#she’s pretty terrible in combat because I REALLY want her to have martial arts

[glacierbash]

At this point this character’s just mean.

[subbyfoxelf]

[tv review] ninja turtles: the next mutation (1997-98)

so remember how bad the suits were in teenage mutant ninja turtles iii? sweet. imagine if they were even worse, and maintained on a tv budget.

like… we’re not talking as bad as we wish you a turtle christmas here (*shudder*), but still. it really limits what you can do. i’m really pretty genuinely confused why they decided to go live action here. was it to capitalize on the popularity of the movies? because it feels like the time to have done that would’ve been, y’know, at least five years beforehand.

and i guess it wouldn’t be so bad if the writing weren’t consistently terrible but, uh, funny story about that…

look i’m sorry i know hating on this show is like the least original approach ever, but i’m literally not sure what else to do here. they didn’t give me a lot of options.

of course the most famous thing about this show is the inclusion of a female turtle, venus. and like… i love the idea of a female turtle and i’m pretty sad they’ve never really tried to do it again, but… yeah, this was… extremely not great.

first of all, they decided to shoehorn in the idea that the turtles are not actually brothers, they’re just “like brothers,” and they include very heavy-handed references to this fact in dialogue seemingly every few episodes because it’s such a radical departure from everything before and since that they have to be sure to beat you over the head about it. and their reason for doing this was because they wanted to have venus not be related to them so there would be a possibility of her being romantically involved with one of the boy turtles (*sigh*), but they also thought it would be weird if she wasn’t related to them but they were all related to each other, so yeah, they did… this. and it’s just really dumb and bad and i hate it.

they also… didn’t give her a weapon? her weapon is magic. and she’s kind of bad at it? but like, there are so many iconic ninja weapons you haven’t used that you could’ve given her?

oh, but also she isn’t a ninja, she’s a “shinobi”? which is… a synonym of ninja. but here it means that she’s trained in mystical arts instead of martial combat. all of this is just so weird and dumb. just bizarre choices all around.

and her personality is like… she does all the boys’ emotional work for them while they’re being immature dumbasses and also constantly jockeying for her affections, but also like she’s super clueless about basically every facet of western life and is constantly trying to use idioms but saying them wrong?

i just. i hate all of this. all of it. they did everything they possibly could have done to undermine this character, to the point that you kind of wonder why they even bothered.

oh, actually, here’s something kind of hilarious. in the show’s closing credits, you see the turtles playing in a band. if you want to pay real close attention (and let’s be honest, you do; we’re all nerds here) leo and raph are on guitars, donnie is on a bass, and mikey is on the drums. so you’re thinking, “oh, cool, so venus is like the lead singer? i guess that makes sense.” and it would, but she’s not! she’s on a fucking tambourine. and if that isn’t the perfect visual shorthand for how her character was developed and written, i don’t know what is.

anyway, this show was so poorly received that its cancellation represented the first time there hasn’t been a teenage mutant ninja turtles series in production since 1987, and the franchise’s onscreen break would last all the way until 2003.

[astranomic]

✰ it’s time to wake up, CASSANDRA LANG, you’ve been in cryosleep for too long and the people of MARVEL miss you. when you went into slumber you were TWENTY - TWO years old, your pronouns are SHE/HER, and you VOLUNTEERED for the cambria program. now that you’ve awoken, your position as a SECURITY OFFICER is waiting for you. remember, cambria one thanks you  !     —     stats   .   headcanons   .   mus.

THE BASICS:

NAME: cassandra eleanor lang

ALIAS(ES): cass, cassie, stature (former), stinger (current)

AGE: 22

PRONOUNS & GENDER: she/her, cis woman

BIRTHDAY & ZODIAC: june 24th, cancer

FACECLAIM: meg donnelly

AESTHETICS: sweet smile before throwing a punch, moving bugs off the sidewalk and onto the grass, weight of a legacy, rejection of normalcy

A DEEPER LOOK:

BACKGROUND: this is 616 land baby! i don’t make anything from her mcu version and i tend to incorporate the full scope of her history, so she’s pulled from having returned to new york after a time spent unwillingly living in california. she was getting back into the new york hero scene, interning at pym tech, and most recently reconnecting with kate bishop prior to volunteering!

WEAPONS: i want to say ... she still has her suit with her, but the weapons part of it is gone? so her little discs, pym particle wristlets, etc.

POWERS/ABILITIES/SKILLS: she grows! she shrinks! she does it all! but mostly she grows and shrinks. cassie’s also been trained in several forms of martial arts and hand to hand combat since she was young by avengers / x-men alike, so she’s very skilled in throwing a punch. with her suit helmet on, she can also communicate with all forms of insects / bug life!

GREATEST STRENGTH: i think her persistence.

GREATEST WEAKNESS/FLAW: it’s the stubbornness.

ONE FEAR: she’s mostly scared of making nothing meaningful out of her life.

ONE HOPE: i think for a while her hope is that her team would end up all in one place again.

HEADCANON(S): as i add them i’ll put them onto a page here. for now, (a.)  cassie is perpetually bad at things but happy to do them anyway. it’s not an insult i think it’s actually a great thing about her, but she’s terrible at basketball and cooking and singing and playing drums and more! and she does keep doing them for the joy of it anyway. (b.) she has a bad relationship with her mom and step-dad and frankly, it’s not without inner guilt, but she’s glad they’re not here. (c.) she runs cold! she needs fluffy blankets stat!

THE QUESTIONNAIRE:

HOW DOES YOUR CHARACTER FEEL ABOUT BEING DROPPED INTO THE CAMBRIA PROGRAM? ARE THEY EXCITED? SUSPICIOUS? CONFUSED?: she’s definitely suspicious and confused. cassie’s seen a lot of strange things in her time, and she’s not entirely unfamiliar with the concept of different universes / timelines because of some of them, but experiencing it up close and personal is a different thing. it’s also not really what she signed up for. technically, maybe, but it’s definitely a lot bigger than what she was expecting to get herself involved in. she’s keeping an open mind because she thinks closing it would ultimately do her more harm than good, but there’s some cautiousness there.

WHAT DOES YOUR CHARACTER HOPE TO SEE THE MOST DURING THE CAMBRIA ONE’S JOURNEY?: i think in her heart of heart’s she’s just hoping to see more people she knows. if there’s anything she’s happy for, it’s that she came with her best friend, but nothing outside the cambria would make her more genuinely joyful than to see those she loves on the inside of it. after that, i think she’s pretty open to anything new!

IF YOUR CHARACTER COULD BRING ONE THING OR PERSON FROM HOME, WHAT WOULD IT BE?: her dad! but every other young avenger is in close second!

[dontmindmyshadowhunting]

I will never forget the day we met - A Ty & Anush Fic (snippet)

Here is a snippet of my Ty and Anush fic! It's about their growing friendship (which may or may not evolve into something else...) at the Scholomance. The events are set after The Lost World. Shortly after Ty has received the Herondale heron shaped pendant from Kit (through Magnus), he gets wind of a certain letter from Tessa to Magnus which mentions a girlfriend...

****

Anush hated Monday mornings at the Scholomance. Breakfast was taken, as it was every single day of the week, in the dining room, which looked like the inside of a cathedral, with a high ceiling, rough cold stones and narrow windows.

Every second Monday though, there was always a crowd gathering in the main hall, where a large black board had been hung next to the entrance of the dining room. On it, in thick white chalk, were inscribed the initials of the ten students who had distinguished themselves in the past fortnight. They were ranked, first to last, every two weeks.

It was the same show every time, Centurions huddled together and craning their necks eagerly, and Anush wondered why they even bothered checking. The initials for the first place had been consistently the same since the school year had started. TB. TB. TB. TB. For Tiberius Blackthorn.

Fighting for next ranks were Seela and Joshua. The Scholomance being more about brains than muscles, Seela usually landed the second place and Joshua the third. There she was, her dark ponytail bobbing, half smug half furious she had been beaten yet again by the youngest of them all.

Anush remembered his first day back at the Scholomance, after the end of the Cold Peace. Divya had introduced him to Seela and he had immediately found her pretty. She had an angular face with smooth golden skin and big dark eyes, framed by black silky hair. But she had barely spared him a glance, looking past him for any more interesting acquaintances. She had won several national chess championships and, Divya, always kind and helpful, had pointed Tiberius Blackthorn in the crowd. “You should play him. Diego told me he loves to play chess and he’s pretty good at it.” Seela had looked the Blackthorn boy up and down dubiously. He was standing awkwardly, looking like a frightened little bird next to his big brother Julian, who was clutching his sibling’s arm tightly, his blue-green eyes shooting daggers at the throng of admirers closing in on them. “That little boy over there? I play chess. I don’t babysit.” Anush had disliked her there and then.

Wall that served her right. Seela. Rhymes with karma, karma, karma.

Joshua, on the other hand, had always been a nice guy. Even now, he took his third position gracefully, flashing a smile of perfect white teeth against dark skin, like the younger version of Idris Elba that he was. A group of giggling girls were surrounding him, as usual. Not only was he a hunk, he also had amazing weapon skills. Some called him the “new Perfect Diego”. He was the guy who had it all. Still, even in combat, he was no match to TB, who had apparently received excellent training at the LA Institute.

Suck it up, bitches, Anush gloated, as he weaved past the legion of Centurions and joined the dining room. He started piling up food on his plate. He always had his biggest meal at breakfast because he hated the food they served at lunch and dinner time.

He had set himself a task that day and was eager to go through with his plan. When his plate was so full he could almost hide behind it, his gaze went directly to the far end corner of the room, where one could usually find Tiberius Blackthorn sitting alone, eating quietly, a book propped up in front of him.

And there he was, exactly where Anush had expected him to be.

He approached making deliberate noise, so as not to startle his prey. It worked. TB looked up, his fork frozen mid-air.

Up close, he looked fragile and delicate. Or maybe it was because Anush had witnessed him collapse a few days before and had brought him to the infirmary. He wondered if he had health issues, but that wasn’t the type of questions you asked when you were trying to make a new friend. And that’s exactly what he planned to do. TB seemed to be a nice guy, and Anush had taken care of his Carpathian Lynx after all, when the boy had been ill. The scratches he still bore on his arms were evidence of that.

But just as he opened his mouth to speak, he heard them. The mutters he was used to suffer behind his back. But this time was different. It was not only about him.

“Look. Joshi made his way to Blackthorn."

"Do you think he is going to apologize for what the Cohort did to his twin sister?"

"We all know they are responsible for her death. They could as well have been the ones wielding the sword.”

"Those bastards laughed at her funeral."

Anush froze. He had assumed Tiberius’ reserved demeanor was only shyness. Had he been mistaken? Was there something else?

The Blackthorn boy straightened up as if he was about to say something, but whatever it was, Anush never got to hear it.

He had already turned on his heel and fled the scene, his breathing uneasy.*

Everything changed two days later. The Centurions had been summoned to gather in the amphitheatre which also served as a training room. Anush sat on a bench, in the second row, his hands folded in his lap. The buzz of voices subsided as the martial arts instructor came to stand in front of the students and gestured for quiet. He was to make an announcement on behalf of Jia Penhallow, who was spending the week at the Los Angeles Institute for family reasons (apparently her daughter Aline and her wife Helen Blackthorn were contemplating adoption).

“Until now, we have tested you individually. We have identified – you have uncovered or confirmed – your strengths and weaknesses. From now on, you will be working in pairs. Starting tomorrow and until the end of the year. This means you share points… and rank.”

A chatter erupted in the room. Grades, and above all rank was everything at the Scholomance. They were all elite, but who wouldn’t want to be the elite of the elite? Depending on your rank, you belonged – or not – to the Primi Ordines. The First Order. The Holy Grail. Amen.

All eyes flickered to the slender figure of Tiberius Blackthorn, who was lounging on a bench at the far end of the room, totally oblivious of his surroundings. He was playing with a silvery item in his hand, turning it this way and that. Anush realized he seemed much happier than usual, his pale face alight.

The instructor called names randomly and, one after the other, the students filled in the name of the fellow Centurion they would be pairing with until the end of the year. There were heated discussions, tears shed. It was a big deal. The only one who seemed unconcerned was Tiberius Blackthorn. Of course. He didn’t care who he would be partnered with. He just had to say the word, and anyone would crawl – vows of eternal friendship broken in the blink of an eye – and stand next to him. First place. A spot in the Primi Ordines without breaking a sweat.

Anush needed to be strategic. TB was not even an option. Who else? Anush was not nearly as strong as Joshua or as clever as Seela, and they would probably pick someone who mastered another subject. He needed to find someone like him. Not excellent, but not mediocre either. Too bad they didn’t teach music at the Scholomance.

Why not Liam? He sat next to him in Faerie studies, and they had made small talk several times before the class started. He wasn’t particularly bright or skilled, where Centurions where concerned. They had all been top of their classes at their Institutes or at the Academy, but that was the Scholomance.

When the instructor called “JOSHI,” Anush moved to stand before Liam. His palms were sweaty.

“Liam,” Anush asked, his mouth dry. “Want to pair up?”

Liam looked at him with undisguised contempt. It almost shocked him. What had he done to deserve it?

“Hmmm, I’ll pass. I don’t really want to pair up with a coward.”

“WHAT?”

“Well, you were with the Cohort, weren’t you? Then you fled from a battle, and they made you do the chores.”

Most of the students around paused in their babbling and… either snickered or stared at Anush in disgust. His gaze moved automatically to Tiberius. He wasn’t looking their way, but he seemed to have suddenly stilled, as if he was listening in.

“I changed sides! I fought in the battle of the Imperishable Fields!”

“Yeah, you betrayed them for the winning side! How brave of you!” Bursts of laughter filled the room.

“We weren’t winning then! Where were you while I was risking my life? Still sucking your mother’s tits?”

“QUIET!” The instructor ordered. They all fell silent – Centurions were obedient that way – though Liam still had a smirk on his face. “So, who’s going to pair up with Joshi?”

A terrible, humiliating silence ensued, but it was fortunately of short duration.

“I am.”

The words had not been shouted, but the quiet, deep voice that uttered them commanded attention.

Every face turned toward the far end corner of the room. Anush realized with a jolt that Tiberius was now standing. He was no longer playing with the object in his hand. He had tied it around his neck. He wore two chains now, one slightly longer than the other.

A chorus of angry voices erupted. What the hell? Why is he doing this? Why would a Blackthorn pair up with a yellow-belly and a double-crosser who used to be Cohort?

“Joshi and Blackthorn,” the instructor barked as he scribbled on his notepad.

And that’s how it all started.*

****

To be continued.

Tagging @gabtapia and @amchara :)

[elmo-is-a-forgotten-god]

How confident I am I could beat fictional characters in a fight. For this list I am going off of skill and personality alone, no powers. Yes I will give valid reasons for these rankings. Also assume these characters are my age (16). (The higher the number the less likely I am to beat them.)

For people who are just now seeing my page, here are my stats: I am a 7 time regional champion archer, I have also ranked in the top 10 at regionals for fencing in Sabre, epee, and foil for the past 3 years, I have taken self defense classes since I was little and I have even taught beginner classes, I have also been trained in 6 different martial arts over the course of about 9-10 years.

I’ll start with avatar: the last air bender first:

Aang: 8/10, he is a very well trained fighter as he was taught by the monks at birth. However he has several things holding him back, mainly the fact he doesn’t want to fight. He was taught mainly defensive and evasive maneuvers and his own morals hold him back. If I were to win I would have to make up a sob story and then betray him.

Consensus: most of the time I wouldn’t stand much of a chance, but his morals and teachings hold him back.

