#the light spots were a very light green iirc (it's been a while) but they just look white here

[gray-warden]

I just realized I never posted photos of this really pretty harvestman i came across a while back. Note the green pedipalps and the dark and light spots on its back.

[kanohivolitakk]

Have you done Krekka for the ask game? I know you're a huge Nidhiki fan, curious if you have any thoughts on his partner?

I haven't gotten Krekka yet actually. So far I only done Toa Ignika and Axonn for the Bionicle ask game (which Im still accepting). That being said great choice. Krekka isn't necessarily a big favorite of mine (partially because I'm not that fond of the "dumb brute" archetype barring a few exceptions), but I have to admit I do have a soft spot for the big guy. Krekka is a relatively simple character when it comes to characterization/backstory/role in the story (especially when compared to Nidhiki), but that doesn't mean I don't have any "deeper" thoughts regarding him or that there isnt stuff worth discussing.

Anyways some thoughts/headcanons/general musings:

This is a weird thing to start with but... Krekka is kinda adorable for me. I think its kinda this ...overgrown puppy (bulldog??) vibe due to his loyalty and dumbness. I admit BOADH is a big reason for me feeling this way since it gave him a few moments that made me go "AWWW he's so cute". Just..love his loyalty so much.

His undying loyalty makes him stand out for me across the other dark hunters. While many dark hunters we ha e are opportunistic and schemy, Krekka is just...very loyal. Maybe too much so. But I love that he is loyal. Feels refreshing tbh.

And now I cant help but feel that TSO is just "guys stupid but at least he wont double cross me and is easy to keep in check" when it comes to him.

Not to go woobifying villains but I genuinely dont think the guys that bad. Hes just really stupid, overly loyal and doing his job. Its kinda like w Lariska being a decent person despite being a knife happy murder girl although to a much lesser extent since guys a literalminded fool and also just smashy boy.

I do like his backstory of being a former guard who lost his job and started wreck havoc until one day a dark hunter found and hired him. It isnt anything too complex but it works well for his character and explains why he is so loyal to Dark Hunters. It also helps bringing a bit more light to his homeland and I love when we get more info of places through character backstories, makes the world feel more real that way.

Also can Gorast please stop hurting charaxters I like. This is the reason shes my least favorite character in the 2001-2008 storyline that isnt just a glorified extra or a plot device.

When it comes to Krekka, one scene I always think of when I think of him is in BOADH where he temporarily forgot to fly and Nidhiki was just "WAIT A MOMENT LARISKA TOLD ME YOU CAN FLY????" and Krekka just goes "whoops I forgot". That was adorable honestly. You dumb idiot, forgot you could fly.

Also, I know he's kinda "the idiot character", and while I am NOT saying he isn't, I do think its worth pointing out that he's basically literal minded. In BOADH (again) when Nidhiki tried to do that training scenario Krekka basically was like "wait I’m here, there’s nothing there why should I move there". This is

Another thing I really like about Krekka is that how, despite being an absolute idiot and tool, he still is willing to sometimes not take Nidhikis bullshit, see preventing him from getting the Zamor launchers (geez BOADH did a lot for this guys characterization lmao)

I sometimes call him truck boy because his name is one letter off my languages word for truck.

Also unless canon/word of Greg says otherwise I don't think every member of his species is as stupid as him. Like possibly on similar level but still.

It is made pretty clear that Nidhiki couldn't stand Krekka at all, but I do genuinely wonder how Krekka feels about Nidhiki. Based on the little we have I'd say he liked him to some extent or at the very least, didn't hate him to the same degree. I also have to wonder how aware he was about Nidhikis haterd towards him.

I also love the idea that when Nidhiki was mutated, Krekka just...wasnt afraid of him at slightest, no fear in this dumb boy. (I also like the idea he didnt recognize him at first and Nidhiki just, had to explain to his thick skull who he was. It took a while but eventually he got it.)

On a related note, I find it interesting how the LOMN website describes him working with Nidhiki because guy knows where to get the good jobs or something rather than being his goverment (read TSO) assigned partner The way the twos relationship were described makes it feel that by this point the staff hadnt figured out what they wanted to do with Dark Hunters , or if it even was an organization or just these two tools.

Its really interesting for me how Krekkas characterization not only varies between the books/comics (where hes more intimidating and him being a simpleton isnt as pronounced) and the movie (where hes more of a dumbass) but also how his characterization evolved. Like, his loyalty wasn't that pronounced trait but now I feel its just as important part of him as him being a dumbass (which is to say, very interesting)

I remember how the aftoermentoined Metru Nui movie website described that Krekka hated toa to the point wouldve hunted them for free if Nidhiki didnt make sure the two would get paid. I feel this is somewhat early installment weirdness as it isnt mentioned anywhere else but at the same time Krekka being willing to fight without payment sounds 1000% in character if you ask me

Something I have been confused over: when exactly was Krekka recruited to the dark hunters??? The timeline is very vague about this and I wish we knew.

It's been AGES since I watched my home countrys dub of LOMN but what I recall I really liked Krekka's voice in that dub. He sounded more badass and I loved it, the VA had a pretty unique sound. Sadly dont think there is any clips of the LOMN dub, which is a shame. UPDATE: I rewatched the dub and I love the voice itself but felt the voice direction made him sound kinda inconsistent

This is more a "Nidhiki and Krekka related thought" rather than just Krekka related but one thing I really like about Krekka and Nidhiki is that how they are like a more serious and competent take of "those two evil henchmen with contrasting personalities" trope. Often these types of villains are rather goofy, but these two could be rather dangerous as well and I really like that. I also like their dynamic of just doing Nidhiki being done with Krekkas bullshit. One of the main reasons I wish LOMN was a miniseries rather than a movie is because I really wanted more screentime with the two.

