#loved putting details into this animation and doing shit that only makes sense when it's explicitly explained

[rassebers]

Yeah yeaaah yeah yeah

[xmads-omensx]

Dating Him

Masterlist

Content warnings: none

Pairing: Noah Sebastian X Reader

When you both first started dating, Noah was very shy in comparison to you. He liked the relationship, of course, but wasn't exactly used to it.

On your first date, he was very nervous and somewhat excited, so his lisp was more prominent, but you didn't pay any attention to it.

After your fifth date, which had taken place at his house so he could show you that Naruto really is a cinematic masterpiece, the words "can I be your boyfriend?" fell out of his mouth before he could do anything to stop them.

Ever since day one, your relationship has been perfect. There were small arguments here and there, but never a fight. Any issue was cleared up relatively quickly.

He notices everything about you. Were those new jeans? Had you gotten a haircut? Did you dye it? Every single detail he noticed and made sure to compliment.

He had a list on his notes app of all your favourite things, your go-to orders at every coffee shop and restaurant the two of you frequented, your size in every item of clothing imaginable, your favourite bands, your favourite songs, your favourite foods, your favourite season, he knew every. single. thing. on that list.

He's a quiet guy, so if the two of you went to someone's party or a social event, he would let you do all the talking and stay practically glued to your side as you provided him with a sense of comfort.

You would always hear any new music he was working on first, no matter what stage it was at, or what it was for, you would always hear first. The only time you wouldn't would be if he was writing a song about you, and he wanted it to be done before he showed you. Those songs never got released, but they existed just for the two of you.

He isn't the best at sharing all of his feeling with you, but he's very good at making you feel loved, be it through small touches as he passes you, a kiss on the top of your head when your cooking, or playing with your fingers as you watch TV.

Since he's on tour a lot of the time, and in the studio when he's home, he loves to plan 'date nights' that would range from a movie night in with a takeaway, a dinner at a nice restaurant or wondering around the city aimlessly looking for something cool or interesting.

You spend a lot of nights together watching ridiculously niche animes that neither of you have heard of before when you can't find anything to watch, which is obviously very hit or miss with if they're any good or not.

When you aren't together in the mornings, he will send you a good morning text along with his plans for the day, and if you aren't together at night, he will call you to say goodnight, and text you after the call is over just to make sure he got his point of you having sweet dreams across.

After you have been together for six or so months, he starts to get really goofy. I mean just doing dumbass shit for no reason at all. He will start making stupid jokes, telling you absolutely awful pickup lines, and just being a general menace to your peace of mind.

His favourite thing to do after a long day at the studio is to lay on top of you, with his head buried in your neck, and let out an impressively big sigh before going to sleep. His soft snores will eventually send you off to sleep as well.

If you work from home, he made a small space in the home studio for you, so that if both of you have a lot of work to do, you can still be together. You just put your headphones on while you work on your computer.

First and foremost, he is a gentleman and would do literally anything for you. He will open doors for you, pull chairs out for you, help you do up zippers that you can't reach, help you put your jackets on, and help you reach things that are too far out of your own reach.

[graceofagodswrath]

Ok ok ok your "Humans of Transformers franchise are space orcs" rant is out of this world.

I detest with passion when humans are reduced to pets and plot devices when instead the story could be about two alien species finding one another equally amazing/terrifying for their own respective reasons.

Here is my question: do humans and Cybertronians see how eerily similar they are? They have love of music, familial relationships, similar urban infrastructure, societal structure, financial systems, competitive entertainment, organized societies and war, colonialism, recreational intercourse, marriage...

Not to mention, why was it never addressed how similar both species look: bipedal, waists, noses, cheekbones, 5 fingers, chins, facial expressions and sense of aesthetics and beauty? Sure, humans have hair but in rather strategic places.

Veins and wires, blood and energon, metal and flesh, nanobytes and blood cells, Sparks and brain impulses, sexual organs...

Imagine Autobots arrive on Earth for the first time expecting some primitive cave-dwellers, only to encounter a less advanced mini-version of Cybertronian cities (New York, Singapore, London, Rome, Tokyo, Rio, Dubai...) and societies running on scientific, artistic and philosophical development which has no right existing on the ruthless, all-organic planet such as Earth is. Societes run by creatures who 4.000.000 (the duration of their war) years ago were hanging from the trees btw.

Autobots would be terrified.

Lemme make sure this response saves this time, cause it took me a minute to answer cause my first deleted and I had so much written I got unbelievably angry and refused to even look at the tumblr app.

But here we are.

So, this is EXACTLY what I have been thinking about for who k owe how long. It’s also the intro to this wack as fuck universe idea I’ve had in my head a while, and have kinda hinted at in my other works, but I’ve never gone into detail about.

And I still won’t.

Anyways, yes. It’s crazy that we backlit humans so much when any other sentient species is about. Transformers, TMNT, etc (I’m on a one track mind, feel free to jot down any other fandoms I can’t think of). The main theme of these stories? HUMANS SUCK. And that is severely unfair. People want to cry about how much our generation doesn’t give a shit anymore. Have you SEEN the media we feed kids???

That’s why I live Humans are Space Orcs so much. It really puts into perspective how unique and batshit our species is.

So, onto the Transformers vs humans concepts. The ONLY reason (forgoing technoism and general hate towards organics) cybertronians don’t see humanity as an imminent threat, or one in general, is because of size. WE BE SMALL AF. Can’t blame them, I get it. We do the same. Insects? Fuck them mfs.

But have you seen a botfly or tick burrow into your skin? The infection that comes form that? Have you seen ants jump a small animal as a colony and absolutely shred it? Or a spider only biting you, and the horror the venom causes (recluses and huntsman’s specifically). We have a good fucking reason for disliking these mfs.

But transformers? These are organic experiences. Worst they go through are rust infections, spark death, the works. They are not at risk the same way we are. That is why they view organics as small and inconsequential. They have no idea how hard we fight to simply stay alive.

And now the similarities. It’s understandable that they wouldn’t immediately recognize the physical, cultural, and psychological similarities between our species. Transformers are an incredibly diverse race, like any other. But specifically in physical form. Your average cybertronian holds a similar appearance to your average human. We tend to have the same features, just with different names. Eyes, noses, faceplates, ears, two arms, two legs. Sure that’s average for them too. But they are unique because of the fact that they have two forms. Vehicle mode. Their mode decides what they’re second mode looks like, which can create extreme diversity is appearance. Small, large, many limbed or not.

So the immediate similarities probably wouldn’t jump out to them in an odd way. There’s also the idea that because they’re so spread out in the universe, they’ve seen other organic races that are also similar. Pairs of every body part could be the common denominator among species.

That goes culturally too. War, love, music, government, politics, it’s all a natural form of sentient evolution. Another common denominator. It’s how it’s done that makes it unique. And the similarities between human and cybertronian culture is uncomfortably familiar.

I think that’s why cybertronians are seen being closest with humans rather than other species in the shows and comics (obviously because the audience is human and they need relation to characters but shhhh forget that for a sec). This is where the theories start.

Let’s say cybertronians begin to recognize the weird similarities between our species. The really, really weird stuff. The itty bitty details. Like:

- how we also mainstream kissing on the lips as the top tier romantic gesture.

- use verbal tone and cues for our language.

- have intensely complicated interpersonal relationships in the exact same manner.

- suffer from extreme mental health issues like depression, anxiety, PTSD (I totally headcannon that forms of adhd, autism, and ocd exist in cybertronian society, have y’all not seen my boy rodimus prime??)

- will also destroy each other in the name of our gods, until we have a common enemy.

That’s just the basics I could come up with. The only time I actually saw a moment where a transformer genuinely take a moment to realize that humans can be a threat, was in transformers prime. Episode 6 of beast wars (I think, correct me if wrong), where Miko beats the ever loving fuck out of an insecticon (I think) and upon Megatron hearing this, just goes blank Kubrick stare for a hot second. Man had an ugly realization that did not fit in with anything he had experienced his whole life.

AND THEY NEVER FUCKING ADDRESSED IT EVER AGAIN. Sick of this shit. Could’ve had the most badass character development, where the humans actually proved useful and did something (it would have fit Milo’s character so perfectly too) and scared the utter shit out of the transformers. BUT NO. They continue to be annoying as fuck.

One thing I loved about TF Prime was that it canonically turned Unicron into Earth. And humans came from the earth. Which relates humans beings and cybertronians so hard. Cousins Fr. We are the cybertronian equivalent of organics, and transformers the inorganic equivalent of humans. The individuality, the chaos, the culture, it clicks. There is so much material to really go into it.

But they never do. Don’t get me wrong, I love Transformers lord and just discovering more without humans being involved. We’re just annoying af at this point. But there is so much u tapped potential in transformers actually taking the chance to LEARN about us. But we’re just friends (pets) to these mfs.

That’s why I love TF Earthspark so far. Transformers ingrained into human culture because they’re not from Cybertron, and cybertronians having to adapt to human culture because they have no where else to go. Granted, it’s a kids show. There’s only so much they can do. But I’m excited for where it’ll lead. It really shows how much of threat and ally humans are, and how we are just as diverse as cybertronians.

I need to write another fic about cybertronians meeting humans their size from our world tho. Need to continue my old piece. Would give me so much life. Y’all help motivate me, college draining my ass.

[eff-plays]

A personal rant about BG3, Larian, and writing fanfic

So let me preface this by saying that I'm weird. I'm a weirdo. I don't fit in. Have you ever seen me without this stupid hat on?

I am not really a fanfiction writer, which is ironic considering some of my first writing was fanfiction. Since then, it's been nothing but original fiction. The Wayhaven Chronicles was the game I started writing actual fanfic for, and that was only a couple of years ago (nobody look at me I haven't updated in forty years). I'm very new to the genre, basically. I barely even read fanfic, as for most of my life I've just been like "Well it's not canon anyway so what's the point of it?" and it's only recently that I've gotten more into it and understood the "point".

