#not necessarily like this but I really do like this design so I might. steal some parts of it lmao

[boydykedevo]

I don’t know Arcane at all but my sibling’s watched it while I’m in the room before and

She is so fucking close to how I picture Hermine.

[lurkingshan]

Things That Have My Attention in 4 Minutes Episode 4

Congrats to the Dome is Tonkla's brother truthers!

Let's talk timelines again. I still think we're working with two timelines, but I no longer think they're cleanly separated. Because if they were, you could not have some of these things happening concurrently. If we only had an Original timeline and a Redo timeline, then everything Great changes should be part of the Redo timeline. But in this episode Great saved Nan in the same timeline where Dome was dead, which we know because Great got Nan's location by getting Korn trashed after Korn fought with Tonkla over his abandonment in the aftermath of Dome's death. These things are all connected, so we can't cleanly sort events into one timeline or the other.

Which means it's most likely that the two timelines are bleeding together, making things unstable. This would explain Great's experience of overlapping moments last week, and Tonkla seeing Dome briefly before things went all weird and he disappeared at the end of today's episode.

By the way, it turns out those cold opens are not of the future--Tonkla has already done the murder in the same timeline where he's messing around with the cop. ETA: @my-rose-tinted-glasses pointed out that this is not necessarily true if the scene of Win getting the fingerprints and the phone call is also in the future. So back to square one on that!

Speaking of, what is up with Win? He is fully engaging in an affair with a murder suspect and doesn't seem to be investigating Tonkla at all. And I cannot let this pass without comment: why on earth did Win not put his pants back on during the long scene of him listening to Tonkla and Korn?! Was this really an appropriate situation to Winnie the Pooh it???

The flashback to Tonkla and Korn's beginning gave good context for why Tonkla thought he might be able to have more with Korn. I appreciated the details there: Korn was giving him money before they even had sex the first time and was lying to him about his intentions from the start, while Tonkla had zero experience when they met and didn't know how to recognize the signs of Korn's lies. Korn basically groomed this kid to be his sidepiece and has strung him along for years.

Tonkla definitely feels like a tragic character heading for a bad end, though perhaps he will also be saved eventually by the timeline shifts. In the timeline where Dome is dead and he's fucking Win, Tonkla is being incredibly reckless. I couldn't believe he just moved a new man into the home Korn pays for, he's gonna get caught.

I was grateful the show did not actually go all the way with Korn assaulting Tonkla, but it was clear he would have if Tonkla had not managed to distract him.

I continue to find the emotional tenor of Great and Tyme's scenes kinda weird. I don't understand why Great is so willing to betray Korn to help Tyme after just meeting him, I don't understand why Tyme revealed his face only to run away and then accused Great of being in on the conspiracy after already confirming he's not, and I don't understand why they were acting all blushy and awkward in that sex scene rather than leaning into the adrenaline high for a more sultry tone. They have been on one (1) date so the emotional investment is not really tracking for me for two experienced adults, but I can't tell if I am supposed to find this all weird and confusing or just go with it. It feels like the show just wants me to accept the shortcuts and buy into them as a serious romance, so okay I guess!

Speaking of betraying Korn, Great's plan was abysmal. He steals the information from Korn's phone (so considerate of him to spell out his criminal conspiracy including names and locations in one convenient text chain), tells Tyme everything without any knowledge of what his brother did, then walks right into an active hostage situation in his designer whites and shows his face to all Korn's goons. Korn is gonna know you did this, bro! Do you care?

It seems that Nan has a friend who was killed in a similar fashion to Tyme's parents, though I'm still curious how they connected and came up with this plan.

I still got nothing on this Lukwa connection. Why are she and Great the only two experiencing this phenomenon, and why did they see each other in this liminal space?

Also noting that there were several sex scenes this episode and no condoms or lube anywhere. I guess this show only depicts safe and realistic sex when they have a sponsor paying them.

[ghoulfuckersincorporated]

I hate to do this to you but can we get some Ahzrukhal (fo3) Head cannons, he’s my least favorite ghoul and yet Im currently reading to the end of his Ao3 tag, which is my personal hell but I have mixed feelings about it

I mean, I'm not gonna sit here and pretend I didn't at least think about what it would be like the first time I walked into the Ninth Circle and sized him up. I'm also not gonna pretend like I haven't been in that AO3 tag. Some of this is fairly dark, but I feel like that just falls under "typical of canon".

Ahzrukhal (Fallout 3) Headcanons

SFW

Genuinely one of the slimiest, most underhanded people you'll ever meet. Not only will he fuck you over the second he needs to in order to benefit himself, he actively searches for opportunities to fuck over others. He's absurdly embittered by multiple lifetimes worth of mild slights and disappointments, a true whiny and entitled piece of shit. If he existed in the year 2024, he'd be a basement-dwelling incel.

He's definitely pre-war. There's no way this sniveling miser hasn't been around screwing people and being a rat with a loogie problem for quite a while now.

Charon was absolutely correct in killing him before the two of you leave. If he'd been allowed to live, he'd have sent someone after you to steal the contract, or kill you and bring Charon back to him. I suspect he's done this before, and that's why 1. he's so eager to offer to sell the contract to you, and 2. Charon is so quick to kill him when he has the chance. At least, I think that's part of the latter.

He's a bit fatter than the average ghoul, and I wonder if some ghouls have the ability to better retain body fat long term while others are prone to wasting away into skin and bones, as per the design of the ferals.

NSFW

The "Uncle Ahzrukhal" thing is exactly what you think it would be. The man is big into ageplay and incest roleplay, usually combined. If you won't do the ageplay stuff, whatever, but he'll do whatever he needs to do to get you to do the incest stuff for him. He'll beg, he'll grovel, he'll pay you extra.

Speaking of which, he would definitley enjoy a sort of "antagonistic sugar daddy" dynamic if you were amenable to it (or desperate enough to need it). Knowing that you don't necessarily want to spend time with him makes him all the more eager to get you to do so, even if you act like you hate it the whole time.

Actually quite big into degredation, moreso receiving than giving, just with the huge caveat that there are (rather quite a few) things you just aren't allowed to say to him. Really, he mostly likes to be told how perverted he is, how gross his proclivities are, what a disgusting old man he is...but he wants you to tell him that pretty much exclusively while he's actively fucking you or eating you out. It's the idea that you really do find him that disgusting, and yet, for whatever reason (almost always because he has something over you or is paying you) you're giving him access to your body.

If he has you over a barrel enough, he won't hesitate to use you to settle his debts, or even full-on pimp you out if you piss him off enough. He doesn't like to share, but he wants to teach you a lesson more than he doesn't want to share his toys. The guys he gives you to might even make him seem a little better by comparison. Make you show a little more gratitude. Why would he have a problem with that?

[onepiece-oc-archives]

Heyy, any tips for dressing OCs? I struggle a lot coming up with outfits that look unique while looking like it fits in with the rest of the characters and the world.

Hi, thanks so much for your ask! Boy oh boy do I have tips for you, so buckle up! I'll try to keep this as straightforward as possible, but if you get lost on the way, I'll give examples at the bottom of the post.

First of all, it's important to have a feel for the character's personal style. One of the first things I do for every new OC I create is usually to hop onto Pinterest and make an aesthetic board for them because it just helps with so many things. Sometimes, you'll just stumble across the main design detail of your OC on accident! For example, my OC Aurelia's signature claws just showed up when I searched "gold aesthetic", and I decided that this was the way to go.

But let's go back: How do I even know what to search for? Well, you might want to have a basic concept for your character. What are their inspirations? What is their background? Do they prefer clothes that are more practical or more stylish? Do they have any signature colors? How do they come off in the eyes of other people and does that match their fashion sense? How rich are they?

The last point may be helpful to get a basic idea but, in the end, it doesn't have to be the deciding factor. Let's take the Straw Hats, for example. At the start of the story, they're not exactly rich. Still, both Sanji and Nami are walking around with nice clothes. Nami steals her clothes or bargains with (or threatens) the vendor until they give her a huge discount. Sanji, meanwhile, probably had a good bit of money before he left Baratie since it was a fairly successful restaurant, and I'm willing to bet that he probably only has one or two good jackets, so he might look high-end, but he's actually not very rich at all.

What I'm trying to say is: Knowing how your OC acquires your clothes can be a huge help both for their character design and for fleshing out their story.

