#probably an unnecessary post but its just very cool

[larvabyte]

thank you to everyone whose been liking and reblogging my work. i've only gotten back into drawing more recently and it's been a wonderful experience to get to see people's comments even if the team galactic community is small. its been really cool and some of my favourite artists/writers have even seen my stuff. that's still mind-boggling to me. thank you again to everyone who checks out my stuff

[asleepinawell]

sorry if this seems a bit out of the blue, but ever since youve been posting about fallen london, im a bit curious about it! What is the game about and where can I get it?

oh no worries! I'm happy to ramble about it

fallen london is a free to play browser game you can find here. the basic premise is that sometime in the 1800's the entire city of london is engulfed in a swarm of bats and then falls through the earth into a cavern a mile below. this is the neath, a huge underground cavern where london sits on the shore of a vast ocean. queen victoria is still around locked in her palace being a typical shitty british monarch, who, amongst other things, decided that 1900 was cancelled and we were just going to have 1899 for a second time

things are a little...different down there. humans are far from the only ones running around. there's devils, rubbery men (think mind flayer vibes), clay men, and the shadowy cloaked figures running the bazaar (and the city) called the masters. death mostly isn't permanent and the dream world is a little too real. also, most importantly, cats can talk! and there are tons of them! and tigers too

it's got victorian, gothic horror, dark humor, lovecraftian vibes. also it's extremely queer as is everything the dev, failbetter games, makes. something I especially appreciate is that you don't have to give your character any particular gender (though you can) and some of the little avatars are very gender neutral:

since it's free to play it comes with the normal things that type of game has such as real money transactions (completely optional and unnecessary for enjoyment (though some of the bonus side stories you can buy are extremely cool)), limited number of actions you can take (max of 20 at a time and refills 1 per 10 minutes). it is definitely grindy too though there's so many things to do (cannot emphasize the insane amount of content enough) I will usually just switch things up every so often

it's single player for the most part but you can ask friends to assist you in certain actions and there are some specific items that can be sent to other players

(if you like the setting but not the free to play part you can check out mask of the rose which is a visual novel they just released set right after london fell. it's a romance but with full aro and ace options (which I actually preferred) and a murder mystery. that one is a normal just buy the whole game deal and I think it's on most platforms. there's also sunless seas and sunless skies which take place in the same world but are a very different type of game and would require their own post. all of these have great writing in them)

but back to fallen london. it works based off of 'storylets', or little short stories when you usually do a skill check to accomplish something in return for advancing the story, levelling your skills, and reward items. you unlock more and more things as you go and get access to new stories and areas. here's an example of one of the little activities and its resolution

since it's a game designed to be able to play endlessly there isn't really a way to lose or game over. you can die but dying is just a minigame of its own and sometimes even a thing to do purposefully. (the only actual way to die is the notorious story called seeking mr eaten's name which you may have seen me post about, which is a very unique story that will permanently erase your character at the end. why you'd ever want to do that would also be its own post. it's pretty hard to stumble on accidentally I think and extremely well-marked as a thing with severe consequences that you probably shouldn't do. or should you...)

anyway I'd definitely recommend giving fallen london a try if you're interested in the premise and aesthetic

[christiansorrell]

TTRPG Read-Through: Patchwork World

Here is a read-through I did last year (originally posted on Twitter) of one of the most unique PbtA games I've ever read: Patchwork World by Aaron King! - Christian

Credits up first. I know a lot of these folks and they are really cool! Excited to dig into this. I've heard good things, and it's been a while since I've read or played any Powered by the Apocalypse.

This is a cool, strong set up for me. I really like settings that ask characters to face a changing world and either take up change themselves or work to restore the old way of things. It's a headspace I find myself in a lot IRL these days so it's fun to explore.

I'm interested to see how the no stats, no playbooks angle of this game works, considering playbooks are typically such a staple of PbtA games.

Standard three-tired success, mixed success, fail forward resolution for rolls here and questions on the moves determine your bonus to the roll. Easy peasy. +2 is the max bonus.

Other types of rolls are described here. Interested to see how they come into play. I also love clocks and use them in pretty much every game I run so it's nice to see those laid out here too.

We just love a lil guy, don't we folks?

A good chunk of the opening here is spent on laying out a lot of solid foundations of roleplaying generally. It feels like a book (so far) that would work for entirely new players. It doesn't feel essential for me, but I never mind a game that supports varied experience levels.

Character creation is wide open, especially since there aren't playbooks and the text stresses that character creation is very much worldbuilding because of this. Fate-like concepts and tags are in here too which are things I generally enjoy. I like the Drawback mechanic.

Moves are in the playback I set in the other room so I'm gonna go grab those. You get two chosen moves and everyone has access to a number of default moves. You've got three other life/XP things to keep track of too. I'm especially interested in Hex.

There are a lot of moves! They seem quite varied and often very weird, fitting well with the titular patchwork world. You can have a duck's slick soul to dodge more easily or a magical space suit or speak to birds or be good at cartography. Overwhelming, but in an exciting way.

You also choose a community as a party. While PCs all have their original homelands (before the end of the old worlds), you know have a community that gets its own little sheet. This is a cool reshaping of the Gangs from Blades. I also like how the community can change over time.

Coming back to a PbtA game after months of more OSR-minded stuff, I think a lot of what these games contain are things that experienced players would say you could just do in any game at any time that it makes sense in the story, but I do find value in stating what's possible.

Esp since many players come to games with artificial limits on their options (whether that's from video games, more traditional RPGs, etc.). I just think good GMing here requires making sure that the players don't limit themselves just to the bevy of explicit options either.

GM moves (mostly to guide the response to failed rolls). I really think the community aspect of this set up is one of the biggest appeals to me so far. That and the wild list of moves, which I'm sure makes for amazing parties of characters.

I always feel like it's never something I should be in my own writing (for some probably unnecessary reason), but I enjoy the first-person, casual writing style throughout the book. Makes for a very chill read.

Good to see this game employs the Branson Reese style of NPC naming.

Stress acts as a single catch-all health and challenge rating for NPCs. Ideally, I'd hope this would help lead to the PCs approaching encounters with more than just violence.

Sections like this are what I'm referring to when I say this book feels very friendly to new players. It's got little anecdotes and thoughts like this throughout.

Look, it's been a while since I've seen A Christmas Story but... it didn't have ghosts in it right?

There's a sample adventure in the back (which I'll skip for this read-through) plus loads of random tables. Some wonderfully bizarre stuff in the characters and faction tables. Really gives you a good idea for how gonzo you can go with the setting.

Love these two in particular

Optional rules include hard mode (which I just think is kind of funny to see in PbtA, but could be cool if you lean heavy into the post-apoc setting) and some optional moves. I like that some moves focus on romance, something I enjoy IRL but never think to focus on in games.

I was wondering why this was the sixth edition!

That's all for the book itself. Going back to the packet to dig into the things I missed. Some expected bits in here but always one or two unique options I really enjoy. Leaking hex is cool (and could have some troubling cascade effects in certain situations).

I definitely wish, at least in sitting down to read like this, that the contents of the player packet was also in the book itself. I think PbtA has this tendency of leading to loads of pages on the table, but it can make them very easy to pick up and play or to learn as you play.

That element is definitely here, but I think the vast number of wide-ranging moves and the excitement that would drum up in my player group would more than makeup for that initial overwhelming feel of "whoa, that's a lot of papers out on the table".

Overall, it's the most I've wanted to play a game in this style in a while. I like that the base setup for the world is very much up to the players to determine via the characters they make. I like that PCs here will probably feel unlike any other folks have played before.

The community aspect feels like where I'd want to center my story around, as a player. Seeing that shift and change over time feels like it would be very rewarding and would help lean into the "the old world is dead, what do we want the new world to look like?" theme I enjoy.

Because Aaron King is cool and recently hit a lot of Twitter followers, Patchwork Worlds is now Pay-what-you-want over on Itch.

I'm not sure if physical copies are readily available. For full disclosure (guess I should have said this up front), I got this copy for free from Aaron! Not for the purposes of this thread or anything, just for fun a while back.

Thanks for reading more ramblings from me! If you like to do that sort of thing, check out my newsletter - Missives from the MeatCastle. It's got writings on my work, cool stuff I've run across the web in the last month, and exclusive rpg stuff! https://meatcastle.substack.com

[cjgladback]

So this blocking thing! It's good for more than just nuisances. I haven't knit a lot of garments yet with fiber that responds to blocking, and what I have has been like...socks where it seems unnecessary because the whole thing will be in tension while worn. But also I just don't have large pinnable surfaces, as one typically needs when the point is to soak a piece of fabric and then stretch it out to pose in the shape you want it to be until next soaking. What do I have? The ability to stack waterproof objects on a small patch of flat counter space. And thank goodness because that definitely saved this hat.

