#this is kind of how i feel about darkstalker as a whole

[ave1dragon]

*Foeslayer and Darkstalker at the end of book 10*

Foeslayer: You must think Arctic is a real monster

Darkstalker: Mother

Foeslayer: I don't want to fight you, I just want to tell you I know. I know you want to be happy, but you won't be, and, I'm sorry.

Darkstalker: What?

Foeslayer: It's not just you, you know. Your father and I we, well, you come by it honestly, the ugliness inside you.

Foeslayer: You were born broken. That's your birthright. And now you can fill your life with projects. Your subjects, and your conquers, and your enchanted girlfriends, but it won't make you whole.

Foeslayer: Your Darkstalker of the Nightwings. There's no cure for that.

[mechacringekitty]

incredibly messy essay of my thoughts on darkstalker, straight from my DMs with a friend because they demanded i post it [which means it has incredibly improper grammar]

hes an awful awful person, unapolagetically, and i think there are scenes and areas where he could've been written better. or had more nuance, like his dynamic with arctic [why do they hate each other ?? theres no explanation given, really, besides the fact that they do] but people who reduce him to a monster just baffle me. he loved his mother, he loved whiteout, he tried to love clearsight even though he did it wrong. and clearsight/darkstalker is a really iffy territory, because he did love her and he thought he was loving her right but he wasnt he was kind of controlling and bad! the earrings !! the earrings that kept her from seeing the bad futures !! but he also loved her, he did. their relationship was doomed from the start but he tried. she loved him back too, thats why it didnt work. thats why it hurt so much. he loved his mother too,, the few brief interactions they got in arc 2 hurt me to my core because fuck foeslayer loved him too, even though she realises he's done bad things. and whiteout!! whiteout!! she's one of the only characters we see darkstalker actually properly caring about in a way that doesnt really hurt them somehow. i think she loved him too,, she tried to warn him, she did :( ive thought about them a lot, maybe darkstalker trying to calm whiteout down at times, or them hiding with each other while arctic and foeslayer fought. arctic and foeslayer make me really ill too but this rant is getting long enough as it is. darkstalker lost a little of his pizzazz in arc two because of how domination focused he was and the writing went more focused on making him this evil, hateable villain [imo] than a relatable and understandable villain. which is the best kind of villain. i hate the peacemaker thing i hate it i hate it and that scene in book ten makes me cry every time because he was hurt by it he was so hurt by it. he didnt need a second chance, he needed to die, he needed to reconcile with himself and accept that there was no way he would ever save any of it. something like him coming to his senses, him realising everything he's done is awful and hurtful and he's not ever going to be able to fix it, but he can at least apologise even if the icewings dont accept his apology, not all of them, they'll understand they havent been hating a monster without feelings this whole time,, and maybe some of them can start to understand him and they can start to heal and they can stop hurting each other. but he needed to die and it needed to be on his own terms and i think foeslayer shouldve gotten her peace with that and i think if i were here i wouldve chosen to die too. the world is so different from what either of them knew and i would be tired of trying to change and i would be tired of trying to fix it and i think ending that legacy right there and right then with the two of them together wouldve been good. and maybe foeslayer can tell darkstalker she loves him - maybe she never had time when he was a kid - and maybe he can tell her too and they can leave that world together with the knowledge that they tried but they dont have to try anymore.

[wof-reworked]

dragon religion is an idea i think that is rlly awesome. i hope tui goes over it in the guide, anyway. if u have any specific religion ideas / hcs for dragons.. would they have jobs ?? like dragon priests orrrr idk tbh. sorry if this question is annoying im obsessed w the idea of dragons having religion and religion-based jobs

Originally I had like. a whole "series" of like. ideas for each tribe's religion and mythology, but in the interest of actually replying I'll do like. quick bullet points here and I'll try to fill in more later on ^^;;.

I have like. a lot of abstract feelings n concepts because I've always found it interesting how,,, little religion there is in wof at all. There's barely even really "magic", with only really animuses. wof's characters are occasionally superstitious, but all their superstition is based in like- historical events, like Darkstalker or Queen Oasis's murder, and not like. magic. so I want to keep some of that true because I think it's really fitting for a setting of dragons (who have historically usually *been* the gods, rather than the worshippers !!!) and it's also a rare opportunity to like. get into society without religion (this is a hostile zone for the great ice dragon, I'm sorry I Do Not Care About You and your One Off Mention, God Bless)

ANYWAY. Posting this under the cut bc it's kind of massive, read at ur own risk lol (cw for talk of death/funeral rites but that's really it)

Skywings:

Skywings for me have always been the clearest as like. focusing on historic figures as "saints" (though ik that's a pretty christian concept and word, just hang in there I prommy it goes places)

Point being- I've written about it before here, but for Skywings, the sky is alive and holy in its own right. They view it as the foundation of life and believe themselves (and all dragons, though the other tribes abandoned their way of living) as children of it, originally like birds.

It has some slight. monarchist overtures to it with how the sky itself is like an omnipresent parent, and its moods and shifting currents can be seen as a reflection of Skywing culture. When the sky is angry and casting out its children, there is a lesson that needs to be learned, and it is the collective punishment of all Skywings until the problem is fixed.

But past that, Skywings who achieve remarkable things can be recognized as local guardians and figures of protection- when Skywings die, they return to the sky in the form of clouds. Some Skywings also believe birds to be reincarnated Skywings, especially the spirits of those who rebuke the sky and strike off on their own (which is not an inherently bad thing, but a symbol of independence in its most neutral)

Some Skywing patrons I was thinking of were: the patron of duty- the first Skywing soldier, the patron of children/joy- the first kitemaker, the patron of guardians/parents- the lamplighter, and the patron of Skywing excellence/patriotism- the stormchaser.

Miners who die in Skywing tunnels also achieve something akin to a martyr status- spirits of those who bravely sacrificed their time in the sky to keep the caverns safe and protect those who would follow them. Not one patron, but the collective protection of spirits trapped underneath the ground

Sandwings

Sandwings are similar, but different: where Skywings have patrons who have been given a certain holy power, Sandwings have two kinds of spirits: the family spirits and folk heroes

I swear to god I wrote a Sandwing headcanon post, but I genuinely can't find it at all I don't know where it went. FOUND IT WHILE LOOKING FOR MY ICEWINGS POSTS. READ IT HERE. anyway tho starting with house/family spirits: Sandwings tend towards multigenerational homes, moreso than many other tribes, and remembering your family becomes increasingly important when there's so many of you

Most Sandwing houses keep a small shrine or altar for their dead relatives and their family history- some households have patron animals or spirits that they invoke for a little extra boost of fortune but these aren't like family crests as much as your family's,,, collective mythos

The Sandwing creation myth involves the First Sandwing tricking each animal into giving them a piece of themselves- the stinger and venom from scorpions, the quickness and wit of jackals, the resilience and scales of the lizards, and finally just snatching the wings and size from dragonbite vipers who used to rule the desert, who were reduced to their small snake status and have hated every Sandwing since. So if you want to pay special homage to your family being intelligent, the jackal might be your patron

This creation myth varies WILDLY- it can include many different animals or different exact retellings on what the original Sandwing tricked the animals into giving them, so patrons can vary and can be very house-specific

(I have a little draft, somewhere, of Thorn teaching Qibli her family history post-adoption/rescue and it being one of the moments that Qibli really starts to view her as family and not just the next Cobra)

Sandwing folk heroes are also super varied- I subscribe to Sandwings having a heavy oral storytelling tradition and general,,, art culture, so I'm not gonna write every single possible story you could tell with Sandwing folk heroes, but most of them embody those original Sandwing virtues- resilience, intelligence, and quick adaptability to come out on top

Mudwings

Mudwings already have their own dedicated post !!! yippeeeeee !!!! you can read it right over here :>

Mudwings are also big big oral storytellers but unlike Sandwings the gods are a more active part of these stories and the focus is rarely on individual Mudwings as much as the dynamics of the gods' dynamic as a sibling troupe.

