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doublerainebow · 4 years ago

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Artist Resources (Part 1?)

This is basically just going to be a bunch of resources I have found to be useful. I can’t say that I’ve used all of them, but I’m sure they’re all worth checking out.

I’m also gonna try to put a detailed description for most of the links so you have a better idea of what you’re getting. I apologize in advance if some of them are redundant lol

(I put “Part 1″ if in the case I make another one)

~Links to Tutorials, Tips, Resources, etc~

Another Resource List -- Leads to another Tumblr post. Apparently, the post isn’t mobile-friendly, so it’s suggested to view this on Tumblr browser. Has a bunch of other links. I’ve checked out a few of them (mainly the copyright stuff lol), and it seems that some of the links may be a bit outdated. Still, it doesn’t hurt to check out the links.

Arms and Legs -- Leads to another Tumblr post. A handy tutorial on elbow and knee placement.

Art & Game Dev -- This leads to my personal playlist of a bunch of YouTube videos. Has a bunch of tutorials and interesting videos that I’ve collected over the course of a few years lol.

Blamblot -- A website that contains resources and tutorials on comic lettering. This is primarily in reference to western comics, but it doesn’t help to take a looksie.

Commission Calculator -- Leads to another Tumblr post. Helps artists to stop selling themselves short.

Comparing Heights (hikaku-sitatter) -- A height comparer for centimeters.

Comparing Heights -- A height comparer for feet and inches.

Mouth Shapes and Lip-Syncing -- Leads to another Tumblr post. Useful for... drawing mouth shapes.

Reference Angle -- Useful for when you’re trying to map out a face from an odd angle.

Soft Proofing for Printing -- Leads to another Tumblr post. Helps when you’re trying to make prints of your artwork.

Textures -- A website full of different and mostly free textures. While this website is made for 3D texturing, it can also be useful for 2D drawings. Signing up gives you 15 free credits everyday, and you can use those credits to download some textures for free.

The Models Resource -- A website of models ripped from a wide array of games.

The Spriters Resource -- A website of sprites ripped from a wide array of games.

The Textures Resource -- A websites of textures ripped from a wide array of games.

~Links to Stock Images~

Please check out whatever policies they may have for their images before using them!

(not sure if any of them are active anymore as I followed some of these accounts a long time ago when I used to be more active on Deviant Art lol)

adorkastock (formerly senshistock)

anatoref -- Leads to another Tumblr post. Has a bunch of hand photo references

charligal-stock

HumanAnatomy4Artist -- Does contain nudity

null-entity

PhelanDavion

RobynRose

~Links to Other Artists~

Akihito Yoshitomi -- Yoshitomi is a mangaka who has tutorials on manga making. He also has an insightful series in which he drafts and draws a 30-page manga in 18 days. Remember that every artist works differently and his process may be different from another’s.

Drawfee -- Drawfee is an improv drawing show of four artists: Nathan Yaffe, Jacob Andrews, Julia Lepetit, and Karina Farek. While they don’t have tutorials in a sense, their videos explain the different processes they go through as they draw. They also occasionally provide tips, tricks, and resources in their videos. They do have another channel and a Twitch channel where they host drawing classes in addition to other fun shenanigans.

EtheringtonBrothers -- Has a bunch of useful and eye-catching tutorials called “How to Think When You Draw”.

Mark Crilley -- Mark is a comic artist, specializing in manga, who has a bunch of tutorials about anatomy, perspective, comic making, and other things.

Miyuli -- Miyuli is an artist who posts tutorials on their Twitter. Their tutorials range from anatomy to clothing to other things. They even have a few books of art tips. Currently (as of the time of posting this), their 2018 version is free for download, so I highly recommend you download that. Some tips may be outdated, but they should still be helpful.

Whyt Manga (Twitter/YouTube) -- Odunze is a comic artist, specializing in manga, that has a bunch of tutorials on manga making and drawing characters of color.

~Links to Free Programs~

Blender -- A free 3D program if you’re into 3D modeling and such. I also personally haven’t used Blender (I use Maya lol), but I know it’s a respectable program.

Krita -- A free painting program if you can’t afford Photoshop or Clip Studio Paint. I personally haven’t used Krita, but I have recommended it to a few friends and they have positive reviews about it.

Paint Tool SAI -- Okay, this one isn’t free, but it’s a significantly cheaper painting program where you don’t have to pay a subscription. It’s 5,500JPY (~50 USD). I’m not sure how well it still works on modern computers (the last update was 2016), but I still use it here and there because I love the pen tool feature it has, and it still works like a charm for me.

~General Tips From Raine~

Raine admits that she’s guilty of not following her own advice, but Raine hopes that the tips that she does know will be beneficial to someone who will follow them. She’s also going to keep all her tips under the cut so as to not make this post a huge wall of text (even though it technically already is lol)

Also, if you have some resources, tutorials, tips yourself, please feel free to send them to me and maybe I’ll make a part 2 to this post!

ALWAYS LOOK FOR REFERENCE. This should really go without saying. You can’t draw from life if you refuse to observe life itself.

If you can’t find the exact thing you need, MAKE YOUR OWN REFERENCE. Time and time again, I can’t find something exactly that I need. So instead, what I do is that I take pictures of my own reference. Sometimes I even grab a friend and take pictures of them doing whatever it is I need.

Have a mirror handy when you’re drawing. Sometimes what you need is actually right there in front of you.

Having trouble drawing something? Do some studies. Take the time to understand what it is you’re drawing. I can’t remember the exact story, but I heard that the people who were working on Tarzan were having a hard time drawing his hands. So, what they did was spend a few hours looking at hands to try and understand how they work.

IT’S OKAY TO STUDY THE ART OF OTHER ARTISTS. Just as we look to the old masters as a reference, it’s definitely okay to look at modern-day artists for reference. Just don’t go copying exactly everything that they do, or worse, trace what they do. Just don’t do it... at all.

Not every line needs to be realized. The viewer of your work will automatically connect the dots.

DO NOT TRASH YOUR OLD DRAWINGS. Please, never ever do this. Your old drawings have value to them, even if they look terrible to you. Old drawings may hold ideas for things you could do for the future. They also serve as a way to see how far you’ve come as an artist.

GETTING BETTER AT DRAWING TAKES TIME AND EFFORT. You’re not gonna get better overnight. It’ll take months, or even years, to feel like you’re a competent artist, and even then, you’ll still have room for improvement.

DON’T LOOK DOWN ON YOURSELF IF YOU’RE TAKING A LONG TIME TO GET BETTER. It’ll be better for your mental health in the long run.

Alternatively, DON'T LOOK DOWN ON OTHER ARTISTS EITHER, ESPECIALLY TO MAKE YOURSELF FEEL BETTER. You know the struggles it took for you to get where you are, so don’t go putting down other people when you’ve been in their shoes once.

KEEP DRAWING. If you’re not making an effort to get better, then you’re not going to be better. I get that it’s hard to find the inspiration to draw (I’m very guilty of this), but just keep trying. It doesn’t have to be big or spectacular. You don’t even have to post it if you’re the type who likes to post their art stuff.

Try to find references from real-life. It’ll help you better understand form, lighting, shadows, etc., especially if you’re going for a more realistic kind of art style. Otherwise, finding reference from things like cartoons, anime, comics, etc. are just as good.

Try new things. Try new art mediums. Try a different art style. Switch up the way you do things. Maybe you’ll hate it, maybe you’ll like it. Who knows if you don’t try.

Watch time-lapses (or speed draws/speed paints) of other artists!

Pinterest and Google are your friends if you need tutorials or references or whatever.

If you’re offering commissions, DO NOT WORK UNDER YOUR LOCAL MINIMUM WAGE. You are literally devaluing the work you actually put into a piece.

I like to think I’m an aficionado of Photoshop, so feel free to ask me questions on how to achieve something! I’ve used Photoshop for about 11 years now and know my way around the program. On another note, I do recommend setting custom keyboard shortcuts in Photoshop because the default shortcuts are terrible (in my opinion), and because having custom shortcuts increases the speed of your workflow.

Because I’ve been seeing this a lot lately in Twitter, you’re never too old to start in art. Art is just one of those things that anyone can pick up at any age because the only thing you really need to get good in art is time, diligence, and patience.

Try not to post hi-res images of your artwork to prevent art stealers from selling your artwork in high resolution.

Always, always, always add your signature and watermark on your artwork. I like to add my signatures and watermarks in places that’ll be hard to erase or crop out. I’ve also seen people add their signatures and watermarks in creative ways (ex. on a character’s shirt). You need to protect your work in an era where people will just blatantly steal it and make profit off your work.

Tag List

@reality-is-often-disappointing

#artists #artists on tumblr #artist tips #artist resources #art resources #artists of tumblr #art tips #art tutorial #raine rambles and muses #raine can art

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world-of-puppets · 4 years ago

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Puppetry Lost Media

In honour of reaching 50 followers last week (now 55 followers, as of writing this) I decided to cover two subjects of great interest to me: puppetry (of course) and lost media.

Everybody online loves a good old bit of lost media. Whether it be being a part of the many searches for the media in question, or watching documentaries about them on sites like YouTube. I’ve been mildly addicted to the latter kind of content for a while. From what I’ve seen, though, there aren’t many videos or articles out there specifically covering lost puppetry. So, in no particular order, here are a couple of pieces of lost puppetry I found while scrolling through the lost media wiki.

銀河少年隊 - Ginga shounen-tai AKA Galaxy Boy Troop (1963 - 1965)

Osamu Tezuka is one of the most pioneering figures in Japanese art and animation. Starting as a manga artist in the 1940s inspired by the animated works of American studios such as Walt Disney and the Fliecer Brothers, he adapted and simplified many of the stylistic techniques of both artists to create his own signature style of big shiny eyes, physics defying hair and limited animation. A style that would go on to heavily influence the world of anime and manga as a whole.

But animation and graphic art were not the only mediums Tezuka would dabble in. Ginga Shounen-Tai, or Galaxy Boy Troop in english, was a television series that aired on the public broadcast channel NHK from April 7th, 1963 to April 1st, 1965. Running for 2 seasons with a total of 92 episodes.

The series was a mixture of marionette characters that utilised the Supermarionation marionette technique, popularised by Jerry Anderson’s Thunderbirds, and limited traditional animation. The story revolves around a child genius named Roy who leads a rag-tag group of heros around the galaxy in a rocket ship in order to revive the earth’s sun and later protect it from alien invaders.

Out of the 92 episodes that aired, only episode 67 still exists in its entirety with French subtitles, and the full episode can be found on YouTube with English subtitles uploaded by user Rare TezukaVids. According to user F-Man on the Tezuka in English forums, footage of episode 28 exists but with no audio, and episode 87’s animated segments exist without the marionette segments. F-Man also claims the reason for Galaxy Boy Troop’s disappearance is due to Tezuka not being proud of the series and having all episodes of it destroyed.

Personally, I think it’s a shame that pretty much all of this series is gone. From what I’ve seen in episode 67, it looks really charming. Tezuka’s signature character design style was adapted suprisingly well to marionettes, and the puppetry itself isn’t that bad either. I love the little face mechanisms like the blinking eyes, flapping mouths and others. It gives the puppets a lot of personality and charm. Like, just look at this old mans eyebrow mechanism and tell me you wouldn’t want to watch 92 episodes of this show;

Tinseltown (2007)

Tinseltown was a 15 minute sitcom pilot created by the Jim Henson company under thier Henson Alternative banner. The pilot was commissioned by the Logo Network and aired as part of the Alien Boot Camp programming block in 2007.

The pilot (and likely the series, had it been picked up by the logo network) features a cast of both puppets and live actors as characters. The premise revolves around Samson Kight, an anthropomorphic bull preformed by Brian Henson and drew Massey, and his partner Bobby Vegan, an anthropomorphic pig prefomed by Bill Barretta and Michelan Sisti, as they attempt to balance thier lives working in Hollywood with life as parents to thier sullen 12-year-old foster son, Foster, played by Paul Butcher. Other human characters included Mia Sara as Samson’s ex-wife Lena and Francesco Quinn as the family’s manservant Arturo.

The Tinseltown pilot used to be available on the Logo Network’s YouTube channel, but was later removed for unknown reason. Since then, the pilot has not been made available online. However the characters Samson and Bobby have made appearances in other Henson related works, such as the improv stage show Stuffed and Unstrung, where they played the role as the shows producers, and in a 2011 video on the Jim Henson Company YouTube channel celebrating Jim Hensons 75th birthday.

I find Tinseltown pretty interesting as I feel like it should be more noateable or known, considering that this is (as far as my knowledge goes) the first Jim Henson Company project featureing openly lgbtq characters as its leads, and would have been the first Henson show to do so had it been picked up. As someone who’s interested in lgbtq+ representation in creative media such as animation, I realised that there’s not many examples of canon lgbt characters in puppetry. The only ones aside from Samson and Bobby I could think off the top of my head would be Deet’s Dads from The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance and Rod from Avenue Q. Though, obviously, there could be more I’m not currently aware of. I don’t think the Tinseltown pilot was a masterpiece or anything. After all, there’s probably a couple of good reasons Logo didn’t pick it up for a full series. But I think it be cool if either Henson co. or Logo made this available online again, if just so we could appericate it as an interesting little footnote in the history of lgbtq rep in puppetry.

With that said, considering the pilot’s obscurity and the fact that it’s main couple haven’t been used in any Henson Related projects in almost ten years, as well as the possibility that there may be legalities preventing the Henson company from releasing it such as Logo still owning the rights, it’s unlikely we’ll see the Tinseltown pilot anytime soon.

