#while it does have that glow vibe and it is pretty interesting

[yukidragon]

SDJ - New Clues, Theories, and Headcanons

So many new pieces of art and lore teasers have been dropped on the Sunny Day Jack twitter, that I simply must make a post to gush about them, as well as the new thoughts and headcanons they’ve sparked for me.

Strap in, folks, this is going to be a very, very long one. I’ll be throwing in a lot of pictures for evidence, including pieces that were on Jambeebot/Sauce’s public twitter before it went down. On that note, please remember to support them and their game by following their twitter or contributing to their patreon or kickstarter. This beautiful game, art, and ideas wouldn’t be possible without all their hard work.

Also, I know I said it in the headcanon post I made earlier today, but it bears repeating - please don’t repost private images from the patreon. Reposting the images elsewhere, even cropped, is harmful to SnaccPop Studios and everyone working there. It’s fine to gush over what was posted there and direct others to join as well, but the money pledged to the patreon is going to a good cause to make this engaging game.

With that said, let’s start with the picture that is just oozing with lore.

There’s so much here, so let’s break it down piece by piece.

Jack is obviously a ghost(?) in his reflection. The blood, glowing eyes, and unhealthy shade of his skin makes that pretty clear that he’s no longer human.

His colors are faded and more in shadow than the rest of the lighting of the room.

He’s midway between being Jack and Joseph, as evidenced by his visible mole, the cigarette, the smudged makeup, his earring, and the tank top he’s wearing.

This contrasts strongly with the autographed photo of himself done up in costume and makeup properly, smiling and happy.

LambsWork Productions appears to be the studio responsible for the SunnyTime Crew Show. It was theorized that might be the case in the mock 80′s horror movie poster that was posted on the official twitter, but this card seems to confirm the theory.

Jack’s eyes, when not glowing, are definitely brown, as suggested by his official merch plushie.

Everything in this room is dingy and dirty. The wallpaper appears dirty, there are spots on the doll, the eye paint is chipped, the flowers are dark as though withering, and there’s a nasty stain on the lunchbox.

The fact that the flowers are blue is interesting. They appear to be roses, and are a shade of blue that is decidedly unnatural (kind of like Jack’s blue wig), which would make a bouquet of them more expensive than regular flowers. Usually white flowers are used for funerals and memorials to represent honor, peace, and innocence.

The symbolism of blue flowers is, as stated by wikipedia, “desire, love, and the metaphysical striving for the infinite and unreachable. It symbolizes hope and the beauty of things.” That first part definitely gives Jack vibes to me.

Symbolism aside, the reason blue flowers were chosen might simply be because of the blue of Jack’s hair. This is a memorial directed more at Jack the character, rather than Joseph the actor. Intentional or not, the memory of Jack is on full display, while there’s nothing of Joseph except what bleeds through in the mirror.

Most likely this is Jack’s dressing room at the studio, as that would be an appropriate place to put a memorial like this for a fallen co-worker.

Since the flowers are still holding their shape despite withering some, it means this takes place not too long after his death... or those flowers are plastic and just got especially dirty.

If this does take place a short while after Jack’s death, this suggests he might have wandered around as a ghost(?) before being trapped in the tape.

Or this could be a dream of Jack’s in the present about the truth of his situation that he’s trying so desperately to bury...

I find the name of the studio that worked Jack to death and buried his memory to be quite ironic. LambsWork Studio. One could say that a lamb’s “work” is to be sheered... or slaughtered.

Jack certainly seems to have suffered both fates, hasn’t he? He was “sheered” by being overworked to play the part, then “slaughtered” when he was murdered while on set.

Then there’s the fact that Hollywood has been rumored to have cults and rituals taking place. What if Jack being trapped in the VHS wasn’t actually an accident? What if his murder was for the sake of a ritual that required a lamb beloved by many to be slaughtered?

The question would be then what the ritual would be for, and why they would need someone so popular and so loved by children? Would their love for the character be part of the ritual? Is the reason why Joseph, a drifter, was chosen for the role was because it would be the easiest way to cover their tracks when there would be no family to look for him?

This picture also gives me an idea for a new scene in Sunshine in Hell, but I won’t spoil it here. Suffice to say, Jack is not going to like what he sees in the mirror...

Interestingly enough, this version of Jack appears again elsewhere.

His hair is brown fading into blue, his eyes are the same distorted sizes while glowing, he’s bloody with smudged makeup, wearing a tank top, and has his tattoos visible. We can also see he’s wearing one of Jack’s gloves and Jack’s pants. It’s very much a transitional state between Jack and Joseph. It’s very telling and so unsettling, especially since his body is decaying.

All four of the male leads have their own animated pictures. They appear in bouncy animation in front of a fun “party” type background, then for a split second we see them in a more horrifying light.

In Jack’s case, there are two horrifying versions of him. Here’s the other one:

Jack is in full costume this time, not only bleeding but also splattered in blood to imply he committed violence of some sort, and his skin is clearly rotting like his other scary image. However, what I find most interesting is the blank white eyes of his that are overflowing with tears. We haven’t seen Jack’s eyes look like that yet.

The fact that there are two versions of Jack feels telling to me. It might represent Jack’s persona as the character he’s trying to be, as well as the actor he was when playing the role, affected by Jack’s presence even in his real life. The empty eyes do hint at this version of Jack being empty. In a way, he has been divided into two, and one half of him is buried underneath his trauma and desperation.

Also, I’d like to talk about the text that goes along with these gifs.

Everybody likes Jack!

The question is, what happens when he doesn't necessarily like everybody back?

This quote is pretty straightforward in what it’s insinuating - Jack is a yandere. He doesn’t like anyone who might keep him from his sunshine. The game is literally called Something is Wrong with Sunny Day Jack. We’ve seen plenty of teasers of Jack being scary and covered in blood, implying that he caused violence to happen.

Jack doesn’t directly cause violence in the teasers. He has issues with breaking character in any sense, that’s why he doesn’t swear and why he panics when he’s reminded of his personal past as Joseph. Instead, he convinces others to hurt themselves, as we’ve seen with Nick regardless of our choices at the end of the demo.

You know, that always confused me. Nick, apparently, is a random customer who asked Sunshine if they had a boyfriend. No matter what option you choose, he gets rejected and goes away without any attempts to push it further. Furthermore, Sunshine doesn’t react positively to Nick asking that question, so there was no hint that they would want to date him.

On that topic, can I just say how uncomfortable what Nick did was? People in the food service industry have a hard time when customers flirt with them while they’re working. The servers literally are being paid to act friendly and smile at the customers, and if they displease the customer, they could lose their jobs. There are plenty of customers who take that to mean that the server is flirting with them or otherwise interested and ask them out or leave their phone number. No matter how uncomfortable or even scared for their safety the server is, they have to keep being pleasant, even if the customer feels entitled to more than just friendly service from their server.

While there are plenty of people who take one look at Nick and are immediately interested in him, Sunshine rejects him in every route, and has this reaction:

Hm. I don’t know whether to be flattered this is happening. Or terrified this is happening.

I’m going to go with terrified for now.

“Well. I mean. I uh…”

Shit. Shit. What do I say?

What am I supposed to DO?

Sunshine is not comfortable with being hit on at their job where they can’t escape the situation. It’s not a fair situation to put anyone in, and a lot of servers lie that they’re in a relationship just to escape a potentially dangerous situation. Fortunately Nick seemed to take the rejection well and went away, right?

While in the “no” route, I can see why Jack would feel bitter towards Nick, as Nick was the catalyst that set off a very traumatic moment. It’s clear revenge and a defensive measure to prevent Nick from being a threat in the future.

The results are vastly different in the “yes” route though. Nick is practically a wingman, allowing Jack to nudge Sunshine into finally making the choice to deepen their relationship. If anything, Jack kind of owes Nick in this route.

And yet Jack still drives Nick to madness anyway.

What further confused me was the timing of it. In both routes, Jack and Sunshine have sex. The next morning, Jack is clingy and doesn’t want to let go of Sunshine. Being so intimate together for as long as possible would be very reassuring to him, especially after such a traumatic incident as the brief rejection in the “No” route and how reluctant Sunshine was to accept him.

So, why then did Jack (presumably) leave after Sunshine fell asleep to drive Nick insane?

Admittedly, the news report about Nick doesn’t exactly state when the incident happens. Maybe this is jumping ahead several weeks or a month ahead of time after the demo ends with Jack asking who Shaun is. However, its presence in the epilogue makes it seem like the news report was broadcast on the day Shaun visited, which would imply that Nick was driven to madness the night before. This implication is strengthened by the earlier incident where Sunshine passed out and woke up Jack’s jacket, and how that suggested to many players (including myself) that Jack did something suspicious that night while Sunshine was unconscious.

I think most of us just assumed Jack’s choice to go after Nick was just yanderes being yanderes - pre-emptive violence and rash decisions in order to keep the one they love. However, Jack is anything but rash. He’s very methodical and clever. Having an impulse to go after a random guy who asked out his sunshine but got rejected and slunk away without a fight seems out of character for him, especially since in the teaser art, Jack would resort to violence when a threat “just won’t go away.”

Granted, these images are not strictly canon, just some great teasers for SDJ in general, but they both have the same sentiment - when someone keeps getting in Jack’s way and is a burden on his sunshine, he’s pushed to drastic measures.

But Nick didn’t do that, right? Sure, he walked into the shop for yogurt the day before he asked if Sunshine had a boyfriend, but he accepted rejection easily and left. How is that a burden or a threat that keeps getting in Jack’s way and just won’t go away?

Unless there was more to it than what we saw.

Our perspective is limited by what Sunshine perceives. We’re inside their head, privy to their thoughts and feelings. When they go unconscious, the story cuts short, as was shown when Sunshine “dozed off” on the couch with Jack. We don’t see anything they don’t witness, and they didn’t witness what Jack did to Nick.

So what if there were things Nick did that Sunshine didn’t see either?

Allow me to turn our attention to a few interesting details that can be gleaned from Nick’s profile and his Spotify playlist.

Nick may keep a cool head, but he's got a lot more going on beneath the surface than most people realize.

A social media influencer by day, and a professional male dom by night,  Nick's seen his fair share of unsavory things, but at the end of it  all, he has his close family bonds and twin Pomeranians (Pico and  Cheese) to keep him sane.

Will that always be enough, though?

I was pretty shocked that Nick, the guy who was shy and took two days to gather up the nerve to ask if the cute person serving yogurt had a boyfriend, was a social media influencer, and a professional male dom. Both those things demand a strong amount of presence and confidence to handle, as the former requires being at the center of attention for many and handling a lot of social media, while the latter is taking charge of other people sexually for money. Kind of strange that someone who can pull off both these things would be so shy, right?

Although, social media influencers and professional male doms can be said to be playing a role, putting on an act for their paycheck. This begs the question then - was the shy customer we saw in the demo Nick’s real face?

Some of the song choices on his playlist further raised my eyebrows. I won’t go too deep into depth here since this post is getting long enough, but more than one song is about obsessive love, drugs, being the bad guy, and loss of sanity.

Sure, Jack drove Nick crazy, and maybe that’s where the drugs come in. After all, Nick’s scary glitch image showed him in clothes one might expect to see a patient wear at a mental hospital...

