#~but mobile is working cause that makes total sense

[feraecor]

so the hellsite is being a lil biotch and won’t let me log in on the browser?

[dollhog]

I think you should try and mive as little as possible! Your muscles will atrophy and that will really push you towards immobility!

Because I’ve been asked quite a few times, this is how I fund my journey to immobility and how I will continue to totally bed bound 💖

Moving as little as fucking possible is kinda how I live my life honestly. Actively aiming for lack of mobility, so I really only move a few hundred steps for absolute essentials, which is almost always food. I do everything from home, mostly from bed, I get groceries delivered, some food delivery (but they don’t always deliver down in rural Australia). But honestly my life is very feedism oriented, everything else kinda comes second.

I’ve found myself in strangely positive life circumstances for gaining immense amounts of weight. Work is not a necessity with the way my disability is set up. But that disability only came from a series of pretty awful injuries, they may cover housing and payment, but it’s not all roses living with the pain of repeated injury. Though patreon is slowly becoming a pretty massive help as I add more and more! Meaning significantly more food and takeaway! And the ability to get the occasional sexy outfits to wear over there! So it sort of sustains itself, if that makes sense?

But yeah, folks have asked me how I plan to accomodate immobility. Honestly, that’s how. A mixture of patreon and disability I receive for a series of injuries leaving me with a quite painful and permanent chronic health issue to do with my legs. However my issue is pain related and predominantly a problem when walking! So frankly, it’s not like I’m walking far, immobility or not. My condition isn’t directly worsened by weight gain, as weight gain cannot cause it nor play a role. But honestly EVEN if it did, it’s taken enough from me over the years, I’m not letting it even so much as affect my gain, and especially not the decisions I make surrounding how far I’ll go. I would NEVER want to live restricted, I’d rather you put me down like an old fat cow. But anyways, if anything it only facilitates the ability to gain without work being a form of exercise.

But yeah folks! That’s the reality of how I am actually in a very viable position, with direct plans to ensure my ability to gain rapidly to immobility. There is literally nothing standing in my way of doing it, so I’m damn well going to!!

(Hope I answered the original question!! Just using it as a way to explain this, it’s been asked a few times and I was reminded when going through the asks!! But thank you so much for your question, I do love these asks!! 💖💖💖)

[akascow]

fave jayvik hc so far is that jayce knew how to make a rlly good leg brace from basically scraps bc he helped in designing and crafting viktor's own brace🫠👍🏻

^^ "scraps" is kinda mirroring them probably having to make mock ups and test runs while trying to perfect viktor's brace so there were a bunch of prototypes with random parts they had lying around trying to make it work ahaaaa

like obviously jayce is extremely talented and smart when it comes to engineering so he very easily coulda come up w the design and mechanics of it on the spot (meaning using what he had on hand, rather than actually coming up with it in a few hours bc,, well he was down there for at least a few weeks HAHA) but idk its nice to think about i guess lmfao

plus itd make a lil bit of sense, like why go somewhere else to get a leg brace when your perfectly capable and willing partner is right here lmfao.

also we only see viktor has the leg brace after working with jayce. and yeah u could chalk it up to his illness getting worse so he wouldntve needed it until now. and obviously im not trying to ignore the fact that viktor is extremely capable to make it himself and if he did maybe since hes more than an assistant he actually has the tools and means to make it himself now lol.

but idk it seems like jayce was one of the first if not only person to care about V and include him in things ("people didnt believe in me, a poor disabled kid from the undercity" "i dont want to spend my whole life as an assistant" "our hextech dream" "arent you the professor's assistant" "you should be up there with me" etc) so i can totally picture him see viktor working on it or even a glance at a few crude sketches as a start and want to help his partner yk?

and from what we see hes like extremely nice and caring and at the risk of this sounding too fluffy bc thats not the point rn you can picture viktor walking around the lab, jayce noticing him wincing whenever he tries to correct his position and offering to help him with a mobility aid and they have all the means necessary to build it right here right now and shit happens and here we are now lol

hes constantly making an effort to show and tell people that hextech is not JUST his doing, but viktor's too. which, as someone who seemed to revel in the attention, jayce easily could've forgotten to mention, but never does

so in my head it makes sense that he would be the first person to propose the idea of helping him in creating a leg brace that would make walking a lil less painful (it keeps his foot straight, u can see he has to correct the angle himself in s1 act1)

anyway i think its a neat theory lmao

these didnt fit in anywhere else so im put it it here pft👇🏻

also jayce has two different braces- during and post anomaly. so while there may just be some place in piltover that makes them i’d like to think he just whipped it up all quicklike in his lab the second he got back bc like.. the blueprints are right there lol

his and viktor’s arent entirely similar ofc bc they serve two different functions,, viktors helps to keep his leg/foot facing and moving foward, and jayces kinda just stabilizes/supports his leg i think ? uh but they both help in general to reduce pain

n then viktor, having a leg that didnt develop akin to typical human anatomy, is clearly shown as not the easiest to walk or put pressure in on lmao, especially when he only really got to correct it at like age 30, so like, habits (for lack of a better term) have already been deeply rooted in his posture by now lol

bc, well,, putting any weight on that fucked up Broken In Half shin bone that Definitely Did Not heal correctly (if its even fully healed at this point in the first place) probably causes a bunch of Ouch- hence the supports in the front of his leg,, post anomaly tho, during anomaly its at the sides which was probably just to straighten the injury while it was healing idk.

i cant find a good answer as to why the lower leg support is in the front now but my main guess is so it doesnt put too much strain when he bends his knee/ankle downward, which u can kinda see in ep8 when he blasts viktor and the knockback breaks the part resting on his shoe away, and its hard to see but i think his ankle bends slightly more after the gear breaks ? so thats what i can assume.

clearly im not well versed in the art of KAFO support braces and i tried to look up to the best of my abilities but came up empty handed HAHA who knew itd be so hard referencing similarities between the homemade parallel reality fictional sci fi gear braces and modern irl real orthotic braces LMAO

[merrycrisis-if]

I have to pop in and put my "two cents" towards Merry Crisis: The visual novel. I think it totally works, and I am very excited about it! Not that you really need approval at all for the new direction. I just thought some encouragement might be nice <3. Even on a conceptual level, it makes sense. There's an emphasis on a clash of environment/homes in Merry Crisis. To move back to your home country or the one that adopted you as its own. I can not overstate the fact that the visual novel format is an excellent way to portray that conflict because they are excellent at highlighting moods with backgrounds. Comparing it to CTOS, which has an entirely different feel to it (a little bit more on the game side than the narrative side) which I don't think would work quite as well if you turned it into a vn (though you're a wonderful writer you would probably make it work!). I do hope this makes sense? English is not my first language... I wish you well ☺️

Hiya all, I've carefully read all the messages that I've gotten re: Merry Crisis, the visual novel, and though I probably won't be responding to them one by one, I want to appreciate and acknowledge all these views.

Now to address some of the concerns:

Writing the latest chapter of Merry Crisis (and beyond) is ongoing and I hope to have an update out by late-Dec.

I hear y'all. Merry Crisis will continue to exist as a text-based interactive fiction game. On a legal basis, this may mean hosting it on twine.

That said, the visual novel version will be playable on mobile phones, and the focus will be to make it easy-to-access and convenient-to-play as possible. I have tested this on itch.io (the current test version can be played on mobile) and am also confident that it can be launched on the Google play store + Apple Store (even though the latter will be quite expensive).

Hope that helps! If you have any other concerns, thoughts, views, do send them in, with the caveat that I will likely not reply to each individual message sent on anon just 'cause I want to make sure that the Tumblr/site is focused on the game content itself and not clogged up by my detailed responses :) If you're on non-anon, I'll likely be able to reply though!