Anyway! I am happy to have used my extremely inconsistent first skeins of support-spindled yarn (see the post with them all laid out here) for a project I'll probably actually use once it's chilly again. It is comfortable, even if I'm a bit disappointed in the colorwork legibility. This is how the chart looks:

But I didn't quite manage matching gauge yarns, I'm low on practice/experience keeping tension for stranded colorwork, and probably just aiming for too loose a fabric anyway (should've found a path to increasing stitches and using smaller needles on that section) so it's very blobby.

I do have some of that green and "matching" oyster skein left, as well as a little of the finest oyster yarn I used for the ribbing. So if I use them together again, I'll probably hold the two oyster threads as one. Speaking of, I had way too much of the underplied lace yarn and wasn't happy with my first run at an even more open lace panel, so ended up frogging that back and making these sections with the lace yarn held double. Worth it! Much happier with this result. And I can see why underplied yarn has been said to do lace well; was cool how open it already was before blocking.

Image descriptions below:

[ID: Four photos of a slouchy, off-white beanie with some green colorwork being knit, blocked, and worn. The hat is constructed with a solid top of thicker yarn, strip of lace, a strip of green colorwork (meant to be jumping frogs), a matching strip of lace, and finally a long section of ribbing, broken into four strips by inverting the knits and purls.

In the first photo, with a blurred background, the beanie is still in process with a green string holding the live stitches while it's tried on, partway through the first section of ribbed brim; it fits like a misshapen mushroom, the top lace panel collapsing over the relatively tight colorwork, all under the lumpy increases of the densely knit crown.

The second photo also has a blurred background but shows the hat being blocked, gently stretched over a tower of stacked containers, widest at the top around the curved base of an upside down plastic coffee canister from crown to colorwork, the gradual taper of a hair bleach tub easing the lower lace panel into the ribbing before the very end hangs free around a peanut butter jar pedestal.

The third and fourth photos show the finished hat from the side and front, being worn by a pale-skinned brunette woman with a braid and orange t-shirt in front of painted wood paneling on an overcast day. The hat is slouched but not bulbous, blocking having stretched the colorwork horizontally and the lace vertically; a twice-rolled brim covers the lower lace panel but leaves the still not very legible frog colorwork visible. End ID]

[ID: Chart of green on white colorwork made in the Google Sheets spreadsheet software; a section in the middle is selected, though there are repeated motifs on either side. Every cell with an X in it is colored green and makes slightly horizontally stretched pixel art of a frog hopping from the right to the left; the rightmost frog is crouched under a flower or star made of four dots, to its left is a frog pushing off the ground and to its left a frog leaping horizontally through the air. The repeat is 39 stitches wide, 10 rows tall. End ID]

[itsbebebrainrotting]

Analysis of qtubbo and qphils separate parenting flaws which might get me chased with pitchforks so im not tagging it:

(Long so under a cut)

Phils issue, when it comes to the other eggs, really boils down to his isolation. He only prioritises Chayanne and Tallulah (and he prioritises them by a lot) and only really knows Chayanne and Tallulah. And thats because he doesnt hang out with the other eggs often (and gets panicky when taking care of 3 eggs at once so never really gets to know them).

To him, dapper has cool shit, richas is just mischievous and sunny just likes money. This, as a start, just messes up his interactions with some eggs because he acts more familiar with them than he is and doesnt take a chance to know them better. This is worsened by how non serious and out of rp phil often is because when phil isnt rping the eggs still are. They will take his jokes srs. (And its especially bad with sunny cuz sunny is so defensive of tubbo, who qphil makes fun of a lot, and he also places that same relationship onto sunny, even if he doesnt know her well enough to have that relationship).

He also always prioritises his kids to the point of almost putting other kids down. It was RICHAS at fault in that argument over that painting he had with tallulah (cuz phil doesnt know richas enough to know he had an actual issue there). Phil didnt look for dapper when he was kidnapped and at risk of dying. Sunny and Leo fighting was none of his business. When sunny was sad their pa was gone phil compared it to his daughters loss and accidentally minimised their upset.

And the thing is, qphil isnt even perfect with chayanne and tallulah (enderking aside). He sees chayannes feeling of duty to everyone and encourages it rather than noticing how worrying it is. He also is seemingly unaware how deep it runs, considering how long it took him to notice chayannes hurt after tubbos death (and, may i add, chayannes egg bit with tubbo was way more heavily played into by phil than by tubbo). Hes seemingly a bit more attentive with tallulah (though notably i feel less knowledgeable on tallulahs woes nowadays than i used to - oh how the tides change). I know she struggles with loneliness and abandonment issues, and afaik hes very aware of that. But his own isolation therefore backfired a lot on her and he really doesnt notice. (Note: post reset i would also say qphil is probably less isolated but i cant really since i dont watch him and also most of the post reset phil has been enderking affected)

However, I wouldn't say qphil is a bad father to chayanne and tallulah. He just has one big flaw: He doesnt see the negative effects of some of his own actions and they suffer because of it.

Anyway, now to qtubbo, cuz im a tubbling and this analysis should be fair to both crows and tubblings.

Firstly, lets address post revival tubbo. Hes a lot more direct about his hurt and feelings, which manifests into him being mean and short tempered at times because qtubbo puts up with a lot of shit. This backfires at times onto his relationship with the eggs as he directs a lot of unnecessary anger onto them. He guilted both richas and chayanne for his death, for example.

That, however, isnt the only reasons he is a flawed egg caretaker.

See, qtubbo doesnt (always) have the same issues as phil. He babysits often and knows the eggs he regularly takes care of them really well, caring for them almost as much as he cares for sunny. The only egg id say he really didnt try to get to know at first was dapper (but he went out of his way to resolve the beef there). But, he also went to the end of the world and back for dapper so...

Tubbos issues with the eggs are more about his difficulty providing emotional comfort, than anything else.

For a start, both q and cc tubbo use humour as a coping mechanism. He will make poorly times jokes in dark situations because its his way of coping and dealing in those moments. That leaves eggs feeling hurt cuz he seems a lot less serious than they are.

Then theres the fact that while he lets the kids be kids, he also can struggle with telling the emotional age of the kids (he said sunny was 11 💀). This means he can sometimes act like the kids can handle a lot worse than they can.

Plus, his need for petty drama means he will accidentally upset the kids and not care that them fighting will upset them.

Not only that but he struggles at times to help sunny when she has issues (such as leo and tallulah disliking her at first) in part becayse he himself struggled with those issues irl. Of course he doesn't take the smart course of action there because he doesnt know how to fix it irl, let alone in rp.

Oh and all that also ignores the fact that tubbos suicidal tendencies are pushed onto sunny to the point where they literally have a suicide pact together

So, no, in short, qtubbo isnt perfect either. But that comes from struggling at times to be emotional support as well as his own poor mental health, which is entirely different to phils issues, which stem from his tendency to isolate (and a bit of a lack of self awareness).

[fenmere]

We had never heard the term “neo-animism” before we saw you mention it on that poll. We’ve long called ourselves animists but we never had the words before to distinguish our beliefs from others under the animism umbrella, and now we do, thanks! Turns out we’re neo-animists as well

If you want to share, we’d be curious to hear more about your belief system

Ah, cool!

We got the term "neo-animism" from a blog post pointing out that the term "animism" has usually been used to describe a certain handful of Indigenous belief systems from around the world. And that descendants of colonizers like ourselves should, out of respect for that, use the term "neo-animism" to talk about any similar beliefs we develop ourselves. And we're OK with doing that.

Especially since, while we certainly haven't been developing our beliefs in a vacuum, not ignorant of the various forms of animism, we have been looking inward and at our own experiences to do so.

We've been very, very slow to adopt the words "spirit" and "spiritual" to apply to anything we've observed and felt. Though, at a certain point, there's just no any other good English words for it.

OK.

Our actual beliefs:

We have thirteen Outsiders in our system, all of whom were originally non-living spirits of some sort. They all have identities that come from aspects of the universe: Entropy, the concept of forward, interconnectedness, containership, dirt, etc.

While in our system, these beings can become people and think and make memories and have emotions. Some of them embrace this more enthusiastically than the others.

But they all have memories of what it was like for them before joining us, and these memories are profound and wild and strange.

They're pretty static, honestly.

Outside of a human brain, the processes for parsing information and change are much slower and much less chaotic. But they're still there, enough so to develop something like identity, will, and memory.

So, we've come to think that everything, every tiny little thing to every gigantic sweeping abstraction, has a mind of sorts. An identity, and a sense of purpose, a kernel of consciousness, with memory of a sort associated with it.

And you can call these spirits.

Such a spirit isn't all that different from its thing. The spirit of a gabapentin pill is pretty much exactly as complex as that pill. But it's there.

And, essentially, since everything is interconnected and always interacting with each other, this means that the universe is inherently plural. Like, the universe is a plural system with infinite subsystems, sidesystems, and median clusters, and all that.

This is probably the simplest way we've explained it. We could go into what we think some of the actual physics of this are, and how scientific discoveries and thought make room for this interpretation. But that's really unnecessary for us, and would make this post ridiculously long.

We do cover it here and there in our novels, though.