On a related note can I JUST SAY I LOVE the way the two compliment/pararell each other. From design (Krekka being bulky mostly blue colored, Nidhiki being slender and monstrous, mostly green colored) to personality (Krekka being foolish and simpleminded but loyal Nidhiki being cunning and ambitious but treacherous) to powersets (Krekka being strong physical attacker, Nidhiki being weaker(??) but faster and more special attacker).Heck, even their backstories have similarities as they both lost their orginal purpose in one way or another and didnt have anywhere to go but Dark Hunters (the main difference being that Nidhiki inflicted his fate upon himself by betraying the toa while Krekka didnt really do anything iirc)

Now for something crossovery, Krekkas and Nidhikis dynamic reminds me a lot of Kronk and Yzma from Emperors New Groove. Yes I have drawn a parody of the "pull the lever kronk" meme, yes I intend to make more screencap redraws. They also remind me a lot of Mummymon and Archenemon from Digimon 02, partially due to the dynamic (smug spider that tries to be cunning and intimidating but gets outclassed by most other villains in that + loyal blue dumb boy) partially due to their ultimate fate being rather similar.

I don't know how familiar you are with the franchise, but Krekka reminds me a fair bit of Gamel, one of the four villain generals in Kamen Rider OOOs, mainly because "the dumb brute major villain that's kinda cuteish and loyal a f while everyone else is an asshole".

I remember reading a p good oneshot fic that was just him accidentally killing a civilian when all he wanted was a hug and...honestly that is p much what I imagine him being like. Guy may be strong, reckless and a fool but like I said I dont think hes all that bad and just a puppy. An overgrown, moronic puppy but a puppy nontheless

For AUs, I remember I have thought once of "What if Krekka survived but Nidhiki died" and just ...guy wouldve been very lost and confused and unsure what to do tbh. He would most likely returned to Dark Hunters but Mata Nui knows how say TSO wouldve felt about that. Its not too complex au yet but I am thinking of developing it further one day.

Thank you for asking.

Sorry this took longer than expected. I had too many thoughts and half of them were deleted so. I hope its worth the wait tho. I do have a lot of Krekka thoughts and tbh wasnt sure if I was even able to get them all here.

(I am still doing the ask game so if anyone wants to send me a bonkle I will try to give thoughts, meta and headcanons on them)

[aleniksimmer]

Mister Bug and Lady Noire Sets (or master post for the first part)

So, I’ve watched the episode again in a better quality (not HD but enough at this point) and taken reference pictures. As always with new suits (Rena, AquaBug etc) I catch -tons- of mistake, but since I doubt we’re going to have another kwami swap, I’ll base my Sets on this ep and fill with personal preference where needed.

First of all, do you think Lady Noire is the right name? On the English dolls is written as Lady Noire, but when we first had a glance at her doll promo (portoguese?) it was Lady Noir (if Thomas or Winny confirmed somewhere please tell me).

Now, let’s talk about their costumes and how I want to make them.

-:-:-

LN has 3D decor similar to CN suit, but green and with small dark grey/black beads.

She’s wearing heels but shorter than QB, and with the same green decor but less/not puffy.

The baton is attached to the left side, the green lace is closed by a what looks like a flattened sphere with the green cat paw on the other side (I’ll talk about this in other pics too because it’s what has been affected more by animation mistakes).

She has green trim around her legs, neck and ears too, with the same dark beads theme going on, except for the ears that don’t have any kind of bead/stud unlike CN.

You can see the bead behind her leg. And her braid is very very long. Also, darker than her ice transformation iirc (in which she already has darker hair than usual).

They both have colored sole decor unlike their normal selves.

They have the same mask as if it depends from the kwami (pointed for LN and round for MB). LN also takes her eye color from Plagg (as Viperion with Sass) but MB has Adrien’s green eyes.

The area below the green trim on the arms is thicker as if she’s wearing gloves (the same way CN pads do around his trims).

The bead on her neck is flattened.

MB has layered outfit as QB, it’s not as thick as the pads on the chest, arms, etc but it’s there.

The shoulders are heavily padded, I think more than his regular suit. I didn’t considered the spots at this moment because they caused me nightmares with LB but they have geometry going on, and they are lesser than LB for obvious reasons.

As you can see on LN, the thing on her hips is now a black circle, that sometimes fly, sometimes is flat (It just makes me want to scream in frustration). MB hips lace is black instead of red as LB.

While there’s a clear net pattern in MB suit (same as LB with shining edges), LN doesn’t show any particular pattern in this quality (while CN had shining exagons), but, from the way her suit reflects light, I assume she has the same pattern as CN mask, which seems patternless unless the camera is very close and you can see very small exagons.

As I said, very very long braid.

She has smaller claws than CN!! And she wears the ring in the same finger/hand iirc (sorry, it has been long time since I paid attention to it).

The legs seems to have dimension too as if they are boots.

Layered arm between black and red areas.

Layered leg.

LN main beads has become some sort of flat distorted paw.

LN leg trim confirmed 3D with a round bead.

Layered (or just bump map) chest too, even between reds.

-:-:-

How do I intend to proceed with the sets:

The green trims on LN arms and legs are going to be 3D as my CN ones, but I won’t make the gloves/boots thicker to fake dimension (as I haven’t done with CN pads. At the time because I wasn’t able to, now because it’s a very little detail for the game). The trims on the neck and shoes are probably going to be just texture, but separated from the main suit uv space to make them clear around the edges. All the beds are going to be 3D, the neck one will be more flat.

I will reuse CN baton, ears, and ring (and probably QB hips lace too), properly adjusted for female frame and in the right position. The ring and baton will only have one swatch (full miraculous and green paw, I’ll probably add the inactive miraculous for both but not the grey baton). I won’t change the baton according to CN reference sheet they shared after I made the set (just one paw in one side, while mine has it on both), but I’ll probably fix the mesh artifacts now that I’m able to.

I have to remake the hair for LN (but they’ll have the same CAS swatch color as Mari’s other ones to avoid conflicts with the game genetics), for MB you’ll have to download CN hair (I won’t change them, they are a little wonky because they were my first complicated hair mesh but I like to have him with the same hair). LN hair won’t be that long, they’ll end around the ankles to avoid further problems with clipping.

For LN shoes I have to use the same tecnique I’ve used for QB (separated in CAS) due to the heels.

For the mask, I’ll try to reuse the original ones as much as possible, I’ll just adjust the shape/shadows where needed due to the different frame.

