#the guy or at least his character design is just a placeholder for how I want to represent myself online

[intotheelliwoods]

Is it bad that now any time I see Lars from Steven Universe my first thought is "OH! Ell!! HI ELL!!" and it takes me a second to realize "wait... no-"

Coincidence? I think NOT

[chaosbutautism]

Why I think the ‘Lucky Guy Isn’t real’ theory would be bad if it was true

Lucky Guy, we all know him, but actually, we don’t. There is so little information about him, the main theory in the fandom is that he’s just a placeholder for a different person. But…why?

Now, I’m not calling the theory itself bad. It’s a logical conclusion to make when you’re faced with the info we have. I just think that, if Netease is actually going this route, there is a lot of wasted potential. Plus, they did a horrible job at it.

Evidence for this theory includes: his subtitle being ‘Deduction Substitute’, the ‘I’m me, and everyone of you.’ quote, the vagueness of his rumor ‘We don’t know how many people have taken apart in this game; we know that he played the game.’ and the general lack of information we’ve been given on him.

These do point to the idea that Lucky Guy is just a figment of Orpheus’s imagination, a placeholder for a real person…but why this guy? Look at his design, it doesn’t fit with any of the other characters. If he’s, if the theory is right, supposed to be a placeholder character, why is his design so out of place? How did Orpheus come up with this modern-looking guy? You could say ‘Well, Netease didn’t have enough time or resources to make a new character, so they just used an old one!’ But Netease is known for their attention to detail in both characters and skins. Also, why would a placeholder character have such a distinctive appearance? Did Orpheus just…make up a person on the spot? This person, who looks nothing like any other character? It would be so much more logical to make a simple, completely blank model, one that could resemble Tracy’s bot. It would be low on resources without breaking the feel of the game. If Lucky is purely here to serve as a placeholder, he’s doing a bad job at it.

Also, a placeholder to what? That note was mentioned once, only to be completely dropped and never mentioned again. Like, come on. You could, again from a non-lore perspective, argue that they needed a completely blank, skill-less character for the tutorial, but Netease was completely fine with using Leo, a hunter with his own skill set, as the tutorial for hunters. If that page was purely a plot device for the tutorial, why didn’t we go for an actual character’s diary, like one of the other veterans, immediately. Why did they make a cutscene with another character we never see again when we could’ve gone over the first game’s story, or at least just a simple tutorial sequence using Emma, the face of the game, instead? If a placeholder was not needed, why use it?

Now, after showing that the whole placeholder shenanigans weren’t even that needed for both a lore and a gameplay perspective, I’m going to talk about the actual meat of this rant/ theory combination. Why it would actually suck if Lucky Guy was just a placeholder.

First, details and info that directly contradict the narrative that Lucky is not real; he has a birthday, there’s a description on the site ‘His world is like a slot machine that he always wins; but what will happen if he stops playing?’, he has listed likes and dislikes and there are snippets from quizzes that dig into his personality while Netease hasn’t had a problem with leaving him out of other things like birthday letters.

And for my main argument: why it would be bad, narrative-wise, to just leave this character to rot.

His design looking modern compared to other characters could give us a plot with time travel, which would reawaken the more mystical and grim magic elements of the story. In the games, where things happen which are not explainable with science, this would actually be a good element to see. Fiona’s, Eli’s, Hastur’s, Yidhra’s, Patricia’s and potentially Arthur Byers’ stories already show the more magical elements of the story and how they compliment the world of identity V, time travel would be a very interesting plot point to explore.

An alternate idea, often used by fan-writers of the game, is that Lucky has been in the games longer than others, maybe even competing in multiple rounds. This could give leeway to explore the nature of the game, something we’re narrative-wise creeping up on. Netease could give us more information on the actual nature of the game. Again, with multiple gods, multiple dead people, characters with magical abilities and prizes that oftentimes seem to good to be true, there must be some magical elements to the game. There are also hints that the games are used as trial grounds for testing of some kind, with every participant being given some kind of code. This could be something Lucky Guy dives into as well.

And what if Lucky Guy doesn’t remember anything about his life before the manor. Amnesia is a commonly used trope for Lucky Guy in fanworks about him. If Lucky Guy doesn’t even know why he’s in the manor or for what prize he’s fighting for, he could give a truly interesting look at what the games feel like for someone who doesn’t have a goal. He would just be a lost person, no identity to call his own, just trying to survive the best he can. This could be an amazing perspective on the manor game he’s in now, since he’d have to focus on the people around him and adapt accordingly.

He could also be a puppet to the manor. A helping hand to Miss Nightingale for running the affairs of the game. This ‘traitor’ idea could be a really good plot point for the game. While still keeping him as not real, he now has a much more interesting role which could be used to make a truly dark story around one of the cannon games.

And last but certainly not least, they could give their technically first character ever the same respect as every.single.other character in the game and just give him a backstory. Not every story has to be connected to the manor itself, there are plenty of characters that were not connected to the manor in any way, shape or form before their game. All characters have a story, survivors and hunters alike. If they are not their own person, they are a part of a different character’s identity, used to propel their story forward. Why would what arguably is the starting point of Identity V as a whole be exempt from this? It’s no fun to have a character with nothing in a game specifically known for its interesting characters and wild stories. Even if it’s a bit of a late start, Netease, you have the foundations. Through quotes, introductions and snippets, you have a base. It’s not too late to give a character that is rotting both in lore and in gameplay a bit of use. Every single detail can be useful of storytelling, a big corporation probably doesn’t need a teenager to tell them that. Why would you let as big of an opportunity as a full character pass by? There is so much that can happen by adding an extra character to a story, especially one that has potential, as I have shown in both my own writing and this mini-essay written out of pure passion for a character. It’s never too late to pick up an old project and work on it again. Who knows, maybe you’ll make a masterpiece?

As a more personal, opinionated reason of why this post has this title; I think letting a full-on character go to waste is, well, wasteful. There’s so much potential in this character, especially since Lucky, right now, is still empty. That old diary page could be turned into a full-on book, that face with no name could be turned into the pillar of a story. You already have framework, the fact that he’s coming in later can now actually help focus on where there’s more expansion needed. He could be a perspective we haven’t gotten yet. A confused, lost guy who’s slowly figuring out what’s going on, not being blinded by the race to the prize, a pawn for the puppet master of the game to set in and pull something wild, someone who’s tired of the fighting, trapped inside a hellscape for far too long, someone with the knowledge of times not yet past, able to give insight to things others can’t have yet, a person with his own desire, trusting on his luck to keep him safe or even something entirely different. There’s so much more that you could do with this character than just an old placeholder with questionable logic behind it that wasn’t even needed in the grand scheme of things. You have a character, Netease, do something with it.

[claire-starsword]

Shining Force Unused/Removed Content

“But Claire didn’t you have a world book to translate?” Yeah! And then I had to check a tiny detail on another book, and saw something weird, and TCRF wasn’t helpful, so I went down a 140+ page long forum thread and downloaded a ROM editor. It happens. And now you’re gonna hear about it.

So, usually i gloss over the gameplay data on these guide books because I assume people have this information elsewhere already due to hacking and FAQ and the like. That might have been a mistake though, look at this peculiar entry on the encyclopedia’s monster data:

Mephisto

Movement: 6

Weapon: none

Uses Demon Breath. As a boss monster, regenerates HP every turn.

If you don’t know/remember, Mephisto is the JP name of the Shining in the Darkness final boss, later revealed to be Darksol and Mishaela’s kid. Looks like he skipped on helping his dad here.

The encyclopedia notes the HP regen of every other boss, but none use this specific phrasing of “as a boss monster”. This makes me think he was gonna be a boss on some battle, and then a regular enemy later on.

The cut feels understandable to me though, he and Darksol are pretty much identical, no point in having both in a game. And if there was any idea already of establishing a lore/connection between the characters as well, putting him as a regular enemy would ruin that. Given that there’s no artwork to go on, it’s also possible that this was actually a generic demon enemy, and the name was just a coincidence and would be confusing. I kinda doubt this possibility though since there’s plenty of other connections between this game and SitD, at least when it comes to design. Hard to believe they’d forgot or ignore the big bad.

Sadly that’s all the info we have to go on for this guy. I’ve looked over with the editor and found no trace of him. Most I can say is that there are a couple Yogurt placeholders among the enemy map sprites, and a couple unused data entries for Dark Mages. But that could be anything. Unless there’s some oversight with the editor, Mephisto was either fully removed, or never implemented to begin with, and the guide book just published out-of-date info by mistake.

The next monster is the opposite, though

Green Golem

Movement: 4

Weapon: none

Can move on water, and has high attack.

I’m legit afraid that this is an enemy from the game that i just forgot and am embarrassing myself here, because the beast is complete. Graphics, data, you name it.

By graphics I mean it is just a color swap of the regular Golem, as its name implies. Stats wise, it has -3 attack and -2 HP compared to the Golem, meaning it’s an weaker enemy. Makes sense since it’s likely made for the naval battles in chapter 5, while regular Golem debut in chapter 6. Still, with how hard Golems are to hit in the regular game, i’m very glad they did not put a thing with the same defense in the previous chapter.

Well, not that glad. On the other hand, according to the editor...

Its localized name is Weed.

And I kinda need to see this in an actual screenshot right NOW.

I do need to finish this post first. Here’s the last, smaller oddity in the encyclopedia’s monster data:

Storm Rover

Movement: 6

Weapon: Swords

Be careful as it can attack with lightning.

Storm Rover is the JP name for the Shellfish enemy of the naval battle. In the final game they can poison, not attack with lightning. It seems the naval battle went through a lot of changes at some point.

Saying they equip swords is also weird but there’s a lot more mistakes about weapons in this guide, like saying the dragonewts use swords and the conches uses spears, so these might be just mistakes. Anyway still shows that this list is goofed and was probably printed by mistake.

That’s it for enemies, but there’s a few more unused NPC sprites, i think.

I don’t remember any of these in game, but do let me know if i’m wrong, it’s hard to remember all NPCs. I will be kinda mad if the cat is in and i just forgot, given that it’s cute as heck, and cats were my first act of hacking in a Shining game. Why was the SF2 cat not like that to begin with.

Now, on to text data. The thing about text data is that it is a list of 2000+ strings. And even though the event data is beautifully organized in diagrams in this editor, I cannot emphasize enough that it is a very elaborate editor, it’s still tough to sit and comprehend all that, especially in a single day. So I can’t say I have fully checked everything out for now, but you know me by now, i definitely did try. Here’s what I’ve noticed.

Lines 41 and 42 here from Simone’s introduction seem to go unused. To be fair, they don’t add anything.

Alef has a line set up for the boat HQ, even though she isn’t available until after the boat battles. The other late game characters (Torasu, Lyle, Bleu, Musashi, Hanzou, and Adam) all have empty strings for this instead. [Update: I have since investigated and this is an issue in the english version only. Shoutout to whoever in the localization loved Alef very much.]

Khris seems to have a surprised line set up for if you manage to enter Alterone’s castle before the merchant puts in a good word for you, which should not be possible in regular gameplay. [Update: I have since investigated this one too and it can be seen with walk through walls cheats, showing Khris is also in a different position of the map as well. The JP version is even more scandalous.]

Anri also seems to have an extra line to continue to reject Max when they meet for the first time, but from what i recall, Nova immediately comes up to convince her he’s telling the truth. Perhaps you were meant to do something to convince her instead.

Otrant also seems to have a line reacting to Max being turned into chicken, however from what i recall, his room is inaccessible when that happens.

Plenty of other inaccessible NPCs seem to have lines set up for this as well, however they are just reusing lines from the NPCs you do talk to. Those generic lines like “what’s a hen doing here?” and such.

Update: I’m sorry for Spreading Misinformation Online, you can explore all of Manarina as a chicken in this game so these lines are not unused, you can even heal yourself off the chickening by leaving Manarina or entering the next battle. The GBA version fixes this oversight by locking you out of a good chunk of the map so i got confused.

But enough of these minor details. We’re here for deleted content. We’re here for plot lines being dumped in the trash. Bring in the kings.

That’s right baby, it’s Adam and Cain losing plot lines again, it’s not just the localization that did it to them. Ever noticed how Adam do not get the usual “character has joined the force” message, and kinda just appears in your team during the Chaos battle? Yeah, that might have been a hasty fix. There are traces of a bigger scene here with Adam, Darksol and Cain, upon which Adam would join the force with the proper message.

Only a single line of these events has survived, in which Adam urges Max to take the Chaos Breaker. This might mean you would have the sword before fighting Chaos, as the pre-battle dialogue with Chaos is right after this in the data. The remaining lines have been wiped, though the code referring to them remains there along with the code for loading character portraits, which is how we get the handy diagram above.

Unfortunately I don’t know enough of this editor to check if there’s leftover animation data on this cutscene. Sprite data relating to it does seem to be present in the map though, check it out:

does this remind you of something?

:)

put this one in the pile of “the GBA version is just what the devs intended all along” with the others. Granted, “intended” might not be the correct word since they did cut it. Why? Who knows. One possibility I see is that they might have felt a flashback would be confusing, the game doesn’t do any kind of perspective change, unlike the GBA version which does hop between Max, Narsha and Ramladu’s POVs every chapter. While Adam loredumping in the og version might be a more boring way of conveying the plot, it is also more in line with the game’s presentation. A flashback might have also posed technical difficulties, like adding a sepia tone to the screen when no other scene requires it, etc. Though SF2 does have a sepia scene, so if that was the case they figured it out eventually.

