#she and I do have similar speaking styles but I'm like the version of her that's into psychedelics

[13thpythagoras]

Marilyn Mach Vos Savant on Letterman, March 11, 1986

[e-vay]

My In-Depth Review of Sonic X Shadow Generations (Spoilers!)

I completed Sonic X Shadow Generations so I'm ready to talk about it! Remember, these are just my personal opinions about the game, so don't take this review as me saying that my opinion is "right." I'd hate to accidentally spoil the game for you, so all my thoughts are below the cut:

Did you mean to click "Keep Reading"? I warned you, there's gonna be spoilers here! One last chance to back out...

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Okay here we go!

THE SHADOW PORTION

Let's start with what we've all been hyped about: the Shadow portion of Sonic X Shadow Generations. If you single out the Shadow story of this game, I think it is an absolute masterpiece! Everyone who worked on it gave it their all, and it clearly shows. I'd give it a 9.75/10.

THE GRAPHICS

The visuals of this game are STUNNING. These new models for Maria and Gerald Robotnik are perfection! I am so glad they went with the more 'cartoon' style for the human models, similar to what we saw in Sonic Unleashed. They feel like they belong in this world among these peculiar looking anthropomorphic animals, but they aren't so odd looking that they feel goofy. They found a perfect balance and I couldn't be happier with them. Speaking of character models, to see all the bosses throughout the years in this new high definition was a sight to behold! Though I do feel nostalgia for the lower-poly version of the Biolizard, it was great to see it as the creators originally envisioned. It went from this loveable (and admittedly silly-looking) salamander to a truly intimidating and disturbing looking beast. The animation is superb. The characters move so fluidly and the poses are dynamic and striking! The frame rate makes everything look and feel fast and smooth which is exactly what you'd hope for in a Sonic game. I also appreciated the variety of poses/animations even just for the different stage ranks. I found myself purposely replaying stages to get different ranks just so I could see the different animations Shadow had regarding his "performance" evaluation. That really adds to the replay value! I am a graphic designer for a living, so of course I have to gush about the design, too! The graphic elements that appear before, during, and after each stage are straight up BADASS! I love the 2D animated flame that appears along the stage name and the color scheme and sharp lines are so appropriate to Shadow, and are a very strong contrast to Sonic's graphic elements that are colorful and round in shape. These are small details that most people might not outright notice, but it really enhances the overall aesthetic of the game.

THE STORY

LOOOOORE! Sweet nectar of the gods, we were given so much more lore with this game! Even though the Shadow portion of this game was fairly short, they jam-packed a ton of information and I am forever thankful for it! If you didn't do so while playing, I highly recommend playing again and talking to the NPCs regularly for little nuggets of lore. I was initially worried that this was going to be a rehash of the same 'origin' story we've heard a dozen times already, but that was not the case! Instead of focusing entirely on the tragedy that happened on the ARK, we got to learn what life was like on the ARK while times were still good! Learning that Shadow didn't used to be confident at all, to the point where Maria basically doesn't recognize this confident version of him that we've all known him as. And that Shadow never did his homework??? HA! I loved the confirmation that yes, Maria WAS INDEED the person who gave Shadow his name, and the meaning behind it was EVERYTHING TO ME! (Also works so well for my my AU. IYKYK hehehe) Plus all the Robotnik family history?! MARIA HAD A LITTLE SISTER?!?! She'd be old now, if she's even alive, but will we ever meet her? Will Shadow ever meet her (and would he even want to, or does he feel like that chapter of his life is closed now)? What was she like, and how did Maria's death impact her and her parents??? I hope we'll find out some day! Plus getting to learn a little bit more about Gerald's sons was exciting too. Will more Robotnik family members make appearances down the line? What do they think of Eggman's misdeeds? I'm so curious for more! It was heartbreaking in the best way for Shadow to get to interact with Maria and Gerald again, especially knowing he can't do anything to change what will inevitably happen to them. His sense of desperation paired with the growing affects that Doom's powers were having on him really had me worried about what was going to happen to Shadow's state of mind and overall well-being. It was amazing to see the toll it was taking on his body and his mind. In particular, I'm thinking of the scene where Shadow goes to fight Sonic and you see him having to actually restrain himself and go easy on Sonic. I thought it a great scene to demonstrate how easy it would have been for Shadow to just give in to the rage and take Sonic out without hesitation, but his willpower was able to win in the end. I have heard some people saying they're disappointed that Shadow lost his Doom abilities by the end of the story, but I think it made complete sense for the story. Black Doom is insistent that Shadow isn't 'complete' yet and he has to be more like him in order to be 'perfect.' But that isn't true! Shadow is already the ultimate life form, especially because there's more to him than his Black Doom DNA. By rejecting Doom's influence in the end, that was Shadow's true evolution. He's perfect as he is. Obviously I could gush forever and ever about all the Shadow and Maria scenes, but words aren't going to do it justice. It was just so moving to see how different he is when he's with her. In fact, at the end of this game I believe this is the first instance we ever see a true, genuine, heartwarming smile from Shadow and it DEVASTATED ME! We are used to his smirks, but when he's trying to reassure Maria that everything's going to be okay, we get to see him truly smile and we aren't seeing Shadow the Ultimate Lifeform or Shadow the Destroyer/Weapon, we are seeing Shadow the Brother and it felt like the warm embrace of a security blanket. God bless the writing in this game.

THE ACTING

The acting in this game is incredible from a visual and auditory performance. The animators really pushed the acting of the character models and you can feel Shadow's transformations throughout the game and the toll it's taking on his body. The emotions are cranked up to the max and they didn't pull any punches. In the past, Shadow was often limited in his portrayal of emotions, but that wasn't the case in this game at all. We saw anger, we saw resentment, we saw panic and sadness, and affection. There was so much thought put into the shaking of his hands, the gritting of his teeth, the shrinking and dilating of his pupils, all to show what's going on in his head without even resorting to words. SO MUCH ATTENTION was put into how these characters moved and interacted with each other and it truly tugged at my heart strings. There were too many wonderful moments for me to break down, so I will just single out one for now and applaud the creative direction and the animators for these scenes as a whole. There's this moment right near the end of the story, when Shadow is trying to stop Gerald and Maria from disappearing for good. His gestures are wild and panicked, his pupils and irises are small due to fear, but then Maria simply frames his face and rests her forehead against his. It's subtle, but Shadow's eyes widen and then return to their regular size and everything from his stance to how his shoulders fall show what a calming presence Maria has and how she helped (and will continue to help) him find his inner piece. Those performances are going to stick with me forever! Mike Pollock as Gerald Robotnik was truly *chef's kiss* MP is such a fantastic actor with great range. Though his voice is easily recognizable, the manner in which he speaks as Gerald is so different compared to Eggman, that you couldn't mistake the two characters even just by listening. We have been so used to only hearing from the angry, driven-insane-by-grief Gerald that it was so refreshing to get to see and hear the calm, brilliant, caring genius that created The Ultimate Life Form. P.S. I'm going to be crying over hearing Gerald call Shadow "son" for the rest of my life, thank you very much. I don't care about the future crimes he commits, we got to witness Shadow's father in this game and I'm weeping. Kirk Thornton is not my favorite Shadow. That being said, he really gave it his all and I was pleasantly surprised by what he accomplished. One of the performances that surprised me the most was Mephiles! This is a credit to the writers as well as the voice actor. The sense of wild desperation in his voice as he fights to even 'exist' in this timeline was so visceral and terrifying. Sure the other villains had their "I'm the best, this world belongs to me" lines, but Mephiles' voice lines were on a completely different level to me. What a treat! Lastly, if you can, please replay the game in Japanese! Kōji Yusa's performance is STUNNING. Ooh I'm getting shivers just recalling his voice lines while you're playing through the stages. I don't mean to discredit the English voice actors, but I think this game is even better when listening in Japanese. Give it a try yourself!

THE MUSIC

This is a Sonic game we're talking about, of course the music is going to be fantastic! The score did not disappoint one bit. It was great to hear all the callbacks to songs in the past as well as new tracks that were catchy and enjoyable even after playing the stages several times. "All Hail Shadow" has always been one of my favorites, but the new instrumental version used for majority of this game was so haunting and eerie. It was a delight to my ears as well as my emotions.

THE BOSSES

I loved the chosen bosses for Shadow's story. It was great fun to revisit some of the more iconic baddies throughout Shadow's history, and even though some of the gameplay was the same, the battle would then shift and offer the player something new. However, it's actually the boss fights where I dock the game a few fractions of a point. The boss battles were far too easy to defeat, and I actually found them easier and easier as the game progressed. I beat Mephiles and Devil Doom so quickly that I didn't realize their fights were over already. One could argue this was intentional by design. After all, throughout the story Shadow is evolving more and more into the 'perfect' killing machine. It would make sense that the more Doom Abilities he acquires, the weaker these bosses would seem. Still, as a life-long gamer, I appreciate when I have to actually work to achieve the ending of a game. I would have liked more of a challenge.

OVERALL GAMEPLAY

Whether you're roaming about White Space or you're actually playing through stages, the Shadow portion of this game is an absolute blast. Even having played the Shadow the Hedgehog game (which I'm a fan of, btw), I feel like this game really gave you a better feeling of what it's like to be Shadow. I LOVED that I got to use Chaos Control way more than ever before in previous games. If you had the ability to stop time, wouldn't you take advantage of it every chance you could??? The opportunity to use Chaos (and Doom) Spear as frequently as you wanted and Chaos Control almost constantly really shows how formidable of a character Shadow is and just how different it is to play as him compared to playing as Sonic. I loved the 'free-roam' aspect of White Space compared to the 2D version in Sonic's story. Hunting for rocket parts or figuring out how to unlock collectibles was a lot of fun and let the player really explore these new Doom abilities to the fullest. I'll admit that I struggled with navigating some of the Doom abilities, but even so I still had a ton of fun. I already mentioned replay value, but before you even have to go about replaying the game, there is SO MUCH to this portion of the game! The amount of stages, challenges, collectibles within stages, FINDING the unlockables USING the collectibles you obtained from stages, even the mini challenges available AFTER you've completed the key challenges (I'm talking about the bell that's located above the challenge portal), all of it made for a ton of opportunities for play. I found myself wanting to take on every quest instead of begrudgingly going through it just because I'm a completionist.

