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inkyvendingmachine · 2 years

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DUCK!! Season 3, Episodes 15

💀 Call of Cthulhu: Haunted Hijinx Masterpost 💀 🎶 Call of Cthulhu Season Three Masterpost 🎶

Warning: This campaign is an edited version of Call of Cthulhu: Song and Dance scenario from the Tales of the Crescent City book. While a lot has been changed, there IS spoilers for it throughout these posts.

THIS SUMMERY BROUGHT TO YOU BY @inkdemonapologist !!!! I have been running low on energy for writing summeries, because it gets very difficult the longer it's been. And uh... it's been a long time since we played this episode. Luckily, we only have one more left of Season 3, and hopefully energy will be regained next season, as I get back into the habit of writing right after we play. BUT MEANWHILE, THIS SUMMERY and most likely the next HAVE MAINLY BEEN WRITTEN BY SHAZZ. THANK YOU, SO MUCH,,,

ART CHANGES THIS SEASON!! @inkdemonapologist and I are collabing on all the art for these summery posts!! Shazz does lines, and I compose and colour the pieces.

When we last left off, the monstrous Giacona mob-boss responded to Prophet & Joey’s interruption of his ritual by trying to… pULL THE INK OUT OF PROPHET’S BODY??? There was a reaction in the ritual circle, and now ink is leaking from his face and his pores and he’s starting to feel a bit light-headed without it, actually – and now it’s also hitting Joey. He had turned his hand into a Giant Cartoon Arm (as one does) to try to grab the lady being used in the ritual (that they are deeply hoping is Susie’s dancer friend Colette - all they can tell is that she’s covered in yellow ink), and the piece of his arm that had reached into the circle gets caught in this ink drain effect, too. Joey and Bendy are able to keep themselves stable, but the cartoon arm immediately starts to fall apart and drops the lady, as one of the mob-boss monster’s tendrils digs into Joey’s arm. Prophet tries to take another shot of ink, but it starts to fly out of his flask and aCTUALLY MAYBE LEAVING THE CIRCLE FIRST WOULD BE A BETTER IDEA. As he gets close to passing out, he can feel something familiar – like a vision Sammy had before, when that Muse Spirit in Susie had reached out to him. But now is NOT a great time to fall asleep and have a vision, so he scrambles out of the circle and takes another drink.

Meanwhile, Henry, Jack, Peter, and Leon finally sneak away from the tentacle-filled hallway when they all hear the screams of Joey and Bendy down the hall and decide maybe now is not a time for sneaking anymore! Henry runs ahead to tackle the one band member they can see in their way, putting his axe to the guy’s throat with a threat and a glare that is MUCH MORE INTIMIDATING THAN HENRY USUALLY IS, to let the others all run past unhindered, towards the doorway at the end of the hall where both the yelling and the yellow fog seems to be coming from.

Prophet and Joey are both vulnerable to getting ink drained out of their bodies, and starting to realise that maybe neither of them can truly touch this guy… unless… Something clicks for Prophet. That mirror is a link to Carcosa. And now that he’s not squinting at this monstrous creature of mouths and tentacles through a room full of fog, he recognises it as a creature of Carcosa, too. Destroying that link might be what they need…! Joey has an entirely different idea. More of the monster’s tendrils dig barbs into his leg, but he focuses all his willpower into taking back the ink from the ritual, claiming it as HIS OWN gold-threaded ink and not this corrupted yellow – and it starts to WORK! The cartoon arm feels solid again – it’s HIS again! As he’s fighting to take back control, Prophet breaks away from the tentacles grabbing at him and dashes out of the room, only telling Joey “They are connected, it must be broken!” – but when Joey sees the ink-stained streaks down the Prophet’s face, he understands why he’s running. If Prophet can’t get close enough to rescue Colette, he needs to do it. Still fighting against the ritual’s control, he’s able to grab the ink-drenched dancer for just a moment, and barely manage to toss her out of the circle’s influence.

Jack and Leon rush to the door just in time to see Prophet skidding out of the fog, insisting that they be ready to escape soon – he has a bad feeling that this place won’t be safe for long once they break the mirror – and then, an ink-covered muse is flung right in their direction. Jack wastes no time in pulling her out of the room. She’s so covered in yellow goop that they can’t even tell if she’s human… and when she pulls herself to her feet, it’s so strangely graceful… something uneasy sends a shiver down Jack’s spine, but, y’know, there’s been a lot of pretty unsettling things happening so maybe that’s to be expected. He starts to try to wipe the inky goop off her face and is able to find that she IS human under there…! Great! And also, judging from her expression, something in her is gROWING INCREASINGLY HOSTILE… LESS GREAT, Jack’s attempts to talk her down have zero effect, so he takes a risk and pushes Leon forward – HEY! YOUR BOYFRIEND IS HERE TOO!! – and she relaxes almost at once when she recognises him, both of them hugging each other with relief.

Peter, meanwhile, has noticed the room full of kidnapped people – one is that reporter from before! – and actually goes in to start trying to get them free. thank goodness someone oTHER THAN PROPHET noticed,,,

But since no one has yet checked in on Joey, and he is still very much grabbed and hoisted into the air by multiple tentacles and this is really getting old, he uses the last of his magical reserves to turn his arms into CARTOON BUZZSAWS, LIKE YOU DO, and slice himself free.

Henry, still taking up the rear and watching for trouble, notices another band member starting to peer out of the room where he was juicing (??) the mirror, and runs over to intercept him. He whiffs with his axe, but he’s unsettling enough that the guy takes several steps back – enough for Prophet to dash in, beelining towards the mirror. The band guy PANICS AT THAT, mouths suddenly opening up across his body (??!?!?) as he lunges with claws and teeth for the Prophet and screams in several voices for him to STOP. It’s way too close quarters for Henry’s axe. If he misses, he’d almost certainly hit Sammy. So… Henry drops the axe. And summons his glowing golden scythe, as all the colour drains from his body.

And yells, “Sammy, DUCK.”

The Prophet is too startled to react in time, and the scythe slices through them both.

The band member is sliced apart and splashes in a puddle to the ground, and Prophet… has a glowing gold line across his torso where the scythe hit. He felt a concentrated killing intent, like his actual soul was being attacked, pass through him, and Henry’s face finally shows a readable expression – relief. “I didn’t think it would hurt you, and I’m glad I was right.” He starts to apologise for killing Sammy once, in the past, when things were different – but a shaken Prophet is hearing none of it, demanding that he back away and do NOT touch the others.

Henry complies.

Jack peers in, catching the glowing line just before it fades away and wanting to make sure everything’s okay, but Prophet says he’ll join up soon and urges Jack to stay back. Henry frustratedly insists, “I’m not going to hurt him!” PROPHET JUST GIVES HIM A LOOK,,, but since everyone seems to be doing okay, Jack goes with it and ducks into the other room to help Peter try to free the kidnapped folks from their restraints.

Prophet finally winds up and smashes the mirror as hard as he can. He can see a shadow within the mirror moving closer, looking like… it’s trying to break the mirror, too? And as cracks spider quickly across the surface, he realises he definitely recognises this shadow, it’s a person, someone they knew had been dragged to Carcosa, thAT’S DOC MOONLIGHT –

WELL ANYWAY, THE MIRROR BREAKS!

A sudden torrent of water gushes out of the broken mirror at full force, shoving Prophet back and knocking Henry to the ground as it fills the room alarmingly quickly and spills out to flood the hall. Prophet, still doing his best on his resolution to not leave even murderous sheep behind, tries to pull Henry out of the room before it gets worse, but he slips, and falls under the water. It was only up to their knees, but as soon as he’s under, he can’t reach the surface… Henry reaches in and catches his arm to pull up a now very panicky Prophet, and they lean on each other to make their way out of the flooding room.

In the ritual room, the mob boss turned monster is melting and screaming general HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME sentiments which Joey isn’t interested in at all; he’s getting out of here and quickly scanning the hallway to figure out what everyone else has been up to while LEAVING HIM TO FEND OFF A TENTACLED HORROR ALL ALONE (with Bendy). He checks in the room full of kidnapped people, where Peter’s not having much luck with the restraints on the reporter and kidnapped musician he’s trying to rescue as the water starts to rise, so Joey runs in to help just to make this all move faster. The Lurker has a little magic left, and the best thing he can think of is to turn Joey’s hands into Way Too Many Scissors to snip the straps holding them down, so everyone gets to take their daily dose of Joey induced sanity damage!!! OKAY COOL THEYRE FREE LETS GO LETS GET OUT OF HERE Joey struggles his way through the water to Henry and Prophet, and Henry helps support him while Prophet warns that THIS IS THE LAKE, the one that connects to Carcosa, don’t fall in or you’ll be lost!! That’s exactly the kind of distractingly terrifying thing that makes Peter start to lose his grip and slip into the water, but Jack’s able to pull him back up again and they all make it back to that slippery spiral staircase. The water in the hallway has already surged to chest height.

Prophet doesn’t hesitate, crawling up the steps on all fours. Joey stays at the bottom to organise (and to hopefully use Bendy’s toon powers to catch anyone who falls), sending everyone up the staircase one by one - first Jack, then Peter, then Colette, then Henry to make sure Colette is safe, then Leon, then the rescued mob victims. Allison peeks out from above, asking “So… how did it go…?” but most of the party is still pRETTY PREOCCUPIED trying not to lose their footing on the unsteady staircase – Jack gets to the top and immediately starts digging through the bag he’s been compulsively hoarding things in and– YES. AT SOME POINT HE STUFFED SOME ROPE IN HERE. He ties it securely and throws that down, and almost everyone is able to use the rope to climb to the top, as the water starts to rise up the stairs – but Leon loses his grip, and goes under, and disappears in the haze beneath the water. Joey was ready, starting to use the last of Bendy’s power to give himself a rubberhose toon arm that can reach out to grab Leon, but as he ducks his head into the water to find him – holding onto the rope so he doesn’t slip under – he sees… Moonlight, ALSO reaching out to grab the doctor. UH, OKAY, CHANGE OF PLAN: USE TOON POWERS TO STAB MOONLIGHT IN THE FACE. If it was anyone else, Joey would have hesitated. But Moonlight has been way too much of a pain in the ass.

THAT WORKS, Joey is able to retrieve a panicked Leon uncontested, and they’re able to scramble out of the water, where Allison casually lets them know that she DID figure out the ritual and combined the two pieces of The Great Bertrum Piedmont – but the resulting TGBP just ran off. Well, he had the right idea, we’d better run too! Joey takes half a second to grab the gun Prophet dropped earlier before they all BOOK IT OUT OF HERE… quietly hoping that they haven’t doomed Coney Island to sink into Carcosa.

But they climb out into a quiet Luna Park, closed for the night, and a sky of normal stars. As they hustle towards the exit, they notice someone in the shadows, watching them go…. It’s Y? Apparently he’s human after all… and he keeps his distance, so the boys decide they have bigger things to worry about. The Muses still have to be released from the girls who summoned them. They decide to meet up at that apartment that Susie, Colette, and Nichole used to share. Joey sends Colette and her traumatised boyfriend ahead with Henry and Allison – those two are probably magically strong enough to do something if anything weird happens, and as far as Joey saw, Henry and Prophet even seemed to be getting along fine when the place was flooding! Prophet had nothing to worry about from that weird, stoic Henry after all! (The Prophet seems uneasy about no one else going with them, but doesn’t protest). And then Joey calls Norman at the Studio to bring Susie and Nichole and meet them there. Norman assures him “We weren’t sure for a minute, but didn’t run into any actual trouble,” so it sounds like everything went swell. Peter is put in charge of getting the rescued folks somewhere safe, and the rest of the boys take off for the apartment.

They’ve almost reached the apartment when Prophet’s ink begins to run out… and there’s that feeling again, the spirit reaching out to him. Maybe this time he should listen… he urges the others to wake him up again for the ritual, and starts to drift – before he fully loses awareness, he can feel the spirit’s message, just a small bit of offered help: that he and the Shepherd are closest when they’re in agreement, and that if they want, they can control the automatic swaps that have been happening recently by finding something to agree on. Prophet gives it a try. They both agree on saving these lost sheep– All of a sudden, it’s Sammy. Sammy’s here now. He never fell asleep. The others are confused at the quick swap, but reassure him that they’re about to do the ritual, and uhhhhhh maybe you don’t want to know why we’re all soaking wet actually, but on the plus side, when Joey checks the wound on Sammy’s arm, that yellow ink finally seems to be fading out, for good. Sammy asks about the helpful note in his pocket about some sort of Golden Sheep that he should not trust??? And Joey doesn’t really want to admit he’s not sure what was going on with Henry, but you know, everything seems to be fine now!

As they meet up and all head into the apartment, Allison makes sure they know how the ritual works – Henry does for sure, he saw a completed form of the ritual with his Special Eyes when they first searched the apartment! Susie stops Sammy, glad to see his eyes back to normal, but urges him to let her do another take of the new Alice song before they do this ritual. She’ll never be able to sing this well again, and she wants to be the best Alice Angel she can be! Sammy refuses – he knows none of them will make anything this good again, but this is too dangerous to put off. Besides, Joey confidently adds, “You’re already the best Alice Angel, and I need Susie to sing. We’re doing the ritual now.” Susie… is touched, though she still hums the song under her breath – the new version, the one she shouldn’t know.

“How do you know about that?” “I know all of your music!” :)

... SAMMY’S EXPRESSION CHANGES… this is Not Quite Susie. LETS UH… LETS DO THE RITUAL.

Norman asks the other boys how everything went, but has to pull out a pair of earplugs before he can hear Henry’s “could’ve been better.” Hm. Norman, amused, says they had a bit of an incident, but took care of it, and Tim, who was helping Norman, sheepishly informs them that he now knows The Three Musketeers is a musical, and Norman makes a decent cardinal. Well, glad you all were having a good time. Inside, once Jack finds the key to the ritual room in uhhhhhhh don’t worry about it don’t ask why he has it he definitely didn’t compulsively steal this earlier he just found it okay, Joey and Nichole and Allison all go about checking their ritual notes to figure out what needs to be changed… well, Nichole and Allison are doing that, Joey is absolutely confident in Henry’s vision and he knows what he’s doing, so he’ll be setting up the ritual CORRECTLY and fixing the others’ work if they set it up wrong. His work… looks good to the other magically inclined folks, so… it’s time to do this.

