#also in terms of physical i think they would both hype up each other's scars
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hi! Following seeing some of your posts and the art by typosandtea, I was wondering what your lore/ hcs for Cutler are! I LOVE your design for him
also just came to say I think you’re awesome :) have a great day
Thank you so much!! Your headcanons on Cutler have been amazing as well, I'm so glad this character that gets like, two lines of dialogue about him is getting recognized by the fandom (as he DESERVES!)
Headcanons about Cutler
Cutler had his eyes on the cute scrap seller in Rivet City for a while, and their first real interaction was him trying to flirt.
Danse, being on the aroace spectrum (maybe demisexual?) and extremely oblivious, never realized this fact. He assumed Cutler was just trying to haggle for a lower price.
Cutler never bought anything though. Instead he would ask about the original uses of all the pre-war items Danse had in stock and watched as Danse's face lit up. He loved to listen to him ramble about things he was passionate about.
He asked Danse out for a meal one evening and Danse, hungry and poor, was happy with the free food. Danse never quite picked up on Cutler's crush, but Cutler took it in stride anyway - he was a very carefree guy who was perfectly fine with making a new friend.
Danse and Cutler were basically opposites. Cutler was always impulsive and chaotic, big golden retriever energy, and Danse was much more reserved and anxious when he was younger.
They balanced each other out well, Danse could reel Cutler's chaos in and Cutler taught Danse to loosen up a little. They got into trouble sometimes, but never anything too serious.
I also imagine Cutler to be a bit of a nomad. He had a sister at home he'd send mail to regularly, but other than that he was always moving and exploring the wasteland without a specific goal in mind, only staying at places for a few months at a time before moving on.
So of course he was hyped about the Brotherhood recruiting. Free food, clothing, shelter, and education! And once he got bored he'd just dip and find a new place to call home like he always has.
He probably would have left the Brotherhood long before his scouting op if it wasn't for Danse, honestly.
His opinion of Danse was a complicated one. Depsite not usually becoming attached to friends or lovers, he had this urge to keep Danse safe and watch him succeed in life. Danse was such a strange guy with such a complicated mind it was like watching a bug under a microscope... and his crush on him really didn't help.
By the time he realized just how deep of a hole he dug himself into it was too late to back out and go back to his nomad life. Not that he minded, he was more than happy following Danse to wherever he wanted to go.
At a certain point they both knew they loved each other, but nothing was ever said. It really wasn't important to either of them to label their relationship or have some sort of big admission of love. They just silently knew they'd be there for each other no matter what.
The last time they saw each other was when Cutler was leaving on his mission. He waved through the window of the vertibird and Danse, not wanting to break protocol, kept a steady salute and didn't wave back. They really thought they were going to see each other again.
As for physical features
Danse struggles with a bit of face blindness, so he tends to look for concrete features like hair, markings, or clothing to identify people. Cutler of course mirrored this perfectly by being very noticable in terms of appearance.
Blonde hair, green eyes. A burn scar going down his face and to his shoulder. Cheap jewelery with a fake gold chain necklace. And, despite how cold it probably was in rivet city, he always wore a white tank top. He was a very memorable guy and didn't change his outfits often!
When Cutler died he still had his dogtags and chains around his neck, almost tight enough it was constricting blood flow. This sticks with Danse for a long time and plays a bit into my fic Danse and Uncertainty where he gets all emotional seeing a feral with a sundress on. It reminds him that all these monsters were once human, and potentially once someone's friend.
I don't quite have a story in mind for his burn scar, but given how he spent a big chunk of his life moving around it's not surprising he had some scars. He was never self conscious of them and loved showing them off and telling the stories, even if he had to stretch the truth a bit to make them more interesting.
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For the otp asks, 3 with akimina?
Ooooh nice one this is cute!!!
3. If they complimented each other, what would they say?
Well I think Minato would definitely compliment Akihiko's strength and dedication. Both of those are very important to Akihiko so I can see Minato taking every opportunity to let him know that he admires how strong he is and also his passion.
As for Akihiko I think he would compliment his attention to detail. I think Minato is a very thoughtful person to those he cares about (and underneath the whole 'i don't care' persona) and I think Akihiko would just appreciate small things he does for him like making him his favorite protein drink or something. Also of course his music taste. Minato takes huge pride in his music and he gets very happy when his boyfriend tells him he has the best taste in music.