Katara: 1/10, no I am not just someone who hates katara, she’s a good bender however she has had little to no formal combat training. However she is stubborn and would not go down without a fight.

Consensus: she hasn’t had enough formal training to pose a real threat, however she wouldn’t make it easy for me.

Sokka: 2/10, don’t even get me fucking started on sokka, great character, horrible at fighting. Just look at the way he swings his sword around wildly, wtf. The only thing bringing his score up is his very little amount of training given to him by his father.

Consensus: terrible fucking fighter, but has had some training. I’d still most likely win.

Momo: 6/10 this bitch would go feral if I went anywhere near his food and his eyes scare me.

Consensus: I’d get my shit rocked

Toph: 9/10 HER FORM IS FUCKING FLAWLESS AND SHE USES A REALLY RARE FORM OF KUNG-FU CALLED MANTIS FORM. NOT TO MENTION THE RAW FUCKING POWER SHE EXUDES THE ONLY CHANCE I HAVE OF SURVIVAL IS THE WATER.

Consensus: she would beat my ass

Appa: 8.5/10 he fucking outweighs me by several tons and he can fly. The only thing saving me is the fact he’s a gentle giant.

Consensus: I would get my shit rocked unless he wasn’t in the mood to fight

Zuko: 7/10 he has had a lot of royal training however he was also thrown out of that for a period of time. I also believe his cockiness would get the better of him or he would try to turn me to his side.

Consensus: probably get my shit rocked but i at least have a shot

Iroh: 9.5/10 If he wanted to kill me he would do it before I even knew what was happening. Good thing iroh is a gentle soul so there’s a chance he would just sit me down for tea.

Consensus: if we were fighting I’d prob die but he also is a very kind old man

Azula: 10/10 she’s not as powerful as iroh but she’d show no fucking mercy. Not to mention I would let her kill me.

Consensus: dead almost instantly but I’d probably attempt to flirt with her beforehand

Mai: 5.5/10 she’s faster than me but I feel like I could hold my own decently well. It honestly depends on who gets the first hit and because she’s faster than me she’s more likely to win

Consensus: I feel like we’d be pretty evenly matched but she’d still have a better shot at kicking my ass

Ty Lee: 7.5/10 she is relatively friendly and that would probably be my saving grace but this lady knows pressure points like no other and I just know she could beat my ass.

Consensus: friendly but not to be fucked with, I could probably not handle her in a fight.

Suki: 9.5/10 She is so fucking strong and an excellent fighter. Hell she led the kyoshi warriors and pretty much broke her and sokka out of jail. However I feel like she would probably try to recruit me like she did with ty Lee.

Consensus: She’d rock my shit and I would let her

Cabbage man: 0.5/10 I fucking hate cabbages and I would eliminate him out of pure unbridled rage and hatred.

Consensus: he wouldn’t stand a chance against my hatred for cabbages

Ozai: 8.5/10, aang beat him in a fight so I can’t imagine he’s too bad. But he has had royal training from the fire nation and I believe ultimately he would defeat me.

Consensus: I would put up a fight but I’d ultimately lose.

[ranma-rewatch]

Episode 7: Enter Ryoga, the Eternal ‘Lost Boy’

Hey, it’s Ranma Rewatch, I’m on episode 7, and I don’t want to waste too much time with the preamble. I am super excited for this episode, my boi is here, I really hope it holds up, see you after I watch it again!

That wasn’t exactly how I remembered it, but not in a bad way. The episode starts with a short scene that has become pretty freaking iconic, and has been sampled in dozens, if not hundreds, of AMV’s: A man cloaked from head to toe, walking through a desert, his eyes barely visible under goggles. It is a really cool shot that catches the eye right away.

We cut from that to that same person approaching a small village, deciding to throw off his concealing clothes to reveal his typical yellow and green outfit, with a bandanna around his head and an umbrella on his back, which he takes out to slow down his descent when he jumps off a cliff. This village happens to be being attacked by a huge wild boar, wrecking everything in its way, but this fellow is able to stop the animal with little effort and send it flying. When the grateful villagers approach, he only has one question for them: where is Furinkan High School?

At first they don’t understand the question, until they look at what he has for a map and realize it’s of Tokyo. The problem is, this young man is on Shikoku, a completely different island in the archipelago. They point him in the right general direction, and he reveals before the scene ends that he is specifically trying to find Ranma Saotome.

Speaking of the show’s titular character, we get a small scene of him in his cursed form being blackmailed by Nabiki into wearing women’s clothes because all of his stuff is in the wash. After that, we get another scene of the mysterious umbrella-wielding stranger asking someone for directions to Furinkan High School, but this time he’s in Hokkaido. Once again a completely different island, only this time on the opposite end. Fun fact: Hokkaido was the inspiration for Sinnoh in Pokemon!

We get another small cut-away to Ranma in various outfits, then another of our new character somehow ending up back in that village he was in earlier. The point is being made clear to us: he is terrible at getting where he wants to go, but is also so inhumanly strong and resilient that he has no trouble surviving in the wilderness in the process.

What seems to be the next day, he finally gets to where he’s going, just as school is letting out for the day. Ranma is being chased by Akane for something, though we don’t know exactly what. (Of course, we know their dynamic well enough by now to know it’s almost certainly something Ranma did to annoy her.) The newcomer slams into the ground where Ranma is landing at the same time, leaving a crater in the cement from the force of his landing, all while screaming how Ranma has to die.

The problem is, Ranma has no clue who this guy is, which pisses him off to know end. Even after he brings up that his vendetta has something to do with Ranma never showing up for a duel, Ranma still struggles (and fails) to remember this guys name, but luckily he gives it to Ranma anyway: Ryoga Hibiki. They went to Junior High together, and they’d agreed upon a duel, but it never happened because Ranma wasn’t there when Ryoga arrived.

Now, Ranma protests that he waited in the agreed upon empty lot for three days before taking off for China with his dad, which is honestly more time than most people would have waited. As we already know though, Ryoga can’t seem to get anywhere quickly, so he got there on the fourth day. Oh, and the lot was right behind his house.

The crowd of students who only moments before considered him with awe over his fantastic martial arts abilities are now looking at him like a buffoon, and Ryoga is ready to get his revenge on Ranma already. But Ranma puts a pause on that, runs out, and comes back with a bunch of different kinds of bread. Why? Because bread was the reason for their duel in the first place. Their school was only for boys, and getting food at lunch was a nightmare. Ranma ended up snatching the last piece of bread just before Ryoga could get it time and time again, and all the bread he brought was one of each type he’d taken years before.

But Ryoga doesn’t care about that, making it clear that the bread isn’t something he cares about anymore, that Ranma has put him through hell, even if Ranma has no clue what he’s talking about. But before they can get a proper fight going, Ranma runs away, losing Ryoga enough that when he starts busting up the school looking for him, he ends up going the wrong way and out of the area entirely, leaving Ranma and Akane to wonder where he went. We do get to see where before the episode ends: once again back in that village that had the boar problem, where he gets a meal before running out into the evening to find Ranma once more.

Like I said before, this episode wasn’t entirely how I remembered it. Namely, there was a lot more humor than I remembered. For the most part, that’s not a bad thing, there was actually some really good comedy, and I don’t feel like it trampled over the more serious parts of the episode.

If it isn’t clear, I am going to say right now that I did still love this episode. The animation was really on-point, some of the visuals of Ranma darting around people or the brief combat he gets with Ryoga just looks beautiful. Also, even though we don’t get a fight between the two just yet, it’s already solidly communicated, through Ryoga easily beating the boar, barreling through steel barriers, and hitting the ground so hard it destroys concrete, that he is strong as hell.

As much as I love the opening desert shot, I actually think my favorite part of the episode is some of the conversation between Ranma, Akane, and Ryoga. Ranma straining his brain to remember who Ryoga is killed me. It was weirdly relatable too, I’m sure many of us have run into someone who obviously knows us, while we can’t even remember how we know them, let alone their name. The fact Ranma actually specifically bought one of each bread he’d taken from Ryoga before was kind of cute, more than I expected of the usually flippant martial artist.

There’s also an exchange I’ve seen on Tumblr a few times in screencaps and gifs, and there’s a reason people love to share it. When Ryoga says he’s going to destroy Ranma’s happiness, there’s this shot of him freaking out, only to turn to Akane and blankly ask if he is happy, to which Akane doesn’t understand why he’s asking her. They take such a trope-y line from a character seeking revenge and turn it around into a really good joke.

There was also a really interesting thing I noted in terms of translation. After hearing about the string of times Ranma stole bread from Ryoga, Akane makes an analogy to why it mattered so much, but it’s different from dub to sub. In the English Dub, she says the straws broke the camel’s back, a common phrase that seems to fit the situation. But in the English Sub, she says (loosely remembering) “enough dust can make a mountain”, and I think that actually fits much better. After all, we soon learned that the bread isn’t really why Ryoga is angry, but once you do know everything that happened that led to Ryoga’s rage, that analogy fits perfect: it isn’t so much one specific event, as a collection of small events that collected into an enormous vendetta.

All my compliments aside, I did have some issues with the episode. Some of the comedy didn’t really work for me, and that was most true with the early scenes of the Tendo girls trying to dress Ranma in Akane’s clothes. Some parts did make me chuckle, but on the whole the mini-plot made me uncomfortable. Primarily because, as I’ve said before, I feel like the best way to look at Ranma’s cursed form is as a trans man. Even though his body has changed, his gender hasn’t, he’s still a man. The scene has Ranma protesting again and again that he is a man, even as they try to dress him as a woman. The idea of some cisgender folks trying to force a trans man into women’s clothes just...isn’t very funny to me. It’s kind of terrible, at least from a more queer perspective. That complaint done, let’s do the character spotlight.

Oh come on, who else did you think I was going to do? If it isn’t clear yet, Ryoga Hibiki is my favorite character in the series, and he has been since I was a teenager. Who knows if that will remain true this entire watch-through, but so far I’m not liking him any less. I’ll get into why, but first let’s talk about his voice actors.

The voice actor I’m more familiar with, his English one, is Michael Donovan. Like most of the actors for this dub, he’s someone who worked with the Ocean Group for a lot of series around this time period. That said, if you’re a fan of the Fate franchise, he has done some voices in Ufotable’s recent anime adaptations, playing Risei Kotomine and Zouken Matou. In Japanese, his voice actor is one Kōichi Yamadera, and he continued the pattern of voice actors who are well-known in Japan for dubbing English works. He’s most well-known for dubbing over Jim Carrey in a lot of movies, but he’s done a ton of others as well. In anime, some of his notable roles include Spike Spiegel, Beerus in all the recent Dragon Ball movies and anime, and Gentle Criminal in My Hero Academia. Seriously, diving into this guy’s list of roles is like swimming in an ocean of great roles.

So, how do they do? Well, so far I’d say I like both of them a lot, but they do play Ryoga differently. At his core, Ryoga is actually kind of a perfect microcosm of the tone of the series itself. Ranma 1/2 is simultaneously a shonen battle anime, a romantic harem series, and a wacky comedy. Ryoga is someone who takes himself very, very seriously. His desire for vengeance against Ranma isn’t a joke, and neither is his ability as a martial artist. But he’s also a doofus who ends up crossing the length of Japan several times because he can’t follow directions properly and the reasons (so far) for his hatred of Ranma are completely laughable.

I wouldn’t say that Michael Donovan’s performance lacks seriousness, in fact when he wants Ryoga to sound menacing I think he does it well, but on the whole he leans more heavily towards the comedic parts of the character. Meanwhile, Yamadera’s Ryoga hasn’t really sounded silly once to me. He plays the character dead straight, and let’s the comedy come through in the contrast between that demeanor and the circumstances around him. We’ll have to see as we go, but I actually might be preferring the Japanese performance so far, a rarity for me.

Okay, so, why do I love Ryoga so much? There are SO many reasons, many of which I won’t go into just yet because I’ll save them for when they appear in-series. But there is still a lot shown in this episode that I feel I can discuss. To start with, I adore his design. I don’t mean the cloak and goggles, though those are absolutely awesome, I’m referring to his standard mode of dress. The yellow and green as a color scheme, with accents of black to top it off, is something really unique. I don’t know enough about art to really articulate why, but I just love every touch of his design. My favorite small touch has to be the yellow strands wrapping around his lower legs, clashing with his otherwise dark green lower half. I have no clue what they’re supposed to be for, but they just add something, almost making him look more rooted to the spot of wherever he’s standing, more solid.

That is a good word to use for Ryoga in general. Even though we haven’t gotten to see him in a proper fight just yet, we’ve seen quite a lot of evidence of his main attributes. In Dungeons & Dragons terms, Ryoga is making out his Strength and Constitution. He hits like a truck and he can be hit by a truck without slowing down. I love that because it contrasts so perfectly with Ranma’s strength: his speed and precision. I adore it when rival characters actually have qualities that make the fights between them more interesting from the contrast, and Ryoga fits the bill there quite well. He’s also a good foil in terms of personality: Ranma is easy going, likes screwing with people, and is quite quick-witted; Ryoga has a hot temper and a long memory for grudges, hates it when people trick him, and tends to let his emotions do the thinking for him.

I will say it feels like his character has some classic Early Installment Weirdness, as he uses his umbrella quite a bit in this episode. If I remember correctly, after his introductory arc, he doesn’t use his umbrella much at all for the rest of the show, preferring to rely on his fists. It definitely feels like they hadn’t quite nailed the character completely yet, if that makes any sense.

Ryoga is also doing that thing where he’s seeking revenge and really angry, but refuses to talk about why, drawing out the mystery as long as possible. While that trope can become annoying, I don’t really mind it in this case. This isn’t a situation like Godot from Ace Attorney, where Ryoga is purposefully hiding it for some grand plan or something, or to teach a lesson. Ryoga doesn’t go into specifics because A) he thinks Ranma should already know; B) Ryoga is very mad; and C) he doesn’t want anyone else to know his secret. I’m not saying it isn’t stupid that he doesn’t tell Ranma why he’s mad, but I am saying that it’s in-character.

Are you surprised that I adore this episode? You shouldn’t be, I’ve been gushing about it this whole time. Even with the parts I found more rough to watch, this is still my favorite episode of the series thus far, putting the rankings at:

Episode 7: Enter Ryoga, the Eternal ‘Lost Boy’

Episode 2: School is No Place for Horsing Around

Episode 6: Akane's Lost Love... These Things Happen, You Know

Episode 4: Ranma and...Ranma? If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Another

Episode 5: Love Me to the Bone! The Compound Fracture of Akane's Heart

Episode 1: Here’s Ranma

Episode 3: A Sudden Storm of Love

The big question is: will the next episode of this four episode Ryoga arc be even better? We’ll find out next time with Episode 8: “School is a Battlefield! Ranma vs. Ryoga”. See you then!

[relanah-qahs]

MY WAY OR THE HIGHWAY

Whumptober 2020 No.3 

Title: The Only One Who Matters

Fandom: Final Fantasy VII

Prompt: Manhandled | Forced to their knees | Held at gunpoint

Rating: M for swearing and violence, Relationship: Elena & Gun (Emma) Words: 1709

Tags: Sibling rivalry, held at gunpoint, young Elena, near death experience, introspection, Elena hates the Turks, character backstory, hurt no comfort

AO3 Link.  FFNet Link

Summary: It was at the very moment Elena knew her life’s path had changed. If joining the Turks meant stripping away one’s humanity and empathy, then she wanted absolutely no part of it.

εγλ 0002 September 24. 21:47. Midgar Sector 6 Slums.