That is all to say that when I started writing my BG3 Tavstarion (I know, so new and never seen before) fic, I wanted it to be based as closely on the game as possible. To the point where I would boot up the game to get the smallest details right; which boxes were where and had what in them, the inflection of a character's voice, the movements, the animations. I could look it up on Youtube, but it felt like cheating -- I had to be there, as my OC, and filter it all first-hand through their thoughts. That way, my fic would have a solid foundation of canon on which I would build their story.

I admit, that's the main reason I've kept the game installed despite burning out of actually playing it months ago. Because of my stupid OC that I love. Here's what I even made the Steam banner look like.

It might be silly -- I would never hold a fic I read to these dumbfuck standards, anyway -- but it felt right. I'm writing a canon-compliant fic, so of course I need canon to support it. Maybe not to the extent I was doing it, but the fundamental idea made sense to me. I wanted my deviations from canon to be minimal and well-informed. Because I loved the canon and that's what made me love the game, and in turn my OC. It was all connected, you see?

Which brings me to the patches. The updates. The scene changes. All of it. I wanted to stay true to the game, so I hung onto it for dear life, letting it clog up my PC's storage just in case I needed it for fic purposes. But now ... what's the point? Larian won't leave well enough alone, so to which version am I staying true? Why should I respect canon when Larian can change it at any moment if a vocal minority has issues with something I personally enjoy and want to include in a fic? At this point, my personal experience doesn't matter -- my Tav's version of the game doesn't exist anymore. So looking up stuff on Youtube feels right. In fact, it might be my only choice, if I want to see the version of the game where they first and best existed.

And you might think "Wow Eff, that's a long-winded and melodramatic way of saying you're uninstalling the game!" Well, yeah. This is my personal gaming blog, so of course I will put my big gamer feels on here. That's just what I do. But this is the first time this has happened to me, where I feel like there's just no point in respecting canon at all, and I want to document that feeling. I was trying desperately to stay true to Larian's vision, playing the game when it brought me no joy just so I could then write fic which does bring me joy. But why do that? Larian does not respect me, and more importantly, they don't respect their own stories. So why should I?

Anyway, yeah. I'm uh. Uninstalling the game, finally. I will keep writing my fic, as that still brings me joy, and apologies for getting shit wrong, but at this point the game I remember doesn't exist anyway, so what's the point in getting the current game right?

The only thing I'll miss is being able to take screenshots of my Tav, and making gifs of them. I modded in a unique face for them (and long-time followers will know how much I struggled with that) and now that won't be as easily accessible anymore. I don't think it's a waste, though, not with how much joy it brought me, and I'll still have the files. Maybe I'll come back in a few months and gaze upon them again.

Goodbye for now, my blorbo. You will always be loved. The game you're from? Not so much.

[fumifooms]

Marchil crumbs part 3

Part 1 - Part 2 - part 4 - part 5 - part 6 - part 7

Count of times canon reminds us that Chilchuck is very attracted to blondes: 3rd For context: this is the canon explanation for everyone's shapeshifters

I can’t get over Chilchuck seeing Marcille like she has anime sparkles around her hair. How long have you stared at it. It’s like with the handsome Senshi where everyone is like "no this looks legit and absolutely like the real one" but her hair is shinier/prettier in the changeling than in the actual her

It drives me crazy that Marcille styles her hair every day for herself but little does she know she’s giving Chilchuck the show of his life, daily arranging his favorite thing aka blonde hair into different unique ornate hairstyles. Not that he cares about the details but ohh my god.

It makes sense that Chil would be the first one to notice her hair being all loose and messy then. He’s bothered by seeing her like this and wants her to tie it up again, and is even more unsetled and shocked when she says she doesn’t want to anymore. Though he also recovers from the shock quicker than Laios and takes charge of the situation. HE NOTICED. HE CARESSSS. IT BUGS HIM

^ That is what you call a character arc, of becoming attached to her hair lmfaoo(more like to Marcille and her habits). Or lying. "Man I sure wish she'd shave her hair I'd be less distracted on the job. Her golden majestic hair is so blinding with how shiny and sparkly it is ugh" /j

He chose to do a portrait teehee <3

Chilchuck defending her honor even under mind control that makes them honest zombies

Marcille out there defending his VIRTUE. It’s not just that he didn’t commit infidelity, he HAS A PURE HEART!! Honestly, assigned virtuous by a bicorn would so be the type of novel shenanigan that Marcille would hella romanticize. Which we do see her do lmao but <3

They're so funny together in the golden kingdom chapters. First of all, sitting in front of each other at the table? Nice. Second, them being on the same wavelength all throughout lmao.

Them. Sharing the same numerous braincells, nodding together and making good use of it to make good decisions for the party. Valuing their noses

Also can we apreciate that they like, can talk together. Communicate and debate. Even under tougher situations or more sensitive topics. Shit this would have been a good place to put the pages when Marcille was dungeon lord... But they're lined up for part 4 and part 3 is already full with pics... You guys have no idea how much Tetris I'm doing for these marchil crumbs posts

I wanna do a full compilation of every time he laughs at her but in the meantime have this small imperfect collection as well as this reddit comp. I swear she's the person/thing that makes him laugh and smile the most. Besides alcohol maybe

The gang and Chilchuck both knowing her well and not at all lol. Gotta love Chilchuck's confidence about knowing her favorite meal, and him remembering the bare minimum that even Laios hasn't lol

Marcille infesting his life to the point that, quote, "her delusions" are even part of his adventurer’s bible life timeline. The only picture in fact, in the streamlined canon reference to Chilchuck's life. "Hey is Marcille imagining herself as an halfling and Chil's wife with a mini Chilchuck baby Chilchuck's canon family appearances" canon: well no but actually yes /j

Chil at her bedside <3

Looking out for each other comp Yes thank you Chil captain obvious (he's trying his best and doesn't want to die let's not be mean c'mon). But like you know with that whole scene of the mad sorcerer attacking, for Chil it must have been the most terrifying thing ever. Ancient magic?? By an elf, targeting them with murderous intent?? With only an elf with also ancient magic to keep them safe attack by attack in the nick of time?? His biggest nightmare. I'm also reminded of when Chil talks with Leed about how "our magician held under the mad sorcerer's attack" all fond and 'I am so relieved I can trust her with my life' and Leed is like "That silly looking elf?!" and Chil was like "Yeah she's silly. At least she's strong tho." I'm getting carried away but yes this scene was relationship-defining in some ways

But they keep each other in check too

She was trying to make conversation and sharing her interests aw Chil come on

They're sooo domestic. "Chil are we there yet" "Marcille I swear to god if you ask me that one more time-". Also second time through the manga that Marcille squishes Chil against the ground/wall.

Get squeezed idiot

Part 4 is here!

[opiopal]

OK

So I’ve decided that I’m going to into dump about my Mc(since like four people mentioned they’d read it lol), with the inclusion of pictures, I’ll try to keep it organized, making a list that goes, basic info, details, relationships, and add on’s, but I’m not that best with organization especially when it comes to my own characters.

This will be a mixture of canon stuff to the OM universe and my own stuff, I’ll go into my own personal headcanons and junk to. Fair warning this IS going to be long. Sorry if she seems a little bit to much of a main character lol. I tend to go overboard a lot of the time.

(ALSO I did redesign her basic look because I wasn’t really feeling it)

Basic info: so to start out, My Mc’s full name is Opaline L. Shards, though she introduces herself as Opal, since she thinks Opaline is a mouthful. She uses she/they pronouns, and is Pansexual. Throughout the series she is 21-24 years old, she was born and raised in Oregon state. She is about 5’5, 5,7 with her skates on. Her family consists of her mom(divorced) and her two other siblings. She LOVES anything and everything colorful and shiny and is generally curious.

Details/facts:

Opal is mostly blind, as in she is missing an eye and already needed glasses before losing said eye, so obviously it’s hard for her to see things. She prefers to work off of muscle memory and the blobby shapes that are people to her, which that is also why she likes/prefers things to have color to them. She though of course does have glasses, but prefers to wear them when she’s alone to work on things in her room so then no one can see her full face.. so she has a lot of homework. But is still fortunately a straight A student. Upon her very first night staying in the HOL, she waited until everyone was asleep to just, walk around and know her surroundings, who’s rooms were who’s and what was where. She removes her skates and anything clanky on her person before going, to avoid being caught ofc.

Her and her sheepiness

I like to imagine she isn’t a 2ft tall sheep 100% of the time throughout(because imagine trying to work at a desk or navigate massive school hallways as a stuffed animal), and that it’s really just a little enchantment that was put onto her to keep her safe, like a spidey sense, if there is danger around in RAD or in town or anywhere at all, she’ll POOF! Into a sheep. But instead of it working off of if they themselves feel threaten it just works off of if there is something that plans on hurting her around. So when that first day scene of over hearing two demons talking about eating her right then and there it’s just,

“Hey isn’t that the human exchange student? Let’s go eat then there’s no one arou-“ POOF! Scitter scitter “… what”

Speaking of RAD, clearly she isn’t wearing the uniform in its full-couch cushion looking entirety. She had texted with Barabatos to ask basic questions about dress code and asked if she could do add ons or remove a piece or two, and I’m guessing since thirteen basically mangled her uniform and didn’t get any shit for it, her wearing a sweater instead of the jacket is more then ok.

Speaking of her uniform, her hair is tied up, which isn’t really that big of a deal, but I like to imagine Lucifer does her hair, why? Well, her hair is a fluffy mess, and she really only brushes it in the morning, so Lucifer stops her from leaving first day and tied her hair up so then she looked presentable as to not embarrass him. Why did I make this a thing? Because I think it would be funny as hell that during the events in the beginning of season one, no matter what happened the night before, no matter how much they hated each other at the moment, every morning she went, knocked on his bedroom door, he opened silently, she handed him a hair tie and her hair brush, turned around, he did her hair, then she left silently and he continued to get ready to leave. Because I’m a sucker for the whole “we hate each other but we’ve made a routine and we’d rather die then not follow a routine”. (Opal also cannot handle when there is a change in any part of her unwritten routine or else she’ll be off for the rest of the day.)

