#oh the updated armor designs are interesting

[doom-dreaming]

Halo 1-3 armor: Very nice. A technological marvel. Sleek. I love it. Iconic. I love it in the anniversary version of halo 2.

Halo 4-5 armor: slutty. Fashion icon. Jokes aside, I don't get the hate for this one. I like it. He looks pretty in it. Yes it is a tad impractical in some cases and a darker shade of green. It just means he's a dark green cicada instead of a leaf green one.

Infinite: Honestly, it's probably my favorite one. The design is heavily inspired from the halo trilogy with a modern touch to it. Very Green compared to halo 4 and 5. I love the marks and damage it has on it— the details.

Oh cool, an excuse to look at pictures of him. I do genuinely think it's neat to look at all the designs side-by-side and see what they kept and what they changed, so let's do that. :)

Original CE graphics next to the Anniversary remaster. Not a drastic change, same basic shape, just more detail, which makes sense. I do like the addition of the glowy bits (shield generator?) on his chest as well as the ones above his knees.

Halo 2 original graphics (top) vs. Anniversary (bottom; I would have put them side by side but they're not the same size and it decapitated him). Still the same general look as CE, but notably without any glowy/reflective bits (but it looks like whatever those are is still there, above his knees, just matte this time). The chest piece looks more like a breastplate than a roller coaster safety harness. It gives him tits. I love the scuffing and wear and tear they added, especially on his knees and boots. I agree that this is one of my favorite versions of it.

Halo 3 - it looks smoother than the iteration in 2, and that could be to graphical updates, but compare it to the CE look and it's similar, like they rounded off some of the sharp edges. They sanded my boy. Also, we see the return of the shiny above-knee strips. Still none on the chestplate though. Less noticeable scuffing and damage here, too.

Halo 4, where 343 Industries took over and things got wild. The undersuit has texture now. The fingers have actual plating on them. The shape is still roughly the same, it's the classic Mjolnir silhouette, but each section has a crazy amount of detail and kibble added to it. They really embellished - where a lot of the original trilogy designs had solid metal, they've added buckles and screws and things I don't know how to describe in writing that give it a lot more visual interest. Like you said, the designs in 1 - 3 were very sleek, the design here looks like a lot of moving parts. Also, the color is closer to the muted green in Halo 3 (or at least that specific picture), which is interesting. And note the removal of the Shiny Strips altogether. I'm like you, I don't get the hate for this one, I think it looks cool.

In Halo 5, we've gotten sleeker again! And a little greener. A lot of the gray parts of the Halo 4 design have been turned dark green for this one. The undersuit has also lost its very specific bumpy texture for something a little smoother? The coloring on this one is weird to me and I'm just now noticing it, but there are some places that look like they shouldn't be green or black. Like his shoulders? That looks like undersuit texture, shouldn't that be black? And it looks like they filled in the little crop top portion in the 4 design (not really visible in the photo I used here, oops) but it still looks more like undersuit than armor, so I'm not sure what the goal was here. I do think the random stripes of red are a fun touch and...do we have the return of Shiny Thigh Strips once again? Hard to say. Notably NO battle damage in this one, dude looks like a pristine action figure.

Halo Infinite - this is definitely a callback to the original trilogy design, they even brought the bolts/screws on the boots and hands back. To me, it looks VERY similar to the H2A design, which is a Good Thing. But oh god, they turned up the saturation on the green. This is the greenest he's ever been. And we have the Shiny Strips (even though they're not shiny?) on the legs again! Not on the chest, but they've added a pair to his lower legs. And we've got battle damage again! Yay! To me, this is a best-of-both-worlds compromise between the original design(s) and the level of detail in 4 and 5. I just wish they hadn't gone SO green with it. I also wish they'd kept the actual armor on his fingers. And I don't know if it's just this specific render, but it looks more like plastic than metal to me? Which is an interesting design choice if it was an intentional one.

#halo #master chief #john 117 #halo reference #yeah i can tag my own post as a reference that's fine

[csphire]

So... Frazer the voice actor to Dammon doesn't want Tav or the Dark Urge to romance his character? Well, shit.

It's late, I'm tired and should be in bed, just saw the letter from Dammon from patch 5, and yeah I'm a little weepy now. So excuse any typos.

Fair warning: Just some venting below but no major spoilers.

Update: I've got a better understanding of where Frazer is coming from and a better solution suggestion is 👉here.

But feel free to read this slightly saltier 🧂post. lol

So wait... Frazer doesn't want more work? Why? I mean true, I don't really see Dammon getting along well with a Dark Urge or a Tav Murder Hobo type, but a majority of Dammon's fandom we genuinely adore him and Karlach. And, I'd like to think, most of us just love options. We want to romance him with Karlach and a player character of our own design too.

Would I romance him on every playthrough? Maybe or maybe not. But I do know it will be at least once as Karlach. (I'm on two immunosuppressants. I don't-can't get out much. I can sooo relate to her being touched-starved stuff. I cuss just as much as her too-if not more.) I've got no problem playing as her but again most of us want more options. So what's the problem?

For her, the devs could even put in a few special lines that are unique to their romance. Hells, I would romance them both all the way through the game with Tav if I could so nobody was feeling left out.

Respectfully, I don't understand what Frazer's hang-up is at all. But it feels like a slap in the face when Dammon has become a comfort character to so many of us. We're cheering him on and we're trying to drum up interest to get Frazer a bigger part.

We do this because some of us have a lot of shitty real-life stuff going on, and BG3 has become our escape. And, unlike every romance option we have so far, Dammon doesn't bring us big drama or a lot of demands to the table. Even as just a merchant, he somehow feels... just there for us... supportive. He's not just a pretty face to us, we seriously want to get to know Dammon just a little more! We want him to evolve and grow. We want to know what's his baggage. At this point many of us would settle for him to be just NPC we can romance-not a fling mind you. A full romance like what we see in Dragon Age Inquisition with Cullen or Josephine.

But wouldn't it be cool if we could get him as a full companion? One that could perhaps be an Artificer in a DLC that would introduce that class to the player too?

Even now, when my Tav visits him each day to sell their things, I forget for a little while all the crushing pressure on my play character's shoulders for a few minutes.

In early access, overhearing him grumble about wanting better tools had me roleplaying to collect every tool I could find. A little silly minnie quest. Giving him hammers, and other blacksmith-related stuff, for free taught me how to raise my relationship with a merchant and get a better discount.

Perhaps his simplicity or just his kindness is his appeal. Perhaps don't give him too much baggage if you flesh him out more please.

But how do we get around this Larian, if Frazer won't budge?

Hate to suggest this but consider, Dammon has a twin brother, a nearly identical one. Maybe he has more scars, a different hairstyle, have fun with his design. Oh, maybe he never takes his enchanted armor off, and we have to go into the relationship a bit blind with no idea what he looks like under it all at first. He finally takes his helmet off and seeing Dammon's face we're a little confused. Trust me, we will suspend our disbelief given magic and dragons, for starters, exist in this world. Dammon having a long-lost twin won't be a huge stretch.

So have the twin, instead of Dammon, drop as one of the stars in a DLC. Have him join our party as a fully fleshed-out, perhaps mysterious, companion featuring the Artificer class and fully romanceable. Finally, the fandom gets what we want, a male tiefling we can romance. Dammon can hammer away at his forge and pine for Karlach all he wants. Frazer can stand by whatever principles that are making him hesitant to take on a larger role, more acclaim, another paycheck, possibly more work, and maybe even a gaming voice acting award.

By all means Larian, please throw all that money and acclaim you would have thrown at him at another voice actor. Let the new guy have it all. Sure we'll still pine a bit over Dammon now and then. But if Frazer doesn't want a larger role, guess we'll have to try and respect that.

If you've got this far, thank you for reading, and feel free to share your thoughts.

#frazer blaxland #bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #dammon #I'm sleepy #grumpy too and my filter is gone #I might delete this later #I'm worried it's coming off too mean #I'm just sad #really sad about this #🧂

[chartoris]

DELTARUNE PREDICTION TIME

I hope I finish this post before the anniversary of chapter 1 (nothing else notable happens on that day) I'm putting my 100% correct theories+ predictions here just in case Toby decides to release chapter 3 alone for some reason (I personally think he's releasing just 3 and 4 together next year), but who knows with that dog.

CHAPTER 3

As everyone else thinks, it's safe to say that the dark world in chapter 3 is probably gonna be TV themed. With different areas going through different channels.

THE BOSS

I don't think we can predict who exactly the main villain is yet based off of one thing Jevil said about a queen in one line. But it would make sense if it were some fucked up game show host guy. Maybe since the Spade King represents Susie's dad, and Queen represents a mother, the chapter 3 boss could represent that estranged uncle that nobody really talks about.

Also Tenna is probably the guy that betrayed Spamton. Not Mike.

THE SHADOWMEN

They're just gonna be silly litle guys.

THE WEATHER CHANNEL

Also sily.

THE POLICE

Since Toriel called the police and Kris left the door opened, I think that either Undyne shows up, or Napstablook shows up wearing Undyne's Undertale armor. Both of which would be awesome sauce.

NOELLE

No idea if she'll show up in the chapter. But I also have no clue why else the Lost Girl theme was in that unused sneaking section. Yes I'm still thinking about this.

THE END

I believe that chapter 3 might end with Kris sealing the fountain. Like you walk up, that sickass guitar riff plays, the screen fades to white, and the chapter ends (assuming it releases with chapter 4). Imagine how relieving it would be that the chapter doesn't have to end on a massive cliffhanger!

CHAPTER 4

Based on the screenshots we got for the 2022 status update, I don't think chapter 4 will have a dark world. It seems like a nice intermission chapter to just hang out with Susie in Hometown for a couple hours. We could get more insight into the residents of the town, as well as some lore.

i'm a huge fan of rain so this seems like the best the game will ever get.

I think its possible that Toby might have changed his might about releasing 3-5 together, and that he might just release 3 and 4. Assuming this chapter is just in the light world, it would probably be a lot faster to develop. No enemies, no battles, just cutscenes.

Keep in mind, I just took one programming class 5 years ago, so I'm not the ultimate authority on game design. But if it is easier to develop, I think we could see chapters 3+4 next fall.

I don't really have any other predictions for chapter 4 since all we have are a few screenshots, and even less for the future chapters. So I'm just going to talk about other general things in the game.

THE BUNKER

Gaster is afoot. Also maybe Dess or something idk yet. Oh and a dark fountain too. Maybe even the supply closet one.

DARK WORLDS

I don't think EVERY room with double doors is going to be a dark world, especially considering that Toby can just retcon them in between chapters, so I like to go off of narrative significance.

I think there will totally be a dark world in the church, considering the Dreemurr family has a significant amount of history with it, as well as the interesting thing you could do with it. Like a giant pipe organ castle or something.

There probably won't be a dark world in Ice-E's, unless something super traumatizing happened to Kris there when they were a kid. But I still have my eye on that Ice-E guy. Something fishy is absolutely going on with him.

why is he so big

Asgore's flower shop seems like a really good place for a dark world, and I need to see what the golden flower darkener would be. The empty fridge could even be like the ice palace from Dragon Blazers.

THE HOLIDAYS

Rudy is most likely going to die. I really don't want him to but unfortunately it would be really good for the story. Noelle would be forced to stand up to her mom like she did to Queen.

Also Noelle's mom's name is probably either Clarice or Carol.

WEIRD ROUTE

Its likely that not every chapter will have a weird route. I think they are more tied to Noelle's presence, due to her affinity for video game glitches when she was younger. Especially because it seems like the route itself isn't supposed to happen in the game world. And the weird route is a way to break out of the whole "your choices don't matter" thing. You might even be able to save Rudy in the route, at the cost of Noelle's mental state and every other horrible thing you may have to do.

THE KNIGHT

I don't think the Knight will be the main antagonist. It might get revealed relatively early (like chapter 5), unless its Gaster or something. The actual main antagonist of the game will be either the Roaring Titans or the Angel.

THE ROARING

This is probably gonna happen at some point. Ralsei leaves for ONE minute and someone opens a dark fountain in a dark world. Can't have shit.

holy hell they look so badass

Also penumbra phantasm final boss theme. make it happen toby.

#deltarune #utdr #deltarune theory #i am objectively correct

[ninebaalart]

What are some other forgotten Marvel characters that you like? (I understand if it's hard to choose, since there are so many forgotten Marvel characters...)

I love Galacta, daughter of Galactus, def need to draw her in the near future... Addy Brock aka VEN#M is a tragic one but a fucking incredible and dark addition to Peni Parker's story... I know Tempest has gotten like a pretty sizable role in Hickman's run but its more of a "she has a very op power that I can use" thing for his run from what I understand...

There are a lot of Inhumans that didn't really pick up like Kamala that seem pretty cool too. Auran, Xiaoyi Chen, Ren Kimura, Sheath... they are very unlikely to go to the Inhumans well anytime soon so that def sort of sucks.

I've always really liked Doppelganger's design from Spider-Man but he has a figure and was one of the million cameos in Across the Spider-Verse so I don't know if he's really forgotten, lol.

Scorn is a really fun symbiote user, a really unique one in that she utilizes technology along with the symbiote. Earth-65 Black Cat was a really fun addition that they didn't do a lot with in the original Spider-Gwen run as most things with Gwen's relationship with the band tend to kind of be...

Toni Ho rules too. Iron Patriot armor is a little gaudy but "lesbian daughter of the guy Tony Stark was stuck in a cave with" is a fucking excellent premise for a character and it is such a huge shame that she never was capitalized on.

Barbara McDevitt aka Quickfire is sort of an interesting one- I like time-based superpowers and she sort of was labelled as a agent who didn't necessarily need or use her powers before she underwent a "second terrigenesis" that made her into a monster that can infect other inhumans with similar effects. She reminds me of Rachael Foley from Resident Evil Revelations in that way who's also a character I feel could have been executed better but there's interesting premises to both characters in that they show someone who is skilled and overconfident becoming incredibly powerful and dangerous creatures- false otherwise-protagonists who set the stakes as something our characters could face that is worse than death.

Lastly want to shout out Red Widow Ava Orlova. I don't understand if they forgot she existed or if the other Red Widow existed but her story was set up and then they just never went anywhere with it, it seems? She has a cool design but like unless she's just severely underdocumented she never even got a chance to be a real character.

Oh god. I actually just remembered Black Cat's ex-girlfriend Tamara Blake. I knew about her before she was revealed to be Iron Cat and like the moment of reloading her page because I had her tab open for like a couple months (I'm very bad at cleaning my tabs) and seeing it update to Iron Cat was such a unforgettable way to find out that reveal.

#ask #marvel comics #long

[nin-jay-go]

LIVEBLOG!!!!!!!

COME ON GUS DONT TALK SHIT ABOUT THE DEAD

aw shit the dragons

awawawawawaw arin's little horns :D

"i love you arin" cuuuute

oh i love how homemade and worn arin's armor looks :)

lloyd is so fucking tired give this man a break

"watering the plants can wait." he says epicly

AMONG US

there is no war in ba sing se :)

PERCIVAL TARTIGRADE!!!!!!!!!

HELLO DR LAROW CAN WE KISS

fucking YIKES beatrix your dictator is showing

"i made it do a thing! i deserve a break ^v^" KAI BUDDY

THESE FUCKING HOTHEADS LMAOOOO

i am! a sneaky man!

wyldfyre i love you so much

yall they're ghosts just splash them with water

YALL. WATER. WHAT ARE YOU DOING.

fuck OFFFFF with that "he created the other realms" bullshit i am cancelling that

oh they just invite frohicky up to the monastery huh

THE ANNUAL SOUP-LAUNCHING FESTIVAL???????

frohicky being the assistant keeper of the monastery could either be the worst decision ever or the best decision ever

oh god the hotheads are together

get cleaned idiot friend: gently sponges you

omg wait there's little swirls in arin's curls!!!! he IS the master of spin :D friend: he does his hair with spinjitzu

they're just playing frisbee

OH DEAR GOD HE BROKE THE SHIP

my friend and i in unison: YOU HAVE SAILS WHY ARE YOU PADDLING lloyd: we have sails us: THANK YOU

IRON LUNG?????????

oh the coral guy from the trailers!

OH THE CRAB. THE GIANT FUCKING CRAB.

CACKLING

I AM GOING TO START CRYING!!!!!!!

dey pay me in woims

ok so we were right the crab is controlling the guy

🆑🅰️🅱️

lloyd you are not beating the cat allegations

skulkin look interesting in their new update

i love this guy's voice he sounds funny

SIR WHY DID YOU EAT THE CUP

BRING BACK SNAKE JAGUAR

or. that. that could work. why did he put on the noir coat again

wyldfyre. girl. YOUR ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES

i love these lavatides so much oh my god

whoever wrote kai this season nailed it

omg zane's birthday :D

LOBBO LOBBO :D

GULCH!!!! i missed you buddy

ZANE EXPERIENCES A MICROAGGRESSION

INSTALLING WINDOWS

lobbo my love

they gave kai the role of comic relief in lieu of jay being missing

frohicky you are so silly

EYEBALL???

oh boy the jay spirits

....wait. if the spirit of the temple was split in two by the merge... could jay have been split in two?

