Thoughts on SEES's 1st tier personas? You can keep this short if you want, and don't forget Psyche!

WOOHOO Prince rants about personas round 2 electric boogaloo!

OK this time I'll focus a little more on the actual designs themselves and my thoughts on how they relate to the character + their stories. Read more because well... You know me...

MC/FeMC: So for Orpheus I think its a pretty fitting choice for the protagonists. The protagonists are on a Journey just like Orpheus journey out of the underworld (kinda on the nose lmao) and both of them have strong connections with music! There's probably some connection between the underworld journey and the fact the plot of the game is to stop death but I'm not sure how to word it if you get me. I also like how they really resemble the protagonists face and hair wise! The mechanical detailing is also a neat touch, I've always seen it as the protagonists being very closed off with their emotions (that's kinda of a trend with a lot of the P3 cast I feel, the inital personas are very stiff but then the 2nd tier have more human feel to them).

Junpei: I think Hermes is a really good choice for Junpei. They're both kinda tricksters and Hermes is often portrayed as being carefree (in media at least) which suits Junpei a lot. In terms of design I think its pretty good, I really like the over exaggerated wings on his feet (the iconic winged sandals Hermes usually rocks) and I like his helmet design. My favorite thing about him as I mentioned before though is actually his animations. The way he slides into the enemies reminds me of a baseball player sliding to a base when they're running between bases (Idk baseball that well I hope that makes sense). Very fitting for Junpei considering his choice of career in Arena and also how he uses his sword like a baseball bat!

Yukari: Io is an interesting one for me. I really like her design, I think the girl in the cow head is a very fitting look for Io (who was a woman who got transformed into a cow by Zeus. Io's story is very sad imo (classic Greek woman gets screwed over by Zeus story) but I'll be honest I've never been totally sure why they went with her for Yukari. I think it works don't get me wrong and I like the choice I just don't see why (I, as I'm sure you can tell, am very passionate about Persona designs and I do my best to understand the choices behind the character and design of the persona and how it relates to the user). It just got pointed out to me (shout out to you Rui) that the way the woman is chained to the cow is kinda symbolic of how Yukari is chained to her past and I think that's a really really cool detail!

Akihiko & Shinjiro: I have to combine these two for obvious reasons. Polydueces ugly design aside for a moment, man. This choice for Akihiko is so good because of its connection to Castor. Regardless of how you view Akihiko and Shinjiro's connection, the way they are so connected to each other and how interwoven they are as characters to the point their personas are literally twins?!! Absolutely amazing I don't think we've had as powerful a persona connection since. I really love how their designs reflect each other two, Polydueces with its lighter and more alive design versus Castor and his dark look and the sword that's embedded in his chest? Symbolizing that he's the mortal twin that dies in the legends? And then connect that with his story in the game? Blows my MIND conceptually the best personas in the series actually. I love them.

Fuuka: OK I love Lucia and how she interacts with Fuuka. Having that glass orb as her body and have Fuuka in there navigating for the team is really really cool! I really like the pose of the persona (there is something about it... blanking on why that is relevant to its design). I also love the detail of her eyes being covered as she is the Patron saint of the blind! A cool choice for a navigational persona. Something about her being considered a martyr is fitting for Fuuka too. I also like how different it is to the others (a lot of the others having Greek connections whereas this is a Catholic saint).

Mitsuru: Oh Penthesilea my absolute beloved. I've discussed her in detail before (mind you probably two years ago at this point) but like one of my favorite things about her is the weapons she uses. The sword, particularly a rapier is seen as an honest weapon. A good knight has a sword, a skilled duelist has a rapier. Mitsuru is a very strong and experienced Persona user (and ofc is a fencer herself). She's convinced everyone she's on this noble quest to fix the Kirijo Group's mistakes, which is partially true to be fair. But her other weapon? A dagger. Associated with dishonesty and treachery. I feel like this alludes to her being dishonest with SEES. I adore Mitsuru but even I can admit she was sneaky and kept important details from SEES (she had her reasons but still). And ofc the treachery I feel is less her and more Ikutski betraying her trust and her father's trust. Also her being dishonest about her own motivations! And then ofc the big details: the absence of red in Penthesilia's design and her face being fully covered by the mask! Showing the walls Mitsuru has built up around herself!!! Sorry I just love Penthesilia and will over analyze her a lot.