Otherwise, just throw anything about your OC you can think of into Pinterest's search bar, glue "outfit" or "aesthetic" to it, and you'll probably find some good inspo for your OC's clothing style.

Now that you have an idea of their fashion sense, time to make it fit in!

I'll be the first to admit, the early animanga art style doesn't really leave a lot open for detailed character design, but once you get further into the story, you can practically go completely wild.

The first thing I'd think about is: What's your OC's place in the world? Are they a Marine? Great! You can draw them in uniform! A noble? What culture is their kingdom inspired by? A pirate? What are their crewmates dressed like? After all, some crews practically have their own version of a uniform or at least a theme.

In the end, someone's clothes "fitting in" probably isn't as much of an issue as you think. Yes, the Straw Hats' outfits look pretty simple in the early animanga episodes, but... take one look at OPLA or even try imagining their outfits in real life and you'll figure out at that isn't necessarily the case. They're just simply drawn because it's a simple art style. One Piece is such a diverse world that almost anything goes. You can go surprisingly far into sci-fi or steampunk or historical, whatever you like, if you play around with it a little.

A thing that I like to do is to take inspiration from the characters that my OC is close to. The Straw Hats are especially great here because, for a lot of story arcs, their clothes collectively have a theme, but they still manage to be individual and unique. How?

The details. It's all in the details. Even if your OC is a Marine, you can make them unique through the details. Think about Coby! How is Coby unique? Pink hair and those signature glasses! Most of the Straw Hats have one design detail that carries on throughout pretty much all of their outfits, be it an accessory, a color scheme, a pattern... Luffy has his straw hat, obviously. Zoro has his swords, earrings and bandana. Nami has circles and stripes. Usopp loves himself some overalls and, in the animanga, his goggles. Sanji almost always wears a suit or at least a dress shirt and, if he doesn't, the outfit is most likely blue. Think about how this works for your OC. What's the one detail that carries on throughout all of their outfits? That's what makes them unique and recognizable.

But details can also help tie your OC into the greater world. Remember that you are an artist making character design and you're free to throw in as many easter eggs as you want. They can really add to an outfit. Adopt an accessory from a character that your OC is close to! Make the pattern of their clothes a nod to someone or something or someplace else! That's what brings your OC to life because it's what people do. We steal each other's clothes, we buy matching outfits, we unintentionally and subconsciously pick up on or play off of other people's sense of style... It's a natural process, maybe even a sign of love, and it's one of my favourite things to see in art or character design.

To maybe put this all into perspective, let me walk you through how I came up with the outfits for two of my OCs, from two different backgrounds and parts of the world.

OC no. 1 is my beloved Akaito Coraline. Cora is a tailor of considerable fame throughout the East Blue and ends up joining the Straw Hats because she's childhood friends with Sanji. Finally, she ends up dating both Sanji and Zoro.

Practically the first design detail I had about her was a nod to her family, because her family and their tailoring tradition is a very important part of Cora's character. So, it was decided that she would have a sewing needle pierced through her ear. Her profession as a tailor also made it pretty self-explanatory to me that she would prefer clothes that are, well, tailored, and she most likely makes all of her clothes herself. So, she could wear fitted blouses and other fairly intricate or expensive stuff without actually being rich or being able to go shopping often because she can sew those clothes herself - which is also a lot cheaper. It also occurred to me that Cora would have a love of fashion and would probably put fashion over functionality in her outfits. Because of her backstory, I also knew that she would keep her back covered. Lastly, as a pirate, she would have to have some kind of weapon, and I decided on a rapier, because it's elegant, feminine, fashionable, and long and pointed like a sewing needle.

In the end, I threw all of those things together, picked reference images from Pinterest, slapped them into my drawing program, and, through trial and error, came up with this:

Base by Hevis-Swan on DeviantArt by the way - use and credit bases, kids, it really helps!

We've got the sewing needle through the ear and one of Zoro's earrings to link her to him. We've got a form-fitted blouse and vest where I made sure to actually draw the different panels so you could have an idea of the sewing process. The black things on her sleeves are sleeve garters, which are meant to hold your sleeves up while you work, and I figured Cora might wear them as one of the few things she wears for practicality's sake - but they're also made of lace because she loves her fashion. The idea to have her wear pants was more of an afterthought because I absolutely wanted the holster for her scissors, but the pants are based off a pair that I own myself! The belt is based off of historically accurate belts used to hold rapiers in the 16th and 17th century. Those boot covers are extremely impractical to button up, showing Cora's "fashion over function" principle. Finally, she wears heels because she's short and likes the extra height, and the anklet is a gift from Sanji, hence the blue and silver.

On a different note, we have OC no. 2: Dracule Aurelia, the wife of Dracule Mihawk. If you've ever seen Mihawk, you know that he's one fancy man, and the same applies for Aurelia. She is rich, filthy rich, and she's an incredibly powerful pirate. Her vibe is that of a mafia boss, a femme fatale, of power and deadliness through beauty. Her epithet is "Black Widow" because all of her lovers keep dying one way or another. Either by her hand or through other mysterious circumstances.

With those things in mind, I was already pretty sure of how I wanted to draw Aurelia and what clothes she should wear. "Aurelia" roughly means "the golden one" and, combined with her incredible wealth, that already guaranteed that she'd be wearing a lot of gold. Secondly, I knew her clothes had to be sexy. There's no other way to put it; she had to be turning heads. She also needed to be able to kick people in the nose. And lastly, I wanted it to be easy to see that her and Mihawk were married, so I took a lot of inspiration from him.

Bases by Fluffy-foxgirl and Alex-Hime on DeviantArt

This outfit is essentially one big easter egg hunt. The flower symbol is found on Mihawk's sleeve, the long coat is inspired by Mihawk and the collar is both a reference to him and Aurelia's father (whom I will not name here for spoiler reasons), she wears crosses just like Mihawk, the feathers on her headpiece are a nod to the feathers on Mihawk's hat, the petal-like sleeves are a nod to the island she's from... But the outfit is still 100% her! The way everything is very revealing, the gold chains, the claws, the high slit, the dagger with the spider in its pommel...

So yeah! I hope this helped at least a little. Hope you're having a wonderful day! ^^

[fallloverfic]

@nnayomaise mentioned you on a post “i don't think enough people understand that, as a...”:

@fallloverfic i think he had to be suicidal before his dungeon, (not as much as he is in the current story ofc) but purely because he chose to become a dungeon lord knowing that it would eat all of his desires and he would wither away and die- and for him having a place to go, he could very easily have left his dungeon and gone back to the canaries (yes they would've killed him but they likely would've just revived him) which would be the right thing to do, he knows this

​(continued): "he knows the process of how they remove dungeon lords, he knows this is how canaries literally save the world from the dungeons, he probably thought a lot about backing out and essentially returning to reality but the goat manipulated him into staying then ate his desire to return"

I don't personally think anything about his decision to go with and stay with the mirror/goat indicates he was suicidal at that point, and you kind of disprove this yourself by indicating the goat - an outside force - was manipulating him into his decision(s). To each their own headcanon, obviously, and I like crunchy background for Mithrun, but here's at least why I don't think we have canon evidence for Mithrun being suicidal before he was abandoned by the demon.

In Bonus: Miscellaneous Monster Tales -6-, we learn just how dangerous magic mirrors are:

The manga notes this is specifically a moment of weakness, to an object specifically designed to steal his heart. Sometimes we all get caught on bad days. This was one of Mithrun's (he made the mistake of not ignoring the mirror). He was strong back then, but he wasn't invincible.

As the Adventurer's Bible notes about the Central Watchtower (his dungeon), "Since it hadn't had a lord for a long time, it was believed to be nearly collapsed. Mithrun was dispatched to investigate a nearby rash of disappearances and got taken in." (133). This was relatively routine/not a big deal, but it got him in a chance moment. The goat struck while the iron was hot. As the Adventurer's Bible explains, "Once, while under the impression that his older brother had stolen his beloved, Mithrun wished for a life where he hadn't joined the canaries. As a result, he fell under the spell of a demon" (74). This is framed largely as an accident/bad luck: we can't all be vigilant forever, after all. He even comments about these things to Kabru earlier, "You wished for those things... . . . You wished, so the dungeon provided. . . . Don't wish often." (p.157, Chapter 61: Roasted Walking Mushroom, Volume 9). Even casual wishes can have major consequences, and that desire attracts the demon (e.g., when Marcille is trying to get control, the demon acts on her subconscious desires for protection, and the only solution they have is to trap it in a book):

A moment of weakness against resolve to continue can perhaps imply he had depression he wasn't addressing, and was likely desperate and missing things he'd sacrificed, and was vulnerable to manipulation, but none of that really indicates specifically that he was suicidal. Knowing a bad thing could happen to you - even perhaps a form of death - when performing your job doesn't necessarily make you suicidal, though it might make you a bit reckless and/or foolhardy. Firefighters are not, by definition, suicidal. And there's really no evidence that Mithrun was in his right mind when he made his wish/went with the demon. As we see with Thistle, Marcille, and Laios, the demon is a master manipulator who knows how to overwhelm its targets, where even casual things you don't actively think about can lead to your undoing.

