#And I hope this aesthetics have no problem whatsoever
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The thing about AI art is, the skill ceiling is just as high as with any other art form - that is to say, infinitely high. It's a different skill set than other art forms, but there is skill involved. Someone can very easily spend just as much time and effort AI-generating a picture as an equally skilled conventional artist might take to paint it. What gets abused is the fact that the skill floor is lower - you can make something pretty to look at and/or get a general idea across with just a few words and a minimal amount of luck.
Now, I genuinely believe that lowering the skill floor to make visually appealing art, in its own right, is always going to be a good thing. No internal caveats whatsoever. We've seen people say otherwise with EVERYTHING that has lowered the skill floor of art in the past, from digital painting to photography to premixed paints; art survived all those developments, and...most of those people turned out to be remembered as anything from your standard obnoxious, self-centered "WELL IF I HAD TO WORK AT IT THEN SO SHOULD YOU, RAAHFKS KIDS THESE DAYS" stolen valor types, to outright fascists who WANT the world of art to remain closed off and inaccessible to anyone they deem ~undesirable~...
The latter of which makes it absolutely terrifying to me how the easily exploitable "respect for labor" argument...can come from a very real place right now, even more than usual, because we've BEEN AT a tipping point with late-stage capitalism since 2008 and the rich are STILL propping it up with sticks to keep it working for them and them alone while they laugh about likely soon being able to use automation of many types TO KILL PEOPLE THROUGH POVERTY, WITH THE CRUELTY BEING HALF OF THE POINT.
We already saw a bunch of trads try to recruit from young center-left types by pointing out how minimalism is often more of a corporate cost-saving method than it is an actual aesthetic choice (which it is, but also sometimes it is a legit choice for reasons other than being inoffensive-even-if-not-enjoyable; having things nice and open and airy and clean has its appeal - failure to acknowledge this can be part of that pathway to trad bullshit), and now we have this area as a vulnerability with "automation will steal your job just like immigrants and deny you your G-d-given place toiling away for the rich until your body falls apart and destroy the very concept of art and western civilization itself and flood the market with lesser work and let the unworthy have a voice just as loud as yours, we must destroy it at all costs!"
So. This post is a checkpoint. Stop. Evaluate your criticisms of AI art. I HOPE that you have them - as a mixed media artist with AIs in my toolbox, I CERTAINLY do. This is a call to "clean" those criticisms a bit. Look for any bullshit leaking in at the corners.
Yes, there is a huge problem with the cultural value of art being cruelly decoupled from the value of the work that made it. Yes, there is a Problem of creatively bankrupt AI artists who use this lower skill floor to, recklessly or even deliberately, harm conventional artists. This is true. It is important to criticize. It is a problem with the environment, NOT with AI art itself. Are you letting this fact convince you that gatekeeping self-expression will prevent it from getting worse? Are you letting this fact convince you that people who can't hold a paintbrush or tablet pen for extended periods, let alone those who can't hold one at all, SHOULD be barred from visual arts? Do you think that's just a made-up "gotcha" theoretical and not a description of actual living humans you're likely to meet several of if you poke your head into any space that gives a damn about ML ethics?
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Getting better Pt. 1
Platonic!Yandere!Sephiroth x Autistic!Physically disabled! Reader
Hello I am back with something and idk if it’s very good but this whole thing was lodged in my brain so I needed to spit it out.
Also the whole elevator scene is almost directly taken from a one shot I once read on here that I cannot find for the life of me. I really wanted to get this out but I also want ask the original writer if they’re okay with me using their idea. If anyone recognises the idea and can send me the original link that’d be great!
CW: single use of the r-slur, if I’m missing anything please let me know!
Oh and also the reader’s physical disability in this is based on my own irl one - I don’t use mobility aids just yet, but I end up in lots of pain very quickly and have to wear joint braces, especially on my legs.
As always, I’m not a professional writer, I have no formal education in writing whatsoever, so any feedback is greatly appreciated!
Hope you enjoy reading!
—//—
You pull yourself up towards the bar, every joint in your body squealing out in pain, despite this being your first exercise of the evening. You had thought, naively, that lifting your own body weight should be doable, especially since it took pressure off of your legs, where the pains were worst. You were clearly mistaken, your entire upper body now just in hot agony.
But you couldn’t quit. Not now, not as you were barely beginning.
You said you’d get ten reps in, so you were going to get ten reps in.
The complete silence of the Shinra employee gym gave you confidence to speak aloud, trying to keep yourself hyped for the exercise.
“One… T-two… ah! Ow! Three…”
“Your form is awful.”
The voice was calm, buttery smooth and deep, with a lilt of confidence that told you this man knew what he was talking about.
“Oh… so how do I do it right then?” The question was asked with an unappealing grunt as you dropped from the bar, listening to the sound of footsteps covering the ground towards you.
Once you realised the man was standing over your shoulder, you stiffened, not having actually expected him to come over and help.
“The main problem is your balance, you need to pull your legs with you, and use your core too. This one is a full body workout, not just for the arms.”
Damn it.
“Ah, that makes sense… do you have any recommendations for arms then? I’m kinda new to this whole thing.” You spoke with a nervous chuckle, turning around to look at your newfound companion.
He was tall, with gorgeous long silver hair that floated past his wide, muscular shoulders, covered with a beige, blank tank top. He was, objectively, attractive as hell. Even without feeling that way, you knew what society found sexy and you could appreciate the aesthetic beauty of this man. You swore you knew him from somewhere.
You hoped you weren’t too visibly flustered by the closeness that you had only just recognised, taking a nervous step back while you awaited his answer.
“I’d say a beginner should start at the beginning. If you want to work out your arms, use the lighter weights, just over there.”
He gestured over towards the weight section, where there was a rack of dumbbells of many sizes, including ones so tiny you wondered if they even classified as weights.
“That’s… a good idea,” You laughed, “I guess I just wanted to throw myself in at the deep end.” You joked, keeping the mood light as you trailed over to where he had directed.
Looking over the selection of weights, you decided to go with second lightest pair, which made your elbows creak, but you grit your teeth and moved over to the seating so you could get back off your feet. The man had followed you to the same section, but he seemed to be preparing an ungodly amount of weights into what you assumed was a bench press.
“So…” You pulled your left arm up with the weight, following a diagram on the wall, “Why are you down here? So late at night, I mean?” You specifically chose to come here so that you wouldn’t have to be seen, so you supposed you may as well pick this guy’s brain if he would be annoying you.
“The SOLDIER training facility can only be kept open for so long each day, so I thought I’d get in some regular exercise too.” He still hadn’t finished loading up the weights, and you were a bit concerned by what he considered ‘regular’ exercise.
“You’re a SOLDIER? I guess that makes sense, I’ve probably seen you on the news or something.” You were on your fourth rep, and your left elbow was crying out for a break.
“What?”
“I just thought you looked familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it, so I’ve probably just seen you around.”
“How interesting…” He spoke with a chuckle, “And who are you, hmm?”
“I’m YN, I just work in the analytics department. Who are you, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“You really don’t know?”
“Should I?”
“Sephiroth. My name is Sephiroth.”
“That’s… a lovely name.” You remembered a bit clearer now, hearing about a first-class SOLDIER on the news by that name. How funny that you got to meet him in real life.
“What about you? Why are you working out so late at night?”
“I was sort of hoping I could be alone… I already said, I’m new to this, so, I didn’t want to embarrass myself.”
“That’s not the best idea, you know. You should have someone mentor you, make sure you don’t hurt yourself while you’re just starting out.”
He finally seemed satisfied with the amount of weight on the bar, as you began reps with your right arm. You wondered if the bar was actually strong enough to hold all that.
“Well, I don’t think anyone would want to mentor me, it’d probably be quite the hassle since I’ve got no idea what I’m doing.” You explained, not expecting an answer.
“I could always help you.”
That took you by surprise, surely a SOLDIER, especially a first-class one would be far too busy to help out someone like you, but at the same time, who were you to turn such an offer down?
Your only response ended up being a bewildered laugh, finishing up your reps before looking around and trying to decide on the next best course of action.
Sephiroth also went quiet, the look on his face was tense, deep in thought.
“I mean it. Perhaps it’s odd, but I find it’s useful to follow my impulses. Besides, they say a true master must be able to teach.”
“I guess that makes sense, alright then, what should I try now?”
—//—
“So, are you from Midgar?” Sephiroth offered a gentle hand hosting over your leg as he showed you how to lift yourself on the bar, as you had decided to return to the difficult exercise.
It had been a few weeks since you had come under Sephiroth’s wing, meeting him at dead of night in the gym several nights a week, so you trusted him enough to give an honest answer.
“Nah, only moved here a year ago, I assume you’re Midgar born and raised?”
“But of course.” He said with a soft smirk, walking away once he was satisfied that you were on form. “Why did you come here? Given the war with Wu Tai and Avalanche, it’s not exactly a dream home, wouldn’t you say?”
“I came here for the same reasons most anyone comes here, work and medicine. I think this place is quite the dream home honestly, I’ve got everything I need.”
You lifted yourself with a grunt, having stopped caring about how you sounded a while ago.
“Medicine? Who do you need medicine for?”
“Myself! Is that not obvious?” You laughed at what felt like an insane question from the SOLDIER.
“You don’t seem sick… have you recovered?”
What a strangely genuine question.
“Have you seen me?! My body is a wreck, honestly!” You raised your arms incredulously, showing off what you considered the state of your body, while not visibly broken, internally felt ruined.
He gave you nothing more than an odd look, turning away.
“I mean it! There’s a reason I struggle so much to exercise, I’m not just lazy.” You defended yourself, believing that he was judging you.
—//—
You were stumbling through the throng of people standing by the elevator, wondering why no one was stepping inside since the stairs were a death sentence.
When you saw Sephiroth standing inside, you scoffed, walking in before hitting the button for the 36th floor. You noticed that he was heading to the 58th floor, where the Turks did most of their office work.
The doors slid closed as you turned around and stood at his side, letting out a long suffering sigh once you were out of view of others.
