#thats such a strong lineup!

[awesamforehead]

Sapnap exerts so much "child in a dysfunctional family that stays together for him" energy its so crazy

[yoomtahsgf]

genuinely do u guys not mind me posting/doodling so much Returning Hyperfixation content i do want to post more abt ee/yoomtah and whatevwr other stuff i like but i am simply Filled with a decades worth of ideas JDHFJDJFKFHDHFDJ

[sixflame438]

Again and Again

Synopsis - Its your first fansign event and you receive unwanted comments. Your girlfriend comforts you backstage but then your members catch you in a moment.

Pairing - Hong Eunchae x 6th lsfm!reader

Tags - Angst, fluff, rude “fans”, secret and established relationship, kinda iffy tbh, possible errors, kissing, a lil bit of swearing at the end

A/N - [Request] Lowkey Eunchae oppa agenda, lets pretend lsfm didnt have any fansign events before antifragile era mk? There is a prequel fic that happens before the events of this one, its short and more fluffier than this one imo [Part 1]

Wordcount - 2890

You loved being an idol. You loved singing, you loved dancing, you loved making people happy through what you did and you most definitely loved meeting you fans. But not this. This was not what you signed up for. Youd guess it was probably the 6th person thats done this today.

Each time was the same. They would get to the seat in front of yours , give you a judgy look filled with disgust and proceed to berate you and tell you how worthless you are compared to your members and that the group would be better off without you. And of course, that hurt. The first 2 times were easy to brush off but with it happening again and again? Well, you were only so strong.

Some would do it quietly as to not draw attention to themselves but some didnt even care enough to do so, yelling like dads with beers by the bbq. Security would come drag them away but this didnt matter much as you were last on the table, theyd have to leave anyway.

As the timer rang for the next rotation, you subtly called over your manager, signalling for a timeout. Luckily she was a sweet kind lady who quickly noticed the tears pooling in your eyes. With the nod of approval you silently got up and left for your break room, not wanting anyone to notice your discomfort or waterworks. As intended nobody did, except for one.

It was funny, you and her were on the opposite ends of the table. How she managed to notice and kazuha (who was next to you but didnt realise until you were gone) wouldve baffled you but you were too in your head to care.

Muffled noises were all you could hear as the world around you became muted. You could barely make out the event coordinator telling your group to have an impromptu photo session with the fans and the same fans screaming in excitement.

Being an idol was all you had ever wanted. You loved singing, you loved dancing and debuting in Le Sserafim was a dream come true. You were confident in your abilities and knew you always tried putting your all into every performance. But was it enough? What if the haters were right?

You were well aware of the comments circulating the internet, it was hard not to notice them. And although you didnt want to believe it, you could see why people thought what they did. Like just look at your groups lineup.

Huh Yunjin, a professionally trained opera singer and amazing song writer and producer as shown when “Raise Y_our Glass” was released to celebrate your groups 100th day and Kazuha Nakamura, a professional ballet dancer of 15 years before joining the group, who even trained at a national ballet academy.

If those two werent already cool enough you also had Kim Chaewon and Sakura Miyawaki in your group too, both beloved and popular members of the former popular girl group Iz*one. Not to mention how Sakura was basically Japans sweetheart, everyone and their parents knew about her. Your members had past merits and achievements with proof to show for but you? You were just you.

You who debuted in only 18 months. But was that enough? You were good at dancing and singing, had a stunning face card and had great charisma but it all felt like an understatement when compared to your groupmates.

You would be a liar if you said that was everyone in your group though as in through your assigned break room walked the final member. Your favourite person in the whole wide world, the groups adorable maknae or lesser known as your beloved girlfriend.

You and Eunchae met as trainees under the same label. Being more reserved and barely speaking unless prompted made it hard to make any friends but what started as small nods of acknowledgement and morning greetings turned into quiet conversations during breaks.

Obviously Eunchae was the one to come up to you first and if you had to pick someone to talk to in amongst the group of strangers you were training with, you’d always pick her. Even before she came up to you, it was apparent that everyone wanted to befriend her.

Her cheerful sunshine demeanour naturally drew you in and it definitely helped that she was easy to talk to. Slowly over time your friendship grew and so did you. The two of you were inseparable and there was never a moment apart, everything was done together and it was just the way you liked it.

Every monthly evaluation, every critique, every failure. She helped you through your time as a trainee, constantly helping you use the feedback you received to improve on your skills. And of course you were there for Eunchae too, never failing to cheer her up after a hard day of training.

To anyone else you were just besties as the clinginess could easily be excused to how touchy Eunchae was with any and everyone. Wrong, but theyd never know that.

You genuinely believed that if it werent for Eunchaes radiant positivity, you would’ve never gotten through being a trainee and you wouldve never debuted together.

“Hey baby” she said cautiously as she approached, careful not to scare or overwhelm you any more.

You were curled up on the couch, arms around your legs, knees up to your face. Shaking and bawling with tears.

“Whats wrong sweetheart?” The only response was more crying.

Eunchae could feel her heart chipping away with every shake and choked out sob you let out. She had an idea about what had led you to this moment, she had seen the comments too.

They were nasty, downright diabolical things someone should never say to anyone. It was cruel, harmful and completely wrong. How people thought they could say things like this and have them backed up was something Eunchae would never understand.

“There were people hic calling me names and hic saying things about me and hic saying I dont belong in the group” you choked out painfully between each point. Eunchae couldn’t believe it. To post hateful comments online was one thing but to tell them to the idol herself? The audacity some people had.

The worst part was this was happening to you and only you. Maybe her other members had a few issues too but Eunchae had none. Everything was smooth sailing and perfect from her perspective so to know that you werent having the same crushed her.

“Theyre also saying that im worthless hic and that the groups better off hic without someone like me and hic and-“ You couldn’t even continue. The tears were blurring your vision and it was getting hard to speak so you just gave up trying. Exactly like the netizens wanted.

Eunchae had heard enough. Clearly there was more to be said but she didn’t want to know. You didnt deserve any of the atrocious comments. You didn’t deserve the threats and insults. And someone as sweet and kind as you didnt deserve the hate. It was unjustified.

You had long since dropped your legs when you started explaining and Eunchae took that opportunity to climb onto your lap, sitting up nice and close. Cradling your face with her hands, Eunchae used her thumbs to wipe away the running tears, drawing your attention away from your shoes and up to her face.

“Hey baby listen to me alright? The comments? Theyre wrong. All completely lies made up because theyre mad. Mad youre better than them in so many ways.”

“They cant help but be envious of you because well look at you. Youre talented, hardworking and absolutely jaw droppingly gorgeous. Are they the ones that preform on stage in front of thousands? No. Thats you. Do those scummy douchebags have thousands of fans worldwide supporting them? No. Thats you. And yes it is a group effort but you are playing your part. “

“You aren’t worthless or ugly or better off like they claim, youre more than they will ever be and you’ve already achieved more than they have. Plus who are they to say anything about you? Theyre probably lazy, unhygienic, haters who are single asf and have no bitches.”

“Dont ever let someone as unrelevant as that say anything about you alright? They know nothing about the effort you put into this and trust me, youre beautiful and funny girlfriend, when I say that you are just so amazing. No one can ever compare and im really proud to call you mine.”

“Sure maybe our unnies have already done things before that doesn’t mean we aren’t capable of doing those things too. Its my first time debuting too and this is the start of our journey, theres plenty of time to prove ourselves. If you ever feel lost again, remember that you’ve got me okay? And the unnies. And piona. There will always be people supporting you no matter what.”

“Chae…”

“Hush my baby its okay ive got you” she says as she wraps herself around you, running her hand through your hair to soothe and calm you down.

It was funny how different the roles were in your relationship. Even though you were older it was always as if Eunchae was your unnie instead, always caring and trying to take care of you. Of course you did the same for her too but she became a different person when it was just you two alone.

