#love the pierrot vibes it gives

[batxcastlesociety]

would now be a bad time to reiterate the fact my story takes place during the 16-1700s 😬

[axolistic]

NEW AU JUST DROPPED BABY

The amazing digital circus x ava (I'm insane). This is based on a video I saw on TikTok and just the episode itself.

Basically this happened, and both of these dumb stick guys ended up trapped on the digital circus. Here are some important things to take into account:

They don’t remember each other, but because they are not considered people, they still retain some things from their lives. Not memories, but general vibes, like: I don’t like this person or deja vu.

Also because of this, they sorta look like they do on the outernet, but just not at first glance.

They usually avoid interacting with each other, due to the aforementioned vibes.

TCO is easily irritated by anyone, specifically Victim. Will usually get violent if threatened.

One of the only things they have in common is their hate for Caine, a rare coincidence, how they both hate being overseen by a superior force.

Both of them still retain scars, because I think it's angsty.

Some notes about TCO’s design:

Can still use their powers, but are not aware they have them. Because of this, they got startled when they accidentally (that's up for debate) attacked Caine with their laser eyes.

Clothes were inspired by fire breathers (the act on a circus). Not a lot though, since I don't know how to draw jewelry or patterns lol.

When splashed with fire or any other liquid (excluding gasoline and substances similar to it), the flame in their head will die, but it will lit again automatically.

The pattern on their arms are not tattoos, but rather markings? I don't know how to explain it.

Some notes on Vic's design:

They are inspired by pierrot clowns and mimes, cause I thought it'd be ironic.

I made them look, or at least resemble c!Alan a bit, just for funsies (and angst).

Glasses can emote, and if you take them off the mask, it would just be those paint markings.

The mask can be taken off but with help. Victim cannot take it off by himself (he has tried).

Final Notes:

They can both speak, but they can also talk like in the drawing. (TCO by spitting letters made of fire and Victim by just... yeah.)

None of them remember their name, and I'm not sure what names to give them, it would be nice if you could give me some ideas-

Anyways, I kinda love this AU, and maybe I'll write a fic just for fun.

(Also for the Patchwork Family fic I'm writing, it's probably not gonna be discontinued, the next chapter is still a wip, but it's near completion :3)

[snufk1nn]

The triumvirate as commedia dell'arte characters

@mcspirkevents bingo card prompt free space

My ideas behind each of them and why I chose that specific character is after the cutoff :))

Spock is Pierrot. The character of Pierrot is a symbol for putting on a mask to hide one's true feelings which felt fitting for Spock. He is done with charcoal to give him a soft and kind of even sad vibe to mach the character of Pierrot.

McCoy is Columbina. The character of Columbina is sassy and is a faithful confidante, constantly demonstrating her improvisational skills. McCoy is trusted by others and has to improvise constantly in each medical crisis that happens aboard the Enterprise. McCoys outfit was made with old doctors coats in mind. He was done with watercolours to have a bold yet risky feel, because watercolours can be unpredictable.

Kirk is Innamorati, with some influence of Il Capitano. With all the chaos that occurs in commedia dell'arte Innamorati, which translate to Lovers, are characters that always end up winning in the end. They are very selfish and self-centered and along with loving themselves, they are in love with the very idea of love. It's well known that Kirk is infact not selfish at all, but to the audience of the show and other characters his actions aren't always crystal clear. Sometimes his actions could be deemed selfish before we get to the part of the conclusion of the episode. Kirk was made with acrylic paint to give him a romantic and shiny feel. His outfits design has heavy influence from II Capitano.

[m1kas0ra]

Assigning random songs from my playlist to (not all) enstars characters but i don’t have a reason for 99% of them, mainly vibes

My playlist is mainly vocaloid and jpop and the characters are in no particular order either, ALSO i’m putting both yt and spotify links cus tumblr keeps saying no if i use too many spotify ones for some reason, unless i’m just. Stupid

Pls don’t expect a lot of the characters in this 😭 i just did this cus i thought it was fun

Sora: Roleplaying Game

I also thought of this song for makoto but uhhhh i put sora :3 both work tho

Wataru: Pretty U

IT’S A KPOP SONG BUT HEAR ME OUT. THIS SONG SOUNDS SO WATARU

Tori: Dreamin chuchu

idk i just think the song’s cute and suits tori :(

Aira: I am you

AI (love) NAN DESU ??????? *AI*RA SHIRATORI??? AI RAVU???

