#that’s that for the no drawing unrevealed designs thing I do

[tophats-tea]

drawing fanart everyday for Danganronpa: A New Generation until the First Episode comes out

Day 105: T-Pose / Naruko full body

Check out the fangan!

[adwendoodles]

some Silmarillion Tarot Card sketches (very messy, very unreferenced) ~

Pictured here are The Moon (Sauron), The Tower (Turin), The Sun (Tuor and Idril sail for Valinor), The Star (Earendil and Elwing looking down at their children), Wheel of Fortune (Maedhros and Fingon), The High Priestess (Melian teaching Galadrien) and last but not least, The Lovers (Luthien and Beren, old and happy)

Some (super long) rambling under the cut

I’ve wanted to do this for a while and nothing gets me wanting to start a new, complex, probably out of my skill range project like the imminent return of the school year amid covid :D you gotta seize the day, you know?

jokes aside I am happy to have started this... but it’s so hard to match everyone up. I’m trying to at least kinda follow the tarot meanings. i don’t know anything about tarot though, so so far my matches are based on what wikipedia tells me... (and even then it’s mostly what they quote from A. E. Waite's Pictorial Key To The Tarot, copy pasted below)

Anyway if anyone is curious what the deck so far is:

- The Magician: “Skill, diplomacy, address, subtlety, pain, loss, disaster, snares of enemies; self-confidence, will“

I NEARLY MADE MAEDHROS THIS but he’s already part of the wheel of fortune so i’m thinking Finrod

- The High Priestess: “Secrets, mystery, the future as yet unrevealed, silence, wisdom, science”

This was a toss up between Galadriel (who would be this if it was a LOTR spread) and Melian (who was my first and final pick). My card designs for this vary between symbolic bs and small smattering of scenes that I like, so I went ‘both characters’ and thus this card shows Melian teaching Galadriel how to use the water mirror thing

- The Empress: “Fruitfulness, action, initiative, length of days; the unknown, clandestine; also difficulty, doubt, ignorance. “

For obvious reasons I want this to be a female... I’m thinking Aredhel due to her taking action in leaving Gondolin but then ending up with Eol. If Idril hadn’t already been part of the Sun card I probably would have gone with her building the stairs.... 

Honestly now I’m half tempted to change the sun card and have this be Idril. Any thoughts?

- The Emperor: “ Stability, power, protection, realization; a great person; aid, reason, conviction also authority and will. “

I went with Fingolfin for this, though I haven’t gotten a design I like. Could also be Turgon? But again, no design. I was thinking Fingolfin holding his crown... idk. i’ll figure something else.

- The Hierophant - “Marriage, alliance, captivity, servitude; by another account, mercy, and goodness; inspiration”

I went with Gwindor (and Finduilas, who in my current design also shows up in the card) for this due to the marriage troubles and his capture by morgoth, as well as the fact that Finduilas was able to recognize him and still cared for him... . Though now that Aredhel’s place as the empress might be instead taken by Aredhel, she actually fits this...

- The Lovers: “-Attraction, love, beauty, trials overcome. “

THIS WAS ALWAYS GONNA BE BEREN AND LUTHIEN lets be real. i mean. attraction??? love???? beAUTY??? TRIALS OVERCOME??? i swear tolkien just checked off every thing

For their card I went with something I’ve never really seen in fanart---at least not often/that I can remember. I kinda wanted to draw them old and happy; I was very much inspired by Carl and Ellie from UP... they’re probably the only couple in all of the silmarillion that got to grow old together and die happy

- The Chariot - “ Succour, providence also war, triumph, presumption, vengeance, trouble. “

I went with Aegnor and Angrod for this one, because they held one part of the border against morgoth for 500 years. That’s a lot of time!!! then they died, of course, which is the ‘vengeance and trouble’ part of the card. dunno about the design for them yet tho

- Strength - “ Power, energy, action, courage, magnanimity; also complete success and honors. “

i was so torn on who to do this for. fingolfin??? one of the sons of feanor??? fingon??? finrod “i wrestled a werewolf to death” felagund????

but so far my favorite pic is Hurin. Dude was so strong, not just literally... but in everything he had to live through... all i think about when i read this card description is his final desperate charge in the Nirnaeth... brb gave my self feels

bc the ‘complete success’ part is very ironic

alternatively this card (or the chariot) could be glorfindel and ecthelion. if anyone reads this and has an opinoon, lemme know what you think~

- The Hermit - “ Prudence, circumspection; also and especially treason, dissimulation, roguery, corruption. “

I don’t know who to do this for... I considered Ulfang but tbh I wanted to draw more elves (what, im biased i admit it). so far i’m thinking curufin and celegorm in nargothrond because--

1. the reason they turned nargothrond against finrod was by encouraging them to be prudent and not go pick a fight with morgoth lmao

2. the whole ‘turning nargothrond against its king’ is definitely treason of some sort, to the cause if not to finrod himself

3. what action of theirs in the ley of leithian isn’t rogueish klajfdsd

- Wheel of Fortune: “ Destiny, fortune, success, elevation, luck, felicity. “

I went with Maedhros and Fingon for this one because I feel like they’re two characters that are constantly influencing each other’s destiny like

1. Fingon’s friendship with Maedhros causes him to jump into the fray at alqualonde and thus turn the tide of the battle but

2. Maedhros’ friendship with Fingon is not enough to sway Feanor, thus leaving the only other path to middle earth for fingon and co through the helcaraxe

3. due to the above, the noldor forces in beleriand are not enough for a decisive initial battle and feanor dies and maedhros is captured...

4. fingon rescues maedhros (thus saving him from a destiny of slavery)

5. this action prevents civil war and maedhros gives up the kingship, which fingon inherits

5. maedhros union and everything that leads up to fingon’s death

i dont need to go on do i

- Justice - “ Equity, rightness, probity, executive; triumph of the deserving side in law. “

this is another hard one, and if anyone has any ideas i’m all ears. so far i’m thinking eonwe or manwe

- The Hanged Man - “ Wisdom circumspection, discernment, trials, sacrifice, intuition, divination, prophecy. “

IT WAS SO HARD TO NOT GO WITH MAEDHROS FOR THE OBVIOUS REASONS but to me he doesn’t really fit the card??? he’s not very self-sacrificial (as wiki explains the ‘hanged man’ part is interpreted)--dutiful, sure. suicidal, obviously. self-sacrificial? not really.

so i talked with a friend and she pointed out that Huan actually fit this card really well. still trying to figure out the design but so far Huan is my pick for this one.

- Death - “ a change of thinking from an old way into a new way “ & “ unlikely that this card actually represents a physical death, rather it typically implies an end, possibly of a relationship or interest, and therefore an increased sense of self-awareness “

I dunno who this is but I was thinking Finwe. Because his death was the final catalyst for the flight fo the noldor and all that... and the end of the relationship of many noldor with the valar...

- Temperance - “ Economy, moderation, frugality, management, accommodation.“

i have NO IDEA who this could be. I’m thinking either Nerdanel or Arafinwe, leaning a bit more towards Arafinwe bc of actions during the flight of the noldor

- The Devil - “ Ravage, violence, vehemence, extraordinary efforts, force, fatality”

lmao this was always going to be Morgoth 

- The Tower - “ Misery, distress, indigence, adversity, calamity, disgrace, deception, ruin.”

my knee-jerk reaction was to give this to Turgon bc of the name, but the meaning caused me instead to go for Turin. the card is actually one of the doodles added. i’m annoyed that glaurung looks like the cheshire cat but what can be done

- The Star - “ Loss, theft, privation, abandonment; another reading says--hope bright prospects, “

this is one of those serendipitous moments where the name association AND the meaning fit. this was totally Earendil and Elwing. my design for now has them looking down/watching over elrond and elros...

- The Moon - “Hidden enemies, danger, calumny, darkness, terror, deception, occult forces, error. “

This was totally Sauron. Specifically Annatar.

- The Sun - “ reflect happiness and contentment, vitality, self-confidence and success.“

I had no idea who to do this for. I mean. happy characters??? in the silmarillion???? ha. haha. hahahahaha.

i considered doing the men waking up... but idk... i went with Tuor (and Idril) at siphilemon’s suggestion. the doodle shows them seeing Valinor in the distance. but now i want idril to be the empress (and i dont want to repeat characters). so if anyone has a better idea, let me know.

(incidentally, I actually believe that idril and tuor never made it to valinor. i mean, sure i like it because i like everyone in the silm to be happy in the end, but if im serious serious i don’t think they did it. guess its a good thing that there are many silm versions :D)

- Judgement - “Judgement, Rebirth, Inner-calling, Absolution, Karma, Causality, Second chance”

dunno who this could be. if nothing else i’ll probably default to Mandos/Namo

- The World - “Assured success, recompense, voyage, route, emigration, flight, change of place.“

For this many characters could work... my first pick is Elros though. My idea has him sailing for Numenor.

- The Fool- “ Folly, mania, extravagance, intoxication, delirium, frenzy, bewrayment. “

who to do for this, i wondered? in the end i settled for Feanor. Specifically, the Fool(ish) Oath of Feanor. if anyone has any other idea though, im all ears

MAN THAT WAS LONG. did anyone read this far?? if so thank you~ ^-^ and if you have any ideas, let me know. (Specifically-- who should be the empress card, Aredhel or Idril? and if Idril, then what should the Sun card be? just tuor on his own, happy in Gondolin/Valinor?)

[prettieparker86]

There’s A Woman || Part 3

Part 1 Part 2 Part 4a Part 4b part 5

Pairing: Tommy Shelby x Reader

Warning: Drug use, implied abuse history

Gif Credit: @carol-danverse  @awhiteshirt @drogons Thank you so much!

Tag:   @theskinofmyemotions @3eyeddame @vikifirman @reyloshipper-starwars @londoncharlotte88  @megnificent07   @mafaldaz   @deactivated-veen @justmehanav  @i-shouldbepainting  @dermittts @stylesbooze  Please let me know if I forgot someone

Note: I’ve finally figure out the plot to this thanks to the lovely @lainey-lane and @twistedrunes. Thank you friends! I couldn’t have done it without you. This story will have a few more parts. The John part is all @xxdearlybeloved her latest imagine inspired my need for it.

And this is very long! My apologies. As always Reblogs, Likes and Comments makes this the best Friday!!! 

Tommy doesn’t respond to your request to learn about the business for so long you think he made up his mind to pretend you never asked. But then he surprises you and slowly pieces of information trickle out. Mostly at night, after you slip into his room or waking up in your special spot in his bed. First, he tells you he learned a lot in the war, all vague and unrevealing, but slowly more substantial details slip free… 

That he plans to expand the family business. How he acquired the guns and how he hopes to use them. That you should strike when your opponent is weak and that’s exactly where he estimates Mr. Kimber is… Weak. And he intends to do something about it. 

You tell him you want to help him, but Tommy only scoffs. And yet, he keeps talking, night by night, whenever you find your way into his bed. His voice low and deep against the silence that holds steady through the rest of the house. His words like bedtime stories, weaving tales against the dancing flame of the candlelight, and suddenly you realize, you’re getting exactly what you wanted.

When Tommy told you he’d teach you to shoot you were expecting he’d actually be the one to do, but like so many others things in Tommy’s life, he has more important matters to take care of and designates the job to John instead. Which you don’t mind really. You adore John, closest brother to your age and more lighthearted than the others. In all honesty, he’ll be less intimidating to learn from than Tommy and all his silent stares, and long looks that suck you in as you try to figure out what he’s thinking.

“John, you’re gonna teach Vera here how to properly shoot a gun while I take care of a few things with Charlie.” Tommy informs his younger brother as the three of you make your way through Charlie’s yard on a quiet evening as the sun slowly dips closer to the horizon.

“Right Tommy. Come ‘ere you.” John calls with a wiggle of his brow, cheeky as ever. You smile back at him as you leave Tommy’s side. John takes you to the far end of Charlie’s yard, trekking through mud and soot. Trying not to get your heels stuck in it.

John takes you where the guys come to let off some steam with a few rounds and a few drinks sometimes, out near the back of the yard, down near the canal. When he stops, you spot the small tower of boxes not far from you, broken bottles lining the top. You wait for him as he wanders over to it, tossing the broken ones into the mud and pulling intact ones from the crate beside it, lining them up in a row before he returns to you.

Pulling the gun from his holster, John hands it to you. “Take it,” He instructs gently with an easy smile, teeth gleaming at you past the pick between his teeth. No doubt trying to ease the nerves he sees in your eyes.

“You’re gonna point it over there, ya?” He tells you, pointing to the short tower of boxes and bottles atop as you glance that way. You figured as much, but you nod just the same.

“Good,” John tells you, spitting out the stick in his teeth as he comes to stand to your side, drawing your arm up, and pointing the gun directly out in front of you. You feel your back bump into his chest as he moves behind you a little, reaching for your other hand, drawing it up to wrap around the revolver as well.

“Right, now cock it with your thumb.” John says, his warm breath fanning the hair on the side of your face and tickling your ear as you resist the urge to laugh. He releases your arms and you feel one of his hands settle gently at your waist. You glance down at his touch and John’s eyes follow the turn of your head a moment after.

“Shit - Sorry love, force of habit.” He tries to explain as he lets you go, but just as quickly your reaching for his hand and pulling it back with your permission.

“No, I don’t mind, really.” You tell him encouragingly, as if having him there is somehow comforting and reassuring as he lingers behind your shoulder, following your eyeline. You pull the hammer back until you hear it click.

“Right,” John answers, clearing his throat nervously, his fingers twitching slightly against you.

“Now line up your shot as best you can. Try to go with your stronger eye, whichever you see better with…” You feel John appraising, feel his eyes sweep over your stance, your arms, and back out to the bottles before he speaks again.

“When you’re ready, take a deep breath and pull the trigger before you release it.”

You follow John’s steps, line up your sight, mark your target bigger rather than smaller, take a deep breath… Your heart racing a little faster as you slowly pull the trigger and a loud bang erupts. Growing up in Small Heath, you’ve heard gun fire nearly as many times as you’ve heard the whistles blow at the factories, but something about the sound coming from you, makes you jump a little as the gun jerks in your hand. You feel John instinctively squeeze at your waist as you startle, grounding you.

