#but raven has the best design overall in my opinion
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⋆ So....I was scrolling through Instagram the other day and I saw one those fav character charts, and I thought it would be fun to make my own! ⋆
⋆ Poptropica mutuals, tell me about your favs, not just your main favs, your side favs! I will include the transparent version below, and my explanation to my choices down below if you are interested! I'm interested to see your choices. ⋆
⋆ Tada! Have fun! ⋆
⋆ Now, an explanation to my choices: ⋆
⋆ Your Favorite: Director D ⋆
I think it's no surprise to ANYONE that knows me that Director D has always been my favorite, since day 1. There was a moment where he was almost replaced by Binary Bard, but he is a close second. Director D is my favorite because he is associated to my nostalgia of a time when I was obsessed with being a spy or ninja when I was a kid. (Spy kids may have played a BIG role in that.) Playing as an agent in that island was so exciting for me, but I do remember having trouble with certain parts like the decoder. (In hindsight I probably would be horrible spy XD.) Now that I'm older, his island is still one of my favs for that reason, but it's not my number one. I wish we could have gotten a bit more backstory for him, but, what can you do. (But create a backstory for him and I have.)
⋆ You Relate To: Black Widow ⋆
Black widow is a character I don't really talk about or draw like....ever, which is crazy because she's probably the character I relate to the most, just like many other artist do too I'm sure. I relate to her in the way of being jealous of other people's art success, and the constantly comparing yourself to others. They say you are your worst critic after all. I don't so much anymore. I'm actually proud of where I am in my art journey, but I used to do that a lot when I was younger, especially when I just started doing digital art.
You won't catch me stealing or ruining other people's art though... girl what-
⋆ Your Favorite Design: Ringmaster Raven ⋆
Look at him, 'nuff said. His design is amazing. I love the color palette, the mask used to cover his true look, the raven theme with the wings and mask, the hat with eyes, everything. His design is the best because it matches with the overall theme of the island, it being a MONSTER CARNIVAL, and he is the Ringmaster. I remember how hipped I was when his island trailer released. One of the best islands for sure.
⋆ Is Underrated: Count Bram⋆
Yeah, remember when I was constantly drawing him for a short period of time? It's for a reason. I love my vampire peepaw who's confused about everything. I'm curious, do people consider him a villain? I kind of don't for the reason that he kidnapped Katya because he thought she was Anabelle, and once he was cured and was bought back to reality, he apologized for it because he didn't know. You want to talk about villain? Christopher is the real villain, you can't change my mind. Anyway, I was looking at the old art I drew of him, and he looked familiar to me. Then it all came together. You know who he reminds of? Exactly? Simon Petrikov, you know, Ice King from Adventure Time? Not only do they have the same hair style and would have the same personality, but they were both humans at some point with a partner, and once they became what they became, all they thought about was their partner, aka Anabelle and Betty.
Poof, mind blown. Vampire peepaw deserves more love.
⋆ You'd get along with IRL: Amelia ⋆
Amelia is another character I don't really talk about or draw, mainly because I associate her with the new era of Poptropica. But, I don't think that's fair. Amelia is actually a very sweet character that I think little me would have appreciated if she came to the game sooner. I would probably get along with her really well, considering how silly, and nice she is. Not to mention, her love for cute stuff. Imagine her unicorn bedroom but replaced with bunnies. That's my room right now. I think that even traveling with her would be really fun. She would have gotten under the "you relate to" category too but I didn't want Amelia on here twice. XD
⋆ And finally...Your Favorite Side Character: Dr. Spyglass ⋆
I... do not know how to explain this one. Dr. Spyglass only gets a few words of dialog, and we know nothing about him in canon, besides him working for HQ, and being an eye doctor. I won't lie, I actually had a crush on this guy years ago, hence why I shipped him with Muddy. (I cringe at that ship now. XD) Probably because...he looks like Director D...with a lab coat. >_> Look at both of them and TELL ME they are not related, I dare you. My version of them are. I love the idea of this silly scientist being hired by his brother after failing the entry agent exam, not because he pitted him, but because he understood how incredibly smart he was and is. Constantly being compared to his brother and what he could have been. So, you can say I like MY version of him... a lot.
I should dedicate a post to him some day, eh?
#poptropica#favorite character chart#this post made me realize that my favs are characters#that don't have any backstory XD#just things I made up#besides widow and raven#i wouldn't consider widow a fav though#darn#i should have included one that said fav character because of their island#binary bard would fall under that category#dr. hare is a fav too and he would have gone into the favorite design category because#bnnuy..#but raven has the best design overall in my opinion#feel free to draw them if you want#or be lazy like me hgdhsj#i just want to learn your favs#tell me everything 👀
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Rating Rune Factory Wedding Dresses (Because I have some opinions)
Rune Factory (1)
10/10
I honestly think this dress is top tier in terms of design. The snowy white with pops of color, the scalloped flowy sleeves, the barely exposed shoulders, that lovely subtle headdress and veil, it's all so pretty and elegant to me. I believe it suits all the girls in RF1 beautifully, though I do feel like Tabatha (center) and Rosetta (right) are standouts~
Rune Factory 2
6/10
It's a very lovely design overall though I do think it creates a bit of an odd silhouette. There are still many elements to appreciate, like the lacey detailed edges and the bold but uncommon use of green. I also give them bonus points for containing a dress sprite of he/him character Ray (right) in the game's data (Trans RF character confirmed?) I think the dress best suits curvier girls like Yue (left) but it's also a real treat to finally see Dorothy's (center) lovely eyes~
Rune Factory Frontier
2/10
This dress really doesn't do it for me. I can tell they were going for more of a ceremonial robes vibe rather than a traditional wedding dress and from a distance it almost works but the outfit up close is just bulky and unflattering. Maybe if they fixed the headdress or gave the robe some really pretty accents or beading it could work, but as it is, it's probably the last thing I'd wanna be virtually married in. The one thing I do like is that it gives most of the girls a unique updo for their wedding day.
Rune Factory 3/RF3 Special
3/10
This used to be my least favorite RF wedding dress before that honor went to Frontier. The more I look at it, the more I realize that most of my disdain lies with the headdress and not the dress itself. The actual dress is fine, in fact there are some parts I really like, the sheer material on the upper arms for one, or the shawl, I just don't think it particularly looks like a wedding dress. That headdress though...oh boy, it looks like someone just glued a bunch of random sh*t they found to a headband and called it a day. It's just very cluttered and doesn't scream 'wedding' at all. If I have to pick a stand out it would probably be Raven (center) since her pose and hair color hide many of the design fails. Also Daria (right) because it seems like the sort of chaotic outfit she, herself would design.
Rune Factory Tides of Destiny/Oceans
5/10
This game didn't get the usual character portraits so the images aren't great, but my opinion on these dresses was very so-so, I definitely wouldn't call them ugly, and I do love the colors and rare use of a real bouquet, they just didn't seem to stand out all that much. Especially in terms of RF costumes. They seem a little bulky on the models but I honestly think they could have fixed that by just having character portraits. Not bad. Not great. Just middle of the road dresses. As standouts I'd pick Sonja and Electra (left and center). Their hair colors complement the dress and Electra is already suited to the poofy ballgown look anyway.
Rune Factory 4/RF4 Special
8/10
RF4's dress has a very ethereal, almost fairy-like look to it, which I personally find very gorgeous. It's pretty busy like many of the previous dresses, but unlike those, I feel like the elements here actually work together. The long flowy veil and blue rose accents are just beautiful, as is the detailed corset and neckpiece making up the torso. I'm not personally a huge fan of the flower petal looking design on the hips, but it does fit well with the whole aesthetic. As for standouts, It looks tailor made for Frey (left), but I definitely think taller, long haired girls like Dolce and Margaret (center and right) look amazing in it as well.
Rune Factory 5
9/10
I think this dress is beautiful as a whole, a bit more traditional and subdued than previous wedding outfits but personally I love it. The silhouette is flattering on everyone and the color scheme is unique among the other dresses by sticking with only warmer colors as opposed to the cool blues and greens of past games. I also love how the tint of the roses changes slightly depending on who's wearing the dress. All in all it reminds me a lot of the subtle elegance of RF1's dress and that makes it a win for me. For standouts I think Fukka's (center) complexion and hair go beautifully with the dresses colors. Ludmilla (right) also looks divine with the rosy aesthetic~
What's your favorite wedding look from the RF series? Who wore it best? Comment or tag if you feel like dishing some opinions of your own (Or just answer my poll ;)
#rune factory#rune factory 2#rune factory 3#rune factory frontier#rune factory tides of destiny#rune factory oceans#rune factory 4#rune factory 4 special#rune factory 3 special#rune factory 5
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I keep seeing ppl talk about the MC needing to be female due to the Manga and such already including a Male MC or even Trans/NB MC from what I know. The reasoning I hear for having a Female MC in the anime is that it would be more inclusive toward the female audience.
This doesn't matter as much when it comes to the debate but what's not really talked about is how a ton of the fandom already favors Female MC and commonly creates Female MC content as to be expected with games like Twisted Wonderland which is filled with mainly well-designed men. In comparison, Male MC content isn't as common.
When it comes to the anime, inserting an MC would be difficult as they would need a set appearance. It's nearly impossible to be inclusive to everyone because there are various things that make a person, such as Size, Height, Skin tone, Voice etc. Not to mention the MC's gender. It would make more sense to try and avoid the thing all together, like a shrimp plush as a lot of the fandom has decided to show the MC as. Similarly to how the Obey Me anime has done a great job at managing the person-insert inclusive thing with the Obey Me sheep in both the Manga and Anime. (This idea was brought to me by a certain someone that I shall reblog thier post.) Personally I'm thinking this is the best way to go about it. Because although the MC could be questioned about being a fucking shrimp, just as ppl question and point out Grim being a monster, it would avoid the gender and inclusiveness topic entirely. This would also help fit with Floyd calling us "Shrimpy" and if you're wondering about how the actions of the MC could be played as, if you've seen the way the plush Tsums moved and expressed themselves, that's how it can be portrayed I suppose.
Now, the problem here is that Night Raven College IS an all-boys school. Both Ace and Duece had questioned Lillia and Epel about their gender/age/appearance at first and questioned their place at the school. Now imagine the MC clearly appearing Female. It'd be weird for them to question Lillia and Epel, but not the supposed MC. In the game, the topic was easy to avoid simply because the MC is never shown or implied to have a certain gender. If not for a character-insert symbol approach. It's pretty possible that the MC would end up Male.