#asks#friskysirentails#sir entails#persona 3#minato arisato#akihiko sanada#akimina#i hope this makes sense fjcnduxhus#but yeah for akihiko he just appreciates Minato's thoughtfulness#and minato admires akihiko's dedication to keep going#also in terms of physical i think they would both hype up each other's scars#top scars battle scars all of them#thank you for the ask!#i was gonna answer last night but i fell asleep dnfcjxjsins
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(me: matty is on break
also me: here is a giant matty factfile)
The Basics
Name? Mateo Rosario Hernandez Moreno
Age? 26
Approximate height? 5′9
Hair colour? Dark brown
Eye colour? Brown
Do they speak with an accent? No
Where are they from? Zuzu City
Where are they now? Stardew Valley
Backstory
Who are their parents? Héctor and Jennifer Moreno
What is their earliest memory? Watching campy old superhero cartoons on tv with his dad, back at their old apartment. Matty would stay up late waiting for him to get home from his job bussing tables at their local diner, and would inevitably fall asleep before the show was over.
What did they want to be when they grew up? A costumed crime-fighter, a server at JojaBurger, or Tony Hawk, in that order.
What did/do their parents want them to be? They don’t really see each other enough to get into it on the job front, though Matty supposes it would’ve been nice if he’d’ve been a tech genius like them - carried on the family business or something.
Do they have siblings? Older or younger? Brothers or sisters? None, but he did have an imaginary older brother in the same way most kids have imaginary friends. Bit sad, innit.
Do they have or have they ever had children? How many? No, none, and never!
Do they or have ever had a significant other? Are they still with them? Why? Why not? Not a significant other - he’s dated a little, but his enthusiasm tends to scare people off.
Up until now, what’s the most noteworthy thing they’ve done? To them? To the people around them? Matty doesn’t really think he’s done anything noteworthy. Noteworthy things are for other, cooler people.
Tastes
What’s your character’s favourite colour? Red! No, blue! Wait, no, red!
Do they/would they choose to wear a scent? What would it be? Axe bodyspray, he’s rich but also basic.
Do they care about what things look like? All things, or only some? Not at all. His apartment looks like a college dorm crossed with Comic Con crossed with a dumpster.
What’s their favourite ice cream flavour? Phish Food!
Are they a tea, or coffee drinker? Or soft drinks, or do they drink a lot of alcohol? What kind? Doesn’t really drink tea or coffee because his palette is that of a ten year old. He drinks a lot of JojaCola, and only bothers with alcohol when he has someone to share it with. Which isn’t very often.
What kind of books do they read? What TV shows and movies do they watch? Matty doesn’t read anything except for graphic novels and comic books because focusing on lots of words is haaaard. In terms of TV he likes most popular stuff if it isn’t too cerebral, stuff like the Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, anything from the MCU...
What kind of music do they like? Do they like music at all? He likes pop punk mostly, it’s hype!
If they were about to die, what would they have as their last meal? Mexican feast, next question.
Are they hedonistic? In all cases? Or does practicality sometimes/always/often win out? Yeah, in a way! Matty doesn’t see the point in doing stuff if he’s not excited to do it!
Do they have any philias or phobias? Nah.
Morals, Beliefs, and Faith
Do they have an internal or an external moral code? Both?
To what extent are their actions dictated by this code? Mostly, though some things (mostly grafittiing and trespassing) are worth breaking the law for.
Do they believe in a God or Gods/Goddesses/Higher being of some description? Nah.
Are they superstitious? Not really, but he will call out stuff as being bad luck.
Do they believe in an afterlife? If so, what’s it like? Yeah dude, he believes in like... alternate universes. So you die, and then you start your life over again in another version of reality.
Do they have any specific beliefs that manifest obviously? No.
Are they respectful of the beliefs of others? To what extent? Yeah, but he’d rather not talk about it? He thinks religion is private and therefore awkward to talk about.
Have they ever had to stand up to criticism for being religious? Or not being religious? Nope!
Would they be more likely to act for the good of the one, or the good of the many? The good of the many.
Relationships
Do they make friends easily? Not really, in the past people have tended to find his personality too intense to handle, and he has been told frequently that he’s annoying.
Do they have a best friend? It’s Bartholomew, his butler. Bit sad innit.
Can they get people to do what they want them to? If so, how? No. Even bribery doesn’t really work.
Do they have a lot of romantic relationships? Serious, or short term? Matty hasn’t found anyone to tolerate him long enough for any kind of romantic relationship.
Do they fall in and out of love easily? Yeah, he’s a sucker for a pretty face and a kind word.
Do strangers and acquaintances actually like them when they meet? Historically, no, but he’s hoping that will change!
Do they have a network? Not really... his parents are too often absent to count, and Bartholomew can’t be a network on his own.
What is their relationship like with their family? BIT SAD INNIT. Matty really loves his parents, and he knows they love him too, but the physical distance between them has made a metaphorical distance too.
Are they still in touch with non-family people they were in touch with a year ago? Five years? Ten? More? No.
