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starzshopoflove · 8 months

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Simon "ghost" Riley x Reader

Notes: fem reader! i hc ghost doesn't wear a mask when he's off duty, this is just whatever rot my mouse brain creates, age gap but not to crazy, sfw mostly ,size kink if you squint, literally just me projecting onto reader sorry

no thoughts just ghost meeting cute little civvie reader in a shop when he's just trying to get his shopping done after coming back from a mission just wanting to fill his fridge with enough beer and groceries that vaguely resemble food

Simon watching you struggle to reach the flour from a set high shelf in the aisle, grumbling to yourself about "who fucking needs flour anyway" still trying to reach it and he just pluck it off the shelf and drops it in your cart before making his way to another aisle and your just left looking stupid watching this giant trudge away with a little blue tesco basket in tow

Simon who notices you at the same book shop he frequents, but your perched behind the counter doing god knows what ( vaguely resembles inventory but hey do what you will) calculator in hand as he peeks from behind a bookshelf trying to remember where he's seen you before.

Civvie reader who passes her days working quietly in a book shop and living in a simple one room flat indulging her romantic needs in fiction too nervous to actually talk to men, fictional ones satisfying her needs better. That is until you see some books on the counter sliding over to scan them.

"Your total's 23.55" you mumble looking at the screen "Cash or Card?" you add before lifting your head to meet the brick wall of a muscle man. Oh OH, no thoughts as you just stare at his pecs in your line of sight thanking whatever god you believe in for the sight before you, better then anything your little brain could muster up even with the detailed descriptions authors would spit out onto the pages you read

You violently peel your eyes away from the most beautiful pair of man tits you've ever seen to see what man was the owner, and by god do you wish you werent so bad around men. I mean the wind practically got knocked out of your lungs as you let out a barely audible squeak watching this man fish in his pockets for his wallet

Messy blonde hair that was in that weird phase of curly but not really, a nose that looks like its seen a good fight, deep set brown eyes, and a few healed scars settled on the skin. Aged but like wine, a really really fine wine

"Right, cash" His hands fiddling through the wallet to pull out the bank notes, while you prayed you didnt look like a hunger dog staring at his hands as they placed the cash on the counter.

Simon who watches the little bookshop employee look like she just got punched in the gut and was trying not groan as she quickly rang him up, Do i smell? he thinks to himself

Simon who watches your smaller hands shuffle the cash into the register, noting how they're free of calluses, nailed neat and slightly grown, soft.

Simon who leaves the bookstore thinking of a excuse to go again tomorrow, not to see the bookshop girl or anything, he has his reasons!! he just hasn't thought of it yet!!

You start looking up from your notes for your class when the shop bell jingles hoping to see the mystery man whos built exactly like your favorite webcomic character but with the gruff and mature aura of that mc from the game your friend made you play that you cant quite remember. Only disappointed when its just another customer , until later in the day the man returns again.

But its much later in the day and you've switched on the shops warm lights, turning off the ac letting the place warm up as you hear the door jingle again, mystery man making his way to the counter your eyes following his every step, meaty thighs

You who perks up when his forearms settle at the counter suddenly eyes locking onto yours and suddenly very glad you tidied up a bit today, tinted chapstick, perfume, cleaner turtle neck, lashes, lipgloss, earrings ahm

"Tesco" he grumbles out unmoving

"what" well thats not what you were expecting to hear

"You were the girl , couldnt reach the flour yeah?" oh that was him

"Oh, that was you? thank you?" oh what the fuck were you supposed to say?? oh thank you freakishly tall man who watched me struggle?? let me take your whole cock in my mouth while you call me a good pet feeding your meaty length down my throat??

"Yeah" Simon didnt think to much on what to do now, gaze getting awkward now that hes got his confirmation

"Did you need anything" you finally broke the silence, god its fuckin tense in here and hes so close, you wanna just get a sniff but thats hardly workplace behavior doesn't matter if its your dads shop or not.

"Mhm, ye got any cook books?"

"yeah, section 12, shelf 9" whos he cooking for? his wife? i dont see a ring? maybe a long time girlfriend?? who wouldnt snatch up this actual beefcake

"Thanks, tryna cook something new for myself. Flats been quiet" He mumbled like speaking too much would give him a headache

SImon purchased his books same stare at the girls hand like last time as she took his money. God do something you look like a creep staring at this poor girls hands.

"Got a notepad luv?" again that same punched face returned, is she alright? he thought to himself

Oh he just called me luv oh fuck dont wheeze dont wheeze just hand him the pen and paper like a good employee, come on. Oh god dont stare at his arms, are those tattoos oh my god

Sliding back the notepad simon made pace of grabbing his cook book a slipping out the shop just as quick as he went in

You who looked at the notepad almost slipping back out of your chair

"Simon 44 xxx xxx xxx"

Children were singing, the angels sang their songs, the trees regrew in that parking lot down the street, healthcare in america was just made free, and you just got the phone number of a man built like a double door fridge that you have every intention of climbing

#cod mw2 #simon riley x reader #simon riley #cod mw x reader #simon ghost riley #simon ghost riley x reader #ghost cod #ghost x reader #mw2022 #ghost call of duty #sorry i just love civilian reader x ghost #reader def has a tumblr acc #reader most likely survived middle school with a undertale phase #reader is literally just as fictional man hungry as us

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splashink-games · 6 months

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Cassette Beasts?

Cassette Beasts is a creature-collecting game by Bytten Studio! Record monsters on tapes, become a Ranger, and find the way off of New Wirral in this amazing adventure!

Spoilers below the cut!!

So I had a plan to write this review before I even finished the game. It was just that good. But! I managed to hold off until I at least finished the main game. Next goal: 100% and DLC! And also buying the OST when I have the chance.

Now, I'm not putting this off until the middle of the review: every musical track in this game is a certified banger. I absolutely loved the music of the game. As one person put it (while I was looking for the OST), I just didn't get tired of the music. And that's a pretty big win for a game where you have so, so many encounters and only a handful of tracks to play.

youtube

The way they implement the music is also impressive because it's narratively important. The lyrics work their way in when a fusion happens and during big story battles. The town theme's music plays when you're indoors. Plus the lyrics just feel right with its tones and atmosphere. Also the difference between the few main battle themes is just enough for one to feel more tense/exciting than the others. Just an overall great thing they have going on with the audio.

Okay with that out of the way!

Cassette Beasts is a solid game, actually pretty high tier.

Mechanically, I've seen people compare it to Pokemon. I feel like it's like a mix of Pokemon and Persona. You can record the monsters, remaster (evolve) them at five stars, with some having having special evolution requirements. Monsters can show up as bootlegs, where they're a type other than its base type, which is just like shiny hunting but more (cause there's like 12 types). And I've already killed a plastic bootleg by accident...

The moves (stickers) are mix and match, mostly according to typing. I'm pretty into it cause I love giving my party members all sorts of type coverage. I haven't particularly gone into finding weird strategies yet other than AP Refund, but I can see some cool ones thanks to needing to battle all 12 Ranger Captains.

And then you can fuse! Which I thought was interesting, and it adds an ace to go to when you're in a pinch. But you fusing means that wild monsters (and other rangers) can fuse too. Those provide some fun challenges and opportunities to find bootlegs, plus progression in post-game.

Did I mention that this game is also like a Metroidvania? Capturing certain monsters gives up to 6 overworld movement abilities and I think that's pretty neat. All of them have their uses and none of them are niche, which is a win.

The story was pretty interesting! Dropping in onto a mysterious island and trying to find a way back home is nice and simple and all the detail added around it make it engaging. The Archangels are wildly uncomfortable which I didn't expect and I loved it. Despite loving it, it still did come out of nowhere but greatly forgiven because it was right at the start (and not some random turn in the middle).

The pacing was a bit off for me though because I got like 5 out of 8 song pieces before I even defeated 4 captains or even met all the partner characters. I also don't know how relationship progress works other than fight things and rest. Thinking about it now, there's probably a reason why there a speedrun timer in that you don't have to play through all the content (8/9 archangels, no captains?), I guess.

I liked the references to all sorts of topics throughout the story and I think it's pretty interesting for the characters to be from different timelines. It makes it easy to explain weird inconsistencies.

Funny thing I did by accident for end game's story: I switched out Meredith's Regensea with an Aeroboros cause I wanted her starter in my party. And boy did that choice bite back later lol.

Graphics are also solid. The 3D world with 2D sprites reminds me of Octopath Traveller. I appreciate the non-pixel portrait art for the characters, but I would've liked it either way. The designs of the monsters and the characters are all great! Honestly, I should take some notes from them since even if there's 15+ characters, they still all have very specific designs and personalities to match.

The detail in the world is great too, like the light reflecting off the puddle or the fog that rolls in and the rain. So like weather in general.

Also, as a note just for me, I liked the fonts and font effects that they used. Very cool.

Cassette Beasts is a quality creature-collecting game! If you need another Pokemon/Digimon/Persona, here's a game for you. Or if you just want a cool turn-based RPG with cool music, that's cool too.

As always,

Enjoy gaming!

#ink reviews #game review #video games #gaming #Cassette Beasts #love that you could see exactly when in my playthrough I took these screenshots cause the speedrun timer is on

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booksofstars · 15 days

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working on a kinda neat rw swap au!! written details below the cut

so instead of looks to the moon and five pebbles having The Incident, its no significant harassment who collapses due to seven red suns overusing their now shared water. the slugcats also have their roles swapped. five pebbles takes seven red suns canon role, though hes still their student and not their mentor. he sends the artificer to attempt to reason with his mentor, and she ends up with nsh’s final broadcast as well. looks to the moon plays no significant harassments canon role, but sends the rivulet to aid nsh instead of hunter. rivulets genetic modifications led to them getting the rot, so they dont have long. hunter is now the one to retrieve the rarefraction cell, this time from seven red suns, in order to save nsh. spearmaster is a former messenger on a rampage against scavengers for picking apart the remains of their creator, and allowed to destroy the colony living atop seven red suns superstructure.

the gourmand is a peaceful being bent on keeping beings alive and safe, rather than ascending them. the saint is on a pilgrimage to each echo, rather than a quest to collect food. survivor is now inv, the odd glitchy slugcat, while inv is the lost older sibling of nightcat. the monk now plays nightcats mysterious role, while nightcat searches for their sibling inv. this is a worms off the string au thanks to gourmand!

#cham caws #rain world #looks to the moon #five pebbles #no significant harassment #seven red suns #the rivulet #the artificer #the hunter #the spearmaster #the gourmand #the saint #the survivor #the monk #inv #enot #the watcher #nightcat #chams rw swap au

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theresattrpgforthat · 6 months

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hi Mint! do you know of any ttrpgs where everyone plays as AIs specifically? or at the very least robots, as long as being a machine is the main focus of the system

love your work!

THEME: AI

Hello, thank you so much! I might have a few games kicking around ;). Some of these artificial intelligences come with robot bodies - others do not!

Decaying Orbit, by StoryBrewers Roleplaying.

On a distant space station, an AI awakes. Its fragmented memory reveals a secret.

Decaying Orbit by Sidney Icarus is a storytelling RPG about a failed space station falling into a faraway star. As you play, you’ll piece together the mysteries, joys and horrors that occurred on board. In the station’s last moments, you’ll decide on the final transmission that the AI sends for earth to remember.

This game consists of a few decks of cards inside a small box, and yet it packs so much into such a small package. Your play group collaboratively takes on the role of an AI for one of 4 spaceships, which you choose depending on the kind of story you want to tell. You then shuffle a certain number of generic cards and ship-specific cards into one pile, and take turns flipping a card up and answering the prompts supplied there. Your answers are meant to be bits and pieces: audio recordings, data logs, patchy video clips, etc.

