?

Um...  oO  Not 100% sure what this means.  The newest thing I added to them?  Probably that she'd totally make a kickass spy if she actually went for it.  She's definitely got the stealth and detective skills!

18) Favorite OC fact?

She considers herself a white hat hacker.  Well, as long as she's hacking the people she cares about -- to her enemies, she can wreak a surprising amount of havoc, and is the main source of info on the villains' plots from all the data she steals from them early on in the story (and continues to be, as she starts decrypting it throughout...)

Tagging:  Nah.  If you wanna steal and gush about an OC, go for it.

[kinixuki]

Answers for the “Questions about creating your ocs” thing, as a read more because it got REALLY LONG. There’s some AU rambling too because why not. The first time a character gets mentioned their name should be a link to their tumblr tag, just to keep track of who’s who because there’s a lot of them :v

1. What was the first element of your OC that you remember considering (name, appearance, backstory, etc.)? 

Kal – Kal came from a dream I had, he was an angry guy with muscles and 0 chill (this never really changed), I think the first conscious thing I did myself was trying to make a small backstory for the dream because I felt pretty strongly about it. I tried to get the look down at the same time but my drawing skills were terrible at that time, so the backstory got more attention. And then it turned into Fisher along with some other dreams I had!

Umbrella – Umbrella is originally from a dream as well, a different one but it had Kal in it too, so it tried to fit it into the story.

Shetla – she happened when I started writing shamans (which had no plan at all at first), I needed someone who would talk with Kwiri so I made her

Oqooto – Oqooto was born as random fish kid for a small comic, so they got a bit of backstory and appearance for the comic. I liked what came out of it and kept thinking about them :>

2. Did you design them with any other characters/OCs from their universe in mind?

Moru – I want to say Ishke, but other than trying to not have them look too similar not really. Maybe Yixi the bird, Moru used to have a hood with a nest, now she has falconry equipment.

3. How did you choose their name? 

Kal – playing with random letters, after he was nameless for a year or two. I think I first wrote it down into a German textbook when I was bored during a class :v His name is also one of the Czech words for mud, which I didn’t realize for a while, but it fits sort of.

Umbrella – in the dream he came from he was basically a ghost that came out of an umbrella, so he got to keep it, both as an object and as a name, because it sounded silly and he’s weird. It’s more of a nickname in the actual story, he so old that no one remembers his name and telling people would spoil the fun for him, and because he always carries the umbrella with him it’s how a lot of people refer to him.

Teeku – playing with random letters again. I think his name just popped into my head when I was writing and was like “hey, this shaman guy needs a name”. I wish this happened more often, I’m terrible with making names :l

Bronze – I had hard time understanding how naming characters with actual words one can understand works, so I tried it myself with Bronze. I don’t remember why I picked that anymore, but it had something to do with him being Fisher and Narya being gold in my head.

Oqooto – I think I saw something close to that in random word generator? It looked super weird, but also felt like an instant fit after like a year of not knowing what name I want.

4. In developing their backstory, what elements of the world they live in played the most influential parts? 

Oqooto – it’s mostly based on the comic idea I had – a kid living in marshes that goes fishing, then I expanded from that. It’s technically part of Ishke’s world, but I haven’t really connected those two yet. There’s a lot of spirits in that world though, so after a bit Oqooto turned into something that’s closer to a shaman/medium than just a fish kid.

5. Is there any significance behind their hair color?

Narya – for a long time there wasn‘t, other than me thinking it’s nice, but now it’s an ethnicity thing along with the ashy skin color. I’ve been playing with the idea of that being the sign of a pureblood Fisher, but it makes some story mess with how easily they would be identifiable in the city. So it might be more general group of people, but still with them being known for their Fishers being crazy good. Bronze is another of those people, but not really directly related to Narya, despite the appearance. Most of them live in the forests outside of the city.

9. Are they based off of you, in some way?

Kwiri – ummmm yes a bit…. I started writing his story as an angsty teen with zero friends, and having a character dealing with similar problems felt nice because hey, finally a friend. It wasn’t really a conscious thing like “it’s me, but in another world”, just a character I wanted to understand and write well. After a while of writing I was probably more based off him than the other way around to be honest. For some reason Kwiri is also pretty close to how I look irl though, which wasn’t intentional at all xD

10. If they have an LI, how much of their character is tailored to be compatible to that person? 

Moru – I wanted her and Ishke to have fun together, so they’re both kinda rebellious, but Moru is still there to explain all the human and social stuff to Ishke. She doesn’t understand much either, but almost anything is better at it than Ishke. And she gets to learn about spirits/forest from him!

12. What have you found to be most difficult about creating art for your OC (any form of art: writing, drawing, edits, etc.)? 

Kal – other than waiting few years for a name he’s tricky to draw for me, first he was the muscle guy when I didn’t know how to draw muscles at all, now it’s drawing him properly during fights and all the cool action scenes. He’s surprisingly easy to write to though.

Umbrella –having him not turn the entire plot upside down. I changed the entire thing at least three times because of him, he’s always been one of the major characters but having him fit into the story in a way that worked well was hard. He’s hard to write as well, it’s easy to get carried away and turn him into the carefully planning villain stereotype because most of his role in the story is watching from behind the scenes, but he’s supposed to be super chaotic. Well thought out plans are literally the last thing he would do.

Moru – I am. Really bad. With female characters. Guys? Cool. Nbs? Super cool. Girls??? Seriously I made her to have a girl character I would be comfortable with, it’s still not 100% it and I still don’t know what to do with her, so probably that. She needed over 5 years for a name too.

13. How far past the canon events that take place in their world have you extended their story, if at all?

Shamans – I wrote down a short story about how some late story events turned out differently and keep thinking about a lot of what ifs. Then I have a lot of things from when Teeku was younger figured out, some of them are important, some of them are just fun to think about, most of them don’t get enough space in the actual story though.

Then there’s several AUs, including one where Teeku is a grumpy farmer with an old smelly tractor and a straw hat. Kirta hates him there because of the hat, he’s a rich farm guy and has been looking for The Perfect Straw Hat™ for months. When he finally saw it across the street and fell in love, Teeku came and bought the first straw hat he saw, which was this one. There’s also a modern AU where Teeku owns a tearoom and his visitors are my and Sari’s characters from the other stories. There’s a lot of fun stuff happening there and it has quite a bit of stuff thought out, I wanted to draw some of it during the summer but didn’t get to it D:

Bronze – I have a ton of stuff from when Bronze was younger and didn’t live in the city, but that’s deep in the spoiler territory. In the tearoom AU he lives in Umbrella’s flat and works in his sushi restaurant, but kind of wishes he didn’t, especially when Umbrella (who despite owning the flat doesn’t really live there) decides to visit, eat every single thing in the fridge and then talk about all sorts of vaguely illegal stuff Bronze doesn’t really want to hear about before leaving again.

14. If you had to narrow it down to 2 things that you MUST keep in mind while working with your OC, what would those things be? 

Isidor (the grandmaster of the Order who has no tag atm) – he’s elegant as heck, and his behavior is kinda human but also not really, he’s young for what he is but he doesn’t age/die naturally and is already older than normal humans get, so he’s pretty detached.

15. What is something about your OC can make you laugh?

Siva – okay so. At one point a friend asked what kind of food they eat in the Fisher universe. Part of the reply was that they also probably have some of the food we have here, like schnitzel. And the friend asked something like “so there’s gonna be someone coming to Siva and asking ‘Hey Siva, do you want some more schnitzel?’”. It’s Siva’s fave food now, because he’s a super srs person and this totally doesn’t sound super silly.

ALSO THE TEAROOM AU, Siva is a head doctor of a local hospital and Narya is a student with training there and Siva overseeing it. They don’t really like each other, it’s the same as the canon story. They both visit Teeku’s tearoom though, Narya because he either has a part time job there few days a month or just uses that as a study place, and Siva because he’s a tea connoisseur and Teeku’s tearoom is the best tearoom in the city when it comes to tea quality, but there aren’t many visitors because Teeku is super grumpy.

So Narya and Siva sometimes meet there. Siva comes in a pretty bad mood, because “this one student was supposed to do all this work at night and he didn’t and just kept talking back, I need some good tea to drink”. 5 mins later, Narya comes late for his shift, because “this one idiot doctor wanted me to do all this stuff at night, can you even believe it what a jerk, I didn’t even sleep”, and he gets to make Siva’s tea without knowing who is it for and then he brings it to him and they’re both like “YOUUUU”

Minghe – the main idea of his story is that he got stuck with exactly that one person he can’t stand at all (Sheon) and is forced to cooperate. It’s the sad kind of funny.

16. What is something about your OC can make you cry?

Siva – @sariannearies saying bad things about him and wishing terrible things to happen to him >:

Minghe – the fact that I still don’t have a single colored artwork with him except one speedpaint. He’s one of my faves D:

17. Is there some element you regret adding to your OC or their story? 

Kwiri – I’ve been rewriting his story for years and deleting thing I didn’t like, so not really?

19. What is your favorite fact about your OC?

Kal – he really really REALLY hates Siva, the doctor. It’s mutual, but Siva is way better at hiding it, though he sometimes “accidentally” forgets to give Kal painkillers and so on. Sometimes Kal regrets that he wasn’t successful with what he tried to do at the end of Roommates.

