#//being away does a lot to severe decent connections

[cookii-moon]

Ninjago has social media so why not share some headcanons

so I was chatting with a friend and this came up and I wanted to expand on it and talk about it

Basically... how the ninja interact with the canon social media. Yeah. Twitter- I mean Chirp... is a thing in Ninjago. Canonically. And then never brought up again. So uh

What better to do than explore how the Ninja's social media life is going in relation to them being celebrities. And then post it on a social media at 9 pm. Headcanons under the cutoff yayy

Ok so first off Cole because he started this mess and I want to get him out of the way because I want to get to the other's.

He's... I mean are we going to deny he's popular... He was kinda already a celebrity before becoming a Ninja thanks to his family history. Either way, he is very afraid of the omnipresent conglomorate known as a fanbase. They scare him so he just does not interact with them whatsoever, yet he still somehow manages to remain VERY popular with fans for... a variety of reasons... his lack of interaction means they feel like they can get away with a lot of things. Despite this Cole does still have exactly one active social media account and it is an anonymous (Insert Ninjagan equivalent to Instagram here) where he quite literally just posts art randomly and daily and says absolutely nothing. By anonymous, I mean he pretty much just has an online name and profile picture that he made up that has no connections to his personal life or being a ninja. The other Ninja are aware he has an art account, but not of the name or any other details, so they've made a secret game out of finding his social media identity. It remains yet to be found, which is either a relief, to Cole (though he isn't even aware of it) or sad, to the people who are betting on it.

Lloyd!! Little candy loving goblin man!!! Lloyd is awesome I want to draw him more often hhh

Lloyd kind of just talks about funny things, posts memes, and shares cool fanart. He tries to steer clear of negativity in general because good lord knows he's far too exhausted from his own trauma and stress to fight the internet. He just tries to turn a blind eye to stuff but he still gets caught up in the web that is social media sometimes, what with fame and all that, which often ends in him getting emotional. And subsequently having Kai offer to punch somebody. His socials are public but he doesn't advertise them much at all for the sake of a peaceful atmosphere, so he has like a decently small follower/sub/whatever count for how popular he is. His fanbase is pretty tame for the most part, though there are a few overbearing young children who don't quite understand things just yet.

Kai, the guy who made chirp canon by posting about being in the hospital and causing a break in that probably violated several laws and frightened the children.

... I mean it's kind of canon that he uses socials. Since he's likely one of the only two Ninja with public and advertised accounts, people flock to him a lot over that fact alone, so not all of them are necessarily there for Kai. He has a pretty dedicated fanbase of people who like him for his charm and personality, but he also has a few people who find him annoying and pretentious. Some people kinda don't mind him and just follow him for Ninja news or snippets in general, even though he doesn't just post about Ninja stuff. Since it's kind of hard to convey a personality in.. you know... text... unless you know someone REALLY well, he tends to have a bit of a divide in the community over how he comes off as arrogant or full of himself sometimes.

Nya our local girlboss who's movie counterpart rides a straight up motorcycle through hallways endangering hundreds of children- look I love Nya but principal where are you.

She does have a social, but she rarely uses it. When she logs in every month or so it mostly just consists of roasting Kai or answering curious fans. Despite this she does look at the fanbase every now and then because she finds it equally parts heartwarming and, when it comes to the idiots and trolls, amusing. She's pretty popular because of her general attitude and girlboss vibes.

Zane, robot man with infinite access to the entirety of the web.

So hear me out here... I don't think he has an actual social, but I think he edits wikipages. Like not fandom or anything just straight up Wikipedia. In every language. (or, well, regional dialect?) I know it's really specific but that just seems like something he'd enjoy. It's a secret hobby. He'll be up at night facing the wall in his bed, eyes open trying to finish this wiki article because new info about prehistoric dinosaurs and their connections to birds came out and he has to document it right now oh my god, and the others think he's just like asleep or smthn. It just makes him really happy. His fanbase isn't as large as the others, but he's still very well liked by the majority of the ninja fans, even though he rarely interacts with social media outside of interviews (because Jay is actively trying to stop him from getting anywhere close to it so that he doesn't have to explain certain things)

And last but not least... Jay... the social menace of the internet.

He's the second ninja with a public and well known account, and he's very popular. He talks about everything. Funny memes. Fanart. Silly thoughts. And he loves gossiping about the other's in good fun. His sole purpose is to entertain both others and himself, and he is very good at it, even online. He's also really involved in the community and likes giving shout outs to talented people and such. Being really involved also means he knows their secrets. He knows about the more sus parts of the fanbase. He knows about the secret Benedict cult. He knows about the real reason Cole and Nya are so popular. Sometimes, he'll deliberately mention these parts of the fanbase, randomly and oftentimes months apart, and just set the place ablaze because he finds it funny. Nowhere is safe from him and they all know it. It's become a meme at this point with some even people making up wacky conspiracy theories about him being omnipresent or the account being run by a robot with very well programmed bad jokes. But his sheer presence in the fandom and his personality makes him very popular. And the social he uses is probably YouTube, but he also streams sometimes. On YouTube. Not twitch. He never changed. Ever. The others love coming in during a stream and messing with him or teasing him in chat. Mostly Cole and Nya. They're subbed both to be supportive and so that they get the notification whenever he's live or uploads so that they can leave a comment. Because of course they would. Cole's YouTube account is the only account he ever uses that's public, and he made it for the sole purpose of teasing Jay. If that doesn't say best friends, then I don't know what does.

#ninjago #ninjago headcanons #headcanon #social media #the internet #ninjago cole #ninjago kai #kai jiang #kai smith #ninjago lloyd #lloyd garmadon #ninjago zane #zane julien #ninjago nya #nya smith #nya jiang #ninjago jay #jay walker #Helpp #So many tags #this was so random #But I found it interesting #... I hope someone else did #Cause this took way too long oh my god #Cookie’s thoughts

[tgrailwar-zero]

Okay, so let’s consolidate our information/discuss our findings with our servants (hopefully including Nero and Musashi) as we walk to our next location:

We now know that in addition to the Heavenly Divinity itself, it has several facets that play relatively more active roles in the Solar Cell. We also know that they are all connected by the name Tamamo so that’s probably the first part of the Heavenly Divinity’s original summoned form. We also know that Caster is one of these facets. Finally, the data disk showed us a servant (Caster(?)) leaving a message to Nero that looked an awful lot like Caster. I’d be tempted to say she was likely the original form of the Heavenly Divinity, but she gave off a very different air than what we vaguely got the impression of just now so perhaps she’s one of the two fused “branches” the Archivist mentioned. Caster(?) also mentioned that Nero and her original master saved her, likely after her original master was killed. Another question is if the impressions we got of the Heavenly Divinity’s Master came from Caster(?)’s original master, Nero’s master who adopted her (whom she seemed to refer to as “Darling”) or the master of the other branch that was merged in.

So yeah, with that summary does anyone have any thoughts?

It served as a decent break point, as all your allied your Servants gathered together in camp to listen. Even AVENGER, or at least an AVENGER-shaped shade a bit further away from the firelight, was present.

You saw a mix of different expressions as you laid everything out, some more pensive and thoughtful than others.

NERO spoke first.

NERO: "My memories of the Moon are vague, but I can imagine my Master-- my 'Maestro' doing such a thing to help another Servant. I vaguely recall that Caster. That foxy she-demon was as powerful as she was beautiful, I'd have her in my harem if I didn't think she'd steal my kingdom out from under me. Still… 'Tamamo'… yes, that 'Tamamo'.."

NERO: "…I though I had something, but it's lost. Amnesia is certainly a pain, is it not?"

She stopped for a moment, before lightly chewing on her lip, as if considering something.

NERO: "Still- I know this, with all the talk of Tamamo and this 'Heavenly Divinity'. Vixens are predators by nature. Gods are territorial by nature. Which leaves me to wonder why you're still alive."

NERO: "If I were Emperor, and a threat to my Empire and myself ran around so blatantly, I would have them hunted down and killed- along with any co-conspirators. And yet here we are unharmed, and Sigurd's territory remains unscathed. It cannot be a lack of power, for she is a deity, and you are lesser than you once were if the histories are correct. For what reason would a poison be left in the goblet, rather than being washed out? A power-play, perhaps? Or maybe something greater."

NERO: "Mmn. I have been involved in many a conspiracy, but the truly cold-hearted scheming was best left to those around me. You'd have to find someone equally morally bankrupt in order to get a bead on what that fox may be thinking."

#thgw story #endless whispers

[orowyrm]

like the thing that i think a lot of ppl gloss over is that a large majority of the talon aligned heroes have little to no interest in the actual ‘goals’ of the organization (to the point where we still don’t entirely know what talon wants or why they exist, lmfao) so much as it just being a means to an end. like we can all conceptualize that sombra is pretty much just there because it gives her access to more resources she can use towards her own goals, moira is there for research opportunities and funding that she’d never get elsewhere due to the nature of her work, i can only imagine that ramattra’s alliance with talon (and thus null sector’s as a whole) is purely situational because it provides advantages he considers useful, reaper is pretty much just there because they’re against overwatch therefore he can use it as an avenue for his revenge, even doomfist doesn’t really seem to hold as much stock in talon as an organization as he does use his position as a tool to achieve his goals, if it stopped being useful he would likely just walk away.

in opposition to the overwatch aligned heroes who all seem to be coming together solely for the sake of this like, ideal of Overwatch as a concept being this paradigm of good and justice and doing what’s right, and rallying behind their faith in the organization and what it symbolizes… i genuinely don’t think any of the talon operatives really care all that much about talon at all. it’s just a job. like, sure, we’re doing cartoon supervillain shit, but the pay is decent and we’ve got benefits and i can continue to do my own thing on the side, no questions asked. it’s honestly a pretty sweet deal.

all of that to say i really don’t see why people seem so averse to the idea of sigma having that same mindset. like yeah, he’s not exactly thrilled to be using his research and abilities to assist in acts of violent terrorism, but does he have many other options? he says it himself in that interaction with baptiste, talon gives him everything he needs - funding, resources, something to fall back on after being in total isolation for decades and coming out with absolutely nothing. it’s a guaranteed safety net — so long as he’s with talon, there’s absolutely no chance of anyone dragging him off or locking him up again, and so long as he contributes when he’s needed, he’s free to pursue his research to his heart’s content. does he regret it? sure, sometimes. i think they all do. i doubt there’s a single talon-aligned hero who genuinely believes what they’re doing is genuinely morally correct and sound. but ultimately in his mind he didn’t have many options left, so he had to settle for something he knew would at least guarantee his safety and continued freedom. it doesn’t really mean he’s being manipulated or held against his will any moreso than most of the other talon heroes, imho. he’s not proud of it, but hey, it pays the bills.

i feel like he regards it with a similar level of resentment/annoyance as i felt towards my horrible soul sucking corporate retail job of several years - like don’t get me wrong, the company i worked for absolutely sucked and i HATED how they operated, policy was bullshit and so much of it was unnecessary and needlessly counterproductive. but i also really connected with my coworkers in the same situation AND i got to get paid to do stuff i already would have been doing on my own anyway, and ultimately the experience i got and connections i made were really helpful in pursuing what i actually wanted to be doing with my life. it’s like if your shitty day job required you to kill people but they also like, got you hooked up with a place to live and a healthcare provider and all that shit and paid for all of your living expenses no questions asked AND gave you a decent budget to screw around with so long as every now and then you showed them what you were making and maybe used it to kill people more efficiently sometimes. i wouldn’t exactly feel any amount of loyalty to the company paying me but i wouldn’t exactly be in a hurry to quit either

#overwatch #sigma #am i posting instead of going to bed. yeah. whatever. i think about it a lot #siebren de kuiper #fuck it. look at my posts boy

[brendathedoodler]

I'm gonna ask about AS Four, but more specifically, please tell me about Shadow? I'm so curious how he plays a role in Four's adventure here

I’m happy to elaborate!

