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#the immediate K.O. to literally anyone ever
zickmonkey · 9 months
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Rewatching the old guard and on one hand Andy thinks she's all that and on the other hand I am a lesbian
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thunderheadfred · 3 years
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💥Bakugou HC's💥
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Aged-up pro hero Katsuki for all of these. Some NSFW beneath the cut. Minors do not interact.
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General
He’s scary good at everything he tries. Every. Single. Fucking. Thing. It’s infuriating. Has zero patience when other people can’t immediately master a skill. Never let him teach you anything. Not that he’d offer, nerd.
He WILL offer, though. A lot. He can’t believe you still can’t Do That Thing. Tsh. Like THIS. You're gonna hurt yourself, Dummy.
But hold on. Of course you have unique skills of your own. You work hard to improve yourself. Trust me, he's the first person to notice. He doesn't praise anyone lightly, so when he raises his eyebrows and whispers he's impressed, your heart will go thermonuclear.
Perfect spelling and fully punctuated texts. Never uses abbreviations. Employs a grand total of four emojis, all of them angry faces. Constantly leaves you on read. He's busy, dammit.
Doesn’t smile or laugh in public (except sarcastically). His real smile is a crooked, fragile thing. Never make him feel self-conscious about it, or you might not see it again for weeks.
He does not talk about his private life to the press. Ever. Will K.O. rookie reporters who can't keep their big mouths shut.
HOweVER: he's intensely kind to his fans. There is a whole photographic sub-genre of little girls in cosplay hugging Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight like he's a Disney Princess.
Too smart for his own good. Emotionally hyper-vigilant. Overthinks every interaction to hell and back. Will act like he's not listening but actually hears every single word in a ten-block radius.
INSECURE AF. 110% convinced he will never be good enough. Terrified of his loved ones leaving him behind. Does he do anything to assuage his fears? Like... talk to anyone about it? Hell no. That would require admitting he has fears to begin with.
Seeing people upset makes him upset, especially if he doesn't know how to fix it.
The epitome of being mean because he cares. He genuinely does not seem to comprehend that monosyllabic grunts and lopsided shrugs are not actually that comforting.
Because he was such a brat growing up, he wants to make up for it now. Sort of. In his own way. Look, he's trying, okay?
He smells - so - good. Obscenely good. He doesn't wear cologne; are you joking? There's the burnt-sugar caramel candy smell of his quirk, for starters. And since he sweats deadly ammunition, he showers and wipes himself down almost constantly. He always smells clean. Like a fucking meadow.
Never got that growth spurt he was hoping for. He’s a short man - not even THAT short - but he has a Napoleon complex anyway. If you’re taller than him, the collars of your shirts will all be stretched out. He’s constantly dragging you down to his level. He will assert himself all the fucking time; the pissing contest is never-ending. Don’t wear tall shoes unless you want him to drag you around on a leash. If you’re shorter than him, that’s good. That’s very good. He likes that.
He’s an incredible cook, but everything he makes is a nuclear fire challenge. Adapt or starve.
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Dating
Makes artisanal, nutritionally flawless bento lunches for both of you. When people assume his S.O. makes them, he gets fucking pissed. Damn right your co-workers are jealous of my cooking.
Your pet name is Dummy. Don’t like it? Fine. You can be dumbass.
There will be zero PDA in this relationship. His hands are shoved so deep in his pockets you can’t even try.
Intensely private with the press. But with his friends, he will brag about you nonstop. Bakugou Katsuki has the most talented and attractive and intelligent S.O., and anyone who doesn't recognize that is blind. Were you assholes even listening?
A mutual buddy definitely recorded one of these drunken brag-rants and sent it to you for safekeeping. Do not let Katsuki find out about it, unless you enjoy having an ash pile for a phone.
Gets jealous about everything, at least at the start. He calms down eventually. Kinda. He stops saying shit to you about it, anyway, because he learns to trust you. But anyone who so much as looks at you in a too-friendly manner will get the death stare of a lifetime.
He’ll throw all kinds of temper tantrums and the two of you will argue about every tiny fucking thing. He’ll scream out car windows, he’ll ball up his shirt and gnash on it. But he will never raise his voice at you. He’d rather die than make you feel unsafe.