Mika: Migikata no chou (Butterfly on your right shoulder)

mainly cus Mika’s fs1 has a butterfly but c’mon

Nazuna: Karakurui Pierrot

exvalk moment or. doll idk 😭 i wanted to give this song to Mika at first but i felt like it also suited ex-valk nazuna

Natsume: Magic

magic.

Arashi: Ohedo Julia Night

Mitchie M songs give me arashi vibes i cant explain but u have to listen. Mitchie M and arashi

Rinne: YY

THIS SONG IS SO CRAZY:B ACTUALLY LISTEN TO ME. YOU WILL LISTEN TO M- *gets shot*

HiMERU/Kaname(???): ERROR

Stares at kaname and oremeru (i dont even know all of their lore, just like the main idea)

Niki: Stand By You

i dunno why but i first thought of niki (crazy:b in general but mainly niki) when i listened to this song

Rei: Lavie

listen. Lavie lavie chu. Rei.

Koga: Roki

a fairly obvious one but c’mon bro rock n roll

Ritsu: Suima

This song gives sleepy vibes and i thought of ritsu

Kanata: Icedrop

this feels so kanata coded

Mayoi: Cute no kanojo

i once saw fanart of mayoi in the mv of this song and i jus oughghhghghgh

Ibara: Shanti

I don’t know why but hear me out pls

I FORGOT TO ADD MR NICE but his assigned song is definitely “Very Nice” by seventeen, no arguments

Thank you for bothering to read thru the whole thing

[this-is-a-dystopian-parable]

Reacting to the new Three Houses photos!

My Three Houses brainrot is setting in and I have to keep myself from going insane and/or spoiling myself before I see it. So lets go through the new photos released by Playbill yesterday (May 3rd)! My predictions below, but I don't know any more than you do so there won't be any spoilers!

Right off the bat. The set? STUNNING. Giving Octet/Comet/Ghost Quartet if it had a proper set. The concept of the show is an open mic night so the bar setting is a given, I love the little tables with menus, makes it very Great Comet. I love how many of Dave's shows are set in a specific place that the performance factors into. You are at an academic lecture, a jazz club, a church basement. Wonderful job by dots.

Love that the Grandmother and Grandfather double as the bartenders/waiters here. A note about the cigarette from the playbill, these are herbal cigarettes that are actually smoked for real, they just don't have any effect. Just a fun fact for realism.

ONSTAGE BAND lets gooooooo. You can see the other two characters sitting at the two little tables downstage.

No thoughts. Pretty :)

DRAGON DRAGON DRAGON DRAGON

I'm SO curious why he's here. I had assumed, naturally, that the puppet in this case would be the Wolf. But no, there's a dragon here??? My prediction is that this is either connected to the video game references in the show (we'll come to that), it's a puppet a character made, or it's some hallucination/dream sequence.

Dragon is sitting at the bar??? He's havin a drink??? Oh my god???

Band onstage!!!

You can see how close the audience is in this one!!!

More that are close-ups. My only note here is that the background behind the bar is different! So I assume it changes between characters.

HERE WE ARE. THE SIMS PLUMBOBS. THATS SO SILLY. I'm also really curious about the way Dave would use the context of the Sims in this show. Like I'm predicting it's going to be more than "people playing video games stuck at home" but will also have some comment about socialization and human connection. Since Mia Pak doesn't have one here, I feel like we're likely to see an Octet style form where during each person's individual story, the others act as a side characters.

Oh my gooood he is so unhinged and silly. What is he up to. The intense glare. The plumbob again. My prediction is that he will sort of hang around and antagonize from within each person's story, taking on different roles and acting as an omnipotent force.

ALSO. ELECTRIC GUITAR. Giving Beowulf but also The DJ. I guess that's what I'm leaning towards with his style of antagonism, he's just there to poke fun at them and be mean and have fun. I love him, he looks like he's having so much fun.

I love the boxes but it's also really surreal, because I JUST did a show in October that was also about quarantine and featured tons of cardboard boxes. Seriously. The playwright had decided to clean up the house during quarantine, and put things into boxes to keep them organized. But he fell into depression and for months just lived out of the cardboard boxes he didn't have the energy to unpack. This show was about a depressed woman who couldn't sleep, and was haunted by a Pierrot clown and a puppet. Anyway. I'm getting similar vibes here.

Those are all my thoughts on the photos! But I have a couple more from the updates to the program, which you can access here.

