#maybe i'll pose other stuff later

[veilleur-de-nuit]

i made a separate art bloggg :D @nyctos-atelier

[galactic-feelins]

Wait does roxas and sora battle and magic change because of what they are or is just the same in the series of the games?

If I'm understanding the question correctly, then yeah Sora and Roxas are able to use the same combat abilities they use in kh2, including form changes. Some things are different and adapted due to their circumstances, but they are able to do some different things because of headcanons and what they are. So sorta both? They both can use form changes but due to their instability it's a coinflip on whether or not they get the correct change or just antiform.

Roxas also has some magic and skills exclusive to him inspired by both his gameplay and the bossfight he gets in KH2FM. Conversely, a lot of what Sora can do normally aren't things Roxas knows how to do himself, and Sora's instability and status as a Heartless has let him take advantage of slipping into the shadows on the walls, even if it's completely by accident.

I'm sure there's some other abilities they could gain just by the fact they're visiting worlds that aren't in the Kingdom Hearts series itself and mingling with people that follow entirely different rules at times! The fact that the first major world Roxas, Hayner, Olette, and Pence visited (before even meeting Joshua) was the Comet Observatory from Super Mario Galaxy prooobably has a lot to do with the major trajectory shifts! Trust me, there is context behind each encounter, and part of the reason I'm considering sharing events non-chronologically is because I'm not sure how interested people would be in how things started vs how things are going, but they do provide context behind why certain things are they way they are and a reason behind things that aren't as obvious as "Roxas can use Reversal on anyone because that's his thing and he even uses it against Sora that one time."

Basically, a lot is different but I am trying to keep things as close to canon as I can manage. If things steer too far off course they may end up losing that connection to the source material you see XD

[enha-roza]

MONEY, MONEY, MONEY

Jay x 8thmember!oc

Synopsis : Jay likes to spend his money on Sooyoung.

wc : 1.1k

Jay had money, everyone knew that. And another thing everyone knew was that Jay liked to spend his money on Sooyoung. Jay adores Sooyoung and there is nothing more he likes than spoiling her.

The members had started the day with a couple of schedules and then headed home after. Jay sat in the kitchen looking at what food to order when Sooyoung came in looking through the cupboards. “What are you ordering?” “Maybe some Chinese. Want some?” He watched as Sooyoung’s eyebrows scrunched. “Nah, I'm good…” she said mindlessly wandering off to her room. Jay knew better, so he ordered enough for the both of them.

Soon the food arrived and Jay set everything out and got two plates and forks out. “Is your food here?” Sooyoung’s head poked out, eyeing his food. “Yeah, want some?” Jay asked one more time. “I'll have a little if that's alright…” Sooyoung said shyly. “Have as much as you want.” Jay said a small smile creeping onto his face watching as Sooyoung dished up her plate.

Two servings later, Jay eyed Sooyoung as she went in for a third plate of food. “Hungry?” “a little..” she whispered, struggling to serve up her plate. “Here let me help you.” He reached out and scooped up some noodles and rice, placing it on her plate.

Shopping was one of Sooyoung’s favorite things. Looking for new earrings, shoes and bags, all sorts. Jay feeds into this addiction, anytime she looks at something even a second two long, Jay has it in his hands taking it to the counter.

The other members notice this and go out of their way to point it out. “Going shopping with Sooyoung again?” Niki questioned. “Yeah, what about it?” “nothing…” Jay eyed him as Niki rolled his eyes. “What?” “You spend all your money on Sooyoung, none on me.” Niki says it's obvious. “And?” Jay eyed him. “You got a problem with that.” “No problem here…” Niki chuckled.

Jay followed Sooyoung as she wandered around the store. “This looks nice..” she whispered to herself, hands feeling the material of a shirt. “How much is it?” He questioned. She flipped over the tag and her eyes almost popped out of her head. “Nevermind… it's not that nice anyway.” Jay watched as she walked away pretending she wasn't interested. He quickly grabbed it and put it on the counter for later.

After sooyoung found some other clothes, she paid and both her and Jay headed home. “Ooh, what did you get?” Roza said as Sooyoung sat her bag down. “Let me do a haul!”. She excitedly got her stuff and went to change. “What do you think?” she posed showing off some new pants. “I think it would look nice with this shirt.” Jay laughed, throwing the shirt from earlier at her.

“Jay, i told you it was fine…” “I don't care, you clearly liked it. So I got it.” “Thank you, Oppa.” she whispered, going to try it on. “Aren't you sweet.” Roza teased. “Shut up…”

Jay was sitting peacefully in his room when he heard a faint knock at the door. “Hello?” “Hi, Oppa…” “what?” He watched as Sooyoung’s head peeked into his room. “Nothing, just wondering. Would you be able to buy me something?” “depends what it is?” She took a deep breath. “Some labubu’s?” She waited as Jay eyed her. “They cost so much!” “Which is why I'm asking you… Please Oppa.” she begged.

Jay furrowed his eyebrows. “How many?” “like 10, 15-” “really? That's gonna be hundreds of dollars.” “No, it's fine, I'll ask Heeseung.” Sooyoung turned to leave. “Where are you going? You know I'm gonna buy them for you.” Sooyoung’s eyes glimmered. “Thank you.”

A couple weeks later Jay walked into the dorms after going out with Jungwon, and Niki to find Sooyoung waiting in his room. “And what are you doing?” Her smile widened as she pulled a dark Blue Lububu from behind her back.

“For you.” Jay took the fluffy figure and smiled as he noticed the guitar accessory wrapped around it. “It's supposed to be you.” “I can tell. Thank you.” “Well it did come from your money, but yes you're welcome.” Jay laughed as he took the Lububu and hung it from his bag. “Looks cute. I love it.”

When Sooyoung was a trainee she was very shy, so shy she struggled to ask for help when she needed it. She had finished a long day of practice and was exhausted. She had woken up early and forgotten her bus card, leaving her to walk to school and walk to Hybe after. She now stood outside the building sheltering from the downpour of rain.

“Agh, what am I going to do…” she could walk home but by then she would be soaking wet and cold. She wanted to avoid that if she could. Her phone was dead and the other female trainees had already left. She was stranded.

“Do you need some help?” a voice called out. Sooyoung turned to see one of the male trainees. She had seen him before walking around the Hybe building, with other trainees. “Oh, just waiting for a cab.” She lied. “Are you sure? Not to sound creepy but ive seen you standing her for over 10 minutes.” she froze. “Uhh, yeah I lied… kinda stranded.” she felt her cheeks heating up in embarrassment.

“Let me help you. I'll order you a cab.” “no it's fine, i was gonna walk anyway.” she turned to walk into the rain when she was pulled back. “Sorry, but I couldn't let you do that. Here at least take this." The Trainee handed over an umbrella. “Thank you, really.” She bowed and headed off in the direction of her house.

A couple weeks had gone by and Sooyoung kept seeing him around the Hybe building. She wanted to find a way to thank him, so she made a small gift bag for him. She filled it with sweets and some ramen. After another day of practice passed, she spotted the mystery trainee outside waiting for a cab.

