#so maybe there's also the element of the characters having to fit in different roles to represent multiple personalities

[mysticbeaver]

I find it interesting that potentially NONE of the kids have any friends/acquaintances outside the cul-de-sac. I know it's only cause there was a hard-set rule of not introducing other characters, but think about it... The parents' are still mentioned, their presence (or absence) is implied throughout the show. It would make sense in the school setting for some of the kids to even casually mention someone they know in some class/school club or whatever, especially Nazz or Kevin cause they're the most likely to make easy friends, and yet they don't. Especially Kevin, who seems stuck with Rolf as his only "best bro" lol

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I don't know if this has already been asked, but what did you think of the Halloween event? Is it too early to ask? How did it compare with the other events?

Aaaaah, thank you for asking!! I was actually in the middle of writing my own "these are my thoughts" post even if no one specifically asked 😂 but I'm glad I can just reply to this ask with what I was cooking up~

***Warning: SPOILERS AHEAD!!*** ***Please also note: these are just my OWN thoughts and opinions! In sharing them, I do not mean to disparage those who think differently than me; I only mean to contribute to the discussion.***

I'll be quick and rip off the band-aid now: I liked this event about as much as I did Stage in Playful Land, maybe a little better than Playful Land if I think about it. If you know anything about my thoughts on the previous Halloween event, well... Let's just say it's a mixed bag. Neither of them comes close to toppling the peak that was Glorious Masquerade. (Fandom consensus seems to be quite positive though, with many liking Nightmare more than, if not the same as, GloMasq while Playful Land is still considered the weakest of the bunch.) Playful Land and Lost in the Book with Nightmare Before Christmas both suffer from general pacing issues. The former had an intriguing premise and setting but also many plot holes, a lack of active involvement from the SSR squad, and a resolution that was way too convenient. The latter, Nightmare, was very boring throughout because the majority of the event was centered on party preparations. I enjoyed everyone's bickering and the SSR squad's role in the event, but I wanted more than just that. It's basically like Terror is Trending, but if it had the Nightmare Before Christmas characters also featured. However, Nightmare did have a really interesting ending that played with amnesia and time paradox tropes. It's just that the road to get there wasn't anything special. I'll now get into all of this in detail, but it's quite long. Ready for a read? Then let's go ^^

My Extended Ramblings:

The initial aesthetic is strong. VERY strong, especially to me, a girlie that loves Nightmare Before Christmas and formal wear😭 BY GOD DOES EVERYONE LOOK SHARP AND DRESSED TO KILL IN THOSE NIGHTMARE SUITS... The devs totally popped off with the fits. I also loved how all the characters' coloring shifted once they entered the book; there's notable hatch marks on their shadows and even their skin and hair adopt bleaker saturations. These are SO much better outfits than the GloMaq and Playful Land ones, I'M SORRY BUT THAT'S JUST THE TRUTH. The other events tended to have chunky silhouettes and/or overly embellished elements to their designs that didn't sit quite right with me. NIGHTMARE SUITS HOWEVER ARE PERFECT AS THEY ARE...

... That being said, I think this event's premise was not great. I know everyone's mileage with this will vary greatly, but personally I don't like Lost in the Book events. I don't enjoy having Disney properties so blatantly shoved at my face; I'd prefer it to just be a distant part of the lore and history of the Twst world. The other issue with the event being so closely tied to its Disney film is that the story becomes so predictable. You can't really explore beyond the bonds of what the film has already set up, so you're trapped with whatever status quo Disney has mandated is "okay". (For example, in Nightmare, it has to be set BEFORE the events of the actual film in order to keep things "the same" when the film events actually play out.) Lost in the Books rely on individual nostalgia to some extent to get you invested in what it's trying to sell. This was particularly evident in this event, which featured several characters from the film and made Jack a very big fixture in the story. I for one was not sold on it despite my own fond feelings for Nightmare Before Christmas. I needed it to prove its own merits to me, and I'm not entirely sure if it was successful on that front.

I have made it no secret that I don't like most Twst events in general. Too often does it feel like pointless meandering and sightseeing without anything of real substance happening (though I do enjoy meeting new characters and learning new lore). That's also the case with Nightmare; the scale of the conflict isn't anything spectacular--but that's fine, it can still work as is, even if I don't personally find it interesting. I was still plenty entertained by all the bickering between the boys and between them and the residents of Halloween Town. The highlights for me definitely have to be Jade being a little shit to everyone, Jamil being tormented with bugs, Sebek's big speech in the climax, and Leona just beefing with EVERYONE in sight (particularly Malleus). The comedy and character interactions helped the middle part of the event not feel dull. I do feel like them having to switch groups around halfway through was short of a shoehorned way to prolong the middle of the event though 💦

One thing I noticed like, right away as I was playing this event was how disjointed it felt. And for the life of me, I could not pinpoint why… until I went back and compared the number of chapters per part. This is how the parts break down:

Part 1 - 13 chapters

Part 2 - 22 chapters

Part 3 - 20 chapters

Part 4 - 13 chapters

Part 5 - 16 chapters

For comparison, Glomasq:

Part 1 - 15 chapters

Part 2 - 18 chapters

Part 3 - 17 chapters

Part 4 - 19 chapters

Part 5 - 18 chapters

And Playful Land:

Part 1 - 16 chapters

Part 2 - 21 chapters

Part 3 - 11 chapters

Part 4 - 16 chapters

Part 5 - 18 chapters

Generally, Part 1 is dedicated to setting up the scenario and reason for travel. Parts 2 and 3 are meant for exploring the new location, with a big reveal dropping towards the end of 3 that kicks the conflict into high-gear. Part 4 is for combat, and then Part 5 is the continuation of the combat (with a focus on confronting the Big Bad), climax, and resolution. … Did you notice it? GloMasq (the only event of the three I consider overall excellent) is pretty evenly spaced out. Playful Land meanwhile has a weirdly short 11 chapters in Part 3 but had the extremely long 21 chapters in Part 2 beforehand. The discrepancy is made even worse in Nightmare, with Parts 1 and 4 being woefully short and Parts 2 and 3 being 20+ chapters each. It has the (likely unintended) effect of making the conflict resolution feel really rushed.

Alright, I think I've held off for long enough. Let's talk about the elephant in the room, our new addition to the Halloweenies, Mister Skully J. Graves himself. Right from the get-go, he had a mysterious air about him, especially since he's the first ever character to meet his twisted inspiration. Like I said in my first impressions post, I'm really into his design, but his personality shocked me. I expect some whimsy, but not a guy that flat-out kisses everyone he meets and calls total strangers "lovely dears". At the same time, he has the spirit of "sad wet cat" energy, and his expressions can whiplash between that and being absolutely deranged, which I found kinda charming. I get the feeling that he charmed a LOT of fans, as I saw many gushing about his otome-esque behavior and loving how he always calls attention to Yuu and Yuu's opinions. Unfortunately, Skully has what I lovingly dub "Ashengrotto Syndrome" due to my own experiences with Azul. That is to say, I started off liking both Azul and Skully, but after a certain point (book 3 for Azul, part 2 for Skully) they both took a nosedive right into my dislike zone. This is something I vaguely alluded to in my halfway through the event impressions post. I'm under the impression that this is a surprising opinion, so I'll try to do my best to explain why Skully lost his appeal to me. So the initial deterrent was his defensive and controlling behavior surrounding Halloween. He also gets so nasty and speaks down to others who don't see his perspective, which I don't find cute at all. I've mentioned before that I hate it when characters act elitist/gate-keepy and refuse to accept other opinions or change, and Skully fits that bill to a T. Sure, he might have his reasons, but I still find the result of his reasons distasteful. It's fine if he wants to respect the past or celebrate Halloween the way he's been taught, but it's another thing entirely to force those views on others. I've been on the receiving end of this kind of attitude and it was very unpleasant; I would not wish that upon anyone. (To make a long story short, I had invited a friend from outside my culture for a holiday meal so neither of us would be alone that year. That friend then complained that I was eating "non-traditional" food for the holiday.) Really rubbed me the wrong way when Skully started to tell others about HIS Halloween while being totally against everyone else's suggestions. Some of the others (like Jamil) even made an effort to try and include him anyway after his outbursts, and Skully was still unable to accept this lying down.

The hand-kissing thing was... charming at first, because I thought it was just his way of greeting people. But the more Skully did it, the less charming it seemed to me because of how everyone reacts to it. The others are CLEARLY uncomfortable with it, but he disrespects their boundaries by continuing to do so. To me, that seems very invasive and rude. Skully especially kisses Yuu a lot, and whether or not you like it will be up to individual preference--but personally, as someone who doesn't like strangers touching me intimately, I'm not into it.

During the Halloween planning, I noticed Skully speaking to Yuu directly quite often, which is different than the previous Halloween events. I started to feel a little uneasy about this, and for the longest time I could not tell you why. Then I realized. I don't think I can explain it any better than how I did in a previous post, so I'll copy and paste from there:

Another thing that really bothered me was that Skully keeps asking Yuu for their opinion. It SEEMS polite to consider them, but his intentions are way less selfless than they appear. Skully is often asking Yuu for their thoughts AFTER some other character has disagreed with him. So he is literally only consulting Yuu because he wants someone on HIS side. If you ever pick the dialogue option where you disagree with him, Skully insists there must be a misunderstanding and he will explain it to you no matter how long it takes. Don’t you see??? He doesn’t want to know what Yuu truly thinks; he wants validation in his own way of thinking. That’s NOT actually being considerate. The same shit happens when Skully tries to kiss Grim again. Grim dodges but Skully sneaks behind him and kisses him anyway because I guess that’s what gentlemen do according to him. Bro has demonstrated time and time again he does not value consent nor what others’ thoughts are on anything that differs from his own thoughts.

Skully lets his true colors show around the end of the third part. There, he feeds Jack Skellington a sleeping poison, turns Grim into a pumpkin, then takes Jack, Grim, AND Yuu as his hostages while claiming he'll reign over Halloween. Okay, that sounds great on paper, right? But there's so many practical problems with this.

Firstly, HOW does Skully plan to achieve this??? He's not that powerful since he's a first year; how does he intend to stand up to the NRC students? We even know at this point that he can't use his UM that much. Skully has shown he is impulsive and doesn't think ahead too, because he just assumes that Grim figured him out after walking in on the scene of the crime instead of lying/deceiving him about who poisoned Jack. He could have easily blamed someone else or claimed he walked in and found Jack like this already, but he didn't. It comes off as very near-sighted and not well planned out on Skully's part (which may very well be intentional; I don't think he was written to be a large threat.) I know this event's plot isn't meant to be as serious as prior iterations of Halloween events, but it sure doesn't help build tension for the finale.

We find out later in the event that Skully isn't mistreating his captives; he's keeping them in the bathtub Lock, Shock, and Barrel ride around in, feeding Grim and Yuu snacks, and asking them to please keep quiet. He also rambles on a lot about how he admires Yuu and how he wants to grant them a perfect Halloween, etc. That's... wholesome for a kidnapper, I guess??? But what I don't appreciate is (again) how he keeps shoving his ideas onto me and acting like he knows what's best for everyone. He’s not respecting my autonomy or right to think how I want. Skully is literally made of the most negative traits of Idia and Malleus while having none of the danger level of either one/j 😭 This makes me continue to not take him seriously and think that Skully could easily be beaten up--which does, in fact, end up being the case.