The characters have new names added to them! It's now Susan/Shelob, Sadie/Pookie, and Beckett/Zippy. I wonder what these are about, if they're just other characters they play within the stories. My prediction is though that they're either online names or related to the Sims bit mentioned earlier.

According to the program, there are only THREE musical numbers. Not acts, "musical numbers" that's the exact wording.

First House: Susan

Second House: Sadie

Third House: Beckett

Coda

Dave Dave Dave. Maybe this is a previews thing, and the different names just haven't been solidified? Either way, I support doing whatever he wants from a show standpoint but I'm curious how it would translate to an album. Of course, that's a problem for another day!

Woof. Long one. Thank you for sticking with me here and stay tuned because I am going to be sharing a LOT more about this show as it develops!

[lilac-nites]

I made coords with recent purchases. I bought The Black Ribbon's blue apron from LM to wear with Meta's Violet Bouquet skirt. I also bought Meta's Frill Ribbon JSK set in Beige.

The Black Ribbon apron is very cute and made with a great fabric. The apron is a really great piece and it covers the gaping that happens with my other blouses. The bib is removable and there are pockets that can fit my phone. The straps are adjustable with two buttons. I was hoping that it'd give a more classic look to this coord, but it looks very sweet.

I bought the JSK and under the knee socks in Antique White. I love how this looks and it gives the sweet-classic/country vibes that I'm aiming for. I just need a straw hat to wear with it. The Meta set also came with a large headdress that I still need to figure out how to wear.

I still have more purchases planned from Atelier Pierrot and I'm looking for a short-sleeve and long-sleeve ivory and white blouses.

[malaierba]

I saw the Karamatsu sales ace skit, and HELP IT'S KINDA WHOLESOME??? If we ever get a season 4, I would love to see that skit in there. Also, if Studio Pierrot would STOP PLAYING GAMES and give us Nozomi back... that would be nice too/j (adapting manga into anime isn't easy, so they're allowed to take their time, but bringing back favorites would be nice ;-;)

I'm obsessed with anything and everything where we see Karamatsu working because it just.... Really shows he's SOOOOO UNFIT FOR TRADITIONAL WORK lmfao.

In the taxi driver skit, we see how his Thing with embedding his personality into everything he does actively gets in the way of him being able to do things seamlessly and efficiently (his taxi's gadgets popping up at inconvenient times and annoying Totoko), to the point where he can't focus on what he's doing and ends up getting lost and needing to be given a pep talk by his client. Incredible stuff.

And then in the bar skit, a job that you'd think he should be a good fit for him, the lack of, ah, creative freedom? (Meaning: he wants to do flashy stuff but the clients, again, want things to be done simply and efficiently) eventually kills his vibe and he begrudgingly agrees to give the girlymatsus what they want. Only to not go through in the end.

That skit reminds me a bit of season 3, where sometimes he'd pull one of his increasingly rare karamatsuisms (strike a pose, summon sparkles, wax purple prose), only for his siblings to not play along, which in turn have us viewers a close-up of him going from 😎✨ to 😒

I do love that he tries to find ways to put his personality into what he does and like, try to hype things up for himself, try to make work fun etc. He's just so... Chaotic and immature about it ckdkkfkd. I'm trying to picture him as a salesman and I think most people would be weirded out by him, it takes a very specific (open minded + curious + with time to kill?) type of person to watch a man in a fur coat strutting your way attempting to sell you some magazines, and think "I need to figure out what your deal is".

With that in mind, I think it'd be so cute if Studio Pierrot brought back Nozomi for a few skits with Kara 🥺 Because from what we saw in the movie... She's actually that type of person? She saw the sextuplets as being a bit too much, a bit odd, and it just made her want to get to know them better. I think most people don't expect a seemingly shy character to fit the characteristic that I listed before, so there's definitely some fun to be had at highlighting that gap.

Also. Airhead X 2 friendship ftw.

[desultory-novice]

I really would like to see interactions between the Wave 1 characters. An earlier post you made did make me think about it some more.

The animal trio would certainly view Gooey as their little pal, but the real question of course lies with Marx. I wonder how Rick, Kine and Coo would interact with him? I interpret that Gooey is similar to Kirby to where he easily forgives and likes just about anyone, so I think he and Marx would have little to no trouble between each other.

I suppose maybe we could extend this subject and wonder how Marx could possibly interact with the DL3 animal trio, too. I had this hilarious thought of Nago stealing Marx's beach ball to play around with, lol.