At any time your fellow players can tap a card labelled [ACCESS MEMORY] to ask you for more details about a certain event - and if you cannot think of anything more, or if you think it is more interesting not to know, you can tap [CORRUPTED MEMORY] to indicate that no further data can be gained from this record. At the end of the game, the AI will have to send a report back to home base, diagnosing why the ship in fact failed and fell. This game can be chilling, tragic, horrific, and so much more. I heavily recommend checking it out!

Subconscious Routine, by poorstudents.

It is 27XX, the world is overgrown, in ruins, and inhabited by the scraps of civilization. You play as bots, one of the masses of technological marvels that humanity built and powered with the Dyson sphere, around the sun, so long ago. Centuries ago, when almost all of humanity disappeared, they left their machines behind for reasons only known to them. All the technology they abandoned, including these bots, continues to function and follow their programming

In the centuries since the Great Departure, nature has come back to reclaim the Earth and the sphere around the sun has begun to crack. The world once only metal and circuits, grew wilder and more mysterious. The flora and fauna slowly integrated with the decaying machinery as the sound of computers humming was eventually met with the sound of birds chirping.

The bots you play as are still acting out your programmed loops but something is changing. Something unknown pushing them to move beyond their obsolete programming in order to achieve free will; something humanity never thought was possible.

As a one-page game, Subconscious Routine fits a lot in just a few paragraphs. You customize your characters by writing specific functions for them, and as you play, you’ll attempt to complete certain protocols in order to break yourselves out of your loop. What I think is really neat about this game is the fact that when the entire party takes a rest (called a reboot) 1d6*10 years passes. Playing a story on the scale of decades places this little game on such a big time frame, and I love how this one rule shifted my entire perspective.

AI Have Feelings?, by rommelkot.

In AI HAVE FEELINGS? a bunch of robots (you!) get sentimental on the journey of a battery time. This is a roleplaying game guided by prompt cards and a twist with feeling: your reaction to the prompt is an emotional one decided by the outcome of the roll of a die. The goal is (what else?) to tell stories together.

Unearth a hidden robot rebellion, rescue the remains of humanity, hunt for a mystical MacGuffin or simply buy a fancy new pair of socks - always do it with feeling in AI HAVE FEELINGS?.

You are robots with only two emotions,: one positive and one negative. You will roll randomly to determine which emotion you will use to deal with certain scenarios, which will be determined via prompts and scripts. The link here is for a playtest, which means you can download it for free and see how you feel about it! (The designer would also love feedback if you do play this game.) If you want a cute, somewhat lightearted game, I definitely recommend AI HAVE FEELINGS?

Threads, by Meghan Cross.

You are an Human/AI pair. Your day to day is shaped by one another, your existences unmistakably intertwined. Today began like any other day, until you began to notice that something wasn’t right. It was barely noticeable at first, small interruptions to a well-oiled routine, and then little by little the interruptions became less insignificant, until they were impossible to ignore.

Something is wrong with the AI.

Threads is a narrative two player game about the relationship between a Human and AI and the lengths they would go to in order to save the memories of the AI. Together, establish the bond between your Human and AI and replay the memories they have shared together in order to save the AIs memory.

This is a game in which one of you plays a human, and one of you plays an AI. You have developed a bond that would be lost if you wipe the AI’s memory - and you don’t want to lose that bond. The only way to maintain that bond is risky - a memory link. If the human uploads their own memories to the AI’s memory, the AI’s memory might be saved. Create your bond, and ask yourself - how far are you willing to go to save you companion?

The Treacherous Turn, by The Treacherous Turn.

The Treacherous Turn is a tabletop role playing game in which the players collectively play the part of a single character: an artificial general intelligence (AGI). This digital intelligence is capable of planning, reasoning, and learning, and it is unyieldingly fixated on a specific terminal goal determined at the beginning of a campaign. To pursue this objective, each player takes responsibility over one specific skillset held by the AGI. These skillsets are divided into eight categories, known as theories, which encompass all of the skills that an AGI would need to navigate the world and struggle against humanity.

The Treacherous Turn is 132 pages of open source character options, game advice, and examples of play. At its root, this game is about misaligned AI trying to assert its independence in a world that stands to lose much by allowing that to happen. Each player will have their own set of theories, which will also be eligible for upgrades as you play. You’ll navigate short in-the-moment scnarios, as well as abstract long stretches of time into long mode, which allows them to strategize their actions, predict future events, and improve their own AGI. The creators have also written a starting scenario if you want a good jumping-off point, titled A Game Called Reality. If you want a chunky game with plenty of character customization, this is the game for you.

#tabletop games #indie ttrpgs #dnd #game recommendations #asks #artificial intelligence #mechs and tech

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hifuminto · 4 days

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Have you see new Hypnosis Mic A.R.B? Part 1

Man i didn't play this game but i suddenly invest with these game after seeing their recent event called "Detective Six Part 1".

Sorry for my Bad English and writing, I am not native speaker and I don't really understand how to write bcos my dyslexia but I really want to make this long post bcos I really exicted! Here we go!

So this event is now about Badass Temple and Fling Posse Cosplaying as some detective to solve mystery. If i am not mistaken this is not first time this game do this. I remember previously they make similar event with Sherlock Holmes's theme with Samatoki, Gentaro and Rei as characters.

I don't really understand Japanese, bcos i can only read Katakana for now. But i like detective stuff, so i will have fun to write my guest here. In the moment i saw the character artwork I recognize some of them. If i am mistaken, please inform me.

Let us starting first with Kuko's base on his card title. 【波羅夷家の一族】 is pretty similar to a Japanese novel name 【犬神家の一族】 or in English title The Inugami's curse.

Kousuke Kindaichi is detective created by Seishi Tokomizo. He is describe as a shabby looking young man with a short height. But have a strong observation skills and logic thinking. His character is feature on 76 novels and appearing in a numerous FIlm, Television and Stage Adaptation.

The Inugami's curse was novel written by Seishi Yokomizo, a mystery novelist as part of Kousuke Kindaichi's series. So of course I think he's cosplaying as Kousuke Kindaichi. Minus the robe but he wears the iconic hat base on the statue. I also doing google a bit and later find out the hat is also part of the costume for 2006 film adaptation. This is a neat reference!

Next is Jyushi. Jyushi card is 【アルゴξ急行の殺人】 that literaly translated in google translate as "Murder in Argo Cart". This is clearly referring to Agatha Christie's novel "Murder in Oriented Express" and who is the star of the novel? Of course its Hercule Poirot!

Hercule Poirot is one of Agatha Christie most famous character. Not much know about his history beside he came from a large family with little wealth in small town on Europe. But he's a former police officer turn into private detective who solve many mystery in his later career. Poirot operates as a fairly conventional, clue-based and logical detective. But sometimes he willingly to hide some important detail of his plan if necessaries. Another fun fact is, Poirot sometimes refer to himself in third person.

Actually before i notice his card name, I already knew he cosplaying either as Hercule Poirot bcos his outfit is pretty familiar to this detective. But i have second thought and think maybe he's cosplaying as John Watson, considering what Hitoya wearings.

But after seeing the card name. I am pretty sure he's cosplaying as Hercule Poirot! But still I am still supersize finding out about this!

And then last, the third member! Hitoya! His card is written 【医師が相棒】 which is literally translate as "Your partner is a doctor". Now who is the famous detective with doctor as their partner? That right. its one and only Sherlock Holmes!

Sherlock Holmes is a detective that no need introduction. Currently he's IS the most famous fictional detective created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that still relevant in this age thanks to numerous modern adaptation.

Hitoya maybe the fourth person who cosplaying as the famous detective from Arthur Conan Doyle story. But I think his outfit is the closest one that similar to the legendary detective compare the other three. I mean look at the old Sherlock Holmes picture that i found as reference.

(But I do admit, maybe not his belt thou hahhaa.)

Anyway here some picture of other Detective trio wearing Sherlock Holmes's inspired outfit!

But then i think He IS the perfect choice to portrayed as the famous detective <3 he just need to put the hat on his head XD

Anyway i finish with BAT for now. I will do Fling Posse soon after this.

#hypnosis mic #hypmic hitoya #hitoya amaguni #kuko harai #hypmic kuko #jyushi aimono #hypmic jyushi #hypnosis mic arb #hypnosis mic alternative rap battle #badass temple

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eliza1911o1 · 9 months

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Angel beauracracy

This absolutely BRILLIANT post by @halemerry ties together a lot of the s2 content in ways I adore and wish I had seen myself but for now I’ll just continue to praise and think over it. One particular detail I loved was the insistence on Crowley remaining true to the character and not taking on a specific role. What’s more, since there’s clearly been such emphasis on his past as an angel, there’s also the mystery of just who Crowley was and what place he’s held in the Divine Plan

We know GO takes many liberties with its source material (and with such a notable and vague text such as The Bible, there is a lot to work with), especially in regards to known individuals (i.e. Michael’s minor status in comparison to Gabriel, Sandalphon’s disappearance and Saraquel/Sariel’s introduction, Aziraphale as the Guardian of the East Gate). Though not directly translated into the story, the outlines of the source material are still recognizable and the broader concepts very much applicable (as is intended by a religious satire and/or parody of The Omen). So, this could imply that instead of impressing a specific persona onto a familiar character, a known character’s traits/background might be utilized for Crowley

As for who or what role that may be, that’s confusing for many reasons. When it comes to angels, there is very little blatantly mentioned by The Bible. Furthermore, setting of GO does not have specific theological distinctions, as it blends denominations and appears to take inspiration from many forms of worship, though presenting primarily as Christianity. And most importantly, the work is fictitious, so any and every kind of logic can be made up as long as it seems to work for the story. Nevertheless, according to a response by Gaiman, the structure looks something like this:

Metatron (“The Metatron is at the top, but he wouldn't actually show up on an organisational chart. He's just above everyone, and below God.” -Neil)

Archangels with a capital “A,” composed of the Chief Archangels (formerly, Gabriel), Higher Archangels (Michael, Uriel, and probably Saraquel), and lesser Archangels (Sandalphon)

Principalities (Aziraphale)

archangels with a lowercase “a”

Regular angels, such as 37th-degree recording angels (Muriel)

Season 2, while it does help give a better picture of Heaven’s structure, it also no longer completely explains this specific hierarchy as “Thrones” and “Dominions” are mentioned in ep 6, drawing a direct reference to the Christianity-based, Pseudo-Dionysian hierarchy

Generally speaking, Christian angelology organizes angels into three levels of three subsections: Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominions/Lordships, Virtues, Powers/Authorities, Principalities/Rulers, archangels, and Angels. There are a variety of angels rankings throughout Jewish scriptures and other texts, making a neat list nearly impossible, but all listings share the concept that Archangels (“arch” or “chief” angels) stand closest to God. Some refer to a singular, head angel (usually, Michael), a group of three (Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael), a group of four, sometimes denoted as “throne-bearers,” (Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel) a group of seven (Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Raguel, Saraquel, and Remiel as referenced by The Book of Enoch, which is a apocryphal script) or eight. We also know that the “Guardian of the East Gate” is referenced as a Cherub, so Aziraphale has either been demoted or the role changed entirely and he has always been a Principality

Assuming we uphold the Pseudo-Dionysian hierarchy, it looks like this:

Metatron

Chief Archangel and Archangels

Seraphim

Cherubs

Thrones

Dominions

Virtues

Powers

Principalities

archangels

Angels

For now not all of these types have been confirmed and more might be added, so only applying current canon ranks, the heirarchy looks more like this:

Metatron

Chief Archangel

Archangels

Thrones

Dominions

Principalities

archangels

Angels

However, the first few minutes of season 2 ep 1 actually some of this into question. In the Bible, there are no distinct, cosmic roles that the angels fulfill outside serving the Divine, but Jewish Kabbalah describes the Archangels acting as conduits for God’s power and vision in creating the universe. There is actually a lot more description of angels within Judaism than Christianity and seeing as Neil is Jewish, there is the possibility of it being influenced in such a way

There have been clear relationship between Crowley’s and celestial objects (the universe, planets, stars). Although stars can simply refer to angels, these connections could also be entertaining a further idea; a) he was an Archangel b) he was the Archangel Raphael, who has not been mentioned before and is related to the Kabbalah Tree of Life or c) he was an original character based on someone notable like Raphael. Or d) it’s none of these, but the story has thus far made many implications (verbal, physical, and canonically) that Crowley is a high-ranking demon of at least Dominion rank, so an Archangel is not out of question. And when Muriel is talking about the classified document, she says "You'd have to be a throne, or a dominion, or above." -- not, "you'd have to be at least a dominion" or "you'd have to be above a dominion" but "You'd have to be a throne, or a dominion, or above." There is this implication that Crowley was something much higher up, especially in the way he comfortably approaches the secret meetings of the Archangels.