Her pact Marks:

So I guess I have a reason for each of the placements/designs for the marks, for starters they’re so big because I can imagine since it’s pacts with the avatars of sun themselves the pact marks are a bit more dramatic(also I can imagine the pact marks are usually black/grey, they only glow with their sin when that magic is being used or the sun is being felt, ex: opal is pissed off, wrath glows, opal feels prideful of something she did, pride glows, ect.)

So Pride is placed on her chest, like puffing one’s chest out in pride. I just added on more stars and stuff to make it look fancier

Greed is placed on her right hand, or her stealing hand since its her dominant hand. The dots within the ribboned design represent gold coins and stuff, the mark swirls all the way up to her elbow then stops.

Envy is on her lower back over her tailbone, it’s a spot that’s a bit more out of place and is most likely to be covered by clothes then the others, so even the mark as a reason to be envious. I just added onto the water droplet and arrow design and made it stretch more onto her front as if it’s trying to be noticed more.

Wrath is on her left hand, being left handed is associated with the devil and junk so by default I think it would be cool it it landed there. And also it’s for throwing hands. The triangle design represents satans spiky tail. The mark trails up to the elbow then stops, just like greed

Lust is placed over her uterus and creeps up her stomach, I think that’s obvious. But the mark itself is in the shape of an upside down uterus. I tried to make lust look like the more elegant of the pact marks.

Gluttony is on her upper/center back because it’s a place where fat tends to accumulate more. (I promise it’s not a “big back” joke btw, I’ve had this mark placement way before it even got to be popular), a lot of the add ons are just to match the others, BUT I added four k-nine teeth, two on the top and two on the bottom. cause, yk, you need teeth to eat.

And finally sloth is on her outer left thigh, I… don’t have much of a reason as to why I put it there, apart from the fact I had nowhere else I could think of. I could say that it’s because you don’t use your legs when you’re lazy or it’s the plushest part of the body, but yk. The add ons I did was just add two more stars and two crescent moon shapes.

Relationships:

So for relationships with the other characters I did this chart I used off of google since it was the only one I could find with all the characters(I wanted to make my own but by the time I moved onto making the chart it was around 2 am and I was tired). I will explain every relationship going from brothers, demons, angels, then thirteen and Solomon.

Lucifer: she personally views Lucifer in a fatherly way, she grew up with her dad only in her life for her first 5 years of being alive and he wasn’t great. So when she did meet Lucifer for the first time not only did he vaguely look like her dad but also acted a bit like him. Which to her was more then enough reason to not like him. But over time it went from “ugh he reminds me of my dad…” to “oh! That’s my dad!^•^”. He is the first person she goes to when she needs assistance or guidance and she cares about him a lot, she has forced him to take breaks through bringing him tea or a few snacks and sitting down with him to have a conversation. And it doesn’t really help that he clearly favors her, she is very honest and polite, so I can imagine that warmed him up to her.(honestly I kind of wish there were more platonic fics with Lucifer Bc in my own brain he’s literally mothering, but alas,)

Mammon: so just from the chart, he is her best friend and also partner. I know it was probably unnecessary to add the best friend and partner arrows because your partner should be your best friend, but I added it anyways. Opal is probably a little to in love, but so is he. She goes along with pretty much everything he wants to do because she either one: wants to have the learning experience, or two: want to spend time with him. They often sleep in each others rooms, they rotate out, some days they sleep in his and others they sleep in hers. When they want more privacy or just to be alone with each other I can imagine they go to his room most of the time. She absolutely steals his clothes for herself whenever he’s gone during the night because she can’t help but be clingy, and you know she’s tackling him the moment he walks into the HOL. Overall they are both stupidly in love with each other.

Leviathan: levi is definitely one of her best friends, she loves his room since she really adores anything ocean. She likes to go to his room when she’s feeling overwhelmed or like to go find him during social events when overwhelmed since it’s most likely guaranteed he’ll also be hiding. She loves listening to him ramble about anime and stuff that he bought recently, and of course she likes gaming with him. And that one morning when levi was complaining about opal constantly shooting him in game is definitely common for her to do. If she see’s he’s on a online game she will join and mess with him. Mammon has probably woken up to her on her laptop cackling because she keeps killing levi in game.

Satan: once again someone she’s close with and would consider a best friend, I can imagine they do homework together often, and he wouldn’t mind reading things out for her. She is kind of an animal magnet, so whenever they both go out there is a high chance she’ll suddenly be holding a stray cat and they’ll both stop for like an hour to give it so much attention.

Asmo: another bestiee, after gaining a pact with asmo she definitely gets a little closer to him because of the fact that he does more “girly” things. They go shopping together and she lets him dress her up and style her hair. He is actually the only other person apart from mammon that knows she’s missing an eye, why? Well because her natural hair color is actually black, and she thankfully befriended him before her roots fully started to grow in so one melt down later she asked him for help with dying her hair, which, he’s also the only one that knows red isn’t her natural color.

Beel: she was very close with beel pretty much right off the bat, since she was already feeding him. She’s a bit of a picky eater, so she separates some foods from the foods she will definitely eat, she feels bad about leaving a bunch of left over food so beel is the garbage disposal friend. So every single “are you going to eat that?” Is always met with a cheery “nope! You can have it!”. And canon Bc of the chats, she helps him when he works out, like sitting on his back during pushups or just simply hyping him up.

Belphie: she is still very unsure with him. Though she knows he feels guilt about LITERALLY KILLING HER. She hasn’t quite forgiven him, though she is still polite and helps him out when he needs it. She isn’t close with him in the slightest though, if you asked her to describe him she would just say “uh… he sleeps!” And that’s it. Though of course she’s probably still around him often due to beel and belphie being twins and the anti Lucifer League 

Dia: another best friend! Despite the fact that they don’t hang out often, they still try their hardest to chit chat! Like her going over to have tea with him occasionally on his free days, she talks about how things are going at the HOL, with school, and other little hobbies, and she lets him complain about work and talk about other things. They are literally sunshine character+sunshine character. It’s inevitable that they would be close! She had also used her first bit of grimm to buy him roller skates! She got them custom made and surprised him with them because he mentioned that he liked hers and was really intrigued by them, so after buying him the skates they skated around for a while, linked arms and her teaching him the basics.

Barbatos: barbatos is someone she felt like she could trust right away but she was also intimidated by him. Though she ignored the intimidation and just continued treating him as normal. She constantly wants to help him and feels a little bad whenever he does something for her or gives her something. She really loves fruit so whenever she’s visiting dia there’s always a plate out for her, and whenever Barb refills it she’s always like “oh! Thank you- you don’t have to though I’m probably eating to much anyways” “nonsense, please continue to enjoy yourself” “ok:,)”

Mephistopheles: they are both unsure of each other, though he is very open about the fact that her, I am a strong believer that it’s probably just a mask. Despite rarely seeing each other she is very respectful towards him and offers assistance with smaller things, if he ever asked for help with anything relating to the news paper club she would absolutely be HYPED.

Simeon: she loves seeing simeon when she can! She thinks he’s really chill and likes being in the presence of another creative, they’ll often talk about things related to writing or drawing, really it’s just back and fourth questions. But whenever she goes down to purgatory hall she loves to just sit and talk about whatever comes to mind while drinking tea.

Luke: that is her little brother and no one can tell her otherwise. But in reality she knows what it’s like to be the youngest in a room and not be taken as seriously, so she makes sure his voice is heard(or at least he feels like he is heard.) and she is decently protective of him. Her mom actually owns a bakery so she also knows a lot about baking! I like to imagine that when they both bake something they exchange their goods with each other, and other times when she’s at purgatory hall they bake together.

Raphael: she doesn’t know him very well but still finds him pleasant!

Thirteen: she thinks thirteen is super cool! She definitely unintentionally boosts her ego, a lot. Opal is the type to speak her mind(or just think out loud), so it’s very common that when thirteen show’s off something she made or something she plans to make it’s met with a “oh! You’re so cool thirteen,”. Opal really enjoys having another fem presenting person around to, though they don’t see a lot of each other.

Solomon: she definitely appreciates having another human around(even if solomon hardly even counts as a human being anymore,) she sees him as more of an older brother to be completely honest, an older brother that’s MUCH older then her, like an older brother that already had a wife and kids when she was born kind. So she introduces him to trends and stuff and they reference random things to each other randomly. I can imagine they both like to mess with demons by basically doing improv in public. “Hey has your skin started shedding with month yet?” “No… but I can feel the skin on my face starting to dry up, I only have so much moisturizer,” “here I can get you some extra lotion if you need it,” “Aw, solomon you’re such a Girls girl!” Or “Solomon, was it batman or Superman who helped in ww2?” “Superman,” “thanks, I always forget” BUT they do have a mutual respect for each other, solomon is more then aware that opal may turn out to be stronger then him, and opal is aware that solomon has more knowledge then her and is strong.

Add ons/more background on Opal:(some violent stuff is mentioned and a very main character ass backstory fyi so be ready)

So let’s talk about her family and what life was like before RAD, there’s her mom and her two siblings. Her mom’s name is Mary, she is a shorter women but is very sweet, she owns a bakery called “charlottes web”. then her two older siblings who are twins, Diana and Travis, they are her half siblings, so they don’t share a father. Both of her siblings dabble in magic and area little well known. Travis is more silent and looks menacing but is secretly just a very anxious person. He looks very gothic but underneath every hoodie is a bright pink anime shirt from an anime he likes called “origami kittens”(my own thing), an anime about a teenage girls origami kitten coming to life and being her friend! Every episode a new one with a new personality is made. Diana is very rough and tough, she is rowdy and very tomboyish, her and Travis bicker a lot but are literally inseparable. They both love their little sister to pieces. But, none of them are apart of the descended bloodline of Lilith, her dad is actually one of the descendants.