Another reason might be that avoiding this scene helps hiding how messy it is. Cain and Chaos get beaten up and corrupted, which makes sense. Max on the other hand also gets beaten up enough to get amnesia, and yet does not get captured or killed, but instead, blown across the ocean??? Somehow???? The GBA version adds the concept that Cain’s armor can warp space and teleport, though seemingly putting a heavy strain on the user’s body. While it’s not explicitly said, we can assume Max’s armor is the same, and that he used it to escape, making his injuries and amnesia not just from Darksol. I’m still connecting a lot of dots on my own here, but it’s something of an explanation, while the classic game had no foreshadowing for this. Even if the deleted dialogue here explained, it would feel more coming out of nowhere.

That’s all speculation though. There might be more clues on unused lines of the japanese version, but i don’t have an editor for that. I have heard tales of a debug mode though, so i’ll look into that. For now i leave you with this monster of a post

[pikl-ooc]

ok big fuckin wall of text incoming and also cw for some body horror weird meat stuff but: Sburb lands ive designed from least to most fucked up. ones with a * at the front are from that one personal fansession that all the characters I sent anons as in like oct-dec 2023 were from but never really introduced or talked about onto here ok here we go

fun and cool [LoCaF] Coral and Fortune (Catepe Arbiio, Heir of Time) - silly whimsy princess land!!Too bad it doesn't exist anymore because of Things that would take too long to explain and need at least 3 flowcharts. ykhii with time players [LoBGaB] Board Games and Bias (Wranger19, Bard of Light) - LoLCaT exists I can legally have this anwyays Yeah its just a board game its just Mario party. Very rigged bc Bard of Light tho lol *[LoWaS] Windmills and Stairways (Maraon Alxive, Mage of Breath) - rng manipulated for optimal SPEEDRUN STRATS™ [LoWaE] Wheat and Energy (Sunkit Heliaa, Heir of Light) - I didn't realise until months later that this is Really Similar to jenthas land from ve who im also pretty sure is an heir of ligjt) But with wheat and solar panels n shit instead of sunflowers whicj. Was not intentional I am Not that far into VE yet I am not a thief or a crook plea *[LoPaP] Planes and Prosthetics (Penter Obtria, Thief of Life) - this is a AIRPORT. The consorts are very small dragons which is fucking awesome [LoFaF] Fields and Fables (Loubou Lazkin, Rogue of Life) - Honestly surprisingly normal. quest involved gathering sheep for some wolf guy only for the wolf guy to eat em all and tell loubou that Hey dipshit don't trust people that easily or you might lose everything you love and care about which iuhhh I mean (looks @ loubou looks @ what he did) heehoo teehee [LoQaF] Quadrilaterals and Frogs (Hari Ceiver, Page of Space) - SoThis One Like. Doesn't actually exist??? Because Hari died before he could enter??? was pretty standard space player shit ykno *[LoTaC] Torches and Catacombs (Phiobi Migaya, Prince of Light) - Theres a Creature and you gotta set it on Fire. this is only as high as it is bc phiobi is a known arson enthusiast lmao lol lol

the ehh zone *[LoGaD] Gears and Down (Chrona Ouboro, Rogue of Time) - im gonna be fr I forget chrona exists like. MMost of the time. I was not cooking w the diamond session lands. his just had like gears and feathers and shit I guess *[LoLaM] Lies and Mannequins (Venatu Vonroe, Maid of Heart) - The quest is just designing costumes p standard stuff nothing too fancy. *[LoIaD] Ink and Dullness (Hyulin Lotata, Rogue of Hope) - shoutout to hyulin for having the worst fucking quirk ever and also doing the no mouth bit wayyyyyyyybefore LH. anwyays yeah their quest is just teaching their squid consorts how to paint nothing too crazy [LoAaA] Ashes and Artefacts (Luprir Lazkin, Rogue of Doom) - Everything is burnt and it kinda sucks ass. There's other stuff to it but gtfrj is still ongoing so Spoilers !! check back in like 6 months [LoAaF] Angles and Logic (Ranvir Myelin, Sylph of Mind) - ??im gonna be fr I don't remember wtf his land is about other than that he had to teach the consorts how to not be stupid I guess. Ranvirs the kind of guy to backseat video games the entire time cause he thinks you're doing shit wrong so idk this is just how it be *[LoSaB] Stones and Bells (Ambryl Barine, Sylph of Time) - I wrote down that a bell goes off every time someone dies and it is mf LOUD but idk how often people are gonna be dying so it get to be decently high *[LoAaF] Ashes and Frogs (Elanor Barrio, Bard of Space) - I swear I didn't mean to have two Ashes Lands. anyways this is kinda similar to luprirs but Frog because Space. she kinda sucks at the quest tho which Sucks because [BIG SPOILERS I CANNOT ELABORATE ON] [LoCaL] Cities and Laughter (Xandyx, Knight of Void) - So fun fact about LoCaL I think I wrote abt this on sburb-confessions but it's actually meant to be a placeholder land bc xandyx wasn't actually Meant To Play so skaia shidfarted its panta and just gave him the Default Land. his quest was just a month long boss rush in an infinitely looping tower it was fucked [LoCaF] Cities and Frogs (Bakole Raavti, Bard of Space) - see above. Bakole Was a player but people knew so little about her life that skaia had jackshitall to work with so it just gave her fuckin gm_construct: Froge Edition [LoFaF] Faces and Frogs (Ettayn Ruatlv/Vltaur Nyatte, Knight of Space) - pretty standard space player shit same as hari except for uhhh. Yeah Ettayn has a big fear of being watched so the game went Eureka!and gave xem a bunch of horrible pillars w fucked up faces on them and made that like "someone watching you" feeling be PERSISTENT 24/7 no breaks. has some minor The Magnus Archives (2016) The Eye shit going on but the session zes in has a shit ton of tma references anyways so that's not as noteworthy as it may seem tbhhhh *[LoKaF] Keyboards and Flames (Pariet Mylody, Knight of Rage) - this would be way lower if it wasn't so funny to me conceptually. the toxicass sanrio pfp twitter argument causer got a fucking online flamewar-themed land that's stupid. that's funny

actively fucked up and bad *[LoSaT] Spectrums and Tradition (Bekzit Gaymer, Heir of Blood) - for the quest i just wrote "clowns :(" and uh. yeah. his ass does NOT want to do clown shit he wants to play the video game *[LoOaM] Organs and Machinery (Ursala Immita, Page of Doom) - who the fuck is sandy loam /reference anyways. Yeah Theres Meat [LoNaB] Nerves and Branches (Leukko Erytho, Seer of Blood) - The Trees Have Veins and Its Bad [LoCaC] Cans and Corvids (Operou Palpet, Thief of Heart) - I mean its a nice place if you're fine with birds and know how to walk on sharp shitty unbalanced rocks without falling over but Operou is neither of those things It Is actively trying to hurt him and also kinda breaking apart bc his session was modded so lol *[LoWaM] Wonder and Mirrors (Annadi, Witch of Mind) - for the land quest I just wrote down "idk they've fucked it up being beyond recognition that witch sure can mind" and given that Annadi is Off The Shits uh. yeah its prolly bad [LoSaH] Shift and Headache (Akrepi Ayopia, Sylph of Doom) - Also Doesn't Exist same as loqaf akrepi never entered properly but if he Did it would've been awful. Yall ever played catacombs of solaris or seen that one ai Minecraft game both of which have everything change the second you turn around. Yah its like those kinda [LoAaF] Answers and Frogs (Estria Maeyja, Seer of Space) - holy shit. what the fuck. what the shit. whhat the entire fuck.

the only 2 sburb guys I don't have land ideas for are Keraki (Seer of Void, also from the * session) and Daezai Bellis (Sylph of Life, from an mspfa me+3 others are cookin up) both of whom ive never really mentioned or thunked about

i am very very very VEry sparing when it comes to making characters that are in sburb/sgrub sessions or putting them in sessions with other peoples characters usually for character arc reasons or just that i think it'd be boring in comparison to what the character has going on already HowEVER i Will Say i fucking Love designing sburb lands espECIALLY ones that are Fucked Up and/or Alive in some way. i want to fucking design a location that will hurt you or scare you in a way that changes you as a person be it psychologically or perhaps physically

[doctor-badadvice]

We interrupt this blog's regularly scheduled bullshittery to bring you a rant/review. It goes without saying, this will be a long post.

I'm not usually the type to brush off older media, even when said shows, games and whatnot haven't received any attention by the copyright holders in decades, or even when said attention finally comes and it's horrible to say the least or just not my taste. A huge exception to this rule was GI Joe and the reason is very simple: pretty much everyone agrees that it's not very good.

The cartoons are not so subtle toys commercials and there are a lot of characters on both sides sometimes showing up for maybe a handful of episodes at best. Something has to be very good for me to commit to learning that many names. And Quick Kick making me forget how laughing feels like had the potential to scare me off.

But it turns out that for this many goodie goodie guys, there's an array of villains that are actually fun, most of the time. So here I am, many hours later, ready to rank all (animated) GI Joe iterations. For this I will consider the Joes and Cobra as groups, as well as the show as a whole. This is of course subjective.

Sigma 6: This is the first show I watched because it was shorter than the Sunbow show. It feels like an early 2000s commercial and this weird anime twist they gave it doesn't work well mosts of the time. Some of the designs are really cool, the pacing is ok but they are a little confused as to what they're going for. Sigma is big, loud and cool. Every guy, gun and battleship is huge. The stakes are high and there are big explosions, but they go from making it a big deal when they blow up one Cobra ship in one episode to it being a background thing achieved with any guns later on. The show could have worked better as a Transformers show. They already have a mandatory useless kid and CC is a bad Megatron anyway. Tunnel Rat is a terrible Larry Butz wannabe and I wish he didn't exist in this show. Whenever there's ninjas on the screen, you can't look away, but Zartan and the Dreadnoks are the only part I'd salvage from this show. The rest is truly eh.

Sunbow show & Serpentor: You can never beat the classics, they say. You definitely can't beat the convoluted process you have to go through to watch this show. There are two mini series of 5 episodes each which are very good. They establish the characters well on both sides and can easily be rewatched back to back whenever. The syndicated show has its ups and downs but overall is enjoyable if you have a way to keep busy during the fighting scenes with all the cool military equipment available at your local toy store. The nice thing about these old shows is that you can watch at your own pace. It's a monster of the week, or Cobra scheme of the week kind of deal, there is no pressure in how much time you dedicate to it. Some of the plots are wacky but I personally find them charming and the banter between Cobra members is usually the best part.

Season 2 on the other hand hits different, especially to a Ghostbusters fan. It isn't Q5 levels, but it screams corporate interference and these screams of course come from Serpentor. Season 2 starts from the assumption that it’s a good idea to justify plot twists by saying "it happened off screen lol". You can do this if what you're introducing is really good and Serpentor is not. He's loud, incredibly dumb and doesn't even do what he's supposed to other than be a placeholder to sell a rejected He-Man vehicle. A fool dressed in a snake suit is also terribly out of place in a show about military vs terrorists. One could argue that Mindbender also has no business parading his tits around, but that's the one good thing he does.

Overall, the show remains good (compared to some of what came after) and it has the best version of Cobra. They get up to some wacky stuff but they're funny and iconic.

Renegades: This show isn't ranked this high because of its plot. If you're going to do A-Team, at least make it lighthearted. It tends to be a bit repetitive in its tragedy. All the Joes are introduced as sad and hurt by Cobra, a faceless corporation looking to acquire direct political power through an army of robots and mutants that would fit nicely in a cyberpunk novel. I'm not a fan of "We remade this show with 30% more sad", but this time I actually can't take it seriously because Cobra shares PR departments with Amazon. This show is also the only one to remember that the Crimson Twins exist, so it gets extra points.

That being said, and putting aside that Flint has been turned into a bloody moron here, it probably has the most compelling version of the Joes. It doesn't have Quick Kick, it accomplishes the amazing task of making Tunnel Rat somewhat likable and Scarlett isn't just "girl with gun". What they did to Shipwreck is unforgivable, but the rest is great and I wish it didn't get cancelled before they could develop what they were setting up.

DiC: No. Just no. It's cheap. The designs are horrible. Destro has literally rusted offscreen. CC's outfit makes him look like a discount Starscream. The new characters are awful. There is no point in watching this. It's boring and it makes Filmation's animation look like they had a budget.

Spy Troops: Early 2000s CGI isn't great, but it doesn’t stop people from enjoying shows of the likes of Beast Wars or even this movie. No, the graphics aren't the problem with this movie, there is just very little to it. The Joes are boring, Shipwreck's hat got nerfed and the only notable Cobra effort comes from CC being a bitch boss to everyone. And if that wasn't enough, the movie also doesn't understand that if you're spending resources in animating a ninja fight, at least you should point the camera in a way that lets the audience see what the hell is going on. For this reason, Spy Troops ranks even lower than Sigma 6. There’s nothing to see here.

Valor vs Venom: This movie is good. It isn't perfect, but it works. Mindbender has been nerfed and forced to wear a lab coat, achieving full sim form while CC is constantly yelling at him. But the pacing is ok and the camera isn't drunk and in some spots it almost feels like a Sunbow episode. Destro's design is also very funny which is a plus in my book. I enjoyed it. That’s it.

Resolute: This movie represents everything I despise the most about some reboots. They take a franchise, put many resources in the animation, then make it dark and gritty expecting it to be enjoyable. There's a lot of blood and violence which of course stands out because it's animated blood. But that's for the first five minutes of watch time, then it’s just dull senseless violence. Once again, I can only appreciate CC. His outfit is very similar to Sunbow but he gets to be more than an amiable buffoon in charge of a terrorist organization. He's charismatic and scary. They did a good job but that's about it. There isn't a lot to say about Resolute. It exists.

GI Joe: The Movie (Sunbow): This one is probably raising some questions. I don't like this movie. It relies heavily on off screen action, as well as the audience forgetting what motivations even are. Cobra La is populated by a bunch of idiots who think that a giant maggot is better than an attack helicopter and who honestly believe that "We'll turn everyone into snakes!" is in fact a smart idea. The mind control bs is in fact a bullshit excuse to contextualize a movie that has no real ties with anything happened in the show outside of the Serpentor introduction and CC is written off in such a lazy way it's infuriating.

