#oh also Shulk is there! can you guess why

[arleo]

I come bearing gifts- rough and unrefined, but gifts nonetheless. Happy Birthday, Gregorian Calender, hope it's a good one for everybody ✌️

[gaysheep]

now my experiences might not be universal but as far as im concerned you asked far fewer questions about video games when you were a kid. the first time you encountered waluigi in mario tennis or mario party or whatever other mario spinoff you encountered him in for the first time because they only put him in spinoffs you didnt say "who's this goofster stomping around like he's a member of the crew?" you said oh ok that's waluigi i guess.

super smash bros melee the crossover fighting game starring all your favorite nintendo characters (well pikachu was second party but thats pikachu everyone knows who pikachu is) had a whole three characters who nobody in north america knew who the fuck they were, two of which were from games that weren't localized at all and one of which was from a game that was enough of a commercial failure in the united states hardly anyone remembered it a little under a decade later. now to be fair ness was in the one on the n64 also but its not like he'd gotten another game. "oh earthbound's failure was overexaggerated" you say that but my brother lived the super nintendo era and not a single one of his gaggle of friends had even heard of earthbound it was not on anyone's radar come on. but no one said "hey these aren't iconic nintendo characters" we all went "well i guess they can be here too" and now we say "you cant main a smash character if you havent played their game" like we werent saying "thats marth i dont know who the fuck he is but hes like a brother to me" in 2001

youd just go into the store and look at a game's boxart and decide you wanted that one and yknow what it usually worked out for you. i did this longer than you'd expect too i was in 7th or 8th grade and thought to myself "yknow i havent really played any console rpgs lately" so i looked up "rpgs for the wii" and i saw a gamefaqs rec thread or some shit where a guy went "well xenoblade is coming out." and i looked up xenoblade and found virtually no information about it other than that it was coming out and thought to myself "yeah xenoblade... that looks like an rpg i could get into." and you know what i did? i preordered it this may very well have been the first game i ever preordered i thought "well they were talking about it on gamefaqs so it must be a big deal i wanna make sure i can play it day 1" but i didnt need to reserve a copy of fucking xenoblade chronicles the store probably could have given me every copy in stock for no profit loss when i walked in there with my gir t shirt and my little receipt because i was one of all three and a half people in north america who played this game counting the gamefaqs guy. and xenoblade chronicles knocked me flat on my ass it was one of the best games i'd ever experienced i'd played plenty of story heavy rpgs before but this one hooked me in a way none of them ever had.

fast forward around 4 years the 4th smash game comes out but this one was different. this was when we really started to go in on the crossover fighters, character slots were now real estate that potential entrants had to earn the right to occupy as if one game ago they didnt make a failed NES peripheral a playable fighter and give it an emotional subplot in subspace emissary. no longer was it "cool i guess this guy is here" it had become "who the hell is this and what do they think they're doing in smash bros?"

and thus came that fateful night when amidst crazy new character reveals like the fucking wii fit trainer they unveil a cinematic trailer and announce that shulk from xenoblade chronicles was joining the fight. to which the unilateral reaction was "who the fuck is shulk why was this trailer framed like we already have a rapport with shulk i dont know this man why does he say stuff like 'im really feeling it?'"

but i knew who shulk was.

[troofless]

update on how i wasted 5h on the new xbc3 dlc story, new grips come to light:

feels a whole lot of the story was hinging on nostalgia bait rather than solving the plot holes in the main story, which is just peachy

matthew is not an interesting protagonist and is only there to represent the family feud in n’s long bloodline of fuckery. i thought matthew and a would have more synergy since they are literally the two faces of the game but they are just surface level friends with banter. a continues holding herself at arms length like alvis does for obvious reasons but this means matthew feels so isolated

nice loredump on xbc1 and xbc2 tho, i like the throwbacks to past places like colony 9 and uraya and prison island

i almost laughed when i saw the joran-looking guy die the first 10 minutes in lmao

the sharla and pandora reincarnations/children were pretty neat ig

shulk’s design in particular looks ugly af come at me bro

was it ever stated what happened to pyra/mythra? did they just die or revert back to the core crystal form? idk i didn’t watch the community stuff. also ig there are multiple green core crystals on glimmer and the fists of the end which is not confusing at all :/

i liked the detail that malos/logos is now the sword of the end and mythra/pneuma is fists of the end which is later noah’s gauntlet thing

confirmed that ghondor is n’s son and no wonder ghondor (main game) was pissed at her name lmaooo

i also liked the throwback to the gem crafting lmao

no explanation for lucky seven because of course

no explanation for riku either

no explanation for how shulk and rex and the others are still unassimilated but some of the other people get sucked into the cycle of reincarnation (i guess z is clumsy ha ha)

some explanation for how the city people don’t get fucked over by the two world merging at the end of main story ig

i literally said ‘what the fuck’ out loud when a said n wasn’t matthew’s enemy. like what the fuck. no.

oh wow imagine trying to justify n’s biggest crime of massacring an entire city of people ha ha wouldn’t it be funny if he didn’t actually murder them, absolving him of all crimes (bruh)

the dlc tried to hard to make n look sympathetic but i ended up hating him more. same for z man. like who invited you to the dlc party gtfo you didn’t even do anything

idk man i think na’el/alpha made a lot of sense in going for the new world esp with what happened in the end of the main story

a: yo but you saw what happened to klaus’s world! they decided to split it up and destroy it like dumbasses! that’s why your plan is bad! she says, literally ignoring that a world of peace is much better than whatever the fuck was the stagnant world of xbc3

also can i question why did alvis. just not leave without matthew. he had to fuck it up by showing himself in his physical form so that everyone could beat him up ten times over. cmon alvis

i feel like nikol and discount mythra could have been taken out of the story and nothing would have changed. what did they do other than be fanservice bait for the xbc1 and xbc2 ppl and have some bullshit ‘i promise to rebuild the city and carry on your legacy, dads :(’ like lmaooo

literally the ending of the main story was them deciding the future for themselves and them not wanting to stay in a stagnant world, something that contradicts the ending of the dlc like wtf

they went all the way, fought the god, just for a conclusion that didn’t matter because the two worlds merged anyway at the end of the game :)

i went into the dlc in the hopes of being able to complain that they locked the best part and best lore of the game behind a paywall but now i’m just disappointed. torna dlc was better. it had better pacing, better protagonist duo with lora and jin, started off stronger, didn’t have stupid flashbacks every three seconds same problem with xbc3 main story, better characters and character-synergy and humour. 

tldr it’s a waste of time not worth it, just play fire emblem engage instead goty fr

[razeluxe]

Razeluxe’s Top Ten Male Characters

So I’ve been thinking about doing a particular list for my favorite characters across anime and games for quite a while and with some advice I decided to break it into my favorite male and favorite female characters. Most people that know me can probably guess at my top three favorites but if you don’t know me... well you ‘bout to learn lol. This was harder than I thought to compile...enjoy my fanboying of the boys lol.

