#this is so cool because this is a HUGE issue

[lilyblackdrawside]

Duelists and Merchants both have two module types where X is the "Convenience" and Y is the "Stats". Both branches are kinda stat sticks with huge downsides in their own way. Merchants might not sound like stat sticks, but they are. For their upfront cost, you're putting a lot on the field.

The convenience with Duelist is "instead of having no SP regen, you get 0.2/s when not blocking" while their stats module gives them +15% atk and def. For Merchant it's "instead of eating 3dp/3s (all of it), eat 2dp/3s (two thirds of it)" and their stats module gives them +20% atk.

Duelists hardly see use because they're expensive to deploy and have this sp regen issue, Merchants are also pretty niche but see more play. In both cases, you'll almost always see people use the X type. It's undeniable that only having most of your DP eaten away is much more manageable than all of it and same for regening at 20% rate instead of 0% (both Duelist modules also enable being fed SP from outside sources like Warfarin, Ptilopsis or Liskarm, but X is still a lot more convenient).

Only the 6 stars of these two branches actually have the Y types in the first place, which further disinsentivizes actually going for those modules - they're expensive to get! and for all three of these operators, the Y type wasn't even out at the time of their release.

For Eunectes, both modules offer a good talent upgrade. X leans further into improving SP recovery, upping her second talent from +0.2sp/s while blocking to +0.4/0.55, which is pretty huge. Y upgrades her damage boost from 115% to 123%, which isn't that much, and her Sanctuary from 20% to 28%, which is more noticeable. She basically just becomes even more stat sticky. She leans more into her nature as a clunky stat stick. The choice with Eunectes is kinda more ambiguous. Her convenience module does a lot for her, cause the extra sp regen is quite good and her skills are really strong.

But for Lee and Swalter, the convenience module's talent boost is honestly just bad.

Lee takes his stun-parry talent from costing 5 DP and stunning for 3s to costing 4 DP and stunning for 4s. This is a ripoff. The way it works is that when he doesn't have his protective buff, he consumes 5 DP instead of what he would normally take, so upgrading the X module just pulls his talent's cost in line with the reduced continuous payment (and increases stun duration by 1s, which isn't usually relevant. The cost reduction is on level 3, stun duration on level 2). The stats on it are alright. 300 hp, 74 atk vs 76 atk, 50 def on the other is mostly a wash (but I'd rather have 50 def over 300 hp on him).

His other module however, increases his ASPD drain from 14 +/- to 20 +/-, which gets doubled from 28 to 40 when there's only one enemy. 42 if you have him at least at Pot5 (I do) and if you have him on S2 (his best skill), he sits at a cool +72 ASPD passively. While also getting the extra +20% atk from Module Y's base effect. The difference of draining 29 ASPD and 42 is a 19% reduction in the target's damage output. Together with Mr. Nothing on blue, the two cut enemy ASPD by 77 which is just shy of the cap. Add Saileach and she bridges that gap. (you'll need a flagbearer to afford the two on field) and this utterly cripples certain bosses and most regular enemies. Lee is an amazing Duelist with Module Y.

As for Swalter, her Mod X increases her attack gain from her first talent from 4% per stack to 5%, which stacks up to 8 or 9 times (potentials), so she goes from 32/36 to 40/45 atk passively. That's pretty good, especially since none of her skills have attack buffs on them and just do atk% damage, but it is just a 6% raw damage increase. It also gives her 2 coins instead of 1 on skill activation, which is nicer than the 6% more damage (less if you have other attack buffs on her).

Mod Y on the other hand gives her +20% atk as a base effect, taking her from +32%/36% to +52%/56% atk through the same mechanics (DP consumed by trait), which is an 8.6%/7.6% raw damage increase over the other module, 15.2%/14.7% raw damage increase over no module. It also has better stats on it. Mod X has +200 hp, +40 atk, +50 def, Mod Y has +81 atk, +60 def. Now, as for her talent improvement, it goes for the other one of course. (Only Fartooth buffs the same talent with both modules, fun fact. Always get ModX for Fartooth))

Swalter's second talent stops her from dying when killed and instead puts her to 70%/80% (potential) max hp at the cost of 5 DP, which doubles with each activation. Cost resets when she's retreated.

