#most of my characters seem to be from specific animes or video games

[kaiijo]

THINGS YOU DO THAT HE FINDS HOT — [BLUE LOCK]

characters: isagi yoichi, bachira meguru, kunigami rensuke, nagi seishiro, chigiri hyoma, itoshi rin, barou shouei content: gn! reader, suggestive content notes: hope you enjoy!

⋆｡° isagi yoichi

oh. my. gosh. isagi is absolutely down bad for you wearing his clothes — specifically, his jersey. tbh all the players love when you do but with mr. isagi “egoist” yoichi is one of the most obsessed with it.

whether his clothes are loose, tight, or fit just right, isagi’s face is flushed red and his eyes are glued to you with stars in them. after he see you in his jersey, he’s giving you his sweatshirts and jackets and looking up matching clothes on the internet

⋆｡° bachira meguru

bachira immediately gets butterflies in his stomach whenever you dance. he loves seeing how carefree you are when you do and just the way you twist and move your body.

if you really want to make his heart skip a beat, invite him to dance with you with an outstretched hand and a sweet grin and he’s absolutely putty in your hands. when you dance as close as you can, chest to chest, he’s melting in your arms with an uncharacteristically shy smile and a whole army of butterflies in his stomach

⋆｡° kunigami rensuke

kunigami really, really, really likes it when you openly admire his physique. he’s not trying to be vain but he works hard for his muscles so he loves it when you show your appreciate for that hard work

you can do this in various ways: compliment him, stare at him when he works out, squeeze around his arm and ask if he’s bulked up more since the last time that he saw you with a little, cheeky smile. whatever you do, it has kunigami feeling a little lightheaded

⋆｡° nagi seishiro

this might be cliché but nagi thinks it’s super hot when you get really passionate about things that either you like or that he likes. as someone who is pretty lazy, there’s something about the contrast of you getting fired up that he likes. he’s focuses on how animated you get when you’re telling him about something you love, the way you speak, the way you gesture, nagi just can’t take his eyes of you

like i said, he really likes you being passionate about things he likes. when you get really into a video game you’re playing together, sharp eyes trained in the screen and your fingers mashing buttons on your console, cursing quietly under your breath when something doesn’t go right — it may not seem that nagi is paying attention but he is and he’s enjoying every moment he’s spending with you

⋆｡° chigiri hyoma

chigiri’s face gets really warm whenever you trace your fingers along his face. you’re reverent, enraptured by his beauty and even though chigiri is always told how pretty he is, it’s different when it comes from you because it’s you. he’s squirming and blushing under your gaze

what makes him even more flustered is if you’re cuddling with one another and you ghost your fingertips along his jawline and whisper about just how beautiful he is. there’s something so intimate about it and chigiri feels like he’s locked in some sort of trance with you that neither of you really care to leave

⋆｡° rin itoshi

laughing at his jokes even when they’re deadass not funny is the quickest way to get rin’s heart thumping. because he’s someone who’s usually super serious, it’s kind of rare for him to crack any quips but when he does, it usually falls flat because people think he’s serious (or because it’s blatantly not funny) but you can always figure out when he does and he can count of you to let out a little giggle at the very least

maybe it’s the way your mouth curves into a smile or the way your eyes light up with amusement but rin just thinks you look your best when you’re laughing (especially at his jokes/“jokes”). he presses adoring kisses to every inch of your face when you get a private moment together

⋆｡° barou shouei

barou is an absolute sucker for you getting along with his younger sisters. he’d honestly rather die than admit it but regardless of how old they are (if they’re really much younger or pretty close in age to him), you being an older sibling figure and role model to them really attracts him to you

he may always roll his eyes when his sisters insert themselves into your time together, but he would absolutely kill for them (and for you) so seeing all the people he cares most getting close just makes him feel even more superior for choosing you as his partner. when they finally do leave you alone, he’s definitely pulling you into his arms to show you his appreciation

[ohnoitstbskyen]

PINNED POST, FAQ, INFORMATION

Hi, I'm TBSkyen. I make videos on YouTube sometimes. This is my main tumblr blog, the "brand" blog as it were, where I maintain my Social Media Presence™ on this site.

I use the ironic ™ to signal my personal discomfort with the work of being a minor media personality even while I still do that work and make a living off it.

I have a sideblog called @tbposting, mostly for shitposts and reblogs, and in my opinion I have pretty darn good taste in reblogs, so you can follow that if you want. It's also where I'll do random personal posting, microblogging, etc.

This main blog is primarily for 1) answering asks, and 2) posting my Original Content™, usually my main channel videos, as well as the occasional longer essay or critique. Sometimes I'll reblog an interesting or useful thing, or boost a friend's work, but I try to keep the spam to a minimum.

---

About Me

I am a thirtysomething content creator whose primary expertise is character design.

I have a bachelor's degree in English, never finished my master's, did most of a bachelor's degree in history, and that's it. These are my academic qualifications, no more and no less.

My professional experience is primarily being a freelancer and self-employed creator. I spent the better part of a decade working as a commission artist, running webcomics, drawing fanart, and the occasional animation work and not safe for work commissions, and I have at this point a decade of experience and self-study in the subjects I cover. I have also done online community management for, god help me, almost twenty years, so that's a part of my skillset I'll never escape.

I do not have any particular professional creative industry experience, although given what I hear from my professional friends, sometimes that seems like a blessing.

Please maintain a critical distance when engaging with my work. I am a critic. My work is very rarely meant to be taken as authoritative or didactic, and when it is, I will make it clear in my writing. Just because I speak with confidence doesn't mean I am trying to assert objective truth.

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TAGS (to follow, or filter)

#tbanswers is the tag for every single ask I answer on this blog

#tb reblog is the tag for reblogs

#tb essay is for the occasional longer essay or critical writing

#tbvideos is for my videos and Content™

#tb recommends is for the occasional recommendation of a video essay or other creator

Yes, I know the spaces are inconsistent. It's not on purpose, I just typed them in haphazardly when I started using them and it's stuck.

---

FAQ (before you ask)

Q: Will you ever do a video about ____ ? A: The answer to this question is almost universally "maybe someday, if I have time, and if I feel I have anything worthwhile to say." And the more realistic answer is "no, because I already have far too much on my plate and I have burned myself out too many times." In general, please don't ask me this question, I will most likely not answer it because I have given the same answer a thousand times, but I still feel guilty about not answering them.

Q: Will you continue your series of videos about ____ ? A: Yes! I will continue the let's plays I started, I will finish the Boss Designs series, I will do another What's the Deal With, I will do more shorts about the subjects I've got going on. The main obstacle is, again, my tendency to overload myself.

Q: Do you have a PO box? Can I send you something? A: Not yet, but I'm looking into it. It may be a while before I get it set up.

Q: Do you have merchandise? A: A little bit, yes, at tbskyen.redbubble.com.

Q: What's your opinion on [game/movie/comic/book/etc]? A: I struggle to answer very open, broad questions like this. Most things I have opinions about, I have multiple opinions, and different ones depending on the perspective and specific element in question. I'm much more likely to answer specific, bounded questions.

Q: Can I send you fanart? A: PLEASE. Askbox, tag me on bluesky, send it to my email! I love seeing every piece of it!

Q: Why do you never appear on camera? A: A forest witch cursed me to look not quite but ALMOST like Paul Giamatti in all photos and videos ever taken of me, and his laywers sent me a cease-and-desist.

Q: Are you gay/straight/bi/other? A: The decision I've made for myself, at least for this period of my life, is that privacy is precious, and once given up can never be reclaimed on the internet. I am open about being aromantic (not asexual), because it's a sometimes invisible and underdiscussed identity, and I know it would have helped me a lot to see someone speak about it when I was younger.

The rest of it is for me to know, and for you to speculate about, although preferably somewhere I can't see it. I accept that this is a part of being a Personality, but it still feels weird, y'know?

Q: Is it weird if I find your voice kinda hot? A: I've put a lot of work into developing this voice and making it nice to listen to, so that's not weird at all and I find it quite complimentary, thank you.

I generally don't mind people doing flirty/thirsty posting about or at me, just so long as we all understand that 1) you should never give a stranger like me information which could be used to harm you. Nicer-seeming YouTubers than me have turned out to be monsters.

And 2) it will never go beyond playful online flirtiness. I like to fluster my live chat, I'll flirt back in an ask or a post maybe, but I am not flirting with you, or inviting any kind of closer intimacy with you, the person I responded to.

Think of me like a comedian doing crowd-work at a show - you can chat to me in the bar after the show, but when I asked you what you do for work I wasn't looking for a personal connection, I was doing my work as an entertainer. Please no sending me nudes, or propositions, or confession letters in my email inbox. We are strangers, and I am always performing a persona in public.

[paper-mario-wiki]

Shangri-La Frontier mid-season review

This is by far the best fake video game I've ever seen written in fiction.

Most MMO-centric isekai stories have trouble with providing accurate and realistic depictions of the complexities and minutia that give MMOs the allure they have. I've seen so much handwavey bullshit tacked onto fake-games that introduce unrealistically overlooked mechanics for reasons like giving the protag immense power just because they're the protag and the story is about them. A good example of this is another MMO Isekai airing this season, "A Playthrough of a Certain Dude's VRMMO Life", wherein the main character becomes extremely rich, powerful, and famous by episode 2 because he stumbled into a stealth archer playstyle, a build which apparently no human in that universe had ever conceived of before, and then making a fortune by selling basic potions to everyone after NPCs stopped selling them (another thing he was uniquely able to do because not a single other player had the forethought to spec into alchemy). These lesser, dime-a-dozen isekai add up to be boring fantasy strories with gaming elements clumsily put in so that the author can demonstrate how powerful the world's inhabitants are by showing their stat allocation screen instead of, say, explaining anything about what they do that's so uniquely powerful and how they figured it out. Ya know, stuff you'd hope to hear about from any competent story.

Shangri-La Frontier is a breath of fresh air for anyone who, like me, is sick of authors ignoring the things that actually make video games compelling in service of creating a stock-standard narratives in fantasy worlds because it allows them to get away with bullshit. I've always found it very convenient that many isekai narratives indulge in things like chattel slavery, because it's societally normal enough for the protag to purchase a beautiful, vulnerable girl to add to his harem (dont worry, she is always inexplicably in love with him no matter what because he's SUCH a kind master). And it never really seems to go anywhere. Because the Video Game Isekai, while an interesting premise in theory, is more often than not used exclusively as a means to simplify the structure of a world's power scaling to abide by an arbitrary set of omnipresent universal rules (e.g. what people who have never cared to look into game development think of video games). This anime, by comparison, is VERY clearly authored by someone who plays a LOT of games.