Shadow takes the place of several others. He takes on Impa’s role of giving Four help and direction, but acts as a closer companion by traveling with him most of the time. He also acts like the next gen champions in that he helps Four get to the divine beasts.

Shadow first spawned into existence when Four fell to the guardians, springing up as the calamity’s soldier. He exists to torment and mock an already devastated land, and for the first few years that’s exactly what he did. He’s done horrible things, burned towns to the ground, stalked lone travelers who dared walk alone at night, destroying the crops that people needed to live off of.

The thing is, Shadow wasn’t really a person then. He was merely a puppet on strings, following his task as it was assigned. Dot took it upon herself to try and sever those strings, wanting to stop her people from suffering as much as she could.

Slowly Shadow went from a simple tool to someone who could think, feel, and respond to the world around him. His reign of terror shifted to something more mischievous. Instead of trying to hunt lone travelers at night, he simply tries to scare them.

As his connection to the calamity grew weaker, he became more independent, until there was just a small thread connecting him to his original source. This was something Dot couldn’t sever on her own, so she decided to try and talk with him.

He disliked her at first, furious that she’d dare imply he’d betray his creator, but time passed and he began to see her as a friend. She talked about the beauty of the land and its people, and he spent time traveling and exploring. He fell in love with the world, and fell in love with the idea of being alive, of being a person. He severed that last tie himself, and agreed to help her stop the calamity when the hero woke up.

If he woke up. 100 years was a long time to wait.

When Four did wake up, the first thing Shadow set about doing was finding something to help him get down from the plateau. By the time he found the glider and arrived to say hi to Four, Four had made decent progress and all of them were currently arguing over what color the tower should be. He showed up to see it glowing green, then blue, then red, then green again, then red, then violet, then green (again), then blue, red, blue, red, blue, GREEN, blue, violet-

Shadow gets to the top of the tower to see them all smacking their slates together on the middle pedestal like it’s some sort of angry bumper cars game. There’s lots of hair pulling and shoving involved. All of them are arguing. The only person wearing anything more than underpants is red, who got the warm doublet. Shadow has to process the fact that there’s four of him and also what they’re all currently arguing. He’s half tempted to just float away.

Anyway they eventually notice him and draw their weapons (which consist of two boko bats (Red and Green), a hammer (Blue), and a boko bow (Vio)). The tower was left on blue.

He does manage to explain, and Dot uses some energy to inform them that yes, she trusts him, and he’s there to help. They reluctantly agree, and Shadow joins the party.

After terrorizing the people for a decade, stories have been passed about him, so whenever they go into a town, he hides in their shadow (usually Vio’s, but sometimes someone else’s). He helps them with where to go, and assists in getting them onto the divine beast. He also tries to help them practice when they’re combined, usually by settling little disputes or helping with decisions that could end with him splitting. He can’t help in shrines, though, which is another reason why Four avoids them at first (the other reason being that he’s forced to be combined, which is difficult at first).

Another big thing Shadow does occurs later in the journey. They’ve defeated the first divine beast, but it was a close battle. They freed the spirit of the champion (somebody they hadn’t known well to begin with) and Blue gets the power from Vah Ruta, though it’s something they all have access to as Four.

Anyway, they decide they need more practice being combined, but after that near defeat they’re all stressed and prone to arguing. Shadow suggests they explore a little to relax before they work on teamwork. A break could really do them some good.

Anyway, they end up at Gerudo town.

Being too far apart from one another causes them a lot of emotional distress, but so long as they stay in the same map zone they should be fine, so they agree to stay at the desert for awhile.

Green goes off and kills some moldugas (for fun and for profit). Red and Blue get Gerudo vai clothes (and don’t tell the others how they’re getting into the town). Red does some quests for people in town and impulsively spends all their money on arrows, then sells all their molduga guts and buys more arrows (much to Green’s frustration). Blue meanwhile scams some random guy out of several pairs of boots and immediately gets them dyed blue so nobody else will use them.

Vio? Well, he goes exploring and ends up at the Yiga’s camp. He stays hidden, but Shadow gets caught. The thing is, since he’s a fragment of the calamity, the Yiga are 100% on board with following him. They believe that his words are the words of their master, and Shadow absolutely plays along. He ends up ‘capturing’ Vio, and then claims that he’s “convinced this fragment of the hero to join the side of darkness!” and the two end up ‘ruling’ the Yiga clan together (but in reality are working to take it down from the inside).

Anyway, when the other three go looking for Vio they end up uncovering this, and the whole scheme is blown. They do manage to take down the leader of the Yiga though, and end up blowing the entire place up. It’ll be awhile before the Yiga are able to retaliate, which is good for them! With that all done, they proceed to the next divine beast (Vah Naboris).

At the end of the quest the four split up, teleporting to the divine beasts. They fire upon the calamity, and then teleport to the castle to regroup, combine, and fight it once and for all. Shadow tries to help, but is near useless in the fight. It’s up to Four and Dot now.

In the end, they win. Exhausted and battered, but victorious. Shadow knew that the end of the calamity would mean his source of power dwindled, but he expected to vanish completely. Shadow made sure to say goodbye as the calamity fell.

But he didn’t vanish, not completely. His energy was drained, but he did not die.

Nowadays he spends most of his time resting in Four’s shadow, only partially conscious but able to use his powers to speak with him mentally (much like the colors do when they’re combined as Four). Exiting Four’s shadow and using his physical form is exhausting, but he does it when he has the energy. Blood moons still occur despite the calamity’s defeat, and Shadow gets a burst of power from it. He always utilizes it to spend time with Four, and it’s become something they both look forward to.

Shadow tags along during Four’s next adventure with the chain, but Four hasn’t mentioned him to the others yet.

#I haven’t yet decided how Shadow’s reveal will go #thanks for the ask!! #linked universe #lu adventure swap au #lu au #lu four #lu shadow #lu green #lu red #lu blue #lu vio #also I will say that Shadow and Four are a canon couple but I’ll probably elaborate on that separately #that way people who aren’t a fan of the ship don’t have to have it #another thing I haven’t decided on yet is what abilities Four will gain from the divine beasts #not sure if they should be the same things Wild gets in botw or not #also unsure of whether to incorporate the champion abilities into AS Wild’s skillset or not #so many choices

[a-star-aquarium]

The Mad King

His Highness, Juno Ara Malik

Nicknames

Junebug - by everyone who he loves

Rat King - he gained it by those who only view him for his title

Anak laki-laki ungu yang manis - possibly not translated well, but it means Sweet Purple Boy in Indonesian. It is used by his mother, as she would adorn her son in Royal purple, and since, it has become his color, it remains stained on the palace walls, and shown in almost ever rug he owns-which is ironic, considering his favorite color is actually red.

Age: 28

Birthday: January 21st

Gender/Sexuality: Bisexual man {He/Him}

Astrology: Aquarius sun, Pisces moon, Leo rising

Patron Arcana: Judgement

Upright- Awakening, decision-making, redemption, transition

Reversed - Poor logic, self-doubt, stagnation

Physical Attributes:

Ethnicity: Prakran with a bit of Indonesian and Indian

Height: 5'8

Face Claim: Imran Anj

Hair:

His hair is Mid-length, so a little longer than past his shoulders

Light brown eyes, and thick eyebrows, but he definitely trims them to look arched most days

I'd say he looks similar to face claim completely when it comes to lips, nose, facial structure {that's generally how I picture him if he didn't have the long colorful hair}

Important Relationships:

King Arogatus Malik of Kari Beaundes - His father, who rules over his home land

Lee Lee and Amaria, his cousins. Both live with him seeing as their parents died of the red plague {they were in Vesuvia at the time of the plague, it was miracle the pair didn't pass away too}

High Council Madame Luvia - His grandmother, who is deceased. She was decapitated.

Jayda - His right hand man and closest friend. Sometimes it's hard to tell if theres something between them, or just longing

Zahra - The one who handles all his business with his courtiers, and who basically took his grandmothers job. She's also a good friend of Jayda's, as he would trust her with his life, which she's complained is far too much responsibility considering how irresponsible he can be.

Favorites

Favorite food: Grilled halloumi

Favorite drink: Pinot Noir 

Favorite Flower: French Hydrangea 

Background/Other Info:

Juno is a bastard child, as yes, he is his father's son, but his mother was not of royal decent. Juno's father is not completely to blame for this, as his wife, The Queen, passed away of an illness, and he had to resort to sleeping with a servant to produce an heir, otherwise his line would've been endangered. Juno will not take after his father though, his cousin Amaria will; ergo why Juno's father had him take over a small Provence at the age of 14. He felt bad that his son would not be able to take after his footsteps.

Juno was raised by his teachers, servants, and guards when he was sailed across the sea to Roya. His grandmother took no interest in him besides hating him, she would regular burn his hands and back, and he remains to have a scar on his face from her dagger. In fact, her treatment only resulted in Juno growing to be spiteful and cruel in some ways, and at the age of 17, he decapitated her in a purple blaze. Her very own sword being used to do the beheading.

Because he is a bastard, he has no biological connections to the countess, but when asked about him, she called him 'Cousin Juno', and he holds her dearly for including him, even if they're not blood related.

Juno did in fact meet Nadia once, and Zahra insisted on putting a show. So they brought several animals, fabrics, and gifts for the whole palace, and city of Vesuvia. Zahra claims it was a good thing, because now vesuvians have a good image of him, but he thinks that they probably think he's stuck up for doing that much.

Style Preference/Clothing:

It's important to mention that Juno shows as much skin as possible, but not for the reasons you think. He does it to show his burns, his scars, what his grandmother has left him, to remind the people of Roya, that he too has suffered at her hand too. His need to bare himself to the world often results in lots of silk and sheer fabric. He needs to be seen.

He is often adorned in deep blue, red, black, and purple fabrics. He likes a lot of gold in jewelry, commonly wearing black jewels and rubies. He loves the way they reflect in the light. He has a nose piercing, but he'll also wear earrings and necklaces. He's actually very weirded out by lace though, so you'll see him avoid it.

More formal attire:

Dynamic? How is he with others?

Juno, while his reputation states otherwise, is genuinely kind-hearted. While he surely can seem sly or charming, he generally has the best intentions when doing so. He's not going to treat you like a threat unless your a genuine problem.

To strangers, he's welcoming, he wants to get to know them, discover what makes them, well- them. He's aware of boundaries though, and will always make sure he's not crossing a line. He's especially kind if he has a good word about you from Zahra or Jayda, getting to know them is the key to getting to Juno if we're being honest. He holds their opinion extremely highly.

To friends, it really depends on who he's with. With Jayda, he's gentle, he jokes, but only mildly, nothing that could genuinely hurt him, and he's highly aware of how sensitive Jayda can be to insults, he knows that the magician has given him the gift of awareness, and he knows it's led to him being insecure about every single thing he does. So he is there as a pillow for Jayda. In contrast, with Zahra and Atlas, he teases them and mocks them all the time, because they do the same, and he's gained the sense they like it. They mean it in no rude way, and it's merely what their used to. For newer friends, he'll analyze you, see what you seem comfortable with, and then he'll try to follow that pattern with you

To partners, you have two options:

You show that you're not really interested in romance, you're more into the passion, the desires of it all. He will treat you as such. He will spoil you, listen to your every fantasy, and do his very best to please you. But he won't show his love as much. He will send you gifts, treat you to nice dinners, balls, all of it. But he won't show how much he loves you, because he'll think it's a turn off. Though, that doesn't mean he's not head over heels for you, he absolutely is, otherwise, your relationship would just be friends with benefits.