“That’s good,” He praises you, but as you look over, all the bottles are still standing. You glance back over your shoulder at him with a disappointed frown.

“No need for the long face.” John says, pinching at your chin playfully. 

“It was a good first try. You got part of the box. Give it another go.” He encourages, and you do, exactly as he showed you… And you miss again. And again. Slowly getting closer, but still not a direct hit. You’re so discouraged by the time you finally hit one of those damn bottles you almost can’t believe it. Not sure if you should squeal or check to make sure John didn’t do it behind your back to stop your suffering.

But he clearly didn’t as he encourages you to go again, make sure you really got it. And when you break two more bottles in a row you’re beyond elated. Excitement and disbelief racing through your heart that was so discouraged a few moments ago. 

Putting down the gun, you spin around to John and find a smile waiting wide on his face for you as if he’s proud of you too. That smile of approval means everything to you as you crash against him eager for his praise. Wrapping your arms around his neck in gratitude and celebration, you place a chaste kiss against his lips before hugging him tightly. You realize you may have caught John off guard with your overwhelming display of gratitude as he stands frozen and unreceptive for a moment before his arms wrap around you for a hug in a return.

You pull back a moment later, but as your eyes meet, you realize John’s not smiling as he was before. His gaze sweeps over you in a way you’ve never seen him do before. In a way you’re not sure how to interpret, but it leaves your own smile falling fast with the sight of it as you stare back at him in confusion, not sure what your sensing from him. 

“John?” You ask open endedly.

The sound of your voice seems to snap him out of it. In the blink of an eye, it’s gone as John’s face falls from yours, his hand running up the back of his shorn blonde hair as an easy laugh spills free from his lips. He slowly shakes his head to himself as if lost in his own thoughts, before he glances back up at you and it’s the John you know and adore. He pats your cheek playfully, drawing a smile from you too and the moment feels right again. 

The sound of slow clapping hands calls both your attention as you glance over to find Tommy standing there, giving your success a round of applause. Watching you silently, his icy unreadable gaze dancing between the two of you, surveying the scene before him.

“How’d she do, John?”  Tommy asks, his eyes never leaving you as you let yourself get lost in the beauty of them for a moment.

Moving around you, John retrieves the gun as you listen to him loudly clear his throat. He pulls another pick form his pocket and pinches it between his teeth before he speaks.

“This one’s fuckin trouble, Tommy.” He comments.

“Am not,” You disagree, watching the exchange between the brothers as John places the gun back into his holster.

“Don’ I know it, brother. But that might just prove useful yet, aye Vera?” Tommy agrees, pulling at the cigarette dangling from his lip as he sends you a crooked grin, your gaze returning to the hold of his. John’s the easiest going among them and Tommy needed to see if Vera could rattle him too. He needed to know it wasn’t just him, you could do it to someone else too. A trick he’s starting to think you’re not entirely aware of, but could prove to be quite useful if channeled properly.

“Arthur’s got his fuckin hands full…” John remarks, glancing back at his brother, but Tommy’s eyes haven’t left you.

“Come ‘ere,” Tommy beckons you on a low husky breath, sending a shiver down your spine. Still working to keep his hooks in you. Not past Arthur, he’d never betray his older brother, just enough to ensure he has a way with you, the way you do with him, though he’d never admit the latter. The power of his gaze reels you in every step of the way. Tugging at some undefinable place deep in your belly.

“Ya have fun learnin’ to shoot?” He asks, almost as if talking to a child and perhaps you should protest, but you don’t, because you can test him too.

You find yourself smiling back at him, offering him a cheeky little grin you struggle to resist in his presence as you nod. “Maybe I’ll teach you teach a thing or two.”

Tommy chuckles lowly, and it’s the most lighthearted sound you’ve heard him make in a long time before he turns his attention to John.

“Come on, let’s head back to the house before it gets dark.” He says, with a slight tilt of his head as he turns to leave, ignoring your play on words. Understanding even better than you do how dangerous it is. You follow their muddy foot prints through Charlie’s yard as John looks over at Tommy and nods back at you.

“Aye, Arthur know about this?”

  The new copper from Belfast doesn’t waste any time stirring things up, making his presence known, and making it clear he’s out for blood. John says he’s got a fuckin hard-on for Small Heath the way he tore through the place while the boys were away at the fair. You snicker at John boy’s humor even though you know you shouldn’t. No one else does, but he flashes you a lighthearted smirk, pleased at least you got it. The boys barely have a chance to catch their breath and chug a print after the long ride before Polly sends them out to the streets to show everyone who still runs this town.

That copper may be showing his reach of power, but Polly isn’t about to be undermined in her own backyard. Neither is any other Shelby for that matter. As Arthur and John, and the rest of the crew head for the streets, Tommy stays behind, someone has to take the horse he just won in a coin toss over to Charlie’s yard to be stabled. That’s the excuse anyway. A feeble one at best. One you’re not sure Arthur buys wholly, but he doesn’t protest either.

You can see it in the silent exchange between Polly and Tommy, there’s more to be discussed here.  You linger behind, leaning against the chopping block in the kitchen, trying to become a wallflower, but Polly isn’t mistaken. There’s nothing she doesn’t miss. Before you can learn anything of value, your hopes are dashed as Polly asks for a moment alone with Thomas. 

You hold her gaze, feet unmoving as you fumble. You’re trying to think up an excuse to stay. You don’t want to be shut out of the business anymore, and to your surprise, it’s Tommy who comes to your rescue, beating you to the punch.

“She already knows.” He informs Polly.

The look in Polly’s eyes as they fly to Tommy is guarded, but surprised. She’s holding it together. Her cards close to the vest. No one does it better, but you’ve known her long enough to see she’s alarmed by this turn of events. Most women were traditionally kept in the dark about the most sordid of details. That factor excluded, Polly’s also very protective of you. 

She knows what you’ve been through, the pain and the loss, and she cared for your mother deeply. Growing up, she was like an aunt to you, and then a mother after yours passed. In Polly’s mind, there’d would be no reason for you to know about the guns unless Thomas was getting you involved in something she didn’t approve of.

Reluctant as Polly is, she gets to it as if sensing you won’t be leaving anytime soon. Sharing what she’s learned, which was usually more than most. Talk of this new copper in town, revolution, and the guns - everyone wishes you knew nothing about. You stand next to the back wall. You don’t make a sound. Trying not to give a reason to be dismissed. You just listen and learn. It’s one of your better skills.

They chatter and banter, two of the strongest, bravest people you know. You look up to them, idolize them, and you think that if you listen and watch long enough maybe an ounce will rub off on you too.

Polly tells Tommy what he wants to here… That this new copper knows he’s the boss and wants to meet him, but when she asks if he will, Tommy answers no with a smooth subtle ease, shaking his head slowly. Like he holds all the power in the world in the palm of his hand as he pulls away at his cigarette utterly untouched from the blow they received today.

“An’ why not?” Polly inquires, with an edge of impatience you identify right away. Not seeing the logic behind his motives, but you do.

“You don’t parlay when you’re on the backfoot.” You hear the words spill from your lips before you can stop them. Tommy’s voice echoing in your head word for word from one of your many improvised lessons while lying in his bed late at night or while practicing your aim at Charlie’s yard.

Polly’s face turns to you in a flash as if suddenly remembering you’re even there, but it’s the approving smirk that curls at the corner of Tommy’s mouth that catches your eye. It’s so rare to see these days, it’s like a beacon in the dark, your eyes can’t help, but be drawn to it. The sight of it makes your heart race a little faster, and like any true addiction, as soon as it’s gone you want to see it again.

You’re learning, Tommy thinks, you’re catching on. But Polly doesn’t look nearly as amused.

“An’ who I am speaking with now, you or Tommy?” She asks crossly. 

The stern look on her face the same one she would wear when she’d scold you as a child, as if she can already see your words are not your own. Her eyes flash between the two of you, undoubtedly noticing the smirk edging on Tommy’s face before it disappears. Her gaze ultimately settling on you, looking you straight in the eye as if she doesn’t know who you are at all. And for a woman who’s the closest thing to a mother that you have left, it stings.

“She’s right Pol,” Tommy speaks up, clearing the air, drawing the heat back onto him and away from you as you slink back into the shadows.

“We’ll strike a blow back first.” Tommy announces his plan as if it’s settled, as he stubs his cigarette out and begins to move for the door. 

You take that as your cue this little meeting is over and escape as quickly as you can, pushing open the double doors that lead back into the betting shop. There’s things you want in this life, things you’re not sure Pol will understand, but her approval still matter to you. She practically raised you in so many ways, saved you in your darkest hour, that can never be forgotten.

As Tommy moves to follow suit and tend to the horse, Polly cuts off his advance. Moving directly in front of him before he can take another step, her eyes stare boldly into his own.

“What the hell do you think you’re you doing?” She practically hisses at him.

“She wants to learn about the business, Pol. She’s curious.” Tommy answers with a shrug, his detached ease only serving to rile up everyone around him. As if nothing in the world can touch Thomas Shelby if he doesn’t allow it.

“She’s been through enough.” Polly admonishes, trying to press upon his better nature. The part of Tommy that’s known Vera since she was child. The part of him that knows she’s suffered enough, even if he doesn’t know everything.

Tommy glances down at her, unpersuaded and unaffected. “You’re the one who’s always sayin’ she’s family. Well this is the family business, aye?”

“Yes, an’ she’s your brother’s wife, Thomas. You’d be wise to remember that.” Polly warns, her tone low and unamused.

Her words pierce through Tommy’s coat of arms. Polly always knows how to reach him, she has since he was just a mischievous boy, even when no one else can. And the guilt her words bring only infuriates him more. It’s easier for Tommy to turn his guilt and shame into anger than to face any real emotion head on. The war taught him well. 

Because it’s as if Pol’s onto him, as if she already knows the illicit thoughts he has about Vera when he’s alone in his room late at night and the smoke from his pipe has already flooded his veins. Thoughts that haunt and eat at him, because she’s Arthur’s, his brother’s wife. As if Polly can see the urges he battles to resist.

Tommy’s gaze drifts forward with the pull of his mind, finding you seated across the near empty betting shop, helping Scudboat count the coins.  Your eyes look up as if you feel him too, smiling softly at him as they meet, unsure what the look in his eyes means. It reminds Tommy of the smiles from his dreams, where you sneak into his room, move over him the way you did the night before, only this time you don’t move off and it doesn’t end there. 

Heart pounding a little harder, Tommy swears Polly sees right through him, to the darkest, most selfish trenches of his mind.  The walls move in closer and Tommy knows he has to get out of there. He reminds himself he has the horse to stable and he wastes no time ripping his gaze from yours, leaving Polly at his side and storms out the front door.

Storming out into the crowded noisy street of Small Heath, Tommy finds his mind drifting to the day he came back home from the war and his thoughts fill with images of you. When he left, you were just a young thing, more child than woman. What Arthur had done, taking your hand, had been a matter of necessity. 

You had written to him throughout the war, you wrote to them all from what Tommy heard. A scattering of things – poems, the weather, news of the family, and your thoughts on the war, but in his mind, you were still the young girl he briefly said goodbye to at the train station before the war.

But Tommy will never forget the day he came home. Stepping off that train with his brothers on a cold winter day, spotting Polly, Ada, and Finn clustered around John’s herd of little ones in the crowded sea of people, frantic to see their loved ones. Before noticing the young woman standing at Polly’s side, holding Finn’s hand and John’s youngest in the other. 

He hadn’t even recognized you at first as the steam from the train and the cold winter wind whipped around your hair and skirt like you were something ethereal in a sea of heartache and desperation that played out around you on the platform. You had hugged them all individually – meaningfully. John snickering and jabbing at the dumbfounded look on Arthur’s face as he got a good look at the woman his wife had become.

When it was finally his turn, Tommy found he couldn’t breathe as you came close, smiling up at him as if you were everything untainted left in this God forsaken world. No reservations, no caution as you held his gaze as if you could see he was broken, but still weren’t afraid. You welcomed him home in earnest, wrapping your arms around him tightly as you had the others. 

When Tommy thinks of it now, he can still remember the feel of your arms around his neck, the warmth of your body pressed against his uniform. The sweet smell of you engulfed his senses as his arms dangled at his sides before they slowly found their way around you, embracing you like a lifeline when lost out at sea.

And in that moment, as Tommy let you hold him close and he breathed you in, his heart began to race. The first real sensation his numb soul had felt since descending into the hell of those tunnels. So foreign to him, he’d nearly forgot how it felt and he remembered thinking, maybe if he just melted into you, you’d resurrect him yet. 

But as quickly as the thought hit Tommy, he then remembered you were Arthur’s wife and he quickly let you go… fighting a war with himself over you and what exactly it was he feels about you ever since.

 “Is that how you fall asleep these days?”

Tommy’s eyes shoot up, heart pounding as he’s ripped out of his reverie by an unexpected voice.

“Vera,” He growls, jaw tight as he spots you standing in the crack of his door. His eyes sweeping quickly over your tousled hair, the strap of your slip hanging dangerously at the edge of your shoulder – threatening to fall, skimming down to the fabric that sways just above yours knees.

Tommy swallows hard, throat bobbing. “You must learn to knock.”

You send him a tired crooked grin and slip inside his room closing the door quietly behind you. 

“Everyone’s asleep. Thought you wouldn’ want me to wake them.” You shrug, unfazed by his cold welcome.

Taking a seat beside him on the edge of the bed, Tommy’s gaze follows you like two sapphire orbs, his face an unreadable stone mask.

“Knock, knock.” You say quietly, playfully tapping your fist against his bicep like he asked. Offering Tommy a truce as a mischievous little grin winds up the corners of your mouth, trying to break through the steel of his face.

Tommy stares back at you unamused, like a guarded fortress no one can enter without his permission. You linger until you take what feels like a cue you aren’t going to win him over tonight and rise from his bed once again, moving to leave. But you don’t get far, only a step or two before you feel his hand reach for yours as it dangles at your side, halting your retreat.

You glance down at your hand with the feel of his rough callused palm intertwining with your own. His touch subtly electric. Your gaze drifts back at Tommy over your shoulder as you bite at your bottom lip, resisting the urge to smile in your triumph, but the sight of it still sends Tommy’s heart racing.

