#once he has enough he will put them into groups based on theme

[fooleds]

what's one thing your muse has too much of but can't stop buying? log

those ducks in the play until u win claw machines

[the-ninjago-girl]

Ya wanna know what I just realized? The overall theme of scarlet and violet isn't actually about our treasure hunt, or making friends along the way,

It's obsession.(and how it hurts those around us.)

In the base game of pokemon scarlet and violet, we learn that the professor,(sada or turo depending on which version you play.) was absolutely obsessed with the paradox pokemon within the scarlet/violet book. They were so obsessed with these pokemon that they wanted, NEEDED to make them a reality by bringing them into our own. Their obsession was so bad, that they not only lost their significant other, but neglected their son to the point of completely abandoning him, all for the purpose of "paradise". Not realizing they already had one with their son.

The obsession has been with the professor since their childhood. As seen in the secret cutscene at kitakami's crystal pool with terapagos in your party, it brings the professor from iirc 10 years before the events of the game start. When they ask to trade for the book ms. Brair wrote they offer their copy of the s/v book and tell you "this book captured my imagination as a child and never let go." They were obsessed. It costed them their life, completely ruined arvens childhood, and almost caused the destruction of the Paldea region because they were too obsessed with having pokemon of the past/future along side them.

Then we go to kitakami, and meet Kieran. A boy who is obsessed with the ogre, a.k.a ogerpon. Kieran believes the two as kindred spirits, outcasts in kitakami because they were different. Though rightly upset at you and his sister for not telling him about meeting ogerpon, takes it too far when he steals the mask from his grandfather. As a result of winning the battle to get the mask back from him his obsession shifts, not really about befriending ogerpon anymore, but about beating you/being as good as you are. He becomes mean and ruthless to those around him in blueberry academy, becoming champion in order to try to be strong enough to beat you.

In the underdepths of area zero his obsession with beating you causes him to seek out terapagos, and catch it so that he can finally beat you.

And finally ms. Briar, obsessed with terapagos and proving it was real. Her ancestor, the original author of the s/v book, heath, was claimed and told to be nothing more than a liar after writing what he had found in area zero. Briar was obsessed, determined to prove terapagos' existence to clear her ancestors name, and that everything in the s/v book was in fact real. In kitakami she was more concerned with figuring out the terastal phenomenon than helping to guide the students from the 2 schools on their field trip.

And once in blueberry, she asks you, carmine and Kieran to join her in area zero to find terapagos. Once in the underdepths she puts herself in danger because of a strangely terastalized glimmora, of which you battle to protect her and the siblings. In the final chamber of the underdepths, she eggs on Kieran to take terapagos(in crystal form) out of the tera crystals around it to finally see the pokemon she's been trying to get to for so long, and then tells him to terastalize the pokemon, putting everyone in danger. As the amount of Tera energy is too much for the little pokemon to control, and thus it goes out of control, destroying the environment around it, nearly causing a cave in.

Ms. Briars obsession with finding terapagos nearly caused the group to get killed because she was so obsessed with finding terapagos. Obsessed with proving that heath was telling the truth all this time.

Pokemon scarlet and violet showed that obsession can hurt and harm those around you. That an obsession like sada/turo, Kieran and ms Briars', will cause the pain of others and themselves in order to reach their goal.

[da-janela-lateral]

MP100 S2E01 under a writer's perspective

The Emi Fukami episode in Mob Psycho 100 was a beautiful display of Mob's character development in relation to his individuality and a earnest vision of emotional vulnerability, but I want to call attention to a single detail: Emi being a writer.

Out of all the secret truths that the cast masks during the narrative, Emi's must be one of the most mundane. She is writing a book. She doesn't want people to know about it, much less read it, as Emi was led to believe this hobby of hers was embarassing.

I find it very interesting that Emi, character whose focus episode revolves around vulnerability, has writing has her main passion. In a way, writing is one of the most revealing art forms that there is. Literary choices are a reflection of the author's context, beliefs, likes and dislikes, fears and dreams, even though many of these choices cannot be perceived in a sensible level. Even if I suddenly decided to write a tale about a random theme - you say, a blue-footed booby who becomes an architect while wearing ballet shoes - it would say something about me. It could be a preferred text type, my sense of humor or even my idea of what is "random". Word choices, rhythm, figures of speech, themes, narrative structures, spins on a literary genre's expectations - all of these and more consist of conscious or unconscious decisions made by the writer. Writing as an art form serves as a mirror to the artist's very mind.

As a result, a piece of text can be a very delicate thing. Many people would only reveal their works to a exemplarily trusted someone, or to no one at all. That's the origin and end of uncountable masterpieces. It is also associated to passion. Few are the writers who characterize themselves as such and don't feel a duty to write. Yes, duty. Not all pieces are a labor of love, but it's almost universal that they're one of resolve, as little as it might be. One can unlock a fundamental will to write something in spite of it being weary work. At this point, for many writers, it's not a simple hobby. It's a need. It's a compulsory manner of expression hardwired onto our brains; thus, it's an inseparable part of who we are.

So what does any of this have to do with Emi's arc?

S2E01 is all about being vulnerable. Even though Emi had only asked out Mob because of a bet and hanged out with him for a week, she felt safe enough to show him her book. Her own friend group didn't have an idea that she was working on one, and once they discovered this, they ridiculed Emi's effort and teared it to shreds. Emi tried to alleviate this rejection by affirming she didn't care for her work, while everything shown previously on the episode proved this was wrong. In turn, Mob uses his psychic powers to put back her text together - his first public demonstration of them since he was a child. Mob was honest about himself by revealing he was an esper. Emi was honest by wanting his opinion on her book.

Emi is a fourteen year old girl going through a confusing and ever changing phase of her life. After doubting on Mob's emotions, she tells him that she too doesn't know well who she is, and her actions around her friends prove how she was prone to peer pressure. Her mind and identity were on an uncertain state, and this would also reflect on her writing. Emi uses complicated words, perhaps to make her writing sound more serious. Based on a translation of her work "Adventure", she uses more of a stream of consciousness prose and ambiguous descriptions. She immediately decides to write something different after her experiences with Mob. Emi has a personal style! She has techniques and topics she enjoys and active choices about how she will employ them! Emi has a bit of her on her story and this was why she hid it so much: a mockery of it would be synonym of a mockery of herself.

This is what makes the plotline with her book so important to express the episode's themes. Emi felt insecure to reveal such an integral part of herself to the world until someone came and not only took it seriously, but appreciated it enough to make an effort to understand it better. It tells a lot how Mob's demonstration of caring made her leave the people who destroyed her work.

As a writer, this detail gave a whole another layer of significance for the episode. I've felt Emi's struggle in a very intense level on the past. Storytelling is something so dear to me I can't see myself without the adjective of "writer", but the acknowledgement of my work would be the same as exposing myself to the world. It can be scary at times, to divulge something so sincere to others. However, such is the writer's role: divulging. For reasons long unknown a magical excess of words was born to me, and this coincidence can't be supressed and abandoned on the dark. There is something I can offer copiously hand in hand and its words. Words. Words. Words... And the reflection of me resonates on others.

[luluplanc]

Review

Here’s my review of the Rising Sun documentary. Watching it made me feel really, deeply sad. This sentiment isn’t directed solely at The Rampage but extends to other groups I’ve seen featured in documentaries. There's often a recurring theme of placing adult expectations on young individuals, expecting them to handle responsibilities and demonstrate a maturity far beyond their years. I feel this pressure was particularly intense for the younger members, like those born in '97 and '98.

While I understand that being an idol is their chosen profession, I genuinely believe a different approach would have been better. Seeing them feel as though their spot could easily be taken by someone else was especially heartbreaking. Their anxiety must have been through the roof, and the stress they endured is almost unimaginable.

One member I felt especially bad for was Hokuto. I’ve always had a soft spot for those who come in without any background in music or dance, and for him, having no prior experience, to be suddenly thrown into such an intense training camp—it's hard to imagine the pressure. He even mentioned it was one of the most stressful times of his life. While it may look like a positive experience in hindsight, I can only imagine he must have been on the verge of a mental breakdown.

Furthermore, having them compete against each other didn’t feel right to me. They all shared the same goal of becoming idols, and it’s important to remember that, at that point, they were still kids. Imagine being a young teenager watching your best friend succeed while you don’t—that must be such a painful experience. They must have questioned their worth, thinking, "I’m not good enough," or "They’re better than me," or "I’m useless and never going to make it." That kind of pressure feels far too intense for such young people. I’m sure this doesn’t only apply to members of The Rampage, but from what I’ve seen, it was just too extreme for them. It’s clear that this experience has had a lasting impact—even now, if they aren’t giving 100%, they might feel as if they’ve failed or didn’t do well enough.

Reflecting on their feelings about the 2021 Tokyo Dome concert, I feel they’re being too hard on themselves. Despite the challenging circumstances, I believe they did an amazing job. Due to COVID, they couldn’t perform at full capacity, and their fans weren’t able to cheer, but I hope they understand that this was beyond their control and doesn’t reflect poorly on their performance. In hindsight, it might have been better to move the concert to 2022, but we can’t change the past; we can only look forward. Unfortunately, it seems this experience has stayed with them, making them feel like they missed a big opportunity. But at that time, there was nothing more they could have done. I truly hope they can appreciate that people showed up for them, and regardless of the numbers, if their fans were happy and satisfied, that’s what truly matters.

Lastly, I’m incredibly glad that from 2021 until now, all the members have worked hard to improve themselves, addressing what they once saw as flaws and celebrating the progress they’ve made. Although I couldn’t attend their 2024 Tokyo Dome concert, from what I’ve heard, they did an amazing job. Based on the documentary, it seems they felt delighted with their performance during the Tokyo Dome tour, and as a fan, I couldn’t be prouder. I’m so happy that they feel content with themselves and satisfied with this concert and all the hard work they’ve put in. I hope they continue as a group for many more years, as I feel they still have so much to offer to the world. I also hope they come to America soon—I’d love the chance to see them live. Cheers!

