#oh well at least I still really like the outfit from Splatoon 2 !

[alish-artie]

I really like the icons in the story mode of Splatoon 1, so I wanted to create some for my agent ocs in that style !

[dr-spectre]

Talking about Side Order and... Marina. (SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!)

You know, i really enjoyed Side Order, like it wasn't perfect or anything but i had such a blast with it and if they continue to expand on it we could have something REALLY amazing. My reaction to the GOD DAMN TUTORIAL BOSS GOT ME HYPERVENTILATING! IM NOT JOKING! IT WAS SO EXCITING AND SHOCKING!!! THE FINAL BOSS WAS INCREDIBLE TOO! I was singing along to Spectrum Obligato and WHEN THEY BROUGHT IN THE STUFF FROM THE LIVE CONCERT VERSION OF EBB AND FLOW MY JAW DROPPED!!!

However i gotta admit, the story could have been better, what was the deal with the Octoling engineers Marina was talking about? That goes completely nowhere and i thought it was gonna build to something with the repeat playthroughs of the final boss.

And of course, the biggest missed opportunity in my opinion, Marina Agitando.

Now look, i wanna say right off the bat, the design is excellent, it was so smart to bring back her Order outfit and make her into a giant abomination that moves in such a weird way that makes you feel uncomfortable. When i saw her for the very first time when you enter the room, i stood there for at least a solid minute in complete disbelief and shock seeing a giant Marina in some octopus tentacle heart thingy that beats and pumps with the music. The song that plays too "Unconscience" is such a BANGER and honestly it rivals Octo Callie's Bomb Rush Blush remix in my opinion.

The build up for this was pretty good too, seeing Marina say "help me" before she was knocked unconscious and then possessed by Overlorder BROKE ME! I was like "OH NO! ITS HAPPENING AGAIN! NOT MARINA!!" The build up to the 10th floor was so anxiety inducing because you know in the back of your mind that Marina is gonna fight you but you don't know what it's gonna look like, if you were there since Splatoon 2 and have watched Pearl and Marina since the beginning then this build up is even more anxiety inducing and its pretty damn good. And once you free Marina she feels so sorry about what happened and helps you out to put things right, heck she goes through a small character arc of embracing chaos.... but... i have to say...

It is unfortunately not executed that well or with any depth in my opinion because they repeated the whole thing of "oh no a character we know is evil because of (quote on quote) mind control!!!! oh noooo!!" Which is a tired trope in this series that needs to stop or else I'm gonna get REALLYYYYYY pissed off.

I've done enough ranting about Callie's villain arc and how that has been misinterpreted and stuff, but for Marina, i really wish they didn't do the whole "oh no a character is evil because of an evil character oh nooo!! we gotta save them!!" thing again and i wish Marina was more of a villain with a sad motivation for her actions. As much as its cute to see Pearl and Marina act all flirty with each other in Side Order, it kinda ruins the mysterious and dark tone of the story that was teased from the trailers and the tutorial in my opinion. Everything is also explained so quickly early on which really sucks. I really wish Marina was actually conscious throughout her time as Marina Agitando and most of it should have been her fault. She does blame herself for creating Overlorder but it's kinda brushed aside quickly and Marina ends up being totally fine and free of guilt. There isn't enough depth to it which is so lame and a missed opportunity.

Marina is flawed, she makes mistakes and acts emotional and angry sometimes. We have seen a side of Marina where she snaps at Pearl when she loses Splatfests and has shown signs that she still hasn't recovered from her time before she met Pearl.

She picked team Order because she was genuinely scared that her new life would fall apart and she doesn't wanna lose the people (especially Pearl) that she's met and grown to love. Marina is also heavily theorized to be on the autism spectrum and as someone who is autistic, i can see myself in Marina, they could have really explored Marina's psyche and mental health in Side Order but they just... didn't. Instead she's put to sleep and controlled by her ai child and all of the focus is put on stopping it like a traditional "oh no we gotta stop an evil ai!! oh noo!!" story... ugh... I mean Smollusk is cute i guess but there's not a ton to them and they come off as yet another "evil ai that wants order and control!! roarrr!!!"

From reading the most recent interview on Side Order and seeing the concept art, they said that they wanted to tell a story about Marina losing herself to a machine that she created. Could you imagine how tragic it would have been to learn more about Marina and how she's so wrapped up in anxiety that she decides to make this replica of Inkopolis Square and make the Memverse? Maybe at first she makes it to help Sanitized Octolings just like in the dlc, but then maybe due to overwork and burnout (which Pearl mentions in the tutorial by the way), her emotions and anxiety become so strong that she becomes consumed by it, this obsession of order and trying to achieve happiness takes over her and then she gets the idea to spread this order to the real world, where her friends can be "happy" and "safe." Maybe Overlorder is still there but they just whisper to Marina, manipulate and point her in the right direction to continue to her mission of order instead of just fucking knocking her out and using her as a meat puppet for 5 minutes.

Could you imagine how much better the build up would have been to not see Marina until you get to the 30th floor for the first time and you got to unlock her diary entries beforehand? Seeing her thought process and her slow descent into becoming an antagonist. I'm not sure how they would have changed the permanent upgrades but they could have thought of something man. I get that they wanted to subvert expectations but, i think they should have gone WAY further with Marina Agitando.

