#raven complains about character design

[someonelookingpraediti]

Special Editions

All for the Game Rainbow Crate Edition

It's been the best part of a year since I last did an unboxing post. I have still been receiving subscription boxes, and I've even been taking photos of them, with the intention of catching up on my blog posts, but it's now been so long that the idea of sitting down and catching up on ten months of posts is just too daunting.

So I'm just going to forget all the ones I've missed, and start afresh.

And here it is - the big one. Rainbow Crate's hardback editions of the original "All for the Game" trilogy!

There's been a lot of complaints online about these - they were a lot of money, and people have been really disappointed. But I have to say, I am so, so impressed with these books!

The reason people are complaining is that there are some printing errors on the dust jackets. Basically, some of the information on the flaps is wrong, and the blurbs have been mixed around. But it's only the dust jackets that are wrong, and that is such an easy fix.

And Rainbow Crate handled it really well, in my opinion. Before I'd even received my books, I had an email from them with a form to order replacement dust jackets for free. An easy solution.

I can't help but compare this to the last set of messed-up special editions I received, which was The Raven Cycle by Owlcrate. They had the exact same issue - the dust jackets were misprinted. For them, it was the colour that was wrong - they'd been printed green instead of blue. But instead of reprinting the dust jackets, they refused to acknowledge their mistake, and brushed people off.

Looking back, I really do think that was what made me lose my passion for this blog, and consequentially, for reading in general. I've really struggled to find joy in it ever since, and have moved on to new things. I just spent so much time stewing over it, that I got into a really bad mindset.

But maybe these Rainbow Crate editions will save me!

Dust Jackets:

I have to say, when they first announced their jacket design, I wasn't that excited about it. But it has grown on me, and I really like it now, despite the fact that it looks more like Enhypen fanart than Foxes artwork! Rainbow Crate also changed the jacket font after they went on sale. I don't know why they made the change after the artwork had already been finalised, but it made such a huge difference! The artwork looks so much better with the new, bolder font.

The inside of the jackets have the original (terrible) self-published cover designs, but they're sharper and foiled and not off-centre, so actually they somehow look professional?! I'm impressed that they managed to save those designs! The originals were awful, but the Rainbow Crate versions look nice!

Hardcase:

I actually almost wish that I had ordered two copies, although I really couldn't have afforded it. Because the hardcase designs are so gorgeous, I want to be able to display them! I've always loved this character art by llstarcasterll, so I'm thrilled to have it on the covers!

And I didn't realised there would be ribbon bookmarks, but I've never been so impressed with such a small detail! I always think a ribbon bookmark really makes a special edition, but these ones go so much further. They're each printed with a different quote! When I saw that, honestly, I was blown away!

Endpapers:

The endpapers are designed by my absolute favourite AFTG artist, ouijacine, so I was going to love them, no matter what. There are six different endpapers, two per book, and they're all beautiful.

I don't know what the rules are about selling art a publisher or subscription box has commissioned, but I'm hoping she'll be able to sell these as prints on her website, because I would definitely love to have some of these on my wall.

Sprayed Edges:

The edges are fairly standard, with the fox paw, key, and chess piece design stencilled in white, but I really like that the background colour for each one isn't just solid, it matches the dust jacket design. I guess this isn't quite so good if you're planning to display them with the reverse jackets or as naked hardcases. But I think they're still nice anyway.

And bonus points because even the outbox was amazing?! They'd had a special orange AFTG shipping box made, with a fox print on top, and quotes from the books. My one criticism with this is that it was very snug to the books, so if there had been any damage to the outbox, it probably would have transferred through to the books. A bit more room for bubble wrap would have been good. But it was so special coming home and seeing this beautiful orange box waiting on my doorstep, and knowing exactly what was inside!

I haven't read the bonus chapters yet, but I believe there's one at the end of each book. And all three books had tip-in signatures, which makes them extra special.

Overall, this was a total win, in my eyes. I think they've done a really good job with these editions, and there isn't anything more I could have asked from them. The only issue is with the misprinted jackets, and I was really impressed with the way Rainbow Crate resolved it so quickly and easily.

[wannaeatramyeon]

I am gonna stop asking Gun scenario. As I felt your masterlist have enough of it and your fan probably need others lookism character scenario. LOL

So here. How would Goo react to his y/n wears his favorite female character cosplay.

It's not your fault Gun makes everyone weak at the knees. Thanks for the ask as always 💕

So... I took a little detour. This is extremely SFW. It's been about a decade since I last was into anime/manga. The first line of this is ME

Goo Kim x Reader: Cosplay

Please note the image 👇

When Goo nonchalantly dropped you surprising him and dressing up as his favourite anime character would be hot, you panicked.

Who was it again? You enjoyed listening to his ramblings, but it's always been in one ear and out the other. And you knew how much it would irk him if he realised you weren't listening properly.

You tried a few times to gauge his reaction, mentioning a particular fan-favourite from one of the many shows he watches and was met with disgust at each suggestion.

Ok, fine. You would just have to get creative.

"... What's happening?" Goo opens his bedroom door and is suspicious at the sight of you looking a bit embarassed. He cocks his head in confusion.

"Erm... do you like it?" you ask, doing an awkward spin.

"It's... interesting, princess," the blonde is definitely bewildered. You've changed up your style, and you look beautiful as always but he felt like he was missing a trick.

"Do you not get what I'm supposed to be?" you huff, placing your hand on your hips.

"Wait... are you dressed up as someone?"

You nod, wondering if this is one of your best or cringiest ideas.

He takes in your legs, elongated by delicious skyscraper heels. You're dressed in a tailored blue designer suit, impeccably hugging your curves. A bright yellow cashmere tie sits enticingly between your breasts, and a familiar pair of glasses rests on your face.

...Your long raven hair was also bleached blonde.

"SWEETHEART?" Goo rushes over to you, gripping your shoulders and giving you a little shake of excitement, "Are you...?"

Maybe it's time to confess.

"Well... I forgot who your favourite character is," you comb your fingers through your hair nervously, "But! I think you would find this sexier."

You give a little giggle before the punchline, 'I'm you, just genderbent."

"Baby~" Goo croons, running his hands all over you, "My exquisite little honeybun~"

It was like looking in a very sexy and fun mirror.

Sure, he knew he was unbelievably beautiful as a man, maybe even the most perfect man that ever existed (an objective fact).

But as a woman? He always thought he would be gorgeous. Seeing you standing there confirmed it. You certainly did him justice.

"You. Are. So. Fucking. Perfect." he punctuates each word with a kiss.

He couldn't wait to ravish you, or himself, or herself. A little confusing but he wasn't going to complain.

God, Goo fucking loves you. When you're on the money, you're right. on. the. fucking. money. Who is sexier to Goo Kim than Goo Kim?