“What a day…” You sighed, truly and deeply tired, but hoping you could turn this into some kind of friendly banter between technical coworkers.
“It’s 8:30 in the morning.” He turned to you with what you thought was a lighthearted smile, which quickly became a frown. “Has something happened?”
“My boss… yeah, my boss happened!” You laughed, to keep the sourness out of your tone. “He just turned up like half an hour before the end of my shift yesterday, dumped a whole week’s worth of work on me, then told me he wanted it done by today! I spent four whole hours in overtime, but it’s still not done.” You sighed again, the reality of the situation setting in.
“This… this might be the last time we ever see each other.”
“What do you mean, over one mistake?” He seemed incredulous.
“My boss has been looking for a reason to fire me since he met me. He thinks I’m a drag on the company.”
At that, he merely hummed in response, turning away and quite efficiently ending the conversation.
You cursed yourself internally for making things awkward and annoying Sephiroth. You hadn’t intended to upset your silver-haired friend, only to state what you knew was true about your workplace.
At the 33rd floor, the elevator rumbled to a stop and opened its doors to reveal your boss.
“You.”
The second he turned his eyes on you, anger spilled clearly into his entire body language. He didn’t move from his place in the doorway, preventing the elevator doors from closing as he began to rant angrily.
“You’ve put the whole upstairs office in chaos! I can’t believe this! I give you one simple task and you fuck it up! This is why we shouldn’t keep retards like you in the office, you hold everyone back!” He growled out, taking a breath and giving you a chance to respond.
“Sir -I- the task was, um, far beyond my capabilities, especially in such a short time-“
“Shut up! You’ve done nothing but irritate me since you got here, go and pack your shit! I can’t wait to get rid of your pathetic ass!”
You breathed heavily, digging your nails into your arms as you held back ugly tears, not wanting to seem more pitiful than you already were.
“Right- right awa-“ You began, your mind racing with thoughts and plans of what the fuck you could do next, where you could go, who you might have to get help from, when you were suddenly reminded of Sephiroth’s presence next to you.
He took one, two, three long, heavy strides towards the elevator door, grabbed your boss by the arm and uttered two simple words.
“Get out.”
Your boss, shocked, stumbled back into the open entryway of the elevator, before giving you a sharp glance and turning on his heel to run. As the doors closed once more, you cleared your throat through your tears.
“Thanks, Seph.” A nickname that very few were allowed to call him. “There was no - no need for that though. I’m still fired, either way. But I guess it’s nicer to not be dealing with him anymore.”
“No you’re not.”
“I’m not? Not what?”
“You’re not fired. I won’t have it.”
“That’s a nice sentiment, Seph, but I don’t think it’s your call to make.”
The doors opened again on your floor, but as you were stepping out, muttering apologies and goodbyes to your friend, he grabbed your arm firmly to halt your words.
“You aren’t leaving me, you’re mine.”
He said it so simply, as if stating scientific fact, before releasing your arm and returning to his full, now suddenly intimidating stature. In your hurry to get out of the elevator before the doors closed, you had no chance to respond.
With the doors closed, you heard the machine whir of the elevator rising and continued to stand dumbfounded for a long moment. Eventually, you stumbled over to your desk, setting out the work you were meant to complete today, all while packing as many miscellaneous items as you could into your bag.
At the end of the day, you returned to your home, provided by Shinra, which you were sure you’d lose within a couple of days.
There was a single letter on the floor inside your door, from the corporation, seemingly sent just today. My eviction notice, you grimly thought.
—//—
Rufus Shinra smirked as he signed the papers before him.
The firing and promotion of some mid-level analytics workers was not usually his business, but today he found himself following the odd request of the greatest SOLDIER to ever live.
In truth, he already had parameters in place to ensure the strange person Sephiroth had set his eyes on would not be leaving the company any time soon, setting them as a useful tool for controlling him.
But what he did not expect was for Sephiroth himself to come to him and request the immediate firing of his new ‘friend’s’ boss, along with a request for said friend to get a promotion that would put them in much more contact with the Turks and SOLDIER departments.
So although the paperwork might have been trivial to some, Rufus, even if confused, took joy in getting one more clasp on the SOLDIER.
—//—
Thanks for reading!
#autism#autistic reader#platonic yandere#yandere x reader#yandere#final fantasy vii#final fantasy 7#ff7#sephiroth#yandere sephiroth#physically disabled
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Hello, I'm the anon who said your writing was scrumptious! Anyways, I've been reading your writing for the exes and it's lovely as usual. I always can't wait to see what you've written, anytime I see a notification I get excited but I hope you're having an amazing day or night. Thank you again for writing for the exes, as not much people do. I just read Matthew's fic and AGHH it was so good, this post was definitely less chaotic then my other one lmao.
But, I had a question. I know the Katayanagi twins don't really get a lot of screentime in the movie or anime, but do you think you'd ever write for them in the future? I have found one person who writes headcannons for them which is really nice but I prefer fics and I've been desperately wanting content for them as well, also I've seen that some anons go by emoji's. Could I perhaps use the coffee emoji ☕ that way you can Identify which anon I am as I'll definitely be checking in more in the future when I'm not busy, thank you again! <33 {P.S I'm currently writing this while I'm suffering from food poison. 😭}
Oh. My. God. You are so freaking sweet ahhh. First off, the fact that you literally read ALL MY EXES FICS?!? AND LIKED THEM?! Best news for a writer to hear ever. I’m so glad you loved them 🥰
Secondly, I would be so down for writing the twins. The only major problem with that is they have literally no screen time. Like, whatsoever. I haven’t read the comics either, so I would just be going off the anime and the movie. The anime, thankfully, showed their characterization a little bit, but even then… THE DARN VEGAN ROBOT GOT MORE SCREEN TIME THAN THEM….
Personally, I try to stay “true” to the characters on how I see them portrayed, so just because of that it might be a while before you see a fic of them pop up. Once my finals are over, you best know I’m gonna seek them out like a research paper.
And, yes. I think the coffee emoji is a perfect way for me to keep track of you haha. It’s actually so aesthetically cute too ☕️✨
But, enough with the ranting, thank you for actually reading and taking the time to share with me how much you appreciated my fics. You don’t know how much it means to me to hear that. I hope you feel better with the food poisoning too. Hopefully my “scrumptious” writing didn’t have anything to do with that 😅😅
#feel better ☕️ you deserve all the happiness#youre literally so sweet tho#hopefully I get to write the twins soon#that’s the plan#x reader#reader#anon post#anon <3#anonymous#spvtw post#katayanagi twins#kyle katayanagi#ken katayanagi#katayanagi twins x reader#gideon graves x reader#matthew patel x reader#lucas lee x reader
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can you explain why you don’t like sugerteara, genuinely curious
this got surprisingly long so tl;dr just not really my thing and i just dont think ovenbreak is good at 'big epic story-esque' updates, as a whole and sugarteara- from the perspective of someone who didnt actively play crob while the actual update was happening- is just the most blatant example of that that comes to mind
first off all i just want to say since people tend to take opinions like this kind of weirdly seriously - i genuienly don't care if other people like sugarteara. there are much worse storylines to be invested in from ovenbreak in particular (stares... at the current update) and while i definitely don't understand the hype behind it, i know it's still one of those ob storylines with some kind of cult following sorrounding them. i don't even dislike mocha ray and lobster either! i'm not largely invested in them at all whatsoever but their designs are nice for sure.
now to why i don't admittedly care for sugarteara; the first reason is very petty in that i just find the breakout map for it plain ugly lol. a lot of the parts for the map feel pretty disjoined and just Bad Looking in their color choices, either that or the obstacles/platforms for the map just seem to contrast very poorly with the background making it look... well... Not Good! i like deep sea aesthetics usually (i mean, i have three seperate fully painted pieces that very much go to show that) but the ovenbreak map just has a very... i guess sick? looking colorscheme to most of its sections that make it really unappealing for me
and for the story itself it's just imo another example of ovenbreak biting off more than it can chew. it's just more blatant to me because i wasn't even actively playing at the time of its release so i don't really have any nostalgia for it; but it sets up a somewhat interesting concept (seafairy once ruled over a city of atlantis-type place but left it (assumedly) to search for the moon) but with a lot of the dialogue just being exposition dump from lobster or mocha it's hard to get invested.
i can only hope kingdom gives it the city of wizards treatment sometime, but as of right now it's just kind of a huge example for me of a general problem OB has with its big worldbuild-y plots. starts out with vaguely interesting ideas, but execution is lackluster and also in general a lot of ovenbreak cutscenes go on for farrr too long and given they're just a lot of text with a fancy slideshow it's personally difficult for an adhd riddled bitch like me to sit thru w out anything like voiceacting or whatnot to break anything up when i'm already not horribly invested LOL
like i don't know. it's just not really my thing! i want it to be because i know a lot of people are ride or die with this update and it does vaguely involve pirate Who I Do Like but i just genuienly think ovenbreak as a whole is better at shorter slice of life-y story type updates as unpopular as that might be of an opinion.
#draven txt#sorry if this doesnt make sense. maybe someday well get an update that changes my mind on things but as of rn#not really sugartearas most passionate soldier
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Melodic Misconceptions 🎹
Track 20: Is it a date or...?
Synopsis: Victoria Shard was a former member of the popular idol group [ Poisoner ] from NRC corporations. After discourse with her group leader, Victoria decided it was best for her to leave and pursue her solo career in a record label run by her parents.
It had been half a year since her separation from her old group, and Victoria had never been more successful. But now she has a new problem. She must return to NRC corporations in order to mentor the seven idol groups.
Ellis Clawthorne is a member of [ (Co)-connect ] the most recent group under NRC'S belt. With no experience as an idol, Ellis must persevere in order to succeed and pursue her dreams.
Will both girls be able to adapt to their current situations?
✐ ✎_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_✐ ✎
Author's note: Ah yes, another attempt at second person POV-
Aguri's less of an ass in this, so relish in that 💀 As usual, Kaz is singlehandedly carrying "Melodic Misconceptions"
Not much to say other than uh- Track 21 is a continuation of track 17, and track 22 is info on Koral Larrane, [ Poisoner ]'s new manager/recently popularized solo artist.