MB will be all 2D despite layered (as I did for QB) except for the shoulder pads. I’ll add a proper normal map to fake the plates on his chest.

MB yoyo will be the same as LB, but I’ll probably adjust the uv and texture now that I know what I’m doing, the lace will be black. For LN hell paw symbol, I’ll go with a flattened black sphere with the green paw on it.

The specular (reflection) of the suit will be net for MB and exagons for LN (as my original LB and CN suits). There will also be the one with the solid specular for both as usual.

I’ll make the claws for LN but similar to my CN set, I don’t think they would be good looking in game as short as in the show.

I’ll convert LB earrings for males and add only the active, inactive swatch (even if they aren’t going to be seen with MB hair).

I think I took everything into account. It’s not that much work, since I already have the base for the suits ready and the 3D stuff they added shouldn’t be difficult (except for LN hair). I don’t know when I’m going to make them, but expect them very soon (probably before Chloé and even Evelynn). In any case all the four sets (Evelynn, Chloé, Lady Noire, Mister Bug) should be ready before the end of september.

(Maybe one day I’ll make their photoshoot outfits too. I don’t know where to add HM and Mayura mask combined, probably need to add a new category in my extra sets. If I’ll ever make Juleka because she’s going to receive a miraculous, and she’s still a teen -not adult like Alix, that I still need to figure out how to categorize-, I won’t do her hair with the hairclip, just her regular ones.)

[cruddyborderlandstheories]

u guys know how crystalisks change color depending on element?

ohhh yeah

tl;dr: i went off on crystalisks for a while, started talking about vault monsters/guardians and siren tattoos, bloodwing, krieg, the elemental hierarchy, the bandits that got mutated by the vault key piece, the eridian ruins powering up, the moon [elpis] being teleported in that new vid we got with steve and claptrap, i rant about eleseer and technologically created pocket dimensions (heyo), and also there’s commander lily spoilers in here so be warned

i talked about a lot of things. i promise i linked them all together. somehow.

so we got the normal crystalisks that do explosive stuff

got Blue (the aptly named big blue crystalisk) that deals shock damage

(we also see a few more in hayter’s folly)

got Rouge the red one that deals fire damage

I’m honestly surprised we haven’t seen any green crystalisks since they’re pretty common in the caustic caverns.

anyway the reason im bringing this up now is because a very very long time ago (jesus christ, 2017) i had a theory that crystalisks were kinda like pets to the Eridians, like guard dogs of the ruins in the caustic caverns. which could explain why they were friendly (iirc Blue was even playing fetch with Booth) until Dahl started mining them

mostly cause of the guardian ruins everywhere

also, they show up in the Vault of the Warrior, as well. which is curious.

the other reason im bringing this up now is because im wondering if their crystals have any relation whatsoever to the purple crystals we see sprouting out of the ground in bl3.

they hang out in the ground when not active, mimicking said crystals, and there are yellow crystals sprouting out of the ground in bl2 that, when meleed, produce the same crystals crystalisks do when they die. (tho now im wondering if we’ve just been senselessly murdering crystalisk babies :|)

bonus: we know threshers are native to elpis, not pandora, and their blood is green. Crystalisk blood is blue, which could possibly hint at the fact they’re an alien species to Pandora. AFAIK rakk, skag, bullymong, stalker, and spiderant blood is all red. and so is bandit blood. (unless they’ve been huffing Eridium sludge like Zarpedon. then it glows purple i guess.)

anyway

you guys know how vault monsters change color based on element?

just recently fought this bad boy so i have a plethora of pictures

(this one is cryo)

(slag/base- which you know, makes sense. gotta slag em before u can swap guns)

(this one is shock)

nasty boy

also, interesting to note: we never got ‘explosive’ as an element with the sentinel and in bl3, explosive was taken out of the element list

you know how Siren tattoos also change color based on element?

sorry i would show amara’s green/corrosive tattoos BUT this was the leaked clip that i had on hand

ohhhh yeah.

now we know Siren tattoos are blue when using their base powers. according to amara, this blue means electricity is the ‘base’ element for sirens (which just plain isn’t true given what we’ve seen with maya and lilith, unless they show that further in bl3 where lilith uses phasewalk without her tattoos going red... which I’m guessing will not happen lol)

which has me like 🤔

we know in the original borderlands the vault key is blue for the vault of the destroyer

in all it’s technological glory

then it changes to purple in bl2. and apparently, we even get red in bl3.

so i know what you’re thinking “well blue must be the base element then” but imma posit that it’s actually not

We know the sentinel, when it comes out of the Vault, the first element it is is ‘purple’ (aka slag/eridium i guess, since slag isn’t in TPS). which, as we said above, makes sense.

we know the Warrior was a biological weapon built/modified by the Eridians for... some reason. It was under complete control of whoever opened the Vault. (the warrior actually has 2 elements afaik, the slag tail/wings and the fire)

I wanna say we were SUPPOSED to open the Vault of the Warrior first. Then open the Vault of the Destroyer and annihilate it with our new cool biological weapon

so then the order would be purple -> blue -> uhhh something something

oh and Siren tattoos appear to always be purple when interacting with Eridium stuff

like when Lily touches the vault key in the Vault of the Warrior, her tattoos glow purple

when Lilith is being mind controlled by Jack/the collar/charging Eridium her tattoos are purple

etc etc

also MAJOR COMMANDER LILY SPOILERS BELOW

her tattoos glow purple during the final cutscene i believe. bonus i’m pretty sure the vault map was glowing white when inside hector. it was still purple on the outside tho soooo take that as you will. i had a picture but i removed it because i didn’t wanna spoil anything for anyone. the whispy bits do remind me of angel’s wings

SPOILERS ARE DONE

dunno if any of this is important but i will say

when u fight a badass skag that’s been charged by an element and is implied to be the result of eridium runoff aka slag? mmm that’s the good shit.