Koromaru: Honestly I don't have much to say here but that's not a bad thing! Cereberus is really true to the original myths, a three headed dog with a hellish looking design and that's what they've given us. It's a solid design and I love him!

Ken: OK my own thoughts about Nemesis aside, I think its a really well executed design. It's a very unnerving and angry looking design, perfect for the goddess of revenge. And obvs her being a goddess of revenge is very very suitable for Ken given his motivations up until October 4th! The color scheme really helps with this too. Just a very edgy design perfect for Ken.

Aigis: Palladion is really cool because it's not actually a person but rather an object! Specifically an object associated with protection very similar to aegis. Which well, is perfect for Aigis. A robot dedicated to protecting the protagonist. I can't quite put it into words but its just a really really cool design. I like the big metal spike going through it, very robotic and always reminds me of the front of a pirate ship, not sure if that was intentional tbh.

Metis: OK Psyche is tricky for me. As a design its really cool. I enjoy the butterfly motif a lot. I really like its dress too and I think it resembles Athena which makes a lot of sense given who Metis is! Why Psyche though? The only connection I can make is that Psyche was originally a mortal who was considered so beautiful people mistook her for Aphrodite. Which I guess ties into how Metis was mistaken for Aigis..? Idk there's def a connection here somewhere but I am not sure of what that is. It's still a cool design though.

And I think that's everyone? Hope I didn't forget anyone man this was fun to do. Congrats if you read it all LMAO

ON THE SUBJECT OF A MARCH 1ST UPDATE LIVESTREAM.

so due to newly-employed circumstances, i most likely won't be able to stream my exploration of the update until the Sunday after it drops - March 3rd, likely around 10 am pst.

im not gonna ask anyone to wait because that's unreasonable and absurd, However! I am curious:

the angst in your zombie au bREAKS MY HEART INTO PIECES (I LOVE IT VERY MUCH)

okay, okay, so!! if the kagebros got separated from reigen and teru when mob is still fine, i imagine that their reunion would be hEARTWRENCHING also, i'm a bit curious, would mob still be able to recognize teru and reigen? or would he thought about them as strangers?

(tbh, following your lore, i imagine mob would act a similarly like nezuko from demon slayer? but instead of little hums, his zombie sounds would more like babbling and incoherent mumbles :"D)

the reunion is fuckin AWFUL man it's SO gut-wrenching. both reigen and teru feared this for Months while looking for the brothers; pretty much the worst case scenario was that mob or ritsu or Both turned—a lot of humans prefer death over being a zombie any day, so the idea of ritsu or mob having to go through that and wander around aimlessly until starvation or smth else gets them,,,

it hurts them so much to think about. teru forces himself not to dwell on it and he's pretty good at that but reigen thinks abt it a lot and he's honestly not sure what scenario is worse. best case is that they're both alive and unturned, obviously, but what's the worst case? you'd think it's both of them getting killed, or turning, but reigen also knows that if One of them got killed/turned, the other would probably lose their mind, especially if they had to watch. the fact that they're kids makes this all three times worse and reigen has to act like he's Not worrying himself sick over the brothers while he tries to keep teru in high spirits

the reunion itself is rly fuckin gut-wrenching for them. they see mob from afar, wandered off just a bit from ritsu and tome who are just around the bend looting a place, and they book it bc ofc they do, it's mob!! but then they see how pale he is, and when he turns around they don't see that light in his eyes that's usually there and the red is dulled and dead looking,, teru almost moves in for a hug before he realizes mob looks vastly different when he Rly takes him in, and mob doesn't rly react too much besides staring at them blankly. the obvious answer is almost too horrifying to even consider, so it takes them a minute to rly,,realize what's going on

tome comes around the bend and shouts, cuz when humans and zombies mix it's usually guns pointed at zombie heads. ritsu comes running out after her and when he sees reigen and teru his thoughts go, in order: holy shit is that reigen and tero ohmygod oh my god they're alive they're alive ohmy god i could fucking cry, and ohmy god they see shige ohno oh no oh no

