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herotome · 8 months

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Special Informal Devlog

Hi-ho, Wudge here! Aaaa. I missed the update last week... as we crawl closer and closer to release, it's become harder for me to write devlogs. I'm making progress every single day, and that makes me so frustrated that it isn't done yet, you know? 😭 Something something curse of perfectionism...

Anyway.

I thought I'd try something a little different with this post by chronicling a specific screen I've worked very hard on, from start to finish!

(Pictured: a preview of where we're gonna end up)

It all began on... August 2021?! Yowza, two years ago! When I posted a poll on tumblr and on itch about how I should handle flirt indicators. The votes were split 50/50 between two popular options, and I was able to surmise that yall would really, really love an option to toggle between the two.

It didn't take me long to figure out how to implement the toggle itself.

The following year (September 2022), I came up with the idea of putting in an illustrated tutorial on how my flirt indication system works - after all, poll participants had told me that they loved the idea and had never seen it before in other games. I was on a treadmill at the time, so I quickly doodled the idea on my phone. It looks like this:

Then when I got home, I did a rough pen draft to solidify the idea...

I worked on the digital version over the next 2-3 weeks, and asked my friends for help with editing the text to ensure clarity.

.... Then I took a looong break from the infographic to, uh.... write, edit, playtest the game, draw expressions for Griffin CG, draw expressions for the landlord, work on a new Clammy Lady sprite, playtest the game again, make all the characters blink, make the first glowing animation for Jade's powers, code in Griffin's CG expressions, stress about paypal making changes in my country, do concept art for upcoming npcs, write some more, playtest some more, draw a birthday picture for Dart, write devlogs every single week, make sure all my files were safely transferred to my new laptop before my old one completely died... etc.

So it was February 2023 by the time I came back around to try implementing the infographic in code :')

... It was functional, but no matter what I tried, I didn't like how it looked with everything crammed into one page.

... Then I got really sick... but after I recovered and did some more work (drawing, writing, playtesting, etc) I came back to the infographic with the intention to learn how to code pages in renpy.

Still didn't look phenomenal, but there's a whole lot more breathing room! This was in April 2023.

I took another "break" (worked on a million other things) and then... FINALLY... in late August 2023, just a few weeks ago, I had an art breakthrough!

I had garnered a better understanding of color and poses, and as a result my chibis became a LOT cuter! I was able to redraw most of them without too much hassle - whereas when I first started, it would take me all day to draw a single one.

I also drew custom heart icons (a plain heart, a golden heart, and a broken heart), figured out how to make text buttons look more fun and intuitive..

And here's where we're at now!!! I still need to draw eyes for Dart.... but I researched and absorbed a lot about screen compositions, and had a rather late realization that I could re-use backgrounds and assets I already have in the game.

That's it for the special edition. I'll update with more soon!

Stay safe and keep warm,

Wudge.

#herotome update #herotome highlights #interactive fiction #indie game #oelvn #otome #visual novel #otome game #english otome #indie #chibis #anime

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bluegekk0 · 2 months

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Idk why but for some reason the words I associate with Grimm and fpk are partner, lover, or boyfriend. Not husband.

I know you had the meme redraw of Grimm and FPK getting married with the officiant being Elderbug with the caption being "We have gay s3x" or something like that.

But anyway, are they legally married or did they just have a ceremony? How would it have gone? Would their wedding be based on weddings in Hallownest or something that Grimm saw in another kingdom?

I'm not sure how a legal marriage would work in Hallownest, especially since at this point it's just a bunch of independent settlements, as opposed to an united kingdom/country, but yes, they married each other shortly before they decided to try for a child, so about 2 years after they reunited.

Not much really changed for them when it comes to formality, mostly because I don't think that's really a thing in Hallownest, or at least in Dirtmouth (they don't even have a last name to share, among other things). I think they really just wanted to take that next step in their relationship, and "husbands" shows a much closer bond than "partners" or "lovers" (this one they never used, Grimm was especially against calling FPK his lover; it reminded him of his many casual experiences in the past, and he didn't want to ever paint FPK as just another lover of his).

As to what the wedding would look like... I think wedding traditions vary greatly between the different communities in Hallownest. Dirtmouth's traditions are nearly non existent since most of its population died or left Hallownest, and there are very few records on what a traditional wedding in that community looked like. The wedding between WL and FPK was completely different, soul and the Kingsoul fragments being a key part of it, and there was a huge event accompanying it, with many important guests from different kingdoms being present.

Despite his love for spectacles, Grimm wanted their wedding to be small in scale, more intimate, an idea FPK very much shared. One tradition I really like from Celtic rituals is handfasting, the act of tying the hands of the two partners with some kind of cloth or ribbon. So that would be a part of their wedding, the main element of the ceremony, very small in scale but one that carries much symbolism for them, signifying their eternal bond. I do love the idea of Grimm witnessing this tradition in another land and wanting to share it with FPK. The cloth used to tie their hands during the ceremony is basically their equivalent of wedding rings, and they keep it safely displayed in their house.

After the main ceremony, they would hold a small feast for the Dirtmouth community in the main Troupe building (by that point, the Troupe built more permanent homes and structures, as opposed to the tents they lived in prior). Or perhaps there is some kind of longhouse-esque building in the town where the residents gather for such events? I do quite like that idea, especially since my vision of the Hallownest region takes a lot of inspiration from Nordic/Germanic elements (playing Skyrim solidified that vision even further hahaha).

Of course, the actual feast would be significantly smaller in scale than the event held at WL and FPK's wedding, the Dirtmouth community was still very small at that point, so it was really just FPK, Grimm, their family and their friends, though they did also invite any newcomers - they value the community greatly, so they wanted their wedding to also bring the Dirtmouth folk together.

Then everything returned to normal, basically. Like I said, there were no formalities involved, they already lived together, and again, they had no last name to share. They did receive a letter from Lurien congratulating them on the marriage, with a small wedding present attached. I mentioned if before, but he's the only remaining Dreamer who is now the head of the City of Tears; he's on good terms with FPK and Grimm, the latter of whom he has a certain deal with, regarding Grimm's vampiric activities and the bandits plaguing the city. So he would eventually hear that the two got married, and would send them his best wishes.

And no, WL was not present at the wedding. FPK tries to stay on friendly terms with her but it's very clear that they're not close. She congratulated them but did not attend the ceremony herself, she was too occupied with her mansion court and its business, and besides, it would be incredibly awkward for everyone involved (and with FPK's history with her and their unhappy marriage, not to mention his fear of upsetting her that still resides in his mind years after they separated, chances are that her presence would ruin the special day for him). She was perfectly fine with it, though. By that point she had already moved on and had her own life, so she wasn't upset about the wedding or not attending it.