Every piece of logic used to drive the plot forward, so far, is congruent to a real-world example of video game conventions, and I'm not just talking about levelling up and selling monster parts. Story elements that I've rarely (if ever) seen explored in other isekai are ever-present and genuinely clever and amusingly introduced. My favorite example of this so far has been the way the protagonist has been able to go head to head with so many overlevelled foes in the first 9 episodes. The story of course makes note of how good of a gamer Sanraku (our hero) is, but much like in real life games, being super duper good at dodging attacks doesn't really make up for a 70 level gap in items and learned skills. For that reason, he gets his ass whooped more often than he actually outsmarts others (so far he hasn't beaten a single player in pvp). So how is he getting out of these situations without dying so frequently? Simple: he got access to a later area too early relative to his level (sequence break) and got access to a high level follower NPC that's been carrying him. This is something he acknowledges directly several times, specifically using words like "Emul has been hard-carrying me for a while." This, to me, is extraordinarily meaningful. That's something you can exploit in Skyrim, man. That's REALISTIC CHEESE STRATS. The excitement and wonder I find in this show doesn't come from watching the protag do something unexpected, but by watching him do something that I would think to do.

This knowledge the author has demonstrated regarding modern gaming culture extends further into the actual realistic nature of game design and community. The story exists in a reality where full-dive VRMMOs are the be-all-end-all of gaming, and given the prohibitively expensive nature of developing and designing expansive, immersive worlds, most games are pretty shit. It's been hinted at so far that this is due to a monopolistic megacorp which is one of the only entities rich and powerful enough to make a good game (the game in question being the one that shares the title of the anime), but so far the strife of the characters have been pretty centralized to the happenings of the game world and its politics. By the way, lets talk about the game world's player base politics, which I'm also quite pleased with. It exists in the form of guilds and clans who struggle for power not by participating in seemingly random pvp with other powerful players to see who is the most epic and badass warrior (again, like many contemporary isekai typically opt for), but by gaining actual realistic support from a fictional playerbase with realistic desires and playstyles. Some guilds are interested in lore, some gather for alliance and boss raids, some for things like animal husbandry, and (naturally) at least one is dedicated to trolling and PKing. Each of these factions, through the very little that we've seen of them so far, communicate on forums and only know as much as is reasonable for them to know. The only reason they give a shit about the protagonist at all is because he gained access to a high-level unique scenario quest that they want information on how to access, and the only reason word of that got out in the first place was because someone posted a screenshot of him with a unique NPC onto a forum, asking about it as "where can i find this pet summon, its super cute!" That's real. That's video games, baby.

I like this show a lot so far. I like that it cares about video games, but I also like its writing. I like the main character and how hes less of an ultra badass super cool guy, and more of an earnest challenge-run lets player. Like, a lot of his dialogue straight up sounds strikingly similar to Japanese youtubers. And he's naturally always quick to point out inconsistencies in the game world's logic. I ALSO really like his community of pals from a janky old fighting game, and I ADORE the girl from his school who has a crush on him and also just so happens to be an exceptionally high level player from a top clan, and how she had to spend 9 episodes working up the courage to send him a friend request. I love that so, so much, dude.

I highly recommend this show if you're into a single thing I've mentioned. The animation is great. The world is beautiful. The character design is immaculate. And I'm looking forward to watching it continue.

[doctorbunny]

A little speculation about Corpse Disposal and J-horror

But I'm a little bored so sharing a part-theory, part-headcanon on Muu and Rei

So we unfortunately don't see much of Rei in "Its not my fault" but I want to point out three key times we do

The first time we see Rei in the MV, is her wet sleeve (we know its not Muu because Muu wears a pink jumper under her blazer)

Then, after a lot of bug stuff, we're finally back in the real world, where Muu has just killed her Post-After Pain. In INMF, we don't see the surroundings as well, just the dirt track and bushes. But in AP, we see this is right next to a rushing river (Muu's undercover card also features a bridge as a landmark)

The next time we see Rei after her corpse, is a flashback to the start where she turns the hourglass over. Then it cuts just further back to before Rei stood up - as she pulls herself up off the floor She's alive and absolutely soaked after a session of intense bullying (which we saw Muu insert herself into in AP)

However, I want to now switch a little to talk about cinematography and a concept called the Kuleshov effect The video I linked is pretty concise but the gist is that if you put two shots next to each other, even if they were filmed separately, the brain interprets it as a continuous scene (so if you film a character looking off screen, then a picture of an apple on a table, we're going to assume they're looking at the apple)

Therefore while we understand chronologically that the sequence of events is Rei (wet and alive) -> Rei's murder on dry land ↺ Flashback to Rei still wet and alive Which I think everyone understood as a commentary on how this power struggle was a constant cycle of the hourglass being turned over

I think visually, it also implies a sequence like Rei was bullied -> Muu kills her -> Sopping wet, Rei crawls back to the classroom

But wait! That sequence suggests a missing step How did Rei get wet again?

Well, we know Muu killed her next to a river And if you were a scrawny teenage murderer with a body on your hands, would you leave it there where someone could see it while you grab a shovel and stand in broad daylight digging a hole in tough ground??? Or try lighting a fire in public??? Of course not!

It'd be much easier for Muu to, in a panic, just roll her body into the convenient river and let all the evidence wash away!

(Of course, if Muu was panicking, she might not have been very careful. Given she ended up in MILGRAM, there must've been something tying Muu to Rei's death and in T2 Muu seems to have finally remembered losing her left shoe...)

Fun fact: this is the same shoe Cinderella loses in the animated Disney film (and the best known version of that story came into English from France)

Shoe break over, back to the Endless Queen's Game

So, if we assume Rei's corpse was thrown in the river, what does it matter? Its just a pointless headcanon

But I speculate the meaning goes deeper!

So that image of Rei, soaking wet, crawling off the floor reminded me of something: J-horror ghost girls! Specifically the most famous of ghost girls Samara/Sadako Who became a vengeful spirit after being thrown in a well and now crawls out of TVs to kill people who watched her VHS tape

Her story too is a cyclical one (its called 'Ring' for a reason), the only way to break the curse is to copy the tape and have someone else watch it, who will then become the victim unless they can themselves copy the tape and show it to another unsuspecting patsy

The story goes back further because this movie is based on a novel, which is based on the legend of 番町皿屋敷 Banchou Sara Yashiki. There are many versions but generally a maid girl Okiku is proposed to, and when she rejects the proposal, her master breaks one of ten plates and promises to forgive her if she marries him. When she declines again, he beats her to near death then throws her into a well (sometimes it's a jealous mistress instead of a master)

Interestingly, Atrophaneura alcinous (swallowtail butterfly) larvae found in Japanese wells became known as Okikumushi お菊虫 (Okiku bugs), tying back to the whole insect thing...

It's been said a bunch now, but the name 'Rei' can be read as 霊 meaning ghost (seen in words like Yuurei 幽霊, a more common word for ghost than Rei on its own)

We know Muu is afraid of ghosts too (though I must admit she says Obake, not yuurei, but both words refer to ghosts)

Remembers the i/井 in Sakurai/櫻井 can be read as 'well' I'm sure that has nothing to do with anything

Uh, I can't think of a conclusion because its 1 am and I had to look up a bunch of spooky images

TL;DR: I think Muu may have quickly shoved Rei's body into the river next to where the murder happened (maybe forgot her shoe at the scene of the crime) and now she's scared by the cycle continuing and Rei coming back to haunt her

[liquidcrystalsky]

Pinned Post

Other places i'm at:

@ranidspace (my main)

@splatoonsongpolls

my github

my ko-fi

the splatoon tumblr community

general hangout discord server (17+, come join!!!)

Before you send a request, check to see if it's already been ripped:

The google drive:

Stuff I didnt rip but check it out:

Lean's Database

(Gear icons, tableturf stuff, ink colours, nearly everything)

Models Resource (Splatoon 3)

(please check this before asking me for a model)

The tagging system i use:

Things of note:

I forget to tag things. often.

I'm intending to go and redo the tags on all my previous posts, so some of these tags are currently pretty empty

I'm canadian. i may spell things like "colour" instead of color

Often things are plural. for example i tag things as "textures" instead of "texture"

searching for text on tumblr sucks, but you can search for posts tagged by making sure you add the "#" at the beginning. Searching for two tags at once seems to be broken :(

Rip Medium:

"#game rip" Rip from a video game

"#website rip" from a website, like the official nintendo sites or stuff like that

"#music rip" rip specifically from a music release, like Splatune. not all music, see "#music"

Rip Type:

"#textures" textures of various objects and things

"#images" anything which is meant to be it's own image, in universe graphics and such

"#symbols" like images but, symbols. May also include symbols in textures

"#models"

"#UI" Any ui like screen elements. also may include in-universe UI, like marina's laptop screen

"#audio" any and all audio

"#voice" voice lines

"#particles"

"#music"

"#sound effects" (currently very empty because i forget to tag it, i'm working on it)

"#text" any in game text, note it's usually in english. most of all ripped text in splatoon 3 in all languages can be found in here. also see "#typeface"

"#maps" entire stages or areas.

"#animation" any animations or poses of models

Game:

The game and series is tagged, so all splatoon rips are tagged "#Splatoon" and then the game as well: "#Splatoon 1", "#Splatoon 2", "#Splatoon 3" etc.

Game Mode:

If it's from a story mode i'll tag it:

"#Octo Valley", "#Octo Canyon", "#Octo Expansion", "#Return of the Mammalians", "#Side Order"

I always remember to tag the story mode, so if you're having trouble finding something your best bet is with this

Splatoon 2's salmon run is tagged "Salmon Run", while Splatoon 3's is tagged "Salmon Run: Next Wave"

other tags like "#Splatfest" or "#Tableturf" also exist

Characters:

rips of the character models are tagged "#characters", but character tags can be used for anything relating to the character

I often do full names, "#Frye Onaga", "#Marina Ida", "#Pearl Houzuki", "#Shiver Hohojiro", though until i get all my tags unified and checked through them again it would be good to check both

apparently i genuinely tagged something as "Manta Tarou Kizaemon Munekiyo" once, but i'll usually just tag "Big Man"

General enemy names like "#salmonids", or "#jelletons"

Specific enemy names like "#Griller", or "#Octodisco"

band names, like "#chirpy chips"

Location:

rips of the location itself are tagged "#maps", but location tags are for anything inside, or relating to the location

If it's in a normal battle stage, that will be tagged, like "#MakoMart" or "#Inkblot Art Academy"

Other locations like "#lobby", "#alterna", "#the crater", "inkopolis plaza"

things like "#credits" also may be tagged

Objects:

Probably the thing i forget to tag the most. I'll work on it

"#clothing"

"#weapons", "sub weapons", "#special weapons"

specific things like the weapon or gear name, maybe includes the brand as well

"#posters", "#graffiti",

Other important object like "#NILS statue" but more likely it'll be tagged with the character or location it's relevant to

Meta Tags:

"#request" a rip that was requested from an ask or my discord server.

"#ask" and "#username"/"#anonymous" any asks and the username who sent it

"#not a rip" anything thats not a rip. if i remember to tag it.

