#which by default never feels as original or unique

[genericpuff]

Who is your favorite LO character? Who is your favorite LR character?

i feeeeel like my answers change every time i get asked this question JFDSKLAFJSDALK but that's okay because it just means i'm constantly finding new ways to analyze and explore these characters >:3

LO faves: Minthe and Hephaestus.

Minthe because she obviously gets such shit treatment in the comic and subsequently from the fanbase, but she's a lot more relatable than 99% of the characters in the plot, she feels like she has actual depth and a real character arc, even if that arc ended with an unceremonious whisper. It goes to show how great of a character she was that Rachel practically had to nerf her out of the plot, because it was often only ever at its best when she was present. Funny how as soon as she was written out, there was nothing interesting going on with Hades or Persephone anymore - the plot was literally so boring without her that Rachel literally tried to create a Minthe 2.0 through Leuce, and we all know how well that went /s

As for Hephaestus, nothing super specific, I just like his vibes. Maybe it's just my absent older brother issues, but I would love to just like, hang out with him, game in the same room as him, just autistic parallel play stuff, I think he would be into that. Only complaint is the design flaw of giving him running blades as the default prosthetic, that can't be comfortable for his hips and joints. But that's not his fault u.u and that's basically my only complaint about him which makes him a winner in my book, esp compared to the rest of the cast. He might not be in the comic all that much, but that was clearly to his benefit because it seems the more attention Rachel pays to a character, the worse they wind up being in the long run due to poor writing. Hephaestus is in the comic just enough, not too little, not too often.

So yeah, Minthe and Hephaestus are both 10/10 characters written by a 0/10 writer. They did the best they could... not Rachel of course, she did literally the bare minimum of "representation" which often came across as ignorant white knighting at best and blatant stereotyping / stigmatizing at worst, I mean that Hephaestus and Minthe did the best they could as genuinely interesting characters with unique circumstances and disabilities who were being written by an amateur Wattpad-level writer with a privileged white guilt complex lmao

LR faves (within the cast that's currently been introduced): Persephone and Dionysus.

I know, very different from my LO choices, esp considering Persephone herself within LO is literally one of the most insufferable characters by the end, but I'm frankly having a great time rewriting her in my own way, especially in regards to her specific role as the "wrathful side" of Kore. I know I've gotten questions regarding the interpretation of Kore as a DID system, and while that interpretation is totally valid, the angle I always approached it from was that repressed trauma and emotional bottlenecking. Obviously those two things are, in and of themselves, contributing factors to DID, so far be it from me to tell people they can't identify with Kore / Persephone as DID representation. It just motivates me even more to give her the character arc she deserves and never got. It's gonna be messy. It's even gonna be downright ugly at times.

But I hope, in the end, that anyone who identifies with her struggles will find closure and comfort in the resolution of her story. It's certainly a challenging tightrope to walk, between honoring the themes of her original myth, retelling a version of her that almost existed in LO (a version that I was hoping for and never got), and dissecting the implications of my own version of her throughout LR's narrative, but it's a challenge that I've been having a great time undertaking and all I can hope for is that I can meet and possibly exceed my own expectations - as well as the readers - in the end. This is Kore's story - it's also Persephone's.

As for Dionysus... he's just a very, very fun character to write, and someone who I had the advantage of introducing before he was depicted in LO. It wasn't intentional but it sure as shit paid off because even though I'm sure some will assume that this is my own re-interpretation of Rachel's version of the character, myself and anyone else who was there at the time can vouch that Dionysus was aaaalllll me, baby LMAO

All that said, we're obviously going at it from a VERY different angle than how he was tackled in LO, but I'm hoping people enjoy his presence in the story, especially as he becomes more involved (which is very, very soon wink wink) The roles have definitely reversed here with Dionysus taking on more of a "parental" role to Kore rather than the other way around. I feel like his characterization has only grown stronger in hindsight compared to what we got in LO, especially where he's one of the only characters who beat LO to the punch and wound up being in a sort of arms race with Rachel's depiction ─=≡Σ((( つ•̀ω•́)つ

[ponett]

i’m certain you’ll post your thoughts on the thousand-year door remake, but god isn’t it still crazy that this even happened

It really is wild. I thought for sure we'd just get a GameCube ROM library on the Nintendo Online service before we'd ever get a full-blown remake, and then they went and made this. And only half a year after they did a full remake of ANOTHER famously weird beloved Mario RPG that we never thought would get a remake.

I'll admit I still wish they would put up a GameCube ROM library so that we could (officially) play GameCube games on Switch other than the ones that have been given $60 remakes, but like, I can't complain much when it's a good remake. The art direction is gorgeous. There are lots of nice little quality of life updates, which I don't necessarily think the game needed but are still nice to have. And, of course, yes, the localization finally got updated to acknowledge Vivian is trans. In general it's just a treat

The only thing that I don't completely vibe with is the remixed music. Like, in any other game, I'd say a soundtrack like this whips ass. Origami King's soundtrack sounded similar, and that was great! But I think it leans too hard into epic orchestral rock and recurring leitmotifs and whatnot in a way that the original TTYD soundtrack didn't, and that lessens the game's unique vibe. Lots of tracks have also been extended, presumably to cut down on repetition, but they tend to do this with meandering new bridge sections that just kinda feel like musical filler before getting back to the original tune

Like, listen to this new orchestral rock minor key version of the standard battle theme that plays in Hooktail Castle

On its own merits? Great track! Awesome! And I'm all for JRPGs having more than one standard battle theme. But this is a wildly different vibe from the original, which relied heavily on quirky selections of synths that set it apart from other JRPG soundtracks. It feels like this new mix is overselling how epic it is, and in the process becomes more generic. It's like if you swapped the EarthBound soundtrack out for Bravely Default's. It wouldn't fit! An incredibly rare instance where I'm like "no, the composers really for real did not have to go this hard here"

But also before leaving Rogueport you can buy a 0 BP badge that swaps everything except the wholly new tracks back to the original GameCube versions, so that solves that

[katyspersonal]

I'd say it makes perfect sense that in one way or another, a God (which Empyreans are supposed to become) should reflect the duality with their gender one way OR another! For what a God entails, and to be able to have children with the consort of any gender, I suppose!

At the same time, Miquella IS quite a lot like little Marika, in every sense! He takes her association with plants and Radagon's association with needles both, when Malenia gets none of these! (her "plants" aren't hers, they're Scarlet Rot..) But Radagon IS Marika, so... Basically, if he takes everything from his parents, even Radagon's 'orange' eyes, should splitting have been unique to Marika for some reason, he'd get that too?