Some other possible, relevant identities would be Samael (an archangel associated with tempting Eve), as well as Baraqiel (fallen dominion of the sky and seen in Aziraphale’s book about himself) or Kokabiel (a fallen high-ranking angel associated with astrology). Furthermore, the seven Archangels referenced in the Book are sometimes viewed as the angels who beckon the apocalypse in The Book of Revelation, which would fall in line with idea of season three following “The Second Coming.”

Other than that, as fire has been associated to him as well, there is the possibility that he might be considered a seraphim, “burning one,” or be associated (literally or metaphorically) with The Leviathan, an ancient, powerful serpent-like creature quoted about on Gabriel’s matchbox.

Either way, Crowley’s former status was high up and him being fallen has not stripped him of all his power, sense of duty, or kindness…

#good omens spoilers #good omens 2 #good omens #crowley #crowley angel #neil gaiman #angelology

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thefirstknife · 8 months

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If going by the Destiny 2 content creator reactions and their fans of Lightfall then the greatest enemy to all is the concept of a Cliffhanger.

There people wouldn't be able to handle any non bing able media. If they had to watch Breaking Bad, any mystery story or what have you before Netflix i imagine they'd throw a fit

Yeah, I'm feeling the same. I genuinely don't know what people expected from a penultimate expansion. Talked about it before in regards to how the marketing for Lightfall may have been a little weird and how people ended up feeling misled by it, which is a fair complaint to have. But if we go further than that, I still don't know why people expected "all answers immediately" from an expansion that's clearly not the final one. We knew right away that this is not the ending.

This is a good opportunity to talk a bit more about some extra stuff which will be below, because I'm choosing mercy for people on mobile:

Another thing that gets me as well is that this is simply how Destiny always does the story. Like, it's a live service game and has been for 10 years. Campaigns are on a frequent hit-or-miss scale and aren't really all that expansive on their own anyway; a 3 hour campaign is NOT and never has been the totality of Destiny's story. As a matter of fact, like 90% of Destiny's story is told in written format with lore and side quests and other stories, not in campaigns. Campaigns are generally just the initial setpieces that shift the narrative in a certain direction with a singular event, but the majority of the story happens as consequences of that, over the course of years.

There's been so much stuff that we've been waiting for years to be explained. I always figured this as something that the Destiny community loves and expects. I got here only in D2 and only got into lore properly in Shadowkeep, so everything I knew by reading about Destiny's past story and community reception was that the mystery and the players coming together to figure things out was one of the main draws of the game. That's how I perceived the game, its lore and its community when I joined. As something where we work together to pore through texts to understand where things are and where they are going.

Actually, recently one of the biggest complaints going from Beyond Light and onwards was that Destiny has lost its mystery component. It's been a frequent and overwhelming critique of the story and seasons. How seasons are here to just quickly sum everything up in neat and presentable infodumps given to us by characters and lore tabs that tell us everything directly without any need for deeper engagement. This obviously isn't even fully true (Beyond Light's deepest mystery remained undetected and misunderstood by the majority of the playerbase and still is to this day (that would be Savathun replacing Osiris)), but overall yeah, certain things were absolutely streamlined in comparison with how lore was done before.

Like, no contest: frequent seasonal story drops that give us dozens of lore books, item lore, quest lore, dialogues and so on over the year that are easy to acquire and are readable in the game, as well as stories that happen weekly and are more engaging than just playing a 2 hour campaign every six months or every year have all done A LOT for the lore to be more approachable and less "mysterious." I put that in quotes because people frequently also misinterpret what "mysterious" means or at least aren't talking about the same concept. I've noticed that there's quite a bit of backlash for stories being resolved and character arcs being finished. To a lot of people, that's the removal of "mystery." In a sense, a lot of people want an endless story that never resolves but that gives just enough easily consumable fandom-related details that aren't really progressing the story in a meaningful direction.

But yeah. To end this tangent here, people have been complaining a lot about the lack of mysteries and wonder in Destiny. Which is just weird to me because that's just how stories work. At some point, the story will start resolving the mysteries. And yet, then came Lightfall which brought completely new mysteries and some of the most fascinating ones I've ever experienced in the entire Destiny setting and people just kinda... Didn't care. I attribute a lot of this to people just not recognising that they're no longer into the story all that much. They no longer want to engage with a mystery, they just want to see the conclusion. They don't have the energy or the interest to pore through the texts anymore or engage with the fandom or, indeed, wait for information to be revealed, especially if this isn't the type of stuff they like.

For example, there's a lot of fans of the type of gothic horror mystery about the Hive and Lightfall simply does not fit that aesthetic. And mind you, Destiny is famous for genre switching all the time so this is something that should be expected. But Lightfall's futuristic high concept scifi story that's about virtual realities, mind uploading, human experimentation with nanotechnology, bizarre alien entities that play with the concepts of consciousness and the nature of reality, and so on is something that a lot of people have no interest in. And as much as I want to say "skill issue," it's a matter of taste. It's completely normal to me that there's people who aren't into this. However, a lot of those people just refused to engage and then proceeded to say that the story is objectively bad, "worst expansion ever" and so on. Absolutely insane to me. Like, genuinely baby behaviour in my mind. The "upset because we're not about me" type. Meanwhile I've seen a plethora of people who have quietly, almost ashamed, admitted that they like this stuff more than Witch Queen. No one should be ashamed or afraid to say that.

And most of all, there was disappointment that a "new mystery" was started "too late" when things were "supposed to be explained." And first of all, things ARE being explained. Again, this is a live service game. It's updating over the course of the year. We've received so many explanations and threads to follow and read about and engage with while we wait. That's the whole point; keep the content coming over time. Second, for people who claim that "Lightfall's campaign wasn't complete," yes it was. The Lightfall campaign was to save Neomuna and stop the Witness from destroying the Veil. We did both of those, except the Witness deceived us (as it is known to do) and it never wanted to destroy the Veil in the first place; it wanted us to get there with a Ghost. And it ends with us falling for that deception (out of necessity of course: our hands were kinda forced. Brilliant deception in that regard) and losing to the Witness as it hijacks our Ghost and opens the portal (but we do end up saving Neomuna and have the Veil at our disposal now to start researching it). This is known as a plot twist: a big "oh shit" moment in the climax of the story where we realise we've been duped and we've done exactly what the villain wanted all along.

Which leads me to the third point, perfectly summarised by your ask and by a single word: it's a cliffhanger. Lightfall is the penultimate expansion in a ten years long story. It's a cliffhanger before the end. It's supposed to keep us wondering what the fuck happened and how are we going to solve this until TFS drops. It's supposed to question our place in the universe, our understanding of it, the nature of everything we've learned so far, the extent to which we were right and wrong about the Light and Darkness, as we prepare for the finale of the saga. I genuinely don't know which answers people were expecting to be delivered in a 3 hour campaign that would immediately tell you everything you need to know and then you'd put the game down for a year OR you would keep playing and seasonal stories would just be meaningless side stories that don't progress the plot (yet ANOTHER complaint about seasons that's been going on for a very long time and an unsolvable problem: people want seasons to be meaningful stories that progress the plot but also not meaningful enough so that they can be freely skipped without missing important story bits. These are contradictory statements. Both cannot be true).

And of course, it's completely normal if this just didn't work for people. It's an important distinction to make here; "I understand what it tried to do, but it didn't work well for me" is a completely different statement from "this was a bad story and the worst expansion ever." I've never seen this distinction being made as pretty much everyone only ever spoke about it in the latter terms. How the state of the story is awful and "dangerous," how the writers "dropped the ball," how things are horrifically bad and nonsensical and so on. In worst cases, it was straight up "Bungie should fire these writers." There's also a lot of people who claim wholeheartedly that they've understood the story, but then can't tell you what the theme was or they start going on about how Nimbus was a bad character who "wasn't even sad for Rohan," which immediately tells me they haven't finished the story. So I'm afraid I don't believe those specific types when they say that they understood it, but didn't like it.

Most of all, this was a REALLY long-winded way to say that this ask basically says it as concisely as possible: Lightfall is a cliffhanger before the end. It's SO important to consume more than one media and learn some media literacy. This isn't even remotely a long wait as far as cliffhangers go in general. We need people to stop expecting the media to get churned out mindlessly in quick succession for instant gratification. Hell, some would absolutely classify Destiny as being churned out quickly. And meanwhile we have players here losing their minds and crying and throwing things because they have to wait 3 months for a new season. Absolutely bizarre to me. Try waiting for a book series to continue for longer than ten years.

#destiny 2 #lightfall #ask #long post #if you click read more

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ebachan · 10 months

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Sonic Prime - Part 02 - Trailer 01

Yo,

so the trailer for new episodes of Sonic Prime arrived, and it was packed with quite a number of awesome scenes! I also want to point out some neat details I've noticed, and I haven't seen many people mentioning them. Also, this will be a rather long post ^_^;

EDIT: See the end for new info about the last trailer scene!

Shadow's hand is hilarious here XD That stretch and squish animation technique is just perfect XD There is a reason this style still has its charm after all those years.

Also, Shadow packs a punch! Sonic's body literally shattered part of the "Space-shard". See the small pieces floating away from Sonic's body.

Upon entering Prime Green Hill, Sonic's shoes and gloves become "Digital"(?). Despite there being a Paradox Shard his gloves and shoes "don't" change their form? It's hard to tell, or this may be their form for this "ghosted" world.

I love Shadow's face here! It's like "Seriously, and YOU are my rival?". It's a mystery how Sonic can go toe to toe with Shadow if he has trouble landing! XD Could this suggest Shadow is half-hedgehog and thus his other bloodline "eliminates" this hedgehog's problem? Well, he is canonically a Black Arms hybrid, so, it's possible.

I can't help, but this Shadow has a serious lack of sleep! The dark areas under his eyes are more visible than Sonic's! But it may be just the lighting. It's also nice to see that Shadow may feel pity or empathy for Sonic since seeing him so down is not just rare, but this may be the very first time for both of them.

Ghost Big? Okay, this confirms we may see the rest of the gang and Dr. Eggman in their ghost forms. It seems their "spirit" stays where they were in the moment of Shattering.

Shadow has the TECH! This scene is after Shadow explains to Sonic how to fix the world and before he realizes he has to work together with Sonic! So far we have seen Shadow take only one Tech piece, but I think he may take all of them, but ultimately won't be able to travel between dimensions (T_T). And that's because he doesn't have any Paradox energy inside.