[gumbootillustrations]

laurance's ref sheet!! it only took me a month and two different versions to finish lol

but yeah. backstory, lore, closeups, etc under the cut :3

laurance is the adopted son of hayden zvahl, a blacksmith, and joh zvahl, a jeweller, and grew up in meteli alongside his adoptive sister cadenza. cad's the reason why his hair is bright red when aph meets him en route to scaleswind - he's been dyeing it this colour since he was young so that he and cadenza could match and look more like siblings. as such, much of his colour scheme is based around soft reds and oranges, with some golds thrown in. additionally, his earrings (although u can't really see them here) were made by joh, alongside most of his other jewellery, before joh passed away a couple of years prior to aph showing up outside of phoenix drop. his armour is also a lot lighter than garroth and katelyn's due to his fighting style prioritising speed and mobility over strength and endurance - that, and the fact that he works around water a lot and can't let metal weigh him down too much.

after ungrth drags him out of the nether, laurance's colour scheme undergoes a major change - instead of being based around reds and golds, it shifts to be focused around greens and browns. laurance also dyes his hair back to its natural colour (brown), and due to the trauma of being forced through the realm barrier (and having his eyes cut out multiple times by gene), his eyes fade to a pale, milky green. there are other physical changes that come with being turned as well - his nails turn into talons, his ears become pointed, and, due to his now-undead nature, his heart stops beating. he also loses the need to breathe, although he keeps doing so to keep up the facade of being human (he really doesn't want to acknowledge the fact that he's undead now). however, around the start of season three (right before the main cast makes the trip to tu'la), he decides to dye his hair red again and return to the reds and golds that he loves (something something "reclaiming his fire" something something). it also doesn't help that his hair has started growing in a bright copper ever since they returned from o'khasis and xavier's relic had gone missing. surely these events can't be connected

not too many comments about laurance's out-of-armour/casual/tu'la arc outfit. his eyesight's dogshit now (due to the aforementioned events surrounding his turning n escape from the nether) so he technically needs glasses, but he never wears them unless someone (usually garroth) tells him to.

with laurance's shadow knight form, i rlly wanted to showcase how unnatural it is to him. it's big, and bulky, and covered in spikes n shit - it's entirely antithetical to laurance and his fighting style. personally, i think that a shadow knight's armour adapts to their fighting style and personality over time, but because laurance like. never uses this form it doesn't get the chance to adapt to him, although i added in a doodle of what his form might've evolved to look like had he used it more often.

uhh shadow knight lore stuff. shad is a psychopomp - at least, the fragment of his soul/essence/whatever that didn't get totally fucked up by the void is. however, the shadow lord (aka the fragment of shads soul/essence/whatever that did) tends to snatch souls that either a) die in the nether (like laurance n sasha) or b) are deemed to be useful to his cause of destroying irene (like gene and vylad) to make into shadow knights. different things play into how powerful a shadow knight is - gene, being part-mer'ai, being a descendant of kul'zak, and having memory manipulation magicks, is pretty powerful already, but when he's made into a death knell (aka a general in the shadow lord's army) his power can pretty much rival a relic wielder. laurance mayyyybe could've become a death knell if he wanted to, but unfortunately he has a stupid strong sense of justice so uh. yeah.

all shadow knights do get a boon from the shadow lord - it usually reflects their personality, their soul, or their past, and it always centres around blood, fire, or shadows (or a mix of some or all of these - for example, zenix's boon is that his blood essentially acts like napalm). laurance's reflects his childhood in meteli, a town built in a saltmarsh/estuary - his blood is stupid acidic (like acidic enough to melt through flesh, bone, and metal if he's not careful). however, for a long time, he assumes that his boon is being able to alter the temperature of metal (as sasha has told him that all shadow knight's blood is poisonous on some level - he just doesn't know that his blood is particularly poisonous) until vylad tells him that it probably isn't metal related.

uhh more lore stuff - this time regarding xavier, his relic, and plot stuff.

zane absorbs xavier's relic (sort of unwillingly?? like he wants power, and he wants to try and push back against his father's influence, but if he's being honest he would've preferred to take on esmund's relic (which is missing. weird.) but beggars can't be choosers so eh it's whatever), but because not everyone can wield a relic and not every relic can be wielded by every relic-wielder it sort of starts to eat away at his soul and fuck him up. this leads to the climactic battle of s1 in irene's cathedral dimension, which ends when garroth (who gets possessed by esmund's relic) kills zane by ripping xavier's relic out of him. when they get back to the overworld and realise what exactly that weird fuckoff hunk of metal that garroth yanked out of zane's chest is, they decide to give it to garroth for safe keeping - only for the relic to go missing when the main cast breaks into an occupied o'khasis to rescue zianna, although they don't realise it until they return home to phoenix drop. it's around this time that laurance travels to new meteli to catch up with cadenza and get her to dye his hair orange again, only for cadenza to discover that his hair is growing in a bright copper. they... sort of brush this off as a weird shadow knight biology thing until laurance gets into a fistfight with gene and transforms for the first time. it's a bit of a mess but hey we got there in the end.

but yeah i decided to tweak his design a lil bit from my lineup of the second war of the magi's divine warriors because i wasn't suuper happy w how his chestplate turned out n i wanted to tutu w it a bit.

anyway. laurance's ref sheet is fucking finally done. the next ref sheet will probs be either katelyns or an updated ref sheet for garroth since ive tinkered w his protector form a Lot and i probs need to add in a cold weather outfit (laurance doesnt need one bc shadow knights r weird n basically space heaters anyway) and his juror form.

as always, let me know if u have any questions!! :D

[wardensantoineandevka]

Colin's build isn't as flashy as some of the others in the party, but he does have one that is interesting to me in terms of mechanical character. Just to take stock what he's working with first:

16 (+3) Constitution, highest in the party. Mathematically, i.e. on paper since we don't know actual hit points at this time, he easily paces with Delissandro on hit points.

16 (+3) Strength and 17 (+3) Dexterity, second highest in the party. His longsword uses Strength, and his dagger uses Dexterity (because it's higher).

15 (+2) Intelligence, second highest in the party as Karna, Raphaniel, and Amangeaux all tie for first with 16 (+3).

AC 17, second highest in the party. Very respectable AC for this level.

Rogue 2. Because rogue is listed first on his card, I presume he is a base rogue; this is notable because it grants him four starting skills (as opposed to two plus one from a rogue multiclass) and proficiency in Dexterity saves. He has Expertise in Insight, as he made a check that was natural 4 but 11 total. Rogue 2 also means Cunning Action.

Fighter 3. Fighting Style (which could be interesting depending on what his choice is), Second Wind, and one use of Action Surge.

Battle Master. He knows three maneuvers.

Feat: Mobile. Brings his speed up to 40 feet, and difficult terrain does not reduce it while he is dashing. Combined with Cunning Action, he can run 120 feet with a double dash: greater than the next fastest Amangeaux (30 base, 90 at double dash) and twice the speed of the rest the party at their greatest full dash (assuming no items modifying speed are in the mix). Mobile also allows him to neutralize attacks of opportunity: someone he makes a melee attack against, hit or miss, they cannot make an attack of opportunity against him for the rest of the turn.

Colin has a very physical stats forward build, in that Colin's best stats are all physical and all are at least +3, moreso than even Delissandro who has a higher Charisma than Constitution and Dexterity. (You can check all the stat cards from the first episode here.) The combination of Cunning Action and Mobile makes him incredibly difficult to pin down or corner and moves very fast with an ability to close on a target. A respectable AC and proficiency in Dexterity saves also makes him pretty dodgy at this level, and a good Constitution makes him hardy; he is a tank.