Rarely,,, "worshipped" in the way Skywings will venerate their patrons or Sandwings will maintain their shrines, but passively appealed to and celebrated as like. the broadest encapsulation of what it is to be a Mudwing- the way they're moved by the seasons and their families moreso than anything else

Icewings

I wrote more lists originally about Icewing superstitions, which are right here, and I stand by basically all of that. I don't really know how to incorporate gods into that but I think a lot of Icewing superstition is just. vague cultural paranoia about Things Out There

Icewings have the strongest death beliefs/rituals out of any of the tribes imo- Icewing bodies need to be properly buried or the souls don't get to return to the soil, and become stuck on the ice.

Icewing funerals depend on if you live inland or on the coast- burials at sea are common for Icewings on the coast to allow the body to be taken by the water and allowed to disperse that way (though only when the ice isn't frozen over, as otherwise it may become trapped), and Icewings inland prefer open-air/sky burials that allow the body to decompose in nature.

Winter deaths are seen as bad luck, and are given extra caution and work (which also ties into Winter's role as a black sheep in the family- it's a bit of a dark name to give your child, especially as the youngest/least wanted heir of the family)

Great Ice Dragon,,,, I have no ideas for, I imagine just the source of all Icewings and their father who ensures that, despite it all, they can survive.

Seawings

least religious lets goooooooo

Seawings are just. straight up vibing. They're the most down to earth about being alive in the sense they're just animals like everything else (though they still have their own mixed feelings about dolphins from canon)

Seawings do put a lot of stock into destiny and fate though- almost as much as Nightwings, and they have a healthy stargazing culture and track the changing of seasons and time through the stars more than anything else.

Some Seawings think of themselves as fallen stars- scales still glowing from their core of starlight. Seawings who die return to the sky and come back in the form of comets, it's especially good luck to be born under a meteor shower.

Another common superstition is a Seawing's personal star- this can be as serious as knowing exactly where it is in the sky, or as lax as pointing to one and declaring it yours. This is the star that determins your destiny and is your personal guardian, you can look to it for good luck (plus if you pick right it can be a neat way to teach your children how to navigate).

Seawings LOVE tall-tales though. Almost everyone has a story of the time they 10000% saw A Sea Monster or a dolphin spoke to them in riddles, etc etc. Half the words out of a Seawing sailor's mouth are lies, and the other half are exagerrated beyond all reason (except of course,,, for the ones that are true)

This drives other tribes insane btw, especially the more devout ones like Skywings and Icewings. How are you going to make that shit up every time pls be serious for one moment (never)

Nightwings

The other least religious, but this time for complicated cultural reasons of. well. volcano.

Nightwings love science until they don't, essentially. Everything has a reason except the things we don't understand which are mysteries from beyond the pale that we just have to hope will one day become clear.

TL;DR: SO MANY GHOSTS. EVERYTHING IS HAUNTED.

Nightwings are like the closest to a lot of real world agnosticism- it could be real, but we just don't know yet. Lots of ghost sightings though and subtle signals from the universe. It's a bit of a collective coping mechanism for the loss of their powers + the amount of dragons, like Fatespeaker, who were born under the full moons but without a clear sky and thus only left with confusing powers.

(slaps the side of the canon Nightwing art) These bad boys can fit so much victorian ghost fear in them <3

Mastermind has and 100% would again drink absinthe to perform a seance to Nightwing seers of the past, prove me wrong

I think in older Nightwing mythology, there would have been lots of smaller gods and domains- complicated webs of connected esoteric spirits who each vied for power over the material world through their domains and contact with dragons.

The heart of it all is the Moons though- the three sisters of chance/luck, destiny/death, and soul. Something akin to the three fates but each in collaboration with each other over life.

In ye really olden days, some sects thought these spirits worked through scavengers. These guys are pretty broadly considered a strange cult though, and the history is scant at best.

Clearsight and Darkstalker would've grown up aware of these gods but given special privilege due to their powers- mostly as people exempt from the gods due to their connection to the moons as something surpassing the petty whims of spirits. Priests and priestesses would be preferred as powerless, as a clear head is needed to communicate with the gods fully.

Rainwings

Souls !! lots of souls !! Rainwings believe everything has a beating pulse and could be slash is alive in their own unique way.

The Rainwing gods are serpents- wingless but capable of moving through the trees as though they were flying, their scales a constant mass of brilliant colors. Names and identities are a WIP for me, bear with me as I flesh out these guys ;U;

Rainwings are big storytellers as well, and tend to create their own ideas and religions, in a sense. Being a puppeteer and performer especially is the closest to being a priest that a Rainwing can get- by embodying other things you are essentially changing your soul to align with them

Rainwings also aren't. super religious as much as just committed each to their own truth over a collective myth or story. Each Rainwing builds their own unique sense of mythology from the rainforest.

No gods no masters only fruit >:3c

I have some wips for each of these, some of them fics, some of them elaborations and continued myths, but I hope y'all enjoy them !!! All feedback welcome, as always.

[flamebringer0]

More About Nightwing Powers

I decided I had more to say about this post, so I reblogged it and wrote some more. It seems like when you do that Tumblr doesn't put the post into tag searches, so nobody can actually find it. I'm just going to copy the full text into a new post. I'm sorry if this spams anyone's feed, I just don't understand how this site works yet. I've never actually had a blog before.

-----

Ohhhh damn I just had another thought about this. This is my problem, I think about this stuff all the time and I keep coming up with new things I think are cool, but now that I've written all this out and published it for the whole world to see I can't change it so easily.

It's actually fine though. These thoughts are kind of a mix of things I think are canon but sufficiently non-obvious to be worth stating (All Nightwings have powers at hatching and then lose them), things that are definitely not canon but I feel like it doesn't mess with the story too much to change them (Prophets have a silver scale on their foreheads), and things that are ambiguous and I'm just filling in the blanks (fake Nightwing magic is based on their sense of smell). But there's a fourth category, which is things that I don't like about canon but changing them would basically entail writing a whole new story. I'm pretty sure this new idea falls into the latter category, so I wouldn't really have put it in that post anyway.

But let's explore the hypothesis that Tui T Sutherland and Scholastic collectively lose their minds and give me the rights to Wings of Fire, and also I have infinite time, resources and motivation to make my own adaptation of the story. Then what happens? Well, the first thing is obviously to change animus magic to be something other than total omnipotence, because omnipotent characters are the kind of albatross (tee hee) you don't want around your neck when you're trying to write a coherent story. And the second thing is to make it so the terrible Rainwing queens in book 3 are hereditary royalty and Glory is not, because I've never liked the valorisation of hereditary royalty in WOF (or in general), and that would be an easy way to subvert that. And THEN I would turn scavengers into lizard people, because I am a furry and I think that's cuter than making them humans. Lol.