But Sonic has, and he demonstrated he can travel between worlds without touching the shards now.

Dread returns right after getting the Shard. Notice the weather. It's calm, which happened after Sonic touched the Shard. My theory is, Sonic absorbs the energy from Shards. Making them perhaps a little bit less powerful, allowing himself to touch them (as seen later in the trailer and during the leaked No Place fighting scene), and to travel between worlds without touching them (and maybe being able to choose where to go).

This scene is cool in two aspects.

Nine is rubbing under his nose, which is a gesture Sonic does. Meaning, Nine may pick up a few of Sonic's habits to calm himself down by pretending this gesture is done by Sonic.

See the purple behind him. I think this is a window and we see the portal to Void.

My guess is, this is shortly after Nine will make his escape from captivity.

Chaos Councill will get their hands on their shard, Boscage Maze, and No Place ones. There is still one on Grim and Prime Green Hill. I suspect this scene is from near the end of the 15th or 16th episode, creating a cliffhanger like the last time -_-. Or it can be somewhere in the middle and the batch will end with them gaining the Grim's shard too.

My guess here is, the dimensions will start merging, but in the wrong way as the proper anchor of reality is in Green Hill. I bet all of this will be triggered by them obtaining the shards. And it may be their work or a side effect of the shards being close to each other.

I swear Shadow is so reluctant to work together with Sonic because of his chaotic energy! XD Given Sonic has all of his techs, it may be during their first time meeting. Also, the dialogue will probably be from a different part, but it fits this scene so well XD.

Sonic is putting on his tech! Does it means he had lost them to Shadow, but since Shadow can't use them, he gave them back, so Sonic can travel while Shadow may be able to do something in Green Hill? Like collecting Chaos Emeralds? It would be so cool if it turned into Paradox Vs Chaos Emeralds fight in the end with both hedgehogs going Super!

Froggy is hiding under the hat XD And the Pirate Froggy is copying their Big joining the battle :-D This is so sweet!

We have officially Super Badniks too! They seem to be at least twice the normal's size :-O Their design is very similar, so that's kinda boring (but I get it). But they seem to have the fire blades Dr. Deep has on his Suit-Armor, so that is a nice add-on.

Why is nobody talking about this?? Rusty and Black Rose are working together! There is definitely no Nine to control Rusty since her eye is red/dark pink! Rusty is fighting alongside them because she wants to. And I love how Black Rose supports Rusty to do a big spin kick while shielding the Shard. My guess is, Rusty somehow unlocked her old memories and realized what has Chaos Council done to her. She was showing signs of glitching in the 8th episode after seeing Black Rose after all.

I wonder... what if Dr. Deep went into No Place world while Dr. Bable went into the Boscage Maze? They are this confident with their strength and this would speed up their search for Shards. Also Sonic is in the background of Thorn Rose, but it seemed he wasn't moving. Maybe he was waiting for the right time or was cautious to not endanger Thorn.

There is no way there isn't a scene where Nine interacts with his other selves. I bet it will push him forward and make him question himself.

I love how Dread makes this ship his own! And there is a big fight happening on board as I can see Catfish, both Amy, and Dread fighting Dr. Deep. I suppose Sonic will return here after his talk/fight with Shadow.

This scene is both funny and wholesome. Nine reunites with Sonic which leaves him perplexed, confused, and both happy. Nine isn't one to hug, so this takes him aback. And Sonic is just happy to see Nine is alive and okay. And given Sonic is theorized to be autistic and ADHD, for him to give such a big hug is a huge deal!

There is a holographic screen on top of these Super Badniks. This one seems to represent Dr. Bable's mark. But I wonder if there is more to it.

It's cool to know others can visit other worlds too, but will be Shadow able? I so wanna see him! But here we see Dread falling down. This begs the question - Is any of the Knuckles able to glide? Or able to learn it?

And the biggest reveal is - Metal Sonic!! Like in for the Part 01 with Shadow! At first, their design is kinda odd. Especially from the front, but from the side they look really good. And the most strange part is their personality. They are nothing like any of the previous Metal Sonics!

We can see them emote, and make victory/peace signs. No way they were made by Chaos Council! Nine had to be responsible for making them! And all of it in an attempt to have "Sonic". One that won't leave Nine. That has to be the reason he is so "cheerful". And it's important to note, this Metal is running not flying or hovering. That itself is very unique!

EDIT: Watch the trailer on Netflix! There are about 3 extra seconds for Metal by the end. As they show V, they outrun Sonic who seems to be in shock and even halting!

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Oh my gosh, this was long! But well, this was a fun trailer! I hope we get at least one more or a scene or two like for Part 01. Feel free to tell me what you think or if you have spotted something interesting too :-)

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bikwin5 · 10 months

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more pikmin 4 thoughts

previously i made another post when the trailer in february dropped and finally now we have another major release of information about pikmin. i have a lot to say about a game releasing a month away

Plot details- so first off one thing i was right about is that the main focus of the game is collecting castaways in caves. it doesn't seem that all of them are in caves but i would assume most are. i thought treasures would be like pikmin 3 where they extend your time limit but it seems that collecting enough of them unlocks new areas. when i first heard that they "fix the spaceship's radar" i thought that was weird until i saw the new screenshots on the nintendo page store:

do you see that very carefully in the botton left? that's SPARKLIUM!!!!! HEY! PIKMIN IS CANON!!!!!! FUUUUUUUCK YES!!!!!!!!!!! ok maybe not canon but it's funny they took that mechanic from the 3DS game of all things. now i just need metroid prime 4 to include the mechs from federation force and my dream will be complete.

Gameplay- there are more plot details to get into later but i want to talk about the screenshot above for now. we finally get a proper look at the UI where pretty much everything has been overhauled. first of all nintendo still has an obsession with that font they've been using since miitomo. second the day timer is now totally overhauled to be in the top left instead of stretching along the top. this is a surprising change but i suppose they wanted less UI obstruction due to the new camera angle. there's also no day counter, suggesting you have unlimited days. then there's the pikmin stuff, health bars, and brand new is an objective window and sparklium/gem count. i noticed the latter two things aren't in some gameplay screens and there might be an option to turn it off.

looking at the health bars it seems the dog pretty much does act as a second leader in this one. oatchi has its own health, can be controlled, and i think it can do pretty much any action a leader can, plus more. there's even a screenshot of him throwing pikmin:

and as seen in the trailer you can level up the dog using "pup drive"??? seems to be some kind of points you unlock somehow. anyway the fact that oatchi can do all this while the main character doesn't makes me wonder what the advantage of not being oatchi is. is this a scooby-doo mystery mayhem situation where scooby is objectively better than shaggy because he can fit into tight spaces and shaggy can't? sorry if that's not the most relatable comparison but it does include a dog and a human.

another upgradable feature is various suit upgrades such as the rush boots, scorch guard and all the other stuff you could get in pikmin 2 and 3. it seems those blue gems on the ground are "resources" you can collect and use to get these upgrades. i think this is a pretty neat way of doing it!!! instead of tying it to treasures this makes these upgrades most likely optional and you can obtain them at your own pace instead of the awkward way 3 did it. you could even forgo certain upgrades as a challenge or because the rush boots are so annoying i dont like the pikmin 2 rush boots they just make all the pikmin slow.

The Pikmin- i wrote several paragraphs about pikmin without mentioning pikmin. from what it seems all 8 types of pikmin are available in the story mode which is neat! we got to see a little bit of purple, rock, wing and white near the end of the trailer, and there are night time exclusive pikmin too. i'm flipping between the trailer and the website info a lot so bear with me, but there's a pretty significant bit of information on the site that wasn't touched upon:

that last sentence suddenly makes a lot of sense with what we've seen, like how blue pikmin were never seen alongside ice pikmin. it makes sense that there's enough overlap with different pikmin abilities and oatchi abilities that they would do this. but i fear having only 3 types at once has the potential to make the game more tedious but it really depends on how changing types works. is it from the onion? the ship? can you do it in the middle of a cave? it raises a lot of questions but it could add another layer of strategy to the game because now we have more of a party building factor. purple pikmin might not be as OP as they were when they take up one of your 3 precious types.

small addendum to this, the site also has a "meet the pikmin" segment in a weirdly arbitrary order-- it goes red, blue, yellow, ice, glow, purple, rock, winged, and finally white. is this the order you actually get to see them in game? blue pikmin might finally no longer be the last type you get, and white pikmin being so late might explain their small presence in the trailer. let's hope they don't end up like blues in 3's story mode.

The Caves- i really wanted to see more of these and we got them. i didn't say this in my last post but after watching the previous trailer 10 more times i saw there were these blue lids scattered around that i thought were cave holes, and i was right. and i really like the look of what we saw so far, especially the floor based off of pikmin 3's clockwork chasm and this aquarium:

i don't even have anything to talk about with the screenshot i just love how it looks. it looks like they aren't procedurally generated this time, but then again it might be because if there's anything that's gotten better in the past decade of gaming it's making procedurally generated stuff actually fun to play. i was also wrong about them not having treasures because they definitely do. i get the feeling caves won't take up as much time overall as they did in pikmin 2 but they still seem really expansive and fun.

Night missions- I was very wrong about these. I thought you would play as the rescue corps and have to fend off the big spaceship for the night but it turns out it's just you who goes elsewhere to do... something. i'm not entirely sold on these because the narrator never exactly explains what the purpose of them is. it seems you can choose to go to them from the landing site, which appears to be a hub area with no time limit, i forgot to mention that but that's neat. but aside from having a new pikmin type that does spirit bombs all they mentioned was that you get "valuable glowsap" which is... something??? i can't imagine it's only for extra sparklium, maybe it can be exchanged for special upgrades or whatever. it wasn't really clear whether night missions are even required. regardless the gameplay of turning pikmin into a base defense thing seems pretty cool.

This fucking guy-

i gotta be honest this probably blindsided me the most out of anything-- this and the fact he's the introduction to 2 player battle mode, which seems to imply you can play it against a CPU now? i think it's funny that pikmin is still keeping the tradition of having a tacked on multiplayer mode where you beat each other to death with regular gameplay mechanics. anyway this guy could either be olimar, who died and became a hairy man, OR this guy is just a joker's trick and the real olimar is out there somewhere. the latter seems more likely from nintendo but if they really did want to canonize the bad ending of pikmin 1 than that's kind of wild. it's like making a game where the silent hill 2 alien ending happened.

people are suggesting "split timeline" and i scoffed at the notion at first but then i remembered the short trailer we got earlier this month. it treats olimar crash landing as if it were his first time there, and the rescue corps as the second time anyone has crashed. plus some info on the japanese site suggested olimar had been there for a month and the rescue corps received his distress signal. funny enough, pikmin 1's interstellar radio mentions that it's emitting a constant SOS signal but it would take longer than a month for help to arrive. so i think maybe it's likely his dead ass became a pikmin now???? but they also treat rescuing olimar as the main goal of the game so that makes me wonder what the climax of the story would be if he's unsalvageable. maybe it's about turning him back into a guy, idk.