I'm, of course, rather soft on Marx, as a everyone surely knows by now. I don't dismiss the things he did, nor his less heroic traits (if he can be said to have ANY heroic traits at all :laugh:) but I do like to imagine what he's like in his off hours, so to speak.

Something that I was just thinking about the other day was that, currently, Marx is listed as a "道化師"or "jester" ("ピエロ" or "pierrot"/"clown" in the Dedede Encyclopedia) but when he made his first appearance, he was known as "魔法使いのマルク" or "Marx the Magician."

What all those things tell me is that Marx, in his day to day life, is probably an entertainer. The "magician" thing could have referred to him being a stage magician, or maybe people in Dream Land knew him as the helpful neighborhood wizard? I'd think it would be in his best interest to try and earn a relatively reputable reputation for himself before pulling off his grand scheme.

Going back to the Dedede Encyclopedia entry about Marx, King Dedede talks about him like "...I think he caused some kind of big incident once?" so I'd like to think that the truth of his and Kirby's fight wasn't all that well known and people don't really hold that against him.

Poppy Jr: "Hey, Kirby! How'd it go with the sun and moon thing? Marx said something about checking on you and then he left?" Kirby: "Mmm. Yeah. We fought. He blew up. Everything's good now though. ...Yaaaaawn... Sleepy time..." Poppy Jr: "...???"

Honestly, I find it hard to imagine anyone in Popstar holds anything against anyone? That seems so antithetical to the way we've seen life depicted as on the star-shaped planet.

-

What I think is kind of neat about the Animal Friends in combination with Marx is that they all kind of give off this... circus vibe to me?

You know Ricks' one move, where he takes out an umbrella and spins Kirby around on it? That's known as 傘回し or "umbrella spinning" in Japan and it is a historical performance art. And so, I like to think that Marx, Gooey, and the Animal Friends (DL2 and 3) make up a kind of low-key "circus" act for Dream Land. Or at least bond over festivals and such.

I mean, the Wave 1 team are all pretty laid back and probably much more interested in having a good time than any of the other Waves, who have more outside-Popstar connections. Gooey might be Dark Matter, but that's never mattered to them. And HC aside, Marx on the surface is just a fun-loving, silly little guy. I mean, look at this face! Look at him!!! He just wants to be silly!

But yeah, when I think back to the fact that the opening of MWW has Kirby alongside a Bronto Burt, a Waddle Dee, and a Poppy Brother, I thnk that Marx is probably someone who deals more with the "commoner" side of Dream Land, which is where Gooey and the Animal Friends fit to me too.

As for opinions on him... I think that the older-coded members probably treat him as a funny little scamp. I think that, despite their best attempts not to laugh, Marx's hijinks or bad puns probably get a dumb giggle out of them. They've been around enough to not take him too seriously. (The Nago and Marx fighting over his ball imagery is the cutest darn thing and thank you so much for it!)

As for the younger ones, Chuchu probably loves him WHEN he's being explicitly cute but turns up her nonexistent nose at him when he's not. They probably also share bow tips. I can see Marx playing a lot of games with Pitch, with the others keeping an eye to make sure he doesn't play too rough. (Alternatively, he's taken a couple of painful "warning" pecks to the head by Pitch Mama.)

Yep yep yep! I can see Gooey and Marx having the strongest bond out of the 8 of them too. Because while the others all share the trait of being "laid back" and "easy-going" both Marx and Gooey have something special going on with them. They're both different in a way that the others don't get. Not that either of them have a need to (or CAN) talk about it. But I think Gooey probably looks up to Marx for being weird and unexplainable "like me" and Marx digs Gooey for being kinda "wrong" - like him.

[peskyfirefly]

what i like about black clover ???? *takes deep breath*

since you like naruto, i think you'll also enjoy black clover since the vibes and everything are pretty similar! i have not watched naruto but my brother did and he said its similarty with naruto is what made him get into black clover, and now it's also one of his favs

it's kind of a typical shonen series with common shonen themes and lots of super cool fighting scenes but what i love most about it are the characters! it has that found family troupe with a whole bunch of chaotic gremlin characters who are the underdogs! the female characters are especially *chef's kiss* they're all so bad ass and well written! and the little side characters too! everyone have something special about them, so i have sooo many fav characters lol

it's very fun to watch, lots of funny moments and some emotional moments that'll catch you off guard! also hella cool plot twists and transformations and again, the fight scenes! soooo hype! and the world building is also really interesting!