Nichole, the younger Orchid, feels terrible for starting the whole thing and says she should be the one to take the risk of going first. Joey is determined to make sure it’s done right and runs the ritual himself – and as he does, a golden glow diffuses out of Nichole’s body, she collapses, and Joey and Jack can both feel the creative urge of writing and stories finally dull back to normal. Also, Joey DID spend all his magical energy reserves in his various stunts at Coney Island and starts coughing up a little blood from powering the ritual. JUST A LITTLE. But the others agree he needs to be Done Doing Magic for now. Allison volunteers to handle the next one, and Sammy takes his last shot of ink, hoping Prophet can intervene if she does anything fishy. The apartment rattles ominously for a second, but the ritual seems to go off okay for Allison, too – soon that same golden glow floats out of Colette’s body… followed by, a strange shadow, that wasn’t there last time… As Colette falls to the floor and the shadow starts to fill the room, they all recognise the silhouette – a shadow of one of the Yellow King’s angels; not quite opaque, but VERY THERE, AND TURNING ON SUSIE, the last of the young women to still have a muse in her. “Seems like one of them had a hitchhiker!” Allison helpfully informs us. OKAY GREAT THANKS!! Prophet jumps in to try to pull Susie out before the Angel Shadow can grab her, getting grabbed by said Angel for his trouble. Allison runs in with a sword and Henry runs in to free Prophet, while Joey remembers that HEY WE HAD AN ANGEL-TRAPPING CIRCLE PACKED FOR JUST SUCH AN OCCASION, that probably also ended up in Jack’s Bag Of Acquired Things???? Jack digs it out, and together they manage to throw it under the Angel – at least it’s confined to the room now!

Henry tries to attack the Angel, gets attacked back and… it goes through him? But it manages to grab Allison, and when Norman runs over and tries to shoot it, the bullet also goes through and hits the wall – wait, this is like when Peter was halfway in Carcosa, sometimes he was corporeal and sometimes he wasn’t – the Angel is just not quite here… yet… The Prophet manages to usher Susie out of the room, Jack runs in to pull out the unconscious Colette, Henry pulls Allison free of the Angel – to her surprise, though she doesn’t get long to express her gratitude before the Angel CHOMPS HER SHOULDER and reminds everyone to get out of the room. Norman and Timothee are finally able to jUST SHOOT INTO THE ROOM FROM A SAFE DISTANCE until enough bullets hit that the shadow distorts, smears across the room, and fades out with a yell.

Angel defeated!!!

Creative art of dance restored to normal!!!!

Just one more to go.

[Final Episode]

[Previous Episode]

#call of cthulhu: haunted hijinx #sammy lawrnece #joey drew #jack fain #henry stein #bendy the lurker #the prophet #susie campbell #norman polk #peter sunstram #bendy au

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sheltershock · 6 months

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Sashamilla version of Rewrite the Stars.

This is my thought today. (Actually not really I’ve had it for months, today is the day I finally write it down.)

However, Milla is in Zac Efron’s role and Sasha’s is in Zendaya’s. It just fits their personalities and worldviews way better. Milla is the idealistic dreamer who’s accomplished and overcome so much she’s convinced she can do pretty much everything. Because she can but that’s besides the point. She’s also in tune with her own and other’s emotions to be able to actually call out the present feelings(“you know I want you / it’s not a secret I try to hide / I know you want me”).

Meanwhile Sasha is the more negative centered side of the argument voiced by Zendaya. Both the negativity charged powers and literally being down to earth compared to Milla play into it. Also crucially is that this is the side of the argument that fate is real and cannot be changed(“no one can rewrite the stars / how can you say that you’ll be mine?”). While there’s no definitive proof in the games that Sasha thinks fate is absolute, he does have a line in RoR that might believe in destiny, but also would not actively attempt to change it, “Who am I to stand in the way of our destiny, even if that destiny is our destruction?” Plus there’s the stars/galaxy/space/aliens special interest so yeah Stars. Sasha stands pretty firmly on the side of order to the point that chaos is hard to function for him so the idea of rewriting the stars/constellations, even if possible, could also get some derision from him.

And then there’s the idea of the song to begin with, that our leads are separated by something insurmountable. The in text scenario from the musical can apply to sashamilla since they’re also an interracial couple. But racism is depressing, so there’s some alternative factors that can be used. There’s the idea that because they’re opposites that they’re simply too different from each other. They’re “doomed to break” if you will. Or a more psychological reason could be played that the reason they can’t be together is because their past trauma of suddenly losing a loved one prevents them from truly loving another person again. Of course with this context, it would mean that Milla is ready to try to love someone else again, and Sasha isn’t, which is believable. I personally think that although romantic relationships shouldn’t really define characters, I do think that Sasha/Milla is the other’s happy ending by being able to love another person again especially when they’re both in such a dangerous field. They’re both likely to die suddenly, but they both decide that love/being loved is worth the possible reoccurring pain and that’s their happy ending by choosing to be happy with each other.

Additionally the verses “because we’re able to be / just you and me within these walls / but when we go outside / you’re gonna wake up and see / that it was hopeless after all” can be whatever you interpreted above. “Within these walls” can refer to their own minds/privacy where they can be fine by themselves but not in public aka “outside.” Or it can refer to the Psychonauts as a sanctuary that they can be psychics or basically share parts that can’t be comfortably shown to the rest of the world “outside.” I really like these verses in relation to the ship, good opportunity for storytelling.

Now if this was an animatic, I’d suggest that the visuals take place inside their minds. With Milla’s levitation a similar thing can be done with the trapeze art(?) from the original musical. But the entire time it’s abundantly clear visually how the other sticks out in the opposing mind. I think it would be cool if they were chasing each other. So it starts out in Milla’s mind, and she’s just singing her heart out but she’s just too good at levitating and Sasha cannot keep up with her. They both have points of just barely being close enough but momentum is just a bit stronger, fate’s just a little bit stronger.

And then during the transition where it would be Sasha’s turn to sing, he’s given up on trying to keep up and just leaves back to his own mind. Milla obviously follows after, she’s chasing now. But despite his mind being a large cube with tons of empty space the entire time it’s unfolding and refolding back as both for Sasha to move around and Milla to stumble over her own obstacles. I also want the idea of the appearing/disappearing trapdoor from PN1 to be an element during where Sasha keeps suddenly disappearing through spaces that you wouldn’t immediately identify as doors. It would also coincide with the verse “and there are some doors that we can’t walk through” emphasis on the we specifically(because I like literalism). Milla’s good with levitation but with what’s effectively teleportation she’s struggling to keep up.

Of course the repeated line of “(what if we/no one can) rewrite the stars” is accompanied but different but similar visuals depending on the mind. Milla’s has spinning lights from the disco balls, and the geometric/math like designs in the sky in Sasha’s that I interpreted as constellations is of course, the stars.

Also the line “I want to fly with you / I want to fall with you.” I have no thoughts. It’s just them, I don’t really have to explain that. I’m just pointing it out.

The final part of the song where both voices come in for an overlapping duet would be cool if the aesthetics of both of their minds somehow combined. I don’t know how. It might even be a nightmare to design, but it would be interesting and like a blending of their ideas and persons into this new destiny they’ve created. But nonetheless it should look beautiful. They’re finally in sync, being able to fly and fall together.

I just think the song fits them and their personalities. And there’s the irony that I’m pretty sure they were, in reality, designed for each other. That they “were the one they were might to find” so, cute, obviously. So, yeah, my thoughts on a song and a ship.

#psychonauts #psychonauts 2 #sasha nein #milla vodello #sashamilla #headcanons #keep in mind i have zero background in music at all #and I’m not nearly strong or experienced enough to create this supposed “animatic” or any animatic for that manner #so if you want to do *anything* with this concept go ahead #i just had some thoughts #creative thoughts #and figured I’d post them #this is my sashamilla rambling for today #goodnight

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roipecheur · 1 year

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I'd love your thoughts on Frank chaining Matt to a rooftop and trying to get him to kill 👀

This actually inspired me to read the 2000 Punisher run where Frank does this because I wanted to compare it to the NMCU scene. I’d put off reading this run before because I don’t like Garth Ennis, and I also really don’t like the art style. But it turns out it’s only 11 issues long, so I went ahead and got through it in one sitting.

Garth Ennis, from the little of his stuff I’ve been able to get through, writes Frank like an angrier version of the Terminator, and treats the existence of superheroes and the rest of the wider Marvel universe like a bug he’s trying to push away with a very long stick. NMCU Frank is a more complex and interesting character in terms of actually having a background and motivations that make sense. The current Punisher run, which I have many issues with, does a better job at this than Garth fucking Ennis, so it ain’t saying much.

Also, the 2000 Punisher run is of course a Frank POV story, and the Netflix Daredevil show is of course a Matt POV story. So, to start with 616 Frank in the 2000 Punisher run...

(Cut for comic panels)

This is Vietnam vet Frank circa the year 2000--he explicitly mentions Vietnam in this run. Even if he was 25 when the Vietnam war ended in 1975, he’d be 50 here. Yeah, yeah, comics time doesn’t work the same way as real life time, but he’s drawn with some lines and wrinkles on his face. He’s meant to be older and he’s been doing the vigilante thing for awhile.

This panel is also interesting to me because calling Daredevil “the guardian angel that follows him (Matt) everywhere” implies that he doesn’t know who Daredevil is--I’ll come back to this later.

In contrast to NMCU Frank, 616 Frank has a long history with Daredevil. He knows Daredevil is going to attack him and plans accordingly.

"Fap" lol what was with this sound effect circa 2000.

Frank tells Matt to hit him baby one more time and lets Matt win the first round. This isn't difficult, Frank reflects, implying that Matt is the better fighter and he's a challenge (or impossible) for Frank to defeat hand-to-hand.

But Frank doesn't need to--he's rigged speakers to play an ultrasonic dog whistle, which wreaks havoc on Matt’s ears. Frank uses this opportunity to knock Matt out.

So... we’re going to assume here that Frank doesn’t know who Daredevil is, but he knows enough about what Daredevil can do to incapacitate him.

Then, of course, Matt wakes up chained to the roof and--ok. Just look at the difference between Netflix DD and whatever the fuck 616 Frank was doing

Chains around Daredevil's chest and arms to hold him in place. Unhinged behavior, but sound restraining technique, versus

Frank. My man. Where did you learn this. Why are you forcing him to kneel. Why are the chains 1) around his neck, 2) wrapped lovingly across his chest, 3) not only between his legs but 4) framing his crotch. "What is this" indeed.

The rituals...they are intricate...

So, now that Frank has forced Daredevil to participate in his bondage fantasy, he decides to 'teach him a lesson' by giving him a choice. Daredevil is "not the enemy" and "doesn't deserve to be destroyed", but Frank's getting sick of him interfering. The gun he's taped to Daredevil's hand has one bullet in the chamber, and Frank's wearing Kevlar. Either Daredevil shoots him in the head, or Frank is going to shoot and kill someone else.

(Frank heard the term “predicament bondage” once and completely misunderstood the assignment.)

Again, 616 Frank has been a vigilante for years, if not decades, and has tangled with Daredevil plenty of times before--enough to know his speeches by heart. Frank’s internal monologue also says he can’t beat Daredevil hand-to-hand. As far as Frank’s concerned, every time Daredevil failed to kill him was a time that Daredevil was choosing Frank’s life over whoever Frank was going to shoot next--and they both know Frank will inevitably kill someone else. Frank, on the other hand, shoots Dino and thereby chooses to save whoever that guy might have killed or hurt next. By taping the gun to Matt’s hand, he’s just making the choice more obvious--showing Matt that his decision not to kill people is a choice with consequences, just like Frank’s decision to kill people is.

616 Frank planned and carried this out for Daredevil specifically. We don’t get internal monologue bubbles for NMCU Frank, but I don’t think he could have possibly planned this in the same way. He did have a rooftop and chains ready, but I don’t think they were for Matt. One, this is early days Frank who’d just lost his family, was still trying to kill everyone directly involved in their deaths, and doesn’t even have a skull on his chest yet. Two, this was only his second meeting with Daredevil, the first being when he’d shot Daredevil in the head the night before--he couldn’t have predicted that Daredevil would be there. Three, Frank was there for Grotto and was willing to take on a small battalion of cops all on his lonesome to get to his target. I think Daredevil must have surprised him. So, they fight, and the residual effects of the headshot cause some ringing in Matt’s ears. Frank can’t know what’s going on, but he takes advantage and knocks Matt out. After that, I can only imagine he’s staring down at this guy dressed in a fucking devil suit with the cops closing in and thinking, “Babygirl you might be even more deranged than me. I must study you.” Scooping him up and saving him from the cops must have been an impulse decision. Leaving Daredevil to get arrested certainly would have been easier and stopped him from interfering with Frank’s one-man war.

In both 616 and NMCU, Frank at least ostensibly doesn’t know who Daredevil is, and he doesn’t take off Daredevil’s mask while he’s unconscious to find out. Also in both versions, Frank is trying to kill someone Matt’s been defending. In 616, this is a faceless mobster named Dino--you never even see him, just Frank pulling the trigger. In NMCU, it’s Grotto, someone we’ve seen Matt and co. try very hard to keep safe from the trigger-happy maniac who clearly wants his head on a pike.

And, in both versions, Frank chains Daredevil up, tapes a gun to his hand, and makes him choose between killing Frank and letting Frank kill someone else. Here’s where the differences get interesting. 616 Matt actually pulls the trigger, but there’s no firing pin. 616 Frank never intended to possibly die--he just wanted to drive the message home. We don’t have 616 Matt’s internal monologue, so we can’t know for sure what he was thinking here. If my quick Googling gave me the correct answer, killing someone to stop them from killing you or someone else is permissible in Catholicism, which otherwise lists murder as a cardinal sin. Given such a clear-cut decision, Matt could have used that reasoning to justify pulling the trigger. Or given his general aversion to killing, he might have been trying to shoot Frank in a way that would hurt him but would not actually end his life--despite Frank telling him earlier that killing him was the only option. Either way, this is a decision Matt makes while Frank takes someone out with a rifle at a distance. It’s a pretty removed act of violence, as far as these things go.