Why is it then also ranked as perfect? Well, that's because the first five minutes of this movie are actually awesome. They are what the movie should have been; the usual GI Joe but with a bigger budget to pull off actually cool fighting scenes with lots of characters doing their unique thing and a banger of a song on top of it all. Had the movie been all like this, we would be remembering it as the animated movie that succeeded where Transformers couldn't.

I won't be sitting through any of the live action stuff so the tier list ends here. Although, I must add one last entry.

Cold Slither is where GI Joe really peaked. It's a Sunbow episode with all the better characters from both sides and the objectively funniest of the Cobra schemes. Like, honestly. Faced with bankruptcy and the end of Cobra, CC gets a loan in order to put his boyfriend favorite mercenary and his dorky goons in funny outfits to weaponize punk rock and make a whole lot of money to get the organization back on its feet. It's brilliant in its own convoluted way and we know it worked because this happens towards the end of season 1 and we got a whole new season later despite the Joes crashing the concert. The mind control part didn't work out but CC won anyway by turning Zartan into an influencer.

The Cobra La fools could have never thought of such a brilliant plan.

[princesscallyie]

Some rough concept sketch for the new characters. Nothing is final. Mostly testing out colors, outfits and such.

Okay so first, I had to re-familiarize myself with Emperor Awesome and I forgot how much I liked him, his voice sounds hot to me lol. (So the fish man thing was before Hody… interesting…) He likes to party and get chicks so I thought okay, so he goes to Earth, parties, and knocks up a chick and then it’s the kid and the mom together. Then I was like… I feel like I do that a lot, the whole mom/son relationship so I thought I’ll switch it up by a fun son/dad relationship where the mom kinda just drops the kid off and now Awesome has this random lil guy to take care of. Speaking of which, I’m leaning on the name Guy for him cause I feel like that’s definitely what he’ll would call him. “Who the hell is this guy? How am I supposed to party hard now?” Or something like that. Or some other silly name like Bodacious or Duke Awesome. Design wise, I’m really digging a 90’s vaperwave surfer bro vibe for him. Bright saturated colors to match his dad. For his transformation thing, I’m leaning towards something like this:

Like his arms turn into beefy orca arms so he has super strength and he can give himself gills and whatever. He has a full orca beast form but for whatever reason he can’t go into often.

Next for the girl. Obsessed with y2k vibes on this one and I think green is the color I work with the least with designs so she is kinda refreshing. She walks around with a retro custom laptop and one of those new touchscreen flip phones with charms hanging off. She’s cool. The parents come the idea of combining Abby and Priya from turning red. And the idea of best friends dating their partners best friend cause of AJ and Mee Mee, I thought that would be cute. For her personality, I’m thinking she’s not as chatty as Gigi and she’s like the cool collective popular girl, who’s lowkey a techie. If Gigi is star and voice of the gossip blogs she runs, Meesha (placeholder name for now) is like a moderator in the background, who will find your information in seconds if you even think about talking trash about their favorite boy band member. Again inspired by Turning Red, it’s like weaponized female adolescent. Like what is the typical 00’s omg let’s go to the mall teenage girl could ruin your life.

Alright, so final designs and descriptions coming eventually, I might loop back to the Calypso kids so I don’t forget all the ideas I had for them.

[tenshiharmonia]

Bayonetta Recap - Part 2

        I - Characters

    A - Humans

Máni, Umbran warlock

- Contracted demon : Baphomet (see below)

- Weapons : "The Sound of Silence" (a set of four guns : "Touch", "Disturb", "Echo" and "Whisper") ; "Lionheart" (a demonic sword, powered by the hell-twisted soul of a warmongering king) ; "Fenris" (Máni's equivalent to Durga and Undine*, a set of elemental, claw-like weapons imbued with the devastating powers of the twin demon wolves Sköll and Hati (see below)) ; "Incubus" (a whip, powered by the infernal essence of Lust ; it won’t leave the enemy indifferent... :3 ) ; a chainsaw (I don’t know about its name yet, but unlike Salamandra from the second game, this one would be wielded two-handedly, like an actual chainsaw)

* Note that while I conceive most of his weapons as parallels to Bayonetta’s own arsenal, they would not be simple palette swaps like Jeanne’s. They would all have their own design and specificities. Heck, I don’t really like how most of Jeanne’s weapons are merely recolours of Cereza’s, so if this was an actual game, I would probably give her her own arsenal too...

- Animal forms : Lion ; Vulture ; Honey Bee* ; (moray ?) Eel

* I know that, technically speaking, bees are mostly females, but a) this is a magical transformation so it doesn’t have to make sense, b) it would actually make for an interesting commentary on Máni’s position as a male member of a predominantly feminine clan, and c) the prospect of my Umbra boy turning into an adorably fluffy swarm of bees overrules any objection you might have anyway. :p

- I ultimately chose to name him after the Scandinavian god of the Moon. Since a lot of things and characters in the Bayonetta universe are named in reference to Norse mythology, one of the few pantheons in the world where the personification of the Moon is traditionally regarded as male, it was too much of a perfect fit for me to not name my Umbra boy as such.

- Messy and rather short black hair (I considered giving him some kind of fluffy ponytail, or maybe a Keith-like mullet, but I’m not sure) ; eyes of gold

- Physically, I imagine him as a reasonably fit and manly kind of guy. I think that the technical term for what I would like him to look like is a twunk. :3 Not too buff, but not a femboy either. Not that I dislike curvaceous men, but I feel like making him too feminine would kind of betray the point of a male Umbra Witch, if that makes any sense.

- Of course, he would still fight with all the flamboyance and sensuality of a proud inheritor of the Umbra will. :3

- In terms of clothes, he would obviously be wearing the same kind of skin-tight catsuit as Bayo and Jeanne, but I must admit that I don’t really have any idea regarding the details. Colour-wise, I think that he would stick to black leather (well, Umbra Witches’ clothes are technically made of hair, but you catch my drift) with gold accents and ornaments. It may not be particularly original, but I love how it looks. All in all, I kind of imagine him wearing an outfit similar to the one that Chat Noir wears in Miraculous Ladybug. It’s just a mental placeholder, of course, but I guess that it at least gives you a point of reference...

- Speaking of Chat Noir though, I must say that I really like the idea of the collar bell. I could definitely picture Máni wearing something similar. I like to think that his esthetic would be a little more punkish than Cereza’s, so maybe he could even have the bell attached to a spiked collar. It would certainly make for an amusing contrast between ferocious and adorable... I don’t know if I’ll actually commit to the idea - as far as imagination goes, that is -, but I thought it was worth mentioning. I mean, it would certainly fit his character as I envision it. He is a (big) cat boy, after all. (Then again, it would probably not work so well when he transforms into a lion, since the collar and the bell would basically be swallowed by the fluff of his mane. Admittedly though, nobody said that he would have to wear them in all his forms...)

- At the very least, I’d like him to wear a pair of fingerless leather gloves. With sharp and impeccably manicured (and maybe even painted) claw-like nails. I mean, it’s not because I said that I don’t want him to come off as too feminine that he cannot take care of himself. :p (I’m still on the fence about the guyliner, though. I love it in theory, but I’m not sure it would actually suit him all that much...)

- In addition to the gloves, he would probably also wear spiked bracelets, in accordance with the aforementioned punk esthetic...

- At this point, I’m starting to wonder if I might be subconsciously trying to make him look like (the) Rum Tum Tugger, and now that I’m saying it out loud, I could totally see Máni being a fan of Cats (the musical), having some "I don't know if I want to be him or date him" kind of crush on the Curious Cat. (Apollonia, meanwhile, would probably have a soft spot for the ballet cats, Victoria and Mistoffelees... What am I saying, "probably" ? We all know that her brother made her watch the play at least once. And having quite an appreciation for music, there is no doubt that she liked it too...)

- Is always wearing a pair of sunglasses atop his head but rarely uses them for their intended purpose

- I also reserve the right to give him a boob window and pierced nipples... :3

- Friendly and carefree, he’s got quite a sunny disposition for someone who is an accomplished practitioner of the dark arts

- Has a big fondness for animals. He is the kind of guy who will say "hi !" to every cat and dog that he meets on the street. And most of the time, they will actually answer him. In fact, I was toying with the idea that he could genuinely possess the ability to talk to animals. Since his main animal form is a lion, the "king of the beasts", it would be quite fitting. I’m still on the fence about it, but it could easily be something that Baphomet taught him (although I must admit that I find the idea of it just being some sort of innate power of his that nobody - Baphomet included - has any actual explanation for to be infinitely amusing XD ).

- When he is not busy carrying out his Umbran duties or partaking in Glitnir’s management, he works as a veterinarian, taking care of the town’s cattle and other animal residents (I mean, if Bayonetta can be a nun and Jeanne a school teacher, why couldn’t he have a side job too ? :p ).

- Unlike his sister, who is a pretty cautious tactician, he is more of a "hype man" type of leader. To quote a comment I read somewhere, he is the kind of guy who can rile up his crew into thinking that a 50 versus 100 is winnable and then actually have the balls to pull it off. He may not be as sharp as Apollonia, but he is still a pretty resourceful lad...

- He would definitely have a leather harness with a spiked speedo as one of his alternative costumes. I mean, considering what the developers of the games already got away with, you cannot really tell me it would be too inappropriate. XD Besides, I’m pretty sure that I once saw such a harness that had its straps arranged to form a pentagram. Since the five-pointed star - inverted or not - is a big part of Baphomet’s iconography, it would be all the more fitting. :3

- If this was an actual Bayonetta game, I like to think that he would be the third playable character. Bayonetta 1 had Bayo, Jeanne and Zero ; Bayonetta 2 had Bayo, Jeanne and Rosa ; well, this hypothetical game (let’s call it Bayonetta 69, just for the LOLs*) would have Bayo, Jeanne and Máni. Unlike the first two games though, I’d like for each of the three characters to have their own, individual campaign. Of course, similarly to a Sonic Adventure game, the three stories would actually be interconnected, forming one big narrative, and the player would have to complete all three of them to get the whole picture (and maybe unlock the final part of the plot). I mean, this is not an actual game, so I can be as ambitious as I want. :p Also, I think that his personal quirk – like Jeanne’s more powerful but more difficult to execute Witch Time – would be related to his Wicked Weaves, to emphasis once again the bond between his demons and him, but I must admit that I don’t have a good enough mastery of the gameplay to suggest something that would actually be of interest...

* Funnily enough, the shape of the number sixty-nine also brings to mind the image of the yin-yang symbol, which is actually quite fitting since Máni and Apollonia’s story is all about the balance between the contrasting forces of light and darkness...

- As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, I was toying with the idea of giving him a demon boyfriend. I’m still on the fence about it, but I have a big soft spot for this kind of otherworldly relationship, so I’d be quite tempted to actually take the plunge and incorporate the idea in the narrative. Either way, I wanted to at least bring up the possibility, just in case... :3

- Like Cereza, he is also a pretty skilled pole dancer

Apollonia, Priestess of Lumen

- Weapons : a long and narrow, rapier-like sword

- Animal forms : (arctic ?) Fox

- As you can tell, I named her after Apollo, the Greek god of light, arts and healing. Really, I think that her character resonates quite well with a lot of Apollo’s attributes, so it wasn’t a hard pick. Besides, if Máni’s name references the Moon, it only makes sense for Apollonia’s to reference the Sun, and being named after gods from two different mythologies allows the solar/lunar duality to be a little less in-your-face. All in all, one would say that it was quite an enlightened choice :3 (sorry, I couldn't help myself).

- Long and wavy golden hair ; purple eyes (in reference to the last line of Arthur Rimbaud's poem Vowels : "Omega, O, the violet brilliance of Those eyes"*)

* Translation by George J. Dance (2015). The original line is : "O l'Oméga, rayon violet de Ses yeux". It's never been confirmed, but the way Rimbaud capitalized the word "Ses" (which can mean either "his" or "her", depending on the context) has led many critics to infer that he was indeed talking about God's very eyes, although some have suggested that he was merely referring to the purplish pupils of some woman. Of course, nobody ever said that the two were incompatible. :3 My Lumen girl may not be a goddess, but still, I thought it would make for a neat reference. Besides, violet eyes and golden hair make for a lovely contrast.

- She is an infallibly poised and affable soul, always carrying herself with a radiant sense of grace and courtesy

- More cunning and cynical than her brother, she is the one with the vision. While Máni carries out most of the field work, it’s Apollonia who is the main driving force of the plan... whatever it might be.

- She is the kind of person who constantly feels the need to shoulder all the misery in the world. She is a nurturing soul and genuinely means well, so you won’t find an ounce of condescension in the way she acts, but she does have the tendency to assume that she knows better. She is perfectly willing to dirty her hands and hurt those she cares about (emotionally, that is) if she is positively convinced that it is for their own greater good, in a "I know that you don't like it, but trust me : when all is said and done, you'll realize that it was for the best..." kind of way.

- Her magical abilities include healing and illusions (in reference to the kitsune of Japanese folklore, since her main animal form is a fox). Actually, I really like the idea of the leader of an antagonistic faction not being the most powerful member of the group but having amazing support skills. Of course, Apollonia is no slouch either on the battlefield, but it’s when she is assisting another fighter that she really shines. Don’t underestimate her, though : when fighting alone - or at least as alone as an angel-summoning Sage can be -, the sharpness of her wits (and of her blade) more than makes up for what she lacks in raw power...

- Has a deep passion for music. Before the Clan War, she was even tasked with writing and composing the sacred hymns that the Sages would use, both in their spiritual training and in their everyday life.