---

Side tangent, but I'm definitely steering FPK's dynamic with WL to be a bit more... distant, I suppose. Exploring what their marriage was like in the AU made me realize that them being close friends now wouldn't really make sense, if anything, it would be a bit unfair to FPK. That's not to say they dislike one another, far from it, but FPK definitely puts a lot more effort than he really needs to with maintaining the good terms. He'd be well within his right to just forget about her after how poorly she treated him while they were married, but I think him being slightly naive and too kind for his own good is a very interesting aspect of his personality. And while WL still has many regrets about her treatment of him, I think making their dynamic more distant would be better for both of them. No spiteful exes deal, no cliche hatred between WL and FPK's new partner, I think them keeping a distance is more reasonable and mature. So basically, instead of seeing them as friends, WL treats FPK and Grimm as special guests whenever they visit her mansion. Formal and a tad awkward, very fitting for her personality, but still showing good will on her side.

#ask stuff #feral pk au #save #au worldbuilding #fpk #vyrm #grimm #wl #lurien #wedding

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deuterium51614 · 11 months

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Battle Lover Cerulean's third season outfit:

(God, I wish.)

It started out as a quick pen sketch on a sticky note. You know, just to get the idea down so I can write a description in the next installment of the Support Group Expanded Universe. No intent to do anything more.

Somehow I ended up doing a manip/trace/redraw of En's second season character sheet to make this. Took maybe two and a half hours? I forget when I started... (Not claiming to have drawn this from scratch. Also didn't draw/trace En's head, just cut and paste it to the outfit.)

Anyway! Backstory without going into spoilers for what I have planned:

Yumoto's already gotten an altered "season three" outfit--in the form of his Bakkun-influenced Battle Lover outfit. (One day I'll do a manip/trace of that one, too. But there is a glimpse of it in the Jyuka/Bakkun ship meme I did!)

So, I picture that when the Battle Lovers/Caerula Adamas/VEPPer transform after all these years, they physically revert back to how they looked in high school. However, their outfits change due to it being the "third season."

I wanted to use elements from season two, but remove the frilly idol-like aspects and make it more hero-like. Hence the cape, kinda inspired by that partially-revealed concept art for season one that's floating around somewhere. Also wanted it to be a little more mature, to reflect that En and the rest of the Battle Lovers are in their forties at this point. (Everyone's outfits follow this pattern except Yumoto, who still has his Bakkun outfit. And I'm tempted to give Io and Ryuu long pants, but I'm not sure...)

But anyway! Currently brainstorming the IKEA fic.

#boueibu #boueibu love #the support group fic

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vodid · 9 months

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my toxic trait is looking at your art and thinking that i could do that too. everytime i try drawing Transformers it ends up lookin like a pile of metal that got ran over by two semi trucks blasted to cybertron and back then got the shit beaten out of it by Optimus Prime himself 😭

but fr though, how do you do it? like what kinds of shapes are they made of? how do all their weird alien metal parts move?

what may work for my style might not for you, as i've unfortunately learned through my years of yearning for/trying out another artist's skill, and that's okay. but i am very honored to be that kind of artist to you 💗 beating yourself up for not being like me won't help you, though 🥹 your art is great, regardless of if it looks like mine or not. i'm going on 7 years of doing this after all! (also i started with bayverse of all things 😵)

and honestly, a lot of it is just experimenting and finding what's right for you, what you need to improve/improvise on, and what you want out of your art. for me, i found that i have a very difficult time actually getting that sharp, blocky industrial style of robots down and eventually opted for a more organic, squishier look. but i do maintain their proportions as they're wildly different from a human's ghsdfsjs

you're already off to a great start doing exactly what i did to learn: redrawing screenshots from the shows. i learned most of what i know from tfp, with a lot of bayverse and g1 mixed in there. it took me about two years of that before i felt confident enough to start making original art consistently. it takes time (and tbf, i was still learning how to art in general when i started. so you really are off to a great start)

this is the kind of art i made in 2017:

massively different from my art now, right? through all these screenshots, i'd test out new ways to draw and color. at one point, every piece i made was trying something new. and it was okay if it didn't work out. means i know what not to do next time lol generally though, i'd NEVER do lineart. i mostly focused on building up my sketching and coloring skills, as seen here in my 2018 art:

and that kind of fucked me over for life so now i am left with painting over the sketch 😂 i digress though

in all honesty i've spent my entire art career figuring out how the fuck all their weird alien metal parts move 💀 a lot of it is BSing, some is recycling the same poses to make things easier on yourself and the rest is studying studying studying. cannot tell you the amount of times i've rewatched certain bayverse scenes frame by frame to figure out how all their parts move in tandem — i still don't know! 😅 g1 was a nightmare to figure out because of its blocky simplicity and limited range of motion. it's still a struggle to this day haha

it's really difficult how to explain how exactly i draw transformers, as it's just... something i do nowadays. there's not a ridiculous amount of thought put into it since i've built up my skill. but here's generally how i sketch their bodies and what shapes i use:

the first is slightly different as its a more detailed approach than g1 so just imagine the arms are a little rounder — "marshmallow," as my brother would call it — like the sketches in the second (even if those are a little more advanced in the process than the first)

my best advice to you is to learn their proportions and articulation via redrawing screenshots — various ones! i chose the most dynamic poses for my megatron practices in 2018 to nail it in my head lol but yes shows like tfp and earthspark are great for that (you could probably even do with looking at the storyboard animations for earthspark to help!)

and remember, i'm still learning too! i'm not gonna pretend like i know what i'm doing. but i'm glad i inspire you :)

#vart

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rai-knightshade-art · 1 year

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"I'm your Super Friend! Super Friend! If you need a compliment, I can rattle off a dozen!"

Super Friend, from CW's The Flash episode "Duet"

"I can't say it, so I'll sing it!"

Pitch Perfect RarePair Week Prompt #7

And that's the end! I can't believe we've already made it to the end of RarePair Week 🥺 and with a full year to wait until the next one! I hope everyone has enjoyed the absolutely STUNNING entries that everyone's been putting out, seriously everybody is so TALENTED!! I can't wait to see how everyone ends their week with this prompt tbh, I know it's gonna be a lot of fun!

As for second of my two final entries, I figured since I started with something fun and lighthearted, I'd end with something fun too! And what better way to do that than with a redraw of one of my favorite Musical Episode™ scenes ever: Super Friends, from The Flash! And once I decided that this was the route I was gonna go with, I knew there was no better pair for it than Benji and Emily! I don't know if y'all have noticed from my... everything, but I have some Ideas™ about the sexualities (and genders but that's not super relevant right here) about some of these characters, and one of them... is that you can pull Queerplatonic duo Benji and Emily from my cold, dead, ace hands. 😂 I know PP2 tried to sell them as a romantic ship, and while I don't necessarily mind that, tbh I feel like, while they might have, like, a nice solid life long bond, I don't really see it as a romantic one ya know? So I headcanon both of them as some kind of ace and maybe aro, and in the Big Damn Fic™ they're hanging out in the background in LA as platonic roomies!

And if you missed it, check out today's other post here!

Links to the rest of my Pitch Perfect RarePair Week posts can be found below the cut, and the Image ID is in the alt text!

Days I'm participating in (and the Entries I've posted):

Day 1 (this is me trying): Link

Day 2 (I've missed you): Link

Day 5 (if honesty means telling the truth... Then the truth is I'm still in love with you): Link

Day 6 (there's no way that it's not going to happen with you looking at me like that): Link

Day 7.1 (I can't say it, so I'll sing it): Link

Day 7.2 (part 2): You Are Here!