"and for him having a place to go, he could very easily have left his dungeon and gone back to the canaries (yes they would've killed him but they likely would've just revived him) which would be the right thing to do, he knows this"

How easy would it have been for him to leave? We can see what it took to get Thistle and Marcille to leave (Thistle ultimately fell to the demon, Marcille was a special case that involved large groups of people working together to find alternate solutions), and even what the demon used to keep Laios from enacting his plan when Laios becomes lord of the dungeon (chapter 88 is really great for showing just how skilled a manipulator the demon is; and even with fail-safes, Laios + Co couldn't get around this). And it's clearly indicated from at least Kabru's perception of Mithrun's backstory that Mithrun worked hard to stop anyone from coming in to get him while he was dungeon lord. It's easy to, academically, know how to solve a problem. It's another to make it work in the field. The only reason anyone was able to drag him out was seemingly because the demon "hadn't eaten enough to build up sufficient power" and "vanished" (p.185, chapter 62: Six Days, Volume 9). Mithrun had no apparent desire to leave, and was actively working to stay, likely in part because he was under the demon's spell. He even notes in the Complete Adventurer's Guide that the demon's love is compelling to the point of mental collapse. His knowing, logically, that leaving would have saved him, did nothing for him, because a lot was working against him, including powerful magic and his own human weakness for things he could have if he stayed. And him choosing to stay, despite likely somewhere in his head knowing what would happen if he didn't leave, again doesn't make him suicidal. I doubt he was thinking of the consequences all that much: he was too focused on the fantasy the demon made for him. When you're in the middle of a high, you typically aren't thinking of the comedown.

There's also another reason he probably wasn't thinking about it, that we see with Laios (and Marcille, and even I think with Thistle): a lot of us always think we'll be the one to get one over. We think we're smart enough or strong enough to succeed where others fail. Only Laios managed to succeed in part because his plan was so ridiculous and the demon's own overconfidence got in its way. In the Adventurer's Bible, Mithrun notes that before the dungeon, he "looked down on everyone." (76). He was arrogant. I imagine that part of why he probably wouldn't have given up had he thought about his potential fate was that he thought he'd succeed in surviving. His story is very much one of hubris (e.g., his thinking for why the demon took away his eye and ear ends). In the Adventurer's Bible, we see his confidence when he approaches Milsiril to talk to her (86), and we see how he is in combat. He was confident, and self-avowedly arrogant. That's a dangerous mix.

There is some vagueness for how other dungeon lords who weren't Mithrun, Marcille, Thistle, and Laios got out of their situations: we know there are a number, because we see them in the Complete Adventurer's Bible during the group chat scene set up by Pattadol. If it's explained somewhere how they were rescued/removed, and if for some reason Mithrun knew that could be him, too, but he chose not to for specific suicidal reasons, I have no idea. cartchytuns in the notes noted that they were probably freed when Laios got rid of the demon at the end of the story, since the demon in every dungeon was all the same demon, and I think that makes a lot of sense! If this is what happened, that means even fewer dungeon lords left the dungeon of their own volition/abilities, and that decreases the likelihood that Mithrun was able to, and increases the validity that he just actively chose not to.

Mithrun was jealous, angry, arrogant, and had seemingly some form of imposter's syndrome, possibly due to being an illegitimate son when his legitimate brother was someone he viewed as inferior, but his supposed superiority didn't save him from getting sent to the Canaries, which he is bitter about. He perhaps sometimes wished at least somewhat for things he didn't and perhaps couldn't have. As he notes in the Adventurer's Bible, "And instead of [Obrin], my parents sent me to the Canaries. I couldn't forgive any of that." (76). He was also good at hiding/masking all of this and pretending to be light-hearted/have no problems and "perfect" (in Milsiril's words). He was very clearly deeply unhappy and hiding it. His already being suicidal is a neat headcanon! And good luck with it/any fics! The fun part of the story's ambiguity is how much we don't know and how fanworks can fill in those gaps! But as of this moment, I really don't see canon evidence for him being suicidal before he was abandoned by the demon.

[bearpillowmonster]

Transformers One

REALIZATION

I'm going to start with a response to my trailer reaction and either prove myself right or wrong with my expectations. So the design choices, yeah, a little bit disappointed, I think because they're so sheik and shiny, they look like they just spray painted in-between blows. There are parts that look better than others but hey. The action scenes especially and I mean there's some really cool action when it's there, from about half way down, it has short bursts of excitement, I just would've like a little longer spurts though the pace of the movie tried to speed things up. There were points where I felt like they took toys to model them and play with them to get those scenes.

(Paramount, if you do another one, pick me, so that I can make a movie based on toys WITH actual toys. That hasn't been done yet, has it? Even claymation would get the point across. PS if you steal this, I'm calling you out on twitter and pursuing legally)

It's not like they just walk into a cave and get powers, they aren't necessarily 'special' there are other ones that have that power already. They're all born with cogs just had them taken away then given only to specific bots. So they just had to find them to reactivate that power. Yeah, I just spoiled that but it was a concern of mine before seeing this so it's a helpful spoiler.

The toys…were real, the ball and all, it's not used a whole lot because the movie had a different structure than I imagined because it wasn't "Oh we got these crazy new powers and are exploring a whole new world" like the marketing made it out to be. I think that might be one of the points that I'd bring up as to the low ticket sales for this movie, is the misbranding of it…but at the same time it's on brand because of the jokey nature.

THE MAIN SCHTICK

The bad@$$atron joke was used again and again, more like stupid@$$atron (that would've been a clever follow-up and have actually gotten laughs) So the humor is off kilter, a few times I laughed but it's absolutely nonstop with it's onslaught of quips. I feel like it had more than Mutant Mayhem but because of the structure, it seemed like less than Ratchet and Clank (luckily, which I consider the worse of the worse mostly)

It's directed by Josh Cooley so a good reference would be to say if every character were Forky. And really, I liked the actual core of the story because I thought there was a lot of good stuff there to do with the characters but the dialogue squandered it away and made it seem less meaningful. I was asking myself if it'd make a difference if it was the same animation just redubbed but no, it wouldn't, because a lot of it is built around these gags and jokes like the Transformers struggling to form down a hill. This is where the cast doesn't really get to prove their salt because they have to force an overloaded serious speech (sometimes broken up with quips from the others) into one singular moment. You can actually sit and pick out "Oh, this is their one moment. Ok, back to the silliness." It does seem to ease up each quarter though which I semi-appreciated.

OVERALL & WHAT ABOUT THE KIDS?

Is it a bad movie? No, there was an attempt, it was fun. 3/5. Not the best one of the bunch, maybe I'll make another post ranking them. My little brother is actually 7 years old (I was 8 when I saw the live action one) so while he knows what Transformers are, this was his first actual Transformers movie so I have a kid pov too. He liked it but he wasn't laughing at all the jokes, he liked the ones in Minions (which I also thought were stupid but they were to be expected from something like that) but it didn't seem to have any effect on him or succeed in its attempt to be 'kid friendly' or extra engaging, I think it would've been regardless.

[blueskittlesart]

So, the discussion about Twilight Princess got me thinking, and I can't help but feel like that game was very much trapped in a "We can't do another Wind Waker, that was too cute, we need something dark and gritty and mature and grown up, like the other seventh gen consoles!"-kind of mindset. And how much that mindset limited what the game could have been.

I mean, just look at it: Low contrast browns and greys and greens everywhere? Check. Agressive Bloom levels that will sear your retinas right off? Check. Large but Empty open areas? Check. Story and Characterdesigns that REALLY try to be more "grown up" and "mature" and "gritty"? They are everywhere. Spectacular bossfights against huge enemies that look awesome but often end up rather straightforward? Yep.