- In her spare time, she conducts a literal choir of Applauds and Affinities. They have surprisingly (or unsurprisingly, depending on your point of view*) melodious voices.

* I mean, they are basically bird angels, two things that are actually quite renowned for their beautiful singing...

- She also has at her disposal her own heavenly orchestra, in case she suddenly needs to break into a musical number. Angels are the "instruments" of God, after all. :p (Seriously though, I really like to imagine that most of the themes associated with her would indeed be diegetically performed by her personal orchestra of angels. Also, since the Laguna are known to attack Bayo with all kinds of magical instruments, it would be quite funny if said orchestra were not only providing the music for the battle, but also supporting Apollonia during her fight(s) against the Witch, shooting all sorts of laser beams and energy balls at Cereza while she is busy dodging the Sage’s holy blade. That would certainly make for quite a hectic battle. XD )

- She also regularly graces the stage of Glitnir’s opera house with her presence. The way I envision it, it’s actually her dream to work as an opera singer. But since she’s been pretty busy for the last five hundred years, looking after the town and plotting whatever grand design she had in mind for the future of the universe, she didn’t really get to devote herself to it more than as a hobby. After all is said and done, I like to think that she’ll actually embrace it as a genuine side job (I mean, she’d still have the town and her duties as a Lumen Sage to take care of, but her heart and mind would certainly be much lighter after the events of the game). Also, I like to imagine that one of the game’s chapters would involve Bayo crashing one of her recitals...

- Not unlike another angel-related music lover, I like to think that her favourite music piece would be Beethoven’s "Ode to Joy" (from the fourth movement of his ninth Symphony*). Which is actually quite funny, considering that she has a Joy angel as one of her heavenly friends. I don’t really know what to do of this coincidence, but I thought it was worth mentioning...

* I must admit, even though I know it’s not its actual name, I kind of prefer how we usually refer to it as in French : "l'Hymne à la Joie", "the Hymn - or Anthem - to Joy". I feel like it better encapsulates the sublimity of the piece...

- In contrast to her brother’s passion for animals, she also has a liking for botany. Naturally, she loves to sing to her flowers.

- To keep with the trend of Bayonetta characters often including some kinds of glasses or goggles in their designs (as I did with her brother and his shades), she is often seen carrying a pair of elegant opera glasses. You know, those fancy binoculars attached to a stick. It would certainly suits her penchant for theatrics, on top of being an amusing twist on the aforementioned trend.

- Clothing-wise, she certainly has a wardrobe worthy of a Lumen Sage, favouring flowing and immaculate gowns with gold accents. I’m not sure if that makes much sense, but I would like to describe her style as "opulently simple". She doesn’t wear a lot of accessories, but the way she dresses gives off an air of loftiness and sophistication that really highlights her gracious bearing.

- She also has at her disposal her own angelic tailor. All in all, she actually has quite an extensive wardrobe. I wouldn’t really call her "fashionable", though. At least not in the way Cereza and Jeanne might be. It has more to do with the way she sees the world as a stage, so naturally, she likes to dress the part.

- I also like to think that most of her clothes would include parts cut in some sort of translucent and glittering tulle-like fabric. A bit like the Pearls in Steven Universe, if you see what I mean, but a tad sparklier...

- She also has a noticeable affinity for shawls and stoles. I mean, she is essentially a bishop, so it would make sense, but I was mainly thinking of the kind of stole that you wrap around your arms and let gracefully hang in your back and on your sides (I don’t really know how to describe what I have in mind, so don’t hesitate to tell me if it’s not clear enough).

- Note that the two previous points can overlap

- It’s rarer, but she also likes the combo pants plus frilled shirt. (I don’t know what they are called, but I’m talking about those flared pants that always look like they were freshly ironed. They are usually worn high with large, obi-like belts...)

- I also like to think that when she feels particularly extra, she dons a similar headgear to the one that adorns the Lumen Sage statues that guard the interdimensional portals scattered across Vigrid : a gold ornament shaped like a radiant sun, attached at the back of her head like a divine halo (I did say "when she feels particularly extra" XD ). She probably ties her hair into a bun when donning this kind of ornament.

- Since I don’t know if the peacock esthetic that Balder has going on is a common trend among Lumen Sages or something that is exclusive to him, I’ll probably refrain from including it in my Lumen girl’s design, but it’s quite a shame, because I love peacock feathers. Still, if Balder is any indication, Sages seem to use feathers to channel their magic, the same way Witches use their hair. So even if I don’t want Apollonia’s esthetic to be a simple imitation of Balder’s, I should probably think of a substitute. It’s quite hard to come up with something as exquisite and visually distinct as peacock feathers, though. I mean, there is a lot of magnificent birds, but when you look at their feathers individually, it’s quite a different story. I was actually thinking maybe superb lyrebird feathers - it would certainly fit Apollonia’s character -, but I must admit that I have quite a hard time imagining those feathers being used the same way as Balder’s...

[cryptidmads]

alright, so i went through the ama with wan hazmer and daim dziauddian on twitch and picked out every little tidbit i could about the megastars bc i knew you guys would want to know. this is a long post and i’m on mobile atm so i can’t put it under a read more — sorry about that! bosses are in chronological order, starting with DJSS and ending with Eve!

DJ SUBATOMIC SUPERNOVA

- djss took the least amount of time to develop out of all the bosses (haz says his fight took about half a year.)

- daim purposely tried to make djss' name as long as he could. he was specifically looking at negasonic teenage warhead from deadpool for inspiration.

- haz and daim do have the briefing/kliffnotes for djss. they discussed sharing them at some point, but idk when that would happen.

- related to the above, daim says that dj is in his mid thirties. EDIT: his kliffnotes were shared on twitter and they say he’s 41. daim must have goofed haha

- when asked if djss actually has a face and how he eats, daim compares it to kenny from south park and how you never see his face. he thinks dj does have a face in there, but that we just never see it. as for the “how does he eat” part, daim says that sometimes they don’t have to show everything.

- daim is a djneon/neonnova shipper, and it’s one his favourite pairings alongside zuke/mayday.

- daim said that uncle ali basically instantly landed the role as djss. he was that good.

SAYU

- sayu was obviously inspired by hatsune miku and other vocaloids, but haz brings up one particular commercial involving miku and google chrome, which involves a bunch of people collborating on songs and concept art for miku, similar to how sayu started as a collab between remi and tila in-universe.

- someone asked about the models for sayu's crew's apartments. there wasn't much on that, but haz mentions that one of his favourite nsr fanfics (yes, he reads them) is "Road to Redemption," and there's a scene that takes place in a studio where the crew works on sayu, and he really likes that.

- the devs wanted sayu's name to sound both malay and japanese at the same time (as well as a nod to miku). haz says it means “warm water” in japanese.

- akusuka is a direct copy of akihabara in terms of locale.

- sayu’s shellfish commercial is a homage to a real snack in malaysia named mamee monster, which is hugely popular with kids. the format of the commercial itself was inspired by a pocky commercial that featured hatsune miku.

YINU

- her game design (for her boss fight) was partially done in ms paint by music director falk (who made the base version of her boss theme)

- yinu's mom doesn't have a name. she's just mother/mama.

- haz confirmed that yinu's father is, in fact, dead.

- daim thought yinu’s name was a nod to yuna (a popular malaysian artist). it’s not.

- natura is daim’s favourite district. he likes how calm it is compared to the others.

- daim said that they wanted a hint of hope in all three of yinu’s backstory photographs, to show that no matter how bad your life gets, there’s always that glimmer of hope and that good things can still happen.

1010

- the members of 1010 do not have any official names.

- the assets for the autographs were made by the artists at one of the partner companies working with metronomik on nsr. haz and daim didn't really have anything to do with making them, and while daim did approve them for the final game, he was sorta skimming through a bunch of assets along with the autographs, and he didn't realize what they really were at the time until later. haz is impressed with how the fans managed to decipher them.

- 1010's fight was purposefully put between yinu's and eve's as a break from the emotional stuff.

- michael jackson was used as a reference for 1010's animations/moves.

- the Bio Tactical Shield that you get for zuke after beating 1010 is a reference to BTS.

- tangibly related, but the collectable figurines are supposed to serve more as a backstory to vinyl city as a whole, rather than 1010 or neon j. daim describes the figures as what events were going on and what people were doing before the events of nsr.

- 1010’s appearance from older trailers (where they all looked the same) were actually placeholders. 1010’s actual designs weren’t finished yet when those trailers were released.

- parts of 1010’s designs (for their bodies/outfits) were inspired by tron uprising, a project that daim worked on.

- somebody asked why 1010 and neon j have sculpted butt plates. daim and haz have no idea, but daim suggested that ellie (who designed 1010) and jan (who did their character models) put them there to up the “sexy robot” factor.

- daim’s favourite member of 1010 is purl-hew/blue, and haz’s favourite is eloni/green.

- the members of 1010 were designed based on popular tropes in boy bands. rin/white is “the main guy,” zimelu/red is the “bad boy,” purl-hew/blue is the “cool guy,” haym/yellow is the “young/innocent one,” and eloni/green is the “weird/funny one.”

- eloni/green not getting fan mail was based on how the “funny guy” of kpop bands/idol groups don’t seem to get as much attention as the rest of the group.

NEON J

- haz and daim didn't expect neon j to become so popular. haz joked about blaming it on ddaddystar, who did that doodle of djss and neon j from the credits.

- when asked about neon j’s age, daim said he’s definitely older than djss, and that he could be in his forties.

- related to the age thing, someone in chat said he should be older if he went to war in the sixties. haz replied by saying they never mentioned what year the game takes place in, so it doesn’t necessarily take place in the present/2020.

- a lot of people asked about the border wars, and daim and haz said they like leaving the bulk of it up to fan interpretation.

- daim said that neon j’s organs were preserved in a robotic shell after the war, and that’s why he’s considered a cyborg.

- as stated above, daim is a djneon/neonnova shipper, and it’s one his favourite pairings alongside zuke/mayday.

- neon j’s monologue was slightly longer, but it was cut down because zul (neon j’s va) didn’t do very many takes for the monologue, and the takes he did do didn’t have the comedic punch that daim was looking for, so it got shortened.

- the singing parts of neon j’s lines were ad-libbed by zul in his audition, and daim liked it so much that it stayed for the final game.

- neon j’s monologue had to be altered in the japanese dub so that the jokes/comedy would make more sense.

EVE

- the color changing paintings from her boss fight were created by accident.

- eve was put as the last boss because of how emotional her relationship with zuke was and how complicated and intricate she is as a whole compared to the rest of the bosses.

- daim considers eve to be the "final boss" for zuke, while tatiana is the final boss for mayday.

- eve took the longest to develop out of all the bosses. she was orignally a lot more complicated, and daim said they had to "filter" a lot of things about her in order to tone her down and fit her into the game.

- eve was almost scrapped from the game. daim said her concept as an eccentric artist wasn't as well known as the other four bosses’ concepts, and combine that with how long it took to finalize her... yeah.

- none of the artists have set in stone heights because of how the gameplay works, but eve is the tallest one. the closest scene in the game that has them at their actual heights is the ending.

- her name was originally eva, but it was changed bc there’s already a popular artist with the same name.

- daim explains that a big part of eve’s concept and theme is her embracing herself. he uses the example of eve’s backstory where she starts out hating herself and trying to cover the pink half of her face, but then starts doing less of that overtime. he also mentions that all the body parts (hands, arms, legs, etc.) from her fight also come from her embracing her body and using it in her artwork.

- dream fever is haz’s favourite district.

- daim didn’t originally think of zuke and eve as being an actual couple until later down the line when the story heavily implied it.

- eve’s younger designs were done by lzbros, who did all the 2d animation for the game.

[stardestroyer81]

Hi everyone! I'm back yet again with another lengthy design deep-dive post, this time having to do with Override! It's been a short while since I've discussed anything Override related, and since I've been wanting to talk about it and its cast of characters again for quite some time, I settled on the perfect topic: how its main character designs have evolved over the course of two years!

Since I first unveiled Override as a concept to my tumblr (Which you can find linked in the paragraph above), a good few touch-ups have been made to all four protagonists— including a complete redesign of Casey! Check it out!

I find that the differences in design are most prevalent with Casey, though effectively, the remaining three have also had pixel-perfect alterations made to their sprites. I'm also just now realizing that this is the first time my followers are getting to see their default sprites, something I'm very much acquainted to by this point.

Below, you will find not only explanations as to what's changed for each character's design, but also their full design timelines (And developmental names!) which includes sprites I made for Casey and Lauren back in 2019! Without further adieu, let's get into it, because we're in for a long ride!

As I've mentioned in Override's two year anniversary post, Override was once a completely different concept entirely compared to what it is today, and given this, each member of the chosen four have had quite a rollercoaster ride in just about every aspect of their design, be it their looks, name, or personality.

And who better to start with than Casey?

Casey was originally going to be named either 'Weston' or 'Colton' early on in back when the project was called MOTHER: Into the Unknown, but 'Casey' was settled to be his final name once I drew him for the first time.

As you can see above, the tried and true Earthbound 'striped shirt and shorts protagonist' combo in Casey's design was used to its fullest since day one. At first, I wanted him to have a red shirt with orange stripes, but after noticing this made him look too similar to Lucas, it was changed to a blue shirt with cyan stripes.

Fun fact: Casey's dull brown hair color and the color scheme of his shirt for a while were in direct reference to one of Lucas' Smash Bros. alternate palettes, which was where I got the inspiration from (Plus, blue is my favorite color)! He was going to have red shorts as well, but that was much too on the nose.

Casey's scarf also went through a few color changes! I think the reason it was white in the first design was just for placeholder reasons, though I recall it being red for a little while before I switched into yellow for two reasons: one, the color yellow is associated with both optimism and cowardice (Both being big personality traits of Casey's), and two... well... this guy.