The ones who truly shine in this event are Sebek, Jamil, and Leona. The implementation of the SSR squad in Nightmare is much better than Playful Land. In Playful, it felt like Kalim, Ace, and Ortho hardly did anything unique to save the day; instead, it was a convenient phone call that rescued them from demise. The most I can say is Kalim was open-minded and tried to welcome Fellow and hear him out. Most of the other things could have been fulfilled by any other character, which didn't make the SSRs feel as integral as they were in GloMasq (with Azul's UM being needed, Malleus being the one Rollo has beef with, and Idia understanding the feeling of losing a younger brother and mourning). In Nightmare, each of the SSRs is similarly given a chance to shine with their special skills and UMs.

Beginning with Sebek! He leads a lot of the planning and serves as the one to draw up plans, which earns him praise from everyone, including his seniors. It's excellent set-up for him to later confront Skully about the idea of being recognized and acknowledged by one's idols (which I will discuss later in this post). Sebek is also the first to confront Skully on Spiral Hill after Skully has kidnapped Grim, Yuu, and Jack. In an act of desperation, Skully starts firing off magic and making really deranged expressions; Sebek unleashes his own UM, Living Bolt. This results in a strong flash of light in their location. The impact destroys Skully's shades and causes him to break down--he wore them as part of his ensemble, trying so hard to emulate his Halloween idol, Jack. Skully manages to pumpkin Sebek in the midst of his fit, and Sebek insists that Malleus--his own idol--will surely rescue him. NEXT UP IS L*ONA OTL WHO HAS MADE ME SO ILL THE ENTIRE MONTH OF OCTOBER, HURK 🤢 who heard the shouting. He rescues Sebek (he’s de-pumpkin’d) and Skully isn’t able to touch him because King’s Roar is just too OP 😭 (I’m sort of confused about how tf Leona’s UM works though?????? He seems to be sanding Skully’s MAGIC, which shouldn’t even be tangible???) I’m confused. dbsvsjsnskwk And he tells Skully to get back up do he can keep beating him back down????? BRUTAL. Leona’s been pretty useful up until this point too, taking charge in leading the group, strategizing, sussing Skully out, and thinking long and hard about what his true identity is. Bro’s really working those fat brain cells of his, huh…

I think this is the first of the Halloween events (that introduce new characters) where the new guy’s explicitly said to be in danger of OB. Not sure why that is, it’s just interesting to note???

SkULLy RUNS FOR IT and bumps into Lock, Shock, and Barrel, who proceed to subdue him. Surprise, turns out that Jamil had gotten to them first and Snake Whispered the trio. The kids call Jamil MASTER and -SAMA… My guy, you are so repressed 💀 (I recall it being said in book 4 that using his UM on multiple people can result in rapid blog accumulation so UHHHH I guess I’ll overlook this for now or assume 3 people isn’t an issue????) Earlier in the event, Jamil was like the only person to approach Skully to try and include him in the planning. Must be used to this being a big brother + always dealing with his dorm.

I’m not sure if it’s just me but??? It feels like they overlooked how some of the SSR trio’s UMs worked just to have it fit in the context of the climax they wrote. For Jamil’s, maybe you can excuse the fact that he’s controlling 3 kids by saying it’s easier for him to manipulate young minds. BUT THERE’S NO EXCUSING HOW LEONA CAN SAND MAGIC 😭 At least say he has strong defensive magic that Skully cannot break through????

It’s times like these that make me really question whether or not Yuu is actually important for helping these people learn to get along, because they seemed to have resolved the issue just fine without any kind of intervention from Yuu. Yeah, they bickered and picked on each other too, but they still fixed things on their own (albeit on their own, but it comes together in the end anyway) while Yuu is kidnapped and completely out of the picture.

Vcdnsksksksn The moment that follows is kinda funny and wholesome… Well, for the SSR trio, not for Skully. They all sort of rub it in Skully’s face that he lost and then praise each other but in a back-handed way??? Like they call each other nasty and shit at planning, etc. Leona says Jamil bullied Skully so much that the poor thing started crying, then Jamil accuses Leona of threatening Skully a ton… then they gang up on Sebek (wow, they’re both awful and I love that for them).

Seeing this camaraderie makes Skully throw ANOTHER fit because he’s jealous that Sebek gets all this praise and attention. Meanwhile, Skully is all alone, always alone. Though it’s not explicitly stated, it’s implied Skully is deeply insecure about being by himself, as his classmates at school don’t understand him and rejected him + his interests. He extols a lonely and desolate version of Halloween too, something that reflects his own soul... clinging to the only solace he has in this world, the one constant. A holiday that he cherishes so very much--to the point where his own UM is linked back to it. The big dilemma he goes through this event seems to be a mix of having his own views being questioned as well as having his impression of his Halloween idol challenged. This makes Sebek a good foil character for him, similar to how Kalim was for Fellow and Idia for Rollo in the previous Halloween events. Skully even calls out Sebek explicitly, saying that he has all of the things he has never had. He'll never be disappointed by his idol Malleus (sadhbaslidbas this is ironic, considering the events of book 7), he has senpai who praise him, he has Zero for a friend, etc. Life’s soooo unfair, Skully claims. And like??? I was so shocked to see Sebek acting mature about the whole thing??????? He refutes Skully's claims and tells him straight up that to believe in someone isn't to force your own views onto them so your idol stays how you pictures them in your head. It's a mistake to think of one's idol as perfect--not even Malleus is perfect. Even so, Sebek explains that agreeing with someone and loving/respecting them are very different things... so he will accept Malleus's flaws and love him nevertheless. Even if he disagrees with Malleus, even if they have to part ways, Sebek will accept it. That's really surprising coming from him, seeing as how Sebek acts absolutely SURE of Malleus's absolute goodness in the main story... Now I'm wondering if this event must take place after book 7??? Because that's when Sebek has his own views on Malleus totally shaken. Still, I'm so proud of Sebek for dropping this hard truth on Skully--it's definitely something Skully needed to hear and be reminded of to be pulled back to reality. He also just outright calls Skully put for all his cowardly moves, including going after those who cannot fight back 💀 Very Ace of him to do…

Speaking of Skully, what really put the final nail in his coffin and sent him to the Shadow Realm (my dislike tier lol) was all the tantrums he threw this event. I understand being upset and frustrated. Really, I do. I understand being envious of others, of feeling like you've got no one by your side. But is it REALLY necessary to react like that…? And so frequently… He just shouts “shut up” over and over again… OTL I don't know, it feels like I could sympathize with him more if they properly explained why it is Skully is so into Halloween (besides his hometown being the same) and why he holds the past in such high regard. The most we get is it's just something his hometown is into and when he left for school, none of his peers really accepted that. Is the implication that Skully retreated further into his hyperfixation to cope with his loneliness????? If so, I'm not sure if this was properly conveyed so now Skully is left acting like a big baby and overreacting to everyone trying to get him to calm down. The worst of it is when he claims he’s the one who TRULY loves Halloween and everyone else is fake. That sounds like something straight out of an angry elitist otaku’s vent post. Other characters acted similar to this when on the brink of OB (which Skully was) but never so childishly. This might just be a me thing though, I don't really care for overly emotional characters; they're usually not my cup of tea.

I'm not sure how I feel about everyone forgiving Skully and partying with him at the end for the Halloween celebration. On one hand, yeah, forgiving him makes sense because it's not like he was plotting anything crazily world shattering like Rollo or a participating in a large-scale crime ring like Fellow. Skully didn't really harm anyone (though he did try to shatter someone he pumpkin’d), at least not on a large scale like Rollo and Fellow did. On the other hand, I think it was a little bit too overdone with how sappy it was??? Like why did Jack say he was PROUD of Skully for being so passionate that he went to these extremes for Halloween? Why did Jack give Skully a HEAD PAT after the shenanigans he pulled?? I felt that saying he's forgiven and inviting him to join the festivities anyway would be sufficient. And again, I detest how Skully disregarded everyone’s consent and kissed them (Yuu and the SSR trio) as an apology even when they (SSR trio) already made it clear they didn’t want to be kissed. That just felt super gross to me, not funny or cute 😔

One of the big highlights of this event was, of course, the Twst cover of This is Halloween. Everything about it is just so... *chef's kiss* from the strong vocal performance to the perfect selection of characters to recreate each scene. It's a shame that we can't access the song outside of this event, but I know that I'll be playing it on an endless loop off of Youtube 😂

For all of the issues I had with the story up until this point, I'll be the first to say that the ending was genuinely sweet. Skully actually expresses gratitude towards everyone (a first, lmao) and calls us his friends, the best thing that has ever happened to him, etc. He wants to meet with everyone and celebrate Halloween with them again. BUT. I don't like that he singled out Yuu specifically as someone he really likes. I get the same feelings from him as I do with Malleus... Like, there's a weird over-familiarity and attachment he has with Yuu despite Yuu not doing or saying much to bond with him. His reaction seems unwarranted to me, with a lot of the appeal of his friendship coming from how much the player projects onto him. (And to be clear, I say this ONLY for myself, as Yuu is meant to be a character for self-inserting; in the case where I put myself in Yuu's shoes, I would be uncomfortable with how Skully is acting toward me.)

Now we get to the ending that seems to have emotionally broken the fandom.

I said earlier in this post that I don't like Lost in the Book events, and another reason for that is because there's amnesia involved at the end. I feel like an event isn't worth it if the memories get wiped anyway because then it's like the events never happened at all. However, Nightmare actually played with this trope and did something really cool with it. Even though those who leave the book have their memories erased, they're still left with some residual feelings that can propel people to act. In the Stitch event, this resulted in the boys wanted to vacation to the beach. In Nightmare, Skully--who was transported within the book from his original time HUNDREDS OF YEARS AGO--was so touched by the connections he made in the book that he essentially becomes a changed man. He graduates from NRC and travels the world to spread the joy of Halloween, thus being responsible for why it's such a big holiday in modern Twisted Wonderland, the era which our main cast is from.

No one remembers the book's events, but Skully is so thoroughly motivated by his lost memories... He somehow recreates the Nightmare Suit, BUT DROPS THE SHADES (a symbol of him trying to emulate Jack) BECAUSE HE HAS NOW BECOME HIS OWN PERSON. He shares a jubilant version of Halloween because that's the version he cherished celebrating with his idol and first real friends. History doesn't remember him, but his legacy is still going strong. LIKE THE GAO POSE... DID IT ORIGINATE FROM HIM???? ? ? ? ??????? ?? AND NOW I'M THINKING ABOUT ALL THE FUN THE GHOSTS AND STUDENTS HAD IN THE FIRST EVER HALLOWEEN EVENT... BECAUSE OF HIM SPREADING THE HOLIDAY AROUND

The NRC students don't remember him either, but they must somewhere in the deepest recesses of their hearts... CUZ THEY ALL STILL MAKE COMMENTS ABOUT HIM, LIKE LEONA SAYING BRO LOOKS LIKE A PATHETIC LITTLE MEOWMEOW (exaggeration). There's also the implication that Skully's spirit is still around, since the characters remark feeling a strange cooling sensation on the back of their hands. We never SEE him, but we sense that there's something there. In the end, they promise that they'll make the best Halloween ever in honor of his legacy and we get sequel bait.

Twst REALLY had to go and drop that ending on us and then peace out, huh 🤡 It's hard to put my feelings about this ending into words, but I think I would personally describe it as very bittersweet yet romantic. Not lovey-dovey romantic, but like... it portrays a hopeful future even though it's sad too. Like, it's tragic that the NRC students and Skully will never be able to celebrate together again. But isn't it cool that even though they were born in totally different eras, fate still allowed them to meet and completely change the course of history? And even if they forget about their encounter, that meeting still impacts them to this very day. It changed the world and their lives forever. Reaching for that thing you're missins and forgetting, without really know what it is... Something lingering there, without a form... There's something so dream-like about the concept, I have to commend the Twst devs for coming up with it. In that sense, I'm quite satisfied with the conclusion despite the bumps in the road I ran into on the way.