I hope you enjoy this track! Reblogs are recommended though-
──ㅇ─────↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺───ㅇ────
You didn't know why you were doing this.
And really, it felt like a really stupid decision on your end. Honestly, who randomly shows up at your friend's workplace after having argued with said friend?
You, apparently.
Either way, you couldn't leave now. They did a whole ass background check before you entered. It was a clear sign that Crowley values the profits his idols make to that extent.
Shrugging it off, you walked inside and began walking around.
When everyone saw you wandering around the place, they assumed you were looking for Vil. And you can't really blame them for making such an assumption.
Your friendship with Vil helped elevate your status as an actor. And just being associated with him was enough to make you rather mainstream in recent months.
But right now, it's kinda…. Iffy with Vil. But it wasn't like everyone in NRC corporations needed to know that.
And you weren't even looking for Vil to begin with. You were looking for someone who used to be in his idol group. And it wasn't Jiyoon Lockhart.
It was Victoria Shard.
I know, weird. It's pretty well established that you two don't see eye to eye whatsoever. Which was ironic since the chemistry you had with her was astonishing.
That aside, you furrowed your eyebrows and felt a little frustrated. Why the hell is NRC Corp so unnecessarily large? You thought, continuing to walk around.
But then you happened to stumble upon a conversation Vil was having. With Circe and Epel no less.
"Vil, maybe you should reconsider…" Epel suggested, appearing rather distressed. You assumed he was talking about the new manager Vil was going to appoint.
And your assumption was correct.
Circe crossed his arms."I agree with Epel on this one, Vil. I know you're open to new opportunities but this just feels…. Iffy." He commented.
You saw Vil's reaction to Circe's tone and cringed at him scrunching his nose."You just aren't seeing it from my perspective." Vil counteracted.
You rolled your eyes, thinking that his counteraction wasn't helping his case.
"Koral passed the interview with flying colors and has shown to be rather capable in her abilities as a manager."
"Yeah, but she's an idol. She can't be both at the same time."
"If [ (Co)-connect's ] manager can be an occasional rapper, then Koral can be our manager as well."
You cringed even more at Vil's attempt to justify his decision. It didn't help that Koral was a rather interesting choice to be a manager. Especially with her generally childlike aesthetic.
"He's gotten more convoluted with his justifications lately."
You flinched, jerking away from the direction of the voice. Relief hit you like a goddamn bullet train once you finally realized who it was.
The girl you were looking for.
Victoria motherfucking Shard.
Her eyebrows raised, yet her poker face rarely faltered."Are you alright?" She asked.
Coughing awkwardly, you did your best to hide your embarrassment."Uh- Yeah…. All good, princess."
Her lips formed a line, and her eyes were enough to tell you that she wasn't impressed by your failed attempt.
"Right…." She quickly checked to see if anyone was nearby. To her satisfaction, there was no one around."Why are you here?"
You tensed up. You didn't know how to tell Victoria.
I mean, it's just a hangout with friends, right? Was what was sprinting around your mind. It didn't help that you were probably looking ridiculous with such an awkward look on your face.
Her eyes narrowed, and she appeared to grow impatient."Why are you here?" She repeated her question, expecting her answer to come out.
And it did.
"I'm going to a cat café with Kaz, and… I happened to have an extra invite for my reservation."
Her eyebrows were knitted together now.
"Are you…. Asking me out on a date?"
"It isn't a date."
"It sounds like one with the way you look right now."
"What's wrong with the way I look?"
"You look like you're about to burst shit out of your ass."
You held back the urge to snort at her little joke. It wasn't innovatively creative and funny, but it was amusing to hear.
"So, princess…"
You tried to hide your anxiety by pushing her up against the wall. With your noses touching, you could practically feel her lavender scent take over you.
"What do you say?" You asked innocently. As if you weren't inches away from potentially kissing her.
Victoria paused, thinking of a proper response. Until she suddenly had her little eureka moment and quickly touched your nose with hers to have you jerk away.
"What I'm going to say…. Is that I don't mind as long as Kaz is coming."
"I can guarantee that, princess."
She bit the side of her mouth."Right… Pick me up at three?"
You smiled at her suggestion, leaning against the wall with playful glee in your eyes.
"Noted."
──ㅇ─────↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺───ㅇ────
"Holy shit…"
Victoria looked right at you, appearing perplexed by your response to her clothing choice.
"What?" She questioned, eyes squinted."Do you not like it?"
You laughed."I do, it's just… uncharacteristically sexy." You tease.
As if on cue, Kaz hissed at your response to her outfit. But how can anyone not stare?
It was simple. A black dress with bishop sleeves, fishnet leggings, and platform boots that elevated Victoria's height.
What you were focused on was the length of the skirt. It was like any other mini skirt, but the way it complimented her figure… It made you not help but stare for a while.
Victoria just rolled her eyes playfully and sent Kaz a cute little wave."I'll tolerate your pretentiousness as long as Kaz is around to keep me sane."
You faked a pout."You're saying that as if you only agreed to this so you can spend more time with Kaz."
She smiles more playfully. Still ghostlike, but it had a slight playfulness that you happened to find attractive on her face.
"Is that not what I implied?"
"Nevermind…"
The ride to the cat café was, for the most part, silent. Not much conversation to begin with, especially after you mentioned how sensitive Kaz is to sound when he's asleep.
And naturally, Victoria respected that and did what she could to be as silent as possible. It's almost concerning how perfect her default poker face is.
But then the song on the car's radio changed to a certain idol's latest hit.
Not Victoria's 'young and beautiful'. But Koral's 'k-k-kiss me'.
It wasn't a bad song, per se, but… The fact that Koral's manager also sang a small verse in the song put you over the edge.
And as she was scrolling through her phone, she felt a hand on her thigh.
Your hand.
The tips of her ears flushed, and she turned to look at you and noticed the tensed look in your eyes as Koral's manager finally sang her verse.
"Are…. You okay?"
You gave her a nervous smile.
"Y-Yeah…"
"I don't think anyone who's genuinely okay would go out of their way to squeeze their friend's thigh."
"Ah- Sorry…"
Your eyes didn't divert from the road, yet your cheeks appeared warm. Victoria found it a little cute, honestly.
"..... I'll allow it."
You blinked, glancing at her for a second."What?" You breathed.
"I'm allowing you to touch my thigh. Think of it as a way to relieve stress." She reiterated her words earlier.
You inhaled. Relieve stress…..
A sigh left your lips and you continued to hold onto Victoria's thigh as if your life depended on it. Not like you were squeezing it like a stress ball, of course not.
Oddly enough, Victoria's little smile didn't go unnoticed by you.
──ㅇ─────↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺───ㅇ────
"Ah…."
"Do you like it?"
Holding the door open for her, Victoria looked around the cat café with intrigue. You couldn't help but chuckle when you saw the wondrous feeling in her eyes.
Kaz purred, leaning against your touch. And behind your mask was the softest smile you could muster up.
You happened to rent the entire café for today, with permission from one of your old college friends who worked at the cafe.
After ordering, the two of you sat down and began watching and occasionally petting the cats. Kaz happened to be enthusiastic enough to wander around.
"Ah- Shouldn't we prevent Kaz from getting lost?"
"It's fine. Were you too charmed by my looks to notice his custom Versace name tag?"
She deadpanned at you before turning her attention back to one of the cats. A chuckle escaped her lips as she picked the cat up and began gently petting it.
The cat was gentle enough to cuddle against Victoria as she was petting it. It made you snicker at how tremendously easy-going the cats are with her.
The waiter with their orders arrived, and it happened to be the college friend you talked with.
They didn't expect you to bring Victoria with you. And it didn't help that she looked breathtaking with her hair down.
"...."
"Uh…. You okay?" You asked, your voice deep with confusion. Victoria looked up at them as well, which didn't help.
The friend gulped and just served their orders. They sent you an awkward smile that secretly said 'How could you not wait for me?'
A message that both you and Victoria immediately understood.
"I'm guessing that friend has romantic feelings for you?" Victoria questioned before she consumed her parfait.
You hummed."I guess? I wouldn't have guessed…" you replied awkwardly, with Kaz jumping back into your lap.
You noticed the frown that dawned on her face before she let out a huff.
"If you'd like…. We can get your mind off of that revelation by enjoying the cats… And the parfait." She quickly added, sending you a smirk.
You chuckled for a little while and nodded. Your friend may have feelings for you, but that wasn't important at the moment.
"As long as you make sure you don't hog all of Kaz's affection."
"I make no such promises, Harper."
"Rude much, princess?"
"Ugh…"
──ㅇ─────↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺───ㅇ────
Tagging:
@starry-night-rose @nem0-nee @authoruio @windbornearchon @sakuramidnight15 @fumikomiyasaki @geminiiviolets @twsted-princess @knights-escort
#twst oc#twst ocs#twisted wonderland oc#twisted wonderland ocs#twst yuusona#twst yuu#yuusona#twst au#idol au#twst idol au#smau#twst smau#melodic misconceptions 🎹#harmonic delusions 🕊️🌹#victoria shard#aguri harper#victoria x aguri#victoria shard x reader#twst oc x reader#oc x reader#twst victoria x reader#mutuals au#male reader
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Introducing Me!
Hello! I am Bella, also known as studyeonjena, formerly known as westernstudies. I decided to redo this intro since I am revamping this page and also I have changed so much since the last time I posted this intro. Without further ado, I present a small glimps into my life;
a mini bio:
My name is Bella, and I am 20 (an Aries) as well as a Junior in Uni. I am currently studying Behavioral Science and Social Science. I have a certificate in CompSci and Graphic/Web Design. I am very passionate about my beliefs on politics and am not afraid to argue with you if I think your ignorance will genuinely affect human lives. I get sick VERY easily and have the worst immune system in the world. I have had some bad problems with both physical and mental health over the last year and it has been very hard but I hope doing studyblr again will get me back on track with my studies. I love music, art, rain and coffee. Lastly, my personal outlook on life is that everyone has kindness in them, but it is not up to you to show those who treat you like shit the kindness they neglect to give you.
hobbies:
watching YouTube, reading, hiking and camping, discovering new music and singing along poorly, reading fanfiction, starting but never finishing art and craft projects, driving around, laying in bed and staring at the ceiling until I eventual tire myself out.