Lastly, let's touch on Casey's most recent design. Because Override is now its own entity separate from the Earthbound continuity, I wanted to opt for a design that was... more of my own, if that makes sense. I ended up giving him a long sleeved light cyan shirt with blue sleeves, referencing his previous design, as well as completely redrawing his hair so that it wouldn't be too spherical.

Now, how would you react if I told you that Casey's design timeline has the least number of sprites?

Enter Lauren, who I've given the distinction of having the second most changed design since her first version! My original vision of Lauren was to have her be more of a 'girly girl' type (Look where that ended up lol), and while she had several preliminary names, the only ones I distinctly remember are 'Madison' and 'Hannah'.

Because I didn't bring it up in Casey's section, you might notice that Lauren's sprite style changes drastically by the third design, opting for a bigger sprite with room for more detail. Early on in, this visual style lined up with Oddity's quite a bit, and became its own thing soon enough (Plus, Override's character sprites have four pixel tall eyes. Big difference.).

For like a very brief while, Lauren's color of choice was a mint green, though that was swapped out for a shade of orange quite fast. I also wanted Lauren to have a bow, kind of like what Paula wears in Earthbound, and I also wanted her to wear a dress... before long, I realized I had just designed another Paula.

So, the dress aspect of the design had to be changed, but I first wanted to see if I could hammer out a good hairstyle for her, which doesn't come into full effect until the third-to-last sprite. Lauren eventually began to sport her trademark ruby red color, and instantaneously after that change, she switched out the dress for something marginally less lady-like; a t-shirt and overall combo.

By now, Lauren's 'nine-year-old tyrant' personality was beginning to take shape, and while her overall design was her final design for a while, I then remembered that Override takes place early on in the year, so it might make a little more sense to have her dress in something warmer (Like how Casey gained a sweater)!

Thus, Lauren was given her standard jacket, as well as keeping the pink shirt aspect of the previous design! I find that Lauren had the smallest amount of changes between the Override reveal post and this one, as all I did were give her the little hood pullies and a hood for her jacket.

And that's a wrap for Lauren! You know how I said that Lauren had the second most changes to her design since her initial concept? Well, do you want to know who couldn't keep a consistent design for the live of him for the longest time?

Bradley.

With a whopping eleven different design sprites, it took me an extremely long time to settle on how I wanted Bradley to look, as well as who Bradley is as a character. Named 'Oliver' originally, his design didn't start making the rounds until I had started to round out the designs for Casey and Lauren.

Initially, I envisioned Bradley as more of a 'social outcast' type (Much more so than his present version, funnily), though I also wanted him to be kind of a nerd type who plays video games a lot and does well in class, but I also wanted him to be a 'cool guy' character who would skateboard everywhere... oh, boy, this wasn't going to be easy.

Bradley, for a while, wore glasses, as a subtle nod to the glasses Jeff wears in Earthbound: the only difference being that you could actually see Bradley's eyes. Jeff was a big inspiration for Bradley's character, too, seeing as both were blonde (At one point), had glasses (At one point, again), wore green (At some point) and didn't use magic.

It was when I did away with his glasses that his current design began to form. I briefly brought back the hoodie his first design has before giving him a red dress shirt with a black overshirt jacket (Though the hoodie was repurposed for his best friend's design, who ended up looking a lot more like how I first wanted Bradley to).

I then tested out a different palette for his new outfit by making the overshirt jacket green and trying out a long-sleeved black shirt underneath, and since that design change, Bradley was pretty much finished, save for small changes from then on (Such as his military dog tag necklace).

His current design changes two things from his previous design: one, I finally got his hair how I wanted it to look— noticed best by his bangs and the addition of a cowlick— and two, he now sports an undershirt like this, which I find has a particular 'late 90s/early 2000s' feel to it.

As for Bradley's character, it was eventually decided he would be a mix of the personalities I wanted to give him: he's mostly known as an unassuming and awkward teenager, but also likes skateboarding and playing video games. With perhaps the most design-intensive character out of the way, let's move on to our last but certainly not least team member...

MacKenzie! Oddly enough, I'm pretty sure MacKenzie was like the second character I began to think of ideas for. In the Into the Unknown days, my basic idea was for her to be the standard 'early 2000s gothic girl' without going too overboard in terms of the usual dark and complex clothing.

She was named 'Destiny' at the start, but I then changed her name to 'Kenzie', as it better fit the era Override takes place in... but then I felt like Kenzie was too feminine of a name for the type of character I was aiming for, so she was promptly renamed to MacKenzie thereafter.

MacKenzie is noteworthy for having her first design line up pretty closely to her current design, though plenty of changes were made in-between. She started out with an extremely basic, placeholder look: a jean jacket, deep red shirt, black pants... boom. MacKenzie. However, for a while, MacKenzie had two things the current MacKenzie does not: a hair bow, which has a crescent moon in the middle, and bright pink wrist sleeve braces.

Most of her early sprites were focused primarily of detailing her first sprite, while experimenting some with color choices. Somewhere down the line, though, a humorous idea came to mind— what if she carried an entire stop sign for a weapon? I had wanted MacKenzie to be more of a masculine type of girl, similar to MOTHER 3's Kumatora, so it was a perfect addition to her design!

For a little while, the sprite where she first has the stop sign was her current design, before I tried out giving her the black jeans I had initially drawn her with. I liked the design, though I felt that it was a little lacking, like it was missing something... maybe if I gave her different headwear?

Her crescent moon bow was replaced with a black snapback with a purple brim (That's why MacKenzie is always represented with a purple color, by the way!), and I saturated her jean jacket a bit so it wouldn't be so flat. She also now wears a black wrist sleeve brace (Though it could also be a Psiometer... up to interpretation!) on one of her arms, as a nice callback to her starting design.

Thus, MacKenzie's design was complete! ... or, so I thought. It was when my good friend @minxxikuo took a huge liking to MacKenzie and began to draw her that I found that I really like how he portrayed her. Knives' portrayal of MacKenzie featured a shorter hairstyle that juts out to the side a bit, as well as giving her all kind of earrings.

We ended up agreeing that this interpretation was now canon, and the only other addition I made that you can find in her latest sprite— which is an extremely easily missed detail, mind you— is the addition of two little pins to the front of her jean jacket. Oh, also, her stop sign has a dent in it now, implying... previous melee use.

Well, I think that's about everything! This post ended up being much longer than I expected it to be, but knowing a good few of my followers do like when I get lengthier insights to whatever I make, I'm not sweating it too much! I hope that you've enjoyed this deep dive of the Override cast's designs— these four have come a long way!

[knitting-with-norbert]

Four SMP Factions Complete

First of all, can we just appreciate how many fucking blanket squares I’ve completed now? They barely fit into a photo together and I’m very proud of myself because they look pretty cool

Anyway! I’ve been hard at work trying to knit up some of the faction flags or faction indicators for my Dream SMP-inspired blanket! 

I should first say that three of these designs are not mine, I just adapted them into knitted form based off of their flag designs. However because Tumblr is weird about how tagging when you put a link in posts, I’m not going to link to their socials, but you should 100% check them out!

Before we jump into it, though, I just wanna say something to you guys - while I really appreciate the likes on these posts and it’s so, so lovely to see my work being found and appreciated, but I would like to ask you guys a favour if possible! Would you be able to perhaps reblog this or check out the full post on my blog (link in bio to not mess up Tumblr tags) or to check out my twitter (bio again) and help me spread the words over there a little

Basically, any vouch that you guys can give me if you like my stuff is so, so appreciated and, yeah, would mean the world to me!

Anyway, lets get into it!

As you can see I got four faction symbols completed! The flags of the Eggpire, Las Nevadas and Kinoko Kingdom and then my own design to represent The Syndicate

the original Eggpire flag was designed by Nikiforosisgone! There’s not a close up photo with the faction members because I haven’t yet done the squares for the individual faction members for the Eggpire - but this is a cry for help. Please send me ideas for Bad (and any of the others, really, aide from Ponk) because I’m completely stumped as to what to design for his square!

Any and all suggestions will be so very appreciated!

The original design for the Kinoko Kingdom flag was created by estchiyu on twitter!

I think that the flag came out looking pretty good! It looks better in person actually, because I was taking these photos after, like, three hours sleep so I wasn’t really functioning properly to be honest with y’all. But what’s also pretty exciting is that I’ve done the first drafts of almost all of Kinoko Kingdom now! Just Drista to go and then all four residents will have their squares completed for the first time

(of course I’m gonna have to go back and improve them all afterwards, but that’s pretty cool, right?)

And I also have plans for what I’m going to do for Drista, which is even more exciting!!!

The Las Nevdas flag design was originally made by Fundy on his stream a couple of months back

Out of the four pieces I made this time around, this is probably the one that I’m the least keen on - I made some mistakes when writing up the pattern and so it has meant that I somehow fucked up and the emblem isn’t centred, so I’m gonna have to start from scratch I think to figure out where I went wrong there

But I think the colours and shades I used are pretty spot on - I just need to figure out the gauge for the white wool because it doesn’t seem to be right, if you get me? 

But this is gonna be another quick cry for help: I’m pretty stumped as to what to do for the designs for Slimesicle and Fundy (I don’t want to just do a fox, you know?) so if you have any ideas as to what I can do to represent their characters please let me know! 

This design for the Syndicate is actually made up by me - it’s not a flag, of course. But I needed something to represent their faction as a whole, so I settled on this

There’s a lot more details about this design in my full blog post (link to my site in my bio if you’re interested!) so I’ll skim over some of the more important parts

I knew I had to include the end portal/table somehow, it was just a matter of doing the table as a whole or using the design for the blocks as a border - I’m gonna be playing around with this design a lot more in the future and I think it’ll probably end up with me using the portal design as a border for the design

Then I couldn’t decide what to do on either side of the table - I wanted to do little icons for every member or the initial of their codename, but then wasn’t happy with how they came out looking and so eventually settled on the firework rockets, but they’re much more of a placeholder than anything else

Regardless, I do think that it came out looking pretty cool, considering that when I started I had basically no idea what I wanted it to look like!

I also need help for Niki and Ranboo’s individual squares, so if you have ideas... send ‘em in!

If you are interested in checking out the full post which goes into a lot more details about all the squares and also the blanket plans in general then there’s a link to my website/blog in my bio! As I already said, my social links are also up there and any support you can offer me either on this platform, on my twitter or my instagram is so, so appreciated!

Freddie 🐸

[sepublic]

What constitutes a ‘Demon’?

There’s been some discussion amongst this fanbase about what exactly a ‘demon’ is. We know they come in a wide variety of shapes and forms, and we know that demons are evidently capable of full sapience (but not all of them are).

From what we know thanks to King, our not very preeminent scholar on the matter, demons are “grim tricksters of the twilight, creatures of sulfur and bone,” that they “live only to create chaos and misery”, and all have a weakness to purified water (and passive-aggressive comments).

What purified water exactly is in the context of this show, I’m not sure and it might not even be elaborated upon, but it’s fun to think about! So perhaps ‘demon’ refers to any creatures with a weakness to purified water. While King’s account should admittedly be taken with a grain of salt, considering how inaccurate he was with the Snaggleback (or not, since according to @anistarrose we may have simply encountered a juvenile and not a full adult), what his words seem to imply is that demons are nocturnal, are said to cause chaos, and are made of sulfur and bone. That last bit intrigues me the most- Humans already have sulfur in our body, so that implies that demons have a particularly high ratio. That, or witches simply have little to no sulfur in their bodies, seeing as how humans aren’t from the Demon Realm and wouldn’t be included in that context.

But what about magic? I’m of the assumption that demons can’t do magic, and perhaps that’s what differentiates them from witches. However, in Covention, two witches from the Bakers Coven try to invite King, which seems useless since we know he doesn’t have a magic bile sac.

And how do we know? In Episode 8, Eda is in King’s body and attempts to cast magic while trapped at the Kitty Cafe. Eda is an incredibly skilled and experienced witch, so she’s never had an issue with the skill of casting magic, and even if King had an incredibly diminutive sac that hasn’t fully developed, it should’ve yielded at least some kind of spell. Eda states that she’s “no longer a witch” indicating she knows King isn’t, and Roselle and Dottie agree.

However, if one considers the theories about King having once been the King of Demons, and even the Boiling Isles Titan, then... he could be a one-of-a-kind person. Meaning, there’s no one like him, so no one actually knows his true capabilities and nature. However, King is certain that he was the King of Demons, so for now, let’s just say he is one.

So why would those two Baker Witches be interested in King joining, if he can’t do magic? Perhaps they don’t realize he’s not a Witch because they’ve never seen anyone else like him. Maybe it’s just a throwaway gag/joke that I’m taking too seriously. Perhaps non-witches have some value to covens as testers and voluntary subjects. Amity says the Covention is only for witches, did those two bakers just assume King was a witch because he was there? We see this guy at the Covention;

And he looks a lot like this demon;

But it’s highly likely he’s just there as a placeholder background character.

Could a demon perform magic if you transplanted a magic bile sac to their heart? If so, would ‘demon’ more specifically refer to beings who are born without magic, but still capable of it later on down the line? Eda seems to be under the impression that Luz can’t ever gain a bile sac, so presumably neither can demons, but maybe there’s a difference between human and demon anatomy to be considered.

The line blurs when we acknowledge Adegast, AKA that one-off minor villain who died in his debut. Eda calls him a puppeteer, specifically a “demon who specializes in scamming and manipulating people.” Adegast is a demon, but he can also conjure powerful illusions. Do these illusions count as magic- Specifically, illusion magic? When we first meet ‘him’ in his wizard illusion, he briefly summons two spell circles, but is that actual magic or just an illusion that looks like magic (versus actual magic that creates an illusion)? Perhaps Adegast’s illusions technically aren’t magic, at least not magic as the Boiling Isles defines it (presumably something to deal with a bile sac). If he were an Illusion Witch, why is he in the Potions business? Is it like Willow, where she was placed into a track she wasn’t good at?