[ravenkinnie]

For the character ranking thing, jinx, caitlyn, ellie, raven, cassandra cain

5 ellie - I loved the show I like the games but when I know a character first through my grilfriend I consider them a blorb9 in law, like claire redfield and alice liddell are also my blorbos in law. my girlfriend could take them in the divorce and for the rest of my life I would resent seeing any mention of these games because I'm a scorpio so that lowers ellies ranking

4 raven - I love raven, her and batman are my ogs, they both changed something permanently in my elementary school brain and it never recovered. however, i hate modern raven so much, like fellow mutual momo strongest raven fan warrior is able to keep up but I dont have her powerful autism so i only feel hate and i wish dc the worst for that. god i fucking hate bbrae too i would stage a coup at the hq just to fix raven. I wish somebody brought back the new teen titans design, keep the saris and keep everything, just make her desi, people will complain and get over it like they got over miles and we got spiderverse out of that so. take her out of the titans cause im sorry, I'm a titans fan but this is a sinking ship, every book is a heavier flop than the previous one, im going to save my girl. have her cameo in other shit and be like omg im on my own whatever and test her dynamic with other characters, find her a new place in dc universe and then i think you could have a banger team book on your hands because she does the best in teams. I do selfishly wish that place was more near magic users books because i think that would be so much more slay for her to show her powers than having her faint all the time because she could easily defeat a divorcee in spandex and we have 20 pages to fill

3 caitlyn - caitlyn is my OG main which you might not realise because in so jinxpilled these days but I played her through high school (never left bronze <3 still haven't left bronze <3). so you can only imagine my joy when they made her a 6'1 dyke with a tooth gap AND they kept her big boobs, I've been winning ever since. I think I'm one of like five caitlyn stans maybe tho, every caitvi shipper seems to either like vi more or want to fuck vi more and outside caitvi circles no one really likes caitlyn. which is fair because she's rich and a cop so i can't defend her but I like that she's always struggling because of her own stupidity and is constantly challenged. when someone says she's wrong and she does that frowny face, she's so sexy to me, I love a stubborn bitch. she's also autistic to me, I'm just saying it because no one ever has caitlyn headcanons. I also LOVE league caitlyn, i think league caitlyn is 80% of the reason why domme mommy caitlyn is so popular because she IS a domme mommy. fantastic legend of runeterra card too

2 jinx - i know its a travesty she's not #1 but the tea is, i just didnt like her in like 2014 dhshsj i don't like jokeresque characters usually, i think it's a noring iverused tropes that only pretends to be interesting with fake depth and quirky randomness, I'm sorry. but you CAN make it good and i think arcane gave her such a strong comeback for me, I'm fond of league jinx too now, like I've grown to appreciate her even if I dont find her OG release that good. jinx gets the best promo materials tho, maybe outside of KDA girlies. GREAT legends of runeterra card, i maxed out her skill in the path of champions and I've played with many other decks in this game so believe me when I say, level 3 jinx is so OP its baffling. play her path of champions before they nerf her cause they just nerfed her in league a lil shshjsis. I have to stop typing because i took an edible and i could talk about jinx all day like the way they balance her storyline perfectly, the fact that every storyline goes back to jinx, her energy like im biased but sorry she is a scene stealer. her potential, the way every single dynamic she has with every character could be so good BECAUSE she has those plot connections, also i think her voice lines and arcane dialogue are really good, she has a very distinct style of speaking. both voice acting in the game and the show are great (pls look up her death voicelines they are so funny) but ella purnell??? I had no clue who she was before arcane and now i watch everything she's in. get jinxed was made by djerv which is a GREAT band too

1 cassandra cain - she is forever my dc rising star like i see who you are, i see your potential and i will blow up dc headquarters for you. I'm keeping her at #1 cause she deserves it but I'm so sorry when I recommend you the solo and the art looks like that, in my head it doesn't, love is blind. PLEASE look up the batgirl vs joker issue drawn by bill sienkiewicz tho, she is so beautiful in it kiss kiss. she is literally just if batman served extreme levels of cunt in every move. her backstory is batshit, she is my favorite portrayal of suicidality because it proves you can write those themes without being corny as fuck, just like jinx she has great fascinating dynamics with every other character. unlike jinx, it's because she stands out, she's barely connected to other characters which I think makes her kind of cooler like she's this super weird shadowy being you're kind of friends or coworkers with. pure cuntress

and the thing that hurts the most is that if that solo launched with modern art now I think it would find a good market because hear me out. every comic book is cursed now because no one knows how to write dialogue or understand cinematography or design but they sure know how to write monologues so you lose eyesight trying to read a lot of words about nothing on tiny panels. which cass' solo does not do becauee the dialogue is quite minimal even later on, it relies on visually striking and easy to read panels which are fantastically shareable on social media to entice people to read the book. plus I just watched mad max furiosa in the cinema and I was thinking we really have a trend of feral young women with an older mentor figure that sucks as a person and cass. CASS HAS THREE. and a cunty as fuck mother. I know this shit would sell and if it found a good market maybe it wouldn't end so fucking badly

give me five ships, characters, or shows and I will rank them from my favorite to my least favorite.

[lagggggomorph]

Raven being Desi

Hello, hello again, I'm back with another tirade! This whole thing started with seeing a fanartist post a drawing of Raven (a DC Teen Titans character created by George Perez) as dark skinned with a Desi associated hooked nose. One commentor began to complain saying 'Raven isn't a dark skinned Indian, she isn't Indian at all'. When the artist pointed out that they were referring to the fact that Raven's original design was based of an Indian model, the astute commentor acknowledged that Ravens 'style' was Indian but was influenced by other models of other nationalities as well, so lets break it down.

Raven's style

I assume you're talking about the red dot on her forehead. It's called a Bindi and it's not a part of Indian culture, it's a part of Hindu culture. Traditionally, the west has not cared about the difference, assuming any part of Hinduism is just spiritual hokum and using it in art and pop culture without consideration. But no, the Bindi is worn by Hindu women and yes, it is cultural appropriation for the Bindi to be worn by non-Hindus for aesthetic. More of Raven's character involves Hinduism too. Meditation, and chakras also frequently appear in Raven's magic and were also Hindu practices. Then there is the topic of Ravens model.

Her name was Persis Khambatta. She won Miss India and is the model that George Perez named as the original influence for Raven's character design. But that isn't definitive, I hear you cry. White people can be Hindu too! And the same quote that lists Persis as an influence also lists a Fran MacGregor as a later influence! And that is true, but also like...

That, dear reader, is Raven in New Teen Titans wearing a Sari, which is one of the traditional styles of clothing for Indian women. All of this combined methinks makes Raven being Desi a pretty decent possibility, right? Well, apparently not, according to some people on Reddit, since there is still the issue of

Raven's Ancestry

Raven's mom is white. She Elizabeth Roth, by both her Germanic last name and her blonde haired character design, is definitely one white lady. And Raven's father is Trigon, aka the devil from the bible. And like, there is no way that there is a historical precedent of Christianity associating Hindu culture with evil (just ignore Indiana Jones the Temple of Doom and the demonisation of Kali and Lord Sheev from Star Trek and Lady fucking Shiva and that time Tim Drake fought an actual Indian god for some fucking reason). I mean there is no way that the bible says anything negative about 'Idol worship' (cough cough Romans 1:21–23, Exodus 20:3–6, 1 Corinthians 10:14 cough). Is it really that much of a stretch to say that the devil, as far as DC is concerned, may have some Indian traits. Or that Raven's home of Azarath, steeped in spiritualism and mysticism and definitely-not-Hinduism, may have had some Indian culture there too? But I feel like all this pedantic behavior is kind of missing the point.

What is the point of representation anyway?

Why does Raven being Indian coded matter?

Well, it matters because if we include her in the Indian coded bucket, there is a total of 4 desi coded characters in DC, three of those 4 being the Al Ghul family. The sum total of all actual canonical Desi characters in both DC and Marvel combined, is one. Just one. Kamala Khan from the Marvel universe.

Representation, specifically changing the ethnicity of pre-existing characters in later adaptations is done to better reflect the audience diaspora, so that the audience can see themselves in those character. Little Desi girls want to believe that they can be superheroes, just like anybody else. And if we don't have that in cannon, we will make it in fannon.

Accuracy be damned.

[shrimshrim4fun]

Wuthering Waves 1.1 Spilers and thoughts:

Speed ran through that shit but it was FIRE. I really enjoyed the pacing of it though I was a little shocked at Chang li’s voice. I thought it was gonna be a bit deeper but I think I actually prefer it like that.