It also feels oddly coincidental that Malenia yielded her fate to Miquella and Ranni never wanted to be an Empyrean on her own! And both not have alters. If God should have two sides and they never pursued Godhood, maybe it just didn't manifest? Ranni technically goes become a God anyways, but without her Empyrean flesh, so this can't happen anymore at least?

Radagon's red hair is also result of the curse of Fire Giants! It is more convoluted but not impossible: what if Empyreans have sort of a "defence mechanism" given to them by the Two Fingers, where to not be "wasted" should they fuck around and find out, only a part of them takes the damage and separates? This could explain why Radagon is not a God! As for Miquella, maybe Trina was a result of Miquella taking a sip of Scarlet Rot too much? He had insectoid wings once, and so do Cleanrot Knights, plus there is Trina's association with sleep when Scarlet Rot slowly causes stagnation and in the end makes you as active as a mushroom... Or stranger yet. Slumber Flame is so much an opposite of Frenzied Flame that even their icons and colors are mirrors of each other, Trina was calming Frenzied Nomads in beta version, and Torrent most likely was burnt by Frenzied Flame already (he has burnt marks, his ring already has a dent, and Miquella was shown to ride him in Shadow's Land before). Maybe, Trina was born as a force to combat Frenzied Flame when Miquella was damaged by it?

I think the latter version is really interesting, but yeah, it seems to coexist with the 'Empyreans have androgyny by default' idea since these "defence mechanism" alters are still gendebents!

[niuttuc]

My Favorite Cards of 2024: Murders at Karlov Manor

The year is pretty close to over, so let's go back over the sets released this year (with new cards at least), and go through a few of my favorite cards from that release. I'll group together stuff released together, in this case it'll be Murders at Karlov Manor, the Commander precons, and the Clue edition. I'll probably go through one set a day for the next week, though I might skip some days for personal reasons.

Cryptic Coat is a new twist on living weapons that feels really good to play with. While Duskmourn revisited the manifested auto-attach equipments a bit, this one has more gameplay to it by being an infinite mana sink, and the Ward 2 of cloaking makes it just a bit more fun. It also offers some interesting play patterns when you expect removal for it, as to when to activate it to bounce, and is great with blink effects, both to get more 2/2s by blinking the coat or blink the 2/2s to get the permanents hidden behind for free. The default rate of an unblockable 3/2 ward 2 for 3 is decent enough, and it doesn't feel too bad to play against either (outside of limited), there are points of interaction.

Aftermath Analyst is a new package for an effect we've seen rarely in the past, and good enough to spawn an entire deck in standard until rotation, while also being an excellent commander card for any green deck that has anything to do with the graveyard, or with lands. The main downside of World Shaper is that it never dies when you want it to, so putting the death fully into your hands makes the card feel so much better to play with.

Cases in general were pretty neat, but I'll single out these two because I've played with them quite a bit. Filched Falcon is relatively simple, but the low cost to entry and instant speed sac make it a powerful and tricky thing, always to keep in mind as a reason to keep up my mana. Crimson Pulse is a great way for aggressive red decks to go long, for matchups they can't close as fast as they'd want. Three cards a turn will end a game VERY quickly in red, and even the initial cast can be a divination when empty-handed.

I haven't played with Doppelgang much personally, but one has to respect a card with this much nonsense potential. The ability to target lands and your opponent's stuff turns this card from a narrow-hard to use card into something that will always impress and create unlikely scenarios, as long as you have the mana to put into it.

I love burninating people's boards, and Incinerator of the Guilty sure does that. It's easier to randomly have stuff in the graveyard than connect with a non-trampling Balefire Dragon, and you usually don't need that many hits to close out a game. Incinerator really loves haste but it replaced or joined Balefire in both my decks that were still playing it. And now that people have forgotten about it for new shinies, it's even available for about $0.50 while Balefire is still above $10 for some reason.

Is this design original? No, of course not, it's literally a copy paste of another card. But that other card is one of my favorite designs in the game, so it earns a spot here almost by default. Plus, it brought it back in standard.

Between the stellar art and buildaround potential, Insidious Roots decks have a pretty unique feel to them, not quite like other graveyard decks or other combo decks. Most forms of graveyard hate aren't even good against it if they trigger the roots, and the deck has been viable in a few places at points, which is quite the work from an uncommon.

I just like Gleaming Geardrake. Two artifacts for two mana, and a flying body that really loves random Treasures and other trinkets. It's won me many games, and was a bit slow in a bunch more, but it's just cute and neat.

Columbo closes it out with Final-Word Phantom. I generally like playing at instant-speed for trickiness, and only doing so during end steps is a fine way to make it less obnoxious while still retaining a good chunk of the utility. People no longer have to wait on you on every priority, just on end steps!

[christiansorrell]

TTRPG Read-Through: Patchwork World

Here is a read-through I did last year (originally posted on Twitter) of one of the most unique PbtA games I've ever read: Patchwork World by Aaron King! - Christian

Credits up first. I know a lot of these folks and they are really cool! Excited to dig into this. I've heard good things, and it's been a while since I've read or played any Powered by the Apocalypse.

This is a cool, strong set up for me. I really like settings that ask characters to face a changing world and either take up change themselves or work to restore the old way of things. It's a headspace I find myself in a lot IRL these days so it's fun to explore.

I'm interested to see how the no stats, no playbooks angle of this game works, considering playbooks are typically such a staple of PbtA games.

Standard three-tired success, mixed success, fail forward resolution for rolls here and questions on the moves determine your bonus to the roll. Easy peasy. +2 is the max bonus.

Other types of rolls are described here. Interested to see how they come into play. I also love clocks and use them in pretty much every game I run so it's nice to see those laid out here too.

We just love a lil guy, don't we folks?

A good chunk of the opening here is spent on laying out a lot of solid foundations of roleplaying generally. It feels like a book (so far) that would work for entirely new players. It doesn't feel essential for me, but I never mind a game that supports varied experience levels.

Character creation is wide open, especially since there aren't playbooks and the text stresses that character creation is very much worldbuilding because of this. Fate-like concepts and tags are in here too which are things I generally enjoy. I like the Drawback mechanic.

Moves are in the playback I set in the other room so I'm gonna go grab those. You get two chosen moves and everyone has access to a number of default moves. You've got three other life/XP things to keep track of too. I'm especially interested in Hex.

There are a lot of moves! They seem quite varied and often very weird, fitting well with the titular patchwork world. You can have a duck's slick soul to dodge more easily or a magical space suit or speak to birds or be good at cartography. Overwhelming, but in an exciting way.