I find his build very interesting because it tells a story of someone who is very comfortable on the battlefield and is used to combat scenarios. It corroborates what he tells Delissandro ("Any other battle advice or anything you want from me, 'cause that's kinda my gear.") and is in line with him planning combat strategies when anxious or uncomfortable. An individual player can always take or leave the flavor of a subclass, but the narrative of the Battle Master leans heavily on someone who has been trained in military arts or has learned very well through experience in the field.

Base rogue with the Mobile feat very much tells a story. His respectable Intelligence paired with Battle Master does too. Altogether, his mechanics communicate to me that he is well suited to his job as a sellsword, and he is one of skill and experience.

A lot of this can also be augmented by class choices, particularly Maneuver Choices. I won't speculate too much on choices because there's so many good ones, but Evasive Footwork, Ambush, Bait and Switch, Disarming Attack, Riposte, Quick Toss would add to this sense of someone who is difficult to pin down, moves easily through combat, and has a good grasp of the rhythm of battle.

Colin's entire set of mechanics together give me personally a sense of someone who is very much a survivor and of someone who knows how to move through combat, both in the intellectual skill to calculate and the physical skill to execute.

[tinyozlion]

Zechs Marquise / Milliardo Peacecraft:  A Heel Turn for the Greater Good

Zechs Merquise is the main character of Gundam Wing. 

Ah, you thought it was Heero, or maybe Relena, didn’t you? Well, judging by the first act of the series, this is clearly not the case!  

Zechs is the very first character we’re introduced to. He’s mysterious, handsome, ultra-competent. He shows concern for civilian safety and the safety of his men. He takes personal risks, fights on the front lines. He demonstrates right away that he has a strong ethical code that places great importance on the moral conduct of soldiers. His subordinates look up to him, his superiors value and respect him. We get all of this in act one of episode one.

Absolute hero material, so far! Hard to see why he's being framed like antagonist. Whatever, I'm sure he'll be on the winning team in no time! Just like Quattro Vegeta, or whatever.

By episode three, we’re introduced to the Tallgeese, a mobile suit that matches all the criteria for being the Big Damn Hero Machine that a protagonist would use: it’s ancient, it’s got a history, it’s the progenitor suit, it’s got no bells or whistles, it demands great strength and skill from the pilot but offers unmatched performance to those who can overcome its challenges. It’s the perfect suit for Zechs, and obviously the next step in his hero’s journey! This is the part of the story where he can finally meet the terrifying, so-far unbeatable enemy on equal footing. 

...But of course, OZ is also introduced in episode 3. So now we know that Zechs works for some faceless, secret military organization– but that’s fine, right? It’s the Alliance military that’s the Big Bad Guy, and Zechs seems to be part of some elite special unit that’s only for brave, self-sacrificing soldiers! OZ hasn’t done anything really bad yet, while on the other hand, the Gundam pilots have been a bunch of mercilessly violent loose cannons who’ll kill anyone who gets in their way.

In episode four, we meet Noin, an immediately likable and equally skilled OZ officer who has a deep personal connection with Zechs. Already this is a power couple we can get behind. We watch as Noin suffers a humiliating defeat and a barrage of misogyny from a Gundam pilot, who kills a bunch of young recruits in their sleep. Definitely not a good look for the Gundam Team! while Zechs and Noin (and Treize, in a more literal sense) come out of this episode smelling like roses. 

Just look at them! They’re going to make such a great team. I hope they give those homicidal Gundam kids what for!

It’s only when episode five rolls around that we finally see what OZ is really about: assassinations, covert schemes, foul play, political manipulation, and the ruthless accumulation of power. Uh oh! 

But surely, Lady Une is the real baddy here, and Treize is no more than a shadowy puppet master whose true motives remain mysterious. Zechs and Noin are still such obvious Good Guy candidates, they really ought to be the main protagonists of this show by now! The big scary OZ that the Colony rebels warned us about seems a far cry from the OZ we’ve seen so far. Even after the point where OZ becomes the new uncontested Bad Guy, Zechs and co. keep their noses pretty clean.

And then! Then Zechs reveals his tragic past, his double-identity, his secret Count of Monte Cristo/ Man in the Iron Mask plot to avenge the ruin of the Sanc Kingdom and the deaths of his family, the noble house of Peacecraft! How romantic, how dashing! His quest continues to best the Gundams, but this takes on the hue of personal enlightenment; Zechs wants to defeat the Gundam pilots to prove he is capable of being a “True Soldier”, worthy of the power he’s been given, worthy of what has been sacrificed to his cause. 

Boy, that’s some hero behavior! And it gets even better: Zechs and Noin leave OZ to begin championing the Sanc Kingdom and its policies of Total Pacifism. No one can say Zechs isn’t one of the good guys now, right? He even dresses up all spiffy in white and becomes an ambassador to promote peace in the colonies! 

–Or rather, he tries to. 

Because despite having gained a reporte with a few of the Gundam pilots, he still hasn’t managed to ally with them. They still view him as an enemy, no matter how hard or how desperately he tries to convince them that he’s turned over a new leaf. 

He can’t beat them, and he can’t join them. Why?

Pictured: the saddest boys in the universe.

The second act of Gundam Wing is a crucible where every character is forced to re-evaluate their place in the ongoing conflict. You can see and feel his frustration building as the future spirals out of control. 

What is the purpose of Zechs Merquise, or of Milliardo Peacecraft?

He has refused to be OZ’s mascot, the Lightning Count. He’s not capable of bringing peace to the colonies by himself. He can’t join the Gundams in their fight against OZ. He can’t even protect the Sanc Kingdom, because the very act of fighting in its name is used as an excuse to wipe it out. 

He bids a heartfelt adieu to his Big Damn Hero Machine, the Tallgeese, and finds himself in possession of its polar opposite: the Epyon, a machine made to scour its pilot and the world of hypocrisy. 

Finally, Zechs has his answer– the reason why his purpose eludes him, why all his best intentions go astray, why the harder he tries to align his moral compass to the Gundam pilots or embrace his pacifistic inheritance, the more lost he becomes: He is not the hero. 

He has been trying and failing to be a hero since episode one because this isn’t a story about noble, heroic, chivalrous warriors doing battle in order to gain personal clarity and strength.

It’s not about man-vs-man conflict resolving in a test of skill. If it were, Zechs would have been victorious and completed his hero’s journey by now, and the show would be over. 

But that was never the role he was meant to play. That’s not what the stage requires. The third act begins as he accepts a new mantle, and becomes the villain history needs in that moment to bring everything together.

“Zechs considers this place his grave. [...]He intends to pay for the sin of purging humanity, all by himself.”

–Not to purge humanity of “violent earthlings”, as his White Fang propaganda speech stated, but to purge the current generation of the means to wage mechanized warfare, and of the desire for combat and retribution itself, in order to finally bring the cycle of war between the earth and space to an end. 

…But of course, nothing ever really ends, does it? History dances forward, with or without you, and all the sacrifices and fail-safes in the world will not stop new challenges from arising. 

Nevertheless, if it is possible to choose, by means of noble principle, to be a villain for the sake of the greater good, in the full assurance of one’s own destruction and revilement, then surely that is also in some winding, definitionally tragic way, a path to heroism– and if this is so, then Zechs is strong (and disillusioned) enough to take it. 

I do not think that the series supports the idea that his actions or their consequences are justified– only that they achieve their immediate purpose: setting the stage for peace. For now.