Anyway, spirits of things that are chaotic and complex, like the system of Entropy and Enthalpy across the whole universe, have enough room to be quite person-like, and that's how we get beings like @ohthatphage.

[chefskillet1]

I have been very nervous about this BUT I AM GONNA BE POSTING MY BLAZBLUE OC SHRAPNEL THANKS TO ENCOURAGEMENT FROM @nkn0va AND I REALLY HOPE THE FEW PEOPLE WHO WILL PROBABLY SEE THIS REALLY ENJOY IT :D

To start off, Shrapnel - also known by her real name, Shizuka Kaji, is a loud, abrasive woman who works as a Lieutenant Colonel in the NOL. She's got quite the mouth on her, ready to just dish out whatever not-so-good insults she could conjure up in her head at the moment. While usually she wouldn't have the bite to make up for her bark, she's used Ars Magus to make these cool little things called grenades, and she's always itching to just throw some out even if it's unnecessary! That being said - she has a serious soft spot for the Imperator Librarius, Izanami, bending to every single one of her whims even if it could cost Shrapnel her own life. Shizuka has a deep love for Izanami, being utterly obsessed with the woman, the entire reason she became Lieutenant Colonel was to get closer to Izanami. Before she saw the Imperator for the first time, she was just a Corporal and a rather quiet girl, keeping to herself and never speaking unless spoken to - but the moment she looked at death itself in all her glory, something in her brain clicked, she realized she needed something to change if she was going to be noticed. Thus, she went to brainstorming, eventually landing on the idea to make bombs, and adopting a new persona - Shrapnel. Through the sheer destructive power of her bombs, she managed to climb up the ladder until eventually becoming Lieutenant Colonel of the Engineering Department, something she's not happy about because she has to be around Relius Clover of all people. It didn't matter, though. She finally had the one thing she's craved in her life - control. Her high status in the NOL made her feel powerful, something she's basically never felt in her childhood, she was always so non-confrontational and always just went with the flow, but now - as Shrapnel - she could finally feel like she had atleast one person under her thumb at all times, it was a thrilling feeling to the woman. Eventually, she had scheduled a meeting in private with the Imperator by some miracle, and that's when she had confessed to the woman: how she fell in love at first sight, how she's basically changed herself beyond recognition for this oppurtunity, etc etc. When the Imperator reciprocated, she was over the moon, her life was finally complete! But because I don't like my OCs being happy, she later felt pretty miserable in this relationship - while she didn't know Izanami was unfeeling, she did know Izanami didn't really love her, Shrapnel was more like a dog to the Imperator, something she could just command and it would listen perfectly, not even questioning her master. Shrapnel just can't seem to pull herself away however, the Imperator's soft, sweet voice always manages to just keep her locked into the relationship, Shrapnel was just utterly enchanted by this woman because in all honesty - she does love her, she does want to be in a relationship with her, she doesn't care about the Day of Reckoning or whatever, this woman was literally perfect to her. Which is why she wants to use the power of The Azure to make her relationship with Izanami stop being so one-sided, so that Izanami could finally love her as much as she loved Izanami. Perhaps, with the power of The Azure, they could even get married...

Now enough of that ITS TIME FOR GAMEPLAY STUFF!!!

Health: 11,000

Drive: Party Tricks

Shrapnel's D normals will fill a bar called Frenzy. The Frenzy Bar is segmented into 4 parts, each requiring a certain amount of explosions to fill. Frenzy is built up when a grenade EXPLODES, meaning she can freely throw out her D normals and so long as she's not hit during them, she'll build up Frenzy, all of her Specials and Distortion Drives cost varying amounts of Frenzy. With each stack of Frenzy she gains, the gets new buffs:

4 explosions/1 Segment = faster walk speed

6 explosions/2 Segments = faster run speed

8 explosions/3 Segments = double air dash

12 explosions/4 Segments = her A, B and C normals have a faster startup and are safer on block (anywhere between 3-5 Frames depending on the normal)

Her grenades can be deflected back to her, in which case her opponent becomes immune to the deflected grenade while Shrapnel will take damage, Shrapnel can hit it back to send it to remove her opponent's invincibility while regaining her own, which can lead to fun games of hot potato with your friends. Even if you do get hit by your own grenade, you still build up Frenzy!

Overdrive: The Big Boom

Her D normals now hit twice, meaning they account for 2 explosions instead of 1, so she fills her Frenzy bar faster!

5A = a rather unique 5A in that she takes off her tie and just whips you with it

5B = ELBOW THE FACE!!!

5C = just fucking socks the other player in the jaw lmao, travels forward a bit, fatal counters

5D = travels backwards and throws a grenade that explodes shortly after, it is NOT grab immune like a backdash

2A = a poke! like, a LITERAL poke, not an actual poke-

2B = just your standard low, she kicks at the opponent's feet

2C = a sweep where she uses one of her bandoliers to trip the opponent!

2D = throwing a bomb into the air! ...this move anti airs if you couldnt tell

3C = a sweep thats just better than 2C where she explodes a grenade rather than tripping the opponent, it does cost 1 Frenzy though

6A = slap.

6B = sol5K.jpeg (except its nowhere near as good because its basically just ragna's jesus kick)

6C = she takes off one of the bandoliers and just whips you with it, if you do 6[C] she'll do it multiple times but be pretty minus

6D = throws a grenade to the ground that explodes later, supposed to be used on hard knockdown!

J.A = youre not gonna believe this but... SHE DOES A PUNCH!

J.B = conks you over the head with one of her grenades

J.C = making azrael proud by using her cape to smack the opponent

J.2C = a "divekick" where she just nosedives straight into the ground

J.D = drops a grenade straight down

Throw = grabbing the opponent by the neck and then just throwing a grenade straight at their face (its inactive)

Back throw = after the grab lands, she leaps over them and then gently nudges them backwards, making them fall over

Air throw = she wraps one of the bandoliers around you and then as she whips it to the ground it quickly unravels and forces you straight down

Counter Assault = same animation as 6B

Crush Trigger = when charging she reels her fist back, even comically lifting her sleeve up before just diving into you like kaguya's 3C in uni

Taunt = sits down, pulls out a blank grenade, painting its features on while insulting you

SPECIALS:

Yale Dive

236B = Shrapnel throws a bomb behind her that quickly explodes and sends her flying towards her opponent, can be cancelled into any 5A, 5B or 5C. Costs 2 Frenzy

Macrae Strap

214A = a short range move where she straps one of her bandoliers onto her opponent that will explodr after approximately 180 frames have passed and Shrapnel hasnt taken any damage. Costs 2 Frenzy

J. Rains Launch

623A = Shrapnel's best launcher, throws 3 grenades below herself and the opponent which sends them both flying into the air, allowing Shrapnel to string together air combos. Costs 4 Frenzy

Mills Bash

236D = Shrapnel jumps into the air and slams her fist into the opponent, at the same time a grenade rolls out of her sleeve and explodes. Costs 3 Frenzy, is an overhead

Vyacheslav Ruin

42136D = a VERY potent command grab where she grabs them by their arm, uses the same trick from her 2C, except she sets all the grenades on the bandolier to detonate. Costs 6 Frenzy

DISTORTION DRIVES:

Burning Phillips

236236B = a reversal super where she kicks her opponent back and then jumps on top of them, all dumping all the grenades from her pockets until her and the opponent get shot up into the air from all the booms, knocking them all the way back to midscreen. During OD she throws one of her bandoliers in there for good measure. Costs 7 Frenzy and 50 meter

Cluster of Butterflies

214214A = Shrapnel jumps into the air and lingers there, spinning around as grenades fly all over the field under her, exploding one by one as a whiff punish, during OD a massive explosion occurs under her. Costs 9 Frenzy and 50 meter

Whitehead Phosphorous

632146D = Shrapnel decides she wants to commit a war crime and use the highly painful white phosphorous on her opponent, this super will lock down an area and linger over wherever it was planted, which can force an opponent to block while also taking chip, during OD it just gains more hits and deals extra chip damage. Costs 10 Frenzy and 100 meter

ASTRAL HEAT:

Li'l Oppenheimer

Shrapnel throws a grenade at the opponent's head, knocking them unconscious. Afterwards she straps a bandolier to them, making sure it's wrapped extra tight so they can't move, then after that she drags them to a forest, waiting for them to wake up for her special surprise. Once they wake up, she leaps down from a tree branch, all the grenades in her bandoliers and her pockets falling down. Once she lands, she quickly runs off and remotely detonates all the grenades, marvelling at the destruction she has caused, thinking about kissing her lover in front of the newly made wildfire...

The namesakes for all the moves:

Robert Yale the father of the smoke bomb

Macrae Strap is named after Stuart Macrae the inventor of the sticky bomb

Gabriel J. Rains invented the landmine

William Mills made the frag grenade

Vyacheslav Ruin is named after the inventor of the molotov cocktail, Vyacheslav Molotov

Burning Phillips is named after Phillips Petroleum Company who patented the C-4

Cluster of Butterflies was named after both cluster bombs and butterfly bombs

Whitehead Phosphorous is named after both white phosphorous and the inventor of the torpedo Robert Whithead

The name for the astral comes from the localized name for the JoJo stand Aerosmith, which is Li'l Bomber, and of course Oppenheimer

May or may not make one of these for my uni2 oc next :>

WIN QUOTES:

Ragna: "Y-You... The Imperator has VERY clear interest in you, and I'm telling you, don't try anything."

