#like it's the best design in the whole saga

[chocoplagg]

My poor attempt at doing a fanart of one of my favorite characters from Miraculous: Sparrow.

[cowboys-tshot]

A Beginner's Guide to Epic: The Musical

Are you new to Epic: The Musical and overwhelmed by four years worth of content to go through? This is for you! (Note that this is a work in progress post that will be added to in the future as new information and Sagas are released).

LAST UPDATED: 09/01/24

*There will be some spoilers in this! The Odyssey is thousands of years old, but Epic: The Musical is an adaptation, meaning things are different. I recommend listening to all the songs in Epic before reading this, as this guide is intended to clear up misunderstandings/confusing moments and provide context.

**All of the underlined bits are links to whatever it is I'm referring to, just in case I'm making no sense. I will try to include sources for everything, or at least indicate where I got certain information from if there's no link available.

General Info:

*This is basic information about Epic: The Musical as a whole. This includes where to find new information and content, BTS things, etc.

• First of all, here's a quick rundown by the creator himself. There'll be some overlap in terms of what I cover here.

• Epic: The Musical is created by Jorge Rivera-Herrans, often referred to as "Jay" or "Mr. Jalapeño" by his fans. This is who writes the songs, casts the characters, and voices Odysseus himself!

• Epic: The Musical was originally (pre-Ocean Saga) produced under Blair Russell Productions, but Jay has never been paid the royalties from the songs released under them (and they have yet to give back control of the Epic social media accounts), so Epic is now produced under Jay's own company, Winion Entertainment LLC. (source)

• Jay is most active on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. All videos that he posts to these platforms are generally the same, so don't worry if you can't follow him on all of them. He talks about several Epic-related things, including release dates, BTS, animatics, details about the music/story, snippets of released and unreleased songs, and also plenty of funny videos. He is very active within the fanbase, and you're likely to find him (and other cast members) leaving comments on posts by fans!

• Here are Jay's other links, including the Epic: The Musical Discord server. In my experience, the Discord server and Tiktok are the best places to get information as quickly as possible.

• Epic is still in progress. As of the latest update to this guide (09/01/24), the Wisdom Saga has just been released last week, leaving only two more sagas before the end. The songs are all part of a concept album, and there is currently no stage adaptation.

• Jay takes many creative liberties with The Odyssey for the sake of this adaptation of the story. He made a video recently explicitly saying to NOT use Epic as a basis for your knowledge of The Odyssey, at least when it comes to academic settings. Many of the things that occur in Epic DO NOT occur in the original story, and some parts of the original story have been cut out. Here is a video where Jay explains the purpose of Epic as an adaption. (I won't be including a list of differences in this post, but I might make a separate one if anyone's interested.)

• Although Epic takes a lot of these creative liberties, there are several little easter eggs sprinkled in among the actual plot points from The Odyssey. (I'll go into these later.)

• Jay will usually do a recap video before each new saga, going over all the events of the previous sagas for any newcomers.

• When a new saga is released, Jay will hold a LIVE listen-through. I highly recommend being there for these events, because they include lots of cool and important things such as:

official animations, animatics, and artwork, all of which provide insights into character design and events within the songs

Jay's live reactions (his facial expressions and little dances/lip-syncs are delightful)

details about the events within the songs that aren't made clear within the music itself (like what a character is doing, what is happening around them, etc)

Jay's comments in the LIVE chat, which includes details/easter eggs, BTS stuff, jokes, headcanons, and LOTS of love and praise for the actors and fans!

• Seeing as there is no stage adaptation for Epic, a lot of the visual elements come from artists and animatics/animations. Jay actually works with several of these artists for official trailers, artwork, and animatics/animations! Some of these artists include: Ainhoa Velasco, @wolfythewitch, @gigizetz, @_mircsy_, @drawing_angie, @anniflamma, Scilla_nimation, el_crafts, samantha_artt, and Giulia Toneatto. These people are all incredibly talented and deserve all the love from the Epic fanbase!

Info About the Music:

*I am not musically adept at all, and this post is already very long, so I am not going to list much specific information—just general common themes and some examples of them. Most of this information has been confirmed by Jay, in videos that I've linked below.

• If you're having trouble understanding the lyrics and/or the meaning behind the lyrics, Genius lyrics has the entire album and is full of helpful notes about the context within the musical. A lot of lyrics get misheard, so even if you think you understand what's being sung, I'd recommend checking just in case lol.

• The Troy Saga and The Cyclops Saga have been rereleased under Winion Entertainment LLC! This includes new vocals, altered music, etc. These were released alongside The Thunder Saga, along with new cover art. It's preferred that you listen to these versions of the songs, and NOT the originals, because Jay only gets royalties from the current ones.

• Many characters have their own musical motif, or even multiple motifs. There are also other motifs that are more general, like the "Danger is Nearby" motif.

• Many important characters have their own instrument that plays an integral part to the songs they're in. You can typically tell which instrument accompanies each character by listening to what is most prominent in a song that focuses on that character. (ex. Hermes with harps and the lyre, Athena with the piano)

• If you hear a character's musical motif or associated instrument in a song they don't play an integral part in, that can mean a few things (listed below). With the more general motifs, they have their own separate meanings outside of the characters.

That character is present, even if they're not singing. (ex. Hermes in "Puppeteer," signifying that he's listening to Odysseus' speech, which is brought up at the beginning of "Wouldn't You Like")

That character is related to whatever event/conversation is occurring. (ex. the same musical motif in "Ruthlessness" and "Storm," signifying that Poseidon is the one that sent the crazy storm)

The kind of instrument being played can indicate the emotion or tone of a scene. This is scene primarily with Odysseus, where the use of a nylon or acoustic guitar indicates that he is not being ruthless (source).

• When background vocals are accompanying a mortal, there is always a physical, in-universe source for those voices (ex. Odysseus' crew as background vocals in most of his songs). When background vocals are accompanying a god or other powerful being, there does not have to be a physical source for those voices—gods can basically summon a choir of voices at will (ex. "Ruthlessness"). (video explanation)

• Background chanting specifically is a common element in Epic songs. Typically, this chanting consists of the names of characters present/focused on in the song (as seen [heard?] in "Survive," "Ruthlessness," and "King").

Unclear/Vague Moments Explained:

*Some of the plot points, characters, etc. in Epic can be confusing on the first or second listen. So, I'll clear up some of the common things people (including myself) didn't notice or understand at first.

• The deep voice at the end of "The Horse and the Infant" is Zeus, voiced by Luke Holt. Zeus shows Odysseus a vision of Astyanax, the infant son of Hector, and tells him to kill the child.

• Odysseus drops Astyanax from the walls of Troy at the end of "Just a Man." Many people didn't catch this until the callback in "Monster" at the end of Act 2.

• "Warrior of the Mind" is quite confusing to those that don't have context. It is a flashback to a younger Odysseus, when he first met Athena and took her as a mentor.

• Athena has an ability called "Quick-Thought," which lets her have telepathic conversations with someone within milliseconds by pulling their mind into another dimension.

• Polites dies at the end of "Survive." He is the voice saying "Captain...". (I didn't realize this for a good while when I first started listening to Epic.)

• The voice telling Odysseus to wake up in "Keep Your Friends Close" is Penelope, not Aeolus.

• The lil' guys in "Keep Your Friends Close" are called winions (they're also the Lotus Eaters in "Open Arms"). Jay describes them as "little wind creatures that dance when they get excited and then float away uncontrollably." They don't actually exist in The Odyssey, but they're pretty cute!

• At the end of "Ruthlessness," the line "remember me" is said by Poseidon, who's basically sending his voice through the ocean fog (since Odysseus is very, very far away from him now).

• In "Done For," the yelling you are hearing in the background is essentially a Pokemon/Yu-Gi-Oh battle between Circe's chimera and the monster Odysseus summons using the moly plant given to him by Hermes. There is an animatic by mircsy to serve as a visual aide, which I find very helpful!

• In "There Are Other Ways," Circe was holding a knife and planning to stab Odysseus as she tried to seduce him. When he pulls away and rejects her, she quickly hides the knife.