the one other thing (aside from asta being loud) that gets people to drop the series is that it didn't have the best animation in the beginning (due to a craaazy messed up staff schedule from studio pierrot lol) but it really does improve as the episodes go! like ofc it's no kny with the super flashy animation but i do love how the fight scenes are animated especially later in the series!

for me, it started off with me thinking it'll just be another nice anime that i'll like ~ the normal amount~ but it just became special the more i watched! but like im gonna stop here im so sorry this was long ajdhajxhdjs and thank you for asking me and giving me a chance to ramble!! 🥰🥰🥰

omg never apologize for being passionate!!! I love to hear u talk about the things u like ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

badass female characters?? sign me tf up 😩

ur making me hyped to watch this!!! thank u so much for giving such a wonderful ramble 🥺 ily 👉👈

[lightningandfireinmybones]

westerosi circus? time for me to use all my circus town knowledge.

Helaena either gives off pierrot clown vibes OR someone that does the dog tricks. (animals in the circus is a touchy subject, but lets just pretend the targs are good to their animals and there's no exotics) Aegon is definitely a hobo clown ala emmet kelly but maybe styled more like a pathetic prince? Maybe an Aegon the older/Aegon the younger bit? Like Aegon the older is the sad pathetic foil to the polished and heroic younger? Luke, Jace, Baela and Rhaena are all part of The Flying Velaryons. Valaena was supposed to be part of The Flying Velaryons but nows she's a target girl- Aemond was a little lost until he realizes that his love of daggers could be an asset and definitely a distraction enough to pull Valaena into his act. I just know the sex afterwards is insane. Nyra gives me fire breather vibes who changes up her act depending on if she's pregnant or not. Daemon gives former equestrian turned Ring Master after Viserys retires. 100% still rides on his horse during the circus. Viserys when he was young did trick riding with Aemma, when he married Alicent (an investors daughter) she refused to join the circus and made him quit performing. Now he's exclusively business side and teaching Daemon and Nyra the ropes. Any of the kids that are too young to be performing actual acts have modified "kiddie" acts. tight rope walking only a few inches high, unicycles, juggling.

Bestie I have zero circus knowledge so I’m ceding completely to this, I trust your judgement

Yes to everything you said, the flying velaryons where Luke and Jace and Baela and rhaena teamed up, twisting like dragons through the air

Before aemond came on board, Valaena had her own acrobatic/trapeze (AERIAL SILKS PERHAPS??) routine with no net, just absolutely flying through the air in dazzling feats of flexibility with no fear and no gravity

Aemond joins so he can watch Valaena every night, but is messing around with daggers on the ground one night while she’s practicing around, she says something sassy while hanging upside down over him, he teasingly tosses one of the daggers at her (with COMPLETE confidence he won’t hit her, he’s really just that good) and watches her eyes go wide as the flies next to her ear, nearly cutting the silk she’s hanging from

It’d be quiet for a sec, as they both stare at each other, Valaena deftly dropping down a little further so she can see him better, another knife already in his hand, cutting her down for real so he can press the knife to her skin and test whether that look in her eyes is fear or excitement

[zenyuumi]

@solaaresque ok mika time :D

Fav thing abt them: his character development drives me insane. the entire story of human comedy makes me wanna gut myself just. Him 🥹🥹💗💕💖💞💖💕💗🥹💕🥹🥹

Favorite line: so so many. They are all from human comedy

brOTP: nazumika ! :D i love them

OTP: narumika nd shumika! Maybe they can even co exist ? He has two hands for a reason

random hc and unpopular opinion: none. I am sorry

song i associate w them: karakuri pierrot nd maybe tokyo teddy bear. I know it doesnt fit AT ALL esp w how he is now but. the vibes the songs give me is enough reason for my silly mind

fav pic of them: his fs 1 nd 2

[thescrapbookingscientist]

Bimonthly Media Roundup

-Hatoful Boyfriend (Video Game) - Hatoful finale and wow what an ending it was. I really have to applaud this game on turning a silly bonkers premise into a genuinely unnerving psychological horror while actually having interesting characters and emotional moments. I wouldn't say I connected enough with any of them to buy merch or anything but they had more depth than I was expecting from dating sim characters (and birds at that) with exiting little twists. The true ending was the culmination of all the routes and somehow delivered the most impactful story line of all, with a sort of fucked up but true case of "yeah minus the birds thing this is kinda how humans react to sudden and unexpected political shifts huh?". I'd definitely recommend giving it a playthrough/watch, it may seem a little slow at first but boy is it an experience.