Jin: "God, dude, you're even worse than boring - you're just an ass..."

Noel: "YOU are coming with ME! The Imperator will be so proud once I present you to her!"

Rachel: "Y'know... I was never really a fan of people like you, sitting in your mansion, looking down on all us commonfolk... you sicken me."

Taokaka: "Will you shut up?! Your voice gets tiring to hear really fucking quick!"

Tager: "I hope you know I was fearing for my life here, even more surprised that you haven't broken my spine yet! You're like... 700 kilograms or something!"

Litchi: "I wonder what else you do with that pole! Hehe..."

Arakune: "Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, they're crawling on me! They're fucking crawling on me! Get 'em off!!"

Bang: "EVERY. DAMN. WORD that comes out your mouth feels like you're trying your damnedest to be some kinda main character. Hate to break it to ya - but you're not!"

Carl: "Isn't it like, way past your bedtime? Haul your ass over home before I make that toy of yours go boom!"

Hakumen: "Blah blah white void something something cold steel, do you always have to be so pretentious?"

Nu-13: "Woah... you have the Imperator's face... it's kinda freaky, to be honest."

Lambda-11: "You've also got the Imperator's face! But like... actually, not even gonna ask, probably a coincidence."

Tsubaki: "I gotta respect your loyalty towards our beloved Imperator! But sadly, I'll always be her number 1~"

Hazama: "You're quite the slippery, slimey little guy, aren'tcha? Well, doesn't matter, just makes exploding you so much more rewarding!"

Mu-12: "Uh... don't worry, I'm not peeping..."

Makoto: "Awww, your love for your friends is so heartwarming! Don't worry, though! They're next."

Valkenhayn: "Y'know, seeing how old you are, I really expected you to pull a muscle just reeling back your fist to punch me, not whatever the fuck that was!"

Platinum: "Can you like... stop talking to yourself? It gets a bit spooky after a while..."

Relius: "Words can't describe how much I want to blow your face off right now! You're SO LUCKY I don't have orders to just kill you right here, you sick son of a bitch!"

Izayoi: "What kinda power is this? It's... actually pretty rad. Not as rad as my bombs, of course - but still sorta cool!"

Amane: "Don't worry, man, we live in a more accepting world, you can just say it."

Bullet: "So like, how are you NOT worried or tired of men staring at your ass? Those jorts look more like butt floss rather than pants!"

Azrael: "Man, I didn't know I was going to a zoo! I'd bring a banana if I knew that the monkey enclosure was nearby!"

Kagura: "You dare disrespect the Imperator?! By flirting with her future wife?! I must say, you are quite the despicable man!"

Terumi: "Wow, y'know - we really aren't that different! You act about as unhinged as I do, it feels pretty nice y'know? Wish we could talk more."

Kokonoe: "Your inventions are hurting my brain, can't you go with something simpler?! Like, I dunno, enough bombs to start a wildfire? Or one big bomb?"

Celica: "You're so... pure. I... I don't think I've ever felt this way after attacking someone. What am I feeling right now...?"

Hibiki: "Well if it ain't Kagura's little puppy! Don't you ever get tired of being all leashed up by him? ...'Bout what I expected. You're pretty miserable..."

Nine: "You have no idea how lucky you have it! The Imperator chose you to be under the Mind Eater, and you throw such a gift away?! How could you?!"

Naoto: "God, you remind me a lot of... the man that wants to steal my Imperator away from me. Stay. Away. From her. Final warning."

Izanami: "My sincerest apologies, my beautiful Imperator! Please, I-I didn't hurt you too badly, did I...? ...Not to worry about it? Well, if you say so..."

Susano'o: "That's right, you don't know one thing about destruction! Now, bow down to me as the new Goddess of Destruction!"

Es: "You're really milquetoast, dunno what I expected from a robot... Whatever, I'll find some other chew toy to play with."

Mai: "You were quite the fun prey to chase around! Gotta say, you work wonders with that spear. I look forward to our rematch..."

Jubei: "I'm sorry if this is personal but... can I pet you? No? Aw, damn shame... I really like cats, but I can respect if they don't want any scritches."

Overdrive:

"IZANAMI!!"

"FOR THE IMPERATOR!"

"My love, forgive me..." (vs Izanami)

"DO *NOT* TOUCH ME!" (vs Relius)

"You. Cant. HAVE. HER." (vs Ragna)

"CAN YOU GET ANY MORE BORING?!" (vs Jin)

"YOURE COMING WITH ME WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!" (vs Noel)

"YOU TOOK THE IMPERATOR'S BLESSING FOR GRANTED!" (vs Nine)

"Hey, do you eat rats like an actual snake?" (vs Terumi)

"Pretty SMOOTH!" (vs Hazama)

"I'M THE ***REAL*** GOD OF DESTRUCTION, BUCKO!" (vs Susanoo)

"RRRREGINALD! MORE TEA AND BISCUITS, PLEASE!" (vs Rachel)

"IM VERY CONFLICTED ABOUT THIS!" (vs Jubei)

"You really need to lighten up, dude..." (vs Hakumen)

"PUT SOME CLOTHES ON, YOU'RE DISTRACTING ME!" (vs Makoto, Mu-12 or Mai)

"Nice to see someone so loyal..." (vs Tsubaki or Izayoi)

[suckerforthisshit]

My comments on the "There's nothing I hate more but something I can't have" from @neallo.

I read the whole story only yesterday and I am not only impressed but also shocked. This is probably the best fic I've ever read in my life. I felt the need to get in touch as someone who is interested in writing I story telling.

I plan to engage in writing, learn how to express myself properly and describe the event as precisely as possible, so that I capture the essence, do not repeat words and portray the characters realistically. So that when I read the story later, I want to insert myself into it in a such way that I have the feeling that it is actually happening. That's exactly what Neallo succeeded in doing.

Here are some comments on the writing:

1) Each of the characters has its own character that is upgraded on the simpler basis of what we have in manga and anime

2) The scenes are described extremely precisely with a lot of details and without unnecessary embellishments.

3) The realism of absolutely everything, from the reactions and behavior of the characters to the entire course of events. Without any dull fantastic moments.

4) Perfectly depicted behavior and thinking of young people with extraordinary intelligence, living in the modern age

5) Sex scenes are described without any exaggeration, without sugarcoating, just the way sex really looks like in real life

6) Thoughts of characters are very human-like

8) Characters in different states, sober and drunk, perfectly described

9) Gracefully introduced internal struggles and conflicts of the main character (Mello) without exaggeration, exactly the way people think and face their own problems

10) Mat's character was lit in all scenes

I have to say that I see these things differently, of course, as we all actually do have our own personal head cannons. And surprisingly neallo's Mello is much alike my post kira 20 years old, fucked up Near. That's that puking out when you have to deal with emotions, that lustful needs, that analytical thinking, that pissy/bossy attitude. Only difference is that my Near usually hides his inner thoughts with his perfectly strict, cold and cool facade. And actually no one knows how extremely horny and pissed off he actually is. Which is different in your Mello, who is open about it. On other hand my Mello is much more feeling like. He wouldn't rationalize his emotions like never, he too can't face them and will probably storm out. He would live in denial to that point it would be a pure delusional madness. He wouldn't face it at all, with my Mello and Near, near isn't enough emotionally strong to state out his feelings (like. Never), and Mello would have to hunt him down which would drastically complicate the situation given that Mello on his own doesn't know what he feels about Near and mentally can't take the fact that he likes him. And for Matt, the psychoanalyst is a literal canon to me and even more, as it's actually great deal of his personality, but again, unlike your characters, more emotional, bit less rational. He would however work far better if to Mello it could actually be said, like, what actually is.. but like, my Matt has to specially pack things for Mello on way he wouldn't freak out.

Haha, anyways, I appreciate seeing the different versions of my three favorite characters that are dancing on my mind for like five years. I will do an art of these two, but I'll show them bit different then I usually draw my Mello and Near. (I already have a perfect picture in my damn head how they look like, exactly Mello)

Overall, this peace of art was MIND-BLOWING and I hope more people will read it.