Connect with me:
Personal Tumblr: @camisadoclouds
Personal Instagram: @aestrieella
Personal Twitter: @bellasj0y
Personal Youtube: Star Girl
Spotify: Peaches
QUICK FAXS:
I am an INFP (Meditator)
Trying to be a Pescatarian
Astrology Lover (Aries, Leo, Aquarius)
Tree Hugger/ Earth Lover
Religion is complicated
HUGE Horror fan
Kpop fan
Spencer Reid Enthusiast
Not a Brony but I do enjoy My Little Pony
Trying to get into Adventure Time
Really wanna penpal
Former Emo Kid
GIANT Geek
ADVID British Joke Consumer
Chinese Meme Conisour
Language Learner
Trying to become a streamer
Terrible French speaker
interests:
I like to watch tons of different genres of youtube, these days I watch a lot of compilation videos and such
I’ve decided to take up reading again
Art
Video/Photo Editing and Taking
I prefer movies over tv shows, unless it is Asian Dramas
I enjoy baking
Dancing
Learning languages
favorites:
movies: Battle Royale, Midsommar, Crazy Rich Asians, Percy Jackson, As Above So Below
shows: A Business Proposal, Falling into Your Smiling, Full House (Korean), Crash Landing on You, Criminal Minds, Sailor Moon, So I Married an AntiFan and many more
colours: Powder (pink, blue, ect), Yellow, Navy, Maroon, Orange
albums: A Fever You Can't Sweat Out - Panic! At the Disco, Any Lovejoy album whatsoever, Sour - Olivia Rodrigo, Arrival - ABBA, Manifesto - Enhypen, Superache - Connan Gray
video games: Minecraft, The Sims, AmongUs, Portals
food: Sushi, Noodles, Popcorn, Tteokbokki, Japchae, rice
drinks: TEA, COFFEE, Orange Soda, Sprite, Ginger ale, dr. pepper
aesthetics: Light and Romantic Academia, Y2K Cyber, Cottage Core, Emo/Scene and sometimes Gothic.
I like to describe my aesthetic under the name Persephone Inspired.
TXT and IKEA for some reason
classes:
Winter Semester:
Still Determining
Spring Semester:
Still Determining
Summer Semester:
Internship in Hawaii
goals:
finish relearning Korean, Japanese, and Spanish ASAP
BULLET JOURNAL MORE, I am so much more productive and organized when I use my buju.
make all A's these next two semesters
eat and be healthier
participate in as many studyblr challenges as possible
have 1 year of productivity
do okay while streaming
Get an iPad
#studyblr introduction#studyblr#study tumblr#bookblr#book tumblr#langblr#study#college#study introduction#studyblr intro#introduction#studyblr intro post#studyspo#new studyblr#new study blog#university#writeblr#100 days of productivity#studyblr challenge#literature#studyblr community#academic#westernstudies#studyeonjena
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Another interesting bit about Raven: despite having no direct connections with Adam whatsoever (belying some V5-vintage theories), they sport *unnervingly* similar aesthetics, weapons & disregard for expendable subordinates. I mean, Raven actually cared a little about Vernal but still put her in a red herring position expressly intended as Maiden-hunter bait, while Adam didn't even fucking twitch at news of mass WF casualties *or* Yang blasting one of his dudes right outside the cafeteria.
Yeah, there are a lot of parallels between them, so much so that a lot of people thought that they were supposed to be associated somehow and get mad that they weren't, but I actually think those similarities aren't meant to imply an in-universe connection and are actually supposed to tie them together in the minds of the viewers as shitty, abusive, yet nonetheless deeply important figures to Yang and Blake who serve as mentors and protectors in some (limited) capacity and ultimately reveal that they aren't the people that Yang and Blake hope, want, believe, and desperately need them to be. They both shatter the pedestals they stand upon, one by losing sight of what they're fighting for (in Blake's mind, we all know Adam stopped giving a shit about anything resembling true Faunus equality in favor of making everything about forcing the world to hurt the way he did long before Blake figured it out) and the other by failing her family repeatedly and failing her daughter in particular by doing the exact opposite of what a mother should at every opportunity.
This is a really interesting contrast to me because it highlights a big difference between Blake and Yang. Blake has always been presented as a big picture person - she wants to stop discrimination against all Faunus, everywhere. She wants to make the whole world better for everyone. Yang, on the other hand is all about the immediate - who can I help right here, who can I help right now? She's the only member of the main four who didn't have some grand reason for becoming a Huntress, the only one of the four who wanted to help evacuate Mantle instead of launch Amity. Yang wants to help the people in front of her. She wants to solve the problem in front of her and worry about the bigger picture later. Her connection to the big, sweeping plotline isn't some goal like restoring her family's legacy or making things better for marginalized people across the world, it's protecting her friends and family. It's because the people she loves are also involved, and she'll be damned if she'll let them fight alone. That's why it's so painful for her when she realizes Raven will leave her to fight alone, that Raven will let Yang paint a target on her own back because she's too scared and weak and pathetic to protect her own daughter.
Didn't talk about this enough in my initial Raven post, but she is really... not a good person. While my coomer brain will forgive her for anything because she's a hot samurai goth MILF in thigh-highs, the fact that she regularly raids and plunders villages and then leaves them for the Grimm really shouldn't be overlooked (Qrow does not overlook this at all and it's a source of major conflict between them, shoutouts to Qrow), nor should the fact that she does so using powers that Ozpin originally gave to the Maidens in order to protect the world and the innocent, as a direct response to the kindness and wisdom of the original Maidens. In terms of everything but power, Raven is the exact opposite of what Ozpin wanted the Maidens to be and represent.
Gotta say I love the way Adam and Raven are both so... selfish. They just view their respective organizations and the people in them as things, tools they can use to protect themselves or accomplish their own goals. The difference between them, really, is that Raven cares. She expresses regret and remorse. She just lacks the strength of character to place someone else above herself. Adam, on the other hand, couldn't care less. His men die serving Cinder's goals? Oh well, they're acceptable casualties because it lets him hurt the humans. Adam writes off every loss without a care in order to get closer to his big goal of lashing out at the world and wiping out humanity, Raven regrets the things she does and tries so hard to justify them to herself and others.
I cannot wait to see Raven's return to the series. I want to see what made her leave Team STRQ and why. I want to see how and why Taiyang fell in love with her, and what made her love him enough to marry and have a child with him. I want to see the person Taiyang talks up to his daughter even after all these years. I want to see how she becomes that person again, and I have faith that she will. One of RWBY's big themes is the idea that even if you've failed in the past, even if you've made mistakes, you can still start making the right choices now. Not every character takes that opportunity (see: Adam's refusal to let go of Blake, Ironwood's insistence on bombing Mantle and raising Atlas no matter how little sense it makes, etc.), but enough do that I feel comfortable considering it a theme, and I think Raven is primed to add to it at some point.
Honestly, I'm just hoping she shows up at some point and then someone just clotheslines her for being a shithead.
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The Sleeping Beauty Paradox
Or how feminism in media got twisted enough it ended up hating women.
Aurora IS my favorite disney princess.
I relate to her and her situation a lot, she has an awesome aesthetic, and the music for the movie was written by Tchaikowski. What else could you ask for, really ?
Yet, everytime I said that to people in real life, their first instinct is to scoff it off. Society has shamed people into not loving Aurora. Because she's a victim.
If you need one proof of the overwhelming rape culture and victim blaming, don't look further. There's a similar problem with Snow White albeit less pronunced.
The feminism wave from the 80s set precedent. Feminists wanted more representation for women who fought for themselves, women that looked like them, that had a chance to have an impact on the world and strongly took it. It was a good idea in a world where all women in media were meek, helpless and soft.
But somehow it ended up in mysogynistic movies only allowing women in if they were strong independant warriors. There is no more room for victims, seen as too stereotypical.
Somehow, it ends up in us all who grow up in a situation we have no control whatsoever in, are abused and can't find a way to escape or don't even realize it with how deep the abuse runs, feeling guilty about not being strong and fighting out of it.
Aurora, just like Cinderella and Snow-White, was trapped in a situation she could not escape, and yet did her best to stay sweet and kind and true to herself, not letting her isolement and lack of freedom (not counting the numerous things her guardians lied to her about probably with no subtelty) make her bitter. That is a show of strength that we often overlook. Not all of us can do that.
Critics now describe her as naive and clueless, which is a little expected from someone who was raised in full isolement. Yet it looks like it's a high crime in the hyperfeminist mindset. There's no one out there being angry at her parents or guardians. They were trying to save her, they say, as if it's an excuse. Considering they failed, it's really not.
But a lot of people scoff at Aurora for being naive, and waiting for a prince to come save her. She didn't. She didn't realize she needed to be saved, so that's not what she wished for. She wished to not be alone, to find true love, a soulmate who'd love her unconditionally from the first sight. Naive or not, she found it. Philip loved her at first sight, not caring about what background she comes from, and that's what she needed. She did nothing wrong with him either. In a slut shaming society, let us remind everyone that even if they were soulmates and believed they would love each other forever, they only danced and spent time together. No kiss, nothing further than hand holding, but they knew. Philip knew he was going to marry her and there was nothing anyone could say against it. Loving Philip was less naive than young women nowadays believing they can 'fix him'.
People often use the argument that, in a movie named after her, Aurora has the less screen time of all princesses. It's fair. But that doesn't mean that it makes the movie any less centered around her. Her influence when off screen is in all the people that loved her, fighting for her.
Philip who, confirming her beliefs in their love, fought for her like a goddamn lion. Against his father's wishes, against a 100 years curse, against a forest of thorns, and against a fucking honest to god dragon. In the face of that, it is hard for me to think Aurora naive for believing in her soulmate.
Love from her guardians, who are not particularly clever or useful in actual battle, but still do everything they can to protect and free her from the curse.