“Umm, excuse me.” she momentarily froze as he turned to face her. She realized how tall he was. “I wanted to thank you for giving me your umbrella.” she held out the gift bag hoping he would get the idea. “Oh, thank you. You didn't have to get me anything in return. I just wanted to help.” His warm smile made her feel relieved. “I'm Jay by the way. Sooyoung right?” “yes…” she nodded before scurrying away, getting shy again. “Cute..” Jay mumbled to himself, watching as she disappeared into the distance.

a/n : cute little post!!

[yayll]

~ a little something about Dazai slowly moving you in without you knowing ~

"Osamu, can I borrow a comb or something? I can't seem to find my hairbrush..."

You call out as you rummage through your duffle bag you brought to spend the weekend at his place. you do this as much as you can, it's lovely to spend time with the one you love... And also because he loses all sanity and rationality if he goes a few days without seeing you. You've been there before, and it's a nightmare for both you and anyone interacting with him. Poor baby!

He perks up, staring at you from across the room, chin resting on his palm and his eyes half-lidded. He's thinking about the day he hid that from you, along with a few other garments. He calls back, sounding scattered.

"Mm? Oh, you can borrow anything you want! Mine's behind the bathroom mirror."

"Okay!"

You open the mirror, and the shelf has not only your hairbrush, but one of your hair clips too. You tilt your head, calling back out.

"Nevermind! Found some of my stuff. Guess I left them here last time, heh."

He jumps at your new finding, quietly cursing himself for not hiding that before you came over. Dazai sighs deeply and immediately hops off the stool, beelining it to you. He clears his throat, playing dumb like the demon he is.

"Well, I think you should still use mine. Please, yours looks all old and yucky. If you keep using it all of your hair will fall out and you'll be bald and hate yourself for the rest of your life and nobody will want you! Except for me, of course~"

"... Um, I don't think so?"

"Well I do! Now, come on, let's get these silky locks in check."

He spins you around and immediately starts combing out your hair, humming a little tune to himself as he does so. He makes a mental note to hide the shirt and pajama shorts he kept last weekend too, that's for when he's alone at night. He also needs to make sure you willingly start leaving things, otherwise you'll freak if you're missing half your stuff. He's so gentle with you and having the time of his life, lightly dusting his fingers against the nape of your neck. He stifles a giggle behind that little smirk plastered on his face when you squirm a bit. He'll make sure you do it plenty of more times before you leave later. Maybe you'll finally beg like he's been wanting you to!

"There. All done."

He presses a soft kiss at the top of your head and you flash him a sweet smile. He could honestly pass out right there. And if he fell down, he'd be at your feet, and then he could be at your knees. Oh! And then you'd fuss over him and never leave his sight. And then... So so so cute...

You get a thoughtful look on your face, and turn to face him fully, popping his delusional little bubble.

"... Come to think of it, I feel like I always lose stuff at your place. You'll gather it for me if you find it, Osamu?"

At the mention of his name, he feels his entire body heat up. He blinks twice and tilts his head innocently. God, you look breathtaking when you're confused. He'll have to take a photo sometime for his album. You love posing for those, and he loves looking at you.

"Sure, but why don't you just... Leave things here from now on? You're here alllll the time, might as well just keep stuff here for safe keeping. I'll be the noble keeper of your things!"

You raise a brow, huffing into a laugh.

"Yeah? Is that what you want to be?"

His voice then becomes softer, needier, and dead serious. He stares right into your beautiful eyes, drowning himself in them. He mutters.

"For you, I'll be anything you want me to be. Afterall, I'm nothing more than a boy made of clay~"

You blush at that. Really hard. Amazing! he thinks. He reaches for your soft face that feels hot to the touch, cupping it inbetween his bandaged hands as he delicately rubs circles on your temples with the pad of his thumb. You wish you could look anywhere else right now because you're falling apart under him and he knows it.

"When you move in, you can do anything you want with the place. Especially with me."

"... Shouldn't we talk more about this another time?"

"Mmm no, not really."

He replies, his Hazelnut eyes go a little darker as he looks down at you.

"Hm, I think we should, cause you're too fast for me. You're like a Hare." You giggle as you say that, eyes twinkling.

"I like bunnies. I like you..."

He mumbles, going straight for your lips before you can say anything else.

Needless to say, you didn't get very far into the discussion after that. He wouldn't let that happen. And that's okay! He can adapt! He thinks he IS being a little pushy and a little too fast for your taste. He's sooo sorry, he'll take it slower next time. In between the sloppy kisses and the very indecent ways he uses his hands to toy with you, he desperately whispers in your ear one last time before he devours you fully.

"... We're staying together forever and ever, yeah?"

"Mmphhhmm..."

[tyquu]

Hey man I just wanted to say I love your art sm, you’re one of the main artists who’s inspiring me to learn how to draw and get more involved with the Star Wars fandom again lately! Do you per chance have any tips on how to “get good” and establish an art style and stuff?

Hai hai!

Sorry this took me so long to respond to, I’ve had a busy past few days. First of all though, thank you so much! Really happy to hear you’re learning to draw and getting in with the sw fandom more :]]

As for Art tips, I have a lot! But for the sake of not yapping away for twenty minutes I'll just rattle off the main stuff that worked for me!

For getting good it sucks to say but it is just practise and drawing from life. That doesn't mean it has to be boring though! Sometimes I draw stuff I think looks cool, sometimes I draw stuff with the specific goal of using them to later create something from imagination.

Life drawing (people) is particularly important to me cause I mainly draw people. However I tend to keep it very quick, loose and simple. Focusing in on practising a page of just one thing (expressions, sitting poses, hands ect ect) for just 5 minutes a day worked great for me!

Creating an art-style used to stress me out a lot as a teen, cause it seemed like every brilliant artist had a super distinct and unique one that they stuck to all the time. It was actually when I stopped caring about keeping myself boxed into a specific set of art rules that i started having more fun and accidentally ended up with more of a "style".

Still, I like to keep it open to whatever i feel like! Saturated or desaturated, line art no lineart, shapey or less shapey ect ect. I also love to pick things i love about other people's art and try apply it to my own! Maybe it's the colours they used, or texture they add, or the way they compose their drawings. Just falling in love with whatever your making is the real key to getting good.

Anyways, sorry for chattering away, I have no idea how helpful this actually is. If you ever want any super specific tips or help feel free to ask! And good luck with drawing dude!

[mistresscitrusslice]

Why does the intro end with Jayce and not the sisters?

Pardon my shitty screenshots. I know I already made a post about the weird things in the intro, but there's even more that I didn't include in that post, and most of it is weird as HELL stuff with Jayce. This whole intro sequence has been weird as hell and I love it.

(I'll put it here since I'm not going to mention it later, but Ekko's first scene in the intro has his shadow as a clock ticking counterclockwise and I love it, but I won't talk about it again since we all pretty much know what that means.)

Last season's intro ended with our two lead women at each other's throats. That's no surprise. The whole show is about them. This one, though, ends with Jayce, a supporting member of the main cast. Matter of fact, he shows up a lot in this intro.

In my other post, I mentioned how his scene in the intro is eerily reminiscent of the moment he met Mel (other than the Council trial) when she shined a flashlight in his and Viktor's eyes in the hallway.