He doesn’t say a word as he draws you back to his bed, your eyes locked in a dangerous undefinable flame that makes your belly flip and clench in the same breath. He releases your hand as you take a seat beside him on the edge. Returning to his task, he retrieves the tar from the discrete tin he keeps it hidden in.

“It helps you sleep?” You ask as you watch him work. Diligently, delicately preparing his pipe as he nods absently at your question, but never looks your way.

“The nightmares too?” You continue as you watch each move he makes with curiosity, the dance of his fingertips you just felt on your palm a moment ago, now roll a dark dough between them.

“Sometimes,” Tommy answers, and you get the feeling you’re seeing a side of him he doesn’t reveal to most. The weakness in him that needs abating, the dragon inside that must be lulled if he is to find any rest.

“Would it help with mine?” You ask with curiosity. You see so much of yourself in Tommy. A similar kind of pain. If it can calm his demons than perhaps…

Tommy turns to you swiftly, the power of his determined blue eyes swallowing you up as they take ahold.

“You’re never to touch this, Vera. Not with anyone. Ever. Understood?” Tommy’s voice is firm, unwavering in its delivery. It has to be. In Tommy’s mind he can already imagine what could happen if he smoked with you, alone in his room, his mind hazy and unchained, blissful and warm inside, and completely undisturbed by anyone else in the house… No, that can never happen, Tommy tells himself as his blood pumps a little harder with even the thought of it.

The heat of his eyes, the determination of his gaze, you nod in agreement without thinking.

“You’ll fall asleep after then?” You ask as he turns back to his bedside table.

“That’s the plan.” Tommy answers distantly, distracted once again as he brings the tar over the flame to burn just the outer edge.

“Will ya help me fall asleep too?” You press on, watching as he delicately places the tar to his pipe.

“Yeah,” He nods absently, distracted until your reach for his undershirt and then you’ve earned his undivided attention. Grabbing at the seams as your tug his undershirt up his body.

“Arms up,” You instruct the same way you do with John’s kids when you watch them.

Tommy obeys, but protests the entire way.

“Vera-“ He starts by never finishes until you’ve got it over his head. “Fuckin hell-“

He snatches at your wrists as soon as he’s shirtless, his grip unmoving as he looks dead into your eyes, diving into your soul.

“Your Arthur’s wife.” He tells you as if you don’t already know, but knowing men as you do, you know he’s saying it as much for himself as for you.

“I know,” You answer meekly, twisting the shirt in your hands as your face drops. Your heart heavy with everything you wish you could be. Everything you wish you could give Arthur. Everything he deserves. Before you glance back up at Tommy.

“No one knows that better than me.” You assure him. 

Staring into your eyes, Tommy feels like he understands what you and Arthur share even less than he did before as he lets your wrists go. You look away to break the unease that edges between you, slipping the shirt over your head and nightdress, letting it fall down your body. You draw his shirt up to your nose, breathing the distinct smell of Tommy deep into your lungs, Irish whiskey and burned tobacco. You let the shirt fall from your nose and hands as you find Tommy watching you, his gaze heavy in a way you can’t define.

“The smell of it makes me feel safe. Same with Arthur’s.” You tell him quietly. Trying to explain the reasoning behind your madness.

“Do you know what you’re doing or does the effect it has men escape you?” Tommy says, finally questioning your intent, his tone not harsh or accusing. No, his question is far more inquisitive and dangerous.

You hold his gaze and contemplate the question. Choosing your answer wisely. You know you’re not like the other wives you see. You know you do things that others would frown upon a proper young woman engaging in, but you don’t know how to stop that. Sometimes it just comes out and you don’t realize you’re doing it until it’s done.

“I’m not a fool Tommy, but it’s not intentional. It just sort of… happens.”

“That’s what I thought…” Tommy nods. 

“If you could learn to control it, to use it, it could make you a force to contend with, Vera. Men wouldn’t stand a chance.” Tommy says, his gaze capturing you in the relentless hold of his iridescent blues, in the calling of his gaze. You feel it deep in your belly, he’s showing you how you can be a weapon. A weapon not even he’s immune to. This is the only time Tommy scares you, when he makes the room inch hotter as you clench your thighs.

Tommy’s heart pounds as he quickly looks away from you. His lesson done for the night. His fuckin pants suddenly feeling tight as he reaches for his pipe. If you were anyone else sitting on the edge of his bed, draped in his shirt, looking at him the way you just had… Anyone but Arthur’s wife.

You scoot to the far end of the bed, opposite Tommy, creating distance, feeling unsure of yourself. Tommy broke it first, you knew he would, that’s why you trust him, but still you need a little space as you find your safe spot on the mattress and burrow into it, away from Tommy.

Tommy tries to forget you’re at his back as he returns to his pipe. Blowing out a long heated breath to cool down, you are far too dangerous to get close to in any way. He knows he should just kick you out of his bed and send you back to Arthur, but he can’t. As dangerous and incendiary as you are, you’re the only thing that’s made him feel anything since he came home from the war. He craves that feeling as surely as he does the tar he’s just placed upon his pipe.

Tommy bring the pipe to the flame and breathes in deep. Letting the smoke fill his lungs with a gentle ease, a warm embrace. He takes a few more hits, slow and steady, letting you drift from his mind like everything else, until he feels as at peace as he can since the war. 

Placing his pipe to rest against the dresser, he lays his back down against the mattress in his haze. You reach for him as if the last few moments never happened, snuggling to his side, your arm across his bare chest as your face settles against his shoulder and the crook of his neck. Tommy reaches for you in a daze, running his hand against the side of your face, his fingertips slipping into the edges of your hair.

You ask him what he dreams about and in the high of magic smoke, he tells you quietly about shovels and tunnels, mud and enemies at every corner, just beyond a thin wall of earth waiting to attack. As his mind slips between here and somewhere else, he finds he isn’t afraid to tell you. He thinks you might even understand.

“What do you dream about?” Tommy asks you absently as his hand runs up your arm and slips back into your hair.

You snuggle closer to him with his question. You aren’t high like he is. The truth is still very real and tight within your chest.

“Churches,” You whisper, so close your lips practically brush his ear.

“Sounds lovely,” Tommy huffs quietly, and it does as his hand slips down your scalp, moving along the slop of your neck. You feel so good this close to him, it almost scares Tommy. Almost as good as that day on the platform all over again. If he had common sense he’d push you away, but he’s too lost in the haze of delirium to do anything he knows he’ll regret.

“You’d think so.” You admit quietly, letting the warmth and feel of Tommy sooth you as your heart tightens. It still lives inside you, like a parasite you can’t dig out. But beside Tommy, as he drifts away in the only relief he can find, you at least feel understood in your broken edges.

 When you come down stairs early in the morning to help with breakfast you find Polly tending to Arthur’s busted and bloody hands. Watching them seated at the table, you stand frozen in the doorway as their eyes find you. Your heart clenches tight in your chest with the sight of Arthur’s blood as he meets your gaze. 

Moving for the kitchen, you waste no time to retrieve a rag and soak it in cold water before returning to give Polly a hand and tend to your husband. You press the wet rag to the cut dried on his eyebrow as Polly tends to the scrapes on his knuckles. Arthur hisses in pain, groaning lightly as you both work on him, cleaning out his cuts and battle wounds. The sound of his discomfort rattling through your like a mortar shell exploding as you bring your other hand to his face and gently stroke your thumb against it to comfort him.

You could ask what happened, where he’s been, but the answers always the same. Tommy and John call it the flanders blues, bouts of rage, bouts of sadness. When he hadn’t come home last night you naturally assumed it was just booze and whores again, but the explosions Arthur is capable of are always hiding just under the surface, though it’s never been a rage he’s directed at you. Remnants of the war you’ve been told, an answer that offers as much comfort as it does solutions. 

Once you and Pol have patched him up the best you can with meager supplies and medical knowledge, you insist on bringing him to bed and Pol couldn’t agree more. Dawn has already peaked on the horizon, the others will be awake soon, but Arthur needs rest. You’d venture a guess he hasn’t slept all night. You ask Pol to keep the others at bay the best she can as you take Arthur’s hand and leads him upstairs.

When you reach your bedroom, you make a point to lock the door, before turning your attention to Arthur fully. You help him disrobe. And while the action is unfamiliar to you, Arthur looks so vulnerable and beaten down, you can’t resist. Unbuttoning his shirt that reeks of spilled booze, you tug it from his arms. 

Reaching for his trousers, you take a deep breath and you remind yourself you’re his wife before you unfasten the buttons, while he kicks off his shoes. His trousers fall and Arthur steps lazily free of them as you strip the robe from your body, eyes on each other, but never meeting. You take his hand and lead him back into the bed you share. He notes the rising sun peeking through the windows as he settles in against the tick mattress. But you have an answer for that too, as you pull the blanket over your heads and settle in beside him.

“No one will find us here.” You whisper to him as if it’s some big secret you must keep from the rest of the world.

Arthur offers you a soft smile, the exhaustion on his face struggling to form it.

“You didn’t sleep here last night.” He finally speaks after a moment, pointing out an all too obvious truth. The bedding as cold to his skin as it is to your own. No warmth from a body that dwelled in it any time in the recent past, but you find there’s a slight edge that rises within you to his statement.

“Neither did you.” You answer back, regretting your defensiveness almost as quickly as you let it slip.

Arthur rolls onto his back, staring at the blanket pulled over him as he runs a battered hand over his tired face.

“Are ya sneakin around with Tommy, Vera?” Arthurs asks on a long sigh. His words nearly steal your breath as soon as you hear them and tears down all your defenses. He doesn’t even sound mad, which only hurts worse. You knew this question was coming. And staring at Arthur’s profile you find you can’t lie to yourself. You don’t know what you feel for Tommy, but you can’t deny you feel things. At first you thought you just saw yourself in him, a mirror, but when you’re alone with him lately, you feel it’s more complex than that. It’s not definitive, as shapeless as it is nameless, but you can feel it’s presence within you just the same. 

While your marriage remains unconsummated, you always knew if you offered Arthur wouldn’t turn you down. Which only makes his question that much more painful… To think his own brother has been dipping into the honey pot that belongs to him, but he can’t sample. Arthur isn’t wrong on either front, you can see it in the way Tommy looks at your sometimes… he has feelings of his own. But that’s why you feel safe with Tommy, he’d never act on them anymore than you would.

Arthur isn’t looking at you, so you reach for him, grasping the stubble of his cut chin as you turn his face to look at you.

“No, I’d never betray you in such a way, Arthur.” You promise. “An’ neither would Tommy.”

You run your hand gently up along the ridge of his face, thinly layered with dirt and time worn lines. Along his cheekbone, tall but not as sharp as Tommy’s, and into his long hair that’s matted with dried blood and rain drops that fell long ago.

“You’re my family, Arthur.” You tell him softly, just above a whisper. Your throat tightening with the words and the way they ring true in your heart. Without Arthur, without his sacrifice, you’d have nothing. Be lost in a world that didn’t care about little orphan girls, except what they can take from them.

“I’m sorry not a better wife. I’m sorry I’m not what you deserve, what you need.” You voice breaks as your words trail off, tears fill your eyes even as you try to hold them back. You feel so much guilt about Arthur. Guilty over everything you wish you could be for him, but can’t without sacrificing everything you want in this life. Lying here with him, just the two of you as the cold bedding gives away both your secrets and unspoken truths… You wish you could be everything he needs or disappear completely.

Arthur rolls back onto his side to face you, the old bed creaking under the weight as he reaches for your cheek to touch it softly.

“None of that now. I won’t have you speak of yourself like that.” Arthur tries to console you. His voice soft and gentle, so different from the man who comes alive within him when his fists get bloody. He’s always gentle with you. You move to him with his softness, resting your head upon his shoulder as he rolls on his back and wraps you in his arms.

You lay there silently for a moment, listening to the rhythm of his heart as you hold him close.

“After my father died and my mother didn’t know how we’d survive, there were days we’d lay in bed, just like this, hiding under the blankets. We’d dream of places we could go. Where things would be easier… better… Where’s your place Arthur? Where could we disappear to?” You share with him quietly. Inquiring where he would escape to if escaping where more than just fairytales told to get through the hardships of the day.

Arthur holds you close as you listen to the gentle melody of his long deep breathes and beat of his heart. An easy tune that lets your eyes drift close as you sense Arthur is pondering your question.

“The black patch, I suppose.” He finally answers after giving it some thought. 

“When we were kids our mum use to take us up there-“ He starts to tell you as you hang on his every word, but there’s no peace in this life and certainly not in this house as his words are silenced suddenly by the distinctive sound of shoes clipping down the hall. It’s as if you both knows it’s coming for your door. Come to steal away your thunder.

You glance up at Arthur and swear you see the same answer shining in his orbs you feel in your heart… Its Tommy come to fetch his soldier. There’s work to be done. There’s always work to be done.

But the tired look on Arthur’s face as he gazes down at you, knowing the night he’s already had, spurs a protectiveness inside you didn’t expect.

“Arthur,” Tommy’s distinct voice calls through the door. You know Arthur will go if Tommy tells him to and sure enough, with Tommy’s call Arthur sits up in bed with a long sigh. The sound of it leaves a fire burning inside you. Determined not to let that happen, you find yourself pushing Arthur back down on the bed, he lets you as your hands firmly press against his chest and you move atop him for added measure.

“He’s busy, Tommy.” You answer back instead, calling out to the door.

“Doin’ what?” Tommy protests with a lack of patience. You both jump with a start when the door handle starts to jiggle, the man has no sense of personal space, and you figure it’s too late to go back now. Your mind races with Tommy’s stubborn persistence. Thinking fast, you lean over Arthur to grab the brass bedframe, knocking it against the wall gently.

“Me,” You call back on the best desperate sigh you can muster on a whim.

As if you had fired a gun, Arthur practically shoots up in bed with your outburst before you can push him back down. His eyes wide in disbelief beneath you as you flash him a wicked smile and a chuckle rips from his lips before you clamp your hand down over his mouth to silence the sound.