But somewhere down the list would be the fact that I don't actually vibe with the idea that normal Nightwing seers/mind readers apparently have a built-in power limiter that varies randomly according to the specific individual, and the special gift you get for hatching under three moons is just to have that limiter set to 0. I don't like this because, first of all, the fact that it works like that just doesn't fit into my brain in a satisfactory way. Hatching under zero, one, or two full moons each results in a qualitatively different outcome, so in my mind, the third full moon should also do something qualitatively different. But it doesn't, it's just the same as two full moons but better. And then I'm left to assume that there are probably very rare cases of twice-moonborn Nightwings who have all the power, just because whatever secondary factors there are happened to line up in their favor? Weird.

But the more important reason is, I don't really like the idea of Clearsight as someone who has extraordinary power because she just hatched that way. Nor do I like the fact that the reasons for this are, on the one talon, unexplained (maybe inexplicable?), and on the other, not a function of who she is as a character. I think it would make for a much stronger motif if run-of-the-mill seer Clearsight were able to take down once-in-a-generation chosen one Darkstalker because she's diligent and doesn't believe in destiny while he's entitled and sure of his glorious future. At its core this feeling is actually the same thing as what I said about the Rainwing queens above: I just don't find it satisfying when the hero has some kind of special trait that makes them naturally better than everyone else. A villain can have that, but a hero I want to prove themselves through their own efforts. But that's explicitly not what happened in canon: Clearsight IS naturally more powerful than all the other seers, that's an essential part of her story, and changing it requires basically rewriting the books. I don't love it!

So anyway in the universe where I'm rewriting the books, here's a thought about how Nightwing powers might work. This partially contradicts what I wrote above, but I've decided I'm cool with that. I love contradicting myself actually, and maybe next week I'll contradict all of this again. There are no laws.

Some Nightwings are seers, some are mind readers, a few are both, and most are neither. But aside from the fact that an individual might or might not have these powers, they don't vary in strength from dragon to dragon. All seers have equally strong abilities, and all mind readers have equally strong abilities. But the strength of the abilities does vary: not per individual, but over time. Specifically, the current state of the moons affects the abilities of empowered Nightwings. On a hypothetical "darkest night" with three new moons, all Nightwings are effectively powerless. On the brightest night, empowered Nightwings experience the full strength of their abilities. Seers can easily look down many different paths into the distant future, and mind readers can easily examine any information in the mind of another dragon. Of course, the phases of the three moons are not synchronous. Most of the time, the moons are all in different states, and empowered Nightwings experience abilities somewhere in between those extremes.

Above, I said that the "strength" of Nightwing abilities doesn't really vary per dragon. Strength, as I use the term here, only refers to the raw potential to look into the future or into another dragon's mind. But different individuals do have different levels of adeptness when it comes to applying their abilities. On the brightest night, any seer can look with relative ease into the far future, down multiple timelines, examining subtle ripples of possibility. The rest of the time, most seers can't use their abilities on that level, but a particularly adept one can get closer. What makes one seer more adept than another? Well, it's really just training. If you're someone who, for whatever reason, keeps looking into the future, over time you'll get better at it, just like anything you keep doing. This is what sets Clearsight apart from her peers. She isn't more blessed by the moons than them, because no seer is more blessed by the moons than any other. Clearsight just looks into the future all the time, to a degree nobody else does. She works harder on her visions than any other seer, so her abilities are more advanced than those of any other seer.

There is one exception to the maxim "no seer is more blessed by the moons than any other". The special gift of the thrice-moonborn is that they are exempt from the cyclical waning and waxing of power with the phases of the moons. They hatch on the brightest night, and its power soaks into them and becomes permanently part of them. And so, they live as if every night is a brightest night. They always have the potential to see the ripples that spread into many distant futures, and they can always pluck any information they want out of another dragon's mind. What other Nightwings may train and train for, these dragons do as easily as they breathe.

There are few Nightwings who never dreamed as dragonets about what it would be like to have hatched under three full moons. How different their lives could have been from those of the common powerless Nightwing, or even ordinary seers and mind readers! And not just directly because of what they could see: the thrice-moonborn are almost inevitably beloved by their tribe, showered with attention, and elevated to the highest strata of society. Wouldn't that be nice, think the dragons who could have walked that path but for something as meaningless as the sky under which they hatched.

It's unsurprising that many covet that life, but it's not entirely as pleasant as they imagine. The adulation that surrounds the most powerful Nightwings is instrumental. As laid out in excruciating detail just behind the eyes of smiling dragons, few love them for who they are; many more love them for what they are. They will never have any interaction with friends or family that isn't fundamentally shaped by the asymmetrical power dynamic implied by their abilities. It's easy for a dragon in that situation to become profoundly isolated, especially without support. But the brightest night comes so rarely that most Nightwings who receive its gift will grow up with neither peers, nor mentors who can relate to these experiences. That many ultimately respond in unhealthy, self-destructive ways is a given; that the self-destruction of such powerful dragons often also destroys those around them is a recurring tragedy in the history of the tribe.

But it's not inevitable. No dragon's fate is actually written in the stars or sealed by the moons. It's always possible to choose a different future.

[mugenfinder]

Hsien-ko?

Don't know what to say about her, not a character I think much about. Gameplay-wise she's interesting (not that I know her strengths), Darkstalkers overall does a lot no one else does or has done since. Though it's interesting that Beast Cannon became THE move to take.

I will say Hsien-ko design-wise is a kind of character no one does. But again, no one has done it like Darkstalkers.

Something something how a lot of the characters change shape a lot and could be real cartoony which CAPCOM as a whole dropped.

Hsien-ko does a lot more cartoony movements than the other female characters without being explicitly cutesy about it. But that's goes into a whole other character design thing.

I personally feel like a reason they won't make a new Darkstalkers, outside of trying not to self-compete with Street Fighter, is they can't get a good look down without shelling time and money.

But that's a whole other thing.

Thanks for asking.

[mistlestripe]

(Wings of fire arc 2 spoilers) (How I think the ending could be done better)

Ok so like I LOVE kinkajou but her being the one to stop D-stalker was not the plot twist it was probably intended to be....when she's been the least personally effected by darkstalker's plotline...I think most people agree with that though I hope. The only thing that makes the Kinkajou plot twist interesting is that she was the person he least suspected to do anything to him. (But unfortunately even that wasn't honed in on and it was just a resolution to the "darkstalker thinks kinkajou is boring" running gag as a result) I think it would have been more rewarding if Foeslayer or Moon herself was the one to end Darkstalker. I could also accept Qibli just for the simple fact that it was his book and he honestly deserves a memorable W because he has absolutely 0 in his own book (and it would make his and moons relationship feel more earned too but other then that it wouldn't be THAT beneficial it'd just be fun) I think Foeslayer would be the one most ACCURATE for the writing style and the most sensible considering the direction the arc went in-- It makes sense that the reason none of the protagonists (minus turtle) did anything about darkstalker was because they were simply incapable of agreeing on a way to beat him and needed someone to step in and finish him in a way none of them could think of, it would make the "dragged on" style of writing qibli's book had make sense because it was basically hopeless until someone else actually came to do something (rather than the narrative just super obviously putting off plot revelations until its "time for that") I think to me though it would be the BEST if it were Moon to stop him though. It would have made the story come around on itself and it would have given Moon a real proper "arc" instead of one that only silently disproves her initial thought process that was obviously wrong the whole time lol... (that darkstalker can be reasoned with)...it would have also made her randomly siding with him again (conveniently after everyone is enchanted to like him) after he admitted to killing his dad feel at least more earned, like at least it makes sense why the narrative needs her to like him again (so there can be a satisfying conclusion to it). I think the way it is it would be kind of out of nowhere and it would still feel kind of BS for her to finally stop him after the book put it off for so long, but it would at least be an improvement to an overall unsatisfying conclusion and would improve an extremely important character losing almost all agency during the entire finale book and then never properly addressing it (other than winter who got villainized by all his friends for it and was treated like a bad boy who doesnt deserve the girl after that point lmao.)