Do they like children? Do they want children of their own? He likes kids (and frankly they usually have overlapping interests), but Matty is more a fun uncle than a father figure, he thinks.
Physical Appearance
How does this character dress? How would they choose to dress, if all options were open to them? T-shirts, hoodies, jeans, converse, denim jacket, and probably a hat of some description. Matty has enough money to dress how he wants, but his tastes trend on the cheaper side.
Do they have any tattoos? What do they mean? None.
Do they have piercings? How many? None, but maybe he wants his nose pierced.
Do they have scars? Where did they come from? Yes, Matty is extremely accident prone and hurts himself a lot. Luckily, most injuries don’t phase him much.
Do they alter their appearance in some way on a regular basis? Nope!
Is there something they’d choose to change about their appearance if they had the opportunity to? His wonky chin? :(
Is there something about their appearance they’re particularly proud of/happy with? His hair!
Objectively, are they physically attractive? Fairly plain? Unattractive? He’s cute for sure.
Do they have an accurate mental picture and opinion of their physical appearance? Yeah dude, Matty knows what he looks like, and he thinks he looks fine!
How much time do they spend thinking about their physical appearance? It would be a lot less if he wasn’t so obsessed with his hair.
General Knowledge
Can they navigate their own local area without getting lost? To what degree? No, his sense of direction is absolute garbage. Without his phone he’d be lost like 90% of the time.
Do they know who the top politician or monarch is where they live? What about elsewhere? He knows Mayor Lewis, does that count?
Do they know if/where there are any major conflicts going on right now? No.
Do they know the composition of water? ... no...
Do they know how to eat a pomegranate? Carefully?
Are they good with the technology available to them? Average? Completely hopeless? Okay, tech is something Matty is good at.
Could they paint a house? Without making a mess of it? Paint it? Yes. Do it without making a mess? Absolutely not. He’s happy to be invovled though!
Could they bake a cake? Would you eat it if they did? No, and no, he’d try so hard, but he’s literally useless and would definitely give me food poisoning.
Do they know how to perform basic maintenance on the common mode of transportation? He can maintain his skateboard, but that’s it.
Do they know the price of a loaf of bread? How much can a loaf of bread cost? 20G?
Specific Knowledge
Do they have a specific qualification in a narrow area? The only qualification he has is his high school diploma, so no.
Is there something they do or know exceptionally well that most other people don’t? He’s actually a very good artist.
Do people often comment on a particular skill or area of knowledge to this character? Behind their back? Maybe on his lack thereof. Matty doesn’t really give the impression that he has any skills or knowledge.
Is there an area this character could be considered top of their field or a genius in? God no.
Have they deliberately sought to gain knowledge in a specific area? If so, why? No, he’s stupid :(
Do they speak more than one language? More than two? Why? He speaks an embarrassingly small amount of spanish - the white family butler literally speaks more spanish than him.
Does their cultural background effect what they would be expected to know? I mean, maybe his taste in Mexican food should be better than frozen burritos from JojaMart.
Have they ever been publicly acknowledged for being well-versed in something? Never.
Have they ever been bullied for knowing a lot about something? Yeah, he reaaaally loved superheroes as a kid, and got rinsed for talking about them so much.
Do they actively seek new knowledge, or let it come to them naturally? If anything Matty avoids knowledge.
Miscellaneous
What did they have for breakfast this morning? Dry cereal because his milk went bad and he was too lazy to go and buy more.
What ridiculous belief/s did they have as a child? ): I mean, the imaginary older brother was pretty silly.
Do they like marshmallows? Yeah!
Do they sleep on their side, front, or back? On his front, mouth open, snoring.
Do they work better with sound or silence? Sound! Music makes brain work faster.
Do they have a strange obsession with something minor? His hair? Superheroes?
Do they like art? Uhhhhhh, medium? He likes comics and stuff, but he’s not going to a museum anytime soon.
How fast can they run? Fast!
Do they prefer to sit on the floor or on a chair? Floor.
What do they want, right now? A breakfast burrito. Preferably one he didn’t have to microwave himself.
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Is Mortal Kombat 11’s EVO 2020 Absence Actually Surprising?
February 5, 2020 1:00 PM EST
With Mortal Kombat 11 being absent from Evo 2020, I was pretty shocked. However, maybe it isn’t as shocking as I initially thought.