Sonic Live in Sydney (1997 - 2000)

Sonic the Hedgehog is a fictional character no stranger to multiple interpretations of him and his universe across a diverse range of media. From the more light-hearted and comedic stylings of The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Cartoon Networks Sonic Boom cartoon series, to more serious faire such as the Sonic SatAM cartoon and the Sonic Adventure videogame duology. One of the more obscure and stranger adaptations of the character came in the form of Sonic Live in Sydney, a one an a half hour live show hosted at the former Sega World Sydney amusement park in Darling Harbor, Sydney, Australia. Originally beginning as a live show with actors in meet-and-greet style costumes, the show eventually was replaced with a puppet show during its last two years.

The shows plot was set in an alternate timeline whos continuity was a mix of the SatAM cartoon and Sonic the Hedgehog 3, where Doctor Robotnik’s Death Egg crash lands in Sydney, Australia instead of Angel Island and attempts to take over before being foiled by sonic and friends. According to Phillip Einfeld of Phillip Einfeld Puppetoons, the company that made the puppets, Sega felt the costumed actor version of the show wasn’t dynamic enough, and wished to replace it with a version featuring live puppets with animatronics. Both versions of the shows plot are identical.

While Sonic Live in Sydney’s soundtrack is available on YouTube, and some photos of the show are available on the Lost Media Wiki, no footage of either the costumed actors version or the puppet show version have resurfaced. The show was closed down in 1999, possibly due to cost, shortly before the Sega World park as a whole in 2000. So unless there is someone out there who viseted the show between 1998 or 1999 who recorded the show via a handheld camera, footage of both incarnations of the show are likely forever lost to time.

On a personal note, I don’t have much to say on this one other than how gloriously peek gaudy 90s Sonic the set/puppet design is. I have no doubt finding footage of these puppets in action would truly be a silly delight to behold...

Legend of Mary (year unknown)

This one is a little different from the other entries on this list as while the film itself in its entiraty is available on YouTube for anyone to view, the information surrounding Legend of Mary, specifically its year of release, remains a mystery as of writing this.

I have mentioned the film before on this blog so I’ll keep it brief here: in summary, Legend of Mary is a short film retelling of the Nativity featuring the Rod puppets of Austrian puppeteer Richard Teschner. the video was uploaded to YouTube by user canada 150 archive. I looked up the people credited in the film and was able to find most of them, but didn’t find Legend of Mary listed in thier credits, and was unable to find the film on sites like IMDB, tMDB or Letterboxd. I reached out to Canada 150 archive asking if they had any info regarding the Legend of Mary’s release date, and after a coupe of months, they replied saying they didn’t know.

And that’s as far as I got on my search for answers, if anyone of you guys has any information regarding Legend of Mary, then it be of huge help in finding the release date.

Sam and friends (1955 - 1961)

Sam and friends was the very first puppetry television series created by Jim Henson alongside his colabarator and future wife Jane Nebel. filmed in Washington, D.C. and airing twice daily on WRC-TV and the NBC affiliate in Washington, D.C. from May 9, 1955, to December 15, Sam and Friends would mark the first apperence of Kermit (though not yet as a frog) and paved the way for Henson’s iconic and revered legacy in the realm of puppetry on film and television.

With the impact this show had in mind, it may come as a shock to some that almost half of Sam and Friends, specifically, 42 of the 86 episodes, are considered lost. With 16 existing, 8 documented, 9 known from memory, plus 8 existing Esskay commercials and 1 memory-known Esskay commercial. Some taped episodes have been shown at venues such as the museum of the moving image while others have been erased. It’s unknown if copies of these erased episodes still exist.

This post would become far to long if I were too list every episode missing from Sam and Freinds, but if your curious, the lost media wiki article has a comprehensive list of all lost episodes.

Annnd that about it for this post. This type of content is pretty different from the stuff I usually post. So I’m egar to see what you guys think about it. If you enjoyed this article, want to see more like it or have ideas for what puppetry-related topics I should cover in the future. And again, thank you all so much for helping me reach 55 followers. Your support really does mean a lot to me, and I hope you enjoyed this as a follower milestone gift.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed this dip into lost puppetry, and have a happy holiday season!

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tsuisou-no-despair · 3 years ago

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Higurashi TEN (Role Swap AU) - 34 Random Facts

Well, I'm slightly stuck with the question arcs, so instead I'm just going to write up and throw out a whole bundle of random facts about the world, its characters, and things that have or could happen. Hopefully this will lead to something clicking into place for me, and hopefully you'll like it, too.

Kei, Reina, and Mion still use a bat, nata, and taser, respectively, as their main weapons, though Mion's been forbidden from using the taser by Oryou. Hanyuu uses the ritual hoe and swords in about equal measure. Miyoko uses whatever's on hand to frightening effect.

Shion thrives at St. Lucia; however, she is pulled out of the school by her family after Oryou decides that Mion's twin would be better utilized if she was right on hand...

Miyoko does the Joseph Joestar "your next line is..." thing, which almost always works like a charm. (It doesn't work on Satoko or Bernkastel, but the former plays along when she's not in the black outfit)

Hanyuu's horns aren't initially broken, but by the end of the series, they have their signature crack.

Tomitake is a much more common sight in Hinamizawa than he was in the original universe, being a resident of Okinomiya who frequently visits. He's also quite well-liked, mostly because he's there to fix just about anything that breaks.

Rumiko was the original user of Rena's signature nata, as well as the person who first converted the van in the dump into a hiding place.

Satoko finds the contents of the Saiguiden fascinating but ultimately disappointing; she expected something more directly tied to Hinamizawa Syndrome's origins.

Irie almost always manages to get clear of Hinamizawa before Emergency Procedure #3105 is executed; however, he's usually dead in under 24 hours due to his escape catching Tokyo's attention.

Both Ooishi and Akasaka are hated by the Sonozaki family but the former much more so, to the point where Ooishi schedules his visits to Okinomiya when the Sonozakis will be looking elsewhere, such as on festival nights.

Rina targets Kei's dad in the loops where she doesn't die. Kei's mom does not take it well - to the point where she goes L5, in some cases.

Mion's "feelings" for Satoshi are primarily a result of Satoshi being just that nice and caring and good-hearted. It helps that she's enamored with a saintly image of him that's only grown more pure since his absence.

When Miyoko bothers to start telling people about how she's lost in time loops, their reactions are mostly in the vein of "oh, that explains so much".

Bernkastel can be heard by people who are deep in the throes of Hinamizawa Syndrome; naturally, she uses this to fuck with people for kicks.

Okonogi takes the role of the clinic's head after Satoko dies/disappears. He's regarded exclusively with suspicion - if he wasn't only filling the role until the GHD triggers, he'd probably get run out of town within a month.

Rumiko regularly made Miyoko curry after learning that Teppei and Tamae were denying her food; this led to Rumiko taking her curry very seriously because it represented the only "acceptable" way for her to help Miyoko.

Officially, Tatsuyoshi Sonozaki and his wife (Naeko) are Mion and Shion's parents. In reality, Akane is their mother, and whether or not Tatsuyoshi is the father is strictly a matter between him and Akane.

All of the locations from the original universe are present and more or less unchanged, along with a few new "sets" such as Akasaka's apartment.

Satoko has an alternate version of her "Tokyo" outfit that includes a mask that resembles an inverted Eye of Providence. She wears this when acting in Hinamizawa after her death, claiming that she needs to hide her identity due to being known in the village. (Okonogi thinks that doesn't matter in the slightest and that Satoko is trying too hard to be "cool", and he isn't wrong... except that it's managed to keep Miyoko from realizing who it is throughout the loops)

Beyond mahjong, Akasaka, Satoshi, Irie and Tomitake were fast friends. Their name for the quartet is the "Soul Brothers" - thankfully, it's a more serious (and infinitely less horny-focused) group than in arcs like (ugh) Batsukowashi-hen. (Kei still becomes an honorary Soul Brother in some arcs, though)

While she's reasonably familiar with a gun and a bow, Shion's real weapon is her contacts: her stay at St. Lucia (and Rika-in-Gou levels of popularity while there) means she has a slew of St. Lucia-ites (with powerful fathers) who would bend over backward for her.

Akane and Satoko are the two most skilled individual fighters in Higurashi TEN - who wins in a fight between the two is generally decided by who screws up first, but this is usually Akane getting blindsided by a trap unless she's warned. (They fight in more fragments than you'd expect - Akane Kasai is the most dangerous person in Hinamizawa and Satoko knows it.)

Miyoko starts her loops at the same point every time - the morning after the festival in 1982. This is mostly to dodge the abuse from Tamae - the fact that people assume her changed personality is because she's escaped an abusive home is icing on the cake.

The official reason for the Clinic "studying" Hanyuu was that they were researching the effects of her horns' growth pressing on her brain and monitoring the brain tumor-like symptoms (hearing voices, delusions of being Oyashiro-sama reborn, etc.) that it caused; this was all a fabrication hiding the research done on Hanyuu as Queen Carrier. Satoshi was disgusted by this facade and eventually told the Furudes that Hanyuu's brain was fine, leading to them pulling Hanyuu out (and Satoko murdering them as a result).

Irie occasionally mediates the Games Club's punishment games, sometimes getting dragged into it himself. He's a stalwart protector defender of the young club members' honor, making whatever sacrifices he has to in order to make sure that they're not forced into perverted situations or outfits.

Rumiko may or may not have had feelings for Mion, which Mion subconsciously returned; Mion's quietly put two and two together in the months following her disappearance, and it's had a palpable effect on her relationship with Reina.

Ooishi lives in Kakiuchi City and is a part of its police department, and he's not the only former Hinamizawa resident on its force - there's a bright young detective named Natsumi Kimiyoshi who I've heard interesting stories about, though I don't know much about her...

While he's still capable of being the "Magician of Words", Kei's charisma is heavily tempered by the restrained, somewhat cold wall he's put up around his emotions for "everyone's own good".

After all that looping, Miyoko's trauma response to Teppei moving back in and forcing himself to be her caretaker is anger moreso than shutting down. More than a few loops have ended with Teppei killing her after she was too insolent (or too creepy) for him to put up with.

Yukie was a reporter who was extremely critical of the anti-dam protests, especially after the kidnapping occurred. At least some of the antipathy towards Akasaka is due to being Yukie's husband.

When the seeds of distrust aren't sown, Reina's empathy is one of her most powerful tools, making her able to stand up to just about anyone in Hinamizawa and reach out a hand to them. (Sometimes this leads to getting a baseball bat to the head, but hey, she tried.)

Hanyuu can hear Bernkastel at lower levels of Hinamizawa Syndrome than anyone else in the village, and seems to be cognizant of her presence even when she's at L1/L2. The exact details of Hanyuu and Bern's rapport are known only to them.

Miyoko and Hanyuu are closer to each other than they are to anyone else, but there's still a big ugly wall between them due to Hanyuu's quasi-divinity butting up against Miyoko's hatred of any and all gods. Tearing that wall down is an important part of Miyoko's character development.

Irie had (has?) Satoshi's blessing to try and win Satoko's heart; according to Satoshi, Satoko's not entirely against the idea of a relationship. Satoshi also made sure that Irie didn't cross any lines when going after her; after Satoshi disappeared, Irie ceased his attempts until Satoko herself encouraged him.

Everyone is wearing different outfits - the new ones are more or less the same pieces of clothing as the original "position" but with the color palette and general feel of the character filling the slot. For example, Reina's casual outfit starts as Keiichi's - a vest, undershirt, and shorts (and no hat) - but then is adjusted to fit Rena's style and is given a white, light blue, and purple palette. My attempts at mocking up Reina and Mion's designs are below.

#higurashi #higurashi au #role swap au #higurashi ten au #long post #higurashi spoilers #(by proxy)

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aion-rsa · 3 years ago

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Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings: What the Post Credits Scenes Mean for the MCU’s Future

https://ift.tt/3jDyVCH

The following article contains spoilers for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

With Black Widow set largely in the past, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is technically the feature film kickoff to Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. With the exception of the end credits scenes, it’s the first Phase 4 feature set in the aftermath of the Thanos Snap or Blip, and it introduces a set of characters and a region of the MCU that we have not yet explored.

But like every Marvel movie, Shang-Chi also includes two scenes at the end — one in the middle of the credits, and one at the tail — and unusually, both offer important and possibly critical information for the future of the MCU. Often the very last scene tends to be a joke or a sight gag of some kind; that’s not the case this time.

While the last scene at the very end of the movie does hold some interesting implications of its own, it frankly doesn’t loom as large as the mid-credits sequence. We’ll get to that second one a little later. Right now, let’s examine the mid-credits sequence and what it could mean. And remember, we’re in spoiler territory from here on out!

Marvel Studios

The Mid-Credits Sequence

Halfway through the end credits of Shang-Chi, we fade into a room in what could be Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum. Present in person are Shang-Chi (Simu Liu), his friend Katy (Awkwafina), and Wong (Benedict Wong). Present via holographic image are Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) and Dr. Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) — although notably, Banner appears in his original form and not as the Smart Hulk hybrid he became prior to Avengers: Endgame, although his arm is still in a sling after it was fried pretty much to a crisp when he activated the Infinity Gauntlet. What happened to Smart Hulk? Can Banner change back at will or did something happen?

In any case, all five are in a circle studying the Ten Rings, which are floating in the air between them. Although Shang-Chi remarks that his father has been using them for a thousand years, Bruce says that their power signature indicates that they could be much, much older. What’s even more interesting is that the same power signature generated by the Rings looks a lot like the multiverse — the same jagged, interweaving, branching labyrinth of ever-expanding and twisting lines that we last saw at the end of the Disney+ series Loki — as explained to Loki and Sylvie by He Who Remains in that show’s season finale.

But wait, there’s one final revelation: there’s a signal or beacon of some kind coming from within the Ten Rings themselves — a signal of unknown origin.