Mod Y changes it to recover her health to 80%/90%, lowers the cost to 3 DP and makes it so it goes up by 3 per revive.

Instead of the revival cost going 5, 10, 20, 40, 80(, 99?) it goes 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, ...

Mod Y makes her more affordable. You can reasonable make her immortal by just deploying a bunch of Vanguards. This talent upgrade is so much more impactful than what Mod X gives, especially since Mod Y's base effect is stronger than half of Mod X's talent upgrade.

So basically what I'm saying is to not shy away from picking the inconvenient modules on these branches and lean into their identity instead of softening their drawbacks.

If you have these operators anyway, they're all 6 stars.

[lilcathsmith]

Season 7 review!

I'm not going to lie, wasn't overly keen on this season. I wasn't a fan of Booth and Brennan's dynamic, I understand that it probably would change because of the little-bitty not too serious situation of Bones being pregnant (even though Angela and Hodgins didn't change) but all of their chemistry just seemed to disappear?

I also understand that they wrote the pregnancy storyline bc Emily Deschanel was pregnant but I really didn't want them to get together this way, it really felt like they just got together because they had to. AND I had huge issues with Brennan's attitude the entire season in terms of involving Booth in ANYTHING to do with their child? Not telling him about the scans? Not telling him they were having a girl? And originally not planning on going to her christening?? It all just felt really heartless and inconsiderate (even for Bones).

All that being said... CHRISTINE ANGELA 🥺🥺 (I nearly cried when they said that) Officially the cutest Jeffersonian Baby Girl.

And another season gone waiting for the thing to happen 🥲

Episode discussions:

- The Crack in the Code: wasn't really that intrigued by Pelant, he just didn't seem that sinister. The code on the bones was cool/weird though! (My main question of this episode though was how did they manage to renovate the whole house between this and the next episode?)

- The Prisoner in the Pipe: Of course Bones would go into labour in a prison, how else did we expect it to happen? And of course they gave birth in a barn because there was no room at the inn 🙄 Idk it just felt a bit on the nose. But obviously Baby Christine was the star of the show and I love that the sign said "Welcome stapes" bc it's the smallest bone in the body 🥹

- The Bump in the Road: one thing I did like about this season was that they made Bones "struggle" with the post-partum side of things. It definitely felt like something Angela would more likely struggle with so I'm glad they gave the separation anxiety and body consciousness to Brennan. Oh and I LOVE Finn!

- The Warrior in the Wuss: I hate that Booth never thinks to talk to Parker about things, maybe it's a man/dad thing but there have been multiple occasions now where Booth's mind has gone to the worst case scenario and it's literally not even a bad thing. This episode was the same, as soon as I saw the photos cut out and the batteries taken out of the car I knew Parker was making something nice for Christine and it pained me the whole episode that Brennan and Booth thought that something dodgy was going on :(

- The Past in the Present: this episode frustrated me SO MUCH. How was Bones still allowed in the Jeffersonian even before she was an "official" suspect I was just sat there watching it like "they wouldn't be allowed to do that on CSI". Also couldn't Pelant have just changed the time stamp from the day Brennan went to visit her friend to the day before he died? AND WHY DID SHE LEAVE

Anyway, hopefully Bones and Booth get their flirty chemistry back in Season 8 (and maybe they'll get married soon?) (Can confirm they get their chemistry back, them making out in the laundry room in 8x01 👀)

(putting Sweets in here bc I love him and he was so cute in this scene 🥹)

New crime show obsession?

I've finally decided to dive into the world of Bones and I'm going to take you on the journey with me! So here goes!

☆☆☆

I've watched the pilot and am immediately into it. I'm intrigued by the focus of the show as when I'm watching CSI I find the scenes where they recontruct a victims face from the skull really cool and the people who do irl and soooo talented!

Also, the opening scene? The skull in the bag? Obsessed!

Already in love with Brennan and Booth's dynamic, feels very Finn/Russell - there's been some angst in the past that we haven't let go of - I'm excited for their back-and-forth-banter.

Straight away, I like Brennan and Riva, they're funny and cool and I hope they have as good of a relationship as this first episode has shown.

I probably won't write my thoughts on EVERY episode, maybe do mid-season and season finale summaries idk we'll see!