Meanwhile, NMCU Matt has Grotto right in his face, begging him to shoot Frank before Frank kills him. In this version, Matt’s gun fires when he pulls the trigger, but he doesn’t point it at Frank--he uses it to free himself from the chains Frank has him tied up in. Matt gambles with Grotto’s life and loses. Compared to 616 Matt, it’s possible he didn’t try to shoot Frank because he hadn’t been dealing with him for as long--he doesn’t have years’ worth of failing to save people from Frank weighing on his conscience. Or, Matt himself just hasn’t been a vigilante for long enough to know his own limitations and thought he could save Grotto without shooting Frank. Or, he just couldn’t bring himself to kill--which tbh I think is more in line with Matt’s character in general in most universes where he isn’t evil. And NMCU Frank, unlike 616 Frank, gave Daredevil a perfectly functional gun. This is a Frank whose family has just died and is doing all kinds of reckless, crazy shit to avenge them. I think his MO in Daredevil season 2 is that he’s going to kill everyone who had a hand in his family’s deaths or die trying, and this falls under “die trying”.

One last thing 616 Frank and NMCU Frank have in common: they’re both so goddamn weird about Daredevil. NMCU Frank was probably not planning on surviving his one-man war against the gangs of New York and was definitely suicidal, but he still had things to do and people to kill when he gave Daredevil the chance to shoot him. Like, he had possibly decided this guy was worthy of killing him in some fucked-up way--he put everything on hold to give Daredevil a free shot. 616 Frank, after Daredevil tries to shoot him and can’t because of the missing firing pin, says, “Leave the killing to me.” He’s basically saying that he respects Daredevil’s choice not to kill and even in this fucked-up scenario, Frank isn’t actually going to put him in that position. Coming from 616 Frank, especially the way Garth fucking Ennis writes Frank, it’s almost sweet.

Thanks for this ask--I had fun with it! As a bonus, here’s some choice pages showing the NYC skyline as drawn in the year 2000 💀💀💀

NMCU Frank: Yeah I’m a veteran of the War in Afghanistan and the Iraq War that all happened because of 9/11

616 Frank: What’s 9/11?

#asks #punisher #daredevil #frank castle #matt murdock #fratt #hope u enjoy this mystery person it took me forever to put together in a coherent fahion lol

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againtodreaming · 8 months

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hiii :3 for the 3 things ask game hehe (it's nice that you found this in my blog again, i tried to find it but couldn't lmao ;-;)

3 things you are the most passionate about

3 topics you’d love to learn more about

3 quotes that have a special place in your life

Hiii Johnny!! :D Tysm for the asks <33

@vinylbiohazard you also asked this one:

3 things you are the most passionate about:

idk like, fiction-fandoms-writing-art like all that storytelling emotion stuff?

learning

family/friends

3 topics you’d love to learn more about

History

Literature

Anthropology

3 quotes that have a special place in your life:

Edit: WHY DID U ASK ME THIS?!? 😭 You are going to kill me but anyways—:

Edit #2: ………ended up deciding to go big or go home during the last quarter of my time spent on this response so ahh…beware? ┐('～`;)┌ (^◇^；)

…okay so I tried to pick a few but I can’t, okay? 🥲 I’m indecisive and my quotes would feel so betrayed if I picked one over the other one so I’ll just break the rules and put…every quote that came to mind (and then I had to look them up bc I only got a few of them completely memorized):

Nakahara Chūya:

“When I consider, it's easy. / In the end it's a question of will. / I must muddle through. / As long as I do that, it's all right, // I think but nonetheless, / that winter evening when I was twelve. / The steam whistle that echoed / in the sky above the port, where is it now?” Innocent Song

“O song of the skies, song of the sea, / I think I now understand the essence of beauty, / Even so, it’s tough, I can’t escape this idleness!” Exhaustion

“I am not completely quiet in the midst of that desolation. / I am seeking something, always seeking something / in the midst of this terrible immobility, but also terribly impatient. / For the sake of this, my appetites and lusts are as nothing.” The Voice of Life (this one is translated by Paul Mackintosh and Maki Sugiyama and there is also a version of this in the latest Ry Beville translation but I read this one first and I like better how it flows so yep, went with this translation) (...I really need to learn Japanese to read the original sobs) (if it wasn't so long, I would also add part III of The Voice of Life here) (...and some other parts…a lot of parts…these poems are just so good, okay? 😭💖)

“O eyes of mine, wide open with doubt, / O eyes, momentarily unmoving while wide open, / O heart, trusting too much beyond my self, / O expectation of mine, you old, dark air, / Be gone from me, be gone! / I entertain myself with nothing but my meager dreams” – Poem of the Sheep (I memorized this one with another translation but this is from the bilingual edition/new translations by Ry Beville book so yeah, chose this translation for now)

“Today, though, I return to who I am / Like a stretched rubber band released // And thus, from the window of this idleness / I spread out my index finger like a folding fan, // Inhale blue skies imbibe the calm / And like a frog afloat on water // I see the stars of night come night / O depths of sky, the depths of sky.” Exhaustion (I have several faves in Exhaustion but yeah, I would say these 2 are the ones I like most? …okay, only the ones I had mostly memorized bc every line is amazing) (also memorized the earlier translation but this is the one in the new translations book so–)

…can't resist, last one, promise, this one is also from The Voice of Life: “No matter what, it is indescribable! / Sometimes I want to explain it briefly, but / since it’s inexplicable, indescribable, I believe my life is worth living. / That’s reality! Unsullied happiness! Anything anyhow is good!” (honestly, just this entire poem)

(Spring Day’s Caprice is also amazing, doesn’t rank as high as the poems I mentioned above but still, the only reason I’m not adding it here too is bc I can’t pick a verse without feeling I’m doing it a complete injustice bc it’s…like you need to read it whole. Like, the same goes for the other poems but this one is like…it feels too much like a united progression to be able to take a quote away, it would feel like taking the meaning away ig?)

Alice in Wonderland:

“I knew who I was this morning, but I've changed a few times since then.” (stuck with me when I first read when I was like 10 or 11 maybe and and even more relatable now)

“That's just the trouble with me, I give myself very good advice, but I very seldom follow it.” (this one echoes in my head every time I don’t follow my own advice 😅)

Dazai Osamu: BSD:

“But your anguish isn’t yours alone. What should one do, when what they want to be isn’t what they’re best at? Everyone fights, searching for the correct way to live their lives. What do they seek by fighting? How ought they live? No one can say. All we have is the right to waver. Like stray dogs that have hit rock bottom.” (gave me hope and some direction)

Schoolgirl (blaming @yumaisbored—hope u don't mind the tag 😅—for it becoming a favorite look how many quotes I copied here and I highlighted a lot more bc there was just so much, this one stabbed me straight through the heart and I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT o(*>ω<*)o) (most of these ones are too long to have memorized and I haven’t read this a million times like I’ve done with my favorite Nakahara’s poems but I remembered the gist of each one and just had to look up my highlighted in orange parts) (this story has no right to be so relatable):

“The truth is that I secretly love what seems to be my own individuality, and I hope I always will, but fully embodying it is another matter. I always want everyone to think I am a good girl.”

“Let me be natural, let me be genuine."

“I didn't know whether it was better to maintain a fierce distinction between yourself and your acquaintances in society in order to deal with and respond properly to things in a pleasant manner, or rather never to hide yourself, to remain true to yourself always, even if they say bad things about you.”

“My face was like that of a stranger. An animated face, liberated from my own sadness and pain and seemingly disconnected from such feelings.”

“I felt like trying to cry. I held my breath for a good while, in order to make my eyes bloodshot, and I thought I might be able to squeeze out a tear, but it was no good. Maybe I've turned into an impassive girl.”

“There I go again—pondering the purposelessness of my day-to-day life, wishing I had more ambition, and lamenting all the contradictions in myself—when I know it's just sentimental nonsense. All I'm doing is indulging myself, trying to console myself.”

“I envy such a rigorously efficient and disciplined daily existence. It must be easier to relax when someone always told you who you are and what to do. For instance, right now, if I wanted to do nothing, then I could just do nothing. My circumstances are such that I could be as bad as I wanted, but then again, if I felt like studying, I could study for as many hours on end as I liked. If someone were to give me a particular limit to abide by—to start here and use this much effort and finish there—you have no idea how much it would assuage my mind. I think I rather would appreciate a certain amount of constraint. I read in a book somewhere that soldiers in battle at the front had only one desire, to sleep soundly, and while on one hand I feel sorry for those soldiers, I am also terribly envious of them. To break free from this vexatious and awful never-ending cycle, this flood of outrageous thoughts, and to long for nothing more than simply to sleep—how clean, how pure, the mere thought of it is exhilarating. If someday I could live a military life, and be disciplined harshly, then I just might be capable of being a self-contained, beautiful daughter.”

“In my heart, I worry about Mother and want to be a good daughter, but my words and actions are nothing more than that of a spoiled child. And lately, there hasn't been a single redeeming quality about this childlike me. Only impurity and shamefulness. I go about saying how pained and tormented, how lonely and sad I feel, but what do I really mean by that? If I were to speak the truth, I would die. While I am perfectly aware of what I should do, I can't even utter the words. All I do is feel wretched, and in the end I fly into a rage—I mean, really, it's as if I were crazy.”

“I'm sorry, I formed the words softly. I only ever think of myself, I thought, I let myself be coddled by her to my heart's content, and then take such a reckless attitude with her. I can't begin to imagine how hurtful or painful it must be for her, instead I always avoid thinking about it.”

“Nobody in the world understood our suffering. In time, when we became adults, we might look back on this pain and loneliness as a funny thing, perfectly ordinary, but—but how were we expected to get by, to get through this interminable period of time until that point when we were adults? There was no one to teach us how. Was there nothing to do but leave us alone, like we had the measles? But people died from the measles, or went blind. [...] But if those people were to think about it from our perspective, and see how we had tried to endure despite how terribly painful it all was, and how we had even tried to listen carefully, as hard as we could, to what the world might have to say, they would see that, in the end, the same bland lessons were always being repeated over and over, you know, well, merely to appease us.”

["You said you wanted summer shoes, so I looked for some while I was in Shibuya today. Shoes have gotten expensive, too, haven't they."

"It's okay, I don't really want them anymore."

"But don't you need them?"

"I guess so."]

Extra:

No Longer Human: “The weak fear happiness itself. They can harm themselves on cotton wool. Sometimes they are wounded even by happiness”

Fyodor Dostoevsky, White Nights:

“at this moment a thousand valves have opened in my head, and I must let myself flow in a river of words, or I shall choke” “allow me, Nastenka, to tell my story in the third person, for one feels awfully ashamed to tell it in the first person” “I was already regretting that I had gone so far, that I had unnecessarily described what had long been simmering in my heart” “Because it begins to seem to me at such times that I am incapable of beginning a life in real life, because it has seemed to me that I have lost all touch, all instinct for the actual, the real; because at last I have cursed myself; because after my fantastic nights I have moments of returning sobriety, which are awful!” “And one asks oneself where are one's dreams. And one shakes one's head and says how rapidly the years fly by! And again one asks oneself what has one done with one's years. Where have you buried your best days? Have you lived or not?” “But how fine joy and happiness makes any one! How brimming over with love the heart is! One seems longing to pour out one's whole heart; one wants everything to be gay, everything to be laughing. And how infectious that joy is!” (I was actually only looking for the ones in red but I passed through the other ones while I was looking for them and like…i mean, what was i supposed to do?!? Leave them behind?!? …okay probably but like look at them!! How could I?!)

“You'll never know if you can fly unless you take the risk of falling.” – Dick Grayson, The Secret Origin of Nightwing

…okay, the entire lyrics of Hourglass by Set It Off but if I had to pick a verse…oof, okay, your fault, you asked and there are just so many good lines and I can’t decide so umm, yep, I already have like 1 and a half pages of quotes so who cares at this point, right? (why did u ask me this 😭😭😭) (edit: now it's like 3 pages and smth ashdjdjsndjsj) (i'm doing the quotes part in google docs) so here is practically half the song:

How did we get so jaded? I don't know / Was it the white lies feeding our egos? / I never valued minutes I burned through / Is that just how it goes? / Seconds I wasted, I was fixated / You're devastated, sorry to say / I can't fix it, is this where I give in? // I'm falling through the hourglass / And I don't think I'll ever make it back / So I throw stones at walls I'll never climb / Victim to the sands of time / Falling through the hourglass, the hourglass // Time is strange, it's ever flowing, never going back / It moves but only in one way / Turn the page, look back at what you wrote / Do you still feel the same? / I'll bet your mind has changed

#sorry this is so late!! asdfgh #but here it is!!#finally done lol #mila habla #asks

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tuxedaaron · 1 year

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Danny and Sam: Gone Ghost

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Sam is half ghost now? How did THAT happen? You'll have to read my Danny Phantom series on fanfiction.net for the answers (look for my Author Name, Aaron12, for my full library of fics). Obviously, I don't own the rights to Danny Phantom, but I DID design Sam's costume.

Be kind to me on this one. This was my first ever drawing using my Bamboo tablet and I did it from scratch, mostly just to see if I could pull it off. While the end result is more or less a success (in that it actually LOOKS like Danny and Sam), you'll notice that it's still pretty rough and ragged around the edges. My approach to drawing doesn't exactly make for clean lines on a computer program.