[tootalltech]

tbb s3 review

okay. now that i've gotten a full nine hours of sleep and am probably a bit more coherent, i'm going to give a post summarizing all my final thoughts on season 3 of the bad batch. bc while i am annoyed about the way things were handled with tech, there were absolutely parts of the season i enjoyed as well.

i LOVE royce hemlock as an antagonist and i have since he first appeared. this season continued to show just how far he's willing to go and how completely removed from any empathy or compassion he really is- all hidden behind a cold, calm, scientific front. he ties very nicely into the overarching theme of dehumanization in this show, whether with the clones or the force-sensitive kids he captured. all in all, he's very evil and very cool and i didn't dislike anything they did with him. not even his death (bc get fucked poison boy and also he died about the same way tech did which was very much deserved). 10/10 no notes.

on the subject of tech's death though. it was very frustrating to me that they didn't show crosshair finding out. i feel like it's still very unclear when he even did; i was questioning if he knew or not by maybe the 3rd or 4th episode based off the exchange between him and omega about tech having her memorize all the plans. crosshair discovering he's dead could have been a good moment between him and omega, it could have been a good moment where we get to see just how much he misses his brothers and feels bad about everything if he somehow finds out alone while still imprisoned at tantiss, it could have been a good moment between him and HUNTER if it was discovered before they worked things out a bit more and it would have been a bigger catalyst for their fighting in "the return", etc etc etc. i don't think there was any good reason to just have crosshair find out at some point offscreen. that is his brother.

i thought the cameos from characters we've seen in earlier seasons were generally cool. fennec shand showing up pretty much made sense seeing as the batch already kinda knew of her so i thought that one was fun. cad bane seemed a LITTLE unnecessary (like it could've been another bounty hunter and nothing would have changed) but i didn't hate it. ventress was cool i'm glad omega has a new lesbian aunt and i thought it was funny when the batch decided they were gonna try and fight her because that was SO OBVIOUSLY not going to end well for them.

and then doing a separate thing for other clones bc thats really its own category. i loved seeing howzer again i missed howzer <3 rex is always a winner. wolffe's thing was cool although i feel like he's going to die now? like. if anyone ever found out that he just let them go. yk? and then we got to see gregor for like .2 seconds but whatever. in true tbb fashion the only other named reg clones on the batch's side that we met died or were never seen again within 1-2 episodes. which is fine. it is called the bad batch. no matter how much it functions more as a tcw sequel show...

speaking of the tbb/tcw world though. echo. is just. i don't understand why they make the choices they make with him. him helping rex makes sense, but he also has a good dynamic with the bad batch (especially tech honestly) and he's a part of their squad? like. this is really more of a renewed complaint from season 2 because it continued into this season but. why have him join clone force 99 if he's then going to leave again and just kind of exist in the background occasionally halfway through the clone force 99 show? i wish we saw more of him in season 3. especially after they lost tech, i feel like there was a way writing-wise to have him be with them more. if some corny "we need to stick together" shit is what it takes then so be it. BECAUSE THEY DO.

i'll go back to antagonists now. I LOVED THE ENTIRE PLOT LINE WITH RAMPART. for one thing, the beard looked GOOD on him. he was a dramatic bitch the entire time he was with the batch and his dynamic with them was hilarious. like hemlock, he died in a very deserved way, although i did see someone else say that his death didn't really make sense and i'm... inclined to agree. like, nala se isn't ever going to be redeemed in many fans' eyes and i don't think what they did with her in the finale was going to cut it. and rampart. GET OUT OF THERE DUDE. why would he be so interested in that data all of a sudden? especially given that he famously DOES NOT LIKE CLONES. why would he care? i know he wanted to bargain with the empire, but come on, that would never work and was a pretty stupid idea. it really did just seem like a moderately lazy way to try and show nala se doing something good while killing a villain in the process. i have no qualms with rampart dying, but why not have him die as a result of like. refusing to side with the clones or something? that would make more sense than him making a really dumb decision when he's supposed to be a smart guy. he didn't make it to vice admiral on looks alone remember!

and now for the cx-2/tech rant. i might make this into its own post, but for now what i'll say is that it simply would've made so much sense to have that goddamn operative clone be tech. we never saw his body. hemlock literally taunted the batch about this, which is SO something he would do if he HAD TECH. hemlock had a very hard-to-kick habit of doing weird science fuckery which would ABSOLUTELY lead to him trying to make tech into one of his operatives if he had him. we already know that the clones he tried to condition into being his operatives with this deep-cover program did not have to be willing to do it at all, because he tried it with crosshair. and we know that if the conditioning took, the clones would "come out different", so it would make PERFECT sense for tech to BE CX-2 and have no qualms whatsoever about hurting his old squad and a kind of different voice. like, look what happened to crosshair's hand. there are clearly physical side effects, and the process didn't even work on him. there were also tons of similarities between tech and cx-2 in my opinion, and all in all it just would've been a good choice narratively. he even could've stayed dead! like i said. i'll make a separate post.

finally, i feel like i should devote some rambling to tantiss, crosshair, hunter, wrecker, and omega. in the same way that i liked hemlock, i thought most of the choices with tantiss and the connections to omega were very cool this season. i think they handled crosshair coming back decently although it could've been a little more fleshed out. i liked that crosshair immediately became omega's fifth dad. i liked batcher! and omega's doll going to eva! all the force-sensitive kids were really cute and i liked them. emerie karr was like. alright i guess? i didn't find myself ever really caring about her a bunch but her story still made sense. and onto the male clones, i do feel like narratively they haven't really known what to do with wrecker for a while besides have him like. blow things up. which is unfortunate because i really enjoy him. then again it's just also not always an incredibly deep show and they are all clones who don't know how to talk about their feelings which i've been saying for a while now <3. i liked hunter going back to defending crosshair in "infiltration" and wrecker's "just like old times!" callback in the same episode. and i REALLY like omega becoming a rebel pilot, i think that makes a lot of sense for her and it also is, of course, sweet because tech taught her how to fly and all that. and finally, the scene with older hunter and omega itself was nice although i think they could've had crosshair, wrecker, and echo there. we all know hunter is the main dad, but he's not the ONLY one and the others are also very important. but oh well...

in conclusion. i do still absolutely adore this show and all of these characters. season 3 did not give me everything i wanted but it wasn't necessarily bad either. and i have to acknowledge that i am very biased and never going to get over them killing off tech so i mostly just can't think about that and have to live in denial. but anyway. season 3 was a mostly solid end to a show that started off so strongly i made a tumblr for it, and i will always love the bad batch for being my first ever hyperfixation and the show that really got me back into star wars <3

[chronically-enthusiastic]

Hello there, thanks for stumbling across my blog!

(Here's a lil comic I made for a school assignment)

Artblog: @chronicallyartistic

Audio drama blog: @chronically-listeningtopodcasts

I'm going to start putting my social energy levels in my bio... There's a lot of stuff I want to respond to but i currently dont have the energy to do so, and so if I don't respond within like a day, check my bio and see that...

Who am I / Where else can you find me?

First of all, feel free to call me Eli!! I'm on the waiting list for an autism diagnosis. I am agender and aroace-spec.

I am verrryyy enthusiastic about the things I am interested in (hence the URL hehehe). And currently, those are: podcasts (theres a list at the bottom of the post), good omens, ofmd, bbc merlin, star trek!!!!, lotr, and probably more things that I am too tired to think of right now!

I use the queue! Im not awake at the ungodly hours i sometimes am seen posting at, I just dont want to utterly flood peoples dashes! I do reblog fandom stuff and things ive added anything to immediately, so if you see a few posts in short succession, im online!

I am a very big fan of the oxford comma and double brackets. Semicolons are pretty cool too. And ellipses are incredible.

i love all of my mutuals dearly!! Making cookies and hot chocolate for you all <33

I try to use tone tags as much as possible!

Boundaries:

Things I am okay with sharing/doing:

My age, gender/sexuality, things about my guinea pigs!!, and most other things

Things I am not okay with sharing/doing:

The city I live in, pictures of me/anyone I know, my full name, my birthdate, my phone number/email address, meeting up with people irl, sending/receiving money/gifts, dms (<- though if we're mutuals and interacted a lot dms are fine!!)

^ this applies to everyone im not in the discord with

I will let someone know if they cross boundaries, and *really* would like other people to let me know if I cross theirs!!

DNI: people who are here to spread hate and anger. Just, stay away. I dont engage in discourse. I know DNIs dont deterr these people, but this is a demonstration of my core values :)

Tags:

(At the top cause otherwise it will get lost) ALSO #tw body horror

I block quite a few tags but most notably #tw war and other ones to do with the war in israel/palestine. This is not because I don't care. I care so so so much about what is happening and I cry every time I see a post about it. It breaks my heart that such horrible things are happening. However, I really struggle with high empathy, and seeing a post about it can really affect me for a while, and I need tumblr to be a safe space away from the real world problems. If I follow you - please could you tag things to do with war. Thank you <3

Updated to clarify - I do block the generic tags such as Israel and Gaza, which most of the posts are tagged with by the op, so if you forget its no big deal!!

A list of all the podcasts I listen to because y'know, its fun:

Fiction:

The Amelia Project

Wooden Overcoats

The Adventure Zone

Sherlock & Co

Alba Salix

Unseen

And a whole lot more that i no longer listen to either because they havent updated or they are a little too creepy (Welcome to Night Vale falls into the latter category)

Science:

The Sci Guys

Lets Learn Everything

Lingthusiasm

A podcast of unnecessary detail.