Her dad was originally very kind and curious, like her, but when Mary was pregnant with Opal, he started to get into some shit he should have and suffered a head injury that caused a whole personality shift, he got very boastful and prideful, and wanted everything his way or no way. He still loved his family dearly but grew very violent very quickly. One night when opal was five Mary and him got into an argument in the middle of the night, opal had walked downstairs to see what the noise was about and in a fit of rage her father threw her through a closed window, causing a mild concussion. Of course nearly immediately Mary divorced his ass and that was the last time Opal ever saw her dad, no one ever ended up learning why he had changed. He passed away when she was about 12.

Growing up she was very curious and also energetic, but, because I love this kind of stuff, she indulged in the seven sins. She had a short fuse, she had a bit of an ego, she shop lifted sometimes, that kind of stuff. But one summer when she was 14 she went to stay with her grandma out of state and met her girlfriend Elora, and let me tel you they were IN LOVE, though the town in which Elora lived in had a lot of supernatural drama, so they both kind of became ghost busters/mystery inc type people. Though they had a lot of fun doing so and had a blast learning about that kind of crap. Eventually opals family moved in with her grandma and opal started going to school with Elora, unfortunately by the time that they had both turned 17 they were more public about their relationship, which is unfortunate because it was a very religious town. So some assholes had harassed them for a while before attacking them, Elora sadly did not make it and Opal in turn had lost her right eye. So she walked out of that experience with no girlfriend, no eye, and plenty of different types of trauma.

It took her a while to recover and she started to dye her hair and let it grow out, originally she had short hair with blue tips, but a lot of her hair was cut off, representing being stripped of her pride. Eventually once she was recovered physically and mentally she decided that she wanted to go back to school and decided to respond to a really good college that offered her a scholarship. But of course once she was classified as a student she ended up being picked for the exchange program and of course we all know what happens from then on.

Now onto some more light hearted stuff,

Obviously as I’ve stated she naturally dyed her hair red, mainly to separate herself from both her father and her past. She prefers to cover most her face with her hair and that simply just works because cartoon logic.

She is very silent, maybe even a little dumb at times, as in she has a hard time with things like social cues and when to quit. She is a straight A student because she easily jumps right into each class because she finds it very interesting! Like hell yeah she wants to learn about different demonic species! That’s so cool!

She doesn’t like drama though she loves talking about it, her and asmo definitely gossip to each other often and they keep tabs on everyone they talk about, one time they were both sitting at dinner, opal checked her D.D.D., gAsped, sent whatever she saw over to asmo, then made eye contact with him and motion for him to look at his own phone, he also gasps, and immediately they both leave the room to start talking.

I can also imagine that it was not KNOWN that she couldn’t see that well for a little while, until eventually there was maybe a small dinner party at dia’s castle, she mentioned that she was going to the rest room, then barbatos offered to lead her there, which in turn made a few of them look confused like “but they’ve been here before, why would you need to show them to the restroom?” “Ah, because they can’t see, why else?” “BARBATOS NO-“ then she has to awkwardly explain that she’s blinder then a bat after he apologizes to her. I’m sure some of them already knew but she did NOT want the other brothers to know because she knew damn well they would make a big deal out of it.

Alright, let’s get some pictures in here,

Starting off this is her bag! It’s older and she’s torn it a good few times, so she patches it up herself, obviously there’s a little sheep mc key chain that’s totally not a lesson 16 reference, she also has a little mc sheep pin, a random :3 face pin, a set it off pin and a destroy boys pin(two of my own personal favorite bands)

Next we have her D.D.D. And her headphones, she probably won both the case and headphones in a give away for some astronomy thing she is into, of course she added the Kirby sticker herself. But yeah.

Next is her ominously labeled journal, why did I label it as such? Well because she writes and draws some interesting stuff. The way she learns about things is to draw and dissect them in her brain along with a series of “what ifs” so one thing she ended up doing out of her own curiosity is pull a dungeon meshi and think “what if i drew the boys as different foods?” Which lead to her making detailed drawings of different parts of them as foods. Obviously she would never ever even think of doing such a thing, but her mind wanders. Apart from that the rest is a little normal, doodles of people and animals she’s seen, little diary entries, that kind of stuff.

Lastly there’s this necklace, seems a little random BUT, this is a reference to one of the beach events from the OG game, when mammon finds a shell and gives it to MC, obviously it wasn’t stated what type of shell it was, only that it was spiky, but opal most definitely kept it and turned it into a necklace she rarely wears.

Smaller stuff is that she loves fruit(as mentioned previously), like LOVES fruit. If there is cut fruit at a party she’s going to beat beel to it and eat as much as she can handle. And it actually sometimes works to her disadvantage, if for example, mammon wanted to go “look” around the demon lords castle, but opal is over here like “mams you know lucifer doesn’t want you to do that since you can’t keep your hands to yourself” giving her a plate of fruit not only will stop her from snitching, but will also keep her in one place silently until she’s done eating, because her brain is just “fruit fruit fruit fruit fruit- oh no more fruit- wait where’s my boyfriend- oh no.”

She also makes it her personal mission to pet everything that she can, street cats, people’s dogs, horses, you name it. So she makes it her mission to befriend that silly three headed dog in the basement, which she eventually does successfully by offering raw steaks and treats.

Along with that she likes to garden, but not like a normal person with fruit or flowers, but instead carnivorous plants. If she learns that there is a man eating plant that she can buy in town she is getting that plant, slapping a bow on it and falling it princess. I like to think that Lucifer eventually lets her take over a small part in the backyard of the HOL for her plants.

And she is very very clingy, but also hates being touched. So it’s kind of torture for her, because she would LOVE to get a hug from beel or let asmo paint her nails, but within her first year there she just doesn’t trust any of them enough to not hurt her. But mammon ends up being the exception, because as they get closer to each other she just can’t let go of him, ever. They’re always holding hands or linked arms, she’s always pressed up against his side or lowkey cuddling when they sit, and of course mammon would love the attention and would be equally as clingy.

Another thing is that she eventually learns shape shifting magic, mainly because she thinks it would be funny. One morning lucifer is acting weird, then all of a suddenly a second Lucifer walks in?? Lucifer #1 Bursts out into giggles and suddenly is opal.

She also binds her chest, cause anxiety and self confidence issues, along with anxiety she has a few scabs on her fingers at all times from digging her nails into the skin.

I am done as far as I’m aware, but I’ve been writing for like two hours with breaks, I appreciate if anyone actually read all of this all the way down to the bottom! I would’ve been more detailed in some areas but I realized that Opal feels like such a main character, I don’t want to change her lore but that doesn’t mean i’m not a little embarrassed about her lol. She’s my silly and I love her but I probably went overboard with all her fine details. Also here’s the full drawing of her

[lakka-arts]

HI heres a list of really great mcsm artists (personal recs)

mainly made for my friend @glitxhy-b0yy!!! :D who is a FANTASTIC artist themselves and has some great content on there!!

also partially as a self indulgent post to compliment my friends so lets go!! (yes this does mean that my opinions are going to be bias asf dont come for me--)

this is not a COMPLETE list but its just the artists that i can come up with off the top of my head-- might add more later!

polarized-here

polar's artworks is what i like to describe as comforting as it consists of neat lineart and cell shading with glowing effects! they're probably most commonly known for their admin!jesse au, which is a fucking BADASS au with the coolest concept artwork that i've seen?? like hands down, stunning with a stunning execution of it. polar's artwork are like,,, holy shit man. they're such a cool person :)

terracomets

rusty is a phenomenal artist AND writer who has an au series that i cannot recommend enough called Misfit Mania!! He has a BUNCH of great character designs, including ocs and other medias too! i consider him a jack of all trades bc no matter what fandom, no matter what kind of character it is, rusty always succeeds at great portrayal of them :DD his fav character is axel and as a result, he's got a bunch of fantastic axel artwork on his blog!! :)

mcs-art-etc/lukasdoodles

lukasdoodles has genuinely one of the most unique art styles that i have ever that is both adorable AND menacing /pos at times. their artwork consists of colorful lineart, and INSANELY detailed clothings, like oh my god. they're also INSANELY creative when it comes to it as well, putting in so many ruffles, and belts, and!!! so much more!! not only that but they have a bunch of blaze rods drawings on their blog!! including gill, who i think is one of the underrated characters in mcsm! they also do some animation every now and then, which is always so cool to see!!

zonerz

zonerz is one of those dual part artist and dual part writers with their great artwork and writing! they're really good at putting together lore and is super in-depth when it comes down to the nitty gritty! their armor drawings are really well done and i admire the attention to details with every single one of their drawings!!

zoomire

fel is one of the coolest fucking people i have ever met and #1 cassie rose fan. their artstyle reminds me of traditional paintings that you would find in a museum, like it is so refined and their character anatomy is ON POINT with how they draw muscles and scars so realistically. their aiden design is also one of the most dazzling to me bc of how they incorporate lightning into his scars. ALSO a huge aidrose fan if not THE president of the goddamn ship. they have so many character analysis on them both together and separately and they're always written SO WELL WITH SO MUCH RESPECT TO THE SOURCE MATERIAL.

a lost crow

crow has a bunch of fantastic mcsm content but one of their most fascinating ones is their command!lukas au, which has a whole story to go alongside it but i won't spoil it ;) and their individual jesse au where every single jesse has their own personality traits and they're so unique and well written!! absolutely love both au to bits!

acraftedmistake

acraftedmistake's art is unique in the sense that it is purely traditional and takes great advantage of paper texture as well as textures from markers and pens to make its presence known! to add to that, they do a bunch of mcsm work themed around horror! i do need to put a warning that they sometimes involve gore though it is very artistically done!! phenomenal artist!!

zhezhy

Zhenya has enough content to the point where i can make an entire POST this long to talk about her and the absolutely stunning drawings she makes about mcsm, particularly about the old order of the stone. she excels at drawing ivor, harper, and soren the most, though she has dwelved into other characters that haven't had the most light shed on them. my absolute favorite thing about her artwork is her artstyle because it is this GORGEOUS sketchy style where both the colors and the lines express themselves SO WELL and SO EFFECTIVELY! i can go raving mad about it honestly

offeathersandcube/novatheastropirate

Nova's artwork, i would like to define it, is filled with love and care. Her lineart and coloring patterns are colorful and light, as if they were drawn for the illustration for a book series, filled with so much delight. Nova's specialty is how she both writes and draws Ellegaard with so much appreciation for her character and through her portrayal of her. It's nothing short of dedication and heart. Nova's other works are also great as well and they do a lot to show Nova's artistic talent.