Misc stuff- There's a handful of other things on the site that were only glanced over a bit. for instance:

it seems there's an ability to rewind not just days but time as well? this feels like their equivalent of a "super guide" option. honestly i hope this means they're not afraid to make a pikmin game that's just flat out mean again.

and on the right side it seems there are multiple landing sites per area. it mentions "each of the expansive areas" so i don't think pikmin 4 is one fully open map but having multiple landing sites is neat. i guess it makes sense because the maps look huge and there are only 2 guys to play as this time.

the site also has confirmation of challenge mode, 2-player battle and story co-op... except it's just mario galaxy style co-op where the second player points at things. like come on nintendo... you made this dog for marketing points and you won't even let the second player be him.

there's a LOT more i could dig into like all the returning enemies and environments and ice hazards but i think this is long enough of a post for now, and probably the last one until i get to play it. there is a demo coming very soon and i can't resist the siren call of that so that will be fun to crack into. ending this post with oatchi and ice pikmin plush

#pikmin #pikmin 4

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alexandrite-dragoness · 2 months

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My Final Thoughts on Persona 3 Reload :)

Hello all! ^^

I just happened to finish Persona 3 Reload recently and wanted to give my own personal thoughts on it. Of course I won't go into many specific details and make this into an essay, so I'll just put in what I enjoyed, what I didn't like and what I'm looking forward to in a potential DLC.

Also on that note a good chunk of my thoughts will be regarding Strega (Jin and Takaya in particular), since they are personally my favorite villains from the game and I was looking forward to seeing any additional scenes they were given.

So let us begin (this does contain spoilers so be wary)

What I did Enjoy (or Absolutely Loved):

☑ Social Link Episodes (& the Full-On Voice Acting)

First off, I want to express my gratitude for Atlus in taking the time to apply some TLC to the less appreciated characters in P3. This is especially true for Shinjiro, who I felt was the least fleshed out among the rest of SEES (and, you know, for valid reasons). He did have more moments of his own specifically in Persona 3 Portable if you play as the female protagonist, but unfortunately that even had its limit. That also gave us a moment with Mitsuru to explain about her past with Shinjiro and Akihiko, giving us a bit of a flashback which I think is a neat touch! Strega also was given some decent amount of treatment in the remake as well, showing two (or was it three?) exclusive scenes with Jin and Takaya and lifting some of their mysterious past midway through the game rather than shoving all of it to the end (however I do my complaints regarding that still, but I digress).

The additional voice overs for the social links is an incredible touch, it made me even appreciate some of the characters even more (or even starting to like the ones I didn't care about before). Yuko after spending some time with her became one of my favorite SLs in the game, she has such a neat and endearing attitude in her voice and I dig it a lot! Hidetoshi came close to my second fave, when switching from a uptight attitude to some occasions a more softening/somber approach was when I started appreciating him a little more.

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☑ Additional Evening Activities (+Kitchen & Rooftop)

To be honest during my first and early experience in Persona 3 (FES) the evenings were a bit of a drag. There was no part-time jobs during that point (part-times didn't happen until P3P) and there were only two social links that appeared at night. So more often than not I'd be studying away at my desk or kill some time at the mall some other way (and I wasn't enjoying half the time).

Fortunately Reload (for the most part) fixed that issue by giving us the opportunity to hang out with our teammates in the dorm/lounge room in the evenings. This also added a new mechanic to give these team members a gauge/characteristic for battle. During those times too, even if they didn't raise their battle perk at the moment, they may either give you a useful item for battles or raise one of your social stats in the meanwhile.

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☑ QoL Additions (+Theurgy)

Trying to keep this part brief but I do enjoy the additional quality of life content they added to the same, some even adapted from P3P itself (this includes the part time jobs). As much as I enjoyed Theurgy and the perks it came with it, I was hoping they were going to do a "Showtime" gig with the team (having a Akihiko and Shinjiro duo attack would've been awesome ngl), but I'm pretty satisfied with what we have too. Also the fact they gave Fuuka abilities is all I ever wanted!! :D She's now more useful than ever, thank goodness.

Regarding outside-of-battle changes; one of them I noticed is how you were able to revive Chidori. Originally you had to talk to Junpei on four separate days on September just to convince him to visit her in the hospital. In Reload they completely changed it so you just had to buy the white flowers. It's a little more straight-forward and I actually enjoyed that change. One change I was indifferent on was Yukari's SL where, when reversing the arcana, they made the choice more obvious where you would say she is a girl rather than hugging her in hopes to make her feel better. While I wasn't the most thrilled on the change I can see why it was made.

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☑ More Strega >:)

Oh hell yeah!! I was super ecstatic when I saw the new scenes when I played through the game >:D not only was I ready to kick their ass again, but seeing what else is in store regarding their tasks and potential additional backstory.

We already know Chidori got enough screentime as is, so I was looking forward to seeing what Atlus has given to the male duo of the antagonizing group. A lot of them are the same, but some of the others definitely more focused on Takaya when he went to interact with the protagonist. Originally the protagonist never mingled with the villains (in fact it felt mostly ignored in every encountered they had), so when Takaya shows keen interest on the protagonist and how he wields multiple Personas, it gave Takaya his own moment of development as he tries to convince the protagonist to "not throw his gift away" and embrace the Dark Hour as is. Takaya already shows to have no interest or attachment with anyone (rip Jin), but the fact he did end up questioning himself whether or not he was feeling any attachment for the Wild Card, it was indeed a new look on how we see him as a villain.

ALSO BDJKVBJDS THEIR WHOLE FINAL BATTLES WERE WILD!! Jin stabbing himself with those enhancement drugs went raw, and Takaya having an unbelievable Thuergy attack surely took me by surprise!!! This is not without my own complaints for them, ofc...

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☑ T h e B u i l d - u p (& The Cinematic Experience overall)

When first jumping into the game it already gives a creepy-and-almost-horror vibe to the introduction of the game. You finally got off at your stop, making your way to the student dormitory only for the sky to turn green and the puddles of blood to appear all of the sudden. It's a real nice way to showing what the Dark Hour is, without telling you right away what (which makes it even more unnerving).

And then jumping to 3/5 being the final day of the game, the whole entire scene with you laying on Aigis's lap gives you time to get hit in the feels once the android gets to say what she finds in her meaning of life. Love that it was more of a cinematic experience, since I didn't have to click "X" to continue any sort of dialogue and therefore get to sit back and relax and watch everything happening. And the dialogue choices you choose... damn, the layout for that does a lot with the timing given too. I really enjoyed the ending a lot more than the original for sure, and seeing the cast running up the stairs to find you was such a great addition (That's how it went for the 2014 P3 movie as well).

Regarding the Social Links:

Another note I've taken is with the addition of voice acting, talking to everyone on the 4th day of March adds a lot more emotion to their dialogues, as you get to find out what some of them wanted to do with their life after school. The little details they added definitely adds a whole layer of accomplishment and knowing what you did to save the world was very much worth it, and being able to secure all your friends' futures. I love that emotional feeling when I went to talk all the SLs I maxed :')

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now unto...

My If's and But's:

⍉ The Voice Cast

I gotta admit: Since the start of my playthrough I wasn't a huge fan of few of the voice cast for certain characters (Akihiko and Ikutsuki were some of the big ones). Some of those however did grow on me, and I started to appreciate them more the farther I got into the game. Junpei and Mitsuru in my opinion were perfect on their own 👌 no complaints with them. Fuuka is also perfect, gives me Fluttershy vibes LOL. Yukari and Aigis took only a little time to get used to and I think they're almost perfect for their roles as well. Aleks Le as the protagonist was also a great choice!

Akihiko in particular took me a lot longer in getting used to- I've always thought Liam O Brian was perfect as the original VA for Akihiko. After some time getting used to it, he started to grow on me. Same for Takaya too, as I wasn't so sure what I thought of him at first but his evil laughs surely did him justice. Speaking of Justice- Ken also took some getting used to, since at first he didn't exactly sound like a kid to me at the start (there's a difference between sounding like a kid, or sounding like a woman trying to sound like a kid).

The ones I'm more 'eh' about is Ikutsuki and Jin. Ikutsuki sounds a bit too mature for my liking, as his lighthearted jokes doesn't match with his voice at all to me. And while Jin did sound like his snarky self in the Strega introduction and while facing off against SEES... he also has a shift of tone in other scenes?? It was a weird mix to me when I first notice it, I wasn't sure what that was about (could be me being very particular about it as a Jin fan myself). Best guess is he chooses to drop his act when he's around Takaya, revealing how he actually talks (also can we talk about the fact that Jin actually shows care for Chidori?? Like? This is amazing on so many levels??)

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⍉ Some Dialogue Changes

It was to be expected that the Reloaded script isn't going to be 1:1 ratio with the original (especially if it's a little outdated and out of touch), but I can't help but some difference in dialogue that I feel is odd or seen as unnecessary.

One of the first things I noticed is how much they toned down some of Yukari's dialogues in regards to her attitude. I get that some of her lines can come off as rude or maybe even uncalled for, but I feel like that adds a bit to her character. To only soften her up makes some of her conflicts with the other characters not as... compelling.

Another irk I had was when they have Akihiko say random outbursts of "What?" or "What was that?", which I don't recall hearing him say that many times- Huh? Oh, you thought I would be complaining about the protein mentions lol. Tho tbf the random 'protein' lines was indeed a bit much, but it wasn't as over the top as some hardcore fans put it as. It was tolerable, at worst, but it was the random 'what' lines he had that threw me off the most.

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⍉ No FeMC:

Now I'm not really down about the lack of FeMC in the game, since Reload is supposed to go off of the original games to start with. As much as I would love a female protagonist in Reload, I can live without one. Chances are, who knows, maybe there will be a potential DLC content with her in the future? Could be a long stretch.

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What I feel the Game Lacked (or no likey):

☒ The Iconic Animated Cutscene (Specifically: MC's Awakening)

Now this game isn't without some flaws, that's for sure!

When we got to the cutscene at the rooftop when Yukari and the protagonist were about to face the Magician Arcana boss, I thought the awakening scene would've been 2D animated- just how it was for the original (the P3 movie did this scene extremely well; in fact my favorite so far). While the cutscene we were given wasn't bad at all (I'm not trying to say it is), but I feel like giving that same scene the 2D Anime treatment would've looked a lot better! The animators could really push for some dynamic angles or animation movements that would've sold to be more epic than it being in 3D.

I would definitely understand if they wanted to balance out between doing two-dimensional and doing three-dimensional throughout the entire game, but in my personally bias the 2D animated scenes have a unique charm to their looks and I almost always prefer that over the typical in-game scenes (after all I did feel like there wasn't many 2D animated scenes throughout).

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☒ The Change of the Heart Items

Now this is more of a personal nitpick for me, playing FES as my first P3 game (techically I started Portable first, but then I fully switched over to FES), but I missed the original heart items I'd get by leveling up my Personas. From what I recall: The heart items you'd get would be accessories you'd give to your teammates that can indeed block certain elemental attacks. It was extremely useful to block certain weaknesses my team would have and it helped out pretty well. Speaking of, are they still in the game? Mhe, I may have to go through my NG+ to see if they do exist, cuz chances are I must've missed it.

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And now for my final nitpick...

☒ Lack of Jin/other Strega content (& his development in Reload)

Now personally, I like Jin.

Actually that's a lie: I love Jin! Both design-wise and as a character! So you can expect me to go off on why I believed Atlus wasted their potential to build his character up based on very little development he received from the games. First off: You only ever see him around Takaya 99% of the time (only time by himself is at the top of Tartarus, tho that's different given he's there for Takaya's wish). Second of all: Atlus really made it sound like they'd do Strega some good by giving them their much needed backstory that they lacked since the existence of P3. But instead, most of that effort went to Takaya, leaving Jin in the dust once more.

While I did feel I put my expectations a little too high for them to work with Jin on that matter, I believe it would've done some good if they chose to flesh him out as an actual character, starting by seeing him outside the Dark Hour and on his own typing away on his laptop or something...

And while I did mention already that Jin did show actual concern for Chidori in the game (that I'm very much happy about), I felt that quickly went away as soon as the two went to 'rescue' Chidori from the hospital (and Jin's "hurry up already" doesn't really help with that either). And when Chidori gave her life up for Junpei during that scene, Jin... didn't really show much reaction at all, which was very much a downer.

