#somewhere there is a video of me saying 'IM GOING TO [colorful threat]' over the scene in naga's brain. you know the one

[lordartsy]

2/10 - Naga's birthday coincides with me watching the finale of this show. I miss him already 🐍

[storytellerofuntoldlegends]

Seven Deadly Sins

A/N: Soooo... after the Disney Villain Medley came out, @im-basically-logan, @robanilla, and I were geeking out about it with some other peeps on Discord, and this Seven Deadly Sins AU kinda birthed from it. We had a ridiculously long convo about it, and I just knew I had to write something for it (and I know I have a lot of WIPs shush). Anyway, enjoy this AU of Thomas and his friends being demons that represent the seven deadly sins!

Warnings: demons, threats, flirting, arguing/banter, implied manipulation, implied sexual content

A manor stood in silence at the hill. But on certain evenings at the stroke of midnight, if one listened closely, the manor seemed to come alive. Candlelight would flicker in the windows, colorful lights would pulse and glow from inside, and music would flow in the air. Because this was no ordinary manor. This manor was the meeting place of the Seven Deadly Sins.

A man walked up to the front door of the manor. He adjusted his leather jacket with a scowl, glaring at the door with disdain. He hated these monthly meetings. His colleagues were… eccentric, to say the least. Shaking his head, he pushed the door open, striding into the manor. His grand entrance startled the man sitting in the chair beside the door, causing his bowler hat to nearly fly off his head.

“Gatekeeper… have the others arrived yet?�� he asked smoothly, shutting the door behind him. The man he had startled- the Gatekeeper- adjusted his bowler hat with a huff.

“No, Greed. You’re the first to arrive, as always,” Gatekeeper replied.

“Good. I’ll be in the parlor, send the others there when they arrive,” Greed ordered.

“This isn’t the first time we’ve done this, I know the drill,” Gatekeeper huffed, rolling his eyes. Greed narrowed his eyes, and the Gatekeeper shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

“I’m merely reminding you of how we do things here. We wouldn’t want to trouble ourselves with acquiring a new Gatekeeper, would we?” he replied evenly, voice dangerously low. The Gatekeeper swallowed nervously.

“No. We wouldn’t,” he answered.

“I thought so.” Greed turned on his heel, heading into the parlor. He sat down at the table, taking a seat at its head, just in front of the fireplace. One by one, figures appeared in the entryway to the lounge.

“Please, take a seat,” Greed said, gesturing at the chairs around the table. One woman stepped forward, taking the chair next to Greed’s.

“So good to see you again, Greed,” she said cooly.

“And you, Pride,” Greed replied with a smirk. A tall man slid into the chair on his other side, eyes glittering with excitement.

“Greed! You’ve done something different with your hair, it’s simply stunning,” the man crooned, leaning towards Greed as he gazed at him.

“Lust, my hair is the same as it always has been,” he sighed, rolling his eyes.

“Don’t pretend like you don’t love the attention, my dear,” Lust replied with a smirk.

“Why do you always have to flirt with Greed?! There’s more of us here than just him!” another man snapped, taking the seat across from Greed.

“Envy, do you always have to be so loud?” a man wearing suspenders grumbled, slumping in the seat next to him.

“Aw, don’t worry, Envy, there’s plenty of me to go around. And you too, Sloth,” Lust replied.

“Hey, leave me out of this. Envy was the one whining,” Sloth huffed.

“Enough arguing! Let’s just get this over with,” one woman snarled, sitting down between Lust and Sloth.

“Something bothering you, Wrath?” Pride teased.

“Yes, there is! I’d much rather be instilling anger in humanity, yet I’m here with you fools,” Wrath fumed.

“Hey, you’re not the only one with things they’d rather be doing, Wrath,” the last man to join the table replied, taking the seat across from her.

“Oh, we all know what you’d rather be doing, Gluttony,” Wrath sneered.

“Is it such a crime to enjoy food?!” Gluttony protested.

“Well obviously it must be, since you’re here with the rest of us,” Sloth drawled.

“That’s rich, coming from a lazy piece of sh-”

“Friends! Please, let’s not fight,” Greed said cooly, glaring at Gluttony. The demon in question shrugged, leaning back in his chair.

“Oh so we’re friends now?” Envy scoffed. Each demon at the table stilled as Greed arched an eyebrow at Envy.

“Of course we are… or don’t you remember the pact we made?” Greed replied with an air of what seemed to be nonchalance, but the shadows shifting and curling restlessly behind him betrayed his true emotions.

“Oh, you mean how you-” Envy started, but was cut off with a warning glare from Pride. The table fell silent for a moment, until Lust once again leaned towards Greed, eyes glittering.

“I believe Envy was about to talk about how you so generously gifted us with demonhood? Truly, a clever move on your part,” Lust purred. Greed was seemingly rendered speechless for a moment, unable to break away from the other demon’s gaze. But he soon shook his head, clearing his throat as he did so.

“Yes… I’m sure. I hope you’re satisfied. But if you ain’t-”

“Yeah, yeah- don’t blame you, blame your friends on the other side. Whatever the fuck that’s supposed to mean,” Envy interrupted him, sulking in his chair.

“Oh Envy, you know exactly what that means,” Greed crooned. The table fell silent once more, and the demons eyed each other warily.

“Well, this has been a fun little chat thus far, but let’s get down to business, shall we?” Pride said after a long stretch of uncomfortable silence.

“Fantastic idea, Pride. Did I mention you look absolutely stunning tonight?” Lust praised, and she practically preened at the attention.

“Enough flirting, we have more important things to do,” Greed snapped, glaring sharply at Lust.

“Hey! Jealousy is my thing, Greed!” Envy teased. Greed let out an incredulous sound, face flushing for the briefest of moments.

“I am NOT jealous,” Greed huffed.

“Aw, don’t worry darling. You know I have eyes especially for you,” Lust replied with a wink.