By the by, I’ll do my best to keep spoilers to a minimum.

10) Apollo Justice (Phoenix Wright Series)

I’ve played only two games that this character was in (Apollo Justice and Dual Destinies, slowly working through Spirit of Justice) and this character particularly in Dual Destinies struck me even more than Edgeworth who is another amazing character. Apollo has an amazing spirit and it was only through playing Dual Destinies that I really got to understand Mr. ‘I’m Fine’ and his stupid ‘Here comes Justice’ puns. I feel his original game didn’t allow him to shine (still a great entry in the Ace Attorney series I don’t care what anyone says) and Dual Destinies allows him the development he deserves. He gets hurt during a trial and it allows a deep dive of his character even if his personality shifts for a while. Damn he’s savage. He’s considered the underdog in the Wright Anything Agency but he’s to me the hardest working person there who is also the most factual in court.

9) Gokudera (Katekyo Hitman Reborn)

Or as I like to call him, Scowludera since he’s scowling like 90% of the time. This Ichigo ripoff’s character development is insane. And I think that trend follows most if not all the characters in this list. His relationship with his sister is interesting and he’s pretty explosive in terms of personality and intelligence. His fights are all really interesting too, he has some of my favorite interactions in the series thus far (haven’t read the post anime manga chapters yet sadly, but he’s more than earned this spot on this list). He butts heads with people a lot and he can be ignorant but he grows from his experience and you get to see it bit by bit. This dude is loyal to the bone. RIP if you aren’t Tsuna or Reborn. Also, I’d like to shout out this anime as one of the few to do the shounen genre proper justice. Go watch it. Also his sister Bianchi is <3. Oh wait. Male list. Oops. Can we also talk about his weapon? Not gonna say spoilers but that thing is dope and probably one of the best ever designed weapons. And his kitty Uri <3

8) Joshua Bright (Trails in the Sky)

This will be short as I don’t want to spoil anything, but Joshua is a very easy character for me to connect to personally. His feelings, actions, development probably relates more to me than a lot of characters on this list. He’s got good people around him...I’m very happy for his ship and support it 120%. Also the Trails Series, both Sky and Cold Steel are probably my favorite series of anything period. Go play it. There is more to this character that meets the eye and has broken my heart more than once ;_;

7) Neku Sakuraba (The World Ends With You)

Neku Neku Neku. Another very relatable character for me (see the theme here? lol) He initially shuts out people and over time, through his experience in the Reapers Game, he starts to open up and bring people into his circle. He goes through some crap, like a lot of trauma. When you learn of him it’s no wonder he wound up disliking people and society. He’s extremely creative and that creativity manifests itself in different ways. Kinda like me. It’s worth mentioning I used to roleplay this character back in the day, the very first canon character I used to write for. 

6) Shulk (Xenoblade Chronicles)

One of the only blonde’s on this list. Shulk is a character that is driven by revenge but eventually changes. He goes through some pretty traumatic stuff that I absolutely will not spoil. His personality when he encounters a certain characters shifts big time and it’s kind of scary considering how early you see this. Also he gets points for being a notably intelligent character. I mean, the dude has his own lab...and is able to fix and adjust stuff. He’s really a great and well balanced character despite all the crap he goes through. Also I used to make fun of this character and dislike him a little bit, but then I grew up. 

         The list gets real starting...now. Not that it was fake before. :o

5) Jaden Yuki (Yu-Gi-Oh! GX)

Anyone who has actually watched the entirety of GX might know why he’s here. His character development in the latter seasons so unreal and interesting. I’m not spoiling crap but there is a lot more to the character than meets the eye. Like a lot lot. Over the course of the series he loses his innocent eyes and his personality changes a lot...His character is probably one I can relate to in terms of the reasons for his actions, the way he gets down about himself, the way he acts in the final season...it hits me hard...he’s too dang relatable...just like..

4) Rean Schwarzer (Trails of Cold Steel)

Surprise surprise. Rean is here. -hears crickets- Guess you’re not surprised. I wonder why. I think I relate to this character more than anyone else on this list. Except number one. Number one is in his own league. Rean is a character who generally carries a happy disposition...he has a unique power but you can see he is actively scared of it. It’s something I actively deal with...he’s so scared of himself that he puts distance between family and friends. He never feels he’s good enough. He’s made headway through this, but...

One thing that’s extremely interesting about this character is his selflessness. You may think this is driven to the ground in character stereotypes but for Rean it’s different...his selfless has been described as abnormal by characters in game, and it’s not for positive reasons...Rean deals with some real unhealthy stuff. This is getting long.

As of this post Cold Steel 4 comes out in one month and I’m extremely worried for his character. If you’ve played 3 then you’ll know why. Also if you haven’t played the Trails series, go play it. No buts. Heck I’ll even buy the game(s) for you if I can.

--

Oh look we’re at the top three. I want to say that while numbers two and three here are pretty interchangeable, these characters have been in my top three for over a decade and a half and I don’t see this changing anytime soon. Rean I love you but you have your work cut out if you ever want to breach the top 3. I wanna post a few honorable mentions here. They didn’t get into Smash but they do get Mii Costumes at least! -shot-

Davis Motomiya (Digimon Adventure 02) 

This character was everything I was when I was a kid. The way he tries everything to woo Kari is too cute. Also his unwavering faith in Ken. Also Davis Cries Veemon.