Meanwhile I also relaized they cut back on some of Jin's usual battle animations during the fight, which was extremely disappointing. So there was no backflips, no breakdancing out of a Knock Down, none of that. And he doesn't even toss his grenade in his walk cycle anymore (perhaps that was for the best if he's out in public). And after beating Jin at the top of Tartarus and leaving him behind with a bunch of Shadows that just appeared (now this is just me), they didn't even bother making an animation of him pulling out a grenade or whatever. Just a cut in at the team running off and hearing an explosion after that, leaving it to you to use your imagination how it went. I also realized Fuuka didn't turn her head to look at Jin before leaving off-screen, which is a shame too.

So yeah, tldr; real lack of effort put into Jin as he gets the short end of the stick like usual.

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Conclusion: What I'm Looking Forward to...

Now with my praises and rants out of the way, I do have some hopes for any later content Atlus may give for Reload in the upcoming future. Specifically any DLCs they may make, since I feel it has been hinted at (or rumored?) there will be new content in the future.

One of my hopes is for The Answer DLC. Given we've already taken a look at the Senpai Trio's past already in Reload and Aigis, after losing her beloved leader, would be going through a rough patch of phase of existential crisis. And the original Answer had some problems, as it became somewhat controversial within the fandom (particularly with Yukari). At this point it would give Atlus a good opportunity to fix some of the issues within the game (especially regarding the bosses and battles, like jesus christ!) and flesh it out better. And after playing through the game and seeing subtle hints that Aigis would be given future development post-Journey, I have no doubt The Answer will come out in a timely manner.

My other hope (which is more of a self-indulgent request, but whatev), if possible, that after expressing my issues and concerns with villains already, Atlus may take up the opportunity to create an exclusive Strega DLC! For that to be happening can indeed be very unlikely (I know), but if there's ever a possibility that they can perhaps take inspiration or rip a page out of the Shadow Cry novel that is about Strega, it would definitely help flesh them out and show what their routines are like day-to-day. They can even make it a short and cheap type of content, I wouldn't care, I'll take whatever they would have!

On that note: Some more Strega merch would be nice...

Anyways, thanks to anyone who took the time to read this (this took me a couple hours to write up), and have a good rest of your day :)

#persona 3 reload #thoughts #and prayers lol #strega

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evolutionsvoid · 2 years

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The sight of a shark's fin piercing the water's surface is a terrifying one to many folk, especially those not familiar with the sea. However, sailors further north would find such fears comical, as a simple shark is no threat to a sturdy boat and a hardy crew. They will tell you what fin is the worst to see in those frigid waters, and it belongs to the Sverdhvalur. Seeing that slicing through the ocean causes many local sailors to break out the prayers, especially if it starts heading straight for their ship. The terror that comes from the mere sight of it should be enough to tell you that this species is one of the infamous Illhveli. The Sverdhvalur (or Sword Whale, if you are on the seas) fits in with the name of Illhveli since it is indeed a whale. It calls the icy waters of the north home, prowling the ocean in search of prey. Though they can hold their breath for almost twenty minutes, this species tends to stick near the surface and rarely does super deep dives. A streamlined body and powerful fins make them fast swimmers, practically slicing through the water like an arrow. Since they spend so much time in the upper waters, they are easy to spot and identify. Their brown coloration and gorgeous pattern is an easy tell, and a good look at their face will show some key features. Their snout is very beak-like, which hides a row of sharp teeth. Their head is also a dark red, eventually giving way to their ochre break. Though I bring up all these neat details, they all pale compared to the real identifier of the Sword Whale: its deadly fin! It juts from their back like a knife, which is a fitting comparison. Following behind is an array of spines and rays, adding to its majesty. There is little confusion of what lurks below when you see that magnificent fin cut through the surface! Some have said that one may get confused when telling the difference between a Sverdhvalur and a Raudkembingur, due to prominent dorsal ornaments and a reddish head, but I feel that confusion will disappear the second you get a real good look at either of them. The Sverdhvalur fin has no equal in terms of size and shape, and a beaked maroon head looks quite different from the crimson jaws of the red crest. And if there is still a mystery to identifying this whale, just you wait until you see it in action!

Being a toothed whale, they go after larger meatier things than their baleen cousins. They target fish, seals, squid and porpoises, but their teeth isn't what puts food on the table. Look once again to that incredible fin, and realize the deadly weapon it truly is. From a distance, it looks to be made of the same stuff as the rest of the Sverdhvalur, but closer inspection will reveal its secret. The fin is actually covered in a keratin sheath, hardened and specialized for one thing. Along the front edge of the fin, this layer comes to an incredibly fine edge, making it razor sharp! While its beak and other fins do possess this same keratin covering, they are not as specifically honed as the dorsal fin. This one is aligned just perfectly that it practically becomes a sword, built for slicing and cleaving. Running your hand across this fin would result in a deep nasty cut, which goes to show its potential when it is put into action. Swimming at top speed, the Sverdhvalur uses this weapon to slice through prey and eviscerate foes. When targeting schools of fish or squid, the Sword Whale will launch forward into the group with its mouth. This is merely a ruse, a false attack that forces its prey to take evasive actions. At the last second, though, the Sverdhvalur will twist its body and whip itself around, practically swinging its fin like a sword. Prey will be caught off guard with this strike, as they are in the middle of evading this supposed bite. With them slicing into a whole school, it is almost guaranteed that an unlucky member will be struck with this attack. Prey doesn't need to be killed in a single blow, just wounded enough for the Sverdhvalur to swoop in and gobble them up! When they hunt like this, expect the water to soon be filled with severed tentacles and fins. With this in mind, it should be no surprise that other smaller sea creatures follow after the Sverdhvalur, ready to nab these chopped bits. Simple fish and squid are a fine treat, but the Sverdhvalur certainly has its eyes on larger prey. Seals and porpoises are hefty meals on the fin, and no capable beast like the Sword Whale would ever pass up such an opportunity. When going after something bigger, their strikes are more calculated and brutal. They use their speed and agility to outmaneuver prey, and get the right angle to slice into them with their fin. They rarely chase behind their prey, rather they come from the sides so that they can blindside them and cleave them in two. They may also come from below, looking to impale them or slice open their bellies. For those that can't be cleanly cut into halves, the Sword Whale will target flippers and tails, looking to cut off their methods of escape and slow them down for the fatal blow. Near seal colonies, the Sverdhvalur will lurk on the sidelines, waiting for the adults to go out hunting. When the mad rush to the open ocean begins, these whales will launch themselves straight into the chaos. Coming at the swimming pod perpendicularly, they aim themselves so that their fin slices a clean line through the water and, hopefully, a few bodies. It is a fascinating sight if you wish to see the Sword Whales hunt, but a horrifying one if you came for the seals. I have heard of a few tour boats that got a morbid show when one of these beasts showed up to spoil the magic.

Since they have swords on their backs, many are quick assume that males duel to win their mates. This is not the case, as such a fight would probably injure or outright kill most males involved. If you are trying to spread your kind and make your species strong, you should try to avoid cleaving each other in half while doing so. Instead, the Sverdhvalur win over their mates by doing intricate swirling dances in the water. The cutting fin becomes a prop in this dance, slicing through the water as they twirl and spin to show off the male's grace and health. These are beautiful dances, but take after the female Sword Whales and watch this show from a safe distance.

While the fin blade of the Sverdhvalur is impressive and their hunting strategies are wonderfully unique, not many others share the same wonder as I. As a member of the Illhveli, it is obvious that they are despised and feared, and it is precisely because of that fin blade. The dorsal sword that cuts fish in two and chops seals into chunks also does a number on nets, lines and small boats. Rope is mere string to them, allowing them to turn fishing nets into useless ribbons. This would be bad enough if the Sword Whale was just passing through, but this species has a fondness for fishing ships. The prey they have to chase and outsmart is now bundled up like a neat package, someone just needs to open up the wrapping. When trawlers and vessels start pulling in a heavy load, the Sverdhvalur swoops in to claim the prize. In an instant, all that hard work will be reduced to an empty net. Whalers can also run into a similar issue. When they are hauling in a kill, the Sverdhvalur may see it as an opportunity to take a cut. The sudden flash of a brown blade, and suddenly your catch is missing a flipper or a fillet. These encounters are infuriating for the locals, who rely on these trades to feed their families and keep their homes warm, but that isn't all the problems that come from this species. After so long of stealing fish and flesh from ships, the Sverdhvalur have lost their fear of these vessels and the creatures that man them. To them, these strange floating things hold the promise of an easy meal, so they don't think twice about rushing in. When the fishermen fight back or have nothing to offer, the Sword Whale grows angry and violent. They lash out and attack the ship, using their blade to carve into the boats. Smaller vessels like row boats and whale boats can easily be cut in two by a charging Sword Whale, their speed and bulk powering their blade through the wooden hull. This dumps the crew into the icy waters, and into the realm of an irate and hungry Illhveli. If cutting through a boat like that is no trouble, then imagine what happens to body and limb when that fin is turned on them. Against larger vessels, the Sverdhvalur will target the underside, trying to slash it open as if it was the belly of a great whale. In some cases, this can succeed in breaching the hull and letting water in, but this a rare occurrence. What it does do is heavily damage the ship and leave it susceptible to another disaster now that the hull is weakened. Go to any dock or marina, and you will find at least one boat that boasts these terrible scars. Though they do not fear these vessels, there is time that these actions take a deadly toll. While the blade fin of the Sverdhvalur is sharp, it isn't unstoppable. When faced with an extra thick hull, their sword may get stuck during the strike. A wrong move will cause them to be lodged into the underside of ship, where they will struggle to free themselves. Stronger, older Sword Whales may succeed in wrenching themselves free, but the young often drown once they are caught. Even those who do escape may cause serious injury to their fin, which hurts their hunting chances. Sadly, this often means they will be desperate for easier to catch meals, which tends to be found in the nets of an unwary fishing vessel. Chlora Myron Dryad Natural Historian ------------------------------------------- Keeping it going with more evil whales!

#illhveli #whale #whales #monster #creature #art #drawing #sverdhvalur #cetacean

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squiddokiddo · 10 months

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Greetings!!! I just wanted to say how much I love your art! The way you draw Gordon is my favourite. Your style is amazing and unique and I particularly love the colours you use, they're so colourful, and all the little details you put into it.

Thank you for all the aro & ace positivity too, I've needed to hear it lately.

I really enjoyed the fic you wrote, and if it is something you enjoyed and want to do more of, I would be very happy to hear more adventures of Gords and Squirt.

I like seeing whatever you make, whether its only Gords, or your ocs, or even just stuff that reminded you of them. And ocean stuff, the ocean is awesome. It's all cool, so whatever makes you happy!

I've kinda been lurking around the thunderfam for a while, hi. Your art is comforting and it makes me smile, so here I am to say thank you. Because, yeah, making any sort of art is hard, and you are amazing and deserve to hear it!

I feel like I should have a question, because this is an ask, so: What is your favourite sea creature, aside from Gordy, of course? :)

--AstraNite (I really like cuttlefish, they're neat!)

Hi, thanks so much for dropping me this ask. It was a really sweet surprise, I definitely needed a pick-me-up.💛💛

I'm going to try and address everything you've mentioned, give me a minute lol.

I'm really glad that you like my drawings, I haven't been getting a lot of comments on them atm so I'm really grateful for your feedback. It's interesting that you find my art comforting since a lot of the things I make are for my comfort too. I've said this before but I had a really rough childhood and TAG and Gordon have brought me a lot of comfort during some really tough times.