Could this be an indicator that he is once again meeting someone new who will change his life forever? Or could it be a reintroduction to someone he already knows? It could easily be Mel again, maybe after she's discovered and learned to control her magic? It seems like she wasn't aware of her powers until now. Considering how much the animators love to compare Mel with Viktor, it could just as easily be Viktor after he's gone full Machine Herald. They've already met again in the commune, but maybe they'll meet again when Viktor is more mechanical and Jayce is more... how do I put it politely... sane.

The light in front of Jayce's hand appears twice more, but something tells me it's a different light. Has the light evolved or is it a different light altogether?

This comes right after Mel on the lounge chair looking at the black rose and right before Viktor putting on the mask (we'll get to that). It is SO much brighter than before, less like a flashlight and more like a spotlight. Jayce's arm is more outstretched, too. It's less reminiscent of the hallway and more reminiscent of the moment he stepped onstage for the Progress Day speech. Bright, burning spotlights that he flinched at. Arm outstretched not only to block the light, but to wave at an audience.

The light and pose when he ends the intro also has these qualities.

I know it's a reach, but nothing is ever fucking reaching with this goddamned show.

So what does this mean?? Is it symbolic of the presence of magic in his life? Once a light in the dark, the path to success -- now burning, all-consuming? Is this another hubris metaphor??? I'm so tired of hubris metaphors. Let Man become God!

Seriously, what do you guys make of this? Because I have no clue. I have negative clues. Everything I see only opens new questions.

Okay, on to the Jayvik amalgam. :D

Who. The fuck. Is this.

Two pics since the camera rotates a bit and idk if the slightly different angle helps at all.

If you look at it from far away, the eyebrow ridge and nose resemble Jayce. If you peer closer, the eyebrow ridge looks more like Viktor's, but the nose still seems like Jayce. This person also looks to be at a healthy weight and has thick thighs, also qualities that Viktor unfortunately does possess. I want to say the hand also looks like Jayce's, but it's hard to tell. The lighting also makes it hard to determine their skin color. All in all, everything about this scene would suggest that the figure is Viktor except for the figure itself.

My gut instinct had me thinking it was Jayce the very first time I saw this intro, but then Viktor showed up with his blanket and mask later in the song and has been in said blanket for most of the show. The lack of purple limbs doesn't mean anything since the sisters also lost their tattoos, Mel lost her gold, and Ekko lost his face paint too.

And then we have this shot. Whose hand is that? NOT FUCKING VIKTOR'S.

That's Jayce's hand putting Viktor's mask on him. The hand looks like it fits naturally on Viktor's arm.

This could mean that Viktor will be wearing his mask because of Jayce. Partly in a "you see me as a villain, so a villain I will be" kind of way, but maybe also in a self-fulfilling time loops sort of way.

It's obvious that we're not supposed to be able to tell Viktor and Jayce apart in this intro. I even saw someone suggest that the animators made a whole new 3D model that was a mix of them both to be able to get the effect across. They might have also made one for Viktor with Jayce's hand.

This is basically saying that Jayce and Viktor are so deeply intertwined that they can't even be told apart. That's really ironic considering how different and divided they are right now. Could this imply that they'll end up back on the same side by the end?

[yandere-fics]

♡ Selene Kidnapping Kink ♡

Your mate wasn't prepared to meet you yet, that's what the temple had always told you, her curse hadn't lifted yet, even if she did meet you, she wouldn't be able to recognize you as her mate nor would she be able to love you as strongly as she surely would when the curse had been lifted, they never told you much about her besides that, and that she was a bloodthirsty killer, and honestly you had no reason not to believe they were telling the truth, if she wanted you then she would have barged in here right this moment, since she wasn't you knew she just wasn't ready for you yet, she couldn't claim you until her curse was over, though you wished she'd just come and claim you regardless of any of that, it was what you were raised for after all.

Since your birth the temple had safeguarded you as their godess's future mate, born too early, the curse wouldn't actually lift for awhile but that didn't matter, they told you that as her mate you'd live as long as her so even if you had to wait a few centuries you would get to meet her one day. That sounded awfully boring though, you didn't want to wait till she could recognize you as her mate, you wanted her right this moment and you somewhat despised the temple for not even alerting her to your existence but finally you got your wish, your mate came stomping into the temple during a day where everyone was worshiping you, killing a few members who tried to grab you to run out the back, worried she might harm you with how threatening she looked, and throwing you over her shoulder so she could return to her home with you in tow.

"A-are you going to have your way with me?" Honestly it was the sexiest moment of your life, she was so scary, not caring about what you thought at all as she snatched you away, you didn't think it was possible to be anymore turned on than this actually, you finally got your lifelong wish of her kidnapping you and it was all you had ever dreamed of and more, this was the best.

"Not yet Dove, if you behave, I just want a chance to woo you first, I'm sure the temple told you I was a horrifying monster." You think you remembered vaguely being told that though at the time you were just hoping that monster would tear off the priest telling you that's head, you hadn't actually paid attention to what they told you was so bad about your mate.

"You're not going to take me against my will?" You posed yourself on her bed, trying your best to entice her, really you could do all that getting to know each other stuff later, right now you just wanted to be defiled by your tall monster mate who had kidnapped you from the only home you ever knew.

"No- I mean uh yeah, you'd forgive me even if I was a bit rough with you wouldn't you? We're mates afterall." Finally she caught onto what you wanted, really too her long enough. You had to fight back a smile as she pinned your hands above your head with one hand, the other dragging a claw down your clothing to rip them off. "I should leave you naked until you get used to being my pretty little captive.

"Be gentle with me, p-please?" She paused for a second to try to figure out if that was what you actually wanted before laughing a little bit and strengthening her grip on your wrists.

"Captives don't get to ask for favors. Maybe if you suck my cock good enough then I'll be gentle with you, can't make any promises though." You and her were going to get along perfectly.

[mcd1-advplus]

- An eNVy Fanart!! (It was time!) -

Hello buddies I hope you all been doing well!! Just here sharing an eNVy Fanart that i did, i couldn't finish it on his day but i finished now!! (But the second part looks ugly ngl, my bad 😔 👍, i struggle like almost 1 hour erasing and erasing trying to find a good pose bro😭), anyways i just hope you guys like this, I'll maybe do an extra drawing about this that i have on mind, I'll see if i don't messed up this time 😅👍, i still have a lot of things to draw, plus that collab history I'm doing with simply, anyways, take care and remember that all of you can do anything!! Good luck in your studies or stuff that you guys have to do see ya later!!!

---

1/5 eNVy Fanart - Come here Space Boy 1/2 [Sketch] -

So i think i did this ugly thing like 2 week ago, and because of studies (and other stuff) i didn't have time to continue it, so that's why it looks kinda different (i think my art style is starting to look awful again bro, NAUUUUUR 😭).

2/5 eNVy Fanart - Come here Space Boy 1/2 [Sketch + Contrast Ver.] -

What?, it looks better ok? (at least it made them look decent 🫠 👍, yipeeeee PFTT 🤣).