My biggest gripe is that the game was too short. Am I greedy for wanting more? Probably, but I can't help it. The developers gave us a ton of content in the Shadow story, but I still would have loved to have a full length game of just this gameplay. I managed to complete the Shadow portion in a few hours, and that was even with me leisurely taking my time to get collectibles and get S ranks for stages before progressing through the story. I miss the days where games took much longer to complete. But hey, I'm a nostalgia-prone 33 year old, so I guess that's to be expected of me haha.

THE SONIC PORTION

Here is where Sonic X Shadow Generations loses more points for me, which is a shame because I think it's a great game overall. Admittedly, I was disappointed when I first learned that the Sonic portion of the game was just a remaster of Generations. I had really hoped we were going to receive something new to help elevate SXS Gens as an entirely new game, instead of just "Sonic Gens + Shadow DLC".

Don't get me wrong, the stages in Sonic Generations are fun to play. However, when you go from playing Shadow's story to Sonic's story, Sonic's side drastically pales in comparison in my opinion.

My other complaint is that for a remaster, they really didn't improve Sonic's portion of the game significantly (at least from what I can recall, as I haven't played the original Sonic Generations since it first came out in 2011). This was a missed opportunity to correct more of the drawbacks of the original game. However, I will admit there are some minor changes that were made that I was thankful for. Let's start with the positive before I point out some of the negatives.

THE STORY

As mentioned earlier, I acknowledge that Sonic Generations is just a remaster so it makes sense that the story didn't change much. That being said, there were some small changes that I did really appreciate and helped improve the story. One of the things that always bothered me about the original Sonic Generations was how indifferent/annoyed Sonic was regarding his friends. I mean, the story is about time being erased! His friends and home are literally getting removed from the fabric of time and Sonic seemed more inconvenienced than concerned. In more recent games, the writing has really focused on the value Sonic finds in his friendships and found family. He always has his signature cool, aloof attitude, but I think the writers in recent years have successfully showed just how much he cares about his group, whether the games were serious (Sonic Frontiers) or silly (The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog). The story wasn't drastically changed for Sonic X Shadow Generations, but some altered dialogue and blink-and-you-miss-it edits helped to cut that jackass attitude from the original and gave him more realistic reactions. Especially by having him respond when he rescues everybody this time! It never seemed right when Tails was first rescued and he's trauma dumping on Sonic about how awful the experience was and Sonic just sits there in silence haha. At least in the new version, Sonic reassures Tails that he's safe now. Also, huge kudos to whoever decided to alter that scene where Sonic is shoving Amy away by the face. I always hated that. Ship or not, you don't treat your friends like that when they're throwing you a bday party!

This is me getting nitpicky, but there were a few things I had really hoped they were going to improve, but remained untouched:

THE GRAPHICS

I was never happy with the visuals of this game outside of the stages (the visuals within the stages are great!). The colors are extremely oversaturated and the characters are way too intense and some are even off model (ex: Amy is so blindingly vivid magenta in this game instead of her signature blush pink. What the heck?!). What's worse, the cutscenes during the birthday party scenes are SO GREEN. The light bounces off the neon green landscape and reflects onto the already oversaturated characters, giving them an unappealing green glow. I get that the Sonic world is not realistic, but it felt like the scenery in these cutscenes made it look like we were watching a bunch of toys interacting on a playset instead of characters living in their world. Sure the visuals during the levels are great, but it's a real disappointment when I'm specifically not looking forward to the cutscenes in a game. I wish they would have tweaked that.

THE ANIMATION/GAMEPLAY

I have zero complaints when it comes to Act 1 (the "Classic" version) of the different stages. These look great, play great, and if you've played classic Sonic games then you can appreciate how identical the map of the level is compared to the originals. The issue for me lies in Act 2, aka Modern Sonic's gameplay. For the most part these levels are good, but there were a couple of small things that always bothered me that I was sincerely hoping they'd fix (and they did not). There are portions of Modern Sonic's gameplay that is SO. SLOW. I'm referring to when you are jumping from one Grind Rail to another, or when you are sliding under an obstacle. These animations are so bizarrely slow and make absolutely no sense when your character is running blindingly fast. I don't understand why they didn't use this opportunity to fix those animations. When you're playing the Shadow side of the story, his animations are constantly fast moving and appropriately paced. Why wouldn't they apply these physics to the Sonic side?

As a whole, the Sonic portion of Sonic X Shadow Generations is still a fun game, but I think it could have used a little more attention to help it feel more balanced compared to the Shadow portion.

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This game also has some notably fun DLC and the promise of more DLC in the future! I have my Sonic side of the story set to the Sonic Adventure Legacy skin and Sonic Jam Legacy skin and they are so CUTE! They win all the nostalgia points! I'll be honest with you, I have never been a fan of Terios' design hahaha. BUT! I love that they made a Terios skin for this game so players have the chance to play as him if you choose and we get to see how he was intended outside of the initial sketches we've all seen. (Still, y'all can keep your Terios skin. I won't touch it LOL!). And I am OVER THE MOON ECSTATIC for the upcoming Movie Shadow addition to the game! I still can't believe they got Keanu Reeves to voice lines for it! I'm sure it will be a small thing, but I am on the edge of my seat to see what that will be like.

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Overall, I'm super happy with the game as a whole and I enjoyed every minute I played of it!

If you read all of this, thank you for reading! Again, my opinion isn't fact and if you disagree with what I had to say, that's totally fair. And if you haven't played the game yourself, please go play it and see what you think for yourself!

[the-dragon-girl-27]

Remember those other 3 times I turned sekai characters into dinos (L/N MMJ VBS) I'm back with more of that crap i know Wanshow fans just looove their AUs so maybe this will appeal to a whole 3 people instead of 2 people this time

explanation for my picks below the cut

Tsukasa is a Styracosaurus because I made Saki a Stellosaurus which is another ceratopsian and also its frill is like vaguely star shaped kinda sorta not really

I don't have much to say about him so can i just mention how awful that Stellasaurus drawing is.

Yeah only recently did i start figuring out how the fuck to draw decent ceratopsians I am so sorry (the struggle is real i almost accidentally gave tsukasa 2 left feet here i swear i know what i'm doing)

I should redo that Saki at some point, girl deserves so much better than that wonkey crap. speaking of ceratopsians i opted out of giving him protofeathers unlike Saki idk they just didn't look right on him you can kinda go either way with most ceratopsians so i just do it when the vibe fits and don't when the vibe doesn't fit

Rui is a Troodon because Troodons are often associated with intelligence because they have the biggest brain to skull ratio of any dino, there's kinda no real way to know how intelligent dinos were but troodon just has the reputation of the smart dinosaur and people often depict them using tools like how crows do and that's like kinda like how rui does robot stuff, he also just fits the raptor shape sorta i feel like raptors have that sorta look to them that is like a similar vibe to the one Rui has, even tho Rui is the tallest character in sekai I feel like he's a mid sized dinosaur, does that make sense? no, but it does to me and i make the rules he's also 100% a feathered dino so it fits

Speaking of Troodon all you 2 paleo nerds reading this are getting war flashbacks from the name Troodon because Troodon itself has a interesting history of being a "wastebasket taxon" which is nerd talk for "scientists just threw a bunch of vaguely similar animals into this one category and didn't consider that maybe this was like 5 different animals and what would be the long term consequences of doing that" yes this is a thing that has happened enough times that there is a word for it

that shit still as of now isn't sorted out I don't think, I at least based my Troodon off the big one from Alaska that literally does not have a fucking name and is just like "the Alaska Troodon". I feel like the size fits and imma be real its the Troodon you see everywhere in media these days because its big and cool and it lived with Pachyrhinosaurus and Nanuqsaurus and also people like it cuz drawing dinosaurs in the snow is fucking awesome (boom i just tricked you into learning paleontology history)

Emu is an Archeopteryx because Emu is supposed to be like a phoenix and Archeopteryx could probably fly or glide or smth it's general considered like "the first bird" so like yeah (now that i think about it i could've made her pyroraptor cuz of the name but also she doesn't fit the vibes of a raptor at all i guess pyroraptor has the whole fire bird thing from its name) Emu would also be a small feathered dinosaur for sure so it fits in that sense too.

Nene is a Stegosaurus because the plates kinda look like her hair thing and her outfit in general and i feel like nene would have those tail spikes for some reason idk it just fits her energy, she'd def be a herbivore as well i feel. Also i personally just associate stegosaurus with the color green personally idk why (at first i was thinking she would be iguanodon because that's another dinosaur that's green in my head but she has like nothing in common with iguanodon lmao)

I guess nenerobo would be an Ankylosaurus than because that would like probably be the logical robot version of a stegosaurus maybe idk would nenerobo exist in this universe, you decide idk

i guess next one is that last one unless i wanna redo the vocaloids in this style or redraw saki at some point or whatever see you whenever that happens in however long it takes

[empty-vessel-of-a-person]

Similarities and Difference I feel between Zayne and Sylus.

Note: Just my opinion. It's okay if you do not agree. We all have different take on Sylus appearance in the game and the whole update. MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS... YOU ARE WARNED.

The Game

The game fixes so many bugs. I'm so glad that I don't have to buy a new phone. Imagine downloading 2.3 GB for the new version then another 7+ GB for data and then it offloads all data of all of your memories. So the update is both has its good side and bad side.

When Infold says Sylus is coming, he is indeed coming!!! I mean the whole update is about him and the N109 zone. But setting aside the Sylus thing, the whole N109 zone is both scary and wonderful. The details and depth they put in the update are very gone. It's like watching a movie. If ever you watch Final Fantasy VII Advent Children or Spirits Within. It's giving me that vibe.

The transition from a light theme to a dark theme in the fighting scenes is good. We get to see the game evolve to a more serious side.

All in all, the update is so good and I really enjoyed it.

Sylus and Zayne

I can't help but think they are both ends of a ruler, it's like they are Morning and Nighttime. While they are both sharp tongues, Zayne will tone down and spoil M/C while Sylus leaves things as it is.

They may seem cold but they protect M/C at all costs. Just like what Grandma Josephine says, "By helping her(M/C) you are helping yourself"

That being said, Zayne and Sylus are always there to teach M/C what she needs to know and survive. While Sylus is more brute in handling things, Zayne is more of sarcastic but kind.

Sylus

I don't think he is in love with M/C.... Yet! He needs her, yes. But that does not necessarily mean being in love.

In Abyssal Chaos, M/C finds him a nuisance then when M/C asks if he is worried about her, he answers maybe leaving us on the edge.