• In "The Underworld," shades (souls) are in a constant loop, repeating whatever they were thinking when they died. Tiresias is an exception to this rule, seemingly because of him being such a powerful prophet. (confirmed in "The Underworld Saga" LIVE listen-through)

• I feel like this is fairly clear, but for those that aren't familiar with The Odyssey, I'll say it anyways. (Spoilers? I guess?) The prophecy in "No Longer You" is SUPER heavy on the foreshadowing. I won't go into it here, since many people already have, but let's just say the Greeks were big on self-fulfilling prophecies.

• As mentioned previously, background chanting is a big thing in Epic. In "No Longer You," the background chanting also serves as a prophecy detailing the future events of Odysseus's journey. Currently, only part of these lyrics have been confirmed by Jay: "SIREN SONG - SCYLLA THROAT - MUTINY - LIGHTNING BOLT." This leaves two lines that are not confirmed.

• In "Mutiny," after Odysseus is stabbed, he is tied up and knocked out before the crew sails to the nearest island. Right before he says to get to the boat and row away, he manages to untie himself.

Fun Facts/Easter Eggs:

• Circe is voiced by Jay's girlfriend, Talya Sindel.

• When Poseidon kills off most of Odysseus' crew in "Ruthlessness," he says that there are only 43 men left. But in "The Underworld," the souls of his crew say that 558 men died under his command. Considering Odysseus started off with 600 men ("Full Speed Ahead"), this math doesn't add up. This is because in The Odyssey, when Odysseus and his men party with Circe for a year, a man in his crew named Elpenor woke up drunk on Circe's roof and proceeded to walk off the roof and die from the fall. He actually has a cut song.

• Jay messed up the amount of years in "There Are Other Ways." It had not been 12 years, but 10. This little screw-up is referenced in "Different Beast."

• Odysseus' mother is voiced by Jay's actual mother.

• If you see people commenting "rawr rawr rawr" or "🦖" on Jay's videos, they're referencing his April Fool's prank this year. He made a video saying he'd completely changed the Act 2 closing song, "Monster," and proceeded to play a happy-go-lucky sounding song going "I am the monster, rawr rawr rawr."

• In every single saga, Odysseus says "what." in an absolutely bamboozled manner (or "huh" in The Troy Saga, and he does it twice in The Ocean Saga). It happens in "Open Arms," "Polyphemus," "Keep Your Friends Close," "Puppeteer," and "No Longer You." Occasionally, this "what" will be said by a different character (Poseidon in "Ruthlessness," the siren in "Different Beast")

• Perimedes (another man in Odysseus' crew, who lives all the way until "Thunder Bringer") and Elpenor were best friends.

[mrcompass]

A critique of Battle Bladers

As the final and most anticipated tournament in Metal Fusion since Yu requested a big competition, it’s safe to assume that Battle Bladers is the most iconic and important story arc in Metal Fusion, and one of the most iconic in the entire Metal saga. I will try to dissect exactly what makes this tournament stand out compared to previous and later events.

The Stakes

It's no surprise that the event was highly anticipated by the main cast, particularly Gingka, as it presented a precious opportunity to confront Ryuga and the Dark Nebula once and for all. Fulfilling this purpose was Gingka's main goal throughout Fusion, especially considering what he had "lost." As such, a second confrontation with the assumed murderer of his father was always expected to happen. What changed compared to the first time is that Ryuga is not only more powerful (having absorbed the power from other bladers) but more dangerous as well. We also catch a glimpse of Doji’s ambitions, which could lead to world destruction.

Comparing this to the World Championship, where most of the teams were not villainous—and even those that were weren’t trying to destroy the world—the stakes were less critical but still important. The goal was to see the efforts of Team Gan Gan Galaxy come to fruition and make their vision of Beyblade triumph. Regarding Gingka's final fight against Damian, it was significant on a more ideological level, as it determined which view of Beyblade should prevail. I would argue that even though Damian is a better foil to Gingka than Ryuga, the latter adds more stakes as he is more dangerous and untamed. In addition the antagonism between Gingka and Ryuga was built throughout the whole season. In Metal Fury, there are three main smaller tournaments, but the focus shifts more to the quest to find the legendary bladers, with the peak of the season culminating in the final fight against Nemesis.

The End of a Journey

This tournament represents the end of the first season, and for certain characters, it was their last chance to shine, while for others, it allowed them to display their development. I must first address one of the biggest criticisms I’ve seen regarding Battle Bladers: the underwhelming first round. Aside from two fights—Gingka vs. Yu and Hyoma vs. Reiji—most of the duels were finished quickly. If you compare that to the pitch of Battle Bladers, which was to decide who was the best blader in the world (even though it’s only in Japan), it might seem disappointing. I only partially agree with this assessment, as the first round actually serves several narrative purposes I will detail later. The downside is that characters like Teru and Hikaru weren't given a chance to shine. We could have at least had an interesting fight between Teru and Ryutaro, who both use air in their own unique ways.

Two of the characters that encapsulate the journey that was Metal Fusion are Kenta and Kyoya. Regarding Kenta, he was essentially a way for the audience to recognize themselves in the world of Beyblade. His design makes him stand out just enough to show that he isn’t a background character. He first started as a victim of the Face Hunters, and throughout the season, he developed his skills as well as relationships, notably with Gingka, Madoka, and Benkei. During Metal Fusion, we saw him evolve and grow: he created his special move, won tournaments, learned about the mechanics of Beyblades (with part-changing), traveled on his own, and went out of his way to help and teach Sora. All this evolution came into critical play during his fight with Reiji. Kenta started as the crybaby who could easily be bullied, and he ends up against the ultimate "bully": a sadist whose only interest in Beyblade is to destroy his opponent and their Beyblade. However, Kenta didn’t back down, and thanks to everything he went through and all he learned about Beyblade, Yu, and the Beyblade spirit, he was able to hold his own and briefly push Reiji into a corner. He lost the fight, but unlike Hyoma, he didn’t quit competitive blading, and he was even cheered on afterwards. This was, in fact, the beginning of his journey, as he was going to go even further thanks to his determination.

Kyoya's evolution is also quite interesting to watch: he started as a bored gang leader, undefeated until Gingka came along. He took the wrong path by following Doji, and after his second defeat, he corrected his way and became a loyal ally to Gingka, always helping him in times of need. Now, during Metal Fusion, Gingka and Kyoya worked closely together to stop L-Drago, while Kyoya never forgot his ultimate goal of defeating Gingka. Kyoya even adopted Gingka's views regarding Beyblade. During his final fight of the season, he displayed this newfound understanding. When he fought Ryuga, he thought about showing his blader spirit to Gingka, and he even told a possessed Ryuga that he wouldn’t allow him to "steal his blader spirit". This fight was actually vital for Gingka to beat L-Drago, as Kyoya demonstrated that Ryuga was also a blader who cared about the sport (in his own way). This was done by Kyoya provoking Ryuga into not using the dark power. This also led to L-Drago possessing Ryuga in front of everyone, showing that Ryuga was also a victim of the forbidden Beyblade (although this was not yet completely clear to Gingka). In a way, it was Kyoya’s turn to set Gingka on the right path, the path to victory.

The Ambiance

If there is something unique to Metal Fusion, it's the overall vibe and ambiance: compared to the other series, it is, in my opinion, darker and more sinister for several reasons, and I think Battle Bladers perfectly encapsulates that. The first is that the main characters (Gingka, Madoka, Kenta, Kyoya, and Benkei) are on their own and isolated. They can’t count on many people aside from Hikaru, Hyoma, and much later, Tsubasa. It is during Metal Masters that Gingka will extend his web of friends and allies. In Battle Bladers, the only support from the WBBA the group had was Tsubasa, who was sent as a spy (and not to directly help them). Tsubasa is strong, of course, but the WBBA also provided help in terms of information (notably concerning Ziggurat and the arrangement system) and transportation in later seasons. In Battle Bladers, Gingka’s gang found themselves directly fighting each Dark Nebula blader. Those bladers mainly consisted of opponents they had already faced and that instead of joining their cause, went with the ennemy. The second reason is that the setting is focused only on Japan, where a seemingly all-powerful evil organization appears to have influence everywhere. Doji was able to infiltrate Koma Village, after all. Even though the whole world was watching Battle Bladers, the characters are isolated from the rest of the world and seem to have little room for action. It was said that Battle Bladers was the only opportunity to defeat Ryuga. During the tournament proper, this is illustrated by the fact that it is controlled by the Dark Nebula, as Doji can decide who fights whom and even who will fight or not (according to himself).