Elena was too shaken to do anything other than stare wide-eyed through the barrel of the gun pointed at her face. Her mind was completely blank and time seemed to stand completely still. Her fingers twitched, but she couldn’t bring her arms up to a defensive position. She simply stood there, her arms at her side, mouth wide open, breath vacuumed out of her.

Why couldn’t she move? Why was she freaking out now? She was at the top of her class at Shinra Military Academy, she had been studying marksmanship and other fighting disciplines since she was a kid. So why did her body fail her now?

“Gimme your purse or I will blast off that pretty face of yours!” The gunman’s gruff voice echoed in Elena’s ears.

She felt herself take in a shaky breath and choked out a sob. “Please, please don’t!” It was her own voice, but Elena had no control over the words coming from her. “I’ll do what you want, just please don’t hurt me!”

“Purse, now!”

Elena quickly, and without thinking, slid her pink handbag off from her shoulder and held it in front of her. The gunman snatched it from her but kept the gun pointed menacingly at her face. He was a very rough-looking guy; he was thin and appeared skeleton-like in his huge overcoat, his scraggly beard was matted with grime, and he was missing some teeth. The criminal reeked of mako--probably a junkie desperate to buy his next fix.

Elena sobbed while her attacker flipped through the contents of her handbag: Her dorm keys, her headphones, a pack of tissues, then finally the grand prize--her sparkly pink wallet. She would lose all her tips she got from her part-time job at the bar tonight, probably her train pass and student ID too. If only she could have brought her gun. She specialized in marksmanship, but she wasn’t allowed to take her weapon outside the shooting range since she was underage. But even if she did have her gun with her, would she even have the strength to shoot a real, living human?

“Okay, you got you what you wanted,” she said in a shaky voice. “Now will you please let me go?”

“Shut up!” The gunman dropped the purse and grabbed her hair. She yelped from pain and fear as her blonde hair was forcefully pulled at her scalp. “Don’t you dare tell me what to do.” He forced her down, her knees hitting the ground with a painful thud.

Elena was crying hysterically now. She had never felt so helpless. Why? That was the only word that echoed through her mind. Why? Why couldn’t she fight back? Why wouldn’t her body just move? Why did all her combat training fail to reach her at such a critical moment?

She felt the gun being pressed to her temple. Was this it? Was it really going to end like this? Her life suddenly flashed before her eyes. Her childhood memories at Dad’s house with her sister Emma. Then memories of elementary school, always getting the highest grades, but Dad never being pleased because Emma always did better. Then memories of the military academy flashed before her; she was always in a fierce competition with her classmates. She had no friends, only rivals. And being the daughter of the headmaster meant she was in a constant state of pressure. She worked as hard as she could to be the top of her class, to be the best marksman in the entire school. But all of that meant nothing now. Why? Why did she train so hard only to be helpless at the end?

Why couldn’t she fight back? Why did she push herself so hard? What was it even for? Why was Dad never pleased with her? Why was it never enough? Why was it going to end like this?

Why? Gunshot.

The loud bang overloaded her senses. It was finished.

But it wasn’t her life that ended. She slowly opened her eyes and took in the gruesome sight in front of her. The man who had threatened her laid dead, his eyes wide open, the blood oozing out of his skull and slowly pooling at the ground where she knelt.

“Elena, get up.”  The voice came from her right side. Elena could barely hear it over the ringing in her ears. She turned her head to examine her savior who was now holstering her gun.

It was Emma.

Elena burst into tears and sobbed from the relief washing over her. She quickly got up from the ground, her whole body shaking.

“Oh my god, Sis! You saved me!” Elena ran towards her sister and wrapped her arms around her in the tightest embrace she could manage.

But suddenly Emma forced her back. The young woman held onto Elena’s shoulders and looked into her eyes. Elena couldn’t tell what emotion Emma was expressing, but it wasn’t relief.

“Elena, you’re pathetic.”

Her cold words hit Elena like a punch to the gut. She stared at her sister completely dumbfounded.

“What? Sis, what are you-?”

“You could have taken on that guy, so why didn’t you? Why didn’t you fight him?”

Elena couldn’t find the words to respond. She lowered her gaze to the ground and felt the agonizing warmth of shame rush onto her face.

“You’re only a year away from graduating from military school. You train in combat every day, self-defense should be second nature to you! What was all that studying for, Elena? You show off in the gym only to choke the second you’re in actual danger? Get a fucking grip, Sis. When you’re out in the field, your life will always be on the line. You have to be stronger. You can’t break down and cry just because you’re scared. You will never make it into the Turks if you can’t get your shit together.”

Elena couldn’t help the tears from falling and the noisy sobs escaping her throat. “I’m sorry, Sis! I’m so sorry.”

Emma sighed. “Don’t be sorry. Do better.”

Emma called the Shinra Security officers and explained the situation. She ordered them to remove the body and to not question Elena. Being a Turk meant she had the authority to tell them what to do, and they obeyed without question. Elena couldn’t help but feel glad she didn’t need to talk to the Security officers; she couldn’t relive this again and expose her cowardice. She just hoped this incident wouldn’t reach her school administrators and, most importantly, her father.

What would he say? Would he be disappointed in her?

Emma insisted on escorting Elena back to campus. They didn’t speak to each other the entire train ride back onto the Plate. Elena focused only on controlling her emotions as she didn’t want anyone to see her cry again tonight.

They arrived at the school’s gates. Elena fumbled through her purse for her wallet to present her school ID. She might get in trouble for missing curfew.

“Get some rest, Sis,” said Emma. “I’ll call you in the morning.”

Elena clutched her ID tightly and shot a pleading look towards her sister. “Emma, please, please don’t tell Dad!” She felt another sob rise from her chest at the thought of letting him down in such a terrible way.

Emma shook her head. “He’s going to find out eventually. It’s better if he hears from me instead of the Security officers.”

“I can’t let him down! You said it yourself, didn’t you? I couldn’t defend myself when it really mattered! I’m a total failure. He’ll be so mad at me.”

“That’s not true!” Emma placed a gentle hand on Elena’s shoulder. “He’s not going to mad at you. He’s always worried about you! Just trust me, okay?”

“Whatever,” said Elena. She brushed off her sister’s hand. “You wouldn’t understand anyway. I’m going to bed.”

Elena turned and walked towards the gate, holding her ID to show to the school security guards. She stopped. “Sis,”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you for saving me.”

Elena took a long, hot shower as soon as she arrived back at her dorm. She was desperate to get rid of all of the filth and remaining stench of death and gunpowder from her skin. She cried more. It was amazing she had any tears left. She breathed in the steam to try to soothe her aching nose and throat. By the time she dried off it was way past midnight. She quietly opened the door to her dorm to not awaken her roommates. She slid into her bed and hugged her teddy bear tightly to her chest. She could feel another sob rising from her. Her head ached terribly, her face red from the burning salt of her tears. She couldn’t allow a sound to escape her, she couldn’t show weakness to her roommates--her rivals.

You will never make it into the Turks if you don’t get your shit together. Emma’s words echoed through her mind.

Fuck the Turks. And fuck Emma.

If joining the Turks meant stripping away one’s humanity and empathy, then she wanted absolutely no part of it. Her ultimate goal ever since her first year of military school was to one day be one of the Turks, Shinra’s elite mercenary force. The agents who answered only to the President himself. Dad was so proud when Emma was hired, and he expected nothing less of Elena.

But now? Now after actually seeing them in action? No way. After facing death so closely, all she wanted was the comfort and kindness of her sister. But instead she was yelled at to do better. The Turks must beat the kindness out of their recruits.

It was at that very moment, Elena knew her life’s path had changed. No more pursuing the Turks. She would find her own way. Maybe she would quit marksmanship class too and switch her specialty to martial arts. Martial arts would teach her to be strong and she would never be helpless again.

No matter where life took her, Elena would be strong. And kind. That was her promise to the only person who mattered--herself.

[glare0322]

h.i.v.e. head canons

just some character and relationship/friendship head canons :)

laura

- plays the piano and quite well. she doesn’t want to play much at h.i.v.e. because it reminds her of scotland and her family. after book eight, she plays a lot more frequently cause she really sees h.i.v.e. and the people there as her home.

- is not organized in anything but school and files on her computer. her brain runs a million miles an hour which leads to things getting messy fast.

- becomes a lot closer with raven after the greenhouse since they now have a bit of shared trauma especially in the fact anastasia favored to torture both of them.

- still sucks at driving even after h.i.v.e.

- after h.i.v.e. laura goes and lives with her family for a month back in scotland. they talk about h.i.v.e., shelby and her other friends, whats been happening here, and other general catching up topics. mary (mrs. brand) takes a special interest in meeting otto and laura reminds her mom every day not to make a big deal about it. yet she still counts down the days until she gets to meet her daughter’s boyfriend.

otto

- gets very frustrated when he can’t grasp certain concepts or master specific skills. he is known as the boy genius after all.

- went through an edgy phase while at h.i.v.e. not emo, but he would throw in more hurtful quips towards shelby during their usually playful spits and his jokes were just a little too dark. otto got a lot more detentions during this time and even the thought of trying to escape again reoccurred in his mind. he eventually noticed how wing was not a fan of it and slammed the breaks. of course everyone still makes fun of him for it.

- if you don’t think otto wouldn’t cry at the sight of his newborn child/ren then um...you’re wrong

- he looks back on his little prime minister scheme with pride and cringes terribly at it. on one hand, it was his beginnings and the device he made not only worked but was something like no other. and then he remembers how he made the prime minister moon everyone. when he was younger it was hilarious, now that he’s a tad older otto hates the fact he did that. there is just something immature and lacking taste about the whole thing.

- lives in sweaters/jumpers. i know this one is random, but something about them just suits otto.

wing

- has a gentle singing voice. he only sings lullabies to his kids and if one of his friends needs it. besides that wing does not sing often. it’s always a treat when he does.

- wing is really scared to be a dad. the thought of being like his father is incredibly scary to him.

- i really can not see wing becoming a villain but an antihero, now that i can definitely see. his methods are immoral in the sense he is still technically a murder, but he only goes after truly evil corporations. like human trafficking kind of evil.

- he teaches his kid/s self-defense and martial arts.

- trilingual and speaks english, japanese, and mandarin. the first two are canon to the story but i feel like his parents probably would have taught him at least some mandarin.

shelby

- shelby hated how laura would stay up for hours in the night tapping away on her computer. however when she moved out, it seemed weird not to fall asleep to the sound of a typing keyboard.

- if there is a h.i.v.e. gymnastics team/program (since there is a water polo team) shelby would totally do it. she waves to her friends before her round and even sometimes blows a kiss to her supportive boyfriend who is always there to see her.

- after h.i.v.e. she pursues gymnastics professionally. it provides the same wealth she was used to back with her parents, she likes to do it, but most importantly it’s an amazing cover up for why she’s traveling so many places around the world. (to steal of course) it also funds these trips and gives her, and wing for that matter, a great public image. plus she likes the spotlight a bit.

- i’ve said this before but shelby eventually gets lessons from raven. i just love this idea with my whole heart especially because how different these two are.

- had a bit of affluenza before h.i.v.e. which played into her desire for stealing diamonds along with her crappy parents. (my theory on shelb’s parents is right here)

laura and otto

- otto adores laura’s piano playing. there is something peaceful about it to him which he finds really comforting.

- they go to university together in scotland and help each other get through it. the two live in an apartment together go to school then see each other after classes at home.

- laura has some zero ptsd and it occasionally effects her relationship with otto in the sense she gets flashbacks and is genuinely scared. otto completely understands this though and is super patient with her. obviously it bothers him since he’s not zero, but he understands why she’s experiencing this and loves her enough to put his annoyance aside for her.

- these two wanted their kids’ names to be after someone. so if they would ever have a daughter her name would be lucy and the middle name of their son would be wing. laura wanted to include shelby but it just didn’t fit anywhere.

- if otto can’t find a shirt, then laura is wearing it. she wears his clothes super frequently and he won’t complain. she looks cute :,)

laura and shelby

- shelby likes things to look pretty, so she ends up being the one that keeps their room tidy, makes the beds, and other cleanly stuff like that. especially when they live together outside of h.i.v.e. she does the dishes pretty often, keeps their room looking nice, and stocks their fridge. laura is messy, but it doesn’t effect her much cause shelbs takes care of it. she doesn’t mind and only teases laura when people are over to embarrass her (all in good fun).

- laura doesn’t like girly things (we been knew). shelby tried for a while to get her into these things and a few stick on: nail polish, very light make up, and shopping. but never and i mean never would shelby make laura do something she didn’t want to. of course laura introduces shelby to her more geeky/nerdy stuff. they watch superhero shows together, shelbs has a black widow t-shirt in her closet now, and even some basic hacking codes.

- laura didn’t like shelby at first not only because of her nasty personality, but because she was a lot like the girls who would talk about laura behind her back.

- basically canon, but shelby was the number one ottra shipper. she had been rooting for them since day one of h.i.v.e. laura comes to her for advice with otto and shelby consoles her when lucy and otto get together. they both were disappointed the two didn’t get together.

- laura is really good at baking and shelby asks her once to help her bake something for wing. (she was really trying y’all) long story short, even laura couldn’t help shelby’s terrible baking skills and they set off the fire alarms in their apartment along with the sprinklers.

wing and otto

- otto wanted to do one of wing’s workouts despite his best friends many warnings it would be rough. it was safe to say otto underestimated the intensity of the workout.

- oh god the scene where these two will eventually leave each other to go move on past h.i.v.e. is just absolutely gut wrenching. they both acknowledge how the other had such an influence on their lives and hope to see them prosper in life. honestly this is like a rare moment where i can see wing legitimately crying.

- so we all know how wing has half the overlord protocol necklace (he has yang) if shelby doesn’t get the yin half then otto should because he kinda fits the yin meaning and is best bros with wing.

- for wing’s “bachelor party” they honestly just get all the guys from h.i.v.e. together and hang out for a couple hours. after, however, he and otto go out and go have some fun doing morally gray criminal activity.

- they still sometimes speak in japanese to each other on missions and stuff or if they need to plan something without anyone else knowing.

shelby and wing

- they move permanently to america, but visit china and japan quite frequently.

- one of the first things shelby does after she and wing get out of h.i.v.e. is watch a bunch of disney movies and american movie classics so he can understand the pop culture references she has been making for the past five years.

- i totally think shelby gets the other half over otto, or at least a replica. there’s kinda set up for this as well, the other half (yin) is known as the feminine half.

- if they would ever have a daughter her name would be mei or raven.

- she always knows exactly what to get him as a gift or even just in general. she’s observant and can pick up on what he needs before he does. wing has mentioned before shelby is a little...less predictable but he tries his hardest and oh my goodness does shelby appreciate his efforts. of course it irritates her, but she knows her slightly emotionally-unavailable boyfriend is trying an insane amount to sort through her emotions right.

shelby and otto

- they totally bond over how wing is great, but have an urge to smother him in his sleep because of the obnoxiously loud snoring

- menaces to the public when these two are together. i couldn’t even begin to tell you all the crafty things that would conspire between these two. pranking teachers, seeing who can steal the answers first, racing in stealth or in fitness classes. (wing beats both of them in combat/fitness so their efforts are often pointless)

- when they first came to h.i.v.e. shelby was taller than otto, by quite a margin too. she teased him into another galaxy about it. so when the day came that otto was officially taller than her, she mourned the countless jokes that could no longer be made.

- asks a lot of those “wait who logically thought to make butter?” questions. they also argue whether these people were geniuses or a new level of stupid. (seriously who thought to mix together milk until it gets to a solid consistency and then eat it?)