If anything, they would create a character like Epel or Lillia, where they look somewhere in the middle of the Male-Female Spectrum and you can't decisively tell what their gender is. With this approach they could avoid the talk about their gender and appearance in general and refer to the MC with They/Them pronouns just like the game. But again, this would easily still lead to the question of why MC was not questioned by Ace and Deuce when Epel and Lillia were.
Overall I highly doubt they'd make the MC Female. But we won't know until it is shown. So don't take my word for it.
Feel free to comment or ask about this, even if it's an opposing opinion. I like a good conversation about this and the game in general. Just don't be disrespectful.
#twisted wonderland#disney twisted wonderland#disney twst#twst wonderland#twst thoughts#twst x reader#twst trey#heartslabyul#jade leech#floyd leech#twst#twst grim#twst yuu#twst analysis#twst anime#twst female oc#twst manga#twst male oc
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Musing on JRPGS
Just like some stuff I've been thinking about. This will mostly talk about Tales of games that I've played and Final Fantasy VII (kind of reviews of these games?)
I'm putting it under the readmore because this will probably be long and rambly!
SO quick background. I love video games but I don't actually play a ton of them, I get busy with a lot of other stuff so while I have a passion for games I would never call myself an expert. Growing up my parents did not want us playing video games, and we only ever had consoles or games because of my rogue grandparents and uncle I believe. I grew up with a Gamecube with no memory cartridge, so games I played we always started over, or had to keep the GameCube on for weeks at a time. Eventually we got one, but that was in middle school.
Most of my experience with JRPGS has been in the last six years. I met a lovely friend with a passion for Tales of games and have slowly been making my way through the catalogue with them. (they're @mewnia and do awesome art!)
Anyways JRPGS! So I have noticed a couple main ideas that guide a JRPG. Most of them are defined by their lead characters story, the world building/magic system, the fighting system, and the cast of supporting characters. Different games are stronger or weaker in the various areas.
The Tales of series and the Final Fantasy series are like sister franchises to me. They both are a long line of titles, all mostly standalone, that deal with the same general magic concepts of spirits and stuff but play around with the rules these elements play by and the role they have in the story itself. My first JRPG was really Tales of Symphonia, and while I remember really loving it, I also played it way back in Middle School. I could talk about it, but not in a way that's analytical enough for this discussion. There is also kind of a classic JRPG mid game twist, where we discover that the world is not what we thought and reveal the 'true' plot of the game.
The Tales of series while not the most popular series in the west I really love the general design elements that they choose to go with. I feel like they're just stylized enough to stand out (with the exception of Arise, which makes me worry for the future of the franchise) and their designs walk an interesting line between complex and and just approachable enough for an artist.
Tales of Vesperia - This was the first one I played with my friend. The overall story isn't anything special in my opinion, but where this game really shines is the the side characters. This may be one of if not the best JRPG I've played so far that has the characters dynamics not only feel so good, but has each characters narrative arc integrate into the main story in such an intuitive way. Many JRPGs I've played will have the main plot basically come to a standstill in order to address the side characters stories. However each character in this game has a significant relevance to the main plot, and while circumstance brings them together, it's their choices that keeps them together. Because you connect so much with the characters, this game made me have some real emotions during its' various character twists (I'm looking at Raven here) Although this games mid game twist isn't anything crazy.
Tales of the Abyss - Boasting some of my favorite character designs, this games overall plot is definitely one of my faves. I think it does its' musical motif really well in the worldbuilding. The main character specifically has some of the best written progression and development over the course of the game, which does a good job at feeling real. Both this game and Vesperia has a relatively simple battle system, but I especially like how I feel like I'm really in control of how I play my character, and that I'm making choices in battles. Again I think most of the credit to this game goes to its' good world-building.
Tales of Xillia - This one boasts some of my least favorite character designs! congrats! I just felt like the designs are too complex and as a group not harmonious. When all the characters in Abyss stand together I was very happy. When all these characters stand together it looks like a mess. That being said the mid game plot twist in this game KICKS ASS. I LOVE IT. The issues in this game are one of my faves in the moral complexity, with lots of attention put towards how we prioritize certain people in our societies. I recall enjoying the fighting in this game too, and this is the first game I think I played with a really unique ability to customize your characters with little silly props. 10/10 all games should have this.
Xillia 2 - I will just touch on this one briefly. I have big love for the protag in this game, and it has good world building. I love alternate universes. Getting to see the paths the main characters took after the events of the first game is nice, although I would have appreciated a couple more new characters in the team. The affinity building dynamic was unique to this game and something I particularly enjoyed. Ludger is also very hot. there I said it.
Tales of Zestiria - This game is, uh, fine. Designs are fine. Character dynamics range from really good to just meh. The story is pretty vanilla, which I think is on purpose? Since its like a King Arthur retelling. I feel like this game has a really weird battle system where your attacks are judged by combo rather than direction button presses, which made me feel less in control of my characters fighting. However the magical girl merge mechanic in this game made up for it. Despite being such a vanilla story, I also found myself really confused a lot? Like the names and stuff for some reason were really hard to follow? But that's okay because this game sets the stage for....
Tales of Berseria - a prequel to Zestiria, but best played after it. The vanilla tone of Zestiria perfectly sets you up for the INCREDIBLE story of Berseria, where you play as not only a morally grey character, but in many ways an actual villain. The character dynamics in this game are really fun, as most characters are also leaning into the morally grey archetype, versus some of the characters that are kind of trapped with the group but are more archetypical good characters. It ends up really making you look at the story from a lot of different angles. The designs can be hit or miss in this game, ranging from awesome to 'I know you could do better'. The fighting in this game is one of my faves, requiring some real thought and the ability to have unique abilities taken from enemies spices things up a lot. This game is, without a doubt, a tragedy. And while by this point I was kind of tired of Tales of games never giving it's protags happy endings, I can't deny that this ideas was a theme throughout all the game and all the characters arcs.
Alright so, Final Fantasy VII
So, because I have played so many Tales of games, it is with the eyes of a tales of player that I analyzed Final Fantasy when I finally played it a month or so ago. Final Fantasy VII was an archetype game, defining a genre. That means that it is both very good, and also very lacking in the quality of life additions that we take for granted in more current games. So I won't belabor you with those critiques, just know that they're there. The designs in this game are good! very different from the Tales of series that I know, these character designs are a little more grungy looking, but overall I think the team looks good all stranding together and in the world, which is what matters the most. The magic system is something very unique, with the idea that the lifeblood of the world is also the knowledge of the past, and the materia system is simple enough for a beginner but also complex enough that if you should choose you can really dig your teeth into it. I personally really love the story of this game, both as it played with trials of the main cast, and the political power of Shirna in the face of the apocalypse. I think it's particularly telling and realistic that even in such a circumstance, the government will attempt to fight both the apocalypse AND the main cast rather than uniting. Character arcs are VERY hit or miss. We have some arcs that incorporate perfectly into the main story such as Aerith's, some that are only there to support the main characters (Tifa), some that stop the main plot in order to be pursued off to the side (Red XIII, Barret, Yuffie), and some that are barely there is at all (Cait Sith and Vincent). Luckily we have the remake in the form of future hope that some of these characters will get the spotlight and attention I feel they need.
Anyway uh if you read this all thanks! Mostly I wanted to get some of my thoughts down so I wouldn't forget it. IDK if I'll ever make a JRPG of my own, but I do really love JRPGS. I find the large cast to always be very fun, and the different ways that the games build up a world around similar building blocks to make unique stories is really interesting. Sometimes these worlds are the main focus, and sometimes they are just a beautiful backdrop for the plot.
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Could you do Raven and Flynn please
Rate them from 0-10: 10!!! (Absolute best boy, I love him so much!!)
Sexuality HC: Bisexual, demiromantic
Gender HC: Cis male
Fav Moment/Random Trivia: UMM... All of them! But I guess my favorite scene is the most obvious one, the one where he sacrifices himself for Brave Vesperia. I think that was great for his character development and him finally finding some peace with himself and his identity. I also like the various little out of the blue gay moments he has with Yuri, where Patty says Yuri is her boy and Raven quickly responds with "I ain't handin' him over to you, Patty darlin'!" or when he says he's been on pins and needles waiting to hold Yuri's hand lol
Random HC: I'm still really hung up on the chronic pain headcanon an anon sent me once. For one of my own (though in a similar vain), the reason why Raven, despite only being 35, refers to himself as an old man and behaves like he's much older than his is is because of the toll dying once and having a blastia for a heart took on his body. Though he's still young, he experiences weakness, pain, and fatigue like an older person might due to what he's been through. I'm sure his second "death" as Schwann probably didn't help much either...
Opinion: Raven is probably one of my all time favorite characters from anything. I love goofball characters, characters that hide their pain behind jokes, "old man" characters, sketchy people that live double lives, and smart characters that act dumb. He really delivered on all of those things! I like his english voice and his character design a lot too! As a darker skinned person I like seeing positive portrayals of darker skinned characters in JRPGs since that can sometimes be uncommon (the Tales series seems pretty good about it overall though!)
Rate them from 0-10: 7 (A very good boy! I would probably rate him higher if he was around more)
Sexuality HC: Gay
Gender HC: Trans male
Fav Moment/Random Trivia: I feel like I keep saying this but Flynn is one of those characters where I like every time he's on screen😅 If I must pick one though I guess I like the skit where everyone is teasing him about his casual clothes and get flustered. I also like when he fights Yuri in the coliseum and they just can't stop talking for two seconds.
Random HC: Flynn is so terrible at cooking because Yuri used to hype him up when they were younger and he got too confident in his ability to make recipes. He thought the reason Yuri started making his own meals was just because he was inspired to become more like master chef Flynn.
Opinion: Flynn is such a great character, very earnest and pure. Much like Yuri, he's actually quite flawed and morally grey and I love that about him. I also love how much he cares for his knights and his people and is very driven to create a better world. I also love that he isn't afraid to show Yuri some tough love and that, much like Yuri, he seems to speak kindly of him behind his back. He has one of my favorite voices in the game and his design is very cute, even if it is pretty similar to other Tales characters (like Guy from TotA or even Ioder from his own game). I only wish that we could see him more, though I suppose at least definitive edition is an improvement over the original.
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One of these days you'll have to make a proper account, Gamzanon~ Or just eat mine~ ♡
Running commentary will be in brackets~
Favorite Preds Per Caste ~ Lowbloods
Consider this my Valentines Day special. Alternia is filled with predators of all shapes and sizes. Today we'll be listing all of them. All preds from all castes listed from most favorite to least.
With special exception to Wanshi, Tirona, Karako, the Soleil Twins, and Amisia. Most people on this list will be aged up, but these characters are literally toddlers. No amount of aging up will make including them not feel creepy. Keep kids out of vore. [Damn right. I knew you were a decent sort]
And, finally, this will be divided into three parts. Lowbloods, Midbloods, and Highbloods. Here's part one.