Last night, the Evo 2020 game lineup was announced bringing eight modern games and one classic to the biggest fighting game tournament of the year. Just as a reminder, here are the nine games that will be on the big stage:
Street Fighter V: Championship Edition
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Dragon Ball FighterZ
Tekken 7
Soul Calibur 6
GranBlue Fantasy Versus
Samurai Shodown
Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[cl-r]
Marvel vs. Capcom 2
While there are many games that did not make the cut, there is one standout title that has surprised both the FGC (fighting game community) and the general gaming community. No, it is not Super Smash Bros. Melee. NetherRealm Studios’ 2019 release Mortal Kombat 11 did not make the cut this year for Evo 2020.
Considering how well the game has been doing in terms of sales, critical acclaim, and garnering entries for Evo last year, it seemed like a lock for Evo 2020. But as Evo co-founder Joey Cuellar was revealing the games, with the first four being the shoo-in games for the tournament, it became clear Mortal Kombat 11 wasn’t going to be making the cut. Initially, this was a surprise to me. Mostly because this is the fighting game I’ve followed the most since its release. In my eyes, this community seemed rather active with a presence at every major fighting game tournament. But is Mortal Kombat 11‘s absence really a surprise?
To begin, let’s look at the numbers Mortal Kombat 11 brought in at Evo 2019. Last year, Cuellar posted the final entrant numbers for each game. There were a total of 14,321 entrants split between nine games. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate had the largest pool garnering 3,492 entrants, while BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle had the smallest pool, with 640 entrants. Mortal Kombat 11 had a total of 1,567 entrants, which was roughly 10% of all entrants at Evo 2019.
Evo 2019 Final Numbers!
Smash Ultimate – 3492
Street Fighter V – 1929
Tekken 7 – 1885
Samurai Shodown – 1719
Mortal Kombat 11 – 1567
Unist – 1156
DragonBall FighterZ – 1191
Soul Calibur 6 – 742
BlazBlue:CTB – 640#Evo2019
— Joey Cuellar (@MrWiz) July 15, 2019
Assuming bringing in entrants for the event is important for Evo since it makes money from players registering, I do not believe Mortal Kombat 11 was cut because it wasn’t bringing in enough people to the actual event. If that were the case, Soul Calibur VI would have been cut as it only brought in 742 players. Outside of Evo, Mortal Kombat 11 has brought in plenty of entrants to the events that showcase it. It had the second-largest pool with 531 entrants at CEO 2019 and the larget pool at Combo Breaker with 758 entrants.
Since it seems like Mortal Kombat 11 was bringing in people physically to the venue, maybe it wasn’t bringing in enough people to its Twitch stream. Using TwitchTracker.com for the metrics, it seems like the NRS fighter did pretty well. It wasn’t the best out of the bunch, but it certainly was not the worst. At Evo 2019, Mortal Kombat 11 had an average of 51,719 viewers with its peak being 74,987 viewers during its slot on August 3, 2019. There were a total of 466k viewers that popped in during the tournament, with the Evo Twitch channel garnering 3.7K followers during its 4.6-hour duration.
Dragon Ball FighterZ was the other big game that day and actually had an earlier slot. It had over 60k viewers on average, with over 96k viewers at its peak during the Sonic Fox and Go1 final. It did have a lower viewership with 222k viewers in total but garnered more followers for the channel. Depending on one what determines “success” either one of the two could be considered good draws for the tournament.
Even though those aren’t bad numbers, Mortal Kombat 11 certainly did not keep up with Sunday’s competition. Tekken 7 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate brought in the most viewers and followers overall. But it did do better (in regards to these stats) than Samurai Shodown, UNIST (Under Night In-Birth) and Soul Calibur IV, all of which are present at Evo 2020. So, it couldn’t be that Mortal Kombat 11 doesn’t draw in an online audience.
I did want to see how well Mortal Kombat 11 has done on Twitch in general since it launched last year. It does take a substantial dip between April 2019 (launch month) and July 2019. Since then it has been pretty steady, albeit lower on viewers. In comparison to another fighter that came out last year, Samurai Shodown seems to be maintaining its popularity among its fanbase while Mortal Kombat 11 has dipped pretty substantially. Those probably aren’t the best comparisons considering how much more popular Mortal Kombat 11 was last year, but there is definitely a dip in interest.
But again, that is just looking at it overall. In a tournament setting, people (like myself) start to get hyped and carve out time to watch their favorite games. That being said, I don’t think Mortal Kombat 11‘s absence is a numbers issue. Clearly, there are less popular games that made it on that list.
When the news broke that Mortal Kombat 11, I started seeing a bit of a pattern in regards to how players were treated at Evo 2019 and how it isn’t really all that surprising that the game isn’t going to be there. A sort of separation between the MK players and the rest of the FGC. Here are a few tweets from some of the top Mortal Kombat players suggesting it’s not just because of numbers.
Interesting that MK11 isnt at Evo despite the numbers it pulled last year. I am sensing politics..