The third reason for this sinister atmosphere is related to the beginning of the first round: a false sense of security. It also displays how strong the main gang has become. Think about it: half the contestants are from the Dark Nebula, and not only were four of them (half of their number) defeated quickly, moreover Gingka beat Yu, who was believed to be the Dark Nebula’s second-strongest blader. After Gingka's victory, the group becomes even more confident, seeing Ryuga's defeat as a more concrete outcome (which is especially true for Hikaru, who will battle him next). What happens next completely shifts the dynamic: Reiji defeats Hyoma, destroys his Beyblade, and reveals that he, like Ryuga, has a dark move. Right after that, Hikaru herself is defeated in a particularly brutal manner. This certainly illustrates that the game is far from being won, even after defeating more than half the Dark Nebula bladers and even after becoming stronger.

The final reason why Fusion is darker than Masters and Fury is linked to what Battle Bladers really is. It is presented as a tournament to determine who is the strongest blader, but the true goal is for Ryuga and L-Drago to absorb the power of the strongest bladers in Japan: it is an offering to L-Drago, a human sacrifice of some sort. It is during this Battle Bladers arc that Ryuga absorbs the power of the other Dark Nebula bladers, as well as Doji. Reiji’s only appearances in this arc is not random, as his main purpose is to make Gingka angry so L-Drago can defeat him and steal his power easily. Reiji is known for being a ruthless and sadistic blader, he surely contributed the unsettling atmosphere. During the final fight, we see the only example of body horror in the show: Ryuga transforming into a literal monster as he is consumed by L-Drago. Some might compare it to Nemesis’ true form, but here we actually see the transformation process. In addition, this form still displays a human shape and form, unlike Nemesis, so it is easier to relate to and feel horrified by Ryuga's state.

Overall, Battle Bladers is an excellent arc, particularly representative of the season. The dark and sinister tone would never be equaled by any other tournament. However, this might be a good thing, as Battle Bladers was never a real Beyblade tournament: it was an illustration of what Doji and the Dark Nebula planned to do with the Beyblade world. Aside from L-Drago's defeat, Battle Bladers also led to the World Championship, as everyone around the world became eager to be the strongest blader in the world.

[intermundia]

in general, i think engaging with star wars from a place of realpolitik and political analysis is a fun thought exercise, especially with the canon and legends lore fleshing out the world a bit beyond lucas's archetypal story. there's a whole swath of authors who have written books and comics for adults that all take the premises of the movies seriously, the work of james luceno jumps to mind, so you can choose to dig into that lore and take it seriously as well.

the politics of the saga are related to but greatly simplified from our reality, and there is much that can be said about the way that the galaxy is designed, from george's viet cong inspired rebellion to his prequels era citizens united and bush era executive overreach. i think it's a mistake to take the jedi's role in government too seriously, as they are kind of a hand-wavy organized militia answerable to the legislative branch (and later executive during the war).

they're both a symbol of how the system works at its best and its worst. under the flourishing galactic republic, they're ideal ambassadors of peacetime diplomacy, whose arrival at a conflict resolves it using negotiation and limited force, before those conflicts sprouted into inter-system military engagement. but under sidious, they're arguably willingly misused to enforce peace on a wider scale, due to sidious's design of breaking the galaxy with a civil war.

i see many, many takes that say that the jedi should not be involved in politics at all, but i really think that's missing the point. you can take how they are being used as like a health test of the body politic, they're an epiphenomenon dependent on the republic as a whole. by the era of the prequels, they were a tool of an age that no longer existed, a more civilized one, where conflict could be resolved locally.

should they not have participated? as george has said many times, they were in a bind. would you act to save civilian lives from an invading army of droids who didn't care for or actively sought collateral damage? could you live with yourself if you had the power to help but did not? it was doomed from the beginning, they were in a trap and about to die, but is it better to fight or run away?

anyway, i got slightly off topic. engaging with star wars politically can be a fun and meaningful exercise, which even academics are not immune from the lure. here are a few articles that i enjoyed reading, if anyone is interested:

Charles, M. B. (2015). Remembering and restoring the republic: Star wars and Rome. Classical World, 108(2), 281–298. https://doi.org/10.1353/clw.2015.0014 (link) Conor Casey & David Kenny (2021): How Liberty Dies in a Galaxy Far, Far Away: Star Wars, Democratic Decay, and Weak Executives, Law & Literature, DOI: 10.1080/1535685X.2021.1991610 (link) Rackaway, C. (2020). Star Wars: The Fascism Awakens: Representation and its Failure from the Weimar Republic to the Galactic Senate. Studies in the Social Sciences, 1(1), 7-22 (link)

have at them and enjoy :)

[nerdy-the-artist]

Space Pirate Design Ranking

The Metroid series has a boatload of different designs, completely changing between every game except the 2D iterations. Some think it’s simple design inconsistency, others think that they’re different genetic manipulations of the same species, while others (including myself) are of the opinion that the Space Pirates are a collective made up of various species. Today, I’ll be ranking these designs based on what they convey and, simply, what I think is cool and aesthetically pleasing. For the sake of simplicity, I’ll only be ranking the standard Space Pirate variant of each game, the “core enemy type” if you will. And yes, Metroid Prime 4 Beyond is here, though its place in the ranking is subject to change as we get more closer looks.

7. Metroid Prime 2 Echoes

Some people may consider this a sin to put so low on the list but, to me, this really just doesn’t fit the whole vibe of the Space Pirates, especially in the Prime series. In the Metroid Prime saga, the Space Pirates are an authoritarian empire who recklessly abuse technological advancement for the sake of domination. This just… doesn’t say that. It’s a good design, don’t get me wrong, but this really looks like some weird skeleton knight. I could see this crawling out of some crypt to seek vengeance, not descending from a space ship to plunder. For that reason, I gotta put this guy in last place.

6th place: Metroid Prime Federation Force

For many of the problems Metroid Prime 2’s design has, I think Federation Force remedies… and then makes the opposite mistakes. Federation Force’s Space Pirate design is, canonically, around the same height as Metroid Prime’s Omega Pirate. Why make mechs for your game if you’re just gonna scale the enemies up anyway is anyone’s guess. With that in mind, I kinda like this as a heavy unit for the Space Pirates, but the center of this design just is a bit hard to look at. I love the limbs and the inclusion of the iconic Prime Pirate energy blade. There’s a mix of fleshy joints and tough, metal plating that I enjoy, I actually like the bright red eyes as well, especially for a heavy unit. But the carapace around it just feels… it’s kinda hard to look at. That mouth, as well, is just a bit too buggy and lacks expressiveness. Really, that’s my edict on this thing. Good extremities, but lacks expression and is generally tough to look at. Still, I imagine someone could retool/retexture this thing to be a real banger of a design.

5th place: Metroid Other M

From here on, these designs are ones I truly like as Space Pirates. Metroid Other M’s Space Pirate design was a tough one to find a good image of. This was about the best one I could find in a cursory search. As far as official designs go, I think this is the best translation of the iconic Zebesian Space Pirate to 3D we’ve ever gotten. There was a small effort made in Prime 2 to bring the claws back, but here there are on full display and they look great. The whole design is, honestly, fantastic. You can see the smooth bands around the limbs and torso, downward pointed jaw, and the big, smooth, blank eyes of the old sprite. The spines on the back and head really add some personal flare to these guys as well, and the whole design has a delightfully cheesy color scheme that I simply adore. I think the series has designs that evoke certain feelings and themes better, but this is certainly a fun looking guy.