I don't wan't to dunk on TP too hard, it still has lots of good elements in it, heck, I actually enjoy most of those bossfights, BECAUSE they look and feel spectacular! Some of the armor and weapondesign in this game is really good (whenever you can actually see the armor and the sea of blurry, low saturation colors, that is.).

Midna is the best.

But it feels so much like a game out of place, that was made as a knee-jerk reaction instead of truly considering what would and what wouldn't work on the Wii.

yeah. all of this. I think that tp definitely suffers from the devs attempts to make an overtly grown-up and gritty game, not necessarily because gritty, dark, atmospheric games are BAD, but because the zelda franchise is not a franchise targeted solely at adults. these games are very often coming-of-age stories centered around children and young adults. they are bright and colorful and very narrative-driven because they're meant to be enjoyed by anyone who is old enough to pick up the controller. children who can't enjoy the more difficult dungeon and fighting mechanics will still be captivated by the story and characters. some of my favorite zelda-related conversations i've ever had were with my three-year-old student who LOVED the vibrant characters and story of botw. (revali was his favorite.) twilight princess, in its quest to read as more gritty and adult, lost both its visual appeal AND its narrative appeal. what story it did have relied on nostalgia and plot from oot, alienating younger fans who hadn't yet had the chance to play that game. in order to compensate for its lack of narrative direction it padded itself with filler which showed off its willingness to go darker and scarier in terms of subject matter (look! we're going to kill this child if you don't rescue him!) so much so that the pacing and cohesiveness of the game noticeably suffered. so many elements of tp feel as though they were just thrown in because they looked cool and dark and freaky (the hero's shade, the bokoblin bridge fights, the aforementioned child-stealing segment, hell even the fucking wolf form didn't have any real narrative weight or significance!!!) with no thought to how they might actually impact the pacing and theming of the story. what results is a game with great dungeon design and boss fights but... not much else to speak of. we're left with a poorly-told, barely-comprehensible story that seems almost as if it was an afterthought, held together by some good dungeons. and it's fine if you like the dungeons and don't CARE about the story that much, but insisting that the game has a well-written narrative is just. wrong.

[copperbadge]

Some Discourse On Fictional Chefs

I collected up all the discussion of Simon’s potential love interest in the Shivadhverse (and one about Twelve Points) and threw it in a post :D 

katestamps

If it is realistic at all, I’d love to be able to hand 12 Points to my musician daughter when she gets home from college around the 18th of May. That’s also the week after Eurovision. No pressure, I’m just excited for her to read it!

For a second I was like “If the book is realistic? Well, it kinda is, I’m working on that now” and then I realized you meant datewise :D I hope it is -- the book’s in final edits but a few of them are taking some time. I have to finish the edits, typeset, design the cover, upload, order proofs, approve the proofs, and then the thing can go out, which is not NOT doable by May, but it’s slightly iffy only because my April is super hectic. But most of the delay is usually in ordering the proofs (they take longer than they used to, to print and ship) so if I can get shit done BEFORE the hectic, we should be good. 

And now on to the chefs. I was a little amused, admittedly, because I didn’t vocalize clearly what I was asking about when I asked what people would like to see -- I was thinking more in terms of gender, sexuality, disability, race, etc. but I didn’t specify that, so instead I mostly got fascinating ideas for backstories and character aspects. Which is so fandom! I love it, I’m not mad or dismayed, it’s just also really funny. :D 

dignitywhatdignity

Are you thinking someone from Eddie's TV Chef circles, or more along Simon's own, more classical background?

spaci1701

A protégé of Eddie's who has taken over his show comes to do a special on the Country that Stole Our Star and had gotten a little big for his britches?

1968bullittmustang

It's probably too close to Eddie's character, but... What about one of those chef's that travel the world cooking the most awful (or best) local dishes with home chef's. Or maybe just a National Geographic photographer in country to do a piece on the 'One Highland' 😁

I’d like them to be a native Shivadh, only because most of the books to date have involved either total foreigners or expats returning, and both Royals/Ramblers and the football novel will as well. I’m hoping for someone who has moved to Fons-Askaz from the rural backcountry, but the idea is that Simon comes into conflict with someone who has a much less “fancy food from a classical background” style -- part of the conflict comes from each of them initially assuming the other has the inferior way of cooking. So -- more on Eddie’s line BUT not one of Eddie’s folks, because whoever this person is, they’re relatively local. 

Mind you, I do like the National Geographic angle. And I do kind of like the idea that someone else took over Truly Tasty. Eddie said that might happen. And that’s something I’d need to work into Royals/Ramblers so hmmm, making a note. 

dignitywhatdignity

(Or you could steal from the foodieverse! A classically trained hipster with a Michelin-starred food truck! A chain pizza scion with a flair for molecular gastronomy!)

Actually nicking some from the Foodieverse might be helpful -- maybe taking and twisting around Steve’s plotline from that universe a bit, though that doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be a Hot Male Hipster. But perhaps someone who trained classically and then decided it was all bullshit. 

spinningprincess

It's in my brain because it's what I'm writing, but I bet someone who's a little bit New Agey and leans hard into the symbolism of EVERY dish, whether from a "traditional foods of XYZ culture" standpoint or a "historically used for $magickal effect" standpoint, and like, talks about the energy of the kitchen, would be a great and interesting counterpoint to Simon's lack of that. And it's such a GOOD romance trope. (to be clear, I'm writing two different stories right now where no one ever cooks a food because they're hungry and want to eat A Food, it's all "well, basil is good prosperity magic, but cabbage is good prosperity magic and also the traditional food of my people, and...")

On the whole it’s an idea I like, but I’m not sure it’s fitted to this particular plot -- might be something to revisit with another character at some point, though. 

I’m discovering just how difficult it is to write hippie/new-age characters with Royals/Ramblers in part because so much of that mythology eventually traipses around towards anti-Semitism. Not necessarily food symbolism, and not ALL new age stuff is that way, but it really is a razor-fine line at times. 

knottahooker

My first thought was that terrifying lady chef from Ratatouille, she was fantastic. Someone with her personality, maybe? Cactus with a heart of gold who will absolutely stab you anyway.

My instinct is along those lines, at the least someone who is a trifle confrontational, but I feel like so much of it depends on other aspects of who they are, which is what I’m struggling to pin down. 

robinade

it would be funny if Simon's "nemesis" was, like, lactose intolerant or something so they have objections to French cuisine (so heavy on cheese and butter) but Simon doesn't know this at first and is mortally offended

musegaarid

What if Simon falls for a bodybuilder or a ballerina or someone on a really restrictive diet? If they were older and getting ready to retire, he could reintroduce them to good food.

I like both of these -- I think there’s particularly something to the idea of an athlete who has eaten a restricted diet, since that’s something that can alter more easily than allergies. But to make the story work they really do need to be a fellow chef. Which, there’s no reason they couldn’t have dietary restrictions AND be a chef, but I’m not sure I’d do either side of them justice that way. 

katestamps

Ooh, I just had the thought of Simon’s nemesis as a French chef which was actually an espionage cover. Think Julia Child, Cold War edition. (I also think of Simon as 5-10 years older than Michaelis which may or may not be accurate.)

Man, there is something to the idea of a spy. I’d say from Galia, but I don’t think Ofelia either wants or needs someone to spy on Fons-Askaz for her, she could just like, ask Alanna if she needs to know something :D Might turn this over in my head a bit, although it would again mean someone coming from outside the country. 

Simon is actually a trifle younger than Michaelis -- Michaelis was around 34, 35 when he hired him, and Simon and Hugo were both in their twenties. It still puts him in his fifties -- I do enjoy writing romances for older people, especially because there is something of a dearth of romance novels specifically featuring older men (they do exist but you run face-first into the “daddy” trope a lot, and “older man” in romance-speak often clocks in at “definitely under fifty”). Older women as the POV character are more common, I would imagine because older women are a huge target audience for romances. 

annechen-melo

Thinking about the love interest for Simon, someone who Absolutely Does Not Have A Media Presence beyond their cookbooks, and there is a Very Good Reason for that. That reason may be anything from an acerbic personality whenever someone points a camera in their direction to being just not good at Peopleing. Hmm. How international is the idea of Witness Protection Makeovers?