You show that you want him, love him, you want him to romance you, lure you in. God, will he play into your every demand. He loves you, and if you let him show it, he won't hesitate to every single moment he's around you. He's handsy, he'll keep his hand on your shoulder, your back, your face. Wherever he can. He may not be too public about it, but that's because he considers your relationship sacred to just you too. Overall though, he's way more affectionate.

Juno is always available for interactions, or ships, so if you're curious, feel free to send an ask

"Oh, our dear king, what a fool someone would be to love you, what a fool someone would be to fall into that trap"

#Juno Ara Malik #the arcana #apolloverse #edited with a picrew of him (that is also edited #they had no purple hair)

[drjohannn]

Name: Andrei Nikolayevich Bolkonsky Weapon name: Austerlitz EGO: The same oak tree Details: Delusions of grandeur, Hatred of society Age: 32 Height: 185 cm Marital Status: widower Biography: Andrew was born into the family of Colour Fixer - Emerald Crone. From his early childhood, the boy, along with his sister Marya, was raised only by a strict but loving father, as his mother died shortly after his birth. He grew up to be a noble and respectable young man. He does not usually go out in public, as he dislikes people for their hypocrisy and emptiness, but for the sake of his pregnant wife Liza he comes to various meetings, at one of which he meets Pierre Bezukhov - he had not long ago moved away and, like Bolkonsky, was fascinated by the activities of one of high-ranking Fixer Napoleon. Deciding that he wanted a break from his tiresome family life, he applied for service in a subsidiary Office, opposing the one Napoleon was in. Seriously wounded, he is taken to an enemy hospital, but he still manages to return home. There he catches his wife's difficult labour, during which she dies before Andrei's eyes and he is left to bring up his son Nikolenka alone, with the help of his father and Marya. For several years he lives away from society and builds up a bond with Pierre, finally softening up and coming out in public. At one of the meetings he meets Natasha Rostova and falls in love with her, but asks for the sake of his father to wait for a decision on marriage for some time. The girl can not stand the wait and gets involved in an affair with Kuragin, for which Andrei breaks off the engagement and goes to the company Limbus. Character: Andrei is honest, decent, brave, responsible and noble man, but he is also not without a lot of minuses. Even among the team, he is known for his selfishness and arrogance, which are still downplayed if his colleagues really need help. Also, his connection with others is hindered by his tendency to introspect and his love of being alone - he often hovers in the clouds and tries to be away from various "gatherings". Nevertheless, some have still managed to find common ground with him and become great friends, for which he interacts with them much more gently in return. Facts: -His wife Lisa was the niece of Mikhail Kutuzov, the head of the subsidiary Office. -The oak tree that stands in the backyard of the Bolkonsky home is displayed on their family emblem. -He always carries a pocket watch with the family emblem and a picture of the family. -His father was a participant in the attempted attacks on one of the filial of the Lobotomy Corporation for valuable data, so he wants to find this place and try to save the remaining employees there. -Source: Leo Tolstoy - "War and Peace"

#limbus company #limbus oc #oc #project moon #projmoon #lcb

[lmsr-lilitu-sephiroth]

I have thoughts on the new game everyone is fighting over, and the franchise as a whole.

Dear fucking god, this shit about a stupid bigoted game is totally unhinged. People bending over backwards just to justify playing game that's just full of problems (especially antisemitism) from a series that is completely lackluster and full of subtle and not-so-subtle bigotry.

Hell, in my opinion now, it doesn't even have a happy ending! It's not like defeating Moldy Shorts does anything to change the status quo. Sure, they locked up various Death Eaters in Azkaban.

And then there was the epilogue. So fucking lame. You barely even get to see what the characters actually do. You just get a new generation of kids getting on the train. Sure, there's nothing inherently wrong with getting a new generation of kids in an epilogue. But that's mostly all you got. Or at least all I can remember. The epilogue was a sore spot for me and my parents since finishing reading it.

At this point, I have to filter both tags and content related to fucking Harry Potter, just so I can prepare myself to look at a post. It now stresses me out and fills me with deep sorrow. Part because of how horrid Rowling is, part because of the fighting, part because I literally see the bigoted and at-best-ignorant implications/undertones (between the antisemitism, transphobia, cultural appropriation, ableism, sexism, and fatphobia at minimum, yikes on trikes), and part because I used to really enjoy the series. In some ways, I was still very sheltered as a child. Location had a lot to do with it.

Had I the mental space for it if my mental health was even just decent, I should have looked deeper the moment I got misgivings about Ilvermorny on that Pottermore site. Never even mind the bloody play. I ignored Twitter for the most part and frequently forgot about Facebook because it wasn't anonymous enough (I was more into myspace and other sites, anyway). It's really Tumblr that opened my eyes up. Hell, it's here that I even found out what went on in the play, and that made me glad I didn't take interest in it.

And so I looked at the stuff, unpacked the existing issues I already had with various plot points while I still liked them, and suddenly could not turn back. When I still read fanfiction of it (several years ago at this point), I really only enjoyed fix-it fics with massive overhauls of the plot.

My nostalgia for the franchise, or even just the books and movies, has died. It's dead, though I'm still not done with my emotions around it. The fucking antisemitism game destabilized what I thought were stable fusions of dissociated parts.

I still have to wrestle with my feelings over the first book being what even got me to like reading in the first place. I was eight, maybe nine years old at the time, and my great aunt made my one cousin read it to me. She never got very far, but it was enough to get me interested. So I fell in love with books and reading. Those books, especially after my child brain connected that I could make up my own stories, inspired me to write my own fantasies.

And it helped get me through a really lonely childhood. Fortunately, it wasn't the only thing I had. But I fixated on it and my 'imaginary friends' (read as loneliness-induced alters) so that I could cope with being the only kid even close to my own age around my part of the mountain for so many years.

Now I wish the franchise would just go away. I'm tired of it.

#harry potter #hogwarts legacy #jk rowling #transphobia #antisemitism #cultural appropriation #ilvermorny #fatphobia mention #fatphobia #pottermore #ableism mention #fanfiction #fix it fic #nostalgia #dissociation #childhood loneliness #long post #lonely childhood #dissociative identity disorder #polyfragmented did

[cryo-lily]

HEY

about that thingie with losing a loved one who doesn't stay as a ghost. how does it happen for issie and lana? (pls take this as a cue to drop every single juicy angst deet and more if you wanna :p)

Thanks @pentacass for the ask! Sorry it took me a bit to get this answered.

Now for the rabbit hole of angst since you asked! *(cracks knuckles)* So where to start...

For Isadola & Lana- Their bond grew stronger as time went by. When you take either half away from the other it leaves a void that the other can't stand, leaving them empty in a way. But if there was ever one out of the two them that wouldn't linger as a ghost I'd be Issie, for a variety of reasons beyond Isadola's connection to death (Sith Inquisitor AU Issie reference).

And Lana not having a reason why Issie doesn't linger for her would leave her trying to tear at the empty space for answers. Even during Isadola's stint in carbonite was too close to this for Lana's comfort. At the fringes of her senses Lana felt Isadola wasn't gone but the faint feelings of Issie's agony, despair, and pain being like wisps of smoke just beyond her reach, leaving her with a drive for answers of what happened- and a need she probably ignored of wanting to fill the void it left, beyond the wider issues growing in the galaxy during Isadola's absence.

That all assumes Issie dies in some natural form but not killed. But then that poses the question I've floated around myself of:

What would worse for the galaxy? Lana losing Issie, or Issie losing Lana? And to be honest I'm not sure. But I wouldn't guarantee that either would be good, if either had their bond forcefully severed and one being taken away from the other. Leaving the other empty and angry. Having that void in the force, the emptiness left behind by the other. I'd honestly worry about how far either of them would go.

And if any of this happened after they started their family would only make the overall issue worse. Lana having to try and cope with that void in the force that deprives her of the comfort she had gotten used to over the years. But also being reminded of Isadola whenever she'd see their 3 biological daughters, or even seeing a lot of Issie's personality in Orla too. Which would only make that emptiness worse.

Meanwhile Issie losing Lana would just send her off the deep end, the final straw. After losing nearly everything serving the galaxy she loses the love of her life would be a point of no return for her. As Theron got a very brief glimpse of when he shot Lana on the Umbaran train in the Nathema arc.

Okay- this rambled more than I intended, but hopefully some of this rambling was a decent answer lol. Honestly your short post about this same topic with Ves & Lana was probably 1000% better worded than this scatter brained response.

Regardless Thank you Thank you for the ask! I don't get many of them for Isadola or the Shir Legacy ^-^

#swtor asks #Lily rambles a bit #oc: isadola ardeen #lana beniko #I really need to write more fics of these two and maybe I'll be less scatter brained answering stuff like this lmao #the shir legacy

[frostfall-matches]

[ matchmaking... ]

@averagetoyakinnie : [ match report ready ]

your match is…

✦ Ryan Erzahler

While you can be a bit awkward at first, the fact that you tend to be pretty extraverted and friendly otherwise helps break the ice between you two. Ryan is absolutely a loner and he’s fine with that (sometimes). It’s comfortable, he doesn’t have to deal with awkward small talk, or figuring out how to match someone else’s energy… If you want to get to know him, you’ll need to be a bit persistent, but not overbearing. It just takes him a while to open up to someone. Thankfully, it helps that you have a sense of humor; even if he doesn’t react much at first to your playfulness or jokes, it does help break the ice bit by bit! Eventually, he really comes to enjoy how genuine you can be to yourself, and how you can just let loose and dance and sing and just have fun. He’s a little envious of you, sometimes!

Ryan doesn’t know how many times you’ve saved his ass by being prepared. You’d think he’d be a bit better at remembering to bring a water bottle with him as he works at a summer camp, but no. The sun is beating down on him, he’s running around bringing kids to and from their activities, doing his duties as the sailing instructor… And he forgot his water bottle. He is forever grateful if you decide to lend him one of the extras you had on hand! Besides that, you seem to carry miscellaneous helpful items, like sunscreen and chapstick and a mini first aid kit… Stuff he didn’t even think about carrying around, and yet it’s so helpful and convenient when you happen to pass by while you’re on your way to the next thing you’ve gotta take care of, and spare a moment to lend him a band-aid since he accidentally scraped his arm putting boats away.

He thinks the amount of language knowledge in your head is insane. He only knows English fluently - he did decently in whatever language he decided to take for a couple years in high school, but definitely didn’t retain much in the end. So the fact that you know so many and have plans to learn more in the future is just absolutely wild to him. Don’t get him wrong, though, he’s super impressed! He just can’t wrap his head around it. While he doesn’t have a super strong interest in learning languages (mostly because he thinks he wouldn’t have the time or motivation to keep up with learning it and maintaining it), Ryan really wants to know how you learn them, like little tricks that you’ve figured out that work for you.

In terms of music, Ryan tends to stick to his tried and true favorites, so he’ll get a lot of exposure to different music through you. Which, really, he doesn’t mind! It’s really nice when other people show him music rather than him going off on his own and trying to find new music to listen to. Plus, the variety is nice, even if it doesn’t end up being quite to his tastes. So go ahead and share your playlists with him, or let some music play quietly while you two are hanging out. Ryan would also be really impressed to hear that you enjoy producing your own music - and if you’re comfortable, he’d love to listen to the stuff you’ve made or are currently working on! He would also admire how you can play several different instruments. It wouldn’t be surprising if he knew how to play guitar or bass himself, so he’d absolutely be down to play some music with you sometime, or just listen to you play something (or vice versa).