I was waiting for Pearl and Marina to have their "Tidal Rush" moment where it's this emotional battle between the two, could you imagine how DEVISTATING a remix of Ebb and Flow would have been if it had gotten that "Tidal Rush" type of remix? Pearl singing her parts in this chaotic and emotional way, on the brink of tears trying to get Marina back and calm her down, and Marina trying to fight back against her words, not wanting to believe her because she's so wrapped up trying to make them both happy in her way. She's so caught up in order that she has forgotten what Pearl wants, that Pearl wants to be with her and go against any obstacle that stands in their way together. God i would have cried seeing that I'm not gonna lie. Maybe once Marina starts to think rationally, she breaks free from the machine and then leaps into Pearl's arms, and then we have to go back up the 30 floors to fight Overlorder and we slowly see Marina learn to embrace chaos throughout the floors instead of it just being at the final boss.

I really do feel like Splatoon has this issue of trying to appeal way too hard to kids and being really scared to dive into the flaws of these characters. They are so avoidant of being more serious and they hide it away in optional collectables and obscure posts on social media that creates misinformation and stories that feel way too undeveloped. They just say "oh this character has been brainwashed!!" which is such a lazy and bullshit trope they slap on these characters to avoid getting into their flaws for some stupid reason. (Hell that word has lost all meaning to me now to be honest. Like no, Callie wasn't "brainwashed" per say, hypnosis is not brainwashing or mind control I've said that a trillion times in other blog posts but whatever. Agent 3 was knocked out and had no clue on what was happening. They weren't "brainwashed" they were used as a puppet from a fucking goopy telephone for five minutes while they were asleep. Maybe its poor translation i don't know.)

I know that Splatoon is made for all ages and primarily for children but, i find that to be a stupid excuse for bad storytelling, a good story with depth that's explored and set up properly can be applied to all kinds of age groups not just adults. And the adults that say that shit too, why do you think like that? Why do you wish to dismiss that sort of thing in media? So what if it's made for kids? Adults write these stories and plant themes and arcs into them. Why do you think people cried over the Rosalina storybook in Mario Galaxy and think its the best part of that game? You don't want that kind of stuff in games because "they are made for kids"? Why do you think there are so many adults in the Splatoon community hmm?

I am so worried for Deep Cut in the next game because i really don't want this to happen again, i want an actual proper villain arc for either Frye or Shiver. No hypnosis, no brainwashing, no mind control. Just a pure fucking villain arc caused by the flaws of the characters and without the involvement of a third party. Please, i wanna see growth in these characters that is explored way more clearly and better. Or maybe don't do a villain arc again and just have Deep Cut be fully happy with each other and develop their relationship more with lore and backstory. PLEASE!

Anyways ramble over, thank you for reading!

[bellmo15-blog]

The Best Eyewear In All Of Splatoon

Your all wrong when you say Splatoon 2’s campaign is worse than Splatoon 1’s. It is actually better for one sole reason! We get to see Callie with the hypno shades!!! Your arguments are instantly invalid!!!

Okay obviously I’m joking. Yes, Splatoon 2’s main campaign was more or less just a less interesting version of Splatoon 1’s but it did give us the Hypno Shades at least. And also Callie with the Hypno Shades! Knowing me and my love for hypnosis of course I’d be into this. Even more so since if you play the final boss a second time Callie openly admits to putting them on again willingly because she likes them. Based! Actually this series has A LOT of hypno content anyway aside from this! You got Sanatized Octarians in Octo Expansion, the Octarians in Splatoon 3 are definitely hypnotized by Mr Grizz and Side Order is just one big Mass Hypnosis plot. Oh and I guess there’s also Calamiar Inkantation if you believe that fan theory that it’s meant to be MK Ultra. Yes, that’s a real theory. But those are potential hypno scenarios to put my Inkling Self though for another time. Right now, it’s Hypno Shades 0’clock after finding them just lying around in Octo Vally, not realizing they are hypno shades and is now under the control of the Octatina Army. Or at least until Shiver saves him. But even then, he’d probably still take these shades home with him.

I’ve been wanting to get my Inkling Self with the Hypno Shades ever since I first started using this AU version of my sona because not only are they a fun hypnosis item but they just look really cool two. And of course, I thought I might as well go the extra mile and have them dressed in a version of Callie’s outfit from Splatoon 2 while she’s under the control of the Octarinas because that is a genuinely cool outfit she has. Yeah that outfits made for a female but I mean, have you seen some of the stuff I’ve had my human self wear? Hell have you seen what the main outfit of my Genie Self is? XD

Artist is AngelicMoonStone.

[secretagentspydetectiveninja]

Splataclysm! - chapter 4

So uh, since Splatoon 2 is out now, have another chapter of the weird Splatoon AU I guess! Don’t worry if you don’t know anything about Splatoon it doesn’t matter lol

(Also on AO3 by the way)

Octarian ink hurt.

That was the first thing Marinette found out after entering the kettle in Octo Valley, with Adrien – or Chat Noir, rather – at her side.