IN CONCLUSION. Yeah, I thought this event was another mixed bag. The pacing was bad and nothing that interesting happened since the story was mainly about preparing for Halloween. I'm not a fan of Skully. However, what I can say is that Nightmare had a good showcase of Sebek, Jamil, and Leona's strong suits and actually allowed them to resolve the crisis. The ending is also much stronger than Playful Land's and poses many interesting questions about Skully and his impact on history.

[sepublic]

The Owl House Ending Anniversary Livestream

            These are the notes I’ve taken from The Owl House anniversary stream, just the stuff related to the show (though there was a hilarious anecdote from Sarah about having a theater light shine on her bald spot while attending an acting school);

For the finale, the VAs (and Dana and Eden) got to record voice work together for the first time since the covid lockdown. Sarah scream-cried and sobbed right after finishing the final lines for Luz. The recording occurred a few months before the finale aired.

            Zeno revealed that anime dub voice directors usually want a different direction for voice acting than with western animation, but when Zeno did a take for Hunter that he thought might’ve sounded too anime, everyone else was in full approval. From there, Zeno approached Hunter as the “anime emo boy” or “Sasuke” of the show, going for an “eastern anime edgy feel.” Sarah thought this fit given how much Hunter is trying; Zeno feels Hunter wears his emotions on his sleeves no matter how cool he tries to be.

Hunter would 100% be an anime fan and be obsessed with anime conventions in the human realm. Eden mentioned that Dana took a lot of anime inspiration when doing segments such as fight scenes or character power-ups, with Luz’s Titan form being based on Pokemon evolution.

            When voicing Lilith, Cissy would pull from her memories of her aunt Kim in translating the “fun, goofy” energy, and she normally does this for other fun aunt/maternal roles. Elizabeth Grullon brought in parts of her culture and ancestry when doing Camila, as per the advice of her late mentor Ken Washington.

            If the VAs could hang out with their characters for one day: Eden would take Boscha to therapy, and all of the VAs agreed, with Zeno ready to pay for Hunter’s (“The credit card will NOT decline”). Cissy would have a ride on Mike Socks. Elizabeth would visit the Demon Realm with Camila, get some drinks in her, make some arroz con pollo and tostones, put on some salsa music, and just vibe out. Sarah would also visit the Demon Realm with Luz, and wherever Luz likes to hang out; Maybe a beach day.

            Cissy thinks Lilith would go full-nerd when visiting the human realm, having a notebook and pen and going mad as she’s scribbling everything down. She’d stop people on the street to ask if they’ve had apple blood, and be an absolute menace, people would be freaking out.

            Pulling from themselves, Avi thinks Raine would meet things with a little bit of caution, having lots of disinfectant wipes, and eventually get comfortable, freely exploring without inhibition.

            Eden imagines Boscha would thrive in the human world, since there’s so many gullible people she could trick into being her followers. She’d either use the third eye for attention, or grow bangs/wear a beanie to hide it. Cissy joked that Boscha would run for president and win in a landslide, which is a bad idea because she’d have too much power at her fingertips.

            When it comes to Camila exploring the demon realm once everything’s cooled down, Elizabeth thinks she’d be a bit skeptical, but eventually relax, have some apple blood, kick back and make some friends… And then be ready to go back. Not an overnight stay, just a brief visit.

            Cissy was proudest of her performance as Lilith was “Why were you so easy to curse?!” in Agony of a Witch. For Zeno it was Thanks to Them, he felt it was a closed circle for Hunter; He enjoyed balancing various Hunter elements like the Golden Guard role, and the catharsis with Luz right afterwards. He’s glad it was vulnerable and open, wanting his performance to be honest and realistic. For Elizabeth it was Camila reacting to various Demon Realm segments such as Belos, or preparing to fight Kikimora.

Eden liked Boscha’s arc in For the Future, how it came full-circle when she helped the resistance because she didn’t mean real harm and just wanted things to go back to normal. For Sarah it was the ending of Yesterday’s Lie where Luz promises to stay in the human realm, she found it heartbreaking how it was Luz’s two worlds colliding; Sarah couldn’t wait to see the episode in its entirety. Raine was Avi’s first voice-acting role for animation, and they summoned the ‘guttural response’ to free themselves when doing the possession scene with Belos in the finale.

Luz’s favorite human realm drink is coffee or matcha due to her ADHD, the caffeine can help her focus, “turn Demon Realm,” but is also helpful for a nap. Sarah often brings large drinks into the studio, and described her performance as Luz as a cold brew, plus a giant gallon of water, plus some tea with honey after she’s done screaming.

            Hunter would like Red Bulls and go crazy with the energy. He’d apply Demon Realm mentality by believing Red Bull’s “gives you wings” advertisements, and write a letter to management demanding a refund when this doesn’t literally happen.

            Camila would love café bustelo, it’s a big Latina drink and was introduced to Elizabeth by her mom. The 4pm kind brings you to life and it’s the time for tias to gossip.

            Boscha is either a giant slurpee girl, or popping boba, because her third eye gives Boscha an inclination towards eye aesthetics. Plus Boscha could spit boba at people through her straw, which led to Sarah joking about Luz and Hunter walking in bespeckled with boba (“No Hunter, they do not give you wings”).

            Lilith would like pina colada, she’d think it’s the cool thing that everyone drinks, what with there being a whole song about it. Then she’d drink it and go on a tangent about how her mom never loved her, and Luz would ask her in concern how many she’s had. Lilith would collect several of the parachutes in her hair.

            Raine has a sensitive stomach, so they’re into kombucha and brew their own.

            (Fun fact; The group realized the eclipse was happening during the livestream and had a discussion over how to protect your eyes when watching it!)

            Rebecca Rose herself sent a question, asking what they think a palisman would taste like. They joked that Matthew Rhys was NOT here, and Dana apparently headcanons that palismen essence tastes like gushers. Zeno and Sarah joked that Belos has a sweet tooth and he’s obsessed because he left the human realm before they invented gushers. It never even occurred to Eden that palisman essence would have a flavor, it’d just be an energy boost, like pipe tobacco (and Sarah added this was appropriate because palismen are made of wood). Yesterday was Rebecca’s birthday and the VAs wished her a happy one.

            Zeno’s favorite quality about Hunter is his loyalty and dedication; When he sets his sights on something, he’s pretty relentless. He has a really deep well of complexity in him, half is angst but the other half is real heart.

            Elizabeth loves how Camila loves her kid so much that she’s willing to step past herself and her own limitations, her own fears and comfort zone, to connect with and support Luz. Sarah noted it’s like Camila is learning to be a kid again with her arc.

            Boscha doesn’t have a ton of great character traits, but she’s a strong athlete, doesn’t give up, and is powerful; Eden admires that about her, she’s badass. Everything else about her though…

            Sarah likes how Luz doesn’t have an ego; Yes she’s unapologetically herself and doesn’t know any other way, but when she messes up, she has no problem taking the blame and apologizing. She’ll own up to things and fix them. Though it was misguided, Luz was even willing to let go of everything she loved to make up for letting down the Demon Realm and protect everyone. It’s not easy to put aside your own wants and needs sometimes and apologize, accepting that you’re wrong.

            Lilith had a lot of faults, but her willingness to admit her own wrongdoing and go into the depths of her soul to figure out how to be better; Such as being a better auntie/sister, forgiving her parents, etc. She had a lot of growing up to do, and Cissy felt Dana gave Lilith such a beautiful way to go about that.

            Avi was glad to see Raine have stage fright and awkwardness/shyness in public and with social settings, but they can transform by stepping into this fierce protector/hero role, and find that confidence. It’s a multi-faceted character, a full human experience, and felt genuine to Avi.

            When asked if Boscha ever said sorry to Willow and Luz, Eden joked that love means never having to say sorry; Boscha probably skipped over that. Assumed she already said it at some point, the others just have bad memory. I’m sure they know, I helped them. I didn’t kill them and they’re still alive, so clearly…!

            The hardest episode to record was Thanks to Them for Zeno, the VAs had to take a break. It was already cathartic and then Hunter didn’t even get a break afterwards, plus Zeno had the knowledge of the show ending. For Elizabeth it was the finale due to the sadness of the show being over, but otherwise there was nothing hard for her because the experience was a dream come true; She was in pure joy when in the booth. Even when Camila was crying or saying goodbye, it was still fun for Elizabeth. But when she herself is saying goodbye, that’s when it’s hard for her.

            Eden also agreed on the finale due to how long it was (and she accounted for her role as voice director as well), mentioning how the episode was the culmination of so much, there was a lot of ground to cover, etc. It was so emotional how everyone brought so much, saying goodbye together as a cast. Not to mention the catharsis/closure of stamping Belos to death together.

            Sarah concurred, it was meta saying goodbye to the show and each other. But she also found Reaching Out hard, due to Luz’s complex emotions, her coming in and out a lot. She’s dealing with a great loss, and Sarah wanted to honor that grief, but also had Luz masking it, popping up, acting out, and needed to choose how/when to let that emotion come out. The grief wasn’t super-fresh, it comes in waves, and it was in that state where some are in shock or others cry; You never know when it’ll strike, when it’ll put you on edge. So Reaching Out was hard to map out for Sarah, especially with Luz just popping up to do one weird thing and then going away. It was a lot of fun, and workwise it was a lot of pressure to get it right.

            Cissy also had the finale, with the switch from Lilith making amends to being terrible again in the dream sequence being jarring. There was also Agony of a Witch, as the landing needed to be stuck to make the episode work; But Eden and Dana were there for the recording session to help.

            Avi had Follies at the Coven Day Parade, when Eda and Raine had their duel. Avi really had to tap into being angry and mad at someone they care so much about.

            If Elizabeth could give advice to any character, it’s for Boscha to go to therapy. Sarah tells Lilith to stand still and feel her feelings, you poor beautiful witch. Avi tells everyone to not be so hard on yourself. Cissy, to all (especially teenagers): It gets better, you think you know everything and you think you have the weight of your world on your hands (and tbf that was the case), but it gets better. Eden would tell Hunter to take a day off, take a nap. Zeno would tell everyone to do the same, it’s okay to let go. Eden would also advise Eda to lay off the law-breaking, Sarah said not to start her day with apple blood (save it for happy hour).

            Sarah’s favorite Hooty moment was the tea party, and how he would be haunted by his actions forever in Adventures in the Elements. Cissy loved Hooty and Lilith’s friendship, “No witch is an island!” Eden loves the first appearance of Port-a-Hooty, it had her in stitches the first time she saw it; There was sheer terror knowing he could travel. Sarah loved Hooty’s off-screen attack by Amity. For Zeno, it was two guards struggling to describe Hooty. Elizabeth concurred with everyone, and Avi liked it when Hooty just ate things and sometimes ruined a situation because of it. Cissy brought up Hooty’s skeleton bathing.

[awinterrosesstuff]

Tsunade is among my favorite characters. She's strong, smart, competent, empathic, and badass. She has an interesting background and compelling flaws. And most of it, she has such a good introduction. Usually, I'm very happy with the character's introductions in Naruto. Kishimoto really has a talent for it. But Tsunade especially gets a great one. I think it's fundamental. The reader always keeps the first impression in mind. You need to understand the character quickly, their traits and purpose in the story.