To say I'm shocked on Sylus Relax Time: Palm, is an understatement. The first part is cute, but my head explodes when he bites our hand!!!! I'm so not ready for that. I waited so long to upgrade Zayne's affinity to get the Relax Time: Hands, just to be slapped by Sylus' first relax time. But then again, as a consumer, Infold purposely intends Sylus to be that way to get more girlies to the game. I can't complain about that.

I don't like his voice. You read that right. I don't like his voice (English Version). My sister doesn't know I'm playing while he is speaking. She says it's like a grandpa's voice. Infold should have chosen a younger-sounding sexy voice. A little bit like Zayne's but deeper. Again this is just my opinion. If you like it, you like it.

Now I know why Zayne never gets casual clothing like a t-shirt or sweats because they are reserving them for Sylus so Zayne and him will have a striking contrast with style and personality.

He is also a mixture of everyone (Xavier, Rafayel, and Zayne) Xavier on being oblivious. Oblivious because this guy doesn't seem to know how dangerously sexy he is. Rafayel on being witty. Yes, No, Maybe so? And Zayne for having the air of authority and control.

Final Thoughts

Sylus is sexy! Yes I said it... He is sexy. And women like dangerous and sexy. It adds to the excitement. It doesn't help that he bites our hands. Who wouldn't fall for that... Infold's Sylus team did a great job in shading the other guys in one swoop..

Thank you Infold for giving us more ways to earn Diamonds. I hope you also increase the weekly limit in earning chocolates.

The love interest page still flags 'Coming Soon'. I am still hoping Infold brings Caleb back. Yes, I love Caleb as much as Zayne! He is the only guy I'm interested in aside from Zayne. Don't you think it's a good and fair love triangle? Sylus has always been on a different level. Something Zayne and the other boys can never be and never compete with.

What's next? Since Glint studio is so addicting, I am hoping the next version comes with video shooting. I mean we are making a video shoot with the boys not just still photos.

Good job Infold!!!! You really hook me and my wallet!!!!

[tocomplainfriend]

REDESIGN AND TIME PERIODS!

SirPentious died in - 1800 / Alastor - 1933 / Nifty - 1950s / Angel Dust - 1947

So I realized unless you told people who didn't know trough streams or wikis-they wouldn't know what time period the character is from! So here have some small stuff for redesigning here! Do research, you have no idea how fun it is to design with all the big references pulled up!!

The most obvious ones are Sir Pentious and Al.

Pen talks in an old way, not actually accurate, but you would get the point. +The Napoleon outfit by the end. +Steampunk is based on 1800-1900! Besides that, him calling the female character Miss/Missy or similar also part of it. Him imidiadlty saluting blabla

His suit doesn't match old suits and seems to be stylized the usual way all the others characters with Suits. (I know Pen wants to be hip with the kids but trowing away the idea of old clothes would be crazy to do) The entirety of the 1800s has different styles each decade too, we are focused on British late 1800s. There are fun variations of clothes too! (btw, in terms of redesign, search up for accuracy videos of people enjoy that style of clothing! Or steampunk!)

he colors can change and figures can always be exaggerated. Take this site I found while making this:

But he is Steampunk! Which is even more similar to the time period, and Pen pretty much gets a washed up version of Steampunk aesthetics. Many more fun outfits are there (for inventors too!)

Alastor is easy to tell more,' 'when' he is from. His specific way of speaking is also easy recognizable. +Radio theme.

The 30's were difficult in the USA, specially for the not 1%... to casual outfits and practical compared to years before, still stylish. + there is the place where you give attention to his Radio star and being mix person in those times affects his clothing!

Watch this video!

Angel: He does not communicate nor 40's or Mafia (why put on those themes and not used them, I understand the idea of Angel being more modern or kicked out of his mafia family but common!) + remember the possibility of drag!

Nifty: She died in 50s (her old puddle skirt was PERFECT!) There are so many iconic Hairstyles from this decade too... She would still be a maid, but she still has a style. (I don't think you can tell when she is from, even in her acting, tho).

Some redesigns:

[rabbitthedarkidol]

*Sighs* =-w-=Uu Today was a bad day, but at least I had the update to look forward. I had to download a controller to make the AR function work, but finally I managed!

Amari looks so cool in Mario's coord! I hope they let her use more punk/metal inspired fashion on the next season, whenever it is.

Btw, I don't own a copy of the disk, it just happens I asked a friend to print the cover for me a few months ago. Do you think I will get the limited edition shirt anyways? I hope so, I was planing on making a shirt with this pic. Maybe I could try to make it a replica from the one in the game!

I really love the new hair style!! Mostly because is looks really similar to mine, and I often wear odangos too, tho mine are more donut shaped. Not sure 100% If i'll keep. Like, I LOVE it, but Lala's hair had grown on me... I wish they gave us non character related hairstyles that were more big and dramatic! My ideal hair in Pripara is actually very similar to this but... BIGGER. maybe I should draw it some time when I feel better..

Speaking of Lala, she looks so cute with this variant color!! Not that i'm pulling for it, but still is lovely.

And even if I wanted Lala's clasic coords (Which is tempting) I could not afford it...

Heck! i can't even afford this this coord and is one of the cheapest on the gold line and I'm so maaaaad because I was waiting for it! Is a story of tragedy, truly. I was saving my gold for Amari's and Mario's birthday and I was around 800, but I lost 300 by accidentally buying a song...

Luckily, that song was Make it. And it's a bop.

Wich song you think we will be getting tomorrow? I hope is Chocolate Ice Cream Tornado or Strawberry Bullet because clearly I don't have a personality besides liking Amari and Mario, lol. Let's just pray is not another cover of GoGo PripaLife becau- NO WAIT, I would totally be down for Mario's versions ONLY because it would be FUNNY.

[ateez-himari]

Hi bb!!???? You just made me crazy with your last post so I'm here to yap like usual😪

Ummmmm first question DO YOU WANT ME D€AD?? LIKE SHAKE THAT BOOTY COUPLE CHOREOGRAPHY WASN'T ON MY BINGO CARD(but I'm glad you did it hehehehehe🤫🤫🤫)

I have questionsss (literally brings a smile on my face everytime you reply🫣)

Sooo first question do you have any certain idea about hima's styling in iomt era?🫠 Cause I can picture her wearing similar clothes to kiof in igloo but more classy ig?

Did mimi do any iomt challenges with hobi and jin? And did she do the running wild trend (it was so funny for no reason😭)

3rddddddd during yoongi's enlistment has hima ever sent him any of the songs on the album for advice?or even hearing the finished version? 👀

And lastly are you able to tell me a specific voice claim for mimi?

Love you bb mwahhh💓💓

Omg Mina! 🥹🌸💕 I swear every time I see your name in my inbox I get excited, you always have so many new questions and I love it! (I made myself crazy too bc Mafia Himari ??? Hello ???)

It's actually Mingi that wants you dead because it started out as a solo break but he wasn't satisfied, so he choreographed a little couple moment 🤧This is their first comeback as lovers (officially) so he wanted to show it. (He's also jealous of the amount of 'intimate' choreography she has with San so he has to assert his claim yk 🤭...but he has to try really hard to not grab his gf's ass on camera-)

• I had general styling ideas before you asked that but you made me want to get specific (that's why it took so long to reply 😔) so I got to researching and this is the draft I got from it;

Solo Scene [1]; Black Lace Bustier. Black Suit Pants. An Unbuttoned Medusa Biggie Single-Breasted Blazer (Versace) - slightly customized since it's a man's suit jacket. Medusa '95 Satin Sandals 115mm (Versace) Jewelry (Versace); Barocco Leaf Chain Bracelet. Bind Choker & Medusa Greca Necklace. Assorted Rings - From Chrome Hearts & Cartier. Claw Rings

Solo Scenes [2 & 3]; I ♡ Baroque Bathrobe (White). White Lace Trim Cami Slip Short Nightgown (Handmade by Donatella). Garavani EveningGlam Platform Sandal With 120mm Crystals (Valentino - only for scene 3) Jewelry (Ephemeral Collection); Lariat & Choker Chain. Assorted Rings. Angel Wings Ear Cuffs. Thigh Chain

Group Scene; Off Shoulder Contraption Blazer (Custom YSL). Pants in Grain De Poudre (YSL). Medusa '95 Lace-Up Boots 35mm (Versace) Jewelry; Cross Necklace (Gift from Yunho). Assorted Rings (Unknown Collection). Juste Un Clou Hoop Earring, Small Model (Cartier). Safety Pin Earrings (Versace)

• Jin actually dragged her into the trend before he called J-Hope as 'payment' for not calling him enough during his service, and he kept the scene of her tripping and falling flat on her face- 😭. She's done the IOMT challenge with Jin but not J-Hope since he's in L.A (I'm not sure if he still is)

• Hima has sent all of them to Yoongi but never before the draft was finished, not so much because she wanted advice but because she still needs confirmation from her older brother. She always seeks his approval when she does something right so it was mainly for this. She also technically TECHNICALLY leaked the album by sending him the finished versions a week before the release date 🤫

• I think I said this in another post but I'll say this here too! Speaking; Natty (Kiss Of Life). Singing; Suhyun (AKMU). Rapping; Yeeun (El7z Up - Former CLC)

Love you too sweet, MMMWAH 😘🩷🎀

[thewickedmerman]

My Top 10 Favorite Disney Heroines

Okay, so I've recently been having some issues with making videos and until I can sort it out, I can't really get any new clips for videos. So that makes it harder for me to be able to talk about certain topics I want to discuss on YouTube. However, I really want to talk about this so I decided to make a post here on Tumblr and when I have my technical issues sorted out, I'll post a YouTube version. However, since I'm not playing a character on Tumblr, that means that this won't include my signature merfolk language like "mermazing", "What the Tartarus", or "Dear sweet Poseidon." But you can expect that in my video when I sort out my technical issues.

Anyway, I’ve been criticizing Disney quite a bit lately and while that’s been both fun and therapeutic, I’m still a MASSIVE fan of Disney and would like to talk about something great from them. Since one of my more recent videos where I fixed Disney’s adorkable problem has gotten popular, I figured I would talk about my top 10 favorite Disney heroines. Now lets establish the guidelines. I will only be talking about Disney’s animated heroines, I will only be including characters from their animated movies so that means no TV show heroines like Kim Possible will be included, and I won’t be including characters from properties that Disney has bought. So that means that characters like Anastasia/Anya from Anastasia won’t be included, otherwise she would be in my top 3. Why? Because apart from putting them on DisneyPlus, Disney hasn’t done anything to promote or profit off of these movies so it’s hard to consider them to be actual Disney movies. It’s why I still don’t consider movies like Anastasia to be Disney movies.