Captain Marvel has to excuse herself and leaves, saying that Bruce has her number if she’s needed (he doesn’t). The other four are about to leave as well — but then in what does amount to a classic MCU end credits joke, Shang-Chi and Katy manage to lure Wong out for a night of karaoke instead of standing around wondering what all this means.

They’ll leave that to us.

Marvel Studios

Who or what is sending that signal?

If the Ten Rings is connected to the multiverse, then the signal could be coming from any one of the many different universes we saw forming at the end of Loki. It could also be coming from the Quantum Realm, which is clearly part of our universe.

How the Quantum Realm connects to the rest of the multiverse is a question that’s yet to be answered. But since we also know that some variant of He Who Remains, possibly the version known as Kang the Conqueror, is slated to show up in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, there’s almost no doubt that the multiverse and the Quantum Realm are intertwined — does the Quantum Realm act almost as a secret subway between universes?

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Is the beacon a greeting? A warning? A distress signal? Unknown. But there are possibilities of who or what could be sending it:

Kang/He Who Remains

While the version we met in Loki (played by Jonathan Majors) was a somewhat benign madman/dictator, intent on controlling the flow of events in our universe to prevent it from splintering into the multiverse, we know that there are other, more hostile variants out there, most notably Kang the Conqueror.

And based on the ending of Loki, we know that there’s at least one universe in which Kang reigns supreme. Could Kang be sending out the signal as a way to lure others to his universe and entrap them? Or is a variant trying to warn others away from Kang’s dominion?

Movies

Who is Kang the Conqueror? Powers and Marvel Comics History Explained

By Jim Dandeneau

Movies

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings Review

By Bernard Boo

The Beyonder

Many casual MCU fans may react to this with “Who?” But hear us out. The Beyonder was the antagonist behind the classic 1984 Marvel Comics arc known as Secret Wars, in which the character — an omnipotent entity that is actually the sentient remnants of an alternate dimension itself — creates a planet called Battleworld out of pieces of other worlds, kidnaps the heroes and villains of the Marvel Universe and sets them on Battleworld to fight, so it can observe and learn about the ongoing conflict between good and evil (think the old Star Trek episode, “The Savage Curtain”).

The Beyonder’s creator and Secret Wars writer Jim Shooter recently hinted that he had been approached by a legal eagle from Disney to discuss the use of certain characters, leading Shooter to believe that a Secret Wars movie in the MCU was almost inevitable. And let’s face it, it’s too good a concept not to use — especially if you can cross over villains and heroes from different universes.

So the Beyonder may be sending out that signal as a lure or trap. But here’s another theory: Marvel Studios often takes liberties with characters from the comics, sometimes combining aspects of two or more into a version expressly designed for the big screen. If Kang is supposed to be the Big Bad of Phase 4 (and perhaps even some of Phase 5), it’s not unreasonable that Marvel might graft some of the Beyonder’s powers and motivations onto him.

The Fantastic Four

We know that a new movie starring Marvel’s First Family is finally coming, this time from Marvel Studios itself. And we know that Reed Richards can find a way to travel between universes as well as through time. Plus in the comics at least, Kang is possibly a distant descendant of Richards. Since the MCU until now has given no indication that the Fantastic Four exists, could that signal be coming from a version of the Four that does exist in a different universe?

It’s long been suspected among fans that the Quantum Realm (in which signs of civilization have been glimpsed) could play an important role in the introduction of the Fantastic Four into the MCU. But that signal, generated either by the Ten Rings or from somewhere in the multiverse, could also be coming from them.

The Celestials (from Eternals)

With the mid-credits sequence indicating that the Ten Rings are much older than first thought, is it possible that they are actually technology created by the Celestials?

The Celestials, of course, have been around almost as long as the universe/multiverse itself, and have seeded countless worlds in the cosmos with life. On Earth, they created “normal�� humans, as well as the Eternals and the Deviants, and return periodically — we’re talking time on a cosmic scale here — to see how their experiments are going.

What if the use of the Ten Rings activates the beacon and sends a signal to the Celestials that it’s time to come look in on their little planet-sized lab? The Celestials operate on such a vast span of time that even Wenwu using the Rings for a millennium would seem like minutes to them. With the ongoing conflict between the Eternals and the Deviants seemingly coming to the fore in this November’s Eternals movie, it seems likely that a Celestial will show up to sort things out. That Celestial might also be very interested in finding out why the Ten Rings have been activated.

Marvel Studios

The Post-Credits Sequence

This one is a lot simpler to explain. Although Wenwu is dead by the end of Shang-Chi, and Shang-Chi himself is off hobnobbing with some of the Avengers, Wenwu’s daughter and Shang-Chi’s sister Xialing (Meng’er Zhang) is seen taking full control of the Ten Rings and planning to keep the organization running — although whether she plans to use it for good or perhaps some more nefarious purposes remains to be seen (she is, after all, still her father’s daughter).

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

With a large number of now free agent Black Widows running around, and Sharon Carter/the Power Broker now operating her own agenda and unknown connections from within the CIA itself (at the end of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier), there is plenty of geopolitical action for the Ten Rings organization to get involved with. Perhaps we’ll see more of their exploits in an upcoming TV series or Captain America 4 — or maybe Shang-Chi 2. But they aren’t going anywhere.

Shang-Chi and the Legends of the Ten Rings is in theaters now.

The post Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings: What the Post Credits Scenes Mean for the MCU’s Future appeared first on Den of Geek.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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loopy777 · 4 years ago

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What’s your favorite composition by John Williams? And if you can’t choose just one, list your top 10.

My personal favorite is “Welcome to Jurassic Park,” the finale and credits music for the original Jurassic Park. I love the Jurassic Park theme, and this is a great suite of it combined with the ‘island theme.’ I like it even better than the concert versions of the same combination, as I think those are performed too quickly, even when Williams conducts.

And since I love talking about this, I’m also going to keep going for a top 10! Yay!

“Adventures on Earth” (from ‘E.T. the Extra Terrestrial’): Again, this is the finale and credits, which touches on all the great themes from the movie and includes the big, rousing, emotional climax. It’s funny- just two days ago I was talking about how everyone was comparing the end of Mandalorian Season 2 to the ending of E.T., and I speculated that the reason it didn’t work as well for me as everyone else is because Ludwig Göransson, while a great composer, just doesn’t do that Spielberg-sentimentality as well as Williams. But then, no one does.

“A New Hope and End Credits” (from ‘Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith’): I’m cheating with this one. I love the Star Wars music. It’s what made me aware of John Williams in the first place, and it got me to realize that the reason I wasn’t excited by all the pop music that my peers were into wasn’t because I disliked music- I just didn’t like that music. Star Wars taught me that I like the full, complicated performance of an orchestra, that the different sounds of the various instruments intrigue me more than lyrics (which I have to concentrate to understand), and that I like storytelling in music. Star Wars is probably the ultimate expression of that in the career of John Williams, not just because of how thematic it is, but also the breadth afforded by his doing nine movies spread across over 40 years. So how do I pick something to represent that? The main theme? The recurring Force theme? A suite? Yes, I have to go with a suite. But which one? I went with the one from the finale of ‘Revenge of the Sith’ for several reasons. It includes nice expressions of the themes of Leia and Luke, referencing the classic trilogy. It has “Battle of the Heroes,” which I consider one of the standouts of the prequel trilogy. And, for the soundtrack release, this suite includes pretty much all of the expanded version of “The Throne Room” from the very first Star Wars movie, which I feel was a great way for John Williams to take a bow at the end of a trilogy that can be criticized for many things but absolutely not the soundtrack. (By comparison, the soundtrack release for ‘Rise of Skywalker’ was a bit of an anti-climax, as Williams’ last Star Wars movie. That should have included a whole second CD that’s just an hour-long suite of music from the entire 9-film saga! Disney could have afford to take a loss on it! If they’re not going to release properly restored versions of the full series’ soundtracks, they owe to the John Williams fans!) And, of course, there are multiple expression of the Force theme in this piece, from the ‘binary sunset’ final scene of the movie itself to the B-segment of “Battle of the Heroes” to various parts of “The Throne Room,” and that theme might very well be the signature of the series at this point, since it has meaningful recurrence throughout the saga. The main Star Wars theme is Luke’s theme, and is reused throughout the saga as callbacks and call-forwards to that same kind of heroism, but George Lucas kind of messed up the focus there when he expanded things with the prequels. So the Force them is really the dominant theme in the saga, and that’s appropriate. I probably could have selected just the Force theme for this, but by cheating and picking a suite, I get other stuff, too, and get to acknowledge the prequel-era music (which is arguably superior to Williams’ work on the classic trilogy), so it’s a win all around.

“Out to Sea / The Shark Cage Fugue” (from ‘Jaws’): I think we have to recognize that John Williams has made an indelible mark on all of human culture- it is impossible for us include a shark in our media without a pulsating musical motif. He has literally defined the sound of sharks in our imagination. Even so, I think the soundtrack to Jaws is under-valued; sure, everyone knows the shark theme, and there’s no big thematic stuff like in Star Wars or super-emotional stuff like in most of the Spielberg scores, but it’s still a great soundtrack with really solid adventuring music that’s so wonderfully lively and fun to listen to. This suite is a great example of that, mixing samples from the second half of the movie with lighthearted moments, some of the more action-y chase music, and some darker stuff like when the ship is destroyed by the shark. I’ll often just whistle parts of this for fun even if I haven’t listened to the soundtrack or watched Jaws in over a year.

“The Visitors / Bye / End Titles” (from ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’): People are sleeping on this soundtrack, let me tell you. It starts out with weird alien sounds and standard action music, but the ending -- where mankind makes peaceful contact with aliens via the medium of music -- is one of the standouts of Williams’ entire career, one of the greatest examples of that Spielberg sentimentality. I find this music to be absolutely glorious, majestic and full and transcendent. The little joke of having an instrumental recurrence of “When You Wish Upon A Star” along with the ‘five tones’ motif is something I find actively amusing- wish upon a star, and alien life with reach out in response! XD I wish I could have linked to some of the alternate arrangements from the restored 40th Anniversary release from La La Land Records, because they’re absolutely fabulous and I love blaring them on my car’s speakers, but it seems that no one has pirated and posted them on Youtube. WHAT ARE PEOPLE DOING WITH THEIR TIME?!

“Remembering Childhood” (from ‘Hook’): Look, I don’t care what people think of the movie. I haven’t even watched it all the way through in over a decade, probably. But this is one of Williams’ best scores, no fooling. I want a 5-CD expanded soundtrack of this thing with every second of music from the film, the stuff that was recorded that didn’t make the final cut, alternate versions of the stuff that was used, etc. I love this music. Every moment is great. And Remembering Childhood is one of the standouts; it uses the main flying theme at the end, and the beginning is a big triumphant instrumental rendition of the “When You’re Alone” song that sounds great. But the showcase is the stuff that accompanies Peter Banning getting his memories back and becoming Peter Pan once again. It’s emotional and reflective and nostalgic and heartwarming. It’s a perfect musical sandwich.

“Prelude and Main Title March” (from ‘Superman’): Just like John Williams invented the sound of sharks, he invented the sound of cinematic superheroes with his score for Superman. It’s the perfect embodiment of the first and ultimate superhero, and everything that’s been written for the character since has either been a pale imitation or a deliberate attempt to do something different (to lesser effect). And I love the exuberant sound it has, like it’s shouting, “It’s Superman!”

“Love Theme” (from ‘Superman’): Two from Superman?! I didn’t even mange to fit two from Star Wars and had to resort to a suite! (Not that Superman isn’t one of Williams’ best. It’s great.) However, I feel like I had to include this one. Lots of movies have love themes, and Williams himself has written a bunch. But IMO the Love Theme From Superman is the best of them. I’ve never been in love and I don’t ever expect to be, but I have to imagine that this is what love sounds like.

“Theme from Schindler’s List”: There’s a lot of music on this list that’s warm and positive and exciting, but John Williams is also great at quieter stuff, without losing any of emotion. I think the theme from ‘Schindler’s List’ is probably the preeminent example of that, perfectly mournful and full of the proper sound, a unique sound that’s completely unmistakable. Of course, Itzhak Perlman‘s performance is a huge part of that. The theme is still good when played by others, but there’s something special about Perlman’s rendition.

“A New Beginning” (from ‘Minority Report’): Another finale, but this one isn’t a summary of the rest of the movie’s music like the others. It’s a fairly stand-alone piece, but I just love the sound of it. I’m never getting married and I don’t dance, but this is totally going to be the music for the first dance at my wedding reception.

If anyone else has favorites from John Williams’ oeuvre, feel to reply or reblog with additions. I’d love an excuse to re-listen to those.

#Anonymous #you have no idea how agonizing i found making this list #it feels like a crime that raider's march isn't here #but this was a cutthroat competition

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askiisoft · 5 years ago

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FAN ART FRIDAY: Triple Dragons

Imagine dragons. It can be the European winged lizards or the long, windy Asian ones, it doesn’t matter. Now imagine that, like most lizards, it molted its skin every so often. But afterwards, that shedded skin came to life, put on a suit, and started trying to take over the identity of the original, creeping out its friends and war buddies in the process.

That’s the sordid history of Gamma Fifteen, a.k.a “The Dragon of New Mecca”. I think no one behind Katana ZERO imagined he’d become the game’s breakout character, receiving more fan love than the rest of the cast combined. But we’re not here to talk about him...or at least, not just him. Thanks to the raw talent and wild imaginations of fans, there have become at least three different versions of Fifteen in fanon.

So buckle in, because today we’ll be going on an expedition into the urban jungles of the Third District, to get a look at the three species of The Dragon in the wild.

Thanks to @55_yamisan for drawing all the species illustrations below! You can see the original artwork here.