They could also just be crap at social media -- I’ve come to realize that every social platform EXCEPT tumblr is basically incompatible with my brain, and even the ones marginally compatible like Reddit, I just don’t find a ton of value in them a lot of the time. Which would be a nice foil to Simon starting up a recipe blog at the same time. 

strix-alba

I wish for Simon's love interest to be a salt-and-pepper-haired butch woman *shakes the genie's lamp*

There’s definitely a salt-and-pepper butch woman coming into the Shivadhverse at some point. :D I had her set for a later book, and not sure that’d be right for Simon, but I’m not ruling it out -- a fairly mouthy, fairly masc woman about Simon’s age is one of the strong potential characters I’m considering. 

Anonymous asked:

Shivadhverse: Concerning Simon’s love interest: would you consider someone like Catherine Bordey, owner of La Kaz,  from “Death in Paradise”? Or possibly even a French POC like her daughter? I’d really love 💕 to see a character who is both French and a POC. 😊

I’ve seen an episode or two of Death in Paradise but I don’t think I’ve encountered those two characters! I’ll have to see if my folks can educate me on them, they love that show. I am trying to figure out how to work more racial diversity into the books, so that’s a thought. Not necessarily French, but French-Shivadh; they do share a border. 

Anonymous asked:

maybe not a fit but I'll try anyway. what i'd like in a chef character is someone who tried something, really got into it, then backed out of it so hard. like the foraging culture, which could net you a research hole into local greens. what if they believe it's now too polluted to forage safely? and yet they have an encyclopedic knowledge of the seasons and life cycles of sidewalk dandelions. tl;dr cursed knowledge

As an aspect of the character that could work, although it gets difficult because like...the deeper someone is in something, the more I have to learn in order to put it out there :D I was looking at something along those lines, or at least something similar that might make them a bit brusque. Lots to mull on overall, anyhow. 

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Hey Raven! 👋🏻 I just went through your #my art, and i wanted to tell you that i really really really like your artworks of Miss Raven and Co. You truly put a lot of effort into your artwork, and it shows! With each new drawing, you seem to be getting better! ✏️💕

As i mentioned earlier, i really liked your Miss Raven drawings! they're so cute! especially when you drew Miss Raven in alternative clothing. I also like how much detail you put in your designs for Miss Raven, like the ones for the Fairy Gala or Masquerade Ball are so beautiful 🥺 and still fit her character!

The one you did with her wearing different dorm uniforms from each dorm was such a cool idea! it was interesting to see how she may have appeared if Miss Raven was transferred to said dorms! call me biased, but i liked the octavinelle design the most 😂 but poor Miss Raven. If she had to work part-time in Mostro lounge, she'll have to avoid two predatory Eels 😭 One wants to tease her while the other either wants to squeeze her or dump all his work on her cuz he isn't feeling it today, then there's Azul who takes advantaged of the fact that Miss Raven is close to headmaster Crowley and makes profit 📈 Run Miss Raven Run!!!

Anyway, I think i'm going to steal her away and fight off a certain dangerous and manipulate Eel, a Skilful Hunter, a Lazy Lion, and a dude with the power of christ (idk is Rollo x Raven even a thing?!).

I always look forward to seeing a new artwork of yours truly~

[Referencing this tag!]

Wehhh 😭 I’m glad you find enjoyment in my silly little doodles! Art is definitely an area I’m less comfortable with, but I do like dabbling in it when the mood strikes.

There’s something therapeutic in designing a new look for your OC! You take the time to consider their individual style, the overall theme, and how you can marry the two to create a cute outfit~ I’m really happy with how Raven’s Fairy Gala Couture came out; it’s definitely one of my favorite looks for her. The Masquerade outfit was also fun for me to assemble, but it seems a lot less cohesive in hindsight (probably because I didn’t line + color it, so it’s harder to distinguish individual elements??).

The NRC dorm uniforms (+ the sequel with RSA and NBC uniforms) was another cool project! I think my favorites from those are the Heartslabyul look (just because I’m a sucker for the Alice in Wonderland aesthetic + Raven is twisted from the raven in its infamous riddle), the Diasomnia look (it gives “fairy tale princess turned knight” energy), and the Noble Bell look (because the extra fabric is nice and flowy). You can see how the environment and the personality of each school/dorm influences her, right? ^^ It’s also interesting to think about how differently Raven might have turned out if each of these places had more of an influence on her life.

Bruh 💀 I think she’d die if she worked at the Mostro Lounge, dealing with customers and shady coworkers and employer… though that’s not to say that any of the other dorms would necessarily be better! Miss Raven would have gripes with or rivals in each of them somehow. It’s the Night Raven College way, I guess??

One of these things is not like the other… Looking back on it, 3 out of 4 of those are basically predatory-prey dynamics there there’s a type developing and I don’t know if I like it/j 😂 I’d say Jade’s the “main” love interest, while Rook’s the “oh, he’s cute” one… L*ona kind of started as a crack ship but now I think it’s more of a one-sided thing?? Like, Miss Raven still sees L*ona as sort of a rival, whereas he’s grown a little fond of her but knows he can’t do much to sway her… It’s the eternally “second place” syndrome… 😔

Rollo has the most complex relationship with her (sure, call it a ship if you want 😂), built primarily on a strange savior complex. He did some heinous stuff and dislikes her because she’s very pro-magic—but I think there’s a part of him that feels like she’s a lost lamb that’s been led astray by Draconia and therefore he needs to “save” and “correct” her. Problem is, he’s bad at Emotions so his anger gets redirected at Miss Raven herself. Meanwhile, Miss Raven realizes the similarities between herself and Rollo, so she wants to be a friend to him. She sort of forces him to be her pen pal (thinking that writing down how he feels will help him cope with what happened). So weirdly enough, Raven wants to “save” Rollo and Rollo wants to “save” Raven (but both suck at communicating well).

Who knows, we’ll see how things play out from here Nd when the whim to draw strikes next 📝

[stargazer-sims]

happy valentine's day! ❤️ sending all my love and i hope you feel appreciated not only today but every day 💐

if you're still taking asks for the love day otp questions, how about 🍭 🫦 🍰 🍫 for eden & haru?

Hey! 👋🏼 Yes, I’m still working my way through all the ones I've gotten recently. I got sidetracked from my inbox by building and CC-making, so now I'm trying to catch up.

And thanks for the message. I do feel appreciated in certain parts of my life (and not so much in others). I hope you're feeling appreciated in as many aspects of your life as possible, too!

Eden Seong & Sakuharu Abe

🍭What's something they can never agree on (big or small)?

Their biggest point of contention is their security guy, Frankie. Eden understands why Haru wants and needs a security person (and driver, interpreter & babysitter), but he doesn't think Frankie necessarily needs to be at the house when Haru isn't there. It's not that Eden dislikes Frankie. He actually likes him quite a lot and considers him a friend, and he thinks it's nice to have company around the house sometimes. Eden's problem is that he knows there's almost nothing for Frankie to do when Haru is away. For Eden, it's like having an unemployed roommate, and as much as he likes Frankie, he kind of wishes Frankie had his own place.

Haru, on the other hand, thinks Frankie is there to protect Eden as well as the property. Neither Eden nor Frankie are totally convinced the property needs more than the security cameras when Haru isn't there, and they don't think Eden really needs protection either. But, they know how anxious Haru can be, and how stuck on an idea he can get when he's anxious, so they both humour him.

Frankie is getting paid regardless of whether Haru is there or not, so he certainly doesn't complain about it, even if Eden sometimes does.

🫦What's something seemingly innocent that the other does, says or wears that turns the other on?

For Haru, it's Eden's figure skating costumes. Eden doesn't really think anything of it because the costumes are part of the performance aspect of the sport and it's totally normal for him to wear something fancy (and often form-fitting) for a competition, but the sight of Eden in his costumes makes Haru think less than pure and innocent thoughts.

For Eden, it's one of Haru's t-shirts that has a slogan of questionable appropriateness. In the category of shirts with bad Engiish translations, this one says love carrot in an orange and green design. Eden finds it amusing, and likes to tease Haru about his "love carrot". It took Haru a minute to get the joke, but now he understands it perhaps a bit too well.

🍰 What is 'their song'? Officially or unofficially.

In the context of the story, their "official" song is "Broken Parts" (a song that Haru wrote for Eden).

As for real life songs, it's "Beautiful Life" by Bebe Rexha

bonus: Eden skates to this song in a program collaboratively choreographed by himself, Nikolai and Haru. He talks Nikolai into letting Haru provide some input because Haru is a better than average dancer and wants more choreography experience. Haru learns a lot about figure skating in general and skating choreo in particular during the process.