Despite internet thoughts Eunchae was quite mature, often sounding like Chaewon or Sakura at times. You guess its probably due to how close everyone was and how theyre the parental figures of the group. If Eunchae was the groups maknae, you were hers.

“Lets dry off the tears now yeah? They cover your eyes too much and i like them best when youre happy. You’re beautiful you know that?”

You did know, she told you almost everyday. But that didnt stop your heart from fluttering any differently. The warmth from your closeness and the comforting words had you smiling like a lovesick fool. Absolutely smitten or just stupid in love if you will.

“Yeah i do. Thanks pumpkin I really appreciate it” you say with a small smile. It wasnt as bright as it could be but it was a start.

Eunchae just nods with content, as if her life’s purpose had been fulfilled and she could now rest peacefully. Like a true oppa gentlemen she gracefully picks up your hand and delicately places a kiss on the back. Then your wrist, shoulder, cheek and awaiting lips.

They were feather light touches with that lingering tickly effect making you squirm a little.

“Chae stop kissing me” you whine with a pout but still giggling as you try to stop her from kissing you while you were still a mess.

“I cant help it, seeing you smile like that makes it hard not to” she says with a childish grin.

You cant help but giggle to yourself again. It was so innocent, so adorable and absolutely what you fell for in the first place.

Eunchae hooks her arms around your neck as she leans in again for a longer kiss, this time with more appreciation and pure admiration.

Hands holding Eunchae steady, you smile into the kiss, going with the motions. You would always love your girlfriend for everything she did. You loved her then, you love her now and there was nothing stopping you from loving her in the future either.

Your dreaming is cut short though when you hear a loud, high pitched shriek coming from across the room.

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK”

Startled you look towards the now open door and the 4 figures standing in the entrance.

“YUNJIN”

“Youre gonna give us away idiot”

“Crap sorry”

“Too late dumbass”

You stared back at your members with wide eyes. Shocked was an understatement. How much did they see? In a hurry you tried to lift your girlfriend off your lap but she wouldnt budge, gripping onto you tighter like a koala. Eunchae wasnt phased. She didnt care you got caught, it was about time anyway.

“Hi Unnies” Eunchae says casually as if they didnt just walk in on something important.

“Care to tell us whats going on” your leader asks accusingly with raised eyebrows.

“Shitty people said some even more fucked up things to yn, so im cheering her up”

“Hong Eunchae language” Chaewon scolded angrily, clearly upset over something. Either that being the youngest swearing or the discovery that the second youngest was receiving hate comments.

“I dont care. They cant just go and make my Yn sad like that. She deserves nothing but happiness” the maknae replies resolute in her words.

“My yn?”

“How long?”

“Over a year” you say meekly, finally choosing to join the conversation

“WHATTTTTTT”

“WAIT THATS SO CUTE”

The simultaneous loud responses overwhelm you a little as you wince further into your seat.

“Are you guys not mad?”

“No why would we be?”

“I am, very.” Yunjin says with a faux stern face.

“Oh” is all you say as your heart drops, tensing and panicking on the inside.

“Oh no no im not actually mad im kidding”

Relief washes through as you let out a held gasp of air, head falling back onto the couch. Maybe if you hadnt had a meltdown just before you wouldve called her out on her tomfoolery.

“Why didnt you tell us earlier?” Questions the ballerina, her head tilting sideways as she always did when she was confused.

Sensing that you werent going to respond Eucnahe quickly chimed in. “Uhm we dont really have a good reason to be fair but we didnt know if you guys wouldve been okay with it and we just never got around to saying anything”

You could see some nods coming from the group but knowing your group you were bound to get pounced with more questions later.

“Unacceptable so you guys have been secretly dating this entire time and weve known nothing. Im being lied to by my own children” cries the group producer, her head now laying on kazuhas shoulder pretending to weep and cry.

“Yunjin unnie youre so dramatic”

Sakura, ever the timely person and mother of the group quickly draws attention to the matter at hand. “This has been quite the discovery but breaks ending in 5 mins we should probably go back out soon. You can all talk about it later”

“Dammit man. Urgh whatever when the singing is over i want answers and every detail you hear me?” Yunjin asserts pointing at you and Eunchae on the couch as she walks out.

Each member leaves the room and its when you hear them talking outside that you realise Chaewon didnt say much about you and Eunchae. Now you were back to being worried, mentally preparing yourself for an explosive outburst later when you got back to the dorms. Breaking you from your thoughts, Kazuha pokes her head around the door.

“You guys are really cute btw” she says with her signature smile, exuding calm and warmth before she went back on her way to the stage. Such a precious soul.

The comment helps to ease your worry but before you can keep thinking about it Eunchae places another kiss on lips.

“Hey dont worry about it, its just the members. They love us just the same with or without relationship.”

“Lets show the haters that no matter how much they talk it wont matter because which group are you in?”

You chuckle to yourself knowing whats coming before replying back to Eunchae like she was an army general.

“Le Sserafim!”

“And what are you?”

“An idiot sandwich!”

“No youre not! What are you?”

“Im fearless!”

“Haha thats my girl.” Eunchae replies as she gives your shoulder a nudge. Her bubbly personality (the one shown on screen) taking its place to lighten the mood.

“Can you give me a minute?”

Your girlfriend nods, removing herself from your lap and leaving to go wait by the door.

You use the time to collect yourself, quickly brushing your hair with your hands and touching up your make up with the supplies left from earlier. Taking one last glance at your reflection you leave, content with the way you were. You weren’t going to let a few bad comments get in the way of what could be an amazing day.

“Ready to go?”

“Yeah lets go” You reply with a smile, as you link your arm with Eunchaes, walking down the hallway going towards the stage.

Its not possible to have everyone like you and you knew that. Not everyone was going to have the overwhelming support someone like Chaewon and Sakura had and there was always going to be fan favourites like Eunchae.

But you were content and grateful for what you had. A group of fantastic members, a supportive family, tons of loving fans (the true ot6 supporters) and of course your wonderful girlfriend.

You loved Eunchae and it was apparent why everyone loved Eunchae so much too. You were 1 of millions but it was you she chose. And you knew, at the bottom of your heart, that even if no one did, shed always choose you. Again and again.

[crkfragmentedsouljams]

fictional cookies suffering? oh myyy 🙃

Last Updated-3/27/25 (Added Smilk & Misty down below, updated general)

| Fragmented Souljams AU! — Introduction/Masterpost ig-

(FSAU for short)

This crk au is basically: What if the ancients loses to the beast and is now under their control? :)

| General Info:

Blog is owned by @cheesymellow (MINOR!) :D, so no weird stuff please 🙏

Fanart & Fanfiction are COMPLETELY OKAY!! (TAG ME IN IT!) Aslong as its sfw. And heck you can send it to my inbox too if you want!

This is still a massive WIP and i dont have that much planned rn for this. But feel free to ask questions in my asksbox or in the comments-

Sometimes im either really active or not at all. If im ever randomly missing probably means i got alot going on in my personal life/school

| Asks Info :

You can ask any sfw questions in my askbox!. I wont reply if its nsfw or anything weird like that

If you want you can ask stuff to the cast (Any cookie related to BY!)

Ex: “Empty Vanilla how is it like in the spire?”, or “Soulless cacao, Do you like peach baos?” <- already used questions. (Its optional to call the ancients by their AU name btw, you can still call them Pure Vanilla, Dark cacao, & Golden cheese :D)

i will most of the time reply with a doodle of the cookie but small chance it will js be dialogue depending on my day- I take a while to answer stuff so bare with me 🥲

Oh yea you can do anon names if you want. Like ✨ anon or smth i dont mind.

If you have any non-au related questions, Just ask in my main blog @cheesymellow

Eyy you interested? If you are, All character info & stories r DOWN BELOW!!

| The Lineup of characters!

—Designs & info may change in the future!