[WARNING: Contains plot spoilers for ‘Katana ZERO’]

Ssshhh. Stay low, and be careful of snapping twigs underfoot. Just through the brush, we can see a juvenile Dragon in its natural habitat. Here, have a look.

Don’t be fooled by his boyish charm—at the tender age of 15, this NULL specimen is already a proficient killing machine. From this juvenile form, a Dragon can eventually grow into one of three different forms depending on its diet, habitat, and artist.

—

Exhibit A. Here, we have most prolific and successful species of The Dragon. Using his long, spindly legs, he prowls the Earth’s upper atmosphere for small birds, passenger planes, and other prey.

One of the mandates for Katana ZERO’s promotional art was that spoiler characters like Fifteen and Headhunter couldn’t be shown. It was a smart move for hiding the game’s various late-game twists, but as a consequence, fan artists had nothing but his in-game sprites as reference material.

This led to debates about whether he wore sunglasses or had cat ears, until natural selection produced the perfect assassin; a bishonen-yet-deadly apex predator.

by @IERotAK

I love hatched lines. They’re useful for drawing the eye or adding texture, shadows, and folds without the use of color. Unfortunately, a combination of shitty tablet drivers and my own unsteady hand means I can only draw lines a couple dozen pixels long before they start losing their straightness.

That’s clearly no issue for IEROtAK, who manages to convey the distinct textures of glossy leather gloves, a dark suit, and cold steel using nothing but amazingly neat hatched lines and negative space. The thick webs of intricate lines dazzles the eye from afar before it slowly makes out the clean shapes and low perspective of this masterpiece. Real badasses don’t look at explosions.

by @PsykoShipht

One of the best ways to make dynamic action is by accentuating movement; things like Batman’s cape, Strider Hiryu’s crimson scarf, or Rad Spencer’s dreadlocks billow and sway with their every movement, giving a sense of momentum and a clear line of action.

PsykoShipht gives Fifteen’s stylish ponytail a life of its own; I can already picture it straightening with each Chronos Rush attack or forming zig-zags and right angles and he navigates platforms. Even Fifteen’s comparatively lanky proportions and clean silhouette scream ‘agility character’ before he even draws his sword.

—

This species is a rare sight in the wild, and thankfully so. His briefcase is lead-lined, so even X-ray scans have been unable to reveal its contents.

It all began in The Concept Art of Katana ZERO and seemingly normal piece of concept art by Kenju, depicting an alternate version of Fifteen bearing a green sheath, green hair, and what looked like mild burn scars on his face.

by Kenju

Fan artists immediately took the idea and ran with it, inventing a bizarre, disfigured, and delightfully mad doppelgänger—first dubbed “Proto Fifteen″ and later, “The Snake” or “The Serpent”. He carries around that mysterious silver briefcase and a creepy yandere obsession with Fifteen’s old comrade, Zero.

Is he a failed clone? A bizarro-version from another dimension? And what’s inside that briefcase? We may never know. But the idea of having a stalker with Fifteen’s level of speed and swordsmanship is an utter nightmare...

by @55_yamisan

Why drown a drawing in rainbows when just a few spots of color makes all the difference?

Adding red eyes to Yami-san’s black-and-white art style immediately leads one’s gaze in a serpentine spiral, from the snake’s glare and up its graceful coils to The Serpent’s cocked head and seductive smirk that distinguish him as the ‘evil twin’. Even without the green in his hair or his signature briefcase, it’s easy to tell this is a totally distinct character from The Dragon.

Let’s hope Zero can tell the difference, too...

“There’s something important inside.” by @moryu

When Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction hit in 1994, everyone had their own guesses about what was inside the ‘mysterious briefcase’. Diamonds. Nuclear launch codes. Perhaps even a human soul.

In this case, however, my guesses are a lot more morbid, as anything The Serpent holds dear is likely slick, smelly, and related to Zero in some way. The way fan artists took a discarded detail from concept art and transformed it into The Serpent’s central conceit is beyond impressive.

I shudder to think of the kinds of reference photos @moryu used to achieve such realistic-looking burn scars in this picture. It doesn’t stop there, though; the mottled glow of The Serpent’s suit and hair and dull metallic sheen of his briefcase add an extra dimension of warmth to this otherwise creepy portrait.

—

“The Crocodile” is a relative newcomer to this ecosystem, but has carved out a niche of lifting his prey with a single arm, then drowning them in a toilet or other convenient body of water.

Truth be told, this one’s on me. When drawing some Steam Backgrounds for the game’s PC version, enough time had passed that The Dragon was fair game for publicity material. What I drew ended up like a blood-spattered cross between Clint Eastwood and Owen Wilson.

by @godsavant

This sent shockwaves rippling through the Katana ZERO fan community. Where was the sharply-dressed samurai prince everyone thirsted for? Surely this stomach-kicking, mobster-torturing beefcake couldn’t be him, thus earning him the moniker “The Crocodile” or “The Alligator”: muscular, deadly, and singularly obsessed with revenge.

by @sbserpent

Dragons are a consistent theme in art across many Asian cultures; for example, the Chinese once believed their emperor was descended from dragons, and thus bore their wisdom and benevolence. Here, sbserpent demonstrates just how frightening a human embodiment of a dragon really is.

Where The Dragon carries himself with an air of calculated composure, The Crocodile exudes sheer terror. The thick, angular brush strokes evoke Japanese sumi-e artwork, yet blotchy ink spots and harsh shadows are a far cry from the koi fish and bamboo forests of those traditional paintings.

by @Zebralineku

Chiaroscuro is a technique that uses bold contrast between light and shadow to leave certain parts for the viewer’s mind to fill in.

Here, Zebra gives us an imposing film-noir bust of The Crocodile as glimpsed through narrow blinds or a slat in a dark alley: the foreboding red mixed with heavy shadows evoke a hitman staring out at crimson neon signs, and his dark suit mixes with the black background to make him almost a shadow. Yet we can envision the other half of his face and ponytail in our mind’s eye from the scantest details; truly the touch of a master.

—

Remember, the specimens we’ve observed must be viewed from a safe distance; should you spot any of them in the wild, do not approach!

If you’d like some artwork featured on a future Fan Art Friday, just use the Submit Button on this blog!

by @Kazzang3

#katana zero #fan art friday #askiisoft #devolver digital #fan art

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skammovistarplus · 6 years ago

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Culture and Translation - S01 E02 C04-C07 and SKAM+ Clip 1

Hi hi! Okay, so I’ve both gotten a bunch of followers and the tag is a lot more poppin since the last time I posted one of these. Quick explanation: when I got into og Skam, I felt I had to piece together a lot of the cultural context behind it, such as, yes, Russetiden, but also stuff like the cost of a bunad or sex without protection. I’ve also read from multiple Norwegian people that the fansubs didn’t do justice to the slang Skam characters use. So these posts provide cultural context. They also provide explanations for the translation I went with in the subs and the best approximation to the slang the Skam España characters use on the show in the cases where I felt the translation didn’t fully do justice to the actual dialogue.

Note: these posts are based on my own subs/translations, so they might not make as much sense if you hadn’t watched those.

Note 2: You can check the culture and translation tag for the rest of the posts.

CLIP 4: In which I learn that a dj system is not a mixer.

This clip was shot in the Pinar de Chamartín subway station. It’s the only station that connects another line with lines 1 and 4, and the show thanks Metro Ligero in the credits. Pinar de Chamartín is a Metro Ligero subway station. (There are several kinds, depending on which company manages the station.) They probably used this station because it’s big and doesn’t get a lot of commuters. Otherwise, it’s completely out of the way of anything these characters would go to.

Hola acosadora! (“Hi creeper!”): would be closer in meaning to, “hi, harasser!” (which doesn’t flow well in English) or “hi, stalker!” (but Eva uses the word in English right after). So creeper it is.

Dale duro (Subs: Hit it hard): I don’t really have any comment about this, other than it seems to be Lucas’ signature phrase. He’s always saying it.

La gente se cree que hacen una movida los DJs que flipas (“People think DJs are some kind of crazy wizards”) Holy shit, I had so much trouble with this sentence. I wish I knew whether this line was on the original script or if Jorge’s actor reworded it. As per the FormulaTV article, the actors get to reword lines if they think it’d sound more natural some other way. Alas, I couldn’t think of how to translate “movida” in this context (it comes up again later), so I settled for the line in the subs. Let’s just say that the implication is that DJs are almost unknowable in their mad DJ skillz, what with the “movida” and the verb “flipar” that we’ve seen so often at this point. I find my translation much inferior to Jorge’s line, which provides such a vivid visual and is hilarious.

Hablando de punchi punchi (“Speaking of sick beats”): Jorge obviously doesn’t say sick beats, but he’s trying for an onomatopoeia for the beat in dance songs. There are a lot of variants in Spanish for this specific purpose of talking about the beat in a song. Another popular one is, “chunda chunda.” I’m actually really proud of how I translated this line, lol. Too bad I can’t put it on a resume.

“¿Te renta?” is another idiom that often comes up on Skam España. I’ve been told it’s Madrileño slang, but I’ve personally never used it or heard it before the show. (Which doesn’t mean it’s not in use, lol, just that it hasn’t made its way to me yet.) A literal translation would be, “Is it worth it?” Jorge asks Lucas whether it’d be worth it to Lucas to do something this weekend, and Lucas responds going out for beers would be worth it to him. In this case, I didn’t go for the literal translation as this scene is already too long and involved to be throwing more idioms into the mix. Other times, I’ve translated it as is, because I do feel it sums Madrileños up well. Like, we can’t be bothered to do anything or go anywhere if we don’t feel it’s worth it.

Keli (“House”): This has been Madrileño slang for decades at this point. It just means house.

Sí, movidas, ya sabes (“Yeah, shit, you know”): “Movidas” comes up again, this time in the context of Lucas’ home life. Basically, there’s trouble, but the use of “movidas” implies movement, i.e. it’s an active, ongoing situation.

Tengo un programita (“I have some ‘wares”): The literal translation is, “I have a little software,” but I remembered downloading completely legal software from sketchy websites, which would call them ‘warez.’ I thought this phrasing would be more vivid for English speakers. Also, there’s really nothing about Jorge’s persona that suggests this software would’ve been obtained legally, so yeah.

It’s unclear what part of what Eva is saying Jorge reacts to when he says, “Fuck…” Personally, I think he’s impressed that Eva has scammed a rich dude out of an invite to that huge-ass house. But it could also be that he’s proud she’s making plans with the girl squad! Either way, he’s impressed!

Pico, pala, pico, pala (“Joke, flirt, joke, flirt”): OKAY. So, the literal translation of this is, “Pick, shovel, pick, shovel.” This is fairly common Spanish slang for the process of flirting with a girl until she is won over, or she is less reluctant to flirt back. Visually, it makes you think of a miner having to put in long hours of exhausting physical work in order to get results. It makes it sound like more scummy than it is, kind of? I translated it as “joke, flirt, joke, flirt,” because that’s what it usually amounts to. As we’ve seen from Jorge, he does voices, gives odd nicknames and generally aims to be cute in a cheesy way. That is the kind of techniques that are meant to win a girl over, or at least get her to joke along with you.

One more objectionable maneuver, which would still fall under the umbrella of pick and shovel, would be Cristian’s “my DMs aren’t working” move to get Eva to give him her cellphone number.

Final lines from the clip that didn’t make it to the episode:

Eva: But, okay, no. Save up or ask your parents to get it for your b-day, no?

Jorge: Nah, maybe I’ll just get one secondhand.

Lucas: And you lend it to me.

Jorge: Okay.

Lucas: But you can’t… [cuts off]

I love the way all the dj system talk ended up having no impact whatsoever on the plot. It’s not like I had to look specific terms or anything.

CLIP 5: The girl squad chooses an impractical, yet picturesque, meeting point

Eva is waiting right outside Tribunal subway station. I’ve met up with friends at this station probably since I was allowed to hang out on my own, lol.

You can barely make out a building behind the girls. It’s this one: Museum of History of Madrid. Entrance is free, and it has tons of cool stuff to check out.

The girls have a quick chat on how they’ve dressed up for Cristian’s party. Cris says it was about time they had a chance to dress up. Nora says she put on one of her daily outfits, but the girls don’t buy it and tease her over it. Honestly, she doesn’t look overdressed at all? She wore an actual dress for New Year’s Eve.

Maripili! (“Maripili!”): Maripili is a name, which Nora randomly uses to call Viri over. It doesn’t seem to be a meme, so I think Nora is just teasing Viri with a name that sounds dated and cutesy. It’s very gentle teasing though.

Al chino (“To the convenience store”): Eva instructs the girls to go to “el chino,” which is slang for a type of convenience store owned by immigrants. These are usually Chinese immigrants, hence the name, but stores owned by Maghrebi and Latinx immigrants are also fairly common. The name “chino” has stuck regardless. These convenience stores sell a small range of foodstuffs, such as canned food, microwavable food, some fruit and vegetables, ice cream, bread, and, as the scene implies, booze. They also remain open longer than most grocery store chains, often until 23:30 on a weekday and way past midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. They’re not allowed to sell alcohol to minors, but I guess they don’t mind breaking the law? I don’t know, guys, we got older students to buy us booze lol.

Que me acaba de dar un cringe (“I just cringed a lot”): “Cringe” is an English loanword, which is obviously the word cringe.

Tú la que más, tú la que más (“You’re partying the hardest, you are”): The literal translation is: “You’re the most, you’re the most.” It’s implied that whichever girl is “you” (it’s the singular form, so Cris doesn’t mean all of the girls) is doing something the most, but the sentence doesn’t have a verb. Basically, it’s a way of hyping themselves up for the party. I assumed Cris meant “partying” from context, but it’s not explicit.