There’s also the quote given along with the gif.

So close, yet so far away~

What if this quote isn’t referring to Nick’s kickstarter goal being so close to offer a route to save him, or how “close” Nick came to becoming Sunshine’s boyfriend?

What if Nick has been close to Sunshine for a while, and they never even noticed? What if they’ve been coming to the store a long time, but Sunshine never paid attention - after all, he was just another customer. It was Nick’s strange behaviors like asking if the obvious employee worked there that made him stand out.

What if Nick didn’t simply go away when rejected? What if he’s been stalking Sunshine without being noticed? What if on the day he was rejected... he secretly followed Sunshine home to their apartment while they were too exhausted to notice?

What if someone, say, was so obsessed with their crush on Sunshine it bordered on criminal? So many yandere characters break into the homes of those they are obsessed with. What if Nick didn’t actually take his rejection well, and he decided to pay Sunshine a little unexpected late night visit?

What if Nick is a yandere targeting Sunshine?

Well, an immediate threat is certainly a good reason for Jack to leave the reassuring warmth of his sunshine’s embrace, wouldn’t it? He can’t exactly savor the afterglow and how their relationship finally evolved into something deeper when a threat is breaking in to take his sunshine away...

This would make Jack’s actions make perfect sense to me. It also adds a new unsettling context to what Jack said to sunshine after Ian’s phone call.

Remember what I told you…

About…Other people?

Jack was worried about “other people” even before Ian’s phone call and warned Sunshine as such. What if that was his discreet way of warning them to be cautious because Sunshine had a stalker, and he didn’t want to scare them? Jack wants to take care of Sunshine, so he’s going to hide scary and ugly things from them so that their light will always shine... so he has reason not to tell them something that could trouble them. He’ll take care of them. He can provide them safety.

These ideas, as well as the other glitch cut-ins from the other guys, led me to a new theory/headcanon - all of the male leads are yandere for MC.

I mean, let’s just take a look at Ian here.

It isn’t easy to tell due to the animation and distortion, but I can confirm that there is a heart in his pupil. On patreon, there’s a picture of him with this exact same love-struck expression, including with a heart in his eye.

A star is born!

With a face like that, Ian could do a lot of damage in the acting scene!

Naturally, this remark seems to be pointedly referring to his glitched image where he’s covered in blood.

Ian is dressed up as Sunny Day Jack, not just any Jack, but a redesigned Sunny Day Jack... like in a reboot perhaps? His outfit is different in so many ways, including the belt, elbow pads, sun logo, fingerless gloves, general jacket, and even the shape of the makeup on his cheeks.

Is Ian possessed by Jack, who then committed acts of violence in his body? It’s possible. It certainly was a theory in the fandom for a while.

It was also a theory that Ian is a yandere, and as such he might be the one actually responsible for all the bloodshed here.

After all, Jack and Ian do share a common dislike in their profiles - they both dislike being left alone. I find that a pretty interesting coincidence. Not to mention all the other parallels they share, such as taking the starring role of Sunny Day Jack.

Let’s also look at the phone calls from Ian. He constantly calls Sunshine to apologize for cheating on them. His profile confirms that his cheating is why they broke up.

He had you, until he lost you. Formerly your childhood friend, high school sweetheart, and your boyfriend, Ian has fallen from your good graces after admitting to cheating on you while attending performing arts school.

Nothing will stop him from proving his undying love for you, though. And this new job of his as the main character of an upcoming big budget TV show should do nicely as a fresh start for both your lives.

Ian said in the demo that he had something that would “fix” everything. He thinks this new job, presumably starring as a rebooted version of Sunny Day Jack, will somehow undo the damage he did when cheating on his partner. That is a very strange assumption. Why would a new job, even one that offers fame, undo the fact that he cheated while he was away?

Does Ian believe that game and money can soothe away the pain he caused and prove he is worthy of forgiveness? Does he believe that’s enough to make them happy?

Sunshine has been shown to be very poor. It’s one of the big plot points in the story that they’re struggling for money. They work long, grueling hours in a job that mortifies them, their co-worker Carol shoves work onto them to take care of, their boss calls them in on their day off... They can’t even afford to replace their wardrobe.

I’d been looking for clothes at the local thrift shop. 

You know…As one does when their wardrobe consists of 75% stolen and borrowed shirts from their ex.

…And they’re too much of a tightwad to shop for new clothes in an actual new-clothes store.

Not only does Sunshine rely on Ian’s wardrobe to be clothed, they also rely on the apartment they got together. I find it interesting that Sunshine is still living there. Normally, after a break up, wouldn’t you want to move out from a place that causes you so much pain? Sunshine doesn’t seem to like thinking about Ian’s bedroom at all, so that’s even more reason to move. The breakup with Ian is why they’re “recklessly” rejecting all things nostalgic. Plus, if they’re struggling for money so much, why are they still paying for a two bedroom apartment? Can they really afford to pay for it all on their own?

That got me wondering... what if they’re not? What if, like the borrowed shirts, Sunshine is still relying on Ian financially despite being broken up? He could still be paying half or more of the rent. Ian could frame it as an apology for how much he hurt Sunshine. After all, Ian would do anything to make up for what he did, right? Begging, bringing up old memories, constantly calling them, claiming he has a right to know if they’re dating anyone... emotional manipulation...

Ian sounded so shocked when Sunshine said they were trying to move on, even though they were broken up. And why wouldn’t he? They’re still living in their shared apartment, still relying on his money. It’s only natural to assume that they’re not moving on. They can’t.

Let’s not forget the Afterlife moment where Ian was presented as, well, I’ll quote Sunshine here on this one:

He was a nerd, and he was silly, and he was VERY apologetically himself, but…What we had was special.

It seems as though Ian has a habit of apologizing in their relationship. We’ve seen many instances of him being apologetic even before he cheated. Often times when people apologize, they give the person they wronged gifts to represent their sincerity, sometimes really expensive gifts. Ian was jokingly referred to once as “Team has money, will pay ur bills.”

What if Ian has a habit of throwing money at his problems? What if he thinks money can fix, well, everything?

This does lead a new headcanon I have about Ian’s home life, particularly who his father might be. There’s this common theory that Ian is related to Jean Laurent, former co-star on the SunnyTime Crew Show who played the part of Rory Rainberry alongside Jack. Both Ian and Jean have similar orange hair and freckles, which has made this a compelling theory, even if the different surnames pose a wrinkle to the idea. It certainly would make sense how Ian has money and got a job as the new Jack if he was related to a famous actor with connections, particularly to the old show...

Now, I’m going pretty deep into headcanon on this point but I think Jean really is Ian’s father. Ian could have his mother’s last name, but not because Jean took her last name upon marriage. I don’t think there was actually any marriage at all.

This seems kind of strange given how religious Ian’s mother is, right? Obviously someone who was so upset at her son doing something so “sinful” as to live with their partner before marriage would get married themselves right? That’s not necessarily the case. Sometimes people are just plain hypocritical and project their own mistakes and problems onto people they control.

There’s a picture of a woman theorized to be Ian’s mother. The quote from this woman is very telling, even if it’s not strictly canon for the game.

Let’s break the picture down. This woman is in heavy makeup, with styled hair, long nails, and drinking presumably an alcoholic beverage in that martini glass. She is telling someone, presumably a child, that they are so ugly, the only way they’ll get sex is from a desperate sex worker unless they have a lot of money to burn.

Quite the awful woman. If she’s talking to her child, then that’s a sign of an abusive parent. Ian’s mother certainly seems similarly abusive in the afterlife story.

“...My mom called me.”

“Someone gave her our address…Or she might have had one of her friends watching. I don’t know…”

“S-She…Uh…She says that…To live with someone out of…Wedlock…I-It’s a sin? And I’m going to hell?”

“She said I’m only doing it to…To satisfy…My manhood…”

“I-I’m not taking advantage of you by doing this…Am I?”

What if these opinions of Ian are projections his mother had about herself and his father?

My headcanon is that Jean, a famous star, had a lot of sugar babies. Ian’s mother, Ms. Duff, was one of those people who latched onto him for money, connections, and fame. She tried to baby trap Jean into marriage, but that plan failed to work. She still got financial support from Jean, but now she was an unwed mother forced to raise a child on her own. That led her to being resentful and clinging more to religion and control over her son to vent her frustrations at the choices she made.

Ian seems to struggle with wanting his mother’s approval, even though she’s a horrible woman. What if he learned how to be apologetic from not only her abusive treatment, from her apologies as well? Why, she gave him something nice, so it means she really is sorry, right? She certainly could have been given plenty of nice things when her sugar daddy acted out but still tried to keep her on the hook...

Abuse can be a cycle that chains into the next person. Jean has control over Ian’s mother, apologizes when he hurts and upsets her, and gives her fancy stuff to make amends and keep her coming back to him. Ian’s mother abuses Ian, but gets him to keep listening to her through guilt and gifting him money for, say, a fancy college.

Those things might even be reason enough for Ian to unblock her and let her back into his life to keep influencing him. Sadly, there are people who have been abused to unblock their abusers out of guilt... or because they’re afraid of getting cut off.

Now Ian thinks that a new job with fame and money can fix his relationship with Sunshine. Of course it’ll work. It worked on his mom, who kept coming back to Jean despite how many times he cheated to satisfy his manhood...

Again, that is just my own headcanon and there’s very little evidence to prove it for sure, but I think it fits many pieces very neatly into place. Ian can use his connections through his dad to get the job at the rebooted Sunny Day Jack show, which is probably being produced by Jean, or at least Jean still has his old connections to LambsWork...

Of course, if the earlier theory that Sunny Day Jack was a role of a lamb to be slaughtered, what might that say about Jean giving his son the same part that murdered his co-worker all those years ago?

Now let’s finish things off with Shaun, who has kind of gotten the short end of the stick in terms of how much we know about him.

Shaun seems to be the most normal of the bunch, right?

Here, kitty-kitty~

You don't have to worry about anything with friends like Shaun looking out for you~

He might be into horror movies, goth fashion, and come from a family of funeral directors, but he seems pretty normal.

He seems normal.

There was a tweet, unfortunately now deleted, where Jambeebot seemed amused by the idea that the fans believe Shaun is the most normal of the love interests. There’s an implication that he might be just as... not quite right as the rest of them.

There’s not all that much to indicate Shaun is a threat to Sunshine. Even the creepy cut in picture is just him looking shocked/upset/angry while covered in blood. It doesn’t hint at him being the cause of violence. Even his profile and the teaser quotes don’t hint at a sinister side.

I still can’t quite shake the idea that if the other three leads might be yandere, Shaun might be too in order to round off the set.

After all, I had proposed the idea a while back that there are plenty of ways to be a yandere. A yandere essentially means “love sick,” a person who is unhealthy with love. I posited that there could be yanderes who aren’t inherently violent to others, but to themselves.

Remember in the demo the story about Shaun staying up all night then buying Sunshine breakfast the next day? What if Shaun is the type of yandere who sacrifices himself to unhealthy extremes for the sake of the one he loves?

Though there might be other things about him that are more dangerous that we’ll learn in the full release of the game. After all, the demo is short, and there are glimpses of a much bigger story waiting to be told...