Now I am sure Stephan and his nameless wife loved her. In a way. The kind of love necessary to give up your child in the hope of a better life. But there's also not a drop of the love you get from seeing a child grow up and getting to know them. That's why we don't see their love having much of an impact on her life when it mattered. There were more responsibility and duty coming from them than love.
Aurora might not be a fighter, but she inspired enough love to fight a dragon. But as she didn't fight the dragon herself, she's not feminist enough.
She was sweet, kind, didn't have much apart from hopes. And yet life went against her when the circumstances of her birth (that she wasn't aware of beforehand and couldn't prepare for) forced her to give up the only thing she really wanted. That event destroyed her, in a way never predicted by people who promised her hand in marriage the moment she was born. It was evident for them, to support an alliance that could have been done in a different way. Being forced to comply to unreasonnable expectations and responsibilities she never agreed to, erasing all traces of freedom she ever had, makes her a victim.
Victims need to be saved. It's the duty of people with the power to do so to help save victims. It's not the victim's fault that they're in this situation. There is nothing wrong with needing to be saved.
Sleeping Beauty was built from a traditional fairy tale, that's why there is a dragon guarding a high tower and a brave lover ready to fight it. That's why we're lucky to have had a happy ending with the soulmates ending up together and not forced to marry someone else. But just think of how bad things could have gotten. And yet in all of that, Aurora has no power over the situation. Because she's abused. Because she's a princess and under ridiculous expectations from a family that doesn't know her, and then because she's asleep under a fucking curse. Aurora couldn't help herself. She had no way of doing so, at no point.
Those past few decades, disney princesses have to fight. They have to stand up for themselves, prove they are not powerless, free themselves often without anyone's help. Women need to be strong warriors to be allowed to exist. Nowadays people scoff at Aurora for being a victim. Because it's wrong of her to not do anything to free herself.
It participate in the overwhelmind mindset that everybody has to be strong in a cruel world. That women have to prove they can do everything themselves. That being a victim is being weak. Rape victims in media have no longer the freedom to be impacted by it. They are only likeable if they fight it and make it a strength.
But Sleeping Beauty had a happy ending because people who loved her fought for her.
Maybe we should stop blaming victims for being helpless, and instead do what we can to save the people we love.
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The New Instagram Update: A Rant
I unfortunately today had the displeasure of being selected for the testing group for the new Instagram update. I felt the need to rant about it somewhere.
This new update is truly abysmal, and for multiple reasons. Fortunately, there is some hope that it will not end up rolling out completely. From my understanding they are still in the testing phase, which only select people are a part of (why me? why?). From what I've heard from other people, they got the update from anywhere from 2 days to a week and it just magically vanished, so I'm hoping mine will do the same.
First things first... the new layout. What the hell? Even if this update didn't have any technical problems (which it has many) the design is so ugly. Genuinely painful to look at. They've taken the beautiful, simple, aesthetically pleasing feed and turned it into a hot garbage fire that is a knock off tiktok. All posts now, no matter if they are photo or video, are fit to a full screen format, to make it more "immersive" as they say. It really does feel like scrolling through tiktok, with each post taking up the entire screen. In theory, it's not horrible... for a video app. For a photo app it makes no sense whatsoever. But it's not really a photo app anymore, is it? But we'll get to that later.
The new design is difficult to scroll through, makes carousel images difficult to navigate, makes it more difficult to engage with the content and comment on it, and removes the save button. It removes the fast scrolling option, so if you want to quickly get back up to the top of your feed it's going to take a while. Also, all the images are now framed with a blurred version of the image behind it, where the white background used to be. Not only is this an aesthetic nightmare, but it can really ruin the way artists and photographers want their photos to be presented. The layout also copies the TikTok style of text-over-image, which is so bad. It is really demeaning to photographers who make beautiful images, only to be covered in text. The text also creates a dark vignette around the images, which is a nightmare for photographers who spend hours editing their pictures to the way they like them.
One thing I hadn't even thought of myself until I saw what other people were saying is that this is horrible for accessibility. The caption text being over an image instead of a white backdrop can make it very difficult to read for those who are visually impaired. This update really devalues both the image and the caption. The only thing that is valuable anymore on Instagram is video content, which the layout and algorithm now cater to almost exclusively.
Many people are saying this update is turning Instagram into a cheap version of TikTok, which is totally true. The whole reason they rolled out this update is to discourage people from posting images, and make people post reels instead. It is a desperate attempt to catch up with the success TikTok is having, but it really makes Instagram look like a joke. This update is completely killing off photographers, artists, small businesses, and any photo-based accounts who do not want to post reels (me). This shows how little they care about the creators on their app, and how much they care about making a few extra bucks off of video content and the engagement it produces.
Along with all the visual changes, there are also algorithm updates which even further their screwing over of photographers. The algorithm now promotes even more suggested content, which I personally find super annoying. I'm following the people I follow because I genuinely want to see what they post. But all those posts get completely flooded with what Instagram wants me to see. What's popular. What's making them money. I don't care about cat videos, or babies, or diy hacks, or slime tutorials. I want to go on Instagram and see pictures of women dressed as fairies or witches or princesses taking pictures in the woods. I want to see the fantasy photographers that I actually follow. I also want to see my actual friends, and what they are up to. But Instagram only cares about showing me what they think will want to make me keep mindlessly scrolling.
These algorithm changes are not only bad for consumers, but really bad for creators. It means that the feed of your followers will be filled with random stuff, and not your content, even though they follow you. It has decreased engagement for so many people, including countless small businesses and artists who rely on Instagram engagement to sell their work. It's so scummy, and really makes me want to leave Instagram, but I've also become so attached since I joined in 2015. I don't want to lose all those years of my life that I've shared on Instagram. But at the same time, these new updates are making the app nearly unusable, so I'm looking into other social medias where I could share photos. Maybe I'll come to Tumblr full time. Maybe Pinterest. Maybe Visco. I don't know.
So yeah. Not thrilled about all of that. I didn't even cover all the points that make this update so bad. Like I said, it's not fully implemented yet, so there is a bit of hope. But Instagram has no official way to submit complaints or concerns, which is also frustrating. After looking around for a long time, I figured out the best place to submit a complaint is on a single reel posted by one of the guys who implemented the update, so needless to say I left some words of discouragement. If you would also like to let them know they are completely ruining their platform, feel free to do so here.
That's it for my rant. Have a wonderful, fantastic day <3
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dawntrail fanfest thoughts (& prayers)
Part III Tokyo
Part 1 >>> here
Part 2 >>> here
Pictomancer
I didn't think they would do it. In my FF16-induced realism-is-a-blight doom and gloom I had given up on it and settled on Green Mage. But they did it. The mad man actually went and did it.
I'm so happy. This is great. Krile, you're looking great. I'm so happy for you and your 1 (one) line in the trailer.
That being said I still have to warm up to the aesthetic, it's sadly not exactly my cup of tea. And I do mean the in-game stuff, if the magic looked anything like in the trailer or in the artwork I would have 0 problems whatsoever, but the cartoony 3D ink drops everywhere are just a little much for me. As the Pseudo-Intellectual that I have become I was hoping it would go into a more... subtle "symbolism and the power of evocation through art" sort of thing and the style they went for in-game is... certainly a choice somebody made - but I have had a few minutes to get my thoughts about it in order and have since accepted that this is probably for the best actually, making it more cartoony makes a class concept like this probably a lot more inviting to people that don't really care all that much about art and if Pictomancer makes more people realize that everything, even and especially "shitty scribbles" by people who haven't held a brush in their life, everything you create is valuable art no matter its "worth" and that you don't have to be good at art or do it as a job to be allowed to have fun doing it and create something meaningful then I'm more than fine with it!
Also there are already a number of good Job FX mods out there and I'm fully expecting someone to make a good one for Picto at some point so eh I'll survive!
Krile
They gave you one entire line. A grunt.
At least you're on the Akihiko Yoshida Artwork for once.
The German Stuff
Listen. When I heard him say Doitsu my ears perked up. This is our moment, we're finally being acknowledged for once! And as somebody invested in the DE localization it was actually really nice to hear that the legacy job titles from the older FFs are actually treated with the same caution as the english ones because that's the only localization where that's ever really talked about.
So seeing some english people complain that talking about it was a waste of time better spend on more important things stung a little bit.
I cannot tell you how existentially weird it is to exist as a german player playing this game in german while also 'interacting' with the fandom online, not even because of different writing choices creating different nuances in the story - but even just because of fundamental terms. Best example is actually the new zone "Heritage Found" - It's not called that in German. It's called "Ewiges Erbe" ('Eternal Legacy', and I'm choosing Legacy instead of Inheritance here because that's the japanese subtitle of Dawntrail and I think that parallel is intentional) and you know how I found that out? Because I stumbled over this name I never heard before on the german dawntrail website, then had to piece together "right there was a new zone, it's probably that" and then a short while later saw it confirmed on the german twitter. I don't get it in big letters right above the japanese name on a pretty picture right there in the livestream - I have to seek that shit out myself and hope they actually put it somewhere in case of the PLLs where they don't tweet everything right away. English speaking players don't have to do that. Even in PPLs you always get the actually important stuff right on screen. And yet some of you have the gall complain that they don't live translate every single word YoshiP says for you as if you're always on the verge of missing out on some crucial information. German and French only players have to wait for the twitter to post their translated slides - and even then they don't translate all of those either because not all of them are actually all that relevant.
Anyways, sorry for venting, but I feel like it's important. The work these other localization teams do is hard work too and deserves the same respect the english one gets even if it's "not as good" (which it isn't. because they're better than EN....!!!!!1111)
(Also just as a reminder, the quality of the VAs has nothing to do with the quality of the Localization. English Video Game VA's are at another level industry-vise compared to other (european) languages and you can't just compare them as if they work the same. I'm honestly just glad we even still get german voice over at all at this point, mostly even just because I'm absolutely sure the VAs do their best)
Hrothgar Ladies
It feels right. They got it right. They did the right thing. No notes.
Actually one note, their racial top has Nomura amounts of Zippers and I love it.