[sandshadow9]

You know what puts me down? It feels like this fandom cares more about dragging Tui and her work through the dirt as much as possible so they can act like they're "superior" to her or "better" than her, and they do this by nitpicking as many flaws in her work as possible, even flaws that aren't actually present in her books to begin with. Thoughts on this?

The quick answer: Yeah, I completely agree.

The long answer: Buckle up because I’ve been thinking about this topic for a while actually and have some thoughts. Ultimately reading a book is like having a conversation, and everyone will experience it differently. What some people find annoying others may find charming, and what some may think of us a frustrating plot hole others may not notice or care.

I will start by saying that, indeed, this fandom loves to drag Tui, and I myself like to pick apart her books to see how things work or don’t work, but at the end of the day I have immense respect and admiration for her. Tui’s writing is extremely immersive, full of personality, and engaging. Wings of Fire is one of the few series I’ve read that fully engrossed me in the world and characters. 

When it comes to reading books, there is definitely a bias towards seeing the things that can go wrong. When things are done right, we don’t really notice, but Tui does a lot of things right. There are a lot of factors that go into making a good book/series and I’d like to point out some of the maybe lesser appreciated aspects of the WoF books. 

Emotional scenes and tension: Tui is supremely good at writing those heart wrenching scenes, as well as those endearing scenes that steal your heart. Perhaps I speak for myself, but I cannot think of any scene that came across as melodramatic or weak in the emotional sense. She does not hold her punches. There have been several emotional scenes in these books where I had to just stop reading and stare at a wall for ten minutes, many of them in the Darkstalker Legends book. Writing intense emotions in characters is hard enough, but Tui manages to make them compelling and believable. 

Characters: I think this is the main reason most people are in the fandom. We all have at least one little creature that lives in our heads rent free. In my opinion, Tui really put her whole ass into the Arc 2 characters, but in general, when Tui is writing from the perspective of any character, she’s does an amazing job of pulling you through their emotions and perspective... although due to the point below, sometimes the character development can kind of slip away from her. 

Plot: For better or worse, Tui puts the plot ahead of everything. This isn’t necessarily a good or bad thing, it’s just what Tui decided to focus on, and when she does, she does it extremely well. Keeping a story moving at a good pace, while keeping things interesting, is pretty much a necessity for any good story. While some books in the WoF series are stronger than others, Tui is able to keep the plot moving both within a single book and across each arc. I can’t tell you how many books I’ve read, YA and adult fiction, that can’t even manage to do that. When I read WoF I was glued to the book. I’d have to force myself to slow down when reading because I’d finish them in a day if I could. The downside to this, as mentioned in the above point, is that sometimes the character development that happens in previous books is lost. 

Writing style: What can I say? Her descriptive language is amazing. She knows how to make the most basic scenes interesting with her writing. There are many times when reading that I wished to myself that I could write like that. I think some people might not completely agree with this point, as Tui loves to use all caps and a modern sounding language in a fantasy world, but I personally don’t really mind that, but I can understand that some may find it unappealing. 

Conflicts: In terms of writing, “conflict” is another one of those super important components. They can be internal or external, and whether you agree with how the narrative handles them or not, Tui writes conflicts that stick with the reader.  Tui also knows how to keep things surprising and unpredictable but in a well written way. Seriously, how many of us were floored when the Prophecy turned out to be fake? Or when we learned that it had been Gill that Tsunami killed? Or that Turtle had been the one to turn Anemone into an animus? That is some good drama and conflict!

                               Other factors

This section is mostly about other factors that I, personally, keep in mind when I think about the series as a whole.

Timeline and publishers: This woman was pumping out a book each year. That’s a wild pace. I have been trying to learn more about publishing contracts, the agreement between authors and the publishing company, and haven’t learned much other than each contract is unique. Some authors have more creative freedom than others as certain contracts allow the publishers to request changes to the text. The main goal of publishers is to sell the book and if they think the text has content that will negatively impact sales, they may have the power to ask for it to be changed. I have no idea what type of contract Tui has, or if there was a contractual deadline for each book, but it’s something that should be considered. I bring this point up because it may explain her priorities and why certain elements had to be set aside in favour of finishing the books rather than fleshing them out. For every published book there is probably another novel’s length of deleted scenes and paragraphs.

                                Conclusion

Ultimately Tui’s strengths can create imbalances in other areas. Her prioritizing of Plot can mean world-building and maintaining character development falls to the wayside. Also, perhaps the biggest issue that fandom notices is that Tui asks complicated questions in her books but then tries to give black and white answers when really, no direct answer should be given. In the first arc we get questions like Am I enough just as I am? Even if I’m not the smartest or bravest or strongest or fastest or biggest, can I change the world? In the other arcs we get questions like Is there such thing as pure good and pure evil? And when faced with someone who continues to make choices that hurt us and others, even if we love this person, at what point do we offer compassion and when do we draw the line?

This post isn’t intended to discuss whether or not Tui succeeded in answering these questions - I’ll leave that for others. What I do hope came across in this post is that Tui does indeed know what she’s doing and I hope that we can all take a moment to appreciate the things that made us love this series to begin with ❤️

[whiteoutzz]

thinking about 3animoons whiteout and darkstalker dynamic. she is soo done with her stupid brother and loosing her mind and being very tired and having enough of his silly mind games and him trying to get her to use her powers for him for petty or just bad things but also darkstalker is a powerless looser who is scared all the time and probably uses his claws more than in canon mostly because he does not have much weapons otherwhise.

both of them are attached at the hip and clinging onto eachother even if whiteout knows how it will probably end. she also feels responsible for him because you know while darkstalker is horrible and had he is kind of in a position where he is in alot of danger and she just worries and tries to make sure arctic doesnt flip out and do something bad of him but sometimes she also wants to bash his head with a brick herself.

and darkstalker is petty and jealous of whiteout because she got all the cool powers but maybe almost likes having another dragon sit in his mind all the time and the whole "shes the one who truly understands me" thing.

also both of them are kind of violent. whiteout mostly because she is bullied and harrased all the time and she knows why and she is in horror limbo when she cant tell the intentions of dragons around her (autism) but she also can directly read their thoughts that are so loud and it is a very confusing experience.

at some point her classmates start to be geniuenly afraid of her and maybe she almost likes having this sense of control. her relation to her powers is "i dont have soul that is worth saving so im just going to use them and im probably destined to go insane or die early". also darkstalker treats her often kind of like attack dog and it works because she will tear you apart bloody if you hurt her brother.

but at the end she needs to realize that maybe her relationship with her brother is not good even if he geniuenly loves her. she gets actual support system, even if i think originally fathom and indigo were very wary of her they did realize o shittt she does not actually want that. violence is fun in a moment but she is not violent by nature she is just angry.

also her relationship with clearsight is bit interesting because originally she didnt trust her alot but eventually got really close and attached to her and just clinged to her in non malicious mannor and clearsight cared for her but sometimes she would maybe get bit annoyed at that.

also listener gets called out at her bullshit and is present from time to time in whiteouts pov. so yeah.