She already appeared a bit in flashbacks (Jiraiya & Hiruzen and maybe Orochimaru ?), but we still had to meet her. The next arc is kind of dedicated to it, to introduce her to the story. And it does very well in that regard. What's very interesting in this arc is that both Jiraiya and Orochimaru are searching for her because she's the only capable in their eyes. Jiraiya thinks she fits the role of hokage more than him and the elders agreed. And Orochimaru knows Tsunade is the only one who can heal him. Plus, we get from Gai that's she's the only one who can heal Lee, Kakashi and Sasuke. She has a strong reputation.

She's called in a two panels "medical specialist", "the third of the shinobi three", and "the queen of slugs and elixirs". Kishimoto is building the hype around her character. She's looked in high regards by Konoha and Orochimaru.

And it gets Naruto curious. As much as the reader. That's literally why he asks what she's like. He's about to meet her anyway, so can't blame him. Plus she would save Sasuke (& Kakashi) if they bring her back, that's very important to him.

To balance her previous reputation, Kishimoto comes with another one "the legendary loser". He builds expectations and also gives you one of her flaws. Something really incapacitating for her character. And honestly, I'm quite happy with it. We didn't even properly meet her and we get a background (Hashirama's grand daughter, Hiruzen's student, Orochimaru & Jiraiya teammate), what she's specializes in (medical ninjutsu) and some of her negative traits (she likes to bet and has bad luck). I really wanted to read more about her. She was already interesting to me.

When we're finally introduced to her, Kishimoto expands more on her background and tells us why she became a medical ninja and left the village. I think those elements are quite important to explain her character & personality. As a comparison, we didn't get Jiraiya background before the Pain's arc. I'm not saying it's good or bad, but it wouldn't have worked for a character like Tsunade who literally took Shizune under her wing. It wouldn't have made sense without the background you see. It's also easier to empathize with her.

Another point... immediately, we are shown what she's capable of. Her strength is quite impressive. I think it's the first time we see such a strength. Actually, Shizune who was also trained as medic has different techniques and fighting style. So they both have their own originality while being two medical kunoichis... In my opinion, it's a good point in their favor.

Also, Tsunade is a capable medic. She's the best at it. And it's presented right away. First, she understands the importance of Orochimaru's state and clearly knows what they want her for. Secondly, she's able to use her ninjutsu medical in her fighting style (second panel). Kabuto was immobilized by just one jutsu and Orochimaru is impressed by it. Then she proceeds to heal herself. And in the third panel, she saves Naruto who was on the verge of death. Something that Kabuto thought impossible. And still... she did it !

So her reputation as a medical specialist is well deserved.

Heee, looks how badass she is ! Anyway... after getting hit three times (if I counted well) she still stands and heals her wounds at the surprise of Orochimaru. She should have died right there, it's made perfectly clear by everyone. But she has an unique jutsu that regenerates her. It's her own words.

She cannot die while this jutsu is active. Again that's considerable, because nobody else has anything like that (except for Kabuto who didn't die from Naruto's rasengan). And it's a jutsu she created and a dangerous one at that. Then, she summons Katsuyu, finally explaining why she's called "the queen of slugs" by Jiraiya.

This panel is really something. I think it's the details... it's so good.

Also another point (the last I promise) is the only reason Tsunade was incapacited during the fight... is because of her trauma and her fear of blood. Kabuto has to cut himself to stop her from attacking. There's no other reason mentioned. And she was a retired ninja for years...

A fear and a trauma she was able to overcome as seen in the panels I posted before.

Tsunade's introduction is so good because she has everything you need for a believable character you'd want to follow. She has a detailed background, ambitions/dreams on her own, techniques unique to her, positive traits and some flaws. And a promising character development. The show don't tell is also well done.

Also she has something that works in her favor. Before Tsunade was introduced, we barely get anything about medical ninjutsu. So her speciality is new for the reader too.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Different nonnie from the Tikki-Xuppu person, but what you said about Tikki’s personality fitting Order better than Creation made me think about how Pollen would’ve be a better fit for Creation symbolism-wise over Tikki given how much bees better fit that image over ladybugs with their beeswax, honey and hive-making, not to mention the intimate relationship humans of various cultures have had with bees for literal millennia. Even the restoration of Miraculous Ladybug fits bees better due to the connotations of pollination and how essential bees are for the world’s ecosystem. In a universe where Pollen was the kwami of Creation with Tikki’s canon powers (though with bee-theming of course) to Plagg’s Destruction, how do you think things would’ve gone with Marinette and Adrien while having their canon personalities? How do you think they would have played off of each other with their canon personalities?

(Post that spawned this ask)

Before we begin, I want to note that my answer is probably going to be at least a little biased by @zoe-oneesama Scarlet Lady comic because Pollen has a big role in that and Zoe's read on Pollen pretty closely matches mine. Do with that what you will.

This is the first Kwami swap that I could see working. Plagg's personality is so iconic that it's hard to imagine anyone being an improvement, but Tikki is pretty generic. While she has a clear personality, she has no real interests or hobbies that make her stand out. She's mostly just here to be cute and act as the writer's mouthpiece. While I hate that for her and think she deserves better, it does mean that booting her and replacing her with a different Kwami doesn't feel like you're breaking a core element of the show so long as her replacement plays off the other characters well.

We don't see much of Pollen in canon, so it's hard to get a great read on her, but she her love of calling Chloe "my Queen" and the fact that Pollen is a bee give me vibes of a loyal, devoted Kwami who thinks that her Chosen is the best thing ever no matter what. Compare that to Plagg who delights in tormenting his Chosen and there's major potential for some excellent banter and fun contrasting moments, which is what Tikki's replacement would need to be able to do. Tikki and Plagg's contrasting dynamic is a lot of fun and you wouldn't want to lose it. Pollen and Plagg's dynamic would be different, but in a similar enough vein that I think it could work. Which is actually a point in Pollen's favor. If she was just another Tikki, then there would be no point in making the switch.

While Tikki is often dishing out lectures, her most valuable role is building Marinette up in moments when Marinette is feeling down. Pollen should be able to do that no problem. If anything, Pollen may be a little too zealous in supporting Marinette, but since Marinette isn't often shown to listen to Tikki's advice, that's not really an issue. It could even be a new source of comedy where Marinette comes up with insane plans and Pollen hypes her up while the audience watches in fascinated horror. It could be a lot of fun and also give Alya a better chance to fill the voice-of-reason role that she's occasionally allowed to have. That's one of the many awkward things about Alya knowing now. Her and Tikki often fill the same role on the civilian side since Tikki isn't presented as a wise, ancient mentor who knows things that these kids don't.

I especially love the idea of a Kwami swap where Adrien is praised to death and then refuses to give Pollen back because he needs this right now, okay? His lady can have the cheese loving gremlin for a few days while Pollen floats after him, calling him a Queen and praising his every move. Maybe Pollen even starts sneaking into his backpack and leaving him whatever her favorite treats are as a little sign that he's appreciated, leading Plagg to get all territorial, which further validates Adrien. (I just really like comedy that has a sweet undertone, okay?)

Since we don't have a full understanding of Pollen's personality, I won't speculate further than that as I'm trying to avoid getting too far into the realms of headcanon, but I do really like this idea and think it could be a lot of fun. I even like the idea of Pollen as Creation because bees do make more sense than ladybugs from a theme perspective. Plus Ladybee was such an iconic look, one of the few good unifies, and a version of that without the red would still be fabulous!

[weepingpatroldragon]

Freminet being a magician even if he isn't a regular assistant is an interesting aspect of his character

On one hand you can't convince me this man wouldn't have a little bit of stage fright which can be an interesting thing to play with if done correctly

On the other hand

I ask what even made Freminet want to be a magician in the first place?

We are never given a clear answer possibly because it might be something they want to talk about later if they ever come back to this plotline

What we do have is a good educated guess

Some lines from Lyney's teaser

In the eyes of most people

Magic tricks are like miracles

But as magicians, we prefer to think...

That great miracles are like magic tricks

Whether Freminet is looking at magic as the ordinary or is actually understanding the meaning behind there is an element of miracle in it

And Freminet wants everyone who is in a dark place to find their miracle

Plus magic is kinda the extension of fantasy

Think of this way

You read novels of different kinds and then you write your own novel by taking inspiration from the previous novels you have read

It's consuming media first and then later making your own by taking inspiration from everything you have read

And by becoming a magician he is sharing the ideas and fantasy in his head

Common for most people who have artistic persue

We also sort of see him do something similar to this before when he tried to share his love for mechanical penguins only for them to be not popular with kids but this does show that Freminet at least tries to share things that brings him comfort to other people and fantasy is also something that brings him comfort so him sharing his fantasy through magic tricks isn't out of character

Plus it's Lyney's magic tricks that makes Freminet smile if he becomes a magician he could make other smile as well

Another aspect is his family

Maybe Freminet just wants to be closer to Lyney and Lynette

Freminet has always been an awkward fit in their relationship so him trying to be a magician even if he isn't a permanent addition would make it so all three siblings would have something that they can bond over

Or perhaps he wants to understand them better by trying out a key aspect of the twins past and current dynamic

Or maybe it's something else entirely it's still too early to say for sure

Regardless I think he fits the role as according to Lynette's character stories an assistant magician works in the shadows perfect for someone like Freminet who also very much works in the shadows

[charmspoint]

I'm not like, an art blog or anything but if anyone is feeling super discouraged as all this ai shit roles through and is maybe thinking 'art is so hard and impossible to achieve without years and years of practice, i might as well use ai because it's the only way to make what I'm envisioning', I made this in like two hours:

I'm not an artist and you can probably see that. Pretty much all art I have done is either done by my brother or commissioned. I have 0 art training, I don't draw on the regular, last time I seriously drew was probably a couple of years ago. And I did this in two hours. I looked up a bunch of things, used plenty references, googled stuff like 'pose references' and 'how to draw boots' and here is the result. Just like, don't be discouraged, art is not some mystic skill only a chosen few can master. All I needed to draw this can be found in any store that sells school supplies and some time and effort. You got this, I love you, never give in to the easier path.

And now me rambling about the process under cut cuz I had a bunch of fun!

So this is a drawing of one of my dnd characters. She's an eladrin (fairy flavored elf for the uninitiated) and her original class was barbarian but I'm going to reclass her into a druid next time I play her because I decided it fit her backstory more.

Here's her initial design from like two years ago

The concept was 'barbarian but she's a magical girl lol' and a darker color scheme prevailed because I was trying to fit her into a CoS campaign :I I ended up changing characters hvhnvh. Anyway since I decided to reclass her into a druid and focus on her backstory more, making her a more serious and grounded character, I decided to switch from a lolita inspired style to a mori kei inspired one instead. At least when it came to styling and layering. I decided to leave colors leaning more towards pastel pinks to keep the original hyper fem feeling of the character. I also decided to change her hairstyle from twin tails to twin braids to give her a more mature look reflecting her more thoughtful and reflective rebranding. I kinda wanted to make her braids even longer but uhhh drawing braids is kinda confusing to me but I did my best anyway.

Pose is always the hardest part of drawing for me aaaaa, I'm shit at judging proportions and not nearly passionate enough to try and do that part slowly and precisely so I usually just kinda end up winging it. I also gave up on the legs cuz like...I'll give her a dress anyway :I...have I mentioned I'm not an artist. Her pose doesn't have much to do with her character the way it does in her original picture, I honestly just wanted an easy pose to draw so I can show off hair and outfit. Dynamic poses make drawing clothes a lot harder for me (if u would call the pose in the og pic dynamic...once again I'm not an artist)

Hair and outfit are like my fav parts to do and what I spend the most time on, from looking up references, to trying to get it just right, to making little tweaks and changes to trying to do my best with store bought colors to get the colors just right. The part where her shawl and braid and top of the dress are was the hardest to make sense of and I did my best about it hzbhjbhj hopefully it looks nice. Also the top of her dress was a test bunny for how i wanted to combine brown and beige for her dress and i accidentally used the wrong and stronger shade of brown, hence the top looks different...drawing by hand hard. Also yeah I did change the positioning of one of her legs between pose sketch and outfit sketch...I couldn't figure out how to draw a boot like that.