[wachinyeya]

[telluricdog]

kingisle whenever they need to coax older players back: HEY YOU PERSON WITH A WALLET!!! REMEMBER DRAGONSPYRE?!? REMEMBER HOW SAD THE LAST ACT MADE YOU FEEL? HERE'S SOMETHING REFERENCING DRAGONSPYRE!! ISNT THAT YOUR FAVORITE?!

[hide-your-bugs-away]

wet beatles jumpscare 😔

[hugsandchaos]

I love all of them! Thank you for sharing them with me, they’re so fun to think about!

😆 Dash was mesmerized seeing Phantom fight for the first time. He made it look so easy, to the point that it almost looked like he was dancing a few times! Unfortunately, Dash didn’t get to say anything since Phantom left too soon.

----

I’m assuming you’re referring to the abandoned observatory, so correct me if I’m wrong. The observatory is a little ways away from the town, so Danny gets his privacy. He’s been fixing up the place in his spare time, starting with the room he chose as his bedroom, and it actually looks really good compared to the rest of the place! He only lets Dash in after he trusted Dash not to judge him since he has some glow in the dark stars on the ceiling and a few other space related stuff that he didn’t want anyone to judge him for. Especially his bed, which kinda looks like a nest.

Dash thinks the room is very nice! And he likes the nest-bed, he thinks it’s very cozy.

Danny doesn’t want to feel like he’s taking advantage of anyone, which is part of the reason why he refused his offer. Also because he’d just gotten comfortable in his haunt place. He didn’t want to abandon it so soon!

----

Danny really didn’t want to admit it, especially since this was basically a nice version of his bully, the one who made him eat underwear, but he ended up having this discussion with them anyways.

----

I imagine something pretty similar, except it’s not so much as Danny developing social skills, it’s more of helping him regain his confidence since the Incident. The Incident that Danny won’t tell him about, but he got that incision scar on his chest from somewhere.

On a similar note, he also helps him talk to the rest of the team. He knows that Danny has trust issues for a reason, specifically ghost hunters and other ghosts, so he likes to just hang around in the background when Danny talks to them incase Danny needs his help.

----

Oh my gosh, that’s so sweet! I imagine that Danny hadn’t had many massages before, if at all, and I’m specifically imagining a back massage right now.

Danny had never had one before, and he was a little uneasy at first because he didn’t know what to expect, but once Dash started working on it, that boy slowly started to melt! He tried not to melt at first, which was mostly a reaction from not being able to relax so much, but in the end, he either nearly fell asleep or actually fell asleep.

I’m a huge fan of the idea that ghosts can purr, so I love to think that either he can purr in both forms and was as loud as a motorcycle engine, or only purrs in ghost form and still purred like an engine.

----

Some of my own because you’re a cool person who shared a cool thing with me, and now I’m legally obligated to share back

Danny loves to make playful jabs at Dash. One of my favorite ones is that when Dash lost a tooth even though he was past that point, Danny either full on laughed or just smiled and said “Welcome to ghost puberty, Dash”.

Cujo is… indecisive about what he thinks about them dating. Some days, he’s happy! His boy (Danny) has a boyfriend! A mate! One that gives scratches and plays with him! Other days, he’ll start barking and try to come between Danny and Dash because Danny is his boy! Stop trying to romance him! Who does this other boy think he is, trying to kiss the Prince of the Infinite Realms?! Danny thinks it’s hilarious, Dash is sad that he suddenly lost Cujo’s approval for no apparent reason.

Their relationship honestly reminds me of Jack in Maddie. Dash is a big sweetheart, figuratively and literally, and he either sleeps holding a teddy bear or Danny. Danny’s the one who’s usually “in charge”, so to speak. You know the whole “I’m afraid of my partner” thing where they’re not actually afraid afraid, but they know better than to cross them. Dash is “afraid” of his shorter boyfriend, and to be fair, he can be pretty scary.

halfa dash au but Danny x Dash

@hugsandchaos I thought of this now it won't leave my mind.

All I'm seeing is the reaction Dash's friends when they find out Dash is dating Danny.

No the thought of their reaction of seeing hickeys and hand marks on both Danny(bottom Danny supremacy) and Dash is not what inspired this.

im sorry for saying this but I really needed to get this out my mind and I wanted to know what you think about this then after that I can erase this post.