1st, Lets start off with.. The Ancients!

| Pure Vanilla/Empty Vanilla

(Ep7) Empty vanilla is now a shell of his former self. His souljam exploding unknowingly whilst falling down the tower. Injuring him in the chest and half of his face, even severely damaging his memories… Now with those damaged memories. He contemplates if he is “Pure Vanilla” or “Truthless Recluse”. Residing in shadow milk’s domain to find answers. (At least, thats what he’s been told.)

As for Gingerbrave, Strawberry, And Wizard cookie. They all are forced to reside in the spire. Reluctantly joining shadow milk TEMPORARILY obeying orders as they try to escape and recover Empty Vanilla’s memories. (cant think of a color palette)

– Extra Info!:

Empty Vanilla was given his name by none other than Black Sapphire! He found it fitting considering he doesn’t know what he is.

His personality is a mix of Pure Vanilla & Truthless Recluse. Kind and forgiving but sometimes rude and pissed (Mostly to Shadow Milk ☺️)

80% of the time you’ll find him sleeping. The 20% is him doing orders/chores

Also Re-learning both Light magic & Dark Moon magic. That wont go wrong right?

He can see WAYY better now and doesn’t need his staff to see! He only uses it to do magic. (which is barely)

| Golden Cheese/Lusterless Cheese

(Ep5) Burning Spice had TOOO much fun fighting with Golden Cheese that he shattered her souljam in the process. But even after doing that. He still continued to fight her until she somehow managed to escape. Crumbling and bleeding jam as she was holding a piece of her souljam. That had enough power to heal her but… She couldn’t reclaim it. For she has lost to Burning Spice. After that she manages to find Smoked Cheese and barely escape together… They’re now both lost in the desert trying to hide from the Spice Swarm.

Smoked Cheese is in worse condition. His arm almost falling off yet surprisingly still very strong. He still has the soulcheeses with him and vows to protect it with his life despite his dying state.

– Extra Info!:

Lusterless Cheese was a nickname given to her by the Spice Swarm after she lost to Burning Spice. She isnt really that shiny and golden now is she?. Only Smoked Cheese calls her Golden Cheese. (Also just a name so i can differentiate her from canon and this au)

Constantly gets reminded of that fight and is slowly losing hope

She took extra clothes from a nearby village due to hers being heavily damaged & dirty. And has wrapped bandages over all her scratches.

Her wings are slowly regrowing thanks to the bit essence of her souljam!

Speaking of souljam, Burning Spice is delighted by this change. Trying to find out what the shattered souljam can do.

| Dark Cacao/Soulless Cacao

(Ep3) Kneeling down infront of Mystic Flour as he accepts his fate and sees his souljam getting taken.. Mystic Flour attempts to turn him into flour for she feels pity for him. But alas.. No matter how hard she tried, He wouldnt disolve completely. Even after giving up. Until she realized his souljam was shaking uncontrollably, Then—Poof! Shatters unknowingly and simply loses its shine. She is lead to believe this is fate telling her that Dark Cacao could be of good use to her. So she recruits him to become his servant/devoted follower. He accepts willing to find a purpose.

As for his warriors. They are lost in beast yeast, Currently having made their own campsite while trying to find their king.

– Extra Info!:

Soulless Cacao was a name given by Cloud Hatae (Yes this 💩 is alive). Just a random nickname on spot since he has changed.

He dosent use his sword anymore. Doesn’t commit violence at all

As days go by, His memories fade away bit by bit.

He loves watering the plants of the ivory pagoda. And has made good friends with the guards and even Peach

Slowly becoming a peach bao lover..

Keeps his cape/cloak thingy as dear memory/remembrance

2nd, The beasts!

| Shadow Milk

Ever since Pure Vanilla has fallen under his control. Hes been more happy? than ever with a new comrade by his side! But even with all the pieces from the shattered souljam. Its power has.. vanished. He cant reclaim it back. Hes been researching on how he can re-piece its power back while also keeping an eye on what Vanilly’s doing. Giving him books and scrolls to keep him busy and to also try getting his memories back (but slowly reconsidering whether he likes him this way or not) Only time will tell i suppose? Overall still your same silly ol’ jester.

Candy apple and Black sapphire have been tasked to help out Empty Vanilla while hes busy. And lets just say they have mixed feelings about it.

– Extra Info!:

Hes been slowly growing paranoid over pu- Empty Vanilla for a while now. He just dosent feel like the same cookie to him.

Smilk LOVES making outfits for everyone. Hes the one that made Empty Vanilla’s , Gingerbeave, Strawberry, And Wizard cookie’s outfits! He purposely made them all match :D

He has very VERRY flowy hair, You can walk through it. (Sometimes he ties his hair up too when bored)

Gave everyone a plushie of him so he can track all of them anytime.

Everytime he lies, The eyes in his hair show his real emotions/intent >:D,

Shortest among all the beasts. And flies alot to make himseld appear taller (Still taller than EV/PV tho)

Cat pupils

| Mystic Flour

Ever since Soulless Cacao’s arrival. She’s changed a bit. Being less apathetic and more merciful than usual. Even after persuading Soulless Cacao to her side, She couldnt reclaim the souljam either. Unlike Shadow Milk who couldnt reclaim it due to the lack of pieces. She has all and yet all it’ll so is flicker slighty. It has little to no power left but she dosent thrive for the half of her power anymore. She’s just been chilling with the rest until their inevitable doom of disintegrating to flour.

– Extra Info!:

Shes been enjoying the stay of Soulless cacao lately. Feeling the joy of life

Has a spider form when shes mad or pissed, And hides her extra arms inside her robes >:D

Regularly lets Cloud Haetae and sometimes Soulless Cacao fix her hair

Secretly enjoys peach baos and its flavor. and is trying to secretly make her own garden-

Her eyes are scary to everyone except Soulless. And maybee cloud haetae but depends on the situation honestly

——————————

Thats all for now! I am STRUGGLING ON DRAWING BURNING SPICE IM SO SORRY WAAAA THIS IS LIKE SOULLESS CACAO ALL OVER AGAIN. I MIGHT add burning spice’s info but without the drawing or only add it once i finally draw him. lmao we’ll see ig

LOOK- I MOSTLY DRAW FEMALES AND I DONT KNOW ANATOMY JUST BARE WITH ME BARE WITH M-

Oh yea have a lovely day

[nikrei]

For day two, Bart just won the Young Justice chess* tournament!! Traya came in second and Slobo came in third. Full tournament lineup and chess* headcanons under the cut

Welcome to my yj chess headcanons:

1) what YJ calls chess is actually 5 dimensional chess with multiverse time travel. They just call it chess. They have sort of forgot the regular version exists. (I am, however, a fake 5d chess fan: it languishes in my steam library, intimidating, unplayed)

2) tim discovered it and got them all into it. They like it varying amounts:

Bart: undisputed reigning champion of 5 dimensional chess with multiverse time travel. Loves this game.

Cassie: has the basics down and does fine vs other folks or the game ai. Hates the game. Must be tricked into being competitive about it to make her join in.

Tim: was excited about the game and got v into it v intensely as he does. Burnt himself out on it a bit. He's pretty good but doesn't know if he loves or hates the game. Will get hypercompetitive about it tho.

Kon: good at it pretty naturally because he's used to thinking in multiple dimensions (been flying since day 1) but he can psych himself out second guessing his moves. Likes playing the game, can get competitive.

Greta: good at the game because she has so. much. free time. Can get tunnel focused on it and doesn't mind losing as much as the others, so can play against bart for hours and hours. Always up for a game, enjoys it.

Cissie: good at it pretty naturally, but doesn't have strong feelings about it. Plays mostly with Traya because Cassie really doesn't want to.

Traya: v good at it, and really likes it. Plays with Cissie at school and also Red Tornado a lot. Prolly can beat Bart maybe 1 in 5 times?

Anita: wasn't sure about it but got hypercompetitive about it and is now pretty good. Likes it now that she's good at it.

Slobo: also v good at it! Its similar to some space games prolly, and like kon he's v used to thinking in multiple dimensions. Doesn't get as competitive as some of the others which really gets them steamy when he beats them.