🍫 Who is more likely to steal the other's clothes? What are their favorite items to steal?

They're each equally likely to steal the other's clothes. Haru is a little bigger than Eden, but Eden is way more muscular than Haru, so anything tight or form-fitting doesn't work very well, but they're close enough in size that they can wear most of one another's casual clothes. When they're together, they'll routinely wear each other's sweatpants, t-shirts, shorts and hoodies. When Haru is on the road, he leaves a hoodie behind for Eden, and Eden has also stolen a hat of Haru's that he likes to wear to practice, and one might find Eden's mysteriously "lost" Chinese Zodiac bracelet on Haru's wrist.

[ryuichirou]

Replies

Today’s replies! One about SnK, one about SPTO, a bunch about TWST.

6ubble-gum asked:

Every so often I'll find ur tiny founding titan arts again and spend a good long few minutes gushing over it lmao. snk is dead to me but tiny founder is alive and well (espec the fleas art)

Ahh it’s so sweet that you remember and look at it from time to time! I’ll repeat myself, but wow it is truly surprising that our SnK stuff isn’t totally forgotten. I feel like even I don’t remember the majority of it…

I’m very glad our teeny tiny Founder (with his little fleas) makes you happy~ God I remember when we drew it and these were the newest chapters…  wild times.

Anonymous asked:

Speaking of Yandere Todd, I can already imagine him being extremely jealous of Mobile. Mobile would have to fight Wallace’s ‘evil ex’. They would have a fight to see who’s the better psychic for Wallace. And then Wallace watched all of this with a drink in his hand while he cheers his boyfriend on. And then he might call for a restraining order on Todd. That’s what I can imagine

OH NOOO I love how absolutely devastatingly one-sided this is. Wallace cheering Mobile on, Mobile winning…  At least Todd got his participation prize… which is a restraining order 😔

Jokes aside, I find it endlessly amusing that Wallace just keeps hooking up with psychic guys. I don’t necessarily think it’s intentional, but I do think Wallace benefits from it very nicely. In a lot of ways…

And it does make the psychic vs psychic scenarios very possible, I would honestly love to watch them fight. Or to draw them fighting... For some reason though (lol) I get a feeling that Mobile is more powerful than Todd. Gotta train more! For Wallace Wells! 💪

Anonymous asked:

I found your art on pinterest, here's the link: [I edited out the link]

Thank you for letting us know, Anon! Unfortunately, I don’t know if there is anything I can do to take it down… But we still appreciate you letting us know. Pinterest doesn’t respond to the request promptly.

The comments are hilarious though. Love it when people talk about me as if I’m a cryptid that steals people’s fingers and eats their kids.

Anonymous asked:

Do you think Idia and Lilia will ever do cosplay together and if yes, what couple are they cosplaying?

I feel like Lilia is that force in Idia’s life that could make him consider things that used to be a definite “no-no” to him, and we do know that Idia actually doesn’t mind cosplaying as long as his head is hidden… And the whole cosplay thing sounds like something Lilia would want to try at least once, so maybe that could happen. If there is a combo of a character with his face (and head: can’t show burning hair) completely hidden + someone tiny and adorable? In any way, Idia is definitely going to overthink this whole thing, only for Lilia to change his mind and tell Idia that they should switch costumes with each other at the very last moment lol

Anonymous asked:

Got Azul, Jamil, Idia, and Riddle on a loading screen today and I blame you for immediately thinking about how much of a dream come true it would be for Azul to have all three of them 😂

Haha YESSSSS YESSSSSSSSS (proud of our bad influence)

It really is a dream come true, what a wonderful harem of reluctant lovers that don’t even like Azul all that much. But it doesn’t matter, because all three of them are his and his only <3

Good for him!

Anonymous asked:

have you seen ruggie’s club outfit?? he looks so good, i can’t wait till we get to see what his bottoms—i mean leona and epel look like in their club gear

Yeah I have! It’s very cool, it suits Ruggie a lot. He really does look like he is about to go and dominate some bitches lol

It’s also cool to finally see the uniform that magift players wear… is this the first time we’re seeing it? They usually wear their PE uniform... It’s a great design, and once again, Ruggie deserves to look cool. Good for him too!

Anonymous asked:

Random thought but Riddle being both in Heartslabyul and Horseback riding club... He's really constantly surrounded by big-tiddied green men :3 Good for him

Oh god I keep forgetting that Sebek also has a constant presence in Riddle’s life… you’re so right omg, what a sick twist of fate. Widdle Widdle (little Riddle) and big-tiddied green men that just keep spawning around him AHHH

Seriously, good for him. Am I ending the third reply in a row with this phrase? Well, everyone got what they deserved…

[thaumaturgekitchen]

Dice? In MY Wanderhome?

So I've been thinking about what a dice system might look like in Wanderhome (or something like it).

Arguably, that premise is flawed from the get-go. Wanderhome uses a diceless token system for a reason, and the lack of random chance and proscribed success and failure is a core mechanical and thematic element of the game.

HOWEVER... in spite of all that tight mechanical and thematic design, I am sorely tempted to fantasy-adventure-ify it. You know, toss in dice, maps, overland travel, the works. This is mainly due to the moves that the Natures in Wanderhome have, and how I think they'd also make for really cool random encounters in a game that plays out travel in a more open-world, map-focused, even hexcrawl-like style with elements of challenge and peril (as compared to the sort of "tell a story set in one new place each session" approach that Wanderhome takes by default)

Like,

Describe the weight of the past.

Show someone disrespecting the history of this place.

Ask: "Will you tell us a story no one else could tell?" Give them a token if they do.

Is a fantastic set of prompts for little self-contained scenes as you're journeying through a graveyard-like area. (The first move of every nature is always something more descriptive that doesn't necessarily provoke immediate action, so you could use it as a backdrop for characters to attend to tasks like cooking, mending, foraging, and journaling)

So I could just steal the natures and bolt them onto a different game, ORR I could take a crack at making Wanderhome a slightly different sort of game. Hence, dice! I'm not sure if what I've come up with is actually good for Wanderhome, but it's interesting and probably good for something!

The core idea behind making dice feel a bit more Wanderhome-y, for me, is reading them a bit more like a magic 8-ball. Each number you can roll should do something unique and different and probably a bit more messy than just high rolls being strictly better. Bolting this onto Wanderhome might butt up against token moves like "provide a solution to an aspect of a material or immediate problem," but I think you can somewhat resolve that by thinking of token moves like that as narrative contrivances, vs dice rolls as more concrete actions. "Do I have what I need to solve this?" vs "Can I do what I need to do to solve this?" And dice are also great for low-stakes but unpredictable things like going fishing and leaving the results to chance.

So here's the system! Whenever you do something unpredictable or risky and test your luck, roll 2d6. Each die will give you one of six possible outcomes, and you get to pick which of the two you rolled you want to have happen. If you roll doubles, you can either take that outcome or spend a token to pick whichever one of the other five you like. (Assuming we're still using tokens in this system - if not, figure something out!) And those possible outcomes are...

Fail spectacularly. You flash a smile, swing for the fences, and it blows up spectacularly in your face. Still, the audacity has got to count for something. What sort of chaos ensues? What stories will your efforts inspire later? What do you learn from the experience, or who do you impress with your efforts?

Someone to catch you. A more humble, everyday sort of loss. Sometimes things don't work out. Sometimes, it hurts for no good reason. Still, your companions are caring, and the folk of the Hæth kind. Who is there to pick you up afterwards? Do they take time off with you to heal or cheer you up, help you to try again, or suggest a different approach?

Trust the gods. Leave your fate to the whims of the small and forgotten gods of this place, and ask the table what ensues. You might think about what you've established of this place's gods so far to divine their feelings on the matter, or look to this place's natures for inspiration (as the two are often aligned). If the result isn't what you want, it may be what you need.

Follow your heart. Look to your care and personality (or traits, if a kith is testing their luck) to see what outcome feels most authentic, and tell the table about it. What matters isn't whether you succeed or fail, but how the moment affects your understanding of yourself.

An honest effort. You do your best, and it pays off. The results might be a little messy, your mind or body a little tired or your belongings a little tattered or scuffed up, but you've made it. How do things turn out? How to you hope to care for yourself afterwards?

Royalty. You succeed - dramatically, unreservedly, and with little regard for who gets hurt along the way. Is it carelessness, stubbornness, or pride that leads you to this point? How do you triumph? How does it make life harder for someone (or somewhere)?