9S (Nier Automata)

Not mentioning any spoilers. Just watch this character and see how his vision of the world changes over time.

Okabe Rintaro (Steins; Gate) 

Okabe’s shift from his ‘persona’ as things get real and his efforts to fix everything is too relatable for me ;_;

Yosuke Hanamura (Persona 4) 

No, I do not ship him with Yu. They’re great buddies for sure, and he’s pretty cool. Really likable character for me personally save for a few moments in the game...he’s also the main in the Arena games. “Let’s do this, Jiraiya!” He’s so cool lol.

                    Top 3 time. Fiercely dedicated to these guys.

3) Robin (Teen Titans Go! 2003)

Robin is such a raw character that carries his past and tries so hard to move from it yet it embodies him to his core. He has since gained a softer side from forming a team, and has been doing normal teenager stuff...which is good for him. However at times that Batman side impacts him so hard that he can only concentrate on his mission, and starts shutting out everyone and everything to do things himself. It actively gets in the way of his interactions. He deals a lot with moving on from failure and acknowledging his friends more, which he does get better at over time. He is also represented by the color red. My favorite color. He’s badass and yet carries so much crap. I connect to this character a lot even now. Third canon character I ever wrote for.

2 Lloyd Irving (Tales of Symphonia)

I love Lloyd. I love his voice, I love his attacks, I love his stupid double sword logic. He says wielding two swords makes him twice as powerful lol. I love his development. I love his idealism and how it matures over time. I love everything about Lloyd. It was legit love at first sight. I remember being 15-16 and seeing him on that Gamecube boxart and saying “I wanna play that guy” Most people I feel (guys in particular) probably looked up to certain characters growing up as a child/teen. Lloyd was mine.

1. Zidane Tribal (Final Fantasy IX)

While it was love at first sight for Lloyd, that was not the case for number one on this list. I was 13 when I first played FFIX. Zidane upon encountering him, I always thought he was a cool character, but he was nothing special.  Even at Zidane’s lowest point I thought he was an okay character at best. I had not finished the game.

Fast forward a few years and I decide to play FFIX again, this time determined to finish it. I had went through some things, grew up a bit before turning this game on. This damn bandit...I remember writing this bit years ago: “His infamous mantra labeled above describes him well, but under his ability to console others with a smile, to cheer people up and meet them at their point of need with his abundant optimism lies a blonde who masks his pain and keeps his issues to himself. Despite his many friends and buddies he harbors a deep loneliness that, like his problems, he keeps to himself. One would have to look carefully to notice his character flaws for Zidane does an impressive job of hiding these problems. Whether it be through his energy, his theatrics, or focusing on other people, Zidane can cover things up quite well.”

Zidane has an absurd amount of depth to his character that I was never able to comprehend as a kid, beneath his flirting, his playful attitude, he hides a lot of feelings, a lot of anger, a lot of sadness. It used to boggle me how he’s able to uphold his sense of virtue despite what goes on in his life and the end of disc 3 answers this for me. It goes without mentioning that this was the second canon character I’ve ever written for, and I still love writing him. I could and write walls of text about how Zidane is so amazing, a chivalrous thief, a lover and a flirt but I think I can let you go lol. Hit me up if you really want to hear me ramble about any these characters, also play FF9.

...So I wrote all of that and forgot to write about Zidane’s ship...have to give it its own paragraph because I love these two together and she does wonders for Zidane as a whole as does he to her. She’s a princess and he’s a thief, they take their time to show them together through different things, different ordeals...particularly the ordeals. Its interesting seeing them both at their worst moments and the many funny moments..Man, that boat scene gets me every time...If I ever write a top ten couples list this couple would no doubt be in the top two if not number one. And I’d probably write way more than this about them because they’re great. Also they’re canon. A healthy canon. Also Dagger’s hot. Oh wait wrong list.

Okay finally done. Not editing this anymore :P

[mindboogling]

Modern!Newsies’ Smash Bros Mains

I need to finish a lot of the drawing requests/suggestions so here’s this in the meantime :P

Jack: The Cool Leader Guys or Adventurers - There’s a safe bet that Jack is going to play your tough or cool protagonist kind of characters AKA Link, Roy, Ike, Captain Falcon, etc. He cried tears of joy when he heard Roy was back. He’s the one who owns the Wii U/Switch and game. Everyone kind of just crashes his place to play.

Crutchie: Toon Link, Pikachu/Pichu, Isabelle, Kirby - The player that likes to play a lot of the cute and occasionally animal characters. Don’t underestimate though because he will freaking demolish someone with Toon Link, Kirby or Pikachu out of nowhere (puts the “cute” in “electrocutes your butt off”) Looks like a cinnamon roll, but could take you out like BAM! 

Davey: Marth and Robin - He hasn’t played much Smash which explains why he keeps falling off the maps, but Marth and Robin didn’t look as crazy or looney as the other characters and he thought the Fire Emblem characters were a lot more controlled in their strengths.

Les: Duck Hunt - What a troll. He learned to taunt from Race and likes the duck and dog a lot! He’s the little brother type of gamer who is asking questions and you’re not sure if you should let him win or wipe the floor with this kid. Although, he will definitely beat Davey.

Race: Sonic the Hedgehog- Big troll. He’s a button masher and a taunt spammer/master. He will scream random Sonic quotes from the 90s as to distract, but sometimes that may backfire too. (“GOTTA GO FAST-” *falls off the edge of the map*) The type of player that will crawl all over you like a cat to distract you while playing. 

Spot: Little Mac - He is ready to wreck some people up. Other than Little Mac, he will play some of the brooding looking characters like Ryu because WOAH, STREET FIGHTER or Charizard because it’s A FREAKING DRAGON likE EAT FIRE, BOI.

Katherine: Zelda, Sheik, Shulk - Likes having good control and a light character to move around easily. Secretly has learned all of the combos without anyone suspecting it and plays dumb only for victory (“Oh, what’s an ultimate? How do you move? What does this button do?”) A cheap tactic to get someone distracted in trying to “help” her, but first place is first place, buddy.