Of course, we can’t dismiss the threat Jack poses over the others. After all, there’s this gem from his profile:

Jack is ready to be your best friend until the end in the most literal sense. The only question is-- what to do about those pesky, inferior other friends of yours who came before him and now stand in his way?

A “friend to the end in the most literal sense.” I think we can all get what that’s implying. The question is if Jack plans to speed up that end, or if it’s just he plans to be with Sunshine until the end of their natural lifespan?

It seems unlikely to be the former, as Jambeebot stated that Jack sincerely does love Sunshine and just wants to bask in their warm and happy light. This still seems quite sinister in any case.

Then, of course, there’s the fact that Jack finds Sunshine’s other friends to be pesky, inferior, and in his way. Is it just because they’re friends, or is it because they want what he wants - Sunshine’s love?

We can’t dismiss the idea that Jack really is the game’s one and only antagonist and he could possess and manipulate others into violence. Personally though, I want to go with the headcanon that all the guys are yandere for Sunshine.

Wouldn’t it be such a great twist if the obvious threat of the ghost in the cursed VHS tape was actually the person who is the least dangerous threat to Sunshine? After all, as Jack said, he can’t do anything Sunshine doesn’t want him to... No other yandere would have the same supernatural guarantee of their consent and safety.

Edit:  Oops forgot the obligatory tags for @channydraws and @earthgirlaesthetic. If you want to get tagged when I make the next headcanon post, just let me know!

Also, if you like my writing, consider checking out my SDJ fanfic, Sunshine in Hell and leaving a comment telling me what you think. I just adore hearing from you!

#Sunny Day Jack #Something's Wrong With Sunny Day Jack #swwsdj #sdj #SunnyDayJack #Headcanon Ramblings #Sauce-y Art

[canmom]

last season's anime: that elf show (1-6)

Belatedly watching Sousou no Frieren, the darling of the... previous anime season four months ago. So old news as far as most are concerned!

I have held off on watching this one because, well, videogamey elves-and-dwarves European fantasy is ehhhhhh! I can get into it if it's really well done and puts the focus somewhere interesting (c.f. Dungeon Meshi), or if its medievalism is a bit more historically grounded than your average videogame-inflected fantasy anime (actual European history is full of fascinating/fucked up shit which rarely makes it into fantasy). But Frieren didn't strike me as having that vibe.

Nevertheless I heard Madhouse were the ones that did it and somehow that was enough to finally tip me over into watching it. So lol. I was a baby or even an ovum when Madhouse were doing most of their best known work, and yet...

Anyway, it turns out, not only was it a Madhouse project, but none other than Yoshiaki Kawajiri actually boarded a good few of the episodes, although he's not the enshutsu [episode director/storyboarder] whose people are most excited about. The series director's last work was Bocchi the Rock after all! And this sure is another hit.

The first two things that jumped out at me in the first episodes were: the bgs are insanely good looking and the photography department is absolutely in love with a digital bokeh filter. I don't think I often see this specific kind of blur filter in anime (though I think you'll see it the works of some directors who like to emulate realistic photography like Yamada or Shinkai), and it was interesting the effect it had of eliding the lines and creating an effect kind of similar to posterisation.

Bokeh aside, the background painting and layouts in this anime are really incredibly good. When I occasionally watch fantasy anime - I have a friend who is quite into isekai and will occasionally show me one of her faves such as Ascendance of a Bookworm - one thing that often bothers me is the architecture, you have identical box-shaped houses with big windows, wide flat streets, it generally doesn't feel like a lived-in city. This is something that particularly bothers me about Attack on Titan.

By contrast, Frieren is routinely dropping scenes like this:

Split levels, varied colours and heights, accurate depiction of features like jettying, mixing up the verticals a bit. It's an impressive attention to detail and it does so much to sell the setting.

And the nature scenes are outstanding as well. Although I'm pretty sure they're painted digitally, it has the feeling of older physical media. The bg painters clearly understand the power of hinting at form with brush stroke shapes and a few flat colours - a technique similar to the bg paintings at Ghibli. There's rarely an obvious digital texture and they exercise restraint in overwhelming everything with glows and flares. The flat colours and paint-like textures are allowed to shine on their own. Plus everything has a subtle grain (pretty sure it's just good old Perlin noise), adding to the analogue feel.

But yeah, look at the subtle atmospheric perspective in the last one there! The layers of forest in the background are painted with less saturated colours, creating a powerful sense of layering and distance, without having to draw more trees than the immediate foreground. I could learn a lot from this painting alone when it comes to forest scenes.

While I'm going on about technical stuff, the animation also stands up. The first episode in particular has some real flexes with crowd scenes containing dozens of moving characters. The character animation is generally very restrained, but naturalistic. There is constantly a strong sense of space. The action animation later does less for me - it's not at all bad, but it's within the conventions of modern shounen adaptations - but it's generally speaking strong.

All that said, what about what it's actually, y'know, about?

Frieren wastes little time in establishing its premise. The title character is a nigh-immortal elf, who was part of the RPG party that defeated the demon lord just prior to the outset of the show. Frieren has a pretty flat affect in general - not to say she's emotionless, far from it, but rather the heavy lifting of what she's feeling has to be conveyed through cinematography and implication of her actions. Though that said, it does plenty to humanise (elfise?) her too - she is not a morning person, and there are moments where she will get visibly excited about small things. Mostly, Frieren is a character who really doesn't understand herself very well.

Comparisons to the prototypical emotionaless girl Rei Ayanami come to mind to me - especially the version of Rei we encounter in Eva 3.0+1.0. Both characters' affect is shaped by transience - for Rei, she's a short-lived clone, for Frieren, her perception of time is completely miscalibrated to all the people around her so she'll accidentally disappear for decades while they get old and die. And both characters' arcs involve learning about how to understand human connections.

As kvin has said in his impressively detailed article on the background to this show, this premise is used to tell a story about the passage of time. In the specific, it's about the grief of realising you did not spend enough time with someone after they've gone. Frieren is retracing the steps of the party after disappearing from their lives for nigh on 50 years, returning just in time to catch the human characters as they die of old age. The episodes are usually constructed around her memory of that adventure, paralelled by the connection she's forming in the present with her new apprentice. She's trying to do things that she never managed to do when they were alive, get in touch with her own feelings, etc. etc. Lots of mono no aware in the air.

So each episode tends to develop two stories in parallel. There will be the immediate impetus - Frieren and co. find something that needs dealing with and coincidentally links back in to the past - and also flashbacks which help flesh out the rest of Frieren's party and why the journey was such a big deal to her. The writing and editing generally does a very good job of knowing what to leave unstated, what can be implied by a cut and a closeup.

More than anything I think I'm reminded of Seirei no Moribito. Frieren herself reminds me a little of Balsa - they're quite different characters, but the way they relate to others and the general arc of being changed by their connections - and while the dynamic between her and Fern is a little less parental than Balsa and Chagum, the use of scenery and the general approach to setting up of episode plots feels quite similar.

Predictably, stories about grief touch a nerve! 'I didn't properly appreciate the time I had with her' is something I feel particularly with my friend Fall, who we lost nearly two years ago now. A story about figuring out just what someone meant to you after they are gone is resonant, shall we say.

The first and second episodes as a pair end up particularly affecting. I talked about the technical stuff above, but the editing is also really strong. A couple of moments that stood out to me: moment of ephiphany communicated with a sudden eye closeup, an L-cut to bells which you don't hear until there's been another cut to the actual funeral. Since I've been in the sakugabooru server I've been learning to pay a lot more attention to individual enshutsu, so the names to credit in this case are Saito himself for the first, and Tomoya Kitagawa for the second.

The third episode (Daiki Harashina) stumbles a bit in my view, not so much because of the direction but because the script brings in some less-interesting magic mechanics and fighting-a-demon elements. The fourth episode, the first directed by Kawajiri, falls back into the rhythm: the stakes are small but we feel the development of Frieren and Fern's dynamic.

The fifth (Kenichi Shimizu) and sixth (Toru Iwasawa) episodes are a two part story, introducing a new character Stark as a second young apprentice character - the sixth episode has a really exceptional action scene with its dragon fight, bringing in a lot of familiar action animator names, and moreover the preceding episode does the work to set it up so we're invested in the culmination of the character arc it represents! Also there's that one sitting down cut I heard about. I wasn't sure I'd be on board with Stark at first, but he's growing on me through his interactions.

By this point we're starting to have more present-day 'villagers have a monster problem' type setups, but they're still primarily instruments to advance characterisation: the conflict of Stark with cowardice and responsibility is paralelled by one of Frieren's former party members, Frieren and Fern get to face ghosts of people they've lost, etc.

The first few episodes jump forward in years at a time in between, and even within the episodes tend to elide huge periods of time with montages - very effective for driving the central theme of tiiiiime. That seems to be slowing down a little now, although we'll see.

I think if anything weakens it, it's that the demons and monsters feel undercooked as setting elements - and I'm a little worried by hearing that they become increasingly central elements as the show goes on. Of course, they're kinda mandated by the RPG setting, and being able to just say 'back when demons attacked the village' lets the show put its time into characterisation. But to take episode 3 for example - surely there is drama to be had in the idea of a senior underling who was frozen for nigh eighty years, unaware that his master had been overthrown? But nah, he just attacks immediately, and then it turns out that human magic science has advanced so much building out from his technique that he's not a big deal anymore (ratfic ass concept). Mostly demons and monsters exist as plot devices, opportunities for characters to prove themselves or experience an epiphany.

It's a shame because the show goes to such enormous lengths to flesh out everyone else's motivations. 'Why did character x do or feel y' is kind of the thrust of every episode (c.f. that kinda questionable stuff people say about JP storytelling being more about causality than conflict). Next time they supply us a demon character, I hope they're willing to give them a comparable treatment. 'Kind, peace-loving villagers vs ontologically evil baddies' is just such a boring dynamic, and with such love poured into everything else, it seems a shame.

Overall, I don't think Frieren is going to displace Tengoku Daimakyou as my fave of 2023, or stand alongside Dungeon Meshi as elves-and-dwarves fantasy goes, but it's definitely a memorable one. As an adaptation it's absurdly strong. Looking forward to watching the rest.

#anime #sousou no frieren #animation

[doubleddenden]

Okay I had a whole thing typed that was my review for the new Pokémon dropped in Indigo Disk, but tumblr ate it, so take 2

Starting with my favorite, Archaludon. It's a dragon, a kaiju, also a stapler remover, also a bridge with power cables inside. This is a really cool design overall and fixes what I dislike about Duraludon, and it's fun to play with. 9/10

Hydrapple fixes what I dislike about Dipplin, but does make Flapple and Appletun a bit obsolete. Regardless, it's a fun idea and concept- I love that 7 Syrpents (which I guess aren't individually pokemon on their own? Slowbro Shelder situation I guess) make up 1 pokemon. It's silly but fun. 8/10

Also these two are neat because the concepts tie into New York/ Unova if we look at it through lense of Archaludon's Sky Arrow Bridge being based on Brooklyn Bridge and Rainbow Bridge, and Hydrapple clearly being a Big Apple reference. Very creative

Onto the paradoxes

Raging Bolt is interesting. I prefer Raikou, and I'll be the first to admit that I do not give a shit about how many cultural or historical references are in a design, if it looks like shit its a shit design. But this design is pretty okay, and because of that I can appreciate ALL of the inspirations that went into its design.