4th place: Metroid Prime 3 Corruption

Unlike every other type but the Zebesians, the Space Pirates of Corruption have a distinct name based on the Homeworld we explore, Urtraghians. There is a distinctly pseudo organic bend to these guys, with the textures on the armor plating feeling almost Xenomorphic. However, where I think this design stands out is, of course, the head. The long, pointed teeth clearly visible under the rows of eyes really makes this eel-like head intimidating. You can really imagine the Urtraghians descending from their ships in a city, gunning down innocents and plundering whatever they choose. These animalistic terrors will smell where you’re hiding and drag you out kicking and screaming. It really fits the Space Pirates’ role in the story. From day one, they really have just been a bogeyman for the Federation. We rarely actually see them doing… ya know… pirating. The rampant technological obsession was a concept introduced by the Prime trilogy. As a design for the Bogeyman of the Galaxy, I think the Urtraghians work great.

3. Metroid Prime 4 Beyond

Haha, 3 is for 4 and 4 is for 3. This will be subject to change and many people might not rank them until we get clearer images, but uh… I’m doin it. Beyond’s pirates have a very buggy design, but in a way that’s parallel, not identical, to the Zebesian designs from the 2d games. Their mouth is split into mandibles, they have a hard carapace, and their movements can be jittery and unsettling. The large size of them compared to the Federation personnel seen in the trailer really evokes power and control. Their armor has outward pointed edges and defined pectorals. These are conquerors, proud, undefeatable warriors. The sparseness of it also evokes a sense of confidence, as if they don’t need a full covering when their hardened shell is so superior to weak flesh. It’s almost ornamental in a way. (Though someone should remind them they lost in every previous fight against Samus). Their mandibular maws, hunched backs, double thumbed hands, and digitigrade stance (standing on their toes with their heels off the ground) also evokes a certain other core enemy type in a sci fi shooter.

I’m going to leave it here for now as I have some other stuff to get to at the moment and I Forgor the image limit on Tumblr posts. I’ll get the ranking for the final (first?) two designs by the end of today. Then, I might make a post about what roles I’d fit these different species into for my own storytelling purposes.

[hollowtones]

who's your favorite Mario character(s)?

I've been sitting here on-and-off for most of my afternoon trying to come up with an answer to this. Mario characters aren't... really characters, outside of the RPGs, y'know? They're mascots. They're billboards. They're cute designs that go "wahoo!" on my screen. They don't really need to be more than that in a lot of cases. So if we're going entirely on designs it's probably Wario or Rosalina or Birdo.

Mario as a character is very fun in "Super Mario RPG" because he feels like a mix of a weird dog and a mime & that's awesome. Luigi's a lot of fun in "Superstar Saga". Bowser's great in basically any RPG he's in. Other than that, uhh... Cackletta's a fun evil witch & I liked that they kept bringing Fawful back as a recurring villain. I remember really liking Admiral Bobbery's whole deal. Olivia was one of the best "this is the guide character following you through the whole game" characters. Everyone in the entire world loves Mallow.

Did we ever get a mole character in any of these video games? I love the moles in Mario games very much, but I don't really think "an entire critter design" is really a character.

[spontaneousmusicalnumber]

My best friend and I have a running anime night, and the past few shows have been things like Demon Slayer: Entertainment District, Chainsaw Man, Vinland Saga s2, and JJK s2. And today we watched the first few episodes of Ancient Magus Bride s2.

And BOY OH BOY apparently I had been more fed up with edgy/grim media made for 16-20 year old boys than I realized because seeing a fantasy anime aimed at young teen girls was a BREATH of fresh air.

Like. Yeah. It's not trying at subtlety. Our protagonist is usually the Specialest and Bestest. And it often takes the easy quick emotional hits instead of building them up. But it at least USES other emotions than "horror" and "sadness" and does a pretty decent job writing, designing, and animating women. And also uses the whole color palette instead of just Dark (lookin at you, jjk)

[spamtoon]

DCRC Week 12 Paperinik

Huh? Aren't we reading Missing? Yes we are BUT I forgot to read angus tales last time what a crime

If I sound dead tired its because lord school is kicking me in the behind and I'm using this as a break. Let's do this.

i like that angus tales opens up with he's a bitch and then blasts you with a contactless woman

i do like the art style though i will admit. silly. dare i say angus fangus is kinda cute here, in a doofy way

im so mad the way hes like "A RAID? GREAT!!!!"

this actually got a chuckle out of me i will admit. the eyelids really sell it for me

the artist did a good job with these expressions i. they made angus fangus silly

angus fangus got played so hard. but i support women's wrongs. or rights in this case because she's stealing from angus fangus

OKAY NOW FOR tHE ACTUAL ISSUE Missing? Special issue 1997? Like

i missed flaggstarr but not because i watned to see more of the fbi but because i like her design

she's so silly for no reason

i love the lighting on this panel so much and the contrast in their expressions and demeanors sorry i. tend to go ooh pretty panel when i do these readings i think you've noticed

"we all think sometimes... watch a bit of tv and it'll pass soon" lowkey goes hard to me im not even gonna lie

and next in the saga of its not darkwing duck but cmon... its darkwing duck... goes to. i mean tell me thats not a little activity from st canard right next door that'll go away in a day

nevermind this is actualy where the story is going

i like how after listening to his sob story donald actually fixes his raincoat if not out of a sliver of hope for change but out of solidarity for the messed up symbiotic relationship they have

can we go here. can we go here lyla lay please i wanna see the amusement pa--oh hold on, the marleybonians are calling (REFERENCE ONLY PUFFY WILL GET)

i like how lyla's robot interface just has donald getting fucking shot i'm so mad hfuirajfkgrhuihur

ooh she's being a good little robot cop. by not following orders and doing her own shit

ahh so a simple time earthquake can release the prisoners of course. no wonder the raider can just get out

im so mad 'i know you just saved everyone's life but YOURE GROUNDED!!! BACK TO YOUR CENTURY"

i think the raider should call humans mutants more often

raider you realized the duck avenger wasnt there because hes. in the tv. and i've known that since next week is so bad but i wouldn't expect anything less

cog i'm glad that uno is still just. trying his best to fight crime even though he's struggling so hard

IM SO MAD im. uno really said (corner of a party meme) he doesn't know i'm odin eidolon

odin's makeup is on point today i must say (SORRY)

SCROOGE!!!! forgot he was in these comics.

HI XADOOM!!!!! sorry im just enjoying seeing all of these characters

fheawuifheohh wahhh she's so happy but this feels so too good to be true everybody is clapping i cant

IM SO MAD shoutout to the vr technicians at the xadhoom division because honestly they deserve credit for faking a whole planet. even if it didnt really work

i have had nothing to say about it but i'm glad one of the stories here is. random evronian adventures

IM SO MAD the way xadhoom just took out the entire evronian base in the span of the two random evronians adventure

IM SO MAD THE WAY HES JUST. in monkland with everett ducklair

and that was missing! i enjoyed myself reading that comic and i'm probably going to be dragged into the aether soon but i missed pk man. and here he is!!!! or i guess isn't

[pony-central]

The PuzzleVision Theory

Hey, my fellow SMG4 fans and Theorists. I'm here today to talk about something that all of the fandom are trying to work out. The mystery of this PuzzleVision stuff that's been happening. So, let's talk about it. Keep in mind, we're gonna get to the analysis of the SMG34/SMG43 ship, don't worry.

So, in the trailer for the IGBP movie, we can see that the characters have been upgraded again. TBH, the designs are more nicer. Then we get to the ending of the trailer. We can see just how intense it's gotten. SMG4 looked like he was on the brink of insanity.

"It's gotta be perfect. It's gotta be perfect! IT'S GOTTA BE PERFECT!!!" was the Wham Line of the trailer, as it made him look more terrifying. Speaking of that, we get to the movie itself.

We know that SMG4 was corrupted by the keyboard. And we also see the tiny TV icon asking him to rate their experience after he's free from the grasp of the keyboard. This is our first hint of Mr Puzzles, and his scheme, which makes him the main storyline's villain.

In the WOTFI 2023 Mission Prep stream, we can see the boys planning the heist to get SMG3's Notebook back from Mario and Marty. What if Mr Puzzles was corrupting Mario to taking the Notebook, too? Well, you'd be wrong.

During the course of the entire WOTFI 2023 special, we find out that Marty was told that there was a secret pizza recipe in the notebook.