Albert: Bowser and Villager - Two entirely different mains, and it’s weird, but both mains are also a bit frightening. If he loses, he’s the type to laugh it off (probably with a ligma joke) or make up excuses for it (“Les was blockin’ the TV!”) Yes, he will yell during gameplay, which disturbs neighbors, but in this game, you GOTTA win.

Romeo: Mii Fighter - Started playing the characters that looked really cool, but didn’t feel like he really matched with any of ‘em so he made himself to main! There’s an on going joke that he likes playing as himself because it’s his own pretty face.

Elmer: Yoshi and Luigi - Has played Mario in the good old days, but likes how less threatening Luigi and Yoshi are next to Mario in Smash. The guy who doesn’t take the game too seriously and is probably having the most fun.

Buttons: Pac-Man and MegaMan - Likes the 8-bit aesthetic and plays them because of mascot rep. It’s like a blast from the past! Not the most intense gamer at all, but he likes seeing his friends have fun.

Specs: Fox - He’s more of a classic player and likes the Gamecube controller more. He is the type to try and think up of a strategy, but for some reason, isn’t able to lay a hit on button mashers like Race. He’s a good sport though.

JoJo: Pit - Mr. “I’ve never played this game before but I’m a natural, I guess” He thought Pit looked cool with his wings and bow and has never played Kid Icarus or any Smash Bros. games in his child life. It makes some of the Smash Bros. Strategists angry as heCK. 

Finch: Ness and Lucas - He had heard of Smash before but didn’t play often. When he was going through the roster of characters, someone went “UGH” when he went over Lucas and Ness. Now, he doesn’t stop saying things like “PK THUNDER!” when they play.

Blink: Snake - I mean, sure, bad eye buds, but! Blink likes the idea of the rugged spy. He’s all for it now, despite thinking it was kind of a waste of time for a game before. He grew more and more attached to it the more he played and it gave him an excuse to be close to the others cOUGH COUGH

Mush: Mr. Game and Watch  - That one friend that’s fine watching the others play. Although, when he does play, he is your basic jokester. He likes the simple look of Mr. Game and Watch and his wacky moves, despite the laggy flow style of his animation. 

Mike and Ike: Pokemon Trainer and Ice Climbers - They do the switch off thing with the controller and they are the first two to be told to share a controller (which sucks sometimes, but they’re chill with it.) Mike feeds the twin stereotype by choosing the Climbers (the iconic duo), but he also likes their cute design! Both Mike and Ike like the Pokemon trainer (although Ike prefers the trainer more than the Climbers) even though they can be just a tad OP. They’re so happy the characters returned! YAY TEAMWORK!

Smalls: Samus and Inkling - Oh, heck yeah they’re gonna go for the mcfreaking WOMAN WITH A MINI CANON ON HER ARM! Sometimes they don’t have the patience to charge her weapon for a strike so they play as the inkling (YOU’RE A KID, YOU’RE A SQUID!) Smalls is experienced at Splatoon, but still a good rookie at Smash. They definitely have a competitive spirit!

[sir-teatei-moonlight]

Xenoblade reference: Interesting NPC text (Colony 9/Tephra Cave)

So I managed to (somewhat accidentally) get a text dump of most if not all NPC comments in Colony 9 (and surrounding areas of the same map), and I also went and did Tephra Cave because it’s small (well, in NPC count) and close by. It doesn’t tell me who’s saying what for the most part, but for the purposes of this post that’s not necessary: I’m just looking for interesting worldbuilding material. The process should be repeatable for other locations, but it’ll be a bit slow going.

I trawled through as much text as I could find and plucked out the interesting stuff. From what I can tell, this includes generic comments as well as quest text. Spoilers obviously.

Colony 9

People

"You shouldn't go outside the colony on your own, Shulk. The monsters will eat you alive! At least keep that hulking lummox around to fight them off."

"Oh, if it isn't Shulk and Fiora! You two are pretty close. I see you together at all hours of the day! Just don't get too close and leave Reyn feeling left out. Poor guy!"

"Fiora's alive? That's wonderful news! And not just because the area will smell like her great cooking again!"

"Make sure the girl doesn't get hurt. And you there, the scrawny one. Get the big one to help you out! The three of you are the funniest lot I've seen round here in ages."

"Shulk, don't be keeping Fiora out all night! Dunban's sits at his window watching what you do. I'm kidding! Come on, Dunban wouldn't do something so creepy. ...Would he?"

"Did you know about Dunban and Mumkhar? They competed against each other to be the one to use the Monado. In the end, Dunban won." "Mumkhar was always so angry after that. I guess he'd be using it now if he was still alive. Dunban can't handle it anymore."

"Dickson is actually the commander of the soldiers and scientists. But he's often away so Vangarre is acting as colonel. I just wish they'd made Dunban colonel instead..."

"I've been training in Arts using claw weapons lately. It's my dream to master Mumkhar's Hell Dive Claw." "If only he was still alive to teach me. It's a shame he's gone."

Races

"A lot more girls have become soldiers since the war ended."

"No Nopon on Mechonis? Even Nopon Merchants not go there yet? That not sound like Nopon."

"The Mechon had complete superiority. It was as if they knew absolutely everything about this colony."

"It turns out that the Giants' fate was linked to the White Spiders. The Giant in the coffin was in fact the Giants' Soothsayer. The Soothsayer subjugated the White Spiders. But when the Soothsayer died, the White Spiders were freed. That's when they started to amass power. So the Giants offered sacrifices in order to avoid a war! But the Giants' numbers grew ever smaller. Soon the oppressors had clearly become the oppressed. They were unable to fight back against the White Spiders. They were forced to live a meagre existence behind closed doors."

Creatures

"Pack Armus are different to other monsters. They're perfectly tame. Most monsters will attack Homs. Don't let yourself get hurt!"

Defence Force

"This vehicle managed to survive the war a year ago. Feels like we're squeezing the last bit of life out of it. We have to be careful with it. But Colonel Vangarre's violent. I dunno if it can last much longer."