“If he hears you laughing, he’ll know it’s a rouse.” You whisper, leaning down on Arthur, your hand still silencing him as you both sit in silence waiting for any noise outside the door.

“Arthur,” Tommy growls with a lack of patience, the door handle jiggling a few more times, but the lock holds.

“Go away, Tommy!” You call breathlessly. Doing your best impression of a woman lost in the throes of passion as desperate gasps pitch off your breath, knocking the bedframe against the wall a few more times for good measure.

“Fuck sake, nine o’clock, Arthur. Be down by nine. There’s business to be done.” Tommy calls back on an exasperated breath, slamming his hand against the door once more, before his shoes can be heard steadily moving against the floorboards a little faster with frustration.

You’re not sure he bought it. Not sure anyone would, but he left and that was your goal, to let Arthur get some rest. Only then does it occur to you the means it took to reach your success and the precarious perch you find yourself trying to achieve it from. 

Your eyes slowly, cautiously wander down to Arthur lying beneath you, your thighs spread across him, your slip riding high enough to reveal your creamy skin. The morning light steams in from the window, shining on Arthur’s gentle face as he stares up at you. Only then do you consider how your little show may have sounded to his ears. How it must have felt for Arthur listening to the lust filled cries of his beautiful wife, having never heard her make those sounds before.

There’s a look in his eyes you’ve never seen before as Arthur reaches up to gently cup your cheek. Making your heart pound a little harder, unsure of what’s about to happen.

“You’re an incredible woman, Vera. As beautiful inside as you are out.” Arthur tells you, his voice low and deep. The sound of it makes your breath shallow, and for the first time ever you think Arthur might actually kiss you… But he doesn’t, he speaks instead.

“You’re going to make some man very lucky one day. An’ if that’s Tommy… it’s a’right… As long as he makes ya happy, you have my blessing.” He continues as he smiles up at you, his thumb brushing against your cheek.

“Don’t say that,” You plead with him, your head shaking against his palm as your voice breaks right along with your heart. The bedding suddenly cold around once again as if your bodies hadn’t warmed them at all. Begging him to stop, because you can feel the impending doom building tight in your heart, like a bomb about to drop.

“I met a woman.” He confesses to you. The word rattling through your head and down to your heart as Arthur stokes gently at your cheek. Not a whore, not a barmaid… A woman.

 Moving quickly down the stairs and into the betting shop, Tommy spots Polly as he readies to head out. 

“Pol, when Vera comes down tell her I’ll be back around half past noon. If she wants to go to Charlie’s today, she’s to be ready.” He says in passing, pulling on his jacket and snatching up his cap.

Leaving her tea at the table, Polly rises.  “Thomas, whatever it is you’re cooking up, I want you to leave her out of it.” She tells him, her approach much more soft in her attempt to convince him this time. 

Refusing to help Tommy corrupt the girl she loves like a daughter. She loves Tommy like a son. She loves all the Shelby children like they were her own. Raised them as such after their mother died and her drunken brother ran off like a philandering fool. But she’s not going to sit by while he tarnishes Vera in the name of his unquenchable ambition.

Stopping at the double doors that separate the betting shop from the rest of the house, Tommy meets Polly’s gaze, halted by the insinuation of her statement.

“She’s not a child anymore, Pol. She can make up her own mind and this is what she wants. Thought you believed in women’s rights and all…” Tommy corrects, an air of defensiveness on his breath, as if no one gets a rise out of Thomas Shelby, except perhaps Polly.

Feeling her patience wear thin in a way Tommy so often manages to incite since the war, Polly takes a step toward him. Her voice low for discretion but direct. “Has she told you why she married your brother? Why she ran away?”

“No one wants to stay in those homes.” Tommy shrugs, not taking the bait, but behind icy blue eyes the wheels start to slowly turn and no one knows how to get them spinning quite like Polly does. 

Tommy has had his suspicions for some time now about the origins of your behavior though he never much dwelled on them. Why Arthur had to marry you. Why you have a provocative, almost seductive nature though he still isn’t sure his brother has ever laid a land on you. Why you lost your faith and dream of churches. But Tommy is starting to see the pieces to fit together quite nicely once they’re aligned.

“You’re a far more clever man than that, Thomas. If you care about Vera at all you’ll leave her be. She’s been through enough. You’re only going to hurt her more.” Polly cautions, pressing upon the heart she hopes is still somewhere inside him. 

Before the war he had a big heart. Was capable of kindness, mercy, but barely home from the war and all she sees in his eyes these days is distance and a hunger for blood. She doesn’t tell him she knows Vera sneaks into his room more nights than could ever be explained as anything other than inappropriate. She just prayers he cares enough about you to make the right choice.

Tommy meets Pol’s gaze, holding it as if to press upon her the seriousness of this words. “I won’ hurt her, Pol. I know what she means to you.”

Polly purses her lips, that isn’t the answer she was pressing for. So she applies a little more pressure. “An’ what does she mean to you, Thomas?”

Staring back at his aunt, Tommy gets the sense once again that she sees right through him. That she knows Vera comes into his room though no one’s ever said it aloud. She knows he lets her stay, because he can’t get her out of his fuckin head no matter how hard he tries. That he desires things from her and to do things to her no man should ever desire of their brother’s wife. Things he would never say aloud. Things he would never act on, because he’s loyal to his family first and foremost. Because he loves Arthur.

“I’ll be back shortly after noon, do pass along the message, eh?” Tommy finally speaks, evading her question entirely as he fastens his signature cap onto his head and adjusts it low on his brow, before heading for the front door.

Last Note: In case your scratching your head... Yes, Vera has Massive Boundary and Impulse control issues when it comes to her and men.

[thearkhound]

Letters to the MSX

Letters to the MSX (MSXにおくる手紙/MSX ni okuru tegami) is an article that was published in the final issue of MSX-FAN magazine (dated August 1995), in which the publication sent out a questionnaire to various people within the video game, computing and consumer electronics industries (from companies such as Micro Cabin, Compile, Game Arts, Sony and Matsushita), asking them about their involvement with the MSX and their thoughts about the platform, which was being discontinued from the market after 12 years in the market.

Originally I only intended to translate Hideo Kojima’s answers to the questionnaire, but then I decided to do the whole article because not only does it bring a lot of insight to the MSX culture in Japan, but it also provides a picture of how the computer industry was back in the mid-90′s and where it was heading. This is why it took me a while to publish this translation (and why I have been inactive on Twitter for almost a month now), since it was not only quite a long article, but there’s also quite a bit of technical jargon and idioms that I wanted to make sure I would get right.

Anyway, I hope that you will enjoy it.

Introduction

We sent out this questionnaire to as many companies as possible who were involved with the MSX via fax or PC. We wanted to publish the thoughts of the people who were involved during that period. We do believe this will lead to our next step.

The contents of the questionnaires are as follows. Please read them fully and compare them.

The text has been printed the way it was sent to us, but editor’s notes have also been in parts that we believe might be too difficult for some readers to comprehend. The text after the red circle is written by the editorial department to introduce the developer who answered the questionnaire, followed by their answers to each question. If the answers to question 1 and 4 given by the person in the previous section, then “same as above” will written in its place.

MSX-FAN Final Questionnaire

Company’s name

Name and current department

Job(s) during the MSX era

Most notable MSX products by the company

Your most nostalgic MSX moment and why

Words you wish to impart to MSX-FAN readers

Bonus/ Secrets, inside stories or such you wish to share

Tokihiro Naito

We can’t help but feel from reading Mr. Naito’s comment that the MSX was a machine that everyone made good use of. With such powerful talents, his games have served as an inspiration to numerous players. Before long, people learn about the enjoyment of creating games just like Mr. Naito... We feel it’s quite a wonderful chain.

T&E Soft

Tokihiro Naito, Development Division

DD Club/Pattern Editor Programming and Manual Manuscript Creation, Undead Line/Game Design. Hydlide/Game Design and Direction, Hydlide 3/Main Programming, Rune Worth/Game and Direction. I feel there were more projects (I’ve worked on), but I don’t remember any of them.

3D Golf Simulation, Hydlide series, Laydock series, Daiva, Psy-O-Blade, Rune Worth, DD Club, T&E Disk Magazine, and more

Laydock/ The truth is that I want to talk about everything I’ve worked on, but this particular title left the most lasting impression. This had an unexpectedly short development time, meaning that it was released even before the new MSX hardware. However, the developing target was pretty unstable, and with the hardware and BIOS specifications changing everyday, it led to a difficult development period. The person in charge was all (^ ^;

The MSX was a very interesting job for me. The MSX was probably the first time I was introduced to the concept of a VDP at such an early stage. Since the MSX was also the first machine I’ve ever experienced the use of sprites with, it was personally very fun. Even though MSX-FAN might be gone now, I hope many people will still use the MSX as a starting machine for programming or for making CGI.

DD Club contained a tool called SPEN, which was not a product by the company. It was actually a hobby program I designed in my home for over two years. At any rate, the name stood for Special Pattern Editor for Naito. This program was given free of charge to T&E Soft as my dedication to them./During the development of Laydock, I received a new BIOS-ROM from ASCII almost everyday, but every time the BIOS was changed it would cause the game to stop running, and we had to cool out the prototype MSX2 computer with a paper fan while programming as soon as it was overheating./ The 800 kanji fonts for the MSX1 version of Hydlide III that were on a 7x8 pixel format were in fact created by me. Were they hard to read? I’m sorry if that was the case./ There are many more unrevealed inside stories, but... (Editor’s Note 1: We this much content, we can’t publish this letter without cutting off some parts. Hmm...) (Editor’s Note 2: Hmm, I wonder if the other editor has seen that one last sentence.) (^ ^;

Akira Misoda

In the MSX world there is Micro Cabin. Nothing else needs to be said. We are grateful to them for many things. We thank them for porting Princess Maker to the MSX. And in addition to providing software for our supplemental disks, we learned many things from Mr. Nakano as the lecturer for our Picture Story & Movie Classroom articles. Producer Misoda has made an effort to backup all the above. I don’t think the Princess Maker port would’ve happened without his influence.

Micro Cabin

Akira Misoda, 1st R&D Department

Producer & Programmer of Campaign Daisenryaku. Programmer of The Tower of Cabin. Producer of Princess Maker.

Fray, Xak, Xak II, Maison Ikkoku, Urusei Yatsura, Daisenryaku, Super Daisenryaku, Princess Maker, Illusion City, The Tower of Gazzel.

This doesn’t have anything to do with the MSX version specifically, but Xak was the first game I programmed desperately after I’ve joined the company. I gave the rough source code to Mr. Nakatsu when he joined the company to produce the MSX version, but I’m still impressed that such a difficult code to understand could be ported so well.

The MSX is a hardware that has raised many people. There are quite a few people at Micro Cabin who used to be MSX users before joining the company. With the proper knowhow, you could make games on the MSX without having to purchase any expensive add-on (compared to other platforms). In that sense, it’s such a great loss that another platform that has produced game-making geniuses (!?) is disappearing from the industry. I might be exaggerating a bit, but... I really feel that way.

I’ve worked on the MSX prior to joining Micro Cabin. I did around four outsourced jobs from three different companies, and two of them were for Micro Cabin.

Yasuhiko Nakatsu

Programmers are said to stay up all night, tend to run away and are all unusual men, but there is no one who makes good products that keeps his deadlines, sleeps on time, and provides gentle guidance to everyone. We at the editorial department asked for such a person to serve as our lecturer for our picture story show articles. We are grateful to Mr. Nakatsu for everything he did to us and we apologize for asking too much of him. We are truly sorry for that.

Same as above

Yasuhiko Nakatsu, 1st R&D Department

Planning, programming, writing

Same as above.

I have many fond memories of software that came out on the MSX. Among there was this software called Su**s Gri... Oops! I’ve almost mentioned something I shouldn’t. My bad. My bad. Personally, Illusion City was my most memorable game when it comes to the most hardships I have to endure.

Thank you for publishing my articles after such a long period. For those who are not good at programming at BASIC, please look up any back issues and try your best at creating a picture story. The MSX was a machine with many ways to enjoy oneself. I look forward to future activities with the platform.

I was the one responsible for raising the memory of the A1-GT to 512Kb. Thanks to that, the machine was able to play MIDI without the burden of access time. I’m truly grateful at everyone in Matsushita.

Hitoshi Suenaga

Rather than introduce the person, I thought it would be more fitting to introduce his projects. He’s a talented genius responsible for the character designs in Micro Cabin.

Same as above

Hitoshi Suenaga, 2nd R&D Department

Xak 1, Fray, Daisenryaku, Illusion City

Same as above

Xak 1, since it was the first MSX project I ever worked on after joining the company.

I am grateful to everyone who supported our work, as well as everyone answered the questionnaire. While it’s sad that the world will go on without the MSX, I will still use it for my hobbies and personal work. In fact the character units in the 3DO version of Konpeki no Kantai were drawn on my MSX computer and then converted to the console.

If you want to be honest, if ASCII had asked for my input, I would’ve balanced out the hardware specifications of the MSX turbo R a bit more and I think the platform would’ve been around a bit longer. When I learned about the MSX turbo R’s hardware specifications after unveiling conference, I began crying on my bed... I’m serious! The MSX2 was a serviceable upgrade from the MSX1, but after that...

Katsuya Nagai

Mr. Nagai made one MSX software after the other while in Micro Cabin thanks to his love for the MSX and the effort he made to program every day and night.

Same as above.

Katsuya Nagai, 1st R&D Department

Programmed the opening and ending of Xak I. Also made the fighting minigame in The Tower of Cabin.

Same as above.

I was involved with Xak I as soon as I’ve joined the company.

Even though we are no longer making MSX games, we hope you’ll still support Micro Cabin in the future.

The Fray vs. Pixie minigame from The Tower of Cabin was ported from the PC-9801 version and I got to draw the animation patterns of a special move that was planned for the game. However, not all the animation frames could fit into the game’s memory, so I ended up using the regular patterns instead.

Naoko Arakawa

When talking about the TAKERU software vending machines, there is Ms. Arakawa. She was always full of energy when we met her during events. She even worked together with our editorial staff on the Sorcerian port, which is a project that brings us deep memories. She also worked on Sorcerian Relay, which is included in this final issue. Since it’s just a relay race game featuring characters from Sorcerian created by the editorial staff, it might not be anything special, but... We would be grateful is she re-releases more classic MSX software via TAKERU.