- they have to live together for one month after h.i.v.e. in the beginning, they like wanted to choke each other, but by the end of the month they were upset to not live with each other any more. (fic is dropping soon 🙈)

wing and laura

- after the greenhouse incident, laura went to wing asking him to teach her some martial arts since she felt really weak physically while in there. he doesn’t initially think it’s the best idea, but laura convinces him it will be okay.

- they’re a lot better friends then people would initially think. she hugged him like twice in the first book alone and is grateful for him saving her life. laura and wing seem like the two that just relax with each other. no shenanigans, no combat, honestly just vibing. they drink tea and watch murder mystery shows while catching up on the latest things and theorizing about the show.

- the entire gang goes to tokyo all together at one point in their life. laura and wing go to all the historical places in the city and chat about them for hours.

- they go on hikes together. that’s it. i’m right and you know it.

- i always imagined at least once wing decided to try and take the high road instead of cheating by asking laura to tutor him. it worked pretty well for him and now whenever he needs help with work, he just goes to laura and they work through it together.

[chemicalmagecraft]

The Gamer Hero, Deku Chapter 28

A/N: Sorry about the wait. I made a new fanfic (btw if you like ATLA but think it needed more deadly airbending ninjas check out A Black Wind Howls) aaand then college started back up...

xoxoxo

I opened my eyes and deactivated my Quirks and skills, stepping on the perfectly generic object with one foot and jumping off a moment before it fully dissolved. "That was way smoother than it had any right to be," I muttered as I checked the time. About an hour had passed since I entered my mindscape. Huh. It felt like it was longer than that. Maybe time passes faster in the mindscape? I checked the text boxes that had popped up while I was meditating. It looked like the menus I'd tried to open when in my mindscape had opened in reality, for one... I closed them and looked at the ones that were left over.

Your WIS has increased by one! (x4)

Your DEX has increased by one!

Your CON has increased by one!

Shock Sphere (Active) LV1 EXP 1.49% MP 100

That was surprisingly good for an hour of meditation. Especially because neither of my stat boosts were set to WIS. I guess stumbling around in one's own mindscape is a great method of self-discovery. For one thing I decided I should probably stop raising All Might on such a high pedestal. Maybe I'd ask him if I could call him Yagi-sensei?

I shrugged. "I wish I could talk to the past bearers in the real world, though. They were really nice. Plus having seven seasoned heroes that I can ask for advice at any time would be really handy. Too bad I can't just invite them to my party." I thought about that for a minute. "Actually, can I do that?" I recited the party invitations and crossed my fingers. One by one they appeared in my party window and I opened up the voice chat.

"So is this how your party ability works?" Kaizen asked.

"Honestly I didn't think that would work," I said, "but I'm really glad it did."

"We're glad it worked too, kid!" Daigoro added.

I laughed. "Thanks! There are probably going to be times when I can't talk and have to use the text chat, and other times where I'll have to disband the party temporarily, but you guys don't mind keeping me company, do you?"

I heard Shimura chuckle. "I don't mind at all. And I'm sure the others don't either."

"I'd be glad to keep you company," Honenuki said.

"Better than playing another of Ichigo's stupid games," Hikiishi added.

"Hey!" Ichigo said indignantly.

"They are fun, but it does get old sometimes..." Sokolov muttered.

"Not you too!"

I laughed. This was going to be great.

xoxoxo

Bakugou Katsuki: youre real fuckin blase bout the voices in your head deku

Shigaraki Ichigo: To be fair we are actual people and we can only be voices in his head using his Quirk.

I'd decided that, because Kacchan already knew about One For All, I would tell him about the past bearers. I did it on the morning of the day that we were going back to Yuuei. He was surprised, but almost immediately shrugged and said, "You know what, this might as well fucking happen." Currently we were on the train to Yuuei.

Hikiishi Jiroku: if you think about it, we're like ghosts haunting your friend.

Bakugou Katsuki: oh like thats so much better

I saw a young girl with bright eyes staring at us out of the corner of my eye. "Mommy, it's the magic people!" she shouted to a woman next to her that I assumed was her mother.

"Don't bother them, Chi-chan," the woman said.

"Are you talking about us?" I asked the girl.

She gasped. There were stars in her eyes. Literally. "Yeah! I watched you guys on the sports festival! Your fight was awesome!"

Kacchan smirked at the girl. "You know it, kid."

She bounced on her feet. "Yeah! You guys were all like bam, pow, woosh!" The rest of the people on the train were starting to look at us. The girl pouted. "I wanna be a cool hero like you guys, but my Quirk is dumb..."

"I'm sure your Quirk is great!" I objected.

"All I can do is make my eyes glow."

"Well I mean for one thing you can probably use it to see in the dark." Kacchan said.

"That's the only way I can use it, though!"

"I wouldn't be too sure," I said. "Can you control how bright it is?"

She nodded. "It's hard, but if I try really hard I can make it as bright as a flashlight for a bit."

I put my hand on my chin. "I'd bet that even All Might would be thrown off if someone he was fighting randomly shined a flashlight in his eyes. And if you practice really hard you should be able to make them even brighter." I poked Kacchan. "Believe it or not, when his Quirk first came in all he could do was make little pops."

"Just make sure not to hurt yourself practicing," Kacchan reminded her. "Quirk strain is not fun. I mean, mine was probably a lot fu- a lot worse than yours would be because it's caused by explosions and not glowing, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be careful."

The girl nodded excitedly.

"And be careful in general," I said. "Hero work is dangerous. I suggest you learn martial arts or something like that if you really want to be a hero."

"Like you're one to fuc-" Kacchan caught himself before swearing. "Like you're one to talk, Deku."

"Fair enough. You should also try to learn some magic. It's a lot more versatile than Quirks, plus you can probably enhance your Quirk with magic." I winked. "Just be mindful of property damage."

She beamed at us. "Yeah! I will!"

Her mother smiled. "Thank you. She loves heroes."

I chuckled and rubbed the back of my head. "It's actually pretty flattering."

"Yeah, I got my first fan!" Kacchan said. He reached over to give the girl a high five. She looked really grateful, so I gave her a high five too.

"Thank you both sooo much!"

xoxoxo

"Damn, this is some heavy rain," Kacchan muttered from under his umbrella while we were walking to Yuuei.

"What bad luck, huh?" I said. I also had an umbrella, but at the same time the water was subtly avoiding me so I didn't even get slightly wet. Having so many elementals can be very convenient.

"What are you two doing, you're going to be late!" Iida shouted at us from behind. He was wearing a poncho and jogging.

"What the fuck are you doing, Glasses!?" Kacchan shouted. "This is not the fucking weather for a nice morning jog!"

"There is no wrong weather for a nice morning jog!" Iida shouted as he passed us.

We managed to catch up to him in the entrance hall. "I heard about your brother, Iida," Kacchan told him while he was putting his boots in his locker. "If you need to talk to someone about it... well you probably shouldn't talk to me, but I speak from experience when I say that Inui-sensei is very willing to help."

"Inui-sensei?" I inquired.

Kacchan grunted, blushing slightly. "Hound Dog," he muttered.

"I appreciate your words, but I don't need to talk about it," Iida said as he closed his locker door.

"Iida, it's okay to not be okay," I said. "It doesn't make you any less strong. Even All Might has his bad days."

"Thank you, Midoriya," Iida said as he started to walk away. "But I'm okay. I promise."

I frowned at his title.

I'm Not Okay (I Promise)

LV 36

Iida Tenya

"I'm gonna have to press X to doubt that one," I said after he was gone.

"Deku I know you have that whole gamer hero thing going on but that joke was so fucking terrible I think I'm legally obligated to give you a wedgie," Kacchan told me.

"Please don't."

xoxoxo

"I have a few announcements before today's business," Aizawa-sensei said, acting like normal and not at all mentioning the fact that he was wearing, with the exception of the same scarf and possibly the goggles hidden under it, an entirely new hero costume. He kept the original color scheme, but his outfit looked like it was inspired by a more close combat-oriented fantasy wizard that wouldn't look out of place in a JRPG at all, complete with a wizard hat and a collapsible bo staff holstered on his belt that Observe told me was made with an experimental design that let it more effectively channel magic. He was also clean-shaven for once, though he still had the dark bags under his eyes. It made that scar he got from the USJ incident stand out a little more.

"First," he pointed to Shinsou, who was standing awkwardly next to him, "we have a new student. Make him feel welcome or whatever. Now sit down, Shinsou. There's an empty seat behind Midoriya."

"Congratulations, Shinsou!" I told him with a smile when he sat down. "I knew you'd get in!"

"Thanks," he said, then looked at Aizawa-sensei. "Was he always wearing that weird martial artist wizard outfit?"

"No, that's new. Scarf's the same, though."

"I thought so."

"If you're all done talking," Aizawa-sensei said menacingly. "We're having a very important hero informatics lesson today." He grinned evilly. "Pay attention, because this could affect your entire hero career." A terrified murmur broke out in the classroom.

"This is not what I was hoping for my first day..." Shinsou muttered.

Kacchan, who was sitting in front of me, looked back at him. "Eh, don't worry. Aizawa-sensei's just a fucking drama queen like that. Watch, he's gonna say that this is just us picking our hero names." He pointed at Aizawa-sensei.

"You'll be picking code names today," he confirmed, as if on cue. The class cheered, causing him to glare at us with his Quirk activated. His hat floated slightly before he turned it back off. "This isn't just for fun. You'll be going on a work study soon, so naturally you'll be needing a hero name to go by. Are there any questions?"

Kaminari raised his hand. "Why are you wearing a wizard outfit?"

"Are there any questions about the work study?" Aizawa-sensei glared at him.

"Is there any reason behind the work study?" Shinsou asked.

"It's meant to give you guys hands-on experience with hero work. Also, more than a few of you have already gotten a lot of draft picks from hero organizations already. Usually those offers are given to second and third years, who are more experienced, but there have been several unique circumstances for your class." He pressed a button on his remote, bringing up a list on the smartboard. "These are the offers that were extended to 1-A."

"Oh wow," I thought. My name was on the top of the board and I had almost five thousand offers!

"Congrats, Midoriya!" Shimura shouted through the party chat.

"Yeah, that's something to be proud of, I'm assuming..." Ichigo added.

"Good job, kid," Hikiishi said.

I sniffed and wiped the tears off my face... and desk... I thanked them over the text chat and looked at the rest of the board. Kacchan was below me at a little over four thousand offers. Aoyama, Todoroki, and Uraraka were next below us at around two thousand each. Iida, Tokoyami, and Kaminari had offers in the hundreds. Sero, Yaoyorozu, and even Shinsou had a few too.

"Don't worry, those of you who didn't get any offers," Aizawa said. "There are hero organizations that work with Yuuei to give students who don't have any offers work studies. And as I said, usually only second and third years get offers. So I'm sure you'll get at least a few by next semester."

"And that's what the hero names are for!" Hagakure blurted out.

Aizawa nodded. "That's right. Technically you can change your hero name at any time, but once you start getting popular chances are the public is going to call you the same name even if you change your name, unless it's accompanied by serious rebranding or something like that."

"Oh, is that what the wizard outfit is for?" Ashido asked.

Aizawa glared at her for a prolonged period of time. "No. Comment. Because having a good hero name before you even debut is so important..."

Midnight-sensei strutted through the door and stood next to Aizawa. "Yuuei strongly encourages the teachers of the hero course to organize a workshop session for their students before their work studies so they don't call themselves something dumb like, oh, I don't know... Eraserhead?"

"Fuck you, Nemuri," Aizawa muttered, causing Midnight to wink and stick her tongue out at him. He sighed and pulled a folding chair and some small dry erase boards out from behind his podium. "Midnight here is going to make sure the names we pick are all right. The annoying thing with hero names is that whatever you pick tends to end up reflecting on your hero career, so choose carefully."

"Wait, are you picking out a hero name, too?" Kaminari asked.

Aizawa grunted and started handing out the dry erase boards. "Against my better judgement I decided, for multiple reasons actually, to adopt a more public hero persona," he explained.

"WHAAAT!?" almost the entire class shouted at once.

"Yeah, yeah. 'Course, I need a new name for it, and the timing lined up so I unfortunately had the 'brilliant' idea of participating in this exercise with you guys, for solidarity or whatever." When he was done with the dry erase boards he put his folding chair next to Uraraka and sat down. "So for the next however long, just think of me like a fellow student. Plus Ultra or whatever."

I uncapped my dry erase marker and stared at the board. What kind of hero did I want to be? What kind of name did I want to have? I had a flash of inspiration, but... I sent Kacchan a message with my Quirk. I wanted his opinion on it.

He turned back to me. "Really?" he asked. I nodded. "Well I can see where you're coming from with that," he shrugged. "If ya really want to, go for it."

I wrote down my idea and waited for everyone else to be done. Kacchan looked like he was having a bit of trouble, but shooed me off when I asked if he needed help.

"And now you'll be presenting your hero names, starting with who's done!" Midnight said after more than a few of my classmates had put down their markers. Nobody said anything, but the air tensed when she said that. "Of course you have to present them!" she said with a grin. "If you can't stand proud and present your name to your own peers, how are you going to stick to it in the face of the public?"

Okay that made me a little nervous, but I shook it off. I was about to volunteer myself for the first presentation, but Aoyama and Aizawa both stood up before I could.

"I shall go first!" Aoyama glittered as Aizawa muttered, "Let's get this over with."

Aizawa sighed. "After you, kid."

"Thank you, my wonderful teacher!" He strutted up to the podium and stylishly revealed the name he wrote on his board. "'Shining Hero: I Can Not Stop Twinkling!' That means that you can't stop my sparkles!" As he said that, literal sparkles bloomed into existence around him. Honestly that was about what I was expecting from him.

"I like it, buuut maybe take out the 'I' and shorten 'Can Not' to 'Can't?'" Midnight suggested.

"Yes! That's perfect, mademoiselle!" Aoyama beamed.

"That's a good name?" Shinsou snarked under his breath.

"I don't know," I said, "I think it's kind of a nice name."

"Because you're a fucking sap," Kacchan added.

I shrugged. "Maybe a little."

Aizawa sighed. "Well, I guess that means I'm next." He walked up to the podium unenthusiastically and lifted up his board. "Magician Hero: Grimalkin," he read, blushing slightly. He'd put a cute little cat paw print on the end where a period would be.

"Ah, like the witch's familiar from Macbeth!" Yaoyorozu said.

Aizawa nodded. "Yes, exactly."

"I love it!" Midnight shouted. "Cute, but still bold!"

"Thanks," Aizawa muttered as he walked away from the podium.

"Now, do we have any more volunteers?" Midnight asked.

Kacchan got up. "I might as well get this over with too." He presented his name. "The Explosion Hero: Grenadier."

"Excellent! It's simple, striking, and goes with your hero outfit's theme!" Midnight commented.

"Thanks, teach." Kacchan said. "I figured it'd be way better than my first idea."

"What would that be?"

"King Explosion Murder."

Midnight winced. "Yeah, Grenadier's a lot better. Next!"

Shinsou nodded and got up to the podium. "I'm afraid it might be a little dark, but... Control Hero: Mindjack."

Midnight nodded with a grin. "I can see your concerns, but it's perfectly fine. Better than King Explosion Murder, at least."

"You're welcome for the example, I guess," Kacchan grumbled.

"Now, who wants to go next?" Midnight asked.