"#not my rip" things ripped by other people, if i remember to tag it, but i usually mention i didnt rip it in the post itself

"#megapack" anything that contains a bunch of stuff. Most have migrated to the google drive

"#splatfilesqna" asks i get not relating to ripping things

"#edit by me" sometimes the textures or things get some working to look presentable or even legible,, so if i edit something i tag it with this

"#commentary" old tag from when i didnt used to yap as much. yapping on what the rip is

"#file upload" contains an uploaded file, like on the google drive, or through filegarden

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for telling a school counselor about what my friend does online?

I (F minor) am in middle school. I have a group of friends, about 8 people, but this is about one girl in specific we can call Annie. All of us are mutuals on tumblr, twitter, etc. and we have a discord server too.

All of us are into a lot of the same things, like art, anime, video games, and have a lot of the same hobbies. Most of us also struggle with mental health stuff like anxiety and/or depression so we regularly talk to our school counselor (F, Idk how old she is).

Anyways, we're all really close and we get along really well for the most part, but lately Annie has been doing stuff that really bothers and worries us.

She's VERY into internet discourse. Has 10 paragraph long DNI page, is constantly starting fights with other people, etc. She usually argues about stuff like LGBT+ rights, womens rights, etc. but also a LOT of fandom discourse which is my biggest concern.

A lot of my other friends reblog/retweet stuff like anime gifs, fanart, memes, etc. but pretty much every post I see from Annie is her fighting with someone over shipping or something like that.

A lot of the posts are basically:

Her talking about how disgusting a certain ship or character is

How everyone who likes that specific thing is a degenerate, or freak, or pedo or groomer.

How if you like problematic ships you need to get a therapist, or you deserve to be hurt. Once I saw her arguing with someone who said they write certain stuff due to trauma and she said "You don't have trauma, you're either lying or you actually liked it and that's why you write such disgusting nasty shit"

Fighting with random people and accusing them of being a predator or a pedo

Breaking her own DNI (which says adults, proshitters, etc. DNI) and then getting mad at the other person for responding

It's really upsetting to see because she does this CONSTANTLY. She never seems to use tumblr/twitter to do things she actually likes. I never see her reblog gifs or memes or just silly lighthearted posts about stuff she enjoys.

It's especially upsetting because we're minors and she TELLS PEOPLE THAT. Like she's arguging with people that she thinks are pedos or child predators, while openly telling people her actual age. To me that's like covering yourself in bloody steaks and then jumping into water full of sharks.

I was really starting to get concerned because even in our private discord server she's always talking about how much she hates these people or whatever and how they should die, a lot of the time she says things like "they should get the wall" or "I hope their nasty fanfics happen to them irl that would teach them lol" and it really freaks me out.

She also talks about seeing the "child porn" that these people make which as far as I'm aware is drawings of characters but it still freaks me out how open and calm she is about looking at what she THINKS is child porn. I asked her if it's child porn why is it being linked in callout posts for other people (including minors!) to see and not being reported to the FBI but she just gets mad and changes the subject.

Me and our other friends have mentioned before that we don't like hearing about this kind of stuff but then she just gets mad and goes offline or gives us the silent treatment at school.

A month or so ago I got so fed up and upset, that I took a bunch of screenshots of her tumblr account and discord messages. One thing to note is that her username is VERY specific.

It's a combination of her first and last name and her birth year. Most people will not know that, but if you know her name and birthday, it's easy to tell it's her. She also goes by her real name online which I also screenshotted as proof it's her.

I brought all this to the school counselor, and I told her how worried I was about Annie, and how I think she's doing something really unsafe. Not only is she confronting people she thinks are child predators/groomers, she's telling people they deserve to get hurt in really awful ways, and looking at porn and I don't think this is good for her mental health.

The counselor at first was like "Idk are you SURE it's her? It could be anyone online!" But I insisted that it was and explained the username thing and that this was our private discord server so obviously I know it's her.

She thanked me for letting her know and told me I was being a good friend and then we talked about how I was doing, and then I left. I kind of forgot about it until a week later.

Annie wasn't online at all and I was kind of worried, but then I saw her on Monday at school. I was with our other friends and we called out her name so she would see us and come over and she LOST IT. She started screaming at us and telling us how awful we were, and how we ruined her life.

Idk what exactly happened, but apparently the counselor talked to her and her parents got involved? Her parents now monitor her internet usage, they have child safety stuff on the browsers, and she's only allowed on certain websites for doing research for school, or watching videos on youtube on their account so they can see what videos she's watching, or playing games on steam.

She said that her parents are also putting her in therapy once a week now (with an actual therapist, not the counselor) and she's only allowed to go out with an adult chaperone (either her older sister or one of her parents).

But... None of our friends know it was me who told the counselor. Annie has other friends besides us, so they're also "suspects" for being the snitch. It seems like half of our friends are relieved that Annie is kept away from that kind of stuff and the other half are mad at whoever the snitch is for ratting Annie out and resulting in her having less privacy/freedom.

At first I was happy that Annie was getting help and being kept away from this but now I feel really conflicted. I feel so disgusting talking to her and our other friends and pretending nothing happened, knowing that I was the one who told the counselor.

Annie still talks to us but she's a lot less open. We still have our discord server but apparently her parents will read through the messages to make sure she's not talking about anything bad and that she's only talking to us and not strangers.

What are these acronyms?

[maleyanderecafe]

Good day! I was wondering if your review on Restart Heart has changed after the new demo came out recently? If you haven't played it yet, I suggest trying it out and letting us know what you think of it.

After trying my hand at the updated demo, I can safely say that my personal opinion has changed quite a bit since the very first version. The MC seems a touch more like an insufferable prick now with how rude they are towards some characters, how "Mary Sue" they act in given situations, and how they overreact to certain events occurring around them. Their inner thoughts and rational thinking are nothing like mine as well, but that's more of a personal thing. While I'm aware it's currently still a demo and these events aren't considered "canon" by the dev, it isn't exactly doing a good job at persuading me to try out the finished version of the game once it comes out.

I do like that there are more than one "main" yandere now, however unfortunately none of the other characters aside from Ezra and Sammy really appeal to me. Each character seems very "stereotypical" and play into a very specific trope, but it's been like that since the first release so I'm not too bothered by it. I guess I was hoping for more developed and interesting characters in the update and got let down with the lack of improvement from the first version.

I'm also unsure how I feel about how overly "woke" the demo is trying to be? The overuse of Arabic phrases by Bess seems somewhat out of place and repetitive, so many characters are overtly trans or use their ethnicity as a base for their personality (especially seen on tumblr), the NSFW scenes [in the first version] feel like I was being babysat with the constant "consent check ins" and boundary implementations, and characters like Steph talk about their job [a pornstar] as though it's something to glorify or romanticize. The game's job is to make these characters appealing enough for us to pursue but I can't get over how forced/unnecessary their backstories and personalities feel. I'm transmasc myself but I'm put off by these constant reminders being shoved in my face at every turn, especially on the official tumblr page. I like that these sorts of things are being represented in a positive way (much less in a visual novel where it's so rare), but I don't like how constant and overplayed they are.

I will say that the writing has definitely improved in the new demo and it doesn't feel as overtly casual with the grammar and punctuation anymore (almost as if the narrator was texting me rather than talking to me). The characters have established connections with the MC now which I like, though I understand that this may not be everyone's cup of tea. The new CGs are nice too, however I won't comment on the updated art style since I personally prefer the scratchy anime style of games like TKATB, Mushroom Oasis, and even 14DWY [the first version]. I've always liked the music used and the GUI looks good, so I didn't mind not seeing much of an update for them in the new demo.

Overall, I have mixed feelings but I'm hopeful and optimistic that the finished version will be much better if the updated demo is anything to go by. I also hope there won't be a price tag on the finished product because as good as it is now, there is still so much that needs to be improved on to justify even a $5 label. These are my personal thoughts, though I'd love to hear yours as well.

It took me a while to replay the new demo and then find the older demos since it's no longer on the itchio page (There is still a link for the third day, but I had to watch epsylion's video on the fourth day, which excludes some routes). I admit that while I am generally aware of what is going on with various vns and their updates, I haven't had time to really go through and play most of them, so if there is a game that I have gone over before but it has updated, feel free to send me an ask.

Restart Heart seems to have an interesting conception, with the game going up to it's fourth day, before eventually being pulled back into a shorter demo that encapsulates the first day, likely to revamp and improve on the game as a whole. As such, I'm not sure if I've missed anything specifically as I'm not on the patreon . As a quick recap, the general plot of the first demo was that the MC, Sugar basically went on a huge party rager after finding out their ex fiance cheated on them and got their younger sister pregnant. As a result, the four days that we do spend with Sugar and the other characters are generally Sugar attempting to get back on their feet with the help of Ezra and the other characters, Bess, Blaire, Sammy, Chris and Steph along with sleeping with some of them if you so choose to. The new demo is a bit similar but only covers Sugar before finding out about the cheating, with them having a smaller interaction with the rest of the crew at the chocolate place they work at (namely that they almost got crushed by a bunch of staplers).

I think compared to the four day version of Restart Heart, I actually prefer this new demo's Sugar to the old one, though that's likely going to change once they find out about the cheating that's going on. While I understand that Sugar is going through a generally horrible situation of someone cheating on them, I also find their behavior kind of hard to deal with and not that much fun to play with. This is just my general gripe with a lot of yandere vns, not just Restart Heart in particular, where the MC tends to be very cynical and dislikes doing... well anything, which to me is a touch tedious and kind of annoying at times. I also feel like from the four day version, they feel a lot more bitter and angry (again due to the break up) but also coddled very heavily as well. Understandably it is nice to have someone who is able to care about you and try to make things feel better when everything feels like it's falling apart, but to me it still feels very infantalizing in some aspects, with every character seemingly trying to nurse Sugar back to feeling better. It's likely more of a me thing since I've always been the type of person to drag myself back up by my feet, rather than attempt to rely too much on other people. In the new demo, Sugar has yet to experience this (at least from what I can tell) so is generally more stable and less prickly. I don't think it's particularly Mary Sue like in the new demo, considering that I feel like if my friend almost got crushed by a bunch of staplers, we'd all run over there too and make sure that they're okay, though I can see where you're coming from since most of the characters are revolving around Sugar in that sort of way. It's hard to say what kind of characters the Restart Heart gang will be considering that it is still a demo, but considering it did have four days already out, I can see what you mean. We don't get to see too much into their lives (outside of Blaire, I think which probably has the most characterization out of Chris and of course Ezra). It would be nice for them to do other things as well like go out on dates or just hang out more one on one (like going to hang out at the library with Sammy, for instance) to get to know them a bit more.