“Wonderful for you two! Can we get this meeting over with?” Wrath snarled, slamming her hands on the table.

“Temper, temper… but correct. Gluttony, how are things looking on your front?” Greed asked, turning his gaze towards him.

“Humans are living healthier lifestyles… doing things like eating something called ‘kale.’ Don’t they understand that I just want them to enjoy the finer things in life?” Gluttony replied dejectedly, slumping forward onto the table and burying his head in his hands.

“I know what would get the humans’ attention…” Sloth offered.

“This isn’t the music video thing again, is it?” Envy groaned.

“Hey, I’m just saying! Good lighting, special effects- they’ll eat it up,” Sloth shrugged.

“Not like you’d organize something like that, it would take too much of your precious time,” Wrath snarked.

“Of course I wouldn’t. I just provide the brilliant ideas. But if you don’t want to make humanity complacent, then I understand,” Sloth replied, voice smooth and condescending.

“It’s a stupid idea, if you ask me,” Envy grumbled.

“You’re just jealous that I came up with it, and you didn’t,” Sloth said with a smirk. Envy made a series of frustrated noises, and the table of demons erupted into laughter.

“Let’s table that idea for later. Lust, how are you faring with humanity?” Greed asked after the laughter had cleared.

“Why don’t the two of us go somewhere private, and you can find out?” he offered, smirking coyly. Greed rolled his eyes, but those sitting closest to him could see the slight tinge of pink creeping across his cheeks.

“Pride?” Greed asked, turning towards her.

“I’d love to take over the meeting while you and Lust have fun,” she teased with a wink.

“What?! No, that’s not-”

“I know, I know. Couldn’t hurt to try though, right? Anyway, things are fine. They could be better, but it certainly could be worse. Humans are naturally prideful creatures anyhow,” she replied.

“I see. Anyone else have anything to share?” Greed asked, looking to the others. Wrath scowled in defeat, shaking her head. Envy blew out a sigh, leaning his head on his hand. Greed nodded curtly, then turned his attention to Sloth.

“I believe you mentioned something about a music video?” he asked. Sloth sat up straight for once, eyes gleaming.

“Yes. And I believe I know just the musical selection to use…”

Tag List: @adorably-angsty @alix-the-skeleton @allthemetalsoftherainbow @armageddonhascome @backatthebein @bangthekobrakid @bloodropsblog @cefinitely-rolo @coffeestudylive @cosmic-chu @cyndaquil17 @dani-jeanso @didsomeonesayprince @emphoenixcat @every-day-insomniac @fandomsandanythingelse @freekiphotography @freepaperie081 @hanramz-the-fander @i-need-a-social-life-2710 @i-really-dig-the-purple @ironwoman359 @justanotherpurplebutterfly @kanejandkruge @kitsuneprideleader @kittycake574 @le2712 @littlemiracle05 @loganpatton @lollingtothemax @look-its-meme @loverofpizzaandallthingssweet @lynlinked @mewsicalmiss @midnightcandy @moonstonefox @musicsavedmefromdeath @mystrangedarkson @nightmarejasmine @not-as-smart @of-treble-and-dragons @punsterterry @purplepatton @quoth-the-sparrow @radioactivehelena @royallyanxious @ruuworld @sanders-trash-4ever @save-me-oh-dream-of-mine @shadowsfromthesun @shygirl4991 @sleepyssnail @softbludemon @softnic @sombraplayslazertag @sweetinsomniac @the-fandoms-are-takin-over @theresneverenoughfandoms @thisrandomperson102 @thuriweaver @vigilantvirgil

[loserclubsblog]

Assassin's Match

It was raining at 2:47 in the morning and this did not make Richie's assignment any easier. Of course that didn't mean he couldn't do it. He was really one of the best for the job, but the heavy sheets of rain were like a vail covering a large range of his vision. It was times like these that he was now greatful for his contacts that had replaced his coke bottle glasses. The wind speed was brushing 5 mph, pulling favoritism of the shot to the south. He would need to readjust with the wind and the rain so that his shot would rain true. As he looked through his scope and found his target. Tightness pulling at his chest and ragged short breaths racked his body as the thrilling rush of adrenalin surged though him. His finger wrapped around the trigger. One inhale of focus. One exhale for calming effects. His finger tightened around the trigger. He had closed his eyes to listen one last time before...

BANG! The sound echoed around him.

Richie opened his eyes wide, taking another look through his scope. Blood was sprayed across the older man's chest. This would have been a nice shot. Well... if it had been his.

"SHIT!" Richie yelled through the rain. This was the third time this had happend. This was the third time someone had taken the kill shot right before him. Whoever this was that was stealing his targets were taking his paychecks as well.

Aware of the change in plans, Richie needed to pack up and leave in a hurry. After only a couple of minutes of packing and storing his rifle, he headed towards the stares. Abandoning his spot from the broken window. As he flew down the three stories and burst through the doors, the car was already running. Yanking open the passenger side door and slinging the rifle in the back, he jumped in. Before he was really good and in the car, the tires screeched and the high speed drive was now in place.

"So did you take the headshot or go for a bullet through the chest?" Beverly asked sitting right next to him. He let out what came as a frustrated grumble. At that Beverly slowed down, either deciding that they were far enough away or shocked at the response. "What the hell does that mean? You did kill him didn't you?" She looked over at Richie with a raised eyebrow and a condescending tone.

"He beat me to it. Again. So no." Richie couldn't look at her when he said it. He knew she wouldn't be happy with this. This would be the third paycheck that he had promised her, and he failed to come through. He knew she had needed the money. He knew he couldn't deny her that much longer. They were best friends and literal partners in crime, but he wouldn't blame her if she left for someone who could pay her. "Don't worry. Im still gonna pay you. I promised I would."