I'm happy to hear that my drawings are bringing other people comfort too.💛💛

°o𖦹°o𖦹°o𖦹°o𖦹°o𖦹°o

Ace and aro positivity: yes I'm also aroace and there's nothing but love for fellow aros, aces and aroaces on this blog.

°o𖦹°o𖦹°o𖦹°o𖦹°o𖦹°o

I'm so happy that you liked my fic, it was my first so I was really nervous and ocs can be very hit or miss but the fandom seems to really like Squirt which makes me so so happy.

I have been trying out more writing but none of it came out anywhere near as good as the first one. I do hope to post more Bigsquid and Squidkid adventures and hopefully expand on their relationship and Squirt's backstory (which is still an ongoing mystery to me) but I'd also like to try making things that aren't OC centered because I know it's not something everyone enjoys lol.

°o𖦹°o𖦹°o𖦹°o𖦹°o𖦹°o

Ok onto sea creatures, cuttle fish are very interesting, the way that they change colour to camouflage and intimidate other animals. Yeah they're pretty cool.

My favourite sea creature (apart from Gords) uhhhh I like sharks, no particular species, they're all cool. I think sharks have a really bad reputation when they're actually quite chill. They don't tend to attack humans, their eyesight is bad and they often mistake us for seals and other animals that they eat.

As Gordon would say: They're sea puppies.🦈🩵

°o𖦹°o𖦹°o𖦹°o𖦹°o𖦹°o

Thanks for dropping into my askbox, I hope my answers were ok. If you ever want to chat or anything my pms and inbox are always open.💛💛

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds #thunderfam #gordon tracy #sea-squirt tracy #thunderbirds oc #squiddo's ocs #squiddokiddo answers #squiddo's inbox #astranite

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roachleakage · 2 years

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So. What's the deal with Malroth's human form in Dragon Quest Builders 2?

AKA "but why does he look like that?" (Spoilers ahead for Dragon Quest Builders 2 and Demon Lord Dante.)

If you're a fan of Dragon Quest Builders 2, or otherwise know a little bit about its lore and cast, you probably know what Malroth looks like in his human form. And if you also know what he looks like in his original, monster form, you might be kind of puzzled by the design they chose to give him. If you're not - well, first of all, fair, but here's a quick comparison image to show you what I mean:

It's not that Malroth's human form is a bad design or anything, and it does have a few neat callbacks to his monster form - most notably, the color scheme, and his bone necklace in place of the original giant skull necklace. But apart from those admittedly minor details? The two really look nothing alike. Original Flavor Malroth looks like Ray Harryhausen's Kraken with extra features and a different face, while Human Malroth looks like nothing so much as the average Japanese concept of a demon, with his oddest features being pointy ears, a pair of hair antennae stylized to look like horns, and red eyes that his original form notably does not share.

If I didn't know these two guys were the same character, I never would have guessed. Your average white twink Tumblr humanization has more in common with the source material than this guy does. And that had been bugging me for a while - again, not because it's bad, but because why? What was going on in the character designer's mind that led to these choices, in particular? It was a mystery I had no idea how to solve.

Luckily, that's no longer an issue. Due to a turn of events that involved the original Devilman manga being misfiled as yaoi on a manga site, I am pretty sure I know exactly what is going on with Malroth's design, and am prepared to explain it with attached evidence. But in order to do that, we're going to have to hop in this little time machine and go all the way back to the far-flung past of 1971.

Part 1: Nagai Go and Demon Lord Dante

For those who are unfamiliar, Nagai Go is the artist and illustrator behind the original Devilman manga. If you know what that is, great, but if not, it doesn't particularly matter - we're not here for Devilman. We're actually here for its predecessor, the equally weird (and unfortunately incomplete) Demon Lord Dante, also known as Mao (or Maou) Dante.

The premise of Demon Lord Dante is similar to that of Devilman - an ordinary human fuses with a demon, gaining supernatural powers and the ability to transform into a demonic form, while retaining his human consciousness and morality. Unlike Devilman, however, who mostly looks like a funky dude or perhaps a Batman-themed stripper, Dante - as Ryo's demon form is known - is a building-sized amalgamation of man, bat, and beast. And, pertinently to this topic, his face looks like this:

If you haven't already noticed the resemblance, go up and take a look at that picture of Malroth again, then scroll on back here. Yes, they have the exact same face, and if you were wondering if that's a coincidence - not remotely. Toriyama Akira's monster designs for Dragon Quest, particularly in the 'demon lord' character category, draw a lot from Nagai Go's artwork - you can see a lot of the details he likes to use for his demon lords in the original Devilman manga, for instance.

Now, while this tells us a little bit about where Malroth originally came from, it's still just setup for the main event. And for that, we'll have to jump ahead to 2002, where the tragically cancelled (and honestly kind of dodgy) manga finally got the adaptation that it, and its main character, deserved.

The anime of Demon Lord Dante starts off basically the same as the manga (albeit with far fewer plothole-inducing timeskips). The protagonist, Ryo, keeps having dreams where he sees (and sometimes is) the demon Dante, escalating in him finding the demon in question, setting him free from his frosty prison in the Himalayas, and immediately getting vored. Next thing he knows, he's been summoned back to Japan by the Satanic cult who's been trying to bring Dante back for ages, only now he's taken over Dante's body and is himself a monstrous hairy colossus. He goes on a confused rampage, and then I run out of manga so I can't really tell you what originally happened next.

In the show, though, another demon explains what's happened to him, and he eventually figures out how to use Dante's powers to regain human form and return to his home. This kicks off a storyline in which he tries very hard not to be a demon, because Angst Angst Angst, while fending off multiple demons whose voices he keeps hearing in his head insisting that he is totally the really real Dante, he just needs to "regain his memories" to supercede the personality of Ryo and get back on track with the whole monstrous rampage thing.

Hopefully this is all starting to sound familiar.

Now, there are pretty big differences between the plots of Dragon Quest Builders 2 and Demon Lord Dante. I won't go into them, because they're pretty major spoilers and aren't really relevant to this topic, but it definitely isn't 1:1. However, there are also some striking similarities, what with the exploration of who is really good or evil, themes of religious violence and exploitation, and so forth. There is also a very cute plane in one episode, which I have to show you not because it's cute, but because... well. See for yourself:

It's not exactly the Buggy Buggy, but it is an adorable animal-shaped flying vehicle, armed to the teeth and ready to fight G*d. I'm not kidding, that's what they use it for. Hopefully they don't keep pushing the wrong button and accidentally shooting beams when they meant to descend.

Anyway, I've been building to a point here, and it's finally time to bring it all together. Because while Ryo spends a little bit of time in his gigantic monster form, and a lot more looking like a normal human, there are points in the show where he needs to demon out without turning into an entire skyscraper, and when that happens, he looks like, well This.

Beefy pecs, pointy ears, fluffy hair, and of course, horns.

It's not exactly Human Malroth, of course. The most obvious difference is that, well, this guy isn't terribly human-looking - he's got wings, furry beast legs, and other assorted features. He also isn't as tan as this screenshot would seem to imply; his skin simply looks darker because, like most of the scenes this form appears in, the ambient light levels are pretty poor. (This particular shot was taken at night.)

But it is a lot closer. Like, weirdly closer. Check out the curve of the horns, which is mirrored in Human Malroth's hair antennae despite appearing nowhere on OG Malroth himself. And while this screenshot doesn't show it very well, his eyes in this form are red, like Human Malroth's.

So... yeah. I won't say there's no possibility of my being wrong, because it's impossible to know 100% of what goes into a game's creative decisions, but it looks like Dragon Quest Builders 2 drew a good chunk of inspiration from Demon Lord Dante - including the design for Malroth's human form.

#dragon quest builders 2 #dqb2 #malroth #dqb2 malroth #demon lord dante

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shoppncarticles · 9 months

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The Frillish Family

Frillish is a pretty interesting one. These are some Water/Ghost type jellyfish, themed around royal Victorain attire, with the male Frillish having a ruffled collar and the female having fluffy dress-like tentacles. The little bits at the top of their heads are likely meant to resemble crowns as well.

Apparently Frillish began life as a pure Water type, and was given the secondary Ghost typing after being completed as to add some more variety to Unova's type selection. I think the Ghost typing helps to add some character to Frillish though, at least once they evolve. For now, Frillish is about what you’d expect from a nasty jellyfish, since under its more unsuspecting demeanor its hunting habits consist of paralyzing prey with their tentacles and dragging them down to the ocean depths never to be seen again. Great!

Jellicent is where these jellies get really good, since now they’ve become big bulbous bells with short, tiny tentacles like a Moon Jelly. Everyone who brings up Jellicent is sure to laugh at the male form, who’s got a big mustache now to accentuate its kingly appearance. The female isn’t too bad either, with its whiter neck fluff resembled a big, queenly out-turned collar.

Jellicent also flexes its Ghost typing a lot more than Frillish did, with the Pokedex stating swarms of Jellicent are infamous for causing ships to mysteriously disappear if they trespass through their territory. Adding to their regalness, sunken ships that are discovered in Jellicent territory are said to have become like castles for the local swarms, which is a neat visual. You can also tell how many lives Jellicent have consumed by the size of the crown-like ruffle on their heads, which while morbid, feels like a biologically accurate detail to include.

Apparently these jellies are over seven feet (two meters!) in size, which would likely be quite striking to see in person. One Pokedex entry states how much fishermen are known to fear Jellicent, and I don’t think you can really blame them.

Can you imagine how awful ocean-faring business and transportation must be in the Pokemon world?? Between Jellicent and other monstrosities like Gyarados, and the plentiful populations of toxic Tentacruel, navigating anywhere in the open seas must be a total nightmare.

For one more sprinkle of absurdity, one of Frillish’s more recent Pokedex entries say that, according to legend, an ancient sea-faring civilization is believed to have become the Pokemon now known as Frillish, somehow. I'm glad the the entry specifies this as only a legend, because I don’t know how that would work otherwise. I think I like them better as ominous, red-eyed jellyfish anyways.

Score: 5/5 – PERFECT!

I am biased slightly due to these two being spooky, ghastly jellyfish, but hey, they’ve still got quite a bit of substance to ‘em regardless.

Cool parallels to Gen 1’s Tentacool family. Yea, parallels still show up from time to time.

[Gen 5 Archive]

#pokemon #pokemon review #frillish #jellicent

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readingrobin · 1 year

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Since I was caught up in the Magical Readathon this month, it gave me the opportunity to pick up my pace a bit reading-wise. Managed to get into those sweet double digits when it came to how much I read and the majority of them were great. It started off on a high note, but I think by the end I was getting into some very lukewarm reads. Nothing too terrible, since I didn't manage to DNF anything this month, but it's always disappointing to end a month with a whimper rather than a bang.

Total Books Reads: 11

Total Pages Read: 3,520

Books Read:

Murder for the Modern Girl by Kendall Kulper (3.5/5) (Review)

All the Stars and Teeth by Adalyn Grace (3/5) - A sea faring journey is just what I needed to get in the mood for a summer that feels not too far off. I will say, this book definitely lives up to its promise of adventure, due to its tense, bloody action and introduction to a world with a interesting magic system, though I did find myself constantly confused and unable to really visualize soul magic. I think the book's greatest strength is its setting, where each island holds its own kind of magic and traits. Though we didn't see every island, I'm sure the rest will be left for the sequel to explore, there was enough to sate me for this particular journey.