"The mobile artillery used to have five machines. They got destroyed one by one in the war. Now there's only one left."

"The mobile artillery really came in handy in the war. It was the second most important weapon after the Monado. It's easy to control and highly manoeuvrable. Not to mention the firepower. Although we've only got the one. It was brought in from outside the colony; we don't make them here. So we're just doing our best to keep this one in working order."

Bionis

"You don't know why the Bionis is shaped like a person? Didn't you ever listen at school? The Bionis isn't shaped like us. We're shaped like the Bionis!" "Scientists are saying the weirdest things nowadays though. Apparently the laws of physics say that the world should be round. But if the Bionis was round, then people would be round as well. I don't want to be round. I think the Bionis would agree with me!"

"As we are born of the Bionis, we should all be returned to its body. We place the dead in water, so it may carry them back to the Bionis. But a lot of people who died in the last attack left no bodies behind... What will happen to them?"

Ether

"You see the little bits of light in the sky? Those are bits of ether. They're little energy particles released from the Bionis' body. There's ether everywhere. Everything's made with ether."

"Did you know that our bodies are made from ether? Not just our bodies, actually. That chair over there, too! And erm...rocks, I guess...? Anyway, lots of things! Everything in the world is made from ether. It's like...the base element! Of everything!" "There's even research that proves the Bionis is made of ether! But the ether deposits kind of prove that anyway, don't they? They're just hard lumps of ether shot out from inside the Bionis."

"Has friend seen ether crystal deposits on surface? They formed by high pressure and heat inside body of Bionis."

"Ether deposits are like...the crystallised blood of the Bionis. That's why the crystals you harvest from them are so pure."

"World is full of ether crystals. Ether crystal is small clump of ether. Formed when particles of ether are put under pressure. Particles of same colour and shape naturally fuse together." "Look at ether crystal's colour to see its properties. Red is fire and blue is water. Like that! If friends want to make gems out of them, talk to guy over there!"

"Ether Cylinders from the furnace fuel everyone's light and heating. They're also what powers the Defence Force's machines. But they're not usually pure enough for the latest weapons. That's why we need the stockpile of cylinders at the ancient ruins. All the cylinders there are of a very high purity, you see."

"Did you know that ether particles can cause a chain reaction? It happens when the same type of ether gathers in a large quantity. The heat it generates is intense! The ether stream under Colony 6 is a prime example of all this." "Ether is a plentiful energy source provided for us by the Bionis. Just plain ether is enough to power almost all of our machines. But some machines need very pure ether. Like the Anti-Air Batteries."

"All our weapons contain a catalyst that reacts with ether. So you just need to use your Arts to gain the benefit of that power. But I suppose there are some people who don't need that stuff."

"I heard that there're ether gears inside the Mechonis. You can use ether crystals from the Bionis or ether gears. When you're gem crafting, it don't matter which ones you put in."

Gameplay

"What? There are weapons and armour with holes in them?! Maybe holes are to put gems in! That make them stronger!" "There is also equipment that comes with gems stuck in holes. In Nopon homeland we call them unique equipment."

"If you help someone who's been Dazed, your affinity will deepen. That's how me and my boyfriend got together!"

"I've heard there are monsters who can Daze your entire party! That's why I sometimes wear gems that protect against Daze." "But not all the time. Sometimes it's nice to be Dazed in battle. Otherwise you don't get the affinity boost from being rescued!"

"Certain monsters can Poison you. I've been looking for some kind of medicine that can cure it, but... It seems like there isn't one." "I did hear that the ether rifles the soldiers use can cure Poison. They use anti-Poison bullets. If only I had any friends in the Defence Force."

"The skills you can learn depend on your character traits. Like, Reyn can learn Skills that help him be a hard-headed idiot! Did I just say that?"

"Do you think people have hidden depths to them? Like, extra character traits we don't know about up front? If so, I bet there are Skills related to those as well!" "How can you find out what hidden character traits people have? Good question. Maybe they're revealed when you help people?"

LOL

"Why Mechon attack colony? Colony do nothing wrong!" "Oh no! Might be because I steal and eat neighbour's fruit. I never do again!"

"Oh, fiddlesticks. I was really hoping I could ask Shulk for a favour. Why is he never around?" "He must be avoiding me because I keep asking for favours..."

"I shouted, 'Curse you, foul creation!' Then I swung my hammer as hard as I possibly could. What? It's the only way I could get my fridge to start working again!"

"I wonder what Talent Art a hero like Dunban would have. I bet it'd be really manly, graceful, powerful... Yeah..."

Tephra Cave

"I see. It's the Path of Absolution... The path walked when offering a sacrifice to the White Spiders. It is lined by the memorial tablets of those offered up as sacrifices. It's all written in this book."

"The offering we need to make is a White Spider Heart. Now, as you already know, there are many spiders in Tephra Cave. When these ruins were built, the Giants and spiders were enemies. Among both groups, the heart of the White Spider was revered. That's why we need to use the heart as an offering."

[nyxokal]

3, 8, 13, 21?

For the shipping ask meme

3. What ship are you currently obsessed with and why?

I’m still a slut for alutrev (but the game ver tbh) and gggod don’t look at me but zelloyd and Yuan/Botta are kicking my ass, I hate you both. Oh also metsushin? Metsushin. And goddamn it, Alvis and Shulk

8. Describe your favorite ship in seven words or less.

- The sun and the moon broke up- They are both invisible- Tried to kill an angel, failed spectacularly- Us and this idiot we picked up- Bisexual awakening is also his morosexual awakening- Just two dads tryina end the world- The choice is yours, creator- Donate blood to your favourite distinguished disaster- He is not jealous of the horse- It’s my turn to kill Dracula

If you can guess them all you get uhhh my praise

13. Which character in your ship is your favorite and why?

You’ll have to be very specific but well I still love Saïx in AkuSai the best, and you Know I’m hyperfocusing like a bitch on Zelos lately. Jin and Malos are both equally there to end my life I think. Alvis is my sun and stars and Shulk is my absolute son and Please don’t make me list them all

21. For what fandom and/or character do you have multiple ships?

I dunno? I guess I have a bunch for ToS now that I think about it? The thing is that, well, I haven’t been keeping track lately arshtdjfhg

[hero-tech-institute]

Student Profile: Ruby Rose

“Hi, everyone! I am Ruby Rose, and I’m proud to represent Beacon Academy as a transfer student from there to Hero Tech! I’m the protagonist of RoosterTeeth’s animated web series, RWBY, and also the leader of the Huntress team of the same name. Nice to meet you all!