Comedy/other:

Dear Hank and John

The Unmade Podcast

Books Unbound

Lateral

A book list of recommendations from mutuals for my own use:

abigail by Magda Szasbo (@mack-anthology-mp3)

The Alphabet of Candice Phee (@jamie-dinow)

A list of music reccomendations from mutuals:

in the lap of the gods revisited by queen, why can't i be you by the cure, pyramid song, and lucky & the tourist by radiohead, when the sun hits by slowdive, dancing barefoot by patti smith, tangerine by led zeppelin, autumn sweater by yo la tengo, rubber ring by the smiths, water by pj harvey (from @/mack-anthology-mp3)

imi hendrix’s all along the watchtower (from @/catholickedd)

[axilarycobra]

[Spoilers] WoF Guide book opinions

I recently got the guide and I wanted to share what I thought of it. Honestly, not really meant to be a post explaining in-depth details about what was in the guide, but yeah, this post will contain spoilers for the guide if you haven't read it yet. I'm going to go through it in chapters.

MudWings

I actually really liked the stuff we got in this chapter. It was sort of ruined because everything in it was spoiled or leaked before I got it, the only thing I had not seen yet as of reading that chapter was 2 pages, but I still really like the characters introduced and how it expanded on characters we already know.

SeaWings

This chapter was nice. Not my favorite, but I wouldn't say it was bad. Kind of wish there was more new information since there was a whole part just about Coral recapping the war of SandWing succession. I would have much rather have learned about some kind of folklore or something instead. I think the inclusion of letters between Albatross and Lagoon was cool but it really didn't give us any cool new information, instead just showed how their relationship was like. The Turtle and Anemone parts were fine. The chapter overwhelmingly featured royal SeaWing things when really, learning about some non royal SeaWing stuff would have been so much better because we have really only seen royal SeaWings this whole series.

RainWings

I would say I enjoyed this chapter. I wasn't really into the Kinkajou story but I get its importance in the series, but it felt like an excuse to get to write something from Kinkajou's perspective for once. The Dangers of the Rainforest things was honestly not really insightful. I would have much rather had something about RainWing potions which have been mentioned in other books, that sounds interesting while the Dangers of the Rainforest is really just more about the Rainforest than RainWings. The thing about royal challenges was interesting and included some cool history, it was also interesting to learn about a few other possible challenges that can happen during these. I do like the information about how RainWings traditionally tell stories that are passed down through words rather than writing.

NightWings

This chapter was ok. I skimmed a lot of it. The Tales of the NightWings story was interesting and I like the conversation between Starflight and Fatespeaker that took place after it. The guide to NightWing powers felt pretty unnecessary. I get that this is supposed to represent a real guide that would exist in the series, but I also feel like there should have been more of a priority to give us new information rather than give us information we have been told many times before. The Mastermind interview was way longer than it needed to be, but I did like the history we got about the NightWings developing language and medicine. Fierceteeth's letters was really interesting and seeing some character development in her was really nice

SandWings

Honestly, probably my least favorite section. The wanted treasure poster was cool but then we get thrown into stuff we've already been told. There really is not a lot of new information we learn in this chapter which sucks because I would have loved some SandWing history from Jerboa times or something about the Sorpion Den being founded. There was no reason why most of the chapter had to be focused on Smolder's scavenger journal.

IceWings

Honestly, very cool chapter imo. It also just looked really pretty. Mink's application was pretty long and tbh didn't really add anything to anything. Also, I thought we would get to learn about some new animus gifts but it just restated old gifts we had already learned about without expanding on the information. Literally just exactly what is on the wof wiki plus a tiny little bit of information about Diamond as a dragonet. The feast thing was cool, I never realized how interesting information about food could be but I found myself interested in it. I did really like the Caribou story and that whole history, that's kind of what I wanted more of in the animus gift guide: putting names to animi to their enchantments.

SkyWings

I'd say this chapter was interesting. Although most of the Scarlet kill list was stuff we already know, it's interesting that Tui created a whole new character to put on there with no context as to who they are. I wonder if she wants to do something with this character. I also found the letter from Queen Carmine to Queen Pearl interesting. We got to see a bit of how the massacre was explained to the SkyWings and Queen Carmine's personality. The Tailwind story was interesting, especially near the end parts. It really did explain quite a bit about SkyWing traditions (well, the traditions before they were taken away by Scarlet). I never guessed that Canyon would just be the male version of Scarlet and the reason she had him killed was because he was too obsessed with himself when Scarlet had to make sure she was the dragon most obsessed with herself instead.

SilkWings

This chapter was alright. I enjoyed the information about the SilkWing curriculum and professions back when they were in the Hives. This chapter, and all of the Pantalan chapters, never addressed the LeafSilk Kingdom or the SilkWing Assembly. It is as if that never happened and they were still living in the Hives. I like the history in Monarch's writing and thought that the part about her bringing cookies to the queen meetings was really cute. Aside from that, there was no BeetleWing info which I was really looking forward to possibly seeing.

HiveWings

I did like a lot of information in this chapter. The Hive guides was cool since we really only got a focus on two of them during all of arc 3. The Legend of the Hive part was ok, really just information we already knew, but also interesting that some SeaWings also moved to Pantala with the BeetleWings, LeafWings, and some RainWings. The Book of Clearsight excerpts were also interesting, probably would have been more if they hadn't been leaked.

LeafWings

This chapter was really short. The guide to the Poison Jungle was alright. I did really like the books part. Learning about folklore within the series is what I was more looking forward to in this guide. Then there were the letters with Belladonna and Liden which were alright. But that's it, the whole chapter is 3 things.

[starsonablackboard]

that stych's post i reblogged pushed me to actually write out thoughts I've been mulling over

the last time i was properly in fandom was in 2015-2018 when undertale was at its peak, and i mostly consumed content back then. over the following years i gradually pulled out of fandom spaces (i still enjoyed and do enjoy media, just to myself, sometimes discussing with friends maybe) and also went hard into my own ideas. I've been writing and drawing pretty much only my own stuff for half a decade, and cotl is the first thing that actually got me into fanart and fandom since then

and it cool!! I've been drawing a lot more because of this, i love seeing ideas and creations of others, i found a lot of works that made me feel deep cathartic feelings, and, of course, i tasted The Feedback that comes with sharing my own ideas

and all of it comes with a lot of polarising thoughts and emotions. should i spend so much time and effort on fanart when i could be (should be?) working on my own ideas? should i share my au things or is it pointless? will i be content if what i do share doesn't receive the feedback i want it to? should i write about more personal stuff or is it unnecessary and silly and oversharing since im just a "cotl fanart" blog? do i even truly want to share my personal thoughts or is it unsatisfied desire for attention talking and i will regret it later? does all of it even matter when not that many people see my posts anyway? maybe i should pull out of fandom again, since it went perfectly fine all those years and now im so conflicted? isn't it silly to feel so much uncertainty and confusion about such meaningless thing as fandom? (fandom isn't meaningless, it was a huge part of humanity since forever, there's a reason i used the word cathartic earlier, hi aristotle. it's just what my inner monologue sounds like)

im in general a very cautious person when it comes to getting emotionally invested in things, and this was immensely emotionally invest..ful? for me so far. combined with the semi-novelty of fandom, it's safe to say i feel a little lost

no conclusion, just some thoughts. will probably delete later, maybe not

[emerxshiu]

kinda spoilers for magolor epilogue

did this at 2am, it was gonna be a animation but i knew i wasn't gonna be able to keep up doing something like this for like, 10 frames or more, so i just left it like a drawing. lately i wasnt really liking anything i was drawing but damm do i really like this one, now all thats left is for me to like my next drawing and not open 30 canvas and only finish one.

i was trying to make my interdimensional magolor gijinka, he doesnt really change that much, except for the ripped parts of his cloak and cape. the energy sphere he has is also a bit broken, but i forgot to add that when making the drawing. my magolor wears one energy sphere, like a necklace, he says it's because its the brightest energy sphere he has, wich, is a lie, but im thinking of explaining this unnecessary headcanon i had come up with just because i thought it'd look cool on him and then decide to give a reason to on another post (i wanna do a comic abt it), if you are wondering about the sclera, i forgot to add it but i was already used to this drawing not having them so i just left it like that.

i also made three versions, this one is my favourite by far, but thats just because im a sucker for bright colors in drawings like these. honestly i was kinda surprised that i liked it, i usually dont shade like this, well, i do kinda but it doesnt look like this, its a bit more messy and usually combined with cell shading at the same time, i dunno how to explain, also my lineart tends to be a bit(? more cleaner (most of the time) but i really like this one drawing of magolor, probably one of my favourites on digital, and i might start shading like this more on other drawings.

i also made a desaturated one, dont really have much to say for this one, i had a vision of how i wanted the animation to look but i couldnt get it right, in fact i was originally just gonna have plain colors, no shading, but i coulnt help myself. i planned for this like, bright background and character with more darker colors, as in contrasting, but it kinda hurt my eyes when i did the background (it was a very bright yellow) and as i said couldnt get the look of magolor how i wanted. but i still like the image, all of the versions.

close up of my favourite version

sorry for always writing an entire wall of text when i post

Jambuhbye!