Honestly, the constant bickering is really just... uhh... passionate communication. Eventually you both hash out the important things. You'll learn how to step around his landmines and actually make your points, and he'll learn to open up. A little.
Once you meet his mom, Katsuki starts to make a lot more sense. His family just... emotes like that. Eventually, you and his dad form a spousal support group consisting of exactly two lifetime members. He teaches you the Bakugou family semaphore you need to survive a long-term relationship.
Katsuki can dish it out but absolutely cannot take it. The only person who can level with him about serious issues without explosive fallout is his dad. Or, on a lucky day, Kirishima.
If you give him a legitimate criticism (even gently!) he will take it about as gracefully as a knife to the gut, because it confirms everything he hates about himself.
To your never-ending shock, you’ve made him cry. Yes, CRY! You monster! More than once! His lip gets all *trembly* and his eyes get all *watery* and all you want to do is hug him, but. No. He’ll storm out and wander around for a few hours before coming back with the problem perfectly solved.
He always takes your advice to heart. No, he will NOT talk about it, stop asking.
Gets mad if you don’t snuggle him on the regular. Will drag you into his lap with a pissy little grunt. There might be two seats on this couch but you will not be needing both of them.
Takes pictures of you while you sleep.
Takes even more pictures of you when you're awake but think he's out of the room.
He looks at all these pictures when he's away on high-stakes jobs. He gets all bleary eyed and sleeps in a salty puddle without you. NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW.
You don’t have to meet him at the door or anything, but when he says “I’m home,” you’d better answer fast. If he doesn’t know your precise location in 0.05 seconds, he will assume you’ve been kidnapped. He never checks the fridge for notes. Never assumes you've gone down to the konbini for a snack. No, it’s kidnapping every time.
A terrrrrrible bed partner. He goes to bed at senior citizen hours and will never fuck you after sundown. He snores SO loud. Runs hot and sweats through the sheets. Slaps and elbows you in his sleep and aggressively spoons you with his loud, sweaty body. You WILL want to suffocate him. Separate bedrooms aren’t such a horrible idea......
BUT HANG ON, because in the morning he transforms into an honest-to-god angel. He's half awake, his guard is non-existent. Morning Katsuki is a doting kissy-faced marshmallow man.
If you can wake up before the ass-crack of dawn, he will pamper the fuck out of you. You are royalty for one (1) hour only, and he is your bleary-eyed slave. You want a cuddlefuck? You got it. Hugs? Kisses? Take as many as you need. You want a perfect, fluffy, NON-SPICY omelette with a heart drawn in ketchup? Here it is, gorgeous.
Then he gets in the shower and the spell is broken.
- - - - -
💥bang BANG💥
Let’s get the obvious out of the way: this here is an ASS. MAN. He'll spank you with his quirk; doesn’t matter if you’ve been good or bad. Wants to see you wince when you sit down later.
Likes pounding you face down with a vice grip on your waist.
Unfortunately, even with all that said... he doesn't exactly have the feral beast sex drive you were expecting. He’s married to his work and has the fuddy-duddy habits of a once and future valedictorian. Only fucks you when he has the time and energy to fully dedicate himself to it.
But ohhhh. Shit. When it's time? It's TIME. The man will rush for nothing. Stamina for days. Making you cum as many times as possible is a point of pride. Yeah, you passed out once.
You’re gonna need those days off when he’s done with you.
That dick THICC.
Sends unsolicited dick pics. Only after you’ve been dating a good long while - he doesn't show that shit to just anyone. But yeah, don’t check your phone at work. He won't cum without you; those pictures and videos are time bombs. You better get home. Now.
Physically dominant as FUCK, but won’t verbally degrade you unless you ask. Well, let’s be honest. Unless you beg.
Praise him and reap the rewards. A long hard ego stroking will get him off more than touching his cock ever will.
Will grab your hair and fuck your throat. Will also stop immediately if you need him to.
The two of you have safe words and gestures. Even for vanilla stuff. He’s paranoid about scaring or hurting you. He insisted you both sign a color-coded ‘love contract’ that he meticulously formatted in a word processor. When you gave him guff about it, his blush was the darkest crimson you’d ever seen.