ZANTH... LIKE XANTHE MY YELLOW NINJA...

oh no nya girl how are you not having a panic attack

this djinn has depression dear god

oh god they're CURSED????

oh the ghosts are djinn banshees that are gonna kill them. great.

nya's gonna have some Thoughts after this

dorama- the elemental master of parlor tricks

"they call it doom" yea its a video game from the 90s

oh the lightning dragon's name is jiro! cool!

effervescent.....

DOOM MUCUS?????

VERTICALITY

COLE'S KIDS!!!! THERE THEY ARE!!!!!

arin voice rapton lives don't matter

alas. i have been. ✨disrespected✨

watch the path be lined with salt crystals

CALLED IT

OH SHIT ITS THE OFFICE WORKERS

BIG ROCK COLE!!!!! HES BACKKKKKKK

ANOTHER FRITZ????? LIKE FRITZ DONNEGAN??????

THE HOARDER??????

cole's boyfriend???? real????? love wins??????

LIKE THE LAND ITSELF IS SCREAMING???? ARE YOU OK?

elemental power of SUPERGLUE

FUSION??????????

dude geo's design is so cool. is he a geckle/munce hybrid or is he a keeper?

bonzle....

oh wyldfyre can just break rocks with her hands huh

SILENT HILL???????????? WHY ARE THE LOST ONES IN FUCKING SILENT HILL

oh geo is a hybrid!

this is a transgender allegory. trust me bro.

oh my god geothermicshipping real

STOP DEADNAMING HER

ALKWGJLKASDKHSKJFDAJH A LITTLE GUY

SWEEPER????????? I WANT 50

there is no heterosexual explanation for them

welcome to the backrooms!

this is an eldritch dimension

this is genuinely horrifying what the fuck

i like how the hotheads were the first to find the core

kai voice hi i have trauma. but i'm normal.

why does the purple serpentine sound like one of the starkid actors

is it jay sending them the messages???? i want him to be a villain so bad pleaseeee

WHY WAS ZANE KIDNAPPED??????? HELLO?????

jay's the manager, calling it now

oh my god we're in the realm of madness??? WE'RE IN THE FUCKING SPIRAL REALM

ADMINISTRATOR IS JAY

why are these computers SO bad

my friend: lloyd garbageadon

OH MY GOD WE'RE IN ACROSS THE SPIDERVERSE

CALLED IT

I FUCKING CALLED IT

LKETS FUCKING GO

IM SO SMART

dorama's gotta be an important character later on bc that's a lot of power he has

zane you are so cool

dude don't just leave the core at home thats so stupid

oh ras is from wyldness? not chima?

?????? why is zeatrix 1) named that and 2) what is that power?????

imperium is not immune to propaganda

jiro's a wildclaw :D i know what my next project is

oh my god drew's cole is so good,,,,

my friend: guy who has only been in theater productions: this is giving me a lot of theater vibes

rapton is dead.

oh they're twins. that makes sense

last time there were twins with powers the power split itself in two. what happened here?

beatrix and harumi would get along like a house on fire

GET THEIR ASSES PERCIVAL TARTIGRADE

surprise! the mad scientist has morals! or at least self-preservation

she is still kissable

what if jay is next season's villain? (still has hope)

oh hotheads my beloved

SORA TRANSGENDER

LMAO NYA JUST CALLED BEATRIX MID JKDSFGBKJSKDJFJ

hey nya you wanna tell the others that cole is alive??????

HOTHEADS MY LOVES

rapton domestication arc

ok rapton is really funny actually

oh dear.

THEYRE GLITCHING THEYRE GLITCHING HTEHSAUHAOWHOUHFHAWHODAUWH

NO WYLDFYRE

ARINNNNNN HE LOVES SORAAAAAAAAAA

OH MY GOD THEY ARE STILL ON BEATRIX'S SIDE

every queer kid cries out in agony for sora

theeeere it is! elemental powers :D all her own :D

LOBBO SAFE AND OK ALL IS GOOD

oh!! the conduit!!!!

DRAGON HUGSSSS CUUTE CUTE CUTE CUTE

7 source dragons huh......

oh god ras has a new student

YOUR MASTER?????

#jay.error #dragons rising #dragons rising spoilers

[foxgirl95]

Back Into the Fray Ch.8: Cowboys & Dragons

Chapter Description: The time to face the Krayt dragon is here.

CW: Mentions of PTSD-esque symptoms. (Putting this here just to be safe.)

AO3 Link

<< Previous Chapter - Next Chapter >>

First Chapter

‘I must be insane.’ Anai decided pretty quickly when she arose the next day ‘Utterly insane!’ She remembered very clearly what she had done in the cantina the night before. Tilting down Mando’s helmet like that? Just because he looked so damn good in the low light that shined off that armor of his! ‘No no no!’ That was not what she was here for! She was here for the kid, to make repairs to the Razor Crest here and there, but absolutely nothing else after that. She at least had the cover of alcohol even though it didn’t in any way push her to do what she did. Don’t blame the booze, it’s never the drink's fault at least not in her case. She lay there alone on her designated cot staring up at the ceiling. Mando and the kid were nowhere to be seen. ‘Maker if he left me to rot here and be eaten by the dragon, I wouldn't blame him!’ She internally scolded herself for having nearly crossed a line she, herself, had placed nearly a week ago. With a loud groan, she ran her hands over her face frustrated with herself. She quickly concluded she was just going to have to pretend she didn’t remember, to go on like it never happened even if a small part of her was thrilled about it. The mechanic was so disappointed she’d nearly crumbled the friendship she’d built up with Mando. Sure she could admit she was interested in him, who wouldn’t be? She barely knew anything about him though and Mando wasn’t one to share about himself unless it was forced out of him. That grumpy bounty hunter who cares so much for his child and whose hands could kill or hold her waist oh so sweetly… ‘Stop it!’ Suddenly the mechanical door opened and the morning light filtered into the room. Anai immediately grabbed the blaster from under her pillow, aiming it at the door only to realize the figure standing in the doorway was the shining devil himself. “It’s just me.” With a sigh of relief, she dropped the weapon onto her pillow as the Mandalorian opened a shade letting the dual sunlight enter the room. “What time is it?” She closed her eyes stretching her arms up over her head and sighed “And how did I make it back here?” The mechanic peeked one eye open hoping that sounded convincing as she watched Mando stiffen a bit before turning towards her “What do you remember?” He asked. “Oh um…” She lifted her finger tapping her bottom lip in fake contemplation. “I remember I went to the cantina last night and called Racket to update him and then Vanth came up with a bottle of spotchka he wanted to drink and talk I guess.” She watched as his shoulders relaxed as he presented her with a small bowl of bone broth and a ration bar which she eagerly took (and as always the child magically manifested on her cot at the prospect of getting a bite or two) “Was he asking about me?” Mando wondered aloud and Anai shook her head as she swallowed down the food. “No actually, he asked what I was going to get out of this deal.”

“Oh?” He leaned against the wall, sounding amused. “I just said I was being nice but he didn’t believe that.” Mando crossed his arms, his helmet dipping in a curt nod. “Usually neither would I.” She shrugged as she broke off the end of her ration bar putting it into the waiting hands of the little green one in front of her “I chalked it up to being that bit of rebel left in me.”

“You rebels and your innate desire to butt in.” He teased. “Hey I’m here for free, don't forget that.” She quickly reminded him. “As if I had the credits to pay you in the first place.” She grinned as she teased him this time “You saying I’m too expensive, Merichetara?” He paused for a moment as if in thought before he took a step forward leaning over her “I think you know you are.” She stared up in shock at the nearly identical way he had looked over her the night before but instead of the dull lights of the cantina his armor nearly glowed with the light of the twin suns blazing behind him. He was dazzling and those same words slipped past her lips once again “Oh wow…” Slowly his arms uncrossed as he moved towards her. Anai could swear her heart was beating so loud he could hear it and even if he couldn’t she knew the heat on her cheeks caused a visible blush. It was the most intense feeling she’d ever had stirred inside her. Even through that dark visor of his helmet, she could feel his eyes connect with her own. What was happening? Why was it happening? Did she like it? How far was this going to-“Patu?” They both jumped looking down at the inquisitive child on the cot between them. Mando stepped back, clearing his throat and turning back to the door. “We’re heading out soon, get your bag and meet me outside. We’ll be done and off this planet by nightfall if we’re lucky.” And then he was gone leaving her there to stew in a mixture of feelings she couldn’t separate. Her attention was grabbed by a burp from the child as he looked up at her with a toothy grin on his face having gotten his fill. Anai only sighed, running a hand through her hair before flopping back onto the mattress once again.

Anai packed up, grabbed the child, and met the Mandalorian at the speeder in record time. No words were exchanged, just an awkward silence hung over them as they joined the caravan of sand people and villagers. Once they reached the cave of the dragon it was time to get to work. Anai helped to dig the trench and set the charges outside the cave, Mando again becoming a captivated audience to her work. She moved with speed and efficiency scooping up sand and tossing it out, making sure the walls of the small trench held up so they could line the floor with the explosives. With her help though they finished setting up the trap making sure the charges were synced to the remote that was handed to Vanth. “Alright, that should be good.” She stated as she gingerly stepped over where they had just buried the bombs “And that is also the end of my help.” The marshal quirked an eyebrow up at that “Oh so your kindness does have a limit, Miss Rebel?” He teased her. “Nah.” The mechanic quickly stated “I’m usually all over these “greatest odds against us” situations.” She chuckled, “But someone’s gotta keep the little guy in check.” Anai gestured to the child who was currently chasing a group of small creatures around the speeders. Vanth clicked his tongue at the sight “Yeah I think your hands are more than full with that one.” The Mandalorian unceremoniously wedged his way between them before commenting “You don’t know that half of it.” All three watched as the small boy caught a poor critter and immediately tried stuffing its furry body into his mouth “Oh!” Anai jumped up and immediately went into caregiver mode as she started jogging over to the child “Kid! Spit that out, you don’t know where it’s been!” Mando and Vanth couldn’t help but chuckle at the scene.

When all was completed and everyone was ready, three tuskens were sent to call the beast out. Anai sat atop the speeder with the child leaning back into her stomach as he gingerly played with the hand she placed on his front to keep him from leaving her side. Mando and the Marshal stood to their side, the air in the clearing practically radiating with anticipation as they all waited. All three sand dwellers called loudly into the cave and it began as the ground shook and the sand in the cave parted to reveal the huge head of the mighty dragon. The harpoons shot out piercing its thick hide but not seeming to cause it any pain as it devoured one of the wrapped figures. Anai pulled down her visor to get a better look at the creature, boy was it an ugly and terrifying thing, its facial features akin to a shark despite its habitat. The fight had only just begun as the villagers and tuskens pulled at the harpoon strings tight in an attempt to keep the creature from the cave but it just easily pulled them from the tethers. “Dank Farrik, it’s going back in. It’s retreating.” She heard Mando say as the townspeople started throwing charges and firing their blasters trying to draw it back out. “I’m gonna hit it.” The marshal responded as he looked between the device in his hands and the Dragon but Mando stopped him “No wait! We only have one shot, we’ve gotta get it out.” He reminded him. The monster became angry roaring out in warning before beginning to charge towards the people in its path. “Now?” They kept their eyes on the scene waiting for the dragon to expose his soft belly to the charges below the sand. “Not yet. It’s gotta come out further.”   The creature then raised its head and it shot out a putrid acid from its stomach taking down those who were not fast enough to move from its path. “NOW!” The Mandalorian called and Vanth blew the explosives. Anai held a hand over her ear that was sensitive to loud sounds. As the dust settled and the ringing in her ear subsided she heard the men next to her say “I don’t think it’s dead.”

“Me either.”

Then suddenly the monster burst from the top of the mountain rearing its ugly head before spewing out more acid at the people below striking down several townies and tuskens alike. Vanth couldn’t hold it anymore “It’s picking us off like Womp Rats! Let’s get after it!” He ran to his speeder, throwing on his helmet and grabbing his weapon. Mando reached over quickly, sliding his rifle out from under Anai’s leg saying to her “If anything happens you get the kid out of here, understand?” She only nodded in response before they both flew into the air, the little one in her lap letting out an uncertain coo. All the mechanic could do was take hold of his hand as they watched the two men engage the beast in battle. It had disappeared back into the mountain as they landed back on the ground only to then suddenly appear again behind their line of defense. Anai gasped, lifting her visor in surprise and now fearing they would be swallowed alive as it slid down the dune gobbling up those in its path. Her heart was racing and she felt the child’s grip on her finger tighten she turned her gaze back to the Mandalorian when the marshal launched a rocket at the creature. Zooming in with her visor she saw him hand over the detonator to Mando before the armored man used the butt of his rifle to cause the other man’s jet to malfunction and made him fly uncontrollably into the air. Confused Anai watched as the red lights on the charges activated on the back of a Bantha. Vanth landed heavily behind them and turning she asked in a panic “What is he doing?!” Not waiting for an answer she turned back only to see Mando grabbing the rope tied to the pack animal and pulling right back into the path of the dragon “Merichetara get out of there!” She called only for him to remain unmoving as the monster lifted his body preparing to dive and devour them “What is he doing?! Get out of the way!” The child in her lap let out a cry and in a second the mouth of the beast fell over Mando disappearing into the sand. “MANDO!” The mechanic screamed for her companion, her whole body shook and she felt tears pour down her cheeks. She looked at her shaking hands feeling her chest tighten making it harder to breathe. Why? She barely knew him so why was this happening again? In her moment of weakness, the only thing that snapped her back were the cries of the little one in her lap as he wailed while reaching out to where his father had just presumably died. Take care of the kid, that was her priority and they needed to get out of there. She pulled the crying little one to her chest starting the speeder when the Krayt Dragon suddenly resurfaced opening its mouth and releasing the Mandalorian. Anai let out a shaky sigh of relief and a second later the charges went off inside the beast and as it dropped still onto the sand it was clear. The Monster that had terrorized Mos Pelgo was dead. The fight was over and they had won. The mechanic shut off the bike letting down the child onto the sand as she climbed down. Her blood boiling with pain and adrenaline. The sadness she had felt only a moment before was now replaced with fiery anger.

The Mandalorian huffed a sigh of relief that his plan worked. He staggered on the spot he had landed in the sand exhausted and covered in gut juice. In his peripheral, he noticed someone approaching and he quickly wiped the offending liquid from his visor to see none other than Anai approaching him. Mando’s first thought was she was coming over to ask if he was okay but then faltered when he noticed the angered look on her face. He was about to say something when she stepped right into his space shouting “What the hell is wrong with you?!” He stood there flabbergasted and insulted “…what?” He asked, almost sounding as if he hadn’t heard her. The green in her eyes glowed with anger as she shouted her offending question once again “I said what the hell is wrong with you?! Were you trying to get yourself killed?!” He huffed, leaning back out of her face “Even if I had, it would have been an honorable death.”

“Honorable?!” She scoffed “Are you kriffing serious right now?!” Her arms flared wildly as she spoke before pointing back to where the child stood only a few meters behind her “You call orphaning that poor boy for what’s probably the millionth time honorable?!” That nearly broke him, it was bad enough to insult The Way but to bring the child who he cared for took it nearly too far. “Dying in battle is the highest honor among my people.” He replied in a cold and calculated tone. “Do not scold me like a child when I have done nothing wrong.”

“Bonchi-Kati!” The Mandalorian didn’t understand those words but he knew an insult when he heard it. “Did you even consider what would happen to him?! To us?! I told you the kid is more important! He is your priority! Your responsibility!”

“I know that.” Did she think he hadn’t taken any of this seriously? After all, that’s what they were doing on this forsaken planet in the first place. She continued to press him through her loud voice cutting through any thought that tried to form “Oh yeah? You? The guy who almost became dragon shit!”

He was at his limit, his gloved hand quickly reached forward grabbing Anai by the front of her leather jacket and pulling her up to his level. “You knew the possibilities of what you would face when you agreed to come along on MY quest, you’re only here 'cause I allow it. Yet you have the gall to insult my beliefs. You can stay or leave either way, it's no skin off my back.” She stared him down like a predator before grabbing his wrists and pulling herself free from his grasp. “You’re lucky I owe that kid a debt.” Anai angrily called as she turned on her heels back towards the rocks “Go roll in some sand! I'm not getting anywhere near you covered in stomach acid!” She walked off swearing in her native tongue while her hands moved erratically around her. Mando watched her go feeling anger and annoyance bubble up inside of him. ‘How dare she say such things!’ He thought. Mando had done what was expected of him, he risked everything; it was no different from one of her fellow pilots who had earned their place in glorious death. There was a cry at his boots and Mando looked down to see the child had waddled over in the mists of their argument. His ears dropped low and his eyes shined with tears as he looked between him and the mechanic. The armored man sighed, feeling the anger drain from him as he kneeled putting a soothing hand on the little one’s back “She’ll come back.” He reassured his foundling “Give her time to cool off.” That seemed to at least ease the little one as he toddled forward hugging the man’s boot before immediately pulling back with an annoyed grunt when his skin touched the slimy juice Mando was covered in. He sighed heavily pulling himself to his feet once again before walking a few meters to a more open spot. Taking off his cape first and spreading it on the ground and then kneeling on the sand before rolling from side to side. A sad attempt to comply with the request to “Go roll in some sand.” At least the kid seemed to enjoy it as his little laughs could be heard echoing against the rocks.