Xing

Naoko Arakawa, TAKERU Executive Office (sales division G)

Sales promotion of MSX software for TAKERU

Sorcerian, BURAI Vol. 2, ect.

Thanks to the news announcement from MSX-FAN, our game reprinting project attracted attention from many users, which evolved into the TAKERU Meisaku Bunko (Masterpiece Library) series. We;re now re-releasing PC-9801 and X68000 games on TAKERU as well, becoming an important pillar of our service more than ever. I think it was all thanks to the planning of MSX-FAN and our MSX users.

I truly salute MSX users for their passion, enthusiasm and creative urge. While we gathered many games for our reprint series, there were still quite a few things that left a bit to be desired (like why we didn’t include games from a certain company or why we didn’t include a particular title). There were many games that did not come out on TAKERU due to various circumstances, so we apologize for that. From now on we’ll do our best to have software reach MSX users via TAKERU, even if it’s just a few game. Please support us.

I have strong memories of sneaking out to see the A-Bomb Dome while I was en route to the MSX Festival in Hiroshima. On another occasion, I was photographed by a professional for the first time when I was interviewed by Mr. Tokita and Mr. Sasaya. The photo looked like a portrait than any normal photo. It’s one of my most treasured possessions.

Akkii

Falcon is a company that undertook a substantial role in the porting of Sorcerian that MSX-FAN and TAKERU (Brother) helped produce. Their president, Ms. Midori Ito, while working for Yamaha to promote the MSX, unexpectedly ended up becoming a programmer herself and before long she ended up marrying Mr. Kazuhiko Ito, who was employed at Micro Cabin at the time. The two ended up forming their own software development company. Answering in this section is Mr. Moribe, who was the lead graphic designer.

Tierheit (aka Falcon)

Akkii, Planning & Development Department - Development Section 2

Pixel art, debugging, intermediary with TAKERU’s executive officer, and many other jobs

Sorcerian, Sengoku Sorcerian, Pyramid Sorcerian

All of it, of course. It was the first company I’ve joined and the first job I was employed at.

The ending of Sorcerian was very anti-climatic. I’m sorry about that. Of course, the MSX is a hardware that exists because of its users. Even if this magazine will no longer be in print, the MSX scene will remain active as long as there are users, especially when it comes graphic designing (personally). Good luck!

Well there’s something I want to say, but... Oh no!

Yoshihide

I often used to go to the MSX Fair. I used to work at Osaka, bu moved back to Tokyo along with my wife last year. I want to know if the secret title was Dragon Spirit or Valkyrie.

Namco

Yoshihide, Consumer Sales Department - Promotion Division

MSX software sales and PR activities (including planning). Since there weren’t that many people, I did a bit of everything.

Return of Ishtar, Xevious: Farland Saga, Pac-Mania, ect. We also did the Disk NG series too.

For Xevious, I remember doing a bit of everything ranging from joining in the planning, production, advertising, distribution, sales and public relations.

I wish good luck to everyone involved with the MSX at Namco (including our users).

There were many games that we announced, but didn’t get released. On one hand I think it’s regrettable, but on the other hand it’s a bit horrifying.

Masamitsu Niitani

It’s because of Disk Station magazine that the MSX became an interesting world. It’s because of them that we had the Puyo Puyo series and Carbunkle. With its low-price, the fun-packed Disk Station was a brilliant plan that managed to rejuvenate an industry that has hit a rut. It was always a pleasure to deal with President Niitani himself when calling the company, even if it was the middle of the night.

Compile

Masamitsu Niitani, President

Planner, Producer, Graphic Designer, Programmer

Guardic, Madō Monogatari, Nyanpi, Golvellius, Rune Master, Adventure of Randar, Disk Station

Disk Station

Let’s walk with the times

I want to talk to Mr. Nishii of ASCII about his thoughts on the MSX.

Yoichi Miyaji

The founders of Game Arts got their start as part-timers at ASCII back in the old days. Because of their talent, they quickly formed their own company, where they gave birth to Thexder. At any rate, we had a chance to seriously think about developing for the MSX with Mr. Miyaji.

Game Arts

Yoichi Miyaji, President

Producer

Thexder, Fire Hawk, the Gyuwamburaa Jikō Chūshinha series, the Sum series

The debugging of the MSX-BASIC rom was carried out back when the founders of Game Arts were employed at ASCII. I think the BASIC was made extremely well.

I treasured the MSX like it was my own child. I did my best with the belief that the MSX was a better hardware than the Famicom (NES). It’s been more than 10 years (ed’s note: 12 years precisely), the age of the Famicom is over now and it’s time to let the MSX go too. It’s truly been a long time.

Satoshi Uesaka

Mr. Uesaka was the one who originally created the card concentration game called Card Desu as soon as MSX-FAN started including supplemental disks on each issue. It had an edit function in hopes that it would lead to a series of edited works, but not many edited versions were made and the whole thing amounted to nothing.

Same as above.

Satoshi Uesaka, Section Chief of Development

Producer, Director, Programmer, Pixel Artist, Scripter... I did many things.

Same as above.

The Sum series ended with 14 games that were released in a span of a single year.

Never forget your dreams, even when they end. (plagiarized)

Kamiji

BIT2′s president Mr. Kuribayashi was observing various creative tools for the PC-9801 one day when said that he would make his own versions to surpass them on the MSX. So he ended up making the CGI tool Graphsaurus, the FM music tool Synthesaurus and the MIDI tool Midisaurus. Without these tools there would’ve been no CGI contest on MSX-FAN and no MIDI Sandogaza column. In Mr. Kuribayashi’s place, this questionnaire was answered by saleswoman Ms. Kamiji.

BIT²

Kamiji, Sales

Accounting

Graphsaurus, Synthesaurus, Famicle Parodic

When they started putting all their efforts into the Turbo R and GT was when the MSX started sinking.

We still wanted to make MSX software, but since not many people were buying them anymore, we had to discontinue them.

Toshikazu Awano

While persistently providing software for the MSX, he also provided his invaluable insights on the MSX during the MSX Symposium (see our June 1991 issue). It seems he got into this world from the records industry, but has since be transferred into KOEI’s U.S. subsidiary and is now busy selling English versions of the Nobugana’s Ambition series for consoles.

Koei

Toshikazu Awano, Koei Corporation (of America)

Head of Sales

Nobunaga’s Ambition, Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Nobunaga’s Ambition II came out when I’ve joined the company and since it sold pretty well, it left me with a strong impression.

Our company used to sell MSX soft until very late, but when we discontinued them, we suddenly receiving porting requests from MSX users. Many of them were specifically middle and high schoolers with a strong sense of appreciation.

Tatsuo Matsuda

As someone who greatly loves the MSX beyond all else, he aspired to turn it into a machine that gives everyone the opportunity to bloom their talents. That is, even if you’re not rich or you live in a rural area, you should be able to use the MSX to awaken your hidden talent by creating CGI and music or get the opportunity to express yourself.

ASCII

Tatsuo Matsuda, Multimedia Department Promotion Manager

Promotion for MSX Sales

MSX

We have shipped over 4 million home computers to young people around the world, including Japan.

I want you to become smart Japanese people with unique personalities who could work around the world.

There are still many people using the MSX around the world. The MSX should be classified as a computer, not a game console. I’m very pleased that many people have learned about computers from this platform and have found employment through it.

Hitoshi Suzuki

Everyone who was involved with MSX has called him a genius. Without his genius, perhaps MSX wouldn’t had gotten such a good BASIC program. Nevertheless, he’s a truly wonderful person with a sense of humor who made Basic-kun as a side-project

Same as above.

Hitoshi Suzuki, Director of Digital System Division and Silicon Software Development

Listener to Mr. Matsuda’s complaints and causing uproars at parties.

I haven’t really done that much (Ed’s Note: He did a lot. Many of the programming for tools and systems used by the MSX were done by him.)

Yukiko Okada’s suicide haunted me. (Ed’s Note: At the time of her death, she was appearing in the advertising of a certain company.)

Our youth is a brief moment that only shines once. The memories that have gone through all of us at a rapid-pace will shine within me forever. And on my deathbed, I will utter “Em...Ess...Ex” as my last words.

There’s a huge mouse in Osaka. (Ed’s Note:It seems that the three main proponents of the MSX platform (Mr. Yamashita, Mr. Matsuda, Mr. Suzuki) once went to a business trip in Osaka. Nobody truly knows what happened there, but it seems that Mr. Matsuda was nicknamed Mr. Mouse after a certain incident. Don’t tell anyone, you meanie!)

Shingo Tamura

Mr. Tamura joined Sony at the midst of the audioboom. He was responsible for the famed live recording machine Densuke. Afterward, he became involved with the MSX and was in charge of the PalmTop. Even though Mr. Tamura is the section chief with a scary reputation, he’s actually a romantic who likes the stars, nature and soba noodles. We thought about what Sony means as a company with stuff such as sending mail through the internet in this day. Is it linked to their merchandising? We also wanted to emphasize the MSX’s side as a cool PC.

Sony

Shingo Murata, Planning and Development of Merchandising

Sales Chief of Planning and Development of Hardware, Software and Peripherals

The HB-55 was the first HiTBiT promoted by Saeko Matsuda. The HB-F1 was a budget-priced MSX2 computer that retailed at 32,800 yen. The HB-F1XD is an MSX2 with a floppy disk drive that retailed at 54,800 yen. In terms of games, there was The Wiz, which was perhaps a famed Sony original.

There was a software called Igo Club that was an online go game, and a Kanji Video Titler. There was also a BASIC-learning kit aimed at an industrial-level (after applying for the correspondence education, you would be sent an MSX with a handbook).

Every middle schooler who got their start on the MSX dreamed differently from Famicom owners. They could learn how to program or how to make a software run to their own accord. They continued in their creative endeavors now, even now as adults. If they can have home terminals like that in the 21st century, I think we can once again stir up some creativity. As long as people have dreams, we’ll embark on new challenges.

We tried to make and sell all kinds of products. The hardware is a business that really ought to make use of the software. With that in mind, we couldn’t make the DC machine (Ed’s note:a portable device) because the resolution was a bit overly optimistic and there were too many constraints. I would like to thank my subordinates, editor-in-chief Ms. Kitane and her staff, and my good friends at Sakurakai (Ed’s note: a liaison between multiple MSX hardware manufacturers that gathered once in every month, where they would improve on the good points, reflect on the bad ones and collaborate with each other. It was last held in May ‘95), even if they would normally be suspected of bid-rigging. And of course, everyone at ASCII. It was thanks to the MSX that I had a bond we all of the above people. And what would become of Mr. Kurami, our MSX historian at Sony who served as our walking encyclopedia? Thanks!

Naoya Kurami

Mr. Kurami is a delicate perfect fit for Sony’s corporate image. Everytime he received a call from our editorial department, he always winced momentarily whenever it was some kind of difficult call... Despite that, he seems to have what appears to be a poster of Saeko-chan...

Same as above.

Naoya Kurami, Vice Director of Planning and Development of Merchandising

Planning and Promotion of hardware, software and peripherals

Same as above

I don’t know if it can be said that its directly MSX-related, but do you know the stock-trading computer HB-T600 or the online go software Igo Club? Either way, studying stocks and studying go was a painful experience. And considering all that, the results were not quite good.

Well, for better or worse I spent the last ten years of my life working on the MSX. With this information now out on an MSX-related magazine, I feel a bit embarrassed. By the way, I own a train poster of Ms. Seiko Matsuda (advertising for our HiTBiT computers) as a souvenir from the past. I thought about selling it for a high price... I would like to thank all of editors at MSX-FAN and all of its readers. It’s been such a long time.

Hideaki Yagami

We, at the editorial staff, get the impression that the people at Matsushita are very serious and diligent. Both, their hardware and software are designed with the need to bring enjoyment to their users without betraying their expectations. Only Matsushita machines are strong against instantaneous blackouts and their PACs (Pana Amusement Cartridges) might had been a manifestation of that mentality. Under such circumstances, Mr. Yagami  (who is also skilled at skiing) was pretty good at gaining the trust of the software house (not just for the debugging meetings) and still is to this day.

Matsushita

Hideaki Yagami, Software Development Department of the Interactive Media Division

Development & Planning of Software at the Pana Amusement Production

The FS-5500F2 is famous for being the first MSX computer with 2 disk drives. The FS-A1 was a budget-pridced MSX2 that retailed 29,800 yen. The PACs were MSX cartridges containing S-RAM backup. Other products include the CF-XXX series, the FM-PAC, a Bowling System and an educational system aimed for Russia (that’s a secret)

The AshGuine series were a series of games starring the first character made by our company. We made the games all-night at the development site with the developers from the various companies involved to decide on the content of each game, their packaging and the posters.

When the MSX was brought to this world, a personal computer meant for the users something that could run the program they made, not just the packaged software they bought from a store. In today’s world, computers take many shape in order to support the needs of the world, but in spite of that it’s no longer easy to program by yourself, even if you own a PC. Even though PCs are becoming much closer to humans now, I can’t helped but feel a sense of nostalgia when the distance between them was more primitive, that is to say when a PC was just a programming tool. Back then the PC was the embodiment of a user’s dreams full of possibilities. It could be said that people who lived through the era when PCs were born are living witnesses of a valuable era that brought fruit to a trend of rapid creation and evolution. Keep those memories of freshness in mind and continue dreaming, seeking the possibilities of new challenges.

I wonder if there was any other unified effort between multiple home electronics manufacturers to promote a unified standard (MSX). MSX-FAN may have ended with this issue, but for the hardware manufacturers I think it was an era of everyone pursuing the dream of a single unified standard of PC. To all the companies that provided software, I’m truly grateful. I’m also grateful to Ms. Kitane and the rest of the editors of Tokuma for being there until the end. And finally, I would like to thank of all the MSX users who supported the platform.