"You don't have to worry about that. I won't hold you to that one. Just bag a damn kill for the love of God Rich." She let out a sigh as she took a left at the intersection. "What are we gonna do about this jackass? We can't just let him steal our checks."

"I don't know. What do you want me to do?" His voice sounded uncomfortable at this sudden question, his body language even more so. He shifted in his seat and his gaze went to an impatient Bev.

"We have a few options. Take your pick." This was not what Richie was expecting. He didn't like being put on the spot. He killed for a living. He knew one of the options Beverly was getting at. Richie stared out the window as the heavy rain rolled down it. It looked as if he were in one of those cheesy music videos where they sang about sad love. Although this was sort of ironic. Richie was sitting here making a decision about a man that he had only come in contact with twice in his life. Wait for it. Here comes the ironic part. He had only seen him twice in a far off distance hopping from rooftop to rooftop, but he had admired this man. The agility of him. The way he swiftly took the shot and left the scene. This man had a strong hold on Richie and he didn't even know his name. Hell, he could walk up to the man on the street and not even know it. He had never seen his face.

"I don't know who he is. I don't know where he lives. I dont know his name. I don't know who his employer is, or if he even had one for that matter. What the fuck do you insist I do Bevvie dear?" The tone of his voice showed a bit of his annoyance. Well, annoyance and frustration. Frustration seemed to be the tone of the night. As it usually was when shit like this happend. They had been robbed of a perfect hit again in the last two months and now they were on the lines of finding new employment. This was in all a touchy subject for the both of them. Then taking in consideration of Beverly, he calmed down. She was only the driver because when Richie found her on the streets, she had nothing. He had taken her in and given her a home when she only had the streets. If the bottom fell out on them, he knew she would be the one to have a harder time with it. She would never find a job as good as the one Richie had given her. Richie gave her half of the profits he had made from each job. Every single bullet that hit it's mark was a split profit for the two. When Beverly questioned him on it he simply stated that he wouldn't have gotten the money if he was caught and thrown in jail. Seeing the logic in his words, she never questioned him on it again. He reached out to touch the back of Beverly's head as she leaned into his touch. "I just don't know what you want me to do about it."

"Richie if you were more careful maybe. If you checked other possible vantage points. See where other blind spots might be, and trapped him." Richie retracted his hand at that. Resuming his gaze out of the window.

"You say that like I haven't already done it. I do that every time and I don't know where he could possibly have shot from. There was no other blind spot except from where I was. Even If I did know where he was, what do I do? Again, still no clear solution. Do I talk to him? Do I ask if he wants to come over for tea so we can work out an agreement?"

"Beep beep Richie." Beverly's clear sign that he had gone to far. Oh well. He had said it with such a sarcastic tone that it even made him roll his eyes. "Maybe if you weren't so obsessed with finding him for other purposes than we could get somewhere." This made Richie's blood run cold. She couldn't have ment it the way she said it. She didn't know that side of him. He hadn't told her.

"What the hell are you talking about?" He shifted in his seat again, aware of the heat burning his face. He was glad that it was dark out so she couldn't see his cheeks turn the color of her lipstick.

"You know what I'm talking about. The way your eyes glaze over when you think of him. How it's so damn hard to pull you back down to earth when you look that way. When you told me about the way he jumped from rooftops, and the way you described his body to me when he did it." A strange fear rose in his throat. He wasn't afraid because he was attracted to a man. Beverly had already known he was attracted to men. They had even shared a few of them in their day. It was the strange fear that she knew him so well.

"Just shut up and drive." Richie mumbled under his breath. When they got home, they immediately locked up and dried off. Then they made the call that had been much dreaded since the car ride. They had to make a call confirming the kill. Although it had not been their kill. Therefore they would get no money and another threat imploring that they would be fired and this new gunman would be hired in their place.

Well that had been what they expected. Instead what they got was a new name on their blacklist. Stan was surprisingly calm when they told him about the mystery man. He just simply jumped into the phone and said something along the lines of not having to pay so it would be like two birds with one stone, or something like that. Stan was always using those weird bird terms for everything. The call ended and they went to bed, trying to get as much sleep as possible before they would have to get up and do their research tomorrow morning.

The next day they woke up to the bright sun and went straight to work. They had checked for cameras in that area and the blind spots. They had circled the block a few times and looked for possible vantage points until they found a good enough spot. They had even logged every person that had walked by, if they weren't living around the area. They say at a small coffee shop on the next block over and just enjoyed the day as It went by. The harsh rain of the night before had made a nice cool day with a rainbow in the sky. When it was getting late, Richie had treated Beverly to a nice dinner before walking back home. They had not taken the car for the simple fact that it would be easier for someone to identify them. As time grew near they had gotten in their uniforms. Beverly wore black leather pants and a black hood that zipped up in the front to make a gorilla mask. Richie on the other hand wore something more extreme, but more flexible. After all, he was the one that had to run around and bend to defend himself if needed. Although it had only come to that once or twice. He had never really gotten caught and that was partially due to his clothing. He had wore a black hood with black jeans that pooled around his ankles. His shoes were black arm boots that were a size to big so no one could backtrack to his foot size. He wore black latex gloves for fingerprints and a handkerchief around his face that had an image of the bottom half of a skull. He had metal chains around his pants, but those were only for design. They really helped if he needed them for locking doors behind him or stabilizing his rifle for the right angle. They were strong for those jobs. When they pulled out of the driveway, they had made small conversation, but had mostly ran the plan back over together. After they were positive that they had it down pat the conversation came to a slightly interesting topic.

"What are you going to do if he steals your shot again?" Richie had already thought of that. In fact he had been thinking about that all day. The first two times he had seen the extremely complicated precaution the man had taken. He had know where he was from seeing him flee the scene, seeing where he had originated from. He couldn't tell last night from the heavy down pour where he had been hiding, but he doubted the man would be scaling buildings in such conditions.