With that out of the way, let's get on with the show~
Red Bloods
Karkat Vantas [♡♡♡♡]
Starting out strong with everyone's favorite cantankerous carnivore.
He's easily a top ten pred. His layered personality means you can make him into whatever kind of pred you want him to be. He can smugly trash talk a pleading prey like no other or fret over over a willing meal just as well as any jade blood. He's often underestimated by his friends, which makes him ideal for snacking on smug Serkets or devouring delicious Daves. Plus, a God-Tier getting digested by a lowly mortal is A+ material and Karkat lends himself especially well to that. With an appetite to match his anger, Karkat gives a whole new definition to the term "hangry".
"I WASN'T KIDDING WHEN I SAID I WAS YOUR GOD."
[It helps of course that I find Karkat so fucking hot. Padding out his ass after weiggling enough yo make his cherry red bulge shoot hands free is perfect, especially if you work him into a tizzy with some teasing from inside~]
Kankri Vantas
Kankri's a particularly condescending carnivore and I think that works wonders.
His stuck up self righteous attitude makes him magnificent at smugly putting prey in their place and the fact that no one takes him seriously makes him ideal for taking down apex predators. You know damn well he's got a speech prepared about why you should be prey. Unlike Karkat, he isn't quite as versatile and his celibacy makes it hard to contrive alternative vore scenarios for him. That said, he's still a smug snake who'd be more than happy to swallow you whole and lecture you about his #predrights as you digest.
[Maybe the mun is just a slut, but being reduced to prey for Kankri and told I'm nothing but food, like a lower class built to digest for him is... so fucking good... #predrights]
The Signless
He who fights monsters risks becoming one himself. Nevermind what happens to he who eats them...
Yeah, poor Signless kinda finds himself falling in last here. Not his fault. The Voracious Vantases are stiff competition. Having said that, he works fantastically for one scenario in particular. Corruption. The image of this perfect paragon who only ate people as a last resort slowly decending into a sadistic predator who gleefully churns up the Condescension is just beautiful. You can do a lot with a corrupted Signless. He just can't quite match his counterparts in the realm of berating those in his belly. Still, this predatory preacher is more than happy to continue spreading his message. All trolls are equal... equally delicious~
Rust Bloods
Aradia Megido
Oh, hell yes. Whether it's the cold cruelty of Aradiabot or the playful predation of her God-Tier counterpart, Aradia is a goldmine for gluttonous scenarios.
Her adventurous attitude lends her well to any kind of vore you can think of and her powers give her all the time in the world to act out your fantasies. The worst I can say about her is that she's more teasing than she is sadistic, but that's hardly a problem given everything she can do to you. A gluttonous goddess with an adventurous appetite, Aradia will always gobble you up with a grin~
[Aradia strikes me as a well of alternative vore potential, especially with how kinky her ancestor is. With her eager attitude she could make you happy to vanish from under her~]
Xefros Tritoh
You know what I love? Shy, spineless preds embracing their predatory nature. And Xefros is perfect for that. He'd go from eating people to protect Joey to eating people because he was feeling peckish. It all culminates in him digesting Dammek while Joey rubs his gut. Looks like bad moirails make great meals. You want a good pred? X gon give it to ya.
[Preds with loyal gut rubbers are the best, especially if said gut rubber gets off on feeling prey get softer. Some Pale pailing while Xefros' gut is still squiming wouldn't go amiss]
Diemen Xicali [♡♡♡♡]
This pudgy little pred hits a lot of good notes for me. Awkward, polite, and utterly gluttonous all in one. I can easily see this boy stuffing his face with hotdogs while already having a squirming gut nearly twice his size. Underestimated preds are my jam and I guarantee no one would see it coming if this guy gobbled someone up. Not to mention, his hotdog motif lends itself well to vore. Food transformation and cock vore scenarios practically write themselves. Around him, everyone's just another oblong meat product.
[Real talk, I just love chubby guys~ He can turn me anyto anything after sliding his hotdog between my buns~]
Marsti Houtek
Another favorite of mine: indifferent preds. These preds couldn't care less about who you are. If they're hungry, that's it. You're gone. Quite a few heckling highbloods learned this about Marsti the hard way. I love the image of her casually going back to scrubbing the floor after eating someone, casually cleaning up whatever she belches out like it's another piece of garbage. Her tight suit would beautifully show off every little bulge as her meal struggles and squirms. It's only after she's done that she sits back to enjoy her meal. She likely became a more active predator thanks to the influence of a certain gluttonous goldblooded girlfriend. What can she say? She loves to break down trash.
Fozzer Velyes
Whether he's a carnivorous comrade or an imperial predator, this burgundy has quite the appetite. He's outside digging holes and sweating up a storm all night, he's going to be hungry pretty often. I like to imagine all the ghosts he doesn't believe in are the ghosts of his former prey, which honestly just adds insult to injury. They had to listen to his cheerfully jingoistic rants for hours as they digested only for him to not even acknowledge them after the fact. He's a deliciously sadistic pred without even trying to be. This ravenous rust has certainly seized the means of predation.
Damara Megido & The Handmaiden
I'm putting these two in the same spot because, well, they just don't do much for me. I don't find their design that attractive, the whole sadistic dom thing is done better by loads of other preds and the whole Japanese Waifu stick is frankly a bit oversaturated. They just don't appeal to me.
Bronze Blood
Tavros Nitram
Rare opinion but... Tavros is wholesale one if my favorite Homestuck Preds. He is the absolute king of getting corrupted into a domineering predator. After everything he's been through, he deserves to cut loose. Let him feast to his heart's content as his prey wallows in the humiliation of getting eaten by Tavros of all trolls. And don't even get me started on revenge vore. Anyone can become a great pred. That's something the Serkets learned the hard way~
[Apologetic preds are pretty great too, like "sorry but you were so good... guess I'm gonna keep you, sorry" while they churn and digest, having to think about being pudge on his ass forever~]
The Summoner
Oh, hell yes. This experienced pred is an outright cassanova. He's got enough skill to swallow up soldiers mid fight and enough charm to talk their comrades into joining them. Take Rufioh's chick magnet charm and temper it with some maturity and experience and you've got the Summoner. He's added dozens to his thighs already and he'd be happy to invite you to join them.
[Especially with how tall adult trolls get. Color me needy for some size difference, especially when I stand exactly bulge height. Worm it down my throat to work up an appetite~]
Chixie Roixmr
On the topic of revenge vore. Chixie is great for this, whether it be eating Zebruh or eating those highblood knock-offs who stole her set. If you're lucky, you might even see her on stage with a huge gut. Granted, those loud belches tend to interrupt her flow. On stage or off, The Mask gives a whole new meaning to the term "Eat the Rich".
Skylla Koriga
She's a dominant pred if there ever was one. You don't get thighs like that without a balanced diet and her scrappy older sister attitude lends her well to all sorts of voracious scenarios. You can easily picture her eating up willing prey or devouring thugs who think they can steal her lusus.
[That country girl aesthetic fits well with lewd gassy moments while the prey is gurgling insude her. She probably revels in it, and having her belch in my face would be such an instant game over for me...]
Rufioh Nitram
Rufioh can easily be talked into being a pred in bed. I mean, the guy has dated Damara and Horuss, he's used to weird kinks. Ask him to eat you and his response will be "Sure, doll." He'd quickly develop a fondness for predation, especially after a few partners "accidentally" pad out his thighs. With any luck, you'll be one of them~
Vikare Ratite
This guy would be positively giddy to have you gurgling in his gut. His perpetually optimistic attitude would have him gushing over you as gurgle in his guts, his rambling string of compliments only interrupted by an occasional crass belch. Only problem is prying him away from his flying fantasies. He's liable to have his head in the clouds more often then he has you in his guts.
Dammek
I mean... we know practically nothing about this guy. Everything we do know comes from second hand sources so.... yeah. At least the Ancestors have Mindfang's journal to go off of. Can't make any calls until we actually meet the man.
Gold Bloods
Folykl Darane [♡♡♡♡]
Predation isn't just a dietary choice for this one. Until she met Kuprum, she had to eat people to survive. She needs her energy and she's likely to taunt whatever poor shmuck she has to get it from. Kuprum would totally endorse Folykl's predatory habits and I can easily imagine him lowering a struggling prey into her jaws with telekinesis, mocking her victim all the while. Nothing personal. She needs her energy. But that doesn't mean she's going to be very nice about. Her casual cruelty lets her edge out some fairly stiff competition. Golds are easily my second favorite caste for preds overall. And this gremlin is the most gluttonous gold blood of them all.
[Real talk, Folykl can own me x///x A dirty, sweaty, crass girl who will insult me as likely as fuck me with that coiling, golden bulge? Hell maybe both at the same time if I'm especially lucky. Gassy from all that junk food, and lets you stew with it while she idly jacks off in the middle of the living room, blowing a load all over the floor... Then just laying back in her sweaty after glow.]
Zebede Tongva
In a caste filled with cynical assholes, Zebede stands out for his unwavering optimism. What makes him stand out as a pred is the side that affability hides. His pudge already gives him away as an experienced pred but that just makes him seem friendly. Of course, that same friendliness lets him lure prey back to his hive. Not to imply that it's an act, mind you. He's just as happy to meet you as he is to eat you. His enthusiasm is contagious even as he's happly melting you into padding and that's what sets him above so many other preds. He's a great friend to have, but be careful when he invites you over. You might just find out why he lives alone~
[*claps my hands in time* Chub-by boys are too good! I feel like he remembers every inch on his body as a troll, and still squishes them lovingly from time to time. He'll introduce you to every single one, mashing your face into his warm gut, his plump thighs, and his generous ass over the course of ages. He'd want to to stay forever, and after sweaty, heavy sex, getting ground into his mattress and learning to love his curves like he does, he adds you to them, to be with him forever~]
Azdaja Knelax
He's the self proclaimed prince of all predators and he does his best to live up to that. His pride makes him great for demeaning his prey and his sheer raw power means that there are few prey he can't handle. He's eaten plenty of prey over the course of his career. He claims he's eaten over 9000! Whether that's true or not... well, how about you stick around and find out. You can count his prey after you've joined them on his thighs.
The Psiioniic
How do you become the most powerful Psionic of all time? By eating lots and lots of prey. This carnivorous Captor was eager to eat any troll who got too close to the Signless and he was strong enough to keep anyone from really stopping him. He's one of the most powerful preds to ever walk on Alternia and he's got the thighs to prove it. His cynical Captor attitude makes him great. But the idea of him getting revenge on the Condescension and gobbling her up? That makes him gold.