The Mandalorian was still annoyed though not as angry as he strapped a large chunk of dragon meat gifted by the tuskens to the speeder. He’d already had to bat the child away from trying to inhale it. There was a commotion from the corpse he looked over to see the sand people had found their prize of the dragon’s pearl. He couldn’t help but smile under his helmet, he was the one who made that happen and with his help, the threat had been eliminated. They could all live in peace for now. So why couldn’t Anai see that? What was so different to her? His thoughts were halted when Cobb Vanth approached him with the armor, as promised. Mando’s eyes went to the once again damaged jet pack and he immediately felt bad about sending him off so haphazardly earlier “Sorry, I didn’t have time to explain.” He quickly apologized but the marshal shook his head “No need.” He lifted his arm putting the bagged-up armor onto the speeder “This was well-earned.” The marshal looked in the direction Anai had gone earlier. “Is she still up there?” Mando only shrugged “I guess, she’ll get left if she doesn’t come back soon.” Vanth let out an amused huff “Come on now, you can’t blame her for being upset at you almost dying.”

“She should know better.” Was all he could muster to say. Vanth only smirked leaning against the speeder “You don’t know much about people do you?” He asked, only receiving a shrug from Mando. With a sigh he placed his hands on his belt before speaking again “I don’t know if I should be saying this but, you scared the piss out of her getting swallowed up like that.” That got the armored man to pause and face the marshal “I scared her?”

“Well yeah, her and the little guy.” He lightly pokes the child in the tummy as he speaks “She was in tears Mando, she thought you were gone.” Tears? Mando didn’t think Anai would react to his potential death in that way. Now that he thought about it her eyes did look wet when she screamed at him. The Mandalorian shook his head, no, he was not in the wrong. “That doesn’t mean she can insult my faith.”

Cobb Vanth nodded in agreement before shooting back “No but you gotta look at it from her perspective too.” He was met with stony silence and decided to continue “Anai’s a rebel Mando, how many of her friends has she had to watch die pulling stunts like that? She survived to the end but how many more made it through? How many families did she have to explain to that their loved ones were gone?” The Marshall could tell the gears were turning in that shiny helmet “You told me to take care of them 'cause you didn’t know if you were coming back and she assumed the worst. She was pissed that someone she cared about decided to do something risky without knowing the outcome.” Did she care? Anai was angry with him because she cared. Mando felt his chest tighten as he grappled with what to do with that information and why it affected him so much. The marshal smirked having already guessed the man was lost and quickly made a suggestion “Why don’t you go get her? I’ll watch the kid.” The child cooed in agreement as he reached to grab the marshal’s outstretched pinky. Mando only nodded, making his way to the rocks where his friend had gone, only pausing for a moment to say a quick “Thank you” to Vanth.

When he reached the opening in the rocks he flipped on his heat sensor and Anai’s boot prints appeared. He made quick work to follow them to a shaded area where he noticed the back of her form facing him as she sat on the sandy ground. The armored man watched her for a moment contemplating what he should say and when nothing came he just went for the easiest thing “Hey.” He called out and she kept her back to him “You here to tell me we’re done?” The tone of her voice told him she was still upset. “No.” Mando sighed softly as he moved to sit next to her before continuing “I was told I scared you.” And suddenly her sullen state snapped her back to anger “Kriff yeah you scared me!” She shouted with her fists balled against the sand “I thought you were dead Mando!” All he could do was slump against a nearby rock in defeat “I’m sorry.” He made sure his tone was soft as he spoke “I was going to jump out of the way but the bantha came loose. I had to get the charges in there somehow.” She turned her gaze from him in favor of a pill-bug that scurried past her boot “You could’ve at least commed me, something, anything to let me know you weren’t planning on dying.” At least she wasn’t yelling anymore and her voice took on a more annoyed edge “I wasn’t sure about that either.” He admitted, and that was the truth she deserved to hear. “I don’t know if that makes it worse or not.” She lightly ran her finger in the sand as she spoke. The only thing he could think of was to utter the mantra of his people “This is the way.” She finally turned back towards him with an eyebrow quizzically raised “What does that mean?” He sighed again raising a hand to rub the back of his neck only now realizing he’s never really explained this to an outsider before “To live all aspects of life as Mandalorian even when facing death. I did what I did because my creed dictates that I should face the enemy and defeat them at all costs, even my life.” Anai quietly contemplated his words for a moment trying to comprehend how his people had survived with such beliefs “I’m sorry for insulting your faith.” She finally spoke though the way her forehead wrinkled told him there was more “I’ll admit I don’t understand, it’s not what I was taught to believe.”

“What do you believe?” Mando asked. She quieted again in contemplation before speaking once more “To live, even when facing an enemy you must do your best to live. Don’t ever give up.” He shifted a bit, starting to get an idea of where her anger and annoyance had come from. “To sacrifice is to give up then?” She shook her head making her pink waves flow around her “There is still honor in a life lost during battle but not if it was needless.” So she had seen his death to the dragon as needless? Mando could see that though he didn’t agree but was pulled from his thoughts as her voice reached him again “Did you even think about what would happen to us? I wouldn’t even know what to do. Do I find the Jedi? Mandalorians? Or do I live out the rest of my days raising the little guy as my own, regaling with stories of the man in beskar?” Right, there was that too. What would happen to them? He honestly hated the idea of leaving them behind but again that was a personal desire that did not pertain to his duty and honor. So he went with what the creed would dictate “If something were to happen to me, I want you to continue my quest. Find the Jedi and return the child.”

“What if I fail?”

That was a possibility too, the answer he gave with the feelings of his foundling in mind “Adopt him, raise him in your way. Let the memory of the Mandalorian who cared for him fade away with time as he grows.” Her gaze quickly snapped to his “I can’t do that. I could never let him forget you, not after everything.” A somber pride welled up behind the chest of beskar.  He knew her words were true should he die his foundling would remember him. “I…I’d make sure he remembered you too.” The way her lips curled into a smile causing the dimples on her face to deepen made that warm feeling spread through his chest again. “Thank you, Merichetara.” Maker, was he relieved to hear her call him that again.

They made their way back down the rocks moments later. The child cooed, reaching his hands out to them  and Cobb Vanth turned with a smile as they appeared “Well now, and here I was thinking I’d get to keep you.” He joked as he stood from the speeder and Anai rolled her eyes “Me stay on Tatooine? Never.”  The marshal chuckled “Harsh, but fair. Especially after the day we’ve had.”  He nods to the carcass behind him before turning back to the Mandalorian reaching his hand out and the two men clasped the other's forearm “Thank you, friend.” Mando nodded stoically in response, “It was my pleasure.” They let go and Vanth turned to Anai as the armored man went to grab his foundling and secure him into his satchel. “You two get along out there, you hear? You ever get tired of space though there’s always a place for a friend here.” The mechanic shook her head at his words “Again, you couldn’t make me stay on this dust ball even if you offered me the mines.” She chuckled “But thank you, I think we’ll be just fine. Right, Merichetara?” She turned to Mando as he threw one leg over the speeder settling into the driver's seat  and shrugged “Geez, thanks for the vote of confidence.” She deadpanned as the child giggled. With a shrug, she climbed up on the speeder behind Mando confidently wrapping her arms around his waist and angling her legs in a way that trapped his hips between them. Had she always sat so close to him? If she had, why was he only noticing it now? Whatever, he’d take it. Whether that be for the comfort of having her there and feeling it or something else, something more. Marshal Cobb Vanth took a step back calling out as Mando started the speeder’s engine “I hope all our paths cross again.” The Mandalorian nodded, answering for the both of them as Anai pulled her visor over her eyes “As do I.” And then they were off, leaving the memory of the small village and the dragon behind them. But of course, unbeknownst to their little troop a lone cloaked figure watched them from the dunes as they rode off into the sandy sea.

Author's Note: One More chapter until we're caught up to the chapters I have posted on AO3 though if you want to go ahead and read it all you have to do is click the link at the top!

All graphics by @saradika-graphics

#star wars #the mandalorian #original character #din djarin #fanfiction #fan fic #din and grogu #din djarin fanfic #din djarin x ofc #din djarin x oc #din djarin fanfiction #groguthechild #mandalorian and grogu

[elforgotten]

Oh hey look, I updated my commission page! 🤍✨Maybe check that out.

Details below! Contact me through an ask or message if you want something done in order to work out payment!

PRICES:

🔵B&W Bust Shot - $15

🔵B&W Waist Up - $30

🔵B&W Full Body - $40   

+$25 per character extra

🔵Flats Bust Shot - $25

🔵Flats Waist Up - $45

🔵Flats Full Body - $60    

+$35 per character extra

🔵Shaded Bust Shot - $45

🔵Shaded Waist Up - $70

🔵Shaded Full Body - $90 

+$60 per character extra

🔵Doodle Page B&W  - $100 +40 per character extra

🔵Doodle Page Flats - $150 +60 per character extra

🔵Tokens/Icons - $50 or 3 for $125

🔵Emojis - $15 or 5 for $60 

EXTRA CHARGES: 

🟠NSFW +$20 Fetish and pornographic material. Some clothed pinups do not incur this cost.

🟠Gore +$20 Intense gore and use of internal anatomy. Simple cuts and blood does not incur this cost.

🟠Complicated Designs +$15-30 Big tattoos, armor, fancy weapons, complex outfits, odd anatomy, etc. Will discuss if applies.

🟠Simple Background +$10 Interaction with a prop and simple background elements.

🟠No Reference? No Problem! +$50 Don't have preexisting art of your character? Only have a written description, or a collage or Pinterest board? I'll help make a design for your character to your satisfaction. We'll go though the design process and make a character that matches your descriptions, and I'm more than glad to help, make the design you want in the finished piece! Other additional charges apply based on complexity of the design!

TERMS AND CONDITIONS:

🟡Purely digital commissions, no physical products will be shipped.

🟡You may not remove the artist's signature from the finished piece.

🟡Commissions are for personal use, not to be used commercially. Credit should be given to the artist when any part of piece is displayed or used publicly.

🟡I can use the piece for personal advertisement or portfolio.

🟡I can refuse a commission if the subject is something I'm not comfortable with or personally interested in.

🟡No refunds are offered.

🟡Payment is upfront.

WILL DRAW: 

🟢Furries and animals

🟢Robots and cyborgs

🟢Blood and gore

🟢NSFW and nudity

WILL NOT DRAW: 

🔴Bugs inside of people. Sorry I just won't. 

🔴Zombies. Like, the rotten, gross kinds of zombie. I'm okay with the Frankenstein or stitched type ones. 

🔴Certain kinks and fetishes, as for details.

#commissions #commissions open #small artist #artist on tumblr #tiny artist #digital art

[talesofsonicasura]

DSB Sun Wukong with a Duelist s/o

Originally the duelist s/o was for MKR Sun Wukong but it didn't feel right in my opinion. This however does. This particular Sun Wukong is much closer to what he is originally described in the original Journey To The West and his temperament before the journey, a fierce Demon Warlord.

Well, Yaoguai is the correct term to refer to them in JTTW/JTTW related media. Yaoguai being monster like entities or demoted gods. Also the usage of demons in Chinese Mythology is more set on pure evil in terms. I'll be updating my headcanons and fics with the correct terminology.

Anywho, let's get this started. This is a slow burn and can be read gender neutral or preferred gender. You don't need to know about Yu-Gi-Oh as I'll be filling in the gaps. Also this is going to be slightly different from my usual ones.

You can never understand how you end up in the strangest of places much less what had to be Ancient China.

One second you were driving your Duel Runner on a forest dirt path and the next you end up getting chased by monstrous wolves with said motorcycle. Normal wolves don't have spikes on their body nor multiple eyes.

Any normal person would drive away as fast as they can. You weren't exactly that kind of person cause one, these things were bloody fast and catching up. And two, you were a psychic duelist with the power to bring your Duel Monster cards to life.

Something you did as you summoned one of your favorite monsters to deal with the ugly mutts, Junk Warrior.

Now in Duel Monster game terms, you couldn't summon a monster like this without the correct setup. Your bike was designed to circumvent this rule involving your power with enough speed instead of the usual price being a nasty migraine.

Which is why you lost some speed so your blue armored warrior could keep the beasts from munching on your body as you focused on navigating through the trees.

Apparently you weren't the only one here, much less being attacked. Why? Cause upon using a fallen log as a makeshift ramp, you practically leapt into a camp swamped with these beasties.

The defenders being a man wearing traditional face paint makeup, a monk, a blue fish man... and... Sun Wukong. Holy shit. You were in the Journey To The West cause there was no mistaking that golden headband on the brunette with a rat nest for hair.

Oh and apparently you were about to crash into him because of your gawking moment. You quickly went for a u-turn as a stone monkey would definitely wreck your ride.

Thankfully the monkey noticed the incoming duel runner and jumped. Unthankfully, he hitched a ride on your shoulders.

Sun Wukong's form shifted to become more monkey like as he now had golden fur plus a monkey tail. Still kept the human face though.

"Interesting contraption."/"Less talking, you nutter! Better hold on cause I'm taking this into overdrive!"

Meant that too upon hitting the gas to go even faster. The extra speed was needed cause you were about to break the rule once again by summoning the red and white humanoid machine, Accel Synchron.

It was time to send these unnatural mutts to the infernal pound as you had enough with the insanity today. This time with style as your monsters dissolved into 10 stars within a row of green rings. Then you chant.

"Accel Synchron! Give Junk Warrior a tune up! As hope fades in the jaws of darkness, an otherworldly machine grants power to the fighter of discarded treasure! Let the stars bless this noble warrior with power beyond measure! Take to the skies and break the hopeless barrier! I Synchro Summon Stardust Warrior!"

Everything around the Monkey King and you froze in absolute shock as a draconic warrior in white dragon like armor emerged from the rings, Stardust Warrior.

Your monster had the power to eliminate all opponents in a meteor storm of stardust by sacrificing itself. 'Shimmering Stardust Buster Sanctuary' you called upon triggering the effect.

Tripitaka, Sha Wujing and must be Zhu Bajie quickly scattered as the meteors fell, rightfully pulverizing the monster hounds. Your monster dissipating into stardust with the job done.

The Monkey King definitely had the balance of his species cause even when you harshly skidded to a stop, he hadn't moved an inch. In fact, he was laughing. Uh oh.

"Quite a spectacular show with some intriguing word play! You're the most interesting mortal I ever met!" Oh no no no.

Before ya knew it, you were in the arms of Sun Wukong. The glamour now gone as a four foot monkey with glowing amber eyes looked gleefully at his master. Oh hell no.

"Can we *I* take them with us *me*?" Shit. You got the complete curiosity of the Monkey King. And from the way he phrased his words, this had to be him at the beginning of his journey.

Only your luck would land you in the hands of a Yaoguai Warlord at the start of his quest towards redemption. Might as well reside yourself to your fate.

You had enough of being chased for a day. Getting chased by the Great Sage Equal To Heaven isn't something that needs to be added to the list.

This is a Sun Wukong that will chase anyone that can peak his interest as much as the MKR iteration. Since there isn't a White Dragon Horse in this rendition of JTTW, you'll be filling the role with the Stardust deck! Basically a deck heavily associated with a particular dragon that'll be popping up soon. I wanted to try a more action feel for this one.

Synchro Summon requires a unique monster called a Tuner to gain access to the monsters that appeared in this headcanon, Synchro Monsters. Accel Synchron is a unique Synchro Monster since it also counts as a Tuner.

The Stephen Chow movies done an interesting take to the novel and its characters, despite the awkward pacing and plot of Demons Strike Back. I recommend checking it out. Conquer the Demons can be watched free on YouTube if they haven't taken it off yet.

Until next time folks, I'll see you on the road westward. Here's Junk Warrior, Accel Synchron and Stardust Warrior!

#self insert #sonicasura #tales of sonicasura #jttw #jttw imagines #journey to the west imagines #journey to the west #sun wukong #journey to the west demons strike back #dsb sun wukong #stephen chow journey to the west #sun wukong x y/n #sun wukong x reader #journey to the west conquer the demons #duelist reader #yugioh #yu gi oh

[lacependragon]

So since I got so much traffic on my last post, I figured I’d update everyone. I’m in the midst of playtesting what is probably one of the largest modpacks I’ve ever messed around with. As you can see, we sit at about 465 mods, with many being content mods. I’ve included a list of all the interesting ones (I think) below.

My computer takes a little over 8gigs of RAM to run it smoothly, I give it a little more for safety, and it holds between 40-60 FPS. Dips into the 30s when genning new entities or terrain.

I’ve got magic mods, tech mods, world gen mods, biome mods, mob mods, storage mods, decoration mods, and so much more. I’ve been slowly piecing together the configs, the ore gen, and the recipe alterations. It’s definitely not perfect, but I’m having a lot of fun. I’ve played for a couple hours on survival and I found some stuff I still want to tweak, so that’s what I’m up to at the moment.

Takes about 7 minutes from launch to main menu, and about the same to load into a save. About twice that to generate a new world. But I can still watch videos and scroll Tumblr on the same computer, so I don’t really care.

For what it’s worth: no, my computer doesn’t get hot, yes it runs well, yes the fan does turn on but it’s not at full speed, and my computer is a laptop on a lap desk.

Oh, and I’ve called this modpack: Attempting to Escape the Planet of Dragons with Rockets.