[kingdarkstalker]

I wanna start off saying I don’t agree with most of your opinions, but there is one aspect of Tui’s writing that bothers me that I want to point out.

Her treatment of stonemover. When Sunny meets him she basically calls him a pathetic excuse for a father. She’s constantly complaining about how he’s sad and pathetic, and when she leaves she says “I’m not gonna lie around moping because things aren’t the way I want them to be.” She also mentions wanting to poke him with her sharpest claw to get him to stop sighing. It’s the same with moon though in that encounter it’s less subtle, but she basically calls him annoying and pathetic. No character ever shows sympathy to stonemover and he doesn’t get a good ending. Would it have been that hard to just have darkstalker remove his magic altogether? Problem solved

It would be understandable if he was the kind of person who intentionally mopes about an easily solvable problem, I hate those kinds of people, but he’s NOT. Stonemover absolutely has every reason to be as sad as he is. And he’s not exactly “moping,” he’s literally growing into the floor. How he ended up cursing himself is a little unclear, but how I understand it is that in a desperate attempt to save his soul he changed the animus curse to instead affect his scales, but didn’t anticipate that it would turn him into a living fossil. I gather his curse to be largely by accident. Poor stonemover can’t do anything to save himself because he’s so afraid of losing his soul and hurting someone, and his magic took his one love. He’s not a lazy annoying old man, like how moon and Sunny make him out to be.

I especially hate this because with Luna Tui tried to write her as a character you can sympathize with and everyone feels sorry for her, but Luna is a character I just physically can’t feel sympathy for because she’s SO GOD DANG ANNOYING. Throughout the entire book she’s complaining about everyone, even(especially, in fact) the dragons who are risking their lives and entire freaking continent to help her. She’s a jerk to cricket who arguably can be credited for like 70% of the entire plot(stole the book of clearsight, exposed the truth about wasp, figured out the mind control, saved blue multiple times etc. but no, Luna doesn’t even acknowledge the fact that the only reason everyone she loves is still alive is cause of cricket) and she has no character development. By the end of the book she’s just as much a jerk as she was before. And Tui’s attempts to portray depression and trauma in her are sloppy at best. All we get are a few annoying moments of “oh no I’m going to jump to ridiculous conclusions so I can have an excuse to be useless” and offhand mentions of “rainy days.” But Tui treats her as if she’s more sympathetic than stonemover? It just infuriates me so much.

I also hate how she portrayed social anxiety with moon(and moon in general but that’s a whole other can of worms.). As someone who suffers severely from it, I hate the “uwu I’m so shy and cute” stereotype, because anxiety shouldn’t be romanticized like that. You don’t end up in a love triangle when your shy, you end up having everyone hate you because you have a resting b face and people associate quietness with a lack of interest.

^^^

[auranova26]

Felicia Rose

I want to go over some lore and facts regarding Felicia in Cryas Darkstalkers.😺 First things first, you might have noticed the last name of 'Rose' for her. Well, one thing I am changing regarding this mythos is Sister Rose. In Cryas Darkstalkers, she is now known as Ramona Rose. While she does run a small orphanage, it is not one in connection with Christianity. Simply put, I am removing any hint of Christianity/Catholicism in Felicia's backstory for quite honestly personal reasons. The orphanage is located in a rural town in New Mexico, one that will likely take inspiration from Taos, NM. Ramona Rose in this mythos is in fact a kind, hardy Mexican woman who made a life for herself in the states.

Speaking of ethnicity, one big thing for Felicia in Cryas Darkstalkers is that she is Hispanic, with part of her heritage being Mexican. This is in part that her biological parents are both of Hispanic origins, with her mother being a Mexican Catfolk and her father being from a country in Central America. I have yet to actually decide which one, but just know her biological father is from somewhere there.

'Catfolk' you say? Yeah, in this mythos the whole 'Catwoman' thing is just being changed to where this race of cat like humanoids are just known as Catfolk. There are female and male ones because quite frankly the lore of the Catwomen in the OG lore was really fucking stupid. Another thing that is being changed that can be seen with Felicia's design her is the change of the fur to make them feel more cat like rather than naked women with some bits of fur here and there. In the case of Felicia, her fur even grows in a way where it looks like she has a skirt and a crop top. Her hair is changed in a style to more express her Hispanic/Mexican heritage. Another neat detail is how her eye isn't white, but a color similar to her iris. Was a neat detail an artist did with a commission they did of Felicia.

(Credit: Beck (Slots Open) (@ViewtifulBeck) / Twitter)

Do her parents have names? No, cause quite honestly, they are not too important to her backstory beyond her being born and the circumstances of how she ended up in the US, in New Mexico, and eventually at the doorsteps of Rose's orphanage. Basically, her parents sought to move the US for a better chance at life, as many from Central America are one to do. However, before they could cross the border, they were spotted by guards. While her mother could outrun the guards, her father couldn't. Despite not wanting to leave him, he begged her to go as who knows what they would do to her or the baby since they were non-human. Having crossed in the state of New Mexico, Felicia's mother contemplated on things such how she is gonna support the child, the loss of her husband, and these new circumstances in a new country with no support. Eventually, passing through a town, she decided the best thing was to leave her daughter in the hands of an orphanage as she believed she couldn't provide well for the baby. That was the last her mother ever saw the child.

When the baby was found, it was taken in. The orphanage was small, only being aided by her friends who volunteered time, but Ramona did her best to make sure the children were cared for and found good homes. When the wrappings were unfurled, all were surprised by the appearance of the baby: it was a Darkstalker! There was an argument that unfolded as Ramona and her friends disagreed about what to do for the child. Ramona refused to abandon the baby because despite it being non-human, she saw it as a poor, lost child that needed guidance. She was adamantly against putting it back on the streets for the elements to take care of. While her friends couldn't convince her on that, they did bring up a good point: who is gonna adopt a monster? Maybe some rich folk if they want an exotic pet or those freak show organizers. Ramona was revolted by those thoughts, but that was a good point. After thinking about it, she decided she would raise the little baby as her own daughter. Deciding on the name Felicia, little Felicia Rose would grow up in a modest, but loving home. Always aiding her mother around with chores and the orphanage, she got to make a lot of friends with the kids that came in. Overtime, Ramona's friends, neighbors, and eventually the community grew to accept the Catfolk as part of the community, to varying degrees.

As she grew up, she would be introduced to all sorts of forms entertainment, like television shows, cinemas, comics, festivals, and plays. Felicia loved seeing all these as she got to see all kinds of people and characters not only put on an entertaining show, but also see how she, her mother, and others connected with these performers. While Felicia's home life was generally a loving household, she was made aware of the general bias people have against those who aren't human. In a way, she was lucky. Even with her luck, she felt her life still shows that connection with humans and Darkstalkers was possible. 'We might be outwardly different, but we all have dreams, emotions, aspirations, and a desire to connect with others', Felicia would think. As this dream kept burning in the adolescent to adulthood, she eventually decided that she would become a star. Inspired by her hero 'El Santo', she was aware how the famous luchador was loved by the entirety of Mexico. With such status, she could hold influence to show the world that Darkstalkers are not just monsters but living beings with hearts and souls who also want to live. So, she set out to make her dream a reality. It was going to be tough, but she was willing to put her all into achieving this dream!