[james-preble]

okay this is probably going to make no sense and like 80% of it is pulled straight out of my ass but i thought it was fun to try and figure out

my ideas for how old each of the known charming cousins are and how they're all related

okay so. there's only one named aunt/uncle, and thats fairest, who's mentioned as the "youngest aunt," and is in a group of princesses that can be gathered to be vaguely similar to darling's age. bcuz shes explicitly singled out as an aunt, i think that means she is def older than the group though, so i'm gna say shes in her mid-20s maybe, so lets say like 24 or 25 maybe?

additionally, there's a theme of siblings' names starting with the same letter. however, that's sort of each cousin group, so i think that each of grandpa auspicious and grandma alluring's kids were named with a different letter, and then they each named their kids w those letters. ADDITIONALLY, in a lot of big families, as someone from a decently big family, there are often a bunch of second-cousins, who are your parents' cousins, and second-cousins-once-removed, who are their kids. so to fill in some weird gaps in ages/etc, in addition to just the number of kids, i think grandma alluring probably has a sibling, and them and their family & grandkids are also involved in the Family Ball. grandma alluring probably ended up w the sort of core oldest palace bcuz she was the older sibling, so its kind of js like the family homestead now or whatever. also, the charmings are pretty patriarchal, so if shes the older one and still ended up w the house, her sibling is def another sister.

okay so, known sibling groups:

daring--dexter--darling, grandma alluring's side, all ~16

courageous--cherished--charity, i think they'd be from gma alluring's side as well bcuz darling and dexter interact w her like theyre decently close; charity is def ~16 as well, and courageous is little so maybe like 4-7ish? cherished is w/ charity in the group of princesses that's around darling's age, so ive kind of randomly decided she's a tiny bit younger, maybe ~13-14 idk, and likes feeling like a part of things.

gallant--glorious--gutsy--gracious--gorgeous--good-enough, bcuz they start w G their parent wld be born after fairest, and since she's the "youngest aunt" im js assuming fairest doesnt have a younger brother, so theyre gma's sibling's side; good-enough is canonically 5yo, and the average age gap between siblings is ~4yrs, so lets say gracious+gorgeous are like 10 and 12 ish, gutsy a couple years older, and gallant and glorious a few more years older.

and then, not explicitly stated as siblings, but beauteous, breathtaking, beloved, and bountiful. bcuz im only basing this around two branches of the family, theyre gna be two pairs of siblings. bountiful isn't in the group w fairest/other B princesses/charity/darling, so i'm going to assume she's younger. bcuz beauteous and breathtaking r the first two mentioned im gna say they're siblings even tho that doesnt rlly make sense, and then beloved & bountiful are sisters. idk who'd be from which side though. and not sure why i feel this way but id say bountiful is ~12ish, beloved ~18ish, and then beauteous and breathtaking maybe like 18 and 20 or smth idk just to even it out and make less of a gap from fairest's age to the others.

okay now those who dont have explicitly stated siblings or vague context clues like the Bs

earnest is described as "throwing around the younger charmings w daring," so id put him maybe two years older? just to try to keep some variety in the ages. just for funsies i think he'd be from gma's sibling's side, idk why. there are two more named charmings that start w E, so to even out the number of cousins on each side, i think those two are siblings, and from gma alluring's side. that's elegant and errant. elegant can be whatever age i think, maybe similar to bountiful or a couple years younger idk. errant is stated as having told good-enough he was too little to get anything on the quest, so i think making him 2-3 years older at 7 or 8 is reasonable (also it fits into the avg sibling age gap of 4yrs purely by chance).

there's one other charming that starts w/ C, and that's caring, so she's going on gma's sibling's side.

and then the last two named charmings' names both start with F, and that's fearless and fragile. i have literally no ideas abt their ages, so like think abt them however you want lol, and im putting them on gma's sibling's side, bcuz fairest is only 25ish, and bcuz shes hanging out w a group of like younger princesses idk if she seems the type to have kids yet.

so, basically, i think it looks something like this:

sorry the photo is sideways, also i could NOT be bothered to put assumed/theorized ages on there, sorry.

[stormclaws]

thinking about the parallels between venat and g'raha and i need to lie down (but i rambled for 1.5k words instead)

major spoilers up through the end of endwalker

like they're both victims of circumstances beyond their control, right? there's no right choice to make. there's no objective way out to save everyone. but if they don't act, then there will be nobody left to save at all.

there's one person they know could do the impossible. all they need to do is put their entire trust in them, structure hundreds (or thousands) of years of their life into a singular plan to prevent disaster, and wait for them to kill you.

let's think about old sharlayan. the day theme is so pretty! the atmospheric singing is a bit hard to make out but it adds to the vibes. you can tell that they planned the city the best they could around the terrain. everything is grouped together in places that make sense, structured around learning and preserving knowledge.

we find out that beneath the city is labyrinthos, but deeper beneath that is the aitiascope. they've gone looking for god and they've found her.

and all this time she is singing. she is guiding souls gently into the afterlife with a gentle lullaby. you finally realize it: this is the singing you hear in old sharlayan. you can hear god alive and well.

imagine her watching the other reflections. each of the rejoinings. an imperfect decision that led to the final days of other entire worlds (i mean. not directly her fault but you get it) and just watching as those calamities ripple over to the source. holding on to the world she split apart. planning escape routes for humanity with the best possible outcome leading to her death.

like can you just imagine that. waiting for the one who will ultimately save the entire universe, the only one who will have then known you personally as the human you once were. who will have SEEN this put in motion and you trust them not only with your life, but the life of every person on etheriys.

and you've been holding on all these years because you want to give them one final test and blessing, culminating in your death. you grow weaker every day. and one day you finally see the strange adventurer from all those years ago come into existence and make ready for them to end yours.

do you even think about the fact that they might fail? that instead, you kill them and all of this will have been for nothing? will your love for humanity and trust in this one, singular individual have been enough?

you wait and you sing.

and back above the surface, you (the player) find some sort of familiarity in old sharlayan that you can't quite place at first. i mean yeah, there's new sharlayan in the hinterlands but you figure that the two would look similar. but when you think of the singing, another city comes to mind: the crystarium.

g'raha mentions that he based the look of the crystarium after his time in old sharlayan. it's easy to see once you pay attention: the domes, arches, white brick, and the overall elegance of the city. but even more importantly, it's designed in such a smart way that every part of the city has its own section. you can even draw similarities between the studium and crystal tower as center points.

beneath the city, they're growing plants to try and restore some of the damage from the flood of light. there's precious knowledge they want to save. they can use the crystal from the tower in the domes as protection.

the crystal exarch loves his people, but he loves his home world beyond imgine. he promised with his life to keep it safe which is why he locked himself away in the crystal tower; it was the only way to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. he was promised to be woken up when things finally got better. instead, he awoke to a future where everyone and everything he's known is dead.

do you think the blue crystal of the domes was a reminder for the people of the crystarium of the blue skies they lost a hundred years ago? or for the home g'raha could never return to?

there's no right way forward, but there is one thing he could try. there's one person he knows could make things right. so he spends a building a city, protecting his people, and studying the tower's secrets so he could tear that one person from the source and bring them to the first. it's incredibly dangerous for the warrior of light, but ultimately the crystal exarch will be the one to pay the consequence for this: his life.

like we all know how tragic it is, right? waiting all that time with the stories of the warrior of light to keep him company. he wanted to be an adventurer just like venat wanted to spend her retirement traveling the star. the game makes it very clear that he talks about what he would have loved to do if his duty didn't set him on this path. i don't need to re-invent the wheel.

but let's take a minute to let that sink in. all of this time and effort for the best possible outcome to lead to your death. imagine that there's no other way out. you've had all this time to think about it; what's one life in exchange for countless others? it's the love of his world and the warrior of light that keeps him going. (consider that love how you will--admiration, romantic, trust)

he needs that love to be the blade that kills him.

and this whole thing might fail, too. he's risking your life on this bet as well. it might be too much for the warrior of darkness and the corruption might create the most powerful light warden ever imagined. but the people of the first and source were already doomed. he reassures himself that threading this needle is the right way. he reads the tomes of the warrior of darkness's deeds over and over and over, imagining it was him by their side instead of alone in the tower.

as a lover of stories, he'd want to make this a good one. one that hurt less for the protagonists. if he can convince everyone (including himself) that he betrayed the warrior of darkness for his own selfish deeds in his final moments, it'll be easy to let him go. painless and hated. cauterize the wound on the killing blow.

...but the thing is, that's not what happens.

so let's actually reroute for a minute. we've spent this entire game with the mantra "for those we have lost, for those we can yet still save".

estinien sharpened his life into a blade for revenge. he built himself for one purpose and was ready to die to achieve it. when he begged for us to kill him after the final steps of faith, we said not today and found a way to make him live.

g'raha--at least one version of himself--ultimately lived because we found a way out together.

there's no way to save venat. either we kill her, or she kills us and dies in the final days.

imagine g'raha recognizing himself through her. that used to be him. do you think he would have tried to find another way out for her? stayed up at night for weeks on end afterwards wracked with survivor's guilt?

he, above anyone else, could understand completely the way she felt. maybe instead he felt catharsis in the fact that she could die with a duty fulfilled? with the dignity she wanted? did he feel grateful for her sacrifice, empowered by the fact that he got to live a second time when so many others couldn't?

do you think he was proud that he could fulfill her one last wish, the same one he had in a different lifetime?

maybe he found peace in the fact they both knew this: even if they die, their love will live on. everyone else lives because they won't.

...admittedly, despite this whole thing being about endings, i'm not great that myself. i've got literally no idea how to wrap up these wramblings, but i've been listening to the sharlayan day theme, the crystarium night theme, and flow on repeat while writing this. the music in this game carries so much weight so i think i'll just leave you with some lyrics from these to ponder on instead:

Deep, dark, far away, I have heard your voice, weighed your every choice Now our hands join round the meaning you sought I'll catch your tears, quench your fears with joy, til you near the shore Where in time, all shall as hope be reborn

Stand tall my friend, may all of the dark lost inside you find light again, this time, tumbling, turning, we make amends, eternal winds from the land ascend here to lift us that we won’t end!

[offshore-brinicle]

That was one hell of a part 2 good lordy. I have SO many thoughts but I cannot put all into words for now, here's some though.

Dante is being real quiet [sus especially after how much they talked in canto 5, plus how they seemed seemed realise that they need to actually take part in helping the sinners proper] and they are [seemingly] the only sinner one could connect to Carmen [literally all of the chirstian symbolism, the way the static on her appearances was similar to the static Dante has seen on AFD and their overheating, the fact she seemed to speak through them at that point]. I am probably just reading into things but after the whiplash of how much they usually talk - internally and externally - I am very much getting a sinking feeling something's wrong.

Basements are evil. Hong Lu is rich enough to have a basement in his houses. He will probably have an evil basement. I would bet money on this, especially if its a sort of 'other world' as alluded to in his book (that I have not read. It does mention a Land of Illusion if i recall, however, so possibly a door to that). Bonus points if it ends up being upside down or smth.

Would the 'chaotic' part of the golden bough ( of 'em at least) have any sorta relation to why we Heath's E.G.O seemed unstable? I know most of the other distortions/E.G.O awakenings happened near boughs - which connects to the theory that they are directly related to Carmen and thus allow her to talk to people more easily like with the monolith - either Dante's fragment or a full one, but the specific mention of a chaotic one could mean it's responsible for Bodysack seeming to have corroded, as one can see the warning labels typical of a corroding E.G.O.

Given Faust's change in behaviour - namely stuttering for what I believe to be the first time - regarding the conversations around the 'creation of humans' I do believe this was how she was made. Yi Sang did say he made the tech used within the pods in that very basement, and the fact that he was the first recruit could mean that the Faust who approached him is not the same Faust on the bus. The idea of her being a metric fucktonna ID's layered on top of each other firstly explains the Council of Fausts theory, wherein she is able to talk to other versions of herself, in this case because that's what she is, as well as what Dante says about her looking somewhere else before answering. Mirrors alter perception, so her looking at a different Faust for answers could explain that as well. Work's too with her base E.G.O, wherein three shadows seem to point out an answer on her wall of notes. She has all the knowledge, she just needs her other selves to point it out when needed - thus her evasive attitude when it comes to answers, she needs time to get it pointed out.

On that note, do you think her attitude in Selva Obscura is a reflection of og!Faust, but she drops the act later on once Dante has fully forgotten their past? She doesn't really get that jokey after that.