...And Now, An Important Note on Gundam Meta:

Zechs is what is referred to in the parlance of the Gundam fandom as a “Char Archetype”, or “Char Clone”-- a term I think is of debatable accuracy. For a longer discussion on Char Aznable and his role in MS Gundam, please see the entry: The Char Aznable Problem.  But I want to make it clear that knowing about Char’s backstory IS NOT a necessary prerequisite to understanding Zechs’s story. 

Zechs and Char share a lot of DNA as characters, that’s unavoidable– a masked man in red who poses a threat to the main Gundam pilot is a staple of the genre; he’s deliberately an homage to Char, as much an expected feature of a Gundam series as... well, Gundams. That much is not in question. 

However: Char’s motivations only make sense in the context of the original Gundam series; if you try to apply the same logic within the structure of Gundam Wing, it becomes gibberish. But the gibberish is by design– If you don’t understand the context behind Zech’s late-series genocidal spiel on why “earthlings are the ultimate threat to peace so we must destroy earth, the source of all conflict yadda-yadda blah-blah”, then… yeah, you’re up to speed. No one else listening to White Fang’s broadcast understood it either. It’s MEANT to sound like the ramblings of an extremist madman who poses a catastrophic and unavoidable threat to both Earth AND the Space Colonies he claims to represent. That’s the basic nature of his Ozymandius Gambit: invent something scary enough that everyone has to band together to fight it.

So you don’t need to know about Char to understand Zechs– but knowing about Char does make Zech’s role (and Treize’s role!) in Gundam Wing that much more interesting.

Zechs is not a Char Clone, he is a conversation with the idea of Char, taking a theme and transposing it into a new composition.

--Anyway, it’s a little unfair to try and force a comparison between Zechs and Char, when Char had MS Gundam, Zeta Gundam, and Char’s Counterattack to do everything he did, and Zechs only had Wing. 

Now, I’m not a mathematician or anything, but I’d say that makes Zechs roughly…

Three times faster.

[numberonetacostan]

i have completed the polycule kids

i’ll probably take some time to flesh them out a bit more and go into depth about their relationships with their parents later, but as i’ve worked on them i’ve decided i’m so hyped to make an askblog based around them they’re so silly

anyway here they are!!!

Portable CD Player (tacomic)

- one of those round cd players you suggested!

- she/it

- 13-14 years

- has heterochromia

-!protective over the rest of the kids

- tacomic’s eldest and first kid, inherited a lot of taco’s attitude and mannerisms, plus her eyes!! (i like to think taco has heterochromatic red and green eyes). can actually play cds, just doesn’t like to bc it uses up a lot of energy. also has the ability to hide her arms. seems to have inherited taco’s insomnia as well

Mini Mic (tacomic)

- one of those small, fluffy microphones

- she/her

- 8 years

- really short, will barely be taller than taco as an adult

- tacomic’s second kid, just a year younger than restaurant tablet. she absolutely loves her older sister. personality is very similar to early season 1 mic, with some of taco’s season 1 mannerisms

Restaurant Tablet (tacopad)

- restaurant tablet without a neck lmao

- he/him

- 9 years

- same screen color as mepad

- tacopad kid!! born a few years after the first tacomic kid, so the second oldest out of all of them. follows mepad around like a lost puppy 80% of the time and has an odd fascination with limes

Speaker (micpad)

- one of those portable cylindrical speakers if that makes sense. lights up!!

- they/them

- 5 years

- micpad kid, one of the youngest. they don’t talk very much since they have a hard time controlling their volume (similar to mic) and are really shy. will be as tall as mic once they’re done growing

Paper Towel Dispenser & Air Hand Dryer (toipad)

- twins!! i liked both options a lot and thought it’d be fun to do both and make em twins

- both he/him

- 3 years

- no arms!! doesn't seem to limit their mobility though

- toipad kids who started causing chaos the moment they learned to walk. must be supervised at all times or else things will be destroyed. restaurant tablet absolutely adores them

Tea Cup (toico)

- the baby of the family <3 and the only one outside of the twins without arms

- she/her

- 9 months

- toico kid and the newest addition!! cd player pretends she doesn’t, but she absolutely loves her and often volunteers to watch her to give her parents a break. has fallen asleep with her on more than one occasion

- ✨ anon

Hi Sparkles!!!!✨✨✨ Welcome back, and thank you for submitting more POLYCULE!!!!!! XD

I'm so happy to hear you're going to make an ask blog for them!!!! :D Good luck with it, I'm looking forward to seeing what you make!!!!! :3

I like the idea of a Tacomic child sharing the arm-retracting ability!!!! I suppose she could put them inside it's lid, yeah? Taco dealing with a child who has all of her sass could be so funny i think!!!

AWWWW TINY FLUFFY MICROPHONE!!!!

HOORAY NO UNSETTLING NECK THANK YOUUUUU!!!!!^^ :D and omg inherits the love of citrus from Taco that's so very cute. i would also follow Mepad around like a duckling if i had the chance so i totally get it.

oooo, I like a cylindrical speaker for their fan kid, yeah!!!

TWINS WHO INHERIT TOILET'S CHAOS that's so cute. Mepad is like the only parent with any semblance of chill in this polycule lmaooo

TEA CUP! TEA CUP! TEA CUP! TEA CUP! TEA CUP! and she's the baby of the family that's so cute. Does she have patterns on her? I collect tea cups, most of time have flowers on them :3

[skeletonpunching]

Buddy Daddies animation director interview

Interview with Sako Soichiro (character design and chief animation director)

Interviewer: Enami Katsumi-san was in charge of the original character drafts for "Buddy Daddies", but they had to be redesigned for the purposes of animation. What did you pay particular attention to at that time?

Sako: Enami-san is a prolific illustrator, and I was familiar with his style; I wanted to bring out that stylish dynamism which is both cool and endearing. And on top of that, the series has a strong comedic element, so I aimed to maintain the original coolness and charm while simplifying the designs for a comedy anime, and creating room to play around with them as much as possible. I focused on having the expressions not be stiff - and of course, I was aware that the designs had to be very mobile and fluid, in preparation for the action scenes.

Interviewer: What did you focus on when creating the "buddy vibe" and sense of visual balance between Kurusu Kazuki and Suwa Rei?

Sako: Director Asai gave instructions that there should be a clear "contrast" between Kazuki and Rei when they were side by side, but I myself also wanted to emphasise the differences between the two. It’s not just their personalities that differ - Kazuki is a bit stocky, while Rei looks lanky and has awful posture. I aimed to bring out that disparity in their appearances. And when adding (Unasaka) Miri to the mix, if we had been true to the real proportions of a four-year-old child, her face should really have been bigger. But if so, whenever Kazuki and Rei were carrying her or holding hands with her, she would just look like she had an enormous face. (laugh) In order to avoid that, we had to tweak Miri's height and bodily proportions every episode.

Interviewer: Did Director Asai have any specific requests apart from that?

Sako: Yes, about the facial expressions. Rei's facial expressions hardly vary at all, but Miri is a carefree character whose expressions change all the time, and Kazuki, who's always fussing, also has quite dramatic reactions to things. The director told me to ensure that breadth of variation. So the series fleshed things out from the original designs, and we came up with all sorts of new expressions. Especially with Miri - basically, I just wanted to make her cute. A kid who just can't sit still and is always running around causing trouble... that's how you could describe her, but in the end, her expressions are the saving grace. "She's so cute, I'll let it slide" - that's what I was going for.

Interviewer: Was there anything you were especially mindful of throughout this process?