-Face Off (TV) - Seasons 4 and 5 are on Netflix so I've been putting this on as background noise while I work. Really fun to see the neat challenges and designs, especially as I like to think how I would approach them myself (though more from a drawing/writing standpoint than crafting obviously). Too bad the whole show isn't available, I haven't found an archived set of all the designs and challenges online so I feel like I'm missing out on some fun ones.

-Suzume (Movie) - Okay so I had typed a whole big review on this out that glitched and did not save. I don't want to type it again so short version is that I respect the animation and themes or equating grief over the loss of a person with the loss of a location and community, but didn't really vibe with the lack of character or tension in the story. Also I feel bad for the little gremlin cat and think he deserved way better, justice for that cat that twink guy should've stayed a chair.

- Campfire Cooking (Manga) - A quick reread of the whole manga when I just wanted a self-indulgent relaxing cooking series. It's still very wholesome, though I will say that I think this is one of the rare ones where the anime is better than the manga due to the visuals really enhancing the appetizing meals and cute mannerisms of the familiars. Season 2 will be coming out soon which I am now fully prepared for, bring me the tiny dragon and loser elf.

- Six of Crows (Books) - Left without internet I was forced to listen to the pre-downloaded audio books I had bought months ago. It's actually pretty interesting so far, I do love heist stories, but I don't feel like talking about it until I'm farther in.

- The Apothecary Diaries (Anime) - I'm too tired to talk about how incredible this was right now but believe me it's really really good. I love MaoMao, this setting is amazing, the characterization of everyone is grounded enough to feel like unique people while leaving room for silly comedy, and the mysteries and twists are so compelling that I could barely stop watching. Highly recommend, might even rewatch it again soon.

- Dungeon Meshi (Anime) - Y'all weren't kidding about those lesbians huh? Good for them, Good for them.

- One Piece (Anime) - Arrived in Wano, the new art style is charming and so are Otama and Okiku.

- Genshin Impact (Video Game) - Making my way through Sumeru.

Listening To: How Did You Love by Shinedown, Give Up Your Dreams from The School of Rock, Everything Goes On by Porter Robinson, All the Boys by Panic! At The Disco, Willow by Taylor Swift, Rose Colored Boy by Paramore, Her Diamonds by Rob Thomas, Stray Italian Greyhound by Vienna Teng, Hey I Don't Work Here by Tom Cardy, Pierrot by Kei, and Can't Catch Me Now cover by Annapantsu

[xanfeursel]

heard you were bored so here are some questions :) (i realized halfway through that these are all durgetash because those little shits have taken over my mind) do you like leaning into the angst of durgetash or do you prefer the more lighthearted (aside from the atrocities) dynamic? if larian dropped a gortash romance, is there any icks that would absolutely ruin it for you?

or conversely, what would be the best thing they could add in a hypothetical gortash route?

what were your biggest inspirations for lophi and vyper? do you prefer one over the other or are they equal in your eyes?

(hopefully you won't have to answer these since you'll get out of work soon)

HELLO ANON. im sorry to tell you infact waited till i actually got home to answer these because i have!!! THOUGHTS and OPINIONS about the questions asked . thank you very much btw these are all really good questions ill have fun answering

FIRSTLY, it all depends on the kind of durge gortash is being paired w imo. with vyper i tend to lean more into These Two Are Fucking Insane while w/ lophi i lean more into the sort of melancholic 'angsty' side of durgetash that i think can be real yummy too. and it's all because of who vyper and lophi are as characters pre-tadpole, too. vyper liked being a loud insane freakus while lophi was a lot more reserved and kind of a miserable mess, and that informs their relationships w/ the characters around them. i think both are good and fun to explore and i definitely like exploring the more angsty side w vyper x gortash and vice versa w lophi x gortash, so. i guess both. really. LOL .

secondly, going to answer both of the gort romance related questions in one, but i think i'm probably in the unpopular opinion that gortash doesn't really neeeeeeeed a romance and i could go without it in game. i do think he deserves more content and screentime, but that's something i can say about orin also, and frankly a Lot of parts of act 3. me and act 3 have a toxic on/off again relationship. alright.

that being *said*, if i was mr larian and i was to implement a gortash romance, i'd have it be something exclusive to a durge/evil run. or at the very least, have it have consequences with your party (i.e karlach leaving or something. love gort but i do not think you should go off romancing him scott free).