Like how the middle seemed to be the antithesis of Ishmael in C5 part 2, the ring seems to be Heath's. The middle represented how Ishy as a person was mostly incompatibility with 'the bit', in the form of a situation that is remarkably silly on paper but ended up in near total annihilation of the group. The ring may represent how some may look for deeper meanings in all things from arts to people, which clashes wickedly against Heathcliff's more straightforward approach when it comes to handling situations. The dredges of the ring are those parts of him that overthink and he solves the problem as simply as he's been solving many others.

Cathy in a Coffin reminds me of when Carmen was content enough to haunt the narrative from her Bucket. Nothing else to say here except for the fact it's funny.

But back to Carmen, and more particularly 'fate' regarding distortions. The theme of denying of what 'should've happened' is a decently big theme of limbus - from the rewinding death to even subverting what happens from any literary source material - so if they end up going 'Carmen no Carming' to her later on, defying someone who seems to be as much of a god-like entity as the Head in some ways, I would not be surprised if we either get a visit from Iori, one of Demian's lot or another Lo9 member - x or current. Additionally, defying fate may just be what brings back Heathcliff from the edge, keeping Cathy alive in this mirror world but presumably in a weird weirdass way. My guess is that she distorts and gets nabbed by LCD - but I also just wanna see Moses so.

Also hey what happened to the seven strikes of lightning. Are they gonna be in Heath's distortion dungeon or something? No clue.

And I think that's it. Gonna stare at a wall for a while now methinks

OK SO FIRST UP THERE ARE A LOT OF THINGS HERE SO I'LL TRY TO ANSWER TO THESE CONCISELY

Now that you mentioned it, it was always very strange how Faust is Number 2 despite being there first and her mugshot having already been in uniform, so now that you mention her different attitude in the Prologue I honestly see a lot to what you are bringing up here. It was always a personal theory of mine that Faust's real "Mephistopheles" was Sang Yi or Yi Sang somehow, since Sang Yi still to seems to be a rather...odd entity that doesn't correspond to any particular mirror world and is implied by Yi Sang to have some degree of omniscience (and there's also that marked part in the dungeon where he "mysteriously dissapeared" for some time with no explanation), so she might have gotten Yi Sang to do the procedure that would give her this infinite knowledge, specially since even Yi Sang himself emphasizes on her having been "gifted" with omniscience, I Highly doubt he's being figurative here, even more with her EGO's background being the shadows of multiple people.

In regards to Dante not speaking I think it's simply because of the difference in situation, unlike Ishmael who was very clearly out of control due to her own mindset, Heathcliff is being driven over the edge by circumstance -- and some quite insane circumstances at that, so it might be why they could not intervene, but hopefully they'll step up when we get to the next part, specially since we'll be dealing with Distorted Heathcliff....and also, it's very interesting that we actually got Heathcliff's POV on how it felt to Distort. It might be Dante's connection to Carmen and The Sinners aligning at once.

And also, Catherine is def a Carmen expy (I actually did my own analysis some time ago in similarities Kromer, Ahab and Dongbaek had with Carmen too but this one is the most. Insanely explicit similarity) and the fact that she speaks to "Welcome Heathcliff home" at the very end in her own voice alongside Carmen...I can't help but feel she might have been planning to get Heathcliff to Distort all along as part of her personal plan that they can be together happy in Hell. The Overclocking symptoms seem to have been an indicator of Heathcliff approaching Distortion, I really like how...drastically different it feels from the awakened Crow's Eye View and Snagharpoon, and just in general how they completely threw the formula that had been built up until now out of the window (heh)

Either way, thanks for shooting me a message! It's always fun to get to hear other people's observations and theories and share my own two cents along the way

Edit: I forgor but frankly if Hong Lu has yet another Creepy Rich Person basement I think I'll bash my head against the wall. The real moral of Limbus is that basements are bad and evil. Sorry there are just So many good observations here and I'm a bit scatterbrained at times shfhh

In regards to the "fate" thing, I feel like that will be a big part of dealing with Heathcliff next part, Limbus Company as a game and story is built on the reimaginings or "what ifs" or classics, and we've seen it with Yi Sang that his ending was changed in the end; the original Yi Sang died and the protagonist of The Wings commits suicide, but he rejected all of that, while Ishmael was on her path to repeat the cycle of the story of Moby Dick but thanks to Dante and Heathcliff she rejected that as well. And the title of "Clear All Cathy" really establishes from the first moment the goal this time. We'll have to wait another week to see how it rolls.

[emblemxeno]

I know Azura and Corrin get a lot of flack for not having shown the orb to the Nohrian Royal but ... weren't they supposed to conquer Hoshido either way ?

Pretty much.

Hypothetically, showing the orb to the other siblings and successfully getting them to fight against Garon relies a lot on unrealistic occurrences going their way:

1) The siblings believing Corrin and Azura are telling the truth. Elise would probably believe them, but wouldn't have the power to stop things by herself. Camilla could go either way in terms of believing, but ultimately she cares more about not dying. Xander and Leo though? Good fucking luck lol.

2) The siblings believing the orb isn't a trap or a falsehood. Leo only entertains this aspect in BR because he was beaten before Azura gave it to him. The other three literally can't use it, so even if Leo does, if he isn't convinced that the orb isn't a Hoshidan trap, why would the others go along with it?

3) The siblings getting over their fear of Garon to fight back. Even when the truth is on the throne in front of them, the siblings aren't gung-ho to kill their dad. Even after all the things he put them through, it's not easy cuz he was their fucking dad and to expect them to flip the switch is to expect poor writing. It's only when Xander inspires them that they're able to do so, and Xander is the hardest one to convince.

4) Having the power to effectively do anything. Azura comments that half of the Nohrian royal army is loyal to Corrin, Xander and Leo, and the other half is loyal to Garon, Iago and Hans. She says this in chapter 23, 8 chapters after the orb is relevant. Safe to say, there wouldn't be enough manpower to rebel against Garon at that point.

5) Doing something that's effectively believable to the player. When the orb comes up, the war has been underway for a while. The Cheve rebellion has been put down, with Scarlet, Orochi, and Reina dead. The Cyrkensia townsfolk are in danger. Corrin has crossed blades with the Hoshidan army more than once. Realistically, what could Corrin's group do to Garon, that also takes into account the war going on? Joining Hoshido isn't an option (and shouldn't be one cuz that defeats the purpose of joining Nohr in the first fucking place), especially when Ryoma is the way he is and Takumi is already possessed. And you'd have to be an idiot to think that Hoshido will just sit on its hands while Corrin rebels against Garon, as if they wouldn't take advantage of the opportunity to take all of Nohr out in one fell swoop. There's precedent for this already, with Hinoka, Ryoma, and Takumi willing to use Nohr's negative reputation to their benefit.

Do you guys know the Rhetorical Triangle of persuasive writng? It's ethos (showcase of author authority through citing of sources or taking care to establish a base argument), logos (building up a logical audience), and pathos (appeals to audience emotions). Most storytelling is persuasive. For your story not to be utter dogshit, you need the central theme/argument to be believable, the logic of a story's circumstances and context in order to believe it, and the emotional weight to get the reader to care and invest in it.

The above "solutions" to the orb issue, would sacrifice the ethos (Corrin sticking to their path, the Nohr siblings being consistently written) and logos (not having the power to start a rebellion, Hoshido canonically taking advantage of Nohr's internal troubles) established in Conquest before chapter 15, in order to maybe satisfy the pathos of some of the audience. I say maybe and some because only a fraction of the fandom has this double-think thing going on where they hate that Corrin gets worshipped and followed for "no reason" but also that Corrin should be totally believed and, in fact, followed earlier to topple the king while there's a war going on. Another subsection also hates Corrin for being a "spineless, whiny coward" so those people might also like this alternative better.

But again, that's a fraction of the total. What about the rest? How would they feel about this change in this story? How can you guarantee that they'd care when you've sacrificed two other major persuasive tools to possibly achieve one for a small and annoyingly persistent group of wannabe story writers? It'd look amateurish and erroneous, not to mention the script's prose in the English versions is already scuffed thanks to Treehouse.

The only thing left for them to argue would be "well, they shouldn't have added the orb in the first place, because it just results in these questions being asked" which... okay! Yeah! In the grand scheme, it doesn't serve anything more than getting Corrin, a character known for his trust, to trust Azura's word. But that kind of critique is useless, cuz it boils down to "well this story should've been better", which can apply to every damn story in the world, and has been said about FE stories in the past. Robin's fake Gules plan was the magic orb of Awakening, same with the blood pact in Tellius, same with effectively every villain dialogue in previous FE games (like Ursula in FE7) that betrays what their ultimate goals are, same with the Turnwheel, Divine Pulse, and the Time Crystal in the future FE games, and countless other examples. At some point, you gotta roll with the punches and accept what the game is trying to tell you, rather than deride it constantly, cuz eventually you'll just hate everything in every story.

Hell, why do you think people say FE stories have never been good? Not cuz they're actually bad, it's cuz people refuse to set aside their biases and faulty evaluations/expectations in order to appreciate what the writing is doing in the grand scheme. It's a lame excuse more than it is a meme, IMO.

[oc-tournaments]

ROUND THREE - MATCH 3

DALO vs SALVANAN

DALO: @genericswordsmaiden

SALVANAN: @the-demoness-next-door

VOTE BASED ON THE INFORMATION BELOW CUT!!

Propaganda Content Warnings: Suicide, assault, internalised homophobia, animal death, dismemberment, alcoholism for DALO, abuse, manipulation, suicidal thoughts for SALVANAN.

DALO:

PROPAGANDA: Dalo is a ghost, she died by suicide at the age of 27, and in the world of the dead where she now resides, which is actually a purgatory of sorts, she has to endure loneliness because suicides can get corrupted - change form and become aggressive spirits - and are therefore ostracized by other ghosts. Born in an abusive family, starved during her childhood and bullied at school, Dalo develops trust issues growing up, her only friend being a pen pal, Luka, and her mentor, a man whom she only remembers as Professor. Dalo is not her real name, but a nickname that eventually erased her original name. At age 16, she gets physically assaulted by a group of guys and survives, but gets big ugly scars on her back that she tries to hide in every way she can. When she gets the chance, she travels to the city of Providence, renting an apartment with Luka. They form a band with two other characters, Mary and Sam, but soon tensions arise, mainly because they all love Sam in some way, and this puts Dalo in an uncomfortable situation because she doesn't really know how to deal with feelings. She ultimately decides to put them aside and think about how to help Luka deal with his homosexuality instead. In this period of time, which lasts about three months, another tragedy occurs: Dalo and Luka's cat, whom they treated as a son, is found killed one evening. This brings the two even closer, grief shutting them out of the world for a while. As if that wasn't enough, Sam, thinking that Luka and Dalo became a couple, marries Mary instead, breaking two hearts at once. Just when it seems like everything is slowly flowing normally again, Luka has a breakdown and asks Dalo if God can accept him as he is. The choice of words in her answer to such a cryptic question is crucial and will forever change her life, as well as ultimately end his, since he goes missing from that evening, until his body is found in a bag a week later, chopped up into pieces. The weight of the event is too much for her to bear, the guilt and pain make her turn to alcoholism. Her last choice was cold and calculated, she saw no value in a life like hers, so after months of suffering she took her own life. As a ghost, this choice hunts her, also because it made her directly linked to the main antagonist of the book, but this is a lore-heavy detail and I don't really want to delve into it. Her other big character trait is the fact that, with a life like that, she has tons of repressed anger, which all comes crashing out of her (literally) at some point in the story. Her power as a ghost is summoning chains, which symbolise both her guilt and the desperate need to be "chained to someone", to have some kind of bond with another person.