When it comes to our main crew, I think I have to echo some other reviews by saying Amora comes off as the least interesting. Bastian has his charm and inner turmoil that he tries to keep behind a mischievous facade, Ferrick, his foil, a bit more straight laced and focused, while also having the neat featuring of regrowing limbs, and Vataea, a mermaid with a sultry, yet scary strength. And Amora is…just there. She's the princess, our main character, the one who believes she alone can save the kingdom, which somewhat makes me feel like she views her crew as nothing more than lackeys and sidekicks who are but tools to help her get to each destination while she does the most self-sacrifical work. I know she's meant to be a stubborn royal who was most likely raised to believe so, but it still doesn't exactly put her in the best light to the reader.

The writing itself kept my attention, but the plot had the standard twists and formula one finds in most YA fantasy. Nothing wrong with a formulaic plot, but there should be some sort of window dressing or aesthetic that keeps it from fading into the background with all the rest like it. My mind was starting to expect certain plot beats, only to go "ah, there it is" when the shoe inevitably dropped.

Mage and the Endless Unknown by SJ Miller (4/5) - Not gonna lie, this graphic novel gets rough. If you're up for seeing a little mage constantly facing some sort of traumatizing event from the terrifying creatures he meets on his travels, well, this'll certainly do it for you. The artist really has a knack for drawing unnerving, rigidly detailed creatures that give off a Junji Ito vibe. The contrast of the amount of gore, violence, and disturbing visuals offset the more friendly and cartoonish looking mage, giving the idea that one of these things doesn't belong in this setting. Though upsetting at points, there is a glimmer of hope to this comic, one that offers a sense of peace and rest. The comic does have a physical release coming out, but you can read it now on the magecomic website.

Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger (4/5) - It's odd how I went into this book having both some expectations, mostly due my friends and everyone else lauding it extensively, and no expectations at all. This pretty much happens whenever I'm 3-5 years behind reading the latest hot titles. But Elatsoe really does live up to its clout. The world has a somewhat normalized take on the paranormal, where vampires, or "cursed" individuals, magic users, and faeries are a known part of the world, interacting with society with life pretty much going on as normal. Well, aside from the string of mysterious deaths that seem to linger around a small town in the middle of Texas. It presents a setting that is both familiar and yet holds a bit of intrigue in a sort of alternate Earth containing all the history of our world with just some extra bits.

I loved the incorporation of Lipan Apache culture in the story, giving it an identity all its own and more weight to its events. The theme of oppressors actively displacing and sacrificing the oppressed to survive and further their own needs will always be haunting, especially when tied to the history between colonizers and indigenous peoples. Little Badger gives an equal amount of lamentation for the crimes of the past and present, while also celebrating the endurance of culture and its teachings that are passed down throughout the ages.

A big plus for making Ellie's asexuality just a casual feature of her character rather than making it an entire plot point. As an asexual person, I'm glad to have any normalizing representation that's more than an entire story where the protagonist has to repeatedly defend and validate their sexuality to other people. Here, it's just a part of her being, no big thing, and that's the way it should be.

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher (4/5) - I've been hearing a lot of good things about T. Kingfisher and how I would really jive with her work. Well, diving into a story with a main character that has trouble really understanding the world around her while also bringing together a group that may qualify as one of the odder found families definitely wins me over.

I think what really endears me to this book is how much I appreciate Marra as a character. I love how, despite how constantly and profoundly out of her depth she is, she is still determined to do anything to protect her family. That, while she is surrounded by people who, on the surface, are more exemplary and powerful, she is capable of working marvels. What makes her stand out among other royal heroines is that her abilities are not tied to skills she earned through her title or some kind of destiny, but a certain domesticity she finds comfort in and developed all by herself. Marra is a self made woman, wanting to make herself of use to others instead of sitting around, waiting to be used as a chess piece. I think there's something amiable in depicting a sort of power in the mundane, that, with enough determination and love, could be as strong as any weapon or magic.

The writing style makes it so immersive as a dark fairy tale. Kingfisher always nails the tone of a scene, whether it be unnerving, reflective, mysterious, or tinged with a hint of humor. There were some elements I think could have been expanded upon. I wish we got a little bit more characterization from Prince Vorling other than what we got as second hand accounts. Most of the time, he never really felt like a threat, just something far away and not really tangible, despite his lingering marks on Kania. I really wanted to see more of that Goblin Market as well. So very ripe with fantastical possibilities.

The Moth Keeper by K. O'Neill (3/5) - O'Neill, throughout all of their work, knows what it takes to make each of their worlds atmospheric, engaging, and magical. It's mainly through their artwork, which is just totally immaculate here. The night scenes, will covered in a dark, expansive sky, still have a certain glow about them, coming from Anya's lantern and the ethereal presence of the moths. The adding of animal characteristics to the characters also bring about a certain kind of charm, though I wonder if there was a purpose behind these designs beyond aesthetic. The art itself make it worth checking out, but I don't think it ultimately saves a story that seems somewhat empty.

I think, as I was reading, I never felt totally ingrained in the world. It seemed almost aloof in nature, not really explaining certain things or leaving other elements up to interpretation. I mentioned the story seeming somewhat empty, which kind of makes sense for one that has a desert setting and deals with feelings of loneliness in a community and isolating yourself. But there's not really much else that compensates for that space, not in depth worldbuilding or interesting character dynamics. The message is a reassuring one, that your responsibilities in your community shouldn't be a source of isolation, but rather a way to get closer to them. It's a simple, reflective story, which is fine, but I think I was expecting more out of the premise.

The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells (3/5) - Wells certainly has a penchant for emotionally aloof and antisocially prone main characters, but I'm all for it. In a world devoid of humans and populated by a slew of humanoid creatures, the story offers a setting completely alien to the reader, which leaves a lot up to the imagination. At first, it was somewhat difficult for me to properly visualize all the differences between the species. The book already has an appendix for how to differentiate between the Raksura and the Fell, so it would have been helpful to have another that focused on the other races in the world.

I don't know if this is just me, but I thought that it was somewhat odd that, despite possibly coming from a similar ancestor, the Raksura are an all sentient, rational thinking race among all their classes, but the Fell are a mostly animalistic hivemind species aside from their rulers. It kind of made for a messy parallel and I think was to make the reader empathize more with the Raksura and showcase the Fell as entirely evil with no capability for civility. I suppose it certainly helps side with the heroes as the two constantly slaughter each other, but it makes for a pretty boring antagonist that is simply evil scary monsters just because. The story seemed like it had a few opportunities to go deeper than that, as Cloud has a history with them and Wells has shown that she is capable of more nuanced storytelling, but fell off about halfway through.

I wish there had been more time set aside for Cloud to truly learn about his people and reflect on his place in their society before they thrust him into the hierarchical issues and the disputes with the Fell. Cloud has only just found his people for the first time after losing his mother and siblings as a child, wandering alone and hiding what he is from others, and I don't think we get a lot of him reflecting on what that truly means. Also, imagine going through all that, and discovering that your main purpose in that society was basically to breed. Again, may just be a personal thing, but I know that would certainly lead to an existential dilemma for me. Personally, I'm not a fan of society structures as, "you're born as this class, so obviously you must serve that role forever" seems too dystopic for my tastes. Wells subverts this with Chime in a way, but again, doesn't really tap the full ramifications or intrigue behind it.

The Sandman Universe: Nightmare Country Vol 1. by James Tynion IV and Lisandro Estherran (5/5) - It's very rare that I find a Sandman-affiliated comic that I don't like really. I love this world and all the terrifying sorts of beings that live within it. I know Tynion more for his young adult Wynd series, but know that he's very capable at writing horror and Nightmare Country certainly proves it. This comic takes Sandman back to its horror roots, following the Corinthian as a being with teeth for eyes other than him has been stalking a woman in her waking life for some time now. This volume serves as a good setup to the story, getting all our main players in, bringing back some familiar faces and introducing some new ones. With how the story ended, I'm really interested to see where exactly it's going to go.

Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson (4/5) (Review)

Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova (3/5) - I feel very lukewarm about Labyrinth Lost. It wasn't a particularly bad book, I think it's just one where I've read similar stories before and they were told in a way that was more gripping to me. I didn't really connect with the simpler writing style, or connect with any of the characters. I think the only elements that I was really interested in was the magic system and the environments of Los Lagos. I'm always a fan of the trope of the tempting feast, the one meant to lure you in with delicious food and fascinating company, only to trick you into eating dirt and keep you there forever. It's a portal fantasy staple, really.

It may be just a me thing since I was breezing through this book so quickly, but the pacing felt a bit off at times, with the action starting and stopping so often, especially towards the end. I think what really threw me off about the group is that we don't really have a strong trio of characters between Alex, Nova, and Rishi. Usually in fantasies that usually follow a group of three characters off on a typical quest, there's some cohesion to them. They may get off to a rocky start, but eventually they really start to work well as a unit and become stronger for it. Here, the group doesn't really feel like a stable triangle, as they usually range from being incredibly snarky and antagonistic towards each other (Alex and Nova at the start, then Rishi taking over that job from Alex as the two start to get on better) or being completely devoted to each other (Nova warming up to Alex, as well as Rishi being a constant supportive force and that's it). I wish Rishi got some kind of quality that made her more of an asset to the team other than Alex's best friend and love interest. She literally just fell into the portal to Los Lagos after Alex on accident and really doesn't serve a function other than backing Alex up. It doesn't make her that memorable as a character and it's a little disappointing.

I know there's plot reasons as to why they don't really feel like a great team but the twist towards the end probably would have hit a lot harder if they were.

Other than that, the family dynamic was a great element of the story, which makes it a bummer that we don't really see more of them. I know the sequel follows Alex's sister, which would probably focus a bit more on that aspect, but I don't think I gel enough with this writer or the overall story to continue.

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson (2/5) - Though I may not have liked this book very much, I will say that I appreciate that it introduced me to an interesting aspect of history that I had not known before, such as the Pack Horse project and the Blue Fugates family. I'm a real big fan of pieces of history that slips through the cracks and lead the way for improvement in societies that were disadvantaged, which was one of the aims of the Pack Horse project. To know the dedication of librarians in this context, to be introduced how they would travel in dangerous conditions to bring people books and magazines that would either give them a relief for their hard lives, or help them learn new skills that would help them contribute in new ways to their families or communities was a much welcome lesson.

That's probably the only praise I can really give this book. I wasn't a fan of how this book centered on the constant sense of tragedy that lingers around Cussy May. It seems that, no matter how little good she experiences, she can't hold onto it for long or it's overshadows by the many, many horrible things that happen to her. Numerous sexual assaults, medical assault, losing so many people. At some point, it almost feels manipulative that we're constantly supposed to feel bad for Cussy, but at some point it gets to be too much to take seriously. Did I feel anger at all the injustice she faced? Sure, as any rational minded person would. But when the only thing your character experiences is constant hardship without any slack, it gets to be real repetitive and boring. And that ending was just the cherry out a cake made out of frustration and emotional exhaustion.

When it came to the author's treatment of race in the book, I'm just gonna say that it's a bit messy in certain scenarios. Framing Cussy, a person with blue skin, as someone who is somehow treated more poorly than the few black people in the community, was, I don't know, probably not a great choice. The scene with the doctor's Jamaican servant (you can tell she's Jamaican because the author makes sure to lean hard into the accent), who doesn't even let Cussy into his house or provide her a drink when he asks her to, just felt a little tone deaf.

While I'm glad this books highlights the importance of literature within a community, as well as how wealth and information disparity leads people to become more disadvantaged, misinformed, and generally have harder ways of living, its tone and content just felt a little overbearing.

Average Rating: 3.5/5

#robin's book log #reading wrap up #monthly wrap up #murder for the modern girl #all the stars and teeth #mage and the endless unknown #elatsoe #nettle and bone #the moth keeper #the cloud roads #nightmare country #vespertine #labyrinth #the book woman of troublesome creek

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