Bronze – he’s super obsessed with being independent, but because of that he ended up as the opposite and it took him forever to realize. With no real way out \o/

Moru – she likes birds. That was unexpected, right?

[emchovy]

What I Read in September 2022

NOVELS/LIGHT NOVELS:

The Executioner and Her Way of Life Vol. 1

I can't really summarize this one without spoiling the first twist, unfortunately, so no summary for this one. However, it's an isekai and it's a yuri. I've wanted to read this one for a while, and a friend (@cronchadile follow them for great art!!) ended up giving me a copy by pure chance.

I LOVED it. I knew the first twist going in, but the second got me SO HARD. I was HOOKED. If you're at all interested in light novels/isekai/yuri, you gotta check this book out. So good.

Kuma Kuma Bear Vol. 1

Another light novel oTL. A girl who's a genius shut-in gets isekai'd into her favorite game, the twist being that the only gear she has is a bear onesie. My standards going in were rock-bottom, but this was pretty funny.

MANGA/COMICS:

Arata, The Legend by Yuu Watase

A completely forgettable isekai/shonen thing.

Can't Stop Cursing You by Kensuke Koba

I've never read or watched Death Note, but I have been around anime-watching teens for the majority of my life at this point, and so I feel fairly confident making a Death Note comparison here. A charismatic high-school boy with a hidden dark side makes a contract with a curse god in order to carry out murders easily. Unfortunately for him, his biology teacher is an undercover curse-killing investigator.

This was a really fun one! I enjoyed it a lot. Lots of fun exaggerated faces, and I'm pretty terrible at picking up on foreshadowing sometimes, so the twists managed to get me (if you are better, you might see them coming). I'm excited to read more.

Cherry Magic: Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You A Wizard Vol. 5

A BL about a guy who has the thing in the title happen to him, and one of his coworkers. This story is sweet, and can be pretty funny. The drama in this volume was good, but I do hope the story is close to the end, honestly, because I'm not sure how much longer I wanna see it go on.

Eniale and Dewiela by Kamone Shirahama

A devil and an angel are bitchy besties. And Kamome Shirahama's art is beautiful. Would recommend.

Manly Appetite: Minegishi Loves Otsu by Mito, Vols. 1-3

Read this bc overweight character rep and it is solidly fine. A salaryman BL romance.

Heaven's Design Team Vols. 1-2

A manga I got on a whim because they had the first volumes at HPB. A team of designers fulfill the requests of God and create animals. Enjoyable! I like comedy manga, and this is a pretty good one of those, with very pretty art.

Phantom of the Idol Vol. 2

This is a deep and meaningful manga about the ability to stan two different musical acts. Okay, so maybe it's not deep. An idol who died and came back as a ghost haunts a guy who's an idol but sucks at it. The comedy in this manga genuinely makes me laugh aloud, and I like the character dynamics a lot.

The Other World's Books Depend on the Bean Counter Vol. 2

This is a very fun BL Isekai manga, where a salaryman is sucked along in an isekai event with a teenage girl (who was the intended target.) I really love this manga. It's funny and sexy and the main characters intrigue me.

Witch Hat Atelier Vol. 3 by Kamome Shirahama

Another volume of Witch Hat Atelier! This is still a beautiful and charming manga about a girl at witch school. Always lovely.

The Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Sam Keith, Mike Dringenberg, Malcolm Jones III

Look, it's pretty obvious why I read this one, right? The titular Sandman is trapped by an Occult group for 70 years, and after escaping, must reestablish himself. It's PHENOMENAL. We actually started watching the show, and bounced off it, but man, the comic...Can't wait to read more. I really love the subtle twinges of the DC universe.

That's all for September! Kinda an oops, all manga this time, but that's okay. Guess I just gotta read War and Peace in the back-half of October to make up for that.

[jelloapocalypse]

I saw your Undertale mini-review and noticed that you implied that you thought that Alphys could have been handled better as a character. How would you have gone about it? (Sorry if this question is two years late)

Alphys has a number of problems. The biggest one is that she is preceded by Papyrus in Snowdin and Undyne in Waterfall, both of whom are infinitely more fun and interesting characters, despite not having as much depth. They feel like real people, and they are good people who try their hardest, which makes them very likeable.

I would say Hotland is the weakest area in the game, and Alphys is by far the weakest of the three area-specific characters, so when they’re coupled together the game takes a slight dip in quality. Unlike with the previous area-character combos, Alphys does not add to her locale in any significant way, mechanically or aesthetically.

Papyrus is a loveable goofball who functions as the first main antagonist and sets up traps and lots of really funny moments. He’s a great way of really cementing the “hey you shouldn’t kill these monsters if you don’t want, some of them are cool guys” concept of the game into the players’ heads early on if they hadn’t already picked up the full extent of the Mercy mechanic.

Undyne is a chaser boss who functions as a walking trap and an intimidating game mechanic throughout all of Waterfall. She also has a clever boss fight that plays with the run function. Undyne is the game reminding the player that there are significant challenges ahead and that Mercy may not always be the easiest option.

Alphys is exclusively a walking obstacle. She is technically Hotland’s main antagonist since she is purposefully luring the player into danger, but it doesn’t serve the story in any way. She isn’t doing it for Asgore or the sake of the monsters or to better the player in some way, she’s doing it because she wants to be able to swoop in and save the player at the last minute so she can feel better about herself. More about that later.

Hotland itself has very little to do with Alphys and feels very sparse and empty compared to the last two areas. While Waterfall was mostly empty, it still felt very much alive. Hotland just feels like a VIDEO GAME LEVEL for the sake of it. Perhaps this was on purpose, but personally I feel it was a weak decision.

If I were tasked to solve this problem I would probably cut Alphys entirely and make Mettaton the third main big character and I would’ve merged the Hotel, Hotland, and the Core together for one final area before New Home.

Alphys would’ve been fine as some old failure of a scientist exclusive to the True Lab who had become a recluse there after her failures with the other monsters. Actually I think that’d be a better place for her overall. I don’t think her relationship with Undyne adds much to the game, nor do I think it really makes sense, to be honest. I can understand why Alphys would like Undyne but the relationship seems weird to me the other way around. Personally I don’t buy that Undyne would like Alphys that much. If I recall correctly, Undyne has a passing line about how she “really admires Alphys’s passion for her work”, but that’s not a quality I remember being present in the game at all. I’m all for cute lesbian couples but I felt like the Alphys/Undyne date detour kind of detracted from the endgame’s focus a little bit and honestly following up “Alphys isn’t all bad, date her!” with “Also she genetically mutated these corpses and keeps them in their basement” feels like a VERY weird order to tell that story in. Like, I kinda wanna warn Undyne, y’know?

Alphys is all about lying to people and selective truths so she can impress them and so she will seem like a better person in their eyes. She lies to the protagonist about Mettaton being a killing machine. She tells Undyne anime is human history so she’ll hang out and watch it with her. She purposefully leaves Mettaton’s special body incomplete because she’s afraid he’ll stop hanging with her when she finishes. Asgore hires her as the royal scientist because he thinks she knows how Souls work when really she just put a ghost into a robot’s body. She does not correct him, nor does she tell him or the monster families what happened with their dead relatives’ bodies. Which is pretty fucked up, to be honest.

I don’t think Alphys is necessarily a poorly written character, but I do think she’s a poorly utilized one. Especially when she’s depicted as being as sympathetic as Undyne and Papyrus are, which-- at least in my opinion-- is not the case at all. Almost all of her problems are her own doing and some of them are REAL fucked up problems that I don’t really think the game addressed very well since the last two times you see Alphys before the final boss are “Cute date kawaii uguu~” and “Oops genetic war crime science in my basement ha ha I’m going insane”. Kind of... dissonant there.

tl;drHotland is boring and Alyphs isn’t sympathetic and I think the game would be a little better if they condensed Hotland/Hotel/CORE into one better-designed location with Mettaton as the main antagonist throughout and with Alphys moved exclusively to the True Lab.

[buzzfeedwheeze]

The New Teacher - Shyan fanfic

Ugh

Sorry it took me so long to post the new chapter. I didn't know what to do with the fic (I blame the new Star Wars movie and the WiFi at my beach house), but I think I found my way again!

Hope you enjoy.

You can find it at AO3

Two months passed really fast and Shane got into a new routine. One that he actually enjoyed. Apart from having to give his son up two weeks a month, he was actually quite content. He would wake up earlier than what he used to, just so that he could have breakfast with his kid, generally milk and cereal because it was the fastest option and they were both lazy suckers. Then Shane would drop Andrew at school, go to work, banter with Ryan Bergara on Twitter and sometimes prepare a nice meal for Andrew and his boyfriend Steven. Yeah, somehow the new teacher became a part of his life, whether it was a conscious or unconscious decision of his. Usually at the lunch break he would find himself engaging of multiple discussions with Bergara about aliens, ghosts, movies and one time they even had a passionate debate about popcorn.

After one week of smiling like a teen after he received a new notification of @ryansbergara, he was forced to admit that there was more than simply bantering going on. Their fights didn’t feel real, or maybe they never were. When he took Andrew to school or went to pick him up he would wait to see Bergara arrive and then would tease him on twitter about how he looked ridiculous with his weird love for yellow clothes, especially one vest that he wore a lot. Ryan would always reply with a “stalker :)” and Shane would grin from ear to ear.