Coin-flip: he will sometimes be unbelievably gentle in bed. Doting and affectionate, taking perfect care of you. Like, it’s baffling. There’s no warning, the switch just flips. When you want him to be extra-rough and mean, he’ll sweetly worship you instead. For hours.
Bonus: he likes being penetrated. But of course he’s got a complex about that too. Super intense power bottom. You will never fuck him hard enough. He’d like to see you try. Hit his prostate just right and he might literally explode.
You'll live happily ever after but he will say he loves you out loud exactly once. Maybe. If you're lucky. And you're both about to die.
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admiringlove · 3 years
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JDJDJD THIS IS SO CREATIVE!! ONIGIRI NIGHT OML AO CUTE ILY!! id like to request a kenma one where y’all are playing games in his room and you beat him and do like a happy dance and ramble at how you’re better and he just looks at you the whole time and falls in love 🤭🤭 is this too long? im sorry
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ASDJSKSKS ANON THANK YOU LMAO!! i literally came up with it a long time ago and couldn’t do it because i was busy with other stuff! i’m taking naruto, is haikyū and bnha requests, so you can request more if you want!
so you’re at kenma’s house. originally, you came to study. you were supposed to help him with something.
that something, has been long forgotten 🤭
okay so at first you came into his room with your backpack filled with books and a plastic bag with snacks(like mochis and meat buns and maybe icecream if you feel like it). and he just looks at you with a nonchalant expression.
when he sees you pull out a notebook, he immediately groans. GROANS, I TELL YOU.
“why do we have to do this?”
“because i don’t want you to fail and you’re going to fail if you don’t study.”
“okay, how about this? i will study with you if you beat me in a game of tekken. deal?”
“deal.”
WHY WOULD YOU AGREE TO HIS UNFAIR REQUEST—👁👄👁
honestly, he’s just too good at the game. he knows every secret move, he can pull off combos not even a pro can, and you’re just amazed because sometimes he gets a perfect kill(like, not even a k.o).
to those who don’t know what tekken is, it’s a 1v1 fighting game where you can pick from like a 100 characters to fight as and yeah that’s it.
OOH OOH, I HEADCANON THAT KENMA ALMOST ALWAYS PICKS JIN KAZAMA(a character in the game you can choose to fight as. also known as literally one of the most attractive boys ever). HANDS DOWN. HE WILL BEAT ANYONE’S ASS SO QUICKLY THAT IT’S EMBARRASSING TO EVEN PLAY 🤧
you’ll whine and throw a tantrum at how good he is and how you couldn’t possibly beat him 😔😔
so he will decide to go easy on you 🤫🤫
and your cheeky mind plays tricks on him while y’all are playing this round. you’ll slowly lay down, head on his lap and then you’d press a kiss to his stomach. he’s only wearing a shirt, so he can feel your lips against his shirt 😳😳
guess what?
kenma lost 🥳🥳
which led to you doing a happy dance and rubbing it in his face at how you were better than him.
he just stared at you. and then something just clicked in his creative brain when he realized—he loved you. and he wanted to spend the rest of his life with you. you stopped dancing in the room weirdly and looked at him when you realized he was staring at you.
“kenma?”
“ken? you good?”
no reply. he’s still staring at you. you giggle a bit, then sit really close to him on the floor. you lean in, pressing a soft kiss on his lips.