— SonicFox @ Paris (DBFZWT)
(@SonicFox5000) February 5, 2020
I got a few ideas about why MK11 didn’t make the lineup this year, but hey it is what it is….the community wasn’t happy with being there in the first place & tons said we got treated like shit there, so why y’all acting so surprised now? We got what we wanted lol.
— END| Scar @ Home
(@khscar12) February 5, 2020
Another year, another slap in the face to the MK community from EVO.
But at least they have an MVC2 invitational
— PXP | A F0xy Grampa (@AF0xyGrampa) February 5, 2020
Also can we please stop with blaming the game on the timeline.
Most entrants ever at CB-CEO-EVO for an NRS game. Non pro tour events have been getting 100+ entrants where as other nrs games would get like 30-40. MK11 isn’t my favorite NRS game but it’s clearly politics.
— CGL Tweedy (@Tweedy_FGC) February 5, 2020
All of these tweets refer to some sort of politics behind the scenes. They also touch on how the Mortal Kombat 11 community was treated while at Evo. None of them really explicitly say how they were mistreated or what sort of politics would be behind the game’s absence at Evo 2020, but it doesn’t come as a big surprise to these players.
Neither NRS or Evo have not yet commented on why Mortal Kombat 11 is being left out this year. And I’m not quite sure if they will. NRS has its own plans for esports, which will probably be announced at the Final Kombat event in March. Maybe NRS wants its competition to be more online-focused like Tweedy mentioned. There could even be some sort of dispute between NRS and Evo that we don’t know about.
Regardless, Evo isn’t the only stage fighting games are played on competitively. It is almost certain Mortal Kombat 11 will be present at other events like Combo Breaker and CES, but I would be lying if I said I’m not a bit bewildered. Tell us why you think Mortal Kombat 11 isn’t going to be at Evo 2020 in the comments below.
February 5, 2020 1:00 PM EST
from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/02/is-mortal-kombat-11s-evo-2020-absence-actually-surprising/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=is-mortal-kombat-11s-evo-2020-absence-actually-surprising
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What do you think of Riko as a character inside the books? (no HCs) / Any fave HCs you want to share? / Any pairings/ships you like with him? / fic recs? / art recs? / Kevin&Riko - do they have/had feelings for each other? / Thoughts on his finale scene? / Did you read Nora's extra content? // tag other bloggers you think have something interesting to say about him! (maybe someone we don't know yet??) #Thoughts on Riko Moriyama
What do you think of Riko as a character inside the books? (no HCs) From a writer’s point of view? He’s a fucking tragedy. (and no, I don’t mean the pieces of background story we did get on him, that’s been said and discussed before) He’s kind of the worst villain a story can have - and here is why:
Riko is ‘one’ of the book’s antagonists, and to quote my German lit. teacher: “Antagonists act while heroes react.” - meaning it is often a villain who initiates any kind of dramatic change in a story. That said, why is Riko Moriyama a bad example of a villain? A good villain needs a plausible background story. The reader needs to actually understand what happened to the character in order to make him into what he is today. A good villain started out as an ‘ordinary’ person, same as a hero. Both undergo a series of events to turn them into what they are. If not enough depth and character development is put into a story the character becomes lifeless, doesn’t spark any kind of interest within the reader and (in this case) the villain becomes a ‘plot device’ - meaning someone who does evil things to create scenes that show more light on the main character and his reactions. (Neil has to suffer through some pretty over the top and kinda unexplained abuse from Riko in order to add to the tragedy and heroic survival in his character’s development). [unexplained meaning: Riko could just have done a million other things to him - it wouldn’t make much of a difference. As long as it fits the excessive violent behavior category it would have worked plot wise. There is no explanation why he is using knives (other than that it fits the whole scar theme of the books (Kevin, Andrew, Neil, Jean… all of them have scars)) … ] Or, to be very harsh here and I know it’s not quite THAT bad, think of those silly cartoons, Road Runner and Coyote - you know the coyote will do any kinds of destructive things, you don’t know why, it’s just his role, he’s a plot device.
Of course there are ways to create a great villain without spending many pages on his background story. Take Makishima Shogo e.g. (PsychoPass season one), we know next to nothing about his background, yet he is one of my favorite antagonists. His character feels real because there are enough little aspects about him that add depth: he likes to read books (physical copies because ebooks lack character), he likes to quote from those books to drive his point home, he likes to dip his sweets into tea… - non of that makes him better/worse at changing/destroying society, but it gives us an idea of who the man behind that criminal mastermind is.