Kazuaki Hiraga

Mr. Hiraga was suddenly put in charge of the MSX in a matter of months and became a familiar figure in ten years, leaving quite an impression. He has the personality you would expect. He plays Gekitotsu Pennant Race pretty well too. He also planned to lend out MSX computers to a culture festival. Thanks to that, he experienced a “ghost incident” in the Kanazawa Inn. At any rate, he held a mini-4WD competition to bring excitement to the event and played games with other users. In a sense, he was a familiar and energetic face to the MSX.

Same as above.

Kazuaki Hiraga, Software Development Department of the Interactive Media Division

As a member of the PAP, I’ve worked as a contact for various software providers and at the same time I was involved in the development of original software and peripherals (such as the PACs). I also planned  and managed nationwide events. I was Pana Amusement Club member no. 0001! By the way, the Amusement Club began business around the time Vampire Killer came out

Same as above.

At the beginning many hardware manufacturers created MSX machines, but in the end it became a fateful confrontation between Matsushita and Sony. Right now our Panasonic-branded products are selling quite well, especially our TVs and videos, but our no. 1 product in Japan is the “A1″. This symbolizes the magnitude of expectations that Matsushita applies to its products.

Looking at the current software industry, there are quite a few people who joined the industry from the MSX, so I feel it’s a big deal. in that sense, I appreciate all those people who are still passionate about the MSX and I’m eagerly awaiting even more people to become experts in the field of software development.

Thanks to the MSX, I have a nice family (ed’s note: Mr. Hiraga met his wife when she was the host of an MSX event. They now have a child together). It was also fun to go through various events nationwide and talk to representatives of software houses and magazines. Everyone gave it their best during the 4WD races in particular. (ed’s note:Mr. Naito of T&E Soft is known for using a turbo mode technique that connected batteries in a serial format.) One of the packaging illustrators for the AshGuine series was the now-famous Teppei Sasakura (who at the time was an unknown). Looking at the prices of Mr. Sasakura’s works recently, I tried to look for the original painting, but it’s nowhere to be found. Ah!

Masao Ito

Mr. Ito is an obliging person who planned out products he thought of while working on Matsushita’s hardware designs. If things are any indication, we believe he made the FM-PAC by embracing a headfirst approach. Within the people at Matsushita who supported the MSX until the end, Mr. Ito has been patiently answering various questions from our editorial staff up until this final issue.

Same as above.

Masao Ito, Planning and Selling of Foreign Software for the Interactive Media Division (I’m making 3DO stuff now).

First I worked on hardware designs. But then I acted as a jack-of-all-trades, examining the MSX standards at the same time. At the the end, I was responsible for product planning, as well as in charge of designing domestic and overseas systems.

Same as above

In Russia, I almost got arrested by the Moscow police one time after spending several consecutive nights bowling there.

The MSX was a cost-effective platform. It was useful in various ways if you knew how to use it well. While the MSX’s days are numbered, its ideal still remains true. The concept will surely be revived in the future (don’t hesitate to ask in which form).

I did quite a lot of things, but for some reason I am still an unknown in this industry. The PAC and FM-PAC cartridges were possible thanks to me! By the way, I’m still waiting to receive my own PAC and FM-PAC from the company.

Yuya Iwakiri

Mr. Iwakiri is a gentleman who organized many MSX events that gave us the chance to gather everyone. He supported up us until the end.

Same as above.

Yuya Iwakiri, Public Relations Department Editorial Department

As a professional, I’m a latecomer to the MSX when I was employed in 1989. In my private life, the first MSX computer I touched was a so-called King Kong word processor, which was a unique experience. Because I came from an advertising background, I focused on the planning and organizing of MSX fairs, where I involved in the creations of catalogs and advertisement (thinking about it though, the job was rather lonely since MSX-FAN was practically the only MSX-focused media remaining by that point), as well as the promotion and advertising of word processors (such as the UI series and the SLALA model).

Same as above.

For me, it’s perhaps the FS-A1GT, which ended up becoming the last MSX machine ever produced. The slight hopes of everyone who had an affection for the MSX, such as Ms. Kitagane, whom I have a strong rapport with, and the various celebrities (in every sense of the word) from all sorts of software house starting with Mr. Tanaka (director general of Micro Cabin), were gathered thanks  at the nationwide fairs thanks to this machine. Until the bitter end, there was hope for another model, hope for the uncertain future of the MSX... Even though I knew how it was going to end, I still couldn’t help but feel a sense of bitterness when it was over. It was like falling in love with someone you were forbidden to, like a feudal lord and a peasant or Romeo & Juliet...I thought about why I was given a job during such a moment.

There’s always one way or another to do things because of the mischief of the age. I don’t want to ponder any “what ifs”, “perhaps” and “if only”, but just like life, I still wonder if the MSX could ever return to the starting line... I’m sure everyone involved with the MSX is thinking this as well. In this age in which Microsoft is now threatening IBM’s grasp of the PC market, it would wonderful to imagine the MSX engine from Japan taking over the world.

My kids (ages 6 and 4) play all sorts of gaming platforms. The Game Boy, the Super Famicom and the 3DO. But they really like MSX games over everything else. Perhaps they inherited my preference and nostalgia for MSX games... DNA is quite a scary thing. Anyway, I’m truly grateful to all the MSX fans around the world! Until we’ll meet again.

Masayuki Takeuchi

“Study hard and play hard” is a saying that suits this person. That’s because studying and playing are truly above-average.

Same as above.

Masayuki Takeuchi, Interactive Media Division Software Development Department Promotion and Planning Section

Planning for advertising and sales promotion.

Same as above

Before PCs became widespread, we put out the first MSX word processor with a built-in printer, which was a pretty successful product. Another product we put out was the A1, a budget-priced MSX2 computer sold at 29,800 yen. In order to promote the A1 at the time, we did several publicity campaigns such as a truck that traveled all over the country and the advertising character AshGuine. They were pretty memorable ad campaigns.

I'm sorry that it’s over. However, I’m truly grateful that people still appreciate the MSX to this day.

There was a golf game from Hudson that was pretty popular where you could switch between a professional and amateur mode. There was also a shooting game called Zanac, in which I made a bet with another employee named S-kun, who offered me a yen for each point I made. He owes me 2.4 million.

Taro Sugimoto

Even though Panasonic has officially ceased advertising their MSX computers in our magazine, they continue to publish advertisement for their U1 word processors. Perhaps they did out of obligation, but I feel they cherish their users more than that. Some members of their MSX development team has since moved on to the 3DO, but they still demonstrate their power even in their word processors. Because my nickname among my seniors was also “Taro”, I would often ignore people calling me out during MSX events if they didn’t attach my surname.

Same as above.

Taro Sugimoto, I.T. Division Commercial Affairs

I was doing promotion and advertisement under Takeuchi, Iwakiri and Hiraga, all whom I’ve received regards individually. In particular I was in charge of the MSX game events that were held once in every season. Since I was employed by the sales and promotion department, I never got around to making my own product, but I did write a utility book for an A1 peripheral. As a freshman employee at the time, it was my first experience with a PC, so it was extremely memorable.

Same as above.

The above-mentioned event. While I still organize events nowadays, the MSX Festival was the basis for everything. I used to travel all around the country, ate various delicacies and became acquainted with various representatives of software publishers, including Ms. Kitane, all whom have become valuable assets to me. I still treasured the t-shirt and sweatshirt that were produced for those events.

I’m currently in charge of advertising and managing promotion for our word processors and MSX-FAN could help us out by published our ads in each issue... I think. I’m sorry.

While organizing an event in Osaka, there was lack of manpower, so I helped out while wearing a sweatshirt. I was already in my second year within the company and I ran into a college acquaintance at the venue and he asked me “you’re still working as a part-timer.” Anyway, please support our word processors.

Hideo Kojima

When one hears the name Konami, a mountain of memories pop up. Konami has been releasing software vigorously since the beginning of the MSX’s lifespan and they always had an amazing quality to them. We have wonderful memories of games such as the fun Antarctic Adventure and Space Manbow, which turned out to be a good game despite constant delays thanks to the commitment of the developers. It seems that Konami carries the philosophy during development that one has to observe games that are hits or duds, and understand why they sell or not. As a result, Konami has created the most splendid games in the world. In such circumstances, Mr. Kojima created a new kind of game with a scenario for the PC market that wouldn’t had been possible in an arcade environment.

Konami

Hideo Kojima, Development Section 5

Planning, writing, direction, and a few character designs

For Kojima: Metal Gear, Snatcher, Solid Snake. For Konami in general: the Nemesis series, the Knightmare trilogy, Yie-Ar Kung-Fu, Space Manbow, Penguin Adventure, The Goonies, and many more.

My most memorable project was the original Metal Gear. Back then I was a rookie who didn’t know to distinguish between his right and his left, so I didn’t know how to make a game at the time. I didn’t even know how to get assistance from people. I had no credibility as a planner (since my previous game proposal got rejected). I think it was pretty reckless of me to create a new type of game. I had nothing but enthusiasm to drive me.

With the MSX, there was a sense of “learning together” and “living together.” In particular, I was full of feelings that I shared with players during my youth. My game development career was never in the limelight, so I don’t know how much the sincere opinions of all my players have encouraged and supported me. Even now I’m still encouraged by the correspondences of players from those days. I think there’s some sort of coexistence that goes beyond the framework between a receiver and a sender.

Each year new talent enter the game industry. Among them are many people that choose this path by being inspired by the MSX. At the very the least they inherited a burning passion for the MSX. The users (receivers) and developers (senders) will always remember the “sensation” of that time. If they have “pride”, then I’m sure the game industry will move towards a good direction.

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 19 November 2018

Quick Bits:

Aquaman #42 is a tie-in to the “Drowned Earth” event, following on his skewering at the hands of Poseidon in Justice League #11. Navigating his way through a dead realm is kind of a weird way for Dan Abnett to close out his run on the series, but it’s still a satisfying issue. Great art from Lan Medina, Vicente Cifuentes, and Gabe Eltaeb.

| Published by DC Comics

Batman #59 continues the “Tyrant Wing” arc with Batman acting a little unhinged on Penguin’s tip that Bane is running Arkham from the shadows, continuing his criminal empire to kill throughout Gotham. It’s interesting to see Batman alienate his allies again in his pursuit for vengeance.

| Published by DC Comics

Bettie Page #1 begins a new volume setting up an alien adventure in Britain, building upon the previous series but not requiring it as reading, from David Avallone, Julius Ohta, Ellie Wright, and Taylor Esposito. Bettie Page, paranormal investigator, is still a weird but entertaining remit and this opening issue does a good job of continuing in that vein as Bettie travels to England to investigate the Queen having been abducted by aliens. Ohta’s art also just keeps getting better and better.

| Published by Dynamite

Black Badge #4 employs a unique approach to flashbacks, with a solid spot colour in otherwise black and white image from Tyler and Hilary Jenkins. It’s a neat technique that really makes the scenes stand out.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Bloodborne #7 continues to question the realities and relationship of religion and science, even as the city’s fate becomes bleaker and the disease threatens more and more citizens. While I think I preferred the existential terror of the first arc more, this is still highly enjoyable.

| Published by Titan

Cold Spots #4 delivers a little bit of explanation as to what Grace has been brought to the island to do. I say a little bit, since there’s still a lot left unanswered in this penultimate issue. Gorgeous artwork from Mark Torres. You can almost feel the coldness coming off the pages.

| Published by Image

Cover #3 is some amazing storytelling. Somehow Brian Michael Bendis, David Mack, Zu Orzu, and Carlos M. Mangual are layering more and more into the narrative with each subsequent issue in such a brilliant way that you barely notice how many disparate pieces are being presented. It’s like an intricate tapestry being woven before us. This issue even has a special sequence illustrated by Bill Sienkiewicz of a fantasy story I desperately want to read the rest of.

| Published by DC Comics / Jinxworld

Crimson Lotus #1 begins a new series from John Arcudi, Mindy Lee, Michelle Madsen, and Clem Robins giving an origin story to Yumiko Daimio, one of Lobster Johnson’s enemies and grandmother to the BPRD’s favourite jaguar. It’s good, and an appearance early on from Rasputin just further shows some of the intricacies of the Hellboy universe.

| Published by Dark Horse

Devil Within #2 keeps the creepy factor up as Samantha and Michelle try to get help for Michelle’s possible possession. Excellent moody atmosphere provided by the art from Maan House and Dee Cunniffe.

| Published by Black Mask

Doctor Strange #8 begins “The Price” but it’s really just a continuation of the “Two Doctors” arc, building off the corruption of Strange’s former student. Mark Waid gives us some very interesting developments here regarding who is targeting him, along with Kamma finding out something Stephen wishes she wouldn’t, and the revelation of the location of one of the other gems from Cyttorak that were revealed to exist in X-Men Black.

| Published by Marvel

Evolution #12 ends the second arc with some lies, half-truths, and compelling confessions. The theme of change and mutation that has been evident since the first issue really comes to the fore this issue as some huge changes occur for the cast.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Exorsisters #2 gives more background to how the sisters came about through a deal with infernal powers by their mother. The art from Gisèle Lagacé and Pete Pantazis really is a huge draw.

| Published by Image

High Heaven #3 spends some time with Heather as she deals, kind of, with the loss of both David and Ben. Very weird things continue to go on in heaven with the usual great art from Greg Scott and Andy Troy. The Hashtag: Danger back-up remains funny with the lengths that the team goes to in order to save one of their own, only to have her kill herself again. And the prose pieces nicely round out the entire package.

| Published by Ahoy

Hot Lunch Special #4 delivers the penultimate chapter to not just one of the best crime stories I’ve read in years, but also just one of the best stories I’ve read in years period. Eliot Rahal, Jorge Fornés, and Taylor Esposito have really got something special here, with intriguing characters, an ever twisting plot, and some incredible visual. The layouts for this issue, breaking down the pacing, are just wonderful.

| Published by AfterShock

Immortal Hulk #9 is another staggeringly good issue, with a change for the Absorbing Man as he’s tapped to go up against the Hulk. While I am a little sad he didn’t stay legitimate following his redemption arc in Black Bolt, his development here from Al Ewing is pretty intriguing. Also love the art as the regular team of Joe Bennett, Ruy José, and Paul Mounts trade off pages with guest artist Martin Simmonds. The former illustrating the Hulk and the latter Creel before alternating in the battle between the two.