The Ultimate
Kind of surprised they didn't do Four Lords+Koryuu? But I guess now that they broke with conventions they can just do it later if they want to? Like I didn't expect a Stormblood MSQ Ultimate at all - even if the first ultimates weren't on the level of a Dragonsong War they were still at least 'sensical' in their setting and there's just absolutely no way to make sense of an Ultimate based around Susanoo, Lakshmi, Tsukuyomi and Shinryu that wouldn't just be "this all happened in one expansion". Like those things didn't even happen in the same war lol
I could have maybe seen an Kojin Treasures Ultimate featuring Surprise Guest Amaterasu or something, but even then only if they had done Omega vs. Shinryu as Omega's Ultimate. I personally only see Shinryu happen in a Zenos or a Endsinger Ultimate, as much as I want Shinryu to get one too, because outside of that he's just not connected to anything else.
That being said. Eden Ultimate.
Make the last phase gay, Yoshi P. I want superpowered Gaia to grow two more arms so she can bridal carry superpowered Ryne while swinging her hammer around, fighting together on the FF8 ending flower meadow as the final Phase. Come on, make them canon gay but only in a non-canon Ultimate!!!
The Lore
Okay. I have to say I'm awash from the revelations in this Fanfest. On one hand I wish they kept the tech stuff secret because what a reveal that would have been in-game - and I'm wondering if they were considering not showing anything because it's not in the trailer at all - but personally speaking...
I love it. This actually invigorated my love for this game a little bit after I lost it for a second following Myths of the Realm. Fuck Eulogia.
Because while I was perfectly fine with this last arc (even though the community is big mad about it for no good reason), a big worry I still had about this game's lore is that we started to become the Main Character of the Universe. It made the world seem so small that things only happen when we go there and they always work out perfectly on our terms. Like the big scary thought I had was that we now visit the other places that are left for us and we know everything better than them. We just found the only remnants of Amaurot and we're the only ones knowing that shards exist and therefore try to travel in between them - stuff like that.
Like I want to meet another of our shards that knows certain integral things about the ancients that we just never found out. Maybe two shards have had shard travel between each other this whole time, we just haven't figured out how to do that yet while they have. They have made their own discoveries about this world, this universe and its history just like we have and they know stuff we just don't while we know stuff they don't.
Even stuff like Allag being the one big civilization of the past got tiring to me - because clearly there were others that they fought against and those people must have had similar technological pursuits even just by seeing what Allag made. So I disagree with people implying that this new tech 'should have been Allagan' or something along those lines - No, it explicitly can't be or this world building turns into more of a joke than Myths of the Realm already made it.There were other people on this world too - and when this expansion is literally called Golden Legacy in Japanese we have to talk about the legacy of this land - and Allag never was here, so who was?
So there being another ancient super civilisation is a great thing to me. Also I just like Science Fantasy. The only way they could make this better for me personally was if they leaned more into modern 'translations/interpretations' of medieval wear instead of just doing 1-to-1 modern wear.
Solution Nine
Okay, so here's my prediction. I say the city is a virtual space in that tower. These people, whoever they are (there are already so many good theories out there but that's not what I'm about), are stuck in there after they were put there to protect them from something - that's why it's Solution Nine (I know it's a name from FF9, but it's still the 9th solution) and that's what the Eliminator is for, either keeping them in or something else out. (Btw, that model is sexy as fck. I'm so torn between wanting Valigarmandr weapons and wanting Eliminator weapons)
Now, judging from the fact that the old-looking Tuliyollal-like civilization has clearly settled around the 'modern' structures in Heritage Found it's safe to say that this thing has been here for a while. People are also speculating that the sigil on the Arcadion concept art (banger btw, i'm so excited for what's in there) - which I could see? But while that sigil might be red it looks nothing like the other ones we have seen so far who were all relatively similar to each other - but then again keep in mind that Arcadia is of course a fictional utopia just like Amaurot and Eden so I don't think it's too far fetched to think Ascians could be meddling here once again.
So okay. Here's my wishful thinking in all of this. What if the woman (Who is she?) on top of the Poster is Altima/Deudalaphon (I pray it's the architect one) and she's either gone rogue and decided to help these people to save them from whatever they were scared off (which I want to happen so badly one of these days. I want an Ascian who's ahead of the curve and is already trying to fix things before we get there) - or she's evil and trapped them in there and that's Tural's legacy.
(omg what if that's the thesis. what if we figure out that tural somehow runs on people being trapped in this thing and the people living outside have to grapple with that being their legacy... maybe they do ff16 again but this time in good bc ishikawa is there to actually keep it together.... let me dream for a second okay)
The Diversity of it all
Listen. After FF16's "narrative" about discrimination turning out a hot mess I was not expecting anything from YoshiP ever again when it comes to that sort of thing.
But I have to say, the way he clearly addressed "Hey, the way dark skin worked previously was bad and now that we have the chance to fix it we tried our best to address it" was great. Like that's the shit we love to see. (that being said i think you could turn yshtolas skin color back after her time in the sun in dawntrail i haven't forgotten about that yet)
I still think that Dawntrail shouldn't be this close to White Savior stuff and I do expect it to miserably fumble at least a few times - but I guess I have a little bit of hope that maybe it's not going to be as bad as it could be. Which is a low bar, I admit. And the fact they haven't shown us a single Whalaqee has to mean something, right? Maybe, somebody has thought about what they're doing for a second. Maybe.
Honestly, after Myths of the Realm I don't know how likely that is.
Cosmo Explorer
No clue. Why did they delay this to Tokyo and then still show absolutely nothing? This is going to be another Island situation where people get crazy cool ideas and it just turns out to be gathering lite on a randomized map.
Honestly, also don't know how I feel about having this be our little interstellar colonization sim in the Expansion about going to Fantasy America to specifically talk about Legacy. But... I guess? Sure?
The art for it was nice though? Even though I thought at first that we were going to build a theme park on the dark side of the moon Ishgard Restoration style - and honestly that's a banger concept, please go ahead and steal that. Also I'm always scared when YoshiP says "you can do this solo but it's meant to be done together" because that's how he described Eureka and Blue Mage and both are definitely NOT what I would call a "solo" experience.
Beastmaster
Same thing as above? Why did you not have Sakaguchi announce it in London when he was one of its biggest, most outspoken proponents? Just so Japan has one reveal more, I guess?
The Bozja-like
I hope it's Bozja but in Eureka if that makes sense? I like Bozja's fluidity more than Eureka especially as a Solo Player but Eureka has some of the coolest zones in the game and I would like to have more that are designed like that.
Conclusion
I probably forgot half of my observations and thoughts, but I will end it here for now - but of course not without a final overall status report!
I'm not going to lie, the Solution Nine stuff has really pushed me back into it - the stuff they showed before was fine to good, but it just seemed a little safe. But now? This could be the coolest thing ever - or it could burst into flames and be the stupidest shit they ever pulled and that's so much more interesting to me than just a cookie cutter expansion about things we knew to expect.
Either way I'm going to be a pretty Piktomant Bunny Boy posing in front of backdrops of rapidly increasing quality - And that's enough to make me pay for another sub.
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thoughts on Master Detective Archives: Rain Code
Master Detective Archives: Rain Code is a mess and I hate Kodaka so much. I had hoped my fears would be erased - no butchering of characters like what happened to Chabashira Tenko, god - but it was obvious his fetishes were kept, to my great dismay.
Spoilers under the cut, so be warned.
First off, let’s talk about characters.
Yuma
Yuma is the classic betamale wishywashy protagonist that Kodaka likes to write. In an interview for V3 (iirc) he says he likes to write this type of character because the player can see their growth and cheer for them. The problem is that Yuma is a worse copy of Shuichi who has too little time to develop any character at all and even at the NEAR END of the last mystery he still hesitated at the last moment and had to have Shinigami kick his ass to be ‘encouraged’ into revealing the truth. My opinion of him is neutral-negative at best because he is literally bland, basic, and boring as hell.
The problem is that his motive isn’t made clear at all - at first he sets out to find his memories, then he pursues the truth to be a proper detective, along the way hiding from the truth and then regaining his determination to find the truth, then he says he’s trying to find the truth to make everyone happy...? And then it stops there...? He leaves the most important part - revealing the truth that he fought so hard for - to Makoto and basically says aight peace out...? This writing is so bad on so many takes I don’t even know what to say, and worse off IT’S A COP OUT BECAUSE HE DOESN’T EVEN DIE. What’s the point? He just left everything to Makoto and dipped from the role. The climax became a fucking disappointment because it was taken out from right under our noses, as if once we solved the mystery the mess, the Pandora’s box we opened by figuring out the truth was magically cleared up by someone else instead of having Yuma taking responsibility for it.
Shinigami
SHINIGAMI HAS NO PLOT RELEVANCE WHATSOEVER AND IS ANNOYING AS HELL. THE GAME WOULD BE 10000000x BETTER WITHOUT HER. I HATE HER AND SHE IS THE WORSE CHARACTER IN THE ENTIRE GAME BARRING NONE. SHE IS KODAKA’S WAY OF PROJECTING HIS FETISHES UNTO THE PLAYER AND I HATE IT.
Shinigami has an assholish personality that endears herself to no one except for people who have a fetish for teenage girls with a goth aesthetic verbally abusing you 24-7. Because that’s what it feels like. She insults Yuma and then constantly insults everyone around Yuma, calls the girls around Yuma skanks or whatever creative stereotype insults you can think of for females, gets annoyed and jealous whenever Yuma so much as breathes around a girl, makes sex jokes around Yuma, who LOOKS LIKE A CHILD.
Because of this literally Chapter 3 is a living hell with her insulting Fubuki every opportunity she gets.
Every scene with Kurumi is so uncomfortable because she insults Kurumi every opportunity she gets.
I fucking hate Shinigami.
Shinigami constantly doubting people like Vivia, Makoto, and Kurumi is so annoying, she keeps saying ‘See!!! We shouldn’t have trusted them!!! I am your good conscience, listen to me!!! uwu’ when she has literally never done anything helpful for Yuma or endeared herself to him once.