You also choose a community as a party. While PCs all have their original homelands (before the end of the old worlds), you know have a community that gets its own little sheet. This is a cool reshaping of the Gangs from Blades. I also like how the community can change over time.

Coming back to a PbtA game after months of more OSR-minded stuff, I think a lot of what these games contain are things that experienced players would say you could just do in any game at any time that it makes sense in the story, but I do find value in stating what's possible.

Esp since many players come to games with artificial limits on their options (whether that's from video games, more traditional RPGs, etc.). I just think good GMing here requires making sure that the players don't limit themselves just to the bevy of explicit options either.

GM moves (mostly to guide the response to failed rolls). I really think the community aspect of this set up is one of the biggest appeals to me so far. That and the wild list of moves, which I'm sure makes for amazing parties of characters.

I always feel like it's never something I should be in my own writing (for some probably unnecessary reason), but I enjoy the first-person, casual writing style throughout the book. Makes for a very chill read.

Good to see this game employs the Branson Reese style of NPC naming.

Stress acts as a single catch-all health and challenge rating for NPCs. Ideally, I'd hope this would help lead to the PCs approaching encounters with more than just violence.

Sections like this are what I'm referring to when I say this book feels very friendly to new players. It's got little anecdotes and thoughts like this throughout.

Look, it's been a while since I've seen A Christmas Story but... it didn't have ghosts in it right?

There's a sample adventure in the back (which I'll skip for this read-through) plus loads of random tables. Some wonderfully bizarre stuff in the characters and faction tables. Really gives you a good idea for how gonzo you can go with the setting.

Love these two in particular

Optional rules include hard mode (which I just think is kind of funny to see in PbtA, but could be cool if you lean heavy into the post-apoc setting) and some optional moves. I like that some moves focus on romance, something I enjoy IRL but never think to focus on in games.

I was wondering why this was the sixth edition!

That's all for the book itself. Going back to the packet to dig into the things I missed. Some expected bits in here but always one or two unique options I really enjoy. Leaking hex is cool (and could have some troubling cascade effects in certain situations).

I definitely wish, at least in sitting down to read like this, that the contents of the player packet was also in the book itself. I think PbtA has this tendency of leading to loads of pages on the table, but it can make them very easy to pick up and play or to learn as you play.

That element is definitely here, but I think the vast number of wide-ranging moves and the excitement that would drum up in my player group would more than makeup for that initial overwhelming feel of "whoa, that's a lot of papers out on the table".

Overall, it's the most I've wanted to play a game in this style in a while. I like that the base setup for the world is very much up to the players to determine via the characters they make. I like that PCs here will probably feel unlike any other folks have played before.

The community aspect feels like where I'd want to center my story around, as a player. Seeing that shift and change over time feels like it would be very rewarding and would help lean into the "the old world is dead, what do we want the new world to look like?" theme I enjoy.

Because Aaron King is cool and recently hit a lot of Twitter followers, Patchwork Worlds is now Pay-what-you-want over on Itch.

I'm not sure if physical copies are readily available. For full disclosure (guess I should have said this up front), I got this copy for free from Aaron! Not for the purposes of this thread or anything, just for fun a while back.

Thanks for reading more ramblings from me! If you like to do that sort of thing, check out my newsletter - Missives from the MeatCastle. It's got writings on my work, cool stuff I've run across the web in the last month, and exclusive rpg stuff! https://meatcastle.substack.com

[greetings-inferiors]

Okay so I saw a post about loving when fantasy points out that humans are weird because it's something that I absolutely love about xenoblade 1 and hate about xenoblade 2 okay here we go

So in Xenoblade 1, there aren't such things as humans (okay technically there are but not in the world you play the game in). What the closest analogue to humans are are the homs. They have their own fantasy race name, and the different races are treated like differ not races in a DND sense, as if they were different species. And they do really cool things with it! Nopons have distinct vocal tics and habits from the rest of the races, but that's completely societal - it's actually a defence mechanism that evolved once the Nopon came into contact with the other intelligent races to come across as cuter and not be hunted! Nopon that are raised in Homs or High entia society speak the way everyone else does (not to say that the Homs and High entia speak the same, they still have a lot of differences!). It really helps the worldbuilding. It makes the world feel ALIVE. There are tons of quests Including adopted Nopon or immigrants and it's all really well done. There's a really interesting quest where there's a high entia that keeps a nopon as a pet, even though he's a fully sentient and unwilling person. And the high entia in your party doesn't see the problem until talking with the Nopon in question, because you have to unlearn these things. All of the races feel so unique and realistic and special and specific, even your boring run of the mill Homs (which I do have the least to speak about but trust me it does stick out)

But then Xenoblade 2 has a... Different approach. Mind you I love xenoblade 2 to death, this is probably my biggest problem with it, and even then it's not really a bad thing since it works for the themes I just don't like it in a worldbuilding sense.

So with xenoblade 2, 4 here are three categories of intelligent life (maybe? It gets greyer when you talk about stuff like tirkin but moving on): human, blade, and titan. And even then titans are just a later stage of blade.

The problem I have with this is it means that there's a "default". Each race is a different kind of human, gormotti and Nopon (I'm 99% sure they count since humanity's used as a blanket term) and urayans etc., but there's a default human. People from leftheria or mor ardain are just human. But then people from gormott are gormotti, but also human. But then Nopon aren't from a single "place", since the trade guilds are artificial civilisations, not built on continental titans, but can be found in most places, a lot more frequently than any of the other races (except default humans obviously). Idk it just feels so murky and muddy. They never draw attention to it, it's a lot closer to race in our world than in dnd (except for Nopon, which once again are a weird exception I think?). I just wish they used Homs for the default humans and still used Humanity as a blanket term instead of just not giving base humans a name. It also focuses a lot less on the races as a whole, in part because the themes aren't as dependant on multiple races coming together as much as it is two types of organism working together, so it doesn't bother discussing race dynamics to focus on the much more pressing driver/blade dynamic, but it was such a cool and special part of the original that I feel is sorely missing. They started to do some cool things with the gormotti as they're clearly the most marginalised, being refugees that the indol spit on and having the base humans from mor ardain trying to colonise their land, but it's just not brought up for more than like two cutscenes each and maybe a handful of side quests. And it makes the world feel a lot less living and realistic to me. It's still incredibly living and realistic it's a xenoblade game monolith soft are certified architects when it comes to creating worlds and civilisations, it's just even though each town and city may even be bigger and more intricate than xenoblade 1's, they feel so much smaller and more video gamey. Torigoth almost felt like a Pokémon town to me whereas colony 9 (which is probably just as large if not smaller in terms of actual people and things there) felt so interconnected and sprawling with the lives of the people who lived there. Idk.