"I've already searched all other possibilities for him to hide, but the only place is our building. Our spot. The only clear shot from one window to the other. I doubt he'll show tonight." Beverly seemed to think about this for a quick second before she had another whole new thought. One that Richie wasn't sure he could answer. One that he wasn't sure he could think about right now, or else it would throw his entire game off.

"What if he comes and you run into him? What are you going to do about him? Are you gonna talk to him or respond with violence?" The question was expected. At least the first part of it. He hadn't thought that if they did bump into each other it could resolve into violence. Shit. Now he was only going to do a halfass job. The rest of his mind would be spent on thoughts of a small interaction that may or may not happen. When he looked to Bev, she had a look that demanded an answer.

"I guess that all depends on his preference, and my mood.... or actions that I may do leading up to that moment. That is to say if he eve-"

"He may show up though and you may just happen to cross paths. You need to be ready for that if it happens. Are you gonna be ready Rich?" Richie sat in silence the rest of the way to the building. Pondering what could happen. As many nights as he had lied awake at night wondering what it would be like, or what this boy would look like if he had come face to face with him, he hoped he didn't see him. He was really praying to God that he would not come face to face with his faceless man tonight. He just wanted to do this job, get his money, and head on to the next assignment. Was that to much to ask in this life.

At the end of that thought the building came into view. He had grabbed his rifle and slung it over his shoulders right when he jumped out of the still moving car. Normally he would wait till the car was almost stopped, but he already was struggling to keep his mind on task. He didn't need Beverly asking one more question that would take up the rest of his thoughts and concentration. As he crawled up the steps to the fifth floor he analyzed the railing. He could slid down this in attempts for a fast get away. Now on the fifth floor, Richie walked to the end of the hallway. Opening the door to the abandoned burned down room, he strode to the window. So far so good. He had set everything up and had gotten his scope out to align it with his victim. He just secretly hoped he was still alive. That this mystery murder hadn't beat him to it. When he looked through his "magic gun telescope" as he liked to call it, he was happy to see his man getting frisky with what looked to be a whore of a slut. This was most likely why he was on Stan's list. But in all honesty, if Richie was a Senetor with that kind of money, he would invest his in the same way. That is if the Senetor would even have to buy his own slut. The difference between Richie and this so called Senetor is that Richie wouldn't be married. He would never get married. These thoughts occupied him while he set up. That was good though. He had no room to concentrate on anything else. He would need to use a silencing piece at the end of his rifle though since the Senetor was in such company. He would also have to wait till she fell asleep. This was going to be a little while as they were just now getting jiggy with it.

It had been two hours and the whore was just now starting to drift. It wouldn't be long now and he knew it. Getting ready, he made sure the kill round was in place. Boy was Beverly going to enjoy this one. Although this man was old and wasn't flexible enough to do anything to interesting, he had a hell of a lot of toys. He may in fact buy one of those for Bev for Christmas. The woman's eyes had been closed and her movement had been silenced for the last twenty minutes. She was asleep. Balancing on the balls of his heels in a squatted position, he was taking stance. He wrapped his latex covered finger around the trigger. Inhale. Exhale. Eyes closed. Pull. He opend his eyes just in time to see the body jolt and the woman shriek. That was his que. He turned around pulling along his rifle carrier and quickly packing it up. He had everything under control. This was just like any other well executed job. He had just slung his rifle over his shoulder like he always did and rounded the corner of the hallway to the stare case when it came out of nowhere.

He had pulled back enough just in time to miss a direct punch in the face. When he had corrected his stance, he noticed who he was looking at. This was the man who had scaled buildings and jumped rooftops. The man who had stolen three paychecks and had either invaded or prevented sleep. This man was the only thing that Richie could see for a few seconds that felt like time had stopped in itself. He was beautiful. The most handsome thing he had ever seen in his life. That was until his wet dreams were abruptly interrupted by a knife that was coming towards his face. It was clear now. His fears were exploited. The man that he had dreamed on talking to and maybe a nice date was attacking him. He Would have to fight back.

Thanks for reading. Sorry for any Grammer errors! This has been in my drafts for a year now and I thought it should finally be posted though. Love you guys and let me know if time should be invested in a continuation!

[cruddyborderlandstheories]

me: i don’t have anything to post ughhh also me: has 10 95% finished drafts i could literally take an hour to finish and upload but won’t me: lemme start a new analysis

aaaaaa the mural of mayhem looks so good (source)

tl;dr: bunches of new environment shots. also i wanna time travel So Bad, just so Bad,,, gearbox, please, time travel??? i wanna meet The Man Typhon Deleon just *clenches fist* so bad and slap him for leading to the opening of the first vault. also for some reason tina is the only one of the good guys with the fabric stuff the twins are wearing. be warned. oh, also, there might be some ursa mechs? i saw like 3 robos that look like iron bear but aren’t colored like it so who even knows. oh and we see the scientist (?) dude in color next to Tannis from the MoM. he seems cool evil.

i don’t even know where to begin here so let’s start with the middle and work our way towards literally whatever catches my eye next. i have no method, im a disaster

OwO

nothing too special about our VHs here, they seem to be using the gold gun skins that are offering in either the early adopter pack or the other pack u get i think for signing up to be a VIP. so that’s neat. also shows off the good guys = blue/yellow theme we see throughout the mural.

there is this weird square shape in the sky/clouds above them? idk what it’s supposed to be, though. a logo? a ship? a building? i can’t tell!

i could be wrong/seeing things though lol

zoomer isn’t colored in! probably didn’t want to detract from the main 4 VHs. additionally, Amara’s arms don’t have their patterns across them. 