Sako: Naturally, I felt like I had a duty to "draw Miri cutely", but as for the buddy duo, I wanted a clear contrast between their coolness and their total hopelessness. I was very careful to keep a distinction between how I portrayed their work mode and their regular mode. That contrast is especially pronounced for Rei. He's usually slouching, which brings out a height difference between him and Kazuki, but when he's on the job, he stands up smartly, with his back perfectly straight. With such a drastic change in his appearance and bearing, even though he's still the same character, I basically drew him like a different character entirely. In the second half of the series, there are some scenes where he has his hair down in regular mode, but he's carrying around some of those work-mode feelings; in those scenes, I paid close attention to his emotional state in order to depict those fine differences.

Interviewer: This is also an action-heavy series; how did you approach the characters' motions?

Sako: There are action setpieces pretty much every episode, and of course I was determined to make those cool, but the scenes of daily life also took a surprising amount of effort. Especially for Miri - she has very few stationary cuts, or still frames where only her mouth is moving. There are lots of scenes where she's constantly in motion, or delivering lines with her entire body. Just that alone was a lot of work to animate. I guess that's what happens when you prioritise making her cute - not in a "doll-like" way, but in a way where she's free to frolic and move around, and gets away with anything because she's cute... Come to think of it, Miri was probably the one we spent the most time on. (laughs)

Interviewer: From the episodes that have aired so far, which scenes left an impression on you?

Sako: Episode 3. Rei, who doesn't emote much, becomes conscious of his role as "papa to a child" for the first time, and he displays expressions and emotional upheaval that we've never seen from him before. I had a lot of fun depicting that. Rei hadn't exactly closed off his heart, but that's the point where he starts to gradually accept Miri as family. I'm very attached to the scene where you can sense that change. The main subject of this series is "buddies parenting", and I think this is where it all really begins in earnest.

Interviewer: What do you think is the appeal of the characters in "Buddy Daddies"?

Sako: Kazuki and Rei both have rather heavy backstories, but through the process of parenting, their feelings towards Miri and the ways they treat each other change, bit by bit. And because of that growth, your impression of the characters also evolves over time, and you rapidly find yourself charmed by them. I think it's interesting to see how things build up across the episodes. In the second half, some of their emotional changes and development call for expressions that weren't included in the original character designs; I personally enjoyed drawing those.

Interviewer: And what are your thoughts on Kazuki and Rei respectively?

Sako: It's just plain fun drawing Rei in action. Even apart from his facial expressions, there's so much you can convey from his movements. Rei's personal drama is a key ingredient in the last part of the show, so I wanted to portray his coolness in an appealing way. I think Kazuki is essentially a forward-looking character, but he's also a little aloof; I like how he's caring but not naive. He's not just a character with big exaggerated reactions - there are some darker shadows in his past, and that sense of loneliness you get from him is very compelling. I wanted to depict those subtle nuances in his expressions.

Interviewer: So, do you have a personal favourite character?

Sako: If we count the minor characters - there are some characters I got to design myself, but they're all the mean-looking old men in the assassin trade. (laughs) I had quite a lot of fun designing them. I really love Enami-san's more understated characters, so I wanted to incorporate some of that sensibility into my work... I figured that the protagonists are always flailing around in a slapstick way, so what happens if we cram in a whole bunch of serious old men too? There are some vicious characters, but I think their inclusion in a comedy-flavoured series increases the tension and raises the stakes in a good way. In that sense, I really feel like this is a remarkable series where the characters cover a whole spectrum of tones.

Interviewer: Please tell us what you think are the selling points of this series "Buddy Daddies".

Sako: Enami-san's characters are very charming, but as an animator, I'd also like to give a shoutout to the wonderful colour design and background artwork. The colourists produced all sorts of palettes, and the art department created incredibly stylish and tasteful backgrounds; it really enhances the overall appeal of the series. Also, it's a minor detail, but I think the fact that Kazuki's meals look so delicious is all thanks to the production staff's hard work.

Interviewer: Finally, please give a message to everyone who is looking forward to the rest of this series.

Sako: It's probably being watched both by actual parents and by people who have never parented, and my guess is that each person is finding something different to relate to. I think it might be fun to rewatch the series from that perspective - imagining what it would be like if you were a parent. The story goes through ups and downs, and I hope you're excited to find out how it all wraps up. Please do watch to the very end.

[shychick-52]

My physical disability (long post)

Given that it's Disability Pride Month, I wanted to share a bit of my own experience.

After experiencing HORRIBLE back pain for weeks in late 2016 (the doctor didn't send me for an MRI or any deeper scan after the x-ray didn't show anything), I woke up one morning in January 2017 with literally ZERO balance. Like, I could move my legs, but I still couldn't walk. It was the most terrifying sensation.

Called the ambulance, they took me to the hospital where I had the proper scan done, and it turned out to be a massive tumor pressing on my spine and crushing the nerves. Because it had been growing for months, everyone agreed it was a miracle I wasn't totally paralyzed. (The tumor turned out to be cancerous, and I had several more tumors in other places too, including my stomach, ovaries, liver, and kidneys). After it was removed, I still had zero balance.

Well, the entire five months I was in the hospital getting treatment wasn't fun, made even worse by my destroyed mobility. During my stay, I switched back and forth between a wheelchair and a walker. I was so depressed, terrified I'd never walk properly again and convinced my life was over. Even after I was discharged from the hospital, and still continued to use a wheelchair and walker, I can't count how many times I freaking bawled. I had very poor control of my legs, and had to look down at them at all times to know what they were doing so I didn't trip.

And for the first time in my life, I was met with challenges that able-bodied people don't have to worry about (the worst of which were stairs). I could finally appreciate how frustrating it is when able-boded people selfishly use the handicapped stall in the washroom (when the other ones are perfectly available) when you have to go!

Not long after I got out of the hospital, I started attending physical therapy. I worked for months and months, and graduated from a walker to two canes to just one cane. I practiced walking in the pool by my place (with aqua-therapy, I didn't have to worry about injuring myself if I fell in the water, and I fell plenty at first). I gradually got better, but it was HARD.

Shortly after my very first visit to physical therapy, my therapist diagnosed me with spasticity in my legs and feet. That's a condition caused by a spinal cord injury; the injury to the nerves in the spine cause the signals between the nervous system and the legs/feet to be thrown completely out-of-whack and fail to communicate properly (which was why I couldn't sense what my feet were doing unless I looked at them), forcing the leg muscles to be in a permanent state of horrible stiffness and constant spasms. It's a horrible feeling.

Finally, in the later part of 2019, I no longer needed a cane. I could walk just fine on my own (for the most part), and I haven't had to rely on walking aids since then, and I don't have to watch my feet to know how they're moving when I walk. But the spasticity- which is permanent- remains. I manage it with medication, which helps the stiffness a bit. And my biggest challenge remains stairs; I absolutely cannot go up and down stairs (especially up) without a banister. But because of how generally stiff my muscles are, my balance will never be perfect. And I can't really run, although I can walk just as fast as I used to.

Cold weather, rain, and atmospheric pressure all make the spasticity worse.

[oddygaul]

Starship Troopers

This was the first time I’ve watched this since probably high school, and definitely the first time since having read Heinlein’s original Starship Troopers. It’s definitely a fun time, although thematically I felt it’s a bit weaker than folks let on.

Most of the modern reads of this movie praise its satirical elements, while noting how they seemed to go over the heads of most critics on its release. And, I gotta say, halfway through the movie, I was totally on board with this. From their philosophy class to basic training, every second of the movie is silly as fuck, and really beats you over the head with its satire.