THEY SAID THE GAME’S NAME! Idk, I just really hyped when they say something like that 😔

Why is the name of the big back Abby?!!? I thought it was gonna be something other than that but that Echo does not look like an Abby to me 🤔 Gonna start calling it BBA (Big back Abby) cause that thing can eat a lot. Her voice reminded me of the girl from Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings for some reason 💀 (all jokes please don’t take it seriously)

Also Jinshi, I love you so much 😞 great character design and overall voice acting for her. Though sadly I’m not pulling for her :( Her fight with Jue was very interesting. I want to give her a hug after knowing her backstory of getting reborn by Jue

For some reason Changli was quite different than I thought she would be. The fight scene between her and the red dudes (I’m sorry I forgot their name 😭) was top even though it was like 7 seconds

Overall I very much enjoy the game and I’m grateful that Wuthering Waves has been able to fix lots of the bugs and complaints people have been sending in. Also the free pulls 😋 For the people that have been complaining bout it not as good as Genshin no hate but Genshin had lots of bugs in the beginning of their game and this is also the first time Kuro games has done an game like this not like PGR(Punishing Gray Raven) I hope everyone just enjoys it in general though :)

If you want to talk about Wuthering Waves feel free to interact with my inbox. ><

[purplekoop]

I officially Have Job Now (still in the process of getting a bank account because the past 6 years of my life have been an almost comical series "we'll get to it later" moments but at least I can rest easy enough knowing my hours are gonna be compensated when it's possible) but I'm still in a creative and artistic rut that I very much wish to solve with the metaphorical equivalent of being bashed in the head with a shovel to get on with it.

I'll be transparent here and say that art has been hard for me the past few months. Between frequent downward spirals of self doubt over my creative and technical capacity, and just general inability to muster the desire to do art despite the ever-looming dread of not doing art... I've had lower points in my creative journey but I've sure as hell had higher. Not dissimilar is my broader mental state, where I've been generally fine but subject myself to existential spirals when dwelling on something as simple as having a big cavity in one of my molars and no immediate access to dental care at the moment. This isn't meant to be a pity post, genuinely I don't have much to complain about right now, it's just the same sort of mental (and in some respects physical) issues I've been dealing with for a while now. It's just more poignant now when I don't really have much of a satisfying "distraction" in the form of doing stuff creatively.

Currently there's only a few "projects" (feels like I'm giving myself too much credit with that terminology) I really can commit much thought to lately, both of which, either luckily or predictably, I've gone into at least some depth publicly on this blog. Fortunately for what I assume is the majority of my follower base, both are based around Overwatch.

The Role Requeue AU is a very fun "project" for me (again, feels wrong to call it a "project" when it's something meant strictly for the concept phase, even just a workshop mode is beyond the scope of realism). It scratches all my itches for something fun to think about: no pressure to make it a "finalized product", the opportunity to conceptually tinker around with mechanics I'm both thoroughly familiar with and interesting in exploring beyond their official scope, and most importantly, people to share ideas to and even collaborate with! Seriously, I know it's almost certainly less than a handful of people who've even seen any of the posts on it, but the response so far has me beyond ecstatic. The greatest gift an artist can receive in my opinion is a "yes, and" to their work, and I'm extremely grateful that Role Requeue (shoot, down to even that name being a suggestion too good to pass up) has already inspired such.

The only technical restraint on Role Requeue is me sitting down and writing a long tumblr post, so once I have the time (as soon as tomorrow mayhaps?) I'll try and get another one out. I still have some specifics I want to sort out, but Symmetra, Sombra, and "Ashe" are all contenders for being the next one to get a post.

So that leaves the other project I've been able to work on at least to some extent lately: my original hero shooter concept, (still under the working title) War Bots. For those who weren't around or otherwise missed the intro, it's a team based shooter starring a cast of robot characters in a post-human earth, fighting against either another team of player-controlled bots or a ravenous horde of sentient, mutant plant creatures. The "game" (again, very much in the concept phase) takes heavy inspiration from both Overwatch and its precursor in the subgenre, Team Fortress 2. The general gameplay design of the cast takes inspiration more from OW, while the larger team sizes and loadout system are ideas from TF2.

If you're wondering why both of my creative projects I really have any ideas for right now are directly because of Overwatch, it's because. well hate to admit it but it's the most consistent thing I've played all year. Arguably the past 5 years or so, save for when the pre-OW2 content famine was really starting to hit and I finally gave TF2 a try myself in the meantime (didn't like actually playing it as much, sorry). But especially now with the steam release actually working on my PC, which the battle.net version frequently failed at, it's been my defacto "I don't know what to do right now" time waster, and to me at least it's fun enough to where I still haven't gotten sick of it. It doesn't help that my actual other biggest inspiration for War Bots, Bloons TD 6 (yes really) is my number 2 pick for that niche, and I honestly don't play games that much lately aside from multiplayer stuff or streams (yes I stream I need to make a pinned post linking my stuff). So, I got Overwatch on the brain, and when my brain has something on it, its general reaction is to try and put my own spin on it, hence the creation of the "Overwatch but different" AU and "Overwatch but not" the video game coming to somewhere you can buy video games eventually hopefully one day please. I play fighting games I come up with a fighting game, I like superheroes I make my own, I like the funny colorful character-based shooters I make notes for how I wanna do it myself.

War Bots is in an awkward spot though, because I already gave myself a hard cap for how much I wanna think ahead for a game so early in development that the sole developer doesn't even have a game making engine installed on their PC yet. The loadout system is meant to allow for a smaller roster, saving time on creating completely new characters with their models and animations and lore and so on, while potentially allowing for an even further variety of functional playstyles than what'd be possible with an exclusively character-based system like Overwatch. You don't need Soldier 76, Bastion, Widowmaker, and Ashe all existing separately with broadly similar weapon types, just one "rifle guy" with four different options for their main weapon.

Despite that, I love making characters too dang much and made a version of the roster with up to 25 characters. I since reconsidered, picking the characters I actually saw potential in, making sure to avoid redundancies that couldn't be resolved, and now have a cast of 15 or 20, ideally launching with 15 and adding 5 more post-release. A roster of 25 and possibly even beyond wouldn't be impossible after that, but I want to limit the scope of what I was considering at this point. I like the cap of 20 because my current idea is that the PvP mode is played in 10v10, and each of the game's 5 roles (Damage, Control, Tank, Utility, Support) would have four characters, while also letting a standard match (if desired) have exactly one of each character on the field at once. This pleases me. At the moment though, I have 3 characters for Damage, 4-ish for Control, 2 for Tank (shocking, I know), 3 for Utility, one guy who could either be Tank or Utility, and 4 for Support but I'm admittedly not as keen on one of them at this point. This leaves roughly 4 or 5 slots in the roster left for what I want to realistically consider right now, some of which I have ideas for based on prior iterations of the roster, but I'm still not settled on something super satisfying yet.

For now, I'm focusing more on polishing the loadout system and the alternate weapons for each character, trying to get as much out of the characters I've already established before I move onto jotting down new ones in my notes. I did however hit a snag, because the system divides your loadout into three different interchangeable options: Weapon, Body, and Accessory. The weapon is your main means of attack and (broadly speaking) determines your primary and secondary fire. The Body meanwhile refers to some interchangeable part of the robot's body that grants them unique abilities, typically aiding in mobility. In Overwatch terms this is "Ability 1", or Shift in default keyboard binding terms, while also potentially carrying a passive ability. Accessories are comparable to Splatoon's sub weapons, generally some kind of throwable thing that provides a burst of utility at the cost of limited availability, in this case a longer cooldown than your Body ability or requiring a special pickup on the map to regain faster, or possibly being limited by a character-specific resource. This is the equivalent to OW's "Ability 2" or "E" ability. The snag here was that each part of the 3-part system was given 4 variants, a default or "stock" option and three unlockables that take the basic concept and replace it with an alternative that provides unique functionality. The problem was that especially with the "Body" options, it was hard to come up with meaningful alternatives for every slot for every character without feeling redundant. My compromise was that while Weapons get 3 unlocks, Body equipment and Accessories only get 2 unlocks, unless I feel a special exception warrants it. I may deem a character would get more value out of more Body or Accessory options rather than main weapons, or if I have a really good idea for an extra of something.

oh and also semi recently I decided that reserve ammo should be a mechanic, but then I realized that doesn't work unless every character has an infinitely usable melee attack that can function without reserve ammo (and is also more robust than OW's piddly little mostly universal quick melee attack), but I don't want to make a whole fourth slot for each character for melee weapons, but otherwise I don't know what'd determine the properties of your melee attack if anything deviates it from the default, and also are melee weapon attacks always available or do they require switching off of your actual weapon, but does that make sense for the characters who'd logically just smack with their normal weapon, like does the wizard guy just hold their staff differently for a "melee stance", but also thinking is hard.