Ray: Newbie player who got thrown in the deep end. One day YJ was like, let's have a chess tournament! And Ray was like, oh okay thats a wierd thing to do out of the blue but I can roll with that I know chess. He did not know chess. Still learning but getting the hang of it. Now has a fear response to it tho.

3) they play online w each other all the time but every now and then have tournaments when they are all hanging out. They used to just do a winner plays next round sort of thing but it always just ended up w everyone losing to bart all the time. Tournament winners get favors and tournament losers have to do dares.

4) bart plays with his civilian friends too!! They are varying levels of into it but I think Carol likes it a lot.

5) one time Ra's al Ghul challenged tim to a game of chess and when he got sat down at a regular chess board he was just like.......whet is this.... and completely blanked on the rules to regular chess

[actualbird]

so ive talked about this with some of my tot friends but im starting to get....Fluffy Date Fatigue with post-anniv1 card stories, especially with luke, because his and mc's pre-relationship era was ENTRENCHED in conflict, in their opposing ideals and beliefs constantly butting heads, in luke's flaws and mc's worries causing friction in their relationship and it was from within that friction from whence a deeper bond was able to be forged, and it was incredible. but ever since they got into a relationship i feel.....bereft. the friction is gone. sure, it comes up sometimes but only rarely (off the top of my head, the ones that come to mind are SSR Dream of Benji and his 2nd anniv card SSR Orange Scent) (and this is not counting the AU cards because theyre AUs) but those are outliers. overall, their relationship has stabilized into a frictionless happy and smooth relationship. which is great! good for them! this is what i wish upon all irl relationships filled with love!

but it makes for a repetitive lineup of stories in fiction.

im not saying i want lukerosa to break up or whatever (thatd harm my heart) but...but i want that CONFLICT again. and i understand that their stabilized relationship is because of the character growth that luke underwent in his pre-anniv1 personal story arc, but even given all that, conflict can still happen in a happy relationship between two loving individuals. i feel as if ever since anniv1, we've lost the emotional stakes of their relationship. which is a damn shame, because the emotional stakes is what made me adore lukerosa in the first place. their relationship brings out everything compelling about both luke and mc's characters.

but nowadays it almost feels like tot is afraid of showing anything other than a happy perfect relationship with no relationship bumps or problems whatsoever, in card stories. which just is kinda a bummer because it does lukerosa a great disservice, imo. what made their relationship so strong is how much they had to go through to get there. and i wish that was followed through on, because maintaining a happy relationship still comes with their ups and downs, and those ups and downs would make for such wonderful stories. let them argue. let them go against each other. let their stubbornness butt heads, let their fears and worries run amok. let conflict happen again, because thats what makes the resolution so much sweeter

this is all just my own view of course tho. KJBLSKDLJFBD

[basil-does-arttt]

things i want to see in DMC 6 if DMC 6 ever happens (or even just another installment into the franchise in general):

1: Vergil adopts a black cat and he names it Shadow after the familiar he had as V, and even though its really obvious thats why he got the cat he swears up and down that isn't the reason why he got it

At the same time Dante gets a dog specifically a lab and names it woozy after the force edge in dmc 1

2: while the shit twins are on their escapade in hell, they encounter some true horror shit more akin to RE than DMC but of course enemies are still dealt with in typical stylish fasion. Body horror, psychological horror, a real exploration of the twin's traumas through environmental, visual and audio storytelling

3: Kyrie is back and she actually gets a role that isnt damsel in distress or background character. Let. Her. Fight!!

Adding to 3: Kyrie gets her own custom weapons courtesy of Nico, maybe a sword based off of ones in the Order and a gun to match Nero's Blue Rose. Possibly in an angelic theme, wings and such having a strong motif while also being just as badass as we all know post-dmc 4 Kyrie really is

4: nero gets his own lineup of bosses and he actually kills them all himself, without any outside assistance from other characters. (The only boss he's killed himself is Malphas.)

5: with the shit-twins in Hell theres a fully implemented co-op mode, either split screen or over two machines, where one can play as Vergil and the other as Dante as they travel throughout hell. However if the player so chooses to go it alone, they can choose to play as either of the twins and can switch between them at places like a divinity statue.

6: more exploration into Trish and Lady as characters. Trish by the shit-twins are in hell and can find some stuff regarding her creation perhaps, and Lady by Nero as she helps him out on the surface while the shit-twins are in hell.

7: Vergil gets his own Devil Sword Vergil after Yamato is used to seal the portal between the worlds, but it has to remain as a katana like Dante's remained as a double edged sword.

8: Dante struggling with control over his SDT while they're in hell and Vergil helping him through it

9: cerberus puppies.

10: nero gets his own devil arms that he can use alongside his buster arm mechanic and red queen stays as his default weapon

11: lore exploration on Sparda while the shit twins are in hell

cant think of much else for now might add as i think of shit

[gluedwithgold]

Agent of Chaos AU lineup Pt 1: Cult of Chaos

This is the MAIN main cast of the AoC AU (Yes Leshy is in the main cast but he isn't visibly present most of the time). Agares, Valefar, Amdusias, and Barbatos are the last remaining followers of Leshy before his imprisonment, I like to call them the Og four. After Fawn took on the crown and role of chaos god, these four became their babysitters and have been helping Fawn rebuild the cult of chaos.

Agares is the oldest out of the four and was Leshy's first truly devoted follower. The imprisonment of his god hit Agares hard, he has become a lot more closed off towards the others and ESPECIALLY dismissive towards Fawn, seeing them as a false idol and trying to replace his precious Leshy.

Valefar is the mom of the group (and my personal favorite), she is the glue that keeps the group together as well as keeps their cult together. Originally she was a follower of Heket but left the old faith to join Leshy. Valefar is a strong, confident woman and I reaaally enjoy drawing her!

Amdusias has no braincells. Their head is completely empty and their character in this Au is entirely based on my own experience with them while playing cotl. Am always has a smile on their face and is always ready to go along with whatever shenanigans Fawn comes up with.

Barbatos is silent, being almost completely mute and speaks either through sign language or through the chattering of their head teeth. No one really knows where Barb came from but they are rocking with us so we are rocking with them. Barb and Am are besties and it's usually Barbs job to make sure Am and Fawn don't do anything tooo stupid and reckless.

And lastly, Fawn. Harbinger of chaos and vessel of the green crown. They are the definition of a wild child and the perfect successor to Leshy! I am a big fan of the "cute but dangerous" characters and being a young deer, Fawn is often underestimated and isn't perceived to be a threat by others. Thats all I'm going to say about them right now...

Some notes I didnt know how else to incorporate:

Witness Agares, He/him, 8'ft tall, Old man, Demonic bug

Valefar, She/her, 7'2ft tall, Adult, Bag worm

Amdusias, They/them, 5'7ft tall, Young adult, Chaser worm

Barbatos, They/them, 5'3ft tall, Young adult, Bobbit worm

Fawn, They/them, 4'ft tall, A child/pre-teen, Fallow deer

(When I find the proper credit for Fawn's pose I will put it here. I love Pinterest but HATE how pretty much no one is ever credited!)