Some other notes about Felicia:

Felicia is bilingual in Spanish and English. With Spanish as her first language, she has an accent.

As mentioned, she is a mega fan of the luchador El Santo. So strong is her admiration, she went out of her way to watch his films, collect comics, and any memorabilia she could with her allowance.

Felicia in Cryas Darkstalkers is quite tall at 5'11'. Not only tall, but very fit and strong considering her catfolk genes.

Felicia's Birthday is held at around the month of February as that was when she was found at the orphanage. As for the date, it is held on the 5th. She was born in the year 1967.

Her tongue is like that of a cat, so thus is covered with papillae.

When thrown into pure rage, Felicia can go into a feral state like a big cat.

She is incredibly fast on her feet, with her kicks hitting incredibly hard.

(Credit: MasterMaind Designs-Open Commissions (season 5)👀 (@MastermaindD) / Twitter) A girl can dream.

[ave1dragon]

Better Pyrrhia au

While flying from the Nightwing island with Morrowseer for the "test", Starflight, Fatespeaker, and the other prophecy backups lose sight of Morrowseer and are magically transported to a different pyrrhian future where the dragonet prophecy was never created. So now they have to go find the dragonets of destiny and convince them to stop the war while learning about this new Pyrrhia.

Details about the au (I edited this a little bit to add new stuff):

Foeslayer and Arctic never met at all, as Prudence never took Foeslayer with her, so the Icewings still have their animus powers and the Nightwings have none at all.

The scrolls keep better track of the animi, like they did in Darkstalker's time, so there wasn't like a 2000 year gap, but they haven't been updated during the great war. The Icewings have Queen Glacier, the Seawings have Turtle and technically Orca but no one knows, and the Sandwings have Boa.

Albatross still commited the Seawing massacre, so everyone is scared of that. Fathom and Indigo ran away together eventually.

Queen Glacier is the only known animus dragon to most of Pyrrhia, and she used her gift before the war. Turtle was hatched after the war, so he's a secret to most dragons, Orca still never told anyone, Anemone was never an animus, as Turtle didn't feel the need to enchant her, and Boa pretty much had the same life.

Clearsight never went to Pantala, so Hivewings don't exist, but there is interaction between Pyrrhia and Pantala, but more of a trade interaction, so the Pantalans still have their old language and culture, cause I thought that would be fun to explore.

Pantala dragons have their old language, although some learn to speak dragon and some Pyrrhians learn to speak Pantalan. Pantalan dragons don't have queens or a distinct separation of tribes.

The Rainwings are pacifists because of the letter in the guide, so they keep most of their traits as in the main books, but Queen Grandeur was the only one on the throne the whole time, so the Rainwing royal family is still around and the Rainwings keep track of the eggs and dragons. Basically only the real problems about the Rainwings are gone.

The Rainwings aren't in the war. The Sandwing sisters asked, but Grandeur scared them away.

Since the Nightwings aren't scaring Pyrrhia out of the Rainforest, many dragons come into the Rainforest Kingdom to escape from the war, so the Rainwings have set up another village, like the Nightwing village in the books proper, and know more about the rest of Pyrrhia. They are still pretty isolated.

Since Darkstalker never existed, the Nightwings live in the Pyrrhian Night Kingdom. They are officially allied with Blister.

The Night Kingdom has dragons from different tribes, like Possibility does, since they were known as the "open to all tribes" tribe like in Darkstalker's time.

Pantala is also home to many different Pyrrhian dragons escaping the war. There is a map to how to get to the other continant.

Darkstalker never made the Scroll, so Chameleon never got the scroll. There is no Cirrus or Pyrite. Tourmaline is still alive and does have Prince Cliff, who is the same age he is in the books. He is still Peril and Sky's father, but as himself, so they are now half-Rainwing and have ear ruffs that change color.

The Skywings stopped killing the Firescales and fireless dragons, although they don't trust animi still, so Peril and Sky were raised by Kestrel and Chameleon. Osprey is their adopted grandfather now.

Sky's name is Ember now, because he was named by Skywings and that was his name in the first draft. Wren is his pet scavanger he found and named Bird, kind of like how Flower's real name is Rose. I actually kind of like the name Sky, so Sky is his nickname because that's what Wren would call him before she fully learned Dragon and it just stuck. Wren can say dragon words, but all the dragons think she's just copying them. She's more like the scavengers in the first arc, not a lot of focus.

Ember was raised in the Wingery with the other Skywing dragonets. Since he can't breathe fire, he's very strong physically. Peril isn't feared and has Skywing friends, but she couldn't go into the wingery because of her firescales and her room is similar to the one in the first book. Peril still isn't great at fighting without her scales.

Ember has some of his personality, but he's not a vegetarian and is more tough because of the Sky Kingdom. Peril has a similar personality to her one in book one.

Chameleon is no longer evil and is a good dad. Kestrel is much less awful. Peril is closer to her dad, and Ember to his mom.

Orca never challenged her mother to the throne, so she never made the death statue, so Coral's daughters are still alive and she has significantly less sons.

The alternate dragonets of destiny get more development. I don't have a problem with the original characterization, because they were side characters there to show us how well the originals got along, but I think it would be fun to learn more about them.

Fatespeaker's parents live at the Talons of Peace, like the other alternate dragons, so she gets to meet them.

Starflight just now gained the thrice born moon Nightwing powers, so he can read minds and see the future. His vision is so strong he can look into the future himself instead of the visions coming to him.

Fatespeaker now has a Future seeing power, but it is weaker and the visions need to come to her. She can't read minds.

Clay is pretty much the same, but he kept the personality from his book instead of changing into "hungry". He is the Bigwings to his sibs, Reed, Sora, Pheasant, Marsh, Crane, and Umber.

Tsunami now has a few more sisters, Orca, three other older sisters. Two from her hatching, and Anemone. And less brothers: Two from Orca's hatching, Fin, Turtle, Octopus, and Cerulean.

Glory is happier and less grouchy, thanks to Suntime and a lack of abuse. She is more like Kinkajou, but less energetic.

Farsight is still alive, Fierceteeth's dad really did die, so she remarried Mastermind. Mastermind doesn't experiment on other dragons, but everyone else is the same.

Sunny is now named Beetle, and is tougher, since her mother never took over the Scorpion den. She did become friends with Qibli, who still lives with his mom.

The Skywing egg was never destroyed. It had twin dragonets, Dusk and Dawn, but they aren't firescales or fireless.

Moonwatcher lives with both her parents: Secretkeeper and Morrowseer. She is still an only child.

Morrowseer is really a future seer. He is the Queen's main seer.

Hailstorm was never captured by the Skywings.

Turtle doesn't have low self esteem, because he never failed to save his sisters.

Qibli lives with his mom, as Thorn never took over the Scorpion Den, since it's mentioned in the books the only reason she did that is to find Sunny. He is friends with Beetle (Sunny), and they met after the coconut incident.