#pitch perfect #pitch perfect rare pair week #pprpw22 #pprpw22.7 #benji applebaum #emily junk #queerplatonic benji/emily #yes they dated in college. yes they broke up cause of the distance. yes they reunited in LA. no they didn't get back together romantically.#they are simply Best Friends™ and also maybe roommates rn cause LA is expensive and Emily only just moved out there #and she needed a place to stay for a while and benji had the room--it just made sense!#that excuse only really worked for the first 6 months but after a year everyone just kinda got used to their bond #they are simply Vibing™ and living their best ace (aro?) lives together and we respect that #myposts #myart #(real talk tho they are intentionally like this as a narrative foil to Jesse and Beca as well as on their own merit)#(the fact that they have nearly the same beat-for-beat relationship progression up thru LA and the reunion is explicitly intentional)#(something something yes Jesse and Beca broke up for good reasons after being together for good reasons)#(then when they reunited at a time where both were single and emotionally available they rekindled their relationship)#(but this is far from the only option for a relationship track like this; and in fact this track maybe shouldnt be expected)#(couples can just as easily reunite and yet not get back together in a romantic sense. and thats what benji and emily represent)#(...that and ill take any excuse to make characters queer if it can make sense. ESPECIALLY if that queerness is ace or aro-spec)#(hence why stacie and fat amy are both also aro-spec: stacie is fully aro while fat amy is grey or demiro)#(...that comes with some big 'i am Ace™ i have Reasons For This™ caveats but these tags are getting long enough as is)#pitch perfect rare pair week 22

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travelling-on-the-octopath · 2 years

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S Plays 'Golden Wildfire' - Part 1

I tried to play with the Japanese voices and English dialogue, but it looks like changing the language does both? So that's. Irritating lol. I love Claude's JP!VA

We've all caught up with the demo, yes? No? I'll give you the rundown if not

Almyra launched an attack on Leicester back in the Academy days.

Shahid, Claude's brother, led the attack; likely the only reason they didn't succeed was because Nader didn't want to launch an attack on Claude. He wants the crown, and successful application of militaristic force seems to be the way to do it.

Hm. We'll see if that comes up in correlation to the leaks I've seen.

Holst is around; doesn't seem to bear the Crest of Goneril, despite Hilda claiming Freikugel was his birthright in Houses (she says he tried to pawn off his whole inheritance and only settled for giving her the Relic).

This will set the tone for all the infuriating retcons to come <3

Claude implies he's toyed with the idea of consolidating power in the Alliance because a multi-faceted higher power does not suit wartime. (Shez C-support)

Almyra seems to have stayed their hand for now.

Shez was left kicking around and unemployed for two years. Good for the Alliance, indicative of Claude's leadership, bad for Shez.

And now we're in it, folks! Get ready <3

The Defence of the Great Bridge

Claude's already talking about abandoning the Bridge if it really comes down to it. He's framing it in a way that talks about saving lives, but, uh . . . he manages to do it just fine in Houses? Aside from CF? So . . . hm!

I should say: That's me being nitpicky because I know where this goes, but also . . . Hopes!Claude has another full game of his character to stand as contradiction, so he has to get good.

All right so I have to go save Count DILF--I mean Count Gloucester's ass.

Regarding gameplay--OH FUCK OH LINHARDT BABY I'M COMING FOR YOU

Regarding gameplay: You can pre-pick strategies that are executed in battle. Picking of strongholds, recruiting people, etc etc.

AGAIN he mentions surrendering the bridge. I'm fucked.

Count Gloucester very much prioritizes the safety of his men :') what a guy

Acheron being a slime-spined bitch as always.

Oh DAMN Shez can warp-warp.

Okay so because Acheron was a bitch they have to forfeit the bridge. Sigh. Fucking hate this guy.

CASPAR???????

Linhardt warped Caspar to safety. That's so

They're being so cute. I do feel a little bad about taking Linhardt from him but oh well.

"YOU WERE NEVER THE TYPE TO FIGHT TO THE DEATH ANYWAY :( IF ANYTHING, I'M RELIEVED" CASPAR I'M SORRY OKAY

FERDINAND BABY NO I CAN'T RECRUIT YOU PLEASE LEAVE :(

Oh yikes, Gloucester surrendered.

Uh oh. "It's time to redraw the battle lines." Claude honey baby think about what you're doing here--

Okay so we skipped over the attack on Garreg Mach. Wonder when those lord cutscenes are gonna come into play?

DIMI DIMA DIMITRI LION MAN I LOVE YOU HELLO

It should be said: Rhea believes the church to now be in the Kingdom's debt for offering them asylum. Seteth offers the knights to be commanded as Faerghan troops. This is not at all a one-sided relationship. (Keeping note of this in case the writers get any Ideas)

Oh? Count Rowe is the Empire's problem child? Deserved. Asshole.

Hubert hates the obligation to help their vassal territories glkgjdflgj fucking love how awful this guy is.

NEXT CHAPTER

#s starts a wildfire #fire emblem warriors: three hopes spoilers #fewth spoilers

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bewareofjabberwock · 1 year

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Hey what the halibut . It. It failed to post the original and that's just gone now I'm not happy about this even mildly!!!!!!!!! I hate tagging things !!!!!!! Oh well uh

Anyway. Character redraw to end out the year. Mr. Worm 2021 vs 2022. Improvement!!! Wow!!!!!!!

I am very thankful for the progress I've been able to make this year, even if I didn't fulllyyyy live up to my new year's resolution to draw more environments.. I mean I did still technically improve over the past as I drew. Two more than I ever had in the past ((it was none)) but you know 💖 I did however improve on my anatomy exponentially and I'm proud of that!!

Going into the new year I think I want to finally work on not tying myself up in Stress Strings and finally tackle those bigger projects I've always held at arm's length for so long. I don't think I'll ever think I'm 'ready' yet so I think just kicking myself into doing it already will be much nicer than constantly being in a motivational sinkhole for lack of an end goal towards something I'm actually excited about.

Enyway. Hope next year's brighter! Keep scribbling, fellers!

#character design #alien oc #alien design #alien art #alien artist #creature design #creature art #creature artist #monster art #monster artist #monster design #okay but if i dont make my comics this year #maybe then just hands #if i could improve at hands #that would be enough i think #2023 resolutions #better at hands

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wolfepirat3 · 7 months

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Did some drawing 😎

A few years ago I came up with a story idea that I wanted to write (still havent gotten to it... but one day) and so I designed the characters.

Unfortunately, my drawings then were not... stellar, so recently I decided I might as well redraw them

I've finally finished all of them so I figured might as well share them here and tell a little about them as well 😁

First up is the deuteragonist Eclipse

She's a silly gal with an optimistic personality. She and her brother were the last ones to join the rest of the gang, but she's somehow found herself becoming the leader of them all. Her clothing style is loosely based off of the baroque period. She holds the power of the cosmos and darkness in her.

Next is the other deuteragonist Comet

He's Eclipse's twin and the more reserved and unsure of the two. He's wary of most everything but trusts his sister and the rest of the group with his life. His clothing is style is loosely based off of the baroque period. He holds the power of the sun and light in general.