Character lineups:

Cult of Chaos Pt 1 (here)

Court of The Red Crown Pt 1

Court of The Red Crown Pt 2

[sexysilverstrider]

my prediction for pokemon masters ex is by next month, that fairy team star brat uhhh (googles name) ortega will be out. aoi and/or haruto will come out next year possibly february (since pokemon presents will happen at that time too). honest to god idk when hassel will come out. maybe he'll be with the paldean protags as well. idk

but what i WANT to know is kierans appearance in masters. of course he cant possibly come in yet before the protags. and if we were to compare his fame to the swsh dlc characters, he got famous instantly the second the teal mask dlc is out.

and why wouldnt he? he was the first character whose arc got bastardized by protags actions. he was the good turned bad rival. his whole story is his obsession with ogerpon which then evolves into obsession into getting stronger to beat protag. literally no brainwashing whatsoever. we were told that our actions caused him his downfall.

but even in during those moments, he was implied to like protag. the festival date? him giving a candy apple? thats just a standard shoujo scene. and him feeling betrayed by protag? protag apologizing and feeling guilty as fuck but he was too hurt to forgive?

that scene with terapagos? him being saved by protag. him being guilty but then steeled himself before fighting with protag side by side? he was just written in a way thats meant for me.

and the fact that he traded an applin with protag. thats just written in a way thats meant for the me part 2

and how protag answers arvens question about their relationship with kieran? 'he's just a....friend' girl what does that mean

kieran was written so specifically romantic. he was the closest to any romantic implication since Ns 'i like you a little' dialogue.

he got number 4 in the top 100 dream girls poll. he literally swept the majority of most famous male characters who have been in that poll for so long and he just got number 4 at first try. he apparently also got first place in one of the pokemon paldea polls?

kieran got A LOT of merch. hes a nui. he has 3 full art SAR cards. he has a figurine form. he has that cute interchangeable pouch. i think hes one of the male characters who got the most spotlight??? the last time any male character got this spotlight fast was N and N is still relevant to this day.

and what i notice about pokemon masters is they like to cast A-star seiyuus for their characters. they credit the voice actors (which i love) but its inherently funny for me that characters who are famous will get a really strong seiyuu lineup (N, steven, calem, cynthia, serena, silver HEHE, green, hikari). even piers was given to a very famous rockstar in japan??? and larry and kabu were given by Legends

the fact that hosoya yoshimasa got volo is the funniest shit ever. no one expected that. like we know he might get an A-star seiyuu but we were thinking someone like ishida akira or hirakawai daisuke. someone with a sweet charming almost feminine but still trickster-like voice. but no we got a deep sexy smooth voice. not complaining <3

volo was introduced coz he is now involved in the arceus arc as the main villain. honest to God idk when kieran will show up but i doubt itll be 2 years from now when a new arc is introduced. maybe he'll show up a few months after the protags are in the game.

his seiyuu will be someone famous and well-known. the pokemon company isnt blind to his fame and the amount of merch he has is proof. tpc and dena Will assign someone well-known to voice kieran who. as of now. has NO voice whatsoever in any media.

maybe its kakihara tetsuya (tho i bet his voice fits ortega more). maybe its shunichi toki. maybe its amasaki kouhei. maybe its one of the legends like kishio daisuke.

i hope its kaji yuki. by GOD i hope its kaji yuki. idc if kaji yuki got cilan but that green-haired grass gym boy has been in npc jail for 2 years and thats before kieran was released and no one knew how much of an impact he'll make please let kieran be voiced by kaji yuki

[goqmir]

i kind of like maybe just a little adore the new clue set cards like. the clue set itself is a weird and overpriced product and the physical cards themselves are definitely gonna be stupid overpriced because nobody wants to buy a board game to crack packs but like. the cards themselves? kind of fire?

i kind of adore that theyre not just all rares and we are getting clue set commons and stuff :3 its cute! and we're getting a new lonis too-- its not a super interesting card but i adore lonis and im very excited to play with more of her. and we get an interesting new land cycle in the cluelands too! the art for them kinda blows at the moment but at some point in the future i assume they'll be reprinted in a set that gives them fun and interesting art? maybe? please? im not exactly itching to play them but ill never turn down another cycle of duals teehee

id love to talk about some individual cards from the lineup so far that i adore! these are just my top picks but id recommend going and looking at the full list spoiled so far on scryfall :3

for starters, my favorite card from the whole spoiler season right now i think has to be scuttling sentinel. i dont think i want to play her in any commander deck, but in my opinion this is like one of the top cards for cubes in 2024 period-- like cankerbloom tier of cube card. she's awesome! a crab elf which is such an awesome creature type, playable with green or blue, puts 1/1 counters on things and its main draw is just being a decent body that offers protection :) she's great!!!! ive already slotted her into the cube ive been piecing together recently. i like her a lot.

resonance technician is such a cool spell copier <3 every part of it is kind of expensive so im not really sure where youd play it but it does a lot of cool things all at once on a single card which is fun! the flavor is cool-- we all love weirds here-- and the functionality is useful and cute. cool card. big fan

we also have portal manipulator who is like one of the weirdest and strongest combat tricks ive ever seen? this is like if aetherize also fucked your shit in. so i can absolutely see this seeing a lot of play honestly. but lets be real here this card just has amazing art. thheres portals around her skull !!! god shes so cool.

corporeal projection gets a shoutout because what a fun effect <3 it being izzet is awesome and on-flavor and the card itself is both an interesting choice to give your creature myriad for extra damage and a fun wincon :) im glad theres a simple and convenient way to give one creature myriad now that isn't a brick to run in my commander decks because it has a high-cost endgame mode. yay!

finally it wouldnt be a goqmir set review if i didnt shout out the new cards that work well in Naya Cast From Exile :3 Boros Strike-Captain seems kind of mid but it's important to remember that the card never goes away, and you can cast it any time after when you attack with at least 3 creatures even if BSC is off the battlefield. big fan of this one! im not sure if i can find the space to jam him in my Rocco Street Chef decklist but he's a very playable option.

Personally, i think Headliner Scarlett is the winner this set. She's a very good hit pretty much any time-- you're always gonna get a minimum of 4 free damage when she sticks, and if you play her early you get some pretty strong card advantage, which turns into very very strong card advantage in both Rocco and Prosper. if you pull her late, she can win you the game straight up by allowing you to swing out uninhibited-- though i can't speak for Prosper players, this will pretty much always be at minimum a knock out if you pull it lategame in Rocco. definitely making room for her in my decklist.

anyway thats just some cards i liked from the weird product thats coming out :3 i was and still am iffy on purchasing the product and expect the cards to be a little too expensive but as far as designs go they're pretty cool and im very happy that they exist! um sqrrk <3

[w1f1n1ghtm4r3]

followup fun facts about together, to that promised aquarium

this is gonna be just kinda a disorganized post of random things so uh. dont mind that.

the event title is actually a double reference ^^ its both a callback to 1dt with 1c promising to find time to do things as friends despite getting busier (even if theres no ichika this time), and also a reference to harusakis first kizuna!

colopale you still havent given us that aquarium they said theyd go to. theres a reason i had to do it myself. the fact that theres not an aquarium event in general is a crime tbh i know theres some romantic connotations with a pair going to an aquarium but theres very easy solutions to avoiding that? sending a group of 3+ characters together, having them run into other characters while there, inviting someone else along (even if they cant go, it helps make it feel more like a friend thing i think). i did a bit of the latter two, as you mightve noticed! in general though its just SUCH an obviously fun event theme i cant beleive we havent had one yet

while i am a known harusaki shipper, i kept the story pretty light on the stuff that could be read as explicitly shippy, since when im trying to make fake events, i like to think about how itd work in canon, which means keeping it low on explicit ship content. plenty of stuff that could be taken as ship food (as id like it to be!) but nothing that would alienate non shippers from enjoying the story too.

i actually didnt write shizukasas presence as intended for ship content at all though, but im definitely okay with people taking it that way lol they can be on a date too if you want them to be. my plan with them was simply theyre childhood friends too but dont get to spend time together that often anymore -> their schedules line up with a free day and tsukasa heard about the aquarium from saki, decides to invite shizuku to go there with him as a part of hanging out together -> surprise encounter with harusaki!

also both of them were scoring quite high on the form when i decided to lock in the lineup (tsukasa was absolutely sweeping the 2* category, and while shizuku wasnt winning anything, she was a pretty popular choice) and theyre very easy to work into a story together and also into a story that is focused on harusaki (╯▽╰ ) the benefits of siblings and unitmates

(tsukasa 2* poll sweep at the time of me solidifying my lineup)

the event and gacha names actually both came to me one night while i was about to fall asleep. struck by inspiration so strong i had to grab my phone and write them down in my notes app. and they actually worked very well! also heres the transparents of the logos if you want them i guess

the card/skill/costume names also mostly came to me in similar ways, in the last couple nights before i finished everything. i think only saki, luka, and shizukus skills didnt come to me that way.