[timetodiverge]

TL:DR: a brief treatise on learning to love Ahsoka for the gifts it gave us, rather than its shortcomings

Reasons why I struggled to like Ahsoka on first watch:

-my Rebels-fan brain constantly chanting WHERE IS EZRA WHERE IS EZRA WHERE IS EZRA; every episode that ended without him had me screaming

-the portrayal of Ezra as some noble war hero/wise Jedi instead of the little shit devious street urchin thief who, after four seasons of growth, pain, and temptation to turn darkside, turned into an IGnoble war hero with the potential to become a wise Jedi

-the show's habit of far-too-casually dropping facts that emotionally wrecked Rebels fans (ALL the Wrens died on Mandalore?? Could we maybe explore that a bit?? Dave do you remember when you had Sabine collapse into what she thought were her mother's ashes, and the depth of her relief when she realised her family was still alive and she still had a chance to make things right with them?? DO YOU???)

-the show's refusal to recap/reference insanely important events from Rebels and The Clone Wars (Mortis Gods, Trials of the Darksaber, Vader v Ahsoka and Ezra rescuing her via the World Between Worlds, Ahsoka's entire existence, etc) that would have made Ahsoka, Sabine, & Hera's importance in the larger Star Wars universe much more comprehendible for non-Rebels & TCW fans

-watching Sabine, who only ever wanted to be a valued, equal member of a family & team, and who was already incredibly skilled (art/warfare/mechanics), belittling and limiting herself trying to play the part of Jedi Padawan

-the wasted potential of show that could have truly explored how non-Jedi&Sith engage with the whole spectrum of the Force (e.g. other force users such as Nightsisters, loth wolves, purrgil, and non-force-sensative people such as Sabine), instead ultimately championing the light-dark binary and the traditions of the Jedi order (which many of us have little respect for) such as the Master-Apprentice relationship

Reasons why I now adore Ahsoka and would defend it to the death:

-the breath-taking care, love, and attention the production team put into every tiny detail (the sets, the costumes, props, the MUSIC, the background art, the ships and weapons, my god the detail!!)

-the shameless centring of diverse, layered female characters and the exquisite, subtle performances of Mary Elizabeth Winstead & Genevieve O'Reilly

-a mature exploration of how traumatic events e.g. wars may technically "end", but don't end for everyone: Ahsoka and Sabine are still traumatised ex-child soldiers mourning people they desperately loved but had complex & unresolved issues with; Hera still has zero boundaries between being a soldier and her personal life. And this PTSD has very real consequences to the narrative

-the show ultimately resisting the urge to choose a plot-twist Ezra reveal (e.g. turns out Thrawn and Ezra are now buddies/Ezra is the new big bad/Ezra was Marrok), which may have been more interesting but would have deprived us of the wholesome Ezra reveal we actually wanted

-Eman Esfandi giving us the most successful animation-to-live-action transition since Katee Sackhoff's Bo-Katan, and being so perfect in his mannerisms and behaviour that it was almost worth the wait (and looking so much like Ezra's father in Rebels!!)

(...unless you include Chopper, whose transition was actually 120% perfect)

-ultimately refreshing and levelling-up the potential for mature and diverse Star Wars narratives, like Andor did, but instead of leaning away from SW tropes and traditions like Andor, digging deeper into SW tropes and history, and linking non-mainstream-SW-elements such as the Nightsisters of Dathomir, the Mortis Gods, the World Between Worlds, and the existence of other galaxies

[mamadarama]

I was going through some posts I missed and came across the “tatsumi is mature but still does 19 year old things” and I just wanna say I’ve never been able to put it into words when my friends ask but like. That’s exactly what I love about this game.

We’ve got scandals and drama and weird crypto currencies and convoluted backstories of implied murder or identity theft or military shit or relations to underground gang activity or so SO much more and yet the writers still succeed in reminding you that this is a game full of high schoolers.

Natume was one of the five oddballs and suffered through so much during the war where it affects him to this day, but he also refers to his tech savvy and love of the occult as magic and loves the junior he “adopted” to death. Despite Aira struggling against every odd to become a real idol he still buys merch and looks on the internet to look for content of the ones he likes. Rinne was destined to become the monarch of his homeland but ran away in an attempt to find happiness and acceptance and is an amazing strategist who uses it to take down corruption, but his sense of humor is entirely made up of sex jokes and romantic teasing like Aira being “hiiro’s little girlfriend”. The amount of characters that assign themselves the mom friend role just because. Trickstar. I don’t think I need to explain Trickstar-

Like this game has made me cry so many times and it has its ridiculous moments but it also has its genuine ones while also being the most teenage shit I’ve seen in my life and I feel like so few media can balance those and still have a decent story like that. Sorry for the long ass post I just have so many feelings about this kind of stuff 😭

YEAH this is exactly what i was talking about in a previous ask when i said i have nothing meaningful to add to the enstars cast that isnt a headcanon . its all very well thought out and the interpersonal relationships are nuanced enough to feel realistic but outlandish enough to be interesting .

worldbuilding and character design is one of my special interests and i say this any chance i can get: the most important part of building a character (and a story in general) is realizing the importance of comedic irony and comedy as a whole regardless of genre or tone. it makes characters feel more 3 dimensional and relatable because people arent stagnant and theres multiple facets to any individuals personality (this is also why some of the most popular animes of all time have filler episodes or funny bits that show the characters personalities, every event hits with 3x emotional impact the more you know about the characters as people but that's a different discussion) enstars does a really good job of this . like for example if wataru were to have had a realistic reaction to eichi starting the war it wouldnt be nearly as good of a story. the fact that eichis ridiculous ass backwards plan to get wataru to fall in love with him actually worked is a perfect example of comedy used to make a story more interesting. another thing similar to this is how sometimes its better to not detail something and let characters do things for a mundane reason or even no reason at all . for example subaru hating chiaki just because he annoys him, or shinobu being on the broadcasting team despite his character not being associated with technology otherwise and therefore having no real backstory on why he likes radio stuff. its all really well planned worldbuilding with an insane amount of subtle details , which is why enstars is one of my favorite stories to analyze . the only thing i could possibly want more out of it is hardcore tragedy but thats entirely a personal preference rather than a critique because im a slut for catharsis and i love sad endings , especially ones where characters die . (don't worry im in therapy)

[magic-is-beauty]

Sweet tooth head cannons part 2

I'm just going to put part 1 of my headcannons here as well since there might some continuations/more details from part 1

The first five animal army members were in order Bear,Tiger,Rhino,Pony,and Flamingo ; At first they had a blood oath ceremony to induct you into the army but that soon stopped after Flamingo since her finger wouldn't stop bleeding and the rest of animal army did NOT want to go through that disaster again (they all have cool matching scars tho from that).

Flamingo's parents were a chef and baker so she grew up around cooking and baking so when I say she can make good food I mean it ; Her ability to make decently good food from what the army was able to get is astonishing.

Rosie,Ginger,Tex,the wolf boys and ginger's son all stay in Texas for a while to monitor and oversee the farm but they eventually leave to find a place closer to where all the hybrids are and so they can have a place to stay that isn't crawling with bad memories.

The farm is still in Rosie and Ginger's hands but they now look over it from the sidelines trusting the people who are there to keep it in order and up to the new standards they've created.

The animal army get stick and poke tattoos of the animal they were while in the army to commemorate their time in the army ; They're still a army but they retire their old outfits for stuff that's more comfortable and recenter their focus on helping hybrids using other means that are not killing ; Bear gets a bear,Tiger gets a tiger,Rhino gets a rhino,Pony gets a pony,Flamingo gets a flamingo,etc.

Tiger before the crumble had a younger sister that was killed by the sick along with their grandparents who she was close with ; Tiger's father eventually joined the last men but both of her parent's soon were killed because of sick which is when they ran away.

Tiger before the crumble learned sewing and embroidery from their mother and was just starting to learn photography from their grandparents ; Tiger kept the camera from their childhood and started getting back into photography during the animal army days and continued it when living with the hybrids (Bear was one of their favorite things to capture) ; Rhino,Pony,Flamingo and Wendy do like to steal it in order to get photographic evidence of Bear and Tiger acting like a couple (but Bear and Tiger don't entirely know that yet).

Bear didn't sleep much when Tiger was injured like she tried but she eventually gave up and just continued to be by Tiger's side as much as she could.

The hybrids and Wendy could sense that Bear wanted to be by Tiger's side so they mostly found ways to entertain themselves with both Wendy and Jepp offering to take up watching and entertaining the hybrids ; Jepp trusted Becky to look over Gus as well since she was in there but still periodically checked in on them.

Bear,Tiger and the rest of the animal army kept the fallen members memory alive by telling stories to the hybrids about them and created a book that honored not only their memories but also Pubba,Birdie,Aimee,Louisa,Dr Singh,Bruno,Roy and many others lost.

The hybrids for some reason really love hammocks so now they have a shit ton around the place in order to decrease arguments of who gets a hammock ; No one touches the hammock towards the outskirts of the woods tho since that's the one that Bear and Tiger share and is the place they go to when they need a break or just want to be alone.

Rosie after everything chills out finally is able to do her art again and now she gets to share this with her boys who are very eager to enjoy something that makes their mother so happy ; Rosie is a really good painter and loves crafting things with Ginger also loving painting (both did it during their pregnancies to help relax them) ; their home is now covered in both Rosie and Ginger's art but also the boy's art pieces that everyone in the house cherishes.

Ginger's son absolutely loves being the water and gets super smiley and happy when bath time comes around ; Rosie jokes that the only time she ever saw that same exact smile is when her boys are running around.

After finally being away from her mother Rosie and her boys can finally grieve the death of Bruno and remember his memory while also grieving the childhood she wished her boys should of had with her making sure that her boys live a safe and happy childhood that she wished Bruno was also allowed to have.