First off, with the Beast Paradoxes drawing inspiration from dinosaurs, we have Raging Bolt as the Thunder Lizard- aka Brontosaurus. That alone is meat, but it's still pretty mammalian compared to Walking Wake- that's because there's references to something called a Questing Beast. In Medieval times, before the age of cameras or fact checking, a description of an animal far far away- such a giraffe- can get twisted abd distorted via several games of telephone until we get to a creature that combines the lower body of a leopard and deer and the neck and head of a snake- aka the Questing Beast. Raging Bolt plays a bit with all of these ideas in a pretty unique and fun way. 8/10

Iron Crown- admittedly the Justice Paradoxes suffer a bit from the same "just make it a robot" mentality that plagues other Violet Paradoxes, but the Swords of Justice got the better end of it, I'd say. Iron Crowns in particular actually fixes what I hate about Cobalion by adding segments to the legs and thus making them feel less like bipedal knees on a quadrupedal animal.

It's signature move, Tachyon Cutter, also looks so cool in action by making the horns HUGE and GLOWING. That's awesome imo. 8/10

And now the new paradoxes we knew were coming

Gouging Fire, Entei's Paradox. I'll say that I like it, although this is the least changed of the Beasts and is basically just Entei in a fancy hat. Hey, that's fine though.

The dinosaur Entei is based on is some kind of ceratopsian blend. I personally thought they'd go in that direction with a triceratops design, so I was close. The head dress piece actually gives me Ho-Oh vibes, in particularly the gold and greens, which could be purposeful and root the Beasts Paradoxes back to the Beast's master, Ho-Oh. Fun design, 8/10

Iron Boulder. This one imo is more of the "robot" angle but done in a very good way. I like Terrakion best out of the Swords to begin with, but only at certain angles in 2d (they murdered him in SV. Murdered. He looks like a cross eyed frog now.) Iron Boulder takes the bulky build of Terrakion and makes it work better in 3d by incorporating spherical and cone builds along its body and head.

It definitely looks the LEAST like a psychic type out if any psychic type I've ever seen, but that's fine. Like Iron Crown with its twin horns and Iron Leaves with its 3 blades, Iron Boulder has a cool looking sword move- his turns his two larger horns into ONE MASSIVE GLOWING BLADE. THAT'S REALLY COOL! 8/10

And now. The Boy

Terapagos is a cute design that becomes more elegant, refined, and Stellar as it becomes stronger. While I'm a bit disappointed at how they handled it in story after a year of build up, I do think the designs after it's base form are incredibly detailed and creative.

The type patterns on its shell actually shift and change smoothly to other types, and the Terastilized form is even more incredible by representing every type plus a hat version of its original form. Beautiful, yet imposing, and a tad silly. The dome is an interesting take that I believe might represent the world or perhaps even a larger turtle- the design could reference one of many World Turtle mythologies and possibly have it represent a planet in space, or maybe a Turtle floating in the ocean, perhaps it's even a reference to the Tale of Urashima Taro. If Terapagos was available in Blueberry Academy- which I think it started out that way in planning- it could even represent the Terarium itself. Perhaps a deeper story was originally planned but dropped- like the castles and gigantic tree of Crown Tundra.

Regardless, base form is a 6/10. Its cute but kinda pointless. The other forms though are 8/10 though for incredible execution, wonderful and pleasing use of color, and overall just being great.

This batch of new Pokémon is way better than Teal Mask's, let's be real. For the paradoxes, I'll say the Future ones got better after Iron Leaves, while Walking Wake was the peak for the Beasts. Ogerpon wins for cutest legendary with the best build up, but Terapagos definitely wins for best design. This batch is an everall 8/10

#pokemon #pokemon scarlet and violet #pokemon scarlet and violet spoilers #Indigo disk #the indigo disk #indigo disk spoilers #Archaludon #hydrapple #terapagos #iron crown #iron boulder #raging bolt #gouging fire #den reviews stuff

[obstinaterixatrix]

I read all of The Honest Life of a Game Studio and now I am obsessed do you have recs for anything like it.

I wish. I FUCKING WISH. but it’s really one of a kind. higefusa really just wrote mundane slice of life office drama with the level of detail that could only be provided by a gamer who has worked in the industry AND he threw in some life or death stakes as a treat. how often do we get an incredibly normal office worker stuck in time prison??? and it’s ONE ARC??? not often enough.

none of these are gonna be just like game-ya but in terms of romances with attention to detail for industry/niche fields… ok all of these are gonna be kind of weird so bear with me.

double section is a BL about an auditor for an insurance company and an insurance salesman, I wouldn’t necessarily give it a blanket rec but I liked how Passionate the main characters were about audits and workplace regulations. a lot of heated drama for the most normal office setting possible. in the author’s note the artist talks about interviewing health insurance salesmen.

ginmokusei is more of a conventional BL but it’s about a guy who inherited his grandpa’s tailor shop and an ex maître d who shows up and demands to help him before he goes bankrupt. there’s a little bit about branding and marketing and bank loans. what has Always Stayed With Me is when the love interest basically goes like ‘you’re using all these flashy ads and being really pushy with discounts. are you selling beef bowls.’ every time I pass a clothes shop that goes really flashy with the discount banners I think ‘are they selling beef bowls…’

panel x magic. okay I said it was going to be weird. so this yuri is about a recent graduate who applies for office jobs and ends up doing image editing for… I guess a brothel? it doesn’t go into critiques of the sex industry, but I thought it was interesting how it takes a really logistical perspective in terms of marketing, advertising, and image manipulation… one of the chapters has the main character going like ‘oh god I’m trying to edit this risqué photo by making the thighs thinner and giving the face a glow-up but I keep making the model look like a weird alien this looks like something from a photo booth’ and gets advice from her coworkers like ‘hey why don’t you look up makeup tutorials to get a sense of what to touch up.’ hasn’t been translated in a while but it kind of hits that… really in-depth look at the logistics of a job.

I think there’s more I’m not remembering at the moment, at one point I think sundry made a joke about rating office romances by how much office work is shown. there’s a couple ones that *kinda* fit but not really… wait. wait wait wait. WAIT. oh my god it has such a h•rny title. okay. so I’m being 100% sincere when I say that the main story for hammered and pounded is a BL with interesting office politics. it’s also incredibly h•rny, but game-ya gets pretty h•rny so whatever. but yeah there’s a whole subplot where the love interest, who works in sales, has actually always wanted to work in R&D, and it becomes A Whole Thing where the head of R&D is in conflict with the head of sales over whether or not a transfer is gonna happen and there’s no romance involved with the conflict it’s all office politics

and in a similar vein, to your right, you will see my boyfriend is about a guy who’s working as a tour guide in kyoto and at the artist talks about how she used to work as a tour guide. I think it’s fun, though I have my qualms. the main character does do studying about how to be an effective tour guide and goes from being like ‘ugh I’m saying all the facts but no one’s listening’ to ‘haha check out this extremely long name of the temple we’re about to see! make sure to remember it, it’ll be the password for getting off the bus ;D’

I have another category of vaguely similar vibes of genre bending mundane office work + fantastical situations

tokusatsu gagaga is a gen series that’s a BIG fave of mine, the main character is an OL who loves tokusatsu so she imagines a lot of scenarios with that sort of vibe. it’s not diagetic, but it’s really fun when it’s stuff like ‘I’M AT KARAOKE WITH MY COWORKERS BUT I CAN’T OUT MYSELF AS A TOKUSATSU OTAKU THIS IS JUST LIKE BEING ATTACKED BY A KARAOKE-THEMED MONSTER EMERJASON HELP ME!!!!’ the eng tl hasn’t been updated in a while but there’s a live action adaption that’s really good

magilumiere co. ltd. is a gen series that’s basically ‘what if magical girls were like… sanitation workers for monsters’ so it’s a lot of company logistics in a fantastical setting. I don’t think I got that far into it before getting distracted, but it was interesting (though perhaps overly generous/idealistic about start-ups as a concept).

#ask #anonymous #gylb #orlbs #there’s also stuff like #perfect propose I really enjoyed for how it really highlights how toxic workplaces manipulate/exploit workers #(consent is an issue for that series tho) #and 24 hour kiss actually has stuff like ‘the manufacturer fucked up our bags what are we going to do’ #(consent is a REALLY BIG ISSUE for that series tho) #anyway I’m not sure I’d consider these recs so I won’t put them in my recs tag #my god I spent like an hour on this #Gohan no Otomo ni… kinda…? #recs

[pokegalla]

Hi! Is it alright if I request any of the brothers with a S/O that looks like she just came out the 70s? Like there room is styled, all their clothes they even have old gaming consoles and phones? Like every week they just go thrifting or to a vintage shop to pick up some things? Thank you!☺️

Sorry for the late response! I closed requests and lost all motivation in writing for awhile but I has finally at least returned to finish the writing I owe! You and a few others are getting your requests done!

Any Skellie bros with a 70’s style S/O

Lust:

* Omg he loooooooves your outfits and accessories. I always thought this guy loves fashion and he is loving your style! The colors, the patterns, the designs! What’s not to love? Give him some pointers and he’ll be styling with you!

* Your room definitely surprised him. It was the definition of groovy! He’s definitely digging the peace signs and colors. It’s so pretty! When you show him your phone and gaming consoles, he was pretty intrigued. There was so much cool stuff in the 70’s….

* He’s definitely tagging along with you to the thrift shop man- he’ll be paying for you sometimes. He enjoys seeing your smile when you get new stuff to add to your collection. He’ll even find some new outfits for himself!

Poplar:

* You caught his eye pretty fast with your outfits. He’s pretty knowledgeable so he knows a bit about the 70’s. He thinks you’ve nailed the looks from back then and look amazing!

* He is INCREDIBLY impressed by your room. You had so many nicknacks and collectables in your room. Not to mention the atmosphere: it captures the vibe perfectly! He is definitely excited to check out the gaming consoles and your phone while giving you insight on the history of the 70’s. (He may or may not studied more for you ☺️)

* His eyes were shining when you took him to the antique store. He was looking everywhere, saying bits of information as he examined everything that catches his eye socket. He does get a little embarrassed when he talks too much….but if you tell him you like hearing him talk, it’ll make his soul flutter~

Red:

* Your style to him is well, pretty much opposites. He jokes that you look like a hippie (but he be bullshitting because he DOES find you adorable in your little outfits). One time you made him try on an outfit. He hated it. (He actually kind of liked how comfortable it was but didn’t want to admit it-)

* Your room was….kind of cool. He really likes the lava lamps. He calls them weird but he likes how it glows and moves. You knoooooooow he’s already loving those games you got. He tries acting nonchalant but you sometimes can’t get him off it! Really wants to replace your phone….or buy you a new one.

* Usually you end up dragging him to the antique store. Like you guys go to a mall for one thing. You drag him to the antique store for more things. He’d be pissed….until he sees how happy you look. Damn your cuteness-

Papyrus:

* I think he would be very interested in your outfits! Since he does notice your outfits is much more different then other humans. You tell him a bit about 70’s fashion and he’s already super excited to learn more from you.