Bloodwing?? her base color is purple. but jack is able to change her element based on outside stimuli (and, again, explosive isn’t actually seen as an element, just a joke... a really... fucked up... joke...)

we also know a lot of the bandits were mutated by the vault key (piece?) in sledge’s mine. might help explain burning psychos (the ones that are literally on fire). 

also maybe the eridian ruins are starting to give off ‘radiation’. you know how the original Eridian Ruins in BL1 were like white/blueish and then all the ones we find in BL2 are purple-ish? maybe they started charging up once the first Vault was opened and that allowed more and more bandits to start getting 

borderlands 1

vs

borderlands 2

(sorry for the shitty screencap, i hope it’s clear enough)

oh also maybe krieg’s ability to breathe fire and light himself on fire since he was a hyperion experiment. dunno if they did slag testing on him or not but... all things considered... it’s a probably maybe. wasn’t his assassin’s assassin the woman in the ECHO logs you find around the WEP?

also Terry the thresher? probably mutated like hell from living in those Vault ruins. might explain the size. also threshers being from the moon might just give them the fire/wormhole abilities inherently. since apparently the moon is some top secret eridian base that can see the future. im not even surprised. also you know. terry drops e-tech stuff upon decimation.

anyway i think Pandora is a lot older than Elpis and that’s why Elpis appears super fucking high-tech compared to Pandora’s ruins.

I mean look at the above then look down here

which makes sense, you’d make the planet before you make the moon yeah?

so elpis was probably put in place to watch over Pandora, maybe the Destroyer and the Warrior’s fight or maybe even to predict the future of that fight. maybe the eridians got paranoid and were like ‘fuck this’ and vanished because they were told they couldn’t win.

i do go into that whole theory of ‘zarpedon saw what the twins are about to do in bl3 and jack ain’t shit’ in an older post of mine so i won’t go into it here, but that’s another option as to why the eridians just booked it the hell outta dodge

bonus: in tycho’s ribs, some of the glowy lights are not actually purple, they’re red-ish

which has me thinking about the glowing red Vault Map we see in the Dev trailer. wonder if that’s going to lead up to elpis

oh! and speaking of elpis

yeah i don’t think that’s just an aesthetic thing cause holy shit

we’re all going to die!

yeah i actually have no idea what’s happening to the moon here

but im going to take a wild guess and draw your attention to that one scene with lilith

when she uhhh teleports in using her firehawk powers

we see it again when tyreen teleports in bandits on promethea

and they look

really

darn

familiar

im not saying we’re gonna teleport the moon but hOLY SHIT would that be F*CKING AWESOME

we also know ‘the moon is the key’ as shown on the cover art sooooo

it’s entirely possible?

which brings me to another point i made a while ago when the booth intro got leaked and i was talking about the ‘vault’ ‘not-vault’ area and decided it was on pandora because of the moon, but made a joke that maybe it wasn’t because i guess we could just move the moon.

what if it actually wasn’t lmao

nah im just playing, i’m pretty sure those are Rakk flying around there, but HEY it’d be cool!

also it’s pretty fucked up what’s happening on elpis considering it looks like it’s being bathed in fire... sucks for everyone on concordia but hey, if it means getting rid of pickle, im game.

OH GOD DAMN IT HE WAS ON SANCTUARY WITH TINA FUC-

anyway.

i wanna move the moon

oh also im still not convinced eleseer isn’t found by going thru a wormhole/alternate dimension/pocket rip/whatever

like, you know how to fight the Sentinel you go inside that giant purple crystal that looks like/is probably eridium? and the arena is WAYYY bigger than it ought to be? and it looks like the outside is made out of glowing graph paper and sick guy fieri flames that’s probably supposed to imply some sort of technological feeling?

oh and it does the “lilith just yeeted u to bloodshot stronghold- just kidding’ effect! which... y’know. my only gripe with that is it actually does appear to be somewhere inside eleseer given if u look at the ceiling it does look to be the same sky you see outside eleseer... but where the fck is eleseer... is it in another dimension inside the moon? bc i still refuse to believe the entire moon is being supported by that area... wouldn’t you see the crust?? somewhere? and it being in another dimension would help explain the whole ‘yeah you’re exactly where you were five seconds ago... but also you’re not because you’re in this arena and it’s clipping except it’s not so even though the sky looks the same because you’re in the same exactly spot you were in 5 seconds ago, you’re actually not (but you are)’. because what the fuck my scrub brain can’t comprehend that!

but god i wanna know if the eridians were harnessing the power of eridium and learned how to create pocket dimensions using their technology and fuckin DID IT the mad lads. i mean isn’t that what Vaults are? just little rips in this dimension. it’s the good shit.

also i wanna know why the Destroyer seemed to have pockets of slag/eridium on it’s tentacles when he’s supposed to be the VILLAIN tm of bl1 and also the eridians. might help explain why eridium only starts appearing after you off that physical rendition of him. also [see that one post i made about the crystals being corpses].

wow.

yeah.

i just spent a straight 2 hours doing nothing but typing this post. i should really go to bed. imma go do that

tomorrow i wanna talk about the seraph vendor. cause i can.

[blenderbender1811]

A Song of Ice and Fire - Weddings Primer

Just a bunch of stuff put together about weddings in the ASOIAF universe for those looking to write them. Specifically, how weddings run in Westeros. This goes under a read more, for the post is long.

1) Nobody can be COMPELLED to marry. They need to say the words and if it’s done under sword point, it might be dissolved later. That said, it’s expected you’ll marry who your lord or his liege commands and if you don’t, you might be estranged from your family, and the ironborn can marry someone by proxy (with a seal in the place of a person, the iron born are weird.)

2) The Targaryens occasionally took more than one woman as a wife. The Ironborn also sometimes have more than one wife - an ironborn ‘rock wife’ and ‘salt wives’ taken on raids (because that’s not coercion at all). The children of salt wives are not considered bastards, but they come AFTER the children of rock wives status wise. 

3) Marriage contracts take forever to negotiate and they address all sorts of possibilities - land, inheritance, dowries, etc. Once a betrothal is made, you better have a GOOD reason to break it (infidelity, inability to fulfill property or income agreements in the contract, somebody died and you must fulfill their betrothal, you found out they have another contract, an inability to seal the alliance with children (infertility), etc.). Breaking a betrothal is a BIG deal and you might cause a lot more than hurt feelings. You might cause very real political damage with the people you were trying to ally with. 