THEME SONG:

SALVANAN:

PROPAGANDA: this poor man. buckle in, you have a LONG one coming. he's very old, he's the god of plants + the earth and he's great i love him but man i have not been nice to him. so. way early in his life, he had a very sweet boyfriend named azyll along w lots of mutual friends. except oops, sal developed chronic anxiety and depression and decided that he did not think he would be good for azyll and broke it off w him. it was amicable but it still sucks. fast forward a bit, one of the friends in their circle, jekath, is being manipulated and hurt for no reason and sal knows but for magic reasons he's incapable of telling anyone, just has to watch. and then he eventually has to watch jekath finally snap under the pressure and betray them all and go evil. no bueno. so he spends a long time feeling terrible and eventually he plans to just. yknow. off himself. but oh surprise this little boy named safari shows up in his garden! and he's like well shit guess im a dad now. and he loves this little boy very much. it's good times! except when he's a teenager two of the little boy's biological brothers drop him off a cliff and nearly kill him, which is, yknow, terrifying. that's his son! his son was almost murdered! no! bueno! anyway, azyll's mortal so eventually he dies of old age, now sal's even sadder. least he's still got his other friends and safari but Man. anyway fast forward again, whole world is at war. and his two best friends, arona and morana, both die in it. but if that was not bad enough, arona was killed by jekath. you know, the old friend that was abused and eventually betrayed them all. so the friend he felt like he failed has now murdered one of his best friends. and his other best friend is ALSO dead. things are just going Great. flash forward another little while and his goddaughter's husband, sibrum, goes evil against his will too. he's known sibrum since he was a kid so now he's got ANOTHER person he felt responsible for gone evil against their will. then sibrum's daughter dies. are you seeing a pattern yet. anyway, sibrum soon kills jekath so now sal feels like he's double failed both of them and also even MORE of his original friends are dead now. so he is trying So Hard to relax! but then safari is turned into a terrible person against his will too! and because they were so so close for so so long they end up in a toxic dynamic instead of cutting each other off. sal finally figures out how to break the spell on safari and it's all Okay Now (they're both traumatized and it's definitely not okay). he gets to relax for only a brief time before his other child's son, volta, has a villain arc too. and what happens? you guessed it! sal tries to stop him and help him and he's not able to. and feels like he failed someone AGAIN. yeah this just happens over and over through the course of his life. he's so tired and sad man

THEME SONG:

[cowboymantis]

"The gate has opened.

A new history has written down.

Seven kings of the seven world gathered

and headed for a new kingdom.

All will be one, and the one will be all,

All come to mean the world.

King, draw your sword."

"He who holds the sword, bear the weight.

Carry onto a new era."

And that's how Kingdom starts off in a way, those texts are in the very first debut album of Kingdom and I absolutely loved their concept since the very beginning.

Now... It does sound very similar to King Ohger right?? I'm not going crazy because I obsess over two things and want to connect them no?? No! Because!! I already did this before King Ohger even started, just when it was barely announced. Sure there was a lot of hype anyway because it was the first Sentai season I was there for from the very beginning, and I absolutely love themes like that, but I was even more hyped because it just reminded me SO MUCH of Kingdom, which is one of my favourite bands. I own every album (versions) and have written a whole theory google doc combined with an introduction for my friend and made a whole personal archive of all their stuff ,,,

It was just perfect, the main characters are a bunch of kings of different kingdoms, all of which look completely different and are centered around one big theme.

And then I noticed how some were kind of overlapping with King Ohger, the more got announced about that show.

So I planned on doing this Kingdom X King Ohger thing a while back, but then I didn't really want to start it yet since King Ohger was just beginning, and looking back it was a smart move because a lot of things changed. For example, I probably would've put Ivan and Rita together because of snow, same with Mujin and Kaguragi because of the outfits and theme, just like Louis and Himeno, once again for that exact reason.

Sure, I could also just make one based off of aesthetics alone, but now I like to put a bit more lore into it! Because that's what it's all about, the LORE

So how am I doing this now? First, next thing I'm gonna do is share my notes on who I'm pairing up with who and why. Or at least, I try to explain why I think it fits. Then, I'll add some parts of the Kingdom member's "song" that I think also further prove my point...or something like that. And some photos I thought could have a similar vibe when I went through my albums and archives and stuff. (Also I love calling it archives that sounds so professional hdhdhddh)

I mean, at the end of the day it's just a little project I plan on doing for fun for two things I love so it doesn't have to make much sense right? Jdhdjd I doubt anyone that's gonna see this has both of these things as an interest anyway. Well maybe, who knows.

Anyway, one thing it all leads up to is me making some fanart and I'm thinking of drawing the Kingdom members and mix up their outfits with their "corresponding" King Ohger character. I'll think about later if I do a group pics, or do multiple for each character and whatnot. Maybe I'll even assign them differently just based on outfits alone, since a lot of them fit outfit/kingdom theme-wise but not really character-wise?

But now it's brainstorming and planning time!!

Arthur - Racules

(I'm not writing this name Rkules or whatever weird spelling they gave him-)

Arthur is not the leader, but the first one to be revealed as a king. The power of Excalibur is both what helps him and what leads to his downfall in a way, kind of like Racules' power lust is what makes everyone turn against him and makes his "downfall" for now happen. Idk man. Does that make sense? They're not TOO similar but similar enough? Plus, Arthur definetly feels like he's got the most smug Racules vibes in the music videos. Ivan is a close second, but for him it's way more of a Gira vibe.

Excalibur

"Destiny is in my hands

This fantasy will unfold

The master key will blow away

All the madness spiraled in chaos"

"Hold onto your wounds

Cut by pieces of glass deep inside

Your heart like sharp thorns

To the end of the world, I'm killin'

Bear the weight of the crown"

"History begins with us

The world must work properly

The colour becomes clearer, reject any fear

Kneel and pray in front of the closed castle gates"

Ivan - Gira

Ivan might rule over the Kingdom of Snow BUT he is really not like Rita at all. The kingdom fits well, but other than that... I don't know... But here too, Racules could be kind of fitting, but it's just different, y'know? It's more like a Gira VS Racules internal fight for Ivan if that makes sense?

He has to decide how to defend his kingdom and for that he uses the power of evil. Y'know. Like the... the evil king Gira? Also their facial expressions when they want to look "evil" are very similar and not very convincing because they just have babyfaces 😭

Black Crown

"With a bit of cruel

But beautiful dangerous power

Getting something

Means losing something

A paradox which I swallowed enchantedly"

"Accept it, just the way you are

Wake it

Don't forget who we are

Engrave it

Raise the holy grail above your head

Put on the black crown

Endure the pain of astonishing power

There's no limit"

"Rather than losing the world

I would become a monster

I choose suffering

Over the loneliness which overwhelms

The evil power of necessity given to me"

Louis - Jeramie

NOW, when King Ohger barely was out, I already had the idea of making this "crossover", especially because King Ohger started airing in the same month a new Kingdom album came out which was insane for me who's obsessed with Kingdom's universe and Toku so it was a win for me for sure.

But also, when King Ohger started, Jeramie technically didn't "exist" yet and I'd given Himeno the position here because of the whole Kingdom of Aesthetic deal. And the outfits, they are basically the exact same.

HOWEVER. Louis is insanely fitting for Jeramie, because both of them feel like outsiders and having lived through many more years than any human ever would.

Also, Louis is one I noticed the most often being bount/restrained in some kind of way. I've made some connections how it's often in an almost connection with Chiwoo and Mujin, but I mean that doesn't really have anything to do with the topic rn,,

But yeah,,

Long Live The King

"Time goes off

A lot of things were destroyed then go

But I always existed

I protected my kingdom"

"A child stuck in a time of loneliness

When will this chaos end

I'm on the eye of the storm"

"Lights out bright light, I'm alone under the lights

Dancing in my own

Shining upon me, the spotlight

I can feel it even with my eyes closed"

"Before that sun rises again

The moment I waited with bated breath

Even if everything changes, I shall stand here"

"Running out of time, nothing can stop me

With my own two hands, I'll write again the destiny

Long live the king

Long live the king, I'm a light that will never go out"

"Winding up the spring of endless memory

Unfamiliar masks are dancing in the hall

The moment the good and evil collide

The second hand stops as if it's laughing at me again

Even with the darkness cast inside me

What brightens is the small flame

To this soul that went against the world, what isn't granted is the finale"

Dann - Rita

I was debating on wether to give him Racules or Rita. I know, Racules again, but they are all very serious and strict in a way and the main characters are all way more silly? So yeah.

But after thinking a bit about it, I think Rita is quite fitting. Dann is quite... stoic? Serious? In the music videos, and often seems to be some kind of advisor to other's.Plus, he's got more of that cold vibe that Rita has? Also in general, his music video is just very fitting, the vibe is really perfect.

Ascension

"I'll leave behind the tears in agony

I'll just pass by

Willow leaves shaking precariously

As soon as the wind strikes

All the arrows with resentment are pointing at me"

"One beautiful day

The flower blooms splendidly

One sad night

The deep shadow troubled my heart"

"A glance in between the narrow bars

I see all the enemies coming

They are puring down at once, keep your ground"

"All the evil souls

Burn it all

I'll turn everything back to its original state"

"Spread the wings. Strike hard

Those who rebelled, you will drown in blood

I'll protect you, I miss you

Enchanting ascension over the horizon"

"Knife of condemnation

Don't forget my royal command"

Mujin - Himeno

Another one I really had to debate. In a way I think aesthetic-wise Kaguragi is the most fitting, Mujins theme being traditional Japanese and all, and Himeno would technically fit better in the Kingdom of Aesthetic, but just character-wise I feel like Himeno fits. Also, "Kingdom of Cherry Blossoms" does sound really fitting for Himeno too. And the whole self sacrifice, or rather doing everything for the wellbeing of your own kingdom-theme is also very in character. Also, not like Mujin as the lore character, but Mujin himself loves to be a bit silly just like Himeno :D

And also Dystopia overall is kind of similar to certain events that happened in the show I guess?? So like??

Dystopia

"Rewing the strings of fate and bloom with all your might

All delight swiftly crushed by the rise of rampant evil"

"The flower that blooms in deep darkness

The overwhelming sword of salvation

Sinking into the abyss

Like a dystopia"

"On the night when hatred opened its eyes

The darkness swallows the light

The power of the cherry blossoms suddenly dissapear

The song of monsters

Extinguish the embers of chaos

Just you watch I will definetly shatter it all"

"The flower petals are blooming again

The light of my soul is getting darker

Even if I cross the bounds and dissapear it does not matter"

Hwon - Yanma

This one's hard to properly explain so just believe me when I said it appeared to me in a dream or whatever. IDK at the same time they are quite different but the vibes are just kinda fitting, y'know? And Yanma is quite uh... stormy I guess I don't know man this is hard to justify with words,,

Overall, Hwon is the hardest to fit in because we know the least about him, since he's still quite new and hasn't gotten an album yet... but I mean I might come back to this all later and update it when both Jahan and Hwon have an album!!