Moze is also the only VH here with a hint as to what her Action Skill is. IB is elsewhere on the mural, though. We’ll get to him.

the Vault behind them!

moving down below the VHs, we see this ship

I’ve spoken about it before, so i won’t go into it here

bandits? i think! looks like at least one of them is wearing power armor... or just a suit of armor in general. it looks like power armor to me tho lol

another set of silhouettes in the foreground on the right there. can’t tell who/what they’re supposed to be unfortunately, but im going to assume more bandits

interestingly, we see the ruins of helios SUPER close and, even more interestingly, what appears to be a Vault in front of it! Which could very well be the Vault of the Traveler? since the Traveler itself can’t teleport it anymore (cause y’know... it ded.) It has a weird shape at the bottom, idk what that is supposed to be. it looks like a curvy outline of an arrow tbh lol. i wonder if the Vault actually did teleport Rhys and Fiona somewhere. I also wonder if the thing on the bottom is meant to help ‘visitors’ or something idk use/see/extract whatever was in the Vault. there was like some stairs and then a chest..? thing? idek. 

but yeah, looks like the Vault by Helios is doing well. Also, Vaughn apparently knows Rhys is on Promethea (soon) after the end of tales so I wonder if that actually is a portal... either way, i hope this means we’ll get to go visit 👀 We’ve visited the ruins of helios already in commander lilith, so hopefully this isn’t too much of a stretch.

to the right of that we see Lorelei knockin the shit out of a goliath that seems... kinda small compared to her? idk maybe it’s cause he’s lying down (and out).

We also see another instance of Mystery Girl up at the top there, though she’s in the exact same pose as the mask of mayhem which makes me kinda sad. i was hoping to see another angle of her or something. I do hope she’s actually in the game and isn’t just a statue. be wild if tyreen gave her the suck or something to turn her into a statue to preserve her in the hopes that doing the reverse succ/getting the ultimate power would let ty bring her back to life at a later point lmao

below lorelei we can see a crimson raider in the ash cloud! i have no idea why he’s there but he’s lookin baller.

next to to lorelei is a titan (unsure if that’s the official name for these big guys or if the one in the showcase was unique) a skag and clappy! I can’t tell if clappy is holding something in his left arm or not

also the background looks like a city. i think that is promethea? i can’t really tell tbh

next to clappy we see part of a ferris wheel which im pretty sure is part of the circus area we’ve seen in the trailers. the one with the circle emblem thing above the door/entrance.

below clappy/marcus we see what i think is part of Eden-6

the bridge/road has me going like 🤔 but the foliage pretty much confirms it. might be related to that research base looking area. might be related to jakobs manor (maybe they have a bridge to keep bandits out) idk

above that we see marcus looking some cash to a bunch of psychos. I think he has an ECHO skin? i can’t really tell. not really much to say here tbh, is marcs.

behind him we see this landscape which i don’t think we’ve seen before. the tree is screaming Athenas at me but tbh i think we’ve only seen red trees there, haven’t we? also is that the handle of a sword near the bottom there? wtf is that?

maybe a new planet? or a new biome on one of the planets we haven’t seen yet. it looks like a savanna tree to me. you know the ones?

yeah. possible new planet/new biome we haven’t seen yet?? i would ADORE a savanna type area. 

next to that we see a tink and a skag in front of the HBC. I thiiink the tink is holding a flamethrower? not sure, though. maybe a miniboss like midgemong? that’d be neat asf

i can’t tell if this is a suit of power armor/a robot or just part of the environment lol, i can see the helmet up top and a big bulky body. i would love to fight power armored enemies like that, be so cool! maybe these are modified suits of the ursa corps project? or something. idk about the helmet.

above the tink/skag combo we can see more silhouettes in the foreground. i seriously can’t make out who they’re supposed to be :( maybe some maliwan troops? i feel like they’d be more recognizable, though. hmhmhmhm

in the background we see another robo/power armor suit (???? i think????), this one seems to have a flamethrower, which is kinda reinforcing my theory they might be repurposed armor sets. this one doesn’t appear to have a helmet. kinda get the feeling they’re either repurposed or completely different cuz the helmet on the other one is throwing me off a touch. IB doesn’t have a helmet. 

for reference.

above that weirdly confusing collection of entities, we have hammerlock!

my boiii

and finally to the left of hammerlock we get to the big boy of this side of the mural

the god queen herself.

first thing i noticed? her jacket seems to be warping into that weird fabric we see clinging to other baddies throughout the mural and covering her right leg. 

She seems to be holding up a grenade/molotov cocktail/smoke bomb?

pretty sure it’s a molotov cocktail though

i love how the smoke merges into the roses above her. really cool detail. you can also see the recruitment center to the right there! and a crane which makes me double down on the idea that the ‘vault’ we see in the booth thing had been excavated by dahl (considering the main building of the RC is a dahl building)

we also see a fire rakk? ?? i think? be cool if we got badass elemental rakks. i’ve only ever seen normal badass rakks. i wonder if this is a play on the fact there’s a psycho in the MoM with rakk wings and the twins stole lily’s firehawk powers... probably not, right? probably not...

ty’s tattoos are lookin kinda green for me here, might be the close proximity to all those browns and reds, though. it’d be really cool if she could pull an amara and swap her succ elements LMAO

a bunch of psychos! all with wings! which is weird cause the sirens don’t have wings here. weird chunk of symbolism i guess. we can see a tubby on the top there which makes me happy to know they’re coming back. there’s one with 

a glowing nose

and there’s this figure on the very left

who doesn’t appear to be a psycho at all

also, note that all these psychos have a ‘normal’ brown/gray buzzaxe

the one at the bottom here, on ty’s left has a more golden-colored buzzaxe. im p sure that corresponds to rank in cult. i also feel obligated to point out that, while im 90% sure that flame is coming from the flamethrower on the right there, it does kinda look like the bottom psycho is shooting a blast of flames out of his palm. 

moving right along

the whole entourage seems to be laying across a statue of roses, which match the ones at the top of the mural AND the ones on the cover art.