Cirava Hermod
Lazily hedonistic and casually cruel, Hermod has all their bases covered. Whether they're churning up fans on stream or spitefully digesting smug highbloods, Cirava is all too happy to enjoy their position as a predator. If you're lucky, you might hear their prey screaming as they incorporate their gurgles and burps into their track. It results in some surprisingly good music and a lot of unsurprisingly good vore scenarios. You'd be hard pressed to not end up in this nonbinary's belly.
[They strike me as a loose lover. Let's get high and what happens happens! They'll take or give, and probably adore scents and tastes, in their hazy state, after a 69 session, or after returning your oral favors, the munchies kick in. With you digesting, they just don't get the struggling. "You loved my body right, I mean you even licked... there... You should totally be part of it lmao~"]
Sollux Captor
Casual preds are seriously underrated and this Captor is the king of that court. He's powerful enough to nonchalantly ragdoll you into his maw and he'd have no problem trash talking some digesting prey while playing video games. That's not even getting into his dual bulges. It's hard to compete with the image of him sucking two prey into his cocks at once. That's all just when he's being casual. He's an even better pred when he's feeling spiteful. There's a good reason he has the nickname Carnivorous Captor.
Kuprum Maxlol
This future battery is just as mean as his moirail, with a hunger that fits. A battery has to make sure it's fully charged after all and there's no better source of energy than people. The problem is that that's really all he brings to the table here. Sure, he's mean, but so are most over gluttonous goldbloods and he's just as likely to feed a prey to his moirail as he is too eat them himself. In which case, might as well go with the moirail, because she's one of the best preds out there. He's still powerful, mean, kinky little gremlin who makes for a great predator. He's just got too much competition in this caste. Still, all good battery's need recharging. You just might find yourself in this battery's belly.
[Like his friendsim entry, he works best with Folykl. Think hedonistic orgies with those two greasy trolls zapping anyone between them into an orgasmic haze. Spitroasting would be like acting as a copper wire from your prostate to your tongue, and after they bust their respective nuts, you're all salty and tenderized, blissed out from the electric rut they were in. A perfect snack~]
Mituna Captor
Oh, Mituna. Poor, poor Mituna. There's nothing really wrong with him as a pred. His attitude is great, the way he flip flops between nice and mean can lead to a lot of fun banter and situations, but he just doesn't have anything that makes him stand out. His best strength would be accidental vore, which can be really fun, but he doesn't have much else going for him. I was debating even putting him in this list, given his heady injury, but he has shown he's perfectly capable of saying no when something makes him uncomfortable. He's cognizant and capable of consent, but he's still not much to write home about. Every other goldblood has him beat out in terms of pred potential. Sorry Mituna. Maybe you'll find your sentient meals someday
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Let’s Talk About Pokemon - Gen 8 Retrospective
This Generational recap itself might be a bit on the shorter side, since I already said my peace on the games themselves and their less than stellar impact on the fandom before I even started them. (Not that there isn’t a lot I’m talking about here today though, hoo boy.) Though just know between a repeat playthrough and my opinion on the Pokemon dropping as I've analyzed them more, I'd say my final verdict is that they're a decent enough swan song to the way Pokemon games used to be that made Gym battles feel special again but lacked in a lot of other areas. 6/10 overall.
Though obviously Gen 8 isn't done yet. Since DLC is on the way, as I've said several times already. My general thoughts on the concept of Pokemon DLC replacing the traditional “Third Version” is good. For one thing I'd much rather pay $30 for access to new content immediately over paying another $60 for a “Pokemon Armor” version that had most of its new content back-loaded in the postgame. $30 is still steep... but it's better. And of course, the prospect of releasing more new Pokemon via DLC is a good one too. Hopefully releasing DLC rather than a full game every year will relinquish some of the workload off Gamefreak... so perhaps we can get smaller batches of new Pokemon released mid-generation to help mitigate just how many Pokemon felt like they didn't get finished in time. But also hopefully it'll mean Gen 9 will be all the better when we get there... Gamefreak has stated they're really challenging themselves with the next major Pokemon games so hopefully they're taking the more level-headed criticism to heart and it's not all talk but we'll have to see.
Yeah, that's about all I have to say about the state of Pokemon as of right now, neverminding my multiple rants and tangents since I've already gone to great lengths to state that Gen 8 isn't as good as I might've initially thought. I still like it overall, and it's probably still not my least favorite Gen... but it's very much like Gen 4 with an EXTREMELY mixed bag. Certainly felt like for every excellently designed Pokemon they had below-average flunky that feels like it should've gone back to the drawing board once or twice. But even all that aside, one of my more annoying sticking points with Gen 8 is the severe lack of new animals.
So in place of my usual ramblings on my thoughts on a generation as a whole, let's do a little Compare and Contrast. Let's look at the past few Generations and see just how noticeable this flood of species redo's is. Green checks are significantly new enough animals, Red crosses are for animal origins that have been done before, Yellow slashes for Pokemon with vague or heavily mixed taxonomic origins, and Grey circles for Pokemon that are disqualified for being Objectmon, since we've yet to get repeats of those. (Also disqualifying Gen 8's regional evos other than Obstagoon since it's not necessarily their fault that they're repeats.)
Are there arbitration in places? Probably. But I feel like the point still stands that Gen 8 was waaaaay too reliant on touching up on animals already covered in Pokemon before. Especially when there's still so many animals that have yet to get a Pokemon to their name. The one plus Gen 8 does have in this regard is that it has a few more “taxonomically vague” Pokemon than usual. But repeating animals in and of itself isn't all that bad, if you make the repeat different enough to be interesting in its own right. The one thing you could do wrong in that regard is to just make your monster notably more “normal” compared to the Pokemon it's repeating. So how does that hold up?
As much as I've established that one's a crow and the other's a raven, the two animals are still very much similar creatures. But I do feel like Murkrow and Corviknight are differentiated enough while both still being a “fantasy” creature in their own way. Murkrow is very much a gangly, cartoony crow while Corviknight covers the more majestic side of corvids.
Another one that's pretty blatant is that we now have two regions with a Ladybird as the common bug. Orbeetle does however get to be more accurate to the Ladybird life cycle, starting out with a larvae and ending with the beetle. Again, Ledian and Orbeetle are very different flavors of the same creature, Orbeetle not skimping out on any outlandish elements. In fact, it's more visibly outlandish than Ledian was.
This is where things start to get hazy. I've stated that Nickit and Thievul are sadly my least favorite fox Pokemon to date, simply because it has the least to offer imaginatively than all the other foxes that accompany it. Ninetales has the kitsune thing going on, while its Alolan variant covers Arctic Foxes. Zorua is a fantastical take on the tricky nature of foxes by combining aspects of shapeshifting kitsunes or tanookies while throwing in a bit of Kabuki. And Fennekin grows up to be more of a wizard. Thievul is very much a stereotypical red fox while having the trickster nature of foxes that's not only been done by Zorua before, but also in a much more stereotypical thieving way like a Swiper the Fox sort of thing.
Wooloo always struck me as odd ever since it turned out it wasn't the region's common Normal-type. I can excuse plainness in the common woodland animal since they're rather uniformly not terribly interesting (and arguably are like that by design). So it turns out it's more of a common early-game fodder just like Mareep is, but Mareep is just a smidge more interesting by being elemental, and also it turns into Ampharos, a weird little bipedal lamb with little flippers for some reason. Which is reasonably more imaginative than a Pokemon that's mostly just a sheep.
Sandaconda is another one that feels significantly fantastical and unique compared to its previous serpentine cousins. The only snake Pokemon beforehand that was hugely different from the template of what a snake usually is was Snivy. Sandaconda is even unique as far as cobra monsters go, with its “hood” being a big ol' sac that it keeps its projectile Anakin-repelent in.
Centiskorch is a little iffy. It's cool that they turned a real centipede's grappling maneuver and turned it into an even more effective weapon via its heat spots. But in terms of body shape it's significantly more normal looking for a centipede than Scolipede's almost horse-like proportions, isn't it?
Another iffy comparison since they're both fairly “regular” looking Octopus monsters. But even so, I'd count it as a point against Gen 8 since there's been more than plenty of time to come up with a cool and unique body type for an octopus.
That's better! Eiscue, while normal-looking if you only count the penguin body, is still a funny and imaginative take on a penguin monster that is a completely different flavor from Empoleon's stern look to boot.
Another dodgy one to justify. There's neat theming in there, but there's hardly any denying that an elephant that rolls up into a wheel and rolls around is notably a much weirder take on an elephant that Copperajah going by an elephant's body shape to a T.
Had they gone for a look more purposefully weirdly geometric like they SEEM to be going for, I probably would've given it a hand-wave, but even with that in mind, Copperajah is pretty vanilla in terms of Elephant monsters. Especially compared to Donphan.
...So even then, it's pretty mixed in that regard. Some Pokemon feel like worthwhile additions to the biodiversity, but others I can't help but wonder what the point was. Did Wooloo really need to exist in a series that already had Mareep? Couldn't they push Copperajah's concept further to better contrast with Donphan? Having repeats isn’t BAD, pretty sure every Gen past the 2nd has done them. But it’s hard to find sticking points on Gen 6 and 7′s repeats. Aurorus is totally different from Meganium. Vikavolt, while being much more close to realism in body structure compared to Pinsir, is still a vastly different fantasy creature just on account of having a gun for a face. And the whole Goomy line is almost nothing like Magcargo. And all that is WHILE still bringing in plenty of new animals to play with.
So yeah, I hope all that can help with understanding why I was a little harsh on Gen 8. It's still not my least favorite, cause we still got a ton of good out of it, and I would much rather have a mixed Gen of “Some Really Good, Some Not So Great” over Gen 2 and 4's “Some are good but the rest are really plain and boring.” But of course, as per usual, we gotta do the lists...
Top 10 Favorites of Gen 8:
Like I said, the new Pokemon that are good are REALLY good. Still struggled to make a Top 10, for good reason!
Top 10 Favorites Overall:
That said, there wasn’t a ton of impact on my Top 10. Top 50 maybe, but not here.
Bottom 10 Least Favorites of Gen 8:
Sadly there was plenty I was just plain not a fan of. Has there ever been a Gen where I just straight up dislike the whole Bottom 10? Hmm...
Bottom 10 Least Favorites Overall:
And tragically, this Gen did make a pretty deep cut into my least favorites, oof. It is an unholy image to not see Gallade be all the way to the left up there.