i Do think having it be exclusive to a more evil-aligned run would help add more actual content to doing an evil run (and god knows we need some with how bg3 seems to like punishing people who just want to do the evil options They Gave You) and would make the most sense, but all in all i'd just hope it's handled better than the mizora sex scene cause god how that whole thing is handled still pisses me off. hopefully this all makes sense

tl;dr, its a fun idea but i can very easily go without it especially knowing how the game treated its one other antagonist romance option

now for the lophi and vyper question... i do obviously have my biases towards vyper /looks at my blog theme/, but i genuienlly cannot pick favourites with them besides that... i use them both to explore different aspects of the durge origin in different ways bc despite what some other people say i Do think you can be very flexible w durge as a concept despite the pre-established lore for them ^_^ and i think it's very fun to play around with.

as for specific inspirations, lophi takes a lot of insp from vintage pierrot art + has accidentally gotten a very 1920s makeup vibe in My Mind. i should also note her name comes from the scientific name for anglerfish, cuz thats what i had in mind when giving her those freaky sharp ass teeth i always draw her with

and while of course, both of my durges are trans, lophi specifically was birthed from my want to make a dark urge that leans in as heavily as she possibly could in the whole trans allegory thing. so theres that as well!

vyper's specific inspos are harder for me to pinpoint cause he's much more of a 'made up as i went' character than lophi, given he was my First dark urge and i didnt really fully know what i was going into all this yet while making him (and also i was maybe a little bit high while doing so...lol) THAT SAID THOUGH, i did initially make him with akira fudo from devilman in mind. he has the horn style he does because it reminded me of devilman ... although the akira insp is very lose and barely effects his character now.. ~_~ despite bg3 being my main fixation atm devilman is still a very very important piece of media to me so vyper being loosely akira-pilled is not too surprising if you know me well enough lololol

[yori-gami]

@saffronbasmati That's a stance I've surprisingly never considered, but it actually makes tons of sense. Well, to me at least. I've often considered the earlier Windows games to be more dreamlike and ethereal in nature because ZUN was mostly just taking it easy worldbuilding-wise, and after a short while he started getting more into worldbuilding and the first four games (IaMP included) definitely have this much more different, more dreamlike vibe to them than MoF-onwards. In fact, I'd say the Hifuu CDs still sort of have this specific vibe to them, and although it's starting to fade away there are always still elements that keep the vibe. For example, the presence of alcohol. But really, the calm, old-fashioned, almost watercolour-y feel of the early Windows games (and even the PC-98) could definitely be due to the alcohol ZUN regularly consumes and did consume back then when he wasn't taking his game development career quite as seriously as he does now.

@pleasecallmenicole Somebody that's been following me for a little while now, happy to see you interact <3 Now unfortunately I don't have quite as many thoughts about Hifuu as some of the other people on here but I will say they are quite the charming little pair of characters and I greatly appreciate them for what they are. Their designs are nice and simple, giving room for redesigns that still keep them recognisable, the CDs are bangers every time, and just the very nature of their story always clears room in your head to think about them every once in a while. But now that I'm thinking about them, I also want to bring up this epiphany (?) i had earlier this year while thinking about Touhou.

The duos of Renko & Maribel and Reimu & Marisa parallel each other. I'll explain. They're both iconic best friend duos with non-arguable lesbian tension between them. One's specialties lie in hard mechanics and is often touted as the more outspoken and condient one of the duo whose gimmick also involves stars (Renko & Marisa) and the other has more spiritual powers, is generally quieter but also has an attitude, and is fundamentally connected to Gensokyo in some way (Maribel & Reimu). They even visually parallel each other, only with reverse body-types where Renko is more short and stocky like Marisa but has Reimu's straight trimmed dark hair and Maribel is taller and more slenfer like Reimu but has curly golden-blonde hair like Marisa. Also Reimu and Renko's names both start with "Re-" and Marisa and Maribel's names both start with "Mari-". However, theory-wise I don't really have anything beyond "I just think that's neat" and it's just a thing we could possibly pick up on at some point.