So between the partial downsizing of the Loadout system, the need to put "uses reserve ammo" or "doesn't require reserve ammo" in all of my notes for each character's weapon, and the need to figure out melee attacks/weapons, I have to do some very meticulous updates to my current notes, which doesn't make for a super exciting prospect. Hey, at least I can think of funny things for these goobers to smack people with!

I do actually have an art now, though it's not my most flattering work. Had some ideas for alternate weapons for Yanno, the explosives aficionado with a dragon-shaped fireworks launcher for a hand I shared in an earlier post. The eagle launcher rewards precise aim and improves your aerial capabilities, the hydra launcher unleashes multiple rockets at a time, and the shark cannon fires big, arcing bombs that roll on the ground before detonating momentarily after. Very obviously taking heavy inspiration from a certain other flying explosive enthusiast for a couple of these, and the shark cannon exists entirely to avoid needing a separate character just for a grenade launcher guy when rockets are already such a similar weapon type.

So uh.

...I had a point I think.

art hard but I wanna do it more. this was a rant post but got devoured in word count by War Bots so uh. oops if you don't care about that.

I think I feel better now? remind me when I get up though to make a post linking my twitch and youtube.

[benis-chillin]

Backlog Reviews 2024: Metroid Dread

Platform: Switch

March 9th, 2024-April 4th, 2024

(Previous review, since I don't have anywhere to hyperlink it in the edit)

This has been the big one for me for a while. Back in late 2022, I binged through Zero Mission, Samus Returns, Super Metroid, and Fusion, and have had a craving for this final 2D Metroid since. Not many game series have clicked with me in the same way Metroid has, so this is a case where I HAVE to play every game in at least SOME form.

And while I just found Prime to be a bit "eh" last year, I'm still going to give any of the other games a fair shake. Cause like with Sonic before it, I HAVE to know for myself. Even Other M will get that treatment someday.

And so, after a year of waffling that was terrible, I finally nabbed a cartridge on EBay and got to playing what may be one of my favorites in the series, if not THE favorite. If I were to describe how this game plays, it would be like if Samus had continued to get 2D games on the DS and 3DS after Fusion, and we're just at the next step of THAT evolution. It's insane how much of a progression this is from even Samus Returns, with new moves and weapons that I would've NEVER thought of for Metroid, but feel like, "Of course, why WOULDN'T you?" after you're introduced to the concept. They also keep the morph ball from you for a WHILE, which was surprisingly bold. After seeing my other favorite video game character regress so much in his 2D game design for his past decade of games, this was nice to see.

The world can become a bit unwieldy at times, but this is a fairly easy world to navigate once you've got the hang of it. While I didn't mind the more linear progression of Fusion and Samus Returns, I'm glad that they did cut back on Adam outright telling you where to go. He doesn't really have THAT much dialogue, and it's more just telling you what to avoid and what to look out for in terms of upgrades.

As for the story, it is REALLY good…Save for one thing I'll talk about later. It's fairly simple, but the stakes are high personally for Samus, and it ties her adopted heritage with the Chozo into the grander plot very naturally. This story could've gone really badly if not done right, and it warms my heart to see it executed so beautifully. And yes, when THAT moment happened at the end, I DID shed a single, sexy tear.

So that's a fair summary of the good stuff, so I'm gonna whine and complain a bit before we wrap up.

For one thing, bosses. Even on Rookie Mode, they're long, spammy, and kinda repetitive. The strategy for all of them is "don't get hit, and spam them with missiles." The only ones that break this up are Kraid when you sequence break for early bombs, and the twin Chozo warriors when they want you to learn how to use Storm Missiles. Everybody else was the same exact strategy, even the final boss against Raven Beak. And this problem wouldn't be so bad if there weren't SO MANY OF THEM, especially towards the end. It started to slow my progress, cause I'd wake up some days just NOT wanting to deal with any random boss encounter they'd throw my way.

They at least wait until the very end to throw the cheapest boss at you, unlike the latest offering by a certain blue rat that I played recently, but I'd definitely say the bosses were more of a negative than a positive.

E.M.M.I.s were also inconsistent. Sometimes, they'd work right and be this terrifying encounter that you just BARELY scraped past, other times they'd be a cheap kill that sets you back with no real consequences since there's not THAT much space between the E.M.M.I. doors in any given area. And then most of the time, they were just laughable clowns that you can just Scooby Doo around until you get to the next door. You can have some cool encounters with them, but even early on these guys are total posers.

And while I praised all of the moves we got earlier, there is a part of me that thinks MAYBE we got too many of them? Maybe it was my developing case of carpal tunnerl syndrome, or the Switch Lite's underscaled buttons for these kind of games, but the stronger I got, the harder it was to manage all of my weapons in a boss battle. Plus, there were upgrades I barely even used, like the Speed Booster, that maybe could've been cut. I know people are gonna be mad at me for saying the Speed Booster sucks, but you can accomplish most of what it does through normal movement and the Screw Attack, so I don't see the point of it. Samus Returns managed just fine without it.

And now for the spoiler rant, so if you don't want to be spoiled, just don't read the section between the big text, m'kay?

SPOILER ZONE

So at the end of the game, we find out that the events of the game have drawn out Samus' Metroid DNA she got back in Fusion. She is becoming more Metroid-like as time goes on, which makes sense given all of the X that are now out and about.

HOWEVER, the game explains this as her Thoha DNA she got as a child keeping it at bay until she met Raven Beak at the beginning, because he is a Mawkin. The Thoha were the ones who made the Metroids, so Adam reasons out that this is why the Metroid DNA kept things quiet until meeting the Mawkin, who slaughtered the Thoha on SR388.

SO HER METROID DNA WAS SCARED OF HER THOHA DNA!?

THAT MAKES NO DAMN SENSE!

Samus' Metroid DNA comes from the baby Metroid she spared during Metroid 2/Samus Returns, who descended from the Metroids who evolved out of the Thoha's control due to Aeion energy. This DNA is from a set of Metroids who have no loyalty to the Thoha, and would thus not CARE.

Additionally, if Raven Beak's Mawkin DNA triggered it in the beginning, HOW WAS SAMUS ALREADY NOT IN THIS STATE? This game establishes that she HAS Mawkin DNA inside of her! RAVEN BEAK'S MAWKIN DNA, no less! Did it just conviniently ignore that?

Not to mention that Other M established that the Baby Metroid was, in fact, a Queen Metroid larva, which is why it protected Samus at the end of Super and such. I think such special DNA would get past these boundaries regardless.

(And yes, I'm aware of the implication that Samus is a Queen because of this. We all already knew that, so it's irrelevant)

And finally, DNA DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY!

Okay, spoilers over.

So yeah, my problems with it would bump it down to a 9/10 normally, but I'm going to restore a point because Samus looks damn sexy in her armor in this game. Every one of her main suits is hot af, so basically, in the merits of being oddly attracted to a woman in a robot suit:

10/10

Next…Idk. I'm gonna take a break to nurse my carpal tunnel for a bit. So…See you next mission, I guess.

[instantbreplay]

Please, welcome Avril's nurse companion and legal guardian the world of Twisted Wonderland! Chiyu Tadashi, the nurse of Night Raven College!