It's just that I think xenoblade 1 is the best game I've ever seen do this and xenoblade 2's is just... Okay at it. And it's always annoyed me since I read "humanity" on the box.

And I get that it is set in our actual world whereas xenoblade 1 is set in a different world but shut up every "human" is descended from rocks they bear no actual relation to actual real life humans like klaus asides from the name. The urayan titan is just as "human" as Rex is.

[davekat-sucks]

Found this on Reddit and I wanted to share it here because it's a really good read and it actually isn't bias.

OP: Not to sound racist, but why are so many people headcannoning Jade as black?

Like with every other character in different artists interpretations we get a wide variety of skin tones, from lightest beige to the darkest brown. But with Jade I literally never saw her drawn with light skin (unless she is drawn as accurately to the comic as possible). Why is that? Is it related to the official material somehow, or it's just a headcannon, that happened to be really popular for no particular reason?

Reply: This is a perfectly valid question to ask, and I think I know the answer!

Homestuck was most popular between 2012 and 2014, and tumblr was the main platform where the fandom discussed and shared things related to Homestuck (or any fandom for that matter). Around this time, young people also started becoming more aware of media's bias towards portraying race. There was an increased awareness that white was seen as the "default" race for fictional characters, and that characters in books and podcasts with no official artwork attached to them tended to be imagined as white for no reason other than this bias.

The result of this awareness was that brown and black people felt increasingly comfortable drawing "blank" characters (what they look like is entirely up to the fans) with dark skin colours, or re-imagining existing light skinned characters as having dark skin. The latter was done either to make an active contribution to undoing decades of racial bias in media, or simply because the artist wanted to see a particular character as being part of an underrepresented culture. Dark skinned characters were also regularly drawn with more darker skin than what was canon, because of bias related to colourism, which is the idea that even non-white (real life!) people are viewed as more beautiful when they're less dark.

Back then, tumblr was a lot less chill about things, and anything that could be remotely interpreted as problematic was met with intense vitriol and villification. This behaviour is now mostly present on twitter, but back then it was unique to mid 2010-s tumblr. Words like "tumbr-ification" and "tumblrina" came from this time. Anyone who was accused of having drawn a dark skinned character with a slightly less dark colour than canon was deemed racist. Anyone who drew a blank character as white was racist if the dominant view ("fanon" vs canon) was them having dark skin. Which was often the case. These people who cried racist were a loud, EXTREMELY loud minority, and with call out posts and dogpiling easily convinced others that everyone agreed with them. So not everyone was like that, far from it, but if your post gained traction and it was found you made a transgression, the harassment you would experience could make you feel like everyone hated you. So even for people who did their best to ignore this "side" of tumblr, there was a lot of pressure to not cross a line with this vocal minority if you wanted to keep sharing your art online, or wanted to stay part of the online fandom community.

Now, how this affected Homestuck. The fan art for Homestuck existed in this cultural bubble that I just described. First, you had these characters with very identifiable features (glasses, accessoiries, T-shirt prints) that lended themselves well to being drawn with all sorts of different colours and hair styles while still being recognisable. Second, their skin colour was left up to interpretation, after the original author recognised that his view of his characters as being white came from personal bias and there was no reason why they would or wouldn't be a particular skin colour. So, this was seen as an extra approval to go wild with fan interpretations and why there is such a wide range of dark skinned Homestuck characters. Jade and Jake in particular are being drawn with dark skin more often than the other kids, because in-universe there is a logical argument for them being non-white: they're islanders! Their dark skinned interpretations are more readily adopted by others as head canon for this reason. As a result, their counterparts John and Jane were also often drawn with tan skin. For obvious reasons, Homestuck 2 made a dark skinned interpretation of Jane significantly less popular.

Last part of the puzzle: why do dark skinned interpretations of Homestuck characters often appear to outweigh light skinned interpretations? It is a direct result of the intense pushback from both white and non-white fans to white interpretations, which I explained two paragraphs earlier. Depictions of Jade and Jake as white in particular were, without exception, met with either blunt criticism or straight up harassment. Sometimes overwhelmingly so, though most of the time only some comments fell into these categories. But it would always be pointed out publicly, and rarely with a friendly tone. Even to this day, on reddit, you'll see that half the comments on any artwork featuring four Homestuck kids all having light skin (or human versions of trolls) simply say "whitestuck" "why they all mayonnaise 💀" or something like that. This heavily discourages people from drawing their light skinned interpretations. People who have posted their light skinned interpretations of the entire group of kids are not likely to do so again, as it will be perceived as willfully ignorant at best and an active statement against dark skinned interpretations at worst.

I hope I was able to explain this without adding a value judgment on what is right or wrong. I have my own opinions and I'm happy to share my own feelings about fandom from a decade ago if anyone wants to know more about what it was like.

[fancytrinkets]

veilguard impressions

spoilers ahead. a list of my opinions and impressions as I play this game

basic starting notes after having played for 30+ hours

overall I am having fun playing this game

there are things I like and things I don't like. these are subjective and I don't think everyone is going to share these opinions or agree with me

I am not going to give an overall opinion of how much I liked it until I've finished playing

things I like so far

the way the characters look. I do like the character design style quite a lot

seeing characters from the books and stories: the crows from Tevinter Nights; Felassan from The Masked Empire; Maevaris from the comics and Tevinter Nights

the look of returning characters that I've met so far. I honestly think Dorian looks FANTASTIC. I do wish Morrigan and Isabela looked a little bit older in their face textures, but overall I love the look. (For Morrigan I'm also willing to let it go by imagining she can magic the subtle signs of aging away or something like that)

exploring scenes from Solas' past in the Crossroads

the Portal-style open-the-way-forward puzzles are fun because they're new (not sure how they'll hold up on multiple replay; could become annoying, I imagine)

that Rook has a unique conflict in their backstory, based on faction, and other characters mention and react to it. it feels like a solid way of rethinking the playable origin-story from Origins

the continuity with DA2 in having Varric as the narrator, speaking over beautifully illustrated backgrounds during some transitions

the continuity with Origins in having cutscenes of the antagonists play during transitions

combat related: I like the chained moves being mapped to buttons; I am still getting a feel for them; I imagine it would be harder if I didn't have an xbox elite controller with paddles, mapped to the ABXY buttons in addition to the buttons themselves

combat-related: using the bow is pretty fun. I never like archer builds, but I'm enjoying rogue plus bow a LOT. the smooth transition from blades to bow and back is great

not as much inventory management: I have spent plenty of my gaming life customizing swords while comparing them to every other sword in my inventory. I'm okay letting this stuff get simplified for me

Dorian DOES know Emmerich previously, a fellow necromancer, and I appreciate that!