In the episode, clip 5 became two different clips to account for the train ride. That’s why there’s a timestamp in the middle of the clip when you watch the episode version.

Cristián lives in Pozuelo de Alarcón, an affluent Madrid suburb with its own city hall. At the time, twitter commentary from Spanish viewers was critical of the show choosing to make the girls meet in Tribunal, because public transit from Tribunal to Pozuelo takes too many connections and it’s not like Madrid isn’t rife with convenience stores. I included both the route the girls take, and an alternate for ur edification.

I just realized that when Viri goes over to greet Lara, you can clearly hear Lara saying, “what’s up, dude?” in response.

And also, when Eva begs Nora not to leave her alone, Nora teases Eva by saying the sentence back to her. That’s why Eva laughs and says Nora is being dumb.

A saco (“going all out”): “A saco” is that kind of slang that’s hard to translate, but Eva means that Viri is assertively taking the lead in pursuing (and making it clear she wants to make out with) ALEJANDRO, rather than waiting for him to notice her.

CLIP 6: Viri lost a battle, but she didn’t lose the war!

Nora’s ringtone is so… She truly leaves me speechless sometimes.

No soy celoso (“I’m not possessive”): I translated “celoso” as possessive, because if I translated it as “jealous” it would mean that Cristian, right this moment, doesn’t feel jealous of Jorge. In fact, what Cristian is saying that this is a general personality trait of his, like being blond. He is totally chill with any and all girls he is interested in having boyfriends. That’s not at all an obstacle!

It’s also a very corny thing Spanish guys say all the time when a girl says she’s taken, hence Eva’s uncomfortable smile in response.

As Inés and Alicia greet ALEJANDRO, he seems pretty annoyed by Viri floating around him, clearly laying a claim on him. The three of them intentionally crowd Viri out.

CLIP 7: Hard work pays off

En doce siglos (“in twelve centuries”): This is Amira’s catchphrase for measuring time. She also uses it during the truth or dare game.

One of the season 1 mysteries: what did Alicia say to Inés to make her leave so quickly? In hindsight, it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with Jorge, but that was one of the popular theories at the time.

Another detail: Cristian is behind Inés, seemingly on her side of this girl fight. ALEJANDRO’s crew seems to be pretty friendly with Inés and Alicia. They celebrated Inés’ birthday together, and often post ig stories together.

Social media:

I already mentioned this in a post, but Cris’ instagram makes it very obvious that Cris is a stoner. Her rainbow tops are peak Spanish stoner girl fashion, the soap video she regrammed is the sort of thing a stoner would be fascinated by, she follows ifyouhigh and highpeopledoingstuff, and she’s holding a blunt for her first ever ig pic. So yeah. I also just realized the implications, seeing she’s the s2 main. I don’t think she’ll lose a bunch of weed, but she might smoke it with 🐸?

“Perezón,” i.e. the title of clip 4, would literally translate to sloth or laziness, but its actual meaning is “what a drag,” as in “that party/those people/going to that rally is such a drag.”

Viri’s house is pretty basic-looking. What we can see of it looks like a working class household, but it isn’t the borderline hoarder situation in Vilde’s clip.

Eva watches an 11-episode show, which may or may not be Skam s1. The fun thing is she promises she won’t watch episode 12. The NYE special is listed as episode12 on the Movistar site.

Jorge got ahold of a charger after midnight!

SKAM+ #1:

This clip takes place between episode 2 clips 6 and 7. Specifically, 20 minutes before the last clip.

Aitana is a Spanish singer born in 1999. She became famous thanks to talent show Operación Triunfo, where she came in second. At the time season 1 aired, she had only dropped two songs, Lo Malo with Ana Guerra, and Teléfono. Both of these songs played a prominent role on the show.

Cristian’s dad works at a record label! Explains Cristian’s huge ass house and mixing room!

ALEJANDRO asks Aitana where she’d like to hang out with him at Retiro Park. Retiro Park is one of the largest parks in Madrid. The park belonged to the Spanish Monarchy until the late 19th century, when it became a public park. It’s one of the most picturesque sights in the city and it’s overrun by people. So I don’t think it’s the place you want to take a celeb on a low-key date, but otherwise, good choice! Almost makes it seem like ALEJANDRO isn’t after sex!

Hasta yo preferiría a Aitana (“Even I’d rather Aitana”): That is… so lesbian of Viri.

Speaking of lesbians, Cris is also absolutely overcome by Aitana’s beauty.

In case you weren’t aware, Spaniards greet each other with two cheek kisses when we meet someone. Touching people’s hair without their permission, though, is still a no-no.

#culture and translation #skam españa #skam spain #skamesp #skames #skam esp

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kalico-to-the-letter · 6 years ago

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REVIEW // RWBY | 6.1 | “ARGUS LIMITED”

AKA the one in which I find solidarity with the Grimm’s hatred of rail transportation. Don’t talk to me about trains and how they ruin my days, or else I might also transform into a giant feathery chimera of darkness and breath fire on you.

Welcome in to my review of Volume 6, Chapter 1, entitled “Argus Limited”. We are back in business for another winter, coming through with yet another season of my incredibly unwieldy and low-reach style of conveying my thoughts on this show I love.

In this episode: bitter feelings, Partings of the ways, and Oh my goodness, I have missed the RWBY dynamic.

Look at this girl, by the way. This is the face of a girl who knows she’s finally being given some work to do in this show.

A LOT OF PROMISE: WHERE IT WAS NEEDED MOST, AND NOT A MOMENT TOO SOON

In this era of episodic writing, premieres (and finales) exist in their own kind of world, somehow connected to the body of the season by virtue of proximity and story threads, but oftentimes separated completely by tone and mood and direction. More of a mission statement underlined by style, flash, and signature moments, rather than an actual episodic narrative.

RWBY has been part of this as well, which is why I bring it up. Last year’s premiere had a foot in that territory, and I’m sure you all remember the utterly pointless food fight in the Volume 2 premiere (that’s OK, I had to look it up as well).

But while this Volume 6 premiere looks like it’s not doing a whole lot, scratch a little beneath the surface and you’ll realise that holy shit, a lot happened in this episode. And they pulled it off very slickly. I call it low-key good storytelling.

Let me explain.

This is an episode dominated by three action pieces, all on a single set. This itself doesn’t seem like much, but it actually keeps the narrative very tightly focused, and affords us great opportunity to get acquainted with the setting; outside the train, we only visit Adam’s location and the station. I expected it coming in, but this is the least jumping around the show’s format has used in years, and to actually see the tight focus in action again is different to merely speculating about it. Not to mention that we get something different out of each visit to the action pieces. The action beat in the middle of the episode offers an alternative angle to the in medias res action of the opening, and adds to it, while of course the ending serves a purpose which is simultaneously connected and separate with its partners.

It is in between these scenes – and even during these scenes – where, if you pay close enough attention, one can see the subtle plot and character machinations working to service the episode as a contained story, or possible matters for the future. These things aren’t being buried, but it requires some thinking about to put together.

We can see the character dynamics shifting and revealing themselves, particularly in the little bit of grinding between Yang and Blake, who clearly have still not addressed their deeper issues with each other. And even that gets a little bandage wrapped over it when they are able to come together and click seamlessly as teammates in combat.

We can see the fundamentals of this plot. The crew, just two weeks removed from the last finale, are transporting the relic they retrieved from Haven to Atlas, at the behest of the ever enigmatic Oz. On the train to their destination, they are attacked by Grimm. Team RWBY, Oscar, and Qrow are separated from JNR. They meet a strange elderly woman, who reminds me in every way of Legend of Korra’s version of Katara with high-tech glasses. It’s literally that simple, but the structure of the episode makes it so that it doesn’t feel as bare as I’ve just outlined.

One other such important machination is the possible rehabilitation of Ruby Rose.

It was the biggest thread in my preview for the upcoming season, and I won’t run it into the ground again here. Essentially, Ruby has been one of the least interesting characters throughout the run of this series, and has been eclipsed by her teammates in character depth, which is not what you want for your main heroine.

And this episode takes real strides to correcting this. Like Ruby taking the lead in the fighting. And diffusing the negative energy in the train. And formulating a decent and thoroughly self-sacrificial plan to keep the civilians safe.

How hard was that? Now Ruby’s the hero of this episode, and you have a solid base on which to build for her going forward.

Maybe.

It could all still be for nought. They could find a way to completely undo her newfound credibility, and it wouldn’t be that hard. But let’s err on the side of optimism, shall we? This show is generally pretty good with carrying and developing these kinds of threads as the seasons roll on.

OBSERVATIONS:

Adam is basically that guy you have no choice but to turn down, because you’ve got your own shit together and he is an anchor to a lesser version of yourself. Then he can’t handle it and gets head-deep in his fuckshit bag. Blake, stay winning.

I love the pointed irony of Weiss returning to Atlas after spending an entire season trying to get out of the place.

It’s touching that Ilia got some kind of closure out of her time with Blake, even if it almost certainly wasn’t the kind she was originally after. Also, what I would have given to see Blake roast the boy Neptune even harder for trying to hit on the “wrong tree”. I wasn’t even that mad at the Sun stuff, since it was him basically realising what he should be doing (and should have been doing from the start).

I’m still not sure how I feel about Oz/Oscar. There is still something off-putting about that character, even though the show went to pains to help him along last season.

I have so many emotions just seeing Team RWBY chilling together again. I feel like Weiss and Ruby are practically bonded at this point. Yang and Blake looks like a promising storyline to pay attention to this season as well.

GRADE: B+

“Argus Limited” is a premiere buzzing with typically well-coordinated action beats, but don’t let that be all you take away from this episode. The storytelling here, while low-key, subtle, and perhaps lacking a little in plot substance, should not be underestimated in its effectiveness – especially for the character of Ruby, who finally gets a chance to be important, rather than just having the show tell us she is. Watch out for how this develops. – KALLIE

#rwby spoilers #rwby reviews #rwby6 #rwby volume 6 #rwby

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velkynkarma · 7 years ago

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The Quintessential Paladin Armor Guide

Hey guys! We’re 5 seasons in now, and I thought it would be useful to put together this reference sheet for everything we know the paladin armor can do to date. I’ll also update this guide when new seasons come out and we learn more armor functions, too. Currently, this guide has been updated for Season 5. I provide references to episodes where each ability is used for samples of an ability, and visual examples for some abilities as well. This guide is primarily intended to be factual, with hard evidence from the episodes. However, some parts of the armor are still open-ended or have some degree of speculation surrounding them. I will indicate this as well if something about its abilities is unclear.   This guide contains a large number of screenshots, so all observations will be under the cut. For general reference, the guide is arranged in the following order:

General Armor Observations

Breakdown of individual armor pieces and their abilities

Helmet

Shoulders

Cuirass/Chest Piece

Jetpack

Gauntlet

Belt

Thigh/Leg Armor

Boots

General Bayard Observations

Character-specific notes regarding armor/bayard usage

Conclusion

Let’s take a look at what this armor does!

GENERAL

One size fits all: Despite Hunk’s misgivings (S1E1), the armor appears to fit itself to any body type (with the exception of the helmets, which Hunk appears to struggle with sometimes). This is further established in the wake of S3E7, where we see five different races with five different distinct body types and sizes, also wearing a variation of the paladin armor

High Durability: The armor is fairly durable. The only case we’ve seen of it being broken (outside more fragile extra pieces such as the jetpacks) is when Keith takes a direct hit from a druid’s blast (S1E10). Even when Lance shielded Coran at point-blank range from an explosion, his armor appeared to have held itself together and likely saved his life (S1E4), although it was severely scuffed and likely had still taken significant damage. The same is true when the entire team holds scaultrite in S2E5 for the teludav (their armor is scuffed but not broken) and when all of them are hit by dark energy/electricity (S4E6, but not entirely clear if they’re being struck with electricity or magic). It is also at least moderately resistant to acid, since Keith is able to swim in the Weblum’s stomach for a short period without being digested (S2E9), although it’s made clear this won’t last forever. It does appear to be somewhat weak to electricity, as Pidge is effectively stunned/injured when struck by an opponent using this attack (S4E2).

Full Environment Functionality: The armor is fully functional both for space environments as well as underwater environments. It is not clear if the suit also accounts for underwater pressure, although in S2E2 both Lance and Hunk were perfectly safe underwater in their suits.

Other Minor Observations:

The armor can be made in any color, regardless of whether or not it matches with a Lion’s color (S3E2, Allura’s pink armor, although there is no Pink Lion). They appear to only traditionally match the colors of the Lions.

Bayards, “the traditional weapon of the paladins of Voltron,” are distinctly color-coded and linked to a Lion. There are only 5, regardless of how many variations of armor we’ve seen.

All the bright blue/teal lines on each piece of armor appear to be lights and will glow in low lighting (S1E4). Most of this appears to be for aesthetic, or possibly to help with visuals in a low-lighting situation. However, at least one set of lights actually has a functional purpose (the ones on the upper leg/thigh armor), which is where bayards are “sheathed” until needed.

Presumably the armor is designed to get into very quickly, as the paladins appear capable of going from casual gear to armor in the elevator ride from the bridge of the Castle of Lions to their respective ziplines (S1E2)

In S1E7 Allura mentions that “there are already sensors built into your suits” when they are discussing dropping the BLIP-tech sensors in order to be able to scan for the enemy. It’s unclear if she means the sensors are used to read the BLIP-tech readings, or if the sensors are there to track where each paladin is.

The armor used by Shiro, Keith, Hunk, Lance, Pidge, and later Allura, is not the exact same design as their predecessors (S3E7). There are distinct differences in the design of the helmet, chestpiece, belt, and boots, and the original paladins do not appear to have the thigh-sheath lights. However, the armor of today’s characters was stored away in cases in the Castle of Lions, implying these may have been later designs.