[axilarycobra]

So how do you feel about the series lack of attention to agriculture? These dragons look fairly sedentary, and yet not oft is agriculture, *the* prerequisite for sedentary life, mentioned. I bring this up because the new guide preview mentions MudWing troops being self-sufficient in matters of food, with both a hunter and a gatherer, and I'm was thinking that... shouldn't you get, like, rice or something? Are they a band society, like the San? Should have been conquered long ago if that's it.

The series does mention agriculture a few times, only specifically with the SkyWings (EP, pg 118). Still, it can be inferred that there is some kind of sedentary style farming going on since it is also mentioned that NightWings had cheese (Darkstalker, 235) and SandWings have bread (DoD, 173) and camel milk (TBN, 76). I highly doubt they are just gathering the ingredients for these foods whenever they come across them in nature. SeaWings also have aquaculture so it is established that the tribes all have different ways of growing and handling their own food outside of hunting and gathering.

For the MudWings, I think it varies greatly depending on where they are in the kingdom. MudWings in general have to eat a lot due to how much energy they use since they are so big, it makes sense that there is a sole position within the sibling groups for gathering more food than they already caught as a group, but I'm guessing that how much hunting and gathering each sibling group has to do as a whole depends on their rank in society. I doubt Queen Moorhen is out in the woods hunting her own food for herself and the higher-class MudWings most likely have markets where they buy food instead of having to rely on themselves to hunt their own food. We've only really heard about food-related stuff from MudWings who are either low-class or have an unspecified rank in MudWing society.

In all honesty, I just think Tui didn't want to write about all the farm stuff and I get it, I don't blame her. Unless it was super interesting, I wouldn't want to take pages out of my already limited room book to establish the agriculture of a society that isn't centered around it.

[fandomanimatic-tournament]

Fandom song animatic tournament: Side A Round 1

Sincerely, Me - Dear Evan Hansen Musical

"I'll turn it around Wait and see 'Cause all that it takes is a little reinvention It's easy to change if you give it your attention All you gotta do is just believe you can be who you want to be Sincerely, Me"

Promiseland - MIKA

"How could you break my heart? Already played my part I kept my promise, man, show me the promiseland Don't occupy my throne, give me the crown I own Lived like you told me how, look at me now I've got no money in my pocket And the whole world's bringing me down"

Remember that we're voting on how Iconic they are for ANIMATICS, not for the song itself. In order to make things fair, the tone and mood of the song should not affect how iconic it is (for example, a serious song should not be considered more iconic than a joke song just because it's serious)

Propaganda and animatic links of the songs under the cut:

Sincerely, Me - Dear Evan Hansen Musical

Propaganda:

I need everyone to know this is the song that goes "our friendship goes beyond, your average kind of bond (But not because we're gay) No, not because we're gay"

it's hilarious, I've seen some great character dynamics with this, it's well-known, as a theater kid I know all the words, it's a bop

The number of these animatics I have saved for watching again later is genuinely concerning. But can you blame people for making so many? The song is a bop with some iconic lyrics and it just makes you want to jump up and dance. And if you have no idea what the context is, it’s even funnier.

Animatics with the song:

Inanimate Insanity

Wings of Fire

Eddsworld

Southpark

Sallyface

Promiseland - MIKA

Propaganda:

Every single villain with a backstory has been animated to this song I think

Makes me feel sad /pos

Animatics with the song:

Star Wars

DSMP Tubbo Animatic

Bendy and the Ink Machine Call of Cthulhu Animatic

Wings of Fire Darkstalker animatic

Gravity Falls Stan Pines Animatic

Please keep in mind that I don't know all the media and fandoms of the animatics provided as examples and I don't have the time (nor the will) to research them all. Don't come into my notes or my ask box complaining about them being included, I will simply block you.

[soul-sparx]

RYU’S SFV COSTUMES RATED

It’s been a hot minute since I’ve done one of these, but they were some of my favorite posts on my old blog before it got nuked, so I figured I’d do another just for fun, and who better to choose than the series main character, in his final outing in the role?

Default

9/10

Ah, Ryu’s typical look. What can be said about it that already hasn’t been said? Not a whole lot. Ryu has aged gracefully in the past more than 35 years, and is one of the characters least affected by SFV’s confusing, pseudo-realistic art direction. The only marks I have against this are the color of his gi, and his hairstyle. On the gi, it looks like he hasn’t washed it since the first SF game came out back in 1987. That thing crunches when he walks. I get they’re going for a worn, used look, but I feel like they pushed it a bit too far here. As for his hair, I was just never a fan of the black, spiked look. I much prefer the look from SFII-- dark brown and brushed forward, hanging over his bandana with some weight on it. Ultimately, though, these are small marks against an otherwise great take on an old look.

Story

7/10

“But Ava!” you may say, “Doesn’t this costume do exactly what you criticized the default costume for not doing?”

Yes it does, however a couple things make it far less appealing to me. To start with positives, the color of his gi and belt are much better, still looking worn and used but not outright dirty. This Ryu takes care of himself and his stuff. That said, in trying to replicate the Street Fighter Alpha look, they made some...odd choices. Lightening his skin makes him look paler, not sickly but...getting there. I’m not going to call it whitewashing, because I don’t think it is, but it is a strange choice. His hair looks...molded, rather than brushed, like a clay headpiece you’d customize a Lego minifigure with. Finally, they tried to apply an odd cel-shading look and, what little consistent artstyle SFV has does not work with cel-shading. Overall, I’d say it’s a good idea with less than stellar execution.

Battle

10/10

Now THIS is how Ryu should’ve looked by default in this game. Theoretically, Ryu’s story in this game is the culmination of his battle with the Satsui no Hado, and this haggard, worn-down Ryu comminucates that beautifully. The torn, dirty pants, the unkempt beard (which also shows him working to defeat the Satsui no Hado, bringing him closer to his master, Gouken, visually), the ramshackle sparring gloves made of nothing but tightly-tied sports tape, this is Ryu at his lowest, ready to reach his highest, and I’m so glad they based his appearance in SF6 on this costume.

B-Boy

9/10

Now look, I get it, this is goofy, this is out of character, this is just stupid. But... I kind of love it for that? Like, it’s so goofy and out of character that it becomes hilarious and I gotta love it for that. On top of that, it’s actually pretty solid? Functionally speaking? The silvery pants and coat mirror his gi, and the black shirt and black trim of his jacket keep the emphasis on his arms and legs, further emphasized by the red shoes, rings, and wristbands. Like...it’s stupidly fun AND doesn’t hamper gameplay. How am I supposed to get mad at this?

Halloween

6/10

Don’t get me wrong, this costume is VERY cool, but I feel like the everpresent stark red might betray its functionality. I feel like it’s at least inspired by Bishamon from Darkstalkers, but Bishamon makes up for his almost all-red color palette with gold trims and wide, open posing that makes every keyframe clear. This has the gold trims, but Ryu’s posing is very closed and guarded. I’m sure it’s still usable, but it’s not nearly as readable as, for example, the default or b-boy costumes.