By all means, feel free to reblog and ask questions/be surprised/leave tags. I really loved it last time.

Interesting Mods:

Lag Meter Dragon Mounts Legacy Abnormal's Delight Absent by Design Advanced Chimneys Addendum Additional Enchanted Miner Advanced Rocketry AI Improvements AIOT Botania Akashic Tome Alex's Mobs All the Modium Angel Ring Apotheosis Appleskin Aquaculture Archer's Paradox Architect's Palette Architectury Ars Nouveau Artifacts Astral Sorcery Atmospheric Attribute Fix Baubley Heart Canisters Bed Benefits Bedspreads Better Badlands Better Advancements Better Biome Blend Better Burning Better Dungeons Better End Forge Betterlands Better Mineshafts Better Spawner Control Better Strongholds Better Than Mending Better Tride Return Bigger Reactors Biome ID Fixer Biomes O Plenty Block Carpentry Blood Magic Botania Botany Pots Botany Trees Bountiful Baubles Bow Infinity Fix Builder's Addition Building Gadgets Buzzier Bees Oh the Biomes You Will Go Cable Tiers Caged Mobs Carry On Spice of Life: Carrot Edition Catalogue Cat Jammies Cavalry Caves and Cliffs Backport Charging Gadgets Charm Charms Cherished Worlds Chicken Chunks Chickens Shed Chipped Clay Conversion Clumps Cobble for Days Colds Enchants Colored Bricks Colytra Comforts Common Capabilities Compacter Connected Glass Construction Wand Cooking for Blockheads Copper Pot Corail Recycler Corail Woodcutter Corail Woodcutter BYG Extension Craftable Horse Armour Create Create Stuff Additions Create Addition Crock Pot Cable Tiers Culinary Construct Curio of Undying Curios Curios Quark OBP Curios Armor Stands Curios Elytra Curios Shulker Boxes Customizable Elytra Cycle Paintings Cyclic Dank Storage Darker Depths Dark Utilities Data Fixer Slayer Decorative Blocks DeLogger Demagnetize Diet Differentiate Ding Doggy Talents Double Slabs Draconic Evolution Dragon Seeker Drawer FPS Dungeon Crawl Dungeons Gear Dungeons Mobs Dungeons Plus Earth Mobs Mod Easy Hammers Easy Paxel Eidolon Elevators Emendatus Enigmatica Enchantment Descriptions Enchant With Mob The Endergetic Expansion Enderite Ender Storage Engimatic Graves Ensorcellation Entangled Entity Culling Environmental Materials Environmental Tech Expandability Extended Caves Extended Bonemeal Extra Golems Extra Storage Extreme Reactors Extreme Sound Muffler Fairy Lights Farmers Extra Foods Farmers Delight Farmers Delight Integrations Farming for Blockheads Fast Bench minus Replacement Faster Ladder Climbing Fast Furnace minus Replacement Fast Leaf Decay Fast Suite Farmers Delight Cookbook Find Me Flamboyant Flicker Fix Flux Networks Flywheel Forbidden Arcanus Endertech FPS Reducer Framed Blocks Friendly Fire FTB Backups, Chunks, Essentials, Ultimine Garden Arsenal Glassential Guard Villagers Healing Campfire Help Wanted Ice & Fire I Like Wood I Like Wood BYG Illagers Plus Illagers Wear Armor Immersive Cooking Immersive Engineering Industrial Foregoing Inspirations Inventory Essentials Inventory Tweaks Iron Chest Iron Furnaces Iron Jetpacks Item Collectors Item Zoom JEI + addons Krate KubeJS & addons Lantern Colors Lenient Creepers Light Overlay Lighting Wang Log Protection Lootr Mana and Artifice Masonry Macaw Bridges, Doors, Fences, Furniture, Lights, Paintings, Roos, Trapdoors, & Windows Mekanism Metal Barrels Mini Coal Mining Gadgets Mob Grinding Utilities Mod Name Tooltop Mooshroom Tweaks More Crafting Tables More Dragon Eggs More Villagers Morph o Tool Mouse Tweaks Mystical Agriculture & Aggradditions Nature's Aura Nature's Compass Neapolitan Nether Portal Fix No Fog NoMoWanderer No Potion Shift No Villager Death Messages Nyfs Quiver Occultism Ocean Floor Oh My Gourd Omni Organics Out of Sight Outer End Overloaded Overloaded Armor Bar Pam's Harvestcraft 2 Paraglider Peaceful Recipes Peaceful Surface Pipez PizzaCraft PneumaticCraft Repressurized Pocket STorage Potion Bundles Potion Descriptions Powah Pretty Pippes Project E Project Red Quantum Storage Quark Quark Oddities Quark O Plenty Quartz Chests Random Patches Ranged Pumps Ratlantis Rats Refined Pipes Refined Storage + addons Relics Reliquary Repurposed Structures Resourceful Bees RF Tools suite Gauges & Switches Sapience Savage and Ravage Save My Stronghold Scaffolding Drops Nearby Scuba Gear Serene Seasons Shulker Drops Two Shulkered Shulkersception Shut Up Experimental Settings Silent Gear Silent Gems Simple Magnets Simple Generators Simple Sponge Simple World Timer Simply Backpacks Simply Jetpacks Simply Light Skinned Lanterns Small Ships Smooth Boot Snad Sodium Solar Flux Reborn Sophisticated Backpacks Spark Spartan Shields Spartan Weaponry Spawn Egg Recipes Spawner Fix Starlight StartupQoL Storage Drawers Structures Compass Structuerize Supplementaries Sushi Go Crafting Swing Through Grass Tank Null Tinkers Planner Terraforged Tesseract The Undergarden The Abyss Chapter 2 Thermal Suite Time in a bottle Toast Control ToolBelt The One Probe + addons Torchmaster Towers of the Wild Trample Stopper Translocators Trash Cans Trash Slot Travel Amchors Traverse Treemendous Twiglight Forest Unnamed Animal Mod Upgrade Aquatic Upgraded Netherite Useful Railroads Valhelsia Structures Vanilla Food Pantry Vanilla Tweaks Mr. Crayfish Vehicle Mod Mry Crayfish Furniture Mod + More Furniture Villager Names Void Totem Waystones Well Behaved Mobs Wireless Chargers Wither Skeleton Tweaks Wool Tweaks woot Wormhole Wyrmroost XNet + Gases Yungs Extras

#lace speaks #minecraft #mineblr #modded minecraft #minecraft modpack

[witchy-jadda]

rott spoilers ahead

so i’ve given myself some time to think about everything and try to process it all and here are some of my thoughts on trollhunters: rise of the titans...

- straight off the bat, i loved the intro. opening with blinky telling the story of what happened up until this point was incredible. i would have loved if they had circled back to this though (i saw someone else say it should have been him telling the story to jim and claire’s kids and i loved that idea!)

- i also liked that they didn’t waste time at the start, instead they just jumped right into the action which was fun.

- honestly, i thought jim’s plotline throughout the movie where he basically thought he was useless without the amulet was just really not fun to watch. i understand why it was there and it played into the climax but i really did not find it one bit necessary seeing as i felt that we have grown beyond that. i felt it was overused. we’ve been there before and jim is aware that he’s the trollhunter, amulet or not.

- douxie being so soft with nari was genuinely one of the most heartwarming parts of the movie. i feel that we were really robbed of so much potential with douxie in this movie though. we didn’t see nearly enough of him. it seemed that the writers were picking and choosing when to remember how powerful he is. switching with nari and connecting to her are two examples of when they actually used his power, but aside from that they just disregarded it a lot.

- and speaking of forgetting how powerful people are... i’m genuinely so hurt and let down over what they did to claire. do they not realise how powerful she is? did they just forget about her character arc? it sure felt like it. she got to use her powers a few times (connecting to nari, portalling the titan, etc) but mostly it felt like she was saying she was spent and therefore unable to do anything. she is so strong and so powerful, and that’s just so empowering - especially for young girls. and then it kinda felt to me that rott was reducing her to basically nothing more than jim’s love interest.

- okay another quick note, it kinda felt to me that krel’s potential was also pretty wasted? he barely did anything and i just think he deserved more too.

- ew okay i don’t even want to think about it but i know i can’t discuss rott without talking about the mpreg thing. seriously, what the fuck was that? at first, i thought it was going to be a joke. i thought aja and krel were gonna wind steve up and see how far they could go with making him think he was pregnant just for a little bit of comic relief. but then he was actually pregnant. and so i laughed, because even though it was dumb it was kind of funny. weird and unexpected, but kind of funny. but by the time the movie was over it just didn’t sit right with me. looking past the fact that it was just more of them making steve’s character into a joke, i couldn’t see the logic in giving so much time to that subplot when other characters (claire, douxie) and other relationships (claire and douxie’s friendship) were sidelined. maybe if he had gotten a whole season the mpreg thing could have been included as comic relief or whatever, but with such limited time i really don’t see the point of wasting so much time on something so pointless. 

- speaking of steve, i need to talk about creepslayerz... they really deserved more :( like i get that eli literally helped steve through child birth and then named one after him which was lowkey adorable but i loved their friendship so much and i was really hoping to see more of them. i was kind of hoping they’d get to do more as well. look i gave up on hopes of a romance long ago (even though i still really wished it would happen) but i hoped that at least we’d see some more of their friendship.

* by this point my brain has decided to forget absolutely every point i wanted to make... cue the brain fog (we don’t like her) and allow me to take a moment to read back and try to find my point again *

- i don’t think i can stress enough how much i loved the visuals in this movie. holy fucking shit it was just phenomenal. like wow. the art was absolutely fantastic and i’m really hoping for another the art of... book because i love the art of trollhunters and i feel that they could do with updating it to include the newer stuff. but yep, the animation quality was incredible and i don’t have a bad thing to say about it because just wow.

- speaking of art... a moment of appreciation for character designs. just wow wow wow. we love to see such intricately designed villains. we love to see growth in our other much loved characters. and the locations too? fantastic. beautiful. amazing. loved it.

- another moment of appreciation for jim. the hair. the scars. the injuries. the winter jacket. the fact that he looked a little older.... loved it. loved it, loved it, loved it. i cannot wait to spend hours pouring over reference pictures to draw them all.

- and claire... her armor being weathered and worn. her eyes!! her hair looked great as always. i just love her...

- nari nari nari... my goodness, her magic is so beautiful. i wish we got to see more.

- also, the jlaire moments were very cute. their kisses? so soft. they literally love each other so much. i adore them.

- what happened to the babies from the darklands btw? is not enrique just chilling in the lake’s house with a ton of babies? 

- barbara deserved better. i would have liked to see her and strickler happy.

- on that note, why the actual fuck did they think a few explosives would win against magic?? literal ancient magic and these dumbasses were like huh i guess we should blow it up. i’m sorry, what?? y’all are stupid.

* currently trying to think of every possible point that isn’t to do with the ending because i really don’t want to think about that yet *

- the whole thing with archie and charlemagne felt super unnecessary. like usually characters sacrifice themselves and it’s like sad and you can see the reasoning and stuff. but they literally could have gotten out. i really did not vibe with that. it felt like they just did that to leave douxie with no one.

- that trollmarket was beautiful though.

- speaking of trollmarket... they really restored the heartstone just like that? are you joking? i was not impressed at all. the heartstone was dead and gone, could not be destroyed. did they just forget that? half the shit in wizards wouldn’t have happened if the heartstone could have been restored. very pissed off by that. it was dead, that was it.

- okay back to jim... love that he pulled the sword from the stone. it was cute that it was a group effort, kinda would have preferred if it was just him but that’s just a me thing. and maybe me and my daylight tattoo are biased here, but excalibur is not half as pretty as daylight.

- not gonna lie, jim yelling come on trollhunters! kinda got me. i was very emotional watching this.

- i think the most in character jim moment of the whole movie was when he dropped excalibur, he didn’t have his armor, he was all alone and he decided to make a fist and fight the wizard/god with literally no weapon or means of defence. i don’t think y’all understand how much i love this dumb self sacrificing selfless boy. i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again, he is literally one of my most favourite characters of all time. i love him with all my heart.

- the armor!! wow wow wow. that was a fucking cool scene. beautiful.

- jim getting stabbed or whatever with that fucking spear thing nearly killed me.

- okay here goes... toby. my sweet toby. jim and toby’s friendship is one of my absolute favourites ever. my goodness. and toby getting in the van and going to save jim was incredible and such a toby thing to do. of course he would think of doing that.

- but like seriously... claire and douxie are so fucking powerful and they were both just like lol i guess we can’t do anything to help jim? i’m sorry what?? don’t tell me that claire wouldn’t go full on black and purple eyes and get herself up their to him. i just... i’m so bothered by the fact that they were sidelined y’all :|

- also, do not seriously try to tell me that aaarrrgghh!!! would let toby go on his own. he would have went with him. he would have followed him.

- literally as jim was falling the first thing that went through my mind was oh aaarrrgghh!!! is gonna run up and catch him.

- and while we’re on the topic of aaarrrgghh!!! why tf did they have such a build up that something was going to happen to either him or blinky for literally no reason? wtf

- aaarrrgghh!!! would not have let toby go alone!!! if he had been there, he would have protected toby, he would have saved him and none of that mess of an ending would have happened.

* ugh here’s the bit i was dreading... the ending *

- first off, i am choosing to ignore it.

- time stone? really? we’re... we’re gonna do this? literally one of the most original things i have ever watched is now - at the literal last possible minute - rip off another movie?? really?? whyyyy???

- i literally cannot express how much i hated it. it was so fucking unnecessary.

- he didn’t need to go back that far!!!

- i’m actually trying to block this out but i suppose i have to at least touch on it. jim would never ever put that burden on to toby. he just wouldn’t. before even looking at all of the other issues with toby getting the amulet, i need to say that. it just wouldn’t happen. he struggled so much with being the trollhunter, he wouldn’t put that on toby. 

- also toby literally never wanted to be the trollhunter?? he never wanted the amulet? he wanted to be a duke and have his war hammer and go on adventures with his best friend and his wingman and eat mexican food.

- okay so um i guess they all just forgot about unbecoming? cool cool cool.

- seriously though, was it not established many times that jim literally had to be trollhunter? and if he wasn’t it would be draal and everything would go to shit? did they just forget about that??

- having jim just decide to give toby the amulet literally takes away from the entire meaning behind jim getting the amulet and becoming the trollhunter. the amulet chose jim. merlin chose him. out of all of the creatures in the world, it had to be jim. he can’t just give that to toby!!

- and as much as i love toby, he would not last a day as trollhunter.

- and that’s not even beginning to mention all that jim erased by not becoming trollhunter. no father son relationship between him and blinky. they didn’t stop steve from picking on eli so no steve redemption and no creepslayerz. is he just going to allow enrique to be taken? toby will not have the same incentive to go into the darklands to save him if that’s the case. strickler will not show any sort of sentiment towards toby either. and then the big one...

- IS THAT FUCKER REALLY GOING TO ALLOW CLAIRE TO NOT GET HER POWERS??? WHAT???

- if jim isn’t trollhunter and the whole thing with enrique doesn’t happen then claire will never get her shadowstaff. let’s be real, strickler probably wouldn’t even need angor rot with toby as trollhunter. somehow i can’t see him making it that far...

- if claire doesn’t have her shadow staff then the whole thing with morgana won’t happen. she won’t destroy the shadow staff and then she will never develop her powers. would jim really rob her of that?

- okay i can’t do anymore, it’s too much for me now...

- i touched on this already in a separate post but i gotta say it again... i did not enjoy the destiny is a gift bit at the end. first of all, jim having toby find the amulet literally takes the meaning of that speech and his destiny away instanty. and second, i just could not stand hearing emile hirsch say the words that belonged to anton yelchin. it was just uncomfortable.

aaand i think i’m done. maybe i’ll have more later but i have a headache now from all of this.

#rott #trollhunters #tales of arcadia #rott spoilers #jim lake jr #claire nuñez #toby domzalski #blinky #aaarrrgh #wizards #toa #douxie #rise of the titans #trollhunters spoilers #trollhunters rise of the titans

[riathedreamer]

You asked for it: live thoughts from Ria and @creatrixanimi​ watching RvB Zero.

So, after having a movie night the day before (third movie night in a week, actually, we are very productive) watching Neil Breen movies and “Cool Cat”, it was now time to touch upon Zero. Sadly, Zero does not belong in the “so bad it’s good” category, but alas, Ria had to spoil Haley’s innocence.

This is not a proper edited review, but just snippets of our live reaction while watching the thing together. We are not drunk, but this continued way past midnight for Ria, so maybe her brain isn’t fully functioning. Also, Ria is a potty mouth because cursing is easy when it’s not your native language. Enjoy.

Episode 1:

Ria: I can’t figure out if they were trying to do a Grif and Simmons parallel with those two random guards talking outside, the ones with the Wash retconning.

Haley: Their armor doesn’t cover their noses. 

Ria: That’s gotta be cold. Frostbitten noses.

...

Haley: There is no exposition. Like, it feels like the writers had their idea and know what is going on, but we don’t so it just feels weird and random. It feels like a Marvel movie.

Ria: Is that a compliment? I haven’t watched Marvel.

Haley: Not a good one.

 ...

Ria: This episode isn’t that bad in itself. But it’s just there to establish that the OG characters can’t beat this new villain, but the new guys can, and, urgh.