* He is literally jumping all over the place in excitement, questioning and examining everything! He loves trying out the games and your neat little phone! He could stay in your room for a whole day if he wasn’t so busy! Makes frequent visits!

* First time taking him to the antique store, he thought it was a wonderland trapped within time. There were so many trinkets and thingies and whatchamacallits! He would be very curious about all the stuff and enjoy his time with you! After all, you looked so happy finding new things to collect! He thinks that was the best part of the trip.

#my writing #undertale au #fluff #lust sans #bhc poplar #horrortale papyrus #underfell sans #bhc red #papyrus #bhc papyrus #undertale au x reader #undertale au headcanons #request answered #70’s style reader

[auld-a]

I know probably everybody knows about this but I wanna talk about it.

Above Supernova is seen talking to unknown people speaking about how “OMG Monster High really exists! Maybe the other schools exist too” then it’s revealed that they are no other than our beloved Raven Queen and Apple White

Okay so Supernova is friends with Raven Queen and Apple White??? Cool but also how?? This probably means she’s either from EAH originally or ended up in EAH through a different universe that wasn’t MH

But also like why was she in space for who knows how long then the first thing she does after nearly destroying an entire city on accident she calls Raven and Apple to tell them a theory of theirs has been confirmed??? Does this mean the reason she was in space was because she was looking for Monster High. Because if not I think it’s pretty weird she just accidentally stumbled into a new universe after possibly a millennia, accidentally discovers Monster High, aka something she’s probably studied previous to this to know what it is, then is like “I’m gonna call my besties because I just accidentally found something we’ve been theorizing that could potentially change the course of our reality🥰”

Like BRUH WHAT but also Apple and Raven were so chill about it probably bc they technically already of access to different dimensions (wonderland) so ig this isn’t new to them but the fact that they have access to different dimensions, evidently monster high too but they just haven’t found the opening yet is kinda cool. To me it feels like they may be, parallel wise, the next coming of the Grimm brothers. Two friends, turned enemies, turned friends again who explore beyond their world?? Sounds like a parallel to me

But I was also watching Haunted and it brings up an intriguing idea. The school for ghosts is something that exists within the very walls of monster high yet very few know about it?? Sounds familiar. But also vice versa. The school for ghosts didn’t know anything of Monster High until mentioned. But when this was mentioned to the headmistress, aka the ghost that literally has a famous ghost story of her and that has been around longer than undead teenagers, wasn’t phased by the idea of a different dimension but at the fact there were ghosts residing there

On top of that a common trope we see is outfit changes when inter dimensional travel is involved. Of course this is definitely just an excuse to make the dolls with pretty dresses but I still think it’s an interesting thing to think about. It happened when Spectra ventured to the ghost world, when Cupid went to EAH, and when the EAH cast went to Wonderland. I had a theory that maybe it’s because it differentiates between your home world and the one you came from. Spectra is from the ghost world hence the glow up, same for Cupid (I don’t think it’s technically confirmed if EAH or MH is her OG world but it makes more sense for it to be EAH considering her concept and the fact she had her storybook present when they tried to get the scroll). This wasn’t too prominent in EAH Wonderland because they all definitely had a glow up but IMO the ones from Wonderland had it the most (Kitty, Lizzie, and Maddie). The rest of the girls have a mermaid type dress with sone anti gravity vibe type decor and their typical color scheme while the 3 mentioned above have actual Wonderland themed outfits based on their background within Wonderland (Cheshire Cat, Queen of Hearts, Mad Hatter)

Don’t know how I got started on outfit changes, still think it’s cool to see how the universe will naturally differentiate you between your home world and new world via a really cool outfit. But back to Haunted. It kinda looks like the school is someone adjacent to Monster High, but like I said, alternate dimension. Same for Wonderland and EAH, possibly MH and EAH as well. All of these schools being intertwined by portals that basically lead you immediately to the desired location makes me feel like EAH and MH were built for that reason??

What would you do if you saw an inter dimensional portal in the middle of the woods? Mark it. Some put a flag, some build entire intricate gothic structures to hide it away maybe🤷

All this to say I think MH and EAH were built specifically where they were in order to mark a very special place. An opening to a new world. That’s how the Grimm brothers found Monster High, and how Cupid found EAH (or MH, still no confirmed home world).

One thing that’s still stuck in my mind though is Supernova. If her mission truly was to discover Monster High, why was she in space? Well do I (think) I have an answer for you.

Space is a wacky place, but so is our world. I think that with every portal jump it is landing you either in another variation of the world they came, or maybe another planet. Either way this speaks nothing to space. What if space is a neutral zone? The place that all planets/dimensions can be accessed just slower because of the travel?

Anyways none if this made any sense or maybe it did. Hope you enjoyed my rambling don’t forget to eat your worms

AN: I completely forgot that this could 100% be a catalyst for an EAH/MH x TWST crossover

#twisted wonderland #eah #ever after high #monster high movie #monster high boo york #monster high haunted #raven queen #snow white #lizzie hearts #kitty cheshire #madeline hatter #monster high theory #ever after high theory

[starr-finn]

Hi girlie!! So I've decided to send a faith req bc ofc

- So all I want is just...

- John

- Yk???

- OK anyway so yk when John's praying to the Lord, and he's like 'Please I can't do this anymore'

- I'm pretty sure it ends up being a fake and it's not the lord

- But what if it was, and the Lords like 'I hear you, you must keep on. I will send you help.'

- And he sends reader, who's like... an angel-ish?

- They can help by healing and pacifying demons for John to kill

- They're also very nice

- And John rlly likes them

- But once he finishes the job, he realises that he'll have to let them go

- But when that comes, readers like 'Well, jobs technically not over since there's still ALOTTA evil about'

- So yea :>

EEEEEe my first faith request!!! Bestie I will 100% do that for you!

Hope you like this one!!

John ward x angel!Reader

Authors note: John is kind of pining, and Reader is incredibly sweet. John is super sweet but incredibly scared, he's absolutely shaking,(H/L) is hair length, (H/C) is hair color, (S/C) is skin color, mostly from an outside POV following John

warnings: Mentions of blood, religion, guts, and talking about Gary, god, and angels, Reader and John are just vibing, killing demons, and helping each other, non-biblically accurate depictions of angels

John was staring down the barrel of a fight with a man who...wanted him dead, wanted to kill him violently, in the meanest, most aggressive way possible, and then sacrifice him to the antichrist, disembowel him and use him as a sacrificial lamb, so, what does he do? pray, he begs, pleads for god to remove him from the situation, and for the first time, god responds

"John, why do you beg? do you not think what you are doing is for the good of the world?"

John is shaking by this point "I'm scared Lord, what do I do? I don't want to die here"

"It does appear you are in over your head, I offer you some help from one of my angels, however, you must finish this fight, then I will get you out of this building alive"

John nodded violently, and then suddenly a bright, white light engulfs everything around him and then, and he was greeted by the most beautiful being he's ever encountered, their (S/C) skin looked like it was glowing, and their (H/L), (H/C) hair looked as if it was made of pure silk, they were beautiful, the purest being he had ever met. He had never met anyone like them, And they looked like they were ready to fight, the sword they were holding looked so well crafted. He suddenly felt at ease, almost comforted, by the presence of this beautiful angel

you smile at him "Hello! you must be John, the lord has summoned me to help you clear the world of evil"

You smile and stand beside him "Let's finish this..." before you immediately slash at Gary, who dodges fast and goes in for another attack, John stares at you for a few seconds before shaking it off and raises his crucifix, and starts to...well purify Gary (?)

The fight lasted longer than you and John wished it did, mostly because of the 'Rain of spiders' thing, however, you both come out on top, but unfortunately, John knew he had to let you go now, he didn't want that, he thought you were so cool and friendly, and interesting. Then you turned and looked at him "The lord says we still have more work to do, how about we deal with these demons together? we seem to be more powerful together." John never felt himself jump up like he did when you said that, he immediately jumped on the chance to have you with him while he's fighting these devils that are plaguing the world, all he wanted, was to keep you close. The Lord did keep his promise, he got John out alive, however, he also gave John a new friend, he never felt like he could trust someone like he felt he could trust you, even those he trusted still felt...odd to him, however, with you, there were no trust issues, but at the same time, everything he tried to hide seemed to come out in one way or another. He made a couple of new friends, helped countless people, and made it out of a scary situation alive, sure, death had happened, but all wars come with casualties, and he knew this was just the beginning of a war that would last for years to come, but he was ready, he had you, and father Garcia after all.

I'm incredibly proud of this one! this might be my longest fanfic ever or at least one of them! hope you like this one!

#faith the unholy trinity x reader #john ward x reader #Faith #Omg bestie requested again #please keep on requesting i love writing and it keeps me productive #don't hesitate bestie! #ily /p

[nateslehky]

⭐ cribbage fic? either part I love them both

below a cut cause it got a lil long :) fic for reference

come into my ask box and ask for the “director’s commentary” on a particular story, section of a story, or set of lines. 

Or, send in a ⭐star⭐  to have me select a section they’ve been dying to talk about!

so one thing i struggled most with in this fic is the conflict that happens near the end where nate is jealous and a bit a dick about it. because my overall goal for this fic was for it to be lighthearted and silly (it's about cribbage lmfao), but i also wanted the emotions/actions to feel real and authentic, and part of that is nate being an asshole. so this scene, in particular from nate's pov , was interesting to write just because i needed to find that balance of lighthearted-but-still-real-and-believable-emotions-and-actions.

There’s a stirring in Nate’s gut as he sits across from Cale at the restaurant, both of them donning nice clothes while the flickering candles cast the table in a warm glow. [this is the first time in a bit nate and cale have interacted outside of the rink, and nate's struggling with that especially cause cale is ohhhh so cute] Nate can’t help but wonder if this is the outfit Cale would actually wear on a date to a restaurant like this instead of just a team dinner—or Teamsgiving, as Gabe insists on calling it. 

He’s in snug dress pants that hug his ass and a soft, cozy cashmere sweater. [there's a lot more detail in this scene from nate's pov vs cale's, and part of that is because i wrote cale's first so i already had something to work with/fill in, but also cale as a narrator is pretty oblivious to what's going on, like that's kinda the whole vibe of the fic. oblivious and in love.] He looks very datable. [i deliberately included this in nate's pov because in cale's pov of this scene, when nate call's him out he thinks 'Especially coming from Nate. Who clearly thinks Cale is undateable on principle.' it's a direct parralell and another indication that these two are sooooooo stupid at telling how the other feels lol]

So much so, that if Nate were to ignore the rest of the team, he could almost pretend he and Cale were on an actual date. That is, if they were actually talking right now. Which they aren’t, not really. [and whose fault is that, nathan?]