Jahan - Kaguragi

So, Kaguragi was really hard to decide if he's more fitting for Mujin or Jahan. Guess in a way Kingdom of Sun is fitting, bees and harvest and all I guess. Anyway, I did a lot of Kingdom analysing and looking in detail through the music videos and lore and Jahan often seems a bit confusing, in a way it's never too obvious which side he's on? He can seem more mischievous, even when he's acting serious. If that makes sense.

And gah sadly no Jahan album yet either. BUT SOON. Hopefully. I mean his specific Kingdom logo was revealed so I guess it's in the works?? 😭

[itcamefromthetoybox]

You Can Run, But You Can’t Glide!

Almost everyone has seen the original “Jurassic Park,” and if you haven’t, then do yourself a favor and go watch it right now. Are you watching it? Isn’t it great? Alright, so let’s carry on. NOW almost everyone has seen the original “Jurassic Park,” and I think we can all agree that it’s glorious. My wonderful wife, knowing my love for this movie, recently got me a toy from it. So today, we’re looking at the “Jurassic Park Dr. Ian Malcolm Glider Escape Pack!”

Quick rehash about the plot of “Jurassic Park,” in case you need the refresher: a rich dude finds a way to bring back dinosaurs in modern times, which everyone tells him is a bad idea, and decides to open a theme park with them, which he cuts some important corners on. He invites a group of scientists to the park to confirm it’s safe, so that the insurance companies will sign off on it. Thanks to the aforementioned cut corners and the actions of the single IT guy who worked there (“We spared no expense” my ass), the park’s power and security craps out during a storm, trapping everyone on an island now roaming with dinosaurs, including velociraptors and a T-Rex, because bringing those back from the dead in a world where they have no natural predators was a great decision. Now, there’s some room for debate on how much of the park’s failure is from the owner cutting essential corners and pouring money into things like presentation and ice cream, and how much of it comes from intentional sabotage from the IT guy, who it’s implied put in a very low bid to get the job, but it’s my blog and I’m blaming the rich guy.

The main focus of this set is my favorite human from the franchise, Dr. Ian Malcolm, as played by the always-delightful Jeff Goldblum. Malcolm is a snarky mathematician who specializes in Chaos Theory and is brought in to mathematically predict the odds of the park going to Hell in a handbasket. Once he sees the dinosaurs in person, he quickly goes from “oh wow, the dinosaurs are alive” to “oh dear God, this is gonna be such a disaster.” Spoiler alert: he’s right, and a bunch of people die. Malcolm’s such a delight in the first movie that he was made the star of the sequel, “The Lost World: Jurassic Park,” and would go on to appear in two of the “Jurassic World” movies.

The toy we’re looking at today, “Jurassic Park Dr. Ian Malcolm Glider Escape Pack,” is part of a Target-exclusive line of “Jurassic Park” toys meant to homage the original movie toys from 1993, when the movie first came out. And the fact it came out 30 years ago makes me want to go drink and cry. The different toy sets in this line are based off the original toys, but, unlike other toylines that have done similar things, such as the “Star Wars Retro Collection” and “Transformers Vintage G1 and Beast Wars,” the figures in this line are modern toys with details and accessories inspired by the originals, instead of rereleases of the orignal figures. They’re also not modern versions of the original toys, like how Hasbro released updated versions of Greedo, a Jawa, and Obi-Wan Kenobi as part of the “Star Wars Black Series.” Instead, the sets here are original sets based off different ideas from the original line, which makes for some fun and interesting toys.

This set features Dr. Malcolm wearing a winged jetpack, which the packaging calls a glider,” and swooping in to rescue a baby dinosaur from a larger dinosaur by shooting the larger dinosaur with a gun bigger than Malcolm’s own torso. This toy takes a lot of inspiration from the original “Ian Malcolm with Launching Tranq Missile Dart” toy. The Ian Malcolm figure in this set is a smaller version of the original, with better detailing and articulation. His glider pack looks almost identical to the original’s, just with the addition of wings, and his gun’s large enough to make an NRA member feel emasculated. He’s even got a large, translucent green missile, which is very similar to the original figure’s missile, just without the grey part the original’s missile had. In terms of being a solid homage to the original, this toy passes with flying colors. Plus, I do really like how the figure took a lot of inspiration from the original and then added on. It’s not the same toy from ’93 and successfully stands on its own, but you can still see where it took from that first toy. It’s a successful modernization of a toy from the early 90’s.

Not pictured: me desperately trying to clean all this before my wife needed to sit down.

Ian Malcolm himself is really articulated. He’s got articulation in his head, shoulders, elbows, legs, and knees, which makes for a lot of fun posing. In terms of looks, he’s fantastic. The sculpting is really on point with this toy. There’s a few buttons undone on his shirt, his clothes have some wrinkles, and even his boots have a lot of sculpted details. Where he really shines, though, is his head. His head does a terrific job of capturing the character from the big screen, from the rocker hair to the cocky smirk. One detail I especially love is what was done with his eyes. Malcolm has eyes behind his glasses, which are a separate piece that was attached to his head. Behind the glasses, and visible through them if you look close enough, are actual eyes. It’s an added detail to this toy that I really like. Just be careful, because since the glasses are a separate piece that the makers attached to Malcolm’s head, there’s a risk of accidentally breaking them off. It’d be hard to do, and I haven’t done it, but a small piece attached with glue or pegs will always have that risk.

Malcolm has two main accessories: the aforementioned glider pack and large gun. First, let’s talk about that sweet-ass glider. The glider pack comes partially disassembled, so you need to attach the wings to it yourself. It’s a super easy process, as the wings peg right on and stay on securely. From the back, it looks almost identical to the backpack accessory from the original toy, just with wings. What that means is that it’s a black backpack with translucent green parts on it. It almost looks like Jeff Goldblum is wearing a nuclear jetpack to fight crime with, and I am definitely into that idea. 

Because if you’re gonna be a scientist, you should definitely have giant guns and jetpacks

Now, getting the backpack on Dr. Malcolm is a little bit trickier than it used to be, where you would just peg it onto his back. For this toy, you have to pull the bottom of the left shoulder strap out of the little slot it tabs into on the backpack. Then, you slide it over Malcolm’s right arm until you line the peg up with the hole on his back, which will let you attach the backpack. Now, put the left strap tab back into the slot. It’s a little more complicated than I like, and the tab feels a little loose. Also, putting the backpack on wreaks havoc on Malcolm’s ability to stand. He WILL fall over, and it IS because of the giant jetpack on his back.

The other accessory is the large gun with the green missile. I love this weapon. Between the absurd size and the green missile, it feels less like something you use to tranquilize a dinosaur and more like something you use to kill Superman. It’s pure 90’s glory, and I love it. The missile is spring loaded and does have some power, so keep that in mind. Don’t aim it at anyone’s face, or there’s gonna be issues. My only problem with the gun is that it’s so big that Malcolm will fall over if you put it in his hand. Rule of thumb: big accessories mean little balance.

Lex Luthor’s latest weapon to kill Superman

There are two dinosaurs in this set, and each have their own accessories. So yeah, this is a longer review. I just waited to bring it up until now because now you’re trapped in this review and have to see it through! Trapped! TRAPPED, I SAY!

Anyways, the first dinosaur is a baby triceratops. She has no articulation at all, which is alright with me since more articulated figures in this set would drive up the price. She looks very pretty, though. I love her colors, especially the facial markings. They draw attention to her surprised expression and match her horns, which, again, look very nice. I also really like her sculpted details. They add some texture to the figure and also really add to her appearance. Without them, she’d look like a cheap, dollar store toy. 

Soon to star in about 15 “Land Before Time” sequels

She has one accessory, a harness that fits over her back. It’s a nice little accessory that fits pretty snugly on her and has a handle so Dr. Malcolm can carry her away. Getting the handle in his hand can be tricky, though, so you might have to fiddle a little with it.

It turns out that, even as a baby, a triceratops weighs a crapload.

The other dinosaur is a dilophosaurus, which, as a carnivore who needs to eat meat to survive, is our villain for this set. Because the Great Circle of Life can kiss our collective asses. She looks pretty good, too, with her dark green body and the leaf green markings. It really draws in the eye without clashing and sells the idea that this is a jungle predator. She has a little articulation, which is nice, since it lets her pose a little and chase her prey. Her mouth opens and her limbs can all move, but be careful with the legs. They’re a bit stiff, and I’ve heard some people worry about damaging them from moving them too much. She also has a tab in her back you can pull up that has a code you can scan as part of an app meant to go with the toy. Now, her tail looks like it should be able to move. It can’t. Don’t be tempted. It’s not stuck, it doesn’t need a little force to move, and it’s not a factory error. The tail does not move, and attempting to force the issue will not end well.

Ugh, she’s making a face. Now we gotta take the picture again

Her accessories are a set of restraints: a muzzle for her head and a set of cuffs for her limbs. The cuffs clip onto her limbs nicely, and the muzzle fits snugly onto the head. The end result is that you really get the feeling this is a dangerous animal being transported in a zoo. I really like how it comes out.

The all-dinosaur version of “Silence of the Lambs” was a smash hit

“Jurassic Park Dr. Ian Malcolm Glider Escape Pack” is a Target exclusive set that normally goes for about $25, but my wife got me this one for about $17 because it was on sale. The set’s aimed at ages 4+, but keep in mind that the giant missile does have some kick to it. Would I recommend this set? Very much so. The figures all look great, the accessories are fun, and it’s got everything I loved about the original toys as a kid in it. It’s a solid addition to your collection, and who could say no to the seductive looks of Plastic Jeff Goldblum? Next time, we’ll be looking at some more fun stuff in the lead up to our next series of theme reviews. For now, this is JS signing off and wishing you Happy Toy Hunting!

[darkershining]

Just watched episode 16 of Hirogaru Sky! Pretty Cure, in which Ageha and the Cures put together a puppet show to cheer up Ellee.

The episode begins with a brief recap of the events of the previous episode, as well as the girls explaining to Ageha what happened during their stay in Skyland. Yoyo enters the room, revealing to have done some more research. Apparently, the Undergu Empire and Skyland fought against each other in the past, but after the war, the two realms never interacted again until now. On a brighter note, she also reveals that she found a way to heal the king and queen during her research. If the Cures gather enough of the positive energy released from whenever they purify a Ranborg with the Mirror Pad, she might be able to make a medicine that can cure the king and queen.

Ellee, remembering the state her parents are in, begins to cry. The Cures figure the first thing they should do is try to cheer up Ellee, and Ageha has an idea for something they can try. She brings in some picture books, suggesting they put together a puppet play based on one of them, and tries to see if Ellee would be interested in one of them. Sora asks about the story of Momotaro, which Ellee takes an interest in, and Mashiro gives Sora a brief summary of the plot.

The Cures and Ageha have fun making the puppets and props for their puppet play while Ellee takes a nap. Once everything is ready, the Cures begin the play, with Ageha having made some changes to the story to appeal to Ellee. As the Cures continue the play, we see from Ellee’s perspective how she imagines it playing out.