Now, he found it kind of hard to look at the man, that being the reason why he adopted the method of avoiding at all costs to get out the car near school grounds. Andrew reacted to this novelty with curiosity at first but now all he did was smirk when he got to the car, always making sure to mention the damn teacher. But although he wanted to avoid Bergara he couldn’t help but show up at the exact time he knew the teacher was about to arrive at school. He didn’t want to confront his feelings, but hey, he could still appreciate a nice body, with a great face, fantastic humor, amazing knowledge, sweet eyes... Ryan Bergara was the closest thing, for Shane, to proof of the existence of supernatural beings. Of course, he had flaws, Shane knew there was no such thing as perfection, but that man was pretty damn close to it.

But today was saturday.

Meaning no Bergara and no need to confront what was going on between them. The only thing planned for the day was a draft of a new cartoon he had to present for his superior on Monday and a dinner at the new restaurant that opened near his apartment. He was going to take Andrew and Steven and they were going to order enough food to make themselves ashamed on the next day.

A great plan. He had a cocky smile in place as he skimmed through the newspaper.

“Why are you smiling like that?” he looked up to find a very sleepy Andrew exiting his room. “It’s kinda creepy since you’re reading the Sports” the boy then rubbed his eyes.

Shane rolled his eyes. “Keep that attitude young boy and you won’t be having any pancakes today”

Andrew frowned. “You wouldn’t dare…” then his dad wiggled one eyebrow. “YOU WOULD! YOU SICK BASTARD!” Such a drama queen… I taught him so well. Shane smiled fondly as his son threw his hands in the air as he grunted on his way to the kitchen.

Shane got up quickly and took over his position on the stove. Andrew had already set up the table and was now resting his face on his hands as he watched his dad. Shane prepared the dough and after a few minutes, full of flips and a lot of cursing, the pancakes were ready.  Before placing them on the table he turned to Andrew.“Want me to cut them on Disney characters shapes?”

“What is the point of eating pancakes if they are not Disney themed pancakes?” he raised an eyebrow.

Shane had to blink a few times because he wasn’t seeing big grown up Andrew, there, right in front of him, was little Andrew with chubby cheeks and small hands. He quickly turned and focused on the task of cutting the pancakes into various shapes to make Andrew’s new favorite character from ‘Disney’. The sound of nervous fingers tapping on a screen and the rhythmically sound of the knife hitting the board helped Shane concentrate and suppress the treacherous tears. It was hard to get around the idea of Andrew no longer being his little boy. I’m becoming one of those dads.

Soon he placed an almost perfect, considering that it was made with pancake, BB-8 right in front of his son. Andrew gasped and stared at the plate he like used to do when he was a kid. “I was going to do a Kylo Ren. But since you are probably going to post it on Instagram, and I know you are not ready to share your obsession with Kylo, I thought it was better to play it safe. A good ol’ bot for ya.”

Andrew reached over the table and hugged his dad. “You are the best”. He snapped a photo and munched on his BB unit quite happily. Shane just ate his regular stacked pancakes but his heart was so warn that he felt like they were made of pure gold.

They ate in silence and after breakfast Andrew washed the dishes and left to meet Steven and head out to Matt’s place. Some other friends were going to be there as well, their friend Adam, Ashley and a girl called Jen. Apparently they were going to have a Harry Potter marathon and survive out of popcorn the whole day. They were living the dream. Shane tried to tag along and Andrew said that even though he was cool there was no chance he was going since he had a project to begin. Boo hoo adult life sucks.

Shane got all his stuff and found a comfortable spot on their dining table. Put on his ‘Thinking Cap ON” playlist and started to take notes of some ideas he had on the past few days. But as he jotted them down he felt like they weren’t exactly very creative or even original. No one would ever bother to invest on a cartoon like that. So he decided to start by designing the main character. It wasn’t how he normally worked but he had a deadline and he needed to present something to his boss. Anything. He opened his memos and found some notes from the briefing he had had last week about the new cartoon. The notes were kind of confusing but at least he managed to get some of the things his boss wanted.

“Supernatural. Two main characters. Diversity. Funny. Not too scary. A bit of sarcasm.” Shane wanted to throw his phone on the street so a car could smash it. “I’m so fucked right now.”

The hours flew by like minutes and he only had the sketches of the main characters done. He opted for two girls. One was blond with a big nose and thick glasses. He decided that she was going to be a bucket full of sarcasm and bad jokes. The other one was smaller, a mix of Asia and Latin America on her features. He didn’t know what to do with her. He stared at the page in front of him and tried to see what was behind those big beady eyes he drew. Maybe she was going to be more like a sidekick, always scared and hiding. Shane was about to to write that, but something stopped him. That wasn’t right. There was more to those characters and without a plot he couldn’t fully comprehend them. Especially the tiny girl. Shane shut the sketch book and decided to prepare his lunch.

After having lunch, Shane did no progress at all. All he had was two sketched and barely filled profile about the characters. He had longed abandoned the notion of having a plot or even having ideas for one. So until Andrew and Steven called for him to go pick them up, all he did was complain, play Disney Crossy Road and watch old episodes of Brooklyn Nine Nine on TV. Their call would be a true blessing. He would finally be free of his responsibility and be able to go out and enjoy his weekend. Or at least his saturday night since he needed the damn project ready.

Then as if by magic his phone screen lit up. Shane turned his attention from the TV to the now vibrating phone. It wasn’t a phone call but a series of text messages from Andrew asking his dad if it was ok to pick them up an hour earlier and that he didn’t want to disturb him now that he was focused on a new project. Shane replied quickly with ‘im already on the car’ and a ‘FREEDOM’ followed by a series of gifs to illustrate his state of mind. He got up, collected the car keys and soon he was driving on his way to Matt’s house.

The traffic wasn’t that bad so he managed to arrive in less than 15 minutes at the fancy neighborhood that Andrew’s friend lived. The house was at the end of Capt. Hugo Vega Street, it was a huge modern mansion that even had some bushes cut in the shape of animals. There was a fucking crab and a flamingo, for fucks sake. Shane pulled over in front of the house and was about to honk when he saw that Andrew was waiting outside. He waved at him and watched as he began to tow Steven by his hand. Andrew sat by his side while Steven took the backseat. Shane watched through the mirror Steven laying down on the seat and chuckled. “So how wa...”

“Dad please drive!” Andrew interrupted him. “If we stay here longer I might have to go inside and kill Matt with my bare hands. Do you want me to go to jail?!” he looked exhausted.

“Let me guess.”

“You wouldn’t be able…”

“Matt’s idea of eating solemnly popcorn was a disaster and you had to deal with a very hungry Steven Lim complaining.” Andrew gasped and stared at him with wide eyes. “I had to travel with you two to a festival when you were little and I know some things don’t change.” with that he drove to the restaurant as fast as he was allowed to.

Steven practically ran inside the place when he smelled the aroma of hot meals being served. They checked their reservation and, thank god, got a great table. Soon a waiter with a fake smile kept on for pure obligation asked for their orders. Eyeing the kids barely keeping it together, staring at the basket of bread as if it was some sort of rare item, Shane picked up the menu and ordered an absurd amount of food. Lots of chicken wings dipped on spicy sauce, french fries with olive oil and herbs, one small pepperoni pizza, medium portion of quesadilla and a basket with a mix of different nacho flavors. It will do. When he finished listing almost all of the items on the menu one very scared, or maybe impressed, waiter left to go deliver his order to the kitchen.

“Food will get here soon, kids, don’t worry.” he looked at them reassuringly.

Steven looked up and his tired expression was replaced by a huge smile, which left Shane feeling pretty smug. He was capable of making those kids feel the joy of life again. Then he noticed Steven poking Andrew on the forehead, which only made the other one glare at him. But it was all he need, pointing at something behind them he whispered something for Andrew. Andrew perked up on his seat and managed a small smile when he saw whatever Steven asked him to look. Shane couldn’t hear what they were saying so he turned to look for whatever got them all so happy. You gotta be fucking kidding me.

“You gotta be fucking kidding me.” Ryan Bergara was there at the hall gesticulating like a maniac while talking with the maître. Shane of course still felt the urge to fight Bergara, but watching the other man arguing with someone, that wasn’t him, made some weird protection instinct kick in. It was almost like it was his duty to protect Ryan Bergara from all evil in the world. I’m so pathetic.

Deciding to ignore the situation was the best option for him, so he turned to look at the boys and noticed that Andrew wasn’t at his place anymore. Steven just shrugged and nodded his head in the direction of the teacher. I raised a snake. Shane thought bitterly as he watched Andrew talking with his teacher at the hall. Bergara was blushing and Andrew looked at him with one of his, perfected through the years, puppy eyes look and Shane rolled his eyes. Surely he was inviting Bergara to sit with them. There was one spare chair and Shane considered throwing it across the room for a second or maybe throwing himself across the room. Lost on his thoughts and still watching the chair squinting his eyes, Shane didn’t notice when Andrew got back to the table with the teacher.

“Hi, Shane… I mean Mr. Madej.” Bergara was blushing and stuttering and all of his previous thoughts of destroying the chair vanished. Boy, he was a handsome man.

“Hi. You can call me Shane Madej.” Stupid mouth. “I mean, Shane. Call me Shane” Shane got up awkwardly, bumping on the table and almost knocking down everything. He shaked Bergara’s extended hand vigorously. Then Shane helped Ryan sit, which obviously made things worse. Internally he was a mess, an eternal replay on his mind of Gordon Ramsay calling him an idiot sandwich.