Nate’s chest aches. [oh right, yours]

Beside Nate, EJ is ranting about the complexities of whatever absurdly expensive wine he ordered, but it’s going in one ear and out the other. [more about ej later, but i liked adding him into this scene a lot lol]

Nate does try to listen, but he’s too distracted by Cale and the way he is somehow completely oblivious to the fact that the waitress is definitely flirting with him. She laughs at his polite comments, her hand lingering on his arm as she flicks her hair behind her ear. It’s obvious to everyone at the table, except apparently to Cale. [obviously from cale's pov we get that he's oblivious to this. to him, she's just being polite and doing her job, and he is being polite in return. it mirrors the fact that cale is also completely oblivious to nate's feelings towards him, which of course is something nate doesn't even consider in this moment (or ever)]

Nate’s trying—and failing—to ignore it. 

“She’s cute, Cale,” says Mikko after the waitress leaves. “If you ask her out, I think she’d be into it.”

Nate stills, gripping the stem of his wine glass harder than he should. Mikko is correct, she definitely would, but that doesn’t mean he has to say that. He slams back a gulp of his wine, ignoring EJ’s instructions on the proper way to taste the intricacies of its flavor.

Cale flushes, embarrassed, color rising high on his cheeks and low down his neck, below the collar of his sweater. [nate thinks cale is blushing because he likes the girl or thinks she's pretty etc etc.... cue ensuing jealousy]

Nate frowns, the wine tasting bitter on his tongue, matching his attitude.

“Cale doesn’t date,” he says before Cale can answer. [from cale's pov, this is the first time we're even made aware of nate in this scene. cale's entirely oblivious to both the waitress and nate and meanwhile it's all nate can think about lol]

Across from him, Cale takes a sip of his wine, then says, “I date.”

Something suffocates Nate’s chest then, his heart squeezing tight. [Even as Nate does this it makes him feel like shit and he's aware of that, but does it anyway cause he's stupid (both in general and about Cale)]

“No, you don’t,” says Nate firmly. 

He isn’t sure where this is coming from, this necessity to make it clear that Cale isn’t dating anyone. The urge to press him, goad him into admitting something Nate knows is correct. [nate is incredibly desperate to be correct in this situation and we all know why lol. his actions stem from a fear that he isn't correct and this guy he's been crushing on is actually in love with someone else.]

“Yes, I do,” says Cale immediately, voice firm.

Who the fuck is he taking on dates? He has never once mentioned a girl to Nate or to anyone else, not in the locker room, not during team outings, not anywhere. That is something Nate would definitely remember. [in both povs of this fic, there's moments/line like this that make the reader aware that both these guys are fucking idiots and they're obviously hanging out a lot even though both of them act like they aren't. Nate knows Cale, both as a teammate and as a friend, and besides the obvious jealousy, there's also a sense of hurt because if cale were dating he would've expected cale to have told him, as a friend, because they're friends.]

“All you do is talk about your stupid board game and the books you read and the shit you get from grocery stores.” [again, this line is another indication that they actually talk quite a bit. and nate pays attention to what cale says. and even though he's an asshole about it in this moment, he actually very much enjoys and finds their conversations interesting]

The screech of Cale’s chair as he pushes away from the table causes Nate to flinch, but he sits still, acutely aware that everyone else has fallen silent. EJ glances between Cale and Nate, his wine glass in his hand, looking bewildered. [i adore EJ in this scene and had a lot of fun writing him in. in cale's pov he isn't mentioned at all except for when cale hear's him say "the hell was that" (and doesn't even know it's ej saying it), but adding him into Nate's pov was a lot of fun and i think it helped break-up the asshole-y behavior from nate's internal monologue in a fun way and kept it more light hearted]

Cale grips the edge of the table, his knuckles turning white. “I go on plenty of dates, Nate,” he says, his voice shaking slightly. “Just because I don’t talk about them doesn’t mean they don’t happen.” [this is obviously, as we know from cale's pov, a lie. and nate, deep down, knows it is, but there's also a part of him that wonders and latches onto the belief that it isn't]

Momentarily, Nate deflates, feeling as though he kicked a puppy. He hates the look in Cale’s eyes and he hates that he’s the one that caused it, but the whole team is watching them now, and he refuses to back down. [nathan is nothing if not stubborn] He crosses his arms and smirks, but there’s something coiling in his gut, causing him to shift uncomfortably. [even, and often especially, to his own detriment]

Cale storms away, and Nate swallows before delicately grabbing his wine and taking a sip. [he's trying to play it cool. like it's no big deal that cale's dating and that he wasn't just a bit of a dick]

“The hell was that?” asks EJ, breaking the silence that has fallen over the table. [ej's statement, of course, calls out both of these things haha]

that's where cale's pov of this scene ends, but i enjoyed writing this next bit because as a whole, i think the team is both used to and also doesn't put up with nate's shit. so him acting like this, while weird, is not entirely surprising, even if most of them don't know the context

“Yes, Nate,” says Gabe coldly. “What the hell was that?” [gabe obviously does know the context]

Nate shrugs, looking around at the guys, but no one really meets his eyes. 

“I’m right. You all know I’m right.” Please tell me I’m right. “Cale doesn’t date.” [this calls back to the beginning of the scene and reminds the reader that nate's doing this out of almost desperation because he's scared the boy he likes not only doesn't like him back, but likes someone else instead]

ok ok i'll call this quits here, but this was so much fun! thank you for sending <3

#answered #my writing #829

[bluepoodle7]

#Etsy #EtsyUkraineFakeClayHumanFormJohnDoePlush #JohnDoeGame #HandmadePlush #EtsyPlush #MonsterPlush #RegularGuyPlush #Plushies #JohnDoeGamePlush #PlushPals

This is a Etsy Ukraine Fake Clay Human Form John Doe Plush and this plush is well made while also detailed.

The plush is 21 inches from the top of the head to the foot.

I don't really have that many plushies that have fake human hair similar to barbie doll hair.

I will try my best to keep the hair mint and this plush is soft.

I got a build a bear black jacket with a zipper to see if this plush can wear it.

The plush can wear the Build A Bear vintage black jacket easily which is cool.

This plush can also wear both the toy glasses.

I looked at the reference sheet for John Doe to try to find a similar jacket with sleeves since I noticed the Etsy plush didn't have one.

It's surprising that the Build A bear doesn't make more jacket's with long sleeves, pockets, and zippers.

My guess that it would cost more to produce since zipper jackets are pretty rare unless it's a Harley Davidson zipper jacket.

I'm also surprised that Build a Bear doesn't have a gray and black striped long sleeved shirt since they just have short sleeved striped shirts.

These are the images the seller gives you before shipping the plush out.

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

And when you first get the plush.

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

What got me into the fandom and my cringe au you can ignore.

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

This character always interested me when I first saw them and the lore around this character and the Uncanny Valley interested me.

This even inspired me to make my own lore for a Au where a ancient aquatic species infecting the other species above land while trying to adapt and also seeing what lies on the surface while getting weird.

I also like this character's design since it looks like a character that would either be a mascot for like a obscure product from Hot Topic or a roleplay oc I would randomly stumble upon then comment that this was a cool design and maybe wanting to know the backstory to the character.

John Doe got that early 2000s Newgrounds energy and vibe to him.

It's pretty neat owning someone else's oc in a handmade plush form.

I remember seeing The John Doe Game on Manly's video and found this character's design eye catching.

His glow up in plus made me like the character more especially ending 7 that's what pulled me in.

I can't wait to see what how this series will wrap up and might check out the other games later.

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

I let both John Doe plushies hold the gummy teeth but I'm still trying to find a teeth mug.

This plush can wear the toy glasses even if the character doesn't have ears like the character in canon like a normal human would.

This plush can wear normal toy glasses but needs to be positioned in a way that the glasses will stay on without falling off.

I wanted to see if this plush can wear the Hyde and Eek Witch Hat and royal cape.

This plush can wear the witch hat but needs to be positioned since this plush's chin is small and the royal cape if it's small or extra small.

The Handmade Ukraine Your Boyfriend Plush I own is 14 inches from the top of the head to the foot.

This Peter plush is shorter than the John Doe Game Plush.

Photo Recreation Pose

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

I wanted to recreate a picture pose I made with my bootleg Popka plush bending down to look at the real Namco Gals Popka mini figure but with the Etsy Handmade UK Cat Doe Plush with the Etsy Ukraine Handmade Fake Clay Human Form John Doe Plush.

I could only get the close up but I can try to get it far away picture later.

A blog about obscurity stuff, plushies and food. on Tumblr - #Popka Plush Pose

The Etsy Handmade John Doe Heart Eyes Cat Doe Plush

A blog about obscurity stuff, plushies and food. on Tumblr - #John Doe Cat Form Heart Eyed Version Plush

I asked the Etsy store owner who makes custom plushies to customize his shirt to reference that one Illbleed moment where Cork has ARREST over his face but I imagine John Doe randomly having that design on his black shirt.

I Mspaint colored in the Arrest on Mspaint like it is on his shirt it's from the Cork image.

The third image the Etsy seller fixed the ARREST to be centered.

Arrest (Level 6)

9:19 for Arrest

Let's Play ILLBLEED Part 21C - Toyhunter - YouTube

This is a cool plush and I'm keeping this plush.

Both plushies will be good study buddies and if I see a bootleg one I would love to compare the plushies in quality.

But I can't wait for the makeship plush next February.

The other parts will have more pictures.

The plushies.

John Doe 157 40 Cm Plush Toy A Fan Toy From a Big Fan of This Indie Horror - Etsy

Handmade John Doe Cat Plushie - Etsy

#Etsy #Etsy Ukraine Fake Clay Human Form John Doe Plush #JohnDoeGame #Handmade Plush #Etsy Plush #Monster Plush #Regular Guy Plush #Plushies #JohnDoeGame Plush #Plush Pals

[chilling-in-the-void-alone]

I want to make pathetic rambles about the distortion for a second,, so I’m gonna do that 👍 (if you don’t like “critique” (barely that) for the common neon colours portrayal of the distortion just scroll past I guess?)

While I am an enjoyer of the neon eye-scorching distortion/spiral,,, I won’t argue its fun to draw and its fun to look at. But it honestly isn’t how I imagined the distortion and I want to ramble about how I imagined it (before fandom changed it a bit for me I guess??) I imagined it as slightly off desaturated warm colours if that makes sense. Like the colours you find on your grandparents floral sofa, but off. Like colours that should look nice together but they are just slightly the wrong hue and saturation and end up clashing when put together. Kind of like a long hallway with warm lights that end up warping the colour of the wallpaper into something just slightly different.

(Maybe its just that I’ve been thoroughly affected by the horribly long hallway to my therapists office,, it could have come out of a horror story, one day I’ll write something based on it lol). Now for my “reasoning” eg I want to dissect why I got these vibes from the statements about the distortion. 

So in Helen’s statement (Mag 47: The New Door), which I’m pretty sure is the first time we get to know what is in the hallways properly, “the walls were papered over in a swirling green pattern. Running down the middle of the faded yellow carpet was a rug, black and thick”, the colours just read as off for me here, it does rely on the green I’m imagining but yeah weird desaturated colours that don't fit together. 

There’s also the general ties to childhood/nostalgia?? that it has a couple times, I’m not actually sure if that was intentional (as many other statements regarding the distortion don’t have this but oh well some did and I latched onto it I guess)

One statement that stands out to me is ‘Mag 146: Threshold’ with the distortion following the statement giver since childhood. The vibe of the first segment of the statement with the skipping rope, has the kind of feeling I’m talking about, "I look over, and in the weak orange glow of my nightlight, I can see the heavy wooden handle of my skipping rope moving slowly across the floorboards" its hard to find a quote that really works for it that doesn't just include me copying and pasting the first segment but yeah that part is what I'm talking about.