What I find really interesting about this series of parallels is that Jacketko and Labelko from DiPP also fall into these parallels, at least visually. This time it more closely adheres to Reimu and Marisa's general character premises, with Jacketko wearing predominantly black / brown, having long, curly golden-blonde hair, wearing a hat and having ties to some sort of curse ritual or magic practice (as far as I'm aware). And Labelko looks directly designed to be a shrine maiden, as she has the straighter darker hair up in an inconvenient hairstyle and she is wearing shrine maiden attire, similar to Reimu. If the parallels adhere, we can tell what they might be like character-wise, and since it's heavily implied that Jacketko was the Pierrot, the killer responsible for the deaths of the eight honest men in DiPP, this could tell us some possibly dark and intriguing stuff that we don't know about the other two pairs of parallels. Idk I wanna dive into the implications of all three duos being parallels of each other.

Also my lab au ROTI-loving ass wants to know what's up with TORIFUNE. There's a creature described as a chimera up there??? I need to know more!

touhou people on tumblr give me a random touhou thing to talk about

[hopedfutur20-rosingtea]

You know this lady?

This lady right here, yeah-

Her character design sucks.

Not her actual character- her design of choice.

Look- I don't mind it much- but the fact she looks like a simple statue or even a glowing doll lamp just doesn't give me the vibes that she is a real person...

So I gave her a new look in my AU!

I wanted to give the vibe of 'Mother Nature' and 'peaceful, elegant queen' than what the actual canon version gives off, which is... not much, sadly.

So here is her look in the Cure Court AU!

And here's the info about this lovely woman:

Title: Queen Euphoria Royale, Ruler of Jubilife, Queen of Jubilife, Wife of Emperor Pierrot Nogo, & Mother of Candy and Pop

Name: Euphoria Royale

Sex: Female

Pronouns: She/Her

Age: 120

Height: 7'9 ft. | 2.40792 m.

Weight: 216 lb.

Bloodline: Light Family (sub-category to Dreamer Family Bloodline)

Sexuality/Romanticism: Pansexual, Panromantic

Type of Creation: She was physically reproduced in the human way by 2 people.

[carousel-clownery]

This appeals to maybe one other person Ever, but I paired the main Ninja Team with Commedia Dell'Arte archetypes. Decided to post on main Just Because, but I have too much Commedia Dell'Arte brainrot to just have lying around. So.

Actual content under the cut because this is long.

Is For You ( vaguely threatening )

Lloyd -- Pedrolino -- Tends to get clowned on ( literally ) by both the plot and the other Zanni ( albeit in a more lighthearted way ). The Italian flavour of Pierrot, but I keep them both distinct since I associate Pierrot with more melancholy aspects. Writers often consider Pedrolino the "go-between", or someone that "keeps the play moving". Both of those suit Lloyd pretty well.

Jay -- Arlecchino -- It just works, given that he's a jokester and typically seen as the comic relief of the group, much like the archetypal Harlequin. Also seen as the most iconic of the Zanni, and Jay just has that vibe to him. Can't even say why, he just Does. Also as far as fashion goes? "Arlecchino is ostentatious" is a bit of an understatement, and we saw the game show outfit. 👀👀

Kai -- Scapino -- My brain said Scapino! Lovable rogue who's impulsive enough to get into trouble, but also tends to be able to get out of it, as well. Also Kai just gives me the vibes of someone who would have a Brighella variant as his main archetype, given that Brighella's vibes are more brash than most of the other Zanni, and that suits Kai a lot.

Zane -- Menenghino -- One of the much lesser-known archetypes, and incredibly difficult to research for. As for what Menenghino's actually like, the description in Rudlin's book of "An honest man, prudent and resourceful, has balanced judgements and a generous disposition" ? That's Zane! Bonus points for the original costume for Menenghino being a white tunic with a belt.

Cole -- Mezzetino -- It was hard to vibe check him, but you can't just leave someone out like that. Mezzetino's a softer variant of Brighella, and can either be a clown and a fool or one of the team braincell holders, which kind of works as far as I'm putting pieces together. As well as that, one of Mezzetino's cornerstones is actually being into the performing arts, being skilled at singing and dancing, which reflects Cole's upbringing before joining the main team.

Nya -- Innamorata / Colombina -- Fits well as both the Innamorata and as a Colombina archetype, given how much attention was put onto the whole love triangle thing by the main plot. Colombina's archetype is mostly as "the competent one", or the one that keeps the other Zanni out of hot water, at least sometimes. The Innamorati archetypes are deliberately left vague and it's more of a plot function than a character, but it's obvious Nya's set up as the Colombina, from being both the counterpart to the rest of the team that was allowed to engage in plot officially later ( Historically, Colombina used to just be one of the intermission dancers since female actors weren't allowed to be a part of the story on stage; Nya wasn't allowed into the main Power Squad(tm) for a hot minute )