while the rui fish in tsukasa card might be obvious, theres actually more animals referencing other characters too! theres a group of three fish in sakis card that are the colors of the rest of leoni, the sneakiest of the bunch, and also not quite as sneaky but maybe not as obvious as the rui fish is the airi and minori sea slugs :)

i did think about giving tsukasa fish to be emu and nene too, but that many differently colored fish in a 2* seemed like too much, so i didnt do it... at least of the units involved, 2/3 of them are fully represented in some way!

and now most importantly probably, is that this is in fact my second pass at an aquarium event! the original one i started back in 2022 and......... i think you guys can figure out why i couldnt just reuse it when i decided to go for making an aquarium event again this time.

yep, youre seeing that right. 4/5 of the characters i chose are the same as what ended up being 1dt, all i got wrong was the vs. thats pretty crazy, honestly. im still not fully convinced colopale isnt just stealing my ideas after val3 happened too /j

it was also saki focus actually! i had written out a rough idea for the story back then too, and while theres some similarities to the current one, it obviously went through a lot of changes when revising the lineup and also with everything that has happened in the story over the past two years. it was definitely a bit more explicitly shippy than my new attempt, although i still tried to keep the shipping stuff toned back somewhat

i only ever made one card for that set though, just lukas 2*... but thats the original reason i made the old 2* backgrounds! its always those fake events throwing me into the graphic design trenches (fist shake) i had been trying to do a more canon-accurate style to......... mixed success. its not terrible, but i definitely could not have done the full set like this. theres a reason i did promised aquarium in my own style!

the original theme for the set was kind of like..... performers at an aquarium? along with living water sculptures of animals. it was a fun idea, but i think i was much better suited to doing the underwater scenes of promised aquarium and also we have plenty of performance themed trained sets already ^^

considering i also technically kept her from the original set (plus she was also winning the vs poll), i gave her a higher rarity card this time around for fun. and also because i knew none of shizuku tsukasa or luka would have super significant roles in the story, and i thought it would be fun to design a lim hairstyle for her!

one final random fun fact: the thing that kicked me into gear making promised aquarium was the fact that haruka wasnt on beautiful sound. i was just a little mad that they had an underwater set WITH A PENGUIN COSTUME and there was no haruka. sometimes petty beef brings out my craziest motivations and then i proceeded to spend the better part of a month planning and making it happen.

[red-dyed-sarumane]

marshall maximizer is a series song right. i think thats the only one ive listened to (yet), un:c did a good cover of it ...... what are ur thoughts on it whats it about . kicking my legs in the air

YES YES MARSHALL MAXIMIZER IS A SERIES SONG. theres so much going on in it u have no idea yes the song fucks verily but holy shit is it so important to the story.

okay so i think i need to give like. a quick reminder of the story here right. so u have "a certain world" & basically these people onset the destruction of said world such that it basically crumbles to pieces & then disappears. tragic. okay. but theres a catch. they get more than one chance to try. when one iteration of the world ends instead of really dying they kind of just. wake up in a new version. the world's still going to end in the day, but they get another chance to try and save it. the only real thing about it is any given person still has to have sight of their own goals or they aren't allowed to wake up next time & they disappear as well. this is, in the original song and afterwords referred as as being a "person" and having "one's self" or not having your self & being a "thing".

marshall maximizer is the explanation of this phenomenon (the later song laboratory being the demonstration of this concept btw to build off what this song says) among other things.

ill get to the lyrics in a second but the thing that always gets me about this song is the text in the middle of the video that's a conversation between two people. idk how to even go about this i just want to quote the whole thing at u. the beginning of its the narrator (perhaps not the same one as the lyrics but i cant prove or disprove this) trying to figure out the whole thing and the person working with them- referred to as "doctor"- basically says choosing who u are is an impossibility and if u cant prove ur alive of ur own volition then u arent even truly "alive" & won't have a place in heaven or hell. the narrator then asks the doctor to prove if he's alive for himself to which he doesnt answer and the narrator goes "Doctor, you have the appearance of a human. But, what of the possibility you're a 'thing' someone created?" to which the doctor answers "and if im not a 'person'?" and the narrator continues "Just as an example. Doctor, you said 'I chose this job in order to go to heaven.' And the reason you stay here is because 'if i can go to heaven, then it's fine to die,' right?" after this the doctor still cant give a solid answer and when the narrator looks for him again, he's disappeared entirely. which is nearly one to one with what the girls in the songs are going through. the doctor wasnt really doing it for himself he was doing it simply to achieve an end, with no real strong desire or goal along the way, which essentially turns him into a mere tool or 'thing' to achieve that end. much like the girls in the songs; they have to have something in it for themselves or they're a mere "thing" to be used, and at that point they'll disappear entirely.

theres also flashing text of 2 kanji words at the end that are a lot less profound but do give some insight on the series. the terms are broken up a series of three question marks & im willing to bet its describing the timelines in the story. the first 5 words regarding observing the failures of the past, the next 11 dealing more with what sounds like the more modern songs & all the confusion & rash decisions bringing them to their end, and then the last 15 words possibly being from the sort of future or at the very least whatever point in time the first song takes place in as it seems to lineup the most with shoushitsu itself. but its not like its as important to this song's understanding as the mini novel in the middle is.

so whats up with the lyrics then. as u can guess its not as fun as the song sounds. theres a lot of mentions of experiments in this song & ive seen people say its like the demon core thing irl, but i need u to understand the while series been talking about science experiments the whole time. like. all of aru sekai shoushitsu is talking about it, kyuuyaku is talking about it, shuuen touhikou is to some extent talking about it, oumen is, apoptosis is, etc etc this is just par for the course okay, but it does show maximizer in particular does have direct influence on experiments being performed or at least attempted. she is pretty casual about how she talks about it btw the character in this song gives me a very easy going type of vibe with how she talks which is probably why the song itself is the way it is and not like something that fills u with dread the entire time. though i would argue parts of the instrumental do sound like theres a bit of weight in them and its not ALL party time vibes.

one thing i do want to point out in regards to both the lyrics and the people vs thing topic, are the lines "ki ga kuruu HITO no furi wo shiteiru KIMI wo miteiru" (observing You pretending to be a Person gone mad) and "ki ga kuruu HITO no mane wo shiteiru KIMI e" (to You who's imitating a person gone mad) where both the words for person and you are in katakana drawing emphasis to it as well as mirroring how the "people' vs "thing" is written in both the background texts & previous songs. which is to say the narrator here is very aware of this other person not actually being a person. the implications here that since its "pretending to be a person" the "you" is a…. perhaps less direct way of calling out that its a "thing" or in completely transparent terms, is a person not acting on their own will and doomed to disappear. similar to this is the most recognizable lyrics in this song the "tabete sugu nete ushi ni naru/ okite mata nete hito de nashi?"(eating, falling right asleep, becoming a cow/ waking up, sleeping again, is that so inhuman?) is also calling on that "person" aspect, although not as strongly as hito uses the kanji this time rather than katakana. in any case she's still making the claim that despite all the horrors going on she's still acting as she pleases so she should still count as a person……right?(spoilers she does)(this isnt really spoilers because its told to u by the fact the nami no ne no motif is in the song) but it DOES show she's a little worried about it. not enough to full out panic but she sees other people no longer counting as people it makes sense she's going to worry about herself.

likewise the lines in the chorus "nante koto da! shindeshimau!"(what the hell is this! we'll die!" is much more likely referring to the fact if they arent "people" they disappear and are REALLY dead & is kind of worrying over that. like the line later what the hell is this! we'll live! is not really rejoicing at a percieved break in the case so much as realizing she DOES have her own goals in it and she's not about to disappear just yet.