 ...

Episode 2:

[The shot focuses on One’s behind.]

Ria’s dirty mind: Ass.

 ...

Ria: STOP CALLING HIM DAVID.

...

Ria: I like this character, but I don’t remember his name.

Haley: Raymond.

Ria: This is why we need a name system like with the Freelancers and states. Should’ve just been numbers all the way through. Except Eleven, you fucking whore.

 ...

Haley at the sight of Raymond’s phone: It’s so big.

Ria: It’s the future. I can believe it.

 ...

Ria: Here’s the thing driving me crazy. Axel is a normal name in Denmark. But like, only old people use it. I know two Axels and they are both older than eighty. So that’s when I think of when I see Axel.

 ...

[After the whole training montage where we are introduced to the characters, we are still confused.]

Ria: I can’t remember their names.

Haley: Well, they didn’t show all of them. They didn’t show One.

Ria: They did!

Haley: They did?

Ria: Wow. So we got all that tell and no show, and we are still confused.

 ...

Haley: When it comes to genre, it’s actually not that bad with the narrated tell and don’t show. If it wanted to be a cheesy/bad action movie, that’s a trope that’s used relatively frequently in the genre. It’s a bad action movie. But it’s not RvB. It’s kinda like a particularly bad Marvel movie.

Ria: You’re really not selling me on the Marvel movies tonight.

 ...

Ria: I know I’m just a sucker for Joe, but I keep thinking of s15. Like, here they just use the files as a cheap way to introduce the characters. But like, in s15, Dylan just read out loud Grif’s file, and it was not to introduce him, but like, to show the complexity of the characters and go against the files? I don’t know, it just seems way cooler now.

 ...

[After the whole “what’s East’s deal” scene, we were so confused. Literally paused for five minutes trying to figure who was whose dad and why and what. How many daughters did Axel have? And where are they? We were just lost. Future Haley: Him waxing poetic about his daughters while watching the two girls in his team train confused me like I thought he was talking about East and One and couldn’t count sdfghjk. Future Ria: I’d even watched the show before and I was still confused.]

Ria: I can’t figure out if they’re too fast or if we’re just stupid.

Haley: It’s like I’m trying to remember the details but it all slips through my fingers.

Ria: The whole Zero experience is to feel too old for this shit.

 ...

Ria: STOP FUCKING CALLING HIM DAVID

 ...

One: This is how it’s done, grandma.

Ria: Fuck you.

 ...

Episode 3:

Haley: People would like it if they love dumb action shows. It works as a mindless action show.

 ...

Haley: So this is a temple?

Ria: I hate the worldbuilding. Is this the same planet as before? Like, Chorus had temples, but it also had lore about it. Is this the same sort of temples?

Haley: So shouldn’t this temple have its own key? Why do they need to include Tucker? It makes no sense for the temple to require a totally different sword from a different planet.

Ria: So they could beat him up ‘cause OG characters are weak now.

 ...

Haley: I don’t like the training scenes. They are so long and boring.

Ria: This is like the third episode where they are training. Holy shit.

 ...

Haley: It’s not that bad. But if you like Red vs. Blue, it’s not something for you. They aren’t really comparable.

Ria: I just don’t understand what they wanted to continue for Red vs. Blue. Like, it’s not the worldbuilding or the plot or the characters. I just don’t get it.

 ...

Haley: Raymond is the best character.

Ria: I like Raymond.

Haley: He’s RvB. He should be the main character.

 ...

Ria: Did East just use the “I’m not like the other (girls)” line?

Haley: I don’t like her. She’s a brat. Why did Carolina have to apologize? They were just training, this is something she’s gonna have to deal with on a daily basis lmao.

Ria: Didn’t Carolina have a cast on her arm? It’s gone now. I can’t keep up with the timeline. So, she’s healed, but how long was Wash gone? They are so vague about everything. Worldbuilding, timeline, motivations.

 ...

Ria: …Did Carolina just say she’d suit up? While wearing a full armor suit?

 ...

[And this is where the cursed part takes place. To talk, we’d often pause the thing. Here, I randomly paused during the introduction for Starlight Laboratories. There’s a desk in the shot. With a fucking marker on it.]

Haley: That’s a Crayola marker. That’s a Crayola marker on the table.

Ria: Glad we can appreciate the details by pausing.

[Haley then missed the entire Axel flashback scene because she was too busy looking up pictures of Crayola markers. When this is revealed, Ria lost it for like, three minutes]

Haley: I had that marker as a kid. 

Ria: So 4/5 stars for the marker?

Haley: They were supposed to smell like blueberries or something but they just smelled like chemicals.

Ria: This is the most excited we’ve been about Zero so far.

[Future Haley: I was literally laugh-crying you dont understand. This was the best part of the show.]

...

Episode 4:

Ria: They all have super powers. It’s so weird.

Haley: I keep thinking they are gonna explain stuff. But they don’t. So I’m just confused.

 ...

[Haley has now brought forth all the markers in her room to find a Crayola one. She drops them all on the floor. Ria loses it again.] [Future Haley update: I found a yellow one it smells like lemons :)]

 ...

Ria: They are all glowing and have super powers. It’s weird. Like, I know we had super powered armor before but that was all connected to AIs. I don’t get how all of this works. They don’t have AIs.

 ...

[We both agree that we enjoy Raymond and Tiny. Bless them.]

 ...

Ria: It’s weird. The dialogue is so oblivious, it comments on its own mistakes. Like, Carolina just acknowledged Wash has had a computer in his head before. But they don’t acknowledge the whole canonical lore about his trauma regarding computers in his head and why he’d hate this. Same with the name David. They just noticed that it’s his first name and that’s how they’d show how close Carolina is with him, but they didn’t acknowledge the canon lore that Wash dislikes people using his first name.

 ...

Episode 5:

Haley: Why didn’t they use Locus’ sword instead. It’d make more sense. He’s the one travelling around planets and wanting to help people?? 

Ria: What’s the worldbuilding here? Is Tucker on the same planet? Is this Earth? Chorus?

 ...

Haley: Gotta love it when they make Tucker hit on teenagers.

Ria: Oh god why did they make East 18.

 ...

Haley: They should have done something with the Warthog song, even if that’s a Red Team thing.

Ria: I miss Red Team.

 ...

Ria: Wait, so if these three swords are connected, why can the two first ones move by themselves and they have like super powers connected to them? When Tucker’s sword is just boring? They didn’t even make a joke about how the two new swords are longer than Tucker’s.

 ...

Tucker: I’m fine, I have my sword.

Ria: That line is so tragic in hindsight.

 ...

One: It’s Tucker. He is dead.

Carolina: Oh my god.

Haley: *laughs her ass off*

 ...

Haley: I don’t understand why anyone is doing anything.

Ria: Your brain is still thinking about that fucking marker.

 ...

Episode 6:

Ria: The dialogue did it again! Wash just said “amazing medical tech”. Like, he points out a plot hole. Because that amazing tech can heal brain injuries and bring people back from death, but East had to be tortured for years to heal her vague illness? Like, why couldn’t their amazing tech fix that.

 ...

[While watching the design of the temple.]

Ria: It looks like those are just plates glued to the wall. Dinner is served.

 ...

Haley: There is no logical reason why they brought in Tucker. His sword isn’t even from this planet.

Ria: To lure in fans.

 ...

Haley in a very sad voice: The speech wasn’t good.

 ...

Episode 7:

Ria: Is all of this happening on the same planet? They keep driving. The worldbuilding is so weird. At least earlier RvB made a joke about how they could just drive everywhere. This is like a big desert, a training base, laboratory, city and temples and Tucker’s workplace, and I don’t know if it’s even on the same planet.

 ...

Ria: Diesel is just standing there waiting while they outfit Carolina.

Haley: It’s like a video game.

 ...

Ria: The temple’s walls are filled with runes.

Haley: It feels like a free/bought asset. It doesn’t even look like the temples on Chorus. It looks like something in WoW or something like that.

Ria: It’s driving me mad. I can read runes! Imagine a big boss fight and the freaking alphabet is plastered on the walls. That’s what I’m looking at.

 ...

Haley: Zero is such a boring villain. It’s not interesting when we don’t know what this “power” actually is or what he wants to do with it.

 ...

Ria: That’s the helmet Spencer wore.

Haley: Oh god I forgot about him.

Ria: So did the writers.

Haley: Spencer should have been the real villain.

 ...

Haley: *sees the random model of the temple guardian alien* I miss Santa.

 ...

Episode 8:

Ria: The aliens are just dancing in the background while Carolina is fighting Diesel.

Haley laughing: Oh my god, they are. They are just jumping up and down.

 ...

Ria: So, the villain just turned overpowered, and the solution is that Raymond just flicks a switch we haven’t heard about and now the heroes are overpowered too?

Haley: It just makes them shiny. And like... they don’t even use the “power”, they don’t fight him with their powers which only some of them have, they just shoot their ordinary guns at him while doing unnecessary flips.

Ria: I just remembered Church’s dick switch. That had more dramatic buildup.

 ...

Axel: You’re too cocky for that.

Ria’s dirty brain: Cock.

 ...

Post Zero thoughts:

[Ria returns from bathroom break and Haley is proudly showing off her marker over video cam.]

Haley: There was too much going on so I just focused on the marker.

Ria: So how many stars would you give it?

Haley: It’s really bad.

Ria: How many stars for marker representation?

Haley: Three out of five. It was only there for a second.

 ...

Haley: In the beginning, it wasn’t that bad. It was dumb, but also fun and sorta cool. But then it just went on for too long and they didn’t explain anything properly and it stopped being fun really fast. But I can see why some people might enjoy it. Like, you’d love it for its action but only that. Not for plot and/or the character writing.

Ria: I think my biggest problem is the worldbuilding. They kept everything so vague because they didn’t want to connect, not really. Like, where is this happening? When? Why are Carolina and Wash there? Like, the motivations for all the characters were so vague as well.

 ...

Haley: Raymond was great. He had personality and some good lines. And he felt like RvB. Like, he used his brain and actually got shit done, but he also wasn’t over-powered. He followed a similar character arc to what the Reds and Blues had. He sucks at fighting but he’s efficient and smart in a practical way with his rocket launcher. He does the most and he doesn’t stop being a goofball! Even Zero was focused on stopping him the most at the end. And he didn’t need to do any stupid flips.

 ...

Haley: The borrowed assets annoyed me. It ended up looking stupid, like, the temple felt more like fantasy than science fiction. And nothing like Chorus. And normally, RvB doesn’t have to worry about being cohesive because all of the designs are from Halo so it all makes sense and it’s connected. But this is just so random it feels distracting, I feel like this is a big reason people felt that Zero was so jarring… but on a subconscious level. It just felt off and there was no cohesive design. Also everything looked like it was made for video games and not modified at all for the show.

 ...

Haley: Honestly I was optimistic at first but then I got confused really fast and it kept getting worse because it was so fast. They didn’t explain stuff properly or at all. Like, they made it too big. Should have been smaller. I thought going with the “Starlight Labs is evil and needs to go down” plot would have been A LOT better and would have tied together multiple aspects of the story that the temple plot didn’t.

Ria: If I had the power which I don’t, I dunno, but I if the main point was to introduce new characters, I’d keep them tied to lore and worldbuilding we already know. So we don’t get so confused and it doesn’t feel so disconnected. Like, I’m still in love with the idea that it should have been Carolina on Chorus dealing with these soldiers who have been fighting all their lives and now don’t have to do that anymore. But maybe Chorus still needing an army, and that’s why she is training it. I don’t know, but like, familiar, build on what we know. And then they wouldn’t be superpowered, but like, just competent-ish but normal soldiers and we’d get to know them better, but I just think Zero just wanted them to be these super cool soldiers even better than Carolina so they could pull off all the fight scenes. ‘Cause it’s all Zero has going for it. The fight scenes. It’s its strength and weakness ‘cause they sacrificed everything else to look cool. And it does. But it’s boring and there is nothing else going on.

 ...

Ria: I’m still so annoyed about the temples. Why are they there? Like, on Chorus it was a big thing, also plotwise, but it had lore connected to it and the worldbuilding explained it. So, where are these temples? A different planet, right? Is it the same aliens? Are people just cool with the temples? Why haven’t they been explored before. Chorus made sure to explain all of that.

 ...

Haley: The West and East scene-

Ria: Feast.

Haley: Confused me. ‘cause West didn’t really regret anything. He just said why he did it. And then all of the sudden East forgave him and rejoined the team. It was so weird. He doubled down on the thing she hated him for so much I was like “Wow he’s kinda an asshole” and then all of a sudden she was on his side? What?

 ...

Haley: Zero does its job if you want action and nothing else. And it’s not RvB. Don’t watch it if you like RvB. And I just want to acknowledge that we are nitpicking. Quite a bit. I’ll admit that. But, I wouldn’t nitpick the other RvB seasons the same way because the old RvB never took itself seriously the way Zero did.

Ria: I agree. We are nitpicking. But like, that’s why we have the movie nights.

Haley: But we are also allowed to criticize it. You can do that with any season. And with the other seasons, you could nitpick it and you can find stuff you don’t like, but there are always stuff you do like or that other people like. I just can’t find anything about Zero that I like. Besides Raymond.

Ria: Yeah. Like, I really love 15. And it had so many flaws people pointed out. And when it comes to criticism and Zero, I just don’t see many points about why people like it. They are allowed to do that though. But, like, we could have a movie night where we watch the Chorus seasons and we’d nitpick so much because we both have issues with it, but there is still so much stuff we’d still like.

Haley: I like Raymond though. He’s like Grimmons lovechild.

Ria: No. Fuck you. Don’t put that in my brain.

 ...

Haley: Raymond being in this… I want to say it feels like the Freelancers seasons but if Grif was part of the team or something. But that’s just “Hit and Run”. *laughs*

Ria: NO! That’s cursed. Shut up. Also, the Freelancers were way better written.

Haley: And those seasons made better sense.

Ria: And like, the Freelancer seasons did the thing with change of tone and have these new and super cool characters and fight scenes. But they kept half of the seasons to be around the Reds and Blues so we still had the humor and the dumbasses, and Zero just, it didn’t connect.

 ...

Haley: So, I have some thoughts on Zero.

Ria: I know, you fuck, I had to write them all down by hand.

Haley: I like bad movies, actually, but Zero didn’t stay fun, so no, I didn’t enjoy it.

 ...

Ria: Do you forgive me for making you watch Zero?

Haley: Yeah.

Ria: What should we watch next?

...

Also, Haley dressed up her dog for the event and you all deserve to see her:

#we asked you answered we delivered #like most of these are just stupid observation #but we do have some proper reflections on the good and the bad and the ugly #and markers! #rvb zero critical

[emilia3546]

Shadowsinger -Part 19

ACOSF Spoilers! Do Not read this unless you have finished ACOSF and the Azriel bonus chapter*

Masterlist with all previous chapters

*****

With Azriel double checking their plans to get into the Mortal Palace, Gwyn was free to help Nesta and Emerie in designing a training program for the Illyrian females. Most of them had clipped wings, only the youngest did not, so any training would be land-based, and there wasn't enough time for aerial combat for those who could fly anyway. Gwyn hadn't even considered them being on the front lines, but they could perhaps form an auxiliary force, the last line to break, the surprise that the rebels weren't expecting. Still, not everyone wanted to train, and not all of them could bear to fight, not when they might face fathers, husbands, brothers, sons on the other side of the battlefield. Even those who could not, or would not, fight could still be helpful though. It had been Emerie who had suggested that Madja and Velaris' healers run some medical training for those who preferred to help in that way. Nesta's eyes had darkened with rage at the thought of the grievous injuries that would undoubtedly be sustained when the fighting broke out, and Gwyn threw an arm over her shoulders, knowing that she was recalling Cassian's injuries from the last war.

"The most important thing will be on the battlefield," Gwyn mused, "The issue with our healers is that they are based at camps, so casualties can't reach them. If we can get a group of medics on the battlefield, at least trained to defend themselves if necessary, but with the key skills to keep casualties alive until they can be seen by a healer, we'll be in a much better position. Especially if those medics are female, they'll be ignored and overlooked." Nesta nodded her agreement, and Emerie suggested a few females that she knew who might be interested in such a role.

"Every Illyrian female knows some basic healing skills, but nothing that would work on a battlefield, we'll have to get word out quickly, and hope that the males don't object." Nesta grinned, 

"Oh, they won't object, not if I personally send out invitations to classes. They think I'm a witch, and they're scared shitless of me, my presence on a battlefield might hopefully convince the rebels to think twice, although, perhaps not, if they're willing to rebel against their High Lord and Lady."

"Oh they'll definitely think twice about fighting you, sweetheart," Cassian chuckled, starling all females as he strode through the open door and kissed the top of Nesta's head, she shrugged, 

"I'll just have to make them think that I'll cast a spell to cut their balls off," Cassian laughed again,

"Such a beautiful, violent female," he murmured, casting his gaze across the training plans,

"Any changes you suggest?" Gwyn asked, keen to break up the way both Nesta and Cassian had looked at each other just then,

"It's pretty good, but I'd focus a little more on hand-to-hand combat, we don't have time to fully build up to swords, perhaps fighting knives would be better. They're lighter, and females are smaller, quicker, lighter than males, knives would allow them to use that to their advantage in a fight, even against a male wielding a broadsword." Gwyn noted down Cassian's suggestions, leaving the final decisions to Nesta and Emerie, it would be them, after all, who oversaw the training, Gwyn would be working with Azriel to remain one step ahead of the rebels, and the queens.