which led to a really soft makeout session(but we don’t talk about that because baby was embarrassed of being vulnerable)and then an hour or two of studying biology 🤝
if you want to participate in onigiri night, send me some soft asks(december 10-11) 🥺💕
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hoe-imaginess · 4 years
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what kind of little quirks or habits (no pun intended) do you think some bnha characters have ?? I think Occhako has a habit of messing with her cuticles but can't afford a manicure, so she tries to hide her hands as much as possible ): poor baby
She totally does!! Poor bb!!! She does it during class all the time, but will sometimes forget she’s doing it and quickly slide her hands under her desk
but ok for some other habits hMM
Bakugo talks non-stop in his sleep and it’s super embarrassing so don’t mention it to him or it’s an immediate k.o
Sero picks at his pencil eraser during class until it’s virtually gone, so now he has no eraser to use on the test rip
But that’s okay, Midoriya always brings a few spare. He developed a habit of bringing extra school supplies because he gets literally high on helping students in need. He’s like classroom Santa 
(Yaoyorozu of course takes pause when asked if she can make “just one pencil”, or “just one eraser”, or “just one whole textbook because I forgot mine at home”. But at some point she gave up the hapless crusade against betraying capitalism and now she’s like her own little Office Max in the back of the room– whenever anyone forgets anything she’ll whip something up quick all while convincing herself she ISN’T hurting the Japanese economy she is just being a GOOD friend and the financial gods will forgive her)
(Midoriya is depressed bc now he is no longer the classroom plug)
Mina buys a cute student planner every year with the intention of using it but never does and probably never will
Iida has the loudest sneeze of any mammal on earth and absolutely WILL NOT sneeze in class. Ever. Even if he were to excuse himself and step outside to sneeze, you’re still hearing that bomb drop through the walls. Poor guy
Monoma has this dumbass habit of confusing his dreams with reality. Like, one time in his dream, Tetsutetsu pissed him off so much that Monoma ignored him for an entire week and no one knew why
Mirio is a secret alien nerd. He’s spent hours online looking at dumb fake videos and rewatching all the best alien movies. He’s really out here moderating all these alien subreddits. HE WANTS TO BELIEVE
Kaminari loves the smell of cleaning supplies. If there’s a newly Windex-ed table in front of him he’s snorting that shit like coke. Probably why he has so little brain cells to begin with
ok how about some pro heroes bc my mind is working
Mic will find ONE roach in his house and run like the wind. He refuses to go back inside until Aizawa comes over and squishes it for him. Mic also memorizes every single spot that he’s seen a roach, and now has a routine that lasts almost an hour where he comes home, tip toes around the house, and checks every roach spot before he can soundly go to bed
Midnight has horrible road rage. Aizawa drove with her once and had high blood pressure by the end of it
Snipe still takes the crust off of his sandwiches. Pls don’t make fun of him he’s embarrassed 
Ok but the villains 
Twice chews with his mouth open like he doesn’t realize he has lips and Dabi hates it when people chew with their mouths open. This obviously causes problems
Toga has extremely vivid and violent dreams (in her opinion, those are sweet dreams) and often times she’ll actually growl—or on occasion, maniacally laugh—in her sleep and it freaks the fuck outta the rest of the League. Twice always wants to wake her up because, “SHE’S HAVING A NIGHTMARE!! SHE LOOKS LIKE SHE’S IN PAIN!! POOR TOGA!!” but everyone else is like dude she’s clearly enjoying it leave her alone 
Spinner can’t tie his shoes and everyone else emotionally batters him for it. Twice usually ties his shoes for him. A little too tight tho. The League once got him velcro Skechers as a joke 
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samsideup · 4 years
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🌹 THE ROSE 🌹 SPECIAL EVENT IN KL
The whole of last week I’ve been trying to sit my ass down to write this but I couldn’t.. & then life caught up & idk when I’d end up posting this, or who will read this, but I’ll try to put down the (broken) memories of my experience into words!
Prelude:
I took the longest time considering if I should buy the special event tickets (I finally bought it nearing the closing date). While I was so afraid it’ll be sold out, I was skeptical about spending another large sum of money on top of buying the VVIP tickets. If I had known that special event was going to happen- I’d probably have bought balcony tickets for the concert so I’ll get to hang with the boys up close (during special event) and also see them perform as 4 (I couldn’t really see jeff throughout the concert, but that’s a story for another time).
Event day:
I was confused as ever. No staff was stationed outside to direct anyone or anything the entire time, until 1:30pm when they were supposed to meet us. By then the queue for concert tagging was already growing (which explains my confusion). They called our names and lined us up accordingly (to the sequence that we bought our tickets in I assume). Then we were given our concert tags ahead of the actual issue time - so we were supposed to be given priority in entering the venue during the concert, after the top 10 tastemakers (but I still couldn’t snatch the front row- yet another story for another time). Soon enough, we were brought into the concert venue. For some reason, all of us who bought the special event tickets were not screaming all over. I think the staff thought it was odd cos she was like “okay yay!!!” in attempt to hype us up, to which we responded with low “yays”. I was honestly just too nervous at that point to react to her (I’m sorry!)