| Published by Marvel

Infinity 8 #7 begins the third loop “The Gospel According to Emma” from Lewis Trondheim, Fabien Vehlmann, and Olivier Balez. This reboot of the timeline starts off incredibly wrong as the Marshal approached to assist this time turns on the crew and effectively strands them in this timeline. There’s some interesting bits of grave robbers stealing treasure and overtones of the Marshal’s religion.

| Published by Lion Forge / Magnetic Collection

Infinity Wars: Ghost Panther #1 begins the final of these two-issue “Infinity Warps” mash-ups. Like the rest, it is incredibly well done. Jed MacKay, Jefte Palo, Jim Campbell, and Joe Sabino craft a tale merging Ghost Rider and Black Panther, seamlessly blending the two into something magical. The art from Palo and Campbell may well be the best of any of these minis and the art on all of them has been very impressive. Love the design for Zarathos.

| Published by Marvel

Judge Dredd: Toxic #2 has the violence and toxicity spillover as the explosion at one of the waste facilities causes increased fear and tension amongst the scrubbers hired to keep Mega-City One functioning. Paul Jenkins is crafting a tale full of the problems that come with xenophobia and the art from Marco Castiello, Vincenzo Acunzo, and Jason Millet just makes it visceral.

| Published by IDW

Justice League #12 has some really nice art from Frazer Irving for this penultimate chapter of the “Drowned Earth” event. Also, a very interesting revelation from Poseidon when it comes to the invading sea gods.

| Published by DC Comics

Justice League Dark #5 kicks off a new arc dealing with the ramifications of the first one, “The Witching Hour” crossover, and previous unrevealed tales of what happened with Detective Chimp after inheriting the Oblivion Bar. James Tynion IV gives some nice nods to the original Shadowpact series aided by beautiful art from Daniel Sampere, Juan Albarran, and Adriano Lucas.

| Published by DC Comics

The Last Space Race #2 introduces us to another member of the team, giving us a bit of his backstory, and largely making us want to drop him into a deep dark hole and forget that he’s there. Peter Calloway does a wonderful job of making Roger Freeman thoroughly unlikable, it’s kind of astonishing.

| Published by AfterShock

Lightstep #1 is a very different kind of sci-fi tale, mixing almost the feel of the decadence of Rome under Nero or Caligula and the high concept science fiction of a society that measures the class of its citizens by genetic similarity to their progenitor, and thereby assigns how “fast” they live. As I say, different from Miloš Slavković, Mirko Topalski, and Andrej Bunjac. Slavković’s art reminds me a bit Pasqual Ferry mixed with John Watkiss. The story itself somewhat reminds me of Watkiss’ work on John Jakes’ Mulkon Empire. On top of that, it’s part of a broader video game/media franchise from Eipix Entertainment, of which this looks like only the first volley (a novel and video game are forthcoming).

| Published by Dark Horse

The Lollipop Kids #2 continues to be a fantastic and fabulous comic from Adam & Aidan Glass, Diego Yapur, DC Alonso, and Sal Cipriano. The art alone from Yapur and Alonso would be worth the price of admission, but the characters, setting, and overall plot just elevate this beyond a typical kids fantasy type deal.

| Published by AfterShock

Low Road West #3 gets significantly stranger and much more surreal as reality seems to be growing thinner. We’re still not any closer to really understanding what’s truly going on, but it doesn’t really matter. Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Flaviano, Miquel Muerto, and Jim Campbell are telling one hell of a compelling story.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Mae #10 has Mae deal with some stuff in our world before stocking up and returning back to Cimrterén to resume her search for her father. Gorgeous artwork as always from Gene Ha and Wes Hartman.

| Published by Lion Forge / Roar

Marvel Knights #2 sees Matthew Rosenberg and Nico Henrichon join Donny Cates for this chapter, giving a bit of back story on how Banner roped in Castle into searching out the various heroes and leads to a confrontation with Elektra. Still no closer to understanding what happened here, but it does get weirder with a hallucinatory Karen Page. Henrichon’s art is just perfect for telling this story.

| Published by Marvel

Middlewest #1 is a magical debut of this new series from Skottie Young, Jorge Corona, Jean-Francois Beaulieu, and Nate Piekos. It’s a fantasy grounded in the reality of growing up hard in Middle America, with Abel dealing with an abusive father, while just trying to be a kid. But there’s a talking fox and devastating sentient storms. Rather inventive stuff all around. I’m also getting the impression that Jorge Corona should really be a household name. Between No. 1 with a Bullet, Old Man Jack, and now this, he’s been killing it recently.

| Published by Image

Night Moves #1 is a pretty great debut from VJ Boyd, Jordan Boyd, Clay McCormack, Mike Spicer, and Shawn DePasquale. It’s a gritty crime drama with occult overtones, but most of the weirdness is just simmering under the surface so far as the protagonists work to find out what kind of mess they’re in. McCormack and Spicer’s art really capture the feel of the seediness of the story well.

| Published by IDW

Optimus Prime #25 brings it all to a close, with a flashback through Optimus’ life and little vignettes of the various Transformers from John Barber, Kei Zama, Josh Burcham, and Tom B. Long. I’m really going to miss this world. 

| Published by IDW

Pearl #4 is probably the most stereotypical Bendis issue to date, but the dialogue doesn’t tip over into the ridiculous territory. Most of this issue is a conversation between Pearl and tattoo boy, but at least it’s interesting conversation and not random pop culture references repeated as questions.

| Published by DC Comics / Jinxworld

Pestilence: A Story of Satan #5 gives a bittersweet end to this story, filled with loss and sacrifice. It’s kind of fitting considering how bleak both this and the first series have been. Wonderful art from Oleg Okunev, Guy Major, Michael Garland, and Marko Lesko.

| Published by AfterShock

The Punisher #4 may well be one of the bloodiest, most violent mainline 616 Marvel Universe Punisher issues yet as Jigsaw and an assortment of Hydra goons attempt to kidnap Frank from prison. Matthew Rosenberg and Szymon Kudranski are continuing to keep this book moving at a breakneck pace, like an action movie that barely takes any moments to breathe.

| Published by Marvel

Quantum & Woody! #12 brings this volume to a close, with an interesting character study of the brothers at the hands of GATE and X-O Manowar.

| Published by Valiant

Rumble #9 brings “Things Remote” to an end with an epic battle between the Esu and Rathraq’s friends, leading to an interesting realization for Rathraq and what he wants out of life. Stunningly beautiful art from David Rubín and Dave Stewart.

| Published by Image

Shadowman #9 continues the “Rag and Bone” arc as Alyssa and Jack confront Sandria Darque. Gorgeous artwork from Renato Guedes, Eric Battle, and Ulises Arreola. 

| Published by Valiant

Shuri #2 continues the search for Black Panther, while back on Earth the women of Wakanda form a council to figure out how to maintain and administer the nation while he’s missing. Definitely some interesting concepts and character points from Nnedi Okorafor. Phenomenal artwork and layouts from Leonardo Romero and Jordie Bellaire.

| Published by Marvel

Spider-Force #2 is probably one of the bleakest, mean-spirited stories I’ve read in a while. This isn’t a bad thing, but the story’s a bit of a downer as the nature of an irradiated world without hope seems to permeate everything, including characters like Jessica Drew who are normally at least a bit more level-headed. Priest is writing a very dark story, with some complicated characters like Peter’s granddaughter who grew up in the Old Man Logan universe and a Peter Parker who looks like he was abused by Uncle Ben.

| Published by Marvel

Spider-Geddon #4 kind of spoils the need to read Spider-Force #3 out in three weeks, which just kind of adds to the downer feel of that series. This issue turns darker itself with a bevy of betrayals. Christos Gage has kind of stacked the deck against the spiders, I wonder how they’re going to get out of it in the finale.

| Published by Marvel

Stellar #6 concludes the series and it is incredibly messed up. The conflict between Zenith and Stellar is bizarre and perverse, but I don’t really want to go into it more because spoilers would ruin its impact. Joe Keatinge, Bret Blevins, and Rus Wooton have done an amazing job with this series. Highly recommended.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Sukeban Turbo #1 is another series originally published by Glénat Editions in France, translated into English for North American markets. It’s a mix of teenage rebellion, crime, and following a boy band from Sylvain Runberg, Victor Santos, and Shawn Lee. The art from Santos is worth it on its own, very impressive layouts and storytelling.

| Published by IDW

Summit #10 kicks off the third arc for the series and like most of the Catalyst Prime series recently it undergoes a bit of a change in status quo. Val finds out that she hasn’t been hallucinating, but hearing the voice of another of her team that was essentially vaporized during the event, before having her life turned upside down as the government starts hunting her. Amy Chu continues writing the series, while she’s joined by Marika Cresta fully for the art here.

| Published by Lion Forge / Catalyst Prime

Tony Stark: Iron Man #6 begins “Stark Realities” and the launch of Tony’s eScape virtual reality game. Dan Slott, with a script assist from Jeremy Whitley, does a great job of making it feel chaotic at launch, with some ordinary and extraordinary problems occurring. The pissed off griefer is hilarious.

| Published by Marvel

Web of Venom: Carnage Born #1 is an interesting reinterpretation of Carnage’s origin to fit within the new mythology being crafted in the current Venom series, also building off the recent two-part arc there with the Maker, from Donny Cates, Danilo S. Beyruth, Cris Peter, and Clayton Cowles. This is more very entertaining outgrowth of the Marvel Universe from Cates and gives us a quite possibly deadlier Carnage.

| Published by Marvel

West Coast Avengers #4 concludes the first arc in fairly straightforward fashion as the team deals with BRODOK and the women transformed into giant monsters. Some nice little character moments from Kelly Thompson and great art from Stefano Caselli and Tríona Farrell.

| Published by Marvel

The Whispering Dark #2 continues its existential and moral crisis as the squad commits war crimes as they struggle to survive. There’s something off about how everything is happening, in how Christofer Emgård is writing the narration, but I’m not sure if it’s just the in-story reason of the go-pills. It feels like the squad is already in Hell and being judged.  

| Published by Dark Horse

Other Highlights: American Carnage #1, Archie #700, Black AF: Widows & Orphans #4, Black Hammer: Age of Doom #7, Burnouts #3, Days of Hate #10, Dejah Thoris #10, Dick Tracy: Dead or Alive #2, East of West #40, Encounter #8, GI Joe: A Real American Hero - Silent Option #2, Go-Bots #1, Jughead: The Hunger #10, The Long Con #5, Love & Rockets #6, Lucifer #2, Lumberjanes #56, Mars Attacks #2, The New World #5, Olivia Twist #3, Project Superpowers #4, Rick & Morty Presents Pickle Rick #1, Smooth Criminals #1, Star Wars #57, Star Wars: Solo #2, TMNT: Urban Legends #7, Underwinter: Queen of Spirits, Xena: Warrior Princess #10

Recommended Collections: 24 Panels, Accell - Volume 3: Turf Battles, Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows - Volume 4: Are You Okay, Annie?, Crude - Volume 1, Dark Souls Omnibus, Delta 13, Dungeons & Dragons: Evil at Baldur’s Gate, Flavor, Immortal Hulk - Volume 1: Or is he Both?, Justice League - Volume 1: The Totality, Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man - Volume 4: Coming Home, Resident Alien - Volume 5: An Alien in New York, Spidey: School’s Out, Stray Bullets: Sunshine & Roses - Volume 3, Unnatural - Volume 1: Awakening, Venom - Volume 1: Rex, The X-Files: Case Files - Volume 1

d. emerson eddy wonders if there’s going to be any light in our real darkest hour.

[ace-trainer-akari]

Welcome Pokémon trainers! Call me Akari! I’m a high ranking placer in many tournaments!

Not to brag but I helped defeat team plasma. Yes I stole his hydreigon. Deal with it. I’m here to answer any questions you might have!

My preserve is in the light red square! It’s several square miles of basically every habitat you can think of! Please excuse the markings my partners left.

Speaking of partners, a master list of those I’ve befriended are here!:

So please! Don’t hesitate to ask!

Mod here! I just have a couple of things to note:

Please keep it clean and non sexual. Pokémon breeding questions are fine, violence is fine, horny on main isn’t.

A lot of this has some of my own headcanons and personal playthrough experiences

Akari’s face claim atm is Tenko from NDRV3 due to my lack of art skills. If you do want to draw her, here’s the closest I could make in Picrew

This blog runs on the following canons:

A handful of game logic (catching the ultra beasts, evolution methods, egg groups/egg moves and mentions of IV training)

A ton of anime logic

Some manga logic (IE things like Pryce owning a lapras but not the other shit he did.)

Some fakemon regions. Currently the “canon” fake regions I’m going off of are my own (un named atm but the pokemon can be found on @fakemonverse ), The Kaskade Region by Lockstin, the Mazah region by Subjectively (and their hallowed form concept) and Asone by TrueGreen7. They own their designs and concepts, I’m interpreting them as unrevealed pokemon

Some other miscellaneous things. Akari took Ghetsis’ Hydreigon from him after the events of BW2 seeing it really hated him. He’s still a bit bity tho. She also “takes the place” of the player character during the events of Sword/Shield but a year before the canonical events and ends up getting all 3 starters, the trust of both dogs and Eternatus due to lore shenanigans. ON THIS BLOG ONLY HOWEVER. On other blogs where legendaries aren’t allowed, she’s an avid researcher of Eternatus bc she loves them snakey boys. Canonical to both however is her and Leon tying due to the energy used knocking both trainers out and not the pokemon. Her jersey number is 420 as it’s a special day to her (she won’t tell) and promised to come back 3 years to the day, where she can bring in her 2 most powerful aces to battle.

[thequimmqueen]

Oh very neat! Colour mixing is a neat way to design characters though if i did that with val shed still be red! But yeah interesting look into your character design - amii

Thank you 🥰 i love sharing those with y'all, It is very fun to make NGs.. now the thing is, There are a few customers i could work on but.. hmm i dont know what to tell you i dont really ship plenty with anyone yet.