But other than that, I will have free range in what heroines make my list. So that means Pixar and Disney sequel heroines will be included. Keep in mind that this will be heavily bias, since this is obviously my opinion. So your favorites aren’t necessarily my favorites and vise versa. Feel free to share your favorites and your thoughts on my list. Just don’t be an asshole about it! Now without any further delay, lets dive right on it.

10. Lilo (Lilo and Stitch Franchise)

This is definitely one of the BEST child characters EVER and I don’t just mean from Disney. She’s weird, eccentric, emotional, she gets into fights, she’s sweet, charming, hilarious, clever, adventurous, sassy, and is just the most entertaining part of her movie. And considering the cast of characters in this franchise, that’s saying A LOT. I love how she is into unconventional things that a girl her age typically isn’t into. It’s great rep for those of us who were the weird kid growing up. I mean, while I wasn’t into the things she was into, being a boy who was, and still is, into traditionally feminine things made me a bit of an outcast growing up. Speaking of great rep, many have said that Lilo is autistic-coded, and while this hasn’t been confirmed by either the original creators or Disney, I definitely can get behind it. Speaking as someone who is autistic, I definitely remember having similar behaviors to Lilo at that age. Not entirely because everyone with autism is different. Me and my wife (@keeloves) are both autistic but we have different sensory issues from each other and behaved differently from each other as kids but still saw ourselves in Lilo. My wife particularly sees herself in Lilo, due to being a brown autistic woman, which you don’t get a lot of rep with in media.

But anyway, even if I didn’t connect to Lilo because of my autism, I would still adore her, especially since I didn’t learn I was autistic until I was a senior in high school and I still grew up loving Lilo. She has a creative way of doing things and it helps her stand out from a lot of heroines. Even heroines that are allegedly supposed to be more unique and break the mold like Mirabel from Encanto, can’t hold a candle to Lilo’s uniqueness. She has a style that’s all her own and that’s what makes her the perfect friend for Stitch, along with her immense generosity. Many have said Lilo means lost in Hawaiian but it can also mean generous one, which perfectly describes Lilo, due to her not only being lonely, but also her generous heart that managed to break through to Stitch. However, she has her limits and when pushed too far will come at you hard. I also relate to her loneliness as someone who has a hard time both making friends and maintaining friendships. She also has some of the best lines in the movie. Her personality continues to shine in the other forms of media she appears in and you can’t have a Lilo and Stitch product without her because she’s the heart of the franchise. Yes, I’m aware of those stupid shows that don’t have Lilo and I don’t plan on watching them. They don’t exist!

9. Jane (Return to Neverland) and Raya (Raya and the Last Dragon)

Hey, I never said that I wouldn’t have ties on my list. Don’t worry, this will be the only tie on this list. But to keep it organized, I will be talking about each of these characters individually before I talk about why I can’t decide who I love more.

Starting with Jane, she’s a character who isn’t like most Disney heroines that are adventurous and dream of something more. Instead, she’s a young girl who is living during wartime and is just trying to survive and do what she can to take care of her family. She’s the daughter of Wendy from the original Peter Pan but the two couldn’t be more different. Whereas Wendy is a soft-spoken optimist who is full of childlike wonder, Jane is a practical pessimist with a sharp tongue that has become jaded due to her situation. This gives her more of an arc with her story compared to her mother, who is by no means a bad character. This helps her stand out among all the Disney sequel children who tend to share their parents personality traits. I love how they don’t have Jane just be a stick in the mud for no reason. She has an understandable reason for why she is the way that she is and I think people tend to overlook that because she’s so different from the heroines that we’re used to seeing from Disney. She had to grow up fast due to her experiences and she longs for her childhood days when she could believe in things like Peter Pan, Neverland, and pixie dust. However, she knows she has to be strong but she also needs to learn to regain some of her childhood wonder to help get her through the hard times. I honestly love her relationship with Peter Pan. Not only do they have amazing chemistry, but I love how unlike the female characters in the previous movies, who tend to fawn all over him and boost his ego, Jane deflates his ego, helps him mature a bit, and calls out his behavior. I love that even if she’s not as snarky as characters like Megara that Jane is still snarky. But she also has a loving side and can be taken in by the beauty of Neverland when she’s being shown Neverland. I honestly see a lot of myself in Jane and I loved seeing her growth as a character. She’s such a complex character and she’s just a child. She’s the best thing to come out of the Peter Pan franchise. Yes, even better than Tinkerbell and I love how she calls out Tinkerbell as well.

Now we move on to Raya. For those of you who have seen my video about fixing Disney’s adorkable problem, I mentioned that Raya is one of the few heroines of the revival era that doesn’t have an adorkable personality, making her one of the more unique characters of the era. Unlike the bubbly, optimistic, quirky, and over-the-top heroines of the era, Raya is mature, snarky, pessimistic, cheeky, serious, and jaded. This is a character type that is not only unique for this era of Disney but is also a rare type of character from Disney in general. I love that she’s not so optimistic and bubbly but can still be sweet and caring towards the ones she loves. Also, speaking as someone who has trust issues, I do relate to Raya and her journey with her distrust of people. She’s been hurt and when she trusted someone, the world ended up broken because of it. So her trying to save the world isn’t about trying to help the world but to help her kingdom and bring her father back. On the one hand it’s selfless for her to do this for her people but on the other hand, she’s selfish for not caring about the rest of the world but it makes sense because of her experiences and trust issues. I also love how she’s a bit xenophobic but she slowly starts to let down her walls and trust others from different clans. I love characters that are relatable but also have a lesson they have to learn that helps them grow as people and Raya definitely fits the bill. I also love how unlike other heroines, who are great with kids and babies, she was very awkward when interacting with Noi at first. It shows that not everyone is great with kids and it’s something that can be learned. It also shows her growth with how she’s able to let herself have connections with others. But she’s also a badass of a fighter! The woman has moves! But I love that there’s more to her than just her physical strength. I love her snarky and jaded personality and her journey. Plus, it's unique how she's a Disney Princess who wasn't wanting more out of life but rather wanted to the life she used to have back. Not to mention how she was the closed-minded one while her father was the open-minded one. I also love how became one of the few Disney protagonists that are willing to kill. Granted, she didn’t do it but she was willing to kill Namaari during the climax of the movie. But she’s ultimately a good person who comes to the realization that it wasn’t right. She’s a phenomenal and underrated character from a phenomenal and underrated movie. Give us more characters like her and unique personalities, Disney.

As for why I can’t decide between the two, it’s honestly because both of them are pretty similar. Both are snarky, jaded, practical, responsible, and act as the straight man in their respective movies amongst the more chaotic characters they come across. Not to mention, both long for the simpler days when their lives were actually happy but can’t because of how their worlds have shaped them. They have great character growth and their way of thinking is technically wrong but you also understand why they are the way they are. So with how similar they are, I can’t really decide who I love more so I decided not to. The two of them are truly amazing characters and actually break the mold of the heroines we tend to see from Disney and I adore them for that.

8. Tiana (The Princess and the Frog)

Just like Raya, she’s one of the few heroines from the revival era that actually has a unique personality and in my opinion is the best heroine from this era. I love how she’s practical and serious like Jane and Raya but it’s not because she’s jaded. It’s just because she’s determined, ambitious, and a workaholic. But even without her being jaded, there’s also an explanation for why she is the way she is. She has a dream that people say will be impossible for her to achieve due to her being a black woman of low status and a dream her father spent his whole life to achieve but never managed to see happen. She’s worked two jobs her entire life and has to work so much harder than everyone else just to prove herself. But I love that she’s also a bit playful, caring, friendly, does want to have fun but just can’t let herself, and is still creative. Almost There shows off the massive extent of her incredible imagination. I love how passionate she is about her dream and cooking. I adore how she never loses her passion and fire no matter what. I wish I had her drive in life to help make my dreams come true. She inspires me and it kills me that both she and her movie are so underrated when really they deserve to be getting the attention that Frozen got. I honestly can’t wait to see what they do in the new Tiana series and I just pray that they don’t disappoint me. Tiana is truly a great character and it’s a shame more people don’t realize it. Even in her frog form, her personality shines through with her hard-working and witty personality. Not to mention, she has great growth as a character. There’s nothing wrong with pursuing a dream but you shouldn’t let that keep you from also living your life. She’s confident in certain areas but she’s also insecure as well. It helps make her a layered character and one of the most three-dimensional heroines from the revival era. Truly one of Disney’s best leading ladies.

7. Pocahontas (Pocahontas)

First of all, yes, I know that the movie is problematic with its misrepresentation of the real Pocahontas’ life, showing both sides being in the wrong when in real life it was the white settlers who were the only ones in the wrong, and portraying Pocahontas in a romantic relationship with John Smith when she was a child when they met and the fact that he intended to colonize her people. However, I still ADORE the movie! Yes, it has its issues but it also has gorgeous animation, incredible songs, an amazing musical score, an engaging romance, likable and iconic characters, a great message that’s definitely relevant today, and most importantly one of the best protagonists to ever come out of Disney.

Despite the issues Native Americans rightfully have with her movie, one thing, at least from my understanding, that they universally agree on is that in terms of personality, Pocahontas is spot on. So it’s really no wonder that Pocahontas herself is the best thing about the movie. I adore how she’s curious, adventurous, mischievous, fun-loving, playful, and daring. However, she’s also smart and mature. She’s undeniably a remarkable character that deserves nothing but praise. I love how she has a journey of finding her path but isn’t sure what her path is. And I don’t mean like she has to decide between two things but rather she has no idea what her second option is. It’s something a lot of people can relate to who can’t decide what they want to do with their life. So it’s interesting and unique to have a character who doesn’t have a clear idea of what they want but still know they want more than the life that has been planned for them. When you think about it, Pocahontas is a pretty complex character in that sense and it’s one of the reasons I adore her along with her just being a fun and exciting character. One of my favorite scenes is just her going down the water rapids and instead of her just going down the safe path that she goes with the more exciting and fun path because it’s just who she is. I mean, when she’s supposed to just come down to the river and get into the canoe with Nakoma, she could just run down there but instead, she chooses the more daring option of diving off. I wish I had the amount of guts she has. She’s such an exciting character and there’s nothing dull about her. But she also stands up for what is right and will lay her own life down in order to do what needs to be done. She’s such an underrated character that it’s painful to think about. I adore Pocahontas and consider her to be one of the best characters Disney has ever created.