Here are some outfit references I used! I took elements from all of these (the white bits are supposed to be lace but like...I'm just one girl with a pen).

That's about it :3 I'm very happy with it, she ended up super cute. I honestly surprised myself with how good it looks. It reminded me how much I actually like drawing hair and outfits, I used to do that a bunch back in high school and college. I should play more girls in dnd so I can draw more cute outfits. I can't draw men because if I try to draw a man I will die.

[toothlespoggers]

here’s some concept art for an Idea I’ve started to plot out!

I had an idea recently that Papyrus and Sans moved to deltarune because sans didn’t wanna be stuck in the loop and papyrus had to come with him. But when they get there papyrus hates not having his friends or the magic and familiarity that he’s used to so he discovers how to create dark fountains as a way to bring control and fun back to his life. The first dark fountain he made was in his room and so I was coming up with dark world and darkner ideas for like the room.

I’m thinking the pirate flag is its own like pirate kingdom and there’s like a pirate skeleton king and a baby pirate skeleton that’s like the prince, and they have like their own cyber city sorta thing because of the computer- and the squiggly carpet is water, there’s some kind of fire land on the carpet, the bed is its own like city maybe? Stuff like that.

I was also thinking about how Ralsei serves as like a comfort to be like asriel to Kris. And stuff like that. So I was thinking about what the person Papyrus would miss would be, and I thought it’d be his relationship with Undyne. So I wanted to make a darkner in sort of Ralseis role but different. For papyrus. I’m thinking a Undyne-like darkner named Kamikaze. My inspiration for the name and character is that one httyd character from the books by the same name. I think that sort of personality would fit pretty well.

I was going to put a whole new au name to this and what not, but when I was brain storming all my ideas kinda fit with something I had already worked on in the past. And so I think I’m just going to combine it and workshop that.

so this is going to fall under DESPERATION!Tale

I think the core element of papyrus’s desperation will validate the au name choice pretty well.

I didn’t exactly have anything massive planned to showcase or whatever yet, I just had these ideas that I wanted to share since I’m probably not going to have anything come from it in a while.

I have changed a lot of the initial concept art and work for DesperationTale compared to my old art in the tag.

[greyplainsttrpg]

5e Villain Arc 8

Hey, it's been a while. I was really depressed and broke for a while, and now I am less depressed and in process of being less broke.

Unlike many people who manifest their depression into anger, my anger is the righteous authority of my positive outlook on life. The happier I am, the angrier I am. Happy, at least on a scale of of "uwu sad boi" and "maybe I am not a complete failure." Basically when I'm not a sad boi, I remember that, "you know what, I WAS right all along, I was just too sad to notice it." That's why I then get angry because I feel that my sadness made me capitulate to things I never would have, otherwise.

Anyway, this Villain Arc is about the Bard

The Bard is actually ridiculous. Who fucking thought that this Class made sense. Now, granted, the Bard Class has always been, in my opinion, a bit unessesary. Much of what gives the Bard their identity is not actually that unique: the ability to play/perform music. Any Character can pick up an instrument and learn to sing in most editions of D&D, so the Bard doesn't really have a sole ownership to the "musician" role.

The Bard, instead, is designed to be a "Jack of all Trades, Master of None" Class. Which I do enjoy. Despite my previous statement that they are "unesseasary," I do think Bards are fun and interesting. I have played Bards several times in AD&D 2nd and have found them to be consistent contributers to the adventure. Combining elements from Villain Arcs 4 and 7, an important thing to note about Bards in earlier editions is that they are required to have decent Charisma (15). This means that they will have access to more henchmen than most Characters besides a Paladin (if anyone ever got to be a Paladin) and the Enchanter Specialst Wizard. Henchman are good for reasons stated below. Playing a Bard, you always feel like you are contributing, but that there is someone else in the party who is better than you at whatever you are trying to do. And that's okay. A lot of the time, the party really needs two people doing similar things to solve a problem. More fireball never hurt anybody. They also have the ability to buff Characters around them, and this becomes a staple feature that makes them unique.

The Bard makes a lot of sense in AD&D 2nd in particular because of how Multiclassing works. You could be a half-elf Wizard, Thief, Fighter and approximate a Bard, or you can just be a bard for 1/3 the EXP requirements (it's complicated) and gain some unique features as an upside. And if you are a human, Bard is about the only place for you to be that sort of a multiclass (humans cannot multiclass, only Dual-Class which is different). I could write up a full "how to play guide" for the AD&D 2nd Bard, but I won't. It is worth noting how weird the Bard was in AD&D (1st Edition). If you don't know, you should look it up. Interesting ideas, but ultimately pretty weird.

The point here is that 2nd Edition did a pretty good job defining what a Bard would be. They can do everything (besides heal), and they have a special niche with Charisma and Music, but they are balanced by a lack of potency. 3.5 follows this up with a pretty straightforward adaptation of the Bard. It is exactly what you imagine a Bard would be from 2nd to 3rd. My biggest gripe with the 3.5 Bard is that they get access to healing magic. This breaks a pretty fine balance of spheres of influence on the game that I think the Bard, as a class with a certain identity, can never recover from. Since, obvioulsy, the Bard has spent more time being able to heal than they haven't, it might be reasonable to believe that Bards SHOULD be able to heal. After all, they are a support class! Support = heal! This is a capitulation to video game-logic that I find to be dull and unimaginative. Fitting Dungeons and Dragons, and tabletop roleplaying games, into the framework of DPS, Support, Tank, the baseline archetypes of Roles in many competitive and roleplaying video games, is concerning. While there are parallels, because these video games are often inspired, in some form or another, from D&D, these are not accurate ideas about how a game actually works. The fundamental assumption of designing the game to function in this way is that combat is the default nature of engaging with the world, and this is simply not true in tabletop games. Players have the agency to approach problems however they wish using whatever resources they have access to. Placing Bards into the basket of "support" strips them of their unique identity as "Bards."

This is my biggest critique of 4th Edition. This is a bit of an aside, but I promise we'll get back to the subject soon. It is relavent.

I don't hate 4th Edition.

I am not 4th Edition's #1 hater.

I would rather player 4th Edition than Hasbro's: Wizard's of the Coast's: Dungneons and Dragons (2014 or 2024).

However, 4th Edition is the most "a video game" of a TTRPG in the entire D&D catalogue. That does not make it a "bad" game. I think that much of the actual design of 4th Edition is pretty good at fascilitating the kind of gameplay it is going for. I just don't like that kind of game. And the primary issue is the the four "Roles" system: Stiker, Defender, Controller, Leader. To their credit, it is not the MMO three role system: DPS, Tank, Support, so at least they were being unique within the framework. However, placing the classes like the Bard into the same category as the Cleric is kind of the kiss of death for the Bard, in my opinion. The Bard is no longer an economy multi-class single-class, they are support character through-and-through (with even more emphasis on healing).

Okay, back to Hasbro's: Wizard's of the Coast's: Dungeons and Dragons (2014). As with many elements of this game, Hasbro's: Wizard's of the Coast's: Dungeons and Dragons (2014) took most of its game design philosophy for the Bard from its 3.5 itteration. It is back to being an economy multi-class Class with unique upside. As per the usual (see my other villain arcs), this comes with many instances of jank.

5e Jank That Applies to the Bard

Dexterity: Well well well, if it isn't a returning villain from Villain Arc 4. That's right, Dexterity is one of the primary attributes of the Bard. How cool and exciting. They are ever so slightly throttled by not getting access to longbows immediately, but being an elf should patch that up (with a bonus to Dexterity!)

Charisma Good: Charisma has always been "good" or at least better than expected in most editions of D&D. Being able to influence NPCs is pretty incredible. However, with the shift to so many casters being Charisma-based, it means that min-maxing your Bard is actually very easy (to clarify, this point is about how in older editions, Bards needed to actually have to spread out their Ability Scores to get the most benefit from their full kit).

Skills Nerfed: Characters, on average, have way less access to Skills in 5e than they used to in older editions. These were also gated behind Intellignce as the bouncer to get in. However, the Bard does not really have to contend with that. It gets the second-most number of Skills off the bat (as if they had a good intelligence score in earlier games), and they get half-proficiency to all other skills they are not proficient in, IN ADDITION to: "Your proficiency is doubled for any ability check you make that uses either of the chosen proficiencies," Expertise.

HP Buffs: The fighter gets to keep their 1d10, but the Bard now gets 1d8. Cool. This means that, on average, a Bard with equal Constitution will have two fewer HP at 1st level and 1 fewer at every level thereafter than a fighter.

Full Caster: The Bard is now a full caster. Sweet jesus.

This all mixes into a perfect storm that makes the Bard an exceptional base-line Class. It gets passive bonuses to its Ability Score-potency relative to the Martials, Clerics, and Druids in all the major categories.

We have talked to length about Dexterity, however I cannot stress how much the bard benefits from the buffs to dexterity in combination with bounded accuracey. The Rapier is a frankly stupid weapon that makes me extremely frustrated both to use and have used against me. It's not medieval, it's actually quite heavy, it's really bad at combating armor, etc etc. S-tier weapon in 5e. There is basically no reason to ever use a longsword. I am amazed that they bothered to only give the Bard access to Hand Crossbows. Anyway, all this together means that, at level 1, the Bard is not considerably worse than the Martials at combat. In fact, they are basically equivalent. Because Carrying Capacity is the way it is, there is no reason to invest into Strength. Ever. Actually, the Bard might be better in combat than a Martial becuase Dexterity factors into Initiative and Strength doesn't.

This game, as well as the Bard in particular, completely cheats the reasons to have a high Intelligence score in other editions. About the Skills in 5e, a clever reader might tell me, "WEL AKSHUALLY, the bard in 3.5 gets 6 Skill Points every level compared to the Rogue's 8 Skill Points, so it is the same ratio!" Okay, now tell me where Jack of All Trades is in the 3.5 Core Guidebook. Where in the Bard section of 3.5 is the feature that gives them bonuses to every skill in addition to that 6 every level? In 3.5-terms, this is like giving the bard 6 + Int (standard) + A BUNCH for free. Exactly what this number is is not worth calculating, but it is more than 2 relative to 8. The result of this is that the Bard is passively benefiting from a high Intelligence as it factored into past games that other classes did not recieve. This is kind of a wonky argument, but I stand by it.

I can see impriving the Rogue's HP. I think the Rogue might be the only class to deserve a bigger hit-die. Why does the Bard get a bonus +2 to Consitution pre-built into their Character? Fucking ridiculous.

Making the Bard a full caster still absolutely baffles me. They get rougue-adjacent (and/or better) skill allocation, they get near-martial level of combat, and they get Wizard Level combination of power and utility in spells. The Bard has the second-best spell-list in the game, and this is supplemented by them being able to pick Spells outside their List with Magical Sectrets. Yes, it loses out on some DPS staples like Lightning Bolt and Fireball, but it makes up for this in still having decent damage spells, HEALING, and utility. Utility spells are really the engine behind reddit cheese strats, and the Bard gets access to basically all of them. Viscious Mokery is a really potent Cantrip for both being able to do damage and throttle most martial enemies at the same time. I hate Viscious Mockery memes so much.