Granted, I was fully aware of its imperfections and limitations. However, my inexperience with both Photoshop and tablet work made it all but impossible for me to correct those problems at the time. To that end, I always promised myself that I would go back to this pic and fix it up one day, once I figured out how. And four years later, when I had nothing else to submit, I decided that would be the best time to do it. Frankly, I'm very pleased. With the bag of tricks I'd acquired over the years, not only was I able to smooth over this pic's rough edges, but I was also able to throw in some added flourishes and special effects that I always wanted to add at the start, but had neither the knowledge nor the confidence to even ATTEMPT. So what you're seeing in the updated image is the picture the way it was always MEANT to be seen. How many differences can YOU find? ^_^ Having said all this, however, I decided not to take the original pic down from my Gallery, because for all it's imperfections, I still owe that image a lot. Like I said, when I drew this pic, I had almost no experience with Photoshop and ABSOLUTELY no experience with tablets. But more than that, I also had little to no success emulating other art styles and I drew that first pic mostly just to prove to myself that I could do it. If that image had been a failure, who knows where I'd be right now? Luckily, it was enough of a success in my eyes to keep moving forward. And today, here I am, slowly getting better, slowly gaining recognition. And I owe it to one picture...and to each and every one of my followers on DA. I really can't thank them enough. So for that, here are both versions of my very first submission on DA. As always, I hope you all like it.^_^

#tuxedaaron #fanart #danny phantom #danny fenton #sam manson

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chapmanupscales · 2 years

Text

Where is TMNT 2003 4K? + Some Good News

-Last paragraph if you just want the good news-

Hey everyone. I’m here again making another post with no videos unfortunately. I’d like to talk about what’s been going on with this project. Well more so what hasn’t been going on… To start I want to apologize to everyone who’s been waiting on this for so long, I’m really sorry. I messed up. I said I’d do this and I haven’t yet. I still want to though. Not just because I want to for you guys but also for myself. I haven’t been able to watch the show since I stopped working on it, except for one day where I worked on it for a bit and watched the some of the first episode. It made me remember how good it is and how much I love it. So, I’m not gonna make any excuses, my dog didn’t eat my homework, but I want to explain some stuff.

I’ll just be somewhat open about it, I deal with some mental health stuff. It affects my daily life a lot. Mood, motivation, focus, appetite, thoughts. Some of it can make it so I can’t do anything for varying lengths of time. I take medicine for it, this is just what’s left behind after the medicine does it’s job. I take a special medicine for this leftover stuff which gets rid of all of it for as long as I take it, but it’s kinda expensive and hard for me to get. So for a while I was dealing with a lot of that. Lately I’ve been doing much better though. I really needed to focus on other stuff to help me so I couldn’t use my computer for 03 4K because you can’t really run anything else while you’re upscaling. Every time I tried to work on 03 4K I ended up realizing how much it sucked having my PC stuck upscaling all the time so I decided I’d hold off until something changed. I’m not really sure what. But, something did change. I was able to get another PC and some more stuff to help me.

Right now the old PC is dedicated to upscaling 24/7 and the new one is for everything else. The new one is also very powerful (3070ti with an i9) so if I need to I can switch them around and potentially speed things up. I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again. The current 4K versions up close are very bad and I really want to fix that. It will make to overall image a lot more clear even if you’re just at a viewing distance. Last time I checked the old 4K versions are still up. I don’t have the files anymore and I don’t plan on redownloading them. My subscription to 1Fichier has run out (I’ll renew it at some point) so the files don’t have the same protection that they used to. If they go a month I believe without being downloaded they get deleted. I haven’t checked but if they’re still up and you want them, get them while you can. Just know that they are very rough and I hopefully can make a much better version.

I’m currently working on cleaning up the original version of S1EP1 then upscaling it a tiny bit while keeping blocking to a minimum, and making the lines in the art as clean as possible without adding artifacts. No idea how long it will take. I never really figured out this program’s AI models so I have some work to do. I think I’m gonna post updates and comparisons. Depending on your screen you may or may not be able to tell the difference, PC is the best place to view. It is very subtle a lot of the time especially if you don’t know what to look for, plus Tumblr does stuff to images.

Thanks for reading and I wish you all the best,

Chapman

#tmnt 2003 #teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt2003 #teenage mutant ninja turtles 2003

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welcometotheunknownlosers · 2 years

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Well here is my Scara lore dump. I hope you all like it. I know I do :)

Warning: Big chunk of text that does not make the most sense and is theory mixed in with actual lore. Not all of this is canon, and while I think I've made it clear what is headcanon and what isn’t, I’m tired and I can’t catch everything. Read at your own risk. I have opinions and funny jokes here. I also am likely wrong about some of these things as I am just a human (or am I) and I make mistakes. Now that you are properly warned, here is my GIANT wall of text that is likely formatted horribly so you will just skim. Because if I wasn’t fixated on his lore I would as well. Also slight leak warning but its only those obvious ones that every Scara fan has to know at this point.

Nameless Era:

When Scara was made he had been given a name. It was probably a really cool name, but he can’t remember it at all. Ei and Yae might still know it but considering they use the name Scara chose for himself (Kunikuzushi) they probably don't care to use it. Anyway, he wasn’t created to be like the Raiden Shogun, ie, his sole purpose was truly only to be a prototype to hold the Electro Gnosis, which is considered by him to be his heart. According to Yae, he was indeed created as a boy, but I still like to think that he just decided to trans his gender and everyone is supportive. But I digress. Scara also wasn't created to look like Ei at all, which is funny considering he looks like a desaturated version of her. Personally, I think Scara was created to be like Makoto, in personality and all. However, that really has no basis. I just think it's cool.

Anyway, Scara was created for holding the Gnosis, right? So when Ei gave it to him, and he cried in his sleep, he got his Gnosis privileges revoked because he was “too fragile”. Why was he crying? There’s no definite answer, but I believe it is because the Gnosis gave Scara at least a glimpse into Makoto’s memory, more specifically her last moments in the Cataclysm. Which could be a cool Segway into Scara telling the traveler about that event but that's also not the focus here. Another theory is that Celestia is a bully and yelled at him through the Gnosis.

Disregarding that, Ei was like “oh no” and took back the Gnosis and put Scara into an eternal sleep (Spoiler Alert: He wakes up) much to the chargrain of Yae, who thought it would be better to just destroy him. But Ei thought it would be ‘kinder to just let him sleep forever. One possible reason is that (going back to my previous theory) because he was inspired by Makoto, outright destroying him would be kinda like killing her sister again. Which is not fun. Either way, Scara ended up being put to sleep indefinitely or, as it felt like for him, was tossed aside like trash.

Waking up, X years after Creation:

We don’t have a definite time frame for how long Scara was asleep, but we can make an estimate. If we assume he was made within the first year Ei became an archon, that allows us to get the maximum time for him to be asleep. He likely woke up some time after Chiyo (Ei’s Oni Friend) went crazy, I would say that gives a 20-25 year maximum? But I’m not that good with assuming time so take that with a grain of salt.

Now, why exactly Scara woke up is also not confirmed, but our best guess is something to do with the Ley Lines disrupting whatever magic was keeping him asleep. Speaking of magic, Scara at this point has all his magic divine powers sealed away. And along with that, he lacks emotions. Just a complete blank slate. This is because his “heart” was taken away. When he wakes up, he is completely alone in the world. At this point, Scara decides to take up the art of wandering, and wander around he did, exploring the land of Tatarasuna, Kannazuka (Ironically, he was a godly puppet abandoned in the place that means ‘land where no Gods reside’), where his story truly begins.

First Act, Kunikuzushi:

When he was wandering, he was discovered near Nazuchi Beach by the Shogunate working at the Mikage Furnace, led by Mikoshi Nagamasa (The adoptive son of Chiyo) with his yoriki Katsuragi. Found by Katsuragi, he is taken in, and starts working with them, even performing a sword dance for the newly forged Daitatara Nagamasa with Katsuragi, which is commented to be one of the most beautiful ever performed. It was here that Scara witnessed the hearts of others, and began his longing to have one of his own. And speaking of Katsuragi, Scara grew close with him, describing him as a kind, young deputy. At some point, Katsuragi learns of Scara’s true nature, likely through the feather he wore (Plume of Luxury - Husk of Opulent Dreams) that proved as a connection to Ei. He is told to hide that from the others, because there is no knowing of what they would do if they found out.

At this point, Scara had not taken a name, and is known only as a wandering eccentric. But misfortune soon struck. Some disaster occurred, whatever it was, one of the effects was a howling wind, which he can still hear if he covers his ears. Despite this, it was unnatural, and everyone was unprepared for it. Because of this, it seems their only option is to go to the Grand Narukami Shrine. Unfortunately for everyone, they can’t go, likely due to orders from Nagamasa, who wants to prove his worth after his family name was stained from Chiyo, well, going murder mode. Scara, wanting to save them all, attempts to sneak out and go, but is caught by Nagamasa, who there learns of Scaramouche’s nature as well. He instantly does not trust him anymore, since he believes Scara is a spy from the Shogun to make sure he isn’t doing anything wrong like his mother did. However, due to Scara being neither man nor mechanism, the only thing that he can do to punish him is lock him up. So now not only was everyone suffering, Scara was unable to do anything.

However, a stroke of luck came from Katsuragi directly disobeying Nagamasa’s orders and secretly breaking Scara out, who hurriedly rushed to get to the Shrine. On his way to the harbor, he passed an ill child, who asked where he was going. He told the child where, and the kid responded that those people who left to there hadn’t come back yet. Scara could only smile at the kid when he left to save the others (When Scara would come back, he noted that the child was nowhere to be found). He truly believed he could save them, because, well, the feather he had was a proof of identity from Ei herself, surely that meant something? That Ei would surely come to his aid?

However, when he got to the Shrine, he likely learned of how Ei had come to stay in the Plane of Euthymia, and thus would not help him personally. Yae reassured him, though, that Ei wouldn’t abandon him, but Yae herself would do her best to send help as fast as possible. This was good enough for Scara, who made his way back to the island, preparing to face the consequences of escaping, but also to bring the good news of help arriving. However, once he returned, he discovered that two people had died, not from this disaster, but because of Nagamasa himself. The two who died were Nozomu, who died from burn wounds taking the Daitatara Nagamasa out of the furnace where it had been cast, now renamed the Katsuragikira Nagamasa, after it was Katsuragi, Scaramouche’s first and only friend, who had been slain by Nagamasa in a fit of rage after discovering his misconduct.

This sparked something in Scara, who instantly sought out Nagamasa. When he found him, they got into a fight. Nagamasa told Scara to “Not hold it against him”. Despite that, and the fact that we don’t exactly know the outcome, a reasonable inference would be that Scara did, in fact, hold it against him, and killed Nagamasa. This is where I believe Scara took on the name of Kunikuzushi, the country destroyer, as this is also where he pledged to destroy the Raiden Gokaden, the 5 bladesmithing families in Inazuma.

Before I go any further, the game says that the Raiden Gokaden was a plot by the Fatui. However, I do not believe this to be the case. The only one with a motive to actually carry out this plan would be Scara, as what would the Fatui have to gain from this? I believe this is the case of the player having more knowledge than the Traveler at this point, because we knew of the Raiden Gokaden incident and who caused it long before the Irodori Festival, where it was officially revealed. Plus, he introduced himself as Kunikuzushi, not Scaramouche or the Balladeer, which he would have used if he was with the Fatui.

Why did he act like this then? Well, I have a theory that has little basis, but I think it would work. In Kazuha’s story quest, we meet a blade that had been warped by the Tataragami Energy held on Tatarasuna. While Tataragami has numerous horrible effects on people, Scara, being an artificial being, would be affected more like the sword, than a person, only receiving psychological effects, which could be why he swore revenge, as without emotion, why would he care? We know that the Tataragami Energy, when not contained, can affect the environment, so could the disaster that have been brought upon them be a result of that energy? I believe so, but again, not a lot of solid evidence. Just theory. Back to the main point.

After deciding that the best way to avenge his friend is through absolutely destroying people who had no connection to him, and who had no clue who he even was, Scara started killing. It’s not confirmed that the three arts that he completely eradicated were murdered, but considering how the one act we know for sure he did was murder a whole bunch of people and mess up their forging diagrams, we can only assume he did something similar.

Before we move on to the 4th Art, let it be made clear that this was a bad move by Scara, because most of the reason why he even continued to do this plan in the first place was because he found it fun. Why dude??? Moving on, the 4th family that he was going to mess up was the Isshin art. Scara assumed that this would be the same as the last 3. It was not. As he was beating up and killing these people, one man was saved from a killing blow by his hat. When it fell off, the man was revealed to be Kaedehara Yoshinori, more widely known as Kazuha’s great grandfather. Scara stopped there, for some reason, recognizing the man. He asked if he knew Niwa, whom the man said was his father. Scara let him live after that, only stopping to tell his name.

Why did he let him go? My only theory is that he could be a descendant of Katsuragi, as Katsuragi was an adult and could very well have had kids. However that is just theory as well. Most of the survivors there fled to Snezhnaya, where they were taken in by the Fatui (as stated before, I don’t believe Scara was a part of the Fatui now, but this could be a reason why he was). Scara stopped his revenge plan, leaving the last family untouched. While doing this, Scara evolved some sort of God complex, believing he is above all others, and that only he decides his fate, and nobody else dares meddle with it.

Second Act, Scaramouche:

Scara gets approached by the Fatui on his travels. He finds them interesting, and funny to be around. As such, it would only make sense for him to join these mask wearing individuals. And so he did. Quickly, likely because of his status as a divine entity, Scara became the 6th Harbinger. He took a new name, leaving Kunikuzushi behind and becoming Scaramouche, and taking up the title of the Balladeer. But still, he desired a heart of his own. He desired the Gnosis.

And the Fatui had an answer for that. A delusion. It could replace the hollow emptiness of his chest, and allow him to feel, and be whole. But that was a lie. It was like fitting a circle into a square hole. Sure it fit, but it wasn't proper. The only feelings he could feel was bitterness, hatred, annoyance, selfishness, not the good, kind hearts that he had been so jealous of in Tatarasuna. But a heart was a heart. If he took it out, he would be back to feeling nothing again. These feelings made him the least popular harbinger of them all. He could only barely tolerate the others when needed, and they hated him in return. None of the lower ranked Fatui even wanted to work with him. But he could care less.

What he did care about, was his own power. Dottore was allowed to experiment on him, making him stronger, unsealing his powers, and going beyond his original capacity (And if we go with the Scara trans headcanon that is definitely when he got his totally legal top surgery). Now this was a payoff. Even if the matters he had to deal with bored him most of the time.

In time, Scara was sent to Mondstadt to investigate the strange Meteorites that had fallen there. In his trip, he was unsuccessful in both of his attempts to kill the Traveler, who had been there by chance. Yet he did discover in his research the truth of this world. The sky is fake. In game there is no elaboration on this, instead he says his iconic line “so long, suckers” because he has parental controls still enabled and cannot swear. What is so special about the sky being fake? Well Celestia is in the sky, and the sky also reveals your fate if read by an astrologist. Scara could very well have stumbled into a plot by Celestia, which he perhaps was not meant to find.