The Octotroopers were strange Octarian enemies that seemed to be a single tentacle, or bunch of tentacles, with a face stuck on them. They blasted out globs of toxic purple ink from their weapons. Slow moving, easy to splat, not very bright, situated at large intervals so it was easy to have a rest in between.

But still. Their ink hurt.

“This stuff is impossible to walk through,” Adrien muttered, flinging some green ink from his Krak-On Splat Roller onto the ground ahead to cover up the toxic purple ink.

“It’s a different type of ink,” Marinette replied.

“Indeed, that’s right, buckos!” The voice of Captain Fu echoed through their radios, slightly static. “And if you get splatted with this stuff, it’s curtains for you. There’ll be no respawning from that!”

“It’s alright, we won’t get splatted,” Marinette said. “Isn’t that right, Chat Noir?”

His face paled but he nodded anyway. “Yes that’s right… Ladybug…”

Marinette looked to their path ahead. These underground kettles certainly didn’t look underground from the inside, since the walls were covered in large screens that had sky and scenery on them. It made sense that the Octarians did that – no one would want to look at a grungy cave wall for their lives.

The two heroes carried on along the narrow pathways, trying to avoid falling down the sheer drops on the sides. Every now and then they’d come across another gonkish Octotrooper and it would shoot at them in complete futility. Splatting them was no real challenge. The Octotroopers were not very good at their job. Tiny droplets of their ink did manage to splash onto Marinette occasionally, and it stung, but it was nothing that a quick swim in inkling ink couldn’t heal.

It wasn’t long before the end of the kettle was in sight.

“There’s a butterfly trapped up there!” Captain Fu said, able to see what was going on through the miniature cameras installed in their outfits. “Go get it out of there and bring it back here!”

“Not the Great Butterfly?” Marinette asked.

“No, they won’t guard that one so easily. But they stole more butterflies from us than just that. You’ll have to free as many as possible. That’ll depower their defences enough for you to get further into Octarian territory.”

“And then we can find Nino,” Marinette said, directing that last bit at Adrien. He looked somewhat worried.

“Yep, that’s right!” Fu said. “Anyway, Octotroopers up ahead blocking your path. Give ‘em heck!”

Marinette didn’t even need to think. She ran up and unleashed a barrage of shots from her Hero Shot, hitting the Octotroopers before they could even blink. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Adrien doing the same with his weapon.

There, only a few left now. These remaining Octotroopers had shields up in front of them. Marinette lobbed a Splat Bomb over their heads, causing them to turn around and look, and then she splatted them while they were distracted. Huh, these poor Octotroopers really weren’t too smart. Hopefully they could respawn soon enough considering they were in their home area. She did not like the idea of killing off these Octarians for real.

Within a few more seconds, all the Octotroopers had been wiped out. Marinette leapt up onto the platform and grabbed the butterfly from where it had been trapped. It was concealed in a little yellow bubble and seemed to flutter excitedly when it saw that she was rescuing it.

“Good job, buckos! Now get that butterfly back here and we can start working on the next kettle!”

Adrien had left a Squid Beakon back near the entrance to the kettle so the two of them Super Jumped back to it, then climbed up out of the kettle and back into fresh air. Captain Fu was waiting there to greet them.

“Nice work!” He stepped forwards and took the butterfly off Marinette. “The next kettle’s gotta be around here somewhere, go have a look for it. I’ll go and put this back where it belongs.” He shuffled off with the butterfly.

“Well, we did it,” Marinette said, smiling at Adrien. “We did a good job.”

He shook his head. “No. You did a good job. I really didn’t get to do much.”

“What? Of course you did! You’re fantastic!”

“Not compared to you!”

She put a hand on his shoulder, looking him right in the eyes. “Is this because I’m a rank S+?”

“Huh? N-no, of course not… I just…” He looked down at the ground. “I really didn’t do that much. I want to help out more. I’ll do better next time. You’re just so fantastic, and so talented and so good at what you do! You’re amazing, Marinette!”

“It’s taken a long time of hard work to get as good as I am now. You’ll get there too soon enough. I know you haven’t been in Inkopolis for as long as I have, but you’re doing amazingly so far.”

He smiled, looking a little better now. “Thank you Marinette. I know we’re not supposed to tell anyone about what we’re doing here, but do you think my father would be proud of me?”

“Of course!”

“And would Nino be proud of us?”

“Nino would be super proud of us!”

“I can’t wait to see him again!”

“Me too.” Marinette turned and looked at the rest of the valley behind them. “Ready to go looking for more kettles?”

“Yeah, let’s do that!”

“Hey Rose, some dodgy emo sea urchin called Juleka wants your number because she’s too shy to ask you out in person.”

No point beating about the bush. At least this way Rose wouldn’t mistakenly think Nath wanted her number for himself.

“Oh, Juleka!” Rose smiled sweetly, mumbling through a mouthful of ice cream. “I’ve seen her! She’s such a cutie pie, isn’t she?”

“Uh… nah. Not really.”

Rose giggled. “Well, I would be very glad to talk to her in person, but if that would make her uncomfortable then she can certainly have my phone number. Here – please take this to her!”

Rose quickly took a piece of paper from her pocket and scribbled down a number, leaning on the table of the café in Arowana Mall that they were at. She handed it to Nath.