The Cutest:
The Coolest:
The Prettiest:
Corviknight and Eternatus aren’t just there because I ran out of traditionally pretty ones, just so you know. There’s something about a sleek, nearly all-black design that is genuinely gorgeous-looking to me.
The Spookiest:
Most Creative:
Weirdest/Most Unique:
Most Forgettable:
Most Personality:
At least there were still plenty of personality-driven designs! Look at all these adorable little charmers and smug little shits.
Most Under-Appreciated:
Best Regional Variants:
I’ve probably said it already but I am legitimately ecstatic with Regional Variation being a mainstay feature now. There is INFINITE potential with the concept and totally didn’t deserve to get ditched after a single use just in Alola. In fact I think it’d be rad if they do any more remakes they retroactively made “Sinnohan” or “Hoenn” forms of Pokemon. I thought they might’ve made some “Kantonian” forms for Pokemon in Let’s Go and redesigned a few modern Pokemon to look a bit like they were designed back in the 90s... but sadly that didn’t happen. Despite how cool it would’ve been. But Kanto is sacred ground that cannot ever be changed, I guess...
Best Ultra Beasts: (????????????????)
h
Best G-Maxes:
I still love the concept of G-Maxes, and we’ll probably get a few more before Gen 8 is done entirely. But it does stink that the concept in the end felt a little half-baked. Speaking of which...
Pokemon That SHOULD'VE Gotten G-Maxes:
Because G-Maxes wound up being locked to only be for Gen 1 or 8 Pokemon, with only a handful of exceptions. MAYBE they’ll stretch into other Gens in the DLC, but until then lemme just make a personal wishlist of SQUANDERED potential. Though I’ll limit myself to Pokemon that are only in the current Galardex as to not be here all day.
I’m sure if you pay attention to the Fakemon scene at all, you’ve already seen a few G-Max Dhelmises where the seaweed has grown so massive that it’s now able to possess an entire haunted ship. And they are CORRECT to make such a thing because GOD what were they thinking NOT doing that?!? It’s right there under your noses!!!
Still bummed there was never a Mega Vanilluxe... but this could easily make up for it! A towering snowing mountain of ice cream is a super cool idea for a kaiju-size ice cream monster, maybe even ditching the icicle shaped cone in favor of having it rest in a “bowl” of ice!
Like??? Hello????? Are you telling me you’re making Kaijumon over here and you’re NOT gonna make a giant mecha?????????????????
Because a giant living beehive deploying swarms upon swarms of Combee is a badass concept just by itself.
Like c’mon this one was REALLY staring you in the face. A region set in Poke-England and you’re not gonna make a funny giant Zeppelin?
Just trying to imagine a colossal haunted chandelier is giving me chills by itself. Especially if you were to make it look elaborately regal and all that.
I’ve not got a specific idea, you’d just think they’d compensate for the lack of a Mega form.
G-Max Rillaboom has me feeling like this one’s likely to not happen, since I imagined a cool idea for a G-Max Trevenant was to make it a giant Deku-Tree looking haunted tree with a colossal trunk and even bigger canopy.
I guess Butterfree already had the spot taken for “Mothra stand-in”, but I feel like Frosmoth has just as much cool potential for a G-Max form as Butterfree did. Especially with the powdery snow scales it has.
Perfect opportunity to give Goodra a giant, more monstrous slug-like form. But no dice there either. Maybe next form gimmick...
Okay, C’MON. We KNOW they weren’t that bothered about giving G-Max forms out to Pokemon that already had Megas. This is the most obvious one of all! ESPECIALLY since its defacto-Mecha Godzilla got a G-Max but it didn’t.
Most “Unfinished” Feeling:
Since “least favorite” doesn't necessarily meant “unfinished.” (As much as I dislike Toxel, it doesn't really strike me as “not done.”) Not that I have clairvoyance on Gamefreak's internal workings, but some of these Pokemon definitely feel like they're not up to scratch with the series's usual quality standard.
My Disappointment is Immeasurable and My Day is Ruined:
To pick on Gen 8 one last time... and since it was a running gag anyway, here's the Pokemon that just crush my dreams the most. Except Appletun, mostly. It's good enough to be let off the hook. The rest? They were things that were on my wishlist of things and animals I would've LOVED to see get turned into Pokemon, only for my hopes and dreams to sink faster than the Titanic. Considering a majority of concepts within Pokemon don't come back, if not for a very long time, these Pokemon mean that I have to reluctantly strike a cake monster, a snowman, a coal monster, a train monster, a sea urchin, a pie monster, and some fresh Lapras attention off my wishlist. Sigh.
With two rounds of DLC coming, the main Pokemon review series probably won't be back until the tail end of this year shortly after Crowned Tundra is released. I am excited to get to talk about some of what they've shown so far, but I'd rather wait until the content is released and we know everything about the new Pokemon and Regionals. There will however be at least one more little bonus article about Gen 8 and the future of the series, but I wouldn't expect it to be out for a while. Before the DLC is out probably, but still a long ways off.
[Archive]
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My Opinions on RWBY: Volume 4: As a Whole
I like how the great parents that are Taiyang Xiao Long, Ghira and Kali Belladonna, and Klein Sieben were contrasted with the absolutely horrible parents that are Jaques Gelé and Raven Branwen. The Grimm redesigns are a great improvement over their already stellar designs in the Beacon Arc. The character animation is absolutely amazing.
I also like that it’s not all doom and gloom, while we have one more tribute to Pyrrha, we also still have some of the same humor from the sillier Beacon episodes, even if the overall tone is still darker than what we got in the first two Volumes. You can’t really go back to those wacky hijinx after killing three major characters and taking the “R” out of “BRNZ”.
It did a good job of balancing the four simultaneously running stories, even if RNJR’s story had the most substance. I like that Yang was benched for the entire volume to give her time to heal, while also SHOWING that healing process. Like she said herself, she lost a part of herself and will never get it back. There’s only so much her prosthetic arm can do.
James, while still sympathetic and having clear redeeming qualities, has NEVER been shadier, even serving as an antagonist to Weiss in his final appearance. Whitley has the potential to be an interesting character.
Blake's arc here was a bit of a mixed bag. I mean, there’s a strong start with her decision to run home to her parents because she’s that scared of Adam (the fact that he scares her more than the Sea Feilong says so much about him that it’s not funny), which leads to interesting world building and some of the most heartwarming scenes in the show thus far, but then there’s her decision to beat up Sun NOT for eavesdropping, but for bringing up that there’s a potential assassin in town who might be after her. There’s a difference between running away from your problems and sticking your head in the sand, and that unfortunately fell into the latter.
If there’s one big complaint I do have, it’s that Sienna Khan should’ve showed up with the Albain brothers, with it being left ambiguous how on board she was with Adam’s plans. Maybe having her call Blake a coward and traitor for how she handled the Adam situation, and that being what leads to Ghira telling the White Fang representatives to leave. Or, if she’s not supposed to be a Hate Sink, use that one scene to paint her as the Faunus equivalent to James Ironwood, with her idea being that a show of strength can fix every problem while trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Just something that contrasts her with Adam so we know why him wanting to overthrow her is a bad thing. Don’t get me wrong, Adam is a monster, but given that Salem apparently thinks that Sienna Khan would be open to working with the Grimm to accomplish her goals, I haven’t been given that much reason to think that she’s much better.
Also, please start name-dropping the Grimm, it’s kinda awkward that I had to go on TV Tropes to learn what the Nucka- the nuca- the Knucklehead who’s name I can’t remember how to spell is supposed to be called!
The best fight scenes were definitely in the Character Short, Qrow vs Tyrian, and the Sea Feilong battle.
The final battle... Well, while it’s overshadowed by the three above fights, it's more of a character-driven scene with fighting in it than an action scene with character development in it. And for what it is, it works, but it’s still basically a Monster of the Week. Though I guess it’s kinda hard to top “The complete disintegration of the Status Quo” in terms of climatic battles. That and Volume 4 had more of a focus on character-development, so it makes sense that the final battle would reflect that.
Armed and Ready is my new favorite RWBY song, beating out both of my previous favorites: Lusus Naturae and I May Fall. Even if more focus was placed on RNJR, the final episode (not counting the post credits scene) closed out on Yang going out to find her sister, so it makes sense for the volume to go out on a Yang!
...
Also it reminds me of Never Turn Back and I love that song.
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Hope you are having a great day! Can I request a matchup from FMA and drrr? I am a hetro girl and I love photography, reading, swimming and drawing(personal fav). I also love biology and studying to become a doctor(hopefully a surgeon). I am an INTJ. Perfectionist, loyal, socially awkward, quiet but fun (atleat i think so), hard working, overthinker. I have bronze skin, thick wavy raven black hair, brown eyes and i am petite and short (my cousins just like to pat my head) -1-
People who know me tell me that i am very kind,i dont know why. i have loads of flaws, i overthink so much that it causes me anxiety and panic, i cannot say no to people and living upto everyones expectation is exhausting, also i expect too much from myself-i want to be great at studies, drawing, violin, at everything.i am highly introverted and if i dont strike a connection with someone right away it takes very long for me to open up to them(atleast i am still able to make great friends😛) -2-i dont know if it would be considered a flaw but i am really attracted to intelligence in any form - street smart, study smart, aesthetically smart, anything smart. I am also a very familyish person....i like to bake stuff for my friends, design posters for my school band, cook for my brother....lets just say i love taking good care of my people. So sorry this is such along description😬 i started typing and then kept on typing. So sorry. Also thanks. -3-
Hey, no need for apologies! It’s all good, the more info the better. And I’m so sorry it’s taken me so long, please forgive me! Alrighty, you sound like a lovely person, so I can only think of one person who sounds good for you.
Kyouhei Kadota!
- Gosh you both are so cute, this is gonna be fun!
- This man kinda really likes everything about you, and your personality is everything to him!
- Loves your loyalty and kindness, those are two very important aspects he looks for in a s/o to be honest.
- You’re a more logical person which is cool because Kadota is typically the same way. His heart has opinions, but he weighs the pros and cons before letting said heart take over.
- He’s such a laid-back and calm person but like he’s equally a great helper. So, it’s generalized that he’s not holding you to any standards really and he reminds you of such.
- And I mean he just like, oozes chill vibes, so he’s pretty good at calming you down as well. Comforting words, getting you music to play, you need it chances are that he’s got it.
- And he definitely encourages you to speak your mind more, he doesn’t want you to feel obligated to help everyone all the time, it could get you in real trouble especially in a city like Ikebukoro, so if someone’s giving you a hard time and you need some help saying no, he puts a hand on your shoulder and helps you out in rejecting the person.
