#some of my all time favorites

[formulaheart]

SEMI FINALISTS WHO'S NOT SURPRISED

This is who would win in an all out fist fight (use whatever reasoning you want) but as the drivers are RIGHT NOW. All of the pairings are COMPLETELY RANDOMIZED. I know some of them are quite unfortunate but I kept them in the spirit of this chaotic bracket. This will also be the fastest bracket of my life so l can report the results at Christmas dinner <3. Since a full bracket is more than 20 people I've included this years full grid as well as next years grid and some returning legends. Please tag your reasoning if you want.

[bleaksqueak]

I wonder what the opening and ending for a Solivaga anime would be. Probably surreal and creepy. Secret spoilers? Willow jumpscares? Angsty??? Very likely all of those.

Oh my god, Okay. We joked a while ago now that the Prologue looked already a lot like an opening lol but if we want to go full opening vibes, here's some of my favorite oldies that match the vibe I'd def. go with:

Slayers TRY, breeze, is always a great mood. I"d first and foremost go with Kagirinai Yokubou no Naka Ni, but youtube either deleted the ending anim due to a copyright claim or the uploader took it down. The song is great tho and has a perfect vibe:

I'm sad that the actual ending was taken down, the visuals that go with it are so (mwah)

and the first one that popped into my mind when I got this ask was the opening to Miyu OVA. sadly I can't find a version of it that's not a potato and not tied to the actual episode, but here it is.

Shamanic Princess is the other that popped into my mind immediately. and ofc

The anime may be crap compared to my beloved manga, but I will love this opening until the day I die. I love the unique song, I love the visuals, I love the mood, I love the incidental scenes. Ofc anything that has the sort of Yuki kajiura sound would also fit exceptionally well.

And if we're just going by music, Lilium is a beautiful opening song with great vibes as well, but I'm not really into the show it's from. HAve kept that opening on my playlist forever tho. Shamanic Princess is so near perfect for a vibe because it seems all colorful and happy, but if you've ever seen that anime... hahaha.

[ziegenkind094]

their potential in tsc? unmatched

[pokeberry5]

boy hostage (spiritual successor to this)

big brother to the rescue:

[juniemunie]

[Abandoned by the Lightners, his heart became cracked with hatred.]

Hitting a lil' too close to home?

[fernsnailz]

big fan of the world's most normal robot ^^

[fauvester]

something something seeing things through different eyes

[suja-janee]

I’ve been losing my mind over these guys recently

[medi-bee]

> "Do you know something?"

[inumbrapugnabimus-maybe]

The people have spoken

[narsh-poptarts]

my dark link thoughts coalesced into wonderful headcanons and crazy amounts of forced perspectives and dutch angles

also sorry HW i would have included your dark link(s) but i do not have passion for your game <3 maybe next time

Some thoughts below

I have thoughts about dark link that boil down to basically two things: 1. it's always the same dark link, and 2. dark link has a very difficult time changing.

No matter how many times dark link is brought into existence, he is formed from the shadow of link usually to test link's will. that shadow can be duplicated (as seen in HW) but generally speaking it's the same guy, sharing the thought space, you know how it is. In terms of sentience/thinking for himself, I don't think there's all that much of it. He is a dark reflection/shadow of link, so shares his abilities and thought patterns (for combat) with added aggression and. evil. i guess.

As said by navi, "conquer yourself", and all that. He's a challenge to the inner will power.

That being said!!! he can have a little bit of individuality, as a treat. Just in the form of being mean and sadistic <3 he's got thoughts, he's not just a combat doll (tho in times of low power, or a greater power having the reins, he reverts to that), so he can be frustrated, vindicated, happy, etc etc. though when your thoughts are mainly "evilevilevilevilevil" your idea of these emotions are a bit skewed.

When he's summoned for each different link, i hc that it's all the same magic, so the same dark link every time. he "remembers" in an abstract sense of his role in the same way a link or zelda "remembers" their own reincarnation. tho his is less of a reincarnation and more being used over and over again. a persistence.

The iteration that's summoned reflects the current link at the time, the part of link that needs testing/defeating, so it's not an existence that he himself can change to match the present. he's locked to that first copy/shadow only. So if he were to have a second encounter with an older link, he'd look like the first time they fought, unless he was specifically re-summoned. i hc he's got limited magic, so this is not something he can do himself.

in a links-meet scenario, his form would be limited to those specific forms of the links, and it would always be the points in time in which he first encountered them, unless there's other magic either he or someone else has access to to allow him to change forms to match.

now you might be saying at this point "wouldn't he be a weaker match if he was put up against an older link?" yeah probably lol. but also!!! i like the idea that with the limited magic he has, he's able to change juuuust enough to stay relatively evenly matched. being able to play to different strengths and all that. but the base stuff is still the same, so he is decently easy enough to read if link remembers the kind of stuff he was pulling back when he originally fought dark link.

dark link also knows about all this so while limited to the particular skillset, is able to adapt slightly.

but yeah been thinking a lot about a links-meet au where dark link is there choosing a different link to be every time he appears to the party.

though there are a couple links that he never impersonates in their games!!! so can't change into those guys unless he gets a new round of copycat magic.

Anyways goodbye guy standing there with standard camera angle, i have dutch angles and forced perspective

[astralzeraphias]

are you going to shoot me, mulder? is that how much this means to you?

[atlas-hope]

this was inspired by a GREAT fic ive read like a thousand times:

[stiffyck]

I WISH ARO HEADCANONS WERE MORE POPULAR IN FANDOMS

[kurikorso]

nostalgia slapped me upside the head a little while ago so i had to draw my favorite dudes ft. the gecko effect

[averagecatdoodlesenjoyer]

yttd cast but i only gave myself 30 seconds for each character's lineart