[jasperandhenryslovechild]

UUUUGGHHGHH making a dystopia au with my friend and im making so much lore and i might make a comic series about it

this is a very impulse thought & idk if id go through with it but it would be about an oc in dystopia and like this big "organization" they have to go on an undercover mission to infiltrate and unestablish but like it's super fuckin dangerous and stuff and like there's this kid and there's this thing and like omg

would anybody care if i started posting about that if i made it

[phoenixcatch7]

The problem I'm having with one of my stories is that it is compelling - but not clicking.

It's a sephiroth gets reincarnated into mdzs. Straightforward. I've got several branching paths: lwj, jc, nmj (my personal fave) and the jade twins (one mind in two bodies). All five of them have great potential, but for some reason my heart is set on sephiroth!lwj, because the aesthetic is sublime.

But! It's! Not! Working!

My main problems are a) despite similar surfaces, sephiroth has fundamentally different morals and life experiences to lwj and lwjs morals are a huge part of his and wwx's stories. B) I can't NOT have wangxian. I don't ship often at all, but when I do I'm pretty set on it lol. I don't want to deny soulmates. Unfortunately I HATE writing romance. C) I do not think sephiroth should be in any sort of romantic relationship at all nor can I see him wanting one. I've read tons of fics where he is in relationships (healthy or otherwise) and they're amazing, yes, but... Under my pen it's just not in the cards. And I do feel pairing him with wwx would just amplify wwx's worst traits, which is the opposite of what lwj does for him.

Everything's in conflict, but the lure of sephiroths second childhood in strict gusu and his complicated feelings about it, wwx being a perfect mix of all his important people with a spine of steel and righteousness that they all lost as everything fell apart, the relationship between sephiroth and his new mother, and how he'd inexplicably lose her too, the white on white aesthetic, the older identical brother, the cruel angels aesthetic with the benevolent demon, the angst of wwx's defection and death, his relationship with qi as a planet's overflowing life force, the tragedy of the mourning angel, monster x monster.... It calls to me.

But there's also the way wwx becoming a demonic cultivator was so vital to winning the war, and the way that affected things, gave him a legitimacy. Involve the silver soldier, and well. Everything else becomes a little extraneous lol. And sephiroth himself is such a big mover and shaker, I don't know what I could do to manage that without wiping out 80% of the remaining jianghu after the burial mounds siege with sephiroth appointing himself king lmao. He's not the kind of person to make small ripples, you know?

And I'd love a twin jades au to sort of turn the chaos inwards a bit (nmj and jgy would be Excellent foils) but again, I can't separate wangxian and imagining scenes feels a bit too close to incest for my tastes, even when it's ONE PERSON in identical bodies!

It's frustrating, wanting to write a non romance fic set in a love story lol. I just. I hate writing romance. But wangxian just don't want to be parted.

But the image of lwj in the xuanwu cave secretly covering a feverish wwx with his wing, only to notice a handful of white feathers pushing through the black as he unknowingly becomes a better person through showing care for other people, shaking his own deep belief that he is a horrible irredeemable creature incapable of love. Caught in an act of love. Hnggh.

Any ideas?!

[makerofmadness]

ok I know I said I love dark cacao but like they didn't have to make two of him /j

(I'm sorry what the fzck is going on with kingdom right now like. I thought my friend was kidding when they said "ancient+" I thought it was a joke about Mystic Flour like what the fudge do you MEAN someone actually signed off on that-)

(I feel like I caused this somehow 😭 like I think I said once on here that cacao's my favorite out of the ancients but I didn't like to actually USE him but like. why not just buff him???? Or like they were doing that whole crystal jam thing and I know that was kinda only for the legendaries but like. it's something-)

[true-blue-sonic]

What is even the point of Silver living in the future? It’s not his future anymore and he has no friends or family there. There’s nothing for him there. Now that he has precognition he should just live in Sonic’s time and get visions of disasters. 

Seriously there’s no point in his future or time travel. We’ll never see it, Silver only cares about the state of it and he can only go to Sonic’s time anyway.