Please let him gush about his podcasts and tell you spooky stories. As much as he tries to push the brooding loner attitude, he does really want to make genuine connections with others; it’s just hard. And because of that, he doesn’t feel very comfortable opening up to others about his interests and hobbies. Once you two are comfortable with each other, he would love to talk to you about the latest podcast he’s been listening to or the latest thing he’s been reading - and, preferably, he’d love to have an actual conversation rather than him just rambling on about it to you. (In return, of course, he’s more than happy to have conversations about your own interests. In fact, the more you open up about yours, the more he’ll open up about his.)

Ryan starts bringing and keeping candy on him just for you. He can shy away from physical or verbal affection sometimes, especially when out in public, so being able to do little things for you or get you little gifts is his go-to. Even if he thinks the mint candies are a little gross - personally, he does not think mint and sweet should go together, and he’ll tell you as much, lol - he’ll have some tucked away in his pocket or backpack just for you! He knows how much you like snacking, and even if he isn’t big into sweets himself (he likes salty snacks), he knows how nice it is to have something sweet on hand when you’re just craving a bit of sugar. Ryan is quick to pick up on your favorites and he’ll keep a variety on hand. If the others didn’t know any better, they’d think he developed a candy addiction himself.

Assuming the events at the end of summer still happen, your mindset and approach to tough times proves to be a beacon of light for Ryan. He’s terrified but trying so hard to be a hero and a protector. You try to cope and find comfort by using humor, and you’re trying your damnedest to not let the events of the night drag you down - it can come across as lackadaisical to some, like you’re not taking things seriously, but Ryan knows that you’re just trying to keep everyone’s mood up (including your own). It’s safer if you’re able to keep yourself stable rather than crack under the pressure of a creature hunting you down in the woods, after all.

#yeeee here you gooo #i need to play the quarry again fr fr #user matchup #the quarry #exchange

[itcamefromthetoybox]

Here to Sniff Flowers and Shoot Predacons

“Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” toys are finally out, and I for one couldn’t be happier! I am so freaking pumped to talk about the different figures from this line, especially since so many of the characters are from “Beast Wars,” my introduction to “Transformers,” and a show near and dear to my heart. So what I’m thinking is that we’ll look at one figure from several of the different sets of figures so that we can get a general idea about this line of toys. And, because I love the character’s original version from “Beast Wars,” we’re starting with “Beast Alliance Beast Battle Masters Rhinox!”

For those of you who don’t know, “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” is the sequel to the hit movie “Bumblebee,” the best movie in the “Transformers” film series and one you should definitely watch if you haven’t done so yet. While that movie took place in the 80’s, this one will be taking place in the totally radical year 1992. Not much is known of the plot as of this moment, which means there isn’t much I can say about the film’s version of Rhinox either. He’s a Maximal who turns into a rhinoceros, and that’s currently all I got. I could tell you tons about the “Beast Wars” version of Rhinox, but that’s because his show came out when I was a kid. This guy? Nothing’s out yet, so I can’t tell you anything about him.

The “Beast Alliance” line of figures, though, is something I can very much talk about. The focus in this line is figures that interact with robot animals, which become weapons and/or armor for the larger toys. It’s where a lot of the movie’s toys are and where we’ll be spending a decent amount of our time with the toyline. It’s made up of three sublines, with “Beast Battle Masters” being what we’re looking at today.

“Beast Battle Masters” are a series of transforming robot animals that become various weapons which can be held by larger figures. The animals themselves lack a robot mode, even if the character the toy depicts does have one, which makes sense because they’re smaller figures and engineering can only do so much without costing a crapload.

Rhinox, despite being a smaller figure, is very stocky. His mold is built to show off just how strong a rhino made of metal would actually be, which is VERY strong. His body’s sculpted in a way that really lets us see the armor plating the character has, which helps contribute to his powerful looks. Most of Rhinox’s body is covered in an rocky brownish color, with touches of metal paint on his shoulders, eyes, mouth, and neck. His steel-grey limbs and the sculpted wiring around his ribs really help drive home the fact that this is a machine and not an organic animal, but none of it takes away from the rhino shape. It’s very clear when looking at him what Rhinox is supposed to be.

Fun-Sized

Rhinox transforms into a gatling gun that can be held by most figures and has a pretty straightforward transformation. You split open his butt and wrap it around his body, rearrange the legs, and Bob’s your uncle. …Good Lord, that last sentence makes me sound like a serial killer when taken out of context. THIS BLOG DOES NOT CONDONE MUTILATING RHINOCEROSES OR PEOPLE. Anyways, the gatling gun looks alright. It’s not great-looking, and from the wrong angle, looks like an ass with a gun sticking out of it, but it’s alright. The legs can get in the way of certain figures holding it, so I’d recommend fiddling with the legs to make him fit in figures’ hands. Also, the gun barrel is removable, since it’s held on with friction tabs, but I’d leave it so as not to wear down the connections.

The Butt-Gun of Doom

Rhinox has limited articulation. His legs are held on by ball joints, but lack any joints themselves, so there’s not much going on there. Since his entire design revolves around turning into a gatling gun, there’s not much room for anything else. His shape impedes any real movement.

Now, would I recommend “Beast Alliance Beast Battle Masters Rhinox?” Absolutely. He’s a fun little figure who goes great with bigger figures. My plan is to actually get the larger Rhinox figure with a robot mode and have him hold this guy. While there will be a re-release of this toy that will come with a figure of Wheeljack, it’s gonna cost a lot more and has a lot less paint, so this is the better Rhinox if you’re not interested in that Wheeljack. Rhinox and the rest of his subline are available at mass retail for about $7-$10, and are fun little toys that kids will really enjoy. This is JS signing off and wishing you Happy Toy Hunting.

#transformers #toys #toy #transformers toy #transformers toys #beast wars #rhinox #transformers rise of the beasts #rise of the beasts #rotb #transformers rotb #review #reviews #toy review

[scary-monsters]

basics:

Name: Kat Age: 29 Jockey Number: 555 Horse: male, dapple gray, named Prince Occupation: Crafter/Builder/Jack-of-all-trades

abilities:

stand: Reflex (namesake: Duran Duran’s “The Reflex”), an infinite spool of indestructible wire. As far as she knows she’s the only one who can sever it. She mostly utilizes it for crafting and building purposes. It could definitely be used offensively, but she avoids confrontation (and people in general) as much as possible so that opportunity rarely shows itself. Woodworker, mechanic, metalsmith, gunsmith, carpenter, etc etc etc. She’s not a master in any of them but she’s dabbled in many different things over the course of her life.

personality/brief backstory:

A loner who joined the race as an excuse to get away from home, hoping to fully abandon her family forever. She comes from a large family with several siblings and, while growing up, she was always the one who lacked the most potential and was forgotten about the most. She bonded well with an elderly woman in her hometown who offered good conversation and education on various crafts. Unfortunately when this woman suddenly passed away, she had no idea how to deal with the grief and instead just sealed up completely, deciding it was time to leave. She’s on the run and has no idea where she’s going. Winning the race would be nice, but her lack of self-confidence makes her self-sabotage before she even gives it an honest try. She's full of trust issues, deeply troubled, has built thick walls, prefers being alone but also deeply craves intimacy and genuine connections with people. She manages to avoid most of the other contestants for the duration of the race.

timeline:

Diego partners up with HP after the 3rd stage (in which HP places first), they develop an odd relationship with clear romantic undertones (not entirely obvious to the two of them) and in Kansas City they happen to run into Kat, another contestant who has much more lax expectations for her placement in the race.

After stumbling upon her camp, Diego begins rummaging around despite HP's advice that they should continue on. He's caught in a snare, set with Reflex, and a small fight ensues. They call a truce and HP invites Kat to travel with them. She says no (this time).

She happens upon them again a few days later. Diego and HP are in the middle of another battle with a stand user, and though she thinks it might be pointless, Kat decides to help them out. After their victory, she finally agrees to travel with the pair. She knows if she doesn't start making partnerships, she'll be out of the race much more quickly than she'd like.

As time passes, the dynamics between her and the other two become more obvious:

Kat & Diego: banter banter banter... unfortunately this does devolve into actually serious arguments fairly often. Because she is so afraid of confrontation she’s usually the one to walk away before it gets too bad, but Diego is always ready to follow her and make sure she hears everything he has to say. When it’s good it’s good: they’re both goofy jokesters at their cores and, despite both their trust issues, they do form a decently close bond (after a very long time). Kat & HP: basically each other’s confidants. HP has a calm aura that puts her at ease. When Diego is being A Lot, the two of them can suffer together and bond over that shared annoyance. HP is grounded and assured, and Kat needs that. However, HP’s tendency to be distant and blunt can throw her off quite a bit. There will be times when she thinks she’s getting really close to a core, intimate piece of HP’s personality, only to then be shut off completely. After some time of traveling together, it becomes clear to her that she's developed some kind of feelings for the other two. Tension boils over and the three become intimate with each other, though it's clear that HP and Diego have much more concrete feelings for each other rather than Kat. That sort of fucks her up, because she starts to feel as though she's being used. The tension between her and Diego specifically starts to become a serious issue. He's insatiable and she's eager to please, sort of throwing out her own well-being and feelings just for his sake. It gets so bad that they eventually have a serious fight, leading her to abandon the two and claim that their partnership is over. This disbanding happens near the end of the race. She quits, retreats to stay in a cheap inn and make some money on the side by doing random odd jobs. Anything to keep her from having to return back home. She has literally no plan, and of course she keeps a close eye on the progress of the race, because as much as she'd like to deny it, there's still feelings very much present. When Diego wins the race, he quickly becomes mayor of Manhattan. He reaches out to her to offer a place at the estate he's just purchased, phrasing it as "doing her a favor" after all their traveling together. She takes this the complete wrong way and instantly shuts him, and HP, out for what she thinks is "for good". Time passes, after catching a picture of Diego and HP's wedding in the paper, she starts to ache for them all over again. It doesn't take long for her to give in and decide she'll just go visit to hopefully rebuild the bridge that was broken. Upon arriving at the estate, the staff immediately let her in as soon as she gives her name. Diego's made certain that she has access, and that fact alone hits her right in the heart. The reunion is very sweet and emotional, but she's still got her guard up. She agrees to stay with them, knowing that she doesn't really have anywhere else to go. At first she stays in a room on the opposite end of the estate, but eventually her feelings start to take priority again and she once again becomes involved with the two. She's most definitely madly in love with both of them LOL Time passes, wounds heal, bonds start to form again. There's still problems, lots of angst, but Diego is starting to mature and become a better version of himself, and HP is opening up much more easily. Diego has the staff convert one of the barns into a workshop for her, making sure there's a place where she can do what she loves (because despite Diego's offers, she doesn't want to sit around all day in the lap of luxury).

This post is an INCREDIBLY shortened version of the lore notes I have for my s/i, and will likely be edited more and more over time, but this gives a decent idea of who she is and what her story is! I love talking about her if you are curious and have questions :)))

#my art #jojosona #jjba oc #uhhh what tags do i use idk

[fqirycollective]

Childhood in Systems

tw// slight religious talk

Systems form from childhood trauma, according to the current idea of why systems exist as well as why other disorders beyond systems may cause a person to have ANPs and EPs. (The theory of structural dissociation.) This is commonly talked about in the community, but other aspects of childhood in regards to being a system are commonly untalked about or discouraged from being talked about.

Dissociation

Dissociation occurs when a person needs to block something out (in simplest terms), such as traumatic or severely stressful memories. It’s something the brain does naturally, especially during development. However, when a child dissociates so regularly (due to trauma, usually), dissociation will become their primary defense mechanism against those emotions and experiences. As time goes on and without access to another- better- defense, this becomes the child’s preferred way of dealing with those traumatic memories. Without other defenses and with dissociation being the primary and preferred defense, protective dissociation will occur on instinct and as a result, create dissociative barriers between ego states which then develop into established and increasingly distinct senses of self. These senses of self often are encapsulated in time and have memory segments that are unavailable to the other parts of consciousness and the other senses of self.