Shinigami literally repeats everything we say or someone says to Yuma like an explain-it-like-I’m-six help forum that I don’t need. I thought there couldn’t ever be an incarnation of Genshin’s Paimon that could be worse but holy fuck.
Shinigami doesn’t have her origins touched upon - What is the Book of Death? Why was she locked up? Why does she have a relation with the Mystery Dungeon when she isn’t even a mystery nut or like solving mysteries??? The fact that this isn’t explained means that we could go this whole time without Shinigami and replace her with a Persona 5 Mementos-like explanation for how Mystery Dungeons exist and it would change nothing. Yuma could be an amnesiac who gave himself amnesia through some drug and it would change nothing about the plot. In fact, Mystery Dungeons are just a rip off of how Mementos and stealing people’s hearts work, complete with Labyrinth Bosses looking like Shadow Bosses and whatnot. Except the gameplay is shittier than Persona 5 (which isn’t a great game) so it sticks out a lot more.
Desuhiko
Desuhiko is amazing and is absolutely carried by his English VA who did a wonderful job. He was only nerfed because his writer felt the need to insert him with his own fetish. Outside of his fetish moments, he is a really cool dude who is proven at least twice to look out for his friends when critical moments come to it and it’s actually refreshing to see him freak out at blood because his job sphere is outside murder cases, which points to some world building and reasonable explanation as to why he’s relegated to Yuma’s assistant in his starring Chapter.
Halara, Vivia and Fubuki are all amazing characters that add so much to the world and I love them and are proof that Kodaka can make good interesting characters without stupid personality flaws (Fubuki’s airheadedness sucks tbh but I can turn a blind eye because she is so sweet and her English VA killed it) when he wants to.
I like that there was a reasonable explanation to why all these experienced Master Detectives are relegated to side roles and they let Yuma solve the case - in Halara and Vivia’s case it’s because they already know the answer but Halara is actively mentoring Yuma and trying to make him solve the case on his own and Vivia is doing the same for Yuma but while trying to test Yuma on his determination to find the truth no matter what. Desuhiko is not involved in murder cases as a detective but more for undercover roles, and Fubuki was mainly inducted as a detective because of her cheat time powers (which now that I think about it are completely useless unless she has a partner honestly seeing just how useless she is at any type of investigation on her own).
Chief is mid (given a shitty role in Chapter 4), Kurumi is mid, and everyone else just doesn’t exist lol. Yomi is an amazing scumbag of a villain that doesn’t get a satisfying payoff at the end. Instead we get a ‘surprise’ villain, because everyone loves surprise villains, right? No.
Sidequests
Sidequests are boring and don’t ultimately do anything or give any satisfaction or real benefits because the only time it will ever help gameplay is in Mystery Dungeons which are so easy you would have to be a child or a mystery braindead person to not be able to solve. And if you’re playing for the gameplay and not the mystery, well, don’t play this game because the gameplay sucks.
I’ll write up chapter analysis and gripes later but for now I’ll just stew in silence waiting for AI the Somnium Files 3 to release and hoping to god Uchikoshi doesn’t fuck it up like the ending of AINI.
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Generation Three Retrospective
Once Pokemon Red and Blue hit store shelves, Pokemania took the world by storm, especially in America. It was a phenomenon that was hard to avoid whatsoever, you’d be sure to see something Pokemon related almost anywhere you went.
However, not too long after the release of Gold and Silver, the cultural obsession with Pocket Monsters began to fade, and Game Freak was left with a problem on their hands. Was Pokemon truly a franchise that would have staying power, or would it be something that would quickly die out in the new millennium? For such a powerful commercial juggernaut of a series, they were really hoping that wouldn’t be the case, and so thus really had to prove that Pokemon’s success wasn’t just a lucky fluke.
After looking at the end product that is Gen 3, you can tell the developers at Game Freak really wanted to give Pokemon a new coat of paint, to make these new entries stand apart from the previous style and aesthetics of Gens 1 and 2, and decided to create a whole new region to set the games in. While still based on a region in Japan, Gen 3’s new Hoenn region is separate from the previous Kanto and Johto regions, and has a distinct tropical flair to it. Instead of sticking to the standard forests, open fields, and caves seen in the previous regions, Hoenn is home to a lot more dynamic setpieces, such as volcanoes, deserts, the ocean floor, meteor impact sites, and more. Hoenn is much less restricted in its locations, and plays things a lot more loosely and less realistically than Johto and Kanto did, which I think plays to Pokemon’s fantastical strengths much better. Several locations in-game also make use of permanent weather present in the overworld to build atmosphere, such as a sandstorm lingering in the desert or rainfall being present in a wooded route to give it some new flair. You can tell they didn’t hold back and really gave it their all.
This even extends to a majority of the new Pokemon introduced. While Johto had its fair share of Pokemon which thematically matched that region’s focus on myth and tradition, Hoenn flexes its tropical and more vibrant aesthetics through several of its new designs. This is thanks in part to Gen 3 introducing far more Pokemon than Gen 2 did, and actually including all of them during the main campaign of the games, allowing players to use and grow familiar with them naturally. While some Pokemon from older gens stuck around, a vast majority of the Hoenn region’s inhabitants are those new to the generation.
Thanks to new hires in the art department, you can really feel the difference in overall design philosophy with the new Pokemon. A lot of the designs in Hoenn are typically rounder and smoother on average compared to previous generations, and thanks to the Gameboy Advance’s more developed hardware, typically more vibrant and colorful as well.
All these changes were bound to upset someone, though, and several classic Pokemon fans began decrying this new generation as being too different, changing things too much and not keeping enough of the previous games in tact. Ruby and Sapphire may have introduced quite a bit of innovative and incredibly beneficial features, such as Natures, Abilities, Double Battles, and more, but they also removed a number of things from Gold and Silver, such as an active Day/Night Cycle, a dynamic Radio, and severely limited the in-game cell phone feature.
Which is to say nothing of the change in Pokemon designs themselves. As I’ve previously stated, there are numerous Pokemon fans who are willing to recognize only those monsters designed in the first two Generations as ‘true Pokemon,’ with all others being unable to fit into the same ‘proper’ aesthetic. Again, Gen 3 severely limited what non-Hoenn Pokemon were available in game, and had no direct connectivity to previous games, seemingly locking those Pokemon from the playerbase until future games and spin-offs were released, which no one knew was a possibility at the time. To many, Ruby and Sapphire felt like a soft reboot of the series, not helped by the fact that several designs in Hoenn seemed to be direct parallels to those found in Kanto.
This isn’t entirely inaccurate, mind you. Rumor states that a soft reboot was actually Game Freak’s intent when making the games, and considering that they wanted to prove that Pokemon could stand on its own without ties to classic Pokemania, it’s not hard to see where they were coming from.
If you want my take on it, though, do know that I am extremely biased when it comes to Gen 3 Pokemon. While Gold was the first game I played, I also did so exclusively using a Feraligatr and without really paying attention to anything in the game to any notable degree to absorb what I was doing. Instead, Sapphire was my first proper foray into the Pokemon world, and thus a lot of my fondest nostalgic memories with the franchise come from these original GBA titles, and a lot of the branding and merchandise that came out around that time. This extends further to Gen 4 as well, but Gen 3 is really what set the foundation of the series core aesthetic and ‘correct’ feeling in my mind. As such, I can’t really picture a version of the series that doesn’t have Gen 3’s design philosophies included, and so thus it never felt out of place to me.
While returning to Gen 3 with fresh eyes during these reviews did initially seem quite odd and unusual after combing through the distinctly different Gens 1 and 2, reviewing each Pokemon felt like I was talking about something wholly different and new, which Gen 2 didn’t do for me. A lot of the designs in Gen 3 also feel a lot more innovative and experimental than what was in the first two generations, pulling from more specific inspirations or more unusual sources than what had been sourced in the series’ beginning. I think this has only proved to be a good thing, since it’s forced a lot of Pokemon in future generations to continue thinking outside the box in terms of designs and inspirations to create even more fresh, memorable designs, which is what I think is Gen 3’s strongest impact on the series as a whole.
Anyways, with that massive spiel out of the way, let’s get to the rankings, eh?
My Personal Favorites
It was hard picking just six that felt like they deeply resonated and impacted me. Gen 3 has a lot of solid designs, and ones that I like a lot, but narrowing it down was tough since it seems like a lot carry the same amount of favoritism in my mind. Does that make sense? Ludicolo, Banette, Salamence, Duskull, and Shedinja all deserve a place in these high rankings too, but I just couldn’t manage to put one over the other.
Mudkip and Swampert occupy the exact same slot at the top, by the way.
My All-Time Favorites
Ahh, there we go. Everything feels right in the world now that Swampert and Mudkip can sit comfortably at the top of this ranking. Besides that though, uh, sorry Gen 2. Besides Heracross, Gen 3’s pickings pushed them all off the top. Just wait til next generation, guys. Then you’ll make a comeback. Probably.
My Ruby/Sapphire Team
Manectric ranks so highly in my favor in large part due to how useful it is during in-game playthroughs. An Electric type in a region so heavily populated by Water types is sure to be anyone’s valuable partner. I was also going to initially have Sableye on this team instead of Skarmory, but kind of backpedaled once I realized how unoptimal it is to use, especially in the original GBA games. Movepools were so limited back then.
The Coolest
Gen 3’s got a little something for everyone, and it’s only now it was a bit hard to choose just six designs who seemed to emanate raw awesome and radical auras. You might argue the likes of Blaziken, Zangoose, or Absol ought to be on this list, and to that I say… Regice is the coolest Pokemon out there! The Pokedex says it drops the temperature of the air around it to negative 328 degrees Fahrenheit! It absolutely deserves to be included in this list.
The Cutest
Gen 3 is no slouch in terms of cute designs either. I feel like I may be alone in finding Lotad cute though, or at least in the minority. That isn’t just me, right? It can’t be.
The Most Creative
If nothing else, Gen 3 really marks the point where the designers started thinking far outside the box for the new Pokemon designs. Not only are the inspirations getting more unique and absurd, the combination of ideas are also getting more extravagant and unusual as well. A haunted cicada shell and a mushroom kangaroo with elastic arms are just a couple of the generation’s more out-there ideas.