we see a shot of Pandora and Elpis here (I’m pretty sure. the purple light at the top right makes me believe that’s the eridian scar, but.... may not be)

looks very volcanic...

we see one of those lil video game dudes from the demo, forgot their names but they’re Maliwan

below them we see this scene

which is an area i don’t recognize. eden-6 maybe? the buildings seem a bit close together, though.

tbh i thought this was another city at first, maybe it’s Promethea from ye olde days? you know, before Atlas took over and modernized it. Maybe we’ll get to go back in time to stop the first Vault from ever being opened. that’d be pretty cool. man time travel would be wild. i wonder if we’d be able to combine the Vault of the Traveler and the Vault of the Sentinel to do that. now that’d be cool.

but it’s probably eden-6 lmao

quadruple threat here. from top to bottom: Rhys, Zer0, Vaughn, Aurelia? i think. 

her hair seems spikier in the mask bit... maybe that’s not her? she also doesn’t have the earrings. idk who else it could be, though. 🤔

anyway. Vaughn seems to be climbing a cliff or something lol. at least he’s got a cape and his relic of strength on him.

rhys and zer0 are in the same poses as their poses on the Mask of Mayhem, just colored in.

biggg statue of ty. noticeably missing her facial scars. not much else to say, pretty sure this is just a different(ish) angle of her MoM statue during the pan around.

back to the bottom center of the mural, let’s move left

someone with a jetpack! i can’t make out who, though. i thought it was Moze at first but... she needs her digistruct pack for iron bear.

Also a bunch of psychos all fighting each other. over the buzzaxes maybe? if they really are a symbol of rank in the cult. that or they’re just being psychos. 

this area with a waterfall and also a drainage pipe. i think this is also eden-6, but i am not 100% sure. probably an area we haven’t seen yet.

lily!! her right (our left) wing looks really weird to me, idk what it is. it’s a lot redder/yellower than her left one. Also, the tattoos near her wrist look like they’re coming off her arm. 

to the left of lily we see ellie!

holding a whole-ass street sign. insane.

next/behind her is promethea! which we’ve seen before. it looks like one of the buildings in the middle there is getting blasted by something, but idk what. maybe something Maliwan? 

also, on the left there we can see what i thought was iron bear

but now i am second guessing myself due to the other robos/armor suits we saw on the right of the mural. 

maybe they did not color in IB fully like Zoomer? it looks like there is someone/something where the turret mount would be. maybe that is moze standing up there? it would be really interesting to see other Ursa Corps soldiers coming in. I know they mentioned in the Commander Lily ECHO log that Vladof was at war with Tediore, and we know through their advertisements for bl2 that Vladof is also at war with Dahl. It’s possible we’ll see some of their troops in the game! especially since Moze’s echo actually talks about the troop as a whole and not specifically her, unlike the others.

next to the mystery mech or iron bear (you decide) we see Mystery Girl/Little Blue/Nope Girl

and, yeah, starting to think she may not actually fit into the timeline of Steele’s death. she looks older than 12 to me (for reference, in bl2 tina was 13). but we haven’t quite seen enough of her so who knows. im getting ‘way too tall’ vibes. maybe 14-15? maybe mystery MoM girl is her little sister. i would not be surprised if we saw another sibling relationship to juxtapose the twins (considering mystery girl looks like a CoV bandit, they’d be distant at the start and close at the end of the game while the twins are close at the start and distant at the end of the game- we know Danny Homan said their relationship would start to warp). 

below her we see this area

i think that’s a water tank at the bottom there? this looks kinda like a garden/courtyard area to me. Maybe another place on Athenas? i want to say Athenas bc Little Blue is directly above it. may be another new planet/biome/region we haven’t seen yet.

Above L.B we see this car

which is interesting to me bc it appears to have a closed top? I could be wrong though. would be fun to see Vasquez’s car make a return, tho lol (and then everyone gets mad the fuckin car is making an appearance but Gaige isn’t)

above that we see Tina and Mordy (and Talon) making an appearance. Tina appears to be in the same pose as her Mappearancence, including the huge launcher behind her which has me like :O Talon is a girl now in bl3, right? unless their gender changed again after the commander lilith stuff.

Also, I’m hesitant to note that Tina is the only ‘good guy’ character to have the fabric on. Everyone other character with it is either a psycho or one of the twins. I hope that’s just artistic choice and nothing more because :(

also she has bows on her shoes. fucking ace

to their right we see 3 very interesting things so we’ll go in order from the bottom counter clockwise

another mystery dude who seems to match the one we saw by tyreen, and those silhouettes again. It looks like they’re reaching down to save their falling teammates. i hope they’re alright. (unless they’re evil. then, oof, crash and burn)

at the top i can see a bunch of men with guns pointed at what i think is a jabber? but the lower bit i can’t make out. someone’s falling at the very bottom, it looks like a second falling figure has been caught with rope? idk.

above that scene we see

tannis! and the mystery guy to the bottom right. the one we’ve seen standing next to her in the MoM. does he have red eyes for anyone else or is that just me? might just be the lighting. Do I think he’s evil? you know the fuck i do. I trust nobody lol. Since I’m a fan of the “the twins are the product of a weird experiment” theory, it’s possible he is the experimenter. Tannis could’ve been feeding him information. maybe she didn’t even know what was going on- though, knowing her disregard for ethics, maybe she did. 

this guy btw

it looks like tannis is holding an eridian artifact?

maybe?? it looks like she’s holding it horizontally, if it is an artifact.

to her right and our left we see a familiar shot of Promethea. I’ve seen this exact frame before, iirc that building is smoking bc it’s Rhys’s office. actually, that could explain Rhys joining us on Sanc-III! maybe Lorelei, too.