Interesting take on it. I did notice that Bess uses a lot of Arabic phrases, kind of like someone who is trying to learn the language and is attempting to use it in their every day life so that they can remember it. I don't think that specifically was the intention, but it did come off like that for me. I'm not really sure what you mean by "overtly trans or use their ethnicity as a base for their personality", do you mean as more of like that's their main personality trait? A very minor confusion I have with the game is the use of pronouns that are attached onto the characters. That in itself isn't really a problem but it does seem a touch redundant because there is a character bio for all of the characters that already has the pronouns on it. Not anything huge, but it is a strange decision to make. The checkins for nsfw content is generally a thing that happens in a lot of r18 yandere vns, but I do get that it does feel very babysitting like, especially if it's something that happens after the initial agreement.

I do agree that the writing has improved a lot more, with the characters written in a more lifelike manner and feels more like they have known Sugar for a while. I also agree that it's nice that they have more stronger connections to Sugar this time around. I think the music is good, though I do wish that they would change it up more since the same soundtrack repeated does make it a bit tiring (though this is likely just a demo thing). Lilith did a good job of coding everything as expected, especially with the pronoun, name, partner, nickname choices in the very beginning. There is a lot of variation for people who want to be called a specific way during the NSFW parts (though admittedly I don't really like most of them since well, I prefer submissive yanderes). They are doing a lot of projects right now, so it is hard to say when the full version will come out and what the quality will be right now. Hopefully it will come out well though, and there will be more yandere content that I can shift through.

[thedemonsnightmare]

Hii! Can you write a scenario where MC is like REALLY obsessed with a anime character(if you want a specific then im so in luv with Dazai from bsd, I mean who isn't??) and gets kinda jealous and possessive🥹👉👈. Thank you sm🩷

Of course, just saw that question today and as it’s my posting day I‘m making that scenario right now hope you like it

Lucifer-

Honestly he is used to things like that from Leviathan, but you? Obsessed with a fictional character? Lucifer actually wasn’t sure what to think but he couldn’t help to admit that he was kind of jealous. Today was your evening together and he was wanting to win your heart back! So other than usual he was not careful with his affection or how much to show. He would just randomly stand up and hug you, kiss you if you‘d let him and show affection in the cutest way ever which is strange seeing from the always serious Lucifer even for you who usually gets to see his softer side. When you ask what is going on he will whispered into your ear. „Why are you obsessed with him? I am the one you should love the most!“ He will kiss you all over your face and sit down again making an invitation for you to sit down onto his lap and as soon as you get closer he pulls you into his lap wrapping both arms and legs around you not letting you free for all evening. You are his love, not that of some fictional, DRAWN character. (Funfact: He will watch the show just to find out why this CHARACTER is such an obsession to you).

Mammon-

He will not show that he is jealous! He is much better than that Anime character anyways! No need to worry… okay no he worried anyways. He entered your room without knocking. “Oi! You are my human you get it? I was your first!” If you are confused he will not explain what is wrong. He will let himself fall into your bed and decided not to leave anymore. You will need to get close to him if you ever want to sleep and he will wrap his arms around you possessively. “My human, you get it?” He fell asleep faster than you did. In your arms he feels safe… no he doesn’t… yes he does. He will never ever admit it to you in his whole life but he will always know that that’s the case.

Leviathan-

He knew he couldn’t actually be jealous that you were obsessed with an anime character. He was the same but honestly he still felt jealous. Leviathan felt super insecure and unsure if you would even care for him, what if that anime character is more important than him? Ruri-Chan was his life but he needed you! You were important for him! You two were often meeting up to play video games or watch stuff and when you two did that again he seemed super down making you ask what was wrong. “Are they more important than me?” He looked at his controller sad as he kept playing. When you asked what he meant he explained to you. Honestly it was funny seeing Leviathan worry about something so minor as he was obsessed with Ruri-Chan but it was somehow heartbreaking at the same time especially how he would clearly avoid touching you scared you wouldn’t like it but at the same time craved hugging you and never letting go. As soon as you answered him that you still cared he would wrap both arms around you laying his chin onto your shoulder. The gaming session ended that way and became a long cuddle session in which he kissed you again and again blushing every time.

Satan-

Satan couldn’t believe it! You were obsessed with some… random character! Jealousy… He ran over to your room knocking and when you told him to come in he does, closing the door and jumping onto you which at first seemed more like an attack than a loving act but he soon gets super sweet while in that position showing all his affection. “You will not leave me… right?” Satan is definitely unsure if you would bring it over you to leave him for a work of fiction. He trusts that you won’t but somehow he is scared as he doesn’t understand the feeling of being obsessed to a character especially not an anime character who was even visualized and he only knows it from other people making him unsure of how someone would act in that situation. He just wants to be one hundred percent sure. He is feeling super possessive already if you would say you’d leave him he would try winning you back but be honest would you really leave that boy?

Asmodeus-

Let’s be honest as much as I want to write a long story for him Asmodeus doesn’t get jealous at all. He is definitely the number one and he knows it. No need to get possessive over such a minor detail it’s just an anime character after all but he still gives you all his affection after finding out just to be sure.

Beelzebub-

Surprise visits are always fun and after finding out about your obsession with that anime character he didn’t even know, he decides to pay a surprise visit right in that moment carrying as much food with him as he can entering your room. In the end he eats most of it but you two have an awesome time. If you let him he will even feed you some cake.

Belgephor-

This demon just wanted to sleep but that obsession of yours was really worrying him so he grabbed his favorite pillow knocking at your door, when you opened he looked at you with the cutest look he could do. “Can I sleep in your room?” When you allow him he enters throwing his pillow onto your bed climbing in. He will demand that you go to sleep too so he can cuddle. He wants his cuddles! As soon as you are in you will not be able to leave the bed, even the pillow is forgotten! Something usually impossible.

I am thinking of making a version where all of this occurs at the same time so tell me if you’d want to see that chaotic story

[shadowxamyweek]

Is Shadow being immortal canon? I thought it was just a generally accepted headcanon by the fandom

...Yes?

The pause and questionmark are not directed at you, they are directed at Sega.

I confess, I'm a bit of a stickler for what lore I consider canon. If it's in the games, it's canon to me. If it's anything outside of the games, including the game manuals themselves... then it's not.

I have such a narrow-bracket view of the story and these characters due to two things:

1: There seems to be a disconnect between the different 'branches' of the Sonic Franchise. There's the Shadow we see in games, there's the Shadow we see in marketing and social media (like Twitter Takeover), There's the Shadow we see in IDW, and then there is the Shadow we see Sega write about in character profiles like on Sonic Chanel and the official Sonic the Hedgehog website. This exists with all the characters to a degree, but I feel Shadow presents an egregious case of it. 2: Sega has a tendency to retcon things or change their language or act like stuff didn't happen and... I don't like it XD But they can't change games that have already been published and played. As such, to me, in-game dialog/play/story/etc is the crowning jewel of truth within the Sonic story.

But that these are *my* paramaters. They do not have to be *your* parameters.

So while there hasn't been any mention of immortality *in game*, there has been plenty *outside* of it. Lots of different official Sega sources say Shadow is 'immortal', but no examples or specifications have been provided in game. There's also plenty of times the whole 'immortality' portion is omitted. Most noticeably, it's not mentioned in the Sonic Channel character profile, nor the character profile provided on the official Sonic the Hedgehog website. At best, it is mentioned intermittently in game manuals and external sources.

(And I know we see Shadow in stasis in 06- I'm aware- but I'll also point out we don't know *when* he went into stasis. Furthermore, I cannot help but wonder if, much like Black Doom in SHtH, Mephiles took a portion of truth and twisted it to scare Shadow. (Also, like.... Shadow was under such heavy security when GUN put him down for an ice nap the first time. Why would they just leave him out and about like was shown in 06? I doubt the truth of what Mephiles shows Shadow.))

I actually reached out to @squid-in-a-party-hat, @fyeahsonicthehedgehog (x), and @forgottensonicfacts (x), as well as some friends of mine like @shadamyheadcanons for help collecting information to provide you with as well-rounded answer/opinion as I can. In fact, Squid has a video on this very subject XD They do a great job of weaving together all the different types of canon (comic, anime, social media, etc) so if that's how you prefer to operate, I really, really recommend them.

Anyway, Here are some game manual examples in chronological order.

SA2 (2001):

Sonic Heros (2003):

And...I want to take a moment to show something interesting between the original Japanese and the English translation. The japanese translation says 'unaging and undying' which gives us narrower guidelines, but the Heros profile is the only time I've seen that.

Shadow the Hedgehog (2005):

Which OUT OF ALL OF THEM you'd think it would be mentioned in his title game but like... *gestures*

Sonic 06 (2006):

Sonic and Mario at the Olympic Games (2020):

Then there are these online examples, stemming from both Sonic Chanel and the Sonic the Hedgehog Website. They are both officially owned and operated by Sega/Sonic Team. Note they don't mention his age or the immortality at all.

Sonic Chanel, 2007:

Sonic Chanel, 2010:

Sonic Chanel, 2022:

This is the character profile put up on the Sonic the Hedgehog website 2024, separate from Sonic Channel but still official.

(In talking to @forgottensonicfacts- I had asked about times Shadow had been called 'ageless' or '50.' Turns out the 'ageless' bit was written in a Scholastic's book and, so far as anyone has found.. there is no official mention of Shadow being listed as '50 years old.' I had been so sure it had been officially listed at one point in time. Really glad to be wrong on that one, frankly, because that would have been daft XD)

So this is what we have about Shadow's 'immortality' that has been put out by Sega themselves. Not the comics, not the media team, just Sega/Sonic Team.

Now... this is where I pick apart that word 'Immortal' and broaden the scope a bit.

Not to be 'that bastard,' but I popped on to the Oxford Dictionary just to get a concrete definition for you and they define the adjective use of the word as being, "living forever; never dying or decaying."

1- Shadow's already almost died. He *would* have died were it not for Eggman saving his sorry ass. We know this. It's a whole-ass plot point in his story because it's due to this he ends up with amnesia.

2- Even though Gerald was tinkering with immortality, that doesn't mean he succeeded. We also don't know how that immortality would look/work/act like.

3- In Sonic Battle (for Gameboy), several of the characters have a healing ability. Shadow is one of them. However, Shadow's healing ability is one of if not *the worst in the game.* Also, in the story itself, he get shot and is down for the count *for a while*.

4- We have not seen any of the characters physically change in game save for the big age up/design shift that happened when Sonic went 3d in Adventure. As such, we cannot personally test/see whether or not Shadow goes through any changes at all, be them aging or just changes to their body.

So... all in all... I feel this leaves a huge amount of room for interpretation.

Maybe Shadow isn't immortal after all. Nothing spectacular, it's just that portion of the Ultimate Life Form project didn't succeed.

Maybe the 'immortality' is his healing factor, and it needs to willfully be employed. As such, if Shadow WANTS to age, they need to intentionally and willfully allow themselves to do so by NOT employing the healing factor.

Maybe the 'immortality', being the healing factor, can wear down/slow down over time, especially due to overuse.

Maybe Shadow can live forever barring any really traumatic physical harm, but their body will physically change over time.