Then we've got Azaran

If the flames didn't already give it away, he's the most hotheaded and loudest of the group-- additionally, the first one to gain his abilities. A definite theater nerd, he takes most inspiration from the titular Phantom from The Phantom of the Opera. He has the power of fire and heat... clearly.

Here we have the lovely Thea

The steady and logical one out of everyone, she's not ready until she's figured out at least five plans for every scenario the group finds themselves in. Her outfit takes inspiration from that of the ancient Greek. She has the power of earth and nature.

Second to last, we have Fei

A ditzy and rather airheaded individual, they fancy themself a dancer and performer. Often the last to be let in on a plan, they're still one of the most loyal and trustworthy people in the group. Their outfit is inspired by the hanfu style of clothing. The power they wield is that of air and wind.

And finally, Alto

The oldest, wisest, and most tranquil of the group, he prefers to just go with the flow on most things-- but don't think that he doesn't know all the workings of everything going on. His clothing is inspired by the Comanche native americans. He has the power of water.

Okay... so that was everyone. Everything's still a big ol' work in progress but I'm really happy with what I have. I don't want to share too much of what's going on, so it's up to your interpretation for the rest...

Anyways, thank you and have a nice day!

#original character #original art #oc #oc art #art #original story

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msviolacea · 2 years

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reading when the wicked play again after years and oh god it's as good as I remember. not sure if it'll ever get updated but are there any sneak peaks/story points you can share? I'm craving knowing what happens next

Lovely anon, I have bad news and good news for you. The bad news is, I've finally given myself permission to consider this story permanently abandoned, so I can hopefully rid myself of the occasional crushing guilt over not finishing it. The good news? Twofold!

One: I'm gonna make a post later with a bunch of random stuff I never got to write.

Two: I got partly through the garden party before my brain refused to work anymore, so here, have approximately 2300 words of the next chapter that never made it to AO3!

(And if you're newer to Critical Role/Vox Machina and have some vague interest in nearly 25k words of a permanently unfinished modern AU in which event planner Vex and prime minister's son Percy meet while playing an MMO, well ... here you go.)

By the time 10:00am rolls around on Sunday, Vex has discovered all new levels of stress and anxiety. She’s been at the park since 6:00am - she was actually contemplating sleeping in her office overnight Saturday, but Keyleth caught her and marched her out to her car before midnight. “Sleep. Shower. Dress. It will all be fine.” Which is easy for Keyleth to say, since her part in the festivities is technically over now. (And she’s done a wonderful job, Vex tells her readily - the gardens have never looked brighter or more eye-catching.) “I’ll be here tomorrow,” Keyleth tells her. “Vax and I will keep an eye on the hired staff while you problem solve. We’ve got it covered. I promise.”

And boy, are there problems to solve. Vesper emails her with changes to the seating arrangements four times in the last 24 hours, moving various people to avoid any diplomatic incidents. After the fourth time, Vex sends a newly arrived Kynan to track down an extra table while she redraws the diagram to fit another one onto the porch, because it’s impossible to take care of all of Vesper’s requests without a new table. Adding a new table means one of the smaller bars needs to be relocated, which then triggers a cascade of minor changes that ends with Vex throwing her hands up in the air at the idea of having to reconfigure the TV camera positions. “They’ll kill me, the techs spent all day yesterday rigging this stuff. Everyone will just have to deal with stepping over some wires to get to the dessert table.”

As soon as she starts walking back towards her office, Kynan catches her. “Um. The caterers need to talk to you.”

That conversation makes Vex see red; she’s raging enough that she doesn’t see Percy walking toward her on the garden path until she’s walked directly into him. “What the - oh!” She blinks up at him. “Hello …”

“Everything okay?” he asks, his fingers circling her wrists. Her traitorous brain flashes back to the way those same fingers looked wrapped around his cock, and she feels heat rise into her cheeks. “I was looking for you, your assistant told me you were over here …”

Then her brain catches up to her. “Fuck! Your family is here already? I’m not even dressed, I was going to go back to my office and change but then the fucking caterers decided to throw a diva fit.” When he releases her, she rubs her eyes. “Oh god, is this over yet?”

“Calm down,” he says. “Vesper and I came early. She’s doing a walk-through of the seating arrangements with your assistant. Mom won’t be here for another hour or so.” Percy gives her a small, comforting smile. “Everything looks good over there. Trust me.”

Vex relaxes, just a bit. “Oh good. I’m so not ready to meet your mom yet.”

“You’re going to be fine, I promise.” He smiles, and Vex finally takes him in - he’s dressed in an impeccably fit blue suit, his white hair slicked back from his face, a gold pocket square decorating his chest, the color matching the subtle stripes in his tie. He looks amazing … and yet, her mind overlays his image with that of him sitting naked in his office chair, sweaty and wrecked. Which is absolutely not the image she needs in her head right now. “Is there anything I can help with?” he asks.

“No, no, you’re a guest today, and we’re doing fine.” She takes a deep breath. “We’re doing fine,” she repeats. “The caterers will do their job, because they want to impress the prime minister. And if they try to shake me down for more money again afterwards, I will make sure no one in local event planning ever hires them again. It’ll be okay.”

“Yes, it will.” They stand there staring at each other for a long moment - gods, she can’t think about him right now, she’ll go mad. But she can’t stop staring, not until he scratches his head and laughs. “Okay, you have things to do, I won’t keep you any longer.”

On a whim, Vex goes up on her toes and kisses him on the cheek. The contact feels like an electric jolt. “Thank you, Percy,” she says. Then she flees, before she’s tempted to do something stupid, like make out with him in the garden while she has a million things to do.

She heads through the back hallways to get to her office - no matter how many assurances Percy might give her, she doesn’t want to see Vesper today until she’s fully presentable. Her dress is hanging on her office door; a simple blue dress, comfortable and unobtrusive, one that will help her blend in with the crowd without being mistaken for one of the very rich attendees. Her low heels are the kind she can run in without twisting her ankle, and she’s able to put her hair up in a decent braided style even without her brother’s help, thank you very much. A bit of makeup, a spritz of fragrance to try to counteract the sweating she’s likely going to be doing very soon, and voila, she’s ready for the day.

With a deep breath and a couple of silent affirmations, Vex heads out to the garden to face the party.

Percy has a problem, and her name is Vex. This is nothing new, of course, but if Vesper notices how much he’s watching Vex make her way back and forth across the garden - instead of giving his full attention to the random rich people she made him sit with for the day - it will be an even bigger problem than usual. Luckily, he’s got some practice making inane small talk without really paying attention. (It’s a necessary skill when your mother is a politician.) So he lets his eyes continue to follow Vex whenever he can. She’s wearing a knee-length dark blue dress that shouldn’t be anything special, but Percy can’t help but notice the way the fabric clings to her hips as she walks. But aside from that, he sees a side of her he hasn’t yet been privileged enough to see - the professional, the incredibly competent woman who gets the sound system working again with one ten-second phone call, who jumps in to serve mimosas to a table when one of the wait staff is stuck helping another guest figure out the drink menu, whose expression doesn’t change from the pleasant smile she’s been wearing for the whole party even when she’s obviously listening to Minister Ryndarian complain about something. He can see why Vesper likes her so much - they’re cut from the same cloth, clearly.