6. Anastasia Tremaine (Cinderella Sequels)

Originally starting off as a minor villain in the original Cinderella, Anastasia has since become one of the most complex and interesting characters to ever come out of Disney. Even people who hate the Disney sequels tend to agree that she’s one of the best things to come out of these cash grabs. She’s so great that even the show Once Upon a Time in Wonderland continued the trend of making her a sympathetic character, with her being played flawlessly by Emma Rigby. But anyway, I adore how she still has some traits from her original appearance with her lacking elegance and grace, being a clutz, being a bit ditzy (But not dumb), and having a bit of a temper to her. It shows that just because someone becomes good, they don’t lose all of their negative traits or become 100% different because that’s not realistic. However, she’s incredibly sympathetic with how she’s a victim of her mother and sister’s abuse but they don’t erase the fact that she was abusive to Cinderella. As they say, hurt people hurt people. People are complex and it’s amazing to see someone who was abusive can also be the abuse victim without erasing past mistakes. But they don’t have Cinderella judge her on the person she used to be but rather the person she is now. In A Twist in Time, we do see her show guilt towards Cinderella. She’s just someone who wanted to be loved and for someone to love her for who she is and not what her mother wanted her to be. Honestly, I wish Disney would explore more characters like Anastasia who aren’t conventionally attractive and can also be complex and interesting. She kind of reminds me of Helga from Hey Arnold. And honestly, while Cinderella herself is still a great an admirable character, I prefer her step-sister. In fact, I might have a video analyzing what a great and complex character Anastasia is in the future (Or even post it here on Tumblr), so keep an eye out for that.

5. Megara (Hercules)

But her friends call her Meg, at least they would if she had any friends. Yeah, you know I had to quote that. Much like Anastasia, Meg didn’t start off as a heroine but rather as a minion to the villain. I honestly went back and forth on whether or not I preferred Anastasia or Megara but I ultimately went with Megara because of her amazing snark. Being someone who is incredibly sarcastic, sassy, and snarky, I relate to characters who are like that as well. She’s honestly the sassiest Disney character ever. Literally no one can match her. Yes, there have been sassy and snarky characters from Disney, a good number of them are even on this list, but none meet the same level of sarcasm as her. She’s one of the most unique Disney heroines with her starting off as a bit of an antagonist, being way more snarky and jaded than Disney’s heroines, and actually having a romantic history instead of just only being in a relationship with one person in your life and that’s the one you end up marrying. A lot of people can relate to Meg and the fact that she gave and gave all her love to someone she was in a relationship with but that person just didn’t love her as much and left her for someone else. She gave so much that she sold her soul to save her boyfriend’s life only for him to dump her for some random girl. No wonder she swore off love and became so jaded. But I love how she learns to love again and sees that it’s not bad to give yourself to someone so long as it’s the right person because just like how Megara gave up her life to save Hercules, he was willing to give his life to gets hers back. While Hercules is a great and engaging character, I find Meg’s journey more engaging. She’s a great character and it’s no wonder that she’s so beloved. Plus, she’s a snarky queen!

4. Angel (Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure)

Yeah, can you tell that I have a thing for characters that are snarky and jaded? She reminds me a lot of Megara, albeit, not as extreme due to being a kid and her movie having a different tone to Hercules. It’s no wonder that I love her, especially when her movie is also one of my top 10 favorite Disney movies of all-time. I love how she is very sly and confident but isn’t cocky or arrogant. However, despite her confidence, she also has her insecurities about her wanting a permanent family, since she’s had five families that have taken her in but when she starts to think that this one is for keeps, they move, have a new baby, or have an allergy. So despite her desire for a family, she’s jaded about the world and feels that she can only depend on herself and only sticks around the junkyard dogs because she has no other alternative. I love how even though she’s a major factor in Scamp’s development and is basically the glue that holds this movie together, Scamp helps with her development. He allows her to be brave enough to be vulnerable and to see that you don’t have to only look out for yourself because he looks out for her. The two of them help each other to grow just like a true couple should. Despite their age, their love is to the same level as any adult relationship because they were friends first and then fell in love. Overall, Angel is a phenomenal character that is smart, sassy, jaded, confident, insecure, layered, brave, brutal, sly, caring, kind, tomboyish but still feminine, and just so freaking adorable.

3. Mulan (Mulan)

Yeah, you know that you can’t have a top 10 best Disney heroines list without including her. I mean, what can I even say about her that hasn’t already been said. She’s a perfect character journey. She starts off trying to be the perfect bride and daughter but she just keeps messing it up, has no idea who she is or what she’s meant to be, breaks the rules and risks possible death for herself in order to save her father from certain death by taking his place in the army and disguising herself as a man, starts off terrible at training, gets better by embracing both sides of herself (The masculine and the feminine), and ultimately brings honor and saves the day by being herself. I love how, unlike the modern heroines we get nowadays, they take her journey seriously. Yes, there’s still some comedy with her but they don’t go over-the-top or make her clumsiness her most defining character trait. But her amazing actions aren’t the only great thing about her. I love her realistic clumsiness, awkwardness, wit, cleverness, kindness, caring nature, bravery, courage, creativity, and that she’s funny without having to be over-the-top. She’s far from perfect but that’s why she’s so great. She isn’t strong for just being masculine but also because she’s feminine. She’s flawed but she tries, she’s insecure but that doesn’t stop her, she wanted to save her father and bring honor but she also wanted to prove that she could do things right. And yet, they still made sure she was a likable character with a three-dimensional personality so that we actually care about her journey. I feel like modern Disney could learn a thing or two from Mulan. And the less said about that awful live-action remake or that horrendous direct-to-video sequel MulanII the better. Lets just focus on the original Disney Mulan and how she truly brought honor to us all.

2. Ariel (The Little Mermaid Franchise)

Yeah, you know that I had to include my favorite Disney Princess. Ever since I was a little boy, I’ve always absolutely ADORED Ariel. I relate to her rebellious nature, since I’ve always had a naturally rebellious side to me. She’s playful, mischievous, adventurous, curious, bubbly, determined, sweet, fiery, and a painfully accurate portrayal of adolescence. She’s reckless, naive, impulsive, stubborn, and headstrong. I love how flawed she is because it makes her feel more real and three-dimensional. I honestly love how relatable she is and even as someone in my late twenties, I still relate to Ariel even to this day. I know the feeling of wanting more out of life and wanting to explore beyond the confines of one's current existence. Ariel wants to learn more about the human world and wants to be a part of it because of her love of learning and her fascination with the human world. I adore just how curious and daring she is. When she sees something that interests her, she pursues it and is just so passionate about it. She’s just so engaging. I also love how on land when she’s can’t talk how adorable she is with her facial expressions and actions. She’s just such a delightful character. She sees what she wants and she goes for it and I love her for that. I honestly get so mad when people say she’s just boy-crazy and threw her life away for a man. Did people not watch the movie? She sang a whole mother-flipping song about how she wanted to be part of the human world long before she ever saw Eric. He was just what finally got things going. Besides, there’s nothing wrong with wanting romance because that’s not all she wants. She wants to explore the world and learn. The live-action remake actually made the character even better and considering how much I love the character, that’s saying something. And yeah, the live-action remake is amazing and the best of the live-action remakes (Which I have a video all about on YouTube). This little mermaid is the best Disney Princess and one of my favorite fictional characters of all-time.

Honorable mentions:

Now before I name my number 1 favorite, lets name some honorable mentions. Keep in mind that these aren’t in any particular order. Madellaine from The Hunchback of Notre Dame II, Esmeralda from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Alice from Alice in Wonderland, Judy Hopps from Zootopia, Elsa from the Frozen franchise, Jasmine from the Aladdin franchise, Belle from Beauty and the Beast, Jane from Tarzan, Violet from The Incredibles franchise, Jessie from the Toy Story franchise, Kiara from The Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride, Dory from the Finding Nemo franchise, Vanellope from Wreck-It Ralph, Miss Bianca The Rescuers franchise, and Rapunzel from Tangled.

Melody (The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea)

I mean, is anyone surprised? I’ve already mentioned that she’s tied with Jack Frost from Rise of the Guardians as my favorite fictional character of all-time. I absolutely ADORE her! Much like how her mother is an accurate depiction of teenage struggles, Melody is an accurate representation of preteen struggles. She’s awkward around her peers, she’s doesn’t know how to act around people, she’s shy around boys, she feels like a fish out of water (No pun intended), she’s unsure of herself, has a hard time communicating with her parents, and doesn’t make the best decisions. These are all part of growing up and they captured that flawlessly with her. She has the same traits as her mother but she also has her differences that make her feel like her own unique character. Unlike her mother, who is extroverted and confident, Melody is introverted and self-conscious, which makes her feel more relatable to me. I love how they can make her very awkward without having to make it her most defining character trait like with the Disney heroines of the Revival era. She only feels comfortable in her skin when she’s out swimming and she’s told that she can’t go out into the ocean. That’s something many of us can relate to with how we’re comfortable living a certain lifestyle, doing something we love, or being true to ourselves only to be told we can’t for whatever reason. Being a naturally rebellious person with interests that aren’t traditionally masculine, I definitely relate to that. Plus, being someone who always wanted to be a merman, I also have a massive love for the ocean and Melody’s explosive passion and undying love for the sea is just so engaging. But I also love how she also has a lesson to learn, which gives her more of an arc than her mother, though to be fair, Ariel didn’t really need to learn a lesson, King Triton did. But I still love how Melody had to learn her own self-worth and apologized for causing this mess. And instead of choosing between land or sea, she chooses both by breaking down the wall that divided them. She is the bridge that connects the two worlds together. She’s just such an engaging character. Every time I see her on screen, she's just so charming and entertaining. I love her passion, awkwardness, curiosity, mischievousness, playfulness, sweetness, cunning, and just everything about her. Maybe one of these days I’ll make a video all about how mermazing she is. She certainly is a remarkable character that is more than deserving of it.

And those are my top 10 favorite Disney heroines. Are any of my favorites your favorites? Who are your favorites? Let me know. Please like, comment, reblog, and follow me if you haven't already.