Checklists of Dissociation in Children

For children, there have been three checklists for determining if a child is experiencing dissociation. A lot of the times, it’s hard for children to recognize if they’re disconnected from things and it may be easier for adults to observe instead. Checklist one includes amnesic experiences, trance-like states, fluctuations in behavior, developmental issues, appearance of lying, mood disorder symptoms, hallucinations and delusions, poor response to familial intervention, a family history of DID, or DID-like symptoms. Checklist two adds to checklist one by adding hysterical symptoms/sleep disturbance, and a history of being abused. Checklist three adds many conduct disorder symptoms in addition to what’s already in checklist two. With a low of 42% of dissociative children having imaginary friends, 94% having appearances of lying, and 100% having depression, these are common things to look for when determining if a child may be dissociative.

Amnesia

Amnesia is a requirement for all systems, although some may experience emotional amnesia more than physical amnesia. (I may be wrong on this, but without emotional amnesia or physical amnesia, a system would be of no use because the ANP’s would experience the emotions they aren’t supposed to be experiencing.) However, even if a system experiences amnesia between switches, it’s not uncommon for the host (at least) to not remember the childhood at all. Amnesia is also known to cover up the fact of a person having amnesia, which is why self-reported amnesia is seen to be unreliable by some professionals. Like with the increase of distinctness of alters with age, amnesia also increases with age. It’s also likely that ANPs will have complete memory blocks of childhood, or the traumatic parts at the very least (regardless of system type). We don’t have OSDD-1b, but it’s a common misconception that all systems with OSDD-1b have a full recollection of their trauma, which isn’t entirely true. Some have memory blocks of it, just like any other system type. 

Imaginary Friends

There is an interesting connection between imaginary friends and systems. The rate of imaginary friends among systems in childhood is 42% - 84%, the higher percentages being children with DID. In children without a system, imaginary friends typically go away by the age of 7-8. However, in children with a system, these imaginary friends tend to last longer into the ages of 10-13. Imaginary friends are not required for a system, however they are a decently common thing for systems to have. In children with systems, it’s common for the imaginary friends to grow up with the child and have their names be things that are commonly associated with “good” and “bad”, such as “God”, “Guardian Angel”, and “Satan.” These names seem to fit roles commonly seen in systems, such as God - possible gatekeeper, Guardian Angel - possible protector, and Satan - possible persecutor. Because of these experiences, it’s become a theory that in childhood systems with imaginary friends, those imaginary friends aren’t imaginary at all but are instead the ego states developing into the alters of that system.

#did #did system #osdd system #did alter #did osdd #dissociative system #osdd #osdd community #osdd support #osdd things #trauma

[pahrak-the-sinnoh-slizer]

Games in 2023: One Piece Odyssey

The announcement of a brand new One Piece RPG tapped into some sort of childhood instinct in me, the kind where you hear two things you love are being combined into one thing and gasp in awe.  Child Pahrak would be pleasantly surprised to learn that I’ve finally gotten caught up on One Piece, a dream that always seemed just out of reach, up there with completing the Pokedex. (Which I’ve also done!  He’ll be so impressed.) But this isn’t about him: I’m an adult now, and I have to pay for my own anime RPGs.  Odyssey doesn’t exactly reinvent the wheel, but it does deliver what it promises, and I found myself having a lot of fun along the way.

The game sees the Straw Hats shipwrecked on a mysterious island named Waford, where a less-than-friendly meeting with one of the island’s inhabitants results in them losing most of the strength they’ve built up over their journey.  Obviously they’re going to need that back, so it’s time to scour the island and conquer its trials in order to get back out there searching for the One Piece!

You’re able to run around the overworld as Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, or Robin, and can switch between them with great ease. (Even once Franky and Brook join the party later in the game, they can’t be controlled in the overworld.  Unfortunate as this is, I can see why both of them would have some unique logistical concerns, so I won’t complain much.) All of them have some unique action(s), but not all are unlocked right away, and the game expects you to main Luffy to use his stretching powers to grapple across very frequent gaps and use Observation Haki to scan for hidden items and enemies with EXP bonuses.  Chopper is small enough to fit through narrow passages, Zoro can cut through metal doors, and there are certain items that can only be retrieved using Usopp’s slingshot; Nami, Sanji, and Robin all have unique items that only they can see, though they will remark if you approach one while not playing as them.  And, while you can’t run around as Franky, once he joins back up with the crew he can build bridges to open new areas.  It can feel a bit uneven, but…I was probably going to mostly play as Luffy anyway, so I can’t say it’s a huge flaw.

Battles involves fighting enemies in multiple areas at once, exploiting rock-paper-scissors style weaknesses, and tagging crew mates in and out of your 4-person active party.  Personally I like it!  It’s not too complex to understand, but does add its own extra layer to combat.  Part of me wonders if you could expand this to have the whole crew fighting across the various areas, but that might be a bit too unwieldy.  Fans will see plenty of familiar techniques at their disposal: Usopp has a mix of long-range explosive techniques (only 1 Pop Green, sadly) and gag techniques that only work if the specific enemy is dumb enough to fall for it; Chopper obviously is your healer, but he also gets a decent variety of attacking skills, including the ability to activate Monster Point for a few turns; Franky has a lineup of high cost but high damage group attacks that can really wreak havoc if you manage your TP (tension points) right.  I do feel like Zoro’s many, many available techniques are a bit samey, though, and Sanji doesn’t really have anything that stands out.  Despite having a long list of techniques, Luffy’s are just different enough to feel like a decent variety, and I really like that they turned Gear 2 into its own mechanic. (You can activate it either by itself for a mere 5 TP, or by using any of several “Jet” skills, and increase Luffy’s strength and speed for a few turns; I always try to keep it on.) Why they didn’t do this for Diable Jambe is beyond me.

Back at the story, the only inhabitants of Waford (aside from the monsters) are two humans: another shipwrecked pirate named Adio, who is able to summon massive energy gauntlets with his Grab-Grab Fruit powers; and a girl named Lim, who has some inherent connection to the island and is the one who took away the Straw Hats’ powers.  I found Adio pretty interesting, and was never entirely sure how much I should trust him until everything was revealed at the end.  Lim is an emotionless character who gradually warms up to the crew and comes out of her shell as the story goes on.  Again, not reinventing the wheel, but I like her well enough, and she’s involved in some interesting plot developments later on.  It’s Adio who convinces Lim that they should help the Straw Hats regain their powers, which have now been scattered all across the island in the form of special cubes.  Defeating bosses on the island gets you cubes, restoring more abilities and enhancing the ones you’ve already restored.  Some (most?) skills gain slots which can be filled with Cube Fragments you find scattered around the overworld; each fragment is tied to a specific character, and you can equip them to any available slots through the skill menu. (They can also be unequipped and rearranged at any time.) When a skill has 3 slots filled, it levels up, which usually means dealing more damage.  Seems pretty straightforward, right?  Well, here’s the catch: in order to fully absorb the cubes and regain all of their lost abilities, the Straw Hats need to venture into the strange dimension known as Memoria, a world made from their memories that asks them to relive their past accomplishments to process the cubes.

Basically, the game alternates between chapters where you explore a dungeon on Waford, and chapters where you relive a past One Piece arc; specifically, you go through Alabasta, Water Seven, Marineford, and Dressrosa.  I think how one feels about this particular facet of the game will go a long way toward determining whether or not they’ll enjoy it as a whole.  Anime games have always made a habit of retracing their source’s story arcs, and while that’s not necessarily a bad thing, it can get a bit…tiring at times.  That we’re explicitly “revisiting” these memories rather than simply advancing through the base story as the game’s main plot is something that might muddy the experience for some; Lim tells us off the bat that “memories are fuzzy” and some things might happen a bit differently, but there are scant few occasions where this plot point feels put to good use.  If you were expecting timeline shenanigans akin to the Dragon Ball Xenoverse games, you’ll have to look elsewhere.  It’s a bit disappointing, even frustrating at times: I was really looking forward to an interaction between Robin and the memory world’s Crocodile, but even when they’re in the same room, neither says a single word to the other!  I don’t want to admonish the game for not fulfilling my specific expectations, but that one…we can all agree that one is a notable oversight, yes?

Still, I want to judge the game for what it actually does rather than what I wish it did.  And what it does is lead us through some delightful new environments alongside a number of old favorites; Alabasta, Water Seven, and Marineford are some of my favorite arcs, and I know I’m not alone in that opinion.  It was nice to see Vivi again.  It was nice to see Iceberg and Tyrannosaurus.  Marineford is the one place we do see Jimbei, and crucially, the game capitalizes on the fact that this time, the Straw Hats are there to help Luffy through what just might be the single worst day of his life. (Though you STILL don’t have Brook for this part.  So it rings just a tiny bit hollow with him absent.  You’d think it’d be the other way around with all the hollow space between his bones, YOHOHOHO!!) And there’s one particularly good moment in Dressrosa that I think most fans will enjoy, but I don’t dare spoil what it is.  It was nice to see so many interactions big and small shared among the crew, especially the handful of sidequests that take 3 of them seemingly at random and see how they solve a problem without having the full crew to rely on.

Right, the sidequests!  So many sidequests, be they those limited crew stories, hunting down other pirates to claim their bounties, or more standard RPG fare like “kill these enemies” or “bring me these items”.  The game is surprisingly packed with things to do, with an in-game Objectives menu that rewards you for almost every single one (a total of 182!).  It’s, well, a full RPG!  I’ve got around 80 hours on my file and I’m still a few collectibles short of the Platinum.  Even that doesn’t track the bestiary, which I’d like to fill just for my own sake, or that last Zoro Cube Fragment I’m missing, or seeing if I can get the characters to the maximum level.  I got this far before the remaining tasks got grindy enough that I took an extended break.  This might also be the time to mention that there are locked treasure chests all over the place, giving you plenty of incentive to figure out how to get your hands on the key that opens them. (I won’t tell you how, but it was something I was already doing because it’s fun in its own right.) There’s also mountains of hidden lore if that’s your thing: several journals you can find scattered about, as well as extra snippets unlocked by picking up those special items only Robin can see.  This is a meaty game for sure.

I don’t want to spoil the story, so I’ll just say that despite some…misgivings regarding the endgame, I’d still say I like the plot overall.  It’s got enough of that distinct One Piece feel to it that I couldn’t help but enjoy it.  That’s true of every part of the game, really: you could go on all day about how certain things could’ve been “done better”, and there’s some merit there, but the game still does a fine job of everything and distinguishes itself by fully embracing One Piece’s unique charm.  Will it be GOTY?  No.  Do I recommend it?  Absolutely!  And I eagerly look forward to what comes next, be it DLC, a direct sequel, or a separate game done in the same style.  Even if none of that comes to pass, though, One Piece Odyssey is an entertaining and very filling experience, and one that’s yours for the taking.

Shortlist of things I want in a hypothetical follow-up:

-More Franky and Brook, ideally playable in the overworld.  I’d like to see Brook get a field action, maybe running across water?  Or something musical.

-Playable Jimbei!

-Faster overworld movement.  Maybe it’s just that the plot setup reminds me so much of Sonic Frontiers, but I wanted to get around MUCH faster than I was able to. (Though you do get fast travel relatively early on, and that does help.)

-More costumes would be nice (bring back Robin’s hat 2k5ever)

-If we stick with the Memoria concept, I’d like to see events play out way more differently than in canon.  I think it’d also be best if they used an entirely different set of arcs to avoid being too samey (the one I’d want most is Whole Cake Island, Skypeia probably has good odds, you could do a whole game that’s just Wano…)

-Let other characters who have Observation Haki use it in the field same as Luffy

-I do love that Conqueror’s Haki is a skill in battle, but I’m also curious about it as a field action that either stuns or removes weak enemies.