“In the first three volumes of my home series, I was 15 years old; as of the timeskip between the awful, awful ending of Volume 3 and the start of Volume 4, I’m 16 in canon. My canon height is 5′2″, and though my weight hasn’t been confirmed, the average weight of girls my age is 115 pounds, so let’s go with that. I’m actually a lot faster than I look, though – my Semblance allows me to move with amazing speed, and I can vanish from one spot and appear in another in the time it takes to blink! I’m also almost never seen without my trusty Crescent Rose, a combination of a retractable scythe and a customizable high impact sniper rifle. In other words, it’s also a gun! I built it all by myself and have been practicing with for years, so you can bet I’ve got a lot of skills with it – just ask all those Grimm I’ve taken to task with it! Oh, also, if you want to interact with me via RP, just ask whether you want to talk with my pre-timeskip canon self, post-timeskip me, me as an HTI student, or Chibi me - the dean really loves RWBY Chibi and would like to see more RPs related to it (SFW, obviously!).

“Personality-wise, I’m pretty much one of the brightest, bestest friends you can ever hope to have! Even after the tragic events that befell everyone in Volume 3, I’ve never stopped being selfless, candid, and lively. At the same time, though, people have wondered why I was elected as the leader of Team RWBY, having called me awkward, naïve, and impulsive. I used to be more attached to weapons than people when I was younger, and I’ve never really outgrown that fact even though I’ve made a lot of great friends since my time at Beacon and beyond. While I’ve got no trouble interacting with my companions, I have difficulty making them no matter how much I’ve tried (and believe me, I’ve tried a lot!), probably because I was accepted into Beacon earlier than most people – but I’ve worked hard since then to keep the bonds with the people I’ve become BFFs with going as strong as ever!

“That said, I’ve been able to connect to a bunch of people at HTI as well as Beacon, partly due to some of them having shared interests with me. In this setting, I’m a freshman in the Mechanics and Technical Maintenance program, with a special interest in weaponry! I’ve actually managed to become very close friends with Pit from the same program for this reason, since we’ve got a common interest and have bonded over each other’s arms of choice – I’ve wanted to study his Palutena Bow for a while now although he hasn’t gotten word from his goddess yet about whether or not I can pick it apart to see what makes it tick. Likewise, Shulk is almost as awkward as I am and kinda reminds me of Jaune a little, although he’s a main protagonist in his own world rather than a supporting character and feels a lot of the same pressures that I do. We’ve talked a lot about our respective thoughts on our stories and roles, and turn to each other regularly for advice and comfort. There’s also Monkey D. Luffy, whose lovable and kind-hearted personality pretty much won me over from the moment we met, especially after he mentioned a few similarities between Crescent Rose and the stuff he knows about in his home world, including the weaponry of one of his crewmates. I’ve yet to see him build something useful but he’s trying! And last but not least, Peter Parker a.k.a. Spiderman, while technically a Photography student, has had some experience building his own superhero technology, which really caught my interest like a fish on a hook when he bought it up within earshot of me. Anyone who’s a BFF with weapons they’ve made themselves is a BFF of mine! Spidey and I keep each other sharp with practice matches with each other and get along famously because of our equally adorkable and selfless personalities. Who knows, maybe we could even go hero-ing together like I always dreamed of doing with the Huntsmen back in Remnant…

“Anyway, that should be it, I guess. Once again, nice to see you all, and I hope my new new school is as amazing and full of BFFs and inspiring people as Beacon used to be!”

[tophatlucario]