[kathjack]

I'm cooking I will be posting the traditional version of the designs but these are just to ramble about the design choices and why I decided to swap them rather than information about the characters, I will not do this for all of them, only a few, I will post the finished, fully detailed designs on the next week in schedule form

Sorry they look kind of blurry, it's not the camera, it's the grafito getting fucked up when I but my shoulder over it

I believe it's rather obvious that Adam's suit was designed after Beetlejuice, I was going to take more reference on Dewey from School of rock but this one seems more recognizable and I think it fits better since, well, they're dead I added the little spikes on the shoulders because of Adam's outfit for the last episode Also piercings, because I can't believe he doesn't have them in canon I refuse to believe he wouldn't pierce his ears You can't see it yet but his eyes aren't going to be yellow, instead they're going to be blue like Emily's

The why I decided to swap him with Charlie is pretty obvious, they're opposites Also I just like to put Adam through hell both in the swap au, in the Benefactor au and in the Adamsapple fic I'm writing

Lute is also obviously designed after Vaggie's outfit, except that the colors of it are more to resemble Adam and her gothic style She didn't lose her eye, (V)Agatha ended up cutting her arm (details will not be explained yet but it was not intentional), so they gave her a replacement, but because hell isn't as refined as Heaven, the closest thing Adam could get was the sin of Lust to give her one of the best they had (Note. I have yet to decide who will be Ozzie), she normally wears her glove over it but only in front of anyone that isn't Adam, after episode 3 she stops using it in the hotel, being more comfortable around the cast Couldn't see her wearing a bow, so I put it in her back and around the hips Also long hair because she wanted to be separated of her excorcist status (as they all probably have a short hair), put it in a ponytail because she's always ready to throw hands for Adam

Why she is swaped with Vaggie is obvious Also I changed my mind they are dating in the swap au (Adam needs her gothic gf but they have to sort some issues before kissing)

Oh oh, you are gonna love this one

Why are they swapped? Because it's funny, because I have seen people swapping EVERYONE with Alastor except for Pentious which is pretty surprising honestly

I took most of Pentious eyes in the design since they originally serve the purpose of showing how much he distrust others, they disappear once he gets to heaven because now he has learned how to trust and care about those around him Even tho swap Pentious would obviously still be pretty distrusting, he would not be as paranoic, the eyes would come out on his full demon form I gave him a monocle just because I liked how it looked, he was supposed to have glasses like Alastor but he looked like a grandpa and I want him to have a more "Big brother" kind of vibe towards Adam rather tan fatherly (Since Emily is more like his big sister, not a mother) His hat takes the place of Alastor's cane, he's protective over it, it's the source of his power after all, it does not show Pentious true emotions Speaking off, since canon Alastor is always smiling, swap Pentious always has his hood up, never letting it down, he shows other emotions with his face but his hood represents him always having his guard up

Alastor is more pathetic Listen I am not sorry for taking away his bob cut, I don't know how you all can simp for that man with that hair, I gave him something similar but it goes all the way back, no bob cut Glasses, because we all love to give this man glasses His cane takes the place of Pent's hat, it shows his genuine emotions Not getting into details, but Alastor doesn't smiles as much as canon just like Pentious not always has his hood up, he does drop the smile and the more comfortable he gets with the cast the more he drops it for a normal, neutral expression Yes, he goes to heaven but his angelical form will be revealed later

Pentious is still an inventor, Alastor is still a Radio host

This one is simple, I tried to turn Keekee into a dog, not only because of Adam but it was mainly because Alastor canonically HATES dogs, so the idea of this fucking dog getting attached to Alastor and him petting her lovingly on episode 7 was an opportunity I could not pass up

Yeeyee is still female I just didn't trust myself to draw the eyelashes because she is a lot smaller than you think, and I didn't want to fuck her up and end up erasing most of her

I was also just going to put a giant mouth instead of an eye but it looked disturbing, so no

Yeeyee because the k on Keekee obviously comes from Key so I took the last letter to change it but still have it make sense

The key is also still in progress, I don't know how to draw keys

[loz-furbies]

A Link Between Worlds Zelda

Design

So far the last offender in our list of Zeldas who are different people but look the same. At least this is an improvement from the ALttP design on many of the fronts I complained about: the crest is easier to see at least in this lightning, the stripes are all similar, and they dropped the weird stripe-stripe from her hem. But looking at the design concepts makes me sad because we could have had a brand new design...

Since the game is something of a half-remake of ALttP the reused design makes at least some sense (though I still don't condone it!), and it pairs well with Hilda's darker look.

I'm not really into the art style of the ALbW (as in how the character models look in-game), something about them looks somehow doll-like. But I must admit that I don't much care for the Toon style or the new Toy style either so I'm a full fledged hater on this front.

Character

Zelda has the usual friendly and polite princess personality again, but this time she speaks noticeably formally all the time, which makes her memorable enough. And honestly the most princessy princess in the lineup so far too. In the end there's not a lot to her, her character begins and ends with a pretty standard ideal princess, but I dunno, I still like her a lot because she's just so nice and the way she speaks so politely makes her come across funnily chill about all the strangeness that goes on in the story.

Role in the story

Plot-wise Zelda is pretty passive this time around, she sends Link on a mission and is then damseled for the rest of the game. And since there are a lot more actual memorable characters compared to the likes of ALttP, Zelda's short scene in the beginning doesn't really make her stand out that much as the main goal. She doesn't perform any big magic tricks herself either, and her contribution to the final showdown is just creating the bow of light for Link to use.

I'd say her most meaningful contribution to the story is in the final scene, where she and Link find the Triforce and use it to wish for Hilda to have a second Triforce (even after she spent the entire game trying to steal theirs). Though that's not really because of her as a character on her own, and more about how it's nice to have someone who can talk in that scene so Link doesn't have to mime everything.

In general I still like ALbW Zelda; her character and role are pretty simple, but still enough for this game.

Relationships

Zelda has the standard relationships with Impa and Link; the former does the usual advisor and nursemaid role, while Link is the hero who goes on her quest. This time Link and Zelda are not childhood friends and instead only know each other for a couple of minutes before Link sets off and she gets turned into a painting before they meet again. They do have some connection in that Zelda had seen Link in her dream, but it's not explored any further and is pretty much there just to offer some explanation why she is ready to offer her most prized family keepsake magic amulet to Link, who is a complete stranger to her at this point.

At the end of the game Zelda and Link arrive at the Triforce, and Zelda says she knows Link has the same idea on how to use it as her. I really like this scene, but it relies on the player having grown to care about Hilda and Ravio, rather than Zelda and Link having any kind of special connection or being a culmination of their combined efforts as a team (since Zelda didn't do all that much in this game).

I'd say that ALbW Zelda is at her best when contrasted with Hilda. Even if they don't get a lot of time to interact, just the idea of this darker and edgier version of her is super interesting to me, and for that it works well for the game that this version of Zelda is particularly friendly and sweet. Zelda is pretty forgiving towards Hilda right away and tries to talk things out and say how as a princess she understands Hilda's duty to her people. Which doesn't work, but Ravio being the one to get Hilda to come to her senses is a much better solution anyway.

In general Link, Zelda, Ravio and Hilda make for a pretty good group of characters with plenty of room for interactions between each pair for the fans to imagine, even if the game itself doesn't have that much canon material.

[tikitania]

Mailbag Time!

I need a distraction from watching the vote tally roll in…and my inbox is overflowing…(Update: it's gonna be a sh*t sh*w in this country for a while.) I have just found the ballet talks in tumblir and in telegram and wanted to ask if you could recommend good telegram / instagram account with ballet reviews? I know Catherine Pollak and Irinaba, though unfortunately I havent been able to translate Pollak's telegram posts. I also wanted to ask if you know if Iraínaba has ever said something about May Nagahisa? I by the way totally agree what you said about her in your previous post, but at least you can find there some videos. Telegram is somewhat of a tough nut to crack. I pay for the upgraded version to access English translation. Once I find an interesting channel, I hit the "find similar channels" and browse for more. Overall, it's easier to come across bootleg Bolshoi videos rather than Mariinsky. I blame the St. Petersburg ushers. Telegram Dance Writer's World (Vita Kholopva) Russian ballet writer, lives in Paris, writes about ballet from across the continent but mostly POB. Zapiski Baletomana Alina Ballet - Bolshoi Videos (also on IG but more videos on TG) Natashik_b - Bolshoi Videos (also on IG but more videos on TG)

-----------

Following up from one of your previous posts - seems like Khoreva is okay for now. She’s scheduled to do Odette-Odile on 11/30, so it seems like they’re just being cautious with her workload. Yes, I hope she's taking it easy. I also wish she would stop posting so much. I feel the more I see her clips on IG, doing pirouettes with her characteristic grim-faced determination, the less I care about her stage performances. I find those vids cringe. There. I said it. ------------

I’m not going to name names, because it might be hurtful. But I’ve started following some vaganova students on the TikTok, and oh my, I wasn’t aware of the extent they go to to stay lean. Many of them post frightening “what I eat in a day” and they repost stuff that would be even triggering to write on this post.

I know it’s normal in that world, but I didn’t know the extent of it. I honestly thought that they were so skinny because of all the exercise + clean eating. I just wasn’t prepared for that level of undereating I saw.

This is really sad, yet unsurprising. The school regularly weighs these girls and kicks them out if they fall outside their norms, so I feel like ED's are baked into their training in implicit ways.

____________

Is it just me or is sofia Valiullina having a splendid season at the bolshoi this year?

I love this! And, yes! She's dancing beautifully. ---------------

I’m confused about vaganova castings. Do teachers assign roles? Or do they hold auditions. Can roles be given and taken away?There was a picture of Natasha furman rehearsing the bunny in fairy doll, but Yasmina Aziz danced it on stage, while Furman did something else. So far there have been three different girls performing the Fairy doll. Do they alternate based on merit? Injury? Vibes? I'm under the impression that students are selected for roles.

--------------- Favouritism: Now that Tsaradiske has a girls class, graduating this year, I’m afraid there is going to be favouritism where he gives all the roles to his class rather than Julia’s graduating class Maybe? I mean…who really knows what's going on behind the scenes. I really wish he didn't have a girls class, though. I was generally unimpressed by the exam last year. I think a lot of people remarked that his style is not suited for the Mariinsky. --------------- Do you think Maria Khoreva would be appreciated more in an European company? Probably. She has a big name and genuinely seems to love dancing abroad. I mean she gushes about her experiences with other companies, so I could definitely see a path for her outside of Russia.