I think the inherent presumption of earnest nonviolence in Wanderhome makes options like a 6 interesting. Because say you're attacked by a big, hungry scorpion and you're rolling to try to protect yourself. In nearly any other game, rolling a 6 as like a critical hit to deal a ton of damage so that it can't fight back would be an unqualified success. But in Wanderhome, hurting something else badly, even something that was going to hurt you when you just wanted to protect yourself, is in no way a straightforward triumph

[soreiya]

What do you think, do you like this?

I can agree with a fair amount of this post. I’ve brought up some of those points in the past. I wouldn’t really say that people are necessarily wrong for viewing characters in a certain way. I just think it’s a learned behavior? We’re kinda trained by the media that we consume. So they might be embracing the stereotyping because of this? Here is the thing, Varigo wouldn’t be popular in the fandom if the creators of this pairing didn’t work on the show. They used their work status to take advantage of the fandom’s love for Varian in order to boost their egos after their fan comic concept got rejected by Disney. These storyboard artists tricked us into creating content for their self insert AU. So of course Hugo is going to be treated like he’s better at everything. This is why most people don’t read self insert stories. Some can be good, but the majority consist almost entirely of cringy author wish fulfillment fantasies. These people wanted their character to steal the ‘show’ *cough*fam comic*cough*. This is why the AU wasn’t written like Varian’s story. Vat7K was always intended to be Hat7K. It’s fine for people to enjoy it, but they really should acknowledge it for what it actually is instead of treating it like a legitimate official sequel.

Personally I prefer more balanced pairings. Even rivalries are more fun when both parties have strengths and weaknesses that compliment each other. Forcing characters into relationship roles simply because of how they look is kind of disgusting to me. Let them be complex people who can think for themselves and try new things to satiate their curiosity.

Seriously, I think that the people who are uwu’ifying Varian are missing the entire point to his character design. Would we have been caught off guard by his arc as an antagonist if he was a big old macho man? Probably not… If you’re changing his personality in order to fit his looks, then all you’re doing is creating a glorified doppelganger OC. Because canonically Varian is a fairly assertive ambivert. The fact that he doesn’t neatly conform to what society expects of a young boy makes him special. The more we normalize things like cooking, cleaning, and even drawing as just things that normal people do. The less stigma and gendering there will be on such activities. We absolutely need more male characters like him in media. So why do people feel a need to dumb him down for ships? IDK... It bugs me.

Sorry, I went off on a bit of a rant. x___X

[mitchelldailygames]

Developer Deep Dive: Hero Be Damned

These Developer Deep Dives are going to work through my Itchio catalogue pretty close to chronologically. A lot of these I wrote two years and 20-some games ago, so these will probably be pretty reflective to start out.

So let’s go back to where it all began (sort of), Hero Be Damned.

Hero Be Damned is the first game I ever put on Itchio, but is not the first game I ever designed, and isn’t even the first game I made publicly available. But we’re not talking about those for this post.

What I will say is that there was one major barrier to me making anything available on a site with actual traffic like itchio or DriveThruRPG: art.

I didn’t know how to make the jump from text-only docs to something with at least a little professional presentation. What helped me make that jump was the art in Hero Be Damned. I believe this is the only game I’ve released so far that has an art credit besides myself or a public domain or open license site. My mom did the art for this game!

My memory of this is hazy, but I believed she offered when I was thinking out loud about the cost of hiring an artist for something that was barely a hobby to me at the time. I will always be grateful for the charcoal drawing of a skull with a knife sticking out of its head that sits in the bottom right hand corner of the first page of this game, because that piece of art is really what got me into game design.

Now, for the game itself. Hero Be Damned started as an idea for a subsystem for Pathfinder (or maybe other games) where characters would carry a curse reflective of how they immorally acquired their loot. The system spiraled into a bigger undertaking (as I now know small ideas have a tendency to do). I didn’t really know much about solo ttrpgs at the time, having maybe discovered a couple on Itch before this, but I knew that’s what I had on my hands.

The game is a journaling game with a lot of rolling and math. If I made it now, it might not be so mechanics heavy, but some interesting narrative outcomes are nestled inside the math.

I was definitely thinking about the common “kill and steal” 4X gameplay loop of RPGs and the colonial ideas fueling that loop. Not necessarily the most original criticism, but one I was thinking about a lot at the time. This was September of 2020 in the wake of the murder of George Floyd (and far too many other Black, brown, and indigenous folks at the hands of police and white supremacists). The United States was having one of its loudest conversations about race and white supremacy of my lifetime. I was learning a lot, getting new language, digging deeper into things I already believed, and had a lot of energy I didn’t know what to do with (being that this was still in the early-ish days of the pandemic in the US).

Reading the game now, I can feel that energy, the eagerness to say something. I also feel the sense of not wanting to “get it wrong.” I didn’t want the game to be an apology for colonizers. I didn’t want the message to be, “Now you see how sometimes you have to pillage, and isn’t it too bad how everyone hates you forever for that?” I wanted it to be, "Oppressors should not expect forgiveness for the unforgivable things they've done to those they oppress." I think I make it clear that, no matter your reason, the violent and underhanded things you do in the game are wrong (I'd definitely be willing to accept that there are things I could say better should anyone see something that doesn't sit right), though it maybe got a little heavy-handed in my attempt to not be read the wrong way, which I chalk up to it being the first thing I ever put out. You couldn’t just open up another game of mine to cross-reference my beliefs at the time. But, there was one, subtle clue I sprinkled into the rules: the Best Ending.

SPOILERS follow for this game.

---------------------------------------

The BEST ending can only be obtained by not ever looting. The game is built around looting, so I don’t expect first-time players to think of this, but the rules specifically state you can face the Great Evil (the fourth step in the game) at any time. This includes as soon as you start the game. If you face the Great Evil without ever looting, you will automatically get the ending where you defeat the Great Evil at great personal cost, but you will not have to reckon with anyone you’ve hurt. It’s the ending that’s not necessarily best for you, but is definitely best for the world. It’s also the most clear way to ensure you get a victorious outcome. I don't remember if the math just happened to work out that way and I went, "That's how it should be," or if I made a point to add it in after I was done, but I think it's an important aspect of the game.

As a side note, my first play-through heavily involved a clan of minotaurs who were renowned for their archery and bow-making, an idea that I've always wanted to explore more. I think I ended the looting early enough that I didn’t get the worst ending (I was testing the game, so I needed to do a little looting), but there were definitely some scars.

That’s Hero Be Damned! It will always hold a soft spot in my heart. It might be a little unwieldy at times, it might get a little heavy-handed or awkward, layout and font could definitely use an update, but I think I made something that did some things I haven’t really seen in other games and had some pretty clever hidden messaging. Thanks for going on this deep dive with me!

--Daily

P.S. This deep dive is a little on the heavy side. Given the time I made my next game, the next deep dive will likely be too, but after that I think these will lighten up a bit.

[the-cackling-cameraman]

So here's the thing, if I'm being insensitive I'm always open to learn please call me out on it. But one of the new trends that I absolutely hate is the is it a fit or is she just skinny trend. For a couple of reasons.

Primarily because all of these are well known fashion genres like one of them was a stereotypical preppy academia fit with like the button down and the skirt and the sweater vest over it. Yes, that is a fit regardless of if the person wearing it is skinny it looks great on everybody because sweater vests look great on everybody. So sometimes it's just pointless because obviously that's going to look good it is designed to look good.

Second because people will be like, is it a fit or is she just skinny this girl looks like she's a size one so I'm going to try it on because I have a happier set body type, and then they step back and it's like sweetheart, you are not heavy or set you are a normal human person. Yes the picture you showed, that person is smaller than you, you can visibly see her rib cage she's probably underweight. But just because I cannot noticeably count your ribs does not by any means mean you're fat. There's nothing wrong with being fat, as long as you're healthy, some people are just heavier set like that. But I'm sorry I don't know what world we live in where a size 3, makes you heavier set. Depending on the brand (and if I'm looking for pants or a skirt or shorts) I wear anywhere from a size 1 to a size 8. Sizes are not consistent across clothing and they don't really mark if you're heavier set or not.