Parenting at first comes not so easily to Rosie,Ginger and Tex but they eventually get the hang of it with the help and advice of Jepp and Becky ; The wolf boys love howling especially when they're happy or excited and it seems like Ginger's child is also quite vocal when it comes to things that make him excited and happy as well with Rosie,Ginger and Tex not minding it at all but instead encouraging it.

Parenting the wolf boys isn't entirely easy since they were taught so much terrible shit that needs to be unlearned but Rosie wouldn't trade it for the world because now she knows that she teaching and parenting them herself instead of somebody else ; It takes time to get them to unlearn the bad habits taught to them but since the boys are still fairly young they respond well and are able to learn and be around their mother who adores them ,their cousin who they love to be around and a whole bunch of others who are not only like them but who are not scared of them and want to be around them.

Rhino,Pony,and Flamingo are now overseeing the new animal army with the help of both Bear and Tiger and visit the cabin fairly often to see their favorite people : the hybrids ; The hybrids do visit the animal army HQ once in while and they always end eating too much sugar,playing games,being spoiled and staying up way too late much to the dismay of Jepp,Bear,and Tiger.

However when Flamingo finds all the homegrown food at the cabin has it's over for everyone with Flamingo at first freaking out since she hasn't had this much to work with in years and then ends up making one of the best dishes anyone has ever had making the hybrids flock to poor Flamingo with food requests ; Flamingo in the span of a few months lovingly makes all the hybrids their food requests because she can't say no to those faces.

Rosie,Ginger,Tex and the boys manage to find a quaint farmhouse about 30 minutes away from the hybrids to settle down in and with the help of Jepp,Tiger and Flamingo manage to start growing their own food but they still spend a decent amount of time hanging out in the woods with everyone not just to socialize the boys but because the boys seem so happy being in an environment surrounded with kids like them and who was Rosie to take away what made her kids so happy.

The hybrids,Jepp,Wendy,Gus,and Bear are all pretty light sleepers with everything that has happened so they usually wake up with any slight noise but then go back to bed if not anything to be worried about. Tiger and the animal army on the other hand sleep like the dead unless they hear a actually concerning sound which is when they really wake up.

The hybrids share tree houses not only because they like sharing a space but it's because in case someone has a nightmare or a bad memory there's always going to be someone in the tree house to help them and be there for them ; Jepp,Becky and Tiger always tell them to come to them when that happens and they do when it's bad or when they want too(Gus goes to Jepp,Wendy goes to Becky,the other hybrids will go switch between Jepp,Becky,and Tiger) but a decent amount of time it can be helped with just being around one another and being reminded that they're alive surrounded by friends and in a safe environment.

A lot of the time the hybrids sleep under the stars being able to see the sky and hear the sounds of the woods around them but they do also sleep in the tree houses (that are equipped with nightlights) since it's their space and they love it.

Bear and Tiger enjoy climbing onto the roof of their tree house and stargazing or just talking or they climb onto their designated tree and sit there enjoying the view or again just talking about anything and everything.

Rosie,Ginger and the boys eventually meet the animal army who immediately love the boys ; Rosie comes with the hybrids when they visit the animal army HQ since the boys still get a little anxious when they're away from their mother and Rosie doesn't think she's ever heard them howl so loudly or seem the light shine so bright in their eyes.

[canmom]

last season's anime: that elf show (1-6)

Belatedly watching Sousou no Frieren, the darling of the... previous anime season four months ago. So old news as far as most are concerned!

I have held off on watching this one because, well, videogamey elves-and-dwarves European fantasy is ehhhhhh! I can get into it if it's really well done and puts the focus somewhere interesting (c.f. Dungeon Meshi), or if its medievalism is a bit more historically grounded than your average videogame-inflected fantasy anime (actual European history is full of fascinating/fucked up shit which rarely makes it into fantasy). But Frieren didn't strike me as having that vibe.

Nevertheless I heard Madhouse were the ones that did it and somehow that was enough to finally tip me over into watching it. So lol. I was a baby or even an ovum when Madhouse were doing most of their best known work, and yet...

Anyway, it turns out, not only was it a Madhouse project, but none other than Yoshiaki Kawajiri actually boarded a good few of the episodes, although he's not the enshutsu [episode director/storyboarder] whose people are most excited about. The series director's last work was Bocchi the Rock after all! And this sure is another hit.

The first two things that jumped out at me in the first episodes were: the bgs are insanely good looking and the photography department is absolutely in love with a digital bokeh filter. I don't think I often see this specific kind of blur filter in anime (though I think you'll see it the works of some directors who like to emulate realistic photography like Yamada or Shinkai), and it was interesting the effect it had of eliding the lines and creating an effect kind of similar to posterisation.

Bokeh aside, the background painting and layouts in this anime are really incredibly good. When I occasionally watch fantasy anime - I have a friend who is quite into isekai and will occasionally show me one of her faves such as Ascendance of a Bookworm - one thing that often bothers me is the architecture, you have identical box-shaped houses with big windows, wide flat streets, it generally doesn't feel like a lived-in city. This is something that particularly bothers me about Attack on Titan.

By contrast, Frieren is routinely dropping scenes like this:

Split levels, varied colours and heights, accurate depiction of features like jettying, mixing up the verticals a bit. It's an impressive attention to detail and it does so much to sell the setting.

And the nature scenes are outstanding as well. Although I'm pretty sure they're painted digitally, it has the feeling of older physical media. The bg painters clearly understand the power of hinting at form with brush stroke shapes and a few flat colours - a technique similar to the bg paintings at Ghibli. There's rarely an obvious digital texture and they exercise restraint in overwhelming everything with glows and flares. The flat colours and paint-like textures are allowed to shine on their own. Plus everything has a subtle grain (pretty sure it's just good old Perlin noise), adding to the analogue feel.

But yeah, look at the subtle atmospheric perspective in the last one there! The layers of forest in the background are painted with less saturated colours, creating a powerful sense of layering and distance, without having to draw more trees than the immediate foreground. I could learn a lot from this painting alone when it comes to forest scenes.

While I'm going on about technical stuff, the animation also stands up. The first episode in particular has some real flexes with crowd scenes containing dozens of moving characters. The character animation is generally very restrained, but naturalistic. There is constantly a strong sense of space. The action animation later does less for me - it's not at all bad, but it's within the conventions of modern shounen adaptations - but it's generally speaking strong.

All that said, what about what it's actually, y'know, about?

Frieren wastes little time in establishing its premise. The title character is a nigh-immortal elf, who was part of the RPG party that defeated the demon lord just prior to the outset of the show. Frieren has a pretty flat affect in general - not to say she's emotionless, far from it, but rather the heavy lifting of what she's feeling has to be conveyed through cinematography and implication of her actions. Though that said, it does plenty to humanise (elfise?) her too - she is not a morning person, and there are moments where she will get visibly excited about small things. Mostly, Frieren is a character who really doesn't understand herself very well.

Comparisons to the prototypical emotionaless girl Rei Ayanami come to mind to me - especially the version of Rei we encounter in Eva 3.0+1.0. Both characters' affect is shaped by transience - for Rei, she's a short-lived clone, for Frieren, her perception of time is completely miscalibrated to all the people around her so she'll accidentally disappear for decades while they get old and die. And both characters' arcs involve learning about how to understand human connections.

As kvin has said in his impressively detailed article on the background to this show, this premise is used to tell a story about the passage of time. In the specific, it's about the grief of realising you did not spend enough time with someone after they've gone. Frieren is retracing the steps of the party after disappearing from their lives for nigh on 50 years, returning just in time to catch the human characters as they die of old age. The episodes are usually constructed around her memory of that adventure, paralelled by the connection she's forming in the present with her new apprentice. She's trying to do things that she never managed to do when they were alive, get in touch with her own feelings, etc. etc. Lots of mono no aware in the air.

So each episode tends to develop two stories in parallel. There will be the immediate impetus - Frieren and co. find something that needs dealing with and coincidentally links back in to the past - and also flashbacks which help flesh out the rest of Frieren's party and why the journey was such a big deal to her. The writing and editing generally does a very good job of knowing what to leave unstated, what can be implied by a cut and a closeup.

More than anything I think I'm reminded of Seirei no Moribito. Frieren herself reminds me a little of Balsa - they're quite different characters, but the way they relate to others and the general arc of being changed by their connections - and while the dynamic between her and Fern is a little less parental than Balsa and Chagum, the use of scenery and the general approach to setting up of episode plots feels quite similar.

Predictably, stories about grief touch a nerve! 'I didn't properly appreciate the time I had with her' is something I feel particularly with my friend Fall, who we lost nearly two years ago now. A story about figuring out just what someone meant to you after they are gone is resonant, shall we say.

The first and second episodes as a pair end up particularly affecting. I talked about the technical stuff above, but the editing is also really strong. A couple of moments that stood out to me: moment of ephiphany communicated with a sudden eye closeup, an L-cut to bells which you don't hear until there's been another cut to the actual funeral. Since I've been in the sakugabooru server I've been learning to pay a lot more attention to individual enshutsu, so the names to credit in this case are Saito himself for the first, and Tomoya Kitagawa for the second.

The third episode (Daiki Harashina) stumbles a bit in my view, not so much because of the direction but because the script brings in some less-interesting magic mechanics and fighting-a-demon elements. The fourth episode, the first directed by Kawajiri, falls back into the rhythm: the stakes are small but we feel the development of Frieren and Fern's dynamic.

The fifth (Kenichi Shimizu) and sixth (Toru Iwasawa) episodes are a two part story, introducing a new character Stark as a second young apprentice character - the sixth episode has a really exceptional action scene with its dragon fight, bringing in a lot of familiar action animator names, and moreover the preceding episode does the work to set it up so we're invested in the culmination of the character arc it represents! Also there's that one sitting down cut I heard about. I wasn't sure I'd be on board with Stark at first, but he's growing on me through his interactions.