above Tina and Mordy we see Brick

and to the right of him, Moxxi and her bar sign

she has a new megaphone, i wonder if that is hinting we’ll be getting more circles of slaughters/underdomes. It would be nice to have her commentary return, i actually really enjoyed that in the bl1 dlc and I did actually enjoy her dlc. The wave combat was fun. I’d love to have an endless wave version to see how long i could survive.

it also looks like there are a bunch of psychos (?) hanging out around the bar. and this character at the bottom right who i don’t recognize

to the far right of moxxi we see Maya

i think this is a new pose, but tbh i don’t see anything noteworthy here. I do think it’s interesting she’s using pistols instead of smgs, but oh well. might just be for the poses lol

Troy’s statue. one interesting bit i gotta mention is that it looks like the cut on the right side of his face (our left) is visible here! iirc it was not visible on his portraits in the MoM. so that’s new!

the big boy of this side of the mural!

none of the psychos on this side seem to have golden buzzaxes, plus their drapes? wtf are these? they don’t look like robes to me. anyway, they’re darker in color than the ones on Ty’s side. might be artistic direction, might be showing they’re not as high rank as the ones with the god queen (vs the right hand man lol)

i also only see 2 psychos with wings here, the one on the very left and you can see part of a wing on the bottom right. They also don’t appear to be resting/climbing on a statue like Tyreen’s are. There is ALSO a lot less of them. 

some interesting stuff about Troy: his stomach tattoos don’t seem to be around, but that could be because of the detail level required- would probably look like a big ol smudge. it is cool seeing Troy with a gun, is this the first time? i can’t remember, but i know we always saw him with his sword. i find it kinda funny they decided on the gun considering this is supposed to be renaissance, the sword would (kinda) be more fitting in that regard. it is also a giant glowy tech sword, so maybe not.

Also, Ty’s side of the mural is the only one with the roses. idk if that’s to signify something or just to balance out colors, though you’d think the red clouds on troy’s side couldve been easily converted to roses as well. hmmm 🤔

anyway, this is all i’ve got. if i missed something/if you think of something new please tell me! i wanna know 👀

[recentnews18-blog]

New Post has been published on https://shovelnews.com/the-love-song-of-dril-and-the-boys/

The Love Song Of Dril And The Boys

I have not read dril’s book. I cannot read dril’s book. 

Dril Official “Mr. Ten Years” Anniversary Collection compiles 1,500 of the pseudonymous Twitter user’s greatest tweets, and it is simply too funny for me to read for more than a page or two at a time without laughing so hard, I feel physically ill. Ask my family if you don’t believe me. Ask the patrons of the West Babylon Public Library, who have been shooting me dirty looks since I began writing this essay. Every time I crack the book open, I’m seconds away from hitting something like this … 

“hello 911 I need a moat dug around my house immediately” “sir this line is for emergencies only” “Thuis is an emergency moat”

— wint (@dril) May 18, 2014

 … or this …

koko the talking ape.. has been living high on the hog, wasting our tax dollars on high capacity diapers. No more. i will suplex that beast,

— wint (@dril) September 7, 2014

… or this … 

where do girls live

— wint (@dril) October 20, 2010

… and that’s it. Show’s over. “Goodnight Irene,” as Gorilla Monsoon would say. (“I will suplex that beast.”)

Dril’s blend of fist-on-the-table bluster, abject confusion and burned-toast syntax — the style of humor he pioneered, which became the lingua franca of Funny/Weird Twitter in toto — has my number. Like Monty Python’s run-on sketches, non sequiturs and Terry Gilliam animation; like the endless awkward pauses, omnipresent electrical humming and recycled animation of “Space Ghost Coast to Coast”; like Tim and Eric’s garish colors, glitchy video and non-actor stars, dril’s tweets are a new way to be funny, with a rhythm and vocabulary all their own. I love it.

But dril? Dril loves the boys. 

A recurring collective character in dril’s oeuvre, the boys occupy a unique place in his taxonomy, which, thanks to the book’s arrangement of tweets by topic, is easier than ever to get the hang of. For example, girls are mysterious sources of intermingled awe and terror, like the monoliths in “2001.”

ah, So u persecute Jared Fogle just because he has different beliefs? Do Tell. (girls get mad at me) Sorry. Im sorry. Im trying to remove it

— wint (@dril) November 1, 2015

Brands are icons of integrity, as admirable as they are untouchable.

just deleted 23,000 tweets at the request of Sbarro. feeling Purified

— wint (@dril) July 5, 2015

The trolls are contemptible pests, an implacable obstacle.

will no longer be livestreaming foreskin restoration process; the trolls who attempted to summon [インプ] (Imps) into the chatroom are to blame

— wint (@dril) February 3, 2012

And then there’s rival Twitter user @DigimonOtis, a class by himself: He is nemesis, the anti-dril.

(reading my latest death threat ) “from the desk of DigimonOtis…” this is bullshit. digimonotis has never owned a desk

— wint (@dril) November 6, 2014

But the boys are on dril’s level. The boys welcome dril with open arms. They share his hopes and fears, his loves and hates. He’s one of the boys.

Just met w/ Boys Lunch Club. Seems to me, That we are very pissed off that teen girls would rather kiss, “Soldier Boy,” than Actual Soldiers

— wint (@dril) May 16, 2016

pleased to report my custom beer tap that makes a dramatic diarrhea noise while filling the glass is a hit with the boys at the fondue club

— wint (@dril) October 16, 2014

best 90s memory is gathering around the old oak tree with the boys and passing around trading cards featuring all of our dads #DamnGood90s

— wint (@dril) April 30, 2013

Crucial to the boys’ appeal is their exclusivity. Like any clique, they’ve invested their aesthetic preferences with moral weight, and those who violate them do so at their peril.

darknet 2002: pics of dead guys in bath tubs, warez darknet 2017: discussions amongst the boys as to which of our acquaintances aren t funny

— wint (@dril) August 11, 2017

me & the booys are riffing on 78 hours of stolen walgreens security cam footage. this guy on here just bought a toilet brush. bitch!! bitch!