Mae having been kicked out of the magisterium and the Lucerni disbanded a year before the present, and Dorian being the magister on the inside for the Shadow Dragons. That played out in a way that was pretty close to what I anticipated based on what we know of Tevinter politics

things I dislike so far

some of the companion conversations feel like they've been workshopped for a generation that's much younger than me — which is fine, but there are some things the characters say to each other that strike me as... well, YOUNG, and not the kind of dialogue I'd write if it were me

I'm also ready for varric to step aside as a character in game. while I appreciate his narration, I'm finding his pep talks and advice to be a little grating. though, depending on how I feel at the end of the game, I might find some fanfic inspiration in this feeling, so I'm actually not salty about it, just noticing my own reaction here

I'm finding I choose characters to accompany me based on who can prime and detonate the specific combat moves; and that feels limiting in a way that I wasn't expecting. I often pick one character who feels relevant to the mission, then default to whomever can prime or detonate for them

I totally missed the "customize your Inquisitor" side panel at the start of the game. disappointed enough at having generic FLavellan show up that I quit my first Rook and am now replaying on story mode to catch up to all the time and plot I lost

things I haven't formed a full opinion about yet

the combat overall. it is VERY different from all previous games, and I'm honestly not even comparing it to previous titles in the series because it is a whole new thing. the dodging and chained moves remind me of Elden Ring, but I find Elden Ring combat is more satisfying for me. the explosions and pacing remind me of the Borderlands franchise, but Borderlands was also more satisfying for me. I don't love it OR hate it. I'm kind of in the middle, I guess. Though, like I said, I'm fond of the bow

the Veil Jumpers. (I chose this background with my first Rook before I quit to replay.) I think I get what the writers were going for. Solas unleashes some new weird shit and the Dalish start checking it out and then recruiting more people to investigate. that feels reasonable to me. also, even though the mood is cheerful, it's clear a LOT of them are dying. I appreciate that because they are running around poking at unstable magic and malfunctioning old relics... but yeah, the cheerful mood and the "can do" vibe feels a little off to me in a way I'm not totally sure how to explain. it's almost like the writers realized the past games had written the Dalish into a really weird corner where they were "stuck in the past" but also uneducated about so much of their own history. and now they are trying to remake them into a newer, more "fun" group of people. it's just... a thing I notice

the choice between Minrathous and Treviso. I haven't seen how this plays out in the endgame yet, but I'm expecting a break or betrayal from Lucanis after choosing to fight with Minrathous instead. (I was planning to romance Neve with my first Rook, so that choice seemed important; I'm going to make the same choice with my remade Rook, as a Shadow Dragon whose home is Minrathous) So... yeah, I'm kind of hoping Lucanis will unleash an unholy mess upon us based on that choice. It feels very Mass Effect, but if the Virmire survivor lived and was changed by the experience of being abandoned by Shepard. I am hoping it goes poorly in the later part of the game, but you know, we'll see...

companion characters. I am reserving judgment until I've finished the game and of course I've spent more time with some than others due to the recruitment timings. at the moment I'm personally most fond of Neve, Davrin, and Taash (though I just met Taash, so will need more time to solidify that opinion. I think she's going to be my remade Rook's romance instead of Neve). I like Lucanis; he doesn't feel like a personal favorite, but I like him. Harding is fine; overall she's a bit too sunshine for my tastes, but I like her well enough. I will probably like Emmerich more as I continue to play. I feel like I just met him. Bellara is the one I'm struggling with most, but I think that's connected to my mixed feelings on the Veil Jumper faction in a way I haven't figure out entirely yet

the story arc overall. I don't have a handle on how I feel about what's happening and so I'm reserving judgment on until it I've completed the game for the first time

[lemimmaid]

Day 5: Unique

Mirror (?/?)

a villain for a new era, released from the past @khoc-week

Name(s): Mirror, The Devil's Mirror

Home World: Arendelle - Character is inspired by "The Snow Queen", from which Frozen was adapted.

Alignment & Role: Darkness, Antagonist

Pronouns: she/her (in her "default" face)

Appearance: In her “usual” face, Mirror is a small, slender woman, with rich sandy skin and striking eyes. Her hair is smooth and often accessorized with deep jewel-like colors and gold. This form appears to be in their mid to late 20s, but it’s uncertain how long she has been around... or if that face even belongs to her. It bears a striking resemblance to members of the royal family, after all.

She has knowledge dating back to the age of fairy tales... but are they memories? or stories? or lies?

Powers:

Mirroring - Shapeshifting to duplicate someone else’s appearance, abilities, and voice.

To do so, she must know what someone looks like as well as their first name, making her susceptible to be offset by nicknames or aliases.

Most unique features are replicated, including scars, tattoos, piercings, voice, etc. However, scent and body temperature are not altered, and she must attempt to replicate body language manually.

She can hold any one form for 12 hours before she reverts back, but the DNA of her prior shifts are all stored within her to be used at will.

Seems to be limited to shapeshifting to anyone with “a human face to know”. She cannot duplicate form changes, even in transformation worlds.

As she sustains damage, her images become more corrupted and hard to maintain.

Reflection - Creating a “dumbed down” copy of another’s power or weapon.

Her power duplication is based almost exclusively off of what she can see. Magic that is obscured visually or requires an illusion to complete will not be reflected properly.

With the right materials, she can create a visually identical copy of an object that will be seemingly indiscernible from the original, but it will possess none of the functions or powers. Example: a seemingly perfect copy of a crystal ball, that feels exactly the same, but you cannot actually use it for divination.

Other Notes

Manipulative, calculated and always pulling you along on a desperate string. She takes great pleasure in using people’s desires and empathy to twist them into things they claim they’d never do.

Far from afraid to get her hands dirty, getting a bit of a rush from some more gruesome displays. 

Mirror does not bleed. If her skin is pulled away or cut, beneath appears to be a crystalline glass-like structure, likely where she got her name from, and likely partially responsible for her infatuation with gore.

Being filled with Darkness, shards from her body that become lodged into someone can make them susceptible to corruption, or even being consumed.

She is openly repulsed by human food and will even be disgusted if someone is eating in her presence.