By this point we're starting to have more present-day 'villagers have a monster problem' type setups, but they're still primarily instruments to advance characterisation: the conflict of Stark with cowardice and responsibility is paralelled by one of Frieren's former party members, Frieren and Fern get to face ghosts of people they've lost, etc.

The first few episodes jump forward in years at a time in between, and even within the episodes tend to elide huge periods of time with montages - very effective for driving the central theme of tiiiiime. That seems to be slowing down a little now, although we'll see.

I think if anything weakens it, it's that the demons and monsters feel undercooked as setting elements - and I'm a little worried by hearing that they become increasingly central elements as the show goes on. Of course, they're kinda mandated by the RPG setting, and being able to just say 'back when demons attacked the village' lets the show put its time into characterisation. But to take episode 3 for example - surely there is drama to be had in the idea of a senior underling who was frozen for nigh eighty years, unaware that his master had been overthrown? But nah, he just attacks immediately, and then it turns out that human magic science has advanced so much building out from his technique that he's not a big deal anymore (ratfic ass concept). Mostly demons and monsters exist as plot devices, opportunities for characters to prove themselves or experience an epiphany.

It's a shame because the show goes to such enormous lengths to flesh out everyone else's motivations. 'Why did character x do or feel y' is kind of the thrust of every episode (c.f. that kinda questionable stuff people say about JP storytelling being more about causality than conflict). Next time they supply us a demon character, I hope they're willing to give them a comparable treatment. 'Kind, peace-loving villagers vs ontologically evil baddies' is just such a boring dynamic, and with such love poured into everything else, it seems a shame.

Overall, I don't think Frieren is going to displace Tengoku Daimakyou as my fave of 2023, or stand alongside Dungeon Meshi as elves-and-dwarves fantasy goes, but it's definitely a memorable one. As an adaptation it's absurdly strong. Looking forward to watching the rest.

[abri-chan]

"only I can save the soul king"

does not elaborate

starts stripping

i can't unsee the gates of truth / fma symbolism with the one eyed

and then the gates of truth said "what will you do to balance the nicest cock in soul society ukitake? what will you give as equivalent exchange?"

your husband's sperm must not have been very healthy...

in tradition of bleach where the boys take from / look like their moms

(mimihagi mimihagi eat my children

it would have been cooler if they had sacrificed their son just in case for this same reason so he may come in hand to the soul king one day, and not out of the last resort to save their child. shunsui not believing old women's tales will come to bite him in the ass one day *cough* sister in law *cough*)

she would not say that

old man can't be bothered to say one good word -- he hates shunsui has a friend now, what's next a love interest?

"and if you vomit blood on my face ever again i'll kill you"

"hahaha, no bitches?"

they're holding aizen captive in arizona

you only want me for my potatoes anyway

potato thieving jeazebel

(inside joke that will make sense to no one, but this is time travel, because jugram grew those potatoes)

ik in canon this is the red bean something shunsui likes, a like he shares with nanao, so a detail kubo added from his files, but the potato is funnier to me.

why the fuck you lying, why you're always lying omg stop fucking lying

he's happy cuz he naps all day and never worries about nobody

future alcoholic in training -- this man is so unserious

shunsui had no chest hair in this fight and assuming that they're both adults and he has hit puberty proves my theory that his manwhore gene was activated only when sister in law provided the trauma catalyst. you're welcome i guess for those of you that like his middle-aged look. (idk what she did to you, but she did you a favor.)

a hurricane is coming, so what will this old man do to stop it?

"i won't let you die that easily ukitake" what so you can control the weather now?

the woman in question being his sister in law 900 years ago and he still hasn't recovered and that's why he drinks daily

(robotic voice) the flower of evil has bloomed [aku no hana reference]

rukia flashblack or a reminder that animation used to be shit (okay okay i actually liked the old bleach animation but shunsui looked like shit in it back then)

looks a lot like bella's transformation in twilight after giving birth to a demon baby (that is to say this man wants to get pregnant so bad, he wants to give his body was something greater, ladies please make this happen, put a baby inside him)

"jushiro, my tits trembled from all that shaking"

man got marked like a cow. also why would you be purring when it comes to aizen?

[pancake-breakfast]

Trigun Book Club! (I'm glad some of you are enjoying reading the nonsense I've been writing up for these things. Thank you very much!) I know some characters I'm highly anticipating are coming up, so let's get to it!

Archive

Trigun Volume 1: Covers + 1-3, 3 Detailed Thoughts, 4, 4 DT, 5-6, 5-6 + DT, 6 DT, 7-8, 9-10

Trigun Volume 2: Covers + Extras

Stream-of-consciousness thoughts for Trigun Vol. 2, Chapter 1 below.

Chapter 1: Blood and Thunder

WOLFWOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!

I love how intense he looks compared to Vash, who seems to be smiling just a bit. Of course he would. He has a buddy to fight at his back.

"More than just shoes," huh? What, does he make crazy strappy leather body suits, too? Hmmmmmm???

Dramatic Vash title page pose!

Oh, shoot. I remember that fountain from '98. That's... a bad sign.

Meryl: "What a lovely day...." Me: "Not for long."

I do appreciate the pigeon floof, though. Wait, how did pigeons get here? Did they import them? Are these actually not-pigeons but are more closely related to Thomases? Are... are they a type of WORM??!??!!

Oh, Vash. He wants to rest, but he's keeping one eye open.

NM, he's decided rest is the best option.

OMG, this page! Rem with the halo imagery over her. The way her form dominates the page but blends into Vash's, as if she's a bigger part of him than he himself is. The way he seems to be falling through the panels. Gorgeous.

Aaand the moment's gone.

At least they're apologizing?

Wait, there's no water in that fountain, is there?

Goshdarnit, Vash! Don't put that in your mouth! You don't know where it's been!

Yeah, you're not gonna be able to talk while pulling off this maneuver. But I'll allow it.

Hahahaha, once they've properly apologized, he decides to reward them with ice cream. Or maybe just reward himself and reward them as a byproduct, but whatever.

VASH THE STAMPEDE!!! You, of all people, do NOT get to tell Milly (OR ANYONE ELSE) she is not acting her age! Freaking dork....

I love how calmly Meryl is like, "Here's the cash. Get us all ice cream." Although I'm only counting five??

Oh.

Meryl just won like 500 brownie points for that move.

There are few things in life that can't be made to seem at least a little better if one has ice cream.

Vash looks deeply saddened that the girl left.

But it seems like he's moved on pretty fast. No point dwelling on it, right?

Shit. Shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshit.

Gods, I'm sure people have debated his designs in both '98 and Stampede, but here? Legato looks like a twink. A twink hiding in a big emo jacket with shoulder pads he stole from the '80s and then fed steroids.

Annnnd he's eating a hot dog. I'm not gonna read too much into that. Too late. And now you can, too.

Seriously, though. Of all the foods to import, you'd think someone would leave hot dogs behind. Or not. They do make use of the junk parts of the animal, and I guess you can't be too picky when you live in a desert wasteland.

The way they're having this conversation is suspicious.

Fountain confirmed empty.

Milly's danger sense is tingling.

I just want to point out that, when Milly says Vash's face looks frightening, this is the last expression we see him showing.

He's putting on the glasses. It's serious time. He might have to shoot someone, and he definitely doesn't want anyone else to catch a glimpse of his intentions here.

Wow. The level of force Vash shows in his wording here. It's like he's playing a card that says, "I know I'm superior to you, and given the situation, I'm going to make dead sure you know it, too."

"That monster," huh? Harsh words. Justified, perhaps. But harsh. All of this is harsh coming from such a staunch pacifist.

I just want to point out that all of this is happening after the July incident. For no reason whatsoever, I'm sure.

Legato... PLEASE don't make shitty decisions with your life. What you're suggesting is not the sort of thing likely to end in a win scenario for you....

Ok, so I'm sure some of this is because I've watched '98 and have a better feel for Legato than some... but I LOVE the imagery of him handing food to a hungry child and giving them a pat on the head. It's wrong on so many levels... but it's also a good reminder that people who are capable of absolutely terrible things are also capable of at least presenting a veneer of simple kindness.

Glad that scene upset Vash quite a bit, too.

Assuming Legato isn't bluffing, even Vash would struggle to contain that much slaughter in such a short span of time, I think. And right now, he's got a whole fountain in between him and Legato.

Vash has been gradually losing his mask through this whole conversation. Milly noticed it first, but the kids and Meryl have noticed it by now, too.

This outfit needs more straps.

Yyyyeeeaaaahhhh, if they fight in the busy town square there, the casualty number is gonna be stupid high.

WTF, he gave Vash a quest?? I don't like this quest. This quest is gonna be full of Bad Things.

I LOVE how they're all in silhouette behind Legato there, but with all their forms blended together to make this ominous amorphous blob of eyes and limbs and darkness. I want a clean version without the text balloons.

Sir. Sir, your bag is leaking. Sir, you might want to take a look at that. Sir.

Ok, now I have legitimate questions about the Shoemaker instead of bullshit ones.

I, too, would panic if someone I knew suddenly literally lost their head. Not sure I'd go screaming into the town square, but I would definitely be out of sorts.

Nightow didn't even have to show us what was in the bag to make his point.

Dude, that's an American coin. Hang on a second.... Ok, found it. I'm just gonna put some information on it here if anyone wants to go through it.

I'm pretty sure I recognize that silhouette...

Thinking on the title of the chapter again. Thunder is often seen as the first sign of an oncoming storm. Fitting.

I wanted to go through more than one chapter, but I feel like I have a LOT of notes on this one, and those pop-out posts inevitably take a good chunk of time, so this will do for tonight.

[yodellinggoat]

Small re:zero rant (spoilers for LN) that are just an accumulation of things I haven't been able to rant about but gotta get out

I'm on the LN volume 18 right now and I'm so happy with the way re:zero is going after volume 15 (where the anime ends.) I was kinda dreading the whole ohhh nooo Subaru gets stuck and we gotta repeat a whole segment for the 4th time (not one of the times before did it annoy me but it gets tiresome after a while) but nah, my guy refuses to die and now he has a very fucked up black dragon leg. The relief I feel when the guy gets fucked up and just passes out and lives on instead of looping over and over is great, it's nice that the characters are also getting their own arcs because of it to (e.g. Garfeil's mummy issues ((almost made me cry tbh)) and it wouldn't have happened or would have gotten undone if Subaru kept resetting).