4) So, how do you choose a partner? There’s several factors, some more important than others.

- Rank: This is one of, if not the most important thing to consider. If the parties are not of similar rank, this is going to get tricky. Marrying one rank up or down doesn’t seem to be scoffed at (for instance, nobody thinks, for example, that Mace Tyrell is weak because he married down to Alerie Hightower). More than one rank though and you’re going to need a very good reason for the marriage to happen. And marriages to lowborn people are vanishingly rare. That’s why Asha couldn’t marry Qarl even though she’d love to.

- Position in Family: Another super important factor. Is the person being married a ruling Lord or Lady? What about an heir? Are they the eldest daughter (who traditionally has choicest pick of gentlemen callers)? Are they true born or bastards? If they’re dynastically important, the family will be much pickier. Younger sons or daughters are much more likely to marry a household knight (or their daughter) or a minor bannerman than an older child, who is likelier to marry a major bannerman, if not marry up. 

- Political Context: This just always needs to be in mind. Does the husband have another wife? Is their land in a dangerous or contested spot? What’s their influence in the capitol like, if any? If your marriage making plans don’t make sense, the marriage is going to look shabbier or hastier to everyone else in Westeros.

- Age: In Westeros, we all know their treatment of age with regards to marriage is absolutely gross. We don’t need to be told that. Age isn’t treated as a major factor and indeed, young women have been married off to gross old men as a punishment (see poor Sylva Santigar for details). That said, even in Westeros, it’s generally considered more comfortable if they’re close in age, like with Joffrey and Sansa being considered perfect because they were the same age. This also makes sense dynastically speaking because they wouldn’t have to wait long for children. Or, alternatively, if you’re an elderly person looking for companionship before you die, you’ll probably pick someone closer to your own age and experiences. 

- Religion:  Again, not the biggest deal for most of Westeros, but I can easily imagine someone super pious wanting a spouse of the same religion.

- Personal Well Being: Since we’re playing a feudal dynastic game, this is barely a concern. That said, a decently loving family will probably want to look out for their family’s well being. They’re probably not eager to give their child in marriage to someone actively dangerous for them after all. Plus, dynastically speaking, it would render any alliance gained moot. Also, an older person looking for a second or third marriage, or again, an elderly person looking for companionship, would likely consider how well they got along. 

- Health: Somewhat important. If the point is to seal an alliance via babies, you want someone who can survive consummation, pregnancy, birth, and raising those children. One of the most important things Catelyn considered when looking for a bride for Robb was how good their hips were. IIRC, she didn’t want Robb to marry a Whent because their health tended to be delicate. Again, if you make an alliance only to immediately lose it when the person dies, what was the point of it in the first place? A good example of this is how nobody wanted to marry Shireen because she had greyscale.

- Wealth: Fairly important. You want an alliance partner to bring something to the table. It’s less about coinage and more about resources. Do they  have lots of land, minerals, livestock, industry, etc.?

- Appearance: Not exactly a first concern, but it’s somewhat a factor, simply because a good looking person is more likely to get lots of offers.  

- Region: Most marriages take place between houses of the same region. This isn’t a hard and fast law, but your alliances are more likely to be useful when they live next door and not five days away in a region you’ve never seen.

- Former marriages or children: This is important because if they already have children, YOUR children won’t get any inheritance from your spouse. If you’re going to marry, you have to be okay with that. Tends to work for marrying off younger children or when you look for step parents, but it might also be a deal breaker for someone looking for a first marriage. Never even mind in the Iron Islands, where wives might have to compete.

- Reputation: Important. You don’t want to marry your kid off to someone with a poor reputation. Knightly orders, people closely connected to important people, well reputed for honesty or honour are good things. An oathbreaker or drunkard will have a harder go than normal.

- Prestige: A more prestigous house will have more suitors. A house being of high rank doesn’t necessarily mean prestige. “New money” houses or houses in trade my have the wealth and militaryy might to be a major house, but still not be considered pretigious enough for many large houses. A house that were once kings will have more prestige than those who weren’t. A house who’s been around for thousands of years is likely lmore prestigious than a new one (hence why the Lannisters are more prestigious than Baratheons of Storm’s End before a Baratheon becomes king).

5) According to the Wedding Knight PDF from the Game of Thrones edition of the Green ronin RP game, weddings are traditionally hosted by the bride’s family. 

6) Likewise, according to the same, wedding dresses are traditionally white. This gels with the books, where the wedding dresses I recall being described (Jeyne’s, Sansa’s, and Margaery’s are all white). Now, to be fair, Sansa is a Stark and Jeyne was disguised as Arya, so they would both be using Stark colours. It also fits with the Seven, where white is seen as a colour of innocence and thus might be more appropriate to a maiden. It’s also a colour Septons and Septas wear most of the time (along with rainbows) and on Maiden’s Day girls light white candles. While none of that would apply to the Old Gods (or offshoots of the Old Gods like the Drowned God), I can see white catching on as a wedding colour regardless. If nothing else, it shows wealth if you can keep white clean. 

This isn’t like the real middle ages, btw. Blue was the traditional innocence and purity colour then. Women basically wore whatever colour they wanted, albeit with different cultural traditions surrounding omens and such.

Notes: For five and six, ‘traditional’ in this sense most likely does not mean ‘binding’. We see numerous examples of weddings that are not at the bride’s home and I’m sure plenty of Westerosi ladies wore other colours to their weddings. I wouldn’t be surprised if house colours were involved. Not that it matters overmuch - they change for the feast, and those colours can be whatever they want (though likely house colours).

7) Weddings in Westeros (or, at least highborn ones) involve a dowry, a dower (as per Tywin and Hoster discussing one for Lysa and Jaime) and a bride price (as per Barristan’s comments). These are three different things.

- A dowry: A dowry is property or income a woman is bringing into the marriage, a payment from her family to her husband’s. It’s meant to help build the new family and also for income security. In the rare (nearly non-existent in Westeros) circumstance of divorce, I believe she gets the dowry back, but if she dies, the money either goes to her children or returns to her family.