Capcom Pro Tour 2017

8/10

I'll admit, my understanding of Japanese culture is limited, but this does feel like some kind of traditional festival attire, and to that end I think it's very successful and fairly in-character for Ryu. He strikes me as a traditionalist, and I'm sure he's very popular in the village that I'm certain lies just down the mountain path from Suzaku Castle. It also works well from a functional aspect. His exposed arms and red gloves contrasted against blue/white ropes bring proper attention to his arms for moves like the Hadouken and Shoryuken, while the black vest draws your eye downward into his blue, long, wide pants to prepare you for moves like the Tatsumaki Senpukyaku. I'm curious about the purpose behind the dragon on his back, if that serves as a cultural reference, but it looks cool without getting in the way of functionality, so I can't be mad at it.

School

7/10

I question the choice to make this costume in the first place, it seems odd, but it looks fairly cool and is perfectly functional between the rolled up sleeves, long coat, and tapestry lining the coats inside to keep the legs visible. Doesn't do anything for me, and is kind of weird from a character perspective, but it does what it sets out to do and I don't have any real gripes with it.

Arthur - Ghosts ‘n Goblins

5/10

I have nothing to say here that I didn't cover with the Haloween costume. I do appreciate the Ghosts 'n Goblins reference, but thst doesn't excuse bad readability.

Jin Saotome - Cyberbots: Fullmetal Madness

4/10

Same as above, but I'd say it's even worse here. If you notice, his shoulders, elbows, knees, and feet are covered by a kind of metallic material. In artwork, as well as sprites in Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (Jin's only playable appearance outside of a mecha), those metallic parts are a starker, darker silver color in order to make his posing more readable despite his all-white outfit. In other words, they actively made the design worse for...seemingly no reason.

Mega Man - Mega Man

9/10

This is so goddamn funny to me. Like, Mega Man is this tiny little Astroboy knockoff, he's not even 5 feet tall. Meanwhile Ryu is this hulking, muscular mass of meat. It's so funny to me how much this doesn't fit. As for readability, Mega Man is already one of the best designed video game characters ever made, so this is perfectly fine functionally.

Kairi - Street Fighter EX

8/10

I'm not particularly familiar with this character, as I've only played SFEX once, but it's very cool to see them referencing such an obscure piece of SF history. Not to mention, it just looks cool. Not much to say beyond that.

Track Suit

5/10

Eh....if you remember my old costume reviews, you know I'm not a fan of these. They're fine functionally, but I have no idea why every character has one, and they just get boring and tiring after looking at them 14 times over.

BCRF

8/10

It's pretty cool. It looks oddly tactical, and I don't really get the asymmetrical look-- why bring so much attention to one arm over the other, it's not like Yamazaki's right arm in Fatal Fury/KoF, which contains the power of a god. Ultimately, though, it was for a good cause and it works well enough. Not gonna complain.

[butchriptide]

As is my god given right for every time I gain a new interest; Jade Winglet D&D classes. because I am insufferable and love D&D

Moonwatcher; She’s like the definition of a Divination Wizard. Yes, her powers are innate which conflict a bit with the concept of the wizard class as a whole, but the fact that the Divination school covers pretty much all her canon abilities and the fact that she’s a big enough nerd that casting with intelligence makes more sense than say, the sorcerer’s casting stat being charisma, wizard just feels correct for her.

Kinkajou; Bard is, I think, the most evident immediate thought for her. College of Creation for her, for its emphasis on dance and song in its lore and for the fact that it gives a lot of extra utility to bardic inspiration. It’s Kinkajou, she’s gotta be a support class. I would additionally posit her as a rogue multiclass, particularly the scout archetype. Equating her natural camouflage to the rogue's stealth modifiers just comes pretty naturally, and scout in particular is all about being a fast, squirmy little guy who just kind of Appears during altercations, which feels befitting of her general abilities.

Winter; Paladin. No if-ands-or-buts this guy is a paladin. Oath of the Crown at the beginning, particularly to signify his relationship with his family and Icewing society in general. Post-character development I would argue him Oath of Devotion, since the tenets generally fall in line with Winter's Personal Beliefs, as opposed to Icewing Beliefs. Turtle; Divine Soul Sorcerer. I feel like Sorcerer is a very natural analog for Animus magic, and Divine Soul gives access to the cleric spell list. Turtle just feels like a healer to me. The math on this one is pretty cut and dry I think.

Qibli; Literally the definition of Inquisitive Rogue. You COULD argue Mastermind archetype instead-What with Insightful Manipulator covering the sort of over-analytical flavor, but I think Inquisitive beats it out for me. Mastermind proficiency that reflects the Scorpion's Den origins are easy to pick up elsewhere, and Inquisitive focuses a lot on Reading Others while Mastermind focuses on pure Manipulation. While Qibli is somewhat manipulative, it's not really in the Malicious for-my-own-benefit type of manipulation that Mastermind is built on. Plus, Turtle saying that Qibli's thinking of him and Turtle as a detective duo when he's trying to find a book genre to relate to is really funny. Additionally: Multiclass to Inquisitive Rogue/Fiend Warlock, if you're a fan of those "he does make a deal with Darkstalker" type AUs.

Peril; Wild Magic Barbarian. There's no real good analog to her firescales, and wild magic seems about as close as one can get to it. Beast Barbarian and multi-class Wild Magic Sorcerer, maybe, to reflect the fact that the firescales are a born ability ala sorcerer magic, and to have access to the bigger wild magic chart for fun? Either way, she's some sort of Barbarian, simply on the fact that violence is her best answer to, well, a lot of things. Carnelian and Umber a little hard, just on how little we have of them. I think they're both fighters, with Carnelian being Battle Master archetype and Umber being Banneret (Purple Dragon knight) archetype.

[eyesanddragons]

anemone for bingo?

ANEMONE MY BELOVEDDDDDDDDDD!!!!

Anemone is just...I wish She was in a Better Story, cause I love her! She's someone who's had to deal with the world's bullshit so much at such a young age and isn't sure how to really...deal with it. Like sure she tries to act like the monster she's "supposed to become" eventually but she can't really...bring herself too.

The Animus Dragons have a really interesting story (conceptually) because everyone nearby them thinks there going to become evil, and how each of them copes with the idea that eventually they'll snap and kill everyone. Not to talk too much about Animus Dragons and there whole deal but there's actually a lot to support the idea that there not inherently evil, not just because I hate the idea of animus dragons being inherently evil but if we look at all the known cases of animus dragons and animus dragons Evil-ness a pattern starts to occur where most of the ones with more questionably morality come from terrible situations. Darkstalker was abused as a child, Albatross was mistreated by Lagoon and overall under poor working conditions and Artic is well...Icewing Family Prince Angst. And of course there's the other side of the spectrum, Turtle is constantly scared of himself, Fathom self-exiled himself, Stonemover...is Stonemover.

Really it just seems like a self-fulfilling prophecy. Animus Dragons become Evil because That's What There Supposed To Be. Anemone was Expected to become evil eventually, so it was fine to use her (actual child) during the war effort.

I feel like this kind of narrative would of worked better if animus magic wasn't all powerful but I digress-

Anemone is...so so close to falling into this cycle of evil. And that's fascinating, cause she doesn't want to. She's just...resigned, a word I'm surprised you can describe Anemone with really.

Anemone is Resigned to her fate, something a lot of characters in Arc 2 are. Anemone feels helpless, she doesn't feel like she can't fight back. So she takes Every Single Chance She Has to feel like she has a Choice.

I uh...wish she wasn't treated as a Stereotypical Spoiled Princess in the narrative but uh. I love her a lot