- He tries to practice patience with you as well. It’s not healthy to put such pressure on yourself and it’s not to say that he doesn’t think you can do all of that, but he wants you to know that perfecting all of those things takes time
- Also, look at you, being the family couple.
- The great thing about Kyouhei is that he comes with friends! Very friendly friends who want to befriend you!
- The van gang has become your family now and they make sure you know that they got your back. (Also, are willing to basically murder for you, you gave them food they owe you their lives)
- And he’s right up your alley seeing as he’s pretty street smart kinda guy.
- I don’t know much about his intelligence school wise, but he likes your ambition for studying to be a doctor. He’ll often drive by your house to help you study for tests and quizzes. (Lmao, sometimes the others join him, Erika once dressed up as a cheerleader to be an actual cheerleader and Walker just kept distracting you)
- Thinks your hobbies are great and he asks about your art often. Sometimes he’ll just lay beside you as you draw something or be reading a book near him and it just feels so nice to him, like you’re both in this little bubble away from the bustling city.
- There aren’t a lot of pools or bodies of water near Ikebukoro, but he does his best to find a few so he can spend some time in the pool with you. He really enjoys it and it’s honestly one of his favorite kinds of dates to go on.
- Overall, you’re a lovely couple who love your friends, each other and got each other’s backs.
Hope you enjoyed!
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RWBY for the character thing
Like.... all four of them? Okay, then.
---Ruby Rose---
How I feel about this character:
For the most part, I really like her. How could you not love a character whose concept is “badass Little Red Riding Hood”? On a more serious note, I do appreciate how her outlook on things is, quite literally, fueled by love and compassion. She’s a brilliant fighter, but she only goes ham on the Grimm or people that are hurting others - her goal isn’t to kill, but to protect those she cares about and innocent people, and she will do whatever she can to do that. That’s probably my favorite aspect of her character.
All the people I ship romantically with this character:
Penny is the main one, but I also have a guilty pleasure for Lancaster (cause the fanart for it is all honestly pretty adorable), and Whitley x Ruby.
My non-romantic OTP for this character:
Oscar - they’re really sweet together, but I don’t really ship it romantically. Not opposed to it, but it’s not a diehard thing.
My unpopular opinion about this character:
Hmm... not sure if this counts, but I much prefer her V1-3 voice to her current voice. It’s too high-pitched for me, personally, and it can get really grating at times.
One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:
Let Ruby meet Whitley -
Give her a Jabberwock, no I’m not Sisters Grimm trash, what -
I would like to see a real, open, honest conversation between her and Oz about leadership and hope. I think there’s a lot that they in particular need to discuss, and if this Salem-fighting thing is gonna go anywhere, Ozpin and RWBY need to be able to come to an understanding (and I mean understanding, none of this “Oz is completely wrong and has to come crawling back to them BS”)
---Weiss Schnee---
How I feel about this character:
Definitely my favorite of Team RWBY. She’s got the best themes, some of the best executed character development, her designs are (usually) great, I love her weapon and Semblance, even if I wish she used the Semblance less and the rapier more, and all around she is a character I very much enjoy aesthetically.
All the people I ship romantically with this character:
Uh, honestly? Freezerburn is both the only Weiss ship I have, and the only ship among Team RWBY that I have. I really prefer the girls as a sisterhood rather than romantically paired or grouped in any way, but Freezerburn is my one exception in that regard. I think that the two work well together, and I’m a sucker for fire and ice pairings, so I have a soft spot for it.
My non-romantic OTP for this character:
Winter and Ruby (I don’t see them being particularly close, but I do like them as a comedy duo).
My unpopular opinion about this character:
See: my blog.
Okay, but seriously. As far as that goes, I would have to say 1) that Weiss is responsible for her actions, meaning she can’t blame Whitley for “taking the inheritance” when that was a direct result of her actions, and 2) Weiss doesn’t need to be the one to take over the SDC. She would clearly rather be a huntress than a CEO, so why not let Willow and/or Whitley take over once Jacques is outed?
One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:
One thing I wish had happened: A few more talks/moments of growing friendship between Ruby and Weiss, since it just doesn’t seem that they interacted as much as they really should have.
---Blake Belladonna---
How I feel about this character:
I used to be a lot more interested in Blake - I am personally the quiet book-nerd type that would rather read in the corner and only speak when necessary than be the center of attention, so her character spoke to me, and in the beginning, the Faunus and White Fang plotline was pretty interesting. But after about Volume 4, the pacing and how the Faunus subplot was handled just dragged Blake down for me. Her sections became my least favorite parts of V4/V5, and it’s unfortunately made her my least favorite of Team RWBY.
All the people I ship romantically with this character:
Oddly enough, for the character that seems to have the most potential love interests, I don’t really ship her with anyone. I honestly would rather see her focus on herself before getting into a relationship.
My non-romantic OTP for this character:
Sun - I really do like the dynamic they have. Night and day, leader and follower. I think they have quite a bit of chemistry, and they’ve had some sweet conversations together.
My unpopular opinion about this character:
Uh..... honestly? For a character that’s so representative of the Faunus subplot, her experiences with it aren’t that interesting. I kind of want to see more of her experiences with the White Fang, see how her decision to leave was because of the practices of the Fang as a whole, rather than just Adam. Having her already have changed her ways when we meet her feels like we skipped over a lot of really interesting parts of character development. Ilia kind of fills this role, but I think it would have been interesting to see Blake go through that.
One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:
That the timeline with her background was a bit more consistent, since she seems to have joined the violent version of the Fang at 12 or 13, and that’s just.... no. Having her have joined at 15 would have been a bit more comfortable and make more sense.
---Yang Xiao-Long---
How I feel about this character:
I generally like her - her attitude at the end of V6 has kind of soured me a bit, but overall I enjoy her concept and general character progression. I think her issues with Raven and her trauma from losing her arm are both interesting ideas, and I wish more importance had been placed on her adjusting to her arm and pulling herself out of her funk, since seeing the “spark” go out of her at the end of V3 was honestly one of the most interesting character moments she had had (to me) up to the point. What parts of that she does have in her development are probably my favorite parts of her character.
All the people I ship romantically with this character:
Weiss (as explained above).
My non-romantic OTP for this character:
RUBY. I’m a big sister myself and as much as we bicker, when it comes down to it, I would do anything for my little sister. Please please please please, RT, let Yang treat Ruby like her kid sister more, cause the sisterly moments we have with them are golden (pun intended).
My unpopular opinion about this character:
I’m gonna earn myself some enemies with this one, but I’ve kept quiet on this for a long time, and this seems like a good place to vent a little.
I personally think that Yang’s feelings for Blake are mostly one-sided, and as things stand now, unhealthy - and this is mainly coming from All That Matters. Now, I love All That Matters - I think it’s a beautiful, tragic song, and I listen to it quite often. However, I also think that it throws up a lot of red flags on how Yang sees Blake. The entire message of that song is how she can’t trust Blake, something she says multiple times, that she feels that Blake doesn’t care for her feelings and just “destroys” her pride, but that doesn’t matter, cause the only thing that does is that she came back.
The thing is, Blake didn’t even come back to Yang - she found her by accident, then decided to stay, and as of this moment, very little of Yang’s issues with Blake that were raised in the song have actually been addressed. They haven’t talked onscreen about how Yang feels about Blake, Yang hasn’t gotten to air her frustrations to anyone but Weiss, it just feels like a disaster waiting to happen. Yang has a right to feel as though her feelings matter, that she can trust Blake, and I just don’t think that, as it is now, that’s been properly communicated and shown.
Just... if RWBY is going to get me on board with Bumbleb33, Yang and Blake need to have a lot of talks in their future.
One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:
More emphasis on her arm and how it affects her. Just, how does it react to weather changes? How does she maintain it? What are the ranges of possibilities, and what are the drawbacks and limitations that come with it? Just - more Yang learning to live with her arm, please.
Phew, that took a while. Thank you for the ask, though!
#rwby#ruby rose#weiss schnee#blake belladonna#yang xiao long#rwby7#ask reply#ask meme#character ask meme
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The weaknesses of Volume 6
As someone who had sub-zero expectations going in, Volume 6 was overall a really good season of RWBY- in fact I’d called it the best overall Volume since Volume 3, if not overall, the best season we’ve had so far. Everything seemed to come together for this season, and most of the fandom has agreed that the opening salvo of episodes was the best the show had, and that the season hadn’t had a dud episode until the group reached Argus. I know some parts of the fandom don’t love the Argus episodes but I found something good in nearly all of them so I can’t say it was a complete waste of time.
But, every cloud has a silver lining, and while Volume 6 was unmistakably a huge improvement over the previous Maya seasons, especially Volume 5, there are still several areas the show can seek to improve on as the show moves to the chilly frozen north of Atlas. So in this essay, I’m going to highlight the (ultimately small but notable enough to warrant talking about them) weaknesses I found in Volume 6.
1) The show needs to more efficiently handle its villains (and why Cinder and Neo’s plot was a drag)
Weird that I’m saying this in the season that gave its longest episode to exploring Salem’s origin story, but Volume 6 had a lot of difficulty managing the pacing of its villains, and the largest subject of its focus arguably didn’t need to be in this Volume. I’m talking of course about Cinder and Neo’s plot this volume.
Now on paper, giving Cinder more spotlight should be what I want. After all, I wrote an essay last year detailing why parts of the fanbase weren’t fond of Cinder, so giving her focus should ideally be able to remedy those problems, right?
Well, that’s the problem. In that essay, I talked about how Cinder’s two biggest flaws as a character were that she was very boring, and how her lack of backstory made it difficult to really care about her as a character. Cinder has effectively been the same character for six volumes in a row and much like Volume 4, the show has a golden opportunity to finally change that and give her a new narrative arc only to waste it.
Volume 6 should have been a drastic wake-up call for Cinder. Unlike at Beacon, where she lost due to Ruby’s sudden intervention and the awakening of her Silver Eyes, Cinder lost at Haven entirely thanks to her own failings. Raven beat her handily in straight combat and goaded her into the entire train-wreck of an operation to begin with, which for a power-focused individual like Cinder, should have really been an igniting spark to get her to begin seeking some introspection on why she’s lost twice in a row in failing to burn down the Academies. But sadly, just like in Volume 4, right as Cinder appears to be getting an arc about her recovering from her loss at Haven, she just ignores it and goes right back on her murder-Ruby train, as if she’s stuck in a Groundhog Day loop.
Cinder’s refusal to move on from a basic arc of “Plan to destroy an academy, enact the plan, get slaughtered, blame Ruby, rinse and repeat” has made her easily the least interesting villain in the entire show. At this point we’re six years in and barring a few contextual clues, Cinder has no backstory, no sympathetic traits, not even any character development to differentiate her from her Volume 1 self. And this after the season where she dominates the villain screen-time until the final third when Adam hijacks the plot.