----------------- Diana Vishneva... She's always speaking about her love for Vaganova and about the importance of her teacher Ludmila Kovaleva (and she's also the only one to get a perfect score at vaganova). Do you think that D.Vishneva will eventually move to teaching at Vaganova, becoming a new Kovaleva? Or Maybe take Nikolai Tsiskaridze place and become Rector? No. I don't see that happening. She's got her own creative projects. Tsikaridze is only leaving Vaganova to become the AD of the Bolshoi. I don't think he'd leave for anything less. ---------------- Opinions on Isabella McGuire Mayes? I like her as a person, and i think her tips on technique are quite perfect and right to the point, she's also quite honest on some things regarding the reality of ballet. I like her instagram and youtube videos, and regularly listen to her podcast. However i'm iffy on other things, like when she recounts some of her stories, I've watched most of her videos, past and present, and found many inconsistencies regarding her history, injury's, stretching journey, turnout journey, eating habits, experiences and even opinions on other dancers... etc. sometimes inconsistent, let's say that. I love her. She's a great online presence! I don't think it's fair to litigate someone's memory or impressions, which are far from ironclad. Could you recount memories with 100% accuracy. Do two people recall the event the exact same way. I say this because in my professional life I deal with a lot of testimony and inconsistencies are the norm. In my personal life, I've misremembered a ton — or at least, my memory doesn't always sync with the memories of others. ------------------- I have a question regarding the logic of vaganova's student selection. Obviously they look for medium/tall lean girls, with archy feet, hyperextend knees', natural turnout, etc. And clearly all the girls they pick already have ballet and rytmic gymnastics training. But at the same time i wonder if it's correct to limit their dancers to this, like i would love to see a vaganova trained class filled with random girls and just see what vaganova can produce without selecting the best and most blessed from the start. Logics of ballet selection part 2: Since they look for these natural talents, they must also realise that these genetics are part of some of the dancers downfall. Hyperextened knees are SO prone to injury, not to mention what high arches archy feet do to the tendons etc. Excessive flexibility and hip mobility also means a decrease of muscular strengh. Combining this with overtraining and malnutrition, young dancers are just putting their bodies through hell. Not to talk about what amenorrea does to the body, like osteoporosis, low bone density (increased stress fractures) etc So why? why is it so? is it so necessary? or can greatness be achieved in other ways. Their approach will likely never change. That said, your thought experiment is interesting…but there is an established aesthetic and I don't see this changing much if ever. -------------- Did you see that bolshoi is touring the mariinskii 2 with Romeo and Juliet? We will get to see Sofia Valiullina, Elisabetta Nallin and Yaroslavna Kuprina back in St. Petersburg! Yes! This will be so interesting! -------------- Do you know why Jaden Grimm (the American who graduated vaganova in 2023) is leaving Mariinsky? I had no idea she left. I don't really follow her. We can only speculate as to why, but I'm sure her next steps will be announced eventually.

[nitewrighter]

(Book binding anon) Anon has been given blessings to ramble? *deep inhale* Cindy perfectly encapsulates everything, and I do mean everything, that I have missed from so many fairy-tales, love stories, and fanfictions in the past decade or so. Every character is so lovingly simple--like, everyone involved has their flaws and strengths and a strong voice in and of themselves, but the prose is to the point and simple for their mannerisms, movements, and actions. For all the big, grand things that everyone does (or has done, looking at you, Mrs. Queen), the narrative always treats them as a person making choices. (Just a Lil Guy, if you will.) Which! Is! The Point! Of Cinderella!!! She is amazing because she has always always always chosen to be kind despite the shit going on, and the narrative subtly reinforcing that at every turn not JUST through lawn-chair-sitting author and their impeccable and funny inserts DIRECTLY calling out Cinderella, but in how it frames every character? The Prince's reflections? The slow understanding of everyone around the two of them how powerful that can be if you take the moment to think about it? Amazing!!! (Know that if I could put more exclamation marks and even more synonyms for "amazing" here without cluttering things, I would.) I remember as a kid finding book series like Skulduggery Pleasant which made use of short descriptive phrases and formatting (almost screenplay-esque?), and it read so easily; I'm always delighted to find things that make similar use of the dashes and ellipses to really hit home that cozy conversationalist tone. I can hear every character! Every! One! And there's JUST enough similarity to the way lawn-chair-sitting author speaks for that doubly nice reminder that yeah, we are sitting in their backyard getting told a fun story. Can we also appreciate that set-up? How it parodies so many funny retellings or strangely modern ones, sure (Masterpiece Theatre anyone? Does anyone else remember the horse lady?), but the readers aren't being talked to as kids? Like...lawn-chair-sitting author is tired, man. But they're hopeful. All their asides and inserts and descriptions feel like they're scooting to the edge of their chair to look me in the eyes and ask drunkenly but earnestly, "life fuckin sucks sometimes. But sometimes it's also good. This is my reminder." and sprinkling in all those other classic reminders of all kinds of other morals that make fairy tales so comforting. And! And and AND! It's so! Loving!!! To Cindy!!! I love the bits where the narrative "gives her space," builds her up even though she can't hear, lets her feel, and gets angry f o r her!!! It's just...it's so rare to find pieces where the characters are really, truly loved. Every time I reread it I feel like the story as a whole is just setting a big blanket on Cindy's shoulders and vicariously hugging her through the family she builds. Cindy and the Prince? The build up? The awkward second meeting? The constant communication? The quiet understanding? The build up of e v er y o n e 's eventual friendships??? The whole thing is just...so genuine and loving. I want to gush more, but at this point, trying to put how much I adore it into words just has me sitting at my keyboard making little grabby hands. Much love for your writing style, from the voice you have to the descriptions you use. They're all really wonderful, and when I get this thing bound, I'll send pictures <3

Sorry it's taken me a while to respond to this. I've just been reading it over and over.

I've never read Skullduggery Pleasant! I remember hearing vaguely about it online as a kid in the late 2000's/early 2010's, but I always thought it was a webcomic or something!

It's a little embarrassing to recall it now, but I actually did drunkenly tell a version of Cinderella from a deck chair... I want to say back in 2014? It was actually Sapsorrow from Jim Henson's "The Storyteller," which is closer to Donkeyskin, which uses the whole "Dress the color of the sky/Dress the color of the Sun/Dress the Color of the Moon" mechanic. We were *all* drunk and also passing a bong around but even then I was like... totally thrown off by people actually paying attention to me??? It always stuck with me, but I honestly wasn't even thinking about that time when I made that initial Cindy post. It only really came back to me around chapter 6, and I was like "Oh--this is like that time!!"

But the voice and the sense of spontaneity was very important to me throughout the whole thing. It still like... hits me that the story still emotionally affects people two years later--and I'm not saying that because I'm over it or anything! It's just... easy to kind of feel like you're not doing enough creatively when everything is 'content content content--are you putting out enough content?' these days. It's just... really affecting to be hit with "you floated this out into the world and it means something to people." It really means so much to me.

Thank you so much, I really mean that.

[leslutdepointedulac]

hi! I'm drawing Yuri LouieDaniel right now and I can't came up with a hair styles for them... I wonder if you have any headcanons on their female versions!

I have many thoughts, feelings and opinions on the female versions of many of the vampires! But in re: to Louis and Daniel specifically, here's what I've got.

With Louis, I feel like when it comes down to haircuts/styles, it depends on whether she's still a vampire in this setting, or if we're talking human au. Let's say she's still a vampire, imo her hair would look something like this

But in a human au I feel like her hair would look like this (or if she's still a vampire but she cuts her hair some nights in the modern day)

Louis would still wear her usual sweaters in the modern day like in canon, but I also think that on occasions when she's forced to look more presentable, she'd wear something like this (Lestat totally buys her these clothes, also like in canon)

Of course during the 18th/19th centuries, Louis would wear whatever style of dress was in fashion at the time, but once women aren't held to such high standards, so to speak, re: their clothing, that's when she resorts to sweaters etc.

When it comes to Daniel, I imagine she would have some sort of haircut similar to these

Her style would be pretty chill, lots of old t-shirts maybe some band shirts, with jeans and a hoodie. Maybe even something like this

In terms of any actual headcanons surrounding their female versions, I think that with fem!Louis, she's grown up in the 18th century with all these expectations put onto her about marriage, how to be 'a proper lady', what she can and can't do etc. And she's had to put up with all this bullshit from other people in her life mainly men, and isn't so tolerant towards people who feel they can talk down to her. She'll be polite to those people, to a degree, but it's in a very passive aggressive kinda way. I think she uses her beauty to her advantage when needed and she knows how to turn on her charm and put it to good use, though she isn't constantly self-aware of just how much people view her as a living goddess. (Tbh, Louis' kinda like this in canon as well, so this isn't technically so much of a headcanon, but hey.)

Re: Daniel, I think she was raised alongside a couple of brothers, so they were all kinda raised the same. Daniel sees herself more on the masc side than fem, and is a built like a twig because she drinks and smokes a lot with meals that consist of a few 'junk' foods a couple times a day (if she even remembers to eat). She's didn't have it easy as a journalist in the 70s, and had to fight harder to have her interviews heard than the guys she worked with. She doesn't really care what other people think of her though, just so long as people give her the time of day when she has something to show for herself. She really doesn't appreciate it when people brush her aside/ignore her.