Artists: Baydews (I can't find the artist for the first Picrew but I'll edit the post to add it once I do)

[kaibutsushidousha]

Do you think Japanese names should be localized as is (Family Name first) or should the order be in keeping with western order (Family Name last)? Does context matter?

The answer to "Does context matter?" will always be yes. That said, while I have many examples where Western name order is acceptable, I don't have any examples where it's preferable.

Western name order was invented to more easily acclimate the English-speaking world to Japanese names. Still, Chinese people have been part of their cultural sphere for much longer and have never been subjected to Western name order (correct me if I'm wrong, I've never researched this in depth). Later, with the popularization of Korean media, the Koreans didn't get their name order reversed either. The phenomenon seems exclusive to Japan as far as I've seen it.

Until a few years back, I was of the mind that Western name order was preferable by default, but actually talking to Japanese people about it showed most of them don't like their names used in reverse order, so now I avoid Western name order for real, which is slowing bleeding into me avoiding it for fictional characters too.

Another factor to consider is that Western name order was created as part of a process of acclimation to a new foreign culture and I feel like we're already at the point where America and Europe are already acclimated. The transition period is already over and Western name order can retire with its purpose fulfilled. However, I admit my lens here is very biased by my extensive contact with Japan and its culture.

But for a more nuanced discussion here, let's assume Western name order is still preferable by default and look at examples of where I would have used Eastern name order even when that was the mindset.

Steins;Gate is an example of a thing I'd maintain in Eastern name order since the original LabMem call each other nicknames based on this name order (Okarin for Okabe Rintarou, Mayushii for Mayuri Shiina, and Daru for Hashida Itaru) and there are a lot additional jokes based on those nicknames. I could adapt all of those if I were to insist on Western name order, but that's too much extra work for no tangible benefit. Not to mention the average otaku level of the cast raising the Western accessibility bar regardless of what name order we're going with.

That said, Sagrada Reset has a lot less pushing factors than Steins;Gate but I still opted for Eastern name order in my translation just to accommodate the wordplay with Oka Eri's name. Just one small thing like this is enough.

Another example of a series where Western name order doesn't work is Type-Moon, mostly thanks to the Fate/ side that currently comprises 80% of it. Many Servants are Chinese (+ a Vietnamese pair), who don't customarily get Western name orders, so it would feel randomly inconsistent if the Japanese characters did. Any series that plays multiculturalism as a major element should default to each character's original name order to better express differences between nations. There is also how the text itself plays with name order, which is a neat thing to reflect in a translation. I'm talking about how every Japanese character uses Eastern name order for Rin, Shirou, Ayaka, Kiritsugu, Aoko, Touko, etc. while the majority of the Clock Tower/Snowfield people use Western name order. Waver being a rare English man who calls Japanese people by Eastern name order informs character, for example.

Lastly, I have Danganronpa as an example of a series where it's okay to use Western name order. The only major nickname involving Eastern name order is Harumaki, which needs to change anyway for some puns. All characters have Japanese names except Celestia Ludenberg and Sonia Nevermind, and those two don't swap the order of anyone's name, so you're not removing any level of characterization unique to them by working this change. No harm to be had.

[tewwor]

𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐋 𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐄 — 𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐔𝐁𝐈/𝐒𝐔𝐂𝐂𝐔𝐁𝐈 .

** the following information applies to all incubi/succubi muses & verses by default unless specified otherwise .

DISCLAIMER .

fully gender nonconforming in term usage & both incubus/succubus will be used interchangeably based on preference regarding the following — incubus simply means 'to lie upon' and succubus means 'to lie under".

sex isn’t necessary to feed. all that’s needed is skin on skin contact ( even if it’s just the lightest touch to a hand ). yet the amount / potency is higher with more intensive sexual acts.

names do hold power and if they can be bothered, a fake alias will always be used.

APPERANCE .

has horns, wings, long & pointed ears, and tail. the shape & variation of them can range.

tail — able to be reinforced to that of steel and used to pierce / slash through flesh and bone, but can also be softer and more mailable.

wings — slimmer structure than other demons & all have variant patterns of stained glass. will start to dull after not eating for a while. if this goes on for an extended period of time, they start to form hairline cracks ( which makes it look like literal cracked stain glass ).

crest: enacts as a conduit to maximize potency when feeding. every incubi/succubi has their own unique mark. they can also move the location of this by will & usually does so to absorb where contact is made the most.

ABILITIES .

able to do minor shapeshifting & is often used to better adapt to the desired appearance of whomever they choose to feed from. core structures will never change ( bodily proportions and main facial features ), but things like hair, nails, teeth, ears, beauty marks, etc. can be manipulated at will. incubi/succubi being able to shapeshift to their prey's desire ( to an extent ) is less so a form of mindreading, but more so an intuitive thing. sort of like a gut feeling radar instead of a visual scanner, if that makes sense.

all incubi/succubi can manipulate pheromones. uses can range as an aphrodisiac to relaxant to something anxiety / fear inducing. they’re not exactly built for heavy combat ( more so agility and dexterity ) and are more adept with controlling their surroundings, perception, and people.

WEAKNESSES .

still susceptible to holy fire / water / wood / artifacts / weaponry, but not as much as other demonic entities. the holiness aspect is more or less nullified, and the only damage comes from it's original state — fire will still burn, water is still ... wet (?) and can drown, wood can still be utilized as a stake to stab, artifacts will simply act as whatever it's core purpose is meant to be, weapons can still kill if enough bodily damage is done.

iron burns them upon touch and can be used to ensnare them.

enough bodily harm can result in death.

sunlight weakens the strength of their pheromone manipulation, but it doesn't make them burst into flames. maybe they'll get a sunburn if they stay in direct sunlight for extended periods of time, but that's about it.