I stood up. "I'd like to," I said. I walked up to the podium, took a deep breath, and showed the class my dry erase board. "The name I decided on is the Gamer Hero: Deku."

xoxoxo

A/N: The naming session went about the same as it did in canon from that point onward, just without Midoriya, Bakugou, and the grape.

Originally I was going to make this chapter longer but then I realized that ending the chapter on the first time the name of the fic is cool.

Elemental list: Midoriya: Halitus, Dune, Rayne, Blaise, Juniper, Mifuyu, Raimon, Iggy, Sonia, and Claude Bakugou: Pyra and Leaf Tokoyami: Corvo Uraraka: Nebula and Ion Hagakure: Lucy Tsu: Bubbles Aizawa: Charlie and Cassiopeia All Might: Seth O'Scope

[thrill-cfthechase]

INTRO:

⌠ MAIA MITCHELL, 21, CIS FEMALE, SHE/HER ⌡ welcome back to gallagher academy, ELLIOT CHASE! according to their records, they’re a THIRD year, specializing in THREAT ELIMINATION & AWARENESS TRAINING, BREATH CONTROL, HAND TO HAND COMBAT; and they DID NOT go to a spy prep high school. when i see them walking around in the halls, i usually see a flash of chewed up hoodie strings, cherry chapstick, late night fast food runs, stolen sneakers, blood red knuckles clutching a bouquet of red roses. when it’s the scorpio’s birthday on 11/4/1998, they always request their HOT CHEETOS from the school’s chefs. looks like they’re well on their way to graduation. ⌿ zee, 23, she/her, est ⍀

hello everyone! i’m zee and i’m super excited to be here. here’s a little bit about elliot. please come plot with me and my angry lil bean! feel free to dm me here or on discord!!

(cw for death and alcoholism) 

-ok so elliot chase was born on november 4th in santa rosa, california. she hates her birthday and refuses to celebrate it because it’s the same day her mother died, due to complications from elliot’s birth. she has felt responsible for this her whole life. her brothers are five and seven years older than her, and although no one will actually say this to her, she thinks she was an accident (she was) and that just makes her guilt worse.

-being a single dad with three kids means working a lot, so elliot’s dad wasn’t around much and she was basically raised by her brothers. she was always a ‘tomboy’ simply because that was what she knew. they were very athletic which meant elliot was, too. and even though elliot was so much smaller than them, they still loved to pick on her, so she had to learn very young how to fight back. 

-she decided she wanted to take a karate class and discovered that she loved martial arts. by now she has a black belt in karate, a black belt in judo, a purple belt un muay thai, and a brown belt in jiu jitsu. everything revolved around training, and she didn’t have much of a social life. usually that didn’t bother her. her dream was to become an mma fighter, and even though she’d have to fight as a strawweight, elliot was confident she could achieve this goal. 

-her dad was good at hiding it, but over the years his dependence on alcohol had been slowly increasing. when elliot was thirteen her middle brother went off to college and it became clear very quickly that her father was barely able to take care of himself, let alone a teenage girl. he lost his second job and couldn’t afford to send elliot to her practices anymore, so she decided she would get the money herself. 

-she had no supervision so she basically started grifting, using short cons like pretending to be lost and needing money for a cab ride home. which worked for a cute little thirteen year old. she also became a pretty decent pickpocket. and once she was too old to pass as a cute lil kid she started using her ~feminine wiles~ (lol what a phrase) to trick stupid men into giving her money or their watches or something. and doing this she was able to scrape up enough money to keep practicing martial arts.

-one night when she was a senior in high school, she crashed a bougie wedding and stole a whole bunch of shit without anyone noticing (think tandy bowen). at least, almost anyone noticing- a gallagher alumna clocked her taking someone’s wallet from their pocket and kept an eye on her throughout the night. later, a server knocked into her and a bunch of things fell out of elliot’s purse. she used her training to fight back and fairly easily got away, but the alumna followed elliot to where she had stashed her bike and confronted her. she basically told elliot that if she stopped breaking the law, she might be able to put her skills to work, and to just be patient. and sure enough, after elliot graduated from high school, she got the letter. she figured she could put a career as an mma fighter on hold, especially if it meant learning all sorts of fighting techniques for free. and now she’s here.

-personality wise, she’s a little standoffish (although she can also be sort of forcefully outgoing? idk depends on her mood) , aggressive, and very blunt. can be very sarcastic at times. she’s very competitive and determined, and willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done. she swears like a sailor and has an odd sense of humor, things she picked up from her brothers. elliot definitely has a softer side, but it’s not always easy to see. she’s extremely loyal and will go to the mat for the people she cares about. 

-she loves action and horror movies and eats a disturbing amount of junk food. she has terrible insomnia and can often be found going for a run at three in the morning. 

-is 5′4″ but thinks she’s 6′2″

-will respond equally to elliot and chase. if you’re really close you can call her el. if you call her ellie she will physically hurt you.

(i’ll probably add more hcs later but this is getting longer than anticipated)

wanted connections!!

a ride or die (please)

friends/anyone who can put up with her being kind of a dick

my fave trope is probably enemies to friends to lovers so this is a biggie

or honestly just enemies to lovers or friends to lovers?? or friends to enemies? enemies to friends? basically just relationships that go from being one thing to something completely different!

rivals 

exes (who ended on good terms, who ended on bad terms, who still hook up, anything)

or anything, really! if you have a wc that you think elliot could be right for just let me know!

<3

[kaitoujokerscans]

Showdown in the Dark Night! Joker vs Shadow CH2

<2>The Girl with Mysterious Powers

Let's wind time back a little...

Sometime before Shadow fought against the police, another disturbance occurred outside the manor.

"Ice Shot!" shouted a boy, and a bluish-white beam shot from his gun. The beam instantly froze the surrounding grass and stopped the pursuing police in their tracks. The boy watched the scene with satisfaction, letting a carefree smile form on his face. His long and straight blue hair fluttered in the night wind. A long white coat and violet scarf caught the breeze in a similar fashion. The bristled yellow crest of hair above his handsome face completed the look. It was Phantom Thief Spade...!

"Well, how's it going on your end?" Turning around, there was a white shadow fighting the police at a short distance away.

The sharp sound of clanging metal rang out, followed by thuds of men clubbed with the hilt of a sword falling to the ground. In the thick of it was a white, feminine silhouette swinging a sword as if she were dancing. Eventually, once there were no officers left standing around her, the girl lowered her weapon and turned to Spade. "No problem. They were a letdown."

Her long blonde hair was tied into high twintails, and she was cloaked in a white and pink coat. Her gleaming eyes held a diamond-shaped light. Despite her winsome appearance, she effortlessly wielded a large sword in her right hand, soon sheathing it at her hip. It was Phantom Thief Queen...!

"Anyway, you took more time than me. Is it just me, or is your Shot not as accurate as usual?"

"You think so? I didn't think I had any problem... Let's check the map." Spade changed the subject and took out his phone. "Let's see..." A map of the manor showed on the handheld screen.

Fields of all sizes, large and small, were arranged around the Gardens, and each was connected by an intricately schemed path. It was difficult to grasp the entire layout without a map. There was a red blinking dot on it. Spade and Queen were currently in the furthest region of the garden. They were still far from the manor.

"That's pretty distant. This looks like it'll be a harder job than anticipated..."

"Geez, requests from Grandpa are really demanding." As Queen complained, Spade took a breath and looked up into the dark sky. Yes, it was three days ago that Spade had been called by Queen.

§§§

Spade, Queen, and Joker all had the same master in phantom thievery. Once called "The Silver Magician", he trekked from one city to another and stole treasures from around the world: the legendary great thief, Silver Heart. Each of them had their own circumstances for being taken in by Silver Heart, and they trained under him to learn the fundamentals of phantom thievery. He was like a parent to the three of them, and not only had he taught them techniques for thievery, he also taught them life skills. Even after they had learned enough of the trade from him, Queen still lived with Silver Heart, and Joker and Spade visited on occasion to check up on their master. None of them could very well refuse a request from the master.

When Spade arrived at the hideout at the top of the hill, the first thing out of Queen's mouth was "It's actually quite a problem..."

"It really is," continued Queen's partner, the phantom thief dog Roko. Roko was a super dog bred through genetic research and could both speak and understand human language. He also lived in Silver Heart's hideout along with Queen.

"You know how Joker and Shadow sent out notices?"

"Yeah, for the Komachi's Gilded Chrysanthemum housed at the Cape Gardens, correct? I didn't think Joker would be interested in it, but if Shadow's going after the same thing, that would explain it. The two are probably fighting like kids over it." Spade smiled wearily.

Spade usually had his own juvenile conflicts with Joker too, but Queen avoided mentioning it. "Well, about that... apparently Grandpa has his eye on Komachi's Gilded Chrysanthemum too."

"What?" Spade asked.

A door banged open from further inside. "Spaaaaade...... pleaaaaaaase..." came a miserable moan from their master, Silver Heart, who had just entered the room.

He wore a snowy white double-breasted suit, completed with a white silk hat and white cape. Well-polished gold buttons and pink cuffs poking out from under the sleeves accented the look. He sported an impressive silvery beard, and an antique monocle shone over his left eye. It was the fabulous, elegant figure of phantom thief Silver Heart!

...That was the intent, at least, but the reality was a little different.

While his attire was flawless, the Silver Magician was lying down with his stomach pressed against a swiveling stool, using his hands and knees to slowly propel the wobbly wheels.

Spade sighed at the sight. "Master, your back...?"

Silver Heart had a chronic trick back. "Ughh... that's it. I picked up something while cleaning and it was lighter than I thought. That's when I cracked it terribly."

"Argh, this is because you tried cleaning on your own. If you had just asked, I'd have had Roko help."

"What, just me again?" whined Roko. Queen was no good at any household chores.

"Master, why do you want Komachi's Gilded Chrysanthemum?"

"Well, you see..." Silver Heart hesitated and glanced at Queen.

Queen sighed and spoke for him. "He promised the queen he'd give her Komachi's Gilded Chrysanthemum."

"You mean the queen of that country on the cliffs? Master's girlfriend, that one?"

"That's right. He wanted to show off and told her 'I'll bring you a flower hairpin beautiful enough for you.'"

"That makes sense."

"So he wants me to go steal it in his place. Grandpa's in this state, after all."

"Sorry..." Silver Heart let out a pitiful groan, nodding his head.

"Hm, a treasure that both Joker and Shadow are after, huh..." Spade folded his arms and thought. "Sounds fun, let's go."

"Kyo kyo." Spade's assistant Dark Eye, who had been listening off to the side, cackled in surprise. Tall and slim, Dark Eye leaned their bandage-wrapped face into Spade's ear. "But Spade-sama, you just finished a major job. If you don't rest your body for the next three days, your temperature will..."

"It's all right, Dark Eye. I'll be working with Queen this time. Besides, it's a chance to show up Joker and Shadow." Spade grinned. It was a smile just as childish as Joker and Shadow were.

§§§

However...

Spade rubbed his eyes as he ran through the garden. To tell the truth, his condition had gotten worse since last night. He had lied about it up to this point, but the exhaustion was building up. Queen had seen through him just earlier. I hope I can hold out to the end...

The pair was now past the gardens and approaching the manor. Just then, a call came through on his phone. "You've managed to avoid security so far, but that'll be difficult further along." It was Roko's voice. Roko and Dark Eye were on standby in Spade's airship and handling logistical support.

"Looks like it. How about the security cameras, Dark Eye?"

"Kyo kyo, I've successfully hacked into them."

"Thank you. Keep directing us, please."

"Kyokyo, please wait. Your body..." Dark Eye's worried voice came from the phone.

"It's fine."

"Kyokyo, but Spade-sama, your breath was erratic before you went out. Please do not stress..."

"Enough already, keep watching the cameras."

"Kyokyo... very well."

"I'm counting on you." Spade said brusquely and took a breath. Really, what a worrywart. Of course, he knew Dark Eye was looking out for him. Even so, Spade didn't want to be handled with kid gloves. I'm all right... "Okay Queen, let's go." But when he looked up, Queen was concealing herself against a hedge and peering into the garden. "What's up?" He approached and asked, only to be shushed and told to crouch down by Queen with her finger against her mouth. "Take a look at that."

Spade stooped down besides Queen and looked to where she was watching. There was an agitated silhouette at the edge of a large pond with fountain. "Isn't that..."

A pretty young girl's face bobbed out of a thicket. Her pink hair was tied into two buns, and she wore a red-violet jumper skirt over a purple blouse, a white petticoat sticking out from underneath. A yellow ribbon hung at the neck of her blouse, and the expression on her face as she glanced around the area suggested she was still unworldly. The girl's name was Rose. She was Shadow's younger twin sister. She always worked with Shadow, but she seemed to be alone today. Rose bit her lip slightly and focused her sights on the manor.

"What's up with Rose...?" mused Queen. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, the deafening sound of an explosion followed by the sound of something crumbling apart came from the manor.

"...!" Rose jumped out of the thicket in surprise. She apparently tripped a security sensor when she did. The wee-oo of sirens filled the area, and searchlights zeroed in on Rose at once. The nearby officers on patrol ran to the scene. Leading them were Ginko and Momo.

"Hold it right there, Shadow! Wait, Joker... it's not him either!?"

"A girl...!?"

The pair was perplexed by Rose's appearance. While Shadow had made a name for himself as a phantom thief, Rose was apparently still a no-name.

Then Oniyama's voice came over the radio. "Ginko-chan, Momo-chan, so arrest all suspicious persons around the manor!"

"Roger, Inspector!" Ginko responded and looked towards Rose again.

Meanwhile, still hidden against the hedge, Spade asked. "What shall we do? Do we help?" But Queen wordlessly shook her head. It was as if she was saying "no need". The reason was quickly gleaned.

"You're under arrest!"

"Get her!"

At their order, the police immediately charged toward Rose. Beside Ginko, Momo leapt high into the air. Momo was a former SAT (special assault team) member and an expert in combat martial arts. The average police officer was nothing compared to her. Powerful Momo brandished a tonfa-like weapon and closed in on Rose! But just as Rose seemed to be shaking her head to and fro with an expression of futility, she calmly raised her right hand towards the officers and abruptly opened her eyes. Grrrrip...! The air trembled with a heavy shockwave, reaching all the way to Spade and Queen some distance away. The next moment, Momo and the other officers around Rose were stopped in their tracks.

This was Rose's ability. By concentrating and channeling the power from her body into her hand, she could stop a target from moving. Spade and Queen had both experienced it before. It was like being trapped in a hunk of iron, unable to move a finger. Though the mind was clear, the body was paralyzed stiff. Momo and Ginko had no idea of what happened, and despite being frozen, their confusion was obvious. Rose kept focusing her power and was about to leave the scene, but then-- "Who's that out there!"

Glancing up at the veranda of the third floor, there was Hayami gazing down towards them. "Is that... Hayami Kyoutarou?" Spade asked.

He heard Rose, who had looked up at the same time, whisper his name as well. "Hayami-san..." Right after, the energy active on Momo and the rest wore off. Rose had lost concentration.

"Hrm? Aren't ya...?" Hayami seemed to have noticed her as well, but the area was too dark to see any faces.

The police took the opportunity and charged at Rose. "Catch her!" Momo bounded into the air and plunged toward Rose, who was standing absentmindedly. Her tonfa swung down. But before the tonfa could connect, it was halted with a clang. "Wha!?"

"Ghh...!" Queen had cut in between the two of them. She grit her teeth with effort and pushed back Momo's tonfa.

Though Momo pressed forward, the tonfa wouldn't go any further. "Kghhgh... you're here, Phantom Thief Queen!"