3/5 eNVy Fanart - Come here Space Boy 2/2 [Sketch] -

I freaking struggle so much doing something so simple, the bad part is that i made both of them have a big head pftttfttt 😆 🫶 💛🧡, SON CABEZONES MUAHHAHAHAA!.

4/5 eNVy Fanart - Come here Space Boy 2/2 [Sketch + Contrast Ver.] -

They still look bad Naurrr 😭.

5/5 My honest reaction after the abomination i did, I'll see if i do something else for these eNVy drawings, but idk it depends if i feel like to do it or not hehehe 😅👍.

[markantonys]

I wonder if for the next season they will give Elayne the role of saving Rand from Rahvin before he kills him and also have Elayne a confrontation with a more compulsed Morgase and since i don't think they are keeping Morgase they can give rand the mercy kill that he does on liah in the book to Morgase but maybe this is too much.

yeah i'm really intrigued by how the whole rahvin situation might go down! elayne getting to be involved in the show version feels like a no-brainer, but will rand still be there or will he be busy with something else and elayne will run the mission by herself? as of now, i see no reason for rand not to still be included in the showdown alongside her (not least because they will most likely be building avirandlayne in s4 and randlayne doing caemlyn together would be a powerful bonding experience), but who knows. i think i vaguely remember nynaeve in TAR saving rand from rahvin, which must be what you're referencing here, so yeah giving the equivalent of that moment to elayne could make sense! (i'll speculate that the tanchico crew will join up with rand's crew for s4 and that they'll come with him to caemlyn in person, and that none of the "rand and rahvin Traveling into TAR in the flesh" stuff will be necessary and the whole fight will just take place in the waking world.)

elayne having the balefire rod seems like perfect setup for her to be the one to balefire rahvin in the killing blow. however, rand learning how to do balefire feels important for later, and the sammael opportunity is gone, which leaves rahvin as the big mid-series opportunity for rand to learn it. on the other hand, balefire is so OP that i could imagine them holding off on any main character being able to weave it without the rod until pretty late in the story, so we could potentially have elayne balefire rahvin with the rod and rand not learn how to do balefire himself until his darth rand arc when he starts getting too trigger-happy with it.

as for morgase, her being so badly compulsed that rand has to mercy-kill her (to save elayne?) is something i hadn't considered, but it would certainly be very angsty! and it would be a way to make "gawyn hates rand for killing his mom" actually technically true, similar to how dain hating perrin for killing his dad was made actually technically true. but, yeah, not sure if rand having to kill his girlfriend's mom might be Too Much (surely it would be hard for rand and elayne to look at each other after that even if they both knew he had no choice).........or what if *elayne* has to mercy-kill morgase to save *rand*? but even if rahvin is compelling morgase to try and hurt one or both of them, morgase can barely channel, so it's hard to imagine her posing a big enough threat to either rand or elayne that they'd have to kill her to save themselves rather than just subdue her. so for now i'll continue to speculate that rahvin himself will kill her directly. and either way, i'm basically 100% sure morgase will indeed die at this point in the show rather than escape and survive for more seasons.

[kingmakerpod]

Might be an uncouth subject, but I was wondering if you'd be willing to share some insight on what kind of money goes into producing audio dramas (specifically when it comes to reaching out to/compensating vocal talent.) I know a lot depends on what tools and connections you already have; I'm just looking for a flexible baseline to start from and make sure I'm not cheating or insulting folks by asking them to work for peanuts. Having a target to save up for would be a huge help. Thanks so much!

(And yeah, I'll totally admit this is partly just me wondering how you fine WANA folks managed to nab Jonny Sims and Tiana Camacho for Killjam XXX; let me know if this is a question better posed via email and I'll get out of your hair, sorry for bothering!)

This isn't an uncouth question at all. It's actually a great question and we'll be happy to answer it!

It's hard to give a definitive baseline for budget beyond the cost of web hosting and audio equipment, which in itself can vary quite a bit. The yeti mic and arm set we (Meg and Henry) bought for Less is Morgue (and still record a lot of Killjam and TKH on) cost about 200 dollars. If I remember correctly the hosting costs for Less is Morgue were about 30 a month, and for Kingmaker it's 14 dollars a month. Those are the only two things you absolutely need to spend money on, so it's definitely possible to make a good quality audio drama for under a grand. In fact, we would absolutely not recommend going over a grand at this point. You definitely don't want to shoot too high with the budget for your first project. Spoken from experience, you will end up spending it on things you'll later realise weren't worth it.

The most important thing is just to put something out there first so the actors can tell that the project is real and you're not just stringing them along. The few episodes of Less is Morgue were pretty much all done in-house with a cast that was mostly people we were already friends with, and we didn't do any open auditions until midway through the season. Another way to do it is to start off as a single narrator podcast then gradually introduce a full cast as the show goes on. Other shows have released a pilot episode to the public that then serves as an advertisement for what the rest of the show will sound like. Once you have a sample of your work out there, you can start reaching out to actors.

When it comes to how you compensate your talent- just be upfront about how much money you're working with. The best way to not cheat or insult folks is by giving them realistic expectations. Don't promise money you don't have, and don't ask them to do work for something that you won't be able to finish. If you're honest and easy to work with, a lot of voice actors will be willing to adjust their rates or work for free. Speaking from a voice actor's perspective, Addison said she would be willing to work for free on a first time indie project if it seemed fun and interesting and she could tell that it was something the creator was really passionate about.

As for how we got some of our big names- it really is all about cultivating a reputation for being cool to work with. Maybe not the most useful advice for a first project, but it will be useful later, and it is true. At this point the WANA core four have been involved in The NoSleep Podcast, Congeria, Less is Morgue, The Kingmaker Histories and Mayfair Watcher's Society, and that's only counting the stuff that more than one of us have been involved with. Every project we try to make loads of friends. Eventually you will have enough mutual friends with enough people that you can just hit up Jonny Sims and Tiana Camancho, because someone you know worked with them on some other thing and they're willing to vouch for you.

[nameification]

Anaxa(goras) drip marketing !!! lets disect !

(click images for higher clarity !!) (the first is the original splash image, the second is the version with my notes on it, the third is the caption that came with the image, and the last is a moodboard i made before his drip marketing that mainly contains my observations, some of his references, and some minor theories)

no leaks will be discussed, and i'd prefer it if none will be mentioned :) i'll start by talking about some of my own observations and then adding some observations i like that i've seen online

to get this out of the way: yes he does share a similar pose to alhaitham's splash art. it may be intentional, it may be unintentional, but the similarity to alhaitham's pose is not important to me rn. i'll discuss his pose later

full breakdown under the read more (trust me it was necessary)

caption: imma just say i love how much of an Asshat he is. i know for a fact it's gonna annoy a Lot of people but ive played these games before. ive seen these archetypes before. im gonna love him either way

one of the seven sages, the founder of one of the schools actually, and which is oh so coincidentally called nousporist. named seemingly after nous, which is not only a concept the real life anaxagoras talked plenty about, but also the name of one of the aeons.