Gwyn noted the room slowly filling up, but it didn't bother her, it didn't bother her that with Amren was that dark-skinned male whom she hardly knew. She merely acknowledged his presence with a nod, her attention fixed on finishing her portion of the the plans, leaning back in her chair, and stretching. Azriel was the last to arrive, automatically making his way across to Gwyn and resting a hand on the back of her chair. She tipped her head sideways to slightly touch that hand. Azriel would never be one for public affection like Cassian and Nesta, but, like Cassian, he needed that contact, needed the contact he had been denied for so long to remind himself that she didn't hate him, that she loved him, that he was worthy of her love, had always been. Even Amren had stifled a smile at Gwyn's subtle display of affection, and Theia was practically beaming with joy at the way Azriel had relaxed at Gwyn's touch, the tension in his muscles releasing before he spoke,

"Gwyn and I have finalized a way into the Mortal Palace. We will have to go alone, and ordinarily, I wouldn't even suggest bringing her at this point in her training, but she has contacts within, and outside the Palace. She is our way in, and our way to send reports back here. We'll spell the reports, but only to one person, I can't work a spell more complicated than that." He looked to Rhys and Feyre, "Who do want me to spell it to?" Feyre shuffled in her seat,

"Rhys." Rhys made to complain, but Feyre raised a hand, "He has more experience, and will know the key things to look for, especially with reports from you, you know each other's way of working better than me, I'm still learning how to be High Lady. And," she added with a sigh, "I have to feed Nyx several times every night, I'm tired, I might miss something." Rhys sighed but nodded,

"Spell the reports to me then. When can you expect to get in?"

"We'll leave tomorrow," Gwyn answered, "There's only a few final preparations needed, Azriel can winnow us onto the continent, but we'll have to travel the rest of the way on foot, by air it'll be too visible, and to winnow any closer might set off wards, besides, some of my friends live a few miles out. We should be able to get into the Palace within a week, unless we come across something unaccounted for, I'd expect the first update about a week after that, give or take." Azriel nodded, 

"I'll only be wearing two siphons most of the time, and we won't be in full armor, the aim is to get in disguised as a rebel warrior and his wife." He paused for a moment, and Gwyn nodded, encouraging him to continue after a moment's hesitation. "Gwyn will be noticed at once as out of place," Azriel turned to Rhys, "Can you glamour her to appear Illyrian? You only need to give her wings." Still, wings were the most difficult part of that request, if he couldn't make a glamour look realistic, Gwyn had already agreed to allow them to attempt to shift her into an Illyrian body. Rhys pursed his lips,

"I can try, but I don't know if I'l be able to make them move naturally if I'm not there, the innate magic may not be enough." Gwyn knew that, but she still asked him to try, and closed her eyes at the touch of night-flecked power on her. "Just move about a bit, Gwyn, let me see if it works without me actively moving it around." She got up, walked a couple of laps on the room, threw a couple of punches at the air, turned around quickly, but her face fell at the silence around her,

"It's not working is it?"

"No, I'm sorry," Rhys muttered, "The only other way would be to shift your body into that of an Illyrian. I can definitely do that, and then reverse it when you're back, but it would involve me changing your body." He said carefully, slowly gauging her reaction

"I know." Gwyn said, her chin held high as the glamour lifted, "Az already warned me, and it's okay. I trust him, and everyone in this room," there was a moment of surprise in Rhys' eyes as he glanced towards Varian, "Even him. He has been nothing but kind and respectful, and he has already earned all of your trust, I would be foolish not to trust him as well, if all of you do, he must have proved himself several times."

"That he has," Rhys mused, and offered Feyre a questioning glance, falling silent for a moment before Feyre broke the silence, 

"We think it'll be better if I do this, I have more experience with different types of shifting, and I have shifted myself into an Illyrian form many times. I've also seen, and felt the magic's imprint, when Tamlin shifted others into different forms, Rhys has only ever shifted himself into his beast form. Gwyn nodded, altogether more comfortable with Feyre's magic, as a female, it somehow felt familiar, less alien and frightening. "This will probably tingle a bit and feel odd, but it won't hurt." Gwyn mentally braced herself, almost flinching at the tingle in her shoulders, then expanding across her whole body. She opened her eyes once the tingling had faded, she felt the same, but the moment she moved something felt wrong, different. Her balance was off, something pulling her backwards. She flexed her shoulders, and a whoosh of air alerted her to the wings now flaring out behind her. She flinched at the sound of breaking china,

"Sorry," she muttered, and wriggled the wings around a bit before figuring out how to close them. The one thing that she had expected to bother her didn't, the weight of the wings was less than she'd thought it would be, and her training had built up her muscles so that she could carry them easily without worrying about dragging them on the floor. 

"You could fly if you wanted to," Feyre said, "I've made them look clipped as that's what would make sense, but the tendons and muscles beneath are normal, and I don't expect there'll be much time for you to learn to fly anyway, but in an emergency you will be able to." Gwyn nodded, "You should get used to moving around with them, and fighting, it feels a bit different to usual, your center of balance is shifted backwards, so it just takes a bit of getting used to." 

"I'm sure it will, we have until lunch tomorrow to get ready, so hopefully I'll be re-balanced by then. It should definitely be before we reach the Palace at any rate."

*****

Gwyn had adjusted to the wings remarkably quickly, the walk to the training ring seeming to be long enough for her to figure out how her balance needed to shift. She warmed up normally, albeit a little slower than usual, but she didn't seem to have any issues, not ones that she needed Azriel's help with anyway.

"Okay, just practice unfolding and folding your wings for now, we can do something more once you're comfortable with that." Gwyn nodded, and flared out her wings, faster than before, and stumbled backwards, Azriel stifled a chuckle at her surprise, but she folded them in, then out again, and kept her balance. She kept going until she could do it while walking around, sitting down, drawing a weapon. She cursed Azriel's name soundly when he made her practice doing it while running and drawing a weapon at the same time, a wooden practice sword. Gwyn had questioned what the point was in using a practice sword, but as she clipped the corner of a wing and tripped up, rolling to regain her feet she just glared at him. "Go again," he chuckled, "Any child can do this,"

"Any child can do this," she mimicked, glaring at him, and he laughed,

"I do not sound like that," She just huffed, but did as she was told, falling several more times before she fixed her timing and drew the sword from a sheath at her side consistently without falling. The moment she was confident with that, Azriel switched the sheath to one down her spine. She could do it standing still on the first try, but the moment she started moving, her wings moved a bit, and she kept hitting them, sending her sprawling onto the floor. She groaned, but kept getting back up, slapping away Azriel's hand when he extended it, a multitude of profanities falling from her lips each time. He could barely hold back his laughter at the sight of Gwyn, usually so balanced and elegant, falling on her ass, and swearing enough to put even Cassian to shame. Still, a beautiful rosy blush was now staining her cheeks, and she was panting slightly in the sun's punishing heat. "One more." He called, and Gwyn flipped him off before taking off at a sprint, and whooping in delight when she drew her sword without incident, looking back at him and grinning with undisguised joy. "Take a break."

"No. I want to fight," she complained,

"Break. Once we start combat training we'll go until you're ready to drop, break. Now." He left no room for argument, but Gwyn still rolled her eyes as she nudged past him to get to the water he'd brought out. She'd made a hundred such gestures, but each time he couldn't help the rush of delight that washed over him that she was able to be this comfortable whilst alone with a male, let alone that male being him. She was still experimenting with the position of her wings, but stopped when she noticed Azriel's attention, muttering something about overbearing busybodies before practically bouncing up to him and demanding that they move on to combat. Azriel couldn't help but match her energy, not as she grinned and almost danced on the spot when he agreed, but he did make her walk through her patterns first, demonstrating them so that she could see what he did with his wings. He did warn her not to think too much about them though, with the muscles at the base, they would re-balance subconsciously, even though she hadn't been born with them.

As with almost everything he had ever thrown at her, Gwyn took back to fighting with surprising ease, enough that he was confident to agree to spar at the end of their training session. He moved a little slower than usual, his blows lighter than usual, giving Gwyn a little extra time to balance to parry each blow and then retaliate. She, however, did not hold back, and at times it felt like she was trying to knock Azriel's head off, and very nearly succeeded at one point, with Azriel only just dodging the blow and ducking under her blade to force her to turn. As she spun round, the momentum forced her wings out, and she struggled to balance, flaring them out further, and Azriel yelped when she smacked him across the face, having failed to step far enough back. Gwyn froze at the sound, finally regaining her balance and whirled to find Azriel taking a few steps back to a healthy distance,

"Oh, I'm sorry!" She rushed towards him, and pulled his face down, inspecting the slightly reddened skin of his cheek, and tutted to herself, "Sorry," she whispered again, and planted a gentle kiss on his cheek, "There. That's better," she said, "I think we'd better call it a day there, I'm getting tired, so I'll just end up doing that again otherwise." Azriel nodded, then gently caught her wrist, turning her back towards him,

"You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm just, I don't know," she shrugged, "I'm fine though, I'm fine," he raised an eyebrow at that, she seemed to be convincing herself more than him,

"Pre-mission nerves?"

"I guess," she sighed, "I'll be fine once we've got there."

"I want to show you something, how I always got over it." Gwyn smirked at that,

"And what would that be?" 

"Hold on," that was the only warning Gwyn got before he scooped her up and launched upwards, leaving her screaming and throwing her arms around his neck. Azriel flapped again, rising up and up and up, until Velaris was just a mosaic of lights below them, he leveled out and Gwyn whooped in delight, before smacking him on the arm,

"Asshole!" She hissed, but Azriel just chuckled and pretended to drop her, making her squeal again, and cling on to him tighter, burying her face in his neck, "I hate you," she mumbled, but still relaxed into him, and pressed another kiss against the cheek her wing had smacked, 

"Really hold on now," Azriel murmured, this time waiting until she was clinging on before offering her a cocky smirk, and falling out of the sky. A scream tore from Gwyn's throat as they fell, tumbling through the air, his wings blowing up around them as the wind rushed past, whipping Azriel's hair around his face. Quickly Gwyn's screams turned into shouts and whoops of delight, the wind tearing her hair out of her braid, sending it flying out behind her, and Azriel laughed, truly laughed, pulling her in for a kiss. He clutched her tighter against his chest, flipping over so that he could see the ground, and Gwyn screamed again as it approached,

"Pull up!" She screamed, "We're going to crash!"

"Trust me," Azriel murmured in her ear, and she trembled at his voice, almost imperceptibly arching into him at that little reminder of last night. She buried her face in Azriel's neck again, not even opening them at the rush of wind as he flapped hard, mere feet from the ground just outside the city. He circled lazily upwards, cruising over the city, and Gwyn finally opened her eyes, and smiled,

"Can we do that again?" Azriel grinned, 

"Going to keep your eyes open this time, Valkyrie?"

"Going to try and kill me again, Shadowsinger?"

"Never," he murmured, but gave no warning before folding his wings in again and plummeting towards the earth, holding Gwyn so that the wind rippled against her own newly formed wings. The look of wonder on her face as she felt the wind was unrivaled in beauty, and Azriel clutched her hands, "Do you trust me?"

"Always," she hesitated only a heartbeat before taking his hands and turning onto her belly, holding Azriel's hands in front of her, 

"Wings out," she did as he said, and he did so at the same time, the wind slowing as it caught their wings. Azriel angled towards an updraft, and Gwyn laughed with joy as she was pushed up in the air, with her wings automatically catching the breeze. She whooped again, and let Azriel guide her through Velaris' winds and currents, leaving them both wind-chilled but laughing uncontrollably when he pulled her into his chest and dove through their bedroom window. "Nest step, flying on your own." He whispered, and Gwyn shook her head disbelievingly, 

"That's a big step."

"Need me to hold your hand?" Azriel teased, and Gwyn's competitive gleam reappeared in her eyes,

"I'll be flying better than you in no time." She declared, sweeping off to the bathroom before he could respond. He chuckled to himself, still staring after the female who had made him open his heart to the world, who had seen the shadows and the person he sometimes had to be and had decided to love all of him, flaws and all. It made his heart ache with love, greater than he'd ever felt, he didn't need a mating bond, he didn't need what Rhys and Cassian had, he just needed her. He just needed Gwyn.

#fanfiction #fanfic #azriel x gwyn #Azriel #Azwyn #Gwyn #gwynriel #Gwyn acosf #gwyneth berdara #acotar #acosf #a court of thorns and roses #a court of silver flames

[infinityreview]

New Infinity previews! (2022)

In the new Infinity Studio Update video Bostria shows off a whole bunch of renders presented at Adepticon. You can watch the full video here. Lets take a look, and I’ll tell you what I think!

This new Vanguard sniper is pretty sweet! While the new Vanguard designs are really nice, I personally prefer the more military and armored older versions. However this is a really solid looking model. The pose is a HUGE improvement over the previous version (even though it is very similar), and the bag is a nice addition that helps balance the whole model out. 

I’m really not a fan of these new Yaogats. Both the previous versions are classics, and this one just abandons everything that made those great for something pretty generic looking. It doesn’t look like a Morat at all. This really, really looks like a 40K T’au model to me. it is also absolutely massive for an ARM 3 MI. And the gun is absurdly big, even for a Morat. All of that said, the helmet and collar areas are pretty interesting looking, and I like the big pack. 

Yikes. This pretty cool looing TAG is ruined by the ridiculous pogo stick periscope riding pilot sticking out of the bottom. What were the thinking??? First off, the idea that a Morats would leave their pilot unarmored like this is ridiculous. Look at the absurd armor they put on their ARM 1, 2 and 3 troops! Second, for a close combat focused TAG, it looks ridiculously easy to just punch the pilot. He’s just hanging  at waist height, completely unprotected! It also looks like the TAG wouldn’t be able to walk forward with it’s knees bumping into the pilot, and its thighs crushing him.  

Otherwise the TAG is pretty okay. I believe its designed to look like the Hungries, which is pretty cool.

Oh geez I just noticed its awful gun! Sigh.  Maybe we’ll get a redesign in 5 years that fixes all this? or maybe someone will just do a good version we can all 3d print?

Sargosh looks pretty cool. I really like the designs for the Jayth Cutthroats already, so I’m not surprised I like this too. The pose isn’t particularly impressive or attention catching for a character, but the the elements look nice. 

I guess this and Sargosh are “tournament editions” of the existing models? The Zeta Unit seems fine. Big and nicely detailed. I seem to remember people really not liking the original model, but I’m not sure what the problem was. leave a comment if you know. 

Another Uxia?  This one doesn’t seem to be a particular improvement over the last 3 or 4, design wise at least. The sculpting is nice though. 

The image says this model has an ADHL. I can’t tell if that's the weapon slung on his back, or if he’s dual wielding them. The weapons in his hands look like grenade launchers to me. Anyway, the coat and hat make this a pretty fun design.

Wow! I own the older Shinobu, but I never got around to painting her for my JSA. I haven’t used that army in a few years, but Ill probably pick this model up just for the fun of painting her. She looks great! The pose is really weighted to show off the heft of that enormous sword. And the hat looks great!

I really like the pose on this one, and his extra details really compliment the standard Nomad outfit. Great expression, too!

This is a really neat design, with lots of interesting elements. But like the recent Zerat, it just seems too busy.  

I really like a lot of the recent Military Order models, and this one is another good addition. Her collar and jacket really play up the religious look, and her eye piece is great. She’s cute too!

This is a really great extreme action pose, and a great overall design. I really like her!

I wasn’t sure what to expect from a new Marut. The original is pretty amazing. This one is really sleek. I wish they did more with the four arms, since that’s the model’s most unique element, but overall I really like this. Well, that's it for now. I’ll have full reviews of these models whenever they’re finally released. - Jake

#infinity the game #adepticon

[nextwarden]

Webtoons are good for the soul [Long post] [but worth it] [hopefully]

Bit of a long one (for a change...), sorry.

I haven’t read that many that’s a lie but here are my favs!

Lore Olympus by Rachel Smythe [ongoing - every Sunday]

or when Hades met Persephone. It’s a love story, fluffy yet deep and sad at times. Very well told and with incredible art (as you can see from the cover ci-dessus), in a pastel/watercolour fluid style, as is the storytelling. It has compelling characters, character growth, love, funny moments, and basically the best you could ask from a romantic story. And it had enough material to get you through good number of hours of reading before you have to break down every sunday in wait of the following week like the rest of us.

mah-hart-mah-sole/10

Love Advice From the Great Duke of Hell by unfins [ongoing - every Friday]

Paul is in love with a cute girl who works in a café nearby. But Paul is shy and can’t work out how to go ask her out. So Paul does what anyone would do and summons one of the Great Dukes of Hell in order to get better at fumbling his sentences and blushing at beautiful maidens. It’s about discovery of one’s true self and how getting deep into shenanigans will lead you to find so much more. Also, sister. (You’ll understand when you get there.)