Either way, he reports back to Pierro, and is later assigned to handle the distribution of delusions on Yashiori Island to help with spreading the Fatui Agenda and just screwing up Inazuma’s fragile balance even more with the Vision Hunt Decree. This is where I believe Scara gets a dream. This dream, he had disregarded as a trick by Dottore, believing that he himself could not dream. But the dream was a vision of his past self, saying how he would finally attain the heart he desired, after the failed attempt with the delusion. Soon after, the Traveler would eventually break into the factory, where Scara was working. Scara was taunting the traveler, and almost killed him with the energy the factory was producing, before a blast from the past appeared.

Yae Miko. The Traveler is passed out at this point, so we don’t know what exactly was said between the two, but what ends up happening is Yae Miko strikes a deal. The Gnosis for The Traveler, which Scara hastily accepts. It was all he ever wanted. He didn’t care for the Traveler at all. Without telling his coworker Signora, he flees Inazuma with the Gnosis, knowing that the Fatui will be on his tail for his desertion and betrayal. He ends up in Sumeru.

Third Act, Wanderer, and my beliefs on what will happen:

Scaramouche is heavily linked to the Kabuki Theatre, in name, and in lore. In the Husk of Opulent Dreams set, it says that his life, like the Theatre, is divided into three acts. Signifying this, he casts aside his old names, Kunikuzushi because it does not suit him anymore, and his Fatui names, because he can no longer call himself one. Instead, he returns to being nameless, and simply calls himself a Wanderer.

Another theory could be that the Gnosis factory reset him- making him how he was, forgetting his actions. But thats stupid. While I wish that playable Scara is electro (for the sake of I NEED TO NOT HAVE A 4 ANEMO TEAM), anemo Scara makes a lot of sense. I have always headcanoned his delusion to be anemo, so I guess I win there.

I hope they have a good reason why he can’t use electro, like maybe his powers will be re-sealed or something. I do fear for Scara, as it seems like Dottore actually knows his every move. If that means that Scara is predictable, or if there is some sort of tracker or some tech that lets Dottore do it, it makes him pretty scary.

If Scara does join the team, I think it will be like Childe, a mutual team up but not allies, you know? I feel like Scara definitely also knows about the Abyss Sibling, and that might make us inclined to help him. Perhaps when we first see him again, it will be the boss fight we all are hoping for, but after we beat him up, we realize what we have to do. I do hope that Scara doesn’t lose the Gnosis, but I feel like he will end up without it.

But maybe he will find out how to be happy without a heart.

To sum this all up, I really enjoy Scara’s lore, and I hope that that was pretty obvious while I was writing this. Who knows? Perhaps in Inazuma, there will be a play inspired by the acts of his life, called the Kunikuzushi Scaramouche Wanderer, as per traditional Inazuman play name standards.

#Scaramouche #genshin #genshin lore #genshin theory #scaramouche genshin #scaramouche lore #lore #theory #im so sorry #i spent hoURS ON THIS #IDK WHY

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michaelkrentz · 1 year

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Django Freeman character analysis

I have to say Django unchained is a pretty decent western and the Quentin Tarantino version is a little better in some cases than the original 1966 spaghetti western set on the US-Mexican border set after the civil war in which Django, a union soldier and rambling man, also played by Frankie Nero and his sidekick who is a mixed race prostitute, fight off Mexican revolutionaries all the while he tracks down kkk members who happen to be apart of the confederate red shirts gang. I like the Quentin Tarantino version better for the story and the original more for the gunfights. I mean let’s be honest, old westerns were way better but the Tarantino one is an exception. However I do feel that with fictional characters that it is good to definitely Have minority representation in the cast of characters for it is pretty cool when the story calls for it rather than “forced” diversity as we see in everything now and people wonder why the arts industry seriously sucks. The gripe I have with this new line of filmmaking is it is propaganda being released to force this social justice idiocy on the viewers yet it has the opposite effect like we see with all collective finger pointing as it breeds the opposite of what was intended like how we saw the more conservative stuff in films and hippies ruined society with the boomer “me” generation who needs “ to rebel man, “ and then the gen x group saw this hippy crap in filmmaking and decided to make cooler stuff like Starwars which rocks and totally get away from both forms of propaganda in the name of good story. I also disagree with the whole “need to identify with fictional character to fit in society “ group because if you really do you should honestly cut the crap and get into reading history, realize you’re not an expert on everything and actually do your part. It’s the same thing as incel culture or how the modern soy boy will apply Harry Potter to a current event over some kid who reads things on social economic problems and culture and global conflicts instead. Now with that baloney said let’s get into this fantastic character which was initially the only good race swap that ever worked due to a change in story that served the character in which the original was a John Brown abolitionist type to the vengeful slave in the latest iteration which serves a totally different universe which I will say is stupid they should of just made a different film. Also dynamite was used a lot here and that wasn’t invented till the late 1860s. I only said that to make that bother you now when you watch this cool film. LAUGH AT ME HAHAHA

A German bounty hunter by the name of King Shultz seems to be looking FOR SOMEONE OH THE FORESHADOWING. Then finds Django and absolute beast on the colt new army ball and cap as well as the Henry 45 70 long colt, is bought by the bounty hunter in an effort to locate his targeted men in which he does with the help of Django. After finding his men he then…. Offers …… to…… HELP DJANGO in finding his wife who is owned by his former slave master in MISSISSIPPI OOF . They come up with a plan after Shultz the krautinator agrees to help him and they had the objectives of earning a way to be welcomed into the owners home in an effort to save Django’s wife. This film also has some really silly things for comedic relief like the scene when the klansmen can’t see out of their peanut sack masks. I do think Jamie fox did a pretty good job on his part and I can definitely see how his role as a strong black protagonist is important for things like this did actually happen especially around 1878 when Ulysses Grant made the kkk enemies of the state and hunted them for union soldiers did not hate confederate soldiers because that is stupid, for they in real life did sometimes hunt slave owners. It’s a pretty good film and still captures that old school western style I love seen in films like A Few dollars more or Josey wales or the good, the bad, the ugly or even shows like lawman or gun smoke with James Arness. I however, to answer the question wether or not that I consider myself hero or anti hero, I’m not sure I mean I see what many people today, flooded with cancerous post modernist views, I guess I would be considered anti but that means nothing to me for I have seen what makes these peckerheads cheer. I see Django as the hero obviously but I believe he is being seen in the wrong light. He commits multiple atrocities throughout the film however, he has done it to savage slave owners and the south’s worst criminals so I do not believe he is wrong. He also tends to have a cynical nature to him thinking man is really just evil for the most part.

Django is also very vengeful for even after his buddy there, Shultz is killed by Candies bodyguard, he takes his wife’s freedom papers from his body and bids farewell to his mentor as he tracks down Candies bodyguards and slave trackers down and kills them to avenge the killing of Shultz and then eventually freeing his wife. Django is pretty influential to black audiences because of how he is represented as the hero in this story set in 1858 set a few years before the American civil war and combats klansmen and slave owners and their security as well as their slave trackers and anyone else those southern democrats had to throw at Django. Overall it was a pretty good film but I think many of these dopey liberal filmmakers took this idea too far and created hot garbage like Velma. Django was a phenomenal film and definitely one for all western fans to watch and take a liking too.

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canmom · 2 years

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I'm trying to write my first isekai light novel. While I have a concrete idea of what I'm going to do, I want to be sure that I'm literate so to speak. Can you recommend a very short list of the key isekai works (whether manga, anime, or LN) that I should review to be considered well read in the genre?

Would that I could! Unfortunately, I am also not especially isekai-literate, so I suppose I shall throw that open to my dear followers in case they have suggestions!

As for me... the two like... classic, tropey isekai that I’ve personally read/watched are... well, first is Kumo Desu Ga, Nani Ka (So I’m a Spider, So What?). That’s a good example of the ‘Japanese student reincarnated as a low-level monster in a world with RPG mechanics’ sort of story, and particularly the dungeon arc where the protagonist gradually rises to be a terrifying monster was a lot of fun as a story of an underdog getting ahead by guile and trickery. It also is a little unusual in having a girl MC, whose inner monologue carries a lot of the story.

Of the many versions of this story... I started with the manga, before reading the LNs (in official translation) to what was available at the time, and later got the chance to catch a bit of the anime. The anime has the problem that the main character's dungeon antics - the heart of the story - were deemed too complicated for traditional animation, but unfortunately the CG used instead just doesn't have the charm, particularly the monsters. This does mean the team can lavish unusual resources on the human characters, but they're just not half as interesting as Kumoko. So imo, go with the manga or LNs for this one. The manga has, oddly, cut must of the human character interludes (although I'm not up to date, and that could change), but it's a great presentation of the rise of Kumoko. Honestly this story is very fun but not especially weighty in whichever version so don't worry too much about it though.

I’ve also watched a bit of the JC Staff anime adaptation of Shokei Shōjo no Bājin Rōdo (The Executioner and her Way of Life), which is a yuri one that caught some buzz recently; this one imagines a sort of roughly 20s-era magitek world where people are routinely isekaied from Japan, and follows a woman whose job is to execute them before their powers wreak havoc. This assassin is assigned to hit an isekaied girl with time travel powers she can’t kill, so they go together to a place where the girl can be killed, the assassin maintaining a cover story of sending her back to her homeworld. But of course, all is not as it seems, there are hints of conspiracies and time loops afoot, not to mention intersecting lesbian love triangles. I’ll probably watch the rest at some point, the premise is cute, but mostly stopped because the visual design and animation didn’t grab me.

Both of these works are definitely like... several generations down the line isekai works in that they presume you have a certain familiarity with isekai conventions. The protagonist of Kumo Desu is a social outcast who’s read isekai Lns and is thus very genre aware, while Executioner opens with a parody of the bland short-haired boy isekai protagonist appearing in the world before it gets to the substance of its story.

But you asked for the main landmark works not some niche lesbian ones lol. Definitely the behemoth in terms of sheer amount of popularity is the Sword Art Online franchise, which is a very standard power fantasy story: thousands of people get trapped in full-immersion VR MMO, and it follows a boy who’s just better at the game than everyone else as he travels around and builds a small harem of totally obsessed girls on his mission to beat the final dungeon so everyone can escape the game. I watched the anime adaptation of this years ago during an episode of depression and decided I hated it, so I never watched any of the sequels! To be honest it was probably an overreaction, I feel like I’d find it hard to be as bothered about like, the incest bit at the end these days.

I believe SAO is very much the codifier for what a ‘default’ modern isekai looks like. And by the same token, it does exemplify the problem I have with a lot of isekai: the protagonist is usually an audience-projection character, and if you don’t feel inclined to project onto that character, it will totally fall flat. “I just don’t care about this boy”. That’s the main reason I haven’t really gone much further than dipping my toe into isekai.

Your best bet for a starting point might be the history section on wikipedia, which mentions a few major works - although it somewhat conflates isekai (a modern genre which developed primarily in Japan within the last couple of decades) with the broader concept of ‘portal fantasy’, which captures the majority of early fantasy novels. It also notes some precursors; Spirited Away for example is technically an isekai, but not what people would normally think of when the word ‘isekai’ is used.

From that page, we might note that Mushoku Tensei (2012) is credited with popularising the reincarnation trope on the web novel website Shōsetsuka ni Narō, although it wasn’t quite the first to do it. There were a trickle of isekai works in the 80s and 90s, such as Tomino’s Aura Battler Dunbine (1983) and CLAMP’s Magical Knight Rayearth (1993), or indeed old-school weeb fave Inuyusha (1996). I would love to say more about any of these but I haven’t got that far in my explorations of older anime lol.

That said, the Gainax series Abenobashi Mahō Shōtengai (Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi) in 2002 might be one of the first isekai with the modern connotation, in that the main characters are otaku, and there’s an overt appeal to otaku interests and storytelling tropes as the underlying basis of the fantasy world. Is that really a fair distinction? I don’t know, but genre self-awareness definitely seems to be a key feature of modern isekai. It sounds like more along the lines of Gainax otaku soul-searching rather than like... ‘wouldn’t it be cool if you could go into an RPG world’.

As for some other landmarks, particularly ones that break from the litRPG fantasy world default... Dr Stone got buzz a few years ago, although I’ve only watched a couple episodes of the David Production anime (a small but evidently passionate studio best known for adapting JoJo). That one’s got a fun, stupid premise: everyone gets turned to stone, but a couple of highschoolers manage to break out thousands of years later, after which the science nerd one has to figure out how to rebuild industrial processes from scratch; he’s opposed by a ‘perfect primate high schooler’ who represents like, an extreme of physical masculinity. I didn’t watch very far so I’m not sure where they go with that but from what I saw it was mostly like, an excuse for the author to infodump about limestone kilns and such.

Another one I’ve not seen, but I’m curious about if only out of morbid fascination is Youjo Senki (The Saga of Tanya the Evil, 2010), which sees a Japanese businessman get reincarnated as a young girl in a sort of fantasy version of Nazi Imperial Germany but uh with wizards or something. It sounds like... if you had to make up a premise to exemplify all the Bad Trends in anime, ‘salaryman gets isekaied as a loli in nazi germany’ is like, pretty close to a full bingo card lol. Anyway the selling point of this one is apparently that the protagonist is just totally unsympathetic and evil - although stories where the protagonist ends up the archvillain rather than the hero aren’t exactly uncommon now, I believe it was actually quite early in the wave of web novels, but only a few years ago got adapted by Studio NUT, a very young but talented studio which created the charming and stylish Deca-Dence. Is there anything of substance here with such a ‘charged’ premise, or is it just an exploitative mess leaning on the otaku fascination with Nazi aesthetics? I have no fucking idea, but if I ever get around to doing the deep dive into the treatment of nationalism in works like Attack on Titan and Kerberos which draw so obviously on Nazi imagery, I feel like such a work will be relevant to the analysis.

Moving on... it is not an isekai but a pure secondary-world fantasy, but I think Dungeon Meshi (Delicious in Dungeon) deserves mention as just a very good manga that takes your familiarity with the idea of an RPG dungeon delve as its basis. As well as the charmingly clear and expressive art style, Dungeon Meshi does a really brilliant job of imagining the ‘dungeon’ as an ecosystem, with the early chapters introducing you to the way various monsters live (and what they’d be like to eat!) while gradually setting up a very compelling story about demonic temptation. It is a story that really lets you feel like... humans are indeed animals, existing in a food web. It’s coming up to its finale now, so that’s very exciting. Also has one of the best catgirls I think I’ve ever seen.