The Result

This is not including all the Bard-specific features that they can provide a party that no one else can. Bardic Inspiration is pretty essential in a game with bounded accuracey as one of the few ways to actually make number go up without instead giving yourself Advantage. Song of Rest is pretty great at low level. The Bard is the best Class in the game, although it does not have the best Archetypes (although they are pretty good). Specifically, being a full caster and getting Extra Attack at 6th Level, while I think is just fundamentally worse than the Lore Bard, is really insulting to Martials. Consider the Beast Master Ranger and the War Bard. What the hell? Also, consider giving the Bard the Moon Druid Archetype. It would clearly be the best Class/Archetype combination in the game, in my opinion. The Moon Druid is, frankly, only held down by its Class being an otherwise okay, full-caster. The Bard has the best overall, average numbers in the game, all things considered.

The Bard being extremely potent means that you are going to see them a lot while playing the game at different tables. I have heard it said that "every party needs a Bard." And god fucking damnit do I hate playing with Bards. Something about being a Bard turns players into the most obnoxious, anti-social, evil gremlins in the world. It's miserable, and it makes playing and running the game a fucking nightmare when everything anyone does is retorted by another fucking quip and a 3-minute jam-session to "oh, this reminds of this song." You liking music is not a personality trait. I'm sorry. That's like saying "needing to eat food" is a personality trait. That's not unique. You liking music is not fundamentally unique or interesting. You are not fundamentally unique or interesting for playing a Bard in Hasbro's: Wizard's of the Coast's: Dungeons and Dragons (2014). You are a power-gamer masquerading as a "roleplay over rollplay" dipshit who waists the time of everyone at the table with your shitty middle-school improv horny-evil fanfic nonsense. And I am tired of the game that promotes the most obnoxious style of play to be front and center because it is attached to the best Class in that game.

----EDIT-----

AND THEY FORCE THEMSELVES INTO THE FRONT OF ALL OF THE ROLEPLAYING. Even out of combat, the Bard is the only one that really gets to play the fucking game. "You should really let me talk to the priest, I have a high Charisma and Charm ^-^ ."

You see, older editions of Bards were actually quite difficult to play. Both during creation and in-session, a Bard-Chararcter is an interesting challenge to balance around the specific pattern of the party. The Bard can fill in multiple gaps the party has or double-over a few specializations when needed. However, this was always difficult and risky because your stats and features were not concentrated to support being good at all those things. You had to be smart and pay attention to when you need to transition from one mode of play to another. The Bard, truly, was a support character for the party. Rarely ever the main character but very useful in many situations (especially for small parties). Now, the Bard can solo an entire campaign by themselves. They can do everything. They do not need help. Anything another Character could provide can better be handled by the Bard with a Scroll or an NPC that is fiercly loyal to the Bard due to either magic or Charm.

Here is my take. I think everyone is playing Bard wrong. I think that optimal Bard performance is Dex + Con. What do you use Charisma for? Spell DCs and Spell Attacks? Hear me out, just don't cast Spells that require saves against monsters that you think are good at those saves and get a bunch more HP instead. Like I've said before about Cantrips: just fucking look at the monster and guess. Bonus to hit isn't even that important because of bounded accuracey. If you plan on using Charisma Skills, just use your "Your proficiency is doubled for any ability check you make that uses either of the chosen proficiencies," Expertise on those Skills. Like, you really don't need Charisma that badly. I mean, you might as well go 8, 15, 15, 8, 8, 15 oonga boonga because it's not like Charisma is hurting you either. I would probably rather go 8, 15, 15, 8, 15, 8 and get a "Your proficiency is doubled for any ability check you make that uses either of the chosen proficiencies," Expertise in Perception and use my spellcasting entirely for healing and support. Yes, I think Perception is more valuable than attack modifiers to spells. Why are you attacking? Just turn invisible and teleport and caste haste (Additional Magical Secrets at 6th level). EZ. Perhaps Hill Dwarf is the optimal Bard build because it boosts con and wis. 8, 14, 15, 8, 14, remainder Hill Dwarf bard. This is a joke, obviously Stout is the best because +2 DEX LET'S GO 8, 14, 14, 8, 15, remainder stout halfling. SO MANY CHOICES I LOVE THIS GAME EVERY CHARACTER IS VERY UNIQUE AND MECHANICALLY DIVERSE.

Previous Villain Arc

[theresattrpgforthat]

Almighty TATTRPGFT, I ask you what is a good fantasy ttrpg thats like a smidgen simpler than/tighter than dnd thats flexible and has individual character progression thats cool? (I am so damn tired of dnd and after I finish my lancer campaign I'm gonna try to run a fantasy thing thats about world hopping since my brain cant stick with just one world... I wanted to run OSR stuff but most of my players want to keep their characters longer than a couple sessions)

THEME: World-hopping Fantasy Games

Hello there, so I’ve got some world-hopping games for you that I consider all much simpler than D&D, although the way they cater to your players’ wants may vary. Now I’m personally biased towards Forged-in-the-Dark games if your characters want to hold onto their characters and explore all of their mechanical and narrative details, but I’m also hoping that folks will see this ask and suggest more fantasy games that give you cool character abilities - maybe you can even mesh some regular fantasy games with something else on this list!

Portal Rats, by Tore Nielsen.

Portal Rats is a stand-alone fantasy tabletop rpg, based on the Black Hack rules. 

There is an unlimited wealth of worlds out there. Some are embodiments of ideals, some the product of a god's fevered will, and some who seem to have congealed from pure potential. In Portal Rats you can visit all of them. 

The core mechanic of Portal Rats is a roll-below test, using a d20 against an attribute on your character sheet. You have six attributes that should remind your players of D&D, although the backgrounds of your characters are less about your race and more about what you did in the past. The rules of the game look to be pretty concise, with much of the 58-page book being different character options and character classes. You level up when you finish a mission or quest, which results in more hit points, and higher attributes.

This game is probably close to what you as a GM are looking for: it’s an OSR mindset, with very little that allows the players to hold onto their characters if a roll goes badly. That being said, if your players are attached to their characters, they might be able to bring out emotional and narrative elements regardless of the system. Therefore, even if you pick up something that is more similar to OSR, they’ll find ways to role-play.

Vergence, by Small Cool Games.

Within the multiverse are a few places of great power called Vergences. They are ruled by families bred for the ability to open portals between worlds.

You play a member of one of these empowered bloodlines. Your birthright gives you the capacity to travel across infinite dimensions and manipulate reality.

But you’ll need to deal with conflicts involving your own powerful and manipulative family, secret conspiracies, mystical enemies, moldering gods, terrifying monsters, ancient artifacts, and existential threats with the potential to affect all the worlds of the Umbra. And possibly your annoying little sister…

Vergence is a Forged-in-the-Dark game that really amps up your character’s powers and broadens the stakes to a cosmic scale. Vergence is a much looser interpretation of Blades, taking away much of the bookkeeping found in the vice and heat mechanics that punish typical Blades’ characters. You also level up as a group, rather than individually, which I understand might not be what your playgroup is looking for, but your characters are still uniquely powered individuals with special abilities.

1400 Planes, by Unknown Dungeon.

1400 Planes is lo-fi hi-fantasy. 

The multiverse roils with boundless existence. For many, the infinite planes of creation drift past at an immeasurable distance, their alien secrets perpetually out of reach. However those who break their mortal shackles and cross that liminal space, wander such exotic spheres on an eternal pilgrimage.

1400 Planes is a stand-alone table-top RPG. The rules are short and easy to learn and the whole game can fit on a single sheet of paper.  It can be played using just the rules provided, or combined with other entries in the 1400 series to expand the world and provide more character and game options.

24XX games feel very slim and small, but I think they can provide the base for something bigger that caters to your group. They can also be combined with other games that use the same rule-set very easily, which you could use to provide interesting level-ups for characters. 24XX games are also usually pretty cheap, so you’re not going to break the bank picking up a few to play around with.

Planedawn Orphans, by Sharkbomb Studios.

Set in the Planar City, a strange melting pot that connects the vast diversity of the multiverse. You all play Planar Orphans stranded in this city, your original home worlds destroyed, corrupted or lost. 

A mysterious Patron has brought you together, provided you with a base of operations and tasked you to complete a Planar Key. This key will let you create a new plane for you and your fellow refugees. Your quest will bring you to exotic places filled with strange creatures and bizarre phenomena.

This isn’t a game in itself - it’s a campaign framework - but it gives you the opportunity to cobble together a bunch of different games while still giving your players a structure upon which they can scaffold their character’s growth and personalities. I’m currently running this across a huge number of different games with a co-GM and my home group: so far we’ve played Household, The Wildsea, Sundered Isles, and The Great Soul Train Robbery!

Sig, City of Blades, by Genesis of Legend Publishing.

Sig is the nexus of the multiverse, where eternal planes and infinite primes meet. It’s a rough home for cutters and bashers, hungry for coin and glory. It’s a city of gods, demons, and stranger things which lurk. It’s a place where opposites meet, trading knives and kisses in equal measure.

The Silent Regent once ruled over the city with a bladed fist. Now her throne sits empty and the criminal factions battle for control. They dispatch crews of Freebooters, clever and bold, to further their schemes. This is where you come in.

In Sig: City of Blades, you will play the Freebooters in service to once of the mighty city factions. Your faction depends on you to perform vital missions to seize territory and coin from their rivals. This is a game about clever spies, renegade sorcerers and reckless smugglers. You are the best of the best and the worst of the worst.

If you are familiar with Planescape, I’ve heard that Sig: City of Blades gives off the same vibes, at least when it comes to setting. Rules-wise, it’s Forged in the Dark. It looks like in this game, the multiverse comes to you; as scoundrels in a city at the centre of these dimensions, there are plenty of ways for you to get rich in some kind of way that counts. If your group is up to play scoundrels and thieves, you might be interested in Sig: City of Blades.

Tiny Dungeon: Second Edition, by Gallant Knight Games.

Tiny Dungeon: Second Edition is powered by the TinyD6 engine, with streamlined mechanics that utilize only one to three single six-sided dice on every action, characters that can be written on a 3x5 notecard, and easy to understand and teach rules, Tiny Dungeon 2e is great for all groups, ages, and experience levels!

Tiny Dungeon feels like a very boiled-down version of a classic fantasy game; heritages that give you starting abilities, traits that are reminiscent of character classes, and a turn economy that structures combat to make sure everyone gets the same amount of time to do things. You use d6’s to roll, with 1d6 being the worst pool (rolling with a disadvantage) and 3d6 being the best (rolling with an ability or advantage). The game is meant to be mod-able, with optional rules and various micro-settings meant to get your inspiration flowing. The best part about so many different micro-settings that all use the same rules is that you can absolutely jump from one setting to another!

Fantasy Recommendations from The Past

Fantasy, With Tools

Echoes of D&D

Non-Western Fantasy

Non-Gritty Low Fantasy

Fuck Wizards of the Coast

I’d also ask myself if Slugblaster could be hacked to be about fantasy adventurers jumping into various dimensions, rather than teenagers hoverboarding across space and time. It certainly has plenty of pieces that allow your characters to dig into personal issues - the Trouble mechanic really lets you digest the kinds of things your character might have to neglect in order to go adventuring! You can read more about it in my Dimensional Travel recommendation post.

[devilsburger]

How did you get the idea to make the devilburgers au? Like why the burger/fast food business? And how did you come up with the name?

Love your art!!!