[3rddimension]

I'll be completely honest, sometimes I have the same thought as the previous anon. Them still going through the effort to conceal it confuses me too sometimes. I know that they are against a "public" relationship because of the unnecessary pressure and opinions, but also, I don't traditionally consider just knowing that people are in a relationship as being all that "public".

Think of ANY figure you know who is in a relationship, and while we get occasional photos, appreciation posts, or a one-off video together, they don't share any intimate details about their day-to-day relationship, so fans have nothing to really attach themselves to and speculate about. Anthony, Amanda, Kimmy, Markiplier, Jacksepticeye, Eddy Burback, Ted Nivison, Jacksfilms, Alanah Pearce, James and Elyse Willems... those are just off the top of my head, but there's COUNTLESS people who are just okay with the world knowing.

So I'm always thinking, like, why are S and C so different in that regard?

I get that there might be some strange speculation and parasocial creeps, but like... S and C get that ANYWAYS, so how does that change by making it public knowledge at the bare minimum? I'm sure other creators also get weirdos in DMs, especially women (I def know Alanah Pearce gets weird comments on her relationship). But for S and C, the weirdos who wanted to find out (me, I am weirdos, lol) already found out, and they learned to tune out weirdos in all other aspects, so... I don't get why they don't just rip the band-aid.

But I know there's also another angle to it. The nature of S and C's job is very parasocial at its core. They had entire series on Pit diving into their dating lives and went into otherwise pretty imtimate details. Even beyond dating lives, they've had to share a TON of info about their lives simply for content. I think they both are ones to deeply appreciate keeping some things to themselves for that reason. And if their relationship is one of those things, then that's totally cool.

There's also some other less-expected reasons they might keep it private.

It's just a fact in the industry that women and fem-presenting influencers who *appear* single get more attention and followers. If people knew C wasn't single, she would probably lose male followers on IG instantly. How MUCH she would lose is debateable, but... that's a very real problem they might consider.

Another reason is C stated they've dealt with a stalker before, which got to the point of legal action, and that's a very traumatic experience. Not trying to upset any of her aggressively creepy fans can also be a good reason.

C might also want to conceal it because she very outwardly promotes her bi/pan identity, so she might want to avoid any snide remarks about her being in a "straight relationship". Yes, bi-exclusionary gay people are still out there and are still very annoying.

C might just not want any speculation about her role and successes at Smosh being attributed to her relationship with S. She's a very talented and dedicated performer, writer, and director, and she would probably prefer to keep that attributed to her and NOT her relationship.

At the end of the day, you're right, they have no obligation. However unnecessary we might think it is, or however different they might think they are from every other online creator who we know is in a relationship, it's their choice and we should always respect that.

So good for you to mentioned Alanah. She just posted one of the comment on her IG stories that's pretty much in line with what you said. It's related with her BF (Rahul Kohli) that just met up for a dinner with Mark Hamil who's costar with him in a movie.

As you can see she's pretty chill from this kind of comment and even post some occasionally. But this definitely different from people to people for sure. I'm sure Court and Shayne can handle it but maybe this is one of the reason why they're still effort to be private.

[de4dlyniightshade]

heyy :) erm im gonna fangirl really quick and then the request will be at the end incase you wanna skip to that part or anything, lol. okay so this is very much unnecessary and unasked for and blah blah but i don't care! i believe writers need to hear how much we appreciate them and their works because whew mama! ive been trying to write fics for like months and it actually is so horrible. i genuinely start to angrily vibrate bc my thoughts don't flow on the notes app. but i just wanted to say, nightshade, (ehehe that's so cheeky and silly for some reason) that i reallyyy love your work. its actually like horrific how much your writing just makes me so 😜😊🤭 i know you're not like a celebrity or anything, so it's gonna be weird with this like mini parasocial relationship thing, but please know your work has an impact !! a few months ago, i did something extremely bad and out of character while i was spiraling, and i decided that the best decision for me would be to quit using social media. (and beforehand i had quit using tiktok for like 7 months already and i wasn't that addicted to my phone but i still was consuming negative media) so, ofc, i stopped completely for a good month or so and only ever using youtube every now and then. buttttt, one of the first social media platforms i came back to first... was tumblr! it's actually so silly too because i only used tumblr like 4 times beforehand so i was quite new. but anyway anyway (im a yapper UGH) i really found that your posts had made me feel happy :) idk they kinda reminded me of myself before i went big bad that one time and it made me inspired to go back to how i used to be... u get me?? you're writing literally haunts my brain oh my lord it should be illegal to read your stuff because afterwards i literally have this crazy ass urge to read more and more and more. im lowkey an addict cause i be having my deadlynightshade withdrawals. the way you write is just so 😫 gosh, it's beautiful. i also love ur sillyness because like ME TOO. your random little posts are so me coded and i love it. YOU'RE SO FUNNY 😭 uhmm i just wanted to say thanks for being super cool and talented because believe it or not, the stuff you put out makes me really happy! (that was so melodramatic like mf they write about spencer being a pathetic pussy drunk bitch why are you saying it changed ur life?? its true tho.) erm yeah that's the end of that part i just again wanted to thank you 🙏 i wish we were friends SO BAD like you're actually awesome what the fuck.... but like how do u even become friends w ppl?? LMAO ERM ANYWAY 😍 can you write a blurb or h.c or something (honestly anything will make me happy) about valentine's day?? 🤭 basically spencer being SO FUCKING SHY because you can't stop touching his hands or hair subtly or like kissing his cheek leaving marks from lipstick or like getting him his favorite snacks/drinks/books/textures/ basically a gift that made u think about him?? ugh or him doing the same with you like him being the best fucking nerd boy ever and spoiling you so much like he goes ape shit spending well over his funds limit but it's worth it because it's you? or like sweet soft cutie pie sex? at the end of the day and he's like... Erm.. Pussy for 1 please! you were so pretty today... You always are-! (I'm mentally ill and writing this at 8:37 pm on a thursday night.)

this is. the sweetest shit anyone has ever said to me i actually cried ngl to you.

i'm genuinely so thankful for the little community i have created here i never expected such an insane amount of positivity and love from people just for the whack ass shit i write but that's probably just my perpetual self hatred and disbelief that people enjoy anything about me🤞

i think it's crazy how people on the internet who have never met me, don't know me, what i look like, or anything can treat me better than any of my friends have and i'll always be thankful for that.

ALSO! i love being called funny pls kiss me i never think i'm actually funny istg

i was also planning on writing a valentines fic ALREADY but this made me wanna write it even more as a thank you for this message it genuinely made my week(can't promise it ON TIME for valentines but i can try!)

i'm also so glad that my work and blog makes you happy, there's no privilege greater than making someone smile even when they don't feel like it</3

[steady-star]

argopro has my FUCKING number i'll tell you what. i was nervous about them getting new outfits but i am always a fool for not trusting them to do epsi right and more. this is my insanity post so i don't get rate limited on twitter

starting with this bastard. i cannot BELIEVE they went this route. the more i look at it the more there is. he's only got one leg out which is a shame, but i think the covered leg is a nice compromise to convey his slightly matured vibe without taking away the original appeal of shu's character design (leg).

the cropped tank top is insane to me, like i don't think it was ever confirmed that shu's og black shirt was a tank top (ppl started drawing it that way because yuki's live outfit was a tank top, though that's a fairly practical choice considering how sweaty the performers get) but now they've just gone all in and shrank the hell out of it and made sure we know from the get-go that he's got little slivers of shoulder there and a big enough opening in the jacket to expose them entirely if it were to be pulled aside. god bless. and the midriff?????? i just checked and i'm fairly certain the ONLY navel we have ever seen before this was futa's dbes initial 4 star where his shirt is just barely floating up enough to see it. and now it's a permanent fixture in this creature's outfit. insane. insane. i'm not even going to talk about the fucking harness and its positioning

the jacket is immensely perfect; it keeps the key appeal of his old jacket (big chunky sleeves) while trimming up all the unnecessary parts and adding a lot of stylish flair. the holo parts being slightly transparent is super cool!!! and, i'm sure, serves to highlight shu's figure even more 😭 it's crazy how he went from such a loose, bulky, covered top half design to this insane array of bare skin and contours. he's gained confidence!!! and it's hard to tell but i wonder if this jacket still has a hood on it... and my favorite aspect of his old jacket was the "CHECK" text on the sleeves, since i liked to change the word for narrative art purposes, so i wonder if this new jacket's sleeves will still have any words or if it's just the epsi logo that you can see part of on his left sleeve.

his top half is really so perfectly tailored to the way i've liked to exploit/alter shu's original outfit in my art that it's almost suspicious lol. argopro staff secretly follows me!?!? i'm glad they have the same taste at any rate

misc items:

i'm a big fan of the new choker; the dangling epsi logo charm is super cute and cool, i hope they make official merch out of it

i also LOVE those gloves. don't know how to explain how it fits the energy of the new epsi and shu specifically so perfectly

i'll miss his old boots but i won't miss how hard they were to draw LOL, these new shoes look fun!!