Well, by this point I’ve exhausted my very limited knowledge, so I guess throwing it open to everyone else: any isekais - LNs, manga, anime - that stand out as especially interesting to you? Any historical landmarks that we should be aware of?

#isekai #anime

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glindyupland · 5 years

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✔️ Extremely stubborn and suspicious.

✔️ Rather Inclined to Giggle. Doesn’t Put Things Away.

#Mary Poppins #Mary Poppins Returns #Guess who saw Mary Poppins #Please don't ask me what this is man #Couldn't decide which was better so you get both now yikes #I have a line art version but I like the sketch texture idk #My Art #My Drawing #Pixie Dust #Glindy's Post #help I’ve fallen and I can’t get up #PS Jane Banks is an angel of an aunt and I love her #Also Mary Poppins is probably an Ymbrine change my mind #her bird form is a Robin and she has radically chosen to take care of non-peculiar children #only acceptable AU to her being a Time Lord.#sorry I don’t make the rules.#I couldn’t make the measuring tape look good yikes #and the colors do NOT translate well from my computer to my phone but I give up honestly.

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mxtantrights · 3 years

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The magic-spy and the bird

the best friends brother trope is in my top 5 tropes. but I've also got a thing for angst. So here we areeeee. enjoy! <3

dick Grayson x f!reader

Jason Todd had asked you specifically to ask his brother out. And he did use the word brother, which you made a point to bring up. He shot it down but still decided to push his message towards you. You should ask Dick out. It wasn’t that simple.

“Jay I don’t think you’ve thought this through.” you said.

He chuckled, “Of course I did. I wouldn’t say it out loud if it wasn’t a well-cooked plan.”

You made a face at him.

“Okay look, all I'm saying is you’ve got nothing to lose. If anything you're way out of his league.” he said and then gulped down the rest of his beer.

You didn’t like beer and so you worked on a Pina colada. You had done the whole beer thing for years now. As a trained spy it was your go-to for missions at bars. Safe to say you were sick of ales, craft beers and everything in between.

“Ah yes, the magic using spy.” you nodded your head.

Jason nodded along with you.

“Exactly. Bird brains would eat that up.” he said.

“And when would I tell him that I knew about his secret identity? Before I tell him about mine or after?” you asked.

Jason sighed and raised his hand for another beer. You rolled your eyes at this. Once he had a thought it was very hard for him to let it go. Especially when it included a thought about people he cared for- no matter how much he claimed the opposite.

“All Im saying is, you never know until you try.”

“What are you a fortune cookie?”

“Fuck off. I’m being serious and I do give great advice you can ask Duke.”

2 DAYS LATER

You look at Caliban with bated breath. He had just gotten info on a magic-based rebellion. Work was tight when you rolled with the good guys for too long of a time. You blame that on two men on your life, Jason and Constantine.

“I’ll put in a good word for you.” he says.

“Thank you, I really appreciate it. And any-”

Before you can finish telling Caliban that he can call in a favor from you at anytime your surroundings change. In a flash you go from one of the underworld crime bars to a room you’ve never been in before.

You look around and sure enough you see the culprit. Constantine.

“There she is!” he smiles.

Not only did he summon you, he did so in front of an audience. Circled around him is Gotham’s crime fighting family. All of them except Jason, Cass and Duke. All of which know about your secret identity and would’ve stopped Constantine from summoning you. The rest of the family are all looking at you liked you’ve grown a second head.

You look down at what you’re wearing. The long sleeve off the shoulder skin tight black dress was the perfect choice for the club you were supposed to be in. Maybe not so much for a meeting with the Bats and his birds.

You look right ahead at Constantine, “I don’t like being summoned.”

“Ah, but you’re the best person I know for this job. I had to get you over here.” he says.

You take a quick look at all the other people in the room. Then at the screen behind them. Your information is plastered on it. Well, the information that you’ve decided to let the government think was yours. Your codename was at the top of the screen.

“Constantine says that you’re the best way into the underworld.” Batman says.

You’re confused to say the least. Constantine was Constantine, why would he call you in order to get them into the underworld when he can do it himself? It defeats the purpose of having to call him.

“I’m sorry,” you direct to Batman and then look at your friend, “I need you to state specifically what I’m needed for.”

Constantine moved from the family over to you. As he did you watched as Nightwing followed him with his own eyes. Now Dick knows you’re not just Jason’s friend from around Gotham. Great.

“Bats got intel that something it going down with this magic group, the-” he starts. “hex mutiny.” you finish.

“You already know about them?” Nightwing says.

“I was just getting someone to put in a good word for me with them before you summoned me here. You’ve got great timing you know that?” you say to Constantine.

He smiles, “Well then it seems like you can be of great service, spygames.”

“And what exactly would I be doing, if I can even get a spot with them?” you throw out the question to the family.

Red Robin crosses his arms, “We need someone on the inside to tell us what they are planning for Gotham.”

“I doubt they’d let a newbie in on their plans.”

“Good thing you won’t be a newbie.” Batman says.

Constantine conjures an amulet in his hand. You want to hit him over the head. He could really be a pain in the ass. You grab it from him.

“With this, you’ll be in the perfect position to get in and get out. Easy.” he says.

You shake your head, “Every time you say that I get a new scar.”

“I promise sweetheart. No scars this time.”

“Yeah yeah, you owe me for this.”

EXACTLY ONE WEEK LATER

You knew you would end up wounded. Typically with Constantine it was nothing deadly, or nothing your own magic couldn’t fix. But you knew that your luck had to run out some day. And it wasn't his fault.

After finding out what the group was really up to you couldn’t just let them operate. They weren’t really rebels. No they used that name to paint a narrative. They were fascists.

You held the wound to your waist to stop the bleeding. This would have to be the farthest you could go. There was no way you could run out of this. Not with the blood seeping through the cracks of your fingers.

At least you brunt the members down to the ash. It took a lot out of you. And that’s why you weren’t prepared for a hit that tore right through you.

“Why aren’t you moving?” Jason, or Redhood, said through the comms.

You leaned against the hallway wall.

At least you’d die someplace pretty. When you first came in you didn't notice how clean and meticulous everything was. There were painting of famous magicians on the walls. Along with some stolen art, a Van Gogh or two.

You ripped the amulet off your neck and felt the illusion fade. The necklace fell to the floor and you let out a pained breath.

“I think,” you coughed and on the clean wall was not splatters of blood, “this is it.”

You could hear Jason shouting on the other end. He was calling out your name, calling out for Constantine to come and help you. Duke was calling for you too. And you could’ve sworn you heard Cass say your name once.

With your only free hand you tried to open a portal out of the base. You knew it would be useless as you had a mortal wound and portal magic works best under no stress and panic, or blood loss. The usual light from your hands glowed faintly until it didn’t.

“Constantine can’t summon you?” Dick asked.

At that you let your body drag down the wall until you reached the floor. When you did sit down more blood came out. So you decided to lay down horizontally.

“Hey hey- I told you I wasn’t gonna let anything happen to you.” you hear Constantine through the comms.

You want to laugh, but it ends out more of a chocked gargle.

“I screwed up the mission. I deserve it.” you said.

“You did good. Better than any of us.” Batman said.

“Constantine you need to call in whatever favors you have to get her out of there. Now!” Jason shouted.

“Dont,” you started.

“No. We’re getting you out of there-”

“Jason, I’m not a saint. I never would’ve imagined going out like this.” you said.

Once you were born you were thrusted in this world. All you knew was to use magic as a weapon. To get ahead, to get power, to get the glory. And that lasted you until you turned 19.

Then Constantine crossed paths with you. He was the one to show you that magic has other uses. Such as helping and healing. You learned the best stuff from him. And you took what you learned and began to help in ways you could.

You didn’t go on the straight and narrow. Never did you consider yourself a morally correct person. Sometimes the lines were blurred, or they need to be blurred. And so you took down seedy organizations, went on recon missions all over the world.

It wasn’t justice. But it was close enough that you could sleep at night or the odd hours of the morning for more than four hours.

“Sweetheart I don’t break my promises.” Constantine said finally.

You were just beginning to feel your eyes grow heavy. The pain was starting to be comfortably numb. Then above you appeared someone you weren’t expecting in the slightest.

“Caliban?” you asked.

“You owe me double.”

4 DAYS LATER

When you woke up you felt battered and weak You weren’t used to these feelings and you weren’t used to being so close to death. Everyday was a new experience when you’re the Priestess of Espionage.

You cracked open one eye to find a couple of deviants at your side. Jason, Duke and Cass. The youngest took the chair next to you while Duke and Jason seemed to take the floor. Since they weren’t in their gear you guessed that you were out for longer than a couple of hours.

“Not my version of hell but I’ll allow it.” you say in a raspy voice.

It wakes everyone up.

Jason and Duke bolt to your bedside.

“Why’d you almost die on me?” and “Are you feeling okay?” come from them both, respectively. It makes you want to laugh but when you feel the ache in your waist you stop yourself.

“I’m alive, so there’s that. Positives.” you answer.

Jason shoots his younger siblings a look and they scurry out the room. You try to sit up to ask what it was for but he puts his hands up for you to stop any movement. So you lay back down.

“He would kill me if you tore your stitches.”

You shut your eyes, “Jason I don’t think Constantine would kill you per say.”

You hear the door opening so you decide to open your eyes. And sure enough you see Jason leaving the room and someone coming in. Dick Grayson, out of his suit as well.

As much as you wanted to, you couldn’t read his face. Besides the clear betrayal that was there. He definitely knew that you knew he’s Nightwing.

“Hi.” you say.

His face softens, “Hi.”

“I just want to say that I would’ve told you about who I am. Sooner that you think actually but this mission kinda derailed all of that.” you say.

With his arm crossed over his chest he nods, “How long did you know I was Nightwing?”

You wince.

“For about two years now. Once Jason told me he was Red it was hard to not notice the similarities of the Wayne family and the Bat one.”

He laughs at that and you let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding. It must be going good if he wants to laugh.

“And when did he tell you that I like you?” he asks.

“He didn’t explicitly say that.”

There’s a beat of silence. You’re looking at him and he’s looking at you. But he’s the one who seems to be holding his breath this time. You try to hide the smirk you feel forming on your lips.

“What?” he asks.

“Jason had told me that I should ask you out. He didn’t say anything about you liking me.” you answer him.

The red tint that covered Dick Grayson was absolutely adorable.

He nods his head to himself. Twice.

“I- I’m gonna get Jason for you.” he moved to the door. And you don’t really know what to say. All your words get jumbled in your brain and you can’t put them together in a way that is smooth enough so you deicide to just try your best.

“If you were to ask me out, I would say yes.” you say.

He looks directly at you. Then his signature smirk appears.

“I’ll bring back some food for later.” he says.

“it’s a date.” you answer.

#dc x reader #Dick Grayson x reader #nightwing x reader #Dick Grayson imagine #nightwing imagine #dc imagine #dc #nightwing #Dick Grayson #Jason Todd x reader #Jason todd imagine

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artemis-entreri · 2 years

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[[ Artemis Entreri’s Cloak Clasp Design: A Detailed Analysis

Although it is never mentioned or described in the books, Todd Lockwood’s design of Artemis’ cloak clasp has become an insignia of the assassin’s canonical look. Both fan and official artists have included this element in their portrayals of Artemis, however due to the small size of the item in the cover art, there have been many variations in its depiction. As I’ve been working on a 1:3 scale replica of Artemis complete with his armor following Lockwood’s depiction, Todd was kind enough to provide me with full resolution samples of his original paintings of this particular item. I can’t share those samples as that would go against Todd’s wishes, but I can and am sharing my investigation process.

The above two images are, respectively, a three-dimensional version that shows the relations of the various shapes and lines, and an unshaded version. These are assuming that one is looking at the clasp straight-on, as well as that the clasp is in a flat state, which I don’t think is its final form. These images were drawn up with real life replication in mind. I will go into detail about what its most likely final form is based on Lockwood’s paintings below.

Before I get into that, I’ll go over the steps that this investigation took. First, it required a good look at and study of the source material. I did directly trace from the paintings and then isolated the tracings so as to get a better look at the lines:

As you can see, there is a fair amount of inconsistency within Lockwood’s art, in part due the angle in some cases and lack of rendering in others. The first one, from the painting for the cover of Promise of the Witch-King, is the only one that shows all the details, so that was the one I referenced most heavily, while ensuring that the concept fit the other paintings as well.

This isn’t the first time that I’d studied that cloak clasp design. The most effort I’d put into it previously was for this piece. Although it isn’t apparent from that drawing, the bottom of the shape didn’t actually close, so I had to rework it before using it as a starting ground for this investigation. Here is the adjusted version from that:

This rounded shape did feel the most pleasing in terms of symmetry, but it wasn’t accurate because what “roundness” that appears in Lockwood’s paintings of the clasp is due to angle and perspective. So, after straightening out the edges, I figured out the relations of the various lines, then made an image document in which I could move those lines around to generate the overall shape.

This is the first result that came out of directly adapting the lines relation from the rounded version into a non-rounded version:

It wasn’t as aesthetically pleasing as the rounded version, and my initial thoughts were that it was due to the two crisscrossing bands A and B being too thin. I also wanted to experiment with making the top band C thinner, like how it appears in the cover of Road of the Patriarch.

However, simply making A and B thicker would’ve meant obliterating some of the side shapes, so I went with making A and B gradually wider. I arrived at this:

Although I liked the look of A and B, space 1 was too big while spaces 2, 3 and 4 were too small. To make 2, 3 and 4 bigger, there were two approaches: make A and B thinner, and decrease the slopes of A and B. I decided to do both to see how it’d turn out.

C also felt too thin, but since I was going to be tweaking the relationship between the other shapes, I left it the way it was going into the next rendition:

This looked much better. As with the previous attempt, A and B in this attempt also gradually increased in width, but not as drastically. The relative sizes of 2 and 3 looked about right, but 1 and 4 were both too big. Decreasing the size of 1 by increasing the width of C would also mean decreasing the sizes of 2 and 3, unless I also increased the slopes of A and B again.