The original paladins’ armor is slightly different than the designs we know today, although it isn’t clear if it had any functional differences.

HELMET

Space Capable: The helmets are capable of fully sealing shut and providing oxygen (or, presumably, any other needed gas for the species in question) and protecting from the elements. This also applies to underwater (S2E2). It is unclear how the helmet filters oxygen/breathable gases as the armor does not appear to have any kind of tank. It is also not clear how it recognizes what breathable gasses are necessary for the species in question wearing it. It is also not clear if the helmets will automatically seal when the paladin enters a breathing-poor environment, or if they control this in some way. Communications: The helmets have audio communications (like a radio frequency). Paladins seem capable of talking to each other individually or in a full group depending on the situation at hand. Communications can be disrupted in the wrong types of environments if the signal is interfered with (S2E1, Shiro had to get to higher ground before his comm would work, S3E3, the gas interfered with their communications so they could not hear each other). The communications can also be used to some degree even when not wearing the helmet—as long as it is relatively close by, the paladin can be heard and hear others (S1E6, Lance was not wearing his helm but could still be heard when he shouted). Visuals: The visors of the helmet are capable of displaying imagery and data for the wearer in overlay readouts that don’t obstruct their vision. The data can be transmitted two ways. The paladin can transmit what they are seeing to another team member or back to the Castle of Lions (S1E10, Keith displays the quintessence processing chamber to the others).

Keith (S1E10) sharing what he’s seeing with the rest of the team.

Or, data can be transferred from someone else to the paladin (S2E4, Pidge scans the entire building for signs of life and transmits the results to Shiro, who uses it to find Lubos).

Shiro (S2E4) receiving Pidge’s scanned information and using it to track Lubos.

The paladins have also used a variation of this in combination with their gauntlets to create visual communications (S1E8). One paladin will use his/her gauntlet to display visual feeds from another team for something like video chat.

Blackout Training: Used only once (S1E2), this feature is remotely activated not by the paladin but by their trainer. Used to block visuals completely so that the paladin is forced to rely on the Lion’s senses. It’s part of an “expert level drill that really shouldn’t be attempted until you’ve been flying for years.”

Lance (S1E2) is not okay with blackout training helm when he realizes he can’t see.

Team Tracking: In S2E1, Keith is able to track a signature with a special layout on his visor to know what direction to run in when searching for Shiro. Note, it’s not clear if he’s tracking the Black Lion, or Shiro, although the signal appears to center directly over the Black Lion when he gets a visual of it.

Keith (S2E1) following a readout on his visor to find Shiro and the Black Lion.

Translation: In S4E2, Pidge is able to read the rebel monument despite it being in a language she does not know. The helm highlights the text, produces an Altean version of the text on the visor readout, and then reads the script out loud to her in her own language. Note, this may possibly be a newer feature, as in earlier seasons the characters have difficulties translating Galra text; alternatively, it’s coded for other kinds of languages, but not Galra.

Pidge (S4E2) using the helm translation to read her brother’s “grave.”

Composition Scanning: In S4E6 Hunk is able to look at a sample of soil in his hand, and the helmet is able to scan it and determine what particles made up the soil.

Hunk (S4E6) using the helm to identify dangerous explosive material in the soil.

Unknown: On occasion the paladins are shown not having their helmets in one scene, or having left them behind, but then going into battle with them shortly thereafter (Ex. S3E4, the team runs down the halls and fights the Altean sentries without any headgear, and they are not wearing helmets when alternate-Slav opens the airlock. However just seconds later they are shown flying out with sealed headgear for space). It’s unclear if the helmets have a function like the bayards (when they can be stored away on the armor until needed), or if this is a detail oversight.

SHOULDERS

No notable attributes, other than possibly being one of the more distinctive pieces of the paladin armor and color-coded by paladin.

It should be noted the color-coded pieces are not actually attached to the collar. There is a distinct strip of gray-black for each paladin that matches the undersuit they wear.

Hunk (S2E4) shows how the colored shoulder guards aren’t attached to the collar.

CHESTPIECE

No notable attributes, other than possibly being one of the more distinctive pieces of the paladin armor and color-coded by paladin. Each one is marked with the Voltron “V” symbol, although it should be noted a very similar design was used for the alternate-universe Alteans, so this may also be a notable Altean symbol.

Lacks protection for the stomach, which has been a source for one of the major injuries in the series so far (Shiro’s side-wound, delivered S1E11, prominently seen S2E1). This seems to be a notable weakness in the armor’s design.

JETPACKS

Jetpacks are part of the chestpiece, but have their own entry for a few reasons.

The jetpacks are extremely fragile and can break if put under enough pressure (S1E5, Pidge gets shot by Galra fire in the jetpack and it bursts, S1E11, Shiro’s breaks after flying through zero gravity and hitting the wrong way). However, they do appear to provide some extra insulation or armor from the back, since as stated Pidge is shot point blank in the back and lives through it.

when not in use, the jetpacks are retracted against the paladin’s back, which is their standard setting. When they are in use, two “wing” pieces extend farther away from the body, and can sometimes be seen visibly over the characters’ shoulders.

Pidge (S2E1) gives a good example of how the packs extend when in use

The jetpacks appear to be primarily designed for maneuvering in zero gravity and can do so decently well, even in combat scenarios (S2E10, gravity was turned off to allow better maneuverability for the paladins) or with multiple individuals (S2E6, Keith is able to tow Allura with him fairly easily).

They can also be used in an environment with gravity, but to a more limited degree. Generally they appear to be used to slow descent in a fall (S2E4, team Voltron airdropped in for a rescue), or to allow for rapid sudden movement horizontally (S1E3, Pidge and Shiro escape a ship’s crash) or in short vertical distances (S2E3, Keith uses the jetpack to catch Ulaz and strike).

They do not appear to let you “fly” in a gravity environment. This was made pretty clear in S2E1, when Keith could not just fly across the chasm with his jetpack. He launched himself partway and was able to use the jetpack to supplement his movement, but even then he barely made it. He also has to keep touching down in the geyser field despite the obvious danger touching the ground here represents. This suggests the packs are supposed to be use for short distances at best

Weight does also affect the jetpack’s power in a gravity environment to some degree. In S1E3 both Pidge and Shiro jump off the same point in the downed Galra ship when trying to reach the computer. Shiro sinks fairly quickly while Pidge flew significantly higher and came down much lighter. Along a similar vein, in the same episode Shiro was able to carry Pidge out using his own jetpack, but only for a short distance, and he had to touch down at least once and re-jump using it.

They can also be used underwater for enhanced maneuverability (S2E2). Additionally, they do not appear to produce any kind of jet-wash or super-heat the water, so their users are not boiled alive in the process of using them.

Jetpacks are frequently incorporated into combat as well, for short bursts of speed, maneuverability, or height. Keith uses it the most in combat to leap in close very quickly, or to ricochet off walls (ex. S2E3 against Ulaz). Shiro will use his the same way to enhance parkour maneuvering or get in close enough to use his arm (ex. S2E10). Lance has also done this once (S2E10, to shoot at an opponent from the air).

Keith (S2E12) using his jetpack for extra speed and force while fighting sentries

Currently it is unclear how the jetpacks are fueled. They do produce some kind of blue flame, but it is unclear how they do so, if they have unlimited power, or where fuel is stored if needed.

GAUNTLETS

Holographic Computer Interface: The gauntlets can create a holographic computer interface that can be used for a variety of tasks just like a normal computer. Some samples for paladin uses are interfacing with and downloading Galra data (S1E3), using the gauntlets for video communications (S1E8), create maps or plan routes (S1E4, S2E10), analyzing escape options or possible next steps (S1E5), generating holographic distractions (S1E5), or transmitting data to or from the Castle of Lions, the Lions, or each other (S1E7, S2E10, S2E4). Pidge has also used the gauntlet for hacking in a variety of forms, from standard hacking (most eps), to generating a facial recognition hologram from an image (S2E10), to remotely hacking the Castle of Lions (S1E5 for the invisible maze) or Shiro’s arm (only once, in the comics). She has even hacked Galra technology via other paladins’ gauntlets, such as when she uses Shiro and Lance’s interfaces to pass her data in order to let her hack a closed system in the Beta Traz prison (S2E10). However the limit of her hacking is questionable, as there are times when Pidge brings her laptop along to perform some of the same functions (S1E10).

Shiro (S1E8) projecting imagery from Coran to Hunk and Keith

Scanning: The gauntlets are able to scan items or systems and can be used functionally in this regard both to supplement the computer interface or for additional needs. Pidge used it to scan another computer interface in S1E5 to examine the data and manipulate it. It’s also used in “reverse” this way in S2E10, as Lance and Shiro scan systems to let Pidge connect, and then are able to project codes back into the same system to let them unlock doors. In a non-digital setting, the gauntlets can also be used to scan items or people, such as when Lance uses it to scan the warden’s face in S2E10. Often works in conjunction with the computer interface, but appears to be functionally different, so I’ve put it in its own category. Energy Shield: The paladin armor can create energy shields generated from the wrist to protect its paladin. The shields have so far been demonstrated to block Galra firearm attacks (multiple eps), immobilizing foam (S2E10), distress spores (S2E4), acidic creatures (S2E9), explosions (S2E12) and even druid lightning blasts in one instance (S1E10) so they are pretty durable. Keith has also used his shield as a protective wall in at least one instance against the Weblum’s defense laser (S2E9), although it should be noted in this case it was not used to deflect a direct hit, but rather as an extra bit of protection when he and Acxa were already hiding in a side chamber. Hunk has also used his shield as a weapon on at least one occasion (S4E5) by using it to slam a sentry into a wall. They do appear to have some limitation however, as after being struck by druid magic in S1E10 Keith does not try to summon his shield again, and the attack appears to have broken it. A similar instance occurs in S4E2, when Pidge uses the shield as a defense against a falling boulder; it does not stop the boulder and throws her backwards, and the shield disappears afterwards. Shields can be generated in a large number of sizes, from small for training exercises (S1E2) to full body length (S1E7). Energy shields can be used with both the left and right arms. 

Keith and Shiro (S2E4) summoning shields on both the right and left arms

Energy Disruption Taser: Only used once by Pidge so far in S1E1 to stop the drone she eventually turns into Rover. Fires a beam or pulse of some kind that scrambles enemy technology.

Rover’s pov (S1E1) as Pidge incapacitates it prior to being converted to Team Voltron

Wrist Grappling Lines: In S2E10 Shiro and Pidge fire grappling lines that attach to a surface and reel them in to it in open space. These appear to be for use in zero gravity only as they have not been seen again since with the paladin armor, and are never used to pull or lift a paladin in a situation where they have weight. (It can be noted that Keith used a similar technique in S4E1 with his knife while operating with the Blade of Marmora, so this appears to be standard maneuvering practice in space).

Shiro (S2E10) firing his wrist grapple in open space

Flashlights: Gauntlets come equipped with flashlights for particularly dark areas that the glowing strips on the armor aren’t enough to illuminate (S2E2, S3E4) Medical scan: In S4E2, Pidge uses her gauntlet to scan Te-osh’s body for injuries. The scan works similar to an x-ray and reveals several broken ribs, which the scan tech also highlights. This suggests the technology can not only provide imagery of an individual’s internal organs or skeletal structure but can also correctly interpret if there is an injury, regardless of the species it scans.

Pidge (S4E2) scanning Te-osh and identifying injuries with her gauntlet Search function: In S4E2, Pidge is able to use her gauntlet to scan the ground and locate a doorway that leads to the base Matt is stationed at. Note that it is not a passive feature and she had to actively search for it after deducing that something was there, however the scan did locate the anomaly once set to look for it.

Pidge (S4E2) scanning for possible doorways or anomalies while searching for Matt Matter Compression: This is more speculative, but based on other forms of technology we’ve seen from Altea. Shiro’s glove appears to change when he’s in paladin armor and uses his prosthetic to fight, as though the glove material retracts or disappears (S1E4). There have been other incidents of Altean technology doing something similar, such as the pod “doors” appearing out of thin air to close or dissolving when opening (S1E4), or the way the gladiator seems to dissolve into bits of data when defeated (S1E9 when Keith destroys it). It is possible, but not confirmed, that the gauntlets or paladin armor in general are also capable of this.

BELT

No notable attributes at this time. As of Season 4 we still have no explanation for the gray boxy structures that rest on the right and left sides of the belt. It is not clear if they are there for decoration/aesthetic, if they are the power source for the suit, if they are some form of pockets/pouches/storage, etc.

THIGH/LEG ARMOR

Bayard Holster: The most notable feature for this armor is it’s where the bayards are “sheathed” or “holstered.” The glowing strips that rest just below a paladin’s hips appear to hold an un-summoned, energized form of the bayard. The paladin can summon and return it at will.

Keith (S1E1) summoning his bayard clearly for combat

BOOTS

Heel Jets: In S2E2, Lance uses a set of jets in the heels of his boots a few times: first, to repel baku-brainwashed Hunk during their fight, and then later to fight another mer-soldier. Note that he is only seen using this as a form of attack, not a form of propulsion. Also note that this ability has not been seen again since and was only used by Lance.

Lance (S2E2) using some form of heel blast to repel an attacking mer-soldier

BAYARD

As stated, bayards are limited, and appear to be specifically connected to the Lion in question (ex. Allura now has the blue bayard for the Blue Lion, even though she’s wearing pink, and there is no pink bayard).

According to Allura in S5E3, bayards “amplify each paladins’ life force.”

Bayards can be held by a paladin piloting a different Lion (S3E2, Lance hands over the blue bayard to Allura although he had been piloting the Red Lion). They can also be held by someone not currently piloting at all (ex. Zarkon), and it is possible to be a pilot without one (ex. Shiro, S1 and S2).