Fun fact about his creation, I went to my local Daiso one day to grab some stuff, and they had this Baymax drawstring which I purchased because I didn't need it...but I wanted it, and so because of that bag I made Chiyu which is the dumbest piece of inspiration but hey...We got a pretty doctor so I'm not complaining. When I drew him, I was so happy with it, including the eyes which were magnificent! I always pictured him with red and purple eyes and those colors complimented each other so well for him. I didn't need the white light in the eyes you would see in anime because of the yellow with the add mode in them...funny enough Chiyu took 40 hours while Avril took almost 100 hours to complete.

I also experimented with Chiyu's design and got three versions of him. The first one above is the current Chiyu.

This one is of Chiyu if he had his original hair color (no, Chiyu's hair wasn't white at first, but his eyes have always been red and purple, just without that futuristic pupil design).

And this one is of Chiyu on "Idle."

Soon, I have to make a chart about who Chiyu was inspiration and twisted from, but I forgot that I had this one for Avril along with explanations as to why these characters made up her design choices!

To explain:

Bobble — Avril has the knowledge and experience with mechanics, but she—like Bobble—has a huge fascination with creating new things and will teach another about it hence apart of the reason why she started the Mechanics club. She was also designed after Bobble with her red hair, doe eyes, and large circular glasses.

Tinkerbell — The foundation of Avril really since Avril gained her passion for mechanics and engineering at a very young age. However, like Tinkerbell, she has a temper and can glow red when angered, and during her journey of self-discovery, she tried many different talents that only landed as “hobbies” to impress with people or factual knowledge. Unlike Tinkerbell, she fully embraced her interest in building and repairing once she discovered it as "her wings".

Bakugo — As delicate and kind as she seems, Avril has a nasty attitude and is cocky about her physical skills, always fighting with others who look in her direction. She would get into someone’s face and start insulting them if they try to slink away from her when they started the commotion. She also gets angry when someone undermines her intelligence and skills. However, similar to Bakugo, Avril is very combat intelligent and understands an opponent’s patterns as well as picking up skills quickly, making her a great asset to the party.

Tatsu — The way she speaks: like Tatsu, Avril sounds like a delinquent, using slang in all of her sentences which makes her sound uneducated. In Japanese, it could be theorized that she would use more masculine grammar and slang rather than feminine grammar. For example, she would use “boku” when addressing herself, and she wouldn’t use honorifics when addressing others like “-kun” or “-senpai” which explains why she never calls Chiyu “Nurse Tadashi” but rather by his first name. In English, she would sound more gruff, resembling a male tone of voice.

Fun Fact: The Astor Family has an idiom about finding one's passion which is based on a line from the 2008 Tinkerbell movie's song, "Fly to Your Heart" by Selena Gomez—"If you believe, you'll find your wings". This is the very foundation of the family as Astors are intelligent when learning new things such as gardening or politics or sports pr music, etc. However, it is impossible for them to forget what they have learned so they keep whatever doesn't interest them as "hobbies" to entertain themselves or use as conversation starters when meetng someone new.

[aeroplaneblues]

Alright! its time for top anime of 2022 list🎉

This year I didn't watched that many however I did found some good ones! 2 of those are recurring shows which I try to avoid, as this might be used as a rec list, but I like them that much!

the tldr; is on twitter

10- Vampire in the garden: this one was on netflix which I guess is why it didn't get that much attention, i like the concept and visuals were very nice its a bittersweet end but I quite enjoyed. 09- Raven of the inner palace: the story is interesting, its starts very monster of the week style with ghosts then moves to a main villain, the relationships between the MC and the rest of the cast is honestly the highlight. My only complain is pronunciation of the names are jp localized so I hope this gets a chinese dub. 08- Gundam: the witch of mercury: the last gundam i watched was wing and do not remember anything but i know its reputation, I gave this one a chance because the designs are really fun and I also went in with the idea that it was yuri bait. TURNS OUT this might not be what I was expecting, there is one more ep of this + the rest of the cour so I'm hoping it improves from here. The characters carry this for me even the background ones, they all feel like characters not props! Plus ZERO GRAVITY HUGS!! 07- Mob psycho 100 III: I know this list is numbered but I love all of these equally ! However, this in comparison with s1 and s2 is one of the weakest, maybe bc it had to close loose ends? idk but its still a good one, the moment I cry was with ekubo more than reigen i know i know but reigen had his moment in s2 and I think that hit harder. Time to read the manga! 06- My dress-up darling: this is ecchi, im saying this first bc if people barely tolerate bnha fanservice this is not for you. I usually avoid this but I was dumb and didn't saw the tag😂 and I got attached to the main characters and the story, I read the manga and the ecchi is very far and far between as the story progresses. I think it has a lot of heart and its quite fun love story, plus you learn so much about cosplaying! 05- Sasaki and miyano: cutest bl I've ever watched/read, sasaki reminds me of childe which I find it so funny I can't unsee it. Miyano isn't your uwu protagonist and their relationship is build sloooowly on a lot of love and respect. Its nice to see this type of bl without its usual uh nonsense. 04- The case study of vanitas II: the thing about this second season is that i didn't know if bones was going to adapt everything, the manga updates at shoujo pace and has had rough months of absence HOWEVER it was all adapted, like a month after the last ch came out we saw that ep which is the wildest thing for me tbh. Anyway that last ep is why this is here, it was the BEST fight scene ending like [SPOILERS] watch it, it was amazing. 03- Chainsaw man: yeah i know ofc this is here, this is one of the best adaptations I've ever watched, it is beyond perfect. Several episodes I felt like I was watching a movie, can't rec it enough it even has its own mads mikkelsen inspired character voiced by the same va of the other mads mikkelsen inspired character from my other fave show. Also love the detail how mappa draws shoes as fujimoto draws them. 02- Spy x family: this is another good adaptation, I started reading this manga in 2019?? And I kept thinking how GOOD of a story it was and it was a shame so little attention it got, but now with the anime its got the much deserved attention. I adore it immensely, here is hoping for a continuous success.

01- Bocchi the rock: THIS is at the top bc of how relatable it is for me and what a nice surprise to know its actually a good anime. I was expecting it to be another "cute girls do cute things" like "do it yourself" from this year and I wasn't wrong its just that it has a little more depth than that. All the girls have good and bad traits, goals and obstacles to overcome so the story focuses on that with their collective goal of playing music. As someone with social anxiety that lean on rock/playing guitar to make friends and not succeeding on that front I want to see bocchi accomplish her goals, its cathartic like that. Also the animator are truly having fun with the different styles of animating the jokes which is always a treat to watch.

If you got it to this part, thank you so much for reading! If you give any of this a chance and like them let me know! I love talking about anime as you can see haha. I hope next year the season isn't as dry mid way so I get to watch more!

Happy New Year!!🎉

[thelastbraincellofthehive]

Soooo as I thought, v9 caught with me before I had a chance to finish my rewatch, but no reason to cut it when we have 7 days in between episodes lol so back for v5!

I gotta admit this was not my favorite volume, the pacing issues really show in this one and some things felt not well expressed/explained, but still the story and character moments are very great and it contains some of my favorite scenes in the whole show.

Also there's lots of Raven and Ilia how can I complain about that??

Anyways, lets get in!

I gotta say that Triumph is definitely my less favorite opening, I never liked it that much, but it's not saying a lot, because it's still a no-skip when I listen to the rwby playlist and it still fucks. Jeff and Casey don't miss. So basically, it's not bad, it's just that all of them are so good that it's hard to compete lol.

The scene where Blake and Sun talk about how Blake sees every person as a word it's one of those things that live rent-free in my mind <3 Blake's love for her friends is so loud in its quietness, it's beautiful <3

Also her saying that Adam is Spite<3 I love it because while watching reactors they almost always think 'Hate' or 'Violence' but as soon as they hear Spite is like...something just clicks into place. Of course he is spite, it's the only thing that make sense!

I gotta admit that much of why I'm happy about this volume is really just the fact that we got so much Raven lol. I seriously enjoy Raven so freaking much I can't believe it! I can't wait until we finally see her again! Please RT???