“Thanks,” he muttered, getting up to leave. “Uh, do you want me to pay for the ice cream, or–”

“It’s alright, I’ll do it! You go give that number to her!”

“Thanks, Rose.”

Well, maybe Rose wasn’t that bad all the time. Having an overly sweet, polite friend paid off sometimes. Nath needed to save up as much money as he could for new weapons, after all.

Already back in Inkopolis Plaza, it occurred to him he couldn’t quite remember the way to Juleka’s little black-market hideout. Which of these alleys led to it? He looked around for someone to ask – preferably not someone too fresh and intimidating.

Plagg the cat was lying on his little pedestal in the corner, watching him. Huh, maybe he would know.

“Plagg, can I ask you something?” Nath said. “Which way do I go to find Juleka?”

“That way,” Plagg said, raising a finger in a certain direction and then dropping it. “Why, do you want some new abilities or something?”

“I ordered a new beret from her and I have to go pay her.”

“Oof. Her prices are steep, but she’s good. She can even change abilities on gear if you pay her enough. Say your shoes have attack bonuses but you want defence bonuses? She can do it.”

“Wait, really? Thanks for letting me know!”

“No problem, kid.” Plagg yawned. “Say, you’ve been working real hard lately, doing a load of battles and not getting much fun out of it. You deserve something good. Here, take a Super Sea Snail.”

Plagg reached out from behind him and put one straight into Nath’s hands, winking.

“Thank you!”

“Seriously, no problem. I’ve got a surplus of them and the next Splatfest is pretty far off. You need it more than I do. Now go pay for that beret of yours!”

Nath nodded, then ran off down the alley that Plagg had indicated.

Wow! A real Super Sea Snail! How cool was that? At least Plagg was being nice, and not treating him like some kind of newbie. In fact, Nath could just pay Juleka with this instead, right? But then what would he do with Rose’s number?

Well… once he got that beret, he would be fresh, right? And he had deduced earlier that having a girlfriend would make him even fresher… so if he bought the beret with the Super Sea Snail, then used Rose’s number to ask her out… after all, Rose wasn’t that bad, he’d get used to her boundless optimism soon enough… and surely she’d like him more than someone like Juleka…

And there Juleka was, sitting right there in exactly the same spot as she had been before.

“I got your beret,” she said, hanging it on the tip of her finger and waving it in front of his face. “Now where’s the number?”

“Um actually, I have a Super Sea Snail,” Nath said. “Here you go.”

Juleka pushed it away. “I don’t care about the Snail. I want the number.”

“Ugh, fine. I’ve got it. Here you are.”

Juleka took the piece of paper, then looked up at Nath with that fierce one red eye. “Are you telling me you had the number, but you weren’t going to give it to me? You were trying to keep it for yourself?”

“Um…”

“For your insolence, I’m gonna take both the number AND the Sea Snail.”

She snatched it right out of Nath’s hand before he could protest.

“And here’s your lousy beret.”

She chucked it at his feet and turned away, pulling her phone out of her pocket to add Rose’s number.

Nath picked up the beret and put it on his head, feeling somewhat annoyed and guilty at the same time. Dating Rose probably wasn’t a good idea anyway, she was way too annoying to have as anything other than a friend. So was Juleka. Those two would be perfect for each other. Forget about interfering there.

He went and stood in the corner with his arms folded, trying to look fresh, while he sorted out his thoughts. He had this beret now. Getting a girlfriend would be easier. Or boyfriend? He shouldn’t rule that out, not after knowing that Juleka and Rose were into each other. But if he did have a girlfriend or boyfriend or whatever, it would have to be someone he could actually get along with. Someone who understood him. Someone who actually wanted to do battles, just like him. Someone relatable.

A small, hooded figure walked over to Juleka. Great, another dodgy person. These back alleys really were a great place for being murdered.

“Hey Juleka? Can I get another ability reroll on these stupid shoes? I need defence up or Kim won’t stop making fun of me for getting splatted all the time…”

That voice! Why was it so familiar? He could have sworn he had heard it in battle before…

Against the Slaughter Squad…

Of course – it was Alix. No one else was that short. He just hadn’t realized it was her when she had a hoodie on, covering all that bright pink hair.

Hang on. She was talking to Juleka? Juleka knew her? And Juleka knew Nath, too! That was like, one degree of separation from one of the toughest, freshest, most infamous inklings around! Did this mean he could actually speak to her? Should he?

But no… there was no way he could just talk to one of the Slaughter Squad. That was unthinkable!

What about Juleka, though? She wasn’t even an inkling, she was just some sea urchin running a shady business, and clearly she could talk to the Slaughter Squad. So why not Nath? They were fellow inklings, just like him!

But they were so cool. Too cool. Even with this beret, he was nowhere near their level. Better to just let it be.

Well, this felt familiar. Back home in Calamari County, after Mireille and Aurore had left, he had been too shy to talk to anyone else. They probably didn’t want to talk to him anyway. He was used to feeling lonely. At least here in Inkopolis, there was a chance to improve himself. Perhaps he would be popular too someday. In the meantime, it might be a good idea to get this jealousy under control.