Cinder’s plot in Volume 6 is therefore largely just setup for Volume 7, in that it explains how Cinder survived Haven and how she reaches Atlas. Along the way, she encounters the in case of bad season break glass button Neo, whose out for revenge and gets a really cool fight scene that’s ultimately just there for fanservice.
Let me repeat. Good fight, really liked it. Let me also repeat- just there for fan-service. This is not an inherently bad thing, but it does have weaknesses.
Neo was always coming back to the show and part of me feels like she was always being held in reserve in the event of a really bad season, so that the next one could have her return and generate some hype since her fan-base are that loyal. And sure enough, Neo’s return did see a notable collection of fans who had dropped the show after 4 and 5 coming back to see their ice cream queen return in a non-Chibi format. I won’t fault the crew for using a plan that worked. Where I take umbrage is that this fight was not necessary. It was a good fight, but I’d have much rather taken a Cinder scene of her actually recovering from Haven and thinking about why she lost again. Instead, Cinder and Neo effectively hijack all the villain screen-time for the rest of the season. And as someone who doesn’t adore Neo like her fans, this made their arc very tiresome, especially when the hints we got of the other villains were far more intriguing. I could talk a lot about the symbolism and thematic choices of the Mercury/Emerald scene in Chapter 9 but I’d struggle to find a lot to say about Cinder’s plot that wasn’t just “Setup for Volume 7.”
The other problem of course is that the rest of Team WTCH are sorely underdeveloped. Hazel at least is interesting again now that he’s several miles away from Ozpin, Tyrian came back and was a delight and I loved seeing him all-but-begging Merc and Em to run so he could hunt them, but Watts remains crucially underdeveloped. He really needs to step up in agency in Atlas because his sardonic wit can only carry him so far, and the man’s voiced by Christopher Sabat, what more reason do you have to give him more to do? The man made the virus that Cinder used to cause the Fall of Beacon, can he be given some agency now please?
Ultimately, Cinder’s plot didn’t need to be the focus for the villains and yet again, the fragments of focus they got showed how much more interesting they were as antagonists. While ultimately Volume 6 did finally give Mercury and Emerald more screentime than Volumes 4 and 5 combined and reminded the audience why you should be paying more attention to them, the rest of Team WTCH desperately needs development, Watts in particular. Cinder remains the worst villain in the entire show in my opinion, and it’s a shame that she’s almost guaranteed to be the one that makes it to the end of the show. I can only hope in Atlas she finally gets time devoted to what makes her tick, but at this point I’m almost at the point of not caring. It’s been six years, I won’t start caring for Cinder now if the show finally remembers to tell us why she joined Salem.
... also I just think Cinder’s new costume sucks and I’d rather Em and Merc get new ones over Cinder and Neo buying extensions for their wardrobes.
2) Cordovin was a joke and she really shouldn’t have been
Show of hands, who actually took Cordovin seriously? Yeah, me neither.
Even during the fight scene, the heroes don’t take it seriously. Having a fight the characters aren’t taking seriously isn’t an inherent flaw but it does mean you can’t expect us to turn around and take it seriously five minutes later.
Cordovin was a wasted character, and one that the show shouldn’t have undershot in all of her scenes by making her the punchline of nearly every joke. Her long-winded rant at the gate scene in Dead End is a huge factor in why a lot of fans, myself included, consider it the weakest episode of Volume 6 despite picking up in the back half. It just drags on for so long that Cordovin outstays her welcome from her first scene.
Additionally, the show not taking her seriously steals a lot of gravitas from the mech battle, and plays a large role in why I think the mech fight failed to really excite a lot of fans outside of key moments like Ruby’s missile run and canon shot. Being alongside Adam’s confrontation with Blake and Yang didn’t help but even on its own, the mech battle drags. Not quite to the same extent as Haven dragged, but on rewatches I was making liberal application of the skip button. That lack of gravitas itself goes on to hamper Cordovin’s serious moment in the season finale where she realizes that her ego allowed the Leviathan a straight shot on Argus and undergoes a soft redemption to let team RWBY leave the city. However, this moment of taking Caroline seriously comes after the plot has made it clear that the entire reason the Grimm attacked Argus was because of Caroline over-reacting to Maria and breaking out her mech instead of scrambling fighters as Qrow predicts they will. Caroline is solely at fault for the Leviathan getting as close to destroying Argus as it did, so it’s difficult to care when she pulls her head out of her ass to do her job.
A lack of investment also means a lack of emotional dedication, which I think showed in the lack of fanart Caroline has generated since her reveal. Her design being very drab and militaristic doesn’t help matters but unlike say, the Yang/Adam rematch where the stakes were present on an emotional and thematic level, Caroline failed to excite the audience beyond a few funny memes.
The additional problem with lacking in emotional dedication/investment is, again, we don’t have enough interest in Caroline to take her seriously, she goes in one episode from the Kooky Racist Grandma to someone we’re expected to sympathize with. And additionally, asking the fans to sympathize with a character whose opening scene includes a not-too-subtle dig at her Faunus traits was asking a lot of the fandom, especially after the previous years showed that the show’s handling of the Faunus racism plot was... varied in quality.
In short, Cordovin basically took a shotgun to her own foot in her first scene. Establishing her as an over the top comic relief character before expecting the audience to care when she broke out a walking advertisement for gen;LOCK was an extensive reach for the writers to try and unfortunately they fell flat. Trying to make the audience care for the problem she herself created is a similar long-reach. Hopefully this extended comedy sequence depiction of the Atlas military will be left behind as Volume 7 heads into the heart of darkness itself.
3) Oscar desperately needs limelight
Oscar’s been in the show now for three volumes. He spent much of Volume 4 on his own, much of Volume 5 as Ozpin’s meat-sack, and now in Volume 6 he finally gets to... get some clothes. I like them, but they’re not suitable compensation for the character development that he clearly had stolen from him.
Oscar is easily the most underdeveloped main hero right now, and it’s a problem that’s haunted the series since Volume 4. Oscar wants to be a hero much like Ruby herself did as a child, but this sole fragment of backstory is never used to make a connection to Ruby. Aaron Dismuke, bless his heart, is giving this show his all and his impression of Shannon McCormack’s tones must be applauded, but much like Cordovin he’s not given much to work with. In a way, he’s almost the hero’s version of Cinder- a character who keeps finding themselves in situations where they should realistically develop as a consequence... only for each time they do, it either gets shuffled into the next volume or relegated to offscreen happenings.
Volume 6 really should have had Oscar undergoing some kind of arc, be it his fear at being persecuted by Team RWBY and Qrow due to harboring Ozpin, his fear as his days as himself become more and more numbered, his acceptance of the fight against Salem or, most glaringly, his running off while the team is in Argus. But every time, Oscar just powers through these circumstances and never gets to develop from them. He never holds it over Qrow that he attacked a child, that Yang indirectly called him a bastard, he never thanks Ruby for having his back after the train crash, and he brushes off Jaune’s apology for smashing him into a wall and alleging he’s Ozpin masquerading himself as Oscar.
Argus is really where Oscar should have stepped into his own. I was looking forward to him going solo and having to fend for himself for a short while, maybe have a scene where he forces Ozpin to come out and talk or gets to chat with Ozma himself about his place in the war against Salem. Have him be scared of losing his personality and just becoming another body for Oz to inhibit, have him be angry that his dreams of being a hero have been cruelly dashed on the rocks for some agenda he never signed up to. Oscar should be an emotional hurricane and instead he’s just a gust of wind.
Seriously show, you had a golden opportunity for an Ozma and Oscar scene since we know Oz can speak to his past selves, and you know Arron has enough range to do both roles at once, why do you spite my farmboi.
But he got a coat now so I guess that’s technically development. Kerry admitted in the Rewind for Volume 6′s finale that some parts of the season got pushed to the next one as they usually do, and I can only hope that Oscar finally expressing emotion was one such scene because Christ alive, he needs it after all the times he just got over crap offscreen this year. I want to like Oscar, he could easily have one of the most tragic arcs of the entire show if they went with it, but the show really needs to give me something to like about him in the first place. Or else he really will become the heroic Cinder, trapped forever in a nightmarish world of never getting to properly develop in spite of countless opportunities being handed to them on a silver platter.
... I still think Oscar lifted Qrow’s wallet for that costume btw.
4) The reaction to Jinn’s story felt lockstep
I don’t have as much to say on this point but I find it rather saddening that all of the characters have much the same reaction to the truth of Ozma’s past- “Salem can’t be killed, you were leading us on for nothing”- when the weeks around the Ozma reveal had the fandom reacting to the story in a far more diverse way. Even in the hiatus we still have arguments over whether Ozpin was truly in the right or if the story was painting Salem as the true innocent party, to say nothing of the takes that Salem and Ozma’s relationship could be seen as an early iteration of Arkos or even Taruadonna with Salem as the abuser.
The fandom had such a diverse range of reactions to Jinn’s story, with everyone seeming to have their own take on the episode and the truth wherein. Some people even used this to ponder if Summer Rose had learned the truth during her time and tied it in with Red Like Roses 2, where she laments having made a necessary sacrifice, to ask if Summer had learned the truth and bitterly signed on to the war against Salem in the hopes that she’d be able to turn the tide thanks to her Silver Eyes.
“Just because I have to give you this origin story doesn’t mean you’re gonna take the right lessons from it.”
Some idiots even decided that this meant Oz was the main villain now, but I’ve learned to drown those people out.
But the show itself has a very flat range of reactions, with nearly everyone in-universe only taking away from the story that Salem cannot be conventionally killed and that therefore their entire journey is pointless. Everyone had the same reaction, with the only levels of variance being how angry they were at Ozpin and Oscar, ranging from Ruby’s “ask first if they have a plan and then be angry at Oz specifically” to Qrow and Jaune’s “physically assaulting a fourteen year old child.”
It almost makes me wonder, if the characters themselves didn’t take anything from the lesson barring Maria connecting the Silver Eyes to the God of Light and that “SALEM CAN’T BE KILLED,” why should the fans? No one took this and went “OK so we can’t stop Salem with force, maybe try talking her down?” Their minds all immediately went to not just being able to shoot her.
Jinn’s story was great, but the reaction to it in universe felt very lacking and I only worry that the more people are told about it, the more chances we’ll get to hear a variant of “Salem can’t be killed.” It’s a shame that such a morally gray out of universe debate has been stripped to its raw components in-universe.