and then of course i cannot overlook that this is also Sunk Cost Fallacy:The Song. the whole "sunk coster, sunk costess! 'i want to return to the isotope we had at the end!' 'we're falling to the worst of hell! falling!' but a dazzling unbalance diverged farway!" like on top of all of this she's still going to run the experiments that are risking her literal self to whatever extent that she invests herself in them. she cant give up yet. they've put so much into trying to correct this disaster, lost so many people, endured so much trauma, even when continuing is a sin, there's no other option but to continue at this point. even when they know it's pointless, even when they can see (to take imagery from kanon) the scales have been upset & the outcome will never be good, theres no other option.

theres a bit more to it but that requires getting sources from other songs & its not overly huge details its probably fine to leave them out for now this is long enough as is. one thing i do want to mention is its one of the side songs(songs that are not directly linked to aru sekai shoushitsu itself/not one of the kanji songs that links to certain lyrics in it) that has alliteration in the title (ma ma) as a way of keeping with the "repeating fractals" theme in the series. which to me implies this situation is not particularly unique to this character as some other songs are (oumen especially, touhikou, ashura, etc)(apoptosis i have an argument to make about but thats another topic entirely) and while maybe not 1:1 it can also be applied to other chara's experiences, or maybe implies its happened at other parts of the timeline as well. which makes sense since its common knowledge among the charas that some people are not "people" anymore so yeah i can imagine them keeping watch on coworkers they think are losing or have lost their selves. that doesnt make maximizer a general song though this is still VERY MUCH a subjective song from a particular chara's perspective & leaves things out & emphasizes others accordingly.

anyway my opinion on this song is that its VERY good and VERY important to get a good look at the story. the instrumental behind the tabete sugu nete ushi ni naru parts scratches my brain & the inclusion of the series "this chara lives" motif drives me insane.10000/10 everyone should like this song.

[nicky35]

UCONN TWITTER HAVING ARGUMENTS ABOUT STARTING LINEUPS??

Oh we are soooooo back 😁📸

You’re in the Paige, Kaitlyn, Ash, Ice, and Jana starting 5 team right? And then Sarah Strong for Ice and Azzi for Ash midway through the season?

sarah over ice but yeah thats what i'm thinking. maybe allie will get to come in for ash a bit before azzi gets cleared. i think kk and morgan coming in for kaitlyn and paige. ice for jana and yanna for sarah.

[narwhalandchill]

(tw MoC 12 metachurl vent 💀 im Struggling)

discovering thru multiple showcases on YT that yanqing hypercarry w RM tingyun aventurine might in fact be just. Straight up better in terms of clear speed and/or consistency than jingliu for this MoC 12 second half and especially the turbulence this time around has me like. Side-eyeing my very recent lvl 20 E1 dude (got him from standard pity like a week ago and then aven 50-50 loss now) like . Perhaps ive judged you too harshly ...... jkjk

Unless? 🤔

i knowwww i could prolly just reset for enough tries to clear w either jingliu or some other setup (i do in fact have 2 clears that just Barely slipped into the 19th cycle by the end) but also its kinda just painful 😭 this MoC feels so bad without acheron or someone like argenti or even SW its unreal

like the amount of setups that just. Havent worked out for me At All is wild to me. first i had to largely give up on the idea of fx on 2nd half period bc the wombo combo of the ascended lady slapping ur entire team like a marastruck car saleswoman bc this bad boy can fit so many wind shears in it so ur taking all that chip dmg before u even make it to aventurine who will gleefully beat ur ass before i manage to clear is just. Not good. especially when jinglius already draining the teams hp 💀

luckily aventurine seems a better bet for 2nd half (50% eff res might not be foolproof against CC but it actually blocks the wind shears p nicely) but theres a Big issue w trying to bring him in a jingliu team called "area woman takes 3 consecutive turns in a slow bronya setop on first cycle and expires own shield, is fully exposed to dmg for the enemys first actions" like. if she gets heavy targeted during that window its just so bad . the hp drain would already be a challenge but combined w that its just Not Good. Aventurines very strong for 2nd half outside of that tho (and v good at proccing the turbulence on either half obvi). Especially in teams of keel using supports bc u can lose a gambit and still have all ur 80-90 eff res shielded supports resist boss aventurines CC

in general the bosses are just way too fucking tanky meaning u Need to take advantage of the turbulence (attack 6 times before each cycle ends) for the dmg it deals but thats a Problem w my usual lineups and built units (lots of hypercarry teams and supports like RM sparkle TY that use ally targeting abilities so cant proc the turbulence stack consistently)

i think in terms of the 1st half i prolly have some more options left to explore to try to push a faster clear so theres more cycles left for 2nd but i shit you not the team thats worked the best so far has been. QQ. All these 5* carries and i had to fucking bring out QQ after so long to see results 💀💀💀 to be fair its a sparkle team so like. unsurprising that QQ shreds but its still finicky. in general the fastest clears have been between xueyi n QQ in more or less the same setups

2nd half is. An issue tho. im not gonna be cringe and say jingliu is like bad or unplayable there and cant clear bc she definitely can like shes e0s1 ffs and even my best attempts cut it very close and if i had a faster 1st half it wouldve cleared within 20 cycles. But what i will say is that she Does Not Feel Good there . obviously part of it is just my own fault bc i never rly committed to minmaxing her build the way ive done for most carries since shes so strong at baseline anyway. and thats showing in her clear time even with good supports. and then by not clearing aventurine fast enough even in hyper jingliu teams u get stuck w his gamba phase and then the supports not having a way to deal w the gambit becomes an issue and its just all cringe from there

also i just find the aventurine boss mechanics (and to an extent the meme dino too) very infuriatingly anti synergistic with the turbulence bc. if you proc the turbulence during his gambit on the dice its literally just fuck you all dmg gone like it doesnt even get you an extra roll . the dino at least isnt invulnerable at any point and its gimmick is more straightforward but it also takes v little dmg from the turbulence proc if not broken

another thing w jingliu is also abt the dice phases. like she also has such anti synergy w the gambit bc losing that uptime in her enhanced state just to roll the gambit (even if she usually wins) Isnt Nice bc thats dmg she could (and should) be doing to the boss instead 😭 like my jinglius somewhat unpolished build aside the base mechanics of the aventurine boss just arent a good match w her kit and teams imo. (cue the cursed yanqing consideration)

obviously jingliu isnt the only option for 2nd half like i did fiddle around w my decent ish e0s2 (s2... ThoseWhoKnow💀) clara build a bit and a team w her IS very very good at proccing the turbulence and synergistic with aventurine but at least in those attempts she was just lacking too much dmg when she wasnt getting counters and that delayed clearing the first 2 bosses in particular . I also did a shockingly close cut 19 cycles clear w a xueyi off element team of all things on 2nd half and QQ hyper on the other

but mannn. obviously i could just leave it be like its fine . u dont need to always 36* and this MoC is very clearly favoring units like acheron whomst i dont have and debuffer heavy teams like invested ratio SW whatevers. but a part of me just Rly wants to figure it out and work out a solution to it all

and the idea of that solution possibly involving building my yanqing since despite his shortcomings hes just unironically better in the kind of true ST content like the aventurine boss compared to jingliu now that a non gepard actually usable shielder exists. i mean. its just kinda funny .

Is it a good idea in terms of long term resource investment on an account? Dubious. Is it absolutely hilarious to possibly bench a jingliu for yanqing of all people just bc fuck this MoC in particular? Kinda yeah. For sure

...guess ill keep u guys updated 🤔

anyway TLDR this MoC is kinda agony im considering unwise building decisions just to get a funny clear out of it as opposed to being boring and just resetting until i manage a good clear since ive already gotten so close w my existing teams

[astronomical-bagel]

Whats your monkie kid au about?

YIPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEE IM SO GLAD YOU ASKED!!!!! IVE BEEN WORKING ON A POKEMON AU!!!!!!!