Marinette and Adrien’s adventures through Octo Valley continued. They rescued butterflies from several more kettles, venturing further and further into Octarian territory as they did so. The enemies became more difficult to defeat too, using smarter tactics and better armour. It was not easy.

Adrien just kept reminding himself of one thing. Do it for Nino. Everything they went through, it was to save Nino. To make sure he was okay. He didn’t deserve to be kidnapped from home by Octarians and kept away from everyone he cared about for over a month! No – they had to rescue him. They just had to. No matter how tough it was.

Days passed through their adventures, and they finally came to a kettle that looked bigger than the rest, even from the outside. As soon as they entered, something looked different.

The entire kettle was just a large, circular arena with a metallic cube near the back. In the centre was a rather large looking butterfly – though not large enough to have been the Great Butterfly from the top of Inkopolis Tower. As soon as they took a step towards it, a giant tentacle sprouted from the cube and grabbed the butterfly, pulling it inside the cube. The cube itself then rose up in the air and landed with a thud in the centre to reveal a giant purple face on the side of it.

“Uh-oh buckos, that’s the Mighty Octostomp,” Fu warned through the radio. “I believe it’s what the kids are calling a ‘boss level’? Anyway, you’d better defeat it if you want to get that butterfly and rescue your friend. Good luck!”

A boss level? Adrien shuddered involuntarily. He was nowhere near as good as Marinette and he knew it. This was not going to be easy. But he had to do it. He had to do it for Nino.

The Octostomp, giant and looming, began shuffling across the ground towards them, leaving purple ink in its wake. Marinette tried shooting at it but that didn’t achieve anything. The Octostomp suddenly jumped high up in the air, almost directly above them.

“Chat, look out!” Marinette called, grabbing his arm and pulling him aside. The next second, the Octostomp had thudded back down to the ground, landing on its face and splashing purple ink everywhere. A few drops got onto Adrien and he quickly brushed them off. Octarian ink was something he could never get used to.

“Look, it’s stuck! Let’s use that!”

Marinette had already run around to the side of the Octostomp and begun shooting ink at it, leaving long green trails up the wall. Without thinking, Adrien transformed into squid form and swam up the ink until he reached the top of the cube. The tentacle was here, sticking out of a hole. Adrien whacked his Krak-On Splat Roller onto the ground and flung ink at the tentacle as much as he could, hoping that would do something.

After several seconds, the tentacle exploded in a burst of green ink. Yes!

“Ladybug, look! I did it!” Adrien waved back down at her.

“Watch out! It’s going to do something!”

Looking back, he saw that purple ink was now gushing out of the hole where the tentacle had been before, and the entire cube was shaking. He quickly Super Jumped back down to Marinette on the ground, just in time. The Octostomp grew another tentacle and thrust it out of the hole at the same time as jumping back into a position where it could attack from, shedding several of its metallic wall panels as it did so.

“It can’t have unlimited tentacles,” Marinette muttered, frowning. “We’ve got to keep destroying them. It’ll be harder to get up there again though, since some of the panels on the side are missing…”

The Octostomp was shuffling towards them again, seemingly faster this time. It must have been angry. Marinette and Adrien moved away again, avoiding all the purple ink it was leaving. Sure enough, the Octostomp repeated its trick of leaping into the air and faceplanting into the ground.

The side wall of the cube was a lot harder to get up now, considering that half the panels were missing. Marinette inked as much of it as she could, but the Octostomp got up again and started attacking them before Adrien could climb up.

“You distract it, I’ll climb up this time,” Marinette told him.

Yeah, that made sense. Marinette was way better at everything anyway. He already knew that.

The next part of the battle mostly consisted of Adrien trying to stay out of the way of all the toxic ink that seemed to be raining down everywhere. Once the Octostomp was stuck face down in the ground again, Marinette swam up the side and shot at its tentacle until it exploded, then jumped back down to the ground as it once more regrew a tentacle and righted itself. Now it looked really angry.

“I think we’re almost there,” Marinette said, giving Adrien a quick thumbs up before running off to dodge another attack.

Things were getting really difficult now. So many panels had fallen off the side that it would be extremely difficult to swim up there. In that case he would definitely leave that to Marinette. She would be much better at it.

The Octostomp moved faster than ever, spraying so much purple ink around that just staying safe was a real task, let alone trying to move around. Marinette couldn’t even get to the side of the Octostomp when it had gone face down. There was just too much toxic ink everywhere.

“I’ll use my Kraken,” Adrien said.

“What?”

“My Kraken! My Special Weapon! The gauge is filled up, I can use it…”

“Will it work though? This is Octarian ink!”

“Do we have a choice?”

Marinette shook her head. “Alright, fine… but be careful! Wait until it next faceplants, then use your Kraken to swim up its side and destroy the tentacle.”

“Got it.”

In Turf Wars and Ranked Battles, Krakens were a fantastic Special Weapon to have. It turned the inkling into a giant invincible squid for a few seconds, one that could swim through enemy ink at top speed with no repercussions, and could attack brutally and kill in one hit.

Would it work now?

Well, he had to try. For Nino.

The Octostomp leapt up into the air, then smashed itself down face-first onto the floor. Now was his chance.