And I think my third issue with it, is kind of related. Because some outfits look better on different body types. Not necessarily skinny or heavier set, but like an hourglass figure versus an apple or a pair figure. I wear smaller sizes, my friend X also wears smaller sizes, I have an hourglass figure shape, she has a square figure. Some of her clothes do not flatter the shape of my body and vice versa. We share clothes sometimes because either we were out doing something and my clothes got messy so I steal an outfit out of her car or we were in my car and the situation is flipped. Or I stayed at her house overnight and we want to go out but I don't have clothes. Whatever the situation might be, sometimes the style of clothes you're wearing just doesn't fit your body type. And people will be like this is my inspo picture and it's a skinnier girl with an apple body type, and then they try it on and it doesn't look as flattering because you have an hourglass figure.

Like don't get me wrong I definitely think that sometimes people just get away with wearing the things that they wear because they're pretty. Kind of the inverse of when Marilyn Monroe got told that she only looked pretty because of what she wore. There are definitely some outfit combinations that I'm like there is no way in hell that that is actually a cute outfit if I saw it independently I'd hate it. But a lot of times that's not what you see in these posts. And a lot of times they'll do this trend and then they'll step back in the outfit and you're like yeah no that's a fit it looks adorable and they're like see it just doesn't look good and you're like what are you talking about?

And again if this is just an issue that I'm not familiar with I'm always open to growing as a person. But what I'd love to see more as a trend, that's in the same vein, is is it a fit or is it just Adam Sandler. Because frankly I think it could work.

[abrthephantomq]

Alex is High & Live Streaming - Chapter 2

October 9th, Monday

4:40 pm (Alex)

Decided to get high today. 

Know it wasn’t necessarily the thing that like, S & Co would like all that much. After all, they did a wake and bake today.

But they didn’t ask us not to. We gave them plenty of time to say something about whether they thought it was a good idea for us to do or not – or if they just wanted to be high, alone.

It’s not like they can’t just…. Do their own thing while we get high at the same time. 

Parallel play. Literally. But also parallel working. We both have mental health stuff to do. I ended up cleaning a good chunk of the bathroom again, as well as took out the trash, and changed my sheets – including pillow cases… I haven’t thrown the clothes in the washer yet (I don’t trust my balance on those stairs), but I have it and Bob’s laundry basket like, prepared to go downstairs. 

If I don’t get it downstairs today, that’s alright. He did his laundry yesterday. I can just let him add his laundry from tonight in there and I’ll run it tomorrow. 

The key to life work balance is to just… do what you want, man. You get paid in some way shape or form. Companies rewarding you for watching ads, surveys, writing in google docs and knowing that your work is likely to be stolen by Al but you know what

Let my ideas get out there to the world. 

I give Al permission to steal as much from my shit as much as they like – as long as the universe pays me back for their theft.

One of my favorite things is to spite-read fanfic. Y’know, the premise is fucking amazing. Say, um. Hm. Which fanfic is a good example of this that we’ve read earlier? 

(Cas answering - $ is his designator for plural kit in our private discord server that we occasionally use to hash things out when the collective memory fails us orrrrr we need to argue something out, or brainstorm things, or….) 

$The only one I can think of was that one Captive Prince fic. The one where I think Damen was.. A submissive? I can’t really remember the details of it but I remember you and Steven both being absolutely disappointed in the execution. 

Oh no, there’s another one that like – there’s that one Wrightwortth fic too that’s like, 400k words long and every single time I want to read something really, really fucking long, I always try to read it, and then have to stop a chapter in because Edgeworth would never. 

*You know what story that like, in hindsight, could’ve been so much better if the writer was A: better at fucking writing, B: not a racist, transphobic, sexist piece of shit? 

(I wonder who that might be, Steven…

*Write Harry Potter in the style of the Simon Snow series. Cas plays Simon, Mitchel* plays Baz, Ebb is played by Heather…. Or Alicia, I’m not sure which one would be best for that. 

Like a Harry Potter AU for the Simon Snow series. Because magic and disability and mental health and everything are allllll parts of it, along with classism and all this other stuff…. 

**Andrew, not Mitchel. 

?Steven it actually kinda sounds like you want to write a Simon Snow AU as opposed to an HP one. 

*Listen – (realizes that’s a dead give away that he [Cas] is actually filling in Steven’s dialogue for him)

?HIlarious that you think you can fool me, Casper. 

$Al never uses our full names. 

?, when it should actually be designator ( (for Andrew).... Alex isn’t the one who uses full names for emphasis? Or when they’re playing around? 

?Correction, I don’t use full names for emphasis. Steven actually legitimately prefers if we call him by his full name, so I use that. But Cas wants to be called Cas or Ken or Jazz or whatever the fuck you wanna call him in any story, as long as he’s a trans man with blond hair and blue eyes. And you, yourself, don’t much like it when anyone other than Cas calls you “And.” 

?Oh, and Steven and Cas both use full names for emphasis – but Cas uses full name and middle name, usually. 

Alicia: Arm – me – Leg – Steven – AND – Andrew? Has it ALWAYS been three of us writing together? 

?Well, we have Alex (Alex) Xander (Cas) Briar (Steven) Rose (Andrew) now – four writers, because Cas is as much a writer as the rest of us, even if he doesn’t even fucking realize it. 

$.....how the fuck am I also a writer? I’m at most the Idea Guy. 

*Yeah, your speciality is traumatic backstory (sarcasm) 

$I understood that was supposed to be sarcastic, yes. 

*....wait, I just realized that it was Cas who called me out for needing to do Shadow Work then and not you, Alex. 

?Ding ding ding ding ding!! :high fives Cas: I owe you ten bucks but I love it when you’re right about shit like this

*Fuck, wait – wait, was it Andrew? 

(:slow clapping: Well done. Of course it was me. Like you’d listen if Alex or Cas directly told you to do shadow work. You had to overhear a conversation I had with myself for you.

(You should confess your feelings for a specific someone. Let him know that you still love him and care about him/them. 

*They… legitimately know how I feel, though? Like, I’ve fucking spoken about my feelings for W and even S and D… 

$....they’ve been so focused on me and my bullshit that I don’t think any of them processed that. You may need to tell them again. Like how I had to ask D point blank what his feelings were. I couldn’t move on if I had any hope whatsoever we could maybe get back together. 

$It’s not supposed to be me and him who do, tho.

$It’s supposed to be you, Steven. 

*....but I’m the most fucked up out of all of us. 

(So is D, for their System. And one of the things that we’re bent on showing them – all of them – especially D and S – is the fact that you can be really really fucked up and people will still love and forgive you, as long as you actually show some sign that you’re willing to do better and are legitimately learning to do better. Redemption arcs of all kinds still count. 

*I’m legitimately not a good person, though? I’ve – I’ve pressured some of you into various… situations – both in the headspace and out of it. Sometimes including nudging you into those kinds of situations with other actual people just because I thought it’d be hot. 

Alicia: I did that too, you know. I just didn’t always write everything out in detail like you did. Not usually anyway. 

(Steven, you damn well know which of the many sins I myself am guilty of, in terms of things that work for me in writing, but not in real life… 

?You know Dr. A wasn’t wrong when he said that everyone is problematic. There’s no such thing as perfection, just human beings who are trying to heal and do better for themselves and their kids and those they consider family. The road to hell is paved with the best intentions or whatever that fucking saying is, I’m digging for something that has meaning to you that doesn’t to me 🙃

(The road to hell is paved with good intentions, C – Alex… 

?lmao the fact that we all know it’s fucking Cas when he messes up the fucking word because he doesn’t process speech well at alllll since he hears EVERYTHING.

$I literally don’t hear everything, that’s Steven. I just know to translate into Steven so he understands what I’m trying to say even if I can’t remember what was said, exactly 

?Yeah but you can’t translate to Steven when you’re filling in dialogue for me, dude. You only do that for him because he’s dyslexic af and cato – 

(Catagory… no 

$lollll I love you all, it’s spelled category. With an “e.” Cah - teh - gory. 

?I’m just going to paste this meme here, no context, because I’m fucking funny and it’s a part of Steven, Cas, and Andrew’s shadow work, and then I think we’re done for the evening since it’s almost 7pm and we’ve been at this roughly two hours now….

?And these two hours were extra. We did not need to do this, too. We posted a tiktok and did a bunch of telling the backyard the things that we want for everyone we love (including ourselves) while we were high and trying to connect a bit with spirit. We already did the writing for today. For at least an hour. I think we talked the poor yard’s ear off for like 2 hours actually. 

?So without further adieu, the meme:

 - Alex