As I've said before, the colours you find on your grandparents floral sofa, sun bleached from time and just slightly off from what it looked like originally, currently being affected by the orange light of the kitchen in the evening before being picked up. you know, nostalgia.

Or (can't forget my favorite person to subject my friends to rambles about) Michael Shelley and how he was affected by the incident of his his friend getting taken by "something like [the distortion]" (Mag 101: Another Twist) during his childhood which caused the whole domino affect with the institute and The Great Twisting. 

It’s Warped nostalgia I guess?

Generally, I find it all really interesting seeing other peoples interpretations of how things look and such, as tma is a podcast. I guess I just wanted to throw my hat in the ring for how I imagined the distortion 👍 and explain why I think I imagined what I did during my first listening :D

also I didn't mean for this to get so long, apparently instead of writing my comparative essay I wrote this instead

#michael shelley #michael distortion #the spiral #the distortion #void rambles

[nitrosodiumfmp]

Dark Tomb: The Aesthetic

(I have decided to rebrand the Dark Fantasy idea as Dark Tomb, to make it a little easier to understand.)

This is hard to explain beyond just saying "fantasy". So I'll take a few screenshots that I think show the vibe I'm looking for.

These images are from Morrowind, Dark Messiah, Mystery of the Druids, and Limbo of the Lost (though Limbo is entirely made from stolen assets from other games, so that does complicate things). The aesthetic is pretty interesting - it looks generic on the surface, but I think it's cool. Stone, torches, wrought iron, statues, skulls, altars. Interestingly, I often have dreams taking place in ornate stone structures with cascading water in them (see bottom image) - the most recent one was on the 8th of February, where a medieval ruin near where I live was fully constructed, housing multiple pools, cisterns and aqueducts for "water puzzles", whatever they were. It's something I like both consciously and subconsciously, and a lot of this aesthetic probably comes from the time period.

I want to say that fantasy games looking like this peaked around 2006. I've noticed the look in many games: Dark Souls comes to mind especially, though I didn't attach any screenshots. Think of the technological processes popularly used at the time: bloom, baked-in lighting, photo-sourced textures, bump mapping, et cetera. It gives everything a very distinct look. I've thought about how I could capture it with Unreal 5 without spending ages coding some whole new lighting engine. If I use Quixel Bridge assets, I think i'll import them in the lowest possible quality, so they look like they're from a slightly older game. I also want to use a lot of coloured lighting. Torches will give off a warm red-orange glow, while mystical bodies of water will fill the room with a scintillating blue-green light from below. This focus on colours is mostly to contrast with the greys and browns of the environment; otherwise, everything would blend together and be uninteresting. I mean, there is the other end of the spectrum.

These screenshots are from a game called Sacrifice, an RTS that flopped incredibly hard, and is thus very obscure. The whole thing is surreal fantasy, inspired by Hieronymus Bosch. Now I'm not a massive fan of Bosch, but I did research him a little for the FMP, and there's a reason that it looks so strange.

I mean, just LOOK AT IT! There's people being skinned alive and disembowled and thrown into fire, and there's a reason for that. This art was meant to put the fear of god (literally) into the average Renaissance person who wasn't afraid of hell anymore. These paintings are meant to show what Bosch thought hell would look like, and I admit, if I ended up here, I wouldn't be too happy about it. Sacrifice's story is about demons tearing the world into floating islands and corrupting all the creatures into melted abominations, so the look is still consistent. However, if you look back to the Sacrifice screenshots, you can see how the game uses coloured lighting to make the environment look infinitely more interesting. Pink torches, red fire, blue altars, purple orbs, they come together and give the game a very distinct look, and on an objective level, they brighten up what is otherwise a very brown landscape.

#devlog #gamedev #indiedev #indiegamedev #nitrosodium #indie game #indie dev #indie game dev #indie games

[otakween]

Digimon Adventure 02 (Blind Watch) - Episode 50

Eh...I really didn't need a "babies ever after" ending for this story. This episode honestly felt kind of lazy to me, which is a shame. It didn't hit me in the feels like season 1 did and the animation looked pretty rough at times. I can excuse choppy animation mid-season, but for the finale?

Oh well. It was neat to see the time skip designs even though they're kinda bad lol. Now how much of this is gonna get retconned...

Digimon introduced: Pipimon

Notes:

-This episode honestly flew by. It felt like they wrapped up the final boss battle in 2 seconds, which I was actually relieved by. I wanted to get to the juicy epilogue part.

-I appreciated the call back to the international digi-destined. It was nice that they got to contribute again (also makes kids in the audience feel like they could be part of this)

-All of the kids joining together and the glowing lights gave me real Avengers: Endgame vibes lol (people act like the Avengers scene was so special but it's clearly been done in a lot of stuff).

-They went from "you don't need a digimon to be special" to "everybody gets a digimon!!" which felt kinda awkward. Sooo many questions about the "everyone gets a partner now" concept. Is it just kids? What if you don't want a partner? Do they mostly hang out in the digital world or just follow you everywhere? etc.

-Imperialdramon used an attack called "Giga death" which definitely doesn't sound like a good guy attack lol. (Unsurprisingly they changed this in the dub).

-Tailmon finally gets her ring back which I guess means no more jogress evolution. Do they give up some kind of evolution at the end of every season?

-It kind of bugged me when they were like "that world you were in was a world where your emotions are manifested into reality...actually the digital world does that too...and the dark world." Huh? So there's no difference between the worlds then? (At least not according to THAT explanation!)

-Oikawa's partner's name is Pipimon...PIPIMON. Imagine being minutes from death and the last thing you see is Pipimon lol. I can't.

-Most of the jobs the kids ended up with felt like they were foreshadowed except for Daisuke and Yamato. They lampshaded the fact that Daisuke's dream to become a ramen shop owner came out of nowhere but Yamato as an astronaut!? When has he ever shown the slightest interest in science? Ah well...people change

-So Takeru was narrating the show all along. I actually kind of like his adult look, but that mullet is awful...

-The children's designs are...fine, but some of them are WAY too identical to their parents. It also really bugs me that they all have the same digimon partners as their parents. What, are digimon partners hereditary or something??

-So Ken and Miyako are married but...everyone else? They didn't say! So I guess that's the only in-group partnership? While I was trying to process things I kinda thought Yamato and Taichi were a gay couple for a second there. (Just kidding, I double checked and Yamato and Sora are together too).

Digimon Adventure 02 was...fine. A fine C+/B- anime. I felt very few strong emotions to this season or its characters, but it was a fun ride. I definitely feel like the first season had a little more oomph to it, but I wouldn't say it was much better. This season was just a teensy step down. Onto the movies!

#digimon adventure 02 #digimon #blind watch #anime #spoilers #spoiler

[sealeneee]

I know you’re working on the other ask but I had some more questions.

What is Doc/Katona’s love language? How does Katona respond to Doc’s nicknames of “beautiful” and “gorgeous”? Does she have specific ways she likes to be touched or talked to? Is she taller than Doc and if so, how does he feel about that?

And for Katona and Theron: what is their friendship like? What sort of things do they get up to? Does Doc ever get involved or is it purely Katona and Theron who hang out? What is Katona’s favorite and least favorite things about Doc and Theron?

this turned out quite long so i'm putting it under readmore jkhfakjfg

i think katona is more of a gift giver -- she'd buy or make anything that reminded her of her husband, while doc is more of an acts of service and quality time guy. physical touch is a thing for both of them.

at first katona find the nicknames a bit annoying, but starts to like them pretty quickly. she may not exactly share his views on her looks -- "i look fine, but nothing outstanding. aside from, you know, the veins and glowing eyes" is something she'd say -- but she appreciates it nonetheless. it's something nice amidst whatever disaster is happening at the time. makes her smile every time.

as for ways of being talked to, i think she prefers a casual, humorous banter kind of talk. unless we're talking about sex, in which case she has a praise kink.

touch is a bit hard to answer, but i think she likes having her hair braided/played with, and having doc's hand on her waist is one of her favorite ways of physical contact, alongside hugs and putting one's head on their partner's shoulder.

and oh YEAH she's taller. she's like 6'8, while i see doc as average or below average height. something like 5'9? having him shorter would be fun (not in a demeaning way though. he's just a little guy. stealing @rubensmuse's text here)

but would be too much of a height difference. so he's about average in my canon

i'd say he was just surprised at first -- not every day you see anyone, let alone a human, over two meters tall -- but quickly got used to it. he likes it, it suits katona's personality and skills in his opinion, makes him feel defended when she's nearby. she could snap him in half and he loves it and also knows that she wouldn't.

now for theron. i think they really bonded during kotfe/et, when they had to closely work together and got to know each other better. chaotic adhd siblings. i think most of their shenanigans either happen when theron asks katona to help him on whatever job he has to do, which can be a lot of things, from recovering intel to getting new allies or assets. we all know how theron operates, and katona isn't afraid of doing some insane bullshit either. also i think there is a lot of grabbing food and talking shit about everyone and everything. don't think doc joins on their bullshit too often, most times it's only if several alliance people are involved. group bullshit, if you will.

have i answered favorite things about doc? i think i have. poke me if i haven't. as for theron, i think what draws katona to him most is the similar chaotic vibe they have and the opportunity to bond over their weird relationship with the jedi order.

as for the disliked qualities, i think doc's vanity can get on her nerves sometimes. another thing that just clashes with her personality is his immense desire to help people even if it puts themselves in danger. sorry imperials on balmorra yall are getting stabbed. nevertheless she saves his ass on dromund kaas instead of moving to attack the emperor right away. that's because she's a little hypocritical. as a treat.

i think the latter is also a point of conflict with theron -- he is, despite his chaotic nature, a very goodhearted character, while she has... interesting morals. if it's not beneficial to her or isn't explicitly a part of her task it's very likely she'll stall doing the objective to help someone, i.e. the reactor on zakuul. there is no time to waste, she's super confused and fresh out of carbonite, and she didn't even cause the damn explosion! not her job. master surro gets killed as a weird way of showing mercy. and so on.

she also never lets him forget the """""betrayal""""" and especially the dumb haircut he got. the spy shenanigans greatly annoy her, and the hair was just ugly.

#ask #oc: katona

[phantom-of-the-501st]

Here are my thoughts on the live action Little Mermaid!

That literally no-one asked for but I feel like rambling

I have a lot of love for the original film (it's my second favourite Disney film after The Lion King) and a lot of nostalgia for it. I remember getting stuck on the Little Mermaid ride at Disney and me and my mum were just dancing and singing along to Under the Sea the whole time. So when this one came out, we had to go and see it, even if it was just for a laugh.

And I was pleasantly surprised! Sure, it didn't need to be made, and I will always prefer the original, but out of all the live action Disney films I've watched (most of which I didn't like), this might be the only one that I would actually choose to rewatch again. It wasn't perfect, but it was enjoyable.

I'm gonna go into some into some specifics now so spoiler warning for the next bit.