He activated his Special Weapon and turned into the familiar green Kraken. It felt good to be invincible!

Surging forwards, he swam through the toxic ink like it was nothing. It was easy to get up the side of the Octostomp now that he was so big. And there – there was the tentacle! He leaped forwards and thrust at it, using his killer attack to obliterate it.

And yet… something was not right.

He felt faint. Sick. Dizzy.

Using the Kraken did not usually do that to him. Sure, it was tiring, and usually left him feeling a little out of it. But this? This was something else.

He could feel it now. The toxic ink that he had swam through. It was taking its time, but was very definitely affecting him. Starting to hurt now. Curling around his entire body like a vine, suffocating him.

As if from a distance, he felt himself sliding off the top of the Octostomp as it raised back up in the air. Saw it exploding into pieces. Saw the butterfly gently floating down into the centre of the arena, ready to be rescued. Was that real? He couldn’t even tell, not when his head was spinning so much.

His Kraken transformation was on the verge of ending now, he could feel it. And then would the pain hit full force? It was already bad enough as it was. So bad that his vision was going blurry. So bad that he couldn’t see, he couldn’t hear, he couldn’t think.

The transformation ended. He blacked out.

“Hey Adrien?”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t know if it was a great idea to bring smoothies to this place, it’s so dusty here…”

He can’t help but giggle. Smoothie dates are always the best, no matter where they are. Even if construction work dust gets into everything.

“You know Adrien, I once did something really stupid here.”

“Really? More than usual?”

A loving punch in the arm for a sassy reply like that. At least he can actually make sassy replies around someone like this. Usually, saying what’s on his mind is not an option for him.

“Yeah, more than usual. A lot more than usual. Being stupid is my strong point, and I really hecked up here once…”

Adrien shuffles a little closer. “Really? What was it?”

“Well… I threw something over the side. In the water. And now I wish I didn’t.”

“Why did you do that?”

“Because I’m an idiot! You know I told you about that person who hates me? Well yeah, it’s partly because of this.”

Adrien peers over the edge of the bridge. “Well maybe there’s a way you can fish out whatever you threw in…”

“Really? You think so?”

“Of course! You’re so cool! You can do anything you put your mind to! I wish I had your kind of motivation!”

“Aww, Adrien…”

It’s no surprise when he’s pulled straight into a hug. It happens so often. Having someone who loves him like this, is… nice. So nice.

“Adrien, you know I love you, right?”

“Of course…”

“In that case I’m buying the smoothies next time. And we’re not coming here to drink them!”

He looks up to see the flash of playfulness in those beautiful, deep, grey eyes. It melts his heart.

“Adrien? Adrien! Oh thank goodness, you’re coming round… are you okay? Please tell me you’re okay!”

Eyes…

He opened his own eyes to see a pair staring right back at him, wide in fear.

But no… those were not his beloved’s grey eyes. These were bright blue eyes.

“You’re awake! Oh, Adrien! You had me worried there!”

Oh yes, of course. It was Marinette. She leaned down and hugged him.

Wait, where was he? What was going on? His brain was still filled with the remains of memories, things he must have been dreaming about while unconscious. Now he was lying on the floor in the middle of the arena. Once Marinette had let go of him, he saw that she was holding the butterfly.

“What happened?” he asked, his voice coming out as a croak.

“You used your Kraken to defeat the Octostomp, but then you fainted,” she replied. “That Octarian ink must have done a number on you. You’ve been out for five minutes. But at least you’re okay! Wait, you’re okay, right?”

He nodded, sitting up. “Yeah, I’m okay. Don’t worry.”

“Phew, I’m glad to hear that.”

“And so am I!” Captain Fu said through the radio. “I’d suggest only using your Kraken in emergency situations if it’s gonna knock you out like that. And now that you’ve got that butterfly, you’d better get out of there and back here.”

“Yeah, let’s go,” Marinette said. She stood up and then grabbed Adrien’s hand and pulled him up too. He still felt a little dizzy, but it was going away. Good.

“How long do you think it’ll take before we find Nino?” he asked.

“I have no idea.”

“I miss home.”

“Really? It’s only been a few days!”

“I know…”

Marinette hugged him again. “Don’t worry, we’ll do this as quickly as possible. You’re doing such a great job so far. I could never have done this without your help.”

That made him feel a lot better. He followed as Marinette climbed out of the kettle, over to Fu’s shack, and gave him the butterfly.

Missing home? That wasn’t exactly right. It wasn’t his house he missed, or his strict father, or even the battles he used to take part in. It was a certain person he missed. Nino, obviously, but someone else. Someone who hadn’t gone missing. Someone who he had shared smoothies with on Hammerhead Bridge one day…

[askroahmmythril]

Oh man insomnia.

Heck yeah, stressing out over potential channel drama in the comment section, wanting to try to make peace and being afraid of just making things worse, oh man, my favorite kind of night ~_~;

So going to ramble a bit on random thoughts on things until I feel tired enough to sleep.

You’d think I’d have an easier time of it, I feel sore and stiff from having been working a lot today on cleaning my room in preparation for the new computer’s arrival.  At least got a decent chunk of it done, but still quite a good bit more to go.  I just have to hope in the end this all works out and I can have both systems running.