Conclusion
Volume 6 was really good, I really liked a lot of it and it still warms my heart that I can say that about a season of RWBY post Volume 5. But there’s still a lot of work that can be done behind the scenes to fix up the flaws remaining. I chose three big flaws here but there are a few more I could bring up for quick points (mostly: Weiss getting shafted entirely in V6 feels like an overly corrective backlash to her constantly getting slaughtered in V5, Ruby’s agency does not substitute for a character arc and she still needs one, the introduction of the Faunus in Ozma’s flashbacks felt very contrived, Ren and Nora continue to feel useless to the wider plot but at least this time Ren wasn’t getting bodied every fight, so on and so forth), but ultimately we got more good than bad, and you don’t throw out an entire batch of apples just because of one rotten one near the top. I can forgive a lot more when the overall product is good, and Volume 6 certainly was a good season. Hopefully with these smaller problems fixed, which mostly just extends to “Give Cinder and Oscar onscreen development,” Volume 7 and onwards can keep the show moving forward into a brighter future and a better tomorrow.
#rwby#rwby analysis#rwby volume 6#cinder fall#oscar pine#caroline corvodin#ozpin#ozma#neopolitan#rwby critical#salem#arthur watts#Tyrian Callows#hazel rainart#team wtch#emerald sustrai#mercury black#oscar mugged qrow#ruby rose#jinn#weiss schnee
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Why do you ship Lucifer/Dream ? I'm just curious.
NONNY I LOVE YOU FOR GIVING ME AN OPPORTUNITY TO JUST YELL ABOUT THEM
As with most of the convoluted, context-less things I post (e.g., the full-on rewritten characterization of Beelzebub in Good Omens), it started with a simple conversation between myself, @procrastinatingbookworm, and @aqueeraphale…and ended up in a hence unwritten fanfic that maybe we’ll get around to eventually.
Put it this way: self-written fanfiction is the answer to why I ship them. I need to actually write it on a page for y’all. I’m not really going to go into ~Oh, My Ship Is Canon~ because it’s clearly not. I’ll point out a few things in canon I want to talk about, but this isn’t a “I ship them because [] and [] in canon” it’s a “I ship them because I HAVE FEELINGS ABOUT STORIES I WROTE/MY FRIENDS WROTE”.
So how did this happen?
I’m pretty sure it started with something along the lines of generally agreeing Dream being bi, on the basis of Lucifer Pretty. Which evolved into an, “oh, that’s fun! let’s write it” RP, along with some doodles (back in May 2018. My art has improved since, and my character design thoughts, but)
Which turned into the concept that basically goes as follows
- Morpheus lonely and depressed- Death essentially brings him to Lux, to definitely set him up with Luci bc hey obvs they’re both bi disasters. Maybe see what happens- Morpheus voice I don’t dance- Death voice Okay I’m lesbian but he’s being nice and offering so I’ll dance with Luci instead- Morpheus voice [shocked pikachu meme]
Basically, it boils down to the fact that Morpheus was a very…lonely and sad person and tends to make enemies easily. Lucifer clearly doesn’t hate him, or Dream would probably be dead in a ditch, but he’s obviously engaged in their relationship as friendly rivals. Lucifer has just left Hell, and is kinda not knowing what to do with himself. He’s looking for something new and different.
They’re both incredibly touchstarved/affection-starved. Morpheus intentionally isolates himself from his friends and family, not seeking out friends, while Lucifer has spent the last billions of years completely alone in Hell.
So the setup here works pretty well. Death wants to help her brother, Lucifer is like, the one person who isn’t pissed at him, Morpheus Sad.
From then on is essentially just what we’ve written. They end up…somewhat dependent on one another for comfort because they just aren’t good at investing in any other relationships. And Death and Lucifer become more friendly.
Morpheus and Luci’s relationship is…tumultuous at best. They care for each other, but they cling so much to the One Thing they like at the moment. It’s not exactly the best thing. So the fact that Dream transformed into Daniel was pretty awful for everyone involved.
This AU fits in with the Lucifer continuity mostly based on Lucifer taking place shortly after Sandman ends. Dream is not often brought up, but allow me to go through some places where he is, and how I interpret them in context of the AU.
Obviously, this will have some spoilers. Also light NSFW art.
Lucifer (2000), issue #8.
[Image Description: Four panels of the Lucifer comic. The first is a backdrop, with Lucifer’s text saying, “But to Dream of the Endless, I imagine it would look like poaching, pure and simple. And since he’s the gamewarden he wouldn’t like that at all.” The second panel shows him holding a sword over a goddess’s son. The goddess, Izanami-no-Mikoto, looks on. She is made of stone. He says, “He’ll do it. I won’t even need to compel him. If I speak his name, he’ll come, and see what you’ve made here. So it’s your call, Queen of Death. Heads I win, and tails -- tails it all comes down.” The third panel shows the goddess holding up a hand to stop him. The fourth, the kneeling son says, “She offers atonement, Lucifer Morningstar. She offers your wings.” End description.]
In the AU, it makes a lot of sense that Lucifer would be able to easily summon Dream of the Endless with a single word. “He’ll do it. I won’t even need to compel him” is an interesting phrase. The absolute certainty in Dream’s actions – even if this is after Morpheus’s transformation (which I’m not sure of), Lucifer characterizes Dream as though he knows him well.
Oof. Lucifer: Nirvana.
[Image description: A watercolor cream and purple comic panel. In the distance, there is a boat. From the boat, Dream of the Endless says, “Bearing in mind our previous meetings, Lucifer Morningstar, might I suggest a bargain? I will ask no favors if you will offer me no gifts.” End description.]
This is the only conversation I recall in Lucifer or Sandman in which Daniel!Dream and Lucifer speak to one another. Yet Dream says,
“Bearing in mind our previous meetings, Lucifer Morningstar, might I suggest a bargain? I will ask no favors if you offer me no gifts.”
In the AU, their relationship soon after Dream becomes this version is tentative. Hostile at worst. They might be trying to figure out what comes next.
[@procrastinatingbookworm and I did write a fic on this! Find it here!]
Either way, they’ve talked before.
[Image description: A close picture, misty, cream and purple, watercolor, of a small boat, silhouetted. Dream’s silhouette is on the right, along with a small bird perched on the end of the boat. Lucifer is sitting, lounging on the left side of the boat. Lucifer says, “The situation isn’t likely to call for either. Your predecessor preferred a corkscrew to a stiletto. What’s your position?” End description.]
How did they end up on a boat in the middle of nowhere? Lucifer looks supremely comfortable, lounging, completely trusting that Dream offers him no harm. They’re standing, very awkwardly, on opposite sides of the boat.
Lucifer is making a metaphor here, regarding how Morpheus was not very to-the-point. He knew how Morpheus worked, how he thought. He’s asking in an almost affronting way: “What’s your position?” that could be interpreted as curious or as a thinly veiled hostility.
[Image description: A watercolor of Dream’s profile, somewhat silhouetted. He has white hair. He says, ‘By all means let us be direct. Someone has used human dreamers to stage an assault on you. I assure you, this someone has attracted my attention, too. The matter will be dealt with.” End description.]
Dream is taking this matter very seriously. It just seems that Morpheus may not have put as much attention into random attacks, but Dream is very involved. In the AU, this is kind of because Dream is keeping an eye out for Lucifer.
This conversation just hints, to me, of much more backstory between them.
They’ve been trying to bargain, offering favors or gifts to one another – something they don’t really have a good reason to do in the comics, except maybe to secure an alliance, but that feels…?? Well, considering the rest of the conversation…
[Image description: two panels, watercolor. The left is Lucifer’s face, and he says, “Actually I intend to deal with it myself. It would be unfortunate if our investigations hampered each other.” The right panel is of Dream, with a hand on his waist, looking down. He says, “I am interpreting that statement as a threat. Very well. This touches profoundly on my interests, but you are the injured party. Your rights are paramount.” End description.]
Lucifer is certainly difficult to make an alliance with. (Tangent, but I love this issue’s art style.) Dream still seems surprised – “Very well.” He is respecting Lucifer’s somewhat “bugger off” statement.
[Image description: A watercolor landscape shot of Lucifer on the left, with black wings spread, and Dream on the right, turned away from both the camera and Lucifer. Dream is saying, “I will conduct my own inquiries, along avenues that will not intersect with your own. Whatever I discover I will pass on to you. Via an intermediary, of course.” Lucifer replies, “As you like. But somewhere discreet. No white ravens.” He is referencing the bird also present but off-panel. End description.]
At this point, Dream turns mostly away from him. In my eyes, I see this as hurt/deflecting, supported by the fact that he says he will pass information via an intermediary – unnecessary, it feels, considering they’ve been talking, they’ve had multiple conversations before...it’s very sudden. Feels like it was based off of what Lucifer said. Which was a threat, but still, Dream knows how to not cross boundaries and get himself killed from a threat.
Lucifer doesn’t seem to have a strong opinion on this, or rather, he says, “As you like.” Letting Dream do whatever.
I don’t really have much to say on that part. It’s just a really fascinating conversation.
The Sandman (1989) Issue 72:
[Image description: Mazikeen and Lucifer sitting on what looks like a bench or stone beside one another. Mazikeen is to the left. She has an arm around Lucifer’s shoulders. Lucifer has his hands steepled in front of his face and his expression is unreadable, eyebrows furrowed and lips pursed. Mazikeen is almost leaning on him. She is wearing a red dress with no sleeves. Lucifer is wearing a blue suit. Both have curled hair, and Mazikeen is not wearing a mask. Overlaid, there is text from Matthew the raven, talking about Morpheus’s death. Matthew says, “I mean, Despair may be the thing that comes after hope, but there’s still hope. Right? When there’s no hope you might as well be dead. What’s in my heart?” End description.]
I find this significant in the AU because, firstly, it’s a point where Mazikeen shows affection to Lucifer. She has her arm around him. It feels...comforting, to me. Secondly, it’s the one panel of Lucifer I can find in the Wake -- and it’s when Matthew is talking about how he cares about Dream, and he’s figuring out his relationship with this new Dream.
Overall, Lucifer clearly respects Dream as just...another individual. He attends his funeral. He speaks with him multiple times.
In our AU, he and Dream are happily married, and their relationship post-Morpheus is settled, loving, happy. Because I love happy endings!!!!!!!!!!!!
I hope you enjoyed reading!! Feel free to shoot me a question about my thoughts on this AU. Because I have a LOT.
#Anonymous#my posts#asks#answers#dream / lucifer#i also ship john and lucifer ama#constantine i mean#listen at this point it's luci/dream/maze and maze/death and maze/beatrice and maze/constantine/luci#i have a lot of ships
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