Steven and Andrew were sat on VIP places to watch the show unroll in front of them. They kept snickering and whispering thing to each other, which left Shane no option but to make small talk with Ryan Fucking Bergara as they waited for the food. When the meal arrived he kicked Andrew on his shins and got the boys to talk with the teacher, who seemed to relax and appreciate better his meal.

After they ordered the dessert and were waiting for it to arrive, Shane noticed Andrew leaning in on Steven’s direction to whisper something then he got up abruptly and announced he was going to the bathroom. But before he left he winked to his dad, and Shane knew this was no teenage hook-up-on-the-bathroom plan. No. It was a masterplan to leave him alone with Begara. And his suspicions were soon confirmed when Steven giving him an apologetic smile left to go to the bathroom too.

When they left Ryan began to laugh which caused Shane to look at him with an arched eyebrow. “What?” he managed between giggles. “It’s just that no matter how many years have passed teenagers will always try the bathroom excuse to go make out.”

“Yeah. The ol’ bathroom excuse to make out” he said through gritted teeth.

“They even try that at school!” Ryan wheezed. “I just look at them with one raised eyebrow and say ‘really? I’ll tell you kid, I invented this excuse. Go back to your work’.”

Shane’s annoyance left just as soon as it arrived. He looked at Ryan with glinting eyes and in a malicious tone asked. “You’re telling me, you skipped class to make out with girls in the bathroom, Bergara? The shame”

Ryan gulped and stared at Shane mortified. And stuttering a bit he managed to spit out the words. “I-I supp-suppose at the time they were girls.” he sipped his cranberry lemonade and eyeing Shane by the corner of his eye said in a much clearer voice. “You can call me Ryan, you know.”

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed. It’s rude.” Shane’s heart was beating so fast that he felt like it was going to escape his chest. “Considering that people always assume I’m heterosexual or just deny my bisexuality, I should’ve known better.” he didn’t want to look at the man sat by his side. He knew the look of disgust people generally had on their faces when he admitted his sexuality.

“Bisexual? That’s nice.” Ryan’s voice was so sweet that Shane had to look up. He was looking at him with those gleaming eyes and soft mouth curved into a beautiful smile. Shane smiled back.

“I guess it is.”

Ryan sipped his drink again. Coughed a few times then turned to Shane. “So, Andrew was telling me some other day after class, that you work at Disney?” then after stealing one of his fries added. “Your son really loves you, he’s always talking about you.”

“Yeah, I do. I work at the animations studio.” he was torn between hugging Andrew and cutting his allowance. He’s basically selling me to his teacher as if I’m a cow.

“That’s so cool! I love Disney!” he now was turning his whole body on Shane’s direction. “You see, I have this friend, Helen, and we go every year to Disney together. It was where our friendship sort of began.”

“That’s really sweet. I, too, love Disney. Otherwise I wouldn’t work for them.” he also tuned his body. Their legs were touching.

Ryan looked at their legs, coughed a bit and blushing continued to make small talk. “Yeah, you don’t strike me as the type of man who would work at a place you hated.” his eyes followed Shane’s movements as he sipped on his green tea. Ryan shook his head. “Hmm… Working on any new projects? The new Moana maybe?”

Shane didn’t listen the question since he was too focused on studying those full lips moving. Quickly, he reached for his tea. When he noticed Ryan waiting for something, he apologized and asked him to repeat the question. Questions about his new projects always got him excited. He would feel like a secret agent when he asked for secrecy and judging by Ryan’s expression, he was probably into it. Shane and Ryan leaned on the direction of each other, and Ryan’s legs were now between Shane’s. They were whispering but sometimes, one of them would laugh too loud (Ryan) and other would smile like a stupid RomCom guy (Shane).

The kids got back to the table at some point, but the two of them barely acknowledged them. Their desserts were left untouched in front of their places. Shane had to admit that maybe Ryan had some great ideas. Well, and some not so great. “What if they are like the ghostbusters?! But they hunt sea creatures instead of ghosts.”

“Are you insane?” The boys would chuckle and Shane would just keep shooting questions at Ryan.

“You said you wanted two girls, right? What about two girls that investigate allegedly haunted locations around the world. The skeptic one could be a ghost that came back to have some fun at the cost of the other girl. Always pulling pranks and ordering other spirits to scare the believer who is obsessed with finding proof of ghosts existence.”

“Ryan Bergara, you are basically telling me to make a genderbent version of yourself.” Shane chuckled.

“Shut up, Shane. There’s more” he rolled his eyes. “The skeptic girl liked to scare the other girl at the beginning. But then they started to go to more dangerous places and she began to protect her and grew fond of the tiny scared, yet brave sometimes, human. I’m not saying there needs to be a romantic relationship, since they are teens, but they can be really good friends.”

“I like this. A lot. Even the romantic part.” then smirking a bit he added. “Now it definitely doesn’t seem like you are trying to be the smaller girl.”

“Well, for me it does sound like genderbent fanfiction of you two” Steven mumbled to Andrew

“What did you say, Steven?” Shane nervously asked as he eyed Ryan. I guess he didn’t hear it. But he’s blushing a bit.

“Nothing.” Andrew replied while glaring daggers at his sleepy boyfriend. “He just ate too much cake.”

“I guess we should be going.” Shane said as he started to look for the waiter to ask for their check.

“Yeah, it’s probably better. I need to take the bus home. We need to see how much I…” Ryan began but was cut off by Shane.

“No need. This dinner is on me. Would like a ride home?” Bergara shook his head. “Then I guess you should be going.” Shane added a bit off.

Ryan got up and said his goodbyes. Shane watched him walking out of the restaurant and something ached on his chest. He left his credit card for Andrew. “Meet me outside kiddo”. Just after he got out of the restaurant there was no sign of the man nearby, then Shane saw a small bus stop in the distance and a small figure walking in the direction of it. Shane ran.

The bus stop was close when he felt a hand touching his shoulder which startled him “Fuck, sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.” a familiar voice made him relax and Ryan turned to stare at its owner.

“Hi. Again.”

“Yeah, I could’ve asked you on twitter, but I guess my brain thought it was a better idea to ran after you in the dark.” Shane was rambling. “And you have no clue of what I’m talking about and…” a small hand slapped his arm and Shane looked at Ryan half surprised and half in pain. “What…”

“Just spit it out, Shane”

He looked at Ryan and gaining back his non-justified confidence ‘spat it out’. “I was wondering if you you would like to meet me tomorrow at a coffee shop. It’s a small place, very intimate. We talk about my new cartoon and maybe other stuff.” I can’t believe I’m asking my son’s teacher on a date.

“Like a date?” Ryan’s voice was hopeful.

“No” Yes. “I mean, maybe.”

Ryan smirked and added before making a signal for the bus approaching the stop. “Then DM me the details for our date of Schrodinger, Madej”

[pcrownnewsletterexample]

Hey! Below is my Patreon newsletter for October - I’m sharing this one publicly as an example of what I’ve been writing up and posting every month since July. I cover all the game dev & 3D modelling work I’ve done that month and post progress gifs and lil explanations of my progress and such! There’s usually a bunch in em that I don’t post anywhere else too. October’s newsletter is also a good introduction to my current game project, Housepet! If you’d like to support me and read newsletters like this every month, please consider becoming a Patreon here :O At the time of posting this I’m pretty close to my first goal...! Thanks for reading!!

BOO!!! It’s here again, the spookiest time of the year... [THUNDER SFX] When Ghouls and and Devils roam the streets... [WOLF HOWL SFX] That’s right, it’s [AUSTIN POWERS VOICE] Halloween Baby!! Although by the time you’re reading this it’ll be… [GHOST MOAN SFX] NOVEEEMMMBER 2017! Truly, the march of time is the ultimate fright. Speaking of, let me start talking about the work I did this month past.

A reminder of what my current game project is: it’s called Housepet! It’s a game where you decorate the inside of a pet house to attract characters that can become tenants who pay you rent which can be used to buy more furniture. The furniture you place alter your Housepet’s stats and your tenant’s comfort contributes to your Housepet’s mood. You also fight enemy houses in simple RPG style battles, and every tenant you have can be equipped as their own unique attacks to be used in fights. Obviously.

The first thing I did this month was start designing some enemy houses for World 1! Last time I talked about the battle system it was time based, but I’ve since remade it to be turn based and more similar to a pokemon battle system, which I think is generally easier to explain and get into. Here’re some sketches:

Enemy houses have an evil form when you fight them and a good form when you beat them. You cured them by fighting them I guess?? I’m not worrying too much about making stuff make sense at this point, I’m just doing what I think feels funny or game-y. A more cohesive “plot” can be figured out later if I want there to be one.

For the first overworld area I want these guys to be the enemies, going in order of No. 1, Birdnest, Neighbours, Sweetooth, B&B and then the boss, St. Catherine. The theme of the overworld here is like, typical grass intro level and small village/town, so the enemy houses are kinda standard houses/buildings, but it’d definitely be fun to start losing that in later levels.