No but seriously, every scene with Raven is so enjoyable to me because I really feel there is so much hidden meaning behind all of her interactions. She's another of those characters I can see the bravery and love practically trying to claw their wait out from, but damn this woman is so stubborn and traumatized smh. I hope Tai is able to knock some sense into her sometime.

Also while on the topic of Raven... I still believe that Vernal and her were in some kind of relationship??? Like... There was something there! And Vernal has such a big lesbian energy to me

Also while on the topic of Vernal... Vernal can also step on me. Her design is honestly so sexy???? The short hair, the dark skin with light blue eyes, honestly top tier. Why did v5 had to be the volume were sexy women were introduced just to be killed???

Yes that last line Is about Sienna... I'm still so mad we only got five freaking minutes of Sienna Khan, how do you make such an awesome design and interesting character and then just inmediatly kill her off?? Why? 😭

Anyways, leaving my list of rwby crushes aside... This volume was one of Blake's best<3 I still remember how proud I felt when I heard her speech after battling Ilia and the Albains. My girl was born to lead a revolution<3 also, that speech is just amazing, I think we should all remember it along with Ren's advice to 'take action every time'.

And then she goes and tells Adam to his face that he's not that important? That he's not the center of her life and She's not letting him act like it anymore? That moment was top tier! I can't wait for v6 it's my favorite <3

Yang and Weiss' reunion 🥹 and how tiny Weiss looked while they hugged 😭 I love these two so much!!!

And the moment when they meet with Ruby again and Ruby is panicking in guilt and Yang just hugs her and tells her she loves her because last time we saw them together in v3 Ruby told her she loved her and Yang didn't respond 😭😭😭😭

And then they just inmediatly call Weiss to join them because of course you silly touch-starved princess you're family too!!!

Seriously this volume is just full of character moments that make me all soft 🥹

Listen, I love Nevermore and Bmblb and Armed and ready and Wings and can you beelieve how many songs the ship has already?! as much as every bee shipper...but All that matters Is just my favorite Bee song <3 I love the angsty bees, and I love how undeniably romantic and devoted this song is even if it doesn't mention love a single time.

Cinder really be there insulting Raven's cleverness and inteligence while I'm still 100% sure she doesn't have a single braincell in her head because Neo took it hostage seroously woman, I love you but you're stupid as hell!

Emmerald's little breakdown thinking that Cinder was dead</3 you'll be ok baby

Also Blake asking 'what was that?' after the Salem vision and Oz saying 'that was Salem' and I can just imagine Blake thinking 'that doesn't clarify things at all but ok' because at this point She's not 'in' yet lol.

Ilia, honey... You were right there. Right in the same room as Weiss, at the same time, after the battle ended... Why couldn't you just talk to her???? I'm literally asking for the crumbs of one (1) interaction between them!!

I love how cute and innocent Jinn's statue looks in the school lol once we actually meet Jinn... She's nothing like that lol but we love her anyways.

Jaune's semblance!!! He deserved that moment! He worked so hard and Cinder Is a bitch but she didn't get her way because Jaune is awesome!!!

also that Pyrrha line 😭

While I don't hate Ozpin as part of the FNDM does, that part where he looks at Yang and tells her he's not gonna lie of tell half-truths is one of those that annoy me after v6 lol I get why he is the way he Is .. but still, Yang being angry at him after that was deserved.

Also I've seen that conversation like fifty times already ando the thing that bugs me the most about The volume is that I don't really get why they treat Raven and Qrow turning into birds like it is some kind of abomination lol that's one of the moments I feel didn't translate so well. I get that the actual problem goes way deeper than that, but "why would you do something like that?" Still sounds a little overdramatic lol

Oscar and Ruby training hand to hand has to be one of the cutests scenes this volume lol both these kids are so pure and cute<3

"you can't lose to a girl that wears a skirt" "Ruby you wear a skirt" lol <3 I love the Ruby-Weiss moments<3 also combat skirts FTW!

Again with Yang and Weiss, I couldn't not talk about Alone together <3 again, I really love Weiss taking care of her team with the coffee first and then talking to Yang <3 Weiss reaaaaaally became the best teammate the girls could have.

Also Weiss and Sun being wingman/woman for the bees is my favorite thing<3 they could bond over it maybe lol

Yang crying over Blake 🥹 again, she is the living embodiment of 'I don't care, I say caringly, while I care a lot' and I love that <3

Also Ruby making me cry when she said 'combat ready' and immedialy thought of Penny and just... Lost her light... That was a low blow, still is

And yes I'm still very much angry about Penny 🙂 better move on

Leonardo being an actually cowardly lion and Ironwood an actually heartless tinman make me worried about Vaccuo's headmaster... I gotta buy the CFVY novels to learn a little more about him *puts on birthday list*

The Cinder vs Raven fight is probably my favorite one in the volume though Yang vs the Bandits is hot af and I loved Weiss vs the Lancers but honestly, I can't not laugh when they get out the giant swords lmao what was that? What was the use of that? Lol I love it

The fact that RT didn't make Pilot boy explicitly gay because they were gonna kill him off and then regretted it because the fandom just latched onto him lol that's still one of my favorite v5 funfacts

I gotta say I kinda love how this story is way bigger than any of the characters involved. I remember how many people were mad that they just ended the white fang plot with the quick capture of the Albains and the Faunus army, and then how many more got angry when Adam was finally killed next season, but it makes sense because the end goals are bigger than these villains... And sadly bigger than the heroes too, hence why Nobody is trully safe.

Yang proving again and again that she has gotten smarter while fighting is so sexy of her<3 She's learned to prioritize, to slow down and, as Taiyang told her, find out of there's a way around the fight, which is why her final confrontación with Raven is so rewarding to watch, and why it makes sense.

Again I really want to see Raven again <3 pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease!!!

I get they wanted to end the volume on a kind-off cliffhanger/hint of next path, but Oscar, my dear, you really didn't need to try so hard to deliver that message lol I'm sure they could've waited a couple hours for you to say it.

There's probably a lot I'm forgetting but like... I kind of really want to keep going because my favorite volume is next!! So I'm gonna leave here!

Overall, team rwby is back together and that's how it should be!! Also, bees<3

[qualityrain]

I too am cn dub truther, I play gi and hsr on cn, I'm chinese. I definitely prefer cn owl, ana and raven. I think their cn voices match their characters (that i made up mostly) more.

My backstories for ana and owl are kinda edgy and incredibly elaborate, especially owl's. So it's kinda embarrassing to talk about them.

I'll start off with some of my less unhinged hcs.

Ana's mother is cecilia's younger sister. Which makes her kiana's cousin.

Owl loves horror movies. He's also a massive gaming nerd, he's really good at it too. Ana also loves video games and has a natural talent for it.

Owl would never admit it out right, but he thinks of raven as a friend of sort. He knows about raven's probably dead brother and has told raven about his probably dead sister. But they never bring it up again.

This is less a hc and more me choosing to ignore canon. But I think that ana and owl should have been allowed to talk to each other. So I will just say that after manila, they didn't meet face to face until the coral arc. But they did kept in contact with one another, mostly cuz ana felt guilty but she still genuinely enjoys owl's company.

Also I think that both of them are kinda pathetic wet cats with tons of repression. On top of being a qpr, t4t, they are also girlfailure x boyloser.