Maybe Shadow is immortal like how Oxford puts it, but there is a way to stop that perminantly if they so choose (like genetic therapy).

Maybe Shadow is immortal in the sense that they will never physically age, grow, or change. Ever.

Truthfully, that's pretty cool! Like, this gives people a lot of stuff to work with and play around with, compare notes, talk- that's the fun part of fandom! And no singular person is right! @shadamyheadcanons has this one that's fun. I personally like the idea that Shadow's 'immortality' wears down over time and gets weird, causing their Black Arms genetics to kick off (like a third eye ooooough gimmie gimmie gimmie.)

I don't know if this was the answer you were looking for. Perhaps I've just confused things further- I've been known to do that XD

Ultimately, what I'm trying to say is- it's whatever you want it to be, and nobody can stop you <3 So go have fun!

[icryink]

Hi! Do you have written explanations for the Cringetober themes? I understand you already have made a video where you explain the themes but because English is not my first language it's sometimes hard to understand everything from just speech.

I didn’t until 2 minutes ago, but here they are!

screenshot redraw - something easy we have screenshot redraw, this can be from a TV show or cartoon or movie or whatever. you can replace the characters or just redo it in your own style

tsundere - a tsundere is the trope where a character, usually a girl, pretends to find their love interest annoying out of embarrassment for their crush

oversized prop - pretty straight forward. love a good disproportional hammer

fursona / fursuit - first bit of encouragement to explore outside 2D illustration. i know full suits are expensive, so let this be your sign to make or design a partial yourself out of whatever you have lying around; cardboard, fabric and wire, even paper. of course, you can stick to drawing your fursona

gjinka - it's a humanization of anything, whether that be a pokemon or other monster character, an animal, a concept or emotion like inside out, an object or even something like an app

unnatural eye color - fairly straightforward, character with weird eyes

crossover - characters from different media interacting with one another

dead meme - perfect opportunity for people like me who see a meme or trend going around and then, by the time they get around to it, its well run its course

childhood videogame - this can be any game you played when you were younger, but i was specifically thinking of stuff like pokemon, sonic, mario, minecraft, five nights at freddy's, or undertale

ship dynamics - a relationship dynamic or overused cliche

5+1 things - fairly common trope in fanfiction, it refers to a character or characters experiencing 5 similar events that all go roughly the same way, as well as another similar event that this time ends up pretty different. it can be happy or sad, and of course you can stick to a comic or illustration, but fanfiction or creative writing in general is often looked down upon, so i think y’all should at least try to write something

hatsune miku / vocaloid - any vocaloid, doesn’t have to be part of the main vocaloid suite. people make cool interpretations of hatsune miku’s design specifically, but you can do any character you’d like

rule 63 - for every male character, there exists a female counterpart, and for every female character, there exists a male counterpart. basically, genderbends

incorrect quote - you can depict a character (original or not) saying any kind of iconic quote that you think suits them

animation meme - most classic animation memes are actually really simple with somewhat jerky movements, which is ideal for those just starting animation. if you've always wanted to animate but the concept seemed too daunting, here's the opportunity for you! of course, you can just reference popular animation memes with a still image if you’d prefer

something you've been bullied for - there are a lot of things that are considered cringe that a person can't change about themselves, even if they want or try to. i didn't want to single out any specific insecurities, so i left it broad enough for it to apply to everyone. it's kind of like a free space to celebrate anything about yourself that you've felt ashamed of

f2u base - f2u stands for 'free to use', basically an empty sketch you can use to draw whatever characters you want. this can be interpreted as either making or using a free base, so do whichever one you'd prefer. if you're using a base, just remember to credit the original artist if you post it

Fandom AU - good simple fun. draw characters you like from a piece of media you like in any alternate universe you like

alternative fashion - your opportunity to experiment with a fashion style you've always thought was cool but were too nervous to try. alternatively, (haha) draw a character in alt fashion

tumblr sexywoman - a female character that is, for whatever reason, incredibly popular and found attractive

closet cosplay - build a cosplay using only things you already have in your closet! I wanted to encourage people to get into cosplay since it’s such a fun hobby

candygore - gory drawings that involve pastel colors and sometimes literal candy iconography

adult cartoons - cartoons intended for older audiences, ex. Hazbin Hotel, Smiling Friends, Amazing Digital Circus

niche interest - another free space that lets you make something relating to a pretty unpopular or not very well known thing that you really like

gacha life (I spelled it wrong on the list) - it’s a website where you can design characters and move them around and make up stories. it was super influential for a lot of artists

Y/N or Mary Sue - could be a male Mary Sue too. A very overpowered, perfect character. Alternatively, you can interpret this as literally “your name” and insert yourself into whatever media you want

YouTuber fanart - do some fanart for a YouTube channel you enjoy, whether that be for an art channel, a commentary or video game youtuber, or sketch comedy

mascot horror - anything relating to horror that involves cute marketable characters. FNAF, poppy playtime, Amanda the adventurer are all some examples

experimental makeup - trying out a makeup style that you haven’t done before. of course, if you aren’t comfortable wearing makeup, you can totally draw a character experimenting with their own makeup style

supernatural or monster character - demon, vampire, werewolf, fairy, or any monster type character you can think of

HALLOWEEN - anything spooky to celebrate Halloween!!

While I hope this compilation was useful, please remember that all the prompts are completely up to interpretation. There are no rules to Cringetober! Just do whatever you want and have fun :)

[vigilskeep]

Which builds are u using for urself and the companions on wotr :0 ive been meaning to try out the game and ur posting gave me motivations

crpgbro on youtube has an insane number of build videos and while i have watched more than i’ve actually tried out, i’m immediately having so much fun with my druid that i won’t hesitate to recommend them. and just the sheer number gives you a lot of cool ideas to start from, including a couple variants for most companions

my only caveats would be that each build for the main character is designed for a particular mythic path, which if you’re not familiar, is a route your character takes throughout the game gaining the abilities of a mythic creature like an angel, demon, lich, trickster, etc. it’s a big part of the storytelling as well as the gameplay, so it doesn’t necessarily leave you the most rp versatility especially if you’re new to the game and don’t know what direction you’re going to want to head. the builds are also a little min-maxy so there’s an overall preference among the builds for, i don’t know, humans with the pickpocket background, and a lot of strength-based damage dealers no matter the class, and having access to an animal companion, etc. etc. just because certain things happen to do well in the game. which can feel restrictive, for character building

however he’s building for the stupidly high difficulties so if you’re a regular person playing normal or lower difficulty like me, tweaking it for what you want to play seems absolutely fine. i didn’t play a human for my druid so i totally lost out on a bonus feat that would’ve been really helpful for the first couple of levels and you know what? it was literally fine. and as far as i can tell the mythic paths will have a little something for everyone, even if the synergy isn’t perfect to get the Best Build Ever if you go off the road

but he’s not the only one, there are plenty of builds and build advice givers online if you just start looking. not as vast resources as for something a little less niche, but plenty. it helps the wild variety in the character creator feel a little less overwhelming!

if you don’t want to stick tightly to a build, the most important thing i’ve learned about pathfinder compared to the dnd system in bg3 is that in bg3, feats are a fun little occasional flavouring, whereas in pathfinder you get way more feats but the correct feats are fundamentally necessary to being a good caster or archer or dual wielder or whatever. so the important thing is figuring out the feats that are necessary for your play style. which is easy enough to figure out if you look at a few builds. and honestly i kind of like that because it feels... more real? like for example your archers need a bunch of highly specific skills to be functional in a fight, like a feat that stops them from having a penalty picking out a target who’s in the middle of a melee scrum, and nobody without those skills could just pick up a bow and do what they do. it feels more earned, somehow? but that’s just me putting more storytelling weight on it than there is as always haha

[s10127470]

AU Idea: Nicktoon Fighters

Hey there folks!

For a while, I've been wanting to do my own fanfiction based around the Nicktoons, but I've had a hard time trying to figure out how to make it stand out.

Plus, I want to release it this year in honor of the 25th anniversary of biggest Nicktoons of them all, SpongeBob SquarePants!

(I know that sounds odd, but I figured better now than waiting until 2026)

In fact, when trying to create a premise for this Nicktoons series, I actually looked to SpongeBob, wanting to utilize some kind of element of the show as the basis.

And while rewatching SpongeBob, I noticed that how karate, despite being a favorite pastime for the sponge and particularly Sandy in the past, has weirdly faded into irrelevancy.

Like, I think the last time there was episode that featured karate was all the way back in like 2012.

And thus, it gave me the idea for an AU/fanfic where the Nicktoon characters are fighters.

This is gonna be short one, but I think you’ll all enjoy it.

The AU/series would draw lot of inspiration from fighting-based media. From video games like Street Fighter and Tekken, to anime and manga like Dragon Ball, Hunter x Hunter and Baki, to even Western animated shows like Xiaolin Showdown and Jackie Chan Adventures.

The setting for this AU is a version of Earth where all the Nicktoons co-exist, including the ones with Earths that don’t align with ours like Avatar and Breadwinners.

Their respective locations (The Four Nations and such) would still exist in this world.

As for the premise, it focus on SpongeBob and his pals entering the annual world tournament of this, well, world.

And in contrast to most other fighting tournaments, this one is similar to a Grand Prix, which there bing different sets of fights that occur on different nights and in different parts of the world.

As for why they're reason, you can thank Mr. Krabs for that.

Essentially, the grand prize for whoever wins the tournament is $1,000,000.

And as we all know about Mr. Krabs....

Speaking of Krabs, in this universe, he's a longtime fighter (having been one since he was teenager), and was a longtime champion of the tournament for many years (for obvious reasons).

Even to this day, he still participates.

However, he hasn't won the last couple of tournaments.

Reason why: while Mr. Krabs is still a tough customer, he's getting old (he's like in his late-40s to early-50s now) and he isn't in his prime anymore.

However one day after seeing SpongeBob and Sandy doing their usual karate matches, he realized that they and their friends are still in their prime and would be more likely to win the tournament than him.

And that's how they got here.

However, this tournament isn't what it seems.

This year's tournament has a new financer by the name of Sheldon J. Lawrence.

But in reality, he's actually Plankton is disguise.

Essentially, the previous financer had an "accident" and Plankton (in his disguise) was able to take over his role.

As for the tournament not being what it seems.

Well, all locations of the tournament will be taking place all just so happen to the same locations of The Warrior Weapons, a group of mystical weapons that once belonged to some of the most legendary warriors throughout history.

And as you expect, these weapons hold untold, phenomenal powers.

As for why Plankton wants them, it's pretty simple: Revenge.

Just like Mr. Krabs, Plankton also competed in the tournament for many years.

However, he never made it past the first round for....obvious reasons.

Even with his tech, he still couldn't make it.

That, along with the ridicule that came with it, drove Plankton mad.

But shortly after last year's tournament, Plankton would discover the existence of The Warrior Weapons.