Battles in Housepet would be pretty special events as opposed to a game where you’re expected to grind by fighting enemies. You have to fight them one at a time to progress through a board, and the stat increases between them will usually mean you’ll need to decorate your house some more or get more tenants before you can win the next fight. Battling here isn’t a focus of the game, but more of a way of marking progression. Beaten houses will drop Catalog Scraps which can be used to unlock new types of furniture as well as rewarding players with a chunk of cash, and there’ll be a simple EXP system that rewards you with new rooms in your Housepet on level up. There’ll also be bonus spaces on the board with rewards and minigames and such. That’s the plan!

Like I mentioned previously, the battle system has been reworked to be more similar to something like Pokemon, but I’ve simplified it. The only stats the Housepet has are HP, POW, DEF and SPD. HP is just health, or House Points (lol...). POW is your attack power, DEF is your defence against being attacked and SPD determines if you should go first in a battle. You might notice there’s no special attack or special defence, since in Housepet attacks won’t have elements tied to them.

In this early gif (the UI is very temporary) you can see you can exit to the overworld from inside the house, pick the enemy to fight, compare stats, choose and make attacks, damage/crit the enemy and have the enemy take turns too. I’ve also implemented winning and losing, progressing to the next enemy after a win, attacks that can damage others/damage self/heal others/heal self and such, as well as a STUN and SLP status. STUN is essentially being paralyzed, meaning there’s a chance you won’t be able to make a move that turn, and SLP means you’ll sleep for a few turns before waking up. I have other statues I want to implement planned too.

I also played about with making a system for controlling the camera during fights, which I think’ll add a cool dramatic element to certain attack animations!

Below is a text example of just how exciting fights can be with the SLP status…!

Obviously here I was just testing - enemies actually have a hidden “urgency” variable that helps determine the chances of what attack they’ll use (above though it was ignored and they were forced to use Birdsong every turn). If their urgency is high, if they have low HP for example, they’ll be more likely to use more advantageous attacks, such as something damaging or something that would heal them. With a low urgency though, say if they had high HP, they might be more lax and more likely to take a turn to try do a non damaging move that might cause a status on the player. Urgency can also be lowered if the player has a status, and if they have one that can be caused by one of the enemies attacks, the chance for them trying to use that attack while you already have the status dips very low. Each enemy has their own unique rules for urgency and their attacks, which means they all act differently! I think that’s cool.

Woah who’s this!! I want Housepet to have lots of different characters you can unlock as tenants, since the character collection to me is a pretty important and fun aspect of the game. This guy’s the Edgy Rival type, look at his cool spikes and brooding, golden eyes...

I’ve come up with a good few tenants so far and plan to make many more. Here’s a look into the Creative Process of coming up with character types:

Right now I have it in my head that you convert Guests (visiting characters attracted to your house) into Tenants (permanent characters in your inventory you can place in your house and use as attacks in battles) by finding them visiting one of your rooms and interacting with them in a short VN/dating game style dialog back-and-forth where they ask questions about the home and, depending on how appealing to them you make it sound with your answers, you’ll “weaken” them. The more weakened they are, the more likely you’ll be able to “catch” them Pokemon GO style by throwing a crumpled up paper lease ball at them. But I also want there to be other ways that are perhaps more secret or multi-staged. For example, there’ll be characters that knock on your front door from time to time, and one of them could start a path like this:

...Listen, it’s fine. This is what people want from games I think.

I spent a good half of the month just on designing a more permanent UI that connects everything together, since that was a big goal of mine for this month. Man, UI is hard…! It’s something that takes a lot of energy for me to do personally at least. I’ve come up with a solid enough solution for now, for inside the house at least, that’ll work something like this:

I’ve started implementing this and so far you can pick items by main category and subcategory, place move rotate and remove furniture and tenants, have tenants activate and move around when not in move or remove mode. I’ve also started to re-implement buying and selling furniture from the catalog.

The last thing worked on this month was starting to add a way to change the floors and walls of a room. I’m thinking I want low res tiling photograph textures for the floors to give it that Petz/early 2000s game feel that has such a charm to it and works well in highlighting the solid colour furniture and characters.

Oh! And! I modeled a victoria sponge cake I ate in Edinburgh castle as an item I want people to be able to place on surfaces. I want a whole sub category of food “furniture” because, it’ll be a good excuse to model a lot of pretty food.

Unrelated to Housepet, here’re the sticker designs I’ll be sending out to this month’s sticker tier backers! I haven’t done pixel stuff for a long time now and I miss it, so it was fun to do these pixel flowers… Very relaxing. I’ll also add in stickers of these pixel roses I did a while ago now (the ones featured on my business cards!) since I think they’ll go nice together…!

[THUNDER SFX, AGAIN] Hah ha ha… Did you enjoy it? My spooky tale of times since past? Thanks for supporting me this month everyone!! I think I made some good progress - it’s definitely fun to compare stuff from the first newsletter I introduced Housepet to how it is here. But for now… [DOOR SQUEAK SFX AS I CREEP OUT] Farewell… And sweet dreams… [NO FURTHER SFX AS I STAND OUTSIDE THE DOOR I LEFT AND WAIT FOR YOU TO LEAVE SO I CAN COME BACK IN AND WORK SOME MORE]

[animewolfgamer]

Geist.(Nintendo Gamecube Review)

Hello there everyone, this is the animewolfgamer here and today I’m gonna be looking a very unique GameCube game I own called Geist. Know here is a fun fact, this game is own and published by Nintendo. Yep back then, Nintendo was really trying to branch out on what kind of games they can do for the GameCube. This is one of their major experiments. Giest is a first person adventure game with shooter elements but has the most unique aspect and that is taking over the bodies of other humans, objects, and animals. I think this is the first game that did a concept like this and we wouldn’t we see something similar until Mind jack came in and your wondering what is mind jack you ask? *Shows clip of terrible game play* There is your answer. Now you may be asking how this game is part of nintendo history when in most documented official sites never put this game. Well it’s because it failed hard when it came out and it soon been forgotten in nintendo time. So does that make it a bad game? Not really….I mean I like this game but it does have some glaring flaws here. Let's take a look at nintendo bizarre experiment here and find out.

Our story follows John Raimi as he takes on a mission with his team to investigate the volks corporation under the accusations of terrorist claims. Not only it goes horribly wrong, but his soul was literally ripped out of his body. It must be monday over there. Now as a ghost, Raimi must get his body back with the help of a little ghost girl and stop whatever the volk’s corporation has in plan for the world. Now when it comes to the story of this game, I think it's actually one of the more unique narratives your going to get from nintendo despite not feeling as satisfied with how it all comes together. First problem I have is Raimi not having a voice. Look I get why these silent protagonist’s is important to gaming but in this story, it takes me out of it when I just want to hear what he has in mind or have more interaction. This is a huge issue when when he has a define personality and has a history with one of his teammates. Because of this, the ending sorta feel’s dry as you just stop these guys from using the portal to unleash hell. Speaking of the plot, I feel it was a bit lackluster on what is going on. I feel they should of added a bit more detail and lore about the bad place and the hell spawns that appeared there. The combination of these two flaws are what kinda ruin the story for me(Despite the laughable acting) and while it did peek my interest threw out the time I was playing, I feel it could've been done so much better had they put more details of what is going on and giving Raimi a bit of his own voice and opinions on the situations. So story is just very meh.

The graphics are ok at best. Mediocre at worst. Now it's not entirely terrible to look at as the models and backgrounds look passiable for a gamecube title that goes for realistic graphics. But however it is distracting when the people in the game tries to emote and it feels half ass. They just don’t look good when they show a lot emotion in their movements within the cutscenes. But I will say the designs and color pallet looks good and gives a dark atmosphere which is what this game is going for in horror but just saying it now that it's not really scary. One thing I have to mention is the ragdoll physics. Oh my god, I love it when games do ragdoll physics because these are so hilarious to look, even in slow motion. Still funny everytime I play this. Now how about the sound? First let's start with the voice acting because my god is it laughable at times. Now I don’t know what direction these guys have to take with their voices but some of it sounds a lot more generic or down right laughable when you hear it in cutscenes or gameplay. I’m not kidding when I say this but when you kill a soldier, they just say *AH CRAP!* Really? You die and your final words is that? The grunts aren’t any better as it sounds like the actor was trying way too hard to be serious. Ya this also kinda ruin the story which is probably why it never reach its full potential. But the soundtrack on the other hand is actually pretty damn good. Yes I know It's on the generic side but it really sounds like there is a lot of effort put into it. You really feel like you're part of something grand. Also that opening theme when you boot the game. It's just so beautiful to listen too. Clearly there is a lot of effort put into this despite being on the generic side. I actually hum to these tunes when I was at work once. But if there is one small complaint I have, it would be the gun sounds. They do not sound good to be honest. Call of duty this ain't because they sound so much like pea shooters to me. Overall, the graphics are ok and the sound is decent enough, especially the soundtrack. 

Oh boy controls for this game is hit or miss at times. You see when it comes to the learning curve, it should take you at least 30 minutes to get into grips with everything. My main issue is that they feel so clunky when you start shooting people. One of the main focus of the game and already I feel like I’m moving an elephant while shooting peas. I really feel this part wasn’t tested enough. When you’re not possessing people, the controls are a bit better but a little floaty in terms of movement which I guess that is fine since your a spector of energy running around. So overall the controls if you can take your time with them, they are decent. I just wish they iron it out a little more.    