Bayards can be used to form a weapon for the paladin. The weapon in question is paladin-specific regardless of which bayard they have (ex. Keith forms a sword with both the red and black bayards). Although they do tend to form the same type of weapon, there may be differences in build and design. Bayards can even evolve over time for a single individual as well, even if they never change hands: both Hunk and Pidge’s bayards change appearances between seasons 2 and 3. See these other meta posts for more in-depth details.

As of S5E2, Lotor has been seen using the black bayard as well. This raises two questions: does this mean Lotor is also capable of piloting the Black Lion? Or, is it possible to use a bayard even without being directly linked to its respective Lion? S3E5 shows Allura holding the red bayard as Lance’s sword form, but it immediately returns to its base form; it is not clear if this means a person unlinked to a specific Lion can’t use that bayard, however.

Lotor (S5E2) holding the black bayard. His base form, sword and chainsword all resemble Zarkon’s.

Bayards can possibly adjust shape or type as well depending on user skill. Lance was able to change his bayard from a rifle form into a sniper rifle form and back at will (S3E6), which is the first indication of this happening in the team.

As of S5E3, he is also now capable of transforming it into an Altean broadsword; see this analysis for more detail on the weapon. It should be noted this has only been witnessed once, and it is not yet clear if he can change it back to a rifle. Lance himself states he does not know how he changed his weapon.This marks Lance as the first to change his bayard to multiple forms from different “families” of weapons, and also makes it clear this is a skill all of the paladins could develop in time.

Zarkon is the only other example we’ve had so far of changing bayard shape, and not just within the same “family” of weapon but into a different kind entirely (ex. S1E11, where he forms a sword, chain whip, shield, polearm, and cannon; see his bayard analysis for more detail). Lotor has also managed to change weapon shape but still prefers swords or sword-variants.

Zarkon’s bayard also appears very differently than the others (S1E11) and changes shape when Shiro regains it even in its base format (S2E13). Lotor’s bayard form takes approximately the same shape. Again, unclear if this is due to Zarkon’s skills and/or bloodline, or the individual in question. Zarkon’s corruption is another possibility having an effect on the weapon, but if this is the case, it would mean Lotor is also corrupted in some form.

Shiro (S2E13) holding Zarkon’s version of the bayard compared to his own

As of S5E2, Lotor has revealed he is also capable of using the black bayard. When he holds it, it takes the same form spiky base form that Zarkon’s does, and he displays a few of the same forms that Zarkon uses (a chain sword/whip and a regular sword). Note his abilities with it appear to be somewhat limited compared to his father still, as he does not use any other forms such as the cannon, polearm or shield that Zarkon exhibits, and he does not used ranged moves with his regular sword.

As of S5E2 it should be noted that the shape of Zarkon’s bayard cannon also appears to have changed. It is not clear if this is indicative of any kind of character evolution or change, especially since Zarkon has displayed several variations of the same weapon in the past (for example, 2 different swords).

Bayards are also used to interface with their specific Lion, in order to form a weapon in Voltron (this only works with Voltron, and not in individual Lions)

Ex. Yellow Bayard creates a shoulder cannon similar to Hunk’s own bayard when activated

Like a paladin’s solo combat, the weapon formed for Voltron is paladin-dependent, not bayard-dependent. Keith still forms the Blazing Sword even when using the black bayard in the Black Lion (S3E6), and the sword is not formed at all in S4 after Keith leaves the team. (There is some possible discrepancy to this, however it may also be an animation error).

As of S5E4, Voltron is seen using its sword again even though Keith is not with the team, which may suggest that Lance is now capable of summoning it due to the new form his bayard has taken. This is not officially proven yet however as we have not actively seen Lance summoning the weapon for Voltron.

This suggests (but is not yet confirmed) that Voltron’s weaponry could be near-infinite, depending entirely on the paladins piloting it and which ones activate which bayards, although there is possibility for some overlap (for example, Alfor and Keith both summoned a sword for Voltron—S3E7). This would also suggest that Voltron is particularly dependent on its paladins for advanced weaponry.

Currently, we have only seen 3 cases of bayards being used to form weapons for Voltron: Hunk forming a shoulder cannon with the yellow bayard, and Keith and Alfor (and now possibly Lance) both forming a sword (with either the red or black bayards). It is currently unknown what form of weaponry might be produced for Pidge, Allura, and Shiro, or if the former paladins besides Alfor formed anything unique. It is also not clear if Lance is capable of producing another bayard form besides the sword.

Bayards can additionally be used in conjunction with each other to power up individual weapons. This is first seen in S2E6, when Keith summons the Blazing Sword with his red bayard, and then Pidge, Hunk and Lance all use their own bayards to make it much larger and more powerful. With the addition of Shiro’s bayard (S2E13) this becomes an extremely powerful upgrade to the point when the sword was literally on fire/emitting energy. However this has only been seen in Season 2 with the sword, and it is unclear if this type of upgrade can be applied to other bayard weapons (such as Hunk’s shoulder cannon).

A similar function occurs in a more defensive nature when all five bayards are used together. Instead of powering up a weapon, all five bayards used simultaneously can give Voltron itself a power boost, which may be strong enough to drive out invasive attacks such as viruses (S5E3).

It should be noted this results in each paladin being transferred to a combined Voltron mind-space. It is not clear if this is a function of the bayard, a function related to Voltron, or if this was an odd side effect. It is also not clear if it functions for all paladins, or only in specific circumstances, as Shiro admits he has no memory of this incident in S5E3.

It is not clear how a person’s original bayard form is determined, or if it is based on an individual’s personality, quintessence, etc. However, as of S5E3, Allura comments that Lance’s new Altean broadsword bayard is showing him “you have greatness within,” and later on in the same episode mentions that bayards amplify a paladin’s life force, which could possibly imply they can adjust based on personal growth, potential or changes in a person’s life force.

If a bayard is knocked out of its owner’s hands it will change back to its original base form (S1E9). However it does have some fluidity of movement in other aspects, as it can be manipulated to some degree in its energy form (S3E6, Keith shifts his sword bayard from his left hand to his right while fighting Ezor). Presumably the difference is whether or not a paladin is holding concentration on it, however this is not confirmed.

Keith (S3E6) moves his bayard to his right hand when his left is restrained

Sparkle power: Bayards can also apparently perform minor illusions or cast sparks, as seen by Lance. It should be noted it is unclear if this is an actual ability each bayard has, or if this was a visual gag in animation to emphasize Lance fooling around.

Lance (S2E10) makes his bayard sparkle

Bayards appear to revert to the base form upon death, even if the user is still holding it (S2E5)

CHARACTER-SPECIFIC NOTES WITH ARMOR/BAYARDS

Some of the characters have so far shown specific quirks or uses for their armor that not all of them use.  

Pidge uses her gauntlet the most often. The rest of the team generally only uses it for communication, or at Pidge’s direction to get or send data for her.

Shiro’s gauntlet is flexible enough to allow him to use his Galra prosthetic without damaging the armor. Additionally although only his hand lights up, the glow will go all the way up to his elbow (note: this only occurs when he is in paladin armor. When he activates it in civilian clothing in both seasons 2 and 3, the glow is usually contained to his hand).

Although Lance will frequently hit targets with his bayard, the strength of the blasts appears to vary, as some targets he will hit multiple times but they won’t take damage. (Ex. S1E2, the gladiator, or S2E10, the warden). Possibly the most notable example is a direct hit to Sendak that did not kill him. In other cases his first shot will completely destroy a sentry.

When in combat with both sword and shield, Keith typically uses the shield on his right arm and sword in his left, but he has been seen using both shield and sword on both arms

Keith has also been known to throw his sword-bayard (or Marmora blade) at opponents, with surprising accuracy. (S1E7, S2E12, S3E4).

Note: The Voltron Show (S4E4)’s depictions were bypassed for the sake of this guide, as most data shown in this episode regarding the armor is subject to embellishment, stage illusion, or other forms of trickery not actually accurate to the armor’s real functions

CONCLUSION

That’s it for now! As stated, I will continue to update this guide with new relevant information whenever more data is given to us on paladin armor functions. Hope it’s useful to all you writers, artists, and fans out there! ~VelkynKarma

#voltron #voltron reference #long post #lots of screenshots #phew!#I've been working on this for a while guys #hope it's useful!

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royallypsychotic · 4 years ago

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kayliemusing · 4 years ago

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18: WIP

I’m doing this because I really really want to talk about my wip but I don’t feel like actually writing it right now lmao. This is for “WAKE” (however idk yet if that’s the official title yet). We’ll see how this goes because I haven’t worked out all the kinks yet and I’m still trying to get to know what story I’m trying to tell. 1. Describe the plot in one sentence? In a world where the Moirai have descendants who are powerful beings, Holly Vincent sets out to find The Cursed Fate, who was cast out centuries ago, in hope of finding/saving her mother who disappeared. (There’s another subplot to go along with this but I don’t know how to describe it all in one sentence lol)

2. Pick one sight, smell, sound, feel and taste to describe the aesthetic for your novel. Sight: A dark, wet forest. Smell: The sweet, spicy smell of unknown magic in the air. (think: vanilla, cinnamon and maybe new leather) Sound: Ominous whistling wind through pine trees Feel: Wet dirt, the warmth of something in your hand but you can’t see it. Taste: Something oddly sweet, perhaps with a metallic tang

3. Which 3+ songs would make up a playlist for the novel? - My Tears Ricochet by Taylor Swift (pretty much the entire theme song of the novel. I was actually surprised by how well this fit my wip because it was not planned!!) - Soothsayer by Of Monsters and Men - Salt and the Sea by The Lumineers - honorable mention: the medieval version of willow by taylor swift which i found on youtube lol)

4. What’s the time period and location in which the novel takes place? - It’s a fantasy and it really depends where you are in the world to get a certain vibe. i.e: in one of my major cities, it’s very inspired by victorian london but in the smaller towns or poorer villages, it has a very medieval feel (think like legend of zelda villages lol) So I don’t know how to explain location and time period lol.

5. Are there any former titles you’ve considered but discarded? - At first my wip was called Begin Again, but it didn’t fit the vibe of it being a YA fantasy/romance and currently i’m using the title ‘WAKE’ but I’m not for certain on that one either.

6. What’s the first line of your novel? - I haven’t actually begun fully drafting it, but I’ve been writing these mini short stories to get a feel for my world and novel. However this is the first line of a short story I wrote that I think is going to end up being either a prologue or first chapter: ”Holly was not easily disturbed, except that the dead body lying at her feet had her mother’s face.” 7. What’s a line of dialogue you’re particularly proud of? - First of all, I hate writing dialogue because I’m insecure about it lol. Second of all, I don’t have a piece of dialogue that I’m like “oh my god” over, but here’s a line from Cassian, who is the love of my life: “Does my lady await me?”

8. Which line from the novel most represents it as a whole? - I don’t know if I have a line that really represents my novel yet. One of the things I wrote a while ago goes like: “Arrow was like them. Too curious. Too much like a wandering blind man in the night. It would be no surprise that someday he would stumble into his own grave. You love like a human, you die like a human. You make your bed, you lie in it. You are shameless in your humanness. Could you ever belong again? Could you ever pull yourself out of what you have done? Could you ever drag yourself back out of love?” Alternatively, I think a line that would best represent whats in my head right now is actually not mine, but a lyric from My tears Ricochet, which is: “I can go anywhere I want, just not home / and you can aim for my heart, go for blood / but you would still miss me in your bones / and I still talk to you when I’m screaming at the sky / and when you can’t sleep at night, you hear my stolen lullabies.” - I don’t know if I’ll ever use that excerpt. It was just something I wrote in my notes, but I’ve only truly just begun writing this book so I don’t have much lol

9. Who are your characters’ faceclaims? - All of my faceclaims are on my pinterest boards, because I usually use either drawings/paintings from other artists or I’ll use random model pictures. I don’t really like using celebrities.

10. Sort your character(s) into Hogwarts houses. Arrow: Ravenclaw Holly: Hufflepuff Becca: Gryffindor Cassian: Ravenclaw Declan: Slytherin or Gryffindor

11. Which character’s name do you like the most? - Cassian

12. Describe each character’s daily outfit. Holly – generally wears a lot of long dresses (kind of like a pioneer dress), black cloak and brown boots.

Becca – Brown or black pants, white button up (and sometimes with a black vest or overcoat on top), a brown or black cloak, and black boots that go almost to her knees. Occassionally she would wear dresses, but most often she was in pants and a long sleeve shirt.

Arrow – Feathery cape or wool scarf, long black jacket that reaches near his knees, cotton shirt, vest, breeches and boots.

Cassian – He’s very fancy and luxurious, so he’s often in fancy tunics with jewels on it (wears a lot of black, gold, navy blue, polished shoes.

Declan – He is a King’s son, so he was always in white or black pants, long black tunics, black gloves, boots, capes, and sometimes armor.

13. Do any characters have distinctive birthmarks/scars? - I had planned a while ago for there to be such thing as “Arrow’s Mark” but I have since cut out that idea but I had created what the mark looked like. Currently, there IS a death’s mark in my story but it’s not a physical attribute. Other than that, I don’t think so but this could change.

14. Which character most fits a character trope? - Cassian, he’s kind of a playboy

15. Which character is the best writer? Worst? - Worst writer would be Cassian lol. Best could possibly be Arrow because he pays attention to detail and is very in love with beautiful things.

16. Which character is the best liar? Worst? - Cassian is hands down the best liar, especially because he’s very suave about it. Worst liar is Holly, because she stumbles on her words when she’s upset or nervous.

17. What character swears the most? Least? - Most likely Becca. Cassian is least likely to swear because he uses a lot of proper grammar and he’s very wordy. So he’s the type to use a random big word in place of a curse word.