— wint (@dril) December 8, 2014

me and the boys have decided that the least gay way of wiping your ass is to dump a quarter bottle of Palmolive Spring Sensations back there

— wint (@dril) September 17, 2016

Dril may be a member in good standing, but membership brings responsibilities as well as privileges.

the boys held an intervention about me “Going hollywood” because i;ve been buying plastic toothpicks now

— wint (@dril) June 1, 2018

THE BOYS: were watching the mr bean episode where you can see his ass. get over here ME: cant. wifes making me watch mr beans holiday (2007)

— wint (@dril) June 14, 2017

If the boys function as dril’s superego, instilling and policing values, they are also his id — an embodiment of his most voracious physical drives.

pussy log 12.29.11: justin unscrewed the knob from the door to the ladies’ room and now the club boys all take turns cradling it

— wint (@dril) December 30, 2011

“Ah!! Lunchtime, Boys!” i snort several lines of Hamburger Helper, tilt my head back and shake with unbearable agony as my head turns purple

— wint (@dril) May 15, 2013

The comedy and tragedy of dril is that he is a man without ego, the mediating force that balances the needs of id and superego. He is perpetually out of balance, careening from excess to shame. He requires the intervention of the boys, the example they set, just to function.

This is why the saga of dril and the boys is a love story — conditional and occasionally unrequited though that love may be. It is poignant because it is impossible to imagine dril living without them any more than Juliet could live without Romeo.

When the lovers are in harmony — when the needs of id, ego and superego are aligned at last — the result is a thing of beauty.

going ape shit at the gym. rotating in full 360 degrees with the boys, flawlessly synchronized

— wint (@dril) November 28, 2017

The boys can be peers, contributing to the good posts for which dril is best known at a level beyond dril’s own imagining.

cant wiat to see what devilish thanksgiving scenarios me and the boys of twitter can conjure up. “The turkey was taken by spiders? ? Whua??”

— wint (@dril) November 24, 2014

Together they can be silent guardians, watchful protectors, dark knights, defending boys both within and outside the circle from the depredations of rival groups.

me & the boys will be holding hands., forming a Covenant Ring, to protest girls who only want to fuck the main pirate from the pirate movies

— wint (@dril) June 4, 2017

the epic shit of 2017; is the boys getting TheSegaPimp fired from his job at The Red Cross for not wishing me a “Happy Halloween”

— wint (@dril) January 2, 2018

the boys are enjoying their fave jukebox when ths sarge steps in SARGE: TURN OFF THE DAMN JUKE BOX! ITS WAR ME: Fuck u sarge. The armys crap

— wint (@dril) July 7, 2015

Not every tweet about the boys made it into the book. This is fitting, as when they’re operating at full force, nothing can contain them. 

thje opening riff of “Life In The Fast Lane” repeats over and over forever while me and the boys shoot at a septic tank with airsoft rifles

— wint (@dril) August 1, 2014

me N’ the boys eating messy sandiwches, sneaking around with big binoculars looking for girls & letting every one know who runs this TJ maxx

— wint (@dril) July 21, 2016

So we come to the crux of the matter. Dril and the boys are the great love story of our time because their insecurities, their mania, are our time’s prime motivators.

Dril and the boys wallow in the same miasma from which all our era’s reactionary movements have emerged — the MAGAs and Pepes, MRAs and incels, GamerGaters and ComicsGaters, Sad Puppies and Proud Boys and all the other doofuses with unwittingly infantilizing sobriquets.

With “the boys,” the humorist behind dril has tapped into the overall vibe in this country that there exists, somewhere out there ― perhaps in a TJ Maxx ― a lost masculine ideal. No one agrees on what it is, least of all dril, whose psyche is as piecemeal as his punctuation. It could be yelling at NFL protesters to stand for the national anthem or screaming at Disney for committing white genocide in the “Star Wars” films. It could be having sex all the time or having no sex at all. It could be respecting the majesty of the law or flouting it or both, depending on whom the law is meant to penalize. It’s the nightmare superego-id hybrid, 10 pounds of Blue Lives Matter shit in a five-pound “Live free or die” bag.

When men fail to live up to the puritanical amorality of the boys, they’re less than men, which is to say — as women have a lifetime to learn — they’re less than human. Such men earn sexualized insults like “betas” and “cucks.” They’re reduced to contemptuous acronyms like “SJWs” and “NPCs.” They make the soy face. They listen to dad rock. This blend of macho aggression and childlike vulnerability cannot be resolved in the real world, where it results in a racist, revanchist, minority party controlling all branches of government and installing sexual predators in every available position of power yet still acting like the David to the Goliath of Me Too, female gamers and the theoretical casting of Idris Elba as James Bond.

me and the boys watching james bond morph into a black guy before our very eyes , and braying at the movie screen like distressed cattle

— wint (@dril) September 4, 2018

Dril and the boys reside in this all-American astral plane where the Large Son–Libtard civil war rages, where misandry is real and must be guarded against with magic spells. We recognize our own reality in their incoherent but nevertheless militant search for reasons to hoot and holler. As such, their romance presents us with an opportunity to convert the problematic into the pleasurable, just as surely as antihero dramas or even halfway decent kink.

In the world of dril and the boys, all the pride and greed and wrath and lust and envy and sloth and gluttony of the movements that have fouled the entire adult lives of multiple generations of Americans can be boiled down to a gaggle of morons screaming about toilets. It’s a beautiful fantasy, and like all fantasies, it’s as romantic as it is remote.

Sean T. Collins has written for The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Esquire and Vulture. He and his partner, the cartoonist Julia Gfrörer, are the co-editors of the art and comics anthology Mirror Mirror II. They live with their children on Long Island in New York.

Source: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/dril-and-the-boys-twitter_us_5bb66529e4b028e1fe3bfd71