This gave Plankton the idea to become a fake financer to he could be charge of the tournament, specifically in the choice of locations.

While the tournament was going on, he would sneak off to find each of the Warrior Weapons.

And with once Plankton has all the weapons, he plans to use them all together to make himself into an all-powerful being so he can become the greatest fighter who lived, get back at those who mocked him, and conquer the world.

Luckily, SpongeBob and his pals stumbled upon his plans and are now trying to stop Plankton from collecting all the Weapons while trying to win the tournament.

But they're not in this alone, as they made some new friends in the tournament who are here to help!

But before we talk about that, let's talking about the main star of this AU real quick.

SpongeBob is largely the same as he usually is, and he's in this tournament to have fun, make some new friends, and make Mr. Krabs proud! For his fighting style, SpongeBob is skilled in the art of karate. He's not quite a master at it like Sandy, but he does know it well. But what makes him stand out is that he mixes it with his natural ability to stretch his body to incredible lengths. He's basically long-ranged physical fighter ala Monkey D. Luffy. He's not the strongest, but he makes for it with immense resilience thanks to his sponge-like skin. As for his attire, it's basically standard karate garb, but with a brown color scheme with a black belt. His also has two side holders, which he uses to hold two big water bottles. Thanks to being a sponge, SpongeBob uses those bottles to shoot pressurized water from his holes, which can be powerful knock to people back and make dents in the wall.

Now let's talk about the other main Nicktoons.

-Avatar Aang: Aang is what you would expect from him, and he (along with the rest of Team Avatar) are here in the tournament to have some fun. For his fighting style, this is where things get interesting. In this universe, Benders each have unique physical advantages over each other (which is a concept I've had for many years). Waterbenders are naturally flexible and have uncanny reflexes, Earthbenders have superhuman strength and resilience, Firebenders have great stamina and endurance, and Airbenders have superhuman speed and agility. And since Aang is the Avatar, he's pretty much the living definition of an all-around character. But he's more of a speed fighter, due to his main prowess and preference as an Airbender. His style is also more evasive and defensive than others, due to his status as a pacifist. He also fights with his trusty glider staff, giving some more power to his Airbending attacks and to also trip his opponents. As for his attire, it's essentially the same outfit that he's had since Book 3.

-Timmy Turner: Timmy is back to how he was portrayed in the early seasons of The Fairly OddParents, and he's here in the tournament to win that money! For his fighting style, Timmy is what would you call a wildcard fighter. With Cosmo and Wanda, he can essentially create any weapon he wants. But he predominantly has them transform into martial art weapons. Plus the fact that he's also quick on his feet makes him a pretty challenging fighter. As for his attire, he would be wearing a slightly modified version of his hooded look from Abra-Catastrophe, but with the hood being pink, having magic martial arts weapons strapped to him, and his primary outfit would be the same one done by Zigwolf, with the addition of some white fingerless gloves.

-Jimmy Neutron: Jimmy is what you would expect from him and he (along with the rest of his friends) joined the tournament to see who between him and Cindy can last the longest. As for his fighting style, Jimmy is strictly a long-range fighter. He uses a special set of high-tech gauntlets and boots that allows him to fly and blast lasers, electricity, and powerful gusts of wind. Unfortunately, this use of technology also makes him a bit of glass cannon. As for his attire, he would be wearing the same outfit done by kianamai, but with the aforementioned gauntlets and boots (along with a matching helmet and visor).

-Danny Phantom: Danny, like most of the others, is what would you expect from and he joined the tournament (along with his friends and family) to have some fun. As for his fighting style, Danny is a versatile fighter. He's able to fight close range thanks to his supernatural strength (which can slightly enhance with by channeling ecto-energy into his hands or feet). Plus the fact that he's also skilled in boxing and kickboxing, which he learned from his parents and Jazz, doesn't hurt either. He can also attack enemies from a distance with his ectoplasmic energy beams, ghostly fire, ice powers, and Ghostly Wail. Plus thanks to his invisibility, intangibility, and duplication powers, Danny is pretty tough to land a hit on. As for his attire, he would wearing the same outfit done by coffeecakecafe.

-El Tigre: Manny is what you would expect from him and he (along with Frida and Puma Loco) joined the tournament for that prize money! As for his fighting style, Manny is a speed, agility and stealth-focused fighter. He utilizes his feline-like speed and agility to evade attacks from his opponents, and his stealth to get the drop on them when they least expect it. And in addition to possessing superhuman strength and his trusty claws, Manny is also skilled in Tiger-Style Kung Fu. As for his attire, it's essentially the same as it usually is.

-Jenny Wakeman: Jenny is what you would expect from her and she (along with her friends) joined the tournament to have some fun. As for her fighting style, Jenny, like Danny, is a pretty versatile fighter. She has a wide array of weapons at her disposal, has incredible strength and speed, can fly, can stretch her limbs to incredible lengths (similar to SpongeBob) and is immensely resilient. As for her attire, it would be the same outfit from her redesign by drawnfamiliarfaces.

-Tak: Tak is back to his characterization from the original games and he (along with his friends) joined the tournament to have some fun (except for Lok, who's definitely here for the money....and bitches). As for his fighting style, Tak is a mage fighter. He utilizes The Staff of Dreams, which allows him to cast all kinds of magical attacks. Tak's also able to use the staff in a melee style (being skilled in the art of staff fighting) and is pretty agile. As for his attire, it's essentially the same from the games: cape and all.

-Eliza Thornberry: Eliza is what you would expect from and she (along with the rest of her family) joined the tournament as a fun little side quest of sorts. As for her fighting style, just like Timmy, Eliza is a wildcard fighter. In this universe, Shaman Mnyambo not only gave Eliza the power to talk to animals, but also the power to call upon the abilities of any animal, ala Vixen. As for her attire, shs would wear the same outfit from Rugrats Go Wild!, but with red fingerless gloves.

Well that's all I have for now!

This isn't exactly the most detailed or informative post I've made, but this is a part 1.

I promise for the next part, I'll talk about a few other Nicktoons characters and most importantly of all, The Warrior Weapons.

Also, let me know how well you guys think I converted the Nicktoons into fighters.

But until then....

See ya!

[djsherriff-responses]

Actually wait something else that supports my "Sarah's story is a parallel to Bullfrog's story" theory and my "Bullfrog's mother was an assassin" theory

Sarah looks nothing like Sam

From what I've gathered regarding Splinter cell lore is that , despite being important to the main character and mother of his child, Regan Burns never had a physical appearance in any games, her physical appearance is left more or less blank

In most media , Sarah is a white woman with dark hair while in CLH Sarah is a brown woman with silver hair

However in both games and CLH, Sam is a white man with dark hair

While Sam in CLH isn’t an exact copy of his video game counterpart, Sam and Sarah in the splinter cell series do have a much stronger family resemblance to each other than that of their counterparts in the remixed universe

That’s….. weird, right? Like , it’s an odd creative choice to have Sarah be so drastically different to her game version that even her race is different while Sam , her father, still resembles the character he’s originally remixed from

While concept art did explore other options regarding her hair eye, and skin colour, including pale skin and dark hair like her game version, Sarah having pale hair specifically seemed like a design element the crew felt strongly towards and wanted to use

Yes the Warden being Sarah Fisher, the daughter of Sam Fisher, is meant as a plot twist. HOWEVER, we don’t learn about Sam’s existence until Sarah explains her backstory , meaning the crew could’ve given Sam some traits to better reflect his blood connection to his daughter in this universe

Sarah’s lack of physical resemblance to her father may have some narrative symbolism to it, the most obvious being how drastically different she and her father’s morals are. However, I also think it ties back to my theory that Regan was a Templar and was the one who gave Sarah her beliefs in life that lead to her behaviour in the show proper

Sarah didn’t just inherited Regan’s Templar status and beliefs , Sarah also physically resembles her mother more than her father

I know this is completely random to bring up, but I’m making a Kingdom Hearts reference

Specifically, Xehanort, a villain whose prominent features is his silver hair and gold eyes combo

Now obviously Ubisoft has no rights to use anything Kingdom hearts related , and so I seriously doubt we’ll see a flashback of Sam making out with a Xehanorted Regan in season two (don’t ask what Xehanorted is if you never played KH, it’s hard to explain)

The reason I’m bringing him up is to point out that while Captain Laserhawk is a show about video games, it’s specifically an anime show about video games

I can’t find anything regarding his opinion on the KH franchise itself, though Adi did talk about how Rodger Rabbit was an inspiration for CLH, another massive crossover story owned by Disney. Considering how he likes to tip his toes into all sorts of geeky stuff, it’s unlikely he hasn’t encountered the Kingdom Hearts franchise

I think the Templars may be inspired by Xehanort to a degree

A majority of the human characters (both who have a narrative role and background role) shown in the CLH universe thus far have natural hair and eye colours

While there’s outliners such as Pagan Min and Mute having pink hair, those two are easily explained by the existence of hair dye

Sarah however, was born with gold eyes and silver hair

While I don’t think every member of the board of directors/templar order have a sun kissed complexion under those masks like Sarah does, I do think it’s likely that gold eyes and silver hair is a common trait they share under those masks

And we know from the manga that Eden is practicing some form of eugenics with how they specifically took Dolph from his own mother for having good genetics, it’s likely that the board keeps heavy tabs on people that have Templar DNA within them

“Okay so how does Bullfrog’s mother fit into this-“ you notice how Bullfrog is one of the more feminine looking male characters in the show?

It may have just been me who originally mistook him for being a girl before the show actually came out, but I don’t think it’s an accident that he has feminine/softer leaning design elements. It’s even pointed out by the crew they specifically designed Bullfrog to be cute , you can even see that reflected throughout Bullfrog’s concept art

So since Sarah parallels Bullfrog, and she both took her mother’s ideals and inherited most of her physical traits from her, than it’s likely Bullfrog not only took after his mother in her beliefs, but also has a very strong resemblance to his mother

Basically, Bullfrog’s mama was a cute assassin milf

[popawritter12]

Can I send a request of yandere Kenshi specifically masked kenshi.

Author's Notes: By “masked Kenshi” I imagine when he already has the bandana, right? I'm kind of bad at English, I'm sorry if this one-shot isn't as you expected.

BTW Im sorry for taking me so much time to make this :c

Yandere! Kenshi Takahashi x Fem! Reader

Yandere Character: Kenshi Takahashi

From the video game/manga/anime/movie/series: Mortal Kombat 1

Case: kidnapping, mention of escape, Stockholm syndrome.

Warnings: No.

Finished: Yes

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I always found his behavior strange.

Maybe that was why I initially wanted to get closer to him. It was mostly my cheap curiosity, though, he took it personally; thinking that I really was in love with him and was looking to have a life with him, even when that wasn't really the case. He locked me away and forced me to live this life, one I never sought, nor desired, but it was also not something I could face or counteract.