we've known abt anaxa's connections to the nousporist school for a while (see image above) but we still don't really know what they do, yknow? each school of the grove has their own Thing but we dont really know what the nousporist (and nodist ig but theyre not that important rn) specialty is. (Although in bringing up the nodist school i find it interesting that we don't really know about both the oldest and youngest school of thought in the grove). i personally theorize that nousporist study things like the foundation of the universe, since the concept of nous was used to explain how chaotic matter was "ordered" into the proper universe (vast oversimplification but my point stands)

his rules might be respect things. as in he will respect you on some metric if you respect his rules (or if you are "lower" than him/not that close to him you must respect them?). essentially boundaries that are worded in a way that makes people wanna punt him in the face. maybe he just isn't comfortable with people he does not know too well calling him any shortened form of his name. and no one likes being interrupted while they speak lets be real. "silence is golden, remember that." referring to the person he is speaking to, yes, but he himself must believe it applies to him as well to some extent

"Demised scholar"...mildly upsetting considering the Implications. could be a metaphorical demise in the way his ideas have him "dead" to some people but honestly im pretty sure it has to do with the time loop/simulation theory thats very popular with ampho theorizing. theres speculation that he may know abt the "truth of amphoreus" and maybe the title of demised scholar makes me believe that this is to be his fate in a way ? this one is pure speculation

even the caption is ridiculing him. damn. also. "In a world full of lies, I am the only truth" sounds pretentious as hell but there ought to be some merit of truth to it. will get back to this later when i talk about the stuff others have observed

ALSO the question marks after the divine authority are odd and kinda sus. even if it signified that a character didn't have their coreflame, mydei didn't have any in his drip marketing, so chances are it can't be that.

anaxa himself: there isn't much rn that I personally observed with anaxa other than the fact that red gemstones feature a lot in his design and seem to play some significance to him in general. visually this makes sense (red is a good contrasting color for the blue-green color scheme he has going on) but lore-wise it probably means something. my two cents is that the red gems are related to nous in some way but those are my very Wild ramblings. also the pattern on his arm (the one hidden by his glove) looks the same as the pattern on the background. i saw someone say that it's the chrysos heir pattern but im not sure. also the blue flame coming out from his eye is very odd. i still hold onto those odin connections. will revisit later

midground: the splash art features six of the little green sprite ghost things. they may be a reference to the sages of the other schools of the grove because yknow theres six other schools and the head of each school is called a sage so we've got the whole gang in one splash but the explanation could be entirely different from what i suggest

the roots covering the bookshelves...im gonna be honest i didn't think there were book books in amphoreus before this just cause i didn't remember seeing any. i think the roots covering the bookshelves is a small peak at what the grove might look like in evernight state?

the background: THE GLASS IS CRACKED. his shadow is reflected onto the glass and there is a very prominent crack at the face of his shadow, specifically his eye. combine that with the odd flame that comes out of his eye, and im thinking there is absolutely a connection between that and the reason why and how he lost his eye. glass, mirrors, reflective surfaces, those are typically associated with the remembrance, so there again the glass cracking I feel connects to simulation theory

The translation of the secret message on his splash art is "The seeds you've sown are already sprouting" maybe any plans hes laid are already being set into motion. thats the most obvious way to interpret this imo

okay: again about the pose. this then moves on to other people's observations. on reddit it was pointed out that his pose has similarities with the most common design for The Fool tarot card. Anaxa was described as "The Foolish" in the golden epic trailer and the Fool tarot card is about new beginnings and is the first stage in the fool's journey

on twitter it was pointed out how anaxa's name graphic resembles nous. personally i think his connections to nous in general are Incredibly suspect bc. yknow. everything. gonna have to wait for the trailer ig until then

and also in general (not related to the splash art atp just me rambling) anaxa already has some natural vs artificial/mechanical themes if we add nous and cerces into the equation. the two deities of knowledge seem to manifest it/obtain it through different means (cerces' nature theming vs nous' mechanical nature) and anaxa seems to partake in both of those methods (stretch, but in the golden epic trailer there are diagrams of i think a cone and a sphere behind anaxa and those could be interpreted as either mathematics or blueprints. also anaxa uses a gun. in any fantasy setting a gun is the least nature-y weapon one could have). i think in general there's something interesting about the two contrasting themes of intelligence but if i tried elaborating on them further rn i...no.)

this is it for the most part esp since this is just his splash art. i might do this again when the trailer and livestream drops in...a bit :p

[seafoamsol]

As someone who just saw your and others' posts about kagebros:

Has this happened before? How do you know it's not just close renders of their references, like they claim? And do you know why they say "this group" has targeted them in the past?

I'm new to TF Tumblr so these are all genuine questions. Appreciate any response you give!

Hi! Welcome to TF Tumblr! Pardon the mess. I'll stuff the answers under the cut. For those that are interested, there are two new examples(!)

Has this happened before?

The Optimus Prime painting that caught my attention was from 2023. But these are slightly before that. They have an abandoned wip up, but it's a trace from MTMTE 36.

This wip was later repurposed in 2022 and included in a print:

But it still has the backpack kibble from the trace. Thanks, Milne! Oh, and the Glitch from that one is also Milne's. Also from #36. That brings our count of traced + sold posters up to, what, four?

So I'd say there's a minor precedent.

How do you know it's not just close renders of their references, like they claim?

The wording on this one is a bit confusing, but I'll answer it as if the question is "How do you know that the art is referenced from their own photos, and not other's?" It's a reasonable question and a somewhat reasonable claim. Unfortunately, it's very hard to defend this claim when the drawings are 1:1 with official promotional material. It would be a lot of work to pose the toy exactly the same way, and take a photo using the exact same angle, with the same focal depth. There are maybe one or two that I could give this pass but honestly, I'm still doubtful.

Additionally, this doesn't cover the drawings that are traced from the comics, like above.

Do you know why they say "this group" has targeted them in the past?

Truthfully, no. As far as I'm aware, I'm not part of any "group" specifically out to target them. I'm just calling out tracing as I see it.

[lynn-tged-posting]

tged webtoon ep 154 spoilers n thoughts n all that yeah

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HE DID THE THING HE DID THE >:3 THING YESS YAYYYY YAYAYAYAYY HAHAHAHAA

GOD HES SO FUCKING SILLY WAHAHAHA

jesus christ running from the cops every which way LMAO i really like their faces here javier w exasperation and lloyd just. being him

AND THE UGLY COSPLAYER BIT WHAT 😭 HELP LOL?? i guess cosplayers walking around isnt really a common thing in korea idk i feel like. they didnt really commit an offense until lloyd tried bribing that cop guy lol

like it makes me think back to dkc and how michael and the other guy (I FORGOT HIS NAME SORRY) went to seoul for a bit and kind of caused several accidents and i feel like that fits better w getting the cops attention compared to,,, rummaging thru trash? but also i am not familiar w korea's police system! nor do i know their policies on foreigners n whatnot so who am i to say yknow

EDIT: I HAVE SINCE BEEN INFORMED THAT THE THING THEY WERE LOOKING THROUGH IS A DONATION BOX WHICH IS WHY THE COPS GOT SUS

i also really really wish that besides the cop chasing, we got to see a lil bit more of javier's reaction to seoul and its citizens, the clothing and the culture and how the buildings look, what does he think of them? whats his feelings on an environment so dissimilar to his own, and does he notice anything abt it that reminds him of lloyd and his sudden acquisition of all his knowledge? maybe theres more of that in the webnovel,,, itll be a while before i get there tho unfortunately

anyways thoughts aside more reacting

UUUAGHHHH JAVIER NOTICING EVERY SINGLE TIME LLOYD APPEARS SICK OR UNWELL BUT LLOYD BRUSHING IT OFF. EXPLODES INTO TEN BILLION PIECES. AAGHH AAGHHHH AAGHH screaming crying god that engineer needs a god damn hug

also them in civilian clothes! they look so dorky lmao the hats r super cute tho AND I REALLY LIKE THAT JAVIER HAS GLASSES THATS SO SILLY how can he see though wouldn't it be like vaguely blurry . most glasses are prescription,,, tho they did find this stuff discarded so maybe theyre just,,, decorative??? do people still wear decorative glasses???

i have more thoughts on their attire but it coincides with some thoughts i have for the latter half of this ep so i'll bring it up then!

THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE EPISODE THE MOUNTAIN TRAIL AAGHHH AAAHHH

i started tearing up oh my FUCKING god i feel so insane ohhhhhhhh ohhhhhhh my heart ohhghhh

trying to keep his bluff up all the way through even though he's visibly struggling im gonna throw up im gonna throw up

most if not all the panels in this latter half of the episode make me feel like this so i'll try not to be repetitive and jump straight into my thoughts LMAO

i think the way lloyd is drawn in these panels is really, REALLY well done, and not in just an "oh the art looks good" kind of way, but the choices they make with the posing and the camera angle makes me feel insane

because the moment we cut to the shot where they're on the trail, we do not see lloyd's entire face at ALL. the most we see is his nose and mouth, and that makes my heart squirm like a motherfucker, because who else did we see that way in the webtoon?

kim suho, all the way at the beginning.

we don't actually get to know suho's face until way, way later in the webtoon adaptation, which is once he's way more secure in his position as lloyd frontera

so seeing this,,, it's like we're thrown back to then, it's like LLOYD is thrown back to then, back to when he was just suho kim; someone who thought of himself as nothing, as someone who just couldn't function correctly in this world, and god does my heart ache

and lloyd right now feels it too, the anxieties he once had coming right back. and i think that makes the clothing choices for lloyd specifically really impactful too, specifically upper body

the blue poloshirt is eerily reminiscent of the blue tracksuit suho used to wear, and it's the layer underneath a green jacket with a collar similar to lloyd's usual coat. it's like a reminder to the reader that once upon a time, he was just suho wearing lloyd's mask in a strange, new world. i think this experience is a reminder of that to suho, too,,,

also, the bucket hat is able to cover most if not all of his hair. in some of these panels, you can't even tell that it's lloyd underneath. it might not be the same body, with the way the camera is positioned, especially with some of them being from javier's point of view, it's like,,, "who is speaking right now? the face of lloyd frontera, or the heart of suho kim?"

and in the middle of this, we hear javier speak and ask suho if he hated his behavior, blamed himself for his anxieties, and only then do we get to see one of his eyes, but just one.

idk if the timing of this is intentional (i dont know if ANY of this direction is intentional) but id like to think that javier responding in search of clarification (rather than responding in silence or in disgust) helped suho be a little more inclined to opening up and being honest with who he was in this world. i really really like that

AND THIS ARGHHH ARGHHH AAAHHHHH ROLLING AROUND ON THE FLOOR LIKE A PILLBUG HAVING A SEIZURE AGHHHH

it makes it so so telling that he's the type to live for others, he always has been, to the point of being a workaholic. a quiet, good kid, trying to make amends for the struggles he has by burdening himself with the responsibility of protecting his parents names, of protecting the people he loved. he's done that since the beginning and he keeps doing that over and over and over, both here on earth and there in lorasia.

it makes me so upset (in a character drive way! not in a "this is bad" way) that he thinks of himself as nothing without this responsibility, when this ability to move forward and endure and fight for people is something beautiful in and of itself. it's not every day that you meet people like this, selfless and hardworking and tenacious to their core. back then he encapsulated his identity based on his inability to function in a world that requires social and physical interaction - something that isn't his fault! - and while he was able to move past that in lorasia, he was thrown back to this encapsulation once in seoul. he started to think of himself as "suho in lloyd's body" again, instead of "i am lloyd frontera" as he said before his "bluff" failed. MY HEART HURTS.

and i think that's why javier's concluding note, that in the knights eyes he is just the same person, is so impactful too.

because javier doesn't see lloyd based on his anxiety. he sees him for who he is. someone who protects the people he cares about. someone who is brilliantly cunning, quick on his feet, rational and brave and tenacious tenacious tenacious. for all the things suho admitted to javier, these truths haven't changed for the knight. he's the same person.

javier sees a guardian. javier sees kim suho.

AND THAT is what gets suho to his feet and we finally see his full face again. AND OOHHHH THE LOOKS THEY GIVE EACH OTHER AGHHHH AHHH

the marks of tears streaked on his face but he's smiling with so much renewed energy and javier softly smiling back IM GONNA THROW UPPPP THESE TWO MEAN THE WORLD TO MEEEE AHHHHHH AAAAAAHHHHHH

exploding. exploding. exploding. exploding. exploding.

anyway that's all (for now. if you see me on twitter i might still be agonizing over this /pos) i will SEE YOU NEXT WEEK! i hope we get a cool view from namsan tower and javier reacting to that that'd be nice :3 ANYWAYS BYE

[no-shxme]

OKAY so i have all the pieces im gonna go full lunatic ramblings and talk about the new talon skin.

The skin in question:

(spotlight video)

and his bio:

“Talon doesn’t remember much of his past anymore; all he knows is the sorrow and regret etched deeply within his soul. These emotions have transformed into hues, dying him and making him what he is today. Others revere the power he wields, but to Talon, it’s no different from shackles binding him. Refusing to be a pawn in destiny’s game, he fights desperately, determined to rewrite his unfinished tale even if it means only darkness awaits his blade at the end, where all the colors shall eventually converge.”

Additionally he has vo in br portuguese as well as spanish. i've taken the liberty of translating the spanish vo as i know some, even if my english is better >_> you can find the english translated lines here. and if you're a fluent speaker feel free to throw ur two cents in the ring.

i am going to also ramble a liiiiil bit about the other skins in the line in connection with talon, and also go into sett a bit more and at the end i'll talk about a talsett lens. ofc this is all just my opinion blah blah im yapping. this will be a very long post.

OKAY SO FIRST OFF LET'S TALK ABOUT THE DESIGN.

I think splendor opus talon's design is... probably his weakest aspect of him... like imo his design falls into a line of 'there's too many things going on.' too many bells and whistles. i know there was some contention about his colors but i personally like them, tho i dont really like the swirly stuff he's got going on by his shoulders. and idk if i dig his anglerfish lure like hmm. his outfit is kinda a mess but that's okay i forgive him. i wish he had visible eyes always and its interesting that you can see them sometimes they're just super fucking yellow.

like wow hello!

imo his splash art is also great!! compared to his last skins, primal ambush on pc and stargazer/prestige on wr (we dont talk about the prestige) this one just gives off a better vibe to me?? the pose is better than stargazer imo.

and his EXPRESSION is so good here. it's cool neutral, and if you squint then yeah maybe he COULD be smiling just a tiny bit, or maybe he could be frowning. its so GOOD.