[azems-familiar]

my thoughts on veilguard

putting this all below a cut; it will contain SPOILERS for all of veilguard, including the ending.

alright, i'll start with the good parts.

i did actually enjoy playing the game - while the mechanics are very different from previous dragon age games, i found it still had enough tactics in it to be interesting, and the varying difficulty levels helped a lot for me; i'm actually planning to try it on a slightly higher difficulty the next playthrough i do. i quite liked the exploration and felt that they'd successfully improved on the failed open worlds from Inquisition, and the puzzles all over were a lot of fun to decode. the art style itself is absolutely beautiful; i was skeptical of it in the trailers, but found myself enjoying it once i actually got into the game itself. the soundtrack is gorgeous (though i do think it lacks a bit when compared to inquisition's), and i overall had fun.

i do love all the companions, and as someone who really enjoyed me2's loyalty system seeing a similar style brought in here was quite fun for me. i also felt they did a good job trimming down extraneous side quests while still keeping the game feeling like it had plenty of content; i didn't fully 100% it my first run but i got through almost everything.i imagine if i'd gone for the full 100% my playthrough would've ran around 100 hours rather than the 95 i clocked (though that includes some character creator time, so isn't fully accurate. maybe 90?).

there were several very good moments - i enjoyed the conversations between Rook and Solas; overall i really loved most of Solas's content in the game. i felt the Varric bait-and-switch reveal was actually really well done. i played a trans nonbinary Rook and really adored the trans dialogue peppered throughout and how that interacted with the romances and with Taash's arc. the game also keeps track of how you interact with characters and has that influence the choices you get in the future, or the choices they make, which was very neat.

but overall...it really just feels like they dropped the ball.

this doesn't feel like a dragon age game. it's entirely absent the complex politics and intrigue that i'd expect from one - we are told many things that are there for plot reasons and given no deeper justification, such as the Antaam and Venatori not only willingly working together, but willingly working together for the elven gods. it's expected to be believable that the Dalish uniformly have accepted this version of their history that only the Inquisitor and her inner circle knew, besides Fen'harel's agents, ten years ago? speaking of Fen'harel, where are his agents, his network, his people?

(speaking of the Dalish, why are they all Veil Jumpers now. we see zero traditional clan structure onscreen and i'm kinda upset about it as someone who has played as a Dalish elf wherever possible in every game.)

the game has incredibly weird pacing; it uses Varric's screens to describe things that haven't happened and the characters don't know about, and i think they meant to have that build tension, but instead imo it just deflates it; there's no natural wondering what consequences things might have because everything is spelled out long before we get there. at the same time, things that should have been quests to discover are spoken of in "varricspace". this does get better later in the game, but it still feels...very weird. i think the worst part of it is at the beginning - you stop Solas's ritual, the gods escape, you have one conversation with Solas, everyone basically uniformly agrees the gods have escaped, and away you go. D'Meta's Crossing is treated like a "find out who your actual enemy is" part but...doesn't really end up actually feeling like that because of the weird exposition.

their decision to only carry over 3 choices but still reference past events left a lot of open-ended, vague moments - like Harding's conversation about the Inquisition, where she could only give surface details about a few people and said nothing about the Inquisitor at all, or Dorian and Maevaris talking about how Fereldan's succession was decided by a duel at one point but not saying anything else about it. or the fact that Hawke never comes up, despite one of their potential romances being right here, and Varric hanging around...whether that was Actual Varric or not lol.

i found a lot of plot holes - it was pretty clear they wanted to do specific things with the Blight, so there was just a lot of Wardens going "well we don't know what's happening it's changing all the rules" and massively fucking with that lore, which, okay whatever. i wasn't very happy with the fact that we destroyed Weisshaupt, but at least trying to destroy the Grey Wardens is kinda a dragon age special. the other Evanuris are basically treated as though they no longer exist, even though Solas trapped all of them in the Fade...? this was a big ol plot hole for the ending imo.

most people have said all the other things i could say about the writing, so instead i'll address the thing that bothered me the absolute most: the ending.

first - gratuitous character death that has almost no impact on the game or the characters? well i played mass effect, so whatever, i'm used to that. nah, i want to talk about Solas, and how the ending is awful for him, even the "good" one.

even if you ignore the plot hole about how there should still be several other Evanuris out there to maintain the Veil, pushing Solas to tie himself to the Veil and spend the rest of his immortal life protecting it as "atonement" is a super shitty ending. atonement for what? for actions that happened thousands of years ago, that he has lived with awful regret for since, that he was pushed into by Mythal? the game does a wonderful job of showing how manipulative and insidious their relationship was - i'd go so far as to call it abusive, though not in a way some people would recognize, emotionally rather than physically - only to then never touch on that or let the characters properly react to it. in fact, with the Titans, Solas is the one saying he knows this is a bad idea and will have consequences, and he's told to do it anyway - and yet Harding gets furious at him, then later laments that she should be ANGRIER at him for it.

Solas was used by Mythal time and again, very clearly felt as though he couldn't refuse her until the very end, often spoke out against her decisions, and most importantly was only one of the people responsible for the war with the Titans, and yet is made to bear all of the blame. Frankly I'm also upset by how the game railroads you into being angry at him for Varric's death and treating it as some horrible thing - Varric fucking tried to steal Solas's ritual knife, while unarmed, i don't know what he expected. and Varric's death alone is not a crime worth forcing Solas to spend his ENTIRE IMMORTAL LIFE "atoning" for. neither is his desire to tear down the Veil, which he never actually succeeded at doing.

a true, healthy and happy ending would have been Solas getting to pass off the mantle of his people's protector and whatnot, maybe to an elven Rook, and getting to go off and live an actual life, as he says he wanted to in a particular codex entry:

while i'm glad that Lavellan gets to go with him, it just felt like such an...almost punitive-punishment style ending. the evil villain has to go atone for his crimes all his life but because there's a good man who wanted to do good things (AND DID DO A WHOLE LOT OF GOOD LET'S NOT FORGET) under there he gets to have his lover with him for it. like. what are we punishing him for, lying to Rook??

idk, man. it leaves a really bad taste in my mouth.

[alex-turners-world]

I don't think Alex is really holding onto Alexa; At least not in the way it's mainly speculated. I think he knows it's over for good and that they don't work as a couple but I think it took him awhile to realise this and accept it like after Arielle's time, she really was a rebound. Alex dropped her so fast at the opportunity to have Alexa again and this is one of the reasons I really don't like Alexa because I reckon she uses Alex for an ego boost and she knew back then how much he still wanted her, the songs spoke for themselves really. Alexa played with his emotions and in my opinion always has done to her benefit. Obviously, I think Alex would've been better off being single and allowing himself to process and heal from the heartbreak but like many others he chose to try and 'move on' with someone else. I could be wrong but I think Alexa was his first love and first real heartbreak and since then I think Alex has been seeking to find that kind of love and companionship again. I think it's possible he may have thought he found it with Taylor, I mean despite not agreeing with many of her views and behaviours it seems clear that Alex and Taylor did have common interests (love of Cinema/TV) and likely had similar thoughts and views on certain ideas. I think there was a connection between them beyond physical. Alex did seem truly smitten at least in the first year or so. Alexa couldn't give Alex 'It All' as he sings in 'I Want It All' which is why they couldn't last because they're not meant to be but I don't believe Alex has entirely given up on that dream yet hence 'There'd Better Be A Mirrorball' I'm speaking purely off what I felt when I heard that song for first time; It floored me, it's so beautiful and to me the music and the lyric: 'So can we please be absolutely sure, that there's a mirrorball for me' made me feel that this is saying 'My great love better be out there, cos I'm waiting, searching for you'. I think this is also why we see him get emotional when he sings this song. It breaks my heart and I feel him. So I think he longs for the kind of 'relationship' he had with Alexa more-so than him wanting her specifically. In regards to Louise's cheap cosplay I think it's become obvious to us all he's not really into it, probably turns his stomach. I really think he jumped out of a fire and into a frying pan with her, he really didn't know what he was getting himself into when it came to the wacky world of Pauline.

I do think he clings to those memories and feelings more than to Alexa herself. It's like he wants to feel that way again, but they're no longer those versions of themselves, so it won't work. But it still looks like he holds onto that hope that they can be together, even though they have failed like twice after the breakup.

Maybe when he met Louise he thought like well, she kinda looks like Alexa, behaves like her, listens to the same music as her, has the same interests, styles herself like Alexa, maybe it will work out, I'll just pretend she's Alexa and will be able to experience those feelings and memories again. But then he realized it's all a facade and became even more frustrated.

[dynamic-k]

You said Vic's birthday was shortly after he got arrested. Did Alan, Chosen, Dark and/or Second do something special to celebrate this? Did anyone do something for his birthday???

Please say yes-

Also, is Ballista still pixilated in Super Sticks??

Like- are all the mercenaries appearing like they are in canon? Primal is crayony-pencily like, Ballista is pixils, Agent has sunglasses, and Hazard is a walking bathroom sign???

I'm trying to imagine it in Super Sticks and my mind is drawing a blank.

Best wishes, because it's been less than 24 hours since I said have a great day,

-R

No no, I said before he was arrested. While he was still running Rocket Corp.

O w O' I sorta had the idea of making a Bonus Feature at one point but... It was a pretty boring birthday as he was mostly alone and didn't tell anyone it was his birthday.

And his relationship with Primal was still rocky and Ballista was in jail and Agent and Hazard were both living elsewhere and didn't know if they should make a visit or not, though I think they would end up sending a card or something at least. They'd celebrated Vic's birthday previously, so they know it was the day which it was.

Super Sticks is definitely an ambiguous design, I'll say that much. You ever watch anime and sometimes the style randomly changes and everyone is a short chibi-like character before it goes back to the more complex normal design?

Something like that happens in Super Sticks...? Like, Second can both be seen as the young kid he is with human features like hair and ears and such, and he has a 2-inch in circumference orange circle under his left eye/above his left cheek. And he can also be seen as "orange hollowhead stick figure" and the story describes him as such.

A weird, back and forthing happens, I suppose. Call it my way of saying, everyone's fanart is lovely. U v U

Ballista is... in a similar boat, I would say. He is pixellated like in canon for the most part, and yet not at other times? I dunno, I don't think I ever had a clear picture or envisionment of him in my head before, I... just write. XD

Primal, I have a much clearer depiction of, however. Her shape is that of a tall woman with broad shoulders and long hair restrained in a ponytail. Her skin color is scribbly and moving, as in canon, and her eyes have white coupled with the same tone of brown as her skin. Hair is also the same brown, and she typically wears tan-colored attire or another brown shade though typically much lighter than herself.

HAZARD!! HE ACTUALLY IS SPECIAL in the designs regard, because he- nsnjdecrkwnevj! I made a little sketch actually- hwfkjvkewv

I- You're not allowed to see my horrible sketch right now- wjrekvnkwjenbkweacv

Okay. Compromise.

I uhh

A month or so ago, I showed my embarrassingly horrible sketch to my brother Keegan, and helped describe Hazard, and he drew me something a whole lot better. That, I'll show.

His eyes are a nice golden color, and he wears grey plaid.

There is a more human version and then a stick version.

I consider SuperSticks!Hazard to be very muscular, easy on the eyes, and he has a certain mysterious charisma due to his lack of speaking for the most part.

I love my little artist siblings, hehe

:3

Thank you for the ask!!