We see Adegast create an illusion by spraying Luz with a cloud of smoke, and when his puppets are destroyed, they dissipate into smoke, so perhaps that’s what they all are; Just smoke and mirrors, minus the mirrors. So because Adegast’s illusions don’t come from bile, it’s not magic, ergo he’s not a witch and this lends further credence to the ‘Demons are those who can’t do magic’ theory. On another note, we see Adegast revert to a smaller ‘true’ form after being wounded by Luz... is this form the result of magic, or just an illusion or the effects of a potion?

(If his illusions don’t come from magic and he can’t perform it, then Adegast probably shouldn’t have entered the Potions business when Potion magic is such a big deal that there’s a designated major coven for it. Even if he got Eda out of the way, he’s competing with literally every other Potion Witch in the Boiling Isles, and they have the advantage of magic! Maybe he uses his illusions to make his potions seem more potent than they are, who knows? This lends to the unpleasant image of him spiking potions with his illusionary gas, but this show has always been pretty horrifying, so.)

Hooty is referred to by the Demon Hunters as a ‘house demon’. There’s the possibility that Hooty was made by Eda, since her owl constructs resemble him so much, and Hooty mentions Eda teaching him everything he knows. However, the Demon Hunters also mention removing Hooty from the house, when he IS the house... Perhaps this is a case of characters not fully understanding who they’re interacting with? We do see living alarm bells at Hexside and the Covention center, and a doorknob that tries to eat Luz in Episode 2. Could the term demon also apply to living fixtures who are made for a purpose?

If demons also refers to living beings who are made, I assume Abominations don’t count as demons because they don’t eat and thus aren’t living, which would explain that distinction.

Is that why Eda calls the Bat Queen a demon, since palismans are living beings who are made? However, we don’t know if Eda is aware of the Bat Queen’s palisman nature or not, so her being a demon could just be an assumption on Eda’s part. Palismans also presumably have magical abilities (and we see the Bat Queen appear to use a spell to bind Willow and Gus). So, CAN Demons perform magic, or is there a misconception here?

There’s also the possibility that ‘demon’ is just a catch-all term. An othering term, meant to describe anything that isn’t a witch. Only... witches come in a wide variety of appearances, some more inhuman than the rest. Are witches all the same species, and thus able to procreate with one another (and thus a demon is a being a witch couldn’t reproduce with)? Do all witches, amongst their bile sacs, share a common DNA or ancestry? Are they all the same species, merely different in appearance because that’s just the way they work, or because of magic causing changes? Or does it just refer to non-humanoids?

Maybe ‘demon’ is just a societal definition, and a loose one at that. Maybe it DOES refer to animals and beasts, but because of social biases, some characters are called demons when they’re not? Beast-keeping is a term, but Demon-keeping isn’t, as far as we know. Getting into further speculation, could ‘demon’ refer to the original inhabitants of the Boiling Isles? Could witches have come from another land beyond the bones of the titan? Are demons the creatures born directly of the titan’s flesh, or perhaps the parasites that inhabited its body? The descendants of its equivalent to gut bacteria and white blood cells? The Boiling Isles is located within the Demon Realm, which could imply they’re progenitors of some sorts. Of course, maybe demon also has multiple definitions as well.

Overall, here are my proposed ideas for what defines a ‘demon’ in the Boiling Isles;

-Not capable of magic due to lacking a bile sac

-The indigenous population of the Boiling Isles

-Wildlife in general, as well as those linked to beasts or like them

-A social term for those perceived as more animalistic, regardless of such an observation has actual scientific accuracy or not. Perhaps the social aspect of the term is also for beings who aren’t immediately identifiable, don’t belong to a specific species, are one-of-a-kind, etc. AKA it’s the Boiling Isles equivalent to the term ‘cryptid’

-Non-humanoids

-Those vulnerable to purified water, with a presumably high concentration of sulfur making up their anatomy

-Anything living that isn’t a ‘witch’, specifically the species (this applies to living constructs as well, presumably, though if it extends to Palismans is unknown)

-An unknown, perhaps yet-to-be introduced factor

-A term with various definitions and meanings depending on the context

-Some combination of the above-mentioned ideas

What do you guys think? It is worth noting that King refers to demons as “creatures like me,” which implies perhaps some shared genealogy/something objective and physical, not just societal, but who knows? Perhaps the most important question to ask is;

Am I overthinking things?

[cryptocism]

So since pretty much everyone agrees that Tim needs a name change, and I think most people dislike the first two RR costumes (I dislike the pretty much Robin one too, because it seems like he hasn’t accept losing Robin, when I feel a lot of his comics right after Bruce W died was about that?) which leads me to: What do you think Tim’s costume would look like if he got a good outfit, and what name?

o yeah i was not a fan of the cowl. and the n52 design is just… so busy and excessively accessorised (excessorised???) - i drew it a couple times for this project im workin on and the whole process was me squinting at reference panels and whispering softly but passionately “what the fuck” - and i agree on the rebirth RR design, it looks more derivative of dick and jasons retconned robin costumes than inspired by tims og 80s design (however. the unternet costume - its simple and appealing and clearly nightwing-inspired and i am a fan, also the giant scythe/halberd/mace thing was so ridiculous i loved it)

which is why i thank pat gleason for my life bc tims new outfit is such a good modernisation of his original robin design. so i mean to answer ur question i think tim has a p good design right now (although not for long i guess since they announced hed get a new look/codename soon) BUT if i were in charge of debuting a new design and name… hm……….

whatever his new name is, it’d preferably have something to do with wherever his personal storyline is headed, which i dont know, and for all my complaining abt how red robin is a shit name i dont actually have great alternatives lol. i did see somewhere the suggestion for the name “Cardinal” which i dont hate, so ill use that as a placeholder for now (although “Halcyon” is an interesting option)

tangentially, my personal preference for his robin graduation would be a miniseries featuring tim and damian both as robin, begrudgingly having to work together to fight some greater enemy and becoming true brothers along the way. ending with tim giving damian his blessing to be robin (a post-mantle blessing but still) with the first amicable passing on of the robin title literally ever

as for Look: his new design should a) accurately reflect his character b) mesh well with whatever tone his personal storyline is going for c) be a natural progression of gleasons newest iteration while still d) able to stand as its own iconic look

i always thought tim would do really well in a more grounded noir-style detective story, both using and especially subverting the tropes of the genre (for instance tim befriends every femme fatale and romances absolutely zero of them. theyre pals and have weekly movie nights or smthn) obvs using some of the mystery elements to springboard into classic comic wild times etc etc. theres also a great opportunity to include some more cyberpunk aesthetics to the look and feel ofthe story

i.e. tim is part of the waynetech r&d teams, working with them to develop new technologies, and proceeding to test out some of the prototypes while doing vigilante work (bc terry had to get his rocket boots from somewhere ok). gotham is still gotham, but its starting to see some of that neo-futuristic/blade runner flavour from batman beyond.

so. cyberpunk detective story starring cha boy tim drake. im not gonna draw it rn but lemme just gather some ref elements here in case i ever do

first off - motorcycle, obviously. redbird is back babey and this time its a two-wheeler. all his gear would be modded the hell out of, but the motorcycle itself would be an approximate balance of 70% ducati and 30% tron lightcycle situation. a speedy bike with ample room for the edgy overkill batfam aesthetic, with maybe a little akira in there who knows

same goes for helmet; 70/30 on this modern/cyberpunk situation. heres a quickly photoshopped “cardinal” helmet lol 

although theres totally room for some daft-punk leds in there. serving as a heads up display AND a fun neon aesthetic. I really want to play into that John Wick neo-noir situation.

besides that… ive got a preference for street style over the superhero spandex, so… detective jacket. every detective has a good jacket. norm breyfogle made a comment on his early tim robin designs that itd be pretty either/or on jacket vs cape, merging the two looked a little silly. for robin they probably decided on cape to keep things classic, but for cardinal i can do what i want

and i want to bring back some of this popped collar.

which i basically did for that other tim design i drew, which i still like, so this one would probably be at least a lil borrowed from that. 

attempting to merge cape/jacket might end up smthn like these:

which admittedly i like. 

admittedly… i do also like the concept of wings introduced in tims n52 design, i just think they couldve been hidden/incorporated better

greig rapson had a sweet robin design that had a sort of flight-suit (which dove into the actual mechanics??? i love) and since id want to dive into tim testing out waynetech prototypes, its a pretty good natural progression from him to terrys glider thing

the whole ensemble would be fairly understated however - enough to semi blend in with any crowd, hero or civilian. after all the story focus would be just as much about solving the mystery as it is punching the bad guy

the various interchangeable gadgets would be both prototypes of terrys eventual batsuit, and also all the failed prototypes that never managed to get off the ground. just to add an element of tension/plot devices wherein tims gear could break or malfunction pretty much anytime.

im fixated on this rocket boot situation though so itd be a paired down version of terrys eventual seamless/invisible design. still noticable and clunky, but working with the sleek modernish style outlined by gleason

smthn almost similar to the prowler actually from spiderverse - as in: Clearly Rocketboots, and clearly diy’d the shit out of, but still working with that Aesthetic

(most of the screencaps of prowler are dark af so im taking this from jesus alonso iglesias concept art) 

im debating on the addition of more overtly birdlike/cyberpunk elements, so ill add this here cause its dope as fuck (from ahmet atil akar). 

and a lot of batclan capes tend to end with that concave spiked look, which works great for bats but not really for birds. a tailcoat might emulate the bird tail, but it also might evoke Penguin a lil too much idk.

also in the interest of keeping everything within the same sort of design language, i would Love to see some new villains emulating deconstructionist/architectural kawakubo fashion:

like could you imagine the supervillain potential

so uhhh yeah. budding cyberpunk detective story with a little noir and a little technological advancement progressing in fits and starts. taking from the gleason foundation with heavy black featuring brighter coloured accents and modern sleekness, made a little dorky via prototype technology, with some extra neon blade runner shit thrown in there.

depending on how much i love or hate the new codename/design reveal i might draw this via inspired motivation or spiteful motivation lol

[erinhime83]

Okay, okay, you’re probably sick of these by now, especially since I didn’t really change much about the first two. But I wanted to show off what I did change, okay?

With the first one, it’s just a change in uniform for Matrix, Basically, I designed a uniform similar to his for one of his teammates, but decided I liked it better, and it made more sense for him to have color than the other character. So there’s that.

The second one I changed Luna’s design. I had decided to make her blond because that made way more sense to me, and I liked how she turned out. Gave her bangs and it came together very well. On top of that, I tweeked her uniform so it looks a little more put together and professional, since she’s been doing the hero team thing for about a year now. Nova’s is cobbled together because she just ‘started;. I also came up with a new name for Nova’s second hero form, which is Quick Star.

The bottom one, of course, is the real reason I’m putting something up. I’d been struggling to come up with the other ‘main’ heroes of the story, and thanks to @calllistochan87 and @anijeltaventry​‘s help, I made pretty quick work of figuring it all out. ;P

The first guy is Taros, real name Blake something. His power is called Bullheaded, for obvious reasons. On top of having the bull horns, his head is ridiculously resilient, allowing him to smash into things without hurting himself. Most people think he;s a dumb brute, because that’s how most people are with his sort of power. But he’s actually level-headed, and the leader of the ‘sidekick/reject’ team.

The next guy is Animos, and his power is actually pushing thoughts onto others and making them do stuff. Except, you know, he doesn’t really like doing that, so he focuses mostly on animals, so people think he controls animals. The only real defining feature I have for him is that he’s, like, super gay. But the others in his group accept him easily enough/don’t have a problem with it. (I know @anijeltaventry intended this power to go to a girl, but my plan for the reject group was that they’re all males, with them planning on making an exception if Nova joined.)

The next guy is Dead Volt, real name Connor. His power takes other people’s powers away. It can happen if they’re both standing too close and if he wills it at a distance. The main reason he’s in the sidekick/reject group is because his powers make everyone else rather nervous. He is Nova/Gabe’s childhood friend, which is the main reason he got accepted. He and Gabe are, like, BFFs now.

The next guy is Vine Guy, real name Ethan, whose power is plant manipulation. Although if you ask his team, his power is Laziness. (That’s sort of why he doesn’t really have a good uniform, because he just…shows up like that, because he can’t be bothered. But hey, look, he’s totally wearing a green shirt!) He’s actually super powerful, but he can’t really be bothered to do much. He’s the one who got accepted during the trial Nova participates in, and he only tried out because his mother forced him to. (Like, she was going to kick is freeloading butt out of the house if he didn’t at least try). Blake decided to punish him after Nova rejected their offer by giving him the position instead, mostly because he does see the potential in him.

The next guy I have no hero name for, but his real name is Takeshi. His power is teleportation. He and Luna have a thing going on, although he’s, like, 20, which annoys Nova to no end. But he’s a decent guy, and they get along pretty well otherwise. (He, I think, was supposed to be for the reject group, because they were talking about his powers being very limited, but I couldn’t do that, since @anijeltaventry said this was her favorite power. ;P)

The one without a design is a placeholder, because @callistochan87 said she was going to try to design something because she had a vague idea. (I think she intended the character to be a girl, but I didn’t want the main team to be, like, mostly girls and one guy. I had always planned it to be three girls and two boys). The guy’s name is either Storm God or Storm King, and his power is lightning based with some wind control as well. I see him as being a little arrogant, since, as far as everyone knows, he’s the power powerful on the team.

I technically need to make up the other group Nova tries out for, but thanks to the fact that her love interest is part of the reject group, she interacts with them a lot more, which makes them sort of main characters? At least important ones. But I do have plenty of time to figure everything out. (Because I also have to do Gabe’s family/the leaders of the Guild. >.