I still remember very well the night he took me away from everyone. It was cold and a little cloudy, but never cloudy enough for it to rain, it seemed that he had been waiting for this moment, a moment in which it was at any moment it could rain and thus clear his tracks, but at the same time be was going to give me enough time to take me away from everyone, to get away from this life that I always had.

The first nights in which he kidnapped me, I didn't have a very good time, so to speak, in the sense that he was quite strict and almost every time I responded badly or did something in a way that he didn't consider correct, he responded by screaming or trying to hurt me, condescending manner. And it was totally the opposite if it was “good.”

To tell the truth, I would never have suspected that this could happen, since the few conversations I had with him were focused on quests or with other people, and I found it surprising that it all ended this way.

But hey, at least I don't have chains on my hands 24 hours a day —Do I have them on my feet at night? Yes—, but it is necessary, important, just as I couldn't control the rest of the things and much less could I know what moment would be the right one to get out of here.

And although most of the time he was at home —or at least the time I was awake since I slept in the afternoon— and he was not very talkative so to speak…, in fact for the most part he always remained serious and without saying almost anything. no words.

I often get depressed thinking about the days before this, where I was happy, where I knew everyone and where I had friends everywhere, but now that was purely taken away from me. And although I understand his reasons fairly well, I consider them unfair, selfish and aberrant.

But at least his family came to visit me from time to time, even Cage came to visit me and gave me certain things like clothes or books.

In fact, I find it surprising that someone like him is the only one allowed to talk to me. And although when I asked him if he could try to convince Kenshi of the decisions he was making, but he just shook his head saying that it is a hopeless case, and that the best thing I could do was get used to it, even if it was an attempt.

Pathetic, was what I thought; It seemed quite strange to me that the only person who even had the possibility of helping me decided to simply turn his back on me and give me minimal things so that I could at least try to "get used to" this life that I have now.

But hey, nothing is worse.

Honestly, I kept thinking that maybe it would just be a passing feeling, something that he would temporarily feel that would last until a certain period, and that he would progressively let me go, letting me go…, but I would never be more wrong.

As the days went by he seemed to be gaining more confidence, which was the complete opposite of what I expected. Sometimes he brought me gifts, during the nights he asked me if I wanted to sleep with him, if he could stand next to me so he could protect me while I rested, and although sometimes I refused, eventually I had to give in and know that I would never have a normal life again.

I still remember one time I tried to escape, I tried to try and see how far he could go, to where he was going to chase me. I tried to go to several cities or even go many towns away, seeking even the support of someone like Liu Kang or any of his warriors to think about even going with the Ling Kuei, but I quickly ruled it out since I was at war with their “other half” of the family.

However, each attempt was worse than the last, since he always found me, sometimes faster, sometimes he took a few days, etc. It was strange to think how he knew where I was because he would even have found me even faster than I could think.

Even if he have sometimes raised his voice to me, i understand it in some point, maybe be because my attempts to escape being almost daily at one point.

He would constantly increase the number of chains on my body or simply add more security to the window or doors, but I always found some way to escape from those four walls.

However, those events were a couple of months ago; I would say about six. And in fact, thinking recently I realized that I was quite skilled at one point, being that I could go through entire towns and get tired only when I had just arrived, and only when I knew I was safe could I give myself a rest and a well-deserved lie down on a bed.

And now I knew there was no way to escape, that somehow I would always know where I was, that no matter where I went, I would always know when and how to find myself at the right moment, I knew that my life was condemned to remain by his side. , chained and locked in a place that almost no one knew.

And that's why today was a special day.

I barely managed to become aware of the time and time I was in; I got out of bed, gave the room a little order and approached the door at the entrance to my room, but before I could take the doorknob, he opened the door, a soft squeak of wood was heard. , silent.

—Hello, Kenshi, —I greeted, my voice softer than usual —, how did you wake up?

He didn't answer, he just took one of my hands.

I smiled, knowing the habit he had picked up for a couple of months. He would check my palms, caress my skin and notice if it was more damaged, or rougher than my skin normally is, and if it was, then he didn't treat me very well during the day.

—Then I guess the noises were from the animals —he mentioned, his fingers now running over the tips of mine —. I'm glad to know you haven't hurt yourself trying to run away yet.

A soft laugh escapes my lips, letting him take and caress my palm to his liking.

—Yeah, digging in the dirt wasn't such a good idea for my hands, you know? I learned it months ago —I joked, before separating his hands from mine. —. By the way, are there wild animals at night?

He remained imperturbably calm, and only nodded in response.

—Two nights ago I noticed them —he admitted, —but I thought you were you trying to escape.

I laughed at this, before taking one of his hands, my fingers settling into the gaps between his half-open ones. My gaze stayed on our hold, as I only panted softly.

—Well, then I guess you would have to get used to dealing with those animals.

He looked confused, and was even more so when he saw the grip he had with my fingers wrapped around each of his knuckles.

—Just because you said so?

—Because I don't plan any escape.

—You always say the same thing, —he emphasizes—, and then you run away from me.

—This time is different —I clarify, before looking at him again for a second, I gently pressed my fingers against his knuckles again —, I seriously don't plan anything."

Just by noticing the gesture of his lips and eyebrows I noticed that he was hesitant; He had learned the different expressions he had, and each one was more intriguing than the last.

—Fine. —he whispered, not very convinced.

He let go of my hand, and without telling me anything he just left the hallway, going to what I assumed was his room.

Since he never let me into his room; It was a strange thing, the obsession he had with me not touching his room under any circumstances.

In part, I was a little hurt by his indifference to my revelation, since I very rarely lied to him, but it didn't take me long to go look for him.

His steps were not hurried, but he could tell that he just wanted to be alone for a moment. When I tried to call him, he ignored me, and only advanced to the door of his room, where he took out the padlock that secured it and entered it.

Denying what I was trying to tell him, I just headed to the kitchen, ready to finally replenish my energy with anything that would serve as fuel for my body. And while I was taking some time to prepare it, I was just thinking about a couple of things.

Since when had I accepted my destiny? I guess I've been thinking about it for a month now.

How long will this last? Until the end of my life, I guess.

Do I have any way to escape? Nah, most likely not.

It was a little painful to think that I was no longer going to try to regain my long-awaited freedom, limited to being between six rooms and a hallway.

The more I think about it, the more my mind focuses on random points in my vision, and in the end, I just longed to stop overthinking this situation.

Suddenly, I notice that a hand took mine, giving gentle caresses and stopping my movements.

—Oh, Kenshi, what would you like…?

—How sure are you that you're not going to escape?

I gasped softly, trying not to lose my bearings at that moment.

—I already told you that I'm not going to escape.

—You said the same thing 6 months ago, and then you ran away.

—What way do you have to prove that I am trying to escape?

—You're too calm these days.

I sighed, stopping cooking.

—You are too paranoid.

He frowned, before letting go of my hand.

—I'm not, I just don't trust you.

I tried again and again to reason with him, but I found little use in conversing with him. I felt stressed thinking that this was useless, coincidentally I got tired but I couldn't get out of that situation, I wanted to stay there for as long as possible.

But it only exhausted me more mentally the thought of him that I was about to escape, or that I was planning to do something bad to him.

It was then that, out of my own coherent line of thought, I limited myself to taking a sharp step towards him, placing myself right next to his body and my face facing his cheek.

Gently but quickly my lips landed on his cheek, placing a soft kiss on his undamaged skin.

The sensation of kissing his skin wasn't very different from other things, in fact it was almost like giving a kiss to my wayward pet.

However, when I moved away from the sudden display of affection, a hand on the back of my neck stopped me, forcing our lips to connect with each other with a gentle but forceful push.

With my pupils dilated, I was surprised, knowing that I couldn't escape his grasp, I limited myself to just letting him follow his path with the contact, unless until he wanted to stop.

—I guess that's a sign of trust, —He playfully separated from me —, tell me, will you give me more signs of trust in the future?

Playful and idiotic, I guess I discovered a new side of him.

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[tildeathiwillwrite]

Tag Game: Writerly Questionnaire

Thanks to @paeliae-occasionally @willtheweaver and @agirlandherquill for the tags!

Rules: Answer the questions!

Long post incoming!

About You

When did you start writing?

My earliest attempts at writing books are from when I was about 9 or 10, scribbling in a sparkly pink notebook something that was in essense video game fanfiction. It will never see the light of day again. The WIP I've had for the longest, The Watcher and the Thief, I started when I was 12 and writing a backstory for my human ranger in Dungeons and Dragons.

Are the genres/themes you enjoy reading different from the ones you write?

I love reading fantasy and I love writing fantasy, specifically high fantasy and portal fantasy. I'm always looking to expand my reading taste and go outside my comfort zone but fantasy fiction is my jam and always will be.

Is there an author (or just a fellow writer!) you want to emulate, or one to whom you’re often compared?

Honestly there are so many authors that I'm obsessed with that I probably subconsciously emulate and would be absolutely honored to be compared to including but not limited to Brandon Sanderson, Robert Jordan, Brandon Mull, Leigh Bardugo, Weis and Hickman, uh yeah probably others.

Can you tell me a little about your writing space(s)? (Room, coffee shop, desk, etc.)

I've done most of my writing in the living room of my house, sitting on the couch closest to a plug for my laptop charger with one of those lap desks and said laptop on my lap. It's either that or sitting on my bed or hiding in the basement if my housemates are too distracting (rare). I have also been known to write on my phone from time to time when I have the time but not the laptop.

What’s your most effective way to muster up some muse?

Go on a walk or a car ride with one of my WIP playlists playing. I also brainstorm while waiting to fall asleep in bed.

Did the place(s) you grew up in influence the people and places you write about?

I mean my mom was the one who kindled my love for fantasy books, but otherwise I don't think so.

Are there any recurring themes in your writing, and if so, do they surprise you at all?

There seem to be a lot of wanderers, whether seeking something or on a mission or traveling aimlessly. Draven and Octavian post-THtMatC, Jas and Killian, the ToS crew. Most of the aforementioned people are also willing to go out of their way to help someone in need or their mission centers around providing aid.

Your Characters

Would you please tell me about your current favorite character? (Current WIP, past WIP, never used, etc.)

Of all time, Octavian de Silv. I go into further detail here. Otherwise I can't really choose because I love my ocs for different reasons.

Which of your characters do you think you’d be friends with in real life?

I think I'd be friends with Jas or Reese. With Jas it would be the classic case of an extrovert adopting an introvert, and with Reese we'd bond over our love of reading.

Which of your characters would you dislike the most if you met them?

Obviously any of my villains, and if I ever met Draven I would get annoyed with him real quick. I don't get on well with people irl who share his personality.

Tell me about the process of coming up with of one, all, or any of your characters.

Well, I usually start with a slot to put a character in a story. Then I throw an appearance on them, usually traits that might stand out to a POV character upon their introduction. Then I decide a name and personality. All of this is subject to change at literally any time. All of it.

Do you notice any recurring themes/traits among your characters?

Including what I've said before... a lot of the protagonists exhibit some of my own traits like stubbornness extreme perseverance and creative problem-solving with violence.