I don’t know how to feel about the fact that the main interest I had in today’s Nintendo Direct was new amiibo news.  I’m not sure I’m too enthusiastic for ARMs admittedly, and Splatoon 2, I fear it being like the original in the sense that Nintendo kinda forgot not everyone can play games online.  Splatoon 1 felt pretty limiting in that regard, like, I don’t see why they couldn’t have just let you buy outfits and weapons to play around with in single player just to have fun with them?  Like if they want my Splatoon 2 money, that’s something I hope they cover.  To be fair maybe they did and I just didn’t hear about it, all I really have to go on from the Direct is hearsay from friends, as bandwidth problems preclude me from watching things like that during the day as it happens.

On the subject of amiibos, I’m not sure how to feel about Cloud, Corrin, and Bayonetta all getting secondary amiibos of their alt costumes (well, alt gender for Corrin, but you know what I mean).  On one hand, I’m happy for a Bayo 1 amiibo because I preferred her Bayo 1 outfit to Bayo 2.  However, it weirds me out a little since, for example, we didn’t get Female Robin, Male Wii Fit Trainer, or Alph amiibos.  Which further tears me.  On one hand, I wouldn’t say no to a Lemmy amiibo.  He’s freakin’ adorable.  But space concerns, man!  Clearly the answer is I need more shelves in my room.  Granted I still don’t even have all the current amiibos.  Of those that have been released in the US, I’m still missing Mega Yarn Yoshi and the five new Zelda amiibos that came out for Breath of the Wild (Rider Link, Archer Link, Zelda, Bokoblin, Guardian).

I’ve started the process of trying to breed some replacement Pokemon to take the places of things like Spikey Eared Pichu and the Cosplay Pikachu, forms I can’t transfer through Bank onto 7th gen.  I’m working on these new Pokemon back on X and Alpha Sapphire.  It’s a weird feeling going back to a) having a bike, and b) having to rely on HM moves to get around.  Also in planning movesets for these new breeds, I’m still weirded out that Seismitoad can’t learn a physical Water move.

On Isaac, I had perhaps one of the most terrifying yet fun item sets I’ve gotten to experience during a Lilith Greed Mode run.  I had Box of Friends of course, but that was combined with Car Battery, The Battery, and 9 Volt.  So faster charges, being able to store a second full charge, and getting credit for two uses of the active item every time I used it.  So I could very quickly get a large army of Incubuses (...Incubi...?) following me.  And then I got Ipecac.  And Parasite.  So huge waves of explosive shots that split into smaller explosive shots.  Terrifying.  But fun.  And effective.

Earlier discussion of 80s music just made me remember how much I like Duran Duran.  Personal favorites include “Union of the Snake” and “Hungry Like the Wolf.”  I am for some reason struck with the odd fact that, as much as I like their music, whenever I’m asked about favorite music groups, I don’t often think to include them.

Okay I think it’s sleep time now.  Time to faceplant into bed.

[bwprowl]

It’s a week of Wonder-ful reveals for an upcoming superhero movie, as well as delightful displays of dangerous desk lamps and real-world legends. We’ll also note pre-orders for swords and souls (eternally retold) and a plug for the best kind of toy of all: A book. All this, plus ninjas and squids, here on Tuesday Night Toys!

New Stuff: The Strongest Woman in the World

That Wonder Woman movie is definitely a thing, innit? As DC tries to steer their comic-film franchises into something that can hope to compete with Marvel, maybe we the consumers can at least win as far as collectibles go. Mattel revealed some of the line they’ll be doing the movie, and they thus far seem to be embracing the feminine focus of the film by combining their doll-crafting experience with their superhero-action game, producing some very nice-looking action dolls of Wondy. I honestly can’t overstate how impressed I am by these things, they’re fully-articulated figures decked out in well-detailed armor and outfits, ready for battle (even the evening-gown Diana comes with a ‘hidden sword’), and they also have rooted hair and fabric clothes, and overall the whole mix just looks really cool; it’s a great way to do the line. Getting those Negima dolls last month broke the seal for me on these types of things, so if I like the movie enough, maybe I’ll get one of these.

If you’re like me (and if you’re bothering to read this thing, you probably are, a little bit) you enjoy fighting games for their in-depth competitive scene as much as you do actually playing them. In probably the first of this type of thing I’ve seen, legendary Street Fighter player Daigo will be getting his very own statue by Kinetiquettes (who’ve made a few nice SF statues already). This is a high-end affair just like their other pieces, and features the likeness of The Beast holding his fight stick. It’s definitely one of the most interesting things I’ve seen happen, as far as toys and video games go.

This statue is better at Street Fighter than I am

If you’re less into a figurative god at fighting games and more about a living robot planet-god that eats other planets, then Soldier Story has you covered with this Unicron…desk lamp. Yup, this big, badass statue-thing is officially a lamp. Really, it’s just a huge awesome Unicron that lights up and projects a Decepticon symbol (even though Unicron isn’t a Decepticon…) and generally makes your desk look really impressive more than it provides light for it. As far as that goes, it looks good enough that it might be worth owning for that.

insert obligatory joke about lighting your darkest hour

Wishlist: Swordcraft Story

Between Bandai pumping out high-end toys of past toku trinkets and Bandai of America going all-in on classic-MMPR nostalgia-bait in their Legacy line, there’s never been a better time to be a fan of cool old Sentai stuff. BofA’s latest Legacy offering, the Red Power Sword, is up for pre-order. Big stuff like this makes for a great display piece, and if you’re one of those people that meticulously constructs a cosplay of the Red/Tyranno Ranger (and tops it off with that helmet they’re also selling), then this is a must-have.