We get a glimpse of Marty's office in the TF2 video, and it doesn't look that menacing, right? Ha ha ha. WRONG! In WOTFI 2023, the place is overloaded with traps and heavy weaponry that can kill anyone who dares to trespass.

It is at the end of WOTFI 2023 that we get our first real look at Mr Puzzles. We can see that he looks pretty menacing. We'll get more into his depth RN.

So, during the whole of "No TV Make Mario Not Okie Dokie", the power goes out, and everyone freaks out. The crew all try to find a source of energy, until the end when the power comes back on. Happy ending, right? Ha ha ha. Nope. Turns out that the TV appears downstairs for some reason. But this is important, as it shows us that the next chapter of The Showgrounds Saga has begun.

The first of five shows is a Blue's Clues parody, which shows us that the crew are being forced against their will to put on a good show. "Mario's Mysteries" is about SMG4 and Dog Mario attempting to "solve" the mystery on where the spaghetti is.

So we get our first shot of Mr Puzzles in this Five-Episode Mini-series called PuzzleVision. He appears with a red outline, as he plans to make the show as perfect as he can. Huh. Sound familiar? (insert Insane SMG4 here)

It is here that we get our first clue that everything isn't normal. We see Meggy, Tari and SMG3 all stuck in the basement, shown on the TV screaming, hinting at their release. They want freedom. They demand freedom, to no longer be forced to act as little playthings in Mr Puzzles' shows.

Next is "Once Upon an SMG4", which has one of the deepest messages ever. The premise of this episode is that SMG3 is the princess, no surprise there, he IS a Tsundere after all. He wants a "Sugar Daddy" to be rich. The songs are great. Near the end, SMG3 says "I wish we could all escape from here", which means he's self-aware of the brainwashing.

Yeah, Mr Puzzles. A "programming malfunction". It's like he's trying to keep the SMG4 Crew from spilling the televised beans. Which he is, no surprise there.

The third episode is entitled "Scooby-Mario, Where'd You Go?", which is a Scooby-Doo parody, and not just any Scooby-Doo parody. But a funny parody, and the best one so far. The episode is about Chef Bob going "missing", and the gang have to find him.

At one part of the episode, we get a glimpse of some type of surveillance room. Here, we see snippets of the episodes playing on about 27 TVs, if you count the TVs hidden in the shadows. Another hint of characters being self-aware.

Overall, my theory is that Mr Puzzles wants to make sure that at least one episode gets a five star rating. Perfect episodes mean never ending entertainment. I've been wanting to make a post about Mr Puzzles and his antics since WOTFI 2023. But I needed more evidence to support my theory.

But, hey. That's just a theory. An SMG4 Theory!

[animeyanderelover]

Ah yes, there is nothing more beautiful than watching the Crunchyroll Awards when I am in a masochistic mood and still come out crying. I’m not even a seasonal watcher but even I could predict all of the winners when I checked out the nominations. I didn’t vote by the way since I don’t even use Crunchyroll. Since me and my friend already complained about it, I’ll rant a bit too so please take my salt.

I don’t think that Jujutsu Kaisen should have won Anime of the Year for the simple reason that apparently the Shibuya Arc didn’t even count for this nomination since it aired in Autumn. That means that pretty much only the first 5-6 episodes were a contender for this nomination and that isn’t even half of the show. They should have either completely excluded it from the nominations this year and instead nominated it next year or should have put in all of Jujutsu Kaisen. Instead now the season was split in parts and I will bet my liver that the Shibuya Arc will be nominated next year again. 5 episodes of an incomplete season are not better than other nominated Anime like Vinland Saga or Oshi No Ko. I’m not even sure if I would put Demon Slayer as a nomination since I liked this season but it just did not reach for me the same level that previous seasons had reached and I am sure that there were other Anime that were a lot more deserving of a nomination instead of Kny.

Best Continuing Series I already suspected either One Piece or Jujutsu Kaisen to win. I can’t say much about One Piece since I am currently at the Water 7 Arc but I will take it over freaking Jjk with its 5 nominated episodes. Once again I would be hesitant to put Demon Slayer in here since for me best continuing series implies that the newest season is either on the same par or even surpasses the previous season. Demon Slayer did not do this with the Sword Smith Village Arc for me for a couple of reasons. The antagonists felt very shallow and boring, the fights weren’t as good for me and whilst the last episode was quite good, it did not reach for me what the Entertainment District Arc did. Bungo Stray Dogs would have been in my opinion a better nomination than Demon Slayer.

Not surprised with Chainsaw Man winning Best New series but since I haven’t watched any of the shows nominated, I can’t say much about it. Same goes for Best Movie with Suzume as the winner and Best Original Series with Buddy Daddies as the winner.

Is anyone surprised by Demon Slayer winning Best Animation? I’m not and that was the only thing that for me was as good as previous seasons, although I do know the whole argument of them using 3D this season for some of the demons but honestly, that was nowhere near the worst CGI that Anime has given us such as Berserk 2017. I see why people would be upset since other contestants for Best Animation were shows like Mob Psycho 100. With Jujutsu Kaisen as a nominee I am conflicted due to the whole arguments of this season having the worst Animation in comparison to the first season and the movie but the poor Mappa employees were on such a tight schedule and the fact that they still delivered such amazing fight scenes despite the terrible treatment deserves respect. Also, where is Bleach in this nomination?! You cannot tell me that they couldn’t nominate it since Disney owns it considering that there were actually some categories where Bleach was still nominated for some reason!

Best Character Design went to Jujutsu Kaisen… How??? How did school uniforms win against the character designs of Hell’s Paradise, Oshi No Ko and Demon Slayer? Is it just Gojo that carried this category?? Am I the blind one for not loving him as much as other fans do??

Best Direction went to Jujutsu Kaisen.

Best Camera Work went to Jujutsu Kaisen.

Best Art Direction went to Demon Slayer.

Best romance was won by Horimiya: The missing Pieces. I’m not sure if that’s true but isn’t this series basically some sort of flashback where the characters look back on their school time. I’m pretty sure My Happy Marriage, Insomniacs after School or Skip and Loafer can beat what, if my memory is correct, is basically a series that shows all the scenes they couldn’t feature in the first season.

Best Comedy was won by Spy x Family and my friend was quite upset by that since she is a big Bocchi The Rock fan but I haven’t watched any of those shows.

Best Action was won by Jujutsu Kaisen. Considering that only the first arc of the series was nominated, I do not agree with this win. If Shibuya Arc would have also counted, I wouldn’t have complained but as it stands I would have preferred something like One Piece or Bleach to win this award.

Best Fantasy was won by Demon Slayer… Again. Guys, what is this? I love Demon Slayer but you can’t tell me that a show playing in a real historical period of Japan with the only fantasy element being the demons as well as maybe the Breathing Forms is a better fantasy show than Mushoku Tensei or The Ancient Magus’s Bride.

Best Drama was won by Attack on Titan The Final Season Chapter 1. What does that mean? Will the second chapter be nominated again then next year?! Oh, come on. How did an incomplete season win Best Drama against Mister I have no enemies?! Vinland Saga should have won that category.

Best Slice of Life went to Bocchi the Rock and since my friend was happy, I was happy too.

Best Main character was won by Luffy. I guess I can live with that. I’m actually surprised that they didn’t nominate Gojo in here but since the whole award show was basically sucking Jujutsu Kaisen off, I am happy to have a few categories where I am not haunted by Demon Slayer and Jujutsu Kaisen. I am just more biased towards Thorfinn in this category since his character development was amazing. If they really only counted the First Chapter of Attack on Titan in these Awards, I am not sure about putting Eren as a contender in this category since he had barely any screen time.

How are you going to take Jujutsu Kaisen’s Hidden Inventory Arc for the 2024 Crunchyroll Awards and then nominate Gojo as a side character?!?! He was the bloody main character in that arc since it was his past!! And then Gojo also wins this category where he absolutely doesn’t belong!!! The same counts for Suguru!! How can you nominate two guys from Jujutsu Kaisen who were on top of that main characters in this short arc?! Why not nominate someone from another Anime instead?! What about Bungo Stray Dogs?! What about Hell’s Paradise?! What about literally every other Anime that aired this year with an actual side character?! Why did Gojo win?!