- A dower: A dower is a sum of property or income designed to protect a wife if she becomes widowed. Since men are the primary breadwinners in Westeros, this is done so as not to leave a widow destitute. This income or property comes from the groom’s family. If the couple divorces, she does not get the dower (although some societies allow her to keep it if she has just cause, I doubt Westeros works like that). This money is traditionally given to the bride by the groom on the morning of the wedding. This money is HER’S. Unlike the dowry, which is often used by both spouses, her husband cannot touch her dower. Usually this means her representative (usually a male relative) is in charge of executing it, but she can be bequeath it to whoever she wants.

- A bride price: A bride price is money paid by the groom’s family to the bride’s. This is meant as a sort of ‘thank you’ for raising her and also to compensate them for the loss of their daughter - physically, emotionally, and financially. Calculating these can be complex and depend on numerous factors. Appearance, skills, how smart she is, how healthy she is, etc. I’m fairly sure this is what Cersei refers to as ‘selling women off like livestock’. In the case of divorce, you can get the bride price back in many societies, and some also allow you to get it back if she dies (particularly if she’s childless). I imagine that’s much the same in Westeros.

8) There are at least two feasts traditionally thrown for the wedding - a welcoming one to welcome all the guests, and the actual wedding feast.

9) It’s traditional to throw a hunt just before the wedding. All the men in the wedding party and any ladies who wish to accompany them are allowed to go. This is done as a show of magnanimity by the lord who is supposed to open his land to his guests, and also to provide sport for the restless party. In return, anything caught on the hunt is supposed to go on the lord’s table for the wedding feast.

10)  Different regions have different local traditions for a wedding day. Case in point, the Reach has a wedding breakfast where the bride and groom SEPARATELY receive their gifts. 

11) Ceremonies vary by religion

- The Faith of the Seven: This one is LONG. It begins with the septon in a sept reciting several prayers and readings. The groom is between the alter of the Mother and Father but the bride is outside the room. Next, the bride is presented, being walked down the Isle by her father or a close male relative (or, sometimes, a liege lord if a close male relative isn’t there). The bride is on the left and the groom to the right. The father presents the bride to the groom, and the groom lifts her veil (if she’s wearing one). The groom removes his bride’s maiden’s cloak (or bride’s cloak if she’s a widow) and gives her one of his own house. The septon says they’re there to join them in a union, and ties their hands together in a ritual knot. They make their final vows, kiss, and the guests applaud. Guests stand in two columns in front of the couple to watch the wedding. 

- The Old Gods of the Forest: The ceremony is performed by the head of the groom’s family. It’s at night, in the godswood, in front of a weirwood preferably. The guests carry torches to watch. The bride is led by her father (or again, a close relative). The person performing the ceremony asks who comes before the old gods and a few ritual lines are exchanged where the man gives the bride. The officiator asks the bride if she will take the groom, and when she says yes, the couple hold hands and kneel before the heart tree for a moment of silent prayer and then they’re done. The groom removes the maiden’s (or bride’s) cloak, give them a cloak of their husband’s house, and carries her to the feast in his arms.

- The Drowned God: They’re officiated by a priest of the Drowned God and tend to be very solemn. Salt wife weddings tend to be more fun, and that is all we know. Since Drowned God priests seem to do their ritual work on the shore, it seems probably iron born weddings are at the beach. I wonder if they have to drown for them? Maybe they wade into the water or get water dunked all over them. We’re not sure. We’ve never seen an iron born wedding. Since the Drowned God is an offshoot of the Old Gods, they likely also have some sort of bridal cloak custom, probably after whatever blessings and ritual immersion in water is done.

- R’hllor: The ceremony is conducted by a member of the clergy. The bride is escorted to the clergy person who asks the bride to identify herself and who comes to claim her. They ask the bride and groom if they will share their fire with their spouse to be to warm them when the night is dark and full of terrors. The bride and groom jump over a bonfire built in a ditch and by doing so, their souls become one to the Lord of Light. Then the groom removes the maiden’s (or bride’s) cloak and gives her the cloak representing his house.

12) After the wedding, there’s the reception. This has dancing, music, poems, basically whatever kind of entertainment you want (which is likely regional). This is all done along with the wedding feast. There might be tourney to celebrate, but melee’s aren’t traditional (I’m sure they occur but it’s not a custom). ALSO. IMPORTANT - It is considered bad luck to deny a knight your hospitality on your wedding day. 

13) At the end of the feast, the highest ranking person in attendance calls for the bedding. Men carry the bride off, stripping her clothes and telling dirty jokes, women do the same with the groom, and sometimes they might be yelling encouragement or advice outside the door (or, god forbid, witnesses). This is done to ensure consummation. Not all weddings require a bedding ceremony, but Westeros does require consummation. This seems to be a custom for the Faith, the Old Gods, and the Drowned God, so it’s a universal across Westeros. After this the wedding is over. From this point on, they are married and if you don’t like it, well it just sucks to suck. And even if the wedding isn’t consummated for whatever reason, it’s bad luck for spouses to sleep apart on their wedding night. Brides are expected to be maidens (i.e. virgins), but if the couple gets married later, it’s not considered dishonouring (sex without a later betrothal was likely the dishonour Ashara experienced at Harrenhal, as it would have impacted her marriageability - not ruined it completely, you can marry somewhat decently even if you’re not a virgin, but definitely having an impact).

14) Women may or may NOT take their husband’s name. If they’re of the same rank, it’s pretty much up to her. If she outranks him, she very well might continue using her higher status maiden name. Plenty of women use their husband’s name and in fact most likely do, but it’s not a requirement in Westeros (at least, not among the same ranked or when the woman is higher).

15)  Annulment is incredibly hard to get in the Faith of the Seven - you better hope the High Septon or the Council of Faith is inclined to give you one (this is easier if its not consummated, the marriage is bigamous, there was an unbroken prior betrothal, or if the vows were made under false pretences, but it’s possible even if you’ve consummated or had children - Renly didn’t think it was impossible for Cersei to be set aside in favour of Margaery, Tysha and Tyrion’s marriage was annulled, etc) and while you don’t need to be there for it, you need to make the request yourself. It’s easier to just move apart. Or, if you’re THAT committed to getting away, you could join the Faith or Night’s Watch. 