ritsu sounds like a lunatic when he pulls mob away from them on instinct and says that he's safe to be around and that he's "still him" and he's "not gone" and he's very aware of that. he's very, intimately aware that he sounds fuckin crazy, bc ofc he does, this is what all the crazy people in zombie movies sound like. but he doesn't care, he doesn't care if reigen or teru dismiss him as nuts—he has to make them understand that his brother is still in there somewhere

and yeah, they both kinda think that ritsu's lost his marbles a little bit, but while teru is focused on that and the fact that mob doesn't look like he's rly tuned into Anything that's happening rn, reigen is a bit more focused on the fact that both ritsu and mob look awful? they're both very skinny and very dirty, obviously barely scraping by. they're cut up and ritsu's jacket is basically blood and dirt with a little bit of green fabric mixed in. and just by the look in ritsu's eyes, reigen can tell, man ... reigen can tell ritsu is like.not okay at this point he's kinda lost it.

i think the most painful thing about this whole reunion in general is that later that night, when reigen and teru r finally like ok we get it he's,, he's still mob. we believe you (they want to believe him... [they Do believe him, later, wholeheartedly]) and they settle down someplace safe, teru asks how long mob's been like this. and ritsu has to answer "since we got separated" and they both have that to stew over while everybody else sleeps

they realize that ritsu likely watched mob turn, watched the entire process, and that process takes a long time. it's at least a week of deteriorating motor functions and cognitive skill, and the fact that ritsu stayed for that to keep mob company is .ough. and it doesn't end there bc ritsu obviously stayed after that too

given how these things usually go, ritsu probably did think about killing mob. it probably did cross his mind, bc that's basically what everybody's been told to do. kill them before they have a chance to do any more damage. and it's obvious that ritsu did not have it in him

ritsu not only did not have it in him to kill him, he didn't even have it in him to leave him there. the kid fucking took him with him. a zombie. and he's somehow made it work, for months. and the next few days are filled with watching him still treat mob like a brother and take care of him and gently steer him away from a bird he tries to follow down the wrong street.ritsu is as gentle and kind as he's ever been with his brother. and even tho they're both hungry and tired and barely making it, ritsu is doing a rly good job taking care of mob with what he's been given

the kid obviously wholeheartedly believes in a cure and that mob is still There. he's gone through the trouble to take care of him, and the grief of continuously seeing a loved one that many would consider effectively dead, to get him that cure. to get him his brother back. and mob doesn't seem to be in any pain or distress, so reigen and teru think that this path ritsu has followed is probably infinitely kinder than the mercy kill method they've been taught to do

i think they have a new respect for ritsu, after that reunion

my luck is so bad it is legitimately just cruel. every day literally feels like i am being punished for every little decision i make. it’s almost hard to believe and yet somehow i’m too dumb to anticipate this…?

NEWSIES FOREVER BTW

you know whats soooo fucked up, i never thought about how photos would someday be the only thing i had left? like I knew it about everything else but not him yakno. cherish your pets guys just cherish them every day

FINALLY got ffmpeg to work again

oh i wish feelings would go away

man idk what to tell yall

im just. exhausted atm

Am i the only one who is fucking tired of having to come out to basically strangers?

Ogh!! I'm so sorry to hear that your work schedule was such poop regarding the update! If it makes you feel better, I would watch your stream regardless if I looked at the update already or not! Wouldn't say any spoilers, but I love how you perceive things regarding WH and I would no doubt love to see your reaction live regardless!

aw <3 thank you <3 i Deeply appreciate that!!

got dragged to a pub quiz with some of my housemates buddies and was fully convinced i was not really gonna have a good time and itd probably be too loud and i wouldnt be much help etc etc etc bc my mood is still not great but i forgot im a competitive motherfucker when it comes down to it and the sheer rush of euphoria that comes from knowing a few more obscure answers that had the rest of the room hemming and hawing is gonna carry me through the next week probably

Hi guess who feels like he just experienced 8 consecutive days in a matter of 2?

realizing just now that all the characters that I'm fixating on currently are ones that are headcanoned/interpreted as black instead of actual black characters bcs the way fandom treats actual black characters is so insidious and unbearable I feel like I'm losing my mind

i know only a day passed but i just noticed... your site timer since the latest pafl rlease is not reset.. just in case you werent aware

fuck TwT

I do not want to interact with family, I want to draw old men kissing.