I don’t care about the Must Protect At all Costs award going to Anya Forger. It’s just a weird award in my opinion.

Best Anime Song going to Idol from Yoasobi was no surprise and was deserved for the sheer impact it had not only on the Anime community but also the international success it earned.

Best Soundtrack going to Attack on Titan is no surprise. Hiroyuki Sawano, if you worked there again I will accept it.

Best Opening and Ending go to no one’s surprise to Jujutsu Kaisen and at this point I have no energy left anymore to be angry. Congratulations…not.

Best Japanese VA performance goes to Yuichi Nakamura for voicing Gojo Satoru… Why is Eren here again? That dude barely spoke any lines in the first half of the Final Chapters. There are a ton of other Japanese Va’s that not only spoke more than Eren but were also far better. Whilst I am not really suited for picking any since I don’t watch seasonal Anime, I think Uemura Yuuto for his performance as Thorfinn or Miyano Mamoru in his role as Dazai were far more deserving of a spot in here. Yuki Kaji, I really love you but you shouldn’t have been nominated in here for your performance as Eren in here due to the lack of a performance.

[saturn-sends-hugs]

ok, this has been burning a hole in my notes app and i’m just gonna send it out there:

Why (i think) the Finale was Like That:

to preface, if you liked the finale, good for you!! that’s totally valid and i’m not trying to bash that. but i know a lot of people were left wanting more, and i’m one of them. anyway, to my point:

as silly as it sounds, this show is not written for us.

we’re fans. the producers already know we’re gonna watch the show. they don’t need to convince us to give them our attention, they already have it. why waste time digging into random side characters in the larger Star Wars saga when the average person doesn’t even know who that is?

their real job is to convince outsiders to watch. to get hooked. to see an element they like, probably from the main movies, and tune in, even for one episode. if they can get them hooked with fennec or ventress or hell even rex, that’s a win for them.

the plot lines wrap up in such an unsatisfying way because honestly? they cant waste time focusing more on these characters than they have to. the people writing and designing the show might love them and want to include more meaningful resolutions, but that takes too long and costs too much money. you know what’s cheaper and will satisfy the average viewer? kill the mystery clones, cut off the “trauma hand”, and wrap it all up in a nice little “look, she’s joining the rebellion, guys!” moment because the more bland and broad the ending, the more people will understand it.

i mean, remember the Fives mention? Echo didn’t react, he didn’t even stutter, he literally moved the conversation along like they were talking about where to go for dinner like HELLO. we already know they cannot be bothered to show real important emotional scenes because that would take too much spotlight away from the whole star wars politics plot or whatever were supposed to care about. (honestly, who is watching bad batch for the og trilogy implications? woah tarkin and a couple other empire dudes are talking about project stardust definitely gimme more of that and not any meaningful connection between these characters i love)

it’s scummy, it sucks, it especially kills me that the story is basically lost to corporate greed but let’s be honest, this is Disney’s Star Wars. i could literally just leave it there. meaningful moments will always be sacrificed for shock value and character cameos because the random guy seeing an ad is only gonna watch the show if he thinks “oh cool, tarkin, i didn’t know he was in that show, maybe i should see what that’s about.”

and yes, i know, there absolutely is a ton of love and care poured into this show. i appreciate the effort that went into it. i’m just sad they didn’t have full creative freedom under Disney to give us the story we wanted.

but you know who won’t sacrifice story for money? you know who’s guaranteed to have the fans’ interests in mind? you know who does have full creative freedom and is equally pissed about bad show moments and want to do them better? FANFIC AUTHORS. Fan artists, theorists, even roleplay accounts and every other type of dedicated fandom blog is here for that shit and will reshape things however they want a million different ways because that’s the point. the show simply cannot give us what we want, but we can make it ourselves.

your support, your creativity, and your determination to give these characters what they deserve is how we can solve the problem.

i didn’t really mean to turn all “we’re all in this together” here lol but yknow what i really do mean that. i think supporting the community around you is the best option we have for truly enjoying all of this show’s potential.

tagging a few people cause i value your input!! and let’s be honest i’m probably leaving a few things out that you might be able to expand on: @the-bi-space-ace @inkstainedhandswithrings @phantom-of-the-501st

[decepti-thots]

character ask: idw springer?

First impression: what's this guy's deal. i can't quite put my finger on it.

Impression now: I really, really like Springer in the Wreckers saga. I don't actually talk about him nearly as often as some other characters because I still never feel COMPLETELY sure I have a perfect grasp on the answer to my original question, hah. But he's a very interesting character who I enjoy very, very much! I think Springer is a really great character because the narrative is using him to tell a story, and he's telling a story about himself very persuasively, and those two stories overlap but are not a perfect match. The gaps in between are where the interesting stuff is happening, I think. The Wreckers saga as a whole is a little bit about the distance between narrative and reality, and that's really obvious in Pova and such, but it runs through basically all of Springer's arc IMO. (I am saying again: Springer in Last Stand is way more interesting if you have read Zero Point, and I'm really annoyed forever it's only in the hardback/omnibus.)

Favorite moment: Hmmm. Maybe when he and Verity talk about nightmares in Sins, which is a really small moment I know. I just really love any moment those two get to themselves, tbh. It makes me wibble, haha. But I also like that it's a moment that doesn't like... get "resolved", it's not set up for a cheap payoff later where the problem goes away. It's just there, acknowledged between the both of them.

Idea for a story: I still want to ruin the very good Theme of the ending by taking the time travel shit and really running with the fact we know it's not something IDW1's universe would allow. Just really see how far the doomed to fail at breaking cycles theme there can be taken if you are so inclined.

Unpopular opinion: Do enough people express IDW Springer opinions for there to be one..? Oh actually. I think Kup was probably the best mentor figure in Springer's life for sure, but I also think he was probably still like. One big part of how Springer wound up a trigger-happy soldier who is convinced of his own moral righteousness by way of violence? Like yeah, he was the most formative influence on Springer from practically his first moments alive he remembers- which mostly revolved around being Springer's commanding officer as someone built for war. So…

Favorite relationship: Verity. 100%. I absolutely love their strange little friendship. Everyone who reads my blog knows this, lmao.

Favorite headcanon: Springer wasn't actually designed with an alt mode built in. (Ostaros clearly isn't intended to have one.) I think it would be interesting if Prowl sort of just slapped his artificial spark etc in an MTO body and his not-quite-Cybertronian systems never 100% gelled with it, and Springer is always silently wondering if everyone else feels Weird about transforming and stuff, because the tiny little division between his processor/spark and his body makes everything just… mildly off.

[istadris]

Thinking about plots dealing with Luigi being (technincally) a Bowser Minion and member of his army while playing also playing Superstar and minion's Quest (I am alternating between storylines so that main is ahead but not *too* far ahead)

And now I really really want a spin off where Bowser has been kidnapped by an evil Princess who wants to be an evil Queen and is trying to force him to marry her and because of a series of both politics and hilarious hijinks, Luigi has to work his way up the army ranks so he can go and rescue Bowser. mostly I am imaging him deciding he needs a Cunning Disguise and uses the Mr L- evil minion of evil persona from Super Paper Mario

Bonus mental image that keeps making me laugh: Optional party members Mr M (Mario disguises as an evil minion) and Miss P (Peach disguised as an evil minion)

The Plan was, at first, for Luigi to sneak into Bowser's castle to learn what Bowser had been up to (no Peach kidnapping attempt in four months ? Not even on her birthday ? Something must be Wrong) because just kicking his door down and demanding answers would be very rude. So  since Luigi is technically part of the Koopa Troop, he's technically allowed to go in there and look around, right ? The magic in Bowser's Castle seems to agree and let him in.

Then the Plan had to be tweaked because Luigi came across some of Bowser's actual minions and unlike the Castle, they are very untrustworthy of random humans wandering around.

"Hey !! What do you think you're doing ?" "Waaah! I'm-I'm... the newest recruit" "What." "Y-yeah, Bowser hired me himself ! Y-you can ask him if you’d like!" "Haha, very funny. What's your designation then, Mister ??" "I'm Misteeeeer..." *panic panic panic* "...L ?" "What" "Err. Yeah. Mister L. ?" "(what a lame name) Yeah okay, registration office is this way, I'm not paid enough to actually care"

Thankfully, even if most minions have faced Luigi at least once at some point, he's discrete and shy enough that almost everyone forgets his face, but still, there are a couple of scares with someone going “wait, why do you remind me of someone ...?”, so a change of attire seems logical.