[quibbs126]

So like a couple of days ago, I saw a post on Twitter asking how people did Transformers reproduction in their continuities, which basically got me to come up with some ideas themselves

So I'm telling you it now because it's been bopping around my head and I need to share it. Though note not everything's fleshed out

Okay so basically, my idea was that new sparks generally come from two methods: either hotspots created by Primus, which I stole from IDW because I thought it sounded neat (though I don't actually know the details of it, just the general idea), or by two Transformers creating one via spark bonding (personally I don't really like the idea of Cybertronian reproduction being super similar to human reproduction, and I like when it's more unique)

Anyways, after the new spark is created or harvested, in order for it to grow and develop, it has to survive off another, older spark from another Transformer, so the new one gets placed in another's spark chamber for it to properly incubate. It can be taken out afterwards and placed into a different one, like two partners can take turns carrying it, but it can't be left alone for too long, otherwise it shrivels up and extinguishes

Pretty much anyone can carry a spark, regardless of relation, though it's not recommended for younger bots due to the strain

Then once it's matured, it gets put into a protoform, which is the part where I don't really have the details of afterwards. I never really thought that far, and thus I don't really know where the protometal comes from and/or if they give birth. Again, I don't really like when it's like how humans do it. Honestly, I only accept the sparkling coming out of the chassis, preferably with a little microwave 'ding' (okay not really, but that's what comes to mind for me). I also like the idea of them coming out of little pods of sorts, or specifically in TF One being cubes before they first come online (because their bodies feel particularly rectangular there)

I also like the idea of them having smaller/different forms initially from their default look, whether it be like the Terran protoforms in Earthspark, or maybe it looking like the cogless miners in TF One, but without the whole cogless aspect; they just can't transform yet. But I also don't know if that's what I want to do. I mean I can, I'm making it up, but I just don't know how I want to do it

Anyways I'm getting off track. I do have a couple more ideas relating to this

First off before I got sidetracked, while when the new sparks get their bodies is technically a choice of the bot who's carrying them, and they can stay for a bit after they've finished maturing, they can't just be kept in a bot's chassis for as long as they want, as having a second (or third in the case of spark splitting) mature spark in a bot is something that can't be sustained, and instead the new one starts to heavily drain the original bot, due to needing a proper body, which can potentially lead to that bot (and as a result, the new spark) going offline. So it's pretty much recommended a matured new spark be put in a new body as soon as possible

Then there’s the case of bonds with the new spark. Generally they tend to form between it and the bot carrying the spark, though sometimes a bond doesn’t form at all. They do tend to be more common when only one bot carries the newspark the whole way through. This bond between the two can vary in exact relationship, whether it be parental, a mentor figure, or just a good friend, or there’s barely any connection at all. It works a bit different with newsparks born from spark merging, as they have an inherent bond with their creators, regardless if one or both carry it. Though it doesn’t necessarily last forever, and it can fizzle out with time, and they aren’t all inherently strong, just existent

There may also have been methods created where developing sparks are put in some sort of incubation machine instead of being carried around in a bot's chassis. Actually, maybe that became a more common and preferred method, because while some people want to take care of newsparks, others really don’t, but have to because there’s no other options, particularly with hotspot newsparks. Having machines instead makes the process more of a choice than an obligation. I think I might go with that, but maybe these machines became significantly more scarce after the war broke out

I have this idea of a version of Optimus, with these particular rules, having done this with Bumblebee, who was a hotspot spark he decided to care for

Okay, I'm trying to work around saying the word "carry" here, because I've read enough fanfiction to know what that means, and while it's not supposed to have that same connotation here, as it just means carrying a developing spark, I can't unthink it and pregnancy still makes me squeamish. I need another word for what's going on here

Anyways, basically my thought process for having this setup was so that there's not much difference between a bot created by Primus and a bot that's a sparkling, just the method of how the initial spark was created. I can't remember why exactly, or at least put into proper words why, but I like if the two methods are as similar as possible, I think so I can have both at the same time

Though I also want to say spark bond sparks (I need a better term for that) are less common than hotspot sparks, and perhaps the chances of a new spark forming from spark merging are relatively low

And I think that's about it? I like this concept, but I'm not sure if I can just insert it into the canon continuities, it might just have to be a thing I keep for myself. Again I tell you, I need to make my own AU at some point

But yeah, just wanted to share, hopefully someone else finds this interesting as well

[thewickedbohemian]

Dream Animated Movie Musical Tournament Quarterfinals Match 3

The Phantom Of The Opera

Why this deserves to be an animated movie musical: it deserves another shot at a movie after whatever the heck we got almost 20 years ago (aka meaning time enough for a remake) and I feel like animation could capture the grandeur and theatricality the show's going for a lot better (and it's even got a sequel at the ready for if it does well so studios wouldn't have to BS a plot for one)

Ideal animation style (at least imho): this is another one for which my initial vision is 2D (but more a Dreamworks-esque 2D than a Disney-esque 2D) as it'd take a really particular/special kind of 3D animation to adequately convey the scope of my idea (and potential sequel of it), maybe a style similar to the main style of the Spiderverse movies could work

Additional notes: unlike some other shows where dream-voice-casting the male lead's giving me trouble, for this I've struggled more with finding potential Christines than potential Phantoms as it's hard to find a reasonably-big-name who's both right vocally and the right acting/casting-type (aka Ariana Grande could not do this)

Heathers

Why this should be an animated movie musical: to increase its profile enough for a potential Broadway run (if that's not what the reported New York run's going to turn into), to separate the movie of the musical from the original movie, and because of all the things you could do like with the ghosts and stuff (and also there's been enough animatics to help give the animators a starting point)

Ideal animation style (at least imho): this is another one where I think a Spiderverse-esque stylized style could work (and not just because I wish that was more prominent in animation esp. if we're going to make animated movies rated higher than PG that aren't just Sausage-Party-esque shit), that is, if they couldn't just base its animation style (even if they'd have to 3D-translate it) on the animatics as I implied earlier

Additional notes: contrary to what a user said in an earlier round I think there are sneaky ways you could pull off Dead Girl Walking in animation and also I hate to keep having dream-casting dilemmas in this section but Heathers presents a unique casting problem even for voice-acting (as if you racebend anyone their character would be drawn to match) as racebend any role you run into the same problem as the backlash to that 2018 mess of a Heathers series (despite how what productions of the musical there've been seemingly have cast Heather Duke Asian by default) but keep everyone white people still get mad. Also there's the question of whether or not to make the West End changes (and how many) and e.g. replace "Blue" with "You're Welcome" and include "I Say No" and "Never Shut Up Again"

[tomodachipersonalitycentral]

From your own AU (@leedollop) what would Adam and Vox's personality be then? Or which personality fits how they are both displayed?

Oooo! I'll admit, this is a bit of a tricky one, especially for Vox who is slowly coming into his more genuine self. But I'll do my best!

Starting with Adam, I will return to my original comment made on this post. The Outgoing personality Adam falls under the best can depend on the circumstance and the person he's with. That being said, I think the Leader personality represents a very assertive role. However, within the AU, Adam fluctuates more between an assertive and passive role, especially with Vox, when the situation calls for either. I believe what best fits that is Outgoing Entertainer:

Comfortable in almost any situation, and makes new connections easily. Bold and captivating. Able to light up a room with their wit and charm. There's never a dull moment when they're around.