18. Which character has the best handwriting? Worst? - Holly has the best handwriting, because I feel like it would be cute and curly. Maybe Becca or Arrow has the worst? It wouldn’t be Cassian because he probably practices his signature in secret just in case someone someday wants his autograph.

19. Which character is most like you? Least like you? - Least like me I think is Arrow and I think I’m most like Becca. But I’m still trying to get to know my characters so things could be changing, because yesterday I had to re-create who I thought Arrow was because it wasn’t fitting properly lol.

20. Which character would you most like to be? - I would most like to be like Becca. After creating her, I think she’s most like me in her personality, but she’s a lot more bad ass than me and lot braver than me and wittier than I am. There’s a scene where she has a broken arm and she literally does not complain and I could never lol

#wip #wake wip

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sjrresearch · 5 years ago

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Desperado 3 Captures the Essence of the Wild West

Games like Sunset Riders, Gun, and Red Dead Redemption solidified the notion that the West was most certainly Wild. Their fast-paced, gun-totin’ gameplay appealed to the romanticized version of the Old West, where cowboys rode off into the sunset and the prairie lands were ripe for adventure. With the release of Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive, Spellbound and THQ Nordic introduced a different version of the Wild West. It was more tactical, requiring every move to be planned out accordingly. Anyone that went in guns blazing came out in a pine box.

The real-time strategy of Wanted Dead or Alive took nothing away from the thrill of 19th-century setting. It merely added a new layer that hadn’t really been explored before, and that layer paid off wonderfully. Spellbound reaped the rewards of breaking from the stereotypical Wild West game and released two sequels. Unfortunately, however, it was forced into insolvency before it could continue the series. It may have seemed like the popular Desperados series was dead forever, but THQ Nordic handed development of the third entry to Mimimi Productions, the German developer behind Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun.

Mimimi may not have a long track record, but Shadow Tactics shares similarities with the Desperados series and performed well with reviewers. Fans of Desperados have reason to be skeptical of Mimimi’s capabilities, but those worries should quickly dissipate once they fire up Desperados III. The third entry in near-decade old series lives up to its predecessors and even exceeds them in many aspects. It’s clear Mimimi Productions didn’t want to retread on the strides made by Spellbound, but it also knew it had to appeal to fans drawn in by Wanted Dead or Alive.

The series’ signature stealth gameplay is still intact, though Mimimi opted to remove the divisive third-person camera introduced in Desperados II: Coopers Revenge. It’s not a massive loss as it didn’t do much to improve the gameplay, and removing it allowed the development team to focus strictly on the isometric mechanics. The alternative camera is not a feature many will mourn the loss of, especially considering everything else Desperados III brings to the table.

Set in the 1870s, players are taken back to the beginning to explore the infamous John Cooper’s origins. It’s not just Cooper’s story that we rewind, though, as the story also features his long-time companions Doc McCoy and Kate O’Hara. The trio join forces with series newcomers Hector Mendoza, a heavy-hitter with a love for his sawed-off shotgun and bear traps, and Isabelle Moreau, a voodoo practitioner with some pretty nasty tricks up her sleeve.

Cooper, McCoy, and O’Hara are up to their usual tricks, offering a nice blend of gunplay, cunning stealth, and feminine wiles. Mendoza adds a brutish melee component while Moreau is a bit more mystical and can manipulate her enemies with blood magic. Together, the quintet is a deadly force, but their obstacles ensure it’s not a smooth ride through each mission. Desperado III isn’t the type of game where you grow attached to one character and primarily use them until the credits roll. If a hunter is involved in a level, their skills will be needed to reach the objective.

The game throws plenty in the player’s path to cater to those looking for in-depth stealth gameplay. Just about every mission can be completed without shedding blood, and in many instances, it’s far more fun to try and accomplish this. Players have plenty of options to tinker with to perfect a stealthy playthrough, from environmental hazards to the unique skills of each character, like O’Hara’s ability to lure men where she pleases and Moreau’s mind control. There is no option for a strict run ‘n gun playthrough, at least not without the frustration of dying over and over. Mimimi even emphasizes the use of a quick save feature so that players can toy around with a variety of methods until they find one that satisfies most.

Countering the cleverness of the titular gang is an AI that truly elevates the tactical aspects of Desperados III. Enemies aren’t coded to be mindless meat sacks that follow one path to their imminent demise. Any number of things can break them away from their usual patrol route. As is typical with stealth games, players can arouse suspicions by getting caught in a cone of vision or making a little too much noise. Guards will also respond if their partner mysteriously goes missing or if their dogs sniff out a character hiding in the brush. It takes ample planning to complete a mission without being spotted, but Desperados III does provide the tools and the freedom necessary to do so. One just needs to know how to stack their pieces and implement them effectively.

While the gameplay is a remarked improvement from Wanted Dead or Alive and Cooper’s Revenge, the environments and locations may be the stars of this Wild West escapade. When a game is set in such an iconic period, developers have to make sure the locales fit the expected aesthetics. This means a lot of wooden structures, at least one train, and a small town that’s ripe for debauchery.

Desperados III has it all, and Mimimi crafted everything beautifully. Rushing waterfalls and lush greenery, unappealing and insect-filled swamps, dusty and isolated frontier towns, and more modernized cities welcome players to regions throughout Colorado, Mexico, and the deep south of Louisiana. Players will be fully immersed in these detailed maps, especially since they’ll be looking closely for opportunities to overcome their enemies. With a simplified HUD locked at the bottom of the screen, it’s easy to admire the work put into each area.

After Desperado 2 and its sequel Helldorado failed to live up to Wanted Dead or Alive, Desperado III was to be the series’ saving grace. Thankfully, Mimimi Productions knew exactly what it was doing and put forth a real-time strategy game steeped in the delightful antics of the Wild West and strengthened by the mechanics of a well-made stealth experience.

For a unique look at the historical setting of the Old West, download Desperado III on Steam.

At SJR Research, we specialize in creating compelling narratives and provide research to give your game the kind of details that engage your players and create a resonant world they want to spend time in. If you are interested in learning more about our gaming research services, you can browse SJR Research’s service on our site at SJR Research.

#gaming

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kohakuneko · 7 years ago

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The Best Anime You’re Not Watching: Princess Principal

If you follow me over on my main blog, you’ve probably seen me gushing/screaming/crying about this show for the past month or so (you’re probably tired of it by now and I’m not sorry). I knew from the premise that I was going to like this anime at least a little bit, but I really wasn’t expecting the huge emotional reaction I ended up having towards it and from what I can tell a lot of other people who watched this show feel the same way. Anyways, I love this show to death and more people need to watch it, which is exactly what the point of this blog is. And I really want to post more often here, so this seems like the perfect opportunity to talk about Princess Principal. (also I have a lot of thoughts about this show and absolutely nobody to talk about it with because none of my friends have seen it yet WHICH IS REALLY FRUSTRATING DAMMIT)

Princess Principal is set in Albion, an alternate steampunk version of late-19th/early-20th century England. Ten years following a civil war known as the “London Revolution”, a great wall separates the country into two opposing nations: the Commonwealth and the Kingdom. Though officially at peace, conflict is still high between both factions as each side sends spies to duke it out in the shadows. Our story follows a team of five undercover Commonwealth agents: Ange, a pathological liar and self-proclaimed alien, Dorothy, the team’s leader, getaway driver, and token sex appeal, Beatrice, a sweet sweet cinnamon roll with the ability to mimic people’s voices, Chise, a skilled samurai experiencing massive amounts of culture shock, and Princess Charlotte, a member of the Kingdom’s royal family who is totally Ange’s girlfriend. Every night for these spies is girl’s night out as they crash parties, take names, and navigate the mysterious underworld of espionage.

First thing we have to get on the same page about is the opening. Because it’s absolutely EPIC.

(i thought tumblr let you embed videos but i guess not? or maybe i screwed up? anyways there’s a link up there go watch it)

Moving on, let’s start praising Princess Principal (holy wow ALLITERATION) by talking about the setting. This show has literally everything I could ever want to see: steampunk, action, spies, and a kickass all-female lead cast… and lesbians, but more on that later. Probably my favorite things about the universe of Princess Principal are all the little gadgets the characters use, most notably Ange’s C-Ball that lets her float.

There’s also other things like the huge machinery we see in an underground scene, the cars that the team drives, the Kingdom’s airships… whatever the heck Beatrice made in episode 8…

(seriously we never get any kind of explanation for this thing and it never comes back again but this one little part is so frickin funny)

There’s also concept art/blueprints somewhere of some of the different vehicles and mechanical devices seen in the show. I can’t find them now (I wanna say they’re on twitter?), but I remember they were pretty detailed and it’s clear a lot of thought was put into the inner workings of everything no matter how big or small. And yes, there’s blueprints for Beatrice’s thingamajig too.

On the subject of detail and thought, a lot of that definitely went into the writing as well. There are a lot of mysteries and plot twists to unravel throughout the series that are very well executed. Most of it is based around sprinkling in little hints throughout an episode that come together within the final minutes and though they’re not completely obvious at first, they’re always right there in front of you in plain sight; you just have to pay close attention. Being able to pick up on all these things kind of makes you feel like a spy yourself, in a way.

The music for Princess Principal was done by Yuki Kajiura, which automatically gives pretty much every anime fan very high expectations going in. I think Kajiura really delivers in this series; in fact, this might be one of my favorite soundtracks of hers to date. There’s a lot of her signature style that we all know and love, complete with the epic vocals in the background, but in this OST she also adds a lot of jazzy pieces into the mix as well. It kinda gives it a bit of a “James Bond” type of feel, perfect for spies running around in jolly old England Albion, especially when the saxophone kicks in. Even the opening, while not composed by her, still gives off the same sort of vibe with the bass around the middle of the track along with, of course, some awesome sax. (oh boy don’t read that bit out loud haha if you know what I mean)

And now, finally, we get to the bit I’ve been most itching to talk about. The thing that is, in my opinion, the biggest strength of Princess Principal: its characters.

At first glance, we have a very typical action team setup. You’ve got the leader (Dorothy), the cool prodigious main character (Ange), the muscle (Chise), the sweet smart one (Princess), and of course, the lil’ cute one who supplies the moe (Beatrice). But as you watch the show, you find out very quickly that all five of them are developed much much further than those basic concepts and that none of them are what they seem to be on the surface, which is pretty fitting since they’re all spies. (yeah, I know I called Dorothy the “token sex appeal” earlier, but that was just for comedic purposes; don’t get mad at me plz XD) And as you just saw in the above image, they’ve all got really cool designs, too. (where can i get me Ange’s hat and cape i really want them)

Of course, this is a show about a team of spies, so it wouldn’t matter how cool they all were individually if they didn’t work together well as a cast. And they do. Ange, as the main character, is not surprisingly exceptionally skilled all around and in any other show she’d probably just be soloing every mission. But as good as she is, she isn’t at all invincible or OP; she needs the specialized abilities that all her teammates possess. Each of them has a very important role to play and none of them are at any point just dead weight. The other four team members don’t just exist to support Ange either; all five of them support each other as a single unit.

They also play off one another very well outside of missions and their team dynamic has clear development over the course of the show. And that development is not derived from the overdone “You’re getting a partner” “But I don’t want a partner” “Actually come to think of it you’re not so bad partner” schtick you see in all the buddy cop movies; they don’t do that at all THANK GOD. Instead, it’s a bit more on the internal and subtle side. At the start, while everyone clearly works together well and missions go very smoothly for the most part, you still get the sense that they have a very thin layer of trust towards one another and they may not all be on the same side, which, again, is very befitting of spies. Sure they’re teammates and they all work for the same people, but individually they each have their own goals and motivations, some more obvious than others. Because of that, they each occasionally withhold information from each other and sometimes even the audience (again, some more than others). But as time goes on and they figure out more about each other, they start to bond and form a genuine friendship. They begin to channel their individual goals into their work as a team and either open up about or put to rest whatever secrets they’re keeping. And again, all of this is very subtle, which is as it should be; we don’t need all this stated, we can clearly see their chemistry.

And SPEAKING of clearly seeing chemistry…. Ange and Princess are gay. Like, REALLY FUCKIN GAY. Like, I have no idea how they’re so good at stealth missions cuz they’re setting off ALL the gaydar alarms with how gay they are.

If you’ve been on either of my blogs for a while, you probably know that the only anime I watch have lesbians or at the very least a ton of yuri subtext. (okay that’s a lie I watch other things too… kind of…) So yeah, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that most of the reason I kept watching this show was because I ship these two XD. But in all seriousness, they are perfect together; their relationship is very well-developed both casually and romantically and easily one of the show’s highlights.

And what makes this pairing even better is that IT’S BASICALLY CONFIRMED TO BE CANON IN EVERY DAMN CAPACITY. I won’t spoil the show here of course, but they make it pretty clear that the two of them are in love. Also, if you’ve watched some of the livestream events with the main voice actors because you’re running away from responsibilities and don’t want to sleep (help me), then you’ll see that they all pretty much ship them too (especially Ange’s and Princess’s VAs). They’re all such cute lovable dorks and it’s clear they care about the show as much as the rest of us do, which is always great.

And lastly, good god, have you SEEN the promo art???

yep. das pretty gay.

So what have we learned today from this long-ass post? Princess Principal is a marvelous anime with an intriguing setting, awesome music, brilliant characters, and adorable lesbian spies. What more could you possibly need in a show? Please go give this anime the love it deserves; you won’t regret it.

#split this up because this post got LONGGGGG #i already cut a bunch as i was writing this and its still so damn long #this is definitely the longest post ive ever made here so far #i have a lot of thoughts about this show that i wanted to get out lol #TOO MANY #princess principal #if you actually read this all the way through thank you for appreciating all my rambling

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