"You're not bad if my sword can't cut through." Queen and Momo put their weight into their weapons and were locked sword-to-tonfa. Their strength was equal, and Queen was unable to step away. "Spade!"

"Yes, I know!" Spade made a fabulous jump and landed on the fountain spout. The water sprinkled out around the area. "Ice Shot!" Spade shot his cooling beam at the shower, freezing the spray and making icy precipitation rain down on Ginko, Momo, and the other officers.

"Eeyah!"

"Owowow!"

While the officers flailed, Spade blew up a large bubble of gum above him and grabbed hold of Rose. The gum is called "Balloon Gum", and is one of the phantom thief tools employed by Joker, Spade, and Queen. By chewing the gum and blowing into it, the gum’s ingredients chemically react to form a gas lighter than air. If held above one's head, it can lift up a certain amount of weight off the ground, much like an ad balloon.

"Eek!" Rose let out a low squeak as Spade continued to rise. Queen followed suit and took into the air.

"Hold it! Spade, Queen!"

"Another time, my fellows! Adios!" Once he finished speaking, he disappeared from sight.

"W- he's gone...!?" The officers searched around in confusion, but the only thing left was the darkness of night.

[thegayfromrulid]

Give the Yuukisuna fluff of I will become your sleep paralysis demon

Please don’t become my sleep paralysis demon- it’s usually a spider ;-; One-shot below the cut! 

           The last thing she’d expected whenshe opened the door to come home was to be blatantly teased by her girlfriend. Shehadn’t even realized that Asuna had beaten her home. Yuuki had just gotten backfrom a hasty grocery run and greeted Asuna like she always did. And it promptedthe sort of tease that made her want to toss something back at her.

“You’re so short!”

           Of course, the teasing jab was meantas nothing more than that—a tease—but Yuuki’s cheeks puffed up at the mentionof being short. She wasn’t that muchshorter than Asuna. In the context of the situation, Yuuki had propped herselfup on her tiptoes ever-so-slightly to touch her nose to her girlfriend’s. Itwas something she’d started doing ever since they’d moved in together. Thisvery action made Asuna giggle and resort to this comment. She hadn’t made itbefore, but she was bold enough to do so now. Asuna poked one of her puffed-upcheeks and giggled again.

           “Don’t take it personally,” shesaid. “You’re the perfect size for me.”

           Yuuki squinted at her and placed herhands on her hips. She made a point of standing up to her full height when shedid so. Asuna, too, straightened up, as if to nullify the effects of herdisplay of stature.

           “I’m not short!” she insisted.

           Perhaps she was a little shorterthan her avatar in ALO. That was to be expected. Unlike Asuna, whose avatar waspretty much the same height as she was in the real world, Yuuki was just a bitshorter than her Imp character. She couldn’t really help that—Asuna’s avatarwas a copy of her old SAO one, therefore it looked just like her (except alittle bluer). Her avatar, on the other hand, was a completely original avatarthat didn’t look too much like her. As if to add to the embarrassment of beingcalled short, Asuna rested a hand atop Yuuki’s head and smiled.

           “Don’t rub it in!” she said.

           She bopped her hands on Asuna’s armplayfully, hoping she might move it. Of course, Asuna did no such thing. Shekept her hand firmly planted on Yuuki’s head, going so far as to even ruffleher hair a bit. Yuuki finally just dropped her arms, giving in to her currentpredicament. Her cheeks flushed with heat as she gazed up at Asuna’s smug expression.

           “What, don’t you like being theshort one?” Asuna teased.

           She wrapped her arms around Yuukifrom behind and tucked her up against her chest. Yuuki’s irritation andembarrassment subsided. She sank into Asuna’s arms and sighed. There was nodenying it—this was certainly a perk of being the smaller girlfriend. She fitjust perfectly into Asuna’s arms. This made cuddling quite comfortable, especiallyin the winter when it was cold; Asuna’s body heat would envelop her and makeher feel safe and cozy.

However.

           “Sometimes I wouldn’t mind being thebig spoon,” she mumbled.

           Asuna laughed. The image seemedsilly, now that she thought about it. The short one being the big spoon? It wouldbe terribly unbalanced. But she still wanted to do it. She had to remindherself, once again, that they weren’t thatdifferent in regard to height. How come Asuna got to have all of the bigspoon fun? It was her turn to be in this glorious snuggling position! Shetwisted out of her arms and placed her hands on her hips as she faced Asuna.

           “I’m going to try it!” sheannounced.

           Her girlfriend lifted one eyebrow inquestion. The smile on her face told her that she didn’t think Yuuki wasone-hundred percent serious—but she was. She was definitely going to try this,so long as Asuna agreed to it. Yuuki flashed her the most confident smile shecould muster up. Asuna’s expression changed ever-so-slightly. She knew herpartner was serious now.

           “To the bed!” Yuuki said. “I’ll provethat I’m not only good with a sword, but also with a spoon!”

           Asuna rolled her eyes. She gaveYuuki another pat on the head. Yuuki couldn’t read this expression. She lookeda bit tired, but somehow also amused. Without giving so much as a hint, Asunasmirked at Yuuki as she posed her next teasing statement.

           “Are you sure you’re up for thissort of challenge?” she asked. “Spooning is a lot different than a sword-fight.”

           Yuuki gave her best sarcastic laugh.How could Asuna be so silly? Of course, she knew that! Sword-fighting wasn’tthe only thing she was good at. And she’d been the little spoon so many timesshe knew what Asuna was doing in order to be the big spoon. How hard did shethink this could be? Yuuki shook her head. She wasn’t going to just step downbased on such a statement.

           “I doubt being the big spoon couldbe more challenging than going head-to-head with the Black Swordsman—and Iwhooped his tail!”

           That resulted in yet another gigglefrom Asuna, likely from her remembering the event. It was then that Yuuki hadconfessed her feelings to Asuna—right after she’d bested her former boyfriendin combat.  Jokingly, she liked to tellpeople that it was then that Asuna found true love. (But she and Kirito had nohard feelings, for sure!) Now, it was just an amusing memory that may or maynot have boosted her ego.

           “I take my title of ‘AbsoluteSword’ very seriously,” she said. “Just as I will with this challenge.”

           Asuna took her time strolling intothe bedroom, as if to mess with Yuuki even more. She sat down on the bed and dramaticallysprawled across it, letting out an over-emphasized sigh. Opening one eye, shesmiled over at Yuuki and patted the bed beside her.

           “Well? Are you going to show me the ‘AbsoluteBig Spoon’ or no?” she asked.

           “Are you making fun of my title?”Yuuki asked.

           Asuna shook her head.

           “No, but I most certainly am holingyou to it,” she said. “Are you going to show me what you’re got? Or no?”

           The two locked eyes, both intenselytesting the other. This had shifted from mere teasing into the realm of anactual challenge now. Yuuki stood up to her full height and lifted her chin.Asuna did her best to hold in a laugh. Without missing a beat, Yuuki clearedher throat and thrust one hand forward.

           “I will now use my two-part MaritalArts Skill, Yuuki Spoon, on you!” she cried.

           “D-don’t you mean ‘martial’?” Asunastammered.

           Yuuki dashed forward.

           “Nope! Because you’re gonna be mywife!” she exclaimed.

           With that, she dove onto the bed, causingAsuna to yelp in surprise. She hadn’t been expecting a tackle. With heroff-guard like this, Yuuki grinned and took her open opportunity. She posed herhands on Asuna’s sides and started to tickle her. Asuna squirmed and shriekedwith laughter.

           “Th-this isn’t sp-spooning!” shelaughed, trying to speak in between gasps.

           “No, but it’s fun!” Yuuki said. “You’reso ticklish! Besides, it’s punishment for calling me short!”

           Asuna started to tear up fromlaughing too hard. She kept tickling her until her arms started to grow tired.When she released Asuna from her punishment, she waited for her to catch herbreath before she slipped down onto the bed. Glancing over her shoulder, Asunamade sure to roll onto her side so that Yuuki had her chance to be the bigspoon. The chance was now! She had to take advantage of this moment to fulfillthe challenge.

           Yuuki snuggled up against Asuna andwrapped one arm around her. Their height wasn’t so different that it madethings awkward, much to Yuuki’s delight. She buried her face in Asuna’schestnut hair. It smelled like her floral shampoo. To top it all off, she slippedone leg between Asuna’s and cuddled her closer.

           “Mm…I suppose you really are the ‘AbsoluteBig Spoon,’ aren’t you?” Asuna said, chuckling. “You’re quite comfy. This is nice.”

           She shifted a bit in Yuuki’s arms.It was a strange new sensation for her. Was this what Asuna felt when sheadjusted herself as the little spoon? Her cheeks filled with heat, but this time,not from embarrassment. She thought about the position they were in now and wasa bit flustered. This was a special moment. For once, Asuna was in her arms. It made the joy in her heartbegin to overflow.

           “I think we should just shorten itto ‘Absolute Spoon,’” she suggested. “After all, I’m clearly fully capable ofbeing both the big and little spoon.That’s what makes me absolute.”

           Asuna chuckled.

           “You’re so silly,” she mumbled.

           Her voice was very soft, as if shewere falling asleep. Yuuki lifted her head just enough to gaze at Asuna. Hereyes started to slip closed. She really was starting to doze off. Things had tobe done. They couldn’t just lay here forever.

           “Hey, don’t space out on me!” Yuukiwhined. “We still have to make dinner!”

           She gently shook Asuna’s shoulder,trying to rouse her a bit. She opened her eyes a little. Asuna shook her head. Shegroaned.

           “Just let me rest right here in yourarms for a little while longer,” she said.

           Her voice sounded pleading. Asuna’sday must have been tiring. Yuuki frowned and squeezed her gently, trying togive her a hug of support while already spooning her. Asuna placed her hand onYuuki’s and started to stroke the back of it with her thumb. Her eyes startedto close again.

           “Is everything okay?” Yuuki asked.

           Her partner heaved a sigh. She tensedup a little.

           “It’s just…mother.”

           Asuna’s mother was typically a sorespot. She was a bit old-fashioned and still didn’t quite get both Asuna’sdesire for independence and her choice to date another girl. Yuuki could sensefrom the tone of her voice that her love must have had a difficult conversationwith her mother again. It happened semi-frequently, but it didn’t usually leaveher this stressed. No wonder she’d tried to be in a joking mood when Yuuki gothome. She’d needed a distraction from whatever stressful thing she’d discussedearlier.

           “Is there anything the AbsoluteSpoon can do to help?” she asked, trying to poke back into that teasing moodfrom earlier.

           She heard Asuna huff quietly.

           “Is that a no?” she asked.

           Asuna shook her head again.

           “You’re helping just by being closeright now,” she said. “Being able to be here with you, in a calm moment likethis. Being able to hear you breathing. And making little jokes. Feeling yourwarmth against me. It makes me feel better. So, just let me stay like this withyou for a little longer. It’s alright if dinner’s late tonight.”

           Yuuki smiled and gave her a nod.

           “Yeah, maybe we could just order apizza or something,” she offered.

           Asuna chuckled.

           “Not after you went out and boughtfresh, healthy ingredients!” she said. “When we’re done here, we’re going tomake use of them!”

           Unable to counter such logic, Yuukilet out a low distress sound. She didn’t want to get up and cook, even thoughshe’d joked earlier about Asuna starting to doze off. This was a wonderfully comfortableposition to rest in. Maybe she could convince Asuna to order pizza when shewoke back up later.

           Asuna curled up just a bit in hersleep. Yuuki was surprised at how quickly she’d dozed off. She smiled, leanedover to kiss her on the cheek, and then pressed her face back into the crook ofAsuna’s neck to try and nap herself. She’d worry about things like dinner andhow to help Asuna with her problems after they woke. For now, she just neededto enjoy her chance to be the Absolute Spoon—a girlfriend with enough cuddlingpower to make her partner feel safe and at home after a rough day with her mom.

[nomadicism]

Be careful about having high expectations for Gen Lock. The series is created by Rooster Teeth Productions, who tend be to hit and miss. They created great series like Camp Camp, but they also created RWBY, which has a rep for having terrible writing in the later seasons. Characters are unlikable or Mary Sues; the plot is poorly structured and it made a lot of questionable choices. At this point, it could be either or. Only time will tell if it's the next Camp Camp or RWBY.

and

“I would be careful about having high expectations for Gen Lock if I were you. Gen Lock is created by Roaster Teeth Productions, who are also the creators of RWBY. That series went down hill after the 3rd season. Granted some of it had to do with the creator dying, but the writing dipped in quality. After watching the first and second ep, it reminds me a lot of VLD, including the humour. Reviewers said it didn’t dive into character motivation or any of the world building by the 5 ep point.”

Hi Anon, thank you for the Asks!

Given the wording of both of these, I assume they are both from you.

I’m going to try to reign in my salt here, but you happened to hit more than a few buttons with your Ask. Gonna keep this as brief as I can to focus on the core of my answer. I promise I’m not grumpy.

The opening sentence in both of these Asks does not come across well. I can give the benefit of the doubt b/c this is the Internet, but uh…yeah.

RWBY continues to enjoy great popularity and comes up frequently on my dash. I’ve never seen it, it’s definitely not my thing, but it’s still selling to someone, and my VLD mutuals that love it are still talking it up so I’m glad that they have another show to entertain them. I see merch everywhere, it’s got a Japanese dub and a manga adaptation and that’s pretty damn good for a web cartoon that came out of the U.S. Must not be that terrible as whole to merit all of that.

“Mary Sue” is a phrase that means absolutely nothing because everyone overuses it to mean any number of things about competent and powerful female characters, and most of them are incredibly subjective, and rarely ever applied to male characters who meet the same kinds of subjective goal-post shifting criteria.

Perhaps gen:LOCK will simply be the “first gen:LOCK” and not the “next anything.”

I didn’t find the humor in gen:LOCK to be like VLD at all.

Reviewers can eat my asshole.

And on that note:

Not every story benefits from a deep dive, or even a superficial exploration of character motivation or world-building.

Such things are very genre and plot dependent, and the perception of such is subjective.

Some of the greatest short stories, or even long-form novels don’t even bother with much of either if they are not necessary to advance the plot. Not everything needs to be Lord of the Rings or Ulysses.

Who had better “character motivation”, Frodo Baggins from the LotR trilogy or Ripely from Alien? What would “better” even mean for either of those genres? LotR and Alien are worlds apart, and yet, at the end of the day, the protagonists are fighting for survival against an unspeakable horror. The “journey” of their survival differs greatly, and those journeys are the point, the character motivations are really minimal and don’t require a lot of exploration.

Frodo’s character motivation can be summed up as: “save the fucking Shire by destroying a cursed evil ring” and a little bit of “Uncle Bilbo ruined me for the simple Hobbit life with his crazy stories.” While Ripley’s motivation is: “kill the xenomorphs before they kill me and my cat.” That’s it. Don’t even need in-character exposition or a flashback to describe Ripley’s. The genre hands it to you on a blood-soaked silver platter.

I don’t know what those reviewers were watching but the “character motivation” of the main characters that I saw in the pilot episode alone was pretty fucking obvious: HOLD THE LINE in a dystopian world were “freedom” hangs by a thread. They are trying to survive. That’s all it needs to be.

I don’t care why they joined the Vanguard. I have plenty of friends and family within various armed forces and their motivations range from complex to simple, but most of them are a variation on “I want to serve my country and my people.” That’s it, and that’s okay.

Additionally, Julian Chase’s backstory and motivation was made clear in the first 10 minutes through the positioning of him before the wall with his dead father’s memorial flag, and the conversation between the three most important people in his life: mother, sister, and fellow comrade-soldier/girlfriend (Miranda, great symbolism by the way in that name).