(once again not a fan of the wispy shit but blah blah)

in terms of model animation, like the wild rift entrance visible in the spotlight intro,, i don't like it as much? just in the starting animation, when he's on the boat all the way up to looking at the camera, i think he gives off yone energy there, not talon energy. i think its because he looks too put together. i think talon should be noticeable for his less than stellar posture lol. he's got some grime i think they should let him keep it.

wild rift offers several poses and there are several that i think do a better job. i dont think his default screams much talon, tho i understand that he would keep good posture sometimes. (i reference it while writing too.)

he breathes fire in his animated performing pose, which is fun. i think poised and the end of performing are his best poses. idk i just think dignified is a strange word to associate with talon, personally. i wouldn't even associate that with enduring blade.

extra side note about his model i love the lil thing that ties his fuckass hair back.

as a side note (but generally more unimportant compared to other apsects of his skins) the animations and in game of him is also very good, but that's a given bc of the better wr models. i love his e, and sometimes ingame he pulls out his fan for a sec? the way his cape moves almost reminds me of rakan.

EDIT: FORGOR to mention that sett is LITERALLY IN HIS RECALL??? AUGHHH

anyway, model aside, let's talk LORE/THEMATIC:

now full disclaimer there's gonna be an event ingame so if there's more lore revealed i'll have to make a summary post or smth, but we'll find out later.

lore/thematic is what i was most wary about, especially because wild rift was handling it, and their last entry (stargazer talon) was so brutally boring in terms of thematic. ive said this before but it gave him no real texture, just someone who was 'secretly working for the enemy.' when i refer to narrative texture i'm more talking about complexity. talon is such a complex character, so if there isn't a layer of complexity in his bio then its shrimply not as good. i always consider skins to be a 'translation' of the character. so painting talon as a flat villain is a poor translation of the character. there are a couple champs that suffer with this tbh, getting reduced or translated to other skinlines poorly. (yone. for example. sett too. maybe some other day i'll make a post about it going into my thought process.) all this to say that i dont really trust wild rift's quality when it comes to character interpretation? like i trust lol pc much more. i think wr gets away with things that wouldnt get through on pc. stuff like putting heels on all their women models, etc.

anyway.

i was VERY PLEASANTLY SURPRISED THEN BC the lore isn't actually one note or flat or leaving little room (primal ambush for example, was a filler line that didnt really give lots to chew on). but this line not only interprets talon but also gives a fair amount of texture!!!

but basically it boils down on first glance to 'sett and the others have to defeat talon (and mundo technically who is like, following behind talon) i'd assumed talon would be a villain from the teasers and i was scared of him being just a flat villain. but that's actually so opposite to the case, because once you look at talon's bio and voice lines he's a tragic and textured villain fighting to choose his own future.

there is admittedly a lot of haziness in regards to the actual world context. even the cinematic they released (here) is set very non-specifically. we know that teemo is Literally Destiny and 'is [trying to] ensure that the chosen ones walk their destined paths.' in sett's bio it mentions being chosen by the 'Paints of Providence, being chosen to take on the mantle of The Gallant Hero' and defeat talon. are the paints different from teemo? uhhhhhh... dont really know.

there are some instances in riot lore where im like 'they totally didnt mean to do that' but i think they very much intended talon to be seen as 'correct' in his motive (though prolly not his actions.) trying to achieve his goals in the wrong way.

i think from all the lore (as in the bios and voice lines) its implied that fate gives you a role to play and erases your past memories? im really not sure about that last part because sett references his ma in his legendary lines... but at the very LEAST fate gives you a part to play. and in talon's case he doesn't want to play it. he's got lines about deciding his own destiny and its fucking sick and on brand. there's even an animated emote (which i'll post separately) explicitly called 'i define who i am.' and YET he's portrayed as someone who 'needs to be defeated.'

ITS TRAGIC. in a talsett lens it really is peak enemies to likers, and FINALLY we're back to themes of control/loss of control that we have with talon's best skins (thematicwise.) and its more tragic if you push it further and think maybe teemo (destiny) knows that him 'fighting his destiny at any cost' is just him cementing himself in his predetermined role of antagonist.

HE IS FIGHTING FOR HIS OWN AGENCY LIKE. HELP.

like high noon also has the same reoccurrance, of things happening to talon outside of his control and him struggling to deal with it. enduring blade: loses his POWERS? (irelia, chill) and suddenly being cast down to mortality. i thiiiiiiiink i've said this before but thematically across (most of) his skinlines talon has two major vibes:

struggles with control

themes of being pushed too far to the point that he doesn't care if the whole place burns down/anarchy. (withered rose and blood moon are two notable examples.)

if you pair this with the idea of him loving perfection and also the idea of 'the edge' you get a tragic portrayal of someone who is just pushed too far (edge) to the point where they snap. feast or famine, all or nothing. and i think that's SUPER interesting because when you look at like, his base/lore that stuff is very much under the surface/not as evident. (imo this is because he's just not at that breaking point yet in story.)

splendor opus is thematically very good because it covers both of his major vibes. it's kinda what i was missing from the stargazer skin. (my criticism was that it's a missed opportunity to put talon in a story about fates and futures without adding his struggle with them.) it also portrays him as a foe but sympathetically, which imo is 90% of the time how it should be. high noon was: yeah he's a devil but he's going through it. enduring blade was: yeah he's a prick but he's going through it. KATARINA COMIC was: yeah he tried to kill her but he's being manipulated. she even let him live like she knows this!!! AGH

as an added note, because this is peking opera themed, i havent ruled out the idea that this is all a stage play and that irl this isn't actually happening. but idk if that can be determined yet. unless i've missed smth, we'll have to see if anything else is revealed.

in summary: i personally rate this thematic VERY high tbh, though still under like, high noon at the very least. i wish the setting was more established but the lore/theming surrounding talon is quite excellent imo, even if his design leaves stuff to be desired.

ALSO, a note on splendor opus sett:

i like his skin a lot tbh! (mythic chroma not as much) and the model/animations are great ofc, but as a legendary skin released alongside another legendary skin this is definitely the lesser of the two. the voice lines are very nondescript and add little thematically compared to talon, and he only has 1 alternate pose? (and a different alt pose on his mythic chroma) so it seems like unequal quality? strange. i think they could've added a tiny bit of doubt to his bio, personally, because a lot of sett's theming is around fighting for those who need it, and talon kinda... needs it? (well, he doesn't need it, but he could USE it.) but this is once again dipping into my opinions on how sett's character is often reduced. though talon actually DOES have a voiceline with him where he calls him stupid, so maybe its something that clicks later for him.

that being said i still like his skin. i'll take what i can get.

if you read this whole stupid thing then thanks for humoring me lol. this is all just my personal opinions, if you wanna discuss feel free!!! yayyy talon

now i must draw them together....

also im not even rereading this so if there's mistakes ill uhhhhhhh fix them later.