Eventually, he tries to pay attention to the people at his table - at the wrong time, apparently, because when he glances back over Vex is striding towards the path to one of the smaller gardens, followed by a party guest who Percy knows he should recognize, but can’t quite place. The carefully blank look on Vex’s face makes Percy’s stomach clench; something’s gone wrong. He’s out of his seat, making excuses to his table mates before he can even think about it. “She’s a professional, she can handle it,” he mutters under his breath, even as he casually makes his way toward the same path. But the look on her face hadn’t struck him as a professional problem. “And maybe you’re just imagining things,” he tells himself.

None of his muttered words stop him from heading deeper into the park, in the direction Vex went.

He treads carefully, and nearly turns back when he doesn’t hear anything as he approaches the next small garden. But then he hears Vex’s voice, coming from behind a patch of trees. “... my job,” she’s saying. “I’ve been working on this party for months.”

“It’s more than a bit embarrassing, Vex’ahlia, to look up and realize that my children are waiting tables at a party for the prime minister.” Oh. Her father. The asshole. Percy’s hand clenches into a fist without thought.

“I’m in charge of the whole damned party, Father. I was serving drinks because some woman at your table was holding up my waiter with questions about the brand of orange juice in the mimosas. Vax is waiting tables because he wanted to help. And quite frankly, it doesn’t matter what we’re doing, it doesn’t concern you at all.”

“It very much concerns me. It’s my reputation on the line, if someone recognizes you and asks me why my children are the help at this event.”

“You have no idea how little I care for your reputation,” Vex says, practically spitting the last word. “But if you’re that worried, tell them we’re not your children. It’s practically the truth anyway.”

“It doesn’t work like that.”

“Oh no? It’s worked like that for the last ten or fifteen years, why can’t it continue? We’re all happier that way.”

“I don’t want - I just wish,” he says, sighing, “that you’d become something better.”

Percy can’t stay silent any longer. He’s not sure if Vex will appreciate the intrusion, but a cold, terrible anger settles into his chest, and he walks around the trees that have kept him hidden. “If you’re looking for someone better than Vex’ahlia,” he says, channeling all the haughty asshole attitude his family name entitles him to, “then I seriously question your judgement, Ambassador.”

Both Vex and her father turn sharply - there’s panic in both their expressions, but after a split second, something slightly warmer comes into Vex’s eyes, and Percy feels his breath even out. “Ah,” Ambassador Vessar says, recovering quickly, “Mr. de Rolo - Percival - my daughter and I -”

“Mr. de Rolo will work,” Percy says coldly. “And I believe you’ll want to return to your seat, my mother’s speech will begin shortly.”

The ambassador looks at him for a long moment, then gives only the slightly glance back to Vex before walking back down the path. Percy and Vex look at each other silently for a long moment, until they can no longer hear his footsteps. Then they both speak at once. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know if -”

“Oh my god, thank you -”

They both stop in mid-sentence. Percy feels himself flush red, Vex lets out a little laugh. “Seriously,” she says. “That was - well, maybe the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me about my father, aside from Vax.”

“He’s an asshole.” The rage is still simmering inside of Percy, but it’s slowly changing to another sort of liquid warmth at Vex’s expression. “I’ve never - I mean, I have my issues with my parents sometimes, but gods, I can’t imagine either of them ever saying anything half as terrible to any of us. I’m sorry you had to hear that.”

“It’s nothing new,” she says, shrugging.

“That just makes it worse.”

“Let’s not talk about it.” She walks over to him, comes up on her toes, and kisses him on the cheek. It’s the second time she’s kissed him today, and each time, the contact has raced straight to parts of his body that really shouldn’t be engaged at his mother’s birthday party. “If your mother’s getting ready to give her speech, it’s later than I thought it was.”

“I may have exaggerated the time a little.” Percy grins down at her. “There’s probably a good half hour until that happens.”

Her laugh is bright and clear and everything it feels like he’s ever wanted to hear. “You’re an asshole, and also my favorite.” Then she takes a deep breath, squaring her shoulders. “But I should still get back to the party. Oh! Wait, were you looking for me for something in particular?”

“No,” he has to admit. “I just … well, I saw you walking back here, and you didn’t look very happy. It may have been none of my business - it probably was none of my business - but I couldn’t … I mean …” He stumbles over his words, knowing how stupid they sound, given how little time they’ve known each other in real life.

Vex’s smile softens; it makes Percy’s heart do a little flip in his chest. “Thank you,” she says. “Really. That means a lot.”

They stare at each other for a moment, before Percy rubs the back of his neck. “Ah. We should probably get back, anyway. Vesper will kill me if she notices I’m gone.”

“And I need to make sure nothing is on fire anywhere.” Vex brushes unseen debris off her dress. “This is almost over. I just need to get through the speech and dessert,and everything will be fine.”

“Everything is fine. Trust me.” Percy pauses, then smiles. “You look fantastic today, by the way.”

She visibly brightens at the compliment. “Oh! Thank you, darling!”

Percy blushes. She’s used the endearment online many times, but there’s something about hearing it when she’s right here - gods, he’s in bad shape where she’s concerned. He tries to cover his reaction by gesturing to the path. “After you.”

They go their separate ways when they rejoin the party; Percy sits back down at his table and starts a superficial conversation with a woman he knows came from Emon just for his mother’s event. He loses track of Vex as the meal winds down. When his mother gets up and starts speaking at the small podium built on the east side of the garden, he gives her his full attention. She’s a good speaker - she has to be, to keep her position for so many years. And she sounds genuinely touched to see so many people here - she probably is, because despite the fact that she knows a lot of this is for politics, his mother is the kind of person who recognizes and appreciates those who show up for more than political gain. And the others, well, they won’t recognize that the prime minister’s smiles for them are a bit sharper than they are for others.

#critical role #vox machina #perc'ahlia #my fic #my brain got tripped up at the next part #and despite blindvogel's best efforts #it never got unstuck #i'm sorry it did #i still love this story #and i still get the most amazing comments on it #which some days keep me going more than you know

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choco-strawberry-vanilla · 5 years

Text

I won a contest on February and the price was a 3×3" tattoo. I made some research about the artist and the guy was fairly good. Not wanting to fuck it up so badly, I decided to go with a very minimalistic linework of a dog I used to have with some spider lillies. Pretty simple and cute. I speak to the owner of the tattoo shop and she makes my appointment.

This is when I started to regret stuff: the dude who was gonna inject ink onto my skin was about an hour late. I was kind of "eh, shit happens", but something on the back of my mind was bugging me.

When the guy shows up, he has no idea what he was gonna do to me (when I talked to the owner of the shop, she told me she would tell the guy all of the info about it and make sure it all goes well). I was like okay, maybe he forgot. Shit happens. Then, when showing him all of the reference images, dude's like ok, got it. Just lemme train my hand and we'll be good to go.

This is where shit was about to hit the fan. The guy had little to no drawing skills and tried to fucking trace the reference image from my phone screen.