LET ME FOLLOW YOU

I need more blogs to follow, so if your blog is associated with any of the topics below, please reblog or like this post. — Nintendo — Sonic — Splatoon — Kingdom Hearts — Xenoblade Chronicles — Videogames in general — Sonic Mania — Sonic Forces — Sonic — Fun stuff — Sonic — Xenoblade Chronicles — Sonic — Artwork — Cute artwork — Sonic — Classic Sonic — Sonic Forces — Super Mario Odyssey — Splatoon 2 — Kingdom Hearts 3 — Kingdom Hearts 3 — Cats — More cats — Cute cats — Funny cats — Evil cats — Sonic — sanik — Dogs — But more cats — I'm allergic to cats — That's why I want cats on my blog — sinic — sonic — more sonic — tails also — & Knuckles — SEGA — Kingdom Hearts III — KH3 will never release — Metroid — Samus — Metroid... — Paper Mario — Xenoblade Chronicles — Kingdom Hearts — Sonic — Sonic — Sonic — Sonic — Sonic — Sonic — Sonic Mania — Sonic Forces — Nintendo Switch — Reggie — More Nintendo — Kingdom Hearts III — SANIK — SONIC — AAAAAAAAAAH — Kirby — Did you know that I like pancakes? — I should start to work out — But I'm a lazy crap — I also have a job with terrible work hours — Sonic — Sonic — LIVE AND LEARN — HANGING ON THE EDGE OF TOMORROW — SINIK — Xenoblade Chronicles — Sploon — Xenoblade Chronicles 2 — Nintendo Switch — But I need money for Switch — So that's why I have my job — Are you still reading this? — sinik — u can stop now if you want to — or not — sonik — I seriously need blogs to follow — lots of blogs — i also like music — mostly instrumental music — also videogame and movie soundtracks — Kingdom Hearts III will release — on November 30th 2018 — I have my sources trust me — I also like Disney — Forgot to tell that — Big Hero 6 👌👌👌 — I have a labrador retriever — His name is Pontiak — He's 4 years old and super nice — Sonic — Sonic Mania — For real Sonic Mania is HYPE — And Sonic Forces too — I need my OC to get real — The moon landing was fake — I'm actually Neil Armstrong — Also Elvis is alive — Sonic Sonic Sonic — Super Mario Odyssey — Xenoblade Chronicles — Kingdom Hearts III — SEGA — Nintendo — A little bit of Mega Man I guess I like too... — Memes — Cats — Dogs — But especially cats, remember that. — my sister is hazzling me — Cuz I said Wreck-it Ralph is a little slow — but I love her anyway — The Mario & Luigi games are hype — Super Paper Mario has a better story than TTYD — Also better music than TTYD — Sonic — Xenoblade Chronicles — Kingdom Hearts III — Sora — Roxas — Music — Videogame music — How to train your dragon — not the 2nd one — It wasn't as good as the first — I seriously need a Nintendo Switch — I saw a squirrel today — It had light brown fur, almost red-like — It was so cute! It was eating a nut — I screamed "SQUIRREL!" when I saw it — Like in the movie UP — Are you still here? — I'm pretty sure you have got an idea of what I like — Sonic — Sonic — Don't — Autocorrect — I dunno how "Sonic" became "Don't" — Maybe it's fate telling me something — Nah — In that case fate can screw itself — Sonic is BACK AND HYPE — My fingers are tired — I don't know how much longer I will go on — Sonic — Super Mario Odyssey — Super Mario Galaxy — Rosalina — Also I don't like Rosalina nowadays — They made her into fanservice material — It's disgusting really — Rosalina was one of my favourite characters — But not anymore — Well she is still my favourite in SMG — That game is ACE 👌 — Super Mario Odyssey looks dope tho — Especially Bowser — Super Smash Bros. — I still need to play the MGS games — SNAAAAAAAAKE EAAAAATER!!! — I spoiled the main theme — sorry.... — But Snake is handsome — Nice dude — Wanna play as him and stealth — Sonic — Donic — Donic — Sonic — Cinos — Sanik — Melee — No not Melee — The Melee fans scare me — Mario Kart is also good — Splatoon — Hey!! — Do you think this is a joke? — I still need lots of blogs to follow — So don't forget to like or reblog — Otherwise I wouldn't know about you — I dunno what else I should talk about — I could tell a joke, but that would be terrible — I am bad at jokes — Also we are doomed — I had to get it out there — Just look around yourself — We will get nuked any day now — Somebody gotta be real here — I'm almost done — Let's write more saniks — Sonic — Sonik — Sonikku — Sanik — danik — sank — dank — memes — Sonic — Sonic Mania — Sonic Forces — My favourite meme is We Are Number One — I like swimming — And skiing — And sports in general — Anyone wanna play some sports with me? — I just sneezed — It felt goooooooooood — Sonic — Super Mario Odyssey — Xenoblade Chronicles — Kingdom Hearts — Nintendo — SEGA — ^^ — Those are pretty much the real ones — OH and Splatoon too — I'm sure I missed something — METROID — I WANT A NEW METROID GAME — A game that takes place after Metroid Fusion — We need Metroid 5!!! — Spoilers ahead: — Samus is freakin' hunted!! — By the United Federation — I want a game where Samus is — Fighting against the government — That would be AWESOME — Also please make Samus badass again — She's not just fanservice — Sonic — Sonic — Xeno — Blade — Shulk — FIIIIOOOOOORAAAAAAA!!!!!! — If you are still here — Congrats — You deserve a medal — But I don't have any — I'm a cheap jerk — But honestly good work — When I was younger — I used to roleplay as Sonic characters — It was weird — Atleast it helped me learn english — Also what happened to Detective Pikachu? — I honestly wanted that game — It looked fun and weird — I like those kind of games — Do you think I should change me URL? — And my pfp? — I think so — It's pretty old and irrelevant — But I want Detective Pikachu... — Wanna see what happened — Did they cancel it? — That would be a shame if they did — Almost done here — Sorry — I may have teased you for a little too long — I'm pretty sure I will lose followers — This post is gonna take forever to scroll down — But I will take it — I have already come this far — And I will not just throw it away — IT'S ALL OR NOTHING — So... — How have you been? — I like your hair — Did you go to the barber recently? — Maybe you cut it yourself — And and your shirt is 👌👌👌 — I have a shirt of my own that I like a lot — I got it from the KH Orchestra On Tour — It has Sora on it — Super nice shirt really — But your shirt really takes the cake — Anyway — I'm almost done here — Only a few more lines — Sonic — Sonic — Sonic — Sonic — Sonkc — Tails — Knuckles — Amy Rose — Shadow — Rouge — Dr. Eggman — Dr. Robotnik — Tikal — Metal Sonic — Cream the Rabbit — Chao — Espio — Charmy — Vector — Silver — Blaze — Are there any more charact— EGGMAN NEGA — He's weird — Also his name is just begging to be misused — in inappropriate ways I mean — I think you can imagine what I mean — ALRIGHTY! Thank you for sticking around. — It's been a long ride — I'm sorry it has to end — But this is the start of something new — I want to follow you! — So — Lastly before I go — I have one last thing to say — Sonic & Knuckles

[akari-thoughts-blog]

Guide to the Monado 漢字

So, I looked at some random fanart the other day, and I was a bit annoyed at some of them for having the Kanji looking completely wrong.

So, here I am, writing about how each kanji is pronounced, stroke order, all those things

(Xenoblade spoilers, obviously)

Vocabulary:

漢字 - Kanji

音読み - Onyomi (Sound Reading)

- You use this when the 漢字 is surrounded by other 漢字

訓読み - Kunyomi (Meaning Reading)

- You use this when the 漢字 is alone

モナド・アーツ - Monado Aatsu (Monado Arts)

機神兵 - Kishinhei (Mechon)

Ordering of the Kanji:

Xenoblade   Print   行書   草書

(If you’re wondering why I’m not writing entirely in Roumaji, it’s because Japanese words then to be shorter, so I get to be more lazy)

Anyways, the first Kanji!