That pilot episode is Julian’s “super hero/science fiction origin story”. His Big Damn Hero moment is fueled by his “character motivation” to protect his loved ones, and inspired by the verses from his dead hero father’s favorite song: “Let the Good Times Roll.”

Any hyper-critical reviewer that missed that is full of shit.

And those verses?

“You only live once / But when you’re dead you’re gone / So let the good times roll”

That was clever and poignant foreshadowing, b/c GENRE. It also wasn’t super deep…and it didn’t have to be. It only needed to connect the threads of Julian’s introduction, who he is, something special that he shares with his mother, father, and girlfriend, and what his role will be in the show, and the nature of his being from here on out.

At the bare minimum, someone in the writers’ room is aware (even if only in passing) of the some of the most enduring questions that science-fiction (especially cyberpunk) has asked and navel-gazed over regarding the role of technology in extending human life, and what exactly defines “life” when one has left the meat-space. I’m not expecting gen:LOCK to be an exploration into the ethics and details of transhumanism/post-humanism/singularity philosophies and futurist dreams for humanity. It doesn’t have to be. They’ve already touched on the concepts and anyone who loves that sort of thing will notice.

My expectations for gen:LOCK are that—at worst—it will be as entertaining and to-the-point as the GI Joe cartoon in the 80s. I enjoyed GI Joe (pro-military propaganda aside), it was a regular thing for me to make the effort to watch. I didn’t love it like I did The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers, or Robotech, or Voltron DotU, or Silverhawks, or Jem and the Holograms, but it was still fun and entertaining and it still is.

GI Joe didn’t waste time with a full exploration of Cobra Commander’s backstory or his motivations, nor did it do so with most of the Joes. The basics were all that was needed. GI Joe wasn’t about complexity and it didn’t need to be in order to tell an entertaining story while selling toys. Yes, sometimes you’d get some really interesting episodes that added dimension in between the more obvious filler. Shit, it took like 50+ episodes to get to a Destro-focused episode. I certainly wasn’t watching GI Joe for character motivations and world-building. I was watching because nearly every character had an interesting design and they all did unique things, and Cobra Commander was hilarious. I watched to see what they would come up with next.

Did I really need a compelling story behind Zartan, Zandar, and Zarana? Nope. They were fun villains that gave the heroes hell and spoke with shitty Australian accents. In the 80s, the Aussie accent was all the rage for edgy characters (oh Stingray…).

Do people remember anything about Scarlett other than she was the hot redhead?

I loved Scarlett, she was my She-Ra, and one of the main reasons why I watched GI Joe. But only the most hardcore GI Joe fans remember her stats and abilities. She was actually one of the most highly qualified and skilled Joes. From Scarlett’s Wikipedia article:

“Her primary specialty for the team is counter intelligence. Scarlett is additionally skilled in martial arts and acrobatics. She started training at age 9 with her father and three brothers, who were all instructors, and she earned her first black belt at age 15. Scarlett also graduated summa cum laude, and passed her Bar Exams to practice law, before moving into the military. She graduated from Advanced Infantry Training and Ranger School, and received special education in Covert Ops School, Marine Sniper School, Special Air Service School, and Marine Tae Kwon Do Symposium. Although she is as adept with standard weapons as any of her comrades, her weapon of choice is the XK-1 power crossbow, which fires various bolts with specialized functions. Scarlett is also a qualified expert with the M-14, M-16, M1911A1 Auto Pistol, M79 grenade launcher, M-3A1, M-700 Remington sniper rifle, MAC-10, throwing stars, garotte and KA-BAR (Combat Knife)”

Wow. Beautiful and striking appearance. High intelligence. Great martial prowess. Top shelf military training.What a goddamned Mary Sue.

So, if you’re still with me Anon, my point is that if gen:LOCK can be a “good enough” futuristic-cyberpunk-ish version of GI Joe that gives me fun and interesting-but-not-complex characters in command of infantry mechs, configurable jets, and a color coordinated team of save-the-day-big-damn-hero-style mecha who fight against a sinister force that has weaponized nanotech and colossal mechas that look like War of the Worlds meets Eldritch Horrors then I’ll be pretty fucking happy with it. The bar ain’t exactly high here.

[dlamp-dictator]

Allen Rambles about Dusk Diver

I finished playing Dusk Diver, a small beat-em-up by JFI Games. I originally played it because it was on sale, I’ve had my eye on it for a few months now, and I needed a break from DMC5 for a bit. And boy do I have some thoughts about it now that I’m done with the game. Namely a bunch of nitpicks, but... we’ll get there in time. 

But as always, let’s start with that Synopsis.

Dusk Diver takes place in the Ximending district of Taipei, Taiwan. The story focuses on Yumo Yang, a Taiwanese high school senior that got caught up in a spiritual adventure over her summer vacation. While out with her friend she was randomly pulled into the alternate dimension of phantoms and demons. Before she was about to get killed by one a local loin god protects Yumo by (accidentally) transferring his powers to her. After she fends off the phantoms she decides to help clean her city of phantoms over summer break with the god’s help, along with the help of his eccentric and frugal boss... Boss. 

The plot takes off from there as Yumo pummels phantoms, gains allies, brightens up her town, and learns more about why the phantom and human realms are colliding. I gotta’ say, it’s nice to actually write the synopsis without having to either look at wiki article or outright copy it. This game is very simple for both good and ill. 

So... what do I think of this game? 

Well, unlike Assassins Pride I’ll be going over the bad first and then try to end on a high note, since for all my issues and nitpicks I did enjoy this game very much.

With that said, let’s start with...

The Bad

The Localization

So the localization is very similar to Under Night In-Birth Late[st] in that it feels very unfinished. When I talked about Under Night’s localization I was a little too harsh on it for my current liking and I’ll use Dusk Diver to explain myself a bit better.

Dusk Diver’s localization isn’t bad. I played this game listening to the Taiwanese dub and nothing sounded too off, but the script, the actual words on the screen, were rife with spelling and grammar errors, inconsistent terminology, and even moments where you could read the actual code of the game in the text. This the translation was either rushed, or it didn’t have enough time to really finish it, which makes it feel really sloppy. The said thing is that this game does have a rather charming script despite this, but reading all those errors and trying to correct them in your head can be... annoying.

The RPG Elements

So... this game is a beat-em-up that revolves around doing large combos and keeping up a hit counter to get higher drops of health, SP, TP, and other resources. The main goal of combat is to get combos going, collect SP and TP, and use those to do more damage to the enemies. 

So why is there an RPG level up system in this game?

I still have a lot of DMC5′s mechanics ingrained in me, so forgive me if this sounds pushy, but in most hack-and-slash/beat-em-up style games tacking on an RPG-style upgrade system only slows down the overall gameplay. 

Let me explain. Every time you complete a level for the first time you gain skill points. You use those points to improve your HP, SP, attack, etc.. This doesn’t feel good to do for this style of gameplay. In most beat-em-ups/hack-and-slash games skill points and similar currency are typically used for new moves or special abilities. DMC5′s red orbs are for new moves, Nero’s devil arms, and a limited amount of health and devil trigger increases. Senran Kagura uses its currency for costumes, accessories, and music, with the mere act of leveling up giving you higher bases automatically and more moves when you reach a certain level that proves you’re familiar enough with your current moveset to expand it. Solely making the numbers of damage and health go up doesn’t make you feel more powerful, it makes you feel like you can just handle the enemies that have gotten a lot more health and do a lot more damage for no reason other than slowing down the gameplay. I’ll save my recommendations for later, but the quick version is that the skill points should be used for more moves, more SP, and Drive duration only, as health and attack feel really arbitrary points to tack on for this style of gameplay.

The Platform/Alternate Gameplay Modes

Not often and namely during side missions for the Boss, but sometimes you have to do platforming segments and reach a certain point on the map and defeat some enemies.

They’re terrible.

Much like Devil May Cry, movement, jumping, and generally getting around feels fine save for me wishing Yumo’s run speed a bit faster. However, precise jumping and general platforming just don’t work. I don’t believe there’s a drop shadow in this game, the jumping itself has much different momentum when trying to maneuver in the air, making some moving platforms a pain to reach, and while the platforms themselves are rather large, the moving platforms go too slow compared to a lot of the fast-paced combat, making it a painstaking wait to get to the next fight.

Again, like DMC, this most platform this game should have is fighting on rooftops. In fact, I believe in the second or third mission you did have to traverse rooftops and it was actually pretty fun. Like I said, the platforms are usually wide enough that even with the wonky jumping it’s not a pain and getting to a higher point on the map and seeing the overall scenery is... nice. 

It’s just when you want me to pull off jumps like this is a Mario game is when things get dicey.

But those are all the big issues down, or at least my top three so...

Smaller Issues that Bug Allen

Like I said, I have more nitpicks than actual problems with this game. The game itself is a fine 10-15 hour experience, but there are several smaller issues that just pile up as you play it. It shouldn’t take you out of the game, but they did frustrate me a little. With that said though:

The minimap needs an ability to mark sidequests, it’ll make for a lot less backtracking and random pausing to look at the map and see where I need to go. I understand that this game is a more or less faithful for recreation of the Ximending district, but for non-locals playing this game like me finding locations is rather difficult. 

Since this game has visual novel styled cutscenes it’d be nice to have a log button to backtrack conversations just in case you skim over some important dialogue.

On that note, an option to control the speed of the text would be great as well, as I didn’t see one in there initially.

Cutscene Skip Button. It’s annoying to do the hard mode of these stages and having replay cutscenes I’ve already seen. Especially when I’m just hunting for Dragon Vein Shards.

Dragon Vein Shards should be tied solely to upgrades, as using them for plot advancement only adds to the grind... or so I would say if not for me have twice as many of the shards needed for progression every time. Again, I’ll go more in depth when I talk about my desires in a sequel, but for now I’ll just say these items should either be for leveling up or as a sort of collectible.

I’d like the rank system to be more like DMC, tying clear time, damage taken, max combo, and things like all together so that the end goal isn’t just to speedrun a stage for the S-rank.

Can the menu option be mapped to the triangle button like every other game? It kept throwing me off when I tried to pull up the map.

There doesn’t need to be a small cinematic when you do certain guardian attacks. It locks Yumo in place and has a real high chance to miss its target save for bosses.

It’d be best to map items to the buttons instead of the d-pad, as it kept tripping me up when I was trying to heal. 

I think that’s it for the major nitpicks, so let’s move onto the the good stuff.

The Good

Story and Theme

The story of Dusk Diver is simple, but effective. You go around saving the district by fighting monsters, you see how those monsters effect the district in each arc, and you solve the problem, usually getting an ally along the way. The few people that are aware of your secret job as a magical martial arts girl, usually the elderly or spiritually attuned, are very supportive toward Yumo. 

The game has an overall light, encouraging tone. It wants you to love the city as much as Yumo and Leo do, and it works. All of your side missions have you help out the locals in some way and you gain increased power for the super mode. You work at a convenience store, you partner with the local gods and guardians. Everything you do reinforces the idea of protect, preserving, and understand the town you live in. Yumo gets bonus dragon shard veins by frequently eating at local restaurants and becoming a regular. You help tourists out finding places to visit. You help an elderly man by taking photos of his old stomping grounds and he reminisces on what those old buildings were originally for. You help a coffee shop for free drinks. The list goes on, but a lot of the game reinforces this theme of community and loving the town do so much in. This is a very comfy game despite all the action of bashing demons and phantoms.

Characters

While simple, Yumo as a character is a very cheery girl that just wants to help others. She’s a bit annoyed at being forced to help at first, but she is someone that’s helpful at heart. And seeing her want to protect her friends and town is genuinely heartwarming. 

Plus, I really like her design. I’ve always been a fan of simple street clothes, and black with yellow highlights will always sell me on a character. 

Your guardians are pretty fun too. Leo’s knowledge of the city and desire to help others really gives him a cool grandpa vibe. Bahet’s a quiet and encouraging guy with a noble background despite his punk fashion. Le Viada is a model with a complex around her age and big sister mentality, the list goes on. Again, these characters are simple, but effective.

Gameplay

While I did have my nitpicks, the gameplay is solid beat-em-up action. Light and heavy attacks with the occasional use of the the guardians. And each guardian has a special ability with their damage. Leo can do massive damage to enemy shields, getting rid of them in one or two shots with his more powerful moves. Bahet can slowly chip away at an enemy with his scythe’s poison effect. Le Viada’s guns can outright ignore enemy armor and punch through it, as well as lay down traps, and... there’s a fourth guardian for when you beat the game. I won’t spoil it, but they’re basically a turret that stays in one place while you summor your other guardians, making her unique as you can’t usually summon two guardians at a time. And like I said before, aiming and lining up certain attacks can be a bit unwieldy since some moves playcinematics that lock you in place, but it’s overall fun. Racking up combos, using big AoE moves, it all feels great.

And with all of that out of the way.

Wishes for the Future

Much like in my Fire Emblem rambling I don’t like the idea of correcting a story or game that’s already been finished, but I find no issue with discussing what I want for the future. And I really thing this game can have a sequel. The game states that Yumo isn’t the first person in recent time with latent spiritual powers, or that this is the first time that the phantom and human realms became loose. And hell, Yumo is still someone that wants to protect her town, so it’d be easy to make a game in another area of Taipei that’s gone out of whack, or even give the reins to someone else. And I do want a sequel. 

Like I said, my main issue with this game are some nitpicks that could honestly be fixed with a patch or a two-month delay. If this game sold well enough to get a sequel I’d buy it. 

That said, here are a few things I’d like to see in that hypothetical sequel. Such as...

Rankings

A lot of these are going to be taking a page from DMC since I was taking a break from DMC5 to play this, but the ranks shouldn’t be tied solely to clear time. That just makes people speedrun the stage and miss Dragon Veins. Having rank linked to time, combos, hits taken, and so on would give you some breathing room when you try and explore a stage, as you wouldn’t be punished for being curious. You’d still need to be quick, but you won’t be completely screwed either.

Leveling Up

Leveling up give you skill points that you can stick into your health, SP, attack, super mode duration, just dodge duration, luck, and moves. This game shouldn’t give attack or health for skill points. This is just my belief with design, but beat-em-ups shouldn’t just jack up the health of normal enemies as you get stronger, instead just giving us tougher enemies with different patterns of attack. The game already does this with some success, so those slots that increase health and attack seem pointless. You get skill points when you complete a stage for the first time, or find dragon vein shards. This... really puts a lot of pressure on the kinds of skills you upgrade, and while I’m not against that it does make this very light-hearted oddly restricting as you debate what to upgrade. I’d recommend using those dragon vein shards solely to level up instead of for story progression as well. With each upgrade costing more and more dragon veins as you increase your stats. In this first game you can collect over 150 dragon veins. You only need 50 to complete the story mode, and I had about 75 by the time I reached the final mission. 

I know some people struggled to grab them, but... I didn’t, so... maybe have the veins do something else than gate story progression.

Post Game Activities

If we are going to have a post game to finish up some side quests for 100%, then we might as well have some extra things to do too. 

Oh right, I never mentioned that yet.

Yeah, once you beat the game you’re essentially in a free-run mode to finish some leftover side quests and do a few extra things you might have missed, but... I finished all the side quests before the final story, so I was left with just finishing some hard-mode missions and finishing up my upgrade tree. That said, if there is going to be a post game here’s a few ideas:

Survival Mode where you fight waves of enemies. Some akin to a Bloody Palace Mode where you can compete for a high score among friends and online.