I find this an interesting question myself. The best answer I can give as to why Silver keeps returning to the future is that him being from the future is "his thing", just like how having PK is "his thing". It's just something very much intertwined with his character; basically every bio he has makes mention of it, for example. But I also agree with the notion that him being from the future opens up some issues. I've seen statements that it is difficult to make Silver relevant if he must travel to the past every time, for example, which I don't disagree with (but for me, the same could then be said about Blaze and the Sol Dimension or Knuckles and the Master Emerald). Adding to that, I do not believe we know for certain if its state is generally 'destroyed' or 'saved' and if Silver grew up in a destroyed world (said in multiple bios) or a good one (I'd argue that is implied in Rivals 1, with Eggman Nega almost certainly having stolen the camera from someone else and Onyx Island being both a paradise and having developed industry on it that I do not believe Angel Island currently has). Furthermore, the Rivals games are also not very consistent to me about if the future has actually gotten rewritten or not (but it tentatively seems to lean that way, since Silver says at the end of Rivals 2 he hopes the new future is a happy one), and we legit just do not know how its alleged destruction goes. Does Silver indeed intervene before something bad can happen, or does the future actively turn bad before his very eyes and he goes back in time to undo that again? I am truly not certain if there's ever been a clear-cut answer from a credible source, though I am pretty sure there's multiple conflicting explanations from non-credible ones... but that really doesn't help make things clear. And lastly, we also do not know what he has in his own era when it comes to friends and family, nor is it ever clearly shown or said how he time-travels in any game other than '06. With all that combined I can see why having him return again and again gets... well, confusing, haha!

In that regard, I also feel there is merit in the idea of him just staying for good in the past. His friends are there, it's consistently where the action happens anyway, and Team Sonic Racing indeed hints at him having a sense of precognition. The Japanese version actually dives into it more, with Silver asking himself at the very end when Eggman's battleship is going down if that is what was causing his bad/nagging feelings. Considering he was necessary there to help carry people and racecars off it to safety, it does imply to me that that scene might have intended to show it as a genuine skill of his. Shame the English version cuts that moment out entirely. So yeah, the point of Silver being in the future is, to the best of my explanations, legit just the fact that's how he has been conceptualised, making it "his thing". But it does cause confusions for me, because of how much there is not clearly explained and all the contradictory information out there from non-game sources. I think having Silver stay in the past for good could make for a nice move on Sega's part, assuming it is within his own decisions (so not forced by A ThingTM that is entirely unexplained to us and removes all his agency, for example). I think it'd be a nice resolution for Silver to see his heart lays in the past, and he can still protect his own world from there too!

[ayakashibackstreet]

You know what, joining that Discord show club was a great idea, like half of my favourite PKC folks are there. And is there anything more wholesome than someone going '1!! hey, I remember that dog!! she's adorable, I'm glad she's doing well!' about a little pixel friend they made for you years ago?

[cupcakesmoothie]

Behold

Alexander!

This is probably the most effort I've put into designing a character and I'm not even done with his outfit :')

The scarf might change designs and colours depending on how his outfit goes, I might also add some extra stuff to it.

Alexander is going to be one of the few side characters that don't have a blessing! He might not have a blessing, but he can still defend himself :)

His specialty is swords and knives (Also throwing weapons).

Yes, he is aromantic, but not asexual!

I spent like an hour straight drawing this

Ok edit: His name is actually Alexis now, and he's Spanish

[blue-bird-lamentation]

It's not the real Yukiko who is talking but their interaction here left me so 🫠

I love the unresolved tension, them having go through it and solve their issues. And i love they brought back some shadow Chie elements (i actually think shadows should come back more often cause you won't solve your problems with a fight only)

[autumndeeers]

Got my evaluation done. I got the adhd.

[sinterblackwell]

me getting an email that my package was delivered so i happily skip down the stairs because i figured it was the special edition of mdzs that i preordered online, only to see a very flat parcel on the front porch that definitely isn’t a book. maybe it’s the extra fanart associated with tthe special edition that just came in before the book??? MAYBE??

it’s labeled with a message that says “extremely urgent” so it’s something important, but i didn’t order express delivery for this book…..what else can it be then?? it has my name on it so let me just open it and se—

MY PASSPORT(?(?)))?/)/€:&,&:8:829292915161

[neverendingford]

.