He didn't have a clue on how to draw the flowers, so I showed him several reference images and he goes "AIGHT... I got it bby"

The dude starts tracing the drawing on the tattooing paper with a fucking blunt, thick pencil. I offer him my mechanical pencil so that he could have a more precise lining of the flowers and shit. He goes nel pastel like 4 times about it. I let him redraw the thing I had to draw for him onto the tattoo paper. As the guy was putting the tattoo paper onto my skin, it gets all blurred up and gross. He shrugs and goes "I already have the reference image, so my brain knows what to do".

He goes over and over with those same little fucking lines and an extremely thick needle set and basically goes welp, here goes nothing on the tattoo.

After finishing the lines of what was supposed to be my childhood dog, he goes "pls lemme see that drawing you made of the flower one more time?". I hand it to him. He looks at it for 5 seconds and starts BZZZZTTTTZTZTZTTTTing two "flowers" on it.

Once he's done butchering my leg (I honestly thought nothing much of the pain bc tatts are supposed to hurt and stuff. It was later on I found out he overdid it), dude just goes "WAIT, I forgot to put the white ink" and proceeds to put white ink on what was supposed to be the outer parts of the lines and the insides of the "flowers" he did.

I go out, proud as ever of my first tattoo. My grandma sees it and starts mocking it and saying how it doesn't look like my dog did at all. My mom sees it and says the same. All my family and friends start saying how it looks more like a Kangaroo than a dog and I,start just noticing it and hating it all the more. I also notice how bumpy, shakey, and uneven the lines are and how some of them have some weird shadowing to them that was definitively not there before.

With this, I get sort of fed up with the tattoo and decide to just leave it as it is and wait for a year or so to heal and cover it up.

A few days ago, I wanted to check on how much time I would have to wait bc I thought it was like a year or so.

Turns out I could get it covered after 3-4 months.

I get excited and decide to contact a tattoo shop that does a bunch of girly tatts so that they could cover it up with something beautiful.

They answer me and tell me to contact the artist directly. The girl does some beautiful flower designs and very Junji Ito-like character designs, so I'm obviously pretty hyped to see what she can do for me

We talk for a bit about it and what I would like to cover it up with and also tells me that it'll all be okay and to come over next week to see some possible designs.

Now all I have to do is wait for a bit and see when I can be scheduled for it and how much it would cost.

I really hope I can update this and finish it on a happy note.

(Btw, this is what the tattoo looked like about 5 days after getting it done... I haven't taken many pics of it for some strange reason)

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eyfey · 5 years

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Heyeyfey. I googled you after seeing you translated Hi Score Girl. Thank you for that. Such a great manga and I owe you the privilege of having read it. I've been wondering what happened to the translation of this manga. I'm not here to make any demands, I understand you do that because you want to and on your own time. I gots to know, though. Is it postponed? Are you lacking a team to get it done? Did you drop the project altogether? Onto Saiki Kusuo no PSI nan. xxTHANKu rocchixgaming@gmail

Hey thanks!

I haven't dropped Hi Score Girl: I've already finished my part for the next couple chapters (the tranlsations part that is) so it's all up to the typesetter from here (and the redrawer maybe? I don't actually know if these chapters have been redrawn yet).

Also, story time! I was already translating Saiki for almost a year before I joined as a translator for Hi Score Girl (I also didn’t think I’d be translating it for this long)

The previous translator for HSG had quit after ch33, and the group scanlating it messaged me while trying to find a new translator, so I said something along the lines of "Yeah but only if you're okay with the translations being kind of slow ('cause I've got my hands full with Saiki) and only until you can find another translator."

...two years later and no new translator took over. There were at least two people who almost did - but one of them did one chapter and then decided they didn't want to do any more, and the other got scared off just from looking at the raws. (HSG has a lot of weird obscure video game references + terminology so it's def not the easiest manga to translate - plus it's seinen so no furigana next to the kanji lol)

But yeah- I’m still translating HSG and I’ll keep translating it as long as it takes (1. because of my foolish inability to give up on anything, and 2. because Hi Score Girl is great and deserves to be translated until the very end.)

#and also because it's just kind of fun to translate #fun fact: I cried real tears while translating ch38 #Anonymous

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qwanderer · 2 years

Text

What I'm doing at work today because it's slow: planning out the formatting for a Voltron RP I've been meaning to publish on AO3 for like two years now. It was giving me a lot of trouble before but I know how to do workskins now!

My creative mode has switched to butterfly mode, which means my attention is swinging around wildly trying to figure out what I most want to focus on next. I want to record podfic! I want to do a redraw of my mobile banner! I want to write that one entrapdak frostiron crossover! I want to write a sequel to that old teen wolf fic! I'd really like to get this Voltron RP rolling again, though, because so much of it is already written and I haven't been able to share it with anyone but my co-conspirators.

We'll see how it goes!

#fic writing #ao3 #ao3 workskin

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vitalpen · 6 years

Note

Hey, Vital! I wanted to ask for a bit of advice if that's ok! Do you usually outline your stories? If you do, how do you go about it? I find myself just like, listing events that will happen but I feel like I'm lacking in planning other stuff, like structure and the flow that the story/chapter should have. When the scenes are clear in my head I don't usually need an outline, but when I just have a concept I have trouble planning it. If you have any advice at all, I'll thank you forever!

I just realized how long this ended up being. Sorry about that, but I hope it has the happy side effect of me saying something helpful.

If I’m actually honest, I very rarely go into a story with any real plan. In that way my writing method isn’t all that efficient. The most I typically have is a moment of inspiration and I just kinda use that to get started. This is why I’m a lot better at short stories than I am longer form narratives.

The thing that I do typically do is think about the stories constantly. Walking to and from class, I’ll imagine interactions between characters, situations that could occur, meetings, deaths, a lot of which I never actually write out. But with that stream of consciousness always going, I’ll eventually find something that I really like and could work in the story I’m imagining it in.

Think about your story constantly. Even if you’re stuck, keeping it in mind is gonna help you get past it.

Second, “if you can’t write it good, write it shitty”. If you are at a scene where you don’t know what to do next, take an idea and write a terrible, meandering, pointless set of events that exists only to get you to the next part that you know you’re heading toward. If you don’t have much confidence in the way you’re taking things currently, power through and write the scene that your past self from five years ago would call amateur. The line conencting the dots is alllowed to be crooked, uneven, and crappy, because you have the ability to redraw it.

Aside from that, go back and re-read what you already have, maybe from the start, maybe not. Sometimes you might notice something that you can use or somethign you want to change to help better set up and give a little more direction to the part you weren’t sure about later, or you might just get some vague inspiration from your own work.

Finally, something I’m doing recently is watching TV show that’s the same genre as the thing you’re working on. I’m working on a fantasy story at the moment, so a while back I put on Tumblr a request for reccomendations of generic fantasy anime. I wanted to find something generic and see if I could take some inspiration from it, think up a way to twist it a little and make something more interesting. What I end up usually doing Is watching about two minutes of an episode and then pausing and pacing around my apartment, talking through a scene (sometimes literally voicing out a conversation that I would imagine happening, complete with different voices, I almost always end up looking like a complete lunatic but it’s fun as hell).