My Least Favorites
Honestly a bit tough. Truth be told, I think I dislike Latias and Latios more than Luvdisc, but I can appreciate more about their designs than I can the fish. Dusclops is also only here due to spite that it dropped the ball so hard after following Duskull’s design.
Gen 3 in a Nutshell
A couple inhabitants of the region’s aquatic locations, a taste of its mythological roots, a splash of spatial obscurity, and a bit of tropical flair captured by each of these designs really speaks to the unique strengths of this new generation.
The Weirdest
As for a unique category for the Gen 3 retrospective, nothing felt more appropriate than ranking the generation’s biggest weirdos, because that’s something it’s got in spades! I mean no disrespect, of course, weird in these examples are great. Funnily enough, deciding on this category was pretty hard too. Hoenn’s just got so many oddballs to pick from!
And thus, Generation Three comes to a close. While I don’t think it’s quite my favorite in terms of new designs, I do think it’s certainly near the top given how many strong examples fill the Pokedex. Up next is Generation Four, which you’ve actually already seen quite a bit of. Let’s see how the rest of it fairs, shall we?
[Gen 3 Archive]
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So it has been discussed that Dark Academia is quite Eurocentric and a bit (if not so much) elitistic. If you like it, it's alright, though.
If you, my Filipino mutuals, felt that Dark Academia is pretentious, maybe (just maybe) it's because we cannot really relate to it while its western practices cannot awake our connection to its roots. For us, it is just "aesthetics" and will never be a "way of life".
Personally, I like the dark hues of dark academia, but I'm a lover of Filipino culture eh.
I would like to gather your thoughts about the Dark or Light Academia aesthetics and lifestyle in Filipino cultural settings. I'm sure I can find many Filipinos here who have ventured more into reconnecting with the indigenous academic culture than I have.
Let's start! (lol haba ng intro ko, eto lang pala 'yon)
Share any media, books, movies, objects, study materials pertaining to the following categories: my examples, without pictures because I'm uncreative.
Book Reco: any myth book, tbh
Poets to read: Andres Bonifacio (for those who don't know, this boi made a poem about Sidapa)
Writing Instruments: Bamboo and ink
Classical Musical instruments: Talaandug (alam nyo yung bamboo flute ni Agilus sa Mulawin, yun 'yon)
Must study: Baybayin
Study Table snacks: Puto pao
Coffee and Tea Reco: Barako, tanglad tea, lavender tea, turnate tea, and Sampaguita tea, all of which are grown in south east asia and can be found in shopee/lazada.
Philosophy and ethics: I'm blank on this one. Sadly, I only know Nietzschean and Confucian.
Objects that should adorn your study table: sari manok, because I'm basic and edgy.
Objects that should adorn your wall: T'boli weaving, Fernando Amorsolo works, random wooden stick you found in the wild
Objects that should adorn your book shelf: clay pot, random wooden stick you found in the wild
Garments: red saya (I have 3! Who cares about heat death!)
All I can give are basics and general, I'm that surface level. Please share your knowledge to celebrate Filipino Academia aesthetics/life style.
((edit: ah, the problem of study aesthetics is the consumerism that comes with it. So a reminder, don't feel forced to buy anything. We're just vibing. And if you can buy things, go local as much as you can.))
#I want the dark hues of dark academia but I'm also a lover of my own culture eh#philippines#filipino#philippine history#being filipino#philippine mythology#ano-po#Philippine culture#Aesthetics#Dark academia#Filipino academia aesthetics#And I hope this aesthetics have no problem whatsoever
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New theme new theme new theme new them new theme, living up to my name AND my Hogwarts house, very rad of me I dare say :)
#material gworl#Ive decided the only way to fix my constant dread to change my theme is to change my background and color....#While also maintaining my Pfp so my moots won't get confused#It's a win win#I get satisfactory aesthetic changes and my moots won't get confused whatsoever#Banger of a problem solver knew I had something in my rotting brain#Completely random but I'm going to start read Evelyn Hugo and her seven husbands today!!!!#I've been postponing reading it long enough now and so so excited to finally start reading it :))))#Uhhh???? OH! HAPPY SPRING AMIGOS!#It's crappy weather where I'm at but hope it's nice wherever you are :)#Have a lovely day?#chaotic bastard
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Hey all! Unbelievably excited for this one. Been a while since I've had a class here. I've been wanting to do a rework of my Mourner from the moment I started playing it. I pretty quickly figured out there were some major problems with its base mechanics and there were a few other little things I wanted to change as well. But the longer I played and the more I looked at it, the more I felt it was in desperate need of a complete overhaul as a whole.
But after months of playtesting and heavy revisions, the class is now in a VASTLY better place. I'm so incredibly happy with this overhaul and look forward to playing it more in the future. Interesting thing of note, this was always meant to be a conversion but this rework has made it even closer to the Unhallowed version than before, both mechanically and in spirit.
I was originally going to do a full changelog that details everything that's changed with this new version but I don't hate myself that much so I'll give y'all the highlights:
Most obviously is the aesthetic. I've learned how to do custom styles since the original and I think I picked a pretty damn fitting one. Also all the art is greyscale now to fit the theme better.
Saves and skills have been changed to be a little more fitting.
Death Trance has been overhauled. This was where things started going wrong when I first started playing the class. The basics were there but it wasn't very well written and it had a lot of problems.
Many of the features got rolled into one super-feature called Guild Training. It works like the Ranger additions from Tasha's; you get some stuff at 1st level and pick more things later on. This gives you some more flexibility in what abilities you get and is also how Unhallowed does its class features.
You can now use most of your abilities on creatures that aren't undead! This was a HUGE problem with the original and it made the whole class feel pretty underwhelming. I was trying to stick too hard to the original and I was a fool for doing so as the class suffered for it. Now, you can take some downtime to study a creature type, which then lets you use your stuff on creatures of the chosen type. SO much better than the old version.
Medium was rebuilt from the ground up to be, uh, not utterly fucking useless. No, seriously, I hate myself for writing the original medium. Not a single one of their abilities had any value whatsoever outside of very specific scenarios and they didn't fit D&D at all. Now, you get your Second Sight at 3rd and get to choose from an enormous list of powers as you level, most of which are either from Unhallowed, Libris Mortis, or Ghostwalk. It's got a whole new feel to it and WAY more utility. Of all the changes I've made this is the best one IMO.
Anyway, those are the big changes but EVERYTHING got touched up in some way at the very least. When I say overhaul, I mean it. Hope y'all love it as much as I did making it. This was truly a labor of love and I hope that it shows. Unhallowed is one of my favorite worlds and this has definitely become my favorite class to play as of late. Anyway, stay safe and don't forget to love each other.
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#Dungeons and Dragons#5e#5th edition#5e DnD#mourner#unhallowed#mourning#class#undead#redux#rework#overhaul#Zap
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Favorite Tropes: The Skill Monkey
My favorite role in any friend group, fictional or otherwise, is the skill monkey. I personally fill this role a lot in my groups, so I wanted to talk about it for a bit. Rambling ahead.
When I say “skill monkey”, I don’t mean the friend who’s booksmart or even that dude who actually knows how cars work. I mean the friend who has the most seemingly useless knowledge ever that somehow turns out to save the day. The kind of person who’s dabbled in pretty much every out-of-place skill you can think of. It’s the difference between actually studying and binging Wikipedia and Reddit at 3 in the morning. They're not booksmart at all, but they're still very knowledgeable. Bonus points if this skill or knowledge is never mentioned until it’s actually needed, or is mentioned with zero context whatsoever like during group banter.
The Skill Monkey is that friend who will randomly bring up experiences and skills and knowledge they've had that seems so nonsensical and weird in the most charming way possible. Like maybe the gang is fighting a killer clown and it turns out they’ve dabbled in clown college or know a lot about the history of clowns. Or a situation comes where they need to lead an enemy away and they’re suddenly able to throw their voice because SURPRISE! They were a ventriloquist for a year or two! Or they need to contact a Spirit and the skill monkey is already pulling out the Planchette and Pendulum because they just randomly had it with no prior context.
This makes a character who’s perfectly set up for both comedy and badassery. It’s perfect for Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass characters, or characters who seem stupid on the surface but suddenly become badass and amazing at something when the situation calls for it. Overly Sarcastic Productions has a very good video on this too. The skill monkey is the character who saves everybody’s asses by using a skill that no normal person would ever casually know. They’re particularly versatile and useful in a plot because they can know almost anything so long as the situation calls for it, though it works better if it’s a particularly strange skill. It leaves the audience wondering how the skill monkey will get everyone out this time, or what else they might know. Loads of room for both canon characterization and potential headcanons for the fandom to come up with.
But it’s important to make sure that the skill monkey doesn’t know everything. If they solve literally every single problem by themselves, it gets boring really really fast. That’s why the skill monkey works best in groups where they can work off of others and everyone’s unique skills and knowledge plays a role. Skill monkeys work really well in mystery, paranormal or fantasy series, particularly if it also has a comedy aspect. And remember to give the skill monkey certain quirks and defining traits beyond their skills - like maybe they’re constantly tired because they’re up all night researching new things. Or maybe it’s the opposite and they’re so full of energy that they rarely even need to sleep, hence why they have so much time for these things. Maybe they’re a non-human creature who doesn’t even need to sleep, or has lived for like 500 years so they’ve had the time to gather all their knowledge. What’s their aesthetic? Their defining personality traits? Stuff like that.
Skill monkeys are also fun because both the writer and even the audience can project their unique skillset onto them. If the writer knows a lot about witchcraft, so will the skill monkey. Got really into Mayan civilizations back in middle school? Give the story a plot point revolving around that and let the skill monkey work their magic! They practically write themselves, so personally I hope more people use this archetype in the future.
Anyways, end of rambling. Stay tuned for more Favorite Trope Dissections in the future!
#tropes#writing tips#writing ideas#character tropes#dynamics#character dynamics#oc#oc ideas#writing guide#favorite tropes series#skill monkey
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