-Diable Jambe really should be a full mechanic

-Maybe a meter for Armament Haki you can expend to augment your attacks?

-There’s a whole slew of more techniques I want to see: more Pop Greens, General Franky, have Nami using Zeus, etc.

-Going on a bit of a tangent about Gears, I’d like more Gear 3 techniques for sure (Odyssey only has Gigant Pistol), and ideally the Gear 4 forms would last a little while like Gear 2 already does.  One thing they could maybe try is, when leveling up Luffy’s skills using Cube Fragments, you can choose to apply a Gear to it?  Like, when strengthening Gum-Gum Pistol, you have the option to make it Jet Pistol, or Gigant Pistol, or Kong Gun, and each would have their own unique benefits.  Though, that might be too complicated…still, fun to think about.

-There are a few techniques in Odyssey that deal extra damage to enemies with certain Devil Fruit types, and I think it’d be neat to see more effects that take this into consideration.  In that event, though, it would probably be best to have a more even spread of the various types: the Zoan buster move isn’t super useful when there’s only 2 Zoan bosses in the game, especially compared to there being 5 Logia bosses.

-I like the Bounty system, but I think it’d stand out more if they were minor characters from the anime/manga, maybe even some filler characters.  Let me hunt down Foxy and get paid for sending him to his death.

#One Piece #Games in 2023 #want to try something different #will I stick with it? who knows! #Game Night

[greatearthquakestudent]

Characters Anaylsis: True Strong Females

Samantha LaRusso and Tory Nichols

A lot of feminism these days are weak, bland, or stupid as heck. But Cobra Kai has able to produce two true strong female characters, Samantha “Sam” LaRusso and Tory Nichols. 

Some people may say Sam is an annoying brat or Tory is a psychotic murderer. But I call that flawed characters more than anything else. Both these two have done terrible shit, but they also mean well too.

Early Lives:

Samantha “Sam” LaRusso:

Samantha aka Sam LaRusso is the daughter of two time all valley champion and successful salesman, Daniel LaRusso. Her mother Amanda LaRusso (Steiner) is a tough chick from the mid-west. She’s also the older sister of Anthony LaRusso. And the granddaughter figure of the wise karate master, Mr. Nariyoshi Miyagi.

Sam was raised in a wealthy house alongside her younger brother, Anthony LaRusso. Being from tough backgrounds, both her parents had spoiled her and brother to near ways of other rich kids.

At a young age, her father and grandfather started teaching Sam karate, which she shows true talent in. She trained for several years. But around the time Mr. Miyagi passed away, Sam dropped karate from her life.

She befriend a girl named Aisha Robinson at a young age, and later in life, befriended two popular girl named Yasmine and Moon causing her to ignore her friend.

Tory Nichols:

Tory Nichols was born to an unfortunate family. Her father was a deadbeat, her mother was a struggling worker, who barely can make enough money. She has a younger brother named Brandon Nichols, and a criminal for a aunt named Kandace Nichols.

Early in her life, her father has abandoned her, her mother, and her brother for whatever reasons. Her mother had been kicked out of a good waitress job for taking used food out of the trash. This incident made Tory believe that the fortunate are selfish and heartless monsters who won’t care for people like them.

Later in her life, her mother fell ill to a unspecified illness. This causes her to be the adult of the household. She started working minimal wage jobs to make money to take care of her mother, raise her brother, and pay the bills. But since she basically is now her mother, she developed a hatred and anger for these things. 

She also get scammed for her at, who wants her mom to die, so she have her and Brandon for guilt-trip money. She had been threatened with sexual assault by her landlord.

Season 1:

Sam

We see first the young LaRusso through an event. She was one of three girl hit- car accident of future sensei Johnny Lawrence.

The girls, or just one is a part the reason that led Ms. LaRusso’s down her spiral of bad decisions. But reason why she did so was because of her desire to leave the shadow of her famous father. But this influence she made to her person outside her family who was connected to the real her, Aisha, utterly useless .

This desire causes her to date super popular boy, honestly who wouldn’t to be liked, I surely do half the times. But after seeing his true color and avoiding an attack, the boy by humiliating her, made her seem like she’s not something, just like her friend.

But Miguel Diaz, a new kid that Sam barely knew and cared for, stood for her honor and punish this boy. Being a decent person she tries to be and clearly does a good man, Sam is willingly to give Miguel a chance in love.

But tension raises as when she finds out that Miguel is  a student of her father’s old enemy, making her and Miguel’s relationship like Romeo and Juliet. But not speaking up about her role in Johnny Lawrence’s car incident, Sam loses her device privilege for some time.

The someone new came into her life, another nice boy, named Robby Keene. They quickly became friends, but since she couldn’t commune with Miguel, her friendship with Robby turned into something that looks more intimate, romantically intimate.

But when she been caught with this romantic looking friendship by her boyfriend, he got mad. He was understandably mad, but Sam never thought her and Robby have anything romantic between them.

Sam still feels guilt for the two people she hurt, she tries her best to fix it, but the damage has been done, Robby has been hurt by Miguel. I don’t know why she went into karate maybe she use it as a coping mech or whatever

Season 2:

Sam: 

After a while of trying, Sam wasn’t able to get Miguel explain her and Robby’s relationship. But during this time, their friendship developed into something more, the even were able to do the wheel technique together. When the chance came for her to get back her old friend, Aisha, she got it. But then that quickly diminishes, when she meets her new friend, Tory Nichols, who has mean girl demeanor and stole a bottle of vodka. When she found out her mom’s wallet was missing, Sam already knew someone that would that. She confronted, but got humiliated.  Even though, Tory didn’t  steal her mom’s wallet, Tory’s demeanor still was enough for Sam distrust her. But before her chance was diminished by her feelings of Tory, Aisha planted seeds of her and Robby’s relationship which cause her to sees him in the same way she saw Miguel possibly even more. Then found themselves close the felt each other.

But when she went on a date with Robby, she saw the boy she still loved with girl who she can’t the shake of the feelings of trouble off of. And after she antagonized her enough, Sam decided to take revenge on her.

At the party, Sam was probably willing to have a fun time with Robby and co, until she saw Tory with Miguel. Her distrust and along with her jealousy, made her unwilling to let her bully-looking ass intimidate her, so she was willing to challenge her in a drinking contest, knowing she’s more balanced than her. And since she was, she was able to beat her, and gained some glory.

She would’ve probably be into the drinking after beating Tory in it. This happen to where she doesn’t think she needs Robby with her. Then Aisha admitted the truth about what Miguel did by returning the medal of Miyagi.

This action, and along with her undealt feelings for Miguel, She approached him. And with the drugs she was on, she loss herself and kissed Miguel.

But since she still does care about Robby, she felt guilt for kissing Miguel, But she wasn’t able to tell due to fleeing away from the cops, being drunk, and her dad getting her out of Johnny’s apartment.

On the first day of school, Sam tries to tell Robby about what she did, but she couldn’t. Then both things that was on Sam’s mind came out real quick. 1. The Cheating and 2. Her thoughts on Tory. She was hesitant due to her been afraid of what she’d seen in Tory this whole time. 

But when Tory physically cut her open, she beat her up in order to survive. Soon afterwards, she witnessed the love of her life fall to his death caused by the other boy that she genuinely cared about as well.

Despite the fight being over, she was left with the pain that was caused by the girl that she knew who was dangerous and the guilt of her mistake affecting not just her life, but the lives of the boys she loved.

Tory:

Tory Nichols enters the scene showing her badass credential by challenging Cobra Kai champion, Miguel Diaz. There, she showed herself to be a natural tough fighter.

When she found herself hanging out  with the other girl in her dojo, Aisha Robinson, she opened up to her about her  best friend Sam, who wasn’t the best to her. And when she met the said friend Sam, she probably already heard so much shit about her.

Then Sam shows her pain in the butt attitude causing her to think that Sam some kind of “saint”. But when Sam accused her for her stealing her mom’s wallet, she really believed she’s an entitled little brat. When she grabbed her, this reinforced the entitlement, and made her pushed Sam down.

After trying to flirt with Miguel, he was trying to win the affection of his ex, When Tory found out it was Sam. She think that she wasn’t worth it due to what she heard from Aisha. And gets the idea for them to date, because she liked him and she could teach this little brat a lesson.

When Tory tells Miguel about her mom and how the fortune people were horrible to her this was a big part of her character. Both Aisha and Miguel had been wronged by a fortune person  which she could sympathize with. And Miguel was an immigrant, she could understand that struggle too. This also ties Kreese’s speech how, if one person goes down, the rest of you do, since they could share experience with each other.

While on the date with Miguel, she runs into Sam and her date. She started to mess with the entitled brat. But when it looks like Sam’s trying to play with Miguel’s heart or be selfish, Tory retaliated by knocking her down. Sam got an easy revenge by doing the same thing. This got her a consequence which pleads Tory.

At the party, Sam challenged her to the drinking contest which she was an expert in. When she seemed unphased by vodka this shocked her. This causes Tory to lose her balance and lose. Since the brat won, she was angry.

Later on, Tory witnessed Sam kissing Miguel confirming to her that Sam is really a player.

With all the times that Sam was “better” than her, Tory decided to punish the brat for her actions with the people around her.

But sadly, her anger caused the only person she loved to fall to his death.

Season 3:

Sam:

Months after the school fight, Sam was living the trauma of the fight, and with physical reminder for it. And after months of recovery she believed she was ready to go back.

But when she did got the memories of what happened, she’s shamed for being a victim in an assault for something that wasn’t entirely her fault. She’s also living with the guilt of where this all left both important boys in her life. She try to relentlessly check on Robby to make sure he’s alright.

And when Miguel woke up, she tries to amends with him and help him get helping with raising money for his surgery.

When Cobra Kai was antagonizing her fellow students, since she knows what  it’s like to have Cobra Kai  antagonize her, she steps in for them. Any kind of antagonizing behaviors they show, Sam will be there to counteract that, even if that gets her in trouble.

And when she did, she decided to antagonize them to show they can’t just do that to them. But when Tory showed up, the face of her fears was coming, causing her to go into flight mode.

But sadly, she let her friend, Demetri get his arm broken, and since she could’ve done something, but didn’t she at least felt guilt for that. 

This guilt along with her role in everything causes her to have some nightmare of Tory coming over to her safe place, blaming and beating the shit out of her for the role she had, saying it’s all on her. Then attempted to drown her.

When she wakes up she comes to the realization that she isn’t good for her anymore.

Her father tries to help built her up, but she found that useless. But after finding out her father was in her shoes once before with another cobra kai and getting the good of karate back in her, she felt much better with it again.

When she sees Miguel all better, she decided to have a fresh start with him and have redo by on their relationship before the trouble came in. And when they saw unlike couple of Demetri and Yasmine, they saw more of a chance in them.

And after, they worked together to restate the all-valley tournament, they had a moment. This similar moment with her and Robby, but unlike that, she had fully realized her feelings for Miguel and they made a move.

But then Robby came in and made her realize she just betrayed his love too. But hopes of Robby being sensible seemingly low, Sam didn’t reach out to him anymore and focused on her and Miguel.

Miyagi-Do and Eagle-Fang were getting together, Sam able to them together due to her knowing they both hate Cobra Kai now and to stop it.

When Tory confronts her again, the face of her fears was back which causes her to flee. But when she confronted her in her dojo, she had no where to run. With what she learned from her father about fear, Sam was able to face her fear and overcome Tory again.

Tory:

After the fight she started, Tory was expelled from school, was put on probation, doesn’t pay for the dojo, and was low at making money.