Soulcalibur and I had a messy breakup a few years back (I disagreed with the lifestyle choices SCV made), but damn if I don’t still have some fond memories of that series. First4Figures must too, since they’re producing a statue of venerable villain and effective game-mascot Nightmare, in his most-iconic SoCal 2 appearance. They've even got an exclusive even-more-expensive version that has light-up eyes!  Maybe I can grab this and do that memetic Wolverine pose when I feel a longing for all the good times me and this sword-swinging game shared.

Writer Blake Wright has a Kickstarter up for this book, Toys That Time Forgot, chronicling ‘lost’ toylines that were planned or licensed out but ended up not being produced for some reason, and it is *exactly* up my alley. I’m fascinated by stories of toys that were created based on series or movies or other licenses or what have you, and learning all about them. I’ve already kicked in for this thing, and it *seems* to be on-track to be funded. I’m really hoping to see some of the stretch goals there, such as a chapters on the long-canceled Alien figures that eventually got produced by Super 7, or the end of the ‘vintage’ Star Wars line.

I’m also just a liiiiittle salty I missed out on the exclusive pledge tier that came with that Alex Ross Super Grover print

On Desk: Ninja Starfish

I buy toys for a lot of reasons. Maybe they’re based on something I like, maybe they look cool or fun on their own, there are lots of easy, obvious reasons to pick these things up. And then sometimes things get a bit more esoteric. I’ve never watched any of Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger, let alone its Power Rangers adaptation Ninja Storm, but when Bandai of America’s Legacy line of figures rolled out toys of the Ninja Rangers in its first wave, my thought upon seeing the Blue Ranger was “Oh yeah, she was played by Nao Nagasawa, that cool actress who’s popped up in a lot of other toku shows I’ve watched”. So I’d thought about it for a while, and when I saw one still on the shelf the other day, I decided to go for it (I mean, it’s cheaper than buying the Figuarts for such a silly reason).

This is a pretty cool figure, all told! Bandai’s PR sculpts are still a bit too…defined for my tastes, but these aren’t quite as bad as some of the Roided-up/Supermodeled-out Rangers they were doing a few years ago. The design works fine enough for Nanami in her suit, and the Hurricaneger suit design is a very cool one (probably my favorite of the Ninja-inspired Sentai). The toy, being ostensibly a ‘collector’ piece, doesn’t skimp on detail either, with the ‘mail’ design of the arms and legs sculpted in, and everything including little glove details painted on.

Articulation is up to the standard it sets for itself as well, with the arms in particular getting tons of motion out of their various universal joints. The ball-jointed abdomen helps a lot too, and the double-jointed neck is great. The hips are one place the figure gets tripped up, predictably by the skirt. Bandai actually pre-cut slits in the sides of the skirt for this one (as collectors of their previous PR toys have been doing for years), and it helps a little, but the piece is still so stiff that the hips end up pretty restricted anyway. It rather cuts down on nicely ninja-esque crouching poses, but while it’s annoying, it’s not really a deal-breaker.

Accessories are a bit limited as well, coming with the standard Hurricaneger sword both in its sheathe to stick to her back, and out so she can hold and swing it. The sword on the back does a lot of cool things for the silhouette of this Ranger design, and is a big part of what I love so much about the look. And having some weapon assists in posing quite a bit. The only other thing she comes with are the Build-A-Megazord pieces, a really cool idea for a pack-in on these toys that I just have no use for in this case since I have no intention of getting the other figures from this set. These bits can’t even fit on the Astro Megazord BAF components I’ve collected with the Power Rangers in Space toys I’ve gotten so far, so no mecha-swapping funtimes. At the very least the ‘arm’ bit works as a little toy of HurricaneBlue’s dolphin mecha, I guess.

I also came upon Jakks’s Splatoon Inkling Boy figure from their World of Nintendo line. I’d been burned by their Link toy a few years ago so badly that I thought I’d sworn the whole line off, but my curiosity got the better of me, so I spent eight whole dollars to check this thing out. And it’s…actually not terrible! The design is nicely simple, so there’s not a lot Jakks could screw up in terms of sculpt or paint, and what there is has been cleanly applied and looks decently nice. The limbs are thin enough that I do worry about fragility, and there was a terrifying moment when I moved the leg and heard a cracking sound in the hip and went “Oh no not again” but it’s still attached so it must have just been some paint on the joint moving loose. 

Overall, a fine enough job and probably worth it if you want a cheap, posable squid-kid figure (Splatoon 2 hype has already started, after all). If they do the girl Inkling, I’ll probably get it. Callie and Marie too.

Hope you enjoyed all that, everyone! I’ll see you back here next week, and until then, have fun!