[bluesunsdusk]

✏️ Any particular reason for the names you used for your ocs?

✏️ Any particular reason for the names you used for your ocs?

–// I have a lot of ocs, so I will pick some. It’s going to be long either way… ))

Overwatch

Najma (Najma Daher)

When Naj was first made, they had Prima as placeholder name and their kit was based around light, but I struggled to really place them in the universe. They were still based in Oasis, with sumerian aesthetic, and they were an AU for a fandomless oc. I was still trying to pick where the heck they were from. I added Najma as possible name because it means star and is Arabic. As they finally developed to suit the universe more and be an own character, the name stuck, because I like it and they are a warm person and the sun keeps us alive, and Naj was made to help keep someone alive. Dunia, their owner, was named to reflect her meaning in Naj’s life. Dunia was their whole reason for existing, their world, their life. 

Najma coincidentally also works for…other reasons.

Najma’s code name, Nazar, comes from that their abilities are most effective when looking into their lights and optics, which flare up when they use their ult as well. Their optics are also blue.The evil eye, which causes harm upon those who have been struck by it.

I think Daher meant clear. Najma does’t actually have a surname, as they are not a member of the family rather than just property of said family. However, I still wanted the surname to be something with a tiny bit of a fitting meaning. Rather than doing it by naming conventions used with Mamun, I went with them just having just a family name, much in Europe and the US. I also kept it to just two names this time.

Mamun Wasif Said

Mamun had a long list of names on his hero sheet. See, the given name is an aspiratory trait, the second the father’s name, and the third the grandfather’s name or family name. In Mamun’s case, Said is his grandfather’s name. So, that means Mamun’s dad is called Wasif. Gien names he could have been Majdi (commendable, praiseworthy), Marwan, Naseer, etc. His surname could have been Assaf, Kassar, Al-Mansur (the victorious), or Nasrallah (god’s victory). Now, I am not at all close to being an expert on arabic naming conventions, so I was like let’s keep it simple. 

Now, Mamun is supposed to be a tank hero and his character design was made to emphasise that he is a soft and huggable man who deserves the whole world. He needed to look sweet,warm, trustworthy, and dependable. Mamun is a name that feels like it has soft edges. It’s gentle. There’s no hard tones in it. Mamun means dependable, which is something he wants to be and his parents would have wanted him to be as well. A good son, brother, and eventually (if he so wished) husband. 

I forgot what Wasif meant… I think I just liked how it sounded with Mamun compared to the other names listed along with it. I matched several names that were listed on his hero sheet behind Mamun and they didn’t sound nearly as good with it as Wasif did. It means ‘one who praises’.

Said was just a good name to follow Mamun Wasif with. It just wraps it up nicely when I wanted three names in there. It means happy. 

Spigel

Spigel’s name is explained in his bio, I think. The name is given because he’s able to copy the appearance of a person and uses this after eliminating them to blend into a faction he’s trying to infiltrate or wipe out. It takes observation of mannerisms, appearance, speech patterns, etc. to do a convincing guise, and once that is done, it will be like looking into a mirror for the target.

He was always called Spigel because that’s Luxembourgish for mirror. Sure, it’s not smart for the assassin to take a nickname from his own personal origin, but…it’s fine if a guy from Luxembourg gave him that nickname rather than him giving himself said nickname.

Roland Marie Schroeder 

Roland is a pretty common name in Luxembourg, and Marie is a common middle name. I liked Roland as a name, because is seems warm and strong, and Roland is a quiet dude at times, but even though he’s pretty small as well, he can take up a lot of social space just by being a little… dramatic. He would have liked the name because it is, as Monty Python would say, woody. At least, I think it was Monty Python, I’m not sure anymore and can’t find it.

Michael Abatangelo 

Michael was the general of the archangels, and putting Michael together with Abatangelo makes it sound close to Michelangelo. Though, the latter was on accident and I was like yep that’s his name now. I went through several names I don’t really remember. Michael was a strong name that also sounded pleasant.

Fable

Aidan Fawkes

Aidan is an Irish name that means fire. I didn’t know quite what to call him. I didn’t want a name that was just big strong man large energy. It needed to sound not too thick, in a way, maybe a little light to suit his personality. He also had a lot of energy growing up and was a sweet guy. 

His father’s name is actually Mac Lochlainn. That’s a reference and not chosen for the meaning because it’s not used on Aidan. Also, it’s just really nice sounding surname. His grandma on his father’s side’s surname was Kelly. A very common surname where they were from. Anyway, Aidan’s dad didn’t want his kids to have the disadvantage of having a foreign surname. The given names, however, weren’t too odd, and both of his parents did want to give him a link with his father’s heritage in their names. Furthermore, he was born with red hair. 

As such, Aidan was given as his name, and he was bestowed with the surname of his mother, Fawkes. I picked Fawkes because 1) It sounds good with Aidan 2) it means falcon, making his name fire falcon 3) Guy Fawkes. 

Duncan Reynold 

I know the hero in Fable 2 is called Sparrow. However, that is a title/nickname, not a legit name. Surely, his parents, whom Sparrow canonically knew, gave him a real name. I wanted him to have a legit name. I wanted him to be of scottish-type origin. Now, Duncan has tanned skin from being out and stuff and dark hair. He’s also a brawny guy. He would have picked himself a pretty awesome name that feels strong, also… it has can in it, because he can do it. I jest. 

Duncan is a mix of two parts. Together, these parts form a name meaning dark-haired warrior or dark warrior. Of course, he doesn’t know that. He just thinks it’s an awesome name. 

Reynold is a carry over from trying to give king Logan a surname. It’s also a mix or two elements, advice and rule. English meaning is wise/powerful ruler (or something like that. It can also be advice from a ruler or king’s advisor, but let’s ignore that). While Duncan was that, Logan eventually proved not be.

Mass Effect

Medesa Adrestis

It’s actually from Medusa, because she’s a bit of a protector who gets spun into a villain because of the methods she uses to protect herself and others, which is often violent and rather fatal, since slave traders deserve no rights. I think there was something else, but I forgot… Oh, right! Her surname, Adrestis. I saved it in my drafts and idk if it’s still there…

I looked it up to jog my mind!

It’s from Adrestia and Adrasteia, and I didn’t want to name her exactly after that despite Asari names looking painfully ancient Greek inspired and very feminine. 

Adrestia is a figure from Greek mythology, she who cannot be escaped, venerated as a goddess of revolt and just retribution. Adrasteia, “inescapable”, was a nymph charged with taking care of a child Zeus. Medesa was charged with taking care of Toreg. 

Vicarius Hzzek and Lictor Kgrln

So, I won’t explain their names, because I assume Kett names are either just ID codes or can’t be easily changed into a more human tongue. I will go for their titles, though I believe I have explained it in a hc post before. Kett ranks seem based on Roman Empire influences, as is a part of their culture in general. They have Cardinals, Archons, Anointed, Ascendants. These seem religious. A Vicarius is a word that means substitute or deputy. It’s the root of the English word “vicar” as well and is used in things like vice-president. Anyway, Hzzek is a secondary to a Cardinal, making her vice-cardinal of an exaltation facility. 

As for Lictor, this comes from another Latin thing. A Lictor is a type of bodyguard to a magistrate. Kgrln is one of Hzzek’s Destined, who is also assigned with escorting and guarding her. He does this together with other Destined who would also be of the Lictor role/title. 

Dragon Age

Kata

Kata used to be an arvaarad and he considered himself the death of many a saarebas. That, and he is an assassin type, like a katari. He brings death to those who try to oppose him with violence, so basically he’s still death, just to other people now that he’s no longer in the qun. It’s sort of a method of intimidation. If a qunari is told they’re about to meet death, they might reconsider their current course. 

Kost

Kost had another name, aban, which probably means sea, when going by “Meraad astaarit, meraad itwasit, aban aqun.” Which means “The tide rises, the tide falls, the sea is unchanged.” He chose it, because the sea is unchanging and also clam. He was the same after leaving the qun as he was when he left. 

Eventually, however, he changed his name to Kost, after staying with a group of Tal-Vashoth who helped him become less stuck in his qun ways and more able to see himself as a person. He came to be at peace with himself and took on the task of assisting some other new Tal-Vashoth in the process. As such, he took on the name Kost, “peace”, to reflect this. 

[emeraldspiral]

So I went to see Maleficent 2 with my friend yesterday. It was pretty meh.

The plot was super thin and it felt like nothing really happened for most of it and nobody had an arc. In particular, Maleficent does very little to drive the story and could basically be cut out of it for a solid hour in the middle. It was like someone wrote an outline, and then did one or two drafts filling in basic details like the names of the main characters and how things were going to move from scene to scene, but then they just called it good instead of continuing to flesh it out. Like the script was 90% placeholders.

Other random assorted thoughts;

Why didn’t the fairies break the windows or go after the redhead bitch right from the get go when she started dusting everyone?

Why didn’t the dark fae fly in a different attack formation, like try approaching the castle walls from above instead of flying low and then up and making themselves easier targets?

I legit thought Maleficent was with them when the attack started and did a double take when they cut away to her still with the dying guy and was like, “What the fuck? It was night when they got attacked and it’s the middle of the day now. Has she just been at that guy’s death bed for 12 straight hours when the warhawk guy’s entire plan was 'We can win even though we’re outnumbered and outgunned because we have her'?”

Also, I don’t really like that Mal is more powerful than other fae just because she was born that way. I thought she was a sorceress, someone who studied magic to get more powerful, not someone who just coasts on her innate abilities. It would make more sense with her having had to fend for herself and defend the moors from a young age and then losing her inhibitions about tapping into darker magic after her trauma.

WTF was with the comedy ending for the queen? Everything was super dark up until that point, building up to the same kind of brutal end they gave Aurora’s dad in the last movie. But instead she just gets turned into a goat with the caveat that she can be changed back whenever they decide she’s been punished enough.

The little porcupine girl was totally pointless. The first couple minutes of the movie where they introduced her and she fucks around with Aurora for the bit were the worst part of the movie. The forced whimsy and bad CGI were straight painful to look at.

They really just retconned their own movie by having Maleficent suddenly hate Philip and disapprove of his relationship with Aurora when she was all for it in the last movie.

Maleficent barely speaks and does nothing for most of the movie, particularly in the middle. All she does is look at stuff and listen to exposition and people talking about what they want her to do without interjecting with any of her own opinions or doing anything to advance the plot for like, an hour.

The story’s supposed to take place over three days but it seemed like only one or two passed.

Thought the one warhawk fae was going to turn out to be the one attacking humans instead of Maleficent at the beginning since all we saw were the horns and we got no confirmation when the queen was confronting Mal about it at dinner. I thought he’d turn out to be in cahoots with the queen or at least give a reason for Mal to reevaluate her position, but no such twist occurs.

Thought other fae would be more important because they had cool designs and the cameras focused on them a lot, but then they had no lines and did nothing.

Even the two fae who were important, the warhawk and the peace dove guys, were completely two-dimensional and a microcosm for the whole film. Like, the dove and the king and Philip and Aurora are all, “We shouldn’t kill people, that’s just going to piss them off” and the queen and the warhawk are like, “Peace is for pussies. I say we commit genocide.” And that’s literally all anybody has to say on the subject. There’s zero depth to it. That’s what I mean when I say it feels like everything that was written was a placeholder for a later draft that was supposed to flesh everything out more.

I honestly don’t even know why they gave the queen a backstory about her brother being killed by fae to explain her motive. Like, the two sides were already enemies. They didn’t need to explain why anyone else on either side personally didn’t like each other. All that backstory did was make me think it was building up to a reveal that the queen’s dead brother was a character we knew, but then he wasn’t.

Why did the queen need to spread rumors about Maleficent? That wasn’t something that needed explaining. Everyone’s racist, you could’ve just said they heard the story about Aurora being cursed and passed it around for 16 years and just didn’t believe it when Mal broke the spell. But even then, how could people not know? Like, it was known that Aurora woke up and became queen of the Moors and that Maleficent raised her and cared for her as her godmother. Why would people think Mal was evil when the person she supposedly cursed and then left to die was alive and well and freely associating with her? Also, why would Philip not correct those misconceptions?

Why did destroying the needle break the curse on the king when Mal wasn’t able to break Aurora’s curse with anything other than a kiss? Were they too afraid of Chinese homophobes to let Philip kiss his dad?

Why was Warwick Davis torturing and killing his own kind?

Tomb-bloom sounds like toon boom.

Who the hell were those baby fae at the end? Did Maleficent have kids?

What was with that one shot of a cradle when she was being rescued? Some sort of repressed memory? Begs a lot of questions about how Mal ended up alone running things in the moors while the rest of her kind were aware of her but just hanging out in their own place.

It’s called “Maleficent Mistress of Evil”, but she doesn’t do a damn thing throughout 99% of the movie, let alone anything evil and the story isn’t driven by people thinking she’s evil, it’s driven by Philip and Aurora’s impending nuptials.

Costumes were great though and Angie looked hot as fuck.

[cruddyborderlandstheories]

Museum of Mayhem Art Analysis

ahhh it’s finally here and it’s AWESOME. Lots of credit to @ifalnasminiatures for bringing this to my attention! Also credit to Hayder Hype for providing (nat zero six on gearbox forums) sources (Ashley Landry on twitter) in the description of his video because oh man it’s a lot

you can view most of these art pieces on the borderlands instagram as well

lots to talk about especially regarding the calypso twins so let us dive right in

tl;dr: tyreen has a weird red marking on her face in some old designs. i think troy used to be blind and missing his metal plates. more proof for my elpis/chemical sludge/lost legion theory that the twins are using said chemical sludge to give their followers psuedo-siren powers bc a dahl pumping station (hyperion pumping stations on pandora) but dahl had a presence on the moon

one of my favorites, it reminds me a lot of the Mask of Mayhem, but for villains.