Sadly, we only get the smallest glimpses of Riko. Overall his name is being mentioned 595 times in the trilogy, but we encounter him only a few times. Most of his actions happen behind the scenes. He’s also the best kind of HC goldmine you can find. Wasted potential makes for great fan content because there is so much left to explore (no matter if the author had to cut all the information out or cba to come up with anything to begin with. The fields of imagination are endless my friends!) Or, as Nora explained: “I wanted a stronger antagonist, so I kept giving him more power–and then I tore a chunk of it away in the final draft out of necessity. He had more presence in the second-to-last draft, just as Neil’s father did, but I had to delete entire chunks to balance the story out…” Basically all the information we have on Riko comes from Nora’s extra content (his whole backstory is in there). If you read it his character starts to make sense, becomes interesting and worth exploring. But it is what it is. You can’t really blame the readers for hating Riko Moriyama when they pick up the books for the first time. He is a shadow of a character in there. And let’s be honest, the extra content “doesn’t count” in many reader’s opinion. If it’s not in the books it didn’t happen! (true to some degree, but I’m not a purist. I research and dig for those extra pieces of information. I’d rather have four books with all the information on the side characters in there, I don’t need a sequel.) So, conclusion: If you hate Riko Moriyama, consider reading Nora’s extra content and give him another shot. He is quite interesting.
Any fave HCs you want to share?oh geez…. endless supply of those • Young Riko wide-eyed on his first trip outside of the Nest (supervised &!! unsupervised) like… the things he wants to see/eat/try/buy, (with Kevin by his side/the whole team/on his own/some Moriyama bodyguard), him buying ice cream (wow that’s sweet), fast food (not rly his thing, too greasy), clothes (ripped jeans, t-shirts, that amazing black coat he sees on his way back, a hat - because all he has are workout clothes, Exy gear and suits)• Riko doing promo/commercial stuff for the Ravens, playing nice for the staff on set, but wishing some of them a very painful death because they are so fake… (kinda used that one before) • Riko doing drugs/alcohol for the first time (can’t hold his liquor even though Kevin seems to have no problems in that department, and oh, it pisses him off - gets a huge backlash from his uncle afterwards for being an embarrassment to the family name) (drugs are something he can’t really get to terms with. He likes the feeling they give him (at least some of them) but he absolutely hates the aftermath, remembering how they made him open up, bringing him close to losing control…(ravens are against doping btw) • Endless scenes of Riko/Kevin making out… Young Kevin getting curious at some point and the only one around for him to ask is Riko, Riko being so angry that something has to give and sadly that’s Kevin, both of them being hyped after their first official game(win) and making out on Kevin’s bed, both of them getting drunk at the victory celebration and Riko dragging Kevin off to somewhere that’s dangerously public and oh, Kevin, be quiet dammit…
•Kevin is like an octopus while being asleep and Riko can’t stand it, it’s too warm, too sweaty, too heavy, too close…. - that’s why they make out on Kevin’s bed and he leaves afterwards. But there are times he wishes he could just go over there while Kevin is asleep. He does one night, when Kevin has been drinking with the older ravens… he has covered his ass and Kevin is gonna pay for it later… gets into bed behind Kevin and prays he won’t wake up…• Riko not admitting that there is more than Exy in his head sometimes… he likes psychology, astronomy, he’s good at math too and maybe physics would be interesting if the teacher wouldn’t be such a boring moron who takes ages to come to the point… but he can’t tell anyone because all he’s meant to be is the heir of Exy, and rly, what’s the point anyway? Chances are he won’t survive the end of his Exy career… • He likes music and some company gave them these awesome noise cancelling headphones. He likes them but only uses them when he is alone because he needs to hear the people around him… • He’s an awesome dancer with remarkable body control, and so is Kevin, as they both find out on their first (and last) night at a club…
Any pairings/ships you like with him? Both Riko/Kevin & Kevin/Riko work just fine for me. I’ve written (Raven!)Neil/Riko/Kevin before, and if you put some work and thought into a well crafted AU setting even Riko/(raven!)Andrew works. - If it has to be straight… my best bet would be Allison - she has enough of an attitude to stand her ground.
fic recs?let me give you a few but it rly deserves a full list at some pointwhat if i did by MadHatterNO7 - Kevin/RikoNever More by biffes - Kevin/Riko Kevin/Riko/Jeanignominy by Saul - Kandreil but I still like Riko in this one… baptism by Saul can’t go wrong with Saul aka @unkinglythose are only the ones I can name on the spot…
art recs? Well, there is @shihoran , of course, she’s been posting daily. hers is maybe the sweetest Riko I’ve ever seen (nothing like I imagine him but gorgeous art!) I know @foxesrefuge is working on some stuff (since I’ve seen a glimpse of it! ha! no spoilers though) http://berry-muffin.tumblr.com/post/154991766150/insp-and-a-bonus-because-fuck-riko-moriyama http://llstarcasterll.tumblr.com/post/157091722582 http://schwarzbrot.tumblr.com/image/138611768689 http://ziegenkind.tumblr.com/post/147315366365/here-you-go-nonnyand…. srsly, we need more Riko art!