At first, things are going well, but once “Elletaro” and her companions are heading out to where the ogres live, the Cures are reminded of the recent events and their own battle with the Undergu Empire. Ellee begins crying, and the Cures quickly hurry over to comfort her, with Ageha managing to calm her down. Ageha notes how babies are perspective of the feelings of those around them, and the Cures apologize for getting anxious.

Meanwhile, in a park, Battamonda has just arrived in Sorashido, and spots some kids trying to throw a ball into the hole of an ogre-themed playground device, giving him an idea.

The Cures continue the play, until Sora gets too carried away and accidentally knocks over the sheet with the ogre on it, leading to part of their scene collapsing. As the Cures and Ageha scramble to fix it, Ellee walks over to them, saying each of their names. Ellee manages to raise everyone’s spirits, and Ageha comments that the puppet play seems to have served its purpose. Yoyo interrupts to tell them they’ve received a call from Skyland. The Azure Guard explains that Yoyo filled them on the situation, and they’ll leave getting the cure and looking after Ellee to the Cures while they look after things in Skyland.

A group of birds suddenly appear at the window, with Tsubasa explaining they’re some of the birds he befriended around town, and he changes into his bird form to talk to them and find out why they’re so worked up. He learns that Battamonda showed up, and the Cures quickly head over to the park, with Ageha and Ellee observing from a nearby bush. Ageha suggests she and Ellee go home, but Ellee wants to stay close to everyone.

Battamonda turns the ogre-themed playground device into a Ranborg, causing the people nearby to flee, and the Cures transform. They battle, and the Ranborg gets the upper hand, knocking the Cures down and smashing part of the playground. Battamonda compares it to the state Skyland is in, but Cure Sky protests that Skyland is not weak, and they’re doing all they can to protect everyone. Ellee cheers on the Cures, and they get a second-wind, managing to figure out how to disarm the Ranborg and weaken it enough for Cure Sky and Cure Prism to purify it. Having brought the Mirror Pad along, Cure Sky uses it to collect the energy released from the Ranborg’s purification as Yoyo asked. Battamonda freaks out, wondering how he could be defeated once again, but quickly regains his composure when he notices the Cures staring and tries to take his loss gracefully before retreating.

The episode ends with everyone headed back home, noting once again how Ellee helped lift everyone’s spirits.

Another good episode! It was really sweet seeing everyone working together to cheer up Ellee, and then Ellee ending up being the one to cheer them up. And now the Cures have a new objective, having to gather enough energy to wake the king and queen. Part of me wonders if this will lead to an episode where Battamonda catches on to the fact that they need the energy from purifying Ranborgs, and then just refuses to make one and tries to fight them head on, or something.

I’ll be looking forward to the next episode!

[rjthirsty]

Based off the otome game Ikemen Prince, I've created an AU where the princes are (mostly) female, and MC is male. Several character names have been changed to suit their new gender (notes will be provided), and lore has been altered to work with the new setting and my accompanying headcanons. Tags: Angst and Fluff, Violence, Sexual Themes You can find the masterlist for this series here. You can also find the full fanfic on my ao3, along with a full list of tags. The entire fic is roughly 100,000 words through 30 chapters, making it 3.5k words per chapter on average (8-10 pages in a standard novel).

Chapter 14 - Things Left Unsaid (IkePri AU)

Over the next several days, gossip seemed to reach an all time high about Princess Leanne’s peculiar behavior around the palace. She had been discovered in various locations napping with a book in her lap. Each time it came up, the place she was found seemed more ridiculous than the last - the faction’s office, the grand entrance, then the kitchens.

Today, Leanne sat against a wall in the training hall, quietly studying the pages of a book. She looked entirely out of place while the air around her was filled with spirited yelling and the clang of weapons striking from the soldiers that were training hard. She seemed completely unaware of the pointed looks that both Leni and Jean were giving her. Her head occasionally slowly dipping and then jerking back up as a noise would shake her from the sleep that tried to claim her.

“Ugh, that’s enough, already! How am I meant to concentrate, Leanne?!” Yves snatched the book out of Leanne’s hands, and at last she looked up to see Yves leveling a glare at her.

“Hmm? What’s wrong, Yves?” Her eyes went from his frown to her book he was holding. “I’m trying to read here. Could you give that back?”

Yves lifted the novel over his head out of Leanne’s reach. “I don’t suppose you noticed we’re in the middle of training?! I don’t care if you want to read, but do it somewhere else!”

“Yeah, but if I read anywhere quiet, I’ll fall asleep, so I don’t have much choice.” Leanne held out her hand in a request for the book to be returned, not making any other move to take it back. “I figured everyone’s so noisy out here that it might just be enough to keep me awake, yeah?”

Yves faltered. He brought the book down from over his head, and for a moment looked like he might return it. “Yeah– no!” Suddenly he clutched the book to his chest, once again out of Leanne’s reach. “Leanne, you’re our leader, and that means you have obligations to fulfill!”

“Now, now, Yves, there’s no need to grump like that.” Jean joined in, setting a hand on Yves’ shoulder. “Hey, Leanne, are you reading that for Emmit?”

“Yeah. I want to learn to like the things he likes.” She said easily and innocently, like it was the most natural desire in the world.

“So that’s how it is,” Jean smiled and rested a hand on her chest, covering her heart. “Ahh, I’m touched. I like a young woman ready to put in the extra effort.”

“Shut up, Jean.” Yves snapped. “Listen, Leanne, are you…” he trailed off, his eyes sliding away from Leanne. “I mean, well… How do I put this?”

Leanne watched as Leni wandered closer to their group. Jean’s smile grew into a grin at Yves struggling to find the words.

“Are you so focused on Emmit as a friend? Or is it, well, you know…” Yves looked incredibly uncomfortable even attempting to insinuate anything other than friendship between the two of them.

“Do you love him?” Leni asked plainly.

“Do you want to sleep with him?” Jean went straight to the carnal.

“Hey, hey!” Yves yelled, looking shocked the other two could be so blunt. “Leni, that’s too direct! And Jean, you can take a long walk and come back when you’ve cleaned up your mind!”

“I love him. I want to sleep with him.” Leanne answered with a placid expression.

Yves and Leni gave a start, their eyes growing wide and mouths hanging open. Jean’s eyebrows went up and her grin deepened. “Oh?”

Leanne burst into rich laughter. “So that’s how you’d react if I really meant that, huh?”

Beauty’s Time was slowly losing petals as the flower bloomed, counting down the days until a final decision needed to be made. More than half of its petals now sat discarded at the bottom of the display.

Emmit had been busy at work with his task as Belle. Suriyel had arranged for him to spend a day with each member of the royal family, following them through their official duties and activities. Over the last week, he had been busy from sunrise to sunset getting to know the prince and princesses and pouring through study materials when he wasn’t otherwise engaged.

Today, he was in a meeting with Suriyel in her office. She periodically held check-ins with Emmit to be certain he was getting the experiences he needed to uphold his duty as Belle. It was her job, after all, as the King’s Regent, to make sure he was well acquainted with the royal family, and armed with the knowledge he needed to make his choice.

“I see.” Suriyel recounted. “So you have reached out to each individual candidate, and listened to them tell you about their beliefs. Those captious–”

“Those captious siblings can’t have been easy to deal with!” Rina suddenly popped into my line of sight, interrupting Suriyel and looking cross for a moment. Then she beamed at me, bouncing over as she exclaimed, “You’re amazing, Emmit– but then, I always knew that! I’m so proud of you!”

I glanced at Suriyel to see if she was as surprised as I was to see Rina there, Suriyel smiled her usual proper and polite smile that still gave me shivers.

“Ahh, you really knew what you were doing when you chose Emmit to be Belle, Mistress!” Rina turned to look at Suriyel now that she was at my side.

Suriyel regarded our new arrival. “I will accept your praise, Rina. Now, tell me… what exactly are you doing here?”

“Good question! What AM I doing here? I don’t even remember.” Rina shrugged. “It’s like I just unconsciously gravitate to wherever Emmit is. But that’s love for you, I guess.” She took hold of my arm, hugging it and leaning her head against me.

Suriyel let out a noise of discontent. “...Hmph.” I had to try really hard to keep my jaw from dropping, I pressed my lips together as I looked from Suriyel to Rina, amazed that there was a person that could get the better of Suriyel.

Rina glanced up at me, “So, Emmit… have you decided yet who you’re going to pick to be the next on the throne? Am I right in thinking you’re going to pick Princess Leanne?”

“Uh… what makes you think that?” I tried to step away from Rina. She had always been cuddly, but it still felt awkward when she’d continue the contact longer than necessary.

“Well, you’ve spent the most time with her, and you two always seem to have fun when you’re together.”

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at her. “How… often are you… You know what? Nevermind that. Leanne has fun with everyone, she’s just that kind of person. And she has been nice enough to teach me things and help me out and guide me around the palace– but that’s all it is.”

That’s all it is. She has just been supportive.

Rina’s bright blue eyes stared up at me, and suddenly I felt uneasy and guilty like I had just lied to my best friend. It was different lying to myself, I could internalize the guilt and resentment. But I also knew I couldn’t speak the truth here. It wouldn’t be appropriate to explain how much I had enjoyed the time I spent with Leanne. It would look like I was letting my personal feelings sway my decision on who could bring Rhodolite the greatest prosperity and brightest future. And I was certain that wasn’t the case at all.

Leanne was amazing on her own no matter how I felt about her. I had witnessed her turn many situations around into something that brought more joy to the people around her rather than the dismay that could have occurred.

Unlike Chevalier… who killed all those people.

I tried to shake the thought from my head. Chevalier had her reasons and ambitions. Just because we didn’t align didn’t mean she was wrong for the actions she took.

I’m just not sure it’s the right path for Rhodolite right now.

“In other words, you have not yet fully determined who you wish to choose. Is that correct?” Suriyel asked.

“Yes, it is.” I admitted.

I knew that Beauty’s Time wouldn’t bloom forever, and that I needed to make my decision before the final petal fell. I also knew that with everything going on with Obsidian, the sooner I chose the next leader, the better. The longer Rhodolite was without a crowned ruler, the more dangerous it was for the whole kingdom.

But I still hadn’t cemented my choice in the matter. It was a big decision, one that needed to be fully considered to every extent possible. I was ready to dedicate the rest of the time I had here to weighing the possible futures to come. I had all the information I needed, I just needed to give it enough thought that I was sure, beyond a doubt, that my answer would be the best course for Rhodolite’s future. Because I wanted what was best for the country. I wanted this place to continue to be a place I loved.

The day was quickly fading into evening, pinks and orange giving way to purples and blacks as night approached. I began wandering through the gardens earlier in the day before the sun had started to set, but now with night coming soon I made my way back to the palace fearing that if I ended up in the gardens at night I might not find my way in the dark.

Unfortunately, I had been dedicating a lot of my thoughts to the future of Rhodolite, and hadn’t been paying as much attention to which turns I had made through the vast greenery. Peering down the heavily foliaged paths at another junction, I tried to remap my route in my mind, but my eyes caught sight of something peculiar.