Adding more salt to the wound, she has to deal with a sexual predator in the form of  her landlord, but the worse part of about it, he has both financial and lawful power over her, leaving her with no way to defend herself without facing more consequences.

Then Kreese came in and made her a lot better by solving two problems, he got rid of landlord and getting her back into the dojo.

When she found out Miyagi-Do, more specifically Sam was at the arcade, she found another chance to try to punish her again for everything she had done especially after the fight. Even when she didn’t show, this made Tory believe that wasn’t bold enough to fight and chickening to her mom reinforced the spoil brat image she seen in Sam. When Hawk and Tory were talking about getting revenge on Miyagi-Do for getting Miguel involved, Tory showed signs of guilt, but hides it from Hawk who questioned if she had seen him yet. Later that day, she ran into a wheelchair bounded Miguel while going to work. She told him she’s now working two job. 

She tried to apologize to him for not showing up, she explained she really didn’t mean for him to be like he is now. But she and the other will get back at the Miyagi-Do for him.  She uses the line Kreese said, “if one man goes down, so do the rest too”.

But Miguel points out that he’s the only one that’s down. She tried clarifying herself, but Miguel said he understood. He explained he only cared about her during that time and nothing else. Based him and Sam, Tory questioned if he wanted to use her to make Sam jealous. And admit she witnessed their kiss. 

She felt justified over that. Miguel stated he understood and implied she needed psychological help, which she didn’t because her mentality doesn’t matter  and that only that people were wrong get what they deserved, and that Miguel is Sam’s. When she sees Sam’s ex Robby again, she wasn’t happy. She blames him along with everyone, including herself too. Then she helped his anger about Miguel and Sam by channeling it into his fighting. But after the finding a cobra test, she was impressed by Robby’s confidence.

With guidance from Kreese, Tory breaks into the LaRusso household to settle her score with Sam. With Miguel with Sam, she’s enable to listen to him. All that mattered to her was settling the score with Sam. Even when she loses, she was still angry that the brat won again. But she was still determine to get back at her.

Season 4:

Sam:

After the intense fight with Tory, a few months ago, Sam, her dad, and co had officially joined force with Miguel, Johnny, and Eagle-Fang.

Although she’s with Miguel, she still cares about Robby and tries talk to with him. Another way she still cared him about is admitting she went the skate park everyday back then for him to show up. She was angry at Robby for what he did. Which causes Robby to bring up her and Miguel. Sam tries to explain her thoughts at the time.

But Robby didn’t care and told her that she made a choice. But she knew Robby is much better than her, and try to use that fact to make him choose to go back to Miyagi-Do. But Robby brings up a major flaw of her’s, she believe she can get whatever she wants.

When she and the Miyagi-do students were being taught by Johnny for the day,  Johnny wanted them to free run jump off one building to another.

Sam was understandably afraid, she might fall to her death or cripple herself, plus her dad wouldn’t want that. This led into a mini argument with Johnny about their past mistakes and what’s the difference between were. Sam is still young while Johnny was in his 50s  Johnny showed sympathy to Sam about having by your parents, but he now he’s something he likes.

After mix of that conversation from her dad, she developed the confident to jump across the building, soaring an eagle for the first time, being herself more now.  After some time learning Johnny’s style of karate, Sam finally strong again.

With the ideal of Johnny, striking first, Sam gets a little payback at Tory for all the time she hurt her. But to no avail. 

Then her dad forbid her from using Eagle-Fang, she is the first-step of feelings helpless and restricted to her.

After Hawk got jumped and his  hair shaved, she goes to same instinct, to back to up them,

But then soon after, she found Tory getting help from her parents, making her betrayed and more restricted in her life. Brings up how unfair it is that her allowed to do the same while she can’t 

With her life getting out of her control, she starts turning to the only person that she could trust, Aisha.

Aisha gave her advice make, to the first move and set her terms. Since Sam was trying to get into get control of her again, she made the move and threated to Tory.

When her pointed out her cycle of love interest and general mess of that, she promised deal with aspect of her life.

Her trying to take control of her life again clouded her judgement on Tory, and it’s 180 to her, Tory seem insincere.

At the junior prom, she was trying to forget it all, forget the drama that happened from the past year. But then the two biggest thought of her life came back, but worse, Tory with Robby. 

Seeing Tory with Robby triggered her jealousy, trauma, guilt, and lack of control.

During the after party, Tory was acting like she didn’t mess her up real bad. These feelings in Sam overflows and causes her to lash out.

Her and Miguel got into a fight with Robby and Tory which ruined her and Miguel’s night. With all the emotions she feels, she felt hurt that Miguel blamed her for everything going on.

During the all-valley, when Sam was fighting someone that knows her moves she decided to use Eagle-Fang. The best thing to counter that mimicry. But this get reprimanded by Daniel.  Sam fought Tory, she was ready to win again. Even she got the approval to do her own thing. She made the Miyagi-Fang style. But somehow, despite all efforts, she loss. She felt like she failed.

Tory:

After losing to the brat again, Tory is angered than ever before. Tory express to Robby a reason she dislike Sam, because she believed Sam could have  everything she wanted, because it does happen a lot in their conflict.

When Robby challenges the whole dojo, she wasn’t willing to let him win, but after showing his strength, she let him stay. 

During work, she met Amanda LaRusso who gives her an ultimatum, to stay away from her daughter or she’ll go to prison for life. Tory tried to say something about it, but couldn’t knowing this couldn’t end well for her, losing everything right there.

But still knowing what she knows about people like Amanda and not wanting to do this during work, she tried to not let her push her around But with the annoyance of a customer asking for his food, she lashed out at him. Due to having a history of lashing out, this was the last straw for her boss to fire her. Since Amanda played a role in this, Tory blames her for making her angry and expresses her anger by admitting all her deep thought on the workplace.

At practice when she got tripped by Robby, it adds on her frustration what happened earlier. When Kreese tried to ask her, she refused at, but knowing what kind of person she knows he is. She admits why she’s angry.

When she found the bag of food that Amanda gave her. She got angry for her potentially fake sympathy, even with her explanation. She uses this fuel to her anger about Sam.

Despite her anger and frustration, Tory found another job as a children  entertainer. It might’ve been humiliating especially with Sam around, but she was knew it necessary for her life situation. Then Sam came over and was being girl that she knew she was. But due to everything she done, Tory had decided to stay calm and in character. Even when she brought things that were personal to her. But her belittling Tory was enough for a little payback. Knowing she can’t attack at the place, she gets tame way, by having the children throw glitter on her, getting good payback. But, when Sam kissed Miguel, this triggered her frustration, jealous, and anger that  she felt that night. This was enough fpr her quit the job. But, then Amanda apologizes and explains Sam’s behavior. She was full anger. Amanda tries to tell her to look for help, but she believes she could handle this. But Amanda just tells her to try, Tory didn’t react to that though.

At the movie drive in, Tory was still thinking about everything, when Robby checked on her, she tell about that she been having bad day, but, Robby respect her if she didn’t want to tell. Some time later, she gets a visit her aunt Kandace,   who was trying scam her.  But Tory was seemingly fully aware of her tricks and her games learn them from her. When Kandace was talking about her mother’s illness and taking custody of Brandon, she greatly offended Tory and caused her try to hit her. But she pull the fact that she has nobody to help her not even her dad, just her. Tory knows that Kandace doesn’t care about them. But she pulls the fact that her record will not make her look worthy for custody over Brandon. This leaves Tory to realize Amanda is right about needing help and realized what her action cost her. Later that day, Tory went to the LaRusso wanting help to get back into school, so she could finish and get her G.E.D. With knowing she what did at least wasn’t right for her and her situation Tory promises to stay away from Sam. But Amanda tell her to go to therapy, to have someone outside karate to talk about her issues. When she went back to school and saw Sam, She hesitant, but she was thankful for helping her get back in. This is unknown would’ve gone well, made Tory less of everyone around and including.  After spending so much time with Robby, something sparked between them. And when junior prom was rolling around, tension between them really came up, Robby suggested that she should go to mess with Sam and Miguel since that was the lesson of the day. And she suggested that they should do it together.

When they got there, they were ready to give Miguel and Sam a performance they will remember. But slowly the thought messing with Sam had started to fade from Tory’s mind. It was replaced with the thought of her actually being with Robby. As dance continues she confess to Robby about how she realized her what she desire, is to have something she could be proud of herself for, that she earned something in her life.

During  the afterparty, she was probably having the night of her life.  So such she seem to be nice to Sam for a little bit, keeping the promise that she made to Amanda. But since Sam was still the same person, she doesn’t let her boss her around.

Then Sam strikes first, and since Sam is the attacker, Tory has a reason to fight back. Then Miguel comes and carries her, but they fall to the ground. She reminisce for a second about their time together, but since everything that happened, she doesn’t linger on it, and goes back to fighting. When it seem Sam was messing with Robby’s heart now, Tory swept her legs. Since they’re together now, they work together to take on Miguel and Sam. But that didn’t thing, since Robby accidently shoves the couple and Tory into the pool. With the excitement that happens around them after the fall in, Tory playfully  pulls Robby into the pool making there night fun. After all that, Tory and Robby were enjoying the fun that they had at the party, and their night in general. That combine wit there closeness, they shared a kiss and a night together. During the all-valley, when Sam showed more offense to Tory while in her other fights, which caught her guard off. When getting some convo and advice from Amanda and we know that her therapy is really help explain her current self.  When she was ready wish to Sam, she was hesitant, not wanting to disrespect Amanda’s wishes, but Kreese assured that her could do it.

When Sam and her fought, she was really trying to hold back her hard side. But after Sam shows her aggressiveness, Tory was conflicted on what to do. Silver tells her to amp it up, which she did, getting her the point. When Sam strikes back with an unfamiliar style that got her the edge. Despite that all, Tory tries her best to hang into the fight. But while doing so, she accidently used an illegal move on Sam, which she knew wasn’t right.  When Silver tells her harm Sam more, she knew that isn’t going to be any good in this fight. But Kreese tells her to do whatever she wants. With this in mind, Tory was able to overcome Sam fairly. After her victory, she attempted to make amends with Sam by checking on her, but she got swept away by the glory of winning the all-valley. When Tory thought she has finally earned something in her life, it was quickly shattered by her stumbling into Silver paying the ref to rig the fights. She walks away in shame knowing she didn’t actually win.

Season 5:

Sam:

Some time after Sam’s big loss, Sam still has feelings of guilt of letting everyone down. She blaming herself getting Miyagi-do shut down. And she’s been replaying her fight with Tory, but since her guilt was so much and since it already happen, she loses every time.

When Miguel called, she rationally explain how what he’s doing is a bad idea. With having Miguel to about happened, she felt in little neglected by him, but Miguel brushes her issues aside, making her feel alone in this.

This sent Sam in a bit numbing mood and Anthony telling about his problem which is karate was leading to her wanting get away from it all more now. 

After getting text from Miguel, Sam was hesitant after the last time they talked. But with some advice from Moon and Yasmine she was confident enough to suggest them having a talk. At the Spa, Sam tries out a sensory deprivation tank, while she was in there. She was visualizing every issues in her life in the past couple years. Her being in a shadow of her father, her tournament loss, her public image, guilt on hurting Robby, and her tough relationship with Miguel. This all spiral down into what sounds like Tory, but she was really her, or the her that caused all this. 

Sam started to battle with the twisted side of herself,  but got it cut short by Moon. Sam was shaken up by her experience.

Still being shaken up by her vision, she decided to remove one of her problems, her struggling relationship with Miguel, by breaking up with him.

With her break-up with Miguel, Sam had felt  a little relief for problem, but since they’re still friends and their own friends are dating, she still kinda has to see him. While in Ohio, she found out her brother is being terrorized by Cobra Kai, she decided to step in by teaching him ways to defend himself.