Kevin&Riko - do they have/had feelings for each other? According to Nora’s extra content ‘yes’ they had feelings for each other. And I’m not talking the platonic kind of feelings. We’re talking the conflicted ‘adoptive’ brother/romance kind of stuff. Inside the books? Yes, I believe they have a nice textbook example of love/hate relationship to the very end. Riko can’t get over Kevin, even keeps his room untouched (as Neil tells us) and I could write you another two pages about that first interview scene. You can’t just ‘hate’ someone for no reason. Hate is a very personal feeling and it needs some kind of obsession behind it. Kevin tells us that he knows how it is to be with Riko. He also tells us that Riko wasn’t always like the way he is now. He’s gotten worse. You hear the Foxes call Riko a bastard, crazy… yet Kevin usually doesn’t outright insult Riko. Does he love him after what Riko has done to him? Probably not! Did he get rid of all his feelings from the time they grew up and learned to love Exy together? Unlikely.
Thoughts on his finale scene? ¬_¬ you had to… I don’t like it. But that’s my personal (emotionally clouded) opinion. It works as a scene because it is fast paced and written in an almost detached way - like such an experience would be, I imagine. Hard to take in, slow to process, very overwhelming, scattered, scrambled brains and all. The scene itself makes me nearly choke on the tension and displayed/withheld emotions.
Did you read Nora’s extra content? Oh yes! Such an inspiration. I’d love to get my hands on some of the earlier drafts… *cough*moreKandreil/moreRiko*cough*
// tag other bloggers you think have something interesting to say about him! (maybe someone we don’t know yet??) #Thoughts on Riko Moriyama - Already did! :D
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Josh Sargent is unlike any player in USMNT history
*We know you’ve been burnt before, but trust us.
You’ve probably heard less about Josh Sargent than several other young United States men’s national team players since the squad started undergoing its post-Trinidad & Tobago overhaul. Sargent has six caps and a pair of USMNT goals, but unlike Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie, he hasn’t been installed as a first-choice starter for club or country. Yet.
All signs point to the 18-year-old Sargent being the USMNT’s breakout star over the next year. He looks more polished with each passing month, and he has a set of skills that no American male has ever shown before. He’s much more likely to become his country’s best ever center forward than he is to fail at making an impact with the national team.
But before I go any further, I have to ask myself: should I even be saying this?
American soccer fans have been scarred for life by Freddy Adu, who failed to maximize his potential after becoming the youngest American ever signed to a professional contract at 14 years old. Whenever a young male American player shows exceptional talent, a large contingent of USMNT fans do a strange thing where they warn others not to get too excited because he might never get good. This is a bonkers exercise given that players like Pulisic and McKennie have already proven that they are good enough to play in the Champions League, and thus are definitively Not Freddy Adu.
Still, Sargent by comparison has only played 56 minutes for Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga, so hyping him up as the next big thing is a bit more ... let’s say, emotionally risky. We don’t have a body of hard evidence that Sargent can consistently perform at the top professional level. Getting attached to the idea of him as the USMNT’s star striker for the next decade could end in serious heartbreak for you, the USMNT fan.
I am here to advocate for you doing that anyway, because holy shit y’all, Josh Sargent rules. I invite you to watch a seven-minute and 28-second highlight video to get you excited about him. I understand that is a pretty long time out here on the 2019 Internet, but I respect you, and I swear I wouldn’t present such a thing if I didn’t think it was worthwhile.
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There are some nice goals in these clips, but more impressive are the turns and first-touch passes. The USMNT has never had a striker with this kind of brain and touch as a teenager. Hell, they might not have had a grown adult striker this good.
Sargent hails from St. Louis, where he was a dominant player in the Development Academy and on youth national teams before he started his professional career. After a three-year stint with the Under-17 national squad, culminating in a three-goal performance in the U-17 World Cup, he got an early promotion to the Under-20s. Sargent hit the ground running there too, scoring four goals in five games and becoming the youngest American man to score in a U-20 World Cup. He had the opportunity to sign a homegrown deal with Sporting Kansas City, but turned it down to sign for Werder Bremen on his 18th birthday.
“I believe in life you have to do what is hard for you in order to build yourself as a person.” —Josh Sargent
And admittedly, there has been a bit of a learning curve for Sargent at Werder. “They’re very strict and when they want it one way, they want it that way,” Sargent told me in October. “You definitely have to come ready for training every day. And the speed of play, of course, is very fast, so you have to be ready for that, too.”