Is that…

I took a path that was clearly leading me further into the gardens, the roses growing so thick that the scent was almost dizzying. Among this landscape of flowers and brambles, beauty and thorns, I found Leanne sitting on the ground, leaning against a column with her eyes shut and a book in her lap. She was sleeping peacefully, her expression gentle and relaxed.

I glanced back the way I came, wondering how far the palace was from where we were. I was loath to wake her, but I also wasn’t about to leave her outside all night long. Almost without thinking, I moved closer and knelt down beside her, admiring her delicate features that were made even more soft by the shadows that blanketed her as night rolled in.

Something stirred in my heart, and for a brief moment I entertained the idea that I might be able to see her sleeping face in the early morning light rather than the evening sunset.

Impossible, Emmit. Don’t be silly.

That sweet warmth that had started to grow a second ago was replaced by pain as I crushed the idea, refusing to let myself give into such a far-fetched fantasy. I bit my bottom lip and closed my eyes, willing my heart to harden.

I can’t give this feeling room to grow.

Taking a slow and steady breath, I opened my eyes and found Leanne’s amber gaze aimed at me. With a small start, I jerked backwards at the surprise of her suddenly being awake, nearly falling over. Her rich, hearty laughter filled my ears as she burst into a guffaw at my reaction.

“Leanne!” I shouted, grabbing at my chest with one hand. The fright had sent my heart racing and I didn’t need an additional reason for it to be pounding so painfully. “You startled me!”

“Good morning to you too, Emmit.” Leanne managed to huff between her fading chuckling. “Oh, wait– judging by the colors of the sky, I guess it’s good evening.”

“Were you even asleep?”

“Yeah. But I heard someone approaching and it woke me up.”

You were awake the whole time I was staring at you?!

There was absolutely no way I was schooling my face to keep the horrified embarrassment I was feeling off of it.

Please, let a hole just swallow me up right now.

“Okay, hey, I have some good news for you.” She was grinning amusedly, and while I appreciated the topic change, I wasn’t about to forget this feeling, or how blazingly hot my cheeks were at this moment.

“News for me?” I asked cautiously.

“Yeah. I finally finished reading this.” Leanne tapped the cover of the book in her lap, her smile smug.

Oh my god, you’re so proud and that’s so cute.

“That’s really something, Leanne! So, what did you think?” I dropped down from my knees to sit next to her. 

“The ending really got me. You know the part when he saw his love, and thought she was dead, and drank the poison? Even I couldn’t put it down.” She was animated as she spoke about it, and I felt a warmth growing in my heart. It felt really good to have someone enjoying the same things I did. It felt even better because it was her.

“Yes! That scene is so tragic, but so beautiful, too! And it really wouldn’t have had the same impact if not for his desperate monologue as he lamented about his lost love.”

“Yeah, I liked it, too. Hmm. I just read it, what was it…” Leanne appeared thoughtful for a moment, then the words began to fall from her lips.

“‘Eyes, look your last.’” She set her warm, glimmering eyes on me. “‘Arms, take your last embrace. And lips, o you, the doors of breath’...” Her voice was velvety and sumptuous, and I forgot to breathe as it dipped to a murmur. “‘Seal with a righteous kiss’...”

Her amber-gold gaze held me captive, and I stared into those endless pools. I hadn’t even realized she had leaned in closer, but her breath was pouring over my lips, heating them. Time seemed to stop completely, and all I could think was that I didn’t want this moment to end.

“Hey, Emmit?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you let all the ladies get this close with a few lines from a book?” Her eyes wavered.

“Sorry,” I whispered. “I was just… really impressed by how well you remembered the lines. And you have such a great voice for it, too…”

Suddenly, Leanne drew back, glancing away. I felt like the spell I was under retreated with the distance she put between us. I quietly gasped in a breath and silently sighed while I watched her.

“Hmm. I appreciate the compliments.” When she turned towards me again, she was smirking mischievously. “Still, I hope you don’t space out like that if someone else tries that on you, like Jean. Or Jean. Or Jean…”

“Or maybe even Jean, huh?” I snickered and Leanne nodded in agreement.

“You’ll have to watch out for her.”

“I think I’ve managed well enough so far. Besides, there’s not much longer left on Beauty’s…” My chest constricted at the thought and the words died in my throat. Even Leanne’s usually warm smile had fallen from her face.

We sat in the silence of the night, staring at each other. The solemn stillness dragged on, eating away at the time we had left to spend together. A chill dread began to claw at the back of my mind at the thought that this could be the last time we sat like this.

“Tell me some other books you like.” Leanne’s voice was hoarse, but with her words the sullenness began to recede.

“Okay.” I said, but I couldn’t think of any at the moment. I had so many titles that I held dear, but all of them had vanished from my mind. “Uh, like… what?”

Leanne smiled. “I don’t know! That’s why I’m asking. Do you have anything with a bit more intrigue?”

“Intrigue, huh?” Slowly the names of several books were coming back to me. “What sort of intrigue are you thinking? There are court dramas, and murder mysteries, or we could branch out into romance adventures.”

“Hmm, let’s see.” She grew quiet, eyeing me as I waited for her to narrow down possible recommendations. “What about… a story where two people look exactly the same, and they end up swapping places and one of them becomes the ruler of a whole country?”

I blinked at how specific the request was. “You know, I’ve actually read a book with a story like that in it. Do you want me to find it for you?”

Leanne remained quiet for a second longer than felt natural and then she smiled and shook her head. “Nah, I don’t actually think it’s all that interesting, to be honest.”

I knit my eyebrows together, perplexed at the sudden change of heart. “Okay?”

“Anyway, clearly I don’t know what book to read next, so pick something for me, okay?”

“Okay,” I agreed, but I couldn’t shake the strange feeling the exchange left me with.

[sincerely-krp]

no hate cause maybe you can't help it and it's your passion to write krp think pieces but don't y'all think being this emotionally involved is... insane? /gen meanwhile when there's long sns post captions all you guys can muster is a cheesy "congratulations or sorry that happened" meme, like... // like.... i think you should take a step back for a moment and stop judging when you don't know the people who speaks up? personally, as the op, i tried to share my experience based on what i've heard from numerous people (several who i've made friends with too during and after) about the group. i've tried to stay neutral, while also not hiding the positives and negatives related to the experience.

please remember that krp, rp and writing in general is a hobby. and just like no individual is the same, neither is any of us who engages in the krp community. and as it is with any other hobby, this is one that some of us can get very invested in. and that's not a bad thing!

but the last thing you should do is start generalizing and judge someone for how they experience things once they start to speak up (after people ask for general reviews on the subject). this was *my* experience, and i have every right to feel the way i did without being generalized based on your belief.

to elaborate further, and possibly to provide context—i've been a part of the indie (canon muses) rp community for 10 years or so before i switched over to krp about 2 years ago. it's in the krp community that i first started to develop original characters. and that is what i've enjoyed ever since, which is also why i am not joining gen rp's.

when i create an original character, i put a lot of effort into it. i kinda see it in a similar way as the quote: "a reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. the man who never reads lives only once," where i, as the writer, gets to explore various lives through my muses. which is again why i put so much effort into them.

i am also a very visual person. this may be foreign to some, but just how some people are very smart when it comes to letters or numbers, or even music... i'm the kind of person who has a tendency to visualize things i read. and so i enjoy fledging out my original characters to give them a story that makes sense in my head. which is also why i have a tendency to overthink at times.

in the end, this is what makes me a *literate writer* which i have come to learn over the time. i favor fledged out characters, intricate storylines, interconnected connections between several muses, and most of all... i favor plotting.

i'm not the kind of person who can just write a few random facts about a new muse and suddenly jump into ic dm's, because i personally need more context. which is also why i am very offended by being so generalized by those who frowns the themes surrounding groups such as starlight.

i did *not* join starlight to partake in the 'belief of fetishizing sl*very*, as someone else stated it. i am not partaking in it to hide my ooc self behind a face, because i don't want to treat it as a case of 'self-incerts'. i genuinely put a lot of effort into this. which is also why i rely heavily on those who are willing to ping-pong with me and meet me half way.

i was fortunate enough that the first krp i ever joined lasted for several months. and the muse i made almost 2 years ago is still stuck with me because i put so much effort into them, to the point i can probably write a whole book about their life at this point. and THAT is what i enjoy about rp'ing as a hobby.

i get to explore a character and a story that is unlike my own life. and i am okay with it because i treat it as a hobby, and i know when to step back and breathe because i also know how addictive this hobby can be.

to get back on track—starlight IS NOT filled with weird freaks. it's filled with creative writers who are very imaginative. during my time there, i experienced a genuine effort when it comes to participating in SNS posts too and commenting as well.

i didn't join starlight because of a personal king or whatever it is some people would presume. not for fertilization either. i joined because i am most comfortable with writing a male muse. and using a fc i am familar with, so i know what sources i can use for edits. beyond that, the muse i write is my own creation, and i try to fledge them out as much as possible. to for the kinks such a premise allows, but for the reality i imagine it brings. the struggles, the tension, the drama.

i am not saying there aren't writers who joins just for the smut and the nsfw themes but.... please don't generalize. there's a lot more to a story than just that, especially when you consider the *individual* writer at hand.

sure, there's a clear distinction between those who are more active and outgoing when it comes to gc's and dm's, as they are likely to be experienced with gen rp's and puts more effort in that over actual plotting and writing, which is favored by more literate writers. but that doesn't mean there isn't a genuine interest, effort and care when it comes to the rp and the group people write. it just means we are all different. experienced in different ways and favors different things. and sometimes, it just doesn't match, meaning some people will feel left out and eventually leave.

i think the big issue for me was that.... there was a big gab between those who joined and were used to gen rp's, and by so had it easy when it comes to being loud, outspoken, approachable and generally active in the ooc and ic gc's, as well as in dm's. i'm not judging, because i genuinely admire their ability to just run with things. but as a literate writer? i overthink a lot. and i need a foundation, a plot or just come context before i can just engage like that. and i think that's where i started to feel left out.... because i wasn't engage in the gc's and in dm's like that, so i didn't get to feel the 'instant gratification' of it all.

also, i think my personal issue with the group was the overall meta gaming amongst other things. as in—people run with things they read ooc, without discussing it properly. and i understand real life comes first, but there were still cases of admins promising updates which never came. events were delayed. ooc messages with admins were delayed for almost a month while (as i've been told) the admins were active on their own muses. and not to mention the fact that several times there were cases of someone suggesting something, the admins saying they would get back to you, and yet they never did. and also several errors in terms of the activity check as well. i still don't know who the admin muses are and i really don't care (not judging either), but it's those kind of things that kinda bugged me. and in the end, when i tried to speak up about things, i didn't feel welcomed anymore. which is why i made the decision to leave.

again, i am not saying starlight is a bad group!! in all honesty, i even considered re-joining recently because i did miss the place. i miss some of the people there, and i want nothing but the best for them.

but to me, the group just didn't end up working well for me anymore.

・❥・

[colorfuldreamsmkg]

Karaoke Nite | Chapter 3 Norm Event

Early in the afternoon on Day 3, a series of messages in the group chat appear, but not before a bit of a struggle as the messenger appears to try a universal ping but to no avail.