[nolonger100daysoftavvyfanart]

new update thoughts, spoilers ahead but tbh there's not much to spoil in this one

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It's interesting that the sea foam is clinging to her shoes like that; maybe the oceans here are slightly viscous? It can't be normal water; it makes sense for it to be pink if it's reflecting the sky, but it's way too bright, and it might be opaque (?).

Since Rose's species is aquatic, that seems like it could have an effect on their development.

Or maybe it's some kind of primordial ooze, for other species on the planet?

Honestly it'd be weird if it *was* just water, some planets have oceans of all kinds of stuff

why did she start doing that before she even said anything, these ult gods are freaks

also, the line weight on the hair looks pretty uniform. That seems unusual for this team, they usually mess around with it a bit. This update seems kind of rushed, which I'll talk about later.

I'm kind of expecting hair to get symbolically linked to a theme in act 2 now, since there's so much hair in this update. I'll add it to the Act 2 bingo card after the act 1 end flash.

this is your brain on Freud

There are so many uncomfortable jokes in this update. It really hammers home how annoying it would be to be stuck with these people.

No wonder Terezi ran off so quickly after arriving on Deltritus.

So they're making last minute changes before rollout? They seem pretty enthusiastic about this, but that could lead to a glitchy system.

It's not even dark out yet, there's no way that stuff is debugged.

what is that, what is he doing

Is he wiggling his thumb? to show he's excited? idk?

This would be a great place for a parking lot.

Terezi, you need to put on a pin or put up a poster to show them that Workplace Bullying is Not Okay!

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Overall this update felt like it was rushed out; the art is good, but not as good as usual.

Some poses felt weird; most artist commentaries show them meticulously going through a bunch of different sketches, but here I'd guess they had to go with the first drafts.

The hair also looked kind of thick (?) to me.

My assumption is that this was going to be the first half of an update that got moved around because the flash was taking too long, which would explain why it was so short. I also think the artist drawing this update had to/wanted to finish it quicker than usual so they could work on the flash. That's just a guess, though.

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Also, since i got the last 2 drop dates right:

the next update is going to drop on the 25th of January. it will have a Dave in it. it will not be a flash. the art will seem slightly rushed. it will start as a funny update and then something will happen that leaves the meat timeline on a cliffhanger before the act end flash, which will drop in february.

[janetkwallace]

On the consequences of the Burmecian Genocide

You don't have to agree with what I'm about to say.

As a matter of fact, you can disagree as much as you want, I'm not saying that what I say is the right thing or that my view is better than yours. Everyone hold different views on the things they like and they don't, and today I'm writing about something I both like and dislike about one of my favorite games. The thing is, I don't like to do this sort of analysis where I comment on the negatives of my favorite stuff, even if I were to do it with a bit of humor.

Well, do not expect any humor.

I was kinda hesitant to write about it, but then I found myself writing it on a whim, so here we go... There is no turning back.

I've written about my thoughts on Final Fantasy IX before, its goods and its flaws. I've said what I had to say about the second visit to Alexandria during Disc 2, aka the point in the game where my enjoyment for the story has significantly decreased, it did not ran out as the game is still good after that point, but for me things were no longer the same as they did during the first hours of gameplay.

If you read the title, you know what I'll be commenting on today. So, genocide... It happens across most of the Final Fantasy games, it's shown to be very graphic when it happens, and IX was no different. Disc 1 ends with the party visiting Gizamaluke's Grotto, and later Burmecia, places filled with dead soldiers and NPCs lying down on the streets. The bleak atmosphere combined with haunting music adds a lot to these scenes. When the party fights against the Black Mages at Cleyra, each fight doesn't end with a victory pose... Because there's no victory when lots of innocents are annihilated by a powerful attack all at once. Later, when you revisit Lindblum, a giant monster is swallowing everything in its dark void, from knights to people to Black Mages themselves, it doesn't matter who gets sucked in or whose corpses fall in midair.

Pretty graphic, don't you think? The scenes do not include any blood or gore, it's just these little gruesome details that the player clearly sees with their eyes, this nightmarish stuff that happens and you can't do jack about it. One of my praises for Final Fantasy IX is for doing these sorts of things and not being afraid of doing it so. Sometimes it's whimsical fantasy, and other times a bleak, chaotic mess that belongs to dark fantasy, all of it happens in one game that most people – and I still can't believe it – think it's for children or that because it's geared towards children it has to dumb down a lot of themes they can’t grasp by themselves.

It doesn't. From the beginning, it’s clear that people do die, and it doesn't matter if your party members are well-trained or skilled, people in the world still die. I believe this is one of the core themes present in the games Sakaguchi worked with, that death is inevitable and out of the player's control. The original Final Fantasy VII had a lot of scenes revolved around said theme, such as when Barret meets his old friend Dyne or the main antagonist revealed to be a walking corpse who and whose mother – also a corpse – refuses to die in contrast with a party member whose sacrifices gives everyone else a chance to live.

I'm not here to talk about VII, maybe someday, but returning to the main point... The Burmecian genocide that occurs in Final Fantasy IX is shocking due everything I've said before, but the consequences of it are not fully explored. It's something that not only happens in this game, but a problem with the Final Fantasy series as a whole where the act of genocide is shown to be a horrifying event that leads to many casualties, and yet, very little is told or shown in the aftermath. Sure, there is an attempt to show the Burmecians leading their lives after the invasion, a few NPCs in Lindblum and some Cleyrans who managed to flee their settlement that are spread across the entire world, but it's not enough.

Genocide not only kills people, but their culture. How does the Burmecian culture look like after the genocide? Do people want to go home or do they want to build a new home elsewhere? The destruction of symbols can be demoralizing, so do any of the Burmecians feel sad or guilty or depressed after witnessing the collapse of their birthplace? Do other NPCs consider Burmecians as victims or do they see the mass murder as a justified act, given the few times conflicts between Burmecia and Alexandria were mentioned? What about the Cleyrans, what do they have to say about the giant crater that lies where Cleyra used to be? Are there any attempts from the citizens of Burmecia to restore their homeland to its full glory or is that something impossible to be achieved?

We see Lindblum in ruins and during its reconstruction, but nothing happens in Burmecia, it's abandoned the way it is since Disc 1. You could say that's a result of disc limitation at the time, and yes, while the limits of what can fit inside a 700mb disc plays a factor, it isn't the sole reason why a lot of things about Final Fantasy IX and other games from the series feel rushed or underdeveloped.

I'd say it's not only a lack of digital space, or budget constraints , but I do see it as a lack of care too, which's weird to think about since a lot of effort was put on the game, its story, characters, graphics, the backgrounds that we see for just a second and then never again, all of that done with such intricate and pure detail, and then you have stuff that isn't very well executed or explored. Disc 4 is there to show this dissonance of "let's put lots of details in these background elements" combined with "the story goes crazy and we will offer cryptic explanations as to why this happens and the characters in the party barely react to the information".

In the end, nothing that I wish for will be true. This game is called "Final Fantasy IX", not "Burmecian Fantasy IX", after all. They were never meant to be given any focus, but that doesn't mean they're irrelevant or any less important than anything else that takes place in the game.