Ah yes now we come to what Geist is most memorable for and that is the gameplay. You see when Geist first was announced, I remember the one thing that catches everyone's attention and that is the ability to take over objects, animals and humans to solve the problems we will face on our journey. As a ghost, it’s up to you to solve the puzzles around this facility and get your body back. Now you can’t just posses people or animals in a instant, you have to scare them so that their aura goes down to red. I really like this idea as it makes you feel like you’re playing as one of those ghost from popular horror movies such as poltergeist. The ideas this gameplay element has is what makes this a stand out feature and I think they did the best they could for a first outing like this. However I do have a couple of issues with this one. For one it's extremely liniar. Now I get that this the first game to a series which sadly never happen, but I feel they limit you on what you can do. I mean your a ghost for crying out loud, you should be able to take possession of mostly every object but no you can’t. What’s funny to me is that later in the game, there was a moment where I scared a couple of scientist and I get to pick which one to posses and fight the boss against them. This to me shows the potential this game could have but I feel they wanted to focus on a more linear experience. For that I say it fine enough but I kinda wish they gave a couple of options to scare your victims. But as I mention shooting before, possession is not the only thing you get to experience. Oh no as this game has a lot of shooter elements. As I said before, there not really that good unfortunately. Do to the awkwardness of the controls, aiming can be a big problem as strafing is kinda hard and can get you killed at times. Thank goodness that these guys have unlimited ammo belts for some reason because it would of been a lot harder. But I give them credit that each kind of person you posses has a skill you can use to get threw the levels. In fact that is one I have to compliment about is that every possession you do does have a purpose of beating the level. You even get some puzzles involving some objects and these do break up the pace of the shooting portion which is good even when some are a bit too easy to figure out. I think my favorite level is defending Rami friend by possessing turrets and bombs to clear out enemies. Now there are boss fights in every level and they can be hard as hell because its all around shooting unfortunately. They have easy patterns to figure out but you better take advantage of when they vulnerable. Some do even have possession options to take them down and while its only use like two times, its nice to see a quicker option to hurt it. If I have to complain about something major it would be the game is kinda short. Now its not *plays clip of Angry joe saying 4 hours* as its around the 6-7 hour mark but one feels that this game could've use more levels. To compensate this, the levels are about 50 minutes to an hour long. 30-45 if you know what you’re doing. But you can add an extra 20 minutes if you go out of your way to collect the host and ghost collectables. Ghost collectables extends your meter which keeps you from fading away since Rami training was cut short. Host collectables unlocks features in the multiplayer and speaking multiplayer, its really good despite the focus on the shooting portion. I’m really glad this is one of the many games that includes bots because not all of us have friends that live close sadly. Now there are three multiplayer modes and I’m gonna go over from meh to best. Ok first up is capture the host. Now this mode is just ok as its more of a variation of capture the flag. I do like that the kills you rack up can be added to the total score when you capture the host. But other then that, I never played this mode as much as I could. Second we got your standard death match. Whether it's free for all or teams, I actually had a lot of fun with this one. You can even possess special characters from the single player and you can even kill people with a towel! YES! FACE THE WRATH OF THE TOWEL! AH HAHAHAHAHAHAH! So ya standard but I have a lot of fun with this mode. Then we get to the best mode ever and that is hunt. This is like if ghostbusters! In here you are either a team of humans or a team of ghost and you have to score points by killing each other. What makes this unique is that the ghost needs to force the humans into death traps while the humans shoot them with special guns. This stands out because it takes the concept of the single player and turn it into a vs mode. Man do I wish this game succeeded just to see if they can expand it. But just saying now, you might want to collect all the host collectibles as you’ll be missing out on a ton of content but hey, at least it's not force in payed dlc! Once your done with the campaign, this is a good distraction. So with all that done, I say the gameplay is pretty decent all things considered. If it had more options of possession and the shooting mechanics being more iron out. I say this could of been a well deserve classic. As it is, I at least enjoy it.

Conclusion:                            

So taking account the fact that this game is a failure to nintendo and being forgotten in the sands of time, This is honestly one of the most underrated guilty pleasures in my collection. Ya it has its flaws but I honestly think this game is a bit ahead of its time with its gameplay. Had it been delayed for the wii since this game came out close to the end of the gamecube’s life span, it would of been far better. It really saddens me that this game never got far pass its first game because if did, we could of seen Rami and the other characters in smash brothers. It kinda suffer the semi familiar fate with star tropics but nintendo still remember that game to be included in the NES mini. As it is as a stand alone game which luckily has an ending, I do recommend this if your curious. If you can find this game at least around the 10-20 dollar price range, It's worth picking it up.

This is the animewolfgamer here and I hope the next day will be even better.

[elizas-writing]

TV Reviews: Neo Yokio

 Neo Yokio... where do I begin?

Okay, this did pique my interest with it being an American-Japanese co-production with a stellar cast and quite the racial diversity, something you almost never see in anime. I didn’t know what to expect with the plot, but I put in on anyway and... it’s... kinda bad.

Believe me, I tried to be optimistic all the way through, but by the end I was just worn out and disappointed. It’s not awful per se; there’s definitely potential and wonderful ideas, but it’s not given enough time to breathe and develop, in almost every aspect of what makes a good anime.

In an alternate timeline, New York has become Neo Yokio, which praises itself as the “greatest city on Earth" for its cultural diversity, architecture, and fashion. However, it was not always so as back in the 19th century, magicians saved the city from being overrun by demons. Thanks to their efforts, magicians gained a place among high society as “magistocrats” and occasionally help around to control demons. Our story focuses on one of them, Kaz Kaan (Jaden Smith), who’s incredibly vain and quite reluctant on his demon-hunting duties because it interferes with his life as a bachelor. But his comfortable life of fashion and social status may definitely be rocked when he starts seeing Neo Yokio isn’t as perfect as he thought it was.

I’m seeing some people who are saying this is supposed to be a parody of early 2000s anime, but honestly, it didn’t come across as such to me. Sometimes I couldn’t tell when I was supposed to laugh or take it seriously. There are definitely some funny moments and great running jokes, but for the anti-capitalist themes it’s building up to, I was expecting way more. There really isn’t that much substance to keep it a solid parody when I can’t tell what they’re satirizing. Plus it seems like the creator was taking this completely seriously, so I don’t know what the intent was. So for the sake of keeping my review focused, let’s just go with that this is a 100% serious show.

One of the big things to talk about is the production companies behind this. Among them, they include Production I.G and Studio Deen, the same people who brought us Ghost in the Shell, Psycho-Pass, Higurashi no naku koro ni, and Hetalia to name a few. These are great shows with wonderful animation, world-building, characters and stories, which is why it’s such a waste that those strong elements don’t strive here. There are a lot of impressive designs like the city itself and some of the technology, and I like the mix of sci-fi with fantasy. The demons are pretty freaky, and in the end you’re left with a lot of questions on how this city really works and how much it values fashion over basic human decency. The character designs are fun with a bit of a throwback to a late 90s/early 2000s look, and again, it’s really refreshing to see an anime with this diverse of a cast. However, the rest of the animation and the voice acting are incredibly stiff. I know anime can be stilted at times, but they at least remember to draw on facial expressions or movement to convey emotion. Here, the animation and voice acting almost never match up. It’s super distracting to me when a character is supposed to be ecstatic or furious but they have a stupid neutral expression like a robot; hell, the mecha butler voiced by Jude Law has more emotion than the rest of the characters! It sounds like they delivered these lines in one take, and that was it.

With misguided animation and voice acting, it seriously damages the characters. The only ones I kinda enjoyed were the mecha butler, Charles-- I think Brits are just destined to be sarcastic butlers at some point in their acting careers--, and Aunt Agatha cause Susan Saradon has quite a lovely voice (and yes, there is an evil character voiced by Steve Buscemi who vapes; it’s as surreal as you would think). Part of me really wants to like Kaz, but he’s such an annoying bore! Once in a while, his blunt humor shines with how overdramatic he is, but that’s all there is to his character. He barely grows until the last couple episodes to see how superficial he is to value fashion and status over basic humanity.

And that’s the show’s biggest problem is that it’s so slow-paced, which is surprising for a six-episode season. It’s just Kaz whining, going shopping or to a party, exorcising a demon, and then it moves on to the next episode. Nothing of actual intrigue happens until the last two episodes when it goes kinda dystopian and the police keep questioning Kaz about a dissenting friend who grows to hate fashion and social class after being possessed. Only then does it hint at the social inequalities and how damaging capitalism can be. Hell, in this universe, the Soviet Union still exists! Why? How? I really wanted to know more about this city's problems, but it threw all its cards into the last two episodes and padded the rest with failed jokes and Kaz whining. You think they’d at least try to make this interesting, especially with the main lead being a young black man who hates being called neo-riche and his family had to bust their asses to obtain the social status they have. There is so much potential to be had, but it just feels like a wasted opportunity.

The worst part is that it feels like a rushed production, and they just threw out whatever just to get it out fast. There’s still great ideas and themes and potential for a profound story. But it doesn’t feel like there was enough time to develop this world or the characters. Had the season been twelve episodes instead of six, I’d probably forgive it a little more, but this is all we have as a first impression for the show, and it’s really disappointing that no care was given to its development. It really missed the mark to be this great commentary on capitalism (and what it does have to say reads like a freshman thesis... a high school freshman thesis). Sure, there are a few bizarre moments and running jokes-- I can’t deny the absurdity that is the giant Toblerone-- but it’s not enough to save the show, at least for my tastes.