:Ozzy: @everyone 

:Ozzy: fuck i don’t have perms for that

:Ozzy: @all

:Ozzy: @here

:Ozzy: fuck it 

:Ozzy: @ whoever’s reading this listen up

:Ozzy: Karaoke Nite at the Bar SEKAI tonight

:Ozzy: I’ll pick everyone up for it in the bunker at like 6 or so

:Ozzy: B there or b square :ozzy_groovy:

Huh, a karaoke night? Wouldn’t that be better suited for being hosted in the karaoke room? Seems like Ozzy doesn’t think so as by the time 6:00 pm rolls around, he’s in the bunker as promised with his phone in hand, ready to head out to the Bar SEKAI. As soon as everyone shows up, he grins and holds his free hand out. “Aight, here we go, let’s baby chain ‘dis shit, folks.” Once everyone’s holding onto said baby chain, Ozzy plays his Untitled song on his phone, whisking the group away into the inside of the Virgin Thorn. 

Ah, a bar! The sign denotes this one as being named Virgin Thorn, through its only occasionally flickering neon sign, though there’s a few other notices on the outside as well. And once inside… it actually seems to be a much better quality bar than the outside might imply, with an abundance of inner decor that gives both a strong music and floral-punk theme to the place. There’s some rock music playing over some speakers in the background to set the mood, though there’s also a sizable stage in the corner that’s currently unused for presumable live performances. The bar counter here has plenty of seats open and stock ready, as well as a chalkboard next to it that notes the specialty drinks being served. There’s a door in in the back that seems to lead to some other small rooms behind, too.

The bar for the most part looks the same as it normally does, though there have been some additional things set up alongside the usual decoration. Red solo cups filled with soda are arranged in triangular formations with are spread across a few of the tables, forming spots for games of (non-alcoholic) beer pong. Multiple flights of premade mocktails from the menu are present on the bar countertop for anyone to take, as well as a mini fridge filled with various slightly dented soda cans off to the side. Various snacks from the store have been set up on the counter next to the mocktails, including several large bags of Lays chips in various flavors, a bag of pretzels, a bag of tortilla chips with a bowl of guacamole on the side, a pack of Oreos, a container of Twizzlers, and a tray of chocolate chip cookies.

The stage seems to be the focal point of the night, however. A spotlight shines down on a single microphone stand on the stage, though a few others can be seen off to the side that look ready to be used if needed with all of them and the one under the spotlight being connected to the speakers. At a table next to the stage, Ozzy’s laptop is open, though whatever’s on his laptop screen can’t be seen by the crowd. 

Next to the laptop is his phone which has been both plugged into the speakers and put inside one of the DIY projectors from On the Rocks’s previous performance in order to project what’s on the screen onto the wall next to the stage, with what’s currently on display being the YouTube homepage of someone who clearly watches a lot of Vtubers and gameplay videos based on the recommended feed. Additionally, three chairs have been set close to the front of the stage and have paper stuck on them marking them as reserved.

As the group gets a good look at the party space, Ozzy shrugs and slips his hands in his pockets. “Look, I know we got a straight up karaoke room back in ‘da real world, but ‘dat shit’s all Evil Miku themed and I’m pretty sure we’ve had enough ‘a ‘dat bitch’s shit, yeah? So I figured we outta have a karaoke night ‘dat’s more our style!” He claps his hands together with a grin. “Got a whole game set up for it and everythin’! But yeah, feel free ‘ta get settled in, have some snacks, get a drink, whateves. Just gotta finish settin’ up ova’ ‘ere. Let’s fuckin’ party, dudes!”

Shooting finger guns at the group with a hoot and a holler, Ozzy then heads over to hunker behind his laptop, looking over something intently on the screen as the party kicks off. Whatever could this game he mentioned be about?

[demon64]

Deciding to go over Darksiders characters if they were SMITE and what classes they would fit. I have a feeling this may be both a bit harder and easier than with League, both because I have played less SMITE and because there are only there are only five classes in SMITE. Here we go!

FURY: Warrior. She's not as tanky as War, nor has the same range as Strife, or even as quick of a fighter as Death, so her being the more "balanced" of the Four in terms of stats makes the most sense to me. I do also feel that maybe she could fit Assassin as well.

DEATH: Assassin. Not as tanky as War, nor has the same range as Strife, or even as brutal of a fighter as Fury, so him being a bit of glass cannon makes sense to me. I do feel that maybe he could fit Warrior as well.

WAR: Guardian. Easily the biggest of the Four Horsemen, and definitely the tank of the group. He's got alot of force but lacks the speed of his siblings.

STRIFE: Hunter. He's got long-range and isn't as tanky as War, but he's also generally the one that doesn't need to get close.

ULTHANE: Guardian. He's big, he's slow, but he's TOUGH. Nobody can really even lift his hammer, War only could once he got the Tremor Gauntlet, so Guardian it is.

SAMAEL: Warrior. His character feels like someone who would rather balance his stats rather than put too much into one.

URIEL: Warrior. For similar reasons to Samael.

The ARCHON: Mage. He's got lots of magical power but little in way of defense, so he's pretty squishy. Or at least that's how I imagine him. Maybe a tougher Mage than others but still squishier than most of the other classes.

The DESTROYER: Guardian. I want to keep that theming connection to War, so having them be of the same class makes sense. Also, big fiery dragon, which to me scream of being tanky.

WICKED K: Warrior. Considering in Darksiders 1 he can take hits from War and is the final boss of the Crucible in Darksiders 3, I forget if he's in Darksiders 2, our favorite zombie is someone with balanced enough stats. He can deal a hit and tank a hit.

ABSALOM: Guardian. Just thinking about in a bit of a thematic sense, if Death is an Assassin, it makes sense to me for Absalom to be a Guardian. If Death can dish out the damage, then Absalom is the one that can take it.

WRATH: Guardian. He's strong, he's tough, but he's not the fastest, at least without his Ultimate activ, and even then that's not gonna be easy.

AVARICE: Assassin or Warrior. One of those could be fun. He leaps, he strikes, and he can be fairly tough to take down. I'm leaning more towards Assassin as he's fast and not really tanky.

SLOTH: Warrior or Guardian. He can go either way, I think. From the moveset I thought up a while ago, he has crowd controlling abilities, and with the Ultimate I thought up he can be tanky, so I'm leaning a bit more towards Guardian.

LUST: Warrior. Does decent damage, can take decent damage. Nothing too crazy but do feel like can be played similar enough to an Assassin.

GLUTTONY: Guardian or Warrior. I imagine his Ultimate would essentially be like that of the Ultimate of Scylla and/or Charybdis, but I imagine him being much more tanky than them.

PRIDE: Mage or Hunter. Squishy but does decent base damage. Can be long range or short range.

ENVY: Warrior. Her abilities are each a copy of one from Death, War, and Strife, she shines in no stat, so Warrior works.

AZRAEL: Mage. I imagine him as primarily support oriented, so a Mage makes the most sense to me.

I feel like I'm maybe thinking a bit too literally with some of these picks, but I'm also working with less classes, and thus maybe a bit less definition, than I did with the League classes.

So... since it has been on my mind for a good chunk of the day, I want to go over what classes I think Darksiders characters would in different MOBAs. This post will be starting with what classes I think they would be in League of Legends, and maybe in reblogs I will go over SMITE and then Heroes of the Storm. I'm going with League because that is the one I know the most about.

FURY: I have mentally gone back and forth between Skirmisher and Diver, leaning more towards Diver with the moveset I gave her in a previous post, it feeling more leaning towards Diver territory.

DEATH: I have also mentally gone back and forth between Skirmisher and Diver for him, leaning more towards Skirmisher, also just based on how I built his moveset.

WAR: He's a Juggernaut. He's big, he's strong, but not the fastest out there. He's hanging with the likes of Aatrox, Garen, and Shyvana.

STRIFE: He's definitely leaning more towards Marksmen, but I personally feel his abilities could potentially, even if very unlikely, land him in Specialist.

ULTHANE: Vanguard. He's an offensive tank like Ornn, one of my inspirations for his Passive.

SAMAEL: He is another I think could go for Diver. Either that or maybe Juggernaut. So either of the two subclasses of Fighter. His ability of lifesteal I gave him is similar to that of Warwick's, who himself is a Diver.

URIEL: Skirmisher. Her overall almost Riven-like moveset is why I say Skirmisher.

The ARCHON: I'm thinking maybe he could be a Catcher, considering one of the abilities I would give him is to root someone in place, akin to the likes of day Morgana. Either that or maybe a Battlemage akin to Swain.

The DESTROYER: I'm torn kinda between Juggernaut and Vanguard. Considering he is a big dragon, the final boss of Darksiders 1, I'm leaning a bit more towards Vaguard for the high-end tankiness, but, to me at least, he also feels like he should be a Juggernaut due to thematic connections to War and how it feels like he shouldn't be too tanky.

WICKED K: Considering my two inspirations for his moveset, Fiora and Jax, are Skirmishers, it feels fitting that our favorite zombie is a Skirmisher.

ABSALOM: I feel like Vanguard works very well, especially as a contrast to Death, his brother, his killer. If Death is a Skirmisher meant to shred through enemies, then Absalom is a Vanguard meant to tank as much as possible while disrupting enemies.

WRATH: Another Vanguard or Juggernaut. I want to lean towards Juggernaut, mostly because if I do basically give him the same Ultimate as Sion, I don't want to just make the guy a straight-up copy of the Champion from League.

AVARICE: I think that since in his boss fight in Darksiders 3 he is quite mobile, and despite me in a previous post saying he could have a similar moveset to Fafnir from SMITE, I do think Avarice as a Assassin could be fun. So if I do make him an Assassin, I think I gotta change up his moveset a bit.

SLOTH: I think he's one that could be fun to make a Warden, where a good chunk of his game plan could be essentially causing his enemies to exhaust themselves, hopefully allowing that he and his team survive.

LUST: I'm kinda torn between Enchanter and Diver, as I took some bits of inspiration for their moveset from Renata Glasc, who is the former, and Wukong, who is the latter. So, maybe with Hybrid champions like Yone and K'Sante, Lust could be a hybrid champion potentially?

GLUTTONY: I'm thinking another Warden, as I believe Gluttony's moveset I gave him could work quite well for a defensive tank. Or maybe Gluttony could be a Catcher instead?

PRIDE: I guess you could say fitting for a Pride, I think they would be a Specialist. The moveset I gave her, especially with the small bit of inspiration from Kayle.

ENVY: I'm thinking Specialist, mostly because with three of her moves being copies of three of the Horsemen's, her game plan in a match could be a bit odd, in a sense. Like imagine combing Teleport Slash, Stoneskin, and World Ender for maybe something akin to going into a fight as Graves, who himself is a Specialist. Or imagine combining any of those with the Ultimate you copied.

AZRAEL: Enchanter. I imagine he would primarily be in support, so making him an Enchanter just feels fitting.

Alright! That is it, for the time being at least. I noticed as I typed this out that as I got to non-player characters, it became a bit easier to put them in certain classes, as well as it feeling like I leaned heavily into Vanguard despite me probably not even deciding all that many fit that classes. Next time I talk about the idea of Darksiders in a MOBA, I'm probably going to go over other characters that exist and some I probably gotta get really creative with for their moveset.

Also! Do any of you agree, disagree, have any different ideas for what classes these characters could fit in? Don't be afraid to share your thoughts if you so wish!