Note: It’s much much easier to annul a marriage in the Old Gods religion (and, likely, the Drowned God as well) - all you need to do is tell your spouse that they’re no longer your spouse in front of public witnesses, at least according to Elio and Linda’s correspondence when discussing The World of Ice and Fire. R’hllor might require permission from the clergy in addition, but I find that unlikely for the Ironborn, since they seem fairly independent and in many ways closer to the Old Gods simplicity. I’m not sure if there are any special conditions to make this announcement but if they exist, they would likely be similar to grounds for annulment in the Faith of the Seven (with the exception of bigamy for the ironborn - they really really don’t care about that). Honestly, even if they don’t have conditions that doesn’t necessarily mean an unhappy marriage will be annulled since that requires spitting in the eye of the family you’re trying to make an alliance with. Breaking a betrothal is messy enough, breaking a marriage is just BEGGING for trouble. 

[sodapoplio]

i have to admit, this movie was a somewhat strange experience. i had mixed feelings from the trailers and after watching it, i still do, but there were also plenty of things i enjoyed about it! i’m not all that good at putting reactions into words, but if anyone’s curious about my thoughts + general experience, they’ll be under the cut.

i’ll start with stuff about the movie itself, then just stuff that happened to me personally that someone might find amusing!

so i never read the summary that was floating around months back, but some things that i already knew about due to accidental spoilers were the TRio being present but never interacting with ash & friends, cynthia being related to someone (i didn’t know beforehand if it was souji/sorrel or makoto/verity though, but since they’re from sinnoh i knew it had to be one of them), and i remember hearing stuff about pikachu “speaking” but wasn’t sure what exactly that meant. there might’ve been more things but i can’t think of them off the top of my head.

they were showing pokémon generations before the movie, specifically the one with green/blue battling the E4.

the start had a montage of clips from all the previous movies! which actually made me emotional, especially when the 8th movie came up (my fave!!).

the opening song was a cover of the first english dub theme, of course. and though i really wish they could’ve kept oracion as the credits song or at least have done a mixed language version like with chiisaki mono, the dub credits song was pretty nice (haven paschall sang it, i think)!

i was surprised that the traveling companions were animated in the ending credits. from what people were saying, i thought it would just be artwork of them or something. and they included tracey!

buut back to music, a lot of moments felt lacking without shinji miyazaki’s soundtrack (no tears after the cloudy weather in the butterfree scene??? a crime)

it was really weird watching ash travelling with no human companions in the beginning of the movie, it felt wrong lol

i really liked souji/sorrel and makoto/verity!! although, when sorrel mentioned being from veilstone city i couldn’t help but think SHINJI???

also, regarding sorrel, that flashback was VERY NOT OK... i almost cried.

so verity’s related to cynthia. i found it kind of odd when she mentioned to ash and sorrel that her mom’s a famous trainer in sinnoh and they didn’t question it? i guess they didn’t want to pry since she clearly has issues about it but still, wouldn’t they be curious as to who it is?

marshadow’s role was very confusing. like, i really don’t know what else to say about it? idk, maybe i missed something, but it didn’t make much sense to me...

the plot in general did not feel strong... and the climax was pretty cheesy, but i am weak for ash and pikachu’s moments.

team rocket’s dialogue made me laugh out loud multiple times. jessie saying “well I’M here, so where’s entei?” and meowth’s... ho-oh thing that i don’t know how to describe lmao

i also laughed when ash just straight up HANGS UP on his mom during a phone call when he hears someone mention entei. poor delia. although the part before that when she’s ranting about the lack of keeping in touch and says that’s “just like your father” made me wince, that’s harsh. it contrasts with the main universe when she compares him to his dad in a more positive light during their phone call in episode 2.

i wasn’t crazy about cross, it seemed like he was written to be your typical mean/edgy dude. that got a little better, though!

ASH’S NIGHTMARE WITH A POKEMON-LESS WORLD. THAT WAS VERY INTERESTING TO WATCH BUT HEARTBREAKING. ;_;

while watching the movie, i forgot hearing about pikachu “speaking”, so when it actually happened i was like WAIT A MINUTE.. it kind of reminds me of the xy episode when they made that pikachu movie and had the voice-over lol

but was pikachu actually speaking or was that like a translation? that’s what i want to know. if he can actually speak the only explanation i can think of is him meeting meowth offscreen and being like "teach me ur ways”, but i think it’s more likely that it’s just what ash heard? iirc it was kind of echoey, so that might be it! we’ll probably never know for sure, though.

i enjoyed looking for easter eggs! there were references to characters and past movies, oh and also in the scenery at parts.

ALSO LOL @ the part at the end in the pokemon center when nurse joy’s like ��pikachu must’ve had a good battle” or something and ash says they battled ho-oh and she’s just like “that’s nice :)” before doing a double take.

so, my impression of the movie as a whole was that it played with some interesting concepts and got feelsy, but it felt like there was a lot missing plot-wise. i’ll definitely want to watch it again in japanese so i can experience the original acting/soundtrack, and maybe some of my confusion (regarding marshadow) will be cleared up?

as for stuff that happened to me personally...

i thought wearing my pikachu hoodie would be extra, but about half the theater was also wearing lots of pokemon stuff so it worked out. :D

i was also worried that people in the theater would be obnoxious and shout things during the movie (it’s happened a lot on opening nights i’ve gone to), but luckily everyone was pretty quiet, with the exception of funny moments or surprising things of course.

none of my friends could go, though, and it felt a bit awkward going to a movie alone (i don’t think i’ve ever done that before, actually), but i’m glad i went!

parking was atrocious. luckily, i left really early, so despite spending so much time looking for a spot that weren’t reserved for empty valet parking lots, i still managed to get there fairly early!