I’m glad you’re enjoying the art! Haha the origin of the Devilsburger AU happened because while I was having fun drawing the Plantagenet dramas, I had the funny image of all of them in the Burger King drive-thru. It was funny to me because the mundanity of modern American Fast Food and culture makes for a great contrast between royal French-medieval pomp.

Why “Devilsburgers?”

I came up with “Devilsburger” because I initially made it ‘Burger king AU’ because I wanted to move away from using the trademarked Real Company lol (even though I think it’s funnier that way) and also so I could have more freedom to work with it. I used Devil bc of the famous Angevin Devil Ancestress story, and because it sounds cute and provocative… i need to finish designing the logo I came up with for it. Since its an American AU and us Americans love our stupid logos and BORGER it seemed really fitting and a lot of opportunities to have fun with. (I kind of have been thinking of the Devilsburger maybe being a teensy bit fancier than a Burger King though simply so that they can have Cooler Burgers but you can imagine what you like)

I initially was joking around making a play on how the show “The Devil’s Crown” but instead calling it “The Devil’s Burger” but then that kind of just turned into “Devilsburger” which sounds fun and easy to me.

Thematic/ Structural Thoughts

I love the 12th century Angevin Medieval Drama because on one hand it reflects an extremely alien culture and social approach to beliefs and life, but on the other, there’s a lot of elements that feel very familiar. Stories about heterosexual-patriarchal familial discontent, either comedic or dramatic, are very popular and long-lasting for a reason and I think even in the modern day, from the wealthiest to the poorest, that structure is still something that binds us, affecting the expectations and relationships we have between our siblings, parents and romantic partners. So it becomes very easy to reimagine characters loosely into modern family “roles,” since even though the situations and stakes are very different, a lot of the base emotions I think are eternal and map over pretty well. Jealousy, selfishness, loneliness, longing for affection, doing goofy things for attention….these are all eternal things, even if how they get expressed differs over time.

There are some things that DON’T map onto the AU very well at all from the medieval era, which is interesting to poke around with; the main thing being the modern style of nuclear family with smaller number of kids, women having a LOT more rights and mobility (even in toxic or coercive relationships). There is also the system of suzerain/vassalage and homage that I GUESS can fit vaguely into like corporate boss/employee loyalty relationship style stuff, but in a more individualistic modern culture it doesn’t really have the same ring to it. Modern society is not perfectly egalitarian By any means, but there’s an expectation and ideal of it today that people like to either strive for or Pretend Like They’re Striving For definitely did not exist then. (Hence why for me, my Burger Henry is definitely Trying to Look good in a specific way…)

Conclusion

That being said, this is all mostly for fun and sexytimes more than being like, a Deep Cultural Thesis haha. I think that kind of common story tropes and structures make things very fun to play around with because there’s already lots of expectations for how types of characters will act and behave and relate to each other.

I play pretty fast and loose with a lot of things, and in various ways my ideas have kind of moved away from maybe the original Historical Reinterpretation stuff, but in the end I like having a good sense of what I want characters to “feel” like that I really hope comes across well even in the short bits of comics and pics I’ve posted here…

[greenerteacups]

Have you watched Fleabag? If so- your thoughts?

Love it love it love it. The writing is phenomenal the acting is phenomenal and the first season especially has the electric energy of a creative doing her first major project and utterly firing on all cylinders. The characters are fantastic and I enjoyed every episode thoroughly. I'm picky about writing on television and the acting sold it completely even though it's a tragicomedy and toggles between moods very quick, I never struggled to understand what Fleabag's headspace was in a given scene. The Hot Priest is, of course, a wonderful character, and their relationship is deliciously interesting. I wish that fan content treated him more like the morally gray character he is on the show — the "kneel" scene is romanticized as a kink thing, which, IMO, it is absolutely NOT and it's actually one of the most funbad exchanges they have! it's about him using her confession of grief in order to indulge in his own vices of power and desire! It's the culmination of the Priest acting irresponsibly throughout the season as he leads her on, almost always under the assumption that he's eventually going to leave her, until he assumes a literal role as the voice OF God and immediately incites physical intimacy with her! It tells us so much about his relationship with sex (as does his brother's backstory in S2E1 and the fox motif). AND it's hot as fuck. All things can be true at once.

If I were going to nitpick — which is what I always do, when I love something and think it's the best — I would say the tonal shift between seasons makes me think it would have worked better as two different shows. I get the idea that the first one is about sitting with grief and trauma and not being the Perfect Healthy Survivor all the time, and the second is about the non-linear grieving process as we seek connections with new people, but the disjoint between the actual story of the first one and the story of the second one made me squint a little, like maybe we were missing some episodes in between the seasons. Claire and Fleabag end on an apocalyptically cruel fight where Claire throws Fleabag's trauma in her face and betrays her for her dirtbag husband, only for Fleabag to eagerly help and care for her through her miscarriage in the opening scene of S2E1. Is that an unrealistic depiction of a very complicated sibling relationship? No! But it shows how much better Fleabag is doing, mentally, between S2E1 and the finale of S1, that she's willing to put that kind of fight in the past without even bringing it up. Considering how slow and arduous her grieving process was in S1, that sudden leap towards emotional stability is jarring, like hitting a pothole. You can see how we got from A to B, but it doesn't feel smooth.

There's also the problem that Boo doesn't really come up in S2? Which is strange, since S1 is "about" Boo, insofar as it's about anybody except Fleabag? And I didn't want to rehash the beats of S1, but this is the problem of the tonal pivot I mentioned earlier — S1 is much, much darker than S2 is, and so there are certain elements of S1 that no longer seem to fit in S2. But these are bugs on the windscreen of a Ferrari, you know? You wipe 'em off and enjoy the ride.

[queen-of-andor]

Weirwood bows (Arya's future weapon?)

First, I want to clarify that the theory I'm going to write about isn't one I consider very possible to happen. Still, since I'm tired talking over the same subjects on asoiaf, I decided to have some harmless fun by letting my imagination run wild with speculating about it.

On one of Bran chapters in AGOT, we find out that the children of the forest used bows made of weirwood in order to hunt. Back then, the children of the forest were part of the long past, only existing in Maester Luwin's history lessons.

Later on, we find that they still exist as Bran encounters them on his travel beyond the Wall. Also, on Jon's chapters we learn that free folk also uses weirwood bows (alongside with weirwood spears).

Here comes the wild speculation part.Arya has expressed more than one her desire to learn how to shoot arrows.

There were a dozen steps between the archer and the point of her sword. We have no chance, Arya realized, wishing she had a bow like his, and the skill to use it.

ASOS, ARYA II

Anguy smiled over his ale. "When I don't fancy a man's eyes, I put an arrow through one." Arya remembered the shaft that had brushed by her ear. She wished she knew how to shoot arrows.

ASOS, ARYA II

Anguy had arrows tipped with bodkins as well as broadheads. A bodkin could pierce even heavy plate. I'm going to learn to shoot a bow, Arya thought. She loved swordfighting, but she could see how arrows were good too.

ASOS, ARYA VII

So, what if one day - after she learned the essential arrow skills- she obtained a bow made of weirwood; the tree which plays a crucial role to Northern religion and it's linked with various magic elements.

During her time with the Brotherhood without Banners, Anguy tried to teach her how to shoot arrows but it wasn't successful. Still, instead of altogether dismissing the possibility she could learn that skill, he simply said she needed a different type of bow:

Anguy let Arya try his longbow, but no matter how hard she bit her lip she could not draw it. "You need a lighter bow, milady," the freckled bowman said. "If there's seasoned wood at Riverrun, might be I'll make you one."

ASOS, ARYA IV

When Arya returns to Westeros, I do believe that she will meet the BwB again so perhaps this time Anguy can properly teach her, and she could obtain a weirwood bow one day.

I'm not saying this is going to happen within the asoiaf series. Martin already gave her character a weapon (Needle) in case she needs to defend herself so he might not feel the need to show her obtaining another fighting skills & weapon. But since I believe that Arya will live a long life post the end of the series, she could find time to learn to shoot arrows later on. Maybe, she can ask her oldest brother, Jon, to teach her. He has the skill and I doubt he would deny Arya a skill that would increase her changes of survival.

Speaking of him, it's interesting that he compares Arya to Ygritte right after he mention that the latter uses a bow made out of weirwood:

Stonesnake had called her a "spearwife" when they'd captured her in the Skirling Pass. She wasn't wed and her weapon of choice was a short curved bow of horn and weirwood, but "spearwife" fit her all the same. She reminded him a little of his sister Arya, though Arya was younger and probably skinnier.

ASOS, JON II

Finally, I wanted to say that on one of Bran's visions we see one of the Stark ancestors using weirwood arrows:

A dark-eyed youth, pale and fierce, sliced three branches off the weirwood and shaped them into arrows

ADWD, BRAN III

I'd love to see Arya using a weapon her ancestors also used, one that it's connected to the magic of the North.

[mesmir-ized]

also apparently forgot to post p2ponies 😞… sorry !! orz

(cutie mark rambles below~)

i always think crazy hard about cutie marks they are like my #1 stressor when it comes to ponies……. so here’s why i chose certain cutie mark designs !!

also i tried really hard to make sure they all shared some colours , especially making sure to include each others’ colours !! i wanted to have the original masked circle all have a star somewhere (BC.astrology or something…) LOL , maya sort of stands out both in colours and cutie mark , but that was on purpose !!

tatsuya: his was 100% the easiest to come up with . it’s gotta be his lighter !!! not only is it like His Thing but also very much representative of the bonds with his friends , as well as everything that got them into the events of IS … both in the game and here , the lighter is a symbol of both destruction/power and connection/creation !! which really fits tatsuya :] you can also think of it being like he “lights the way” !! the little teal star is in lieu of the little prince quote , and it’s kinda clear who this star is meant to represent ;U

jun: THIS ONE TOOK FOREVER TO DRAW . my issue was i had an idea , but couldn’t figure out how to make it work !! i wanted to include both flowers and a shooting star and fought 1 million battles trying to figure it out….

i wanted to include a shooting star for many reasons !! stars obviously for jun’s love of stars , but also because the shooting star is a symbol of something to follow (like Jun making himself a leader/savior as joker) as well as being representative of wishes and dreams (which is joker’s whole thing !!) !!! i wanted to add 4 forget-me-nots for both the obvious meaning of memory and his love of flowers , but also to mimic other stars and represent both masked circles he was involved in ! i love jun if you can’t tell

lisa: though this one looks simple it actually was pretty thought-out !! i wanted to figure out a way to both have her love of kung fu and role as an idol represented , which led me to these sort of boom-flash symbols ! these symbols are meant to be representative of her personality (feisty and explosive, but also fascinating and even lovely !) as well as what i said earlier , both of her paths~ they can be read as punch SFX , as well as the flash of cameras/lights on stage !! they’re pretty simple , but i feel like they pack a lot of punch (LOL)~!!

maya: the standout girlie of the whole bunch !! i immediately had the sort of idea for an intersection of heart/moon , and came up with this ! the heart is for ahh.. reasons most people know , but also she’s just associated with hearts in general (think mr bunbun) !! they obviously are related to her compassion and big heart , and if we want to have a sort of more darker and serious inspection of it.. how she’s the heart of her friend group and the loss of that heart (literal and figurative , in many instances) makes everything fall apart .. i also wanted to include the moon for her association with the moon (and Artemis !) , which also serve to show her duality and antithesis to the heat and light of the tatsuyas ! i like to think the EP cast’s colours would be more based around her cutie mark colours , like how IS were all based around each others’ !!

eikichi: i struggled with this one the most & i think it’s obvious.. U~U; .. i wanted to , again , make a symbol that’s not too complex , but is able to encapsulate so many different elements of a character ?! i ended up coming up with this skull (for his association with death/self proclaimed title as the “death boss”) and rocker/vkei/darker alternative aesthetics in general~ the starry eyes are BC welll…! star ! and also because it’s like he’s “starry-eyed” and looking towards the future :] the little glowy shine thing is meant tp be a spotlight , like he’s in the spotlight ! maybe one day I’ll come up with soemthing better , sorry eikichi , i love you ! 😞💦

Okies that’s all !! hope you like my cutie mark rambles , i love explaining my thoughts !!! ^7^

[loz-furbies]

Ralph

Design

Usually it's the girls who get unique and memorable designs, and the boys have to settle for a much more boring isekai mc-kun style look, but not here! This is amazing, bright blue frilly bell bottoms with purple stripe decorations! And the little wizard hat! And the 00's deviantArt OC edgy hair over one eye! The badass cape! Oh he has nail polish too! He is just great. In general he looks a little dorky but that's okay, it's a very memorable design. The cape fits the hero image he's trying to maintain, even if he's not very good at it.