So i'm gonna do what older AUs did: Make a Nephew or GrandKid rather than a direct Offspring! I did that with kahuna because i really didnt think i'd ship him with somebody. So i'll try doing that if for example, CJ friskins, doesn't have a partner. (Unlike the popular opinion, i like him!) So yes! Once I get back to drawing,i might share some sketches of Unrevealed NGs like IzaB ;D

[amazingsphelon]

09/14/2020

Hello again guys! For todays episode I’ll be posting multiple follow up

individual OC art characters from my Gijinka Pokemon series. It’s just

down to two btw.

Link of the original previous post:

Gijinka Pokemon 1st 4 Update

Gijinka WIP Update:

Gijinka Sketches (1st Post)

————————————————- Finally introducing my 6th and final Gijinka OC: Hanzo Hatoori, The Shadow's Nature Ninjask!

**The Sketch above is one of my 2nd n 3rd Gijinkas to draw along side anoldest version of Aedris. which kinda looked goofy on my books.

anyways you get the pic....

============================================

Hanzo- The Ninjask** based on Hanzo Hatoori

Age: 27 **he looks younger though abit

———————————–

Attacks: **He has a Katana Blade that allows him to cast more movesets

outside the Ninjask moveset line.

X-Scissor, Fury Cutter, Slash, Secret Power (fire base)

Human Fighting Style:

Ninjitsu + Iga -Ryu

Origin Similarities: Japan

Likes: His master (A humanize Shedinja), His clan, novelty and his status and staying often hidden in the shadows unrevealed for his anonymity.

Dislikes: **To be Written Soon. nothing much is particularly known even

though with friends around him (especially the 7 closest friends he got

outside his clan, and perhaps their might be more...!) Though Aeshi and

Sigmund might have appear to know more about his secrets.

============================================

This is one of those designs I didn't do a redesign for how I

automatically enjoy the way he looks. I basically just based him on

Samurai Showdown's Hanzo Hatoori and just put the Ninjask concept in just

for good to go!

**All designs and behind design. the only thing I actually forget coloring is his mail...but oh well.

**Armor design and some armor design**

Sword design also based on the Ninjask’s design.

and of all the 6 Gijinkas I drew, he has a very mysterious profile that

not even his closest friends could even decypher. Sparing much for Aeshi, who promised not to spill the entire beans for him, followed by Sigmund, Melody and Blare. then of course Aedris, Naiya and Raid are the trio who remained uninformed about his true whereabouts not until a few stories later the time Naiya and Raid got themselves into trouble.

What Hanzo may have looked like without his Mask.

and he is among the few Gijinkas that doesn't have a Mythical Birth MArk Fragments besides Aedris in the group.

and unbeknowst to the group perhaps, he might have been somewhere around skipping alot of time lately in the present day looking for hidden relics around.

The only thing his friends knew are that he's one of the few Ninja's that is capable of resisting fire and ice. and was able to cut a falling granite in half without dulling his blade. and especially for the 7 friends on his adventure, they eventually learned that he has a master he serves, who is a Shedinja (Gijinka) all along and is much  of a silent friendly fellow.

Alright that's all for to now and I gotta do something next.

See ya next episode!

[eyedelater]

horikoshi character design

here are some trends i’ve noticed in the My Hero Academia manga.

male characters: 

may have masks that obscure all of the face (e.g. snipe, iida tenya, twice, number 13, backdraft, gunhead, mustard) or most of the face (jeanist, shouji, crimson riot, edge shot)

widely varied body/face shapes and sizes (e.g. fatgum, death arms, power loader, magne, mineta)

often distinctly animal appearance (e.g. centipeder, gang orca, tokoyami, sansa, tsurugamae, spinner) or strange humanoid appearance (e.g. cementoss, ectoplasm, bondo, kurogiri, shouji, kouda)

many non-skintight and/or full-body-covering costumes (e.g. aizawa, dabi, twice, edge shot, fourth kind, all might, present mic, snipe)

bodily abnormalities/features that would more likely be considered “weird/gross” than “cute/attractive” (e.g. dabi, honenuki, kamakiri, shigaraki, stain, sludge guy, moonfish, AFO)

prominent abs near-omnipresent

generally tilted in the direction of “cool” and/or “strong”

female characters: 

mask is either a) absent or completely transparent (e.g. ochako, bubble girl, momo, mandalay, ragdoll, uwabami), or b) obscuring no more than half the face and almost always limited to glasses or an eye mask (e.g. mt. lady, midnight, pixie-bob, recovery girl, ryukyu, hatsume)

costumes often form-fitting and/or unnecessarily** skin-revealing (e.g. midnight, mt. lady, ochako, uwabami, bubble girl, camie)

SIGNIFICANTLY fewer physical anomalies, generally variations on a “pretty lady with long hair” theme (e.g. uwabami, momo, ragdoll, pixie-bob, toga, mt. lady, ms. joke, camie, setsuna, kendo, kodai, nejire, ETC.)

if they do have an atypical appearance, it’s almost never something that would make them less cute/attractive (e.g. tsuyu, shiozaki, komori, tsunotori, jirou, ashido, hatsume, nakagame, ragdoll, eri)

same attractive face shape on 99% of all lady characters; no one has a distinctly animal appearance (i.e. no ladies have an animal head for a head, EXCEPT habuko, who only appeared once, outside of the main manga)

the blatant lack of “female characters with a realistic animal head for a head” in horikoshi’s character designs is nowhere more apparent than in his erstwhile manga, Oumagadoki Zoo, where basically fucking everyone is an animal

modest variation in height, but little variation in body types overall

no one has prominent abs or other muscles

very strongly tilted in the direction of “cute” and/or “attractive”

**yaoyorozu momo is the only one whose revealing costume is somewhat justified, because she needs access to wide swaths of skin in order to pop out large items as she creates them. 

exceptions/things to give horikoshi-sensei credit for: 

deku’s mom isn’t in perfect physical shape (though everyone else’s mom we’ve seen is)

horikoshi-sensei does a good job of drawing ladies with relatively realistically proportioned bodies, rather than making them stick-thin caricatures like the ladies in one piece

there are several male characters whose hero costumes do reveal a good amount of skin (though it’s still definitely for coolness more than for sexiness)

ryukyu’s character design is somewhat better than many of her peers (i.e. relatively unrevealing costume, quirk that makes her look weird instead of hot unless you have a fetish)

recovery girl isn’t hot (that makes one pro hero lady who isn’t hot, i guess. though iirc it’s implied that she used to be hot)

bottom line: ladies’ costumes show more skin and face because evidently it’s important that we know their faces and bodies are attractive, whereas male characters are not designed primarily with attractiveness in mind and thus span a much wider range of facial structures and body types. basically, this. please give us some weird/gross/uncute female characters, horikoshi-sensei.

[ethiopiyeah]

Bahir dar and Blue Nile camping

Started the day trying to join a larger group to see the island monasteries on Lake Tana. These monasteries were founded around the 13th and 14th centuries as Christianity was arriving in Ethiopia. Groups of hermits (apparently they are occasionally into teamwork) built these churches in different uninhabited islands in the middle of Lake Tana - the source of the blue Nile. At first I was going to join a German family tour, but apparently the father felt sick from the night before. Next it was Italians who wanted to lie in. Eventually I jumped on an underpowered skiff with a bunch of Ethiopian tourists, a boisterous and friendly group composing mostly of expat couples. The monasteries all charged entrance fees, one for ethiopians, another for ''forenji' which I thought was both unfair and pretty fair. Our of the four we visited, two had extensive paintings. The style of painting is distinctive by the almond shaped eyes of the characters and bright colours throughout. Interestingly, all biblical characters were painted with pale skin. When I asked about this, I don't think anyone understood the question. At the final stop we had fish for lunch, which was as overfried as the boat was underpowered. It was a very bony fish with little meat but after the frying treatment the bones were actually edible with a big crunch. Apparently it's the traditional way to prepare the fish around this area. One of the group members, an expat sailor who works in Dubai, wanted me to taste another local delicacy of honey wine. After the first one I was content but he insisted on two more which I could hardly refuse. In my slightly tipsy state I napped for the last leg of the trip back to bahirdar, and continued to be sleepy. Given the lack of things to do in town, I headed back to the guesthouse for a rest before going on a walk, which was as unrevealing as the fish was overfried. Early conclusions - beyond the big ticket trips which make cities here famous, there isn't a huge amount to do. Cities don't have interesting places or buildings. Rather, you need to have good company of a very packed itinerary to avoid long stints of hanging around. Without back-editing, I'm now in a very different place - geographically and psychologically. Taking a bus out of Bahirdar,I set off to the Blue Nile falls - Ethiopia's answer to the Victoria falls. As the Blue Nile leaves its source near lake tana it plummets from a high plateau, leaving a cloud of steam - the locals call it Tis Abay "The water that smokes" On the bus I bumped into two Belgian girls, one working as a midwife here for a long summer. They had lots of great advice and conversation as we hiked from the bus stop to the falls, an hour away. I had arranged to camp near the falls before heading to my next stop the following day. It turned out there was a chirpy new startup campsite run by Thomas, the seventh son of a local farmer who bought a plot of land literally on top of the waterfall. Thomas called me over and after a tour of the facilities I agreed to the 100 birr - £3 per night - fee. Little did I know what an experience awaited me! Thomas turned out to be a real startup entrepreneur, telling me his plans for expanding from the current 1 toilet, 3 tent setup to a major regional tourist draw. The site is co-funded by (the practically divine) David, an Englishman who visited Ethiopia and was charmed into starting a business here. David brought tents, electronics, and wise guidance from England, and Thomas operates the site with energy and optimism, springing from one initiative to another. As I arrived he was collecting chat in the herb bed, which I think is the same as coca leaf. A natural stimulant, it's somewhere between coffee and shisha in potency. The trick is to assemble a tightly packed spring of leaves and stuff them into the corner of your cheek. I accepted the offer and the lesson, as we sat on a rocky outcrop sprayed by the falls beneath us. We chewed chat and discussed expansion plans. I showed him photos of the Mongolian yurts by which he was very impressed, and asked me to design him a yurt. Never one to turn down a challenge, I got out my paper and pen and started doing geometry. This went on until late, as we chatted in both senses. Thomas's younger sister was fascinated by the calculations so the event also became a maths lesson. I was struck by how transcendent is the language of maths, and how easy+fun it is to teach. Perhaps as an effect of the chat combined with the thundering waterfall, I really struggled to sleep in my tent, finally going under at 4am (before a 7.30 start) - all night my mind was hyperactivity trying to solve geometry. I decided to extend my time at the campsite and stay a second night, giving me a chance to hike around the area today. Starting at 9 after a breakfast of injera (the national dish of fermented ''tej'' grain - a kind of thick acidic grey pancake), I followed my arsenal-top-wearing, flip-flop-clad guide, Derez. He spoke no English but knew the way, so we didn't have much to say. As we walked through the countryside all the herders stopped herding and just watched us (me?) walk past. Whole families came out of their huts to stare and sometimes wave. It felt like being a local celebrity or at least a novelty ''forenji' entertainment. The herders wear a checked cloth wrapped high around their shoulders and carry a long stick behind their back, hanging their wrists on either side. It's a V good look (and no doubt also functional too). As we walked we kept picking up more children following in a curious entourage. The​ temperature was 30 degrees with no breeze, and it was very dry. I quickly realised my mistake not bringing a hat and I felt myself getting a bit heatstrokey. Pressing on around the mountain range and through several beautiful green farming valleys, we got to the hot springs after 2 hours. I was greeted by a bunch of angry old farmer men who came out of the surrounding huts and angrily stood around holding their big sticks (and talking not that softly). I thought myself to be in a little pickle. Not knowing what was going on, I decided the best thing would be to sit down in the shade and have a swig of water. After some more commotion I got Derez to call Thomas to explain what was happening. By this point I was quite relieved not to go to the hot water springs, being that I was already stroked by heat. It turned out that the old men took objection to my not wearing a cross necklace (apparently compulsory for access to springwater). We turned around and headed back for a hot return. After another two long hours we arrived back at the campsite where Thomas poured a jerry can of cold water over my head before I went into rest mode for the rest of the day.

[beyondenigmablog]

An idea I had for a deck. via /r/tarot

An idea I had for a deck.

In the Rider-Waite tradition, what we see in the cards are archetypes and symbols that are familiar to the human collective- things we can recognize to bring out the broader meanings. But the figures are anonymous, so as to draw out the intuitive meanings of each figure and object in the card.

I had an idea that flips the script and makes the figures and symbols specific, harking to real people, places, and events, but still in the Rider-Waite artistic tradition, so that their meanings are more 'solid' and grounded in real-life events.

I started writing down some of the Major Arcana and who or what they could potentially represent in humanity's history. And I was simply gobsmacked at how easily the historical figure, concept, or event fit with some of them.

Take The Lovers for instance. For this I felt instantly that Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn were the perfect candidates for such a card, in both the upright and reversed position. Upright means beauty, passionate love, and trials overcome. Reversed, failure and foolish designs. Henry and Anne's relationship echoes this in BOTH positions. They were passionately in love and overcame what was stopping them from being truly together. But at the same time, their mechanism of doing so led to the destruction of this same relationship. So both possibilities for the reading can be inferred if you know their story.

Others leapt out at me too. Marie Curie for the High Priestess for example. Secrets, wisdom, tenacity, science, and the future as yet unrevealed are all present in her life story and scientific achievement. The future as yet unrevealed made her a most intriguing candidate for this card, since her discoveries ultimately lead to some of the most sophisticated of medical achievements, but also the most destructive of weapons.

The one that stands out to me the most though, is the Mayan calendar as a substitute for the Wheel of Fortune. The Mayan calendar foretells events, good or bad, warfare and peace, feast and famine. They predicted these events with the understanding that this was the natural order of life- they were accepting of it's inevitability. Even the calendar's shape and markings is very reminiscent of the Wheel of Fortune in the Rider-Waite artistic tradition.

For the suits, I was thinking of choosing different cultures and regions for each one, in their classical age. Cups for China and the Far East, wands for the Central American civilizations, pentacles for Arabia and North Africa, and swords for Rome and Europe. I feel these cultures to be reminiscent of the qualities of each suit and would provide more profound and recognizable imagery for the reader.

Would love to hear the community's thoughts on this idea.

Submitted October 20, 2017 at 03:32PM by LastArmistice via reddit http://ift.tt/2gUyZgQ