The thing is, the second half seems to forget about this and mostly just turns into a big dumb action movie? It stays pulpy, sure – our mobile infantry are still running in and out of scenes with laughter and childlike glee, and we still get lines like “They sucked his brains out!” – but it otherwise plays things pretty straight as a heroic military scifi movie.

mfw they sucked his brains out

The disastrous assault on Klendathu feels like it ought to have been the turning point, our big denouncement of Starship Troopers’ rampant fascism. This segment firmly presents the counterargument for the Federation’s militarism: all of the hot-blooded, propagandized soldiers are suddenly presented with the harsh reality of war, the lack of glory in death, and the uncaring, inhumane system that’s feeding them into the meat grinder. Rather than take this pivot as an opportunity for our characters to question their actions, though, Starship Troopers doubles down, showing this as the moment our protagonists become hardened soldiers who are truly devoted to the cause.

I get that the intended tack here is to show how easy it is to fall for fascism: Rico, Carmen and Carl’s story is a cautionary tale of three normal classmates becoming fully ensconced in military fervor. The assault was a voluntary offensive action by the Federation, its disastrous casualties the result of callous strategic planning, yet it’s still used by the soldiers as their Pearl Harbor, the cornerstone of their ironclad motivation to keep fighting. We’re supposed to see the back half, then, as a tragic ending for characters who will never realize the dark fate that’s befallen them.

The thing is, I don’t think that approach works that well, because Starship Troopers cares too much about its main characters, consistently setting them up for big hero moments and heartwarming reunions. Rico’s big heroic speeches, the glowing reverence the movie shows for Rasczak’s return to service, Zim’s heroic demotion to private, done with no regrets due to his unwavering dedication to the Mobile Infantry – all these moments are played perfectly straight, swelling orchestras and all. This leaves the second half of the movie feeling like a pretty boilerplate military fiction story highlighting the glory of being a rank and file soldier.

I dunno, to me, after nearly a full hour of cool action scenes and wholesome barracks bonding, it loses its “war makes fascists of us all” bite and starts feeling more like “ok but also, fighting bugs in space is cool innit”.

(I mean, it is.)

—

I was wondering why Zander looked so familiar… y’all! It’s Sinbad! Crab! Big crab!

Having read the original book, while the tone / message switch was a good call, some of the changes surprised me. Namely, it’s kinda wild to have taken Starship Troopers, which has its place in history as the progenitor of the whole concept of power armor, and turn its soldiers into flak-jacketed mobs of mooks. It makes total sense thematically – Heinlein’s image of an unstoppable, armored, one-man-army is a potent metaphor for the righteousness and power of militarism, while the bumbling hordes fits much better in a satirical send-up of the story – it’s just wild to throw away arguably the most iconic part of the license you’re adapting.

Look they’re all hamming it up, but I think the cast did great with what they had – Ace, Zim and Dizzy all consistently made me laugh with their reads

[rapid-artwork]

I'm fascinated with Fourth, she's so cute! I'd love to hear more about her.

Fourth is one of my favorite OCs, both because I feel I stumbled upon a really solid visual design, but also because of how personal her story is to me.

Quick summary:

Fourth is a lonely human girl who seeks to escape from the space station she spent her entire life aboard. She holds a lot of anger inside but she is a genuinely bubbly and sweet person. She really likes the concept of water, specifically lakes, oceans and rivers. (Even though she never seen any of these in person.)

She's the protagonist of my (currently in progress) Sci-Fi Horror Visual Novel: Mothers Favorite

Tw: Child Abuse, Body Horror and Trauma. (It is a horror story.)

The story takes place aboard the Mobile Quarantine Station 388-SR. A space station originally designed to carry thousands of sick patients off world should a plant-wide pandemic occur.

However, a series of unknown events caused the station to launch with only four living patients aboard. Figuring out why is part of the mystery in-game.

When the game starts, Fourth is the only remaining patient onboard, the other three patients all dead or unaccounted for.

Fourth is afflicted with something called the 'Omega Virus', which is a highly dangerous and has no known cure. Most of my stories all take place in the same overarching universe, and many of my Sci-Fi stories deal with the consequences tied to the spread of the Omega Virus.

I really like Fourth's story since I think it makes for a great starting point into many of my future works. I like that through Fourth we get to see the effects of the virus first hand, and get a little window into the galactic politics that arose in response.

The station was built to be a closed-off self sustaining system, with a fully automated treatment staff of robotic caretakers. Meaning all of Fourths daily needs are met, but that her only social interactions are with pre-programmed AI that see her strictly as a patient first, and a living feeling human a distant second (doesn't mean that they don't try, bedside manner is still a thing.)

Since Fourth has never met another living person before, and they have never seen the outside world through anything other than a computer screen, they can be a little naive. That doesn't mean she's foolish, far from it. Fourth is highly intelligent (not much to do all day other than read and do homework over and over.) and has a deep curiosity for the outside universe her space station.

Since Fourth has had to interact with the robots the way they expect her to act, she has learned to put on a mask around them, and only lets it slip when she is alone. She has a really funny sarcasm to the way she thinks internally and I like writing her deadpan responses to the sci-fi bullshit she has to endure.

She also has a wonderful sense of joy and love that makes a lot of the darker challenges she faces that much worse. She is the type to experience big emotions at all times. When she loves you, she lets you know, and when she hates you, she doesn't hold back. (At least she likes to think she does, in reality she has a to bottle a lot of her true feelings up in order to survive.)

Since she is the player character, I made sure to code a lot of flexibility to her personality depending on how you play. She will become more extroverted or introverted based on the dialogue choices you make, and big source of tension is how well you manage to hold onto her optimism throughout the game.

(there is also a funny bit I programmed a flag where Fourth will not know what swear word are unless you push for her to learn about them. After that point she will swear like a sailor for the rest of the game.)

This is the original concept sketch I made of the main characters all the way back in 2016. I had an idea for a 'sci-fi Alice in wonderland' Where there was only one human trapped with a bunch of malfunctioning robots who seemed to act like everything was totally fine.

I like that the main designs have remained pretty consistent since then.

Fourth's design was very calculated from the start. I wanted her to look like someone forced to wear a Disney princess outfit that was slightly too small for them. It was supposed to show that she is treated like a child since these specific robots were only ever programmed to care for very young children, and were not prepared to deal with a teenager or adult. (maybe because the people who programmed them didn't expect any afflicted children to survive that long.)

As for the influences and themes, a lot of it centers around the main idea behind the Omega Virus.

The Omega Virus has a lot of weird stuff associated with it, but the main thing to keep in mind is that the Omega Virus offers up incredible power in exchange for a terrible corruption of the physical and mental state of the subject.

I have always been a fan of drawing weird gross body horror stuff, and the Omega Virus provides a lot of opportunities for that don't get me wrong.

But the important thing is the effects the virus has on the mental state of those it infects. It slowly eats away at the memories of it's host, piece by piece taking away everything that makes someone who they are.

I lost family members to Alzheimers as a teenager, and I wrote a lot of the Omega Virus stories as a way to cope. I was deeply terrified by the concept of forgetting who you are and not even knowing it is happening.

What started as an edgy teenage avenue for grief turned into something more over time. Where I would make these really likable characters dealing with a sci-fi disease that gave them super powers in exchange for a creeping death following them for the rest of their lives. I really like writing characters who know that their sense of self is in danger, and living to constantly reaffirm who they are and their desire to live.

A huge factor in what I hope makes the game scary is that there is more than just 'death' as a threat, but the idea that if you choose wrong, you will have to watch Fourth slowly dissolve until all that she is is empty and gone.

But also because I am pure evil and really like hurting my audience as much as possible, there is another way worse horror that is much more personal and immediate.

Mothers Favorite deals with the physically and emotionally abusive relationship Fourth has with the stations main AI, a giant half organic creature called Mother.