It’s funny but also compelling and serious but still incredibly funny. I don’t think I’ve laughed as much reading any other webtoon and yet the story is also really cool. It strikes a perfect balance, or near perfect. The expressions and the action scenes are just incredible too.

chenandeler bong/10

Suitor Armor by Purpah [ongoing - every Friday]

In a land with magic and war between humans and fairies, Lucia is the princess’s lady in waiting and her only goal in life at the moment is to get her Lady to have the wedding she wishes for and deserves. But then she gets a flower from a magic armor and everything changes. Also, she’s a fairy.

It’s well drawn, characters all seem unique, varied and personnality-driven. The art style is beautiful. It’s also deeper than what I expected, with inklings of different types and levels of drama.

Alright, I’ll say it, it feels like a ‘promising new Lore Olympus’. By which I mean not to compare but simply to say I felt as taken by the story as I did with L.O.

Modeus/10

Facing the Sun by ArtbyTesslyn [ongoing]

Aarya reaserches the intricacies of dobotics and artificial intelligence with her companion robot Liza who's expiration is long everdue. Things change with a hardware update. One can’t live without the other, and neither can the other.

It’s dark but beautiful, both in the art and in the story. The sci-fi elements aren’t overwhelming and pieces of lore bring begin to pain a picture over time. It’s a slow burn but oh lord! if it isn’t going to be blazing hot...

I Robot/10

Spellbound by Ronce [ongoing]

Eglantine joins a new highschool midyear and finds herself paired with a refractarian roommate. She does her best to fit in to her new school despite not conforming to all the expectations that others might have of her. Or of her strange but likeable roommate.

It’s a cute and queer little romance, very underrated in my opinion. The art is wonderful, it’s black and white in the beginning and starts having touches of colour here and there before going full blown coloured, and I didn’t even realize it had until many chapters into it... The characters all all diverse and interesting. Also did I forget to say it’s set in France and it’s a wizarding school? Because it is!

conseiller principal d’éducation/10

180 Angel by King Katbird [ongoing]

Chloe is an angel, she lives in Heaven and goes to school in the hopes of becoming a delivery angel one day! However her plan are compromised by her inability to do anything well except halo manipulation. Even flying is not easy for her. But a fateful meeting with a reaper sends her on a trip to Hell and back which changes her. Or is it that she had always been different?

It may not seem much from the banner but I tried it and I got hooke. The art is great and still improves over time, the plot takes a bit of time to set in - I’m still not sure it’s fully set in yet - but it’s worth it, and the characters are visually deep. It sometimes jumps weirdly between scenes or sequences but not so much it completely loses you.

LAMP/10

Letters on the Wall by JaelynGs [ongoing]

Tara comes back fom spain after a five years abroad to find things have changed and others haven’t, to her equal pleasure and dismay. This is how she and her friends deal with these old relatioships that they are now reviving.

Everything doesn’t go smoothly despite each and every character deserving them to. The art is good to begin with and manages to improve over time, as well as the storytelling. Where it might have been a bit hectic before, it smoothes over time. It was for the longest time the only reason I would stalk Webtoons everyday to see if there was any updates. Also each chapter has a colour in the name and that’s just cool!

If Da Yomanville Gang [see below] got me to come to Webtoons, this sealed the deal for me to stay. [And then there was Lore Olympus.]/10

Not So Shoujo Love Story by Curryuku [ongoing - every Tuesday]

Rei Chan-chan loves Hansum, the chin chin chinny goodest looking student, more than she loves her shoujo manga. But gorgeous Hannah is in her way and won’t seem to let her get her way with him. Why is that? Well, gaybe there’s a secret hidden behind her motives? Read it to find out...

It’s funny, it’s cute, and it’s so, so stupid. I love them all. It’s dumb but so much fun to read. There aren’t that many chapters yet but enough to get into it. Also, sisters. (You’ll understand when you get there. Bis) So this is what the spring of youth feels like, huh...

chips/10

Always Human by walkingnorth [completed]

Sunati, a young engineer in training, fan of all those mods you can add to change your appearance, meets Austen, a beautiful yet modless girl who she’s been admiring from afar for a while now. She thinks the girl’s beautiful, but sdly she’s refused when she asks her out on a date, and for rather good reasons.

Now watch as they gravitate around each other and how it influences them both.

It’s a slow-burn quite realistic lesbian sci-fi story about finding love and accepting oneself and others in the midst of life and all it brings upon us. It’s cute, it’s fluffy, and it’s heartwarming despite broaching serious subjects - in a good way -, and it’s finished so you can read the whole thing! (It has enough chapters to give you a few hours of reading)

hay fever sucks/10

Da Yomanville Gang by Jason King [ongoing - every Tuesday]

Layla moved recently, to get away from a dose of angst she didn’t want to have to deal with. She meets new people, fun and friendly people, but it seems the angst can’t quite seem to leave her alone. Alone is what she’s not to deal with it anymore, however.

This is the one, long before Lore Olympus, which brought bme over to Webtoons. It’s not the best drawn, not the most compelling, but the strong point and what made me love it - beyond Layla’s chara design - is the depth of most of the characters, how not all good is good and all bad is bad, and reality often lies in the middle - and how they evolve over the course of the story. Definitely worth a read.

wheelbarrow/10

Love Bot by Chase Keels and Miranda Mundt [ongoing - every Sunday]

In the near future - the year is (Blade Runner) 2049 - technology has advanced enough to creat pseudo-artificial intelligence and thus lovebots. Xada mods and repairs those emotionnaly intelligent robots for a living. What brings this story about is him toying with a less-than-friendly client’s bot so much so that he finds himself in quite a pickle when the bot ‘wakes up’.

It seems to be BL. Let it be BL, please! The art is very nice, the story feels dark but the pitch give way to many interesting possibilities, and, well, the characters are quite nice to look at, I’ll admit... Also, angst. I don’t always enjoy it but when I do, I do.

Not many chapters but it’s getting there.

i’ll let you bot my love/10

Mage & Demon Queen by Color_LES [ongoing - every Thusday]

Malori is the best and the most promising mage student at her school. Aided by Cerik, her best friend and swordsman party member, she attempts to conquer the last floor of the demon tower, reigned over by the ferocious Velverosa, the demon queen, whose defeat will bring glory and richess to those who defeat her. But all is not quite as it seems and, what is that, might it be a crush I see over there? Oh, wait, no, that’s just our protagonist getting squished by the weight of her love...

Once again, it’s fun and stupid (a pattern? noooo) but it’s worth a read.

LES/10

Down to Earth by Pookie Senpai [ongoing - every Tuesday]

Kade live alone and depressed in spite of fleeting relatioships since his big breakup, content with simply going by life while he works in retail. One day, an alien crashes into his backyard. Zaida’s an alien but she’s cute, seems innocent, is unfamiliar with everything, so he agrees to help. Thus begins a slice of life story of them roommating in his appartment until, maybe, one of them crashes into the other’s heart?

It’s cute, heartwarming, and I sort f relate with the main character. Although I don’t know if’d prefer a cute alien, a dragon or a stalking neighbour... [that’s an inside joke, I’ll explain if I ever make a list of the good yamete onii-chan! I’ve been reading] It’s a slow burn with enough depth to hook you up. Some characters are still uncertain in my eyes but that makes me curious.

loner/10

The Remarried Empress by Alphatart / Sumpul [ongoing - every Wednesday and Sunday]

Navier Ellie Trovi is an empress. Perfect and perfectly content in every way with her life until the day a mistress enters her husband’s life. Things sort of go downhill from there. Or do they? For she also learns about herself and what she might actually want out of life to be happy. Breaking the status quo might be the way.

It feels like one of those poor quality isekai comics or manga in which the MC is brought back to a time where she has the power to change her life and decides for emancipation and revenge, but it’s not. It’s more ‘yolo’ and had interesting characters, especially the MC - no pushover - and a slow-burn plot. Don’t expect to see the flash-forward in the first chapter quite yet, but come to experience the whole affaire in detail and in the most satisfying of ways! Also the art is cool!

divorce/10

Muted by Miranda Mundt [ongoing - every Friday]

On her 21st birthday, Camille fails the ritual to become a full-fledged witch and is isolated from what remains of her old and successful family. This leads to her discovering truths about herself and her powers that will change her and those around her.

By the same author as Love Bot. I haven’t read the whole thing yet but the designs are good, the plot is interesting, the characters have depth and personnality, it has witches, magic, romance [I guess, still unsure of the details though], a bit of angst, and it’s set in Louisianna. All good points.

plant magic/10

Cursed Princess Club by LambCat [ongoing - every Monday]

Gwendolyn and her sisters, each a princess in their own right, are set to be betrothed to three princes of a neighbouring country after living all their lives happy and sheltered with their father and brother. Unfortunately, Gwendolyn is not like her sisters - and brother, for that matter - in that her beauty is... less than conventionnal. Devastated by what outsiders think of her she escapes into the forest and meets kindred spirits in the form of the Cursed Princess Club - non-gendered, they also have that one prince there! - and it might just help her grow into the confident woman she is destined to become.

I clicked for the funny hahas ‘because she’s ugly’ and cursed princess trope, I stayed for the genuine laughs and smiles and the heartwarming good nature of most of te characters. Also, haha, funny characters are funny. So, yeah, I started this with a bias - still haven’t caught up yet - and have been seduced by this lesser known webtoon. Don’t let the visuals fool you, it’s really good!

respect wahmen/10

Andy Bass by KenneDuck / Gia [ongoing - every Friday]

Andy Bass is our average highschool girl. Litterally. She’s half human, half fish, a real mermaid but vertically. That leads to less-than-friendly looks and reactions from others. However, the arrival of a new, and frankly very cute, transfer student might change all that.

Haven’t read it all yet, not that there are many chapters out, but it feel fun and promising. Also, physically imperfect characters are best characters. Down with the reign of beauty and up with 𝔠𝔬𝔪𝔪𝔲𝔫𝔦𝔰𝔪!

Chin Hansum 2.0/10

For the Sake of Sita by Haga [completed]

A medical student passionately falls in love with a fallen goddess during his volunteer abroad in Nepal, and he desperately tries to fight off destiny to save his love. [the actual summary]

Okay, I’ll be honest: I haven’t quite read that one yet. I’m guilty of only having looked at the beginning and the end to see if it seemed worth it and, oh my gorsh! it does. The art is beautiful, the story seems sad yet beautiful too (I had tears reading the last chapters without knowing much of the rest) and it’s short, so jump on it!

[I’ll probably come back to that later when I’ve actually read it completely]/10

Us Right Now by yurineseventeen [ongoing]

Rina's long-term girlfriend, Noa, decides to run away from home. Rina has limited time to find her.

Not much more to say other than it’s sweet and it feels real. I like the beginning, haven’t read the rest yet, but will definitely soon.

keep going/10

New Normal: Class 8 by Youngpaka [ongoing - every Sunday]

Dongwoon has a big head. It does not make life easy. But what if he wasn’t alone being so... different? He discovers it is the case when he joins his new school a special class full of people who are different. Things get weird fast but also better and fun.

I haven’t read this in a long time, it’s on my list though. But until the moment I stopped at least, it was fun, funny, and interesting. It’s slice-of-life comedy, often ligthearted and stupid, sometimes more serious, but globally a pleasure to read.

sensei/10

The Witch and The Bull by Moonsia [ongoing - every Thursday]

Tan's job as the King's royal advisor has nothing to do with his hatred for witches, but it does make him a prime target for a curse that turns him into a BULL! The only way to undo this hex is to rely on the beautiful witch, Aro. Can her kindness turn his feelings around, and break this spell? [the actual summary]

There are two bulls and they have to ask it questions to know which is the real bull? I dunno, I haven’t read this one... But it’s been recommnded by @berigolote​ so it’s worth a try I guess? She did recommend Lore Olympus to me, so it’s on my list anyway.

to try/10

The Right Knight and Our Days in Lumain by buttersphere [completed & ongoing]

A fun short comic about a play on the ‘knight comes to fight dragon to save princess in her tower’ trope and it’s sequel. The sequel is not finished yet (seems on hiatus) but they are worth the read for cute, funny, fluffy knight and dragon/witch romance and grumpy princesses.

need more/10

NetOL by Forever9Nine [completed]

A slice of life comic about a veeery shy cat-girl (not literally) falling in love with a warm-tempered bookshop employee ( and NOT her colleague), and all the shenanigans that ensue. It’s short, it’s fun, and it’s cute. What more to ask?

oh wow sports/10

Susuhara is a Demon by Soya S. Holm [ongoing]

The usual romance storyof perfectly perfect girl meets absolutely bazongers delinquent and reluctantly carries her unconscious ass to her appartment to help her after witnessing a gang fight between multiple idiots and her (future) idiot and saving her from a knife attack by bashing the last standing dude with a wooden shop sign. Legend says there’s a demon in K-city, I still am unsure of whom it might be.

fun/10

It Stems From Love by Soya S. Holm [competed]

A short story about a girl who loves flowers and finds herself unexpectedly coughing them up dramatically whenever she’s jealous of those around her crush. It’s short, it’s cute, a bit dark at times, but definitely worth a read!

bouquet final/10

Lesbiampires by fabarts [ongoing]

So, yeah, lesbian vampires. Nuffin’ ta add.

Well, anyway, it’s cute, it’s funny, it’s serious too, it makes me root for antihero type characters who actually murder people for fun (but in a fun and respectful way, I swear!) because, well, love./10

Perfect Harmony by bluebloodtanuki [ongoing]

An Overwatch fan-comic about Symmetra and her disaster roommates.

I don’t play Overatch but I like the lore and got dragged into fanfiction and shipping (by myself, mind you), so a fan-comic about similar dynamics AND it’s funny? Gimme.

Roadhog & Junkrat best duo/10

Love Doesn’t Talk by Ann [completed?]

A misunderstanding is fine. Two? Hmmm. Three? Surely that’s fate, no?

A cute love story unfolding before your eyes with no dialogue, only pretty pictures. I’m not actually sure it’s completed but even if it isn’t, the ending doesn’t feel disappointing in the least.

no words/10

AntiSTALKER by VOKIVORMOK [ongoing - every Thursday]

Humans, vampires and werewolves all cohabitate in this freaky highschool, despite tensions between the three races. A bittersweet yet fun love story between a fake stalker and his amnesiac prey...

Eugene wants Kira’s heart, she wants his head.

who?/10

Kiss It Goodbye by Ticcytx [ongoing]

Two lesbians in love recount to their drunk friends the story of how they met. It’s fun and cute, both in story and in art.

delinquent x prim&proper/10

Avril and the Divine Being by Charlie Genmor [ongoing]

Avril is a waitress, Cat is a reccuring client. Feeling blossom before they even exchange words and when they finally do, embarassment ensues.

I got hooked by the art style for this one and I have yet to be disappointed. Not many chapters but keep it close.

sunny/10

Sunflower by EtoileKonijn [ongoing]

Wednesday, an art student, meets Sophie, a friend of a friend. Feelings ensue. It’s beginning to have a good number of chapters (even if they are short) and it feels like it’s actually the slowest burn of them all. Very much worth a read though, for the art style especially.

cute/10

It Takes Two by love_of_pi [ongoing]

Common art style: imperfect but improving. Classic story: normal girl meets famous girl by accident and leave a great first impression. Shenanigans and romance ensue. However the tints of drama, the fun interaction between characters, and the smooth plot make it worth it.

Honolulu latte/10

A Mild Flavor by Ru-rin [ongoing]

A slice of life of different couples. One with a compromised relationship and bittersweet reflections of the past, and the other which is hidden from plain sight, at different times if life. It is not perfect but it managed to worm its way into my heart nonetheless.

tasty/10

The Greenhouse by Viesallon [ongoing]

Another one I haven’t read, but from the extracts I’ve seen the art is compelling, the story seems worth it - definitely deserves the drama tag it seems - and I keep it on my shortlist until I have time to read it.

supernatural/10

My Masochistic Boss by Arisas_Art [ongoing]

Debuting goth writer meets hellish boss of editing company about her new book. Disagreement and tensions ensue. It starts with a slap and might very well end in bed, stay tuned!

This one rebooted recently and the art is soooo beautiful, moreso than before is I may say.

sexy/10

Still Alive by Comic Kat19 [ongoing]

Half-zombie girl meets emo boy, baby ensues.

After the zombie apocalypse, they have to survive, and despite their differences, maybe together is better?

This I classify in the ‘Yuuutsu-kun to Succubus-san‘ category: a somewhat rough art style that I have come to love and enjoy greatly. Also the story is fun.

cat creature/10

The Biggest of Treasures by Aixn [ongoing]

That smile, that damn smile. It’s what got me to try and it got me to stay. The art style is beautiful and the chara designs is too. The plot? Not much to say yet, but cuteness is enough.

bright/10

---------- ---------- ----------

And there you go for now. These are my picks. I haven’t read everything on Webtoon, I haven’t even read everything I’ve subscribed to, but if I had to recommend anything I have tasted, here it is.

Sorry if I missed any you deem worthy; feel free to harass me and mock my lack of culture by flaunting your own.

Maybe more later, in the mean time: keep scrolling, scrub!