If you’re looking for something polished that’ll change the way you see the world, this is not the best show. But if you’re even the slightest curious on the attempt and maybe viewing as a parody to ease the pain of bad animation and voice acting, it’s harmless enough. Pick your poison, and see what you can take away from it.

[otakween]

-Dusts off blog- HELLLLLO 2017! Nothing like a New Year and a fresh, new anime season that makes me wanna become active in the anime world once again. This time, it’s special. From Jan. 12-April 11th I will be living in Japan for the very first time! In Akihabara! Anime central! Beyond excited :) Maybe I’ll see promotional stuff for current anime while I’m there? We shall see. 

Anywho, the new shows start airing tomorrow so I figured I’d take a crack at the PV’s and see let you know what I’ll be anticipating the most.

Masamune-kun’s Revenge

Japan hates fat people: THE ANIME! No seriously, has there ever been a fat character in anime that wasn’t a big, fat (no pun intended) joke? Screw you Japan. Also, when being a fat child is your biggest trauma? First. World. Problems. Anyway, this sounds like a pretty generic but watchable anime, the art is bland and shiny and it looks like there will be plenty of pretty girls vying for “I’m skinny now so I’m hot”’s attention. Will watch and grumble about.

Urara Meirochou

Is the Order a Rabbit? With Psychics! That’s the vibe I get anyway. The animation’s really cute and colorful and the main girl looks like IA from vocaloids lol. Not sure why everyone has cat ears in the PV. Excited to see what “Koume who is a fan of Western culture” is like. 

Seiren

Amagami SS Plus Plus -The Sequel of the Sequel! Oh man, I actually really like shows like this. Harem-like shows where the characters are more realistic (you can tell by the tame hair colors lol). I don’t understand why it says “three heroines” but the trailer shows 6 girls? I wanna know sleepy-eyed girl’s story! I hope this is an omnibus-style show like Amagami, it’s more pure when it’s one girl at a time.

Fuuka

Complaining About Millenials: The Anime! No seriously, that’s what I got from the description: “The battle between a romance started through technology and one NOT started through technology.” Riveting stuff. Not looking forward to this one, I hated its predecessor, Suzuka. Suzuka was an anime about how amazing Suzuka, the main girl, was when really she was bland and (imo) not even attractive? Also, the ecchi mixed with the shiny artstyle feels wrong to me. Like if 5 cm per second had panty shots. Just wrong. 

Youjo Senki

??????? Did they use a random plot generator for this anime? My initial thought is that I hate the promo artwork. She looks like a weird bobblehead. As for the PV...uhhhhh? Flying Imperial Army Sorcerer’s...riiiiight. Looks like a storu they could have done without a loli but then they threw in a loli to appeal to otaku. Also, she’s inexplicably Russian, kay. 

Minami Kamakura Koukou Joshi Jitensha-Bu

Moe Spin-off of Yowamushi Pedal. I know it’s a completely different sport but this just feels like a rehash of Baku-On!! to me. Generic cute girls doing cute things anime probably but looks like something I could enjoy. I like the design choices so far...

Schoolgirl Strikers

When has adapting a mobile game into an anime ever worked? Never? Exactly. I’m already bored, they weren’t even trying with this plot. 

Ao no Exorcist: Kyoto Fujouou-Hen

(See my review of Season 1 here: )

OH SNAP. TIME TO JUMP ON THE HYPE TRAIN. I mean, wow, it was 4 years ago that I watched that first season, what a long time to wait. Now I’m not a HUGE Ao no Exorcist fan, I think it’s pretty generic-shounen but I’m just really happy/excited for the fans. Plus, this season is supposed to go back to the manga so it’s gotta be better than the filler-riddled season 1. I’ll give it a go!

SpiritPact

“Unfortunately he was hit by a car and became a ghost” A+ synposis writing, 10 outta 10, Good Job! Lots of psychic-y, exorcist-y shows this season huh? This one is a ghost teaming up with an exorcist...first thought is...there’s no girl. I’m guessing fujoshi shipping will be involved with this one. Just a hunch.

Demi-chan wa Kataritai 

Wholesome-er Monmusu!? HELL YEAH! I lover monster girls/boys but they’re always over-sexualized to the point that I get turned off. This looks like it will be a more moe, slice-of-life monster girl series I hope. -crosses fingers- It’s cute that they’re called “Demis” and nice that they’re keeping it simple with only three main monster girls (vampire, dullahan, and succubus). Erm, well with a succubus there’s bound to be ecchi...Please don’t be over-the-top ;-; 

Chain Chronicle

Not another mobile game adaptation. Fantasy plots like these are not fun to watch, they are made for games and games only. Main character looks hilariously generic. The only thing that got me a little excited in the PV is that this series has faeries. The logo looks like a Final Fantasy one...

eIDLIVE

Space Patrol Luluco as a generic shounen show. JUSTICE! The synopsis for this anime has way too much going on in it. He can hear voices AND he’s “the chosen one” at a space police station? AND his classmate’s also in the space police. How about just picking one of those plot points and rolling with it? Like, what’s next: AND he’s psychic, AND he knew his classmate all along he just has amnesia! This sounds silly. Nice music in the PV tho. 

Idol Jihen

AKB0048 Take 2 - 2017 Edition. No seriously, this is the exact same plot of AKB0048...which might be good cuz I loved that show lol. The only thing new is idols having political parties which sounds kinda...stupidly awesome. We shall see. I’ve been hurt by idol anime before. 

Little Witch Academia 

sHOW OF THE YEAR CONFIRMED 2017. Studio Trigger: YES. Harry Potter-esque: YES. Amazing design choices: YES. Will I be watching?: YESSSSSS. 

Gabriel DropOut

Hima-tenshi: Umaru-chan! I mean basically. A perfect student who becomes super lazy and obsessed with gaming? I’m a sucker for shows like this with otaku female protags, gotta say. Throw in angels and demons and I’m set to watch. Like I said, I love monster girls :3c

ACCA

Most Boring Synopsis of the year Award Goes to...Seriously, the plot description for this told me nothing. However, I watched the PV and it looks like it could be interesting. It has a mature, adult-tone and verrrry interesting character design. I might watch it just for that. Plus, cool uniforms! :D

Handshakers

Not Another Absolute Duo Rehash. I swear, these new shows are competing to see who can be the shiniest. Also, protag looks like he’s from Dangan Ronpa lol. I’ll give this show a chance, with a generic fight school plot it all rides on how likable the characters are. I tend to like fighting shows where people have to work together and utilize team work. It usually forces characters to have good chemistry/development. 

Kemono Friends

IS THAT A FENNEC FOX GIRL!? The plot sounds really contrived but I don’t care cuz cute animal girls! :D Will they act like animals? Will there be creepy bestiality-esque relationships? Does that one girl have no neck? I will stay tuned... 

Akiba’s Trip

It’s funny cuz I’m gonna be living in Akihabara for 3 months...This anime is based on a game where you attack people til there clothes fall off. Watching the PV it looks kinda awesome actually, it reminds me of Ben-To. This kind of anime that’s self-aware about how ridiculous its premise is can be nice. The character design looks really interesting and, just like the game, it seems it will have equal-opportunity stripping lol. This will be really fun to watch while in Akiba.

Kobayashi-san Chi no Maidragon 

Why does this anime have so much hate/love on tumblr? It’s a controversial show already but it just seems like your typical monster-girl, slice-of-life, ecchi. Nothing to see here folks, move along. Personally, I think it looks really cute? Especially the main relationship (gay). Plus we’ll get to see a legit dragon every now and then which is A-okay in my book. I wanna know the other girls’ stories too, they cute.

Marginal #4

Nah. Who do these idol-boy shows even appeal to? Fujoshi? When you try too hard to make all the guys in your series ~sexy~ it almost always backfires if you ask me. Plus, there is just such an over-saturation of shows identical to this one. What makes this one any different?

Kuzu no Honkai

WE. NEED. MORE. SEINEN. AND. JOSEI. ANIME. This one looks promising, mostly because I like the manga’s artstyle. The plot actually sounds pretty similar to Toradora so I can only assume the main “fake” lovers will end up together. Seems like a chill, mature drama. I can dig it. 

BanG Dream!

It’s kinda embarrassing when studios just assume their show will be a hit. Like they already have live-cosplay-style performances planned out for this but it’s kinda hard to get hype for a live concert based on characters you don’t care about. Points for multi-media creativity but shouldn’t you only have live concerts AFTER a show is popular? Like Lucky Star did. I dunno, just seems like a risky bet on a show that looks generic af. Plus I don’t like how they drew that one girl’s boobs. Shirts don’t work that way...

Welp! That’s all for now. Not the most exciting season if I’m being honest but I had fun checking every show out nevertheless. Cheers to a happy, fun winter for all :) 

[weirdmarioenemies]

It’s a Super Mario Odyssey masterpost!

Sorry to take a break from the Halloween goodness, but it’s the one year anniversary of Super Mario Odyssey! Hard to believe it’s been a whole year, isn’t it? There’s no denying this game is absolutely, how do we put this, “perfect” for a lack of even better compliments, with some vast, detailed worlds, many small fun challenges, and of course, lots of cool new Weird Mario Enemies!