I idea of what would happen to an AI afflicted by the Omega Virus was really interesting. I imagined that they would slowly lose the smaller nuances of what it meant to act 'human' and be reduced down to their core programming, even if that core was no longer logical.

Abuse between loved ones usually stems from a place of control and corrupted ideas of loves. The idea of 'doing this because I love you' is a very painful concept I have personally experienced, and could come about if the abuser had a fundamentally incorrect definition of what love is.

A robot follow its program so much to the letter that is loops back around to something indistinguishable from malice is something Fourth will have to deal with more than once. What I really like about writing her is the uncertainty she feels about her robot 'family' they can be loving and caring one moment and cold and abusive the next. They see nothing illogical about their actions and Fourth feels alone in her feelings. Which I hope gives the game a sense of terror even if there isn't more traditional jump-scares or managing survival mechanics.

I think the visual novel medium helps put players in the head of Fourth a lot better, since you will have to sit and weigh each dialogue option, not knowing which one will set the robots off, and which ones will earn you a few more minutes of safety. That was a fear I lived with growing up and it certainly didn't impact my art in anyway no sir!

I wanted Fourth to be a conduit for a story about love, family and the beauty of self, all of which are under slow attack from both outside and within. There is a lot of ways to unlock happy or at least 'happier' endings and I hope it makes for a good story, not just a non-stop misery fest.

Little bonus:

Mothers Favorite was always intended to be part 1 in a 4 part series. Each story would focus on one of the four original inhabitants of 388-SR. Each game would be an independent story, with all three crossing over in the final game. Your choices in the first three games would carry over and influence the plot of the fourth game.

The next game in the series is planned to be a murder mystery about a military spaceship that takes multiple play-throughs to solve and leads to some fun meta-timelines shenanigans.

Thank you for letting me rant about my OC for a bit. I really love Fourth even though I keep coming up with new ways to hurt her.

[destroyerarcher]

Alien Hominid Invasion - A crashing dissappointment

Alien Hominid Invasion has finally released! Unfortunately, despite multiple years passing, it does not feel like the full game offers significantly more than the demos released across multiple periods of time. Note that this is an entirely new game from the original 2004 Alien Hominid and plays significantly differently from it, so if you are looking for a straight up sequel of Alien Hominid, it will disappoint.

One of the best parts about Alien Hominid Invasion is the core combat. Firing a gun in Alien Hominid Invasion feels great. Each weapon has distinct differences from other weapons in the game, which makes them the main source of gameplay variety. While some weapons feel sufficiently balanced, other weapons do not feel like they have enough punch without the right build, most notably the Megashot. It took me multiple seconds to kill a basic agent with that weapon, while with most other weapons it takes me about 1 second for a single basic agent. Even after stacking fire rate, megashot still feels like it isn’t particularly great. Invasion does feel like a 2d platformer looter shooter through and through, with how much loot you are thrown and the incorporation of light stat customization through stats such as life steal, regen on dodge, crit per hit, and more. The main problem with the loot is that there is often times no clear explanation of how significant the stats are, as even in the guidebook, regen is never specified on how significant it is, life steal feels like it heals way more than 1.4% of my total damage output, and there is no indicator on what your weapon’s base damage or fire rate is, among other omissions. That being said, when a build works well, it truly gives that sense of satisfaction of seeing it help you through a level when paired with the right strategy. This is enhanced by the mobility of the game, as it can make you feel a sense of speed at times.

Performance wise, the game runs flawlessly, and takes hardly any space. I also hardly experienced any bugs in my playthrough, although I experienced one bug, where there was a van stuck in the ground that caused me to get stuck and die. Mouse and Keyboard controls work smoothly for me, and do not feel clunky, but may require rebinding for a comfortable setup, as I rebound my keys. During the launch window though, there have been occasional problems with the servers not letting online co-op function, or leaderboards not displaying.

The procedural permadeath elements don’t feel like they add enough variety to the game for what they detract from. Nearly every level besides the train level feels and looks the same, and I personally did not feel like the random modifiers really made the game interesting in a good way. Being unable to challenge a boss or try a specific objective or map without going through other tiles felt extremely tedious when trying to either test a build or complete the insane mode achievement. There is also currently no way to fight the final boss after completing the story without creating a new save or joining another player, which hurts the replay value of the randomized elements of the game in the postgame. There is also a lack of extra modifiers or anything that adds extra replay value after beating the story, further compounding the problems with replayability.

One of the biggest complaints I have about the game is the sheer amount of projectile spam that clutters the screen. This is what would have easily turned me away from the game if I did not enjoy the feeling of shooting a gun and moving around. The problem gets even worse in co-op, as the camera is not centered on the player character, and players cannot move horizontally infinitely, so if a player is on the other edge of the screen, will effectively stop progress of a mission until said player starts moving the opposite direction. The health bar is not fixed to the player or fixed in a set place on the screen by default, so I found tracking my stats difficult, and would often end up seeing my health drop because I got lost in co-op. While there is an option to have static health bars, it is buried in option menus and as a result, can easily go unnoticed by players. Compounding this problem is that there is nothing that stops two players in co-op from sharing the same color, and hats lack a transmog feature that lets players run the visuals they want without losing out on the stats for a build they like. I think if the hat was separated into the cosmetic that unlocks permanently for a save, and a new type of boost containing the hat’s current stats, it would be better for both guidebook completion and letting players select the visuals they prefer.

Another weird design choice is that countdown timers do not reset to the full amount after canceling them. It keeps how much time has already ticked down previously and I have started a level without wanting to do that specific tile, as the countdown by the time I reselected it was instant. Jumping into a new run after failing a previous run also takes a fair bit of time and gets tedious. It takes me 53 seconds to go from the fail screen to being able to properly enter a new run after being beamed down by the mothership, which adds up, really quickly, if you are failing runs very early. Achievement wise, this is not a very complicated 100%. The hardest part is doing all bosses on insane, so I recommend fighting the final boss on insane, otherwise rematching it will require replaying the game. I would also stay as long as possible whenever you see a land van, as those are rare and necessary for an achievement. Note that on co-op, if a player is not looking for the insane in the eyestrain achievement or already has it, they can play on a different difficulty while another player plays on insane, letting the player looking for the insane achievement earn progress upon killing bosses.

The main thing that I think causes the game to look repetitive very fast is not only the overabundance of green, purple, and grey, but the lack of contrast as well. For comparison, a screenshot from the Urban area of Alien Hominid HD, and a level from Alien Hominid Invasion, shows Alien Hominid HD having much sharper contrast, and Invasion being very diluted in terms of contrast between the same color. While there are two bosses that use colors that are not those colors, they are the exception and far from the standard. Overall, unless you are a fan of the Behemoth, I would wait for a sale.

[whoseafraidofliloleme]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Saw this and decided to do it myself... Obviously no one tagged me. As I carry on procrastinating the final chapter of HYGTG, lemme do this 😂 Also gonna change from AO3 to Tumblr 😊.

1. How many works do you have on Tumblr?

I've got 21 works, majority of them are Enhypen smaus and then there's the few one shots/Imagines. And my longest fanfic which is Invisible a Han Seojun fanfic.

2. What's your total Tumblr word count?

So this is just counting Invisible and the one shots Ive written, 41k... Majority of that is Invisible

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Kpop, specifically the group Enhypen. I add Harry Potter into that.

4. Top five fics by Notes?

Invisible at the top with the masterlist having 649 notes... Ngl seeing this makes me want to rewrite Invisible...

Unexpected Partners has 468 notes. Which makes sense, my Jungwon fics tend to be quite popular.

Peace has 365 notes. This was my first Enha & Harry Potter fic. I do love this one.