PART II

#webtoon #webcomics #comics #lore olympus #recommendations #yes i like cheesy romance stories so what? #about wlw #but not only #yes i also have a dumb child's humour #all of them deserve more views #long post #mega thread #look at what i'm doing instead of working on my finals #help

[shinjukuspiritcommittee]

Top 20 2021

My Favorites (updated)

Hello my readers, it’s been a while since I just posted something not related to a headcanon and I am doing one right now. I just wanted to take a bit of a break to just get SOMETHING on here on my days off work. Plus I’m just trying to find my groove when it comes to writing again so hopefully this helps me just get back into the mood of making a post more often lol. I wanted to revisit this topic for a while just because we’ve had a lot more events and a lot more alts in the game were added. And I know for a fact LifeWonders reads these posts in some capacity because I have meme’d an AR into the game with my top picks from the last list I did for Christmas 2019. No I didn’t. I’m just joking around and I know LifeWonders doesn’t read this.

Anyways rather than just make up a list on the spot like last year I decided to use the Housamo Sortmaker (Link: https://club.housamo.xyz/sortmaker/ ) to try and make a list that’s more revealing to what I was thinking at the time. Since I talked about 20 characters ish last time I’m just gonna read from my 20th place to my 1st place spots and try to justify whatever I was thinking at the time. Anyways-

20: Marchosias and Susan: This one was a surprise for me if I’m being honest but I’m just gonna blame the fact on Shukou’s recent involvement with LifeWonders in the form of Live A Hero and how Ryekie and Mokdai live in my headspace rent free whenever I think about the characters in that game. Maybe we can see about getting some LAH headcanons since that’s a LifeWonders property too). So out of all the characters Shukou drew for Housamo why did I pick Marchosias? Easy, it’s been 4 years and this poor man has yet to receive a proper alt or any kind of skin for that matter and I think that it’s a crime. Sure he’s not my favorite but he’s definitely grown on me because he’s just a gentle dad kind of character and his design has grown on me over the years. I just hope he doesn’t get left behind since he has a lot of really interesting and potential things to look forward to in the future given how the main story has unfolded.

19: Shiva/Algernon: The helmet heads are together because DAI XT quickly became my favorite artist for Fire Emblem Heroes and I really just like their designs. DAI XT just knows how to draw robots, armor and muscles well. Also Chapter 11 with Shiva you can read into some interesting perspectives. I don’t want to spoil any of the untranslated content for anyone who’s waiting for the official english translation. But if you are curious Roureem has a blogspot where he posts summaries of the newly released events.

Link: https://housamosummaries.blogspot.com/

18: Cthugha: I love this goober so much. He’d constantly try to act super sentai just trying say good morning everyday. He may not be very bright but that just adds to his charm and honestly I enjoy how he always tries to play the hero in a lot of scenarios because it’s refreshing when they implement him after a bunch of heavy hitting story stuff. I’m not gonna spoil too much about it but I will say he’s more than welcome after everything Chapter 10 and 11 put the reader through.

17: Mineaki: I’ve made a post about him being one of my least favorites way back when I first started this blog and let me just say how times have changed and I’ve learned the value of not judging a book by it’s cover. I still think there’s something a bit off about Kowmei’s style for his characters, but Mineaki has definitely grown on me. He’s a caring instructor who does watch out for his students even if it’s not always in the most direct way possible. Not to get into too many spoilers he’s got a lot of intrigue around him as well and I am curious to see his role get expanded down the line.

16: Ded: Housamo is the reason I really like christmas. The Christmas stories despite following a similar structure to each other do tend to be my favorite stories. Ded himself is also just another good dad character. He’s also two guys for the price of one, so I mean… you know… you’ve got the forever ask your other dad situation. There wasn’t much thought put into this choice I just like santa as a concept because I think the outfits are cute, it’s always nice to get something for people you care about on Christmas and Ded is the perfect embodiment of both sides to Christmas.

15: Shinya: Everyone we need to manifest buff Shinya for 2021, this is not a drill. This is legitimate. We must make Taromati’s and my wish come true. To be more serious again he’s just a sweet and gentle character. He’s also drawn by my favorite Housamo artist. Their characters always just look so naturally good. I’m just surprised he hasn’t gotten much of an alt given he’s perfect material for Valentine’s day. He’s just a soft boy and I would love for him to be in more things because I just enjoy seeing him.

14: Jacob: I have to be honest Jacob is on here because every time I look at him he just gets more handsome to me. I wasn’t all that impressed with his introduction and we don’t know much about his background but I’ve just been drawn to him more and more. Maybe it’s just because he’s drawn by GomTang? I just like looking at him and I can’t help it. To speak a bit less crass he’s another gentleman kind of guy and those are always nice.

13: Shennong: Yeah I like the doc a lot. Firstly, I’m a huge sucker for big bulls and Shennong fits the bill. The white fur really adds to his appeal visually and the purple horns give off a bit of an unnatural appearance. Shen feels like someone who’s been touch starved and alone for a long time given how he acts as a character and when we actually hug him I just lost it. He always has others well being on his mind so he’s not afraid to jump in and help, or give a much needed lecture about when you need to take better care of yourself. He just comes across as very well balanced overall.

12: Heracles: I won’t lie- at first he didn’t interest me much. He looked incredibly plain when among the rest of the cast and he seemed like the typical “bait” character since the banner had Echo, Barguest, Gyumao and Snow. But after reading the translation for Valentine Time Slip I was taken aback at how much of a gentle giant he turned out to be and I just really liked his interactions with the others in that event. And honestly his special quest from that year was one of the more unique ones given the slower pace and more romantic vibe it had. After the event warmed my heart I did a complete 180 and I just knew I really liked him.

11. Yasuyori: Before I start praising him I feel I have to justify why he didn’t quite make top 10 and it will have some mild Chapter 10 spoilers. To be as vague as possible his resolution just didn’t vibe with me at the end of Chapter 10. Like it wasn’t a bad resolution and it was the right choice to make but in my opinion there really wasn’t a moment I felt was clear where he made a choice for himself. Everything just sort of happened around him and it felt like he didn’t really do much to improve his situation. To an extent I kind of see that being the idea given his origins and the story he’s based on and there is some semblance of him coming to terms with himself alongside his isolation being portrayed pretty well, but I just wasn’t satisfied with it as much as I would like to be. With that out of the way, oh my god I just want this boy to never stop smiling and I just want to give him hugs constantly please he just deserves to be happy!!! Yasuyori is a character who’s got a lot of baggage and he’s just trying to find ways to properly cope with his trauma and not repeat past mistakes and I just really like that idea. His role in Xmas 2020 (sorry I just forgot the name of that event, but its when he gets his alt) was a much better representation for his character in my eyes. I’m not gonna spoil anything like I keep saying but he isn’t one to disappoint in future appearances and I just hope this lovable lug keeps getting the support he deserves.

10: Hephaestus: A spicy way to start the latter half of the list. I just want to give this lad a hug and tell him he is worthy of love. But at the same time he is a little shit… and I love that. I can’t fully explain why I grow a paternal instinct in me seeing this grown man sob about his mother but I just do. I want to keep him safe and give him all the affection he wants. Though I am aware a lot of Hephaestus’s interest in his parental figure is… questionable. I am just gonna say I would accept his love for what it is and he just wants approval.

9. Shuten: I’ll be honest I have no proper reason for why I like Shuten so much. He’s just a cool and reliable guy. He just seems like a go with the flow kind of person most of the time and he’s a bit more direct than most of the characters which I always appreciate. Plus I have an unspoken bias for naop guys in Housamo.

8. Durga: While not number 1 on this list, I still really like Durga. She’s quirky but not to an annoying degree, she’s determined and definitely very confident in her own abilities. Her growing to be more sociable throughout her events is something I enjoy seeing because it really creates this sense of growth.

7. Kyuma: I get a lot of people don’t like Kowmei’s art but I really think we should look past it because Kyuma is one of the sweeter picks. He’s someone who just wants to prove himself for his own worth and not what David can provide, but David is part of him and it just creates the potential for a good arc. Plus this boy is unintentionally smooth and will just take your heart when possible. I honestly want to see Kyuma more in events because he’s honestly the jock that carries 3 of the 4 brain cells. He’s also the last one without an alt so I’m just hoping he gets one in 2021 because he really deserves one in my opinion. (Also fan art makes him really cute).

6. Tomte: Tomte is relatively new but honestly his event in 2019 really endeared me to him. I’m trying to be spoiler free because the best way to enjoy these stories is for yourselves but let me just say his arc in the event was really endearing to me and much more than I was expecting. His fan service is also incredibly hammy and I love it. Visually Tomte is one of my favorites, I love his multi colored hair and starlit pupils cuz it makes his otherwise more generic look have some flare. I knew I liked him out the box and when I read about him in the summaries and can’t wait to read the official translation for him. I was just very endeared.

5. Tetsuya: Tetsuya fucks. Moving on…

Jokes aside this one’s a bit simple. I have no shame in admitting I think he’s attractive and his whole resistance towards wanting a relationship is cute in a weird roundabout way. When he says no I just want it MORE. I just really like duo haired tsunderes.

4. Kengo: Kengo 3rd alt 2021. Please LifeWonders I need my favorite Summoner. He’s a bro and that’s what counts. Kengo has got your back, not afraid to rely on you, a very fun and dynamic guy. Sure he’s not that bright when it comes to making plans or any book smart, but there are times where he’s the best at being able to read the room or just understand what someone needs to hear even if it isn’t always what someone wants to hear. His bullheaded nature is actually one of his redeeming qualities because it’s nice to just not overcomplicate things and just understand what’s actually going on. Yes the early story didn’t do many favors for him but to me the events, especially the later ones, do much more work for his character. To me, at least.

3. Ashigara: Ashigara is best bear, and I will defend that stance in 2021. The main thing that draws me to Ashigara is that I can see a bit of myself in him. He gets very emotional when he gets left alone, he’s very loud when with his friends, has a tendency of speaking his mind- just someone who wears his heart on his sleeve. I also appreciate that in spite of the negative he isn’t someone who backs down when the going gets tough and in a few instances he’s able to hold his ground physically at least.

2. Wakan Tanka: Love at first sight. This ray of sunshine still persists as the number 1 husband, but number 2 character. Firstly I am a huge fan of the partial beast aesthetic. The buffalo ears and the horns  are absolutely adorable. Secondly he’s a perfect body type; he’s not too muscular but not exactly flabby. Third he is just so positive and I love that. He’s someone I admire and wanna hug.

1. Taurus Mask: The more things change the more they stay the same. I’m still a big Taurus Mask fan for all the same reasons as last time. I just… relate to this boy. He is an incredibly shy boy who uses his public persona for confidence. Maybe I’m reading too much into it but it’s like we’re soul bros!

So yeah, my tastes haven’t changed in a year and a half.

#tokyo afterschool summoners #housamo #Just Thoughts #qna #sfw

[zaph1337]

Monster Hunter Rating 29: Kirin, the Phantom Beast

Next up on the docket is a prime example of the fact that Elder Dragons don’t need to look like dragons. Here’s a Phantom Beast monster that, unlike the ones in Yu-Gi-Oh!, is actually threatening in battle (if you like that archetype please don’t kill me)! Also, I apologize for the first render I’m using; I tried to give it a black background, but its mane is pure white, so using the fill tool on the background would fill that in, too, and I didn’t want to mess around in Paint to prevent that from happening. Now that that’s out of the way, make way for Kirin!

(How it appears in Monster Hunter 1 [possibly; the image on the wiki didn’t say what game or gen this render is from])

(How it appears in Monster Hunter 4)

(How it appears in Monster Hunter World)

Appearance: Kirin is an interesting approach to unicorns in several ways. First off, it doesn’t have a lot of fur; the majority of its body is covered in scales. I believe that this was to help justify calling it an Elder Dragon, because even with the lore reason behind that classification, kids might question that status anyways. The second interesting thing about Kirin is the head; while the body is unmistakably equine, the head is more like that of a lion. Honestly, though, that’s only apparent to me on the MHW render, ‘cause apart from the forward-facing eyes, the head on the other renders still looks horse-like to me. The final aspect of Kirin’s design I want to call attention to is the fact that it’s freaking huge. According to the wiki, the biggest Kirin are 32.5 ft tall (at least I’m assuming they’re talking about height, not length), while the smallest are 12.2 ft, which are still taller than any living horse on record. Now, that being said, I’ve looked at images of Kirin on the wiki, and none of them look that big, even this one labelled “Giant Kirin”:

That’s still a really big horse, though, and I can’t expect the games to make every monster exactly the size they say it is. The final thing of note here is that Kirin are frequently crackling with electricity, giving them an aura of power that accentuates their other design elements. Overall, this is probably my second favorite monster design that I’ve seen and talked about, so it gets a 9/10.

Behavior: Kirin are capable of surviving in a variety of environments, from snowy mountains to swamps to an area in Monster Hunter World called the Coral Highlands (https://monsterhunter.fandom.com/wiki/Coral_Highlands), which is literally like a coral reef on the ocean floor but above-water, which is something I didn’t know I needed until now that isn’t in Rise and now I’m sad. The Coral Highlands are also the only place where they were observed feeding, which revealed that despite their lion-like heads, they eat plants.

Kirin are known to be very unpredictable by monster standards, which is fitting, considering that they seem to embody thunderstorms. Sometimes they’re calm like a cloudy or clear sky, other times they’ll use their powers to wipe out an entire village. That last part’s just a legend, as far as we know, but it says something that people could find it believable. Unfortunately, Kirin are so rare that barely anything is known about them, which gives them an air of mystery while also making it very hard to rate this section. The fact that their behavior can’t reliably be anticipated, much like the way lightning strikes can’t be (unless you’re really tall, made of metal, or both), helps sell the idea that they are lightning incarnate, and the fact that they maintain an equine diet despite having a feline head is almost as weird as Diablos being herbivorous dragons, so combined with their mystique, I think I can give them a 6/10.

Abilities: As you’d expect, Kirin are really fast, bounding around the battlefield at a speed which makes it impossible to catch up with; the only way you’ll be able to hit one is if it comes to you, which it’ll likely only do to try to gore you on its horn. However, Kirin prefer to use their electrical abilities over physical attacks, so they’ll still try to keep some distance from you. The electricity they generate or build up on their fur strengthens their hide and makes them more resilient. But they don’t just generate lightning, they call it from the sky, and can even make it strike the spot you’re standing in, in which case your only option is to move the moment you see a white light around your feet. They can also make lightning strike several times in a small area around them to repel attackers, or call in down in a progressive line in front of them.

There are plenty of monsters in Monster Hunter that use electricity, but Kirin stand apart thanks to their ability to summon natural lightning bolts from above, even if there are no storm clouds in the sky for them to come from. This supernatural and effortless defiance of nature is why Kirin are Elder Dragons, and combined with their breakneck speed, it looks like it makes one heck of a fight. 8/10.

Equipment: Whoever made the Kirin weapons seemed to know exactly what I like, ‘cause I love so many of these design-wise, and it hurts that I can’t talk about all of them. Let’s start off with the Sword and Shield called the Kirin Bolt:

Okay, so this isn’t one of the weapons that I really like, but it’s still cool, so I’m showing it anyway. The “sword” might look like it’s more for stabbing than it is for slashing, but it’s meant to be more of a large dagger anyways. Seriously, its final upgrade is called “Thor’s Dagger.” Didn’t think Thor was a thing in the MH world, but there you go. I like how the dagger looks like it’s made out of Kirin horns (even though the colors don’t match), and the shield’s also cool ‘cause it uses Kirin scales. Don’t know where the spikes are from but whatever. Now, on to the weapons which are, in my opinion, the best-looking weapons from this series that I’ve seen yet, here’s a Switch Axe called Peal:

Unfortunately, this is the largest render on the wiki, and enlarging it makes it too blurry, but hopefully you can still see why I love this thing. The way the blue blade has a purple gradient, the blue spikes which seem to get progressively darker, the fact that they all work really nicely with the white body of the axe--everything here just works in the best possible way. I’m not planning on learning how to use the Switch Axe if I get Rise, but if Kirin was in that game, and I could make Peal? I’d probably try to learn SwAxe just so I could use it. But the weapon I am maining? Yeah, the Kirin version of it is awesome, too. Say hello to the Insect Glaive called Indigo Flash:

Don’t know why that render’s big when Peal’s isn’t, ‘cause I didn’t do this, but who cares!? Sure, there’s less blue on this than Peal had, but it still looks really cool! I really hope that the updates for Rise that they’re working on add Kirin to the game, ‘cause I need this in my life. As for the armor, it’s, well, weird. Even in MH games where there’s separate armor sets for Blademaster and Gunner, the Kirin armor is the same for both of those classes. Well, that’s less work for me, so let’s see the Kirin armor:

Zelda II: Adventure of Link called. It wants Horsehead back. Seriously, what is with this series and making helmets that are/look like they are made from the monster’s head, skull and all? Okay, the only real examples of that I can remember are this set and the Kelbi helmet, but it’s still gross. Also, aside from the pendants and the female set’s horn, there’s no blue here, which is disappointing. This armor doesn’t look bad, it’s just not great. But that just means that the Kirin’s equipment doesn’t get a perfect 10; it’s still getting a 9/10.

Final Thoughts and Tally: Kirin may not be as big and powerful as Lao-Shan Lung, but dang, if it isn’t the cooler Elder Dragon. The mystery, the speed, the lightning, and especially the looks and weapons all sell the idea that this is something more than a monster. I’m sad that it isn’t in Rise yet, but who knows? They just might bring it back one day. 8/10.

#monster hunter #monster hunter rating #zaph1337