When her dad got hurt physically and mentally, she decided to step back in to help him. When her dad reopened, she was there, ready for the fights.

While learning from Chozen, Sam rekindled her friendship with Robby. When her and Miguel found out, Miguel brought up the fact about her being back in karate. Which she has again remembered what it had meant to her. And hearing him and Robby are closer, this made her guilt on what happened to them dissolve.

When getting ready for the Sekkai Tekkai qualifier match, Sam was little hesitant, but her new sensei, Chozen was able relate about feeling like you needed to be better, he convinced her to fight for the people she cares for.

Then she found an octopus necklace by the dojo and was immediately able to put together that it was Miguel’s. During the match, she was ready to fight Tory, but when she disappeared, She had to fight Devon Lee instead. She was dominating Devon, but the ref was making her lose every time which gets to her head. But after encouragement from her team, she was able to overcome these calls and fairly beat Devon. Sam has finally won and she’s very happy about it.When Sam arrived at the party, she was ready to reconnect with Miguel, her hopes to do so was shattered when she saw him making out with another girl. She flees. She tries to go home, but Tory came and told her the truth.This made Sam angry, since her holding this info cause all the events that happened after the tournament. Next day, Sam is still struggling with this information causing her to be judgmental and hostile.

After just not getting the results she wanted from Stingray, Sam was very frustrated and leaves, but as she’s doing so, Miguel questioned everything that been happening in their lives with her. Especially with what happened last night. Sam admitted how much hell this was that came from a lie, she blames herself for not knowing, she blames Tory for not telling her until now. But Miguel gave a perspective with what effects Cobra Kai can have on its students.

With this perspective in mind, Sam decided to talk to Tory for information. After seeing her living environment, her broken hand, hearing the struggles she went through in the dojo, this made Sam realize Tory herself is a victim of Cobra Kai.

With this in mind, Sam decided to finally shut down Cobra Kai. After it was all over, Sam’s life was nearly completed, she and Miguel finally admitted they loved each other, and they kissed.

Tory:

After finding out what happened, Tory was hesitant to go back to the dojo, but knew she had to.

When she questioned as champion by a potential sensei “Joe”, she reluctantly answered the question yes. 

Tory’s mind wasn’t fully into the training which doesn’t go unnoticed by Joe. Joe questioned why she isn’t giving an effort into training, possibly not wanting to train anymore. But Tory’s core motive for karate is to be strong. Then she questioned Joe on why he wanted to be a sensei. He told her his motive was honor. This confused her a bit, but he explained his loss of honor and how he realized it was a self thing. Then he told her that she could do the same. Tory realized this could mean about her as a fighter and person.

The he told her, if she break free of her problem, she must face them. Knowing what to do, Tory was able to now focus on training.

Later, she took Sensei Joe’s advice, to confront her “problem” aka Terry Silver, by confronting him about the cheating. But when Terry promised a good future for her, she couldn’t that pass that up.

At home, Tory looks at her trophy knowing she didn’t deserve it, but she went on display it in fear of Silver.

With no one to really confide in, Tory turns the only person she could rely, Kreese. They came with a plan for her to find out what she can and report back to him.

When Robby came back to leave and asked her, she knew wouldn’t work, because she needs to get info on Silver.

But after Daniel got hurt, Tory felt a mix of guilt making him a part of this, lying to everyone, especially Robby, deceiving people with mysterious notes, letting Silver expand his dojos. But when she told this to Kreese, she was very thrown off on how inconsiderate he was.

When Tory and the senseis took over Topanga Karate, she ended up teaching Devon. She was confused by her combative behaviors, but she brought her late mother dying from illness, she was to able to sympathize with her. 

When the senseis made her fight Devon, she tried to go easy on her, but Sensei  Kim made her go harder. But every time she did, she felt sorry for hurting this poor girl who just want to live up to her mother’s words.

When Devon joined Cobra Kai, Tory was worried for what Cobra might do her.

Training with Kim and Devon, Tory tries to set a good example to Devon, but to no avail. When Devon questioned how she defended her, Tory just express showing how that’s a good leader.

When the Sekkai Taikai came around, and finding out the effects of these events, Tory asked for advice on what to do. But Kreese just refuse to help her, the image of what Tory thought had shattered. She realized this betrayal, led to the belief that she has nobody.

When she found out the match was rigged again, Tory isn’t willingly to feel like faker again and leave the dojo.

After both dojo got into the Sekkai Talkai, Tory was finally decided to come clean to Sam about the cheating. But with Sam not giving her a chance, Tory feels like she had nothing but Cobra Kai as a place to go.

When Robby showed up and  tried to convince the students to see who Silver as the terrible man he is. Tory struggled to hide with the guilt of not listening to Robby and not showing her agreement of the argument of fear out of getting found out.

After the training for the day, Tory was ask to stay back and punch a solid dummy. With no way out, Tory risk breaking her hand in order to avoid further punishment.

But when Kim was tormenting her with her love for Robby, this anger her and try to hit her, but hit the stone instead. This sent Tory to the ground in fear, pain, and regret.

When Tory was icing her hand, the most unexpected visit happened from the person she wouldn’t expect to see her, Sam. Tory already knows how Sam feels about this, so she tried to push her away, but when Sam told her, she wants to talk. Tory hesitantly let her in. There, she let of all her pain, guilt, regret, fear, feeling of being a fraud, and her disappointment to Sam.  But when Sam told her about Stingray, she realized what chances they have.

Despite her feelings and her injured hand, Tory put taking Cobra Kai down above all those things. She tries reason to why the other Cobra on how used they are. She also tried to apologize Devon for deceiving her. 

After the defeat of Silver, Tory and Robby get back together, Tory wanted to have the good things first, before going into the difficult ones.

Conclusion:

Sam and Tory are very flawed characters, but have very strong redeeming qualities to them. Sam is a drama magnet, but deep down she’s just trying to be a decent person, who struggles with life. Tory is a girl with very deep psychological issues due to her past. But deep down she’s a very strong, caring, hard working, and sweet person.

#sam larusso #tory nichols #Cobra Kai #miyagi-do #mary mouser #peyton list

[mashkaroom]

Saw a post that i can’t find again right now about food mirages (places where there are grocery stores, so they’re not food deserts but none of the grocery stores are financially accessible, so it’s basically a food desert if you’re under a certain income level), and there’s yet another form of almost-desert, which occurs quite frequently in certain suburbs, which is when there’s a decent selection of grocery stores within driving distance, but none of them are within walking distance or even public-transit accessible. If you have a car this is obviously fine, but if 

1) your car breaks down and you can’t afford to fix it, you suddenly find yourself in a food desert.

2) if you only have one car per family (or part of the family drives and part doesn’t/can’t), then part of the family finds itself functionally in a food desert (this was the case for us -- we moved to a place where there’s 2 grocery stores within .5 miles and a cheaper one about 2 miles away and one the bus route, and in terms of quality of life for me, who can’t drive, it’s a pretty big deal. If I need some ingredients, I can just go. Moreover, it takes pressure off my mother, because she does not have to be physically present for every grocery run.)

3) it’s a tool of de facto segregation, at the very least economically, which almost always reflects racially. Even if you can find an affordable place, and even if you can get to work by PT/walking/remotely, you still need a car to fulfil basic tasks like grocery shopping. My town, for example, bafflingly doesn’t have a grocery store at the town center, where several bus routes and a train line have stops. I’m not sure why this is, and whether this is intentionally meant to keep poor people out -- honestly, even if there was a grocery store in a more accessible location and the town was better connected with public transit, the housing market here is such a fucking mess that it wouldn’t make too big of a difference(we for example were on a number of affordable housing waiting lists over a period of like 13 years, and the only one we came off of ended up being pretty much what we were paying except for like 66% of the space -- the affordable housing is scarce, which is 100% the product of racist, classist NIMBYism on behalf of the legislature and the voters both, and a lot of the “affordable” housing is actually only affordable for people solidly in the middle class). But I’m just always thinking about how car-dominance is such an effective and often-used tool of systemic oppression at literally every level of the system, how instead of segregating legislatively you can just make a car a requirement to live in certain places and then sheerly coincidentally those places have better-funded schools and more green spaces and and and.

#tbh i'm increasingly convinced that there is no true justice while we still live in a car-dominant society #and some people may need it all of the time #it's not a like. no justice until every car is burned situation #it's about the fact that cars are over and over again are placed before people #especially poor people & people of color #also ofc the more rural you get the more difficult it can be to have a PT system that serves everyone #but it's not NEARLY as difficult as they make it seem in the U.S. #anyway lol this is one of the 3-5 topics on constant rotation in my mind to be angry about

[totodiletears]

Why you should read The Serpent Gates duology by A. K. Larkwood

Or: if I'm going to complain about how people haven't read this enough to create a fanfic scene, I should at least explain why it's worth reading

This duology consists of The Unspoken Name and its sequel The Thousand Eyes. It's a fantasy taking place in a world composed of several worlds, connected by gates which take you to a place called "the Maze" where you can travel between worlds. You can even risk visiting dead worlds, worlds devoid of life and slowly being reclaimed by the Maze. And that's not going into the history of this place. The basic gist without spoiling important plot details: there used to be a race of giant snakes running a multiple world empire, but they, their world, and their goddess are dead now.

But who cares about the setting and lore and shit? We've got CHARACTERS! There's a decent-sized cast here, but there are three characters in particular who across the duology get plenty of POV time and good proper character arcs.

Also none of these three characters are straight. I feel like this is worth emphasizing: these characters are queer as all hell.

Csorwe: most important in book one, where she gets the privilege of being the protagonist. Her character arc is pretty well completed by the end of that book. Her background is pretty well described in The Unspoken Name's tagline, "Priestess. Assassin. Traitor." She grew up in what was effectively a death cult, where she was given the role as the Chosen Bride who would be sacrificed to a death god when she was 14. When the time for her sacrifice came, she instead turns against her faith and runs away with a visiting mage named Sethennai and grows into his right hand. Oh, did I mention she's an awesome butch orc? She is. Total blorbo material too. By the end of The Unspoken Name I was so proud of her. You GO, girl!

Talasseres Charossa: usually referred to as Tal. Your first impression of this guy is he kind of sucks. Much of this is because you're seeing him through Csorwe's eyes. Her first impression of him was pretty terrible, and after that they spent years both working for Sethennai and competing for his praise. This setup does not lead to a good working relationship. But let's be fair, we can't blame entirely blame Csorwe for this impression. Tal's a mess. He doesn't care about a darn thing besides pleasing Sethennai, and he's an ass to everybody else. But it's okay, because he undergoes CHARACTER GROWTH!!! Even just finishing the first book is enough to make you way more positive toward him, and the second book? Hoo boy. Did I say I was proud of Csorwe? Fuck that. As of The Thousand Eyes, Tal's the one I'm proud of.

Qanwa Shuthmili: a mage with a passion for historical research. She comes from Qarsazh, a place where magic is seen as evil. Magic comes from patron gods, which god depending on where the mage came from, and in Qarsazh this god is a feared god indeed. For this reason, those born with the ability to use magic are either killed or forced to live very strict lives. Their lives aren't considered their own at all: they may only live to serve Qarsazh in the way Qarsazh demands. Shuthmili insists the future set in front of her is fine and exactly what she wants, but is it really? Talking about Shuthmili is kind of hard because, while she sure is an important part of the first book, she moves to a protagonist role in The Thousand Eyes so a lot of development is saved until then.

Look I really adore these characters and I think everybody should give them a chance. Also a warning: there are times things look very, very bad for them. Bad enough it might seem hopeless. When that happens, keep going. Just keep fuckin reading. The characters aren't giving up, so why should you?

#plz read and yell about it with me