A FELLOW CN DUB TRUTHER,,,,,and also a gi hsr player??????? i used to pray for times like this,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,when i found out childe(another character i like) and owl have the same va i lost my shit then when hsr leaked my friend messaged me to tell me that dh and owl sound the same 😭😭😭

ana and kiana being cousins!!!! so true funnier when their names rhyme w each other. I do not know if its ever mentioned in game but in honkai wiki it says kianas like 20? which means shes like 2 years older than ana so it would be cute if ana was named after kiana

the way that “did you know flareon is the only fire type pokemon that cannot use solar beam?” meme has been living in my head constantly for owl @ ana 😭😭 esp when that year was 2015 so gen 7 wasnt out yet but in 2017 gen 7 came out and flareon is now no longer the only fire type pokemon that cannot use solar beam!!

owl is a major gaming nerd so true!!!!i think owl and ana would play those 2 player fps games at the arcade. (cringe coincidence story is how i hc owl as a filipino and im a big mlbb esports fan esp to this one team and had a whole crack ws officer mlbb au and then last yr that esports team had a new rookie whose ign is owl)

OUGHHHH RAVEN AND OWL BEING SOMEWHAT FRIENDS,,,,,,,,,,i wish there was more screentime between them because i think their relationship is so interesting,,,,,,,,,like theres so many interesting commonality between them to explore,,,,,the whole probably dead sibling thing,,,,,,,(esp in er when its implied that owl met sakura,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,mhy u make the flamechaser w a dead little sister meet the ws officer w a dead little sister and not elaborate???????????(granted idt sakura knew her sister was dead at that point in time(probably???))) and the whole implication that owl and raven do talk outside missions with the whole “that S rank valk again?”,,,,,ik raven complains about rita to owl every time they meet,,,,,

ignoring canon is my hobby when it comes to ana and owl i havent rewatched chap 19 in a year and i like to think it doesnt exist other than rimestar because i think rimestar is cool (also actually really salty they couldve made a HoStars owl design!!!!!! ok cowards!!!(ik its too much effort for a side character)) you are so right ana and owl should be allowed to talk to each other more!!!!! imo i think they talked more when owl was at the hospital or smth because the dude was like buried under a building and ana only left after he was discharged or smth. but also them keeping in contact 🥺🥺 bet they had cute contact names for each other

you are soooo right ana and owl are a girl failure and boy loser ship!!! ana is the sole survivor of her squad twice and then the second time kills her squad and others (unintentionally) and owl is unable to protect the ppl he cares about twice and has to watch them die!!!! they are terrible at their roles and even worse at communicating mhy when will they be happy (they are not present in the da capo scene with everybody alive and happy)

[dreamberry24]

Just a character of mine from a story idea that's living rent free in my mind. His name is Gannon, and he's the son of a rich nobleman/ priest. He has a twin sister named Hale and a cousin named Raven. The bro is grumpy most of the time and complains a lot. Doesn't like his father, but won't show it when talking to him directly. He doesn't care about anyone's wellbeing unless it's his sister. He's the younger of him and Hale. Lives in a mansion.

Some doodles of him from a while ago shoved together:

Him in the blue coat is a part of his actual design btw. The other outfit designs aren't. I'll also redesign Hale whenever I get the chance.

[h-worksrambles]

I just beat the first island of Sonic Frontiers. Here are my immediate thoughts:

So I finally got round to picking up Sonic Frontiers and I’ve now 100%ed Kronos Island. And even at this early stage I’ve got a lot of thoughts on it.

I think what’s really stood out to me as the best part of the experience is exploring the open zones. I don’t especially adore open world sandboxes as a genre. I love exploring in games like Breath of the Wild, Xenoblade Chronicles or Elden Ring, but I’m not particularly ravenous for this genre as a general rule. It’s usually got a little too much busywork for my liking. Fortunately, so far Frontiers’ maps are pretty good. Kronos Island has a lot of Sonic-y set pieces, plenty of springs, grind rails, boost rings, that lead you to the various collectibles. And as soon as you reach the end of one, you arrive at another, where more goodies await. It lets you get into a really nice flow state. You CAN just run from point a to point b, but taking all these extra paths to nab items is more efficient and more fun. I already had high hopes for seeing Sonic in a sandbox because he’s a character designed to be inherently fun to move. This is also why Marvel’s Spider Man worked so well. Web swinging made the very act of traversal fun. And the same applies here. I barely bother with fast travel because I’m enjoying just moving around.

It’s also pretty well paced. I was able to 100% the first island in about 4 hours. By all accounts this game isn’t too long and it’s nice to play an open world game without the typical bloat. Means I could see myself comfortably replaying this at some point.

Combat’s also very snappy and it doesn’t take very long to open up all the moves to you. I’ve never really cared for previous attempts to implement combat into Sonic like in Heroes or Shadow, but this feels pretty satisfying. Enemies don’t overstay their welcome, especially if you use the combos properly and take down their health quickly. Sonic’s animations are really cool to watch as well which helps the experience. I’m tempted to crank up the difficulty now I’ve got the hang of it so I can get more out of it. And the first boss fight was a great implementation of this combat as well as being an utter visual and musical spectacle. This is already probably one of the best Sonic bosses period and it’s just the FIRST one. Can’t wait for more of these.

Speaking of, it goes without saying the soundtrack is excellent. Atmospheric without being understated and suitably varied. Also Undefeatable is already up there with the best vocal Sonic songs.

That being said, I don’t know if I’m loving everything about this game. In fact, I’m rather conflicted in a lot of ways. And my biggest problem by far, is the cyberspace levels. Put simply, they’re not very fun, because they control awfully. Handling feels too slippery, you’re not able to drift on command. The boost feels horribly nerfed, and the jump feels too floaty. And I really don’t like how the homing attack utterly kills your momentum in the air. One of the levels uses the structure of Generations’ Chemical Plant level and oh god. If there was any way to demonstrate how much worse the control is, it’s going through a level from Generations of all things. Unleashed, Colours, Generations, hell even Forces, just handled so much better. The controls work fine in the open zones, which is what they were clearly built for. But in these linear boost levels they feel off. I would complain that the S ranks and missions are way too easy but at least it means the levels are over quickly.

I’m also a little torn on the game’s aesthetic. I’m playing on PS5 but not on a 4k tv. The 60fps is very welcome and I appreciate the level of detail in the environments. But the pop in can definitely get a little distracting, probably a symptom of a rushed development (shocker a rushed Sonic game). That’s pretty minor though. I’m more bothered by the fact that I’m just not the biggest fan of setting Sonic amidst pseudo realistic environments. I just end up thinking of how Sonic 3 also had you explore a lost island, but how it gave Angel Island and its environments so much more life and colour. Or the strength of Sonic Unleashed’s vibrant art direction despite being based on real world locations. Maybe the look will grow on me. But for now it’s a bit jarring, a little too ‘Sega hire this man.’

One thing I saw a lot of people hyping up was the story. Now I haven’t read the comics so I’m not that familiar with Ian Flynn’s writing. So I didn’t quite know what to expect. Plus, I’d run or two out of context spoilers that left a bit of a bad taste in mouth, so I went in with slightly tempered expectations. So far I’m…torn but intrigued. The things I’m liking most are the sense of mystery and the character interactions. The flashbacks of the civilisation that lived here previously, what the deal is with Sage. That’s all pretty compelling and has me eager to learn more. Likewise, the conversations between Sonic and Amy were really good. The dialogue felt pretty natural and I like that there so many of them. One thing I’ve been wanting out of Sonic is a few more instances where the story can slow down a little and let the characters talk and show off their dynamic. This is actually something Sonic Colours did really well. Sonic and Tails got plenty of time to show off their relationship in that game, and it’s great to see that being applied to a game with a more dramatic, less jokey plot. I’m really excited to see these scenes with Tails and Knuckles too.

But I’m a little more mixed on the actual tone. It all feels a little too…dry and somber. Now the melancholy atmosphere was something I was actually pretty curious about pre release because it seemed new and different for the series. But in practise it feels a little…lifeless. I really like this voice cast but they all sound directed to be so much more subdued. Cindy Robinson and Roger Craig Smith are both barely doing character voices, and that’s a shame because I like their Sonic and Amy a lot. Even Mike Pollock’s Eggman sounds so muted, which is a crime. And by all accounts I shouldn’t expect much from Eggman in this game, despite him being one of my favourite characters, which is a shame.