...But today, we aren’t going to talk about enemies at all, because what this game also has is some fantastic Weird Mario Friends! To put things simple, there’s a lot of kingdoms in the game, and most of them have their own NPCs that we all love as dearly as the many friends and foes and spooky tree aliens we’ve featured on this blogs in months past, so sit back, as all three WME mods talk about the wonderful new NPCs we see in this game!

Talking about Bonneters, Tostarenans, and Steam Gardeners is Mod Chikako!

Talking about Lochladies, Shiverians, and Moon Rabbits is Mod F Boy!

And talking about New Donkers, Bubblainians, and Volbonans is Mod Hooligon!

With that out of the way, let’s-a go!

Name: Bonneter

Mario’s grand adventure starts off on an EXTREMELY strong foot when he regains consciousness in a land populated by... g-g-g-g-GHOSTS! The precious Bonneters live in the delightfully spooky Cap Kingdom, where there is rarely a color present besides white, gray, or black, and the whole land is enveloped in a thick fog. To top it all off, the music is simply perfect for a spooky, yet friendly town of ghosts! Also, they all have British accents.

Of course, there is one Bonneter who stands out from the rest, and that is Cappy, Mario’s newest friend! He embodies the ability of the Bonneters to take the form of normal hats and Capture other beings. Yeah, it’s basically possessing people. It’s okay. It’s fun. 

What do you think is under their hat? Is it part of their body, or are they stylish? They don’t LOOK very natural, but Cappy has a few tufts of hair on his hat/head, so the answer is... I don’t know!

Also, there is no spooky-themed area in this game. The only ghosts in the entire game are your friends! Score one for ghosts!

Name: Tostarenan

Here they are... the first ever new characters we saw in Super Mario Odyssey! Remember that Switch trailer way back when? Where we saw like three seconds of Odyssey? Those three wonderful seconds? I do!

Tostarenans are, of course, based on calaveras, the decorative skulls used in the Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead. They live in a cozy little town just as colorful as they are, and love nothing more than having fun and eating frozen- I mean, freezy treats!

As I’ve touched upon in their own post, Tostarenans have their own undead version, the Chincho! Which means... these are living skeletons! How does this work? They’re the same shape, so do they have exoskeletons? Again! I don’t know! But wow, that’s two sorta-spooky friend species already, huh? Like we said! This game is perfect!

Name: Lochlady

Lochladies are the world-famous fashion designers found in the Lake Kingdom... a Kingdom whose industry relies entirely on fashion! Peach/Mario’s very pretty wedding dress was made here. According to the brochure, they’re known for their flexibility but also their strength, and that’s kinda funny... they might look dainty, but these fish are strong! 

A fish? A mermaid? They’re really a bit of both. Of course mermaids are their main inspiration, but these things very clearly have scales, right? It’s nice that even the very-human designs in Mario are still a little bit silly. 

Though, I suppose the term “mermaid” wouldn’t really apply to them, since mer comes from the Latin for “sea”... instead, they’re named Lochladies... a loch, of course, being a Scottish word for a lake... Like Loch Ness! And Dorrie, the incredibly-Loch-Ness-Monster-inspired friend, even shows up here. If you ignore the fact that Lake Lamode is a French name, it all works out. 

Name: Steam Gardener

That’s no watering can! Just kidding, it is. But it’s also a robot! And most importantly, it’s a friend! Really just a wonderful combination of things to be. 

Steam Gardeners live in the Steam Gardens! They’re steam-powered! They garden! And they are very good at it. They come in different magnitudes of rustiness, but don’t worry! It seems they can very well go on forever as long as they stay charged. Their heads can be empty, but can also contain flowers or even seeds that they can dispense!

I really love the Steam Gardeners because they don’t really look like a character at all, you know? They look robotic, sure, but there’s not really much of a face or anything. And if you ask me, that makes them even more fun! The flashing lights seem to act as a face, if anything, since that’s what they point toward you while speaking. Oh yeah, they’re even asymmetrical! They’re really just a mishmosh of things that most people wouldn’t consider “cute”, but guess what! I think it’s precious! Sue me! (I would probably win because this isn’t a valid reason to sue someone!)

Name: New Donker

When the first trailer for Super Mario Odyssey came out, one thing that immediately caught everyone’s attention was the New Donkers! Usually, when humans appear in the Mario series, they are very heavily stylized, like ol’ Mario Mario himself! But these humans are hardly stylized at all, looking like your average businessperson you’d pull off the streets of New York in the 1950s!

Seeing Mario interacting with these much less stylized people is as jarring as it is hilarious, with lots of people questioning how this sort of image could be from a real Mario game. This is exactly the kind of off-the-wall wackiness we all appreciate over here!

...Of course, then there’s the question of if the New Donkers are technically human. We know Mario is human! We’ve gotten numerous statements from Nintendo that confirm it, aside from one old advertisement which listed him as “homo nintendonus.” What we really should be talking about is the New Donkers! We have no official source considering them humans, as they are exclusively referred to as “New Donkers” in-game. One statement from Nintendo says the reason Mario looks so different from the New Donkers is because “there’s lots of different kinds of people in the world,” but when the definition of “people” also includes dancing skeletons and garden robots, I think that it can be considered a pretty broad term.

Of course, even then, New Donkers and humans are obviously two very genetically-similar species capable of cross-breeding. How else do we explain Pauline?

Name: Shiverian

I love many many things in this big blue Earth of ours, but chubby seals are definitely way up there. So, these guys? Absolutely... wonderful. I love them. I love their dopey voices, I love their cute widdle faces. I love their cosy little town, and I love that they hold competitions where they literally roll around a racetrack, because they’re just that round and fat!! 

Shiverians are one of the few NPCs you can capture, too! When in Fat Seal form, you can compete in their Bound Bowl races... Humans aren’t allowed to participate, but the brochure makes it clear that only a fat seal man could survive such a race. 

And above all, I love their funky elder. Look at those shades. He’s a cool old man. He’s not like your grandpa- he’s hip!

Name: Bubblainian

I think one thing we can all appreciate here at Weird Mario Enemies Dot Geocities Dot Io is gastropods, no matter what shape or form they take. In Super Mario Odyssey, they take the form of giant French snails with flesh-lips, but better off to be a snail with weird flesh-lips than not be a snail at all, am I right gamers?

I’m glad that they picked snails as their “easy-going beach populace,” (though snails are a good choice for anything, really) but what stands out most about Bubblainians to me isn’t the Bubblainians themselves, but rather, one very particular run-down I had with one during my playthrough of the game!

Bubblainians hide in their shells whenever an enemy gets too close, a small detail I really love. However, one time when I was playing, I was wearing the chef outfit, and was running up to talk to one of these guys when without warning, it hid in its shell! I assume a nearby Gushen might’ve just gotten a little too close, but I just thought it was silly because these French snails were afraid of a chef!

You know, because escargot is a dish in France that’s made from snails and...

Well, it was funny to me at least.

Name: Volbonan

My absolute favorite world in Super Mario Odyssey has to be... New Donk City. I feel that that’s most peoples’ favorite. My immediate second choice, however, is Mount Volbono, and I just love its inhabitants to death. Before I die, you’ll see me laying down, on my deathbed saying “man, I sure love the Volbonans from Super Mario Odyssey” and then I’ll be dead.

But why do I love Volbonans so much? Well, I guess it’s just that I’ve always sort of had an affinity for inanimate object creatures (anyone who’s met me knows how much I love Vanilluxe) and Volbonans are just a perfect design for a fork character! I tried a few shots at designing fork characters in the past, but I made the dire mistake of putting the face on the part with the tines, rather than the handle, a mistake which the Volbonans so excellently fix! Really, I never considered using the tines as limbs, it’s a design that works so well that I’d be cursing myself if the Volbonans weren’t so inherently blessed in and of themselves.

Throw on the chef hats and neckerchiefs, and they go from perfect to extremely perfect, having a design befitting of their hobby of cooking! It feels weird that an entire species has a life focused on cooking, but I suppose that if you’re a giant fork in a land of giant food, there’s nothing better you can do. One of the souvenirs you can buy from Mount Volbono is a set of forks based on the Volbonans themselves! Cute! A little freaky, but still cute!

I think it goes without saying that I want the Volbonans, alongside every other Odyssey NPC, to be playable in the next Mario Kart. Let me race around the whole Mario world as a giant fork or 1950′s (ambiguously) human man!

Name: Moon Rabbit

I am summoned once again from the depths of my cave to talk about Japanese folklore, because I enjoy doing that! The Dark Side stage, unlocked after you beat the game, is also known as “Rabbit Ridge”, and features food-shaped rocks and a whole lotta bunnies... Why? You may or may not have already heard of the story of the moon rabbit (it’s pretty well-known), but in case you haven’t:

According to our friends in the east, the markings of the moon kind of resemble a rabbit pounding mochi with a mortar and pestle. And yeah, I can totally see it. Of course, Mario Odyssey very prominently features hats, and it prominently features the moon in nearly every Kingdom.... and rabbits, naturally, are pulled out of hats! It works on so many levels!

The regular Moon Rabbits aren’t all that talkative, but of course, there are some fairly notable rabbits, too! Yup, the Broodals are from the Dark Side of the moon... which might even be why they look like UFOs when they fly around in their hats. I won’t talk too much about them here, but you’ve gotta wonder... why are they so much more anthropomorphic than their fellow Moon Rabbits? Is this a Goofy/Pluto scenario?