How do you picture them? (As real people you imagined, as models/actors who exist in real life, as imaginary artwork, as artwork you made or commissioned, anime style, etc.)

I picture them in my artstyle as I have doodled and drawn and such, I also use picrews to help me better visualize their appearances, although those obviously do have limits.

Your Writing

What’s your reason for writing?

I love flailing about my characters in different ways, including Problems, Situations, Shenanigans, etc. I have plots and stuff but I write because I love my characters so so much.

Is there a specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating coming from your readers?

Any comment (that isnt hate) is a good comment :) I do love when people *cough, cough* @fourwingedsnake make funny comments regarding the characters or a line or the situation in general

How do you want to be thought of by those who read your work? (For example: as a literary genius, or as a writer who “gets” the human condition; as a talented worldbuilder, as a role model, etc.)

Storms I dunno I just want people to like my writing/my characters/my worlds

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

Creating memorable characters and also accidentally forming new magic systems

What have you been frequently told your greatest writing strength is by others?

I've noticed that people really like my ocs so y'know win there, other than that I've never been to my memory explicitly told

How do you feel about your own writing? (Answer in whatever way you interpret this question.)

I feel like I've improved a lot over the last year or so, and prompt events/posting on Tumblr has got me in the habit of writing every day, even if it's just a brainstorming session. I definitely feel more confident in my own abilities and more comfortable showing my writing to people (still hesitant about showing my irl friends/family for obvious reasons)

If you were the last person on earth and knew your writing would never be read by another human, would you still write?

Yeah???? I write first and foremost for me and it would definitely help me cope with the loneliness of being the last person on earth. Maybe the next dominant species will figure out English and read it.

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely what you enjoy? If it’s a mix of the two, which holds the most influence?

I for sure write what I enjoy. If readers don't like it they don't have to read it, and if I don't like it I won't finish it even if others enjoy it. My writing my rules deal with it and if you can't the unfollow/block button is right there

Tagging @faytelumos @fourwingedwriter @thewritingautisticat @stargazer-luna @phoenixradiant @pluppsauthor @pluttskutt @elizaellwrites @gamerkats @happypup-kitcat24 and open tag! :D

About You When did you start writing? Are the genres/themes you enjoy reading different from the ones you write? Is there an author (or just a fellow writer!) you want to emulate, or one to whom you’re often compared? Can you tell me a little about your writing space(s)? (Room, coffee shop, desk, etc.) What’s your most effective way to muster up some muse? Did the place(s) you grew up in influence the people and places you write about? Are there any recurring themes in your writing, and if so, do they surprise you at all? Your Characters Would you please tell me about your current favorite character? (Current WIP, past WIP, never used, etc.) Which of your characters do you think you’d be friends with in real life? Which of your characters would you dislike the most if you met them? Tell me about the process of coming up with of one, all, or any of your characters. Do you notice any recurring themes/traits among your characters? How do you picture them? (As real people you imagined, as models/actors who exist in real life, as imaginary artwork, as artwork you made or commissioned, anime style, etc.) Your Writing What’s your reason for writing? Is there a specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating coming from your readers? How do you want to be thought of by those who read your work? (For example: as a literary genius, or as a writer who “gets” the human condition; as a talented worldbuilder, as a role model, etc.) What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer? What have you been frequently told your greatest writing strength is by others? How do you feel about your own writing? (Answer in whatever way you interpret this question.) If you were the last person on earth and knew your writing would never be read by another human, would you still write? When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely what you enjoy? If it’s a mix of the two, which holds the most influence

[derekscorner]

Fated Rantings: Where to start Fate

A scary question, believe me I know.

I asked my own self this question over a year ago now after finding myself lured into the series through lore videos like a child being led by candy. I even started FGO just because it was a free way to begin the series.

Would I recommend that for everyone? No. Fate Grand Order (FGO) is a gacha game after all. Unless you have the patience to grind or cheese your battles like me you'll give in fast and I’d never recommend someone giving money to a gacha game.

Although, if you're already into Fate or just genuinely curious about FGO then I can confirm that it has some of the best written stories I've ever seen. I won't claim every singularity (arc) as a banger but there are some that are legitimately good.

I'd also recommend you be wary if you think that watching the FGO anime is enough. That's more of a companion piece to the gacha than a true adaption.

Where to actually begin

So with my warnings of FGO aside where is the best place to begin the Fate series? Where does the story begin and what is the latest entry?

Fair questions but don't let many fans fool you. There is no one starting point to the Fate series. The reason for this is a simple one;

Every Fate story is on it's own timeline

Nasu Kinoko the writer who created the original 'Fate/Stay Night' stated as much.

Now this doesn't mean that some of his works are "not canon". It's actually the opposite, "everything is canon".

Nasu's company, Type-Moon, got off the ground with his visual novels 'Tsukihime', 'Fate/Stay Night', 'Kara no Kyoukai', and 'Mahoyo' among others. With each of these novels have multiple endings to them.

What confuses so many is them lacking the knowledge that these novels and their various endings share a universe. Some event in one could be mentioned in another. For example, "the church" from Tsukihime is very much present in Fate. The magecraft you see used in Mahoyo is the same magic system and society that pops up in Fate and Tsukihime.

In essence, Nasu's stories are sharing the same world but taking place at various points in that world.

Fate Specific

If you're curious about Mahoyo or Tsukihime then I'd recommend the remakes on Steam or Switch. If you're just genuinely curious what a visual novel is I'll leave you to discover them. I brought these things up because they're related.

For the Fate series in particular it was important that I explain them because this universe of multiple endings are all canon to a degree.

The reason many of you will find Fate hard to get into is because several Fate anime are based on these specific story routes from the visual novels.

The "Fate Route" was adapted as the Fate 2006 anime.

Unlimited Blade Works was adapted from the route of the same name.

Heaven's Feel is another route from the novel.

All three of these big anime names are routes from the same visual novel 'Fate/Stay Night'. Each route, and thus each anime, focuses on a heroine that the lead Shirou Emiya falls in love with.

So each show isn't some reboot or relaunch of a series, they're adaptions of a different timeline of events.

It does not stop at 'Fate/Stay Night' either

As I said earlier, some events are shared between them because these stories share a world and some things happened in each. The characters are citing world events from their perspective. For example;

In many version of Fate the 1st to 4th Holy Grail War happened.

In every version of Fate the "Age of Gods" came and went.

In most Fate stories there is a Rin Tohsaka or a Shirou Emiya somewhere in the world even if they do not appear in the narrative.

In every Type-Moon story the "Clocktower" exists.

Dead Apostles and vampires exist in most Type-Moon stories.

This may seem silly to some of you but I have pointed it out because there will be someone see something said in a Fate story and be confused because it doesn't quite line up with a Fate work they've previously seen.

Or they'll see things stated that makes them think two Fate stories are intrinsically linked when they aren't. If you still find that confusing then allow me to show you the famous Fate/Zero.

Fate/Zero

Many are told to "start here" because Fate/Zero is a prequel to 'Fate/Stay Night' which isn't entirely true.

Yes, Saber will reference the 4th Grail War and her hazy memories of it. She even remembers Shirou's adoptive father Kiritsugu Emiya.

But don't be fooled, that's where Nasu's statement comes in. He did not consider Fate/Zero canon to his novel.

However, that does not mean Saber is lying either. What this means is that the 4th war that Saber remembers in Fate Stay Night is a different conflict than what you see in Fate/Zero.

This is the best example of shared events not being the same per work. The anime of Fate/Zero is it's own timeline while the 4th war Saber mentions in the novel or anime adaptions was different.

We do not know what the exact differences are between Fate/Zero and the 4th Grail War Saber mentions in Fate/Stay Night but we know they existed.

Then you have stories in which the timeline diverted far earlier

These stories are much easier to dive into since their timelines diverged more drastically. In Fate 2006 or Heaven's Feel the point of divergence is the choice in love interest but for these stories the timeline diverges much earlier. For example;

Fate Grand Order actually takes place in a timeline in which there was only one Holy Grail War.

Fate Extra takes place in a world where there's a super computer lodged in the Moon that's been recording Earth's history for nearly 4 billion years.

In Fate Apocrypha there was only three Holy Grail Wars before someone managed to steal the Greater Grail during World War II.

Despite these three in particular being entirely removed from 'Fate/Stay Night's various routes they still fall back on the same world history. They just happen to diverge much earlier for various reasons.

This is relevant because they too will reference similar things but they're much easier to start with because their settings are more unique.

Though, you'll still will see Rin Tohsaka in Fate Extra. Waver Velvet from Fate/Zero also appears in many stories as his older self.

Actual Sequels or Prequels

Now before you have a heart attack with that sub title let me explain. Yes, I do still fully mean that each Fate story is essentially it's own thing.

However, I would be doing you a disservice if I did not warn you that a few have true sequels. I do not know every sequel across Type-Moons gallery of novels but I can warn you about Fate/Hollow Ataraxia.

Ataraxia is a true sequel to the original Fate/Stay Night visual novel. You don't need to play it to enjoy the FSN novel or it's anime adaptions but do not mistake Ataraxia as a solo story. This is the one time I will give you that warning after my long post arguing otherwise.

Granted, I am not sure where'd you come across Hollow Ataraxia but just be warned. This visual novel is a true sequel to Fate/Stay Night.

As for the various anime that's been adapted over the years, as I've said, many are just adaptions of a particular story route from the novel.

That said, if you came to view the anime as it's own pocket universe I could see why. Heaven's Feel, the movies, will even flashback to Fate/Zero scenes.

The character Velvet Waver from Fate/Zero has his own novel series and animes based on those novels. What does this knowledge mean for you my dear reader?

Nothing. I can see why someone would think this way but that doesn't mean you need to heed it. If someone gives you an anime list to watch in a particular order then I'd argue it's fine to either take that advice or ignore it.

At best, watching Fate/Zero will help you appreciate the El Melloi series more but it's also not necessary.

What I am telling you is that it can confuse many but you can start with any anime you're able to get ahold of.

Conclusions

I'm afraid I may have confused many of you more than I helped but I bothered to explain all of that just to say one thing;

"you can start wherever"

And I truly mean that. No matter what some insistent person tells you any Fate work can be your first Fate story. Where you go from there will be up to you.

The only two warnings I will over is that Hollow/Ataraxia is a true sequel so definitely don't start there assuming you can even find it. Secondly, do not start the FGO anime because Babylonia does not adapt the full FGO story.

The FGO anime is worth watching but it won't supplement it's source.

Now then, hopefully I've convinced you to try something. I'd personally recommend you watch Fate/Zero or Apocrypha to feel out the series but you can't quite literally start near anywhere.

So enjoy and bye~

P.S. yes that last image is an official timeline. It's not actually needed but it's neat. :D

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For my other experiences with Fate go here: https://derekscorner.tumblr.com/tagged/fated-rantings