Overall, it was a lot of fun and I didn't get bored at any point (which I did with Aladdin...)

Halle Bailey was amazing as Ariel and I think the casting was great!

There's a bit when she's turning the pages of a book underwater and I know we're taking creative liberties because of the whole mermaid thing but the level of realism that is in it means that it doesn't make sense for that book to not be mulch!

Melissa McCarthy was really good as Ursula (I really needed them to get Ursula right in this film) and minus a couple of points where some of the comedic moments didn't quite fit the character's vibe, the overall performance was pretty true to the original.

Ursula having glowing tentacles is one of the best additions and I love it!

Flotsam and Jetsam look amazing but I wish their glowing eyes were a little more obvious. There wasn't quite as clear a distinction and I think whiting out the opposite eye could've helped a bit. (Also, they don't speak but I feel like that would've actually ruined the vibe more than anything).

Some of the movie is too dark and I mean that literally. There are a couple of scenes where I can't tell how much I would actually be able to see outside of a dark cinema.

All of the original songs are still great!

They removed the whole "body language" segment from Poor Unfortunate Souls, which is a bit of a shame, but I can understand why. It was still cool to listen to though.

Some of the lyrics in Under the Sea don't make quite as much sense because the fish are no longer playing instruments (for realism reasons) but the dancing sea stars were great and the dancing limpits reminded me of the mushrooms from Fantasia.

Les Poisson isn't in it! :(

Some of the new songs were fine, but they don't fit. I don't actually mind Wild Uncharted Waters but because it's different from the rest of the soundtrack, it feels like the film just stops to make way for a random music video and it's a bit strange (and did Eric actually get on a boat because that doesn't make much sense in the context of the moment?)

The Scuttlebutt... exists.

Scuttle was never one of my favourite characters anyway so... meh, Flounder is... a crime, and Sebastian is actually okay for the fact that he's made to look realistic. He still made me laugh on multiple occasions and Daveed Diggs did a great job voicing him so that was good.

Some of the merpeople look a little odd out of the water. Like they almost look slightly oily? I think they're just supposed to look wet but the CGI went a little bit off.

ERIC IS BETTER IN THIS FILM THAN THE ORIGINAL!

He actually has a bit more of a personality in this and Jonah Hauer-King did an excellent job playing him.

Eric and Ariel are giving a little bit more focus together in this film and they have some more obvious shared interests. I loved this because their connection felt more believable and while it does still only take place over 3 days, I actually felt the relationship develop in this.

GIANT URSULA IS AWESOME! (Don't know how much you'd see in any room with a light source though).

I feel like I had more points than this... I'm sure they'll come to me.

General thoughts are that it's not as good as the original, there are a couple of bits that could be worked on, but overall, really enjoyable and good for a fun couple hours.

Although, on a quick side note, if you're like me and get motion sick, there may be a couple of moments that might make you feel a little bit ill. It wasn't so bad that I had to look away at any point, but there are some spinning shots or tracking shots through the water that my motion sickness didn't love.

#I honestly had a lot of fun with this film #and Eric is definitely a lot better in this #(I kept calling him Erik not Eric because I've been interacting with Phantom too much...) #I think the critics might be being a bit overly harsh with this one #but I definitely agree that it's not perfect #still enjoyable though! #the little mermaid #Steph rambles

[jicklet]

Let’s spread some positive vibes by remembering what we love about  the trilogy. Fill in and tag your friends. Feel free to add your own categories to this survey.

@shadoedseptmbr​ tagged me, thank you! :D

tagging @springagainafter​ @zenjestrr​ if you haven’t yet and wanna

I’ve been a fan since: 2011, I caught up just in time for the leadup to 3 being released 😄

Favorite game of the series: ME3 is the funnest to play, but ME1 is probably my actual fave just on feeling alone. That feeling of discovery and exploration is so exciting, and like Sept said, it’s much less doom and gloom. I’m glad they brought that back for Andromeda.

MaleShep or FemShep?: Femshep has a very special place in my heart so if I had to choose it’d be her, but I am also a MShep enjoyer.

Earthborn, Colonist or Spacer?: My first Shep is an Earthborn and I’m always gonna have a soft spot for that one.

Paragon or Renegade? Paragon because I’m a big goody two shoes who loves the whole kind-is-not-weak of it all.

Biotics or Tech? SPACE MAGIC, BABY. honestly you gonna give me the chance to be a mage I’m gonna take it. Also just thinking about the lore of it and how it affects Biotic Shepard (and how they relate to Kaidan) is so fun to explore.

Favorite class: It’d probably be Vanguard if I gave it more of a chance, I had a lotta fun charging around in Andromeda. But I’ve only seriously played Adept and Engineer outside of multiplayer, so right now Adept wins. I enjoy micromanaging the battlefield.

Favorite companions: Kaidan, Miranda, Tali, Kasumi, EDI

Least favorite companions: Zaeed is the only one I come close to actually disliking, and even he has his rare moments. I also don’t really click with Grunt, Jacob, or Liara.

My squad selection: ME1 is usually Ash + Kaidan up until Vimire, unless it’s Tali+Garrus. ME2 is pretty much always Miranda, with Kasumi, Thane, or Garrus. ME3 is usually some mix of EDI, Kaidan, + James

Favorite in-game romance: Shawson and Shenko are constantly neck-and-neck depending on what I’m in the mood for.

Other pairings I like: Fandom has sold me on Talibrations, they’re pretty fun, but the missed potential of Tali+Kal’Reegar will always get me.

Favorite NPC: Sept wrote Gianna Parasini so I’m like Hell yeah Gianna! but, hmmmm.... Oh! Yknow what I’ll go with Padok Wiks. Love that funky little weirdo. He has much less of a personal connection to the genophage than Mordin does, but he goes through with curing it in Mordin’s place because he just feels that strongly about it.

Favorite antagonist: I’m not really attached to any of them, but I guess I find the Illusive Man most interesting.

Favorite mission: Probably Ilos up until the council chamber section of ME1, the unsettling feeling of history there, the mad dash up to flying the Mako across the universe, and then creeping across the outside of the Citadel while Sovereign looms in the background... Mwah. Golden.

Favorite loyalty mission: Probably Tali’s, it’s got good emotional weight. Also have a soft spot for Legion’s, with its classic sci-fi moral dilemmas against a background of glowing shit.

Favorite DLC: Hmmm yeah it’s probably Leviathan. If I’m not counting Citadel, which kinda feels like its own thing.

Control, Synthesis or Destroy?: I came here to Destroy the reapers, we’re doin it.

Favorite weapon: Geth Plasma Shotgun! [charges it up to hear the funky ptEW noise]

Favorite place: The wards in ME1.

A quote I like: “People are messy, awkward, sometimes selfish or cruel. But they’re trying. And I’m going to make sure they have a chance.” 

or, on a completely different mood:

"In the interest of science, how do Krogan mate?" "Very clumsily." "And there we have it." 

#v plays mass effect #meme me

[jeremy-ken-anderson]

Technically Varied

But not technically varied.

One of the biggest critiques leveled at No Man's Sky back when it came out was that all the "infinite variety" stuff was meaningless. If you never played it, and never watched a let's-play, here's the gist:

When you scan a planet, it's got some amount of plant life, animal life, and inorganic matter on it. These get rolled for. The shape of each also gets rolled for - for instance some planets have worms, or hopping eyeball-pile mushroom entities, or ungulant quadrapeds. Some of the rock formations are craggy, others almost vine-like arches. The plant life varies from towering mushrooms to short glowing ferns to evergreens that look like plain-ol' pine or fir.

Mechanically, how does this tie back in?

This is where the player's investment in the variety kind of breaks down. Because realistically what happens is you have these things get rolled for but the player wants resources to repair or craft ships, base parts, rovers, mining stations, and so on.

I appreciate the nudge toward using analysis: When you analyze a mineral it sometimes unlocks an extra material. So if you never learned what it was you'd be throwing the non-ferrite part of the rock away as useless but if you've analyzed it you're getting ferrite dust AND some sodium. This is especially important on hostile planets where you're using sodium constantly just to maintain your suit's climate control in 160-degree (or -160 degree) weather. Sometimes one of these secret materials will be on the second tier. (First tier has five materials: oxygen, dihydrogen, carbon, ferrite dust, and sodium - each of which is a basic fuel; ferrite for your terrain manipulator, sodium for climate control, carbon for your mining laser itself, oxygen for life support in your suit, and dihydrogen for your ship's takeoff rocket) Chromatic Ore is made from a couple different minerals (such as copper) you have to mine specially with a separate attachment for your multitool. I've found minerals that have Chromatic Ore built into them. Others have Pure Ferrite, which you'd normally have to refine from the ferrite dust.

The trouble is it's difficult if not impossible to generate real moments of interest that feel fair. If you introduce challenge in a sandbox you don't know how much trouble the player had naturally fallen into prior to your scripted challenging event. You might be kicking them while they're down. Or you might be sending a team of angry worm-boys against a minmaxer who's crafted a submachine gun. That's the nature of the beast.

Oddly, the rolled-on-an-encounter-table nature of the creatures of No Man's Sky feels more visible than, say, the random behaviors of Sims. Or even the mildly-randomized tilesets of Diablo 3 or Path of Exile. I think what's happening there is that the bounded randomness lets the developer tie the random result back into a known vibe and have it relate thematically to something recognizable. PoE's tileset doesn't go on forever to the west, eventually hitting a wall or ocean point. The Sim will pick its behavior based on its current needs and personality (which is just an extra set of "needs" as far as it understands things) and this limited pool will result in something coherent.

No Man's Sky's planets are more coherent than I think some people give them credit for, but not enough of that ties back into what the player thinks of all of it. It's not like you hit certain planets that are reliable sources of materials for stuff you'd normally have to buy at space stations, like Wiring Looms. I'm pretty sure those just can't be crafted, so you'd have to find them at random or buy them. There's a sense that the materials of an acrid planet or a volcanic planet are consistent with what you'd expect, and the animal and plant life has a look that feels plausible for such a thing. But it's still just, plants are mined for oxygen and carbon, rocks for the other three, animals are best left alone unless you're a jerk and/or need poop or necrotic material. That's it.

I think some kind of system of analysis injection would have been a wiser route for this kind of thing. That is, you start off with the ability to analyze your basic five to increase yield. Then your analysis device improves and you start finding better stuff in them. Then it improves again and you have a different use for them. Maybe they start dropping traces of rare material like platinum or tritium. You'd have reason to go back to earlier planets and reexamine your "known" resources to see whether those banana plants were actually a good source of potassium or something.

Programming-wise this would actually work in reverse of how it would feel; The "analyzer" would be rolling a new result for what the bonus material is and adding it to the existing material results for mining that plant or mineral.

I also think there was some aspect of the animals that they just weren't able to get into motion; some x-factor that would have tied their behavior back in and made it worth following one of these funky little dudes around for a minute and seeing what their life cycle looked like. Hell, even if they just left the equivalent of Plorts from Slime Rancher and you could use that shit as a resource because you'd been paying attention to the animal behaviors, that'd be a step up from what we have.

All in all it's very much the "what you use it for is all the same" that makes every planet feel the same.

#no man's sky #review #game design