The eyebrows are also a striking design element and even has plot relevance, but more on that later. So, uh, spoilers for Oracle of Ages? Or in general all of these potentially have spoilers for their respective games, not that I've warned about that before...

The frills and triangle pattern are elements that also repeat in the Oracles' designs. I really like this, they're all different so it doesn't feel like they're wearing a uniform, but it also gives the sense that the world has its own distinct fashion style.

In the entire LoZ franchise there are remarkably few friendly older teen/young adult male important npcs, or at least in the "attractive anime twink" style Link inhabits, compared to the situation with the girls (when almost all games have at least Zelda in the main girl role). And Ralph is one of the few exceptions, which I welcome. Or like I said in Nayru's entry, he's actually a lot shorter than I thought and might even put him in the "kid" category, but I elect to ignore that.

Character

Ralph starts out reasonably enough saying how he counts on Link with Nayru's safety, but quickly changes to stating that he doesn't think Link's help is needed after all. After Nayru is kidnapped he pops up here and there through the story on his own quest to save her, repeats how he will be the one to save Nayru and usually has a pretty condescending attitude towards Link ("Well, if it isn't Link! Dawdling about, as usual.") But he does offer some useful advice during his appearances, so he's willing to help and share information at least.

Later Ralph expands his heroism to wanting to save the general population in addition to Nayru, and even gets a moment where he is ready to sacrifice himself for the greater good despite being scared ("Maybe it is terrifying… But if I must, I must. To do nothing and live just isn't me.") In general he feels like he's the typical hotheaded shounen hero of his own story.

Towards the end of the game Ralph has to eat some humble pie when Link saves the day. After this Ralph apologises for his behaviour, praises Link, admits that he was the one who didn't accomplish anything, and outright says that he now considers Link his friend.

In general Ralph gets surprisingly much character focus for a character in a GBC game, he gets to show a lot of different emotions in different situations and even gets noticeable character development.

Role in the story

I would say that Ralph has the most well developed role out of all the characters in both of the Oracle games, which is peculiar since he isn't even the poster girl. He's the only one to get a proper arc, and has a lot of presence since he shows up in OoA regularly. And most importantly after Nayru gets saved after dungeon 6 out of 8, he is actually the final damsel in distress for OoA. The execution is a little different since Nayru's predicament is the usual kidnapped girl fare, while Ralph has to be saved from himself since he rushes to fight the end boss on a suicide mission. You see, after Nayru is freed from the villain's possession, the villain possesses the queen (in the past) instead, and it is revealed that Ralph is her descendant. So he intends to kill queen even if it means that he won't be able to be born. The way this works is a little clunky here since he already knows Link is able to undo the possession, so his sacrifice feels kind of dumb and reckless. Also he only survives because of plot armour because the villain could have killed him before Link takes over the battle but just chose not to. But points for trying I guess, this is still way above the writing the other characters in either of the two games got.

Considering how much focus Ralph gets and how actively he tries to contribute, it's a little shame how his actions don't really amount to anything. The most you can say that he works as the game's hint system because sometimes he points where the player should go next, but it would be nice if he got to do something more notable too.

I feel that he is similar to the original Pokemon rival (Blue) in that he's this cocky rival that shows up to mock you through the game, and the in the end you get to feel vindicated when they're defeated. Both of them are even actually helpful by sharing information too! Though I do feel kind of bad for Ralph since he's just so crushed at the end and just lies on the floor lamenting how he looks like a fool now.

I like that the revelation that he is the queen's descendant is foreshadowed a little (with how he knows about a secret entrance to the palace) and isn't just dropped out of nowhere in the finale.

Relationships

Ralph is a childhood friend and self-proclaimed protector of Nayru, acts kind of jealous about the possibility of someone else doing the protecting, and spends most of the game running around trying to save her. I don't remember instances where his behaviour could only be interpreted as romantic so make of that what you will.

Surprisingly his most interesting relationship is with Link. Or he is the main character, but at this point of the franchise he usually doesn't get nearly as many character moments with even the main girl of each game so it's pretty big.

Ralph strikes a one sided rivalry with Link about the Nayru rescue, and then behaves in a condescending manner when they run into each other. However I find it interesting that he doesn't blame Link at all for Nayru getting captured in the first place, because it was Link who brought the disguised villain close to her in the first place. Or it wasn't Link's fault since nobody know about the disguise, but I would have imagined that Ralph would hold it against him.

Once Link is the one to save Nayru while Ralph did nothing he apologises properly, and starts preparing to take down the villain, even if it would cost him his own life. And then he starts throwing lines like "May fate bring us back together!", and later "Umm… Link… Don't forget me. I mean, I think of you…as a friend…" when preparing for his suicide mission. If this was a more popular and recent game people would ship these two way more but now they only have 5 results on ao3. Even the villain refers to him as Link's "dear friend".

Once the day is saved and everyone is hunky-dory Ralph comments how Link is amazing and apparently teases him for the embarrassing statue the queen put up for Link. Then they get a cute cutscene in the credits where Link tries to teach Ralph to do the spin attack with the sword, but he spins too much and gets dizzy. So we end on the note that they're friends now, with Link taking a mentor-like role.

He also gets a brief scene with the queen, with both being proud about the relationship, though the queen takes offense at being called grandmother. It's a shame they don't get to interact more, but it's nice that their relationship didn't go completely unaddressed.

[nights-nonsensical-ramblings]

Something i love to think about when doing things like reinterpreting characters into a different world and franchise is how different it can end up depending on what parts of a character and their lore you adapt.

Like mlp. Some characters are so obviously one type of pony no mater how you look at them or what angle you go from. Some dont have a super strong pull to any.

But then there's the characters who go by what I'm talking about. Like Knuckles. Who can fit just about anything depending on what parts are picked for his adapting (Under the cut cuz i got lots to say)

If you're adapting Knuckles as a character, no thoughts to translating his lore earth pony is PERFECT. He's got a focus on raw strength, he's often depicted as larger and bulkier than the rest of the cast, his most fitting element is earth. It fits so well.

Adding in some vague references to lore and he'd be good as a crystal pony. He'd be in a kingdom that was unknown to the world for thousands or years that has a super powerful crystal artefact. (Plus I will forever adore Knuckles with a crystal vibe)

But Knuckles can also work as a unicorn. One you can use it to reference his hand spikes, (Maybe even give him a horn that splits in two) and he's involved with mystical energy that you can translate to magic.

He could also work as a pegasus. He canonically can glide and he lives on an island in the sky. (plus he is so the type to shield someone with his wings) and the pegasi used to be war like and that would fit the past of the echidna

Playing into the last of his kind, "other" aspect could have him be fitting as a non pony species (maybe even one that doesn't appear in the show but would feel fitting) and some of these can kinda parallel the echidnas story. It's not perfect but they can work if you're just using it as a vague reference as to the echidna story and focusing more on the fact he's a different species to all those around him

Like the griffins were a culture that fell into ruin after an event involving someone attempting to steal a key artefact. He could fit the hippogriffs with their story of being forced below the waves and becoming a lost culture, he could fit the changlings with how they attacked ponies like how the echidna attacked other tribes, Knuckles is actively telling people not to be like his ancestors like how the changlings are trying to be different from their past.

or give him a few traits to make it so he can't really be called any of the main pony species, like he's an ancient and lost type of pony.

But now we get to what happens if you REALLY play into all the Master Emerald lore and i think making him an Alicorn has so much potential.

First of all, he has a direct connection to the thing that's described as the most powerful artefact/source of chaos in the world, (and in mlp we do see a character who's exposed to a immense amount of magic become an alicorn.) Plus his role as guardian would fit with the whole idea of alicorns filling a special role in the world. The m.e can do many things and translating that to magic and focusing more on what he'd be able to do with it REALLY sounds like alicorn stuff and the stuff for him being each pony type can still be brought in cuz alicorns are a mix of all three pony types.

And there's so much fun to be had playing into the idea of 'Is he a naturally born alicorn? did the m.e do this to him? Did the m.e bring him into existence like this?" He can't say, he's sure always been this way, being this way feels natural and there's no clear signs that he was changed into one but if he was born an alicorn, where did he come from? who were his parents? were they alicorns? and the idea that the m.e and create life out of nothing spooks anyone who thinks about it.

But he really doesn't get what all the fuss about him being an alicorn is about, why everyone always stares if he has both his wings and horn showing, even when they are covered ponies seem put off by his size. (This is the perfect place for the feelings of loneliness and otherness being the last echidna give him in the normal canon)

Also the good ol' immortal Knuckles vibe are strong. He doesn't know how long he's been up there, but he can remember places from the surface that he's so sure he shouldn't be able. Maybe he doesn't even know alicorns are immortal until someone tells him. He then spends ages trying to convince himself that he's a young immortal, because the thought of him having a life that he's somehow forgotten is immensely distressing.

Bring in the things from canon of Knuckles not feeling like its his place, or is perhaps even scared to use his power and you've got an alicorn, an immensely powerful being, who's barely tapping into his magic, only doing the basic spells that practically every unicorn uses in their day to day life. he could but he's so worried about what might happen if he does. So he goes for physical fighting moves instead. (And the idea of him tapping into that immense power to protect his friends works so good with him as an alicorn. You do not want an angry protective and powerful alicorn after you.)

And the storyline of finding a lost alicorn on a mysterious floating island has wonderous potential. Gives Eggman all the more reason to manipulate him on sight. Sonic's running along in superform, and then something knocks into him. His eyes focus and there's an alicorn in front of him. No wonder he was able to knock him out if his superform,

(I've also seen a take where Shadow is an alicorn cuz. "Why wouldn't they make the ultimate lifeform an alicorn" and i love that, but i got some extra thoughts. It being very clear he's an artificial alicorn and those working on project shadow not fully understanding that a alicorn is a mix of unicorn, Pegasus AND earth pony and just creating him with the first two. There so many delicious storylines that could come from shadows identity as an alicorn getting a shake up.)

The more i talk about it the more i adore alicorn Knuckles and all the story potential it has. Also, the thought of him looking all regal and mystical and then when you talk to him he's brash, rude, kinda feral, lives outside instead of in some castle and is a dorky sweetheart who pretends he totally doesn't care even though he's often instinctively using his big alicorn wings to shield his friends. (He also has many of his critter friends use his wings as shelter and if you look underneath you'll find a whole pile of the smols)

i am quite likely to talk about this again cuz its so fun