Also, turns out Koopa bureaucracy is obscure and frustrating enough that by the time Luigi grabs a mask and a change of black clothes and tweaks his cap, everyone just rolls with the situation and "Mr L" is just. Part of the deal now.

They also have bigger problems to care right now, like the whole Bowser kidnapping situation. Not that Luigi is aware of that at first, he’s trying his best to get closer to Bowser, but everyone is very Mad and Ready to Fight so he’s trying his best to not step on any toes.

Still, Luigi should really learn to say no, especially in situations like "HEY YOU! Get over here, the rescue mission in the Death Lands is about to leave!!"

I don't know how canon Super Paper Mario would be here, and to me the M&L games and the Paper Mario games are separate continuities (Paper Jam confirms it, no?). So either Paper Jam already happened and M&L!Luigi has vaguely heard of Paper Luigi's bout in evildom, either M&L!Luigi does come up with the persona on his own

Either way, I honestly think that while Luigi is a big cowardly scaredy cat, he can be brave and even as fearless as Mario, but only if he hides behind something : a disguise (Princess Peach), a persona (Mr L, Mario when Luigi gets hypnotised in Superstar Saga, Dreamy Luigi) or his brother himself (if Mario is rushing ahead, or if he’s in danger, he follows). In any case, the less he gives himself time to think, the less he risks to gets trapped into his own anxiety and paranoia. So what to do when you need to Not Think and get answers at the same time ? You rush ahead and pray that no one catches on that you have no idea what you’re doing

the Green Thunder moniker comes fairly quickly, because Bowser’s minions love gossip and a guy in green using lightning attacks is pretty awesome.

The Plan gets some more tweaks when the Koopa Troop comes across Mario himself, and of course, they throw the new guy at him because it’s a hazing ritual to get stomped by Mario. Does Mario recognize Luigi and play along (and even goad Luigi into giving his all) ? Does he not know who that new minion is, and unlike Luigi he doesn’t know what to expect ? In any case, Mr L gets a lot more respect from everyone after tasering Mario into a waterfall.

Bonus for the bowuigi crowd : when Luigi finally finds Bowser : “What are you doing here ??“ “Saving you from a forced wedding to an evil queen, apparently!” “Tch, does that make you Mario ?” “I don’t know, does that make you Peach ??” And they promptly shut up because now they realize the Implications and try to not think about (it doesn’t work)

Badass team up rescue though!! With the bonus of knowing each other more than they expected! (Just me who likes the aesthetic of a smaller character climbing on another bigger character’s back when they team up in a fight)

Honestly I’m not sure how much Peach and Mario could effectively pass as minions, but it would make a very funny reason for Wario’s existence in that verse

[et-cant-phone-home-no-signal]

rewatching the original star wars trilogy at the moment but i had to pause halfway through TESB because i think i'm one of the few people on earth that just cannot stand han solo's fuckboy attitude and gets super annoyed and disgusted with it idk it's not sexy to me, it just makes me feel icky. ANYWAY will be giving notes on those films when i've watched them all but i rewatched rogue one because it's my favourite star wars film and i'm an exhausted, tear stained mess rn enjoy these ramblings - spoilers under the cut

i love this film so much, could go on about it for ages and ages tbh but that would be a crazy long post even for my standards, so my biggest takeaways are that it's honestly the best looking film from all of the star wars movies we've got that i've seen (i haven't seen solo yet but i'm not really interested in it tbh but if people think i should see it maybe i will). the music is phenomenal, the visuals are stunning, the casting is spot on, and the storyline is cohesive. brava fr on this one

i was so into the first half i legit didn't really make notes so that's what you get for like the first half of the film lmao i was just too glued to the screen

i am so in love with this group of people, i think they're the most dynamic of all the groups we see

i haven't seen andor yet but you bet your ass i'm gonna after this because i forgot how much i love cassian - diego luna is fantastic

cassian and jyn <3 also K2 i love you

baze, chirrut and bohdi also just fill me up with joy this whole crew is *chef's kiss*

when baze calls jyn little sister 😭

the pure joy on literally every single rebel's face when they fly in and start shooting the AT-AT's is enough to send me into a fit of laughter and tears 😭 🙌

star wars ships designs are so unique and awesome i love them

K dying had me crying it always gets me

chirrut 💕

CHIRRUT 😭

general raddus is such a g oh my god

baze, you mean so much to me

that hammerhead corvette is so powerful what

jyn and cassian are like, yeah they're, they mean a lot to me, their relationship means a lot to me, i'm fine

lies i'm literally sobbing at this point and can no longer type

had to come back eventually just to write that i'm forever grateful they hugged at the end because they could have done a cheap kiss shot but they didn't and i love and appreciate gareth edwards for this + vader's entrance is fucking astounding

this is genuinely the only star wars film that always makes me cry because i care so much for all the characters and they all fucking DIE - the skywalker saga doesn't have this level of stakes in the fact that we know they all survive at the end of the day, but this movie literally isn't like that, they all die for the cause and it's fucking heartbreaking and powerful and it wasn't for nothing!!!! 10/10 fr imo, i need a fat glass of cold water now because i'm a total wreck dudes like i am this emoji 😭 rn no lie (i cry laughed through writing this final bit because damn dude y'all should see me i don't get this emotional for movies that often but i'm a complete mess and my throat hurts)

[seasonalmoss]

Epic the musical Catfied: Telemachus concepts and notes

Telemachus‼️‼️‼️‼️

(Im physically dying right now waiting for the wisdom Saga)

anyways here’s some expression notes, fur and body concepts I did!

starting with the first one: I just wanted to do a little test drawing of how Tele’s fur looks in the wind. His fur is thick and round and slightly wavy (Penelope’s fur type) he has a lot of it, and it’s hard to get fully wet (due to some headcanons, though this is up for change)

second one: I wanted to draw his physique! Telemachus is a very spindly, lengthy and quite muscular after training with Athena. He’s quite long in length and tall due to is mother. You may notice that he has a tuck, which means his stomach dips in when it reaches the legs. Cats normally don’t have that and when they do it’s not a good sign, but dogs do! I gave him one because he’s based off of a golden retriever, he’s a cat, yes. But this is art, so there isn’t any limits to what I can add in a design. He also doesn’t have it all of the time, he mostly has it since his body tapers like his fathers, but it changes a bit when he squishes his long body.

third and fourth one: expression notes! I’m actually not done with these, as I’m drawing a whole page of them with notes and details. I won’t say much about how he emotes here? Because that’s the whole point of the drawing, and I do plan to post it when I done! I will say some face notes! For one Telemachus as massive eyes, like- huge orbs. I mentioned it a bit in one of my others posts. His massive eyes were mostly an accident? I was trying to make him look friendly and almost naive, so I made his eyes quite wide and round. Anyways, most of how Telemachus emotes is similar to his father, but when the expressions are more soft and tender he looks more like his mom. he does have his fathers exact smile, very wide and toothy and it sorta squishes up. They sorta have crinkly sparkly smiles is the best I can describe it. Odysseus’s does squish up a bit more and looks more crinkly due his age, but also because his face is shorter then Telemachus!

you may notice some inconsistencies between these, that’s because they were drawn on completely different days and I wasn’t really paying much attention to detail on some? For example his fur doesn’t look all round in the expression ones and he doesn’t exactly have that sharpness of his mouth in the physique concept that’s described in the others.

[that-ari-blogger]

Stray Gods: The Role-Playing Musical

If I asked you to close your eyes and picture something that you have lived through, what do you picture?

Chances are, you are picturing a single moment in time, and feeling all the emotion that runs through it and connects it. Maybe it makes you smile or cry. But it's a single moment, crystalised in a wonderfully imperfect brain.

Life isn't about the great stories and sagas. Sure, that's what historians write down, but that's not what the life of a person is about. It's about falling in love, it's about a cup of coffee in the morning and a conversation with a friend, it's about crying in the rain, and it's about a moment of song and dance. Life is about the little moments, the things that you remember.