You Belong With Me has 337 notes. Another Harry Potter AU with a Jungwon redemption arc...

The Second Choice has 307 notes. Another Jay smau but this one is a Office Au with a toxic bestie.

Honestly apart from Invisible and Unexpected Partners being top 1 and 2, I wasn't expecting any of the other ones on this list.

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yep, I wish I got more comments but I always reply to the comments I do get.

Shout out to @shinkenprincess-oh for always commenting <3

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I am very much against angsty endings. Happy endings all the way.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

All my fics have happy endings so I don't even know which one has the happiest ending...

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Havent gotten any yet and I dont want to get hate either please.

9. Do you write smut?

Nope and I never will.

10. Craziest crossover?

I guess constantly mixing Harry Potter with kpop is as crazy as my crossovers get.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Thankfully no but I'd like for it to not happen.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope but I am open to it if anyone interested.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nope, that would be interesting to do though.

14. All time favorite ship?

Okay so thats a hard one... I'm gonna go with my top 4.

Harmione {Harry Potter and Hermione Granger}. I am a diehard Harry and Hermione shipper. I just love them so much.

Olicity {Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak}. I was shipping them from the moment Felicity was introduced on the show.

Damianette {Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Damian Wayne}. All my knowledge of DC has come from reading Maribat fics and I do not regret that in the slightest.

Rogan {Rory Gilmore and Logan Huntzberger}. They will forever be my ultimate ship. In my headcanon they ended up together happily ever after.

15. What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Its more like whats an idea that I actually want to write... Its a hard one cause I have so many ideas running about in my head that very few of them actually make it to being published...

16. What are your writing strengths?

I guess coming up with backstories for my characters? Making people care even though you are only seeing the story through texts and tweets? Character development and growth?

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Haha... Everything?

18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

I think its quite interesting but I would like a translation somewhere so that I at least know whats been said. Unless its important to the plot then its fine.

19. First fandom you wrote in?

Technically it was Pixelberry Choices Mobile Games stories(? dunno what else to call them) specifically I wrote for High School Story and High School Story Class Act. I have since deleted those fics from my tumblr and Wattpad, they are still on AO3 but I've orphaned them.

Invisible my True Beauty fic is the one that I count as the first fandom I wrote in.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

I legitimately cant pick one, so shameless plug for whoever comes across this to check out my Enhypen Masterlist and True Beauty Masterlist.

Whoever wants to do this, go and have fun cause I have no idea who to tag...

[thehypnone]

OMG WAIT SORRY, ADDITION TO THE ASK THAT JUST SENT, BC I SAW AND REMEMBERED ABOUT YOUR TAIL AMPUTEE RAIN AFTER IT

Obvi not having a tail is torture to keep yourself upright and do many things that your average ghoul is able to

I proposition rain with vertigo ((maybe this is me projecting too)) because it makes sense in my mind 'cause if he can't keep himself up easily without aids he could get dizzy too (here's where this goes to the last ask) ⭐WHEELCHAIR⭐

Trust I use a handheld cane to help with my mobility issues but I've also fell flat on my ass because it wasn't enough at the time when my vertigo would come in awful waves

Last bonus note before I go to bed: swiss is a fucking menace and will try to race rain around if rains feeling down in the dumps about being disabled (do you ever get like that or is that a me thing?)

Anywho!! Love your work as always 💗

AHHHH YES!!! i think a wheelchair for tail amputee rain would work beautifully and also aaaaa vertigo, i can totally see rain with that too!!! and YES swiss totally would!

(and yes, i think mental lows are as big of a part of being disabled as the physical flare ups are, unfortunately. i wrote rain with such a few times too, do not go away is mostly about a depressive episode caused by worsening of his health)

[monstersdownthepath]

Monster Spotlight: Raktavarna

CR 2

Lawful Evil Tiny Outsider

Bestiary 3, pg. 229 (image taken from 2e Bestiary 3, pg. 210)

The bottom feeders in rakshasa society, the Raktavarna are the result of a rakshasa failing to achieve any noteworthy deed or failing to accrue any power before their death, causing their reincarnation to become botched. While any rakshasa that’s slain typically finds a new host via usurping an unborn child, a Raktavarna emerges when the evil earthbound spirit is so weak that it cannot overpower a newborn soul, and so it must overtake an unborn animal instead, typically a snake. If they are slain in this state the spirit is forever destroyed, so many Raktavarna are eager to offer their services to greater powers in the hopes of protecting themselves, if only until they can secure enough might to regain some of their former glory.

A Raktavarna can bond with a master as a standard action, freely able to change its master should it desire... unless, of course, their chosen master is a level 7 or higher Lawful Evil caster with Improved Familiar, which permanently binds the weakened Outsider to the service of the mage until their eventual death, at which point they assimilate a portion of their former master’s power and glory. The bond isn’t entirely one-sided, though; Raktavarna have a lot to offer their masters to assure they’re worthy of being kept around. They can serve as their Master’s Eyes, their master able to share the tiny spirits senses so long as they concentrate, including being able to utilize the Outsiders constant Detect Magic and darkvision. This ability works across any distance, even planar, and it goes hand-in-hand with the rest of the rakshasas kit to make them very effective spies.

At will, Raktavarna can assume the form of a tiny handheld object, such as a lantern, a small weapon, a statuette, a picture, mirror, or even a gemstone or other valuable piece of treasure. While taking any action snaps it out of its disguise, it can otherwise maintain its chosen shape indefinitely, giving it the unique ability to be passed from fool to fool without anyone realizing the truth behind the treasure they hold... and all the while, the raksasha and its master learn what they can about their potential targets. While actions break the disguise, the Raktavarna can still use free actions and constant abilities without worry. Thus, it can still use Detect Magic and Detect Thoughts, both of which it has constantly, and freely eavesdrop on any conversation via their constant Comprehend Languages.

Though they can’t fly, they can still climb and swim at 20ft a round, making them decently mobile pairs of eyes when needed. Their effectiveness at being spies rivals even the invisible, flighty Imps, and they’re one of the few familiars that justifies using up some of your Spells Known on learning things like Callback and Companion Transportation. The tiny fiends also make it pathetically easy to brush aside potentially suspicious encounters with commoners and low-level folk, able to use Charm Person and Suggestion 1/day each to steer curious eyes away... and, interestingly, they have a potentially very potent tool when keeping their presence hidden.

Their bite damage is so pathetic that it’s got only a 50% chance to deal lethal damage, at 1d4-2, but the damage isn’t important. What is important is the poison within, which deals 1d2 Wisdom damage each round for up to 6 rounds, though it’s cured by 1 save. However, each time a victim takes damage from the poison, they’re immediately subject to a Modify Memory effect that expunges all memory of the rakshasa’s presence within the last minute. This memory erasure is complete and total; all records of the rakshasa are erased or altered to the point they can be dismissed as fleeting daydreams, no matter what may have happened. Even the bite wounds begin to look more like punctures from a stray pin or nail, and the strange questions floating in their mind feel more like intrusive thoughts than anything else.

Though the modification doesn’t protect the master as completely as it does the Outsider itself, there’s still some creative potential in wearing the beast like a scarf or shawl so the masking effect shrouds the master’s face, or only having the rakshasa a speak and ask questions so the words are wiped from the victim’s mind. The poison’s memory wipe remains viable even if it was delivered by something other than the fiend itself; the master may milk the poison from their familiar for use on their own weapons, or the weapons of their allies, causing survivors of the party’s attacks to conveniently forget the shapeshifting fiend exists... and forget why they’re wearing a pretty new medallion as they report what they’ve learned to their superior...

You can read more about them here.