He wasn’t placed in the first team right away, but was instead asked to prove himself with Werder Bremen II, in the fourth division of German soccer. However, it only took him 12 games and just over 1000 minutes — a short time period in which he scored seven goals — to convince the club he was ready for the senior team.
And in four substitute appearances with the big-boy squad, Sargent has scored twice. His equalizer against RB Leipzig was particularly impressive. Sargent got involved in the build-up before arriving late in the box to finish.
That play in particular highlights something Sargent can bring to the USMNT that has been missing for its entire history. Managers have always been forced to choose between two different kinds of limited strikers:
1. Guys who offered up excellent non-scoring skills like work rate, hold-up play, and passing vision, but lacked explosiveness.
2. Strikers who were a threat to score a goal from nothing, but didn’t offer much else to the team.
All of the top strikers in USMNT history have been severely limited in some way. Eric Wynalda busted his ass and had good finishing instincts, but he was squeezing every last goal he could out of limited physical talents and the inadequate technical instruction of his time. Brian McBride, beloved for his toughness and unselfishness, couldn’t create chances for himself against top opposition. Jozy Altidore is maligned by fans for his inability to play without a strike partner, his poor stints in England, and his role in the 2017 USMNT’s collapse, but he is, despite those things, by far the most efficient scoring striker in USMNT history.
The two best scorers that the USMNT has ever had, Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan, weren’t true center forwards. Donovan never played up top on his own, and Dempsey played limited minutes in that role. Both were always utilized out wide or underneath a bigger target man.
Sargent is a different animal than all of these guys. He has the physical ability, work rate, and movement off the ball to play up top on his own, creating chances for others and himself at an equal clip. He has displayed the saucy skills of Dempsey, the hold-up play of McBride, and the poaching instincts of Wynalda in one player.
Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images
Sargent, right, celebrates his goal for the USMNT in a friendly against Bolivia, alongside teammate (and fellow young star) Christian Pulisic.
The big “what if” questions about Sargent are the same we have about every teenager: Can he get a little bit better in all aspects of his game? And, can he adjust to the speed of top level pro soccer? But that’s it. With Altidore (and all of the other top striker prospects to come out of the U.S. youth ranks), coaches were praying he’d develop entire new skillsets as an adult. Sargent is already adequate, at the very least, at everything you look for in a striker.
There’s no precedent for a player like him in the USMNT, which puts more pressure on him than his peers. Who can we even compare him to?
Pulisic will be expected to live up to the production of Donovan, and he’s already better at the club level than Donovan ever was. McKennie will be expected to match or surpass the career of Michael Bradley, and he’s already reached a similar status at club level. Sargent will be a bitter disappointment if he ends up matching the career of McBride or Altidore. To be considered someone who lived up to his potential, Sargent will need to be the best striker to ever play for the United States.
I’m betting on him to pull it off because beyond his skill, Sargent also has the right mentality. He has been deliberate about putting himself in the right situations to develop.
“MLS was definitely an option for me at first,” Sargent told American Soccer Now in 2017. “It would have been nice. Everyone speaks English and it’s only three hours away. But I believe in life you have to do what is hard for you in order to build yourself as a person.”
Sargent also talks about creating chances for other people as much as scoring goals. “I want to score goals for them and create as many chances as I can,” he told me when I asked about his short-term goals with Werder. “It would be an amazing feeling to get a start. But to start contributing to the team, assisting, scoring, would be the best feeling.”
Sargent can be an unprecedented player in the history of the program. And as such, he could be the key to all of the other young stars truly reaching their potentials, too.
When asked about what skills he brings to the table, he reiterated: “When people watch me and see me play, they know I create chances. When I get to know players and play more and more with them, they see I can contribute assists and score goals.”
Sargent says all of these things in a very serious tone. This is entirely subjective analysis, of course, but he has a different look in his eye and expression in his voice than other young players. While his peers come off as either nervous or excited during their early senior national team call-ups, Sargent comes off as focused and determined.
It seems really obvious that the USMNT’s top striker prospect is the player worth getting most excited about — he’s the one that scores all the goals, after all. But Sargent can be an unprecedented player in the history of the program. And as such, he could be the key to all of the other young stars truly reaching their potentials, too.
And if you feel I’m going too far, stop worrying. I promise you that he isn’t listening, and if someone brings the hype to his attention, he won’t care. He will have zero reaction, then promptly spend the next day trying to get better at soccer.
So yes, it’s OK to get excited about Josh Sargent. You’ve been burnt before, but you shouldn’t distrust your eyes. And you should never let the past ruin your fantasies.
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