With flow, don’t worry too much about that until you actually have the scene on paper. If it comes out like flowing like a river all the way to the end, awesome. If it stops and starts like you’re trying to get out of a parallel parking spot, that’s fine. You can always rewrite.

I guess to sum it up,

Always think about the story, even if you don’t directly figure the scene out, thikning about your characters in general can give you a wider understanding of them and how they would apprach something,

Don’t be afraid to write a bad scene, first drafts exist for a reason.

Re-read and see if there’s anything from earlier parts of the story that can be used to help the current part.

Experience fiction that’s not yours but still can relate to it (and talk to yourself like a crazy person).

#cyber-flow #I meant to actually answer this privately #but I hit a wrong key and it ended up going into drafts #so publicly it must be #writing

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birchwoodswolf · 7 years

Note

Who is blue samurai x? I'm dying Squirtle please help.

Well, Anon, there’s my theory, and then there’s the popular theory. And because you came to ask my opinion, guess which one you’re going to get? :D

So here’s a “disclaimer” of sorts for you, or perhaps more of a waiver: This is nothing more than the same desperate string of hope that’s led along a lot of my other theories about mysterious characters in years past. The difference with this one is that there’s actually a significant amount more substance than the usual theories, including a very powerful source (i.e., the Dark Island Trilogy novels, specifically the third one) that vouches for it.

With that said, let’s begin!

So let’s go back to before the beginning, to a basic analysis of what little we do know within canon about a certain Dr. Julien. Here’s a list of important points:

He’s a crazy-fantastic inventor, able to understand complex mechanics with little more than a glance at a set of blueprints.

He was the first person to invent a sentient android. (Cyrus may or may not have based his designs for Pixal off of Zane - it would certainly explain all of the references to “compatibility”, why Pixal was so easily able to duplicate Zane’s blueprints to create the Nindroids, and how Zane was able to rebuild himself in Borg Industries’ factory - but this is just speculation.)

He was (presumably) able to redraw Zane’s blueprints from memory and then modify them such that they would be suitable for use with far more limited materials (Word of God says Echo was made out of “copper and bits and pieces from the island”).

He was able to draft blueprints for and then reassemble the Destiny’s Bounty’s engines within about 18 hours. (Started around midday, they left the island at sunrise the next morning.) He also added the “blimp”, most likely for stability, and made several other changes to make sure the ship would be able to fly safely. The improved engines were powerful enough to resist the pulling force of the entire Leviathan.

He seems to have a certain talent for inventing and implementing weapons, considering the Juggernaut, the Bounty, the two vehicles he made from scratch on the Dark Island, all of the Skeleton Army’s various vehicles, Zane, and Echo (though Echo isn’t as good at it due his obvious limitations, i.e. the fact that he’s constantly falling apart).

He also seems to have a decent amount of skill operating vehicles, or is able to learn how to operate vehicles rather quickly. Consider his experiences with the Bounty in the second half of season two: he redesigns it but doesn’t pilot it when they leave, he spends the next two episode building unrelated inventions, and then in E25 he’s able to control it precisely enough to intercept the Overlord’s missile before it can hit Lloyd. All of that with no prior on-screen flying experience.

Samukai forced him to consume an unknown potion. Said potion brought him back to life, and considering how most magic in Ninjago is a double-edged sword, it’s possible that there might have been other effects.

Cyrus admires and respects him, as seen in his little spiel with Zane in E27.

He’s not 100% confirmed to be dead, and the circumstances of his sudden “disappearance” between S2 and S3 are unknown. This here is the clincher. The very fact that we don’t know what happened to him means that he’s an extremely viable option to come out of left field and fuck shit up.

And then, finally, there’s something that I only found out by chance on the Ninjago Wiki, seen here on this page.

Later that night, Wu, waking up, would be struck with a horrible nightmare. Recounting what he’d seen in his journal, Wu would recall his dream; Cryptic visions, such as that of Dr. Saunders, followed by the Hall of Villainy exhibit, its statues filled with more life than regular mannequins; Master Yang, dwelling in the shadows; the former masters of Fire and Water, Ray and Maya, in a pit of flame forging something terrible; the deceased inventor, Dr. Julien; and finally, the twins he thought lost to time, Acronix and Krux. Haunted by his visions, Wu decides that he must prepare for the inevitable future.

Before I even get to the rest of the evidence that supports this, I just want to consider this tidbit here. The Dark Island Trilogy is set between the end of the “real” part of Skybound and Day of the Departed. So let’s take apart these visions, shall we?

Dr. Saunders and the Hall of Villainy were core pieces in the plot of Day of the Departed.

Sensei Yang was also a core piece and main antagonist of Day of the Departed.

From the leaks of the last half of S7, Ray and Maya are still alive and are/were helping to forge the Iron Doom.

Acronix and Krux is obvious, as they’re involved all throughout S7.

And then you consider that Julien is on the same list, in the middle of the list of things that were relevant in S7, and that again according to the Ninjago Wiki, he was considered important enough to be pictured (scroll down to the Appearances section). And now, if you still don’t believe any of this shit I’ve laid out before you and you’re still not 100% convinced, then we can start getting into the nitty-gritty details that really start to suggest something when put together.

So let’s actually start off with the Samurai X Rising preview that LEGO posted on their YouTube channel a few weeks ago. (If you haven’t seen it, you can watch it here.) What we’re going to do for each piece of this is start assembling a list of the skills this character must have, and thus eliminate every character that does not have all of these skills.

And this opening short sets the bar pretty high. Samurai X (who I will henceforth refer to as “X”, both to avoid confusion and to save typing) is intimately familiar with technology to the point where they can reprogram it on the fly to redesign Nya’s vehicles and armor. They also seem to have some minor skill with bladed weapons, and are either very talented with operating Nya’s vehicles or instinctually know what to do to prevent all of the dangerous maneuvers they’re doing with the vehicle from killing them. With these three details, we can eliminate 99% of the cast.

Minor skill with weapons implies that they can’t be any minor characters such as Ed, Edna, Dareth, Brad, Gene, Sally, Lou, the Mailman, etc. etc. that have no knowledge whatsoever of these skills.

The ability to drive the vehicle alone narrows the rest of the field down significantly, leaving only:

The Ninja and their close allies (Wu, Misako, Ronin, etc.)

The Elemental Masters

Cyrus and Pixal

Finally, the familiarity with Nya’s technology narrows it down even further, to an incredibly narrow field of Julien, Cyrus, Pixal, Ronin, and Karlof (due to his engineering experience).

And then, just from this short, we can narrow it all down to only Julien and Pixal through the fact that Cyrus appears all throughout the season, X steals Ronin’s voice, and X doesn’t appear to have any elemental powers (since Karlof’s iron fists would be a dead giveaway).

I can hear you now saying: “But Julien and Pixal are both viable options, and most of the same arguments you applied to Julien apply to her just as well!”

But don’t worry about it. I have a way to rule her out, too. But first we’re going to start over, to derive this tiny pool of two viable options in a different way.

X first appears this season in E70, when they appear out of nowhere to rescue Lloyd, drop him off with the Ninja again, have a short confrontation with the Ninja in which X says absolutely nothing, and then blast off and leave without even attempting to make conversation.