thank you for keeping the garters. it's part of his dna. the "reverse" white garter on his right thigh is extremely funny

all the details around and on his shorts are needlessly complex. see the pink lines on his shorts that lead up to the white belt and wrap around it? it becomes black on one side. for whatever reason. just the number of things overlapping the white belt infuriates me lol. the striped belt has the only yellow in his outfit on its inner side and i wish he had more elsewhere. the holo belt... structure(?) with the epsi logo plastered all over is going to be hell and a half to draw. i am probably going to simplify this whole area when i draw it myself lol

the way his shorts are blue-black while the rest are neutral-black kinda bothers me 😭 maybe if they were more of a dark blue (a lighter shade than his other blacks) it might be better.... they're really going for the jrpg chara style of blacks-on-blacks and a million belts huh

THAT WAS A LOT OF COMPLAINTS BUT it all balances out

overall: very cute, very cool, surprisingly handsome, kind of slutty. i support him

skipping to reiji because i have priorities and he is the second member of epsi to ME. and to the dbes file data.

i was initially very surprised with this long coat thing with the segmented coattails(? if they should be called that), as i'm too used to seeing him in his trimmed and slender suit or school uniform... but he does wear long coats/other draping things in his dbes oufits (in the rain and yume no ato come to mind), so it's not out of character! the bright yellow on the inside and the squared sections seemed really familiar to me, and when i asked my brother he was like "isn't it like zhongli?" AND HE'S RIGHT... and it just so happens that zhongli is my favorite genshin character design, largely because of his cool coat, so argopro really did reach into my brain and made something nice for me. it also makes me think of penguins somehow.

most insane piece of this design is easily the chest harness made to look like a tie. whose fucking idea was that. it's so clever and ridiculous at the same time. most importantly it's still just as if not more yankable than his original tie, so shu will have an easier time than ever pulling reiji down to his eye level 🥰 i also like to pretend reiji has nice tits and this harness will help accentuate that if i shorten it up a little.

love the whore gloves. i used to hate these when they started showing up in a million character designs in other franchises but i understand their appeal now and i wholly approve of inflicting them upon reiji. black gloves in general really suit him, they're very cool and have an air of danger. i've also just read a tweet wondering if reiji's got black nail polish under his gloves like tadaomi and i'm super fine & normal with that thought. notably, shu and reiji are the only ones with gloves in this new set!

this is the most insane thing to be insane about but we have once again been denied the skin of reiji's left elbow. listen. we've never seen it. his sakura 3 star trained has his right elbow out. "the 3d outfit," you say. THE SLEEVES GOT ROLLED DOWN IN THE 3D OUTFIT! one time in puchi he rolled up his sleeve past the elbow.... only on the right arm. there's been a number of reiji chibi merch with tshirts but that elbow is always angled away. again and again his left elbow has never been seen in its full extent and this new outfit is the most hilarious iteration of hiding it because his right sleeve has the semi-translucent holo material, giving us screened access to his right elbow, BUT NOT HIS LEFT! regular dark opaque imprisoning fabric there. when i first noticed this phenomenon i joked he might have a scar or something that he prefers not to expose and the evidence only grows that he's hiding something there. just know that if we ever see that stupid elbow in full (and it's surely just a normal elbow) i'm going to get a little crazy on twitter for a bit

misc items:

his eyebrows have a steeper slant than they used to, especially for a fairly neutral expression! it makes him look a bit more like his support drummer, kitamura-san.

i like the coat lapels to preserve some of his suit aesthetic, and the white borders call to mind his handsome uniform blazer. so glad they're standard lapels and not notched or something, i'm not a huge fan of those

he's still got his stupid white dress shirt. good for him. it's going to get ruined but good for him

i am perplexed and very interested by the torn knee. this might be the first time we've even seen reiji's knee (do you like how i keep track of which swaths of reiji's skin we have been privy to) but i'm mostly surprised he'd wear something like that, considering he usually keeps such a refined image. guess he's loosening up a bit and embracing his cooler/rougher side!? thanks to shu i assume... :)

i'll miss his formal shoes but i think the style of these boots are a fairly good compromise in preserving his vibe while also fitting the new epsi aesthetic. they feel fantasy-like somehow. i am in fact dabbling with a medieval fantasy au so i'm glad some of the work's been done for me LOL

the holo-material bracelet on his raised hand is floating of its own accord. it must be minecraft enchanted.... the color even matches

one again reiji's terrible color palette bites him again because he looks incredibly clunky next to his more cohesively colored bandmates. it's the fact that he's got his very dark hair (compared to the rest of epsi) in a unique hue, then his cherry red eyes, then the purpleish holo material and epsi-pink accents, THEN the brightass yellow of his coattails. it's a lot of colors in one design relative to his bandmates. still questioning why he has the worst image color in argopro

there's a lot of miscellaneous detailing on his outfit that i don't really care for and were probably added just to make sure his design had the same density as the others, which is a shame since the others' designs more effortlessly include detail as part of the structure of their outfits (e.g. shu's shirt, harness, and jacket layering together) whereas reiji just has a bunch of accessories tacked on. i wonder if i can fix him

only shu and reiji have matching purplish holo material. what's up with that huh!!!!

overall: good enough! his harness, gloves, and coattails are the highlights for me. the potential of those alone make the drawbacks more negligible

ok back to band order

jacket is Cool As Fuck. great collar and overall silhouette, especially with his pose. i could do without the holo sleeve though, i wish it at least had a wide cuff. would be a nice callback to his og jacket

i want to know everything about his black top. there are clearly cuts at the shoulders but he still has sleeves. are they shoulder cutouts. are the sleeves arm warmers. are they attached to the inside of the jacket. all i can conclude is that the cuts combined with the high fitted collar and his visible collarbones is incredibly sexy. bonus points for that X-shaped thing and the belt, just to accentuate that area even more

he accessorizes yellow much better than the previous two, and the white gradients are a curious touch. gives the yellow less of the "⚠ caution" feeling of his old outfit and leans more towards it just being an eye-catching secondary color

his bottom half feels like a different design LOL. the shoes are kind of an eyesore with how much patterning and detail they have

his guitar is still so hideous and its proportions look even worse somehow. AND IT DOESN'T EVEN MATCH HIS OUTFIT

overall: ok! i think i am looking almost exclusively at his collar area down to his pick hand

CUTE. CUTE CUTE CUTE. this might be the strongest design of the bunch. everything actually matches.

bigass collar: GOOD. his jacket's sleeve situation is a mirror image of haruka's: GOOD. the green perfectly matches his bass's pickguard: GOOD. very successful jacket. again don't like the holo sleeve but i think with both him and haruka i'd like it more if they were a) the same purple holo as shu and reiji or b) just rendered differently. maybe i'll like it better in card art or something

love the wide-necked shirt, that was always his thing. i think the stripes on the lower half are odd somehow, i feel like they should be diagonal instead of horizontal... maybe it's because of it being right next to his spotted bass

his pants are an absolute success in matching his outfit and calling back to his original design

very good yellow accessorizing and i think he pulls it off best because of his pants + his green matching it very well

unfortunate shoe situation again but it's slightly less bad here. also both haruka and kanata have their instrument role + their names printed on the shoes which is funny

overall: chef's kiss. an excellent composition of his old aesthetic with new epsi

somehow manages to fit within the aesthetic perfectly fine while also looking out of place. as expected of tadaomi

all around very solid jacket! i like the holo sleeve windows; you can see where his shirt's sleeves end on his biceps. kinda cute + hot. curiously he's got more sleeve on his left arm so there's another haruka situation here

HIS PAINTED NAILS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! his og design's rings and this design's nails do a good show of highlighting his pianist hands, especially in the absence of his instrument in the visual

the holo strip thing coming off his collar is kinda like a tie lol? so he gets that little splash of formality, or perhaps something vaguely reminiscent of his "prince" image....

i'm curious about those white belts forming a V.... where do they go.... they look nice tho

i wish his shirt was slim fitting like haruka and shu 😔😔😔

his pants and shoes are very pleasing in their detail distribution. nijos take notes

i really like the diagonal striped pattern on the cuffs of his boots; this pattern also appears on other epsi members and brings back that sort of "⚠ caution" feeling i mentioned earlier, since it's like yellow warning tape/signs/etc

it's a shame the beautiful french grey of his hair sticks out so much with epsi's unnatural color palette

very notably, tadaomi doesn't have an ounce of yellow in his outfit. which should mean something or other. probably

i'm really trying to find something to elaborate on and i think that in itself makes a point about how oddly inconspicuous his outfit is

overall: enigmatic but attractive. exactly as he should be

so that's everything for now!! i didn't say everything i could have said but i have said Enough. in the end i'm pretty pleased with these designs even though the original ones will always hold an immutable place in my heart. i hope we get to see more angles of them for drawing reference soon