Stray Gods: The Role-Playing Musical is an epic, but it's also very much not. Stray Gods is about small choices and moments that add up. So, in this post, I'm going to be looking at some of those moments that I liked, and that some of y'all liked, and doing some analysis of what they say about the story as a whole.

Let me explain.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Stray Gods is a video game. That's really important to the themes and emotions. Video games are often collaborative endeavours, the game itself often just serves to facilitate moments with the group. A perfect example of this is Ludohistory's streams with the crew from Overly Sarcastic Productions (Link).

I have played the game a few times over, with family members and friends, and on my own, and it's a lot less fun playing solo. Not that the game isn't fun to play on my own, but it felt like it was designed to be multiplayer.

The other benefit of the medium is Stray Gods' calling card. The story is interactive. You make choices and interacts with people within the game. When you convince people to give love a chance, that's your choices leading to an outcome.

One of the best examples of this happens twice. Once halfway through the first song, and then again later on in the story. You get to choose your primary character trait from Charming, Kickass, or Clever. And I think these three are interesting, because their names are misleading. Charming doesn't make you more charismatic, and clever doesn't make you more intelligent.

Instead, I read them as relating to the different driving forces. Emotion, empathy, and logic. I tried to map these on to Ethos, Pathos, and Logos, but it's not quite accurate. Pathos is emotion, Logos is logic, but Ethos is credibility, which isn't the same, but it's a neat idea. In any case, a kickass character is more likely to make rash, emotion driven choices and a clever character is more likely to step back and think, and that is reflected in the choices made available later.

@rosespark2 gave a different, more fascinating read of the concept (source).

I personally think that [the second choice of personality trait] is supposed to act in a way as Grace developing in the story. An example I could think of being maybe Charming Grace gaining Kickass trait later as her being a more open and compassionate person but seeing the injustices in the system become more glaringly obvious it starts to frustrate her and make her more aggressive.

I genuinely hadn't considered this, but it's fascinating to me. Specifically, because of how these choices influence the story. Your primary character trait lets you make slightly different choices, it affects the little moments later on down the line. For example, Clever lets you ask more questions or make different observations. Case and point, in Aphrodite's party, Grace gets asked if she knows the purpose of this event, and the clever choice is the exact opposite of another option.

You can say it's to forget, but if you're clever, you can say it is to remember. This gave me a chuckle the first time around, but on a second playthrough, it reminded me of something.

One of my favourite songs is Hotel California by the Eagles and part of the second verse goes like this:

"How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat. Some dance to remember. Some dance to forget."

A party can be for remembrance and for its antithesis at the same time. Because that's what this event is for, it's for keeping the good times and replacing the bad ones with new moments. It's a time to reminisce. And a clever Grace could work that tiny little detail out, and it could change your perspective on the entire story, a small moment having a big impact.

But as Rosespark pointed out, you get two choices of character trait, and they can act as character development. And the way that the story uses these choices works with this take. Because instead of your second choice superseding or supplanting your original, it adds to it. Because character development can mean losing parts of yourself, but it can also mean developing. Maybe you are clever and kickass, and that lets you make both clever and kickass choices.

This retroactively makes the Grace from the first half of the story feel incomplete, and that's exactly who this character is, she is young, and lost at sea, trying to find a way forwards. This is a character who needs to decide who to be, and that doesn't happen all at once, it happens gradually, in the smaller moments.

When you play a TTRPG (be it Pathfinder, or DnD, or Raccoon Sky Pirates), you usually play as a single character. And one of the fun things about those games is finding out in real time, who your character is, and it's influenced not just by your choices, but by those of your friends, and the rolls of your dice.

And characters are made in the little moments, because you cannot look at the wider story. I remember two separate occasions where characters went in completely opposite directions. One champion I made to seek out power wherever she could find it ended up being the redeemer of the group, and one alchemist I made to seek revenge ended up being a father figure. And those two characters came about not through looking at how the plot would play out, but by small decisions in the moment of play.

Stray Gods works a lot like that, and that's for one key reason. TTRPGs are reflections of life, in a way. They are spontaneous, and that's what Stray Gods seeks to achieve. It is possible to play the game with the intent of being specifically charming, but what happens when you get given a choice with no charming options. Most notably, do you side with Persephone or Apollo in Old Wounds? Character comes about in the small moments and the little choices that lead to a large outcome.

This all works for little choices within the game and within its music. The neat little instrumental association of the choices (Electric guitar for Kickass, harp for Charming, bass clarinet for Clever) is a cool choice that associates the choices with distinct moods that can really help to back up the choice as being charming or clever or whatever. And the repetition of this means that you end up associating those instruments with their choices. So, when a character other than grace starts singing with these instruments backing them up, you associate them with that character trait.

For example, Orpheus is the owner of the single coolest looking guitar ever made, and in The Throne, is preceded by this instrument. So, you immediately associate him with strong emotions, just through the music. When you finally meet him, he isn't particularly rash in action, but you are wary of him because of your intuition brought on by the guitar.

Another example of a small musical choice affecting the story is in Cast A Spell and was pointed out by @adragoncat (link):

[Asterion] might be singing a harmony, and when [Hecate] accepts his proposal, she starts singing a melody to compliment it.

It's a tiny choice in the grand scheme of things, within the entire musical, the Asterion and Hecate love story has no plot bearing. But I have gone into detail on the thematic significance in a different post.

But what I think Adraconcat is pointing out is that the music signifies the connection between the two characters. Asterion's singing is less than immaculate, and that is the point, but when Hecate joins in, she doesn't make his singing obsolete, but she adds to it. The two complement each other. Not only is Asterion's song more bearable with her addition, but his singing itself becomes a harmony as the voices intermingle and complement each other into something infinitely better than the opening fumbles.

Things don't have to be plot relevant to be remembered. You remember Cast A Spell because of the emotion you invest in the relationship, and if you don't invest, you don't remember. And there's nothing wrong with that. Memories are unique to the person. My favourite moment in the entire musical is a small line by Eros in The Ritual:

"My arrows are rusty, forget the bow"

The arrows rusted because they were metal, but forget the bow because it was wood and rotted away. (That may be obvious, but I thought it was cool). That bow, mythologically speaking, is what makes people fall in love. It gets used on Jason and Media, and it gets used on Psyche and Eros himself. Probably a mythological interpretation of the flightlines and unpredictability of love, it was a purpose for Eros, and this single line conveys a loss of purpose as time has shifted, and the song attributes that to the pain of Aphrodite.

This is especially powerful because Grace's entire journey is finding her own purpose, and she can empathise with that. If you get invested in Grace's story, there's a high likelihood you will empathise with this as well.

But the line that sums up the themes the most comes in The Trial:

"Give it time you'll find even an island drifts. You don't notice 'cause it only moves in teeny, tiny shifts."

Stray Gods is about the small moments, because Stray Gods is about choices. You make decisions, you accept the consequences. But sometimes you get so caught up in the small things and you don't understand or see what they all lead to.

You are defined by your choices, for better or worse. And sometimes you look back on yourself and don't recognise who you were or who you have become. And it's important to do so, because the moments keep coming. Even now, there is the choice to change for the better, even when all is lost, you can make a choice. And that choice will be remembered as a tiny moment that might just change your life.

Final Thoughts

This musical is phenomenal and my greatest respect to Austin Wintory for the music, David Gaider for the writing, and everyone else involved.

This is game niche, and that is a strength. It's a Greek mythology, murder mystery, musical, coming of age story, video game. But it zeroes in on its heart, that being the small moments and choices that make a life.

This game made me laugh and cry and sing along. It made me dance, and brought about some fantastic memories, and that's the best praise I can offer it.

Thank you to all those who have read my posts and fed my ego. I put out a request for y'all's opinions on this and while I admittedly overestimated how many responses to that call I would get, it was fun seeing what y'all thought and working that into the final analysis. I am eternally grateful to those who offered their thoughts. I might do it again for other series of analysis that I do.

But this isn't it for my analysis of musicals. In the new year, I plan to take a look at Wicked, so stick around if that interests you.

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