Next: E71. Nya returns to her Samurai X cave and has a very odd encounter with X, in which X copies other characters’ voices. The characters they duplicate, in order of appearance, are:

Ronin

Dareth

Misako

Kai

Nya herself

Skyl*r

What connection do all of these characters have? Oh, nothing in particular… except for the fact that they’ve all spoken in Nya’s Samurai X cave. While I have no proof of this (and no desire to find old French or Finnish episodes to search for voice lines, considering I speak neither) it’s quite possible that the things Samurai X says are exact lines from what said characters spoke when they were in the cave.

When we consider this in the context of the strange encounter from E70, it suddenly makes sense: X is unable to speak for whatever reason, or chooses not to speak such that their identity will not be revealed to the Ninja. This is yet another important detail that will be very significant - and it can singlehandedly narrow us down to one character. (I’ll explain why later.)

Another important thing to note in this scene is that X apparently doesn’t know that Garmadon is dead, or generally says something about Garmadon that causes Nya to go into a fit about Garmadon and makes sad music play. This is yet another thing that’s very important to consider, and I will again explain why later.

Finally, Nya walks away at the end of that scene assuming that Samurai X is Skyl*r… and then Skyl*r is immediately counted out in the very next scene.

Honestly, I’m getting tired of presenting evidence because let’s face it, everybody who’s reading this is already convinced X is either Julien or Pixal and all I really have to do is explain why it can’t be Pixal. I’m not even going to bother with presenting the rest of the stuff, because I’m getting tired of it and none of it is relevant anyway.

So here’s my final argument on why it has to be Julien, and why it can’t be Pixal: color schemes.

See, throughout the series, even if you don’t look that hard, you’ll see that Pixal tends to be associated with three or four colors: white, purple, green, and red. Her body is white with purple accents, her eyes are very obviously green, and parts of her design (and her eyes when she was briefly “evil” in S3) are red. Notably, none of these colors are blue or gold, the main colors that X chooses to associate with.

On the other hand? Julien’s entire family is centered around four main colors: blue, yellow/gold, white, and black, most of which are prevalent in X’s design. For evidence regarding this color association, it’s as easy as taking a look at some of the episodes that are significant to their family in general:

In Tick Tock (E7), the memory sequence has a persistent yellow color which turns into a sickly green when Julien dies/Zane is deactivated.

The Last Voyage (E22) has lots of associations with blue, yellow, and black, most notably everything near the end of the episode (the lighting in the scene at the top of the lighthouse, and then everything after that, pretty much).

The Titanium Ninja (E34) features all four colors. Blue, white, and black are the most obvious, but there’s also yellow (the butterfly at the end).

Zane’s original design features all four colors: yellow skin, white clothing, blue eyes, black accessories/gloves/etc.

Zane’s new Titanium design features three of the colors: gray (black + white) and blue. Additionally, Echo has the last color of the quartet (as he’s mainly themed around yellow).

The Workshop features all four colors at one time or another (black and white from the trees outside; yellow and blue from different lighting on the inside).

The Lighthouse also features all four colors in different amounts and places (the tower is mostly dark gray/blue, but is accented by yellowish wood; the light the tower produces is pure white).

But the most cementing detail about all of this is X’s eye visor, which is a particularly telling color: the exact same shade of blue as Zane’s eyes.

*drops mic*

…

*picks mic back up again*

So now here’s the fun part: we’ve got all the fun, weird details about X in place, and now I have to explain where Julien gets all of these extra things from. Some of these are very easy: if X is Julien, the reason X doesn’t know that Garmadon is dead is because Julien was never around to find out about it and presumably has had no contact with anyone who would know.

The more concerning detail, however, is this: if X is Julien, why is Julien unable to speak?

Before I get into my explanation, there’s one more thing I’d like to point out: In E74, X does something very odd. In any context it would seem innocent, but this odd thing is given specific attention and adds a very tangible weight to my idea about what happened.

Go ahead, watch it. Starting at 20:30, watch straight through.

Did you reach 21:00? If you did, go back. Watch it again. Just watch it over and over, those same thirty seconds, until you can figure out what’s wrong with that picture.

Still stumped? Here’s the answer: X moves. They take a step forward, to get a better look at what they’re seeing, as if whatever they’re seeing is the most important thing they’ve ever witnessed. No one else moves; they all stand and stare. X steps forward to look, but at what?

Oh, nothing but Kai using the yellow Time Blade to reverse-age his father.

Here’s the theory: Remember everything I’ve said about Samukai’s potion? How it might have had unintended (or intended) side effects, how magic is a double-edged sword? How a second chance at life can’t just be given away for free, how a price must always be paid for immortality?

Let me just link back to that Ninjago Theories post from 2013 one last time. Just for kicks, y'know. Because option number two can explain everything.

Here’s a timeline of sorts on how everything probably went down, just for the heck of it, and also because I doubt it’s explained in S7 from what we’ve seen in the leaks. (Admittedly it is kinda hard to tell when you can only understand the visuals, but considering that X only appears for short bursts more than anything, it’s definitely a reasonable assumption.)

Starting off post-Tick Tock’s flashback, Samukai brings Julien back to life with the infamous potion and takes him to the lighthouse prison to start creating vehicles for the Skeleton Army.

Julien creates vehicles for a while until the Skeletons abandon him (because they lose the war and can no longer travel to the surface of their own accord). At this point, the potion has probably already started to take effect - but Julien doesn’t notice, because he’s too busy stressing out over his two main concerns at this point: “not starving” and “not going insane”.

Julien makes Echo, blah blah blah, bides his time, blah blah blah, The Last Voyage, blah blah blah, the Dark Island, blah blah blah, THEY WIN YAY!

At some point afterward Julien starts to figure out that something is terribly, terribly wrong, but he doesn’t want to worry Zane about it so he says nothing. Eventually he figures out what’s going on and decides to make himself disappear, because he doesn’t want to put Zane through this shit right after they were just reunited.

Julien likely flees to the Workshop and lays low there for a few years or until Zane goes to visit for Day of the Departed and Julien realizes he needs to leave, due to his “skin condition”, in that his skin is nonexistent. (Ha ha funny joke.)

He seeks out another isolated place where nobody can bother him, and possibly by accident, stumbles upon Nya’s samurai cave. There, he gets the idea to “borrow” Nya’s equipment and gear such that he can like, not live in hiding for the rest of his existence.

S7 happens: meeting with the Ninja and Nya, not wanting to use his own voice or possibly being unable to use it (again due to the aforemented “skin condition”), etc. etc. etc.

Finally we get to the end of the season, where he witnesses Ray getting de-aged by the yellow Time Blade. The step forward now makes sense: “Holy shit I don’t have to be an actual skeleton until the end of time now”.

So yeah, that’s about it for all of this. You now have the proper context to understand this video that I made the night I watched the leaks! Hooray!

#ninjago #ns7 #ninjago spoilers #ns7 spoilers #dr. julien #zane #cyrus #nya #pixal #echo zane #samukai #ronin #my posts #my headcanons #my theories #Anonymous

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