But then, I had this crazy idea of incorporating non-straight lines, so things got a bit wiggly:

The curvature did allow 2 and 3 to be bigger while also restricting the sizes of 1 and 4. In the above, A and B remain the same width across the diagonal.

However, I did feel that the curves were too much, so I experimented with making A and B less curved while also increasing their width like I did with some of the straight line examples above:

This was probably my least favorite one. A and B were overall too wide, C was too thin, 1 was too big, 2, 3 and 4 were too small. And, ultimately, I went back to the fact that the perceived curvature of this object is due to perspective, and that I needed to stop copping out and just focus on finding a good geometrical relationship with straight lines.

Ironically, for the result I was most happy with, I returned to the first attempt I’d made. After some adjustments and erasing lines following the depiction on the Promise of the Witch-King cover, it was finished.

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

All of that was just for the design of the top piece of the cloak clasp. As for how it would function, my work was quite cut out for me. I still don’t have a mechanism with which I’m totally satisfied, but I’ve made the following deductions:

First, based on the art, there seems to be a bottom piece that's attached to the chest piece or the belts, something like this:

The belts cross over Artemis’ chest, and like the chest piece they’re on top of, follow the curve of his ribcage. Thus, this bottom piece of the cloak clasp would have to be similarly curved so as to conform.

Then of course the top piece goes on top of that base:

The top piece would also have to conform to the shape of the bottom piece and chest armor, so would be similarly slightly curved along the vertical axis.

As for how this entire contraption would serve its function as a cloak clasp, my best theory is that the side view of the two pieces is something like this, so the cloak can be shoved into the opening:

It would have to work by having some teeth or grabbing hooks in between the two pieces that will hold onto the fabric. I’m honestly pretty stumped. I know how to make it look like the art but not function like the art.

I will update this post if I ever figure it out, but for now, at least the aesthetics are correct. ]]

#Artemis Entreri #legend of drizzt #Forgotten Realms #reference

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nightlight-firelight · 3 years

Text

Hi everyone! Sorry for the long wait! Art block (Or writing block?) is the worst and I’ve been busy. I’m also trying to make this a gender neutral story and I’m not too experienced on this so hopefully I’m doing ok so far! Now with that out of the way, on to chapter 2!

“Falling (in love) So Fast That I Can’t Even Think!”

Chapter 2

You take a second to realize that he was holding you a bit tight around the waist, and the silence of the tension began to build every second that neither of you moved.

“Hi?” You ask him. You mentally smacked yourself in the head for that comment. At this point of view, you can see that the, now real and very handsome doctor, eyes were a shade of blue that could take your breath away and-

“Oh, um,” Eggman studdered out a bit softer and less confident the what you have seen him in the show. “Hi.” He finally decided to look around at his predicament and examined your room.

“Where am I?” Eggman finally pulled you back onto the bed, creaking slightly from the unexpected new weight. Your mind finally snaps back into reality as the warmth from his hands fades from your hips, already missing the connection he had. You need to relax, and not freak out the poor man sitting on your bed.

“You’re in my room.” You finally managed to push the words out of your lips. His face turns to confusion and worries at all of the merchandise of not just his universe, but the main Sonic series as well. His mind mostly likely wandered into a ‘crazy fan’ mode and tried to back up. You perk up and lean back slightly, making sure to not fall off the bed this time, but also give him some space to relax. Ivo’s movements began to quicken as he still backs up, almost falling off the other side of the bed. He catches himself and looks at you with a face of slight panic and worry.

“What’s all this? Who are you and what-” You cut him off with a hand slightly raised, signaling to calm down and to relax. “Breath, please. I won’t hurt you.” You promised him as you instruct him through a breathing exercise. After a small bit of confusion between the two of you, you lead the poor man into your living room, hesitantly on his part, and led him down on your couch. Just walking into your kitchen to grab two white ceramic mugs, you hear him clear his throat.

“So, what’s going on?” You can feel his gaze on you as the first mug is filled with hot liquid, the steam coming from the filling mug as your brain thinks of what you should do. You switch mugs, taking out his mug for yours. You take a breath.

You’re in my house, and not in your multiverse.” Finally giving him some type of answer as his, at this point, huge bear paw-like hands, envelope the mug and took a small sip. You went to grab your mug as he commented on the choice of beverage you had given him.

“Hot Cocoa?” The question you as you at on the opposite side of the couch, holding what you liked to think, that at this moment was your liquid courage. You take a small sip and taste the liquid pooling into your body. You almost blush as you remembered the ‘CowBot’ episode where Eggman offered Sonic and Tails hot coco and messed with them, waiting for his machine to arrive.

“I thought you might like it.” You confess as he stairs back into his cup, pondering on his whole situation. He takes a breath and looks at you.

“Can you explain to me how I may have gotten here?” All you could do is nod as you start the long trek into the explanation of who is and on all of your knowledge on how he may have gotten here.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

The next few hours were, as you expected, emotional. You had to start with who you were, where he was, and leading him into the conversation that may or may not have caused way too much emotion for the both of you.

“So the main series follows Sonic and his friends, but mostly Sonic, throughout his adventures fighting his version of the doctor. There in the form of games.” He takes a sec and has a look that tells you to keep going. You explain all the story of how the franchise came to be from the nineties till the game you were kinda worried about. Sonic Adventure 2. You tell him the basic plot points and slowly explain how the Main Univers Doc’s Grandfather died along with his grandchild, Maira. He winces when you explain this and see that he’s shaking whenever the two popped up. When you explained that Shadow was made by his Grandfather, his mood perked up and he getting giddy and you have to admit, his cute squeal of figuring out that somewhere he could be related to one of the most powerful people on his island. You smile and after his cute reaction, keeps the conversation going with more information about the franchise. By the time you had reached the current point of the history of the franchise, the man had a lot of questions.

“So let me get this straight,” Eggman’s posture was lax as he was leaned back into the couch, making himself more at home for the time being. “You’re telling me that the main version of me has released a water monster god, a prototype of Shadow, that is a giant lizard, a god within the earth that’s made of darkness, and tried to play with time and space like it was a toy?” He questioned as he took another sip of his now lukewarm cup of cocoa, stroking his mustache pensively, looking at you for a reasonable answer on why he would do so. “Well the BioLizard thing wasn’t truly his fault, but the rest were planed. And I’m saying ‘planned’ with quotes because I don’t think for a second that he thought a few of those through.” You chuckle at the main Doc’s decisions. While you did think his plans were really good, sometimes you think he may have never really thought things through before going to start his plans. Doc downs the rest of his drink as you realized that your cup is still half full. He sets it on the counter in front of the two of you and leans back into your couch. You smile at the thought that he’s finally warming up to you. In all reality, he could take you down with a swing of his fist and run anytime, but having him trust you this much to serve him a drink and have a nice conversation did bring up some fuzzy feelings you have been trying to push down withing the last few hours.

“So I’m still confused, how did I get here?” Doc asks as he cracks his spin a bit to relax better. You take another sip of your dink and set your cup down. You look him in the eye with a bit of confusion. “I’m not sure. I just watch the DVD and you were the one to start seeing me, after the ending of your battle with Sonic and Tails, that white light appeared and you grabbed me before I fell off my bed.” You look towards him and blush a bit, your face now warm from the memory of the save. “Thank you for catching me, I don’t think a concussion would have helped the situation now, would it?” You try and make the small joke appealing to make it less awkward. He blushes and nods, a small ‘no problem’ slips from his lips as you can see he’s trying to not make eye contact and his cheeks, just slightly visible under his mustache, a small bit of warmth wraps around his cheeks. Your brain gets hit with a moment of clarity and you jump up from the couch and take a second to grab your DVD player from your room, bringing it back to him to study. “I’m not sure if this would help you get back home,” You start, “ But it’s a start.” You also hand him the note that came with the box along with the Sonic figure. He takes the figure first and rolls it over a bit, looking at the detail.

“So this figure and the note came along in the box with the DVDs?” He asked as he set the figure down as he grabbed the note. You blush and remember that wasn’t the only thing in the box. You almost had forgotten the figure of the living breathing man in front of you. You ask him to give you a second and hurry back to your room. Searching the room, you almost give up on finding the figure, until you spot it halfway under the bed. You bend over and grab the figure and examine it. It’s still the same figure, but less detailed now. It actually looks like how one of the box set figures is. Cheaply made and having a missing paint splotch here and there. It still was a good-looking figure though, just not as best made. You start your very slow pace back to the living room, taking a small bit of time to think about something. The Sonic figure was still the same as it was before the doctor arrived, why did the doctor change-. You stop mid-way in your hallway to finally piece a big puzzle together. The figure of the doctor was some type of catalyst for his arrival. Like a gateway to get here. ‘And now that the figure is back to normal, does that mean that the Sonic one-’ You didn’t finish that thought as you hurry back to the living room, the doctor just putting the not back onto the counter. He looks up as grabs the DVD player and sets it onto his lap. He smiles as you enter the room.

“ Hey, you ok?” He asks you as you sit back down next to him, gently grab the Sonic figure, cradling it with some care.

“I’m ok,” You answer with some melancholy in your voice. “It’s just that I’ve been thinking of something that just came to me.” You look over to him, Doc staring back, patiently waiting for you to continue. You take a breath and look him in the eyes. “The box set also came with a figure of you as well.” You explain as you gave him the small toy, his face going into a slight pout over the quality as he looks it over.

“I’m much more handsome than this.” He sulks over the craftsmanship of his figure compared to the one in your hand. You pat him on the back with your free hand, feeling him tense for a sec and then relax. You giggle at the line, remembering it from the 30th-anniversary comic. Your mood lightening up a bit at his reaction. “It was actually just as well made before you appeared in my room.” You explained as you rub your thumber gingerly over Sonic’s quills. Your mood dampens a bit. “I’m really thinking that the figure was the way-”

And a giant flash of white engulfed both of your eyesight. You scream as you feel a sense of weightlessness as you clutch the figure closer to you. Opening your eyes after that flashbang of light, as see that you’re in. You blink and take a look around. You try and gain a scene of where you were as you feel like you were falling down. You see Eggman trying his best not to scream as he is also in the same predicament as you. You look at this ‘tube’ as you decided to call it and take a look a the warping walls. They move with colors that remind you of the goop In Super Mario Sunshine. The colors of yellow, magenta, and white mixing together and making the whole experience feel like a trippy dip around a pipe. The tube had some slight aura to it as it was some type of fuzzy feeling in the back of your spine, not good but not unpleasant either. You look down past your now slightly screaming partner in crime to see a large warp ring that looked something right of the Sonic movie, looking to land right over some type of woods. You realized from the rate your accelerating from and the height from the ring to the ground would lead to more than a few broken bones.

Holding your breath and snaping your eyes closed as you wait for the pain to hit, the now cool air of the new land you arrived on pools into your skin as you want to feel at least a bit of joy knowing that right at the end, you feel cool. You never did feel the ground but instead a pair of arms holding you and the sensation of rocketing back up. Opening your eyes, you see Doc holding you again, having been lifted from the ground by two sleek black jetpack type of wings protruding from the back of his jacket. He looks down at you with a smirk and chuckles a bit.

“We have got to stop doing this.” He’s sarcastic, and the potential way of flirting, way of teasing sends you a bit more than tomato red in the face as you wonder if it’s the altitude of the comment that making it hard to think right at the moment. You almost didn’t hear him as he starts to talk.

“It looks like we’re flying over Seaside Island Jungle.” He starts to explain. “I’m going to fly us back to my lair and we can figure out from there what’s going on.” You look over his shoulder for a brief second to see the portal closing and finally dusting away with a puff of gold sparks. Looking back and see a breathtaking view, seeing the full grand scale of the island from up in the clouds. You can even start making out at sever locations from both seasons. You only think of what’s going to happen next when you see golden sparks emulate from your closed hands and feel a heavyweight in your arms and Doc quickly getting down to the ground, getting to be just at the end of ‘Nameless village’ as your reflexes grab on tightly to what you were holding onto. You both look down and see a very unconscious Sonic the Hedgehog in our arms. You look him over and inspect the teenager and see that he’s breathing, and in an ok shape. You look back at Doc and even he’s surprised by this addition to the group.

“Is he ok?”You question him as he gives Sonic a once over. You getting used to finally landing on the ground, stretching your legs after that small adventure.

‘He’ll be fine after some rest, but he looks exhausted.” Eggman questions as you scoop Sonic back up into your arms, being careful of his quills, making sure you don’t end up looking like a human banana peel. You look over at Doc and he looks like he’s, and you have to look a bit more closely at his expression because he looks, jealous? You ponder on that thought that the man might be jealous of the unconscious blue blur as the both of you set off into town, wondering where to go from here.

“Hey!” You hear a cry from in front of the, three? of you. You look up and see four multi-colored anthropomorphic animals. “What did the two of you do to Sonic?” Cried the two-tailed Kitsune. You see all three, with the exception of Amy, who at this point is trying to stop the trio, of Sonic’s friends close in around you. You give a panicked look to Doc as it dawned on you that Doc and yourself were about to be attacked by Tails, Knuckles, and Sticks.

Shit.

#dr eggman #eggman #sonic boom #dr eggman x reader #dr robotnik x reader #sonic franchise #writing #fanfic

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emblemxeno · 3 years

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JP vs. Localization in Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation

(Okay, for real this time lol)

Again, here’s a link to my sources post.

Fortunately, this route follows suit in terms of good localization quality after Conquest. It’s the shortest out of all the posts, since I don’t really have a lot to talk about. Mostly subtle line changes, references and a few key points of information that were cut out. I also went through Hidden Truths and Heirs of Fate to see if I could add stuff from those on here, but there were no big problems that I found.

Once again, the main part of this post will all be put under the cut. If a chapter isn’t covered, it means I didn’t think there were any differences worth talking about.

I’ll use localized names for characters and locations, unless I feel the need to do otherwise.

I’ll be using she/her when referring to Corrin in this post. (I flipped a coin to decide the gender lol)

Also, note that after Chapter 14, the translation of this route on Fateswartable ends, so I mostly relied on the English patch done by Serenes at that point forward. (I also used PegasusKnight.com as a reference to fall back on if I needed it)

Chapter 7

-A minor gripe I have with localization. The JP version compares Touma (Valla) to hell constantly. To jump ahead a bit, I believe in the JP versions of the End of All Sky/Land/Below tracks are even called The End of All Roads Heaven/Earth/Hell. The Vallites are also often called demons in the JP version, and Anankos himself is known as the ‘Invisible Demon Dragon’.