Adam brings his charm, energy, and optimism to every situation and crisis he encounters. He helps others let loose and have fun, and he isn't afraid to let his confidence show or gain the admiration of others.

As for Vox, my first instinct is, within the AU, Vox shows himself to have an Independent personality constantly trying to peek through:

Creative, self-reliant, somewhat reserved. Comfortable doing their own thing and thinking outside the box.

Not only can Vox be quite creative, but he prefers to rely on himself and can be a bit more than "somewhat reserved" when it comes to aspects of himself or around people he doesn't know very well. Though Vox being such a good speaker can disguise this, his inner thoughts showcase his true feelings. At his best, Vox thinks outside of the box compared to others and enjoys doing his own thing over following the trends that used to rule his life.

There's two personalities within this category I believe could suit him: Artist and Free Spirit. So let's look at them both individually and go into the reasons why both might fit. Staring with the Artist...

Imaginative and inspired. Happiest when creating something. Able to find beauty in everyone and everything around them.

As I said earlier, not only is Vox a creative person, but he also is happiest when creating something or having something to occupy his brain with. A large part of his character in the AU is also that he finds unique beauty in others, sometimes to his detriment but also to his great benefit.

Next is Free Spirit...

Unique, carefree, and creative. Laid back and does things their own way. Self-reliant and always thinking way outside the box.

I have to take away points for the description "laid back". Vox can certainly be laid back about some things, but I wouldn't consider it his default setting. That being said, I appreciate the second emphasis on self reliant because it is such a major part of AU Vox's character. Vox prefers to do things his way over following the status quo or other's expectations, and his main struggle within the AU is accepting that part of himself and the benefits of his own unique qualities.

Because of this, I think Free Spirit fits best. Vox's main arc is giving into his free spirited energy, so it just feels fitting.

[tamelee]

Personally I don’t really get people who say they acknowledge Sasuke and Naruto’s romantic bond but still ship Sasuke with a woman… Like, they saw that he was gay (he’s shown to not be attracted to women so he’s not bi) but kinda don’t care?

Actually I don’t really understand the whole shipping culture, or even mainstream fandom culture… I don’t know, I just don’t see the point in just making up content for pre-existing characters while completely destroying what made the characters unique in the first place by ignoring canon entirely (like crack-shipping). I get why people wouldn’t like everything about canon, it’s my case too, but if they don’t like anything about canon… Why are they here in the first place?

Nooo now I sound grumpy. I must be bothering you I’m so sorry 😭😭

Anyway, you’re amazing and I hope you know it 🥰

You don't sound grumpy to me dw 🫶

Well, I don't believe such ships have much to do with Canon either way. And I doubt all of them hate Canon per se, though some change 'Canon' to like Canon, which is funny. "This is my Canon." Yeah, not how it works, but ok- have your Canon your way ofc ┐(￣ヮ￣)┌

Side-note though, I don't think Sasuke even knows who Hinata is? 😆 It's as you say; crack-shipping. (I saw that giant/small-yaoi meme here on Tumblr again. No idea what it's called, and immediately thought; a yes, Sukuna and Levi. Kinda want to draw xD Makes no sense at all.) A lot of Headcanon is derived from personal... ideas/desires/inspiration or self-inserting reasons? (Isn't that exactly what 'x-reader' fics are?) Or even trend-posting. As much as characters are used to tell a story for the original author/creator (they're essentially tools), do fans use them to create new ideas. "Ah yes, we all know this character, let's create something around it simply because I want to." Which is completely fine, right? Look at rare pairs. And to be fair, a lot of content, fictional writing and art aren't even based on canon either. The closest thing through fan-work are Manga analyses or meta's, even panel redraws- stuff like that. People adapt 'canon' into fanwork through various degrees or sometimes ditch it altogether. Nsfw/spice is by default made up and entirely Headcanon :') (Though personality can be depicted in a way ig, through expression/behavior and whatnot.)

I totally get what you mean though, although I guess I'm caught up in fandom-culture now. Personally, I do like characters as 'canon' as possible, but it really depends. For some Animanga I don't really care. I think I ship pretty much all TR/BlueLock-characters for literally no reason, but I wouldn't claim it to be Canon in any way (˚☐˚! )/

However, I don't like it when Naruto and Sasuke's characters are butchered. Made-up context or not. The originals are so special to me and it's the reason why I'm a fan, though I don't mind too much in fics, depending on the story. I find it hard to feel the same when they've practically become someone's OC's with only the same name and design. I can't even read height/age-differences because I can't imagine it xD But anyway, this all includes "official" work made for financial/marketing reasons also- especially those damn novels. Those never have anything to do with canon, nor does it align with it. No matter how passionately people claim otherwise.

I'm only a tiny bit petty about it >< u&me grumpy 🤝 And aahhww I don't actually, you should see me sitting here in giant red Christmas socks and a glittery green sweater that's kinda itchy tbh. I don't really feel anything other than those glitters annoying me every 3 seconds... which reminds me I should change -.- anw thankyou <3

[buckets-thought-dump]

If Bucket shapeshifts into a creature with a particular ability, can Bucket use that ability (i.e. being able to fly as a bird)? Also, are there any limits to Bucket's shapeshifting? (hoping all these Bucket questions are ok I just think they're interesting)

Yes actually! (kinda long post coming up, hope you like pictures and reading)

Back when he used the bee form by default, he could easily fly with his wings!

This technically also applied to his tainted soul form, though it could be argued he didn't need wings in that form to fly, but it was based on the original bee form so that's why he had them in that form too.

(oof this art is OLD)

For some more recent examples, Shark Bucket has gills in order to breathe underwater, and can swim better and faster with his fins and tail.

It has also been headcanonned that Demon Bucket is, and I quote "a 1 trillion hp tank" which I think is plausible, even if he did get his ass kicked by Asmodeus recently. Let's just say he's a lot more durable.

So yes, the form he takes does change his physical abilities.

For the second question, he doesn't have any hard limits to his shapeshifting power, but he technically limits himself through his emotions, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

For example, he doesn't like being too big. This means he's never bigger than a full building, because how would he ever be able to walk inside otherwise? It's just inconvenient.

He also never turns into any species or body shape he doesn't personally find enjoyable or comfortable.

He also sometimes shapeshifts uncontrollably if he's feeling especially negative emotions. For example, he once turned into a unique Solfrog form, a type of frog from Dawn's Crown (Bucket's form is pictured below).

This was because he felt an immense amount of guilt and shame, and he could only turn back after talking things through with his friends.

Wow this post ended up being a lot longer than I thought it would be. Hope it was interesting!