Ngl I took a reading break cause the start of the arc was very slice of lifey and while I enjoyed it there wasn't enough going on to make my dyslexic ass put in enough effort to get past it, but now everytime I read shits going on and it seems to have potential to get really good.

Alsoalso I know that at some point some shit happens to Subaru where he has some shit to do with wrath (I've tried to stay away from details as much as possible) and I'm very excited to see what happens with that and how they do it, especially since the archbishop of wrath is one of the enemies rn

Alsoalsoalso Subaru and Julius are sooooo fucking gay, why is every interaction so fruity??? How were they not meant to be written as bfs like their dynamic from a romantic perspective is so much more interesting than any relationship Subaru has with anyone else (I'm fine with like Emilia/Rem and it makes sense why they like him but like it's boring I'm sorry). Also I know the story is written in 3rd person and the descriptions aren't actually Subaru's direct perspective but it's just so funny to me how often Julius is described as a really handsome man and no one else is. I like to imagine this is Subaru's demons (bisexuality) coming out.

I do have issues with it (mmmm some designs ESPECIALLY the archbishop of LUST LIKE CAN THEY NOT) and sometimes they say some annoying ass horny shit which is always a :///. Also it's understandably gotten to a point where everyone loves Subaru as yk he's kinda saved everyone but it's just made many dynamics boring now. Like they don't have to dislike him or whatever but I think it would be cool if characters had more complex dynamics with eachother and the group wasn't just united by 'yea we all love Subaru!' (Beatrice kinda gets an excuse of she literally shut herself off from everyone and she's that close to Subaru because he saved her and is the only person she's let herself trust thus far, but also I hope she has more of a relationship with those around her)

BUTT other than that I'm enjoying the series (so sad the LN only goes up to 22 in english what am I going to do after I catch up

[lotuslia]

2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 20 for Dragon Age: Veilguard Questions! :3

Thanks!! Under cut because it's a looooot of text :D

2. Which Dragon Age game is your favorite so far?

I love them all but I'd probably pick DAO for the variety of origin options. DA2 is fun but only picking my class is a bit sad, haha. If it wasn't part of a series with extensive backstory options I would have no problem though, it's a good game and Hawke is interesting.

DAI is where I've put most of my energy for OC creation, so it's dear to me as a story, but replaying the game can be a bit of a drag sometimes, mostly for the stick-limbs and movement animation reasons xD

3. Do you usually play as a warrior, mage, or rogue? Which class are you planning to try first this time around? Which subclass?

I've got oc's of all classes pretty equally, but I usually play mages or warriors, haha. This time I'm planning to try rogue since I have a Rook idea already, but I will probably play a mage soon after too! Subclass idk yet. Maybe Saboteur?

6. Do you have your Rook(s) planned out to any degree? If so, would you share some details or ideas you have?

Yep! I talked about her a bit here! Fiora is my human Crow rogue that I made for an old very short ttrpg game (you might remember her early stabby-auntie draft from there xD) where she was an ex-crow Grey Warden, but after that I dropped the Warden part and kept building her design so I could use her as my Rook or in another ttrpg or something!

(unfinished portrait and picrews is all I have rn lol) She has a dorky and occasionally dark sense of humor but a very good poker face, so she gives off a pretty distinguished impression.

Backstory stuff outside DATV: Being pretty and charismatic Fiora often took jobs for the Crows to seduce targets for information. She had some reoccurring targets that she thought were very charming and fun, and some careless moments led to her going 'oh shit' in her apartment a month or two later.

She didn't want Tobia to grow up a crow so she made a deal with a trusted contact to help her, used an injury as a cover story to go out of the crows' view, and left Tobia with said contact before returning to the Crows. Now she wears semi-permanent knee&wrist braces and sometimes a cane that absolutely has a blade within. She tries to be a parental figure to the crow kids she mentors when others can't see, but takes her role seriously and thinks avoiding the crow's ways of teaching entirely would leave the guild weak. She respects the crows and doesn't wish to leave, she just wants Tobia to have a choice in what he becomes when he grows.

I also toyed briefly with the idea of playing as Nava (my Lavellan's daughter) since in 9:53 she'll be 18, but I think that's still too young and also too much emotional damage ahah

7. Which character from the previous games or other media are you most hoping will make an appearance in DAV?

Honestly, so many. Inquisitor's been confirmed and I'm over the moon about that! Other than that... Dorian, Maevaris, Zevran, Merrill, Sera, Josephine! From other medias I'm hoping for the crows Teia & Viago + Illario, my fav Grey Wardens Evka & Antoine, and of course the classic one, Felassan. I don't need my Warden to appear personally but it'd be fun to get a letter or something like in DAI.

8. What faction are you most excited to learn more about?

I've been intrigued by the Crows for years now, but the trailers really got me excited about the Grey Wardens again too! Veil jumpers and Shadow Dragons seem cool but I think I need to know more before I properly get excited.

9. Which romance, if any, do you plan to pursue first?

For Fiora I think I'll go with Lucanis, he seems fun and fitting for her and it'd be fun to hear the dialogue with their shared faction. But I'll probably start a second playthrough alongside the main one so I can also romance Davrin, he seemed like a delight.

Irl I'm definitely a bit *eyes emoji* at the ladies but I'm too much of an oc-hoarder and lore nerd to play as myself hahah

11. What's one thing you'd really like to see in this next game?

Hmmm I'm kind of just going in and seeing what's up, I don't have specific expectations. But I guess my main hope is that we get a proper conclusion to ongoing plot hooks & character stories, and answers to at least some ongoing questions. Opening new mysteries is a lot more interesting if old ones get closed in the meantime and there's SO MUCH in Thedas.

I guess I would like to see some flashback etc. to get a glimpse of what the ancient elvhenan and dwarven lands actually looked like? Since we've heard about it for so long.

I'm also hoping this game will make me cry like a baby, I live for big emotions in fiction and it takes quite a lot to make me react out loud :'')

20. Post a picture or gif that conveys your current level of excitement for Dragon Age: The Veilguard!

Excitement level: Very.

[sillygreenrat]

I have some more smokeybat headcanons, got inspired now

#. Sam gets a big crush on Uzi, he wants to try impress her and hang out with her. So he tries asking her out whenever he can, Uzi oblivious to his crush agrees and hangs out with him a lot.

#. Uzi shows him anime and he ends up liking anime quite a lot, his favourite type being chill slice of life or the cooking anime. Makes him jealous they can't eat like humans can

#. He makes her a badge of their favourite anime character for her to wear on her beanie.

#. Sam is a talented artist and has a sketch book full of drawings and abstract work too. When he on magnets is when some his most colourful work is done. He has a very detailed drawing of Uzi he keeps special. It's of her in class reading, she looked so pretty that day.

#. Sam got a bit jealous when Thad started talking to Uzi , he could see Uzi seemed to like him a bit and was a little sad by that. He got more upset when N showed up because he could definitely see Uzi big crush on him.

#. He talk with Uzi about N and he encourages her to tell him how she feels, being a wingman.

#. Sam writes a love note to Uzi along with a drawing and sends it to her anonymously, hoping to impress her. He was too scared to sign it.

I have more if you like to listen to it

i am SO sorry for taking so long on these lmfao???? i really wanted to think abt these. tysm for sending me all of these delightful thoughts to grab and run with i would absolutely be willing to hear more

1 + 5: it was a crush that's been there since the begining, uzi was always kinda cute and charming, the way she interupted class with sarcastic wit on occasion, the way she would go above and beyond what the assignments were just to have her own fun. sam has always been the more quiet, shut in type, always following rules, never usually being the type to speak up or make a sound, but whenever uzi does something particularly silly he can't help but laugh a little (and boy shes a whole fucking circus so lemmie tell you). though he had to eventually start making moves once thad god involved.

for the record, i do NOT ship thad n uzi, i get it as a ship, but it just aint my thing, however im a big fan of unrequitted love, and i can absolutely see uzi just not being interested in the popular jock type (shes more into the silent stoner type COUGH COUHG(J)), seeing thad as more of a close friend due to him being so caring when no one else seemed to be.

unfortunately for sam the only time he was able to fully talk and get to know uzi was AFTER she was already introduced to his oil (lmfao)

2: this dude wants to eat so bad, let this man manifest some robot mac n cheese for his ass. its not 'hunger' but its like, some fuckin program malfunction due to the magnets that you could compare to stoner munchies but lord does he get angry when uzi puts on a ghibli or some shit and they start makin ramen or some shit.

on the topic of anime tho uzi would absolutely be into anime and try and get sam (and by extention N and possibly V) into anime

current hyperfixation is firmly beliving shes be a nutcase over jujutsu kaisen (would love the curses and their vibe of 'we wanna take over humanity' but the humans are pretty cool too she GUESSES) but i think shed also be into shit like kill la kill, evangelion, maybe even a smidge of ouran on the side bc damn it she wants to be surrounded by a buncha cute boys (and low and behold be projecting trasmasc feelings onto uzi but boy she'd feel a sense of 'man i bet i could pull off a suit' and she WOULD)

3 + 4: him being obsessed w/ drawing n stuff is honestly a small headcanon i had personally!!!!! glad its a thing for another person ugh (positive) he would totally pay attention to the characters she hyperfixates on and go CRAZY making her posters and small keychain hangers and such (probably has an old laminator in his house that he uses to seal the all to keep them from getting ruined). i like to imagine he likes to draw/paint skyscapes, trying to find really interesting cloud formations or spots where the moon shines through them to draw cuz he thinks that kinda shits beauitufl, would absolutely love earth sky's so fucking much let this man see them

6 + 7: N IS BEST WINGMAN. i ship all of them together in one homoginous poly so i can confirm this happened and it was real. would absolutely help sam before he even considered allowing his feelings for uzi show