Punk Girl is shown again twice, probably further proving she’s tied in with the CoV somehow

we also got some crazy looking villains such as

baby face. which is all kinds of extremely fucked up

this dude who looks like he could be a miniboss with the glasgow smile and the cool goggles

this guy who i legitimately thought was dr zed for a hot second there

could it be

the evilest brother?? pfft nahhh

this girl who seems like she could be a unique character with a baseball cap. wondering if maybe she’s related to Punk Girl in any way. What’s the verdict on the other band members? 🤔

uhh let’s give it a solid maybe and move on

this piece! very interesting to me

so, the very first thing i noticed is zane’s eye patch being on the other eye lol

amara’s tattoos are also gone, however that might’ve been for reasons similar to the japanese cover art of the game. 

most interestingly is a point @ifalnasminiatures made and it’s that the calypso twins are actually palette swapped! you can see Troy is the one with the white hair and Ty is the one with the darker hair. which I think mayyy play into a few things we see later about the twins

we also see a tiny ship in the background. i can’t tell if that’s sanctuary-iii or the blue/yellow ship, it all blends together a lot due to the quality of the pic. but it is next to the calypso twins, which makes me want to believe it’s the blue/yellow ship we see with red markings all over it. you know this one from the mural of mayhem wallpapers

you can see the reddish markings on the back right next to the engines

then we have ummm

this cover art

😬

thanks for not using this one gearbox cuz 

oh my god

she just reminds me of suicide squad, that’s not a good image you wanna dredge up from the deep recesses of your fans’ brains

she might be a unique character given the clothes/hair? cuz you don’t normally see psychos with stilettos on. or yknow, shoes in general. the hair also seems way to clean and neat to be a psycho/cultist

i just feel uncomfortable looking at this, so moving on

a different logo. also not my favorite cover art, but at least im not physically uncomfortable looking at this. that poor girl’s pelvis... anyway

lots of silhouettes

interestingly, i feel like the roses might have been a thing they just put in for the new cover art. haven’t seen hide nor hair of them across any of the pictures i’ve seen.

we got a lot of figures. out of them i most definitely recognized amara, salvador, maya, another salvador?, zer0, moze (maybe?), and axton. i thiiink one of them is maya as well, but im not 100% on that. 

i can guess why they didn’t pick this one: it’s hard to tell who’s who. a lot of these poses make the silhouettes kinda hard to see and the merging together at the bottom makes things even worse. i do think it’s interesting there are some bl2 characters on here as well, but hayder hype mentioned they very well could be placeholders, and given that i can’t make out fl4k or zane, im inclined to believe him.

this art which was used during the promo for this event

rip elpis i guess LMAO

a better look at the psycho himself from the promo released by the borderlands twitter.

there’s a new red planet which hasn’t been shown off before, looks like a gassy planet kinda like jupiter, but interestingly it has this green crack in the side?

very reminiscent of pandora’s eridium scar. i am wondering if this is because this planet had a vault opened, or if it is tied to the Eridians at all. be interesting if it was their homeworld.

also i have no idea what the symbolism is in the homeworld destroying another planet but maybe we shouldn’t think about it too hard e_e

the other planet that’s being destroyed... idk fellas

it doesn’t match up to me but like, this is only one shot

i don’t know 🤔 if you really squint, maybe you can see that hint of purple at the bottom there?

here

tbh, i thought this was elpis the first time i saw it due to the cracks, but i figured elpis doesn’t have like continents across its surface, just craters. and wayyy more cracks.

so it’s probably not pandora and it’s probably not elpis.

huh...

i do think the actual shot is suspended above promethea, you can see the familiar asteroid belt surrounding it

there’s also a planet in the background,

which i imagine isn’t pandora bc no eridian scar

could be elpis or eden-6, or the 5th planet we don’t know about. i kinda get the feeling the 5th planet may be that gaseous red planet tho. which is probably going to be super weird to traverse now that i think about it. they said oz kits weren’t coming back, right? i wonder how that would work. hmmmm

there’s also this redder planet here which i actually DO think is Pandora. if you squint real hard u can see the purple from the eridian scar. plus the color matches up pretty well with the pictures provided above.

there’s also these two bodies over in the corner where the light is coming from. i can’t tell what they’re supposed to be

there are also these little dudes in the top right

i assume they’re maliwan? they remind me a lot of the maliwan drop ship things that fly overhead when you enter promethea

YESSS okay this is the start of some PRETTY WILD twin stuff

troy: missing his tattoos, blind in one eye, has a weird mark above his eyebrow. also, no metal bits!

Tyreen!!! with a red stripe across her left cheek going up to her eye??? no tattoos on her left arm as far as we can see, but that might be for marketing reasons (she’s also covering up part of her bicep). she’s also missing her coat and chains and wearing a different glove.

we also have a bunch of bl2 VHs taking up space. again i think hayder hype is right in that they’re simply placeholders. not much else to say, but 

this trend of Tyreen having red markings on her face and Troy being blind in an eye (or both) actually continues through a fair amount of these posters!!!

more cover art. one of my least favorites again... i just think it looks like the psycho is puking out the VHs. also, seems to be an older version of the psycho mask.

fl4k seems to be less rendered than the rest of the cast? like they have less detail, especially on their coat

also you can see an older looking space shuttle up at the top, which reminds me a lot of the one we use in TFTBL to get to helios. except less caravanny and more rockety

the splatter also reminds me of siren powers, with the purple and the glitter. it’s cool that it’s showing a different shot than what’s behind it. maybe a hint to siren powers because it’s sort of like a portal.

more puke! 

this time troy is blind in both eyes it seems,

tyreen seems to still have a mark on the left side of her face, im wondering if this ties into her scars at all? it doesn’t seem as prominent as the previous red mark.

Zane seems to have an actual eye patch instead of his more high-tech eye patch, which reminds me a lot of the leaked character concepts from like january i wanna say

amara seems to be dual wielding lol i wonder if originally that was going to be one of her 3 skills but then they were like “wait salvador. wait. nisha. FUC-”

also fl4k is being obscured by this weird saturn-like planet. let them be free!

moze is missing, the saturn like planet shows up 2 times total, and that blue/yellow ship is seen again behind troy

as for the purple stuff? you already know my theory that the twins are going to be using the chemical sludge on elpis to empower their followers. it could also just be straight eridium/slag. you know, like the testing from the WEP with bloodwing and even krieg. we’ll have to see. it would be interesting if they tied krieg into the story through there.

i do lowkey think it’s chemical sludge though, because some of it is actually glowing blue in places, you can see it clearly below amara’s feet. maybe some tie in to siren powers cuz they glow the same blueish color. who knoooows not i

big shot of this psycho here, looks like he’s crumbling. 

i really like the 4 VHs standing at the base with the elongated shadows. very dark vibes from this tho, probably not suitable for the series as a whole. i can see why maybe they decided not to do it. 

i wonder if we’ll see this giant psycho statue somewhere on pandora. it would certainly be a sight to behold. 

also i kinda wish we had cloaks like the concept art shows. cloaks are cool

more sketchy art. this one is also kinda strange, i definitely get why they decided not to go thru with it.

possibly tie-in with the ‘mother’ imagery we get on the propaganda signs across pandora.

lmfao the foot

very bl2 like, im glad they didn’t stick with this. i like that they decided to change things up

troy seems to be blind and also missing his metal implants on his face. his jacket also looks a lot different, it looks more like tyreen’s with the spikes and stuff across it. we also can’t see his metal arm at all, tho we do see his sword! which looks a lot different, im glad they decided to revamp it to be more visually interesting lol

tyreen is more interesting to me. it looks like her right arm has like a silver coating over it? unless that is a metal arm as well. she also is wearing a different kind of glove. her tattoos are missing as well, but again, it’s probably because of the cover art. her scars also definitely seem to have reached her left cheek at some point.

zane also looks a lot different, tho amara, moze, and fl4k look about the same.

another shot of the ship, this one is definitely the blue/yellow one. there’s gotta be some significance with that, right? either we’re getting skins for sanc-iii, we’re going to be painting it a new color, or it’s a different ship.

what the HECK

maybe the twins stole sanc-ii and we’re using sanc-iii. idek. this ship is driving me up a wall lol

gun head.

not a lot to say here. i actually like this one lol it’s very mellow and straight to the point. it’s nice that the logo is right in the middle, not at the top like most of them.

game. buy it. okay? cool.

similar to the other background we did, a bit different. again, like @ifalnasminiatures pointed out, the twins are actually palette swapped here. 

Zane also has the old eyepatch on his right eye instead of his left eye, and his jacket is black instead of blue. fuckin’ edgelord.

one of my favorite ones out of all of them. it’s beautiful, i really wish they had kept it. Fl4k is missing but i assume they were meant to go next to Amara? i also think it’s interesting Moze is in the front, as I took Amara to be the leader this time around. Zane is also an older design, with the eyepatch back on his left eye again (starting to think this is an aesthetic thing lol) and a black jacket instead of blue.

We see the twins on the top. Tyreen has that mark on her face again, and Troy is the same as the last few covers.

We also see Maya, Zer0, and for some reason Brick? Which is weird to me considering we have a few other characters who initially feel much for important to the story (cough Lilith cough), but I’m not complaining. 

the purple splatters again make me think this is a tie in to eridium/slag/elpis’s chemical sludge. i also like the logo being worked into the design instead of just thrown on top, i think that’s a nice detail

i couldn’t find a great shot of this poster which is a shame because it’s one of my favorites

a lot of baddies to go around on here. i love the dude up top, he reminds me of the Anchormen from the captain scarlett dlc in bl2!

these dudes

we can see Punk Girl on the left again

and this guy who appears to be in some medieval armor

i have no idea what’s going on there but i am EXCITED

i’ve been thinking and tbh i think the multiple planets thing was just an excuse for gearbox to go absolutely ham on the character designs/settings. 

i mean why should they have to hold back all their medieval armor designs for another dlc like tiny tina’s? all their pirate/sea-fairing designs for a pirate dlc? fuck it! go WILD. i think they did, anywho

there’s also this post which... tbh i can’t make out much at all. again, seems like an older psycho mask design. it looks like there are characters in the splatter on the bottom left, but it’s very hard to tell who’s who, especially at this angle and image quality lol

if we get a better shot later on i may return to this piece and try to figure things out!

we also have this piece which is giving me huge ‘Happy Together’ vibes. very trippy

moze looks like she’s using an untextured atlas gun? dunno what’s going on with that tbh lol

i really like this one too. it’s cool. i get why maybe they wanted to go a little crazier tho, feels too simplistic for the MAYHEM vibe they’re going for.

oof! can we get an F in chat for whatever planet/moon this is

lots of pink floyd vibes going on here as well

we see a different looking blue/yellow ship flying away from the explosion. it seems to missing a lot of the parts that make sanc-iii so recognizable including the engines/wings

i like the destruction vibe they’re going for here, really sells the “universe destroying power” the twins are supposedly going to get. 

anyway, in addition to the cover art pieces, we also got a few concept art pieces as well!

this bit which looks like a gun

you see the aiming mechanism up there? you see how it’s aimed at that planet/moon? yeah i 100% timed this so you’d see the above concept art with this immediately after :P (im kidding i didn’t but hey now you don’t have to scroll)

fuck yeah babey

we also have seen something similar to this in the gameplay trailer!

i didn’t actually think it was a giant fucking GUN tho. can we get an F in chat for Promethea and/or whatever else this thing gets aimed at

yooo

i thought this was opportunity at first cuz of the bridge but it’s more likely promethea

when u go meet zer0 you can see some water surrounding the city so i would guess this is somewhere else on promethea

im mostly interested in the giant fuckin triangle in the middle of that courtyard looking area

oh also the giant trench of destruction on the right there. that’s probably important, too.

more concept art!

i think the bottom of the 4 VHs is actually what was leaked in january.

some art of the twins on the left there, tyreen is so much shorter than troy omfg

and this does indeed looks to be a younger version of angel so credit to @prettypinkdork for mentioning that on my angel post. it is nice to see those tech-y wings in action, definitely does prove it’s her.

we can also see this art of what i think is Punk Girl, which is interesting to me because she looks to be doing something with her right hand. possible siren powers? maybe! 

we also get a much cooler, bigger version of that maliwan ship people were talking about, with what look to be maliwan... eye bots? surrounding it. this is soooo fuckin awesome to me because it reminds me of a sailboat. and airships are fucking COOL

but something interesting is that i don’t think this ship was actually always maliwan

we got an A in the back here... for Atlas? i mean... you know it’s coming... the colors would match up. Yeahhhhhhh...

more interesting is that it actually looks like maliwan covered it up with their flags/tarps. i would not be surprised if this was claimed by maliwan possibly during the takeover.

a cyclone, with a whole fuckin lot of detail. just... holy shit.

not much else to say here though. i like the stuffed animal on the side, though

a better shot of jakobs manor which holy shit looks badass as fuck

big turret/observation thing on the right there? im not sure

pretty sure this is eden-6. also more tropical trees? possibly a water planet? but maybe just ocean on eden-6. also there seems to be like webbing on whatever is on the road, so maybe some spider-like wildlife?

most important to me is this

yeah i would bet that’s eridium/slag/the chemical sludge from elpis

im pretty convinced this is something on elpis mostly because the DAHL logo on the side. which again, they were on pandora yes but they were mining for iridium not eridium. if this was pandoran pumping stations, that would be hyperion.

i do think this is elpis. and i do think the twins are using the chemical sludge that mutated the lost legion into those fake siren things to give their followers superpowers.”holy holy holy” indeed.

this, plus the rakk wings on the psycho in the mask of mayhem are just convincing me more and more

that’s all for now folks. i gotta run