I dunno, so far this story is reminding me a little too much of Sonic 06. Trying too hard to be dramatic and serious, by sapping everyone of personality and making everything moody and subdued. As well as overly reserved voice direction that doesn’t play to the strengths of otherwise good voice actors. Though thankfully the dialogue and plotting is MUCH better written than 06. I like when Sonic is story driven, but I also like Sonic because it’s a cartoon at heart. It’s colourful and bombastic and its characters have larger then life personalities. So far this doesn’t feel like that. It’s probably a perfect panacea to those who hated Sonic Forces’ tone (and trust me, I didn’t like that story either). But I feel like other Sonic games have done involved stories without draining all the colour like this, (I’m not the biggest Black Knight fan but that game put Sonic in a serious plot while keeping him in character much better).

Also, one minor positive and negative to wrap up. Big’s fishing was a really a cute charming side activity with lots of fun fan service. Meanwhile the mandatory mini games in Amy’s side story were finnicky and poorly explained. I hope they aren’t a regular thing.

So far then, I’m having fun with Frontiers, but my feelings are mixed. My favourite parts of it are the cool new ideas it brings to the series. The exploration, the combat, the lore. But when it tries to recapture what worked in previous games, it falters more often than not. It’s succeeding in a lot of ways Sonic typically falls short. But it’s also stumbling in ways the games usually excel.

I hate to use this because it’s such an annoying cliché, but so far I think it’s a good game, but I don’t know if I think it’s a good Sonic game.

Even so, I’m excited to see the rest.

[starlightdustings]

“Trouble always seems to follow those who avoid it”

year of the rabbit time to make some noise!!!!  Character design of the older sister of my twst oc, Marshal. More information about Blanche under the cut!

Background: Blanche was born into a socially prominent family in the Queendom of Roses. While her parents traveled the world doing charity work, Blanche was left at home with her grandfather to attend school. She never really believed her parents were doing all this work from the good of their hearts, only were doing it to show off that they were philanthropists, and these thoughts were confirmed when they publicly adopted a orphan boy named Marshal from the Shaftlands. Not wanting to let his opinion of them be tainted like hers, she doted on and cared for him with her grandfather’s help while her parents left them behind without a second glance for another trip. Getting him enrolled in school, helping him make friends, and learning that life isn’t just a fight to survive, she taught him all the things parents should while raising herself and attending a drama academy.Though tragedy struck when her parents went missing during one of their trips, and their beloved grandfather passed from the shock. Suddenly, they were were left alone so she left school to earn money to keep them afloat—completely unaware that her younger brother chose to help earn money through illegal means to ease her burdens. This persisted for years until Marshal received an enrollment letter for Night Raven College, since he adamantly demanded she do what she wants now that he’ll be gone. To get him to stop complaining, she auditioned for a drama that’d be shooting overseas. It was supposed to be an impossible throwaway, but luck was on her side and she got the role of the female lead. A year later, she’s the face of a cosmetic line, her show is popular, and she’s a magicam sweetheart, but her brother barely answers her calls anymore. Personality: The caring older sister, the perfect student, and a motherly figure. Being basically all three, she has a hard time staying still and relaxing; she needs to do something or she isn’t living up to what others expect of her. Acutely aware that she imposed that image on herself, she can’t help but feel like an imposter when all her life felt like one giant act for the outside world. She’s very loving and doting to others, but heavily critical of herself; if she doesn’t push things to perfection, it’s not good enough, but if it’s someone else they can take their time and have to be gentle on themselves so they do not burn out. The definition of ‘gifted child’ syndrome.  On the outside, she plays up caricatures of herself to fit whatever is necessary and de-masks when completely alone. She is immensely lonely, but has no intent on letting others know so she can continue ignoring it. Trivia:

 Independent from a young age, she sometimes gets stubborn about doing things herself

She and Marshal got in a fight when younger over opening a difficult jar, resulting her kicking him. She apologized a hundred times over, but he refuses to accept it because it was funny.

She personally gifted her younger brother a jade bracelet so he can be safe while they’re separated, wearing a matching one so they can always be together. She got the idea from the drama she auditioned for.

Her favorite thing to do with her brother was hold tea parties with each other, often making carrot cake for desert to pair with the tea

She mistakenly believed it was his favorite food, and he thought it was hers. Eventually, they both considered it one of their favorites because of the memories.

Despite everything she has against her parents, she still hopes they are out there and okay.

------

Thank you for reading! She’s technically not entirely a twisted wonderland oc, since she’s only a relative of an oc and doesn’t attend the schools but she’s special and I love her. I hope others will like her too!

[askehhypno]

the video you created, why difference the size of starfire and raven with those of overwatch characters? aren't they supposed to be the same size? Didn't you know that starfire and raven are young adults/teenagers from dc comics that are compared to the Marvel Superhero Girls? that's what you should do in the video about Overwatch and Teen Titans comparing each other's size, This video that you made is badly done. Starfire is 17-19 and Raven is 16-18

Of all the things I'd get criticized for, character height was one I wasn't expecting. For a fan made fetish animation that includes crossovers, mind control and and nsfw material that seems like a trivial thing to complain about.

Anyway, almost all of the characters from those universes are made and designed differently so they're not gonna sync well with each other in terms of body proportions. That's something I don't have a lot of control over since I didn't make the models and frankly it's not something that I think is much of a problem. At the end of the day the person who I made the animation for enjoyed it so that's all that matters to me.

[d-dormant]

short question long as fuck nonlinear answer sorry bout that

i know this is completely subjective and talking preferences is pointless — but. i personally don't really vibe with the idea that diaval's soul "becomes more human" as time goes by and his experience as one accumulates. it's a cool fanon and in a way i like it, and i completely get where people who like this notion are coming from (it ties into the idea that people change over time, and who we become is as important as who we were), but still. would his becoming "a human soul" sound like character development?... (i mean. he "hated being human" in the heart of the moors. he doesn't like being taken for a man in m:moe). i don't think shifting between shapes makes his "true" form a man. i do think it makes him a shapeshifter, though. but anyway.

one idea that i ~sort of — if i squint — vibe with is that maleficent was actually actively trying to turn him into a human because she wanted him to stay. perhaps she wanted him to be by aurora's side, perhaps she thought it dangerous for him to fly after her considering they are under fire and she's plummeting under water — whatever her thought process was. my feeble way of backing this up is that diaval keeps shifting back and forth between a raven and a man while in the air, so there should be a reason for the two to "battle"? i think i'd make sense if the human shape is maleficent's desperate attempt at a spell and the raven shape — still his "true" one, imo, at least as true as it gets in his case — is her powers fading away. like gavranica mentioned, her staff is turning into a twig—

[which... can i just say... is so confusing. because, if we assume that her dying breaks all her magic spells, however old, then at that same moment king john should've woken up? since it was a curse designed by her too? and he should've woken up when ingrith killed her as well? (not to mention it almost implies that, after aurora fell asleep, they could've just broken the spinning wheel and she would've woken up with no true love's kiss the way king john did?) if you gotta utilize ontological inertia then be consistent with it? (we can assume that the staff is an object built from the moors' magic, like it was in the book — but film canon =/= book canon and who cares anyway)]

—so, as gavranica mentioned, the staff takes its "true form", so perhaps so does diaval but maleficent is trying to resist it and eventually sort of succeeds.

to be absolutely frank, i only support this idea because it would justify maleficent's general lack of reaction to diaval not making it to the island. she doesn't seem to worry about what became of him [you see i am fighting for my life trying to make angelina jolie's poker face be legit...] — which would be excused if we assume she wanted him to stay behind.

i had some other ideas but i literally forgot 😭 i'd love to hear other people's opinions! if anything, we can just complain about how the 2nd film made no sense it truly did not.

Hey short question: is there a canon explanation for Diaval turning back into a human when Maleficents magic leaves him when she dies? Like what does it mean? Did his true form change after so many years as part human? Like did his soul change? I am soooo eager for an in universe answer, but I can't find anything.... If there isnt, that's also okay, because I like the fan theories very very much😅