(idk when the cutoff will be, but warning for a very long infodump XD)

okay listen i cannot emphasize how much thought has been put into this, i have backstories for each of the pokemon, i know how all of them met their trainers, ive designated the serious trainers with a specific type of pokemon they train, like. listen to me. i have put SO much thought into this and how pokemon would fit into the lmk universe and canon. im going insane.

anyways, heres some of the pokemon/trainer lineups. ive done..... a large majority of the important cast? i havent gone into azure's whole group, but i think thats all im missing. i've done a lot.

ANYWAYS take the traffic light trio, they were the first ones i did!

And heres how they met each pokemon! (I havent named any of them yet LMAO, but i will!)

MK

No specialty

Whimsicott

it flew into his face on a breeze when he was a kid (like ten), he begged to keep it. It evolves before canon starts while theyre playing together :)

Monferno

found during “A hero is born”, when climbing down the mountain (it kind of just followed him for a while until he noticed it and went :D!!). it evolved in s4 “the emperor’s wrath” against azure (when he fully accepted his monkey form)

Kubfu 

“Impossible delivery”, He runs into it (literally) on the way home down the mountain, and he keeps it bc why not

Mei

Dragon/Electric

Rayquaza 

Passed down through the family, kinda fucks off until mei calls upon it (mei can still turn into a dragon, needs to learn to work together with him and do JOINT ATTACKS)

Vibrava

Chosen at a store with her parents before canon, evolved when she used the dragon blade

Boltund

“The great wall race”, evolved during the training in s2 “this is the end”

Pawmi

Found in s3 special “this imperfect world” during training with redson, helped her conceptualize the storing and release of energy of the Samadhi fire and stuff

Red Son

Fire

Ponyta

Chosen w parents as a child

Tauros

Inherited from his father after he was trapped (the other pokemon didnt make it)

Salandit

Caught before his father was released, found in volcano 

Sizzlepede

Found in volcano cave (different one, still before dbk was released) and it tried to eat him and he was Delighted

Fletchling 

Found sometime around “revenge of the spider queen”. It was injured (fell out of nest? Hurt leg? hmm) but still tried to attack him and defend its territory, so he deemed it strong enough to become his teammate 

okay okay some notes:

Pigsy didn't want MK having too many pokemon, partially because of mess/healthcode violations, and also because of money reasons. he had just the one pokemon the for the majority of his life, and after 'A Hero Is Born' pigsy was 1. so glad that MK was alive that he didn't care and 2. mk promised to keep it away from the kitchen and pay for all of its needs itself and ect ect. it was very much a 'PLEAAAASEEE can I keep it 🥺' kind of thing. The Kubfu mainly stays at the training ground (its very dedicated), so that wasn't an issue.

For Mei, she chose the trapinch (the preevolution of the vibrava) at the pokemon equivalent of a pet store bc its a tradition in the family to get a dragon-type pokemon when they turn twelve. her parents showed her a bunch of options and she thought the final evolution looked epic. The Boltund is known for chasing fast things, including vehicles. it chased her until the finish line and she was delighted to have attracted such a fast pokemon. the pawmi was just a little guy that she was secretly messing with instead of paying attention to red son XD

okay there's not too much extrapolation i have to go into for red son, BUT. the fact that none of his pokemon have evolved was/is a major sore point for him, and his parents often were critical on whether they (and by proxy, red son) were strong enough. Now he and his parents are more normal about it, and ironically its the lack of stress and pressure that's going to make it easy for them to evolve now. smth smth friendship is an important part of a pokemon's health, its like a whole character arc for him.

AND THATS NOT ALL. I wanted to go over like... specifically why i chose some of these pokemon!! like, for MK, his pokemon represent different parts of him, like, narratively!

the whimscott is playful, loves pranks, and its kind of a metaphor for the more childish side of him? Which is why i made it his first pokemon! (I also chose it because it reminded me of the monkey kings cloud, which i feel like his younger self would have wanted sooo bad LMAO)

the monferno is obviously related to his connection to the monkey king, but most importantly it hangs in packs, and THEREFORE represents his love for his friends bc obviously that's a huge part of him, yk? (I also really like this pokemon for him bc it matches his color scheme XD)

And for the Kubfu, the episode it was found on is very important! the kubfu is known for how dedicated it is to its training both its body and its mind, as well as its "fighting spirit". Sooo obviously it represents MK's sense of duty and his want to train to be better! He and his kubfu train a LOT in season 2, when he's trying to prepare for the LBD. (Fun Fact: this was almost Wukong's pokemon, but i couldnt stop drawing connections to MK when looking at it because its got the little bandana and everything, and i thought it was too similar to him to be wukongs pokemon. i mean, if he already mentored that pokemon, that would make the fact that he's mentoring MK way less meaningful, yk?)

OKAY OKAY IM FINALLY DONE, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE ASK AND LETTING ME RAMBLE. PLEASE SEND ME MORE ASKS, I HAVE PUT JUST AS MUCH THOUGHT INTO EVERY OTHER CHARACTER'S POKEMON, AND I HAVE SO MUCH TO SAY ON EVERYTHING. I AM NOT EXAGERATING IN THE SLIGHTEST MY GOOGLE DOCS FOR THIS IS ALREADY SO LARGE. IF YOU WANT YOU CAN ASK FOR SPECIFIC CHARACTERS OR GROUPS AND I CAN GIVE YOU ALL THE POKEMON THEY HAVE AND STUFF.

[0alanasworld0]

morocco v south africa rant

amallah, ounahi and amrabat were sorely missed today.

its time to bring bilal and abde^2 back up because lord knows we need the depth.

raihani would do a good job fulfilling ounahi's role and keep that moroccan tiki taka thing going on with ziyech.

abde is a fantastic winger that is very reminiscent of what boufal usually does, albeit a bit raw. he would have been valuable today and against cabo verde imo. i think he would link up well with en-neysri because they both thrive in chaos and are wonderful at putting pressure on the opposing defences. perhaps abde is better suited to a super-sub than a starter for now tho. i hope his time at barca transforms him into a starter because a full 90 minutes of his playing style (with the barca refinement) would really bring some energy to the attack and take a little bit of pressure off boufal. the same for sabiri but i would argue he would work as a starting player already.

bilal is very young and a very raw talent but he's proven his quality on the national team plenty of times so i see no problem in having him start games. he's clearly miles ahead of today's midfield.

as for the amrabat situation, i genuinely don't know if its even possible for anyone else to fill his role. to the point where i wonder whether its worth even looking. the easiest course of action would be to simply figure out a different system for when he can't play. which is probably best anyway for longevity.

zakaria and anass r good players. they've shown their level in their respective clubs throughout the season but they lack the confidence to deliver those performances for the national team. i think they should remain as subs and if they are to start, it should be for games like today that don't put any kind of tournament at risk. they'll grow into monsters for the team eventually.

defensively, i would say that they're near flawless. aguerd and saiss top notch as always. attiyat allah and the other one do well in terms of pushing forward. mazraoui is usually fantastic so i will put today down to post-season fatigue and also wager a guess that he would have improved if he'd stayed on a bit longer. el yamiq and dari and fantastic as subs or even starters for when aguerd and saiss arent available. chadi riad will eventually be ready too.

munir didn't have a great game today but thats kinda the nature of goalkeeping. he has a plethora of outstanding performances to comfortably call today a fluke. bounou has had those days too. not worth worrying about the goalkeeping because it genuinely doesn't get better than those 2.

this team is far from perfect or invincible but most teams are in that position atm. i would actually argue that morocco is in a much better position than most national teams because they have an incredibly strong, clear starting lineup. that starting lineup from the brazil match is undoubtably the ideal going forward. today proved that and also showed everyone which players should be kept on the squad should anything happen to that starting XI. we know which players are currently best fitted for the starting XI and the subs. a lot of today's starters have some work to do before they come back. hopefully they can improve at their clubs or international friendlies and come back a lot stronger.

in conclusion, it'll all be fine. deadass, theres nothing to worry about. we would rather come to these conclusions now than during the knockouts. its good that different players got a chance because its clear what works and what doesn't moving forward.