[greenworkslawnmowers-blog]

Greenworks mo40l410 Review

---To start out with --- let me explain what I bought, I bought the 20" Greenworks mo40l410 (the one that comes with one 4AH battery). The fact that I have to clarify is annoying and more on this later.. This one appears to be a newer version of the 19" (but still brushless) that came before. --- On to the Greenworks mo40l410 review --- This Greenworks mo40l410 is pretty awesome. I was a bit nervous cause there were so few reviews on it. I previously had and loved the brushed corded 16" lawn mower from GreenWorks... it worked so well that I decided to untether myself for my birthday. I was convinced after the corded electric lawn mower worked flawlessly and my 40v GreenWorks brushless weed eater worked so well. So the mower went on sale on Prime Day and I jumped on it. First impressions are that the design engineers are clearly continuing improvements. The handle could fold on my corded lawn mower, but nowhere near as easily as this Greenworks mo40l410 can... I don't even like this feature and wouldn't use it regularly, but I can still appreciate the improvements that other people may use. The battery bay holds two batteries... but here's the kicker, I mowed some tall thick St. Augustine grass and finished the front yard you see in my images with a single battery... I suspect that as the blade gets a bit duller i'll need to swap batteries or sharpen the blade again. But that was a pleasant surprise. I also really like the large wheels of the Greenworks mo40l410, the longer radius makes maneuverability a charm and it gets over bumps with ease. The bagging of blades works well too even though I only tested it momentarily (I've switched to mulching cause there's no need to strip the lawn of future nutrients). I haven't figured out what the side discharger is for exactly, but it looks pretty cool. Like an exhaust pipe on a racecar or something. The way I see it, you want to pick up the clippings or you want to spread them around the lawn... not spray the area you just mowed or are about to mow. But it just clicks into place if you want it and I appreciate them adding it, even if it raised the cost by a dollar or something. The auto sensing lawn height feature is okay. I give it only 3 stars out of 5. It certainly works, but it kicks in about 2 seconds (or about 2 feet ) after you technically needed it. It's like the sensor or Ammeter has to measure taller grass for a few seconds before it kicks in. But by then your moving past that spot and might have missed a few clippings. It hasn't happened yet, but again, the blade is new and sharp. It would have been neater to have a sensor adjust on the fly up or down. It's all electric and the motor is brushless, there shouldn't be much wear and tear from constantly increasing and decreasing the motor speed to accommodate the lawn at that moment. Now, all this said, even on low speed the Greenworks mo40l410 was cutting like a champ. I would walk slowly and then quickly while the lawn mower was on the lowest setting to see if it changed performance, and it was virtually the same. All in all it functions exactly like you'd expect it to. I like the dual bay battery compartment. And the attention to details all over, like the cable runs have loops to pass through, the battery bay door has magnets to keep it shut, and details like that are visible all over, it's just very well thought out. If I'm being extremely nitpicky, here are some things I'd change (aside from the auto-motor-speed change I mentioned above). 1) Amazon listing... I almost knocked a star because whoever is putting these things on Amazon has no clue what they are doing. I see random mowers paired with un-related mowers, yet the reviews are for both? And I don't see all the options on the same listing. For example, this Greenworks mo40l410 lawn mower bounced around between listings multiple times in like 3 days. And this lawn mower has another listing identical to it, just without the battery and charger (the one I'm reviewing here)... yet somehow they aren't paired together? And it's not exactly clear how this Greenworks mo40l410 lawn mower differs from the older version other than it's maybe a newer model? Is it better or worse?... it's a complete freaking mess and I'm extremely annoyed. But it's not actually the products fault... so I convinced myself to keep the star. Get your blank together. 2) The battery bay door doesn't open very far. In fact it doesn't even open to 90 degrees, I'd like it to go to 120 at least. 3) The lifter is on point. It's so easy and works so well. But it's fastened to the right side of the Greenworks mo40l410 or something and the left side is just a taddd looser. Even though it has zero impact on performance or usability or comfort. I could notice. 4) I promise I'm not too lazy to bend over and swap batteries. But two live ports would be neat (even though I had plenty of battery left on the first battery haha (like I said, nitpicking!)). But I wouldn't be willing to pay much more if it raised the cost alot. The Pros: 1) I can't believe how easy it is to adjust. I have their corded Greenworks mo40l410 mower and I didn't think it could get any easier... and here I am being proven wrong. I don't know if I was just scarred by my old gas honda lawn mower or what, but that thing was an absolute pain to change the deck height. I used it alot on my corded version because if I'm going to be busy the next two weeks, I can just drop it a notch an go an extra couple days without mowing. Or If I know I'm going on a 2 week vacation next weekend, I can raise it since I'm going to mow again right before I leave. 2) I knew the big wheels would help, but they help more than I thought. I hope they last as long as short wheels, since the moment is higher on them in general. But I'm glad they upgraded the wheels. 3) 20" deck means a 19" inch blade iirc. I appreciate the large mowing swath. Not only did mowing go faster cause I wasn't messing with a cord, but I was cutting larger swaths than my old corded 16" lawn mower, so I was done in like 40% of the time that it normally takes me. 4) The 4Ah batteries are great. I can weedeat the front in one go with it. and then use the other battery to mow in one go with it. And they charge so fast too. Not that I've needed them to come off the charger and go straight to the yard, but it's nice having that option. 5) It's silly but the black with green trim color scheme looks legit. I like it better than the opposite that my corded lawn mower has. (green with black trim). 6) Also, it mows evenly forward and backwards. My old Greenworks mo40l410 lawn mower mowed about a third of an inch shorter when I pushed it forward than when I pulled it back (ostensibly because it was too light). So not only was I goofing around with the cord. But all even mowing had to be completed forwards. Not an issue with this Greenworks lawn mower. Overall I'm thoroughly satisfied with the Greenworks mo40l410. I'll comment back if longevity is ever an issue. But I expect a minimum of 5 years out of this guy... and I'd prefer if it was more like 10. That said, I'll cut the batteries some slack. I expect I'll buy a new pair in about 5 years to help me get to the EOL. They claim 2000 charges and I mow like once every 10 days during the summer... So maybe they'll go the full 10.

Rating: 5/5