Post Game dungeons that are hard as hell, this could be DLC if you wanted as I wouldn’t mind paying for more content like this.

Extra moves/skills. Yumo’s moveset is rather small compared to DMC and Senran Kagura. If we’re going to have just one character to play as then I’d rather have a complex character that takes awhile to learn than an easy one where I’m spamming the same moves over and over... or give us more characters to play as with equally simple movesets.

That’s really it. The game overall is fun with it’s only real flaw being a rather short game for 35 bucks. Like I said, either some DLC or a sequel would make me feel better about recommend this one, but if you want a fun, short beat-em-up game then this is out on steam, PS4, and the Switch. Feel free to get... though I’d recommend waiting for a sale.

In any case, back to DMC5 for me.

[fleetingblossomofthedawn]

ABCs of your OCs: A, G, H, and P for Kiyo, A, E, H, and T for Saga? If you don't mind...

Of course I don’t mind, I’m super happy you are still so interested in my OCs @fierce-little-miana! I’ll do my best for you! Let’s see..

Kiyo

A: Aptitude 1. what are your oc’s natural abilities, things they’ve been doing since young?

Her natural abilities would be intangibility and invisibility. 

2. what activities have they participated in?

Okay the only thing close to an activity in school terms would be taking care of the shrine she grew up at.

3. what abilities do they have that they’ve worked for?

From a young age she was trained in hand-to-hand-combat styles as well as acrobatics. She mixes these skills with her natural abilities.

4. what things are they bad at?

Kiyo can not swim very well and is in fact afraid of water, because she almost drowned as a child.

5. what is their most impressive talent?

I think her most impressive talent is how she is able to bring out the best in other people.

G: Gorgeous 1. what is their most attractive external feature?

Her eyes are definitely captivating.

2. what is the most attractive part of their personality?

Her sweet enthusiasm and cheerful persona.

3. what benefits come with being their friend?

Apart from the fact that she can sneak into every candy store and rob it for you two without being noticed, she is a loyal friend who will never give up on you and help you be the best person you can be.

4. what parts of them do they like and dislike?

Kiyo actually likes her petite stature a lot and also other people would say her eyes are beautiful, she doesn’t like her eyes and wishes she could change their color.

5. what parts of others do they envy?

She envies everyone with a normal eye color 

H: Heat 1. do they rather a hot or cold room?

Her room would be moderately hot but always cozy. 

2. do they prefer summer or winter?

She doesn’t really prefer either and loves all seasons for what they are.

3. do they like the snow?

Kiyo loves snow and luckily since she grew up in a mountain village there was always plenty of snow in winter for her.

4. do they have a favorite summer activity?

Summer is the time for getting up early and watch the sunrise and go flower picking afterwards.

5. do they have a favorite winter activity?

Just like a certain favourite of ours she likes to make snowbunnies and roasted chestnuts.

P: Personality 1. what is their best personality trait?

In my opinion her best character traits are definitely her kindness and optimism that drive her to see the best in people and helping wherever she can, never giving up on someone.

2. what is their worst personality trait?

Easily what I mentioned above can also be her worst character trait because she is often naive and pretty guillble. 

  3. what of their personality do others love?

Most people find her childlike innocence and unshakeable faith in the good in people endearing.

4. what of their personality do others envy?

I think her determination is definitely something other characters in the story might be envious about a bit.

5. do they hate anything about their personality/about other’s personalities?

As the story progresses Kiyo realizes her own naivety and so it sort of becomes something she hates about herself, or rather she blames herself for being so naive. What she would hate about other people would be if they are selfish, never take responsibility or use other’s for their personal gain.

Saga

A: Aptitude 1. what are your oc’s natural abilities, things they’ve been doing since young?

He has a natural talent for riding.

2. what activities have they participated in?

As befitting the son of a noble family he was educated and trained from a young age in swordsmanship, marksmanship and other martial arts, warfare, politics, philosophy and the arts.

3. what abilities do they have that they’ve worked for?

His education and the effort he put in his lessons himself made him an outstanding warrior and commander as well as a capable and savvy ruler. 

4. what things are they bad at?

Although he loves music, he is actually a terrible musician but will still sing and play his instrument when he needs to relax, much to the dread of everyone else in the castle.

5. what is their most impressive talent?

He is a genius when it comes to battle tactics.

E: External Personality 1. does the way they do things portray their internal personality?

Actually yes, the good as well as the bad stuff. For example Saga thrives for order and thus will make sure he does things the right and orderly way. Similarly his inner turmoil often shows in his mercurial temper and outbursts.

2. do they do things that conform to the norm?

Although Saga is a big fan order and tradition, he is more of an nonconformist and has proven so multiple times, for example in his choice of lovers and the decision to stay unmarried, despite his general’s and advisor’s pleas to take a wife and father children of his own to secure the succession.

3. do they follow trends or do their own thing?

Saga’s whole story basically starts with him basically doing his own thing.

4. are they up-to-date on the internet fads?

Saga would keep himself moderately informed, if he had access to internet.

5. do they portray their personality intentionally or let people figure it out on their own?

Saga doesn’t care much what others think of him, so he is just himself and lets the people figure out the rest.

H: Heat 1. do they rather a hot or cold room?

For reasons, Saga likes his room really hot, to the point that others can barely stand the ehat while Saga is still wearing several layers of clothes and still complaining that he is cold.

2. do they prefer summer or winter?

He prefers summer, but autumn is actually his favourite season.

3. do they like the snow?

*Scoffs* NO

4. do they have a favorite summer activity?

Summer country rides, attending festivals and watching fireworks on a long summer night.

5. do they have a favorite winter activity?

Does barricading yourself in your room while cuddling into a blanket and drinking tea count? Because he is not going to get out into the winter hell if he can avoid it.

T: Truth 1. are they honest?

Surprisingly, yes! Saga strongly believes if people were more honest and open with each other everyone would benefit from it, so he himself is honest and frank most of the time. However if he is asked about a subject he really doesn’t want to talk about he prefers to end the conversation instead of lying. When it comes to battle tactics however, he will certainly use bluffs and ingenuine tactics to win.

2. can they tell if someone is lying?

Well it’s not a natural talent of his, but a certain incident in the past made him more distrustful of others, so he had to learn to tell if someone is lying and is now rather good at it.

3. is it obvious when they’re lying?

On the rare occasions he is actually lying it will not be too obvious for others but pretty clear for those close to him.

  4. have they lied about anything they regret lying about?

Just once, and to someone he held very dear, which makes it only worse.

5. have they told truths that have been spread against their will? 

No need for that because no one lives long enough to spread truths against his will.

Wow, that was long! But it was actually a very good chance to think a bit more about these two, so thank you very much for asking @fierce-little-miana! （＾ω＾）

[booksandchainmail]

nanoha vivid liveblog: episode 11

Time for Corona vs. Einhart!

ok, i know wendi is referring to teo, but i did misinterpret at the start as einhart has been nicknamed kitty cat

... still better than most of the other contestants

attacking from the start, before corona can summon. it’s the obvious weakness of anyone who needs prep in the way she does

but shes ready for this it seems, and starts summoning while still in the air, which is pretty cool

oooh, i don’t think anyone else has used the terrain like this. makes you wonder how corona would fare in a larger or varied arena

damn. the goliath packs a punch

Einhart know the first rule of fighting someone with a summoned creature: directly attack the controller

Or in this case, separate her from the golem to where she’s vulnerable

Oh, seems like goliath needs pretty active instructions at all times, which means with corona knocked away, he just kinda stands there and gets hit

the most brutal attack of this match

I think we’ve seen elements in this in how corona started planning from the assumption that einhart could beat her: she’s very level-headed. That extending into combat is valuable, especially in a setting like this where her opponents are also amateurs and likely to falter under pressure. Though einhart might be less vulnerable to that, due to her war memories

her strengths fit her powers well. She literally creates in order to fight, and she needs to be strategic in order to get time and space to summon.

is she gonna stab einhart

This is a very calm match, in comparison to the others we’ve seen. It’s partly that theyre friends, and there’s no grudge driving them, but also just a lot who they are as people. Einhart and corona are both relatively quiet, but also self-assured. They have good understandings of their own abilities, and you can see that here in how calmly they return to the ring, theres no worry about running out of time or how theyre going to continue

flashback time!

I really love the range of motivations and backstories this show gives the contestants. You do have people with tragic backstories, or who want to prove themselves, or have a deep passion for martial arts, but you also have those who just value the connections it brings, or for whom its just an extracurricular. You don’t need to be deeply motivated to do something, it can still be a meaningful part of your life, and you’re not lesser or shallower for it.

I also like the idea (idk if this is canon) that Corona sought out summoning because she recognized that she couldn’t keep up with normal fighting. It’s a unusual thing in a fighting show to have a character who isn’t at the same level as everyone else, and who finds their own style that draws on different strengths.

this is a great summary of everyone’s motivations, but also einhart is hilariously incongruous with the others 

OH SHIT I THOUGHT THE PARTIAL SUMMONING WAS HER NEW TECHNIQUE

HOLY

FUCKING

CHRIST

shes just knocking einhart around effortlessly

ooooooh

This makes a lot of sense for Corona’s character! She’s a clever and observant fighter who’s willing to innovate but not particularly talented, and who takes motivation primarily from her friends. Of course she studies their techniques, and of course she copies them

And no wonder einhart was caught off guard, it’s like she was suddenly fighting a different person

but einhart gets up

she’s spent her life struggling with hundreds of years of guilt and grief, and just keeps on going through all of that

i think klaus may have been defined by his loss, but einhart is defined by the strength it takes to carry that loss

…y’know, you could have rested a little bit before forcing yourself up, there was plenty of time

oh this is tricky. Can corona press an attack, which is definitely outside her normal mode of fighting, or does she give up the advantage she’s won here?

The other question is if corona also learned anything from rio, or from einhart herself, though I think using her own style against her could backfire badly

… if that’s based off vivio, it’s primarily a counter, and using it for a direct attack might not work as well

ducking like that is both well suited to the height difference, and one of vivio’s signature moves

most of how corona’s moving here fits vivio, or any of the more close quarter fighters we’ve seen, but that arm sweep looked new to me, and seems very indicative of corona’s fighting style. Calm, collected, redirecting the opponent.

and in contrast, you can see how panicked einhart looks, which is very unusual for her

Okay, things are looking bad for einhart here. But she’ll have a chance to heal, and I think the next round will go differently. A lot of corona’s success here is she’s brought out completely new techniques and styles, and einhart’s just been reeling most of the bout: all her fighting’s been very basic hand-to-hand, with basically no hegemon style attacks or more elaborate moves. But with a chance to collect herself and replan, I think einhart’s experience will let her adapt to this fairly quickly. Additionally, a lot of corona’s new moves are based off vivio, who einhart has fought (and beat) before.

so she has copied from rio as well

OH

that’s a neat twist. It explains how she was able to pick these moves up so quickly, and how she can handle without any particular skill at martial arts. This also explains why Nove disapproved: I can’t imagine using techniques meant to control large amounts of stone on your own body is particularly safe.

That’s fucking cool. 

And also a massive weakness, because it makes her predictable. If einhart can figure out what triggers one of those moves, then immediately counter based on knowing how corona will respond, she can retaliate very quickly

from your own memories, or klaus’s?

this is the complete opposite of how I’d expected an einhart vs corona fight to play out

yeah, she’s not just copying specific moves, but entire fighting styles. that is honestly incredible, especially when you consider she had to pre-program them all herself

awww, i’m glad to see she’s in there too

Having multiple settings gives corona a lot more flexibility…

...but einhart’s already figuring out the pattern

I can’t help but think this technique would work a lot better on anyone else. Corona has the disadvantage her of her opponent already knowing all the sources of her automated moves, but imagine a fight where one side keeps pulling out new completely unknown styles every couple of hits.

I guess that’s why this isn’t common

Oops

Yeah the other reason einhart can deal with this is she has a completely ridiculous level of knowledge about this one particular style

And corona is starting to fight wildly, while einhart remains calm. This is a complete reversal of the previous round

Holy fuck is that blood

~tempting faaaate~

and yup, automation is weak to feints from people who know the moveset.

Though to be fair, I don’t know if a non-automated fighter would have dealt with that any better

DOES THIS TOURNAMENT FOR CHILDREN HAVE SAFETY STANDARDS

PLEASE DO NOT MAGICALLY PUPPET YOUR OWN ENTIRE BODY

i feel like that would go badly

fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck

theres some excellent and creepy puppet imagery going on here

And einhart mostly just looks sad here. I’m guessing with memories of actual war, she’s not that happy about her friends pushing themselves this dangerously for a competition?

OR ITS ABOUT OLIVIE AGAIN

because this is einhart, and everything always comes back to olivie

But yeah, the puppet connection would be a bad reminder. And corona’s whole  feeling weak compared to her teammates, and wanting to be able to stand next to them, seems like it connects pretty strongly to olivie’s story 

she just looks so tired and sad here, and i’m remembering how happy she was at the idea of a way to fight without stakes, and she’s just now realizing that even if they aren’t lethal, there are still consequences to these matches

at this point, einhart is pretty in control of the battlefield. she’s brilliant at this kind of fighting, and corona doesn’t have any moves that einhart hasn’t already fought against

I’m starting to think this fight won’t end with an attack, but with corona just collapsing when her magic or body wears out

another connection to olivie with the damaged arms. this must be hell for einhart to have to fight

gods

just, can someone stop this match please? are there any kinds of precautions?

and here’s the hardest part for einhart. Because of her memories, she has a pretty unique first-hand perspective on war. I don’t think mid-childa has had a war, and certainly not recently enough to still have wartime soldiers around. And even with all the pain they cause her, there must be some comfort in the fact that olivie’s dream of peace was achieved, even at the cost of her life. But here, even in this peaceful world, there are still children willing to hurt themselves terribly in order to have the power to fight. And this must feel like such a failure and betrayal of the world to einhart. 

THEN STOP

NO, GIVE UP PLEASE

THAT IS A MAJOR PROBLEM

i want nanoha to show up to stop the match and yell at everybody about techniques that excessively strain your body

THERES MORE?!!!??!!

ok, that’s a fair point. Corona has pulled out some really impressive moves here, but she hasn’t done much in the way of golem stuff. I wonder if in her rush to make up for her weaknesses, she’s discounted her own techniques too much?

finally

corona has amazing terrain manipulation abilities. combine that with her summoning, the automated moves, and even i guess the full body technique, and she’s maybe the most versatile fighter we’ve seen. In a larger area with unfamiliar opponents, or as support for a team, she’d be devastating.

all those anime characters who dramatically slice rocks in half with a sword have nothing compared to einhart

ooh, nice feint using the partial summon as well as the big one. even here at the end, corona continues to fight smart

and now she has a ranged attack as well. no matter the outcome of the tournament, i’m voting corona for mvp

awwwwww

and she uses binding magic as well, because apparently corona reacted to not being as good at punching people as her friends by learning EVERYTHING ELSE

bit of tonal dissonance, but awwwww kitty!

and her golem can reassemble itself.

corona is amazing

but einhart is the martial arts master, and she just stops it stone cold

what a hell of a match. this was definitely my favorite fight so far, and the finale’s gonna have a tough time topping that. The variety of techniques and strategies used, as well as the brilliant character work on corona and einhart, made this incredible to watch. 

it was hard fought, and corona pulled out ten times what anyone expected from her, but in the end einhart managed a victory

but in the aftermath, she just looks defeated

this was a hard match emotionally on all sides

(i count myself as a side)