Misc

読 - Read 「リード」

This 漢字 appears when you’re at the loading screen

(Reading the disc, haha)

音読み：　ドク (Doku)

訓読み：　よむ (Yomu)

Stages of the モナド

機 - Enchant 「エンチャント」

Meaning: Machine

The first symbol to appear to appear (In-game). This signifies the モナド I can only hurt Machines （機神兵）

Also, the same symbol used in the エンチャントアーツ which let other party members hurt 機神兵 without having special weapons to pierce their Armour.

音読み：　キ (Ki)

訓読み：　はた (Hata)

人 - Human 「ヒューマン」

When Zanza upgraded the モナド I to the モナド II during the event’s of Prison Island, he let the sword capable of harming live on the Bionis.

(Don’t ask me why the first モナド is perfectly capable of hurting wildlife on Bionis but not Homs.)

音読み：　ジン (Jin)

訓読み：　ひと (Hito)

神 - God 「ゴッド」

Finally, in the second phase of the Final fight with Zanza. With the power of friendship, Shulk creates the モナド within him. The モナド III, which is capable of harming gods.

(I realise the sentence sounds silly, since the replica モナド and other weapons can already damage Zanza)

音読み：　シン (Shin)

訓読み：　かみ (Kami)

モナド・アーツ

盾 - Shield 「シールド」

The second art that Shulk receives during the events at Tephra Cave with the fight with the Arachno Queen. It protects all party members from receiving fatal damage by a Talent Art.

音読み：　ジュン (Jyun)

訓読み：　たて (Tate)

疾 - Speed 「スピード」

Meaning: Rapidly

「『モナドにまた新しい文字が―！』

『―やれろのか？』

『出来るさ』」

Shulk receives this art when he receives a vision about Sharla’s death. With it, his movement speed (Only in cutscenes and not in-game for some reason) and dodging ability

音読み：　シツ (Shitsu)

訓読み：　はやい (Hayai)

破 - Purge 「(Breaker) ブレーカ」

Meaning: Rip, Break, Destroy

This art is actually created by Alvis, when the Telethias attacked him and Shulk at the coast near Great Makna Falls. With this power, the モナド can temporarily stop an enemies aura or spike.

音読み：　ハ (Ha)

訓読み：　やぶる (Yaburu)

轟 - Cyclone 「サイクロン」

Meaning: Roar, Thunder

Now, this 漢字 is actually an onomatopoeia (The actual 漢字 for cyclone would be 飃) which in context is quite fitting as it’s the roar of a cyclone. And, cyclone’s typically then to blow and topple things~. Anyways, you get this power after beating the Apocrypha Generator robot guard.

音読み：　ゴウ (Gou)

訓読み：　とどろかす (Todorokasu)

喰 - Eater 「イー���ー」

Meaning: Eat, Receive (A blow)

The first optional art. This lets you removes any buffs on your opponent while simultaneously inflicting bleed them. Shulk receives this after doing a series of side-quests at Makna Forest. More, specifically the ruins near the landing side. You get this art after obtaining a book from King Agni’s Tomb.

(Not sure, how reading a book let you acquire a new ability for a mythical sword, but sure)

訓読み：　くう (Kuu)

鎧 - Armour 「アーマー」

The second optional art. This art reduces physical and ether damage for every party member by at most, 75%. You acquire this art after doing the Stop the Mechon Rampage! sidequest given at Machina Village.

音読み：　カイ (Kai)

訓読み：　よろう (Yorou)

Smash Exclusive アーツ

Nope, still not done! In Smash 4, Sakurai (Or, Alvis/Machina, I guess) added two new arts to Shulk’s arsenal.

翔 - Jump 「ジャンプ」

Meaning: Soar, Fly

This art, judging by it’s self-explanatory name, let’s you jump higher with the added bonus of giving Shulk’s recovery move slightly increased height. Oh, and giving Kirby the most broken recovery game ever.

音読み：　ショウ (Shou)

訓読み：　かける (Kakeru)

撃 - Smash 「スマッシュ」

Meaning: Attack, Defeat, Conquer

The final art, Smash *roll credits* gives Shulk horrendously bad damage output but in return giving him quite a knockback boost. (The good kind, not the stupid kind like in old games where it somehow always gravitate you into the nearest instant death pit.)

音読み：　ゲキ (Geki)

訓読み：　うつ (Utsu)

With every 漢字 covered (Until Xenoblade 2), this wraps up this guide on the 12 漢字 that appears at the centre of the モナド

See you until the next time, I post something, I guess.

―　スカイ

[nthletter]

Seriously, if avilero wasn't enough to destroy me and tear my soul to pieces, now another gay ship of mine (in a non-BL anime), that I've been invested in for a while (even since before avilero), has basically become canon, only to have one half of the ship (supposedly) killed off in action a few minutes later. I'm dead inside, but at the same time I'm happy about the unquestionable validation of my ship? But why is it that in all of my top three favorite m/m ships ever, one side has to be dead?

Oh I feel you so much, anon.

My among my top otps (m/m and not) there are a lot of tragic ones: Avilero, C/Fe (a ship from Asimov’s robot series), Kawoshin (NGE), Archer x Rin, Kiritsugu x Irisviel, Rider x Waver (all three from the Fate/ series), Komahina, Kuzupeko (Danganrompa 2), Griffith x Gatsu (Berserk), Spirk (Star Trek TOS), Shulk x Fiora (Xenoblade Chronicles) and maybe m!Black Magic x MC (Heroes Rise Trilogy) and Narumitsu (Ace Attorney) (even if they’re not remotely as tragic as the others).

And Idk how many of these you know, anon, but let me tell you that in each one of these ships I listed:

at some point one of the two dies or worse (even though they don’t necessarily stay dead), or

both of them die (together or separately), or

one of them almost dies, fakes his death, disappears, or something similar that prevents them from being together.

And it’s just     SO PAINFUL       but also amazing please give me more of that angst.

But now I’m kinda curious: what ship are you talking about?? I want to know?? Maybe don’t tell me the ship or it could be spoiler I guess but tell me the anime so I can check it out and suffer with you? I love suffering for half dead otps! Please anon!