Another cool thing I just thought of too, is a connection to a popular Japanese short story. Zelda fans might be familiar with the story, “The Spider’s Thread”, which inspired the Ancient Cistern dungeon in Skyward Sword.

The beginning of the story has Buddha walking through paradise (heaven), before coming across a pond. The pond is filled with crystal clear water, and covered with water lilies/lotuses. As Buddha gazes further into the pond, he begins to see the depths of hell.

Sound familiar? “Azura is walking through Hoshido, before coming across a lake. The lake is filled with crystal clear water, and when she gazes into the lake she sees the fallen kingdom of her birth. Valla, the kingdom associated with water lilies/lotuses in the game, has been turned into hell itself.”

This association loses its meaning a bit when the comparisons to hell are a bit toned down, as well as when the Buddhist inspirations were kind of supplanted in favor of Greek renames. It’s not supremely important to the plot as a whole, but it’s something interesting I wanted to bring up.

-In the JP version, while explaining what happened in Valla, Azura eventually says “Using the art of manipulating people’s souls, he (Hydra/Anankos) made the people kill each other.” This bit of the people killing each other was cut in localization.

Chapter 12

-In the JP version, when Corrin asks Flora if she knows anything about dragons, Flora says “Sorry, I don’t know…The ancestral dragon of the Ice Clan has already perished and isn’t part of the legend. I don’t know what role it plays, sorry…” Localization makes her response “I'm sorry, but I can't think of anything... They've been gone so long that we don't even have tales of dragons in the Ice Tribe. I'm sorry I couldn't be of more assistance...”

So, the JP version explicitly says the Ice Dragon is dead (I believe Fates’ second artbook mentioned this as well), whereas the localization only says the First Dragons have been gone for a long time.

Chapter 16

-There’s not really much of a problem that I have with what Ryoma says about Corrin “having leadership qualities at a young age” but I wanted to do comparisons regardless cuz the word choice might lead one to different conclusions. In localization, Ryoma says this:

Ryoma: Huh... So she told us the same thing... I don't think it's in Corrin's nature to lie. And there's a leadership quality about her that just attracts followers. I remember being jealous of her as a child, in fact. Even at such a young age, she displayed the characteristics of a ruler. Silly to be jealous of her, right?

In the JP version, Ryoma says this:

Ryoma: Oh... So, she told you the same thing. …Corrin isn’t one to tell lies. She’s been like that since childhood. She’s always genuine and honest... She has this mysterious appeal that draws people to her. Seeing my younger sister with the qualities of being a ruler... Honestly, it makes me feel envious. …What a ridiculous thing to say, right?

Again, I don’t necessarily have a problem with how it was localized, but some might. The localization version might have people think that Corrin somehow was a fantastic leader at such a young age, but JP is more clear that it was about the qualities she had at a young age that would be valuable as a leader.

Chapter 19

-A minor gripe. In the localization, Azura says that Anankos uses his magic to send Vallites to Nohr and Hoshido to stir up conflict. In the JP version, she says he uses magic, along with the help of a body of water. That’s why whenever you fight Vallites outside of Valla proper, there’s a body of water nearby; Hoshido’s lake (and the ponds shown in Hinoka’s CQ battle which are in the capital) for Chapter 5, the sea for BR chapter 11, the burning falls for BR chapter 21, and the city for Rev chapter 13. Similarly, the consequences of being a victim to the curse are described as “turning into sea foam” in the JP version. Localization as a whole kind of toned down how much water has an influence on the story.

Chapter 23

-Probably the pettiest gripe I have lol. As Arete is fading away from Azura’s arms, Azura has a different reaction in localization and Japanese. In localization, Azura says “Mother? Mother!” while a voice clip of her in-battle pain cries plays. In the JP, she says “*Sob... Sob*…! Mother... Mother...!”, while a voice clip of her crying plays. Her crying voice clip I don’t recall hearing anywhere else.

This is one of the few times in the you get to see Azura express a heavy and heartfelt emotion, since her rough childhood caused her to remain guarded and stoic around everyone. The equivalents to this scene in other routes is her death scene in Birthright, and her crying with Corrin over Ryoma’s death in Conquest; a normally unflinching and aloof character breaking down is a rarity, and indicates that the cause of it is something to take note of for the character as a whole. Localization softened this aspect, and I take issue with it, despite it probably seeming trivial to most other people.

Chapter 24

-When Corrin is questioning the phantom Mikoto, an exchange happens. In localization, part of it goes like this:

Corrin: But this can't be... Are you truly my mother?

Mikoto: I am. Even as a puppet of Anankos, my spirit at least remains my own.

Corrin: I... I believe you.

In the JP version, it goes like this:

Corrin: It can’t be... …Are you really my mother?

Mikoto: Yes... I became an Invisible servant, controlled by the Invisible King... Even so, I am your mother.

Corrin: …………

Again, a minor thing that I don’t personally have issue with, but replacing Corrin’s silence with an admittance of belief could make some believe she has “reverted” back to being too naïve.

Chapter 26

-While Gunter is relaying his past, an exchange happens. In localization, it goes like this:

Gunter: I ask myself that, every day. I cannot understand the minds of royals. To you all, we commoners are little more than pawns in your schemes... Or weeds to be killed on a whim.

Corrin: That's not true...

Xander: Is that how people view the royalty?

Ryoma: Such an impression would easily breed powerful resentment...

In the JP version, Corrin, Xander and Ryoma don’t say anything. They just remain silent.

Endgame

-Not a major problem so much as a general thing about the game, but I can think of like... at least three memes that Treehouse inserted into the localization. Now I like memes, but there is no better way to date your media nowadays. One of them was Kana’s “That’s dragon for I love you” which tbh, is kind of cute and isn’t the most well known meme so I guess I can let it slide. Another is Felicia saying “I had one job!” when she messes up in the dining hall, which isn’t that big of a deal since the dining hall is very optional.

The last one I can think of is why I put this specific grievance here, and it’s during Corrin’s speech before facing Anankos.

Corrin: We won't back down! This is my... This is our destiny! Ready your weapons! Fight for your friends! With the Seal of Flames... With the Fire Emblem on our side! We fight for our world!!

Yeah, she says “Fight for your friends” which is everyone’s favorite Ike line from Brawl. Now, this isn’t even a totally inaccurate translation either, but it kind of just... makes the moment funny for the player when it’s supposed to be commanding and serious I guess.

But yeah, not the most important issue by far, but something I’d thought to mention. Hell, it’s not even that bad compared to how they made Peri’s, Effie’s and Hisame’s quirks into exaggerated and tired jokes. And the Beruka-Saizo support. Never forget.

-When Azura and Corrin are by the lake and discuss the latter’s plans to rule, Corrin says this in localization:

Corrin: I'm going to make Valla a wonderful place! In honor of the true last king and for Queen Arete. And everyone who fought... I promise to make them all proud.

In the JP version, she says this:

Corrin: I’ll make the Invisible Kingdom (Valla) into a great land. For the previous monarch, Queen Shenmei (Arete)… And for all of my allies who fought beside me. I promise.

So, JP version only mentions Arete as the reigning monarch of Valla. Which makes sense, cuz unless there was some wild “keeping the bloodline pure” shenanigans in Valla, Arete being the Queen keeps in line with what we know about the rest of Valla’s history. Arete was royalty from birth, as was her sister Mikoto. Arete is the one who passed down Lost in Thoughts and the pendant to Azura.

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antiloreolympus · 3 years

Text

7 Anti LO Asks

1. Do you know what really gets my blood boiling about this comic? Persephone and Demeter's relationship.

In the myths, Demeter and Persephone loved each other more than anything. Their reunion is so important - it marked the coming of spring and growth. A whole cult was dedicated to this for crying out loud. Yes, the myths were far from perfect, but the Persephone and Demeter myth showed the strength of a loving mother-daughter relationship with Demeter searching endlessly to find her child that was ripped away and had her innocence forcibly taken.

Now, RS is not the only author to make Demeter this over-bearing mother type in order to put more positivity onto the Hades-Persephone relationship. However, RS takes this trend to a whole new level - to the point where I would even consider it misogyny.

How is it, she takes this beautiful mother-daughter relationship and makes it out to be an abusive and controlling one, and then takes the Hades-Persephone relationship from a forceful one to a loving, perfect relationship with no problems? How is it ok to ruin one relationship to elevate another?

I understand that many versions of the myth try to downplay Hades' actions, and even make it so Persephone actually falls in love with him and there is no rape. But it doesn't change that this relationship was problematic, and meant to represent the loss of innocence.

Then fans have the gall to claim this comic is feminist and then claim on top of that that Demeter and Persephone's relationship was the same in the myth? These fans clearly don't know the myths, and neither does RS.

Making Hades a good person is fine. Changing it up a bit to make Persephone's loss of innocence something else is also fine. But ruining Demeter and Persephone's relationship? Especially when Persephone has to spend half the year with her? So horrible.

2. im sorry, but rachel cant introduce KRONOS coming back and then dropping it for several episodes to focus on a stake-less trail and persephone not knowing what lingerie to seduce hades in. like thats too much of an earth shaking development and huge stake plot point to just ignore for months to focus instead on something as minor as hxp's relationship, which only points out a huge flaw: why is hxp's relationship so minor in this? isnt the whole point supposed to be about them?

3. I think LO completely dropped the ball over Hades’ characterization.

From the first ep I thought ok, this is good, we have some bones to see he’s not that lucky in love and is just tired and lonely, and while ignoring the creepy actions towards Persephone, I thought ok, Artemis hates him, Hestia hates, even Ares hates him, maybe once Persephone finally sees the underworld and probably gets to know him it’ll be a clever twist and they’ll be proven wrong. The underworld will turn out to be fair and just, the citizens will love Hades, he’ll be revealed to be a good leader and king and not like his brothers, it’ll be like everyone saying Hades of myth isn’t actually that bad, and it’ll help reinforce why this sweet and bubbly Persephone wants him, she sees the real him, not the mean rumors and assumptions, this is perfect.

And then it just didn’t happen. The exact opposite happened, actually.

We’re shown the LO underworld is cruel and unjust, where the poor dead are forced into slavery and Hades created a harsh class divide with him and him only on top, the citizens hate him, the underworld gods don’t trust him and openly seem ok if he’s taken out of power, he’s not a good leader and king and doesn’t even want the job yet keeps it for his own ego and grip of power m, and on top of it all he is just like his brothers, if not worse. He loves to get violent over any little slight against him, he hoards wealth and resources to enrich himself while his citizens starve and struggle to survive, he’s corrupt, he controls all the media and laws to bend to his will, sleeps with his brothers wife for centuries behind his back while claiming to be holier than thou, he has sex with his secretaries who are made dependent on him for any way to survive, and now he lusts after his barely legal intern who is also now dependent on him for her way to survive, and that’s only what I remember off the top of my head.

LO perfectly set up to prove Hades isn’t the devil or the false pop culture assumption that he’s evil and to show some actual facts from myth, and yet Rachel only ended up reinforcing exactly that and even making him even worse with her made up ideas, all while thinking having Persephone ignore or excuse it somehow makes it not bad or even a good thing. It’s honestly kind of impressive just how bad of writing that actually is.

4. Chapter 172 is not that interesting. It’s setup had me excited to see Hephaestus and Hera and learning more about echo, but it’s cut so short. Because again the story can’t leave HXP out for 2 seconds.

I can also see why Zeus is gonna go insane.

5. i agree w/ other anon. LO should have pulled a PJO or a BoZ and just made up OCs and have them interact with the gods than whatever Rachel thinks shes doing, which is lying she's being accurate and faithful while completely changing all of it, removing what is needed, and adding what isnt so that it lines up with no actual myth besides like, various 50 shades fanfic she read in 2015 and some popular tumblr text posts.

6 . the animation studio behind blood of zeus literally can only draw one face for the men and one face for the women and they were still able to make the gods all look distinct and hot while LO can't even bother to use more than 6 colors and can only have the women look as tiny as possible with the biggest boobs while the men are all just lego men.

7. ////FP SPOILERS////

Okay so like I stopped reading LO way back before season 1 ended, and a majority of my knowledge of the series comes from what I read here on your blog which is enough for me lol and I decided to read the latest 5 chapters just to see what's up (on zahard. I refuse to give the actual series any views)

And I just. Could not take the whole scene with Daphne running from Apollo seriously? The anatomy and art inconsistency was so distracting that i genuinely could not find it serious. Even when Thanatos discovers her hibernated body I couldn't take it seriously because of how she looked?

And when Hades had that call (??? Was it a call? Or his inner dialogue? I couldn't really tell ngl) with Zeus and said he's causing Persephone unnecessary distress, and that she didn't pose any threat. B!tch??? She killed a ton of mortals??? She has no control over her powers???? She's literally a fugitive for the aforementioned things??? She apparently woke Kronos up? (Idk if anyone knows about that, again my knowledge only spans to whatever I read here) Hello????

And I have a lot to say about the chapters starting the trial but I'll only mention one thing; Hades saying "I don't think blindly supporting my little brother would be doing him any favours (as a ruler)" had me cackling. This is coming from a guy blindly supporting a girl he's literally only known for a few weeks, who's like what, only recently turned 20? Sit tf down Hades you're not cool, you creepy ass overgrown smurf.

Overall I still hate this series lmao. Regarding art though I feel like I wouldn't be so miffed about the anatomy much if the character designs were consistent and the story was compelling. They literally change hairstyles and body types frame by frame, and it's distracting.

The timeline from what I read here is laughable. 4 years in publication with almost 200 chapters and you're telling me only like a month has passed canonically. That's wild and such poor writing.

And as someone who literally will sympathise with any lead character pretty quickly, the story makes me hate them. It makes me want to root against them. I also hate the fact this trash is somehow top ranked on webtoons when so many other stories are far better then it.

Anyway, many thanks to this blog for existing and allowing me to dump so much text here to vent out my hate for this series lmao. You the mvp fam, hope you're having a good day 🥂🥂🥂

#anti lo #anti lore olympus #lore olympus critical #lo critical

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