Special event:
It took place at the balcony area of the concert hall, so we had a prelude to the view that the balcony broses would have during the concert. We were lined up along the balcony, in front of a long table where the boys were to sit at. After we were given instructions, we just waited around for the boys. I made friends with broses who were behind me in the queue (s/o to my dear Farah & Nadiah who were incredibly warm!) and the three of us were just- we just don’t know how to feel at that point.
So I was just looking around and that was when I saw Hajoon backstage through a little opening in the curtain. I flipped and started tapping Farah “look look that’s hajoon right?!” the rest of the broses in line were unable to see it from their end- so i was just helplessly trying to wave to get his attention. I failed. Yes. Because at that exact moment he turned around to leave the backstage and come up to us. Saw a sneak peak of woosung’s back too tho!
I think it was when they actually appeared that I completely started freaking out internally. I was tryna look chill on the outside. But it really wasn’t working. Farah, Nadiah and I started asking each other “wait ok so what are you gonna say to them?!” since we were the last 3 in line, we literally asked each other this question a million times. None of us knew what to say. It was all blank. While queuing we also overheard their korean staff (speaking in korean) to make the line move faster (whaaaaaat) cos they were bored? I hope we were hearing things- but I doubt that.
So the boys sat down according to this order- dojoon, jaehyeong, woosung, hajoon. Dojoon was an absolute ball of sunshine, he was so loud and cheery. It was so contagious. Jaehyeong was WAY too smiley, I have nothing but heart eyes for him, seriously. Woosung looked so good. I just- he just looked so chill and cool. I- my heart- Then hajoon. He’s the absolute sweetest, just sitting there being a sweetheart ugh massive sigh.
I was so nervous I simply couldn’t remember my entire experience with them, but here are some of the highlights with each of them:
Dojoon
You seriously cannot help but feel comfortable around him. He’s just so cheerful and you’d feel obliged to match his energy- completely no complains though aghhh! He signed on the right of my scrapbook, where he was supposed to. Then he saw the post-it note that I had stuck at the left side of the book, written “hello my name is qian” in cursive. He was like “oh can I write there?” *points to the left of the notebook” and I said “sure please do!” he wrote “hello my name is dojoon” in cursive and I was like “wow your handwriting is nicer than mine!” He deadass said “of course!”. I was thrown off but ended up replying “you’re good at everything” to which he literally beamed at me *cues awwww in sunglasses*
Jaehyeong
I thought people were exaggerating when they said they that jeff was so good looking that they lost their shit. You seriously won’t know how that feels until you SEE HIM IRL. I was so so so mesmerised by his looks I couldn’t even remember what I said to him. He kept smiling and laughing prettily the entire time. I asked if he was tired from tour and he said “oh, no no no” in his cute little way (you’d know) and I told him his English really improved. He laughed and said thank you. So I had post-it bunnies sticking out of the notebook (& I chose them because I secretly felt like each of the bunnies signified each member). idk why the fuck- but I was so comfortable around him that I told him that that tall bunny was him. I feel stupid, yes, I’m well aware, thanks. Of all the things in the world I could have said- I said “this bunny is you” dear lord please help me.
Woosung
My entire universe. He was so laid back (but tbh it may even have come off as cold hmm). I told him I was from Singapore & I think that picked his interest- because he immediately said “oh cool! I really want to visit Singapore” and he repeated it multiple times on his own accord (so I’m convinced he really wants to!) i had to cut his excitement in order to talk abt something else lol so I talked to him a little more and when I was about to be asked to leave I deadass looked at him in the eyes and said “Sammy” he looked at me, and I pointed to him and whispered “smoke less ok” I only caught his laughed before I had to move on......
Hajoon
The last of the 4. I swear this is absolutely his era- his blond hair looks nothing short of amazing up close. I honestly can’t remember what we talked about because half the time I just rlly wanted to squish his cheeks (altho mine was way chubbier than his- so wHO AM I TO SQUISH HIS). But at the end I also asked him if he was tired from the tour. His eyes shot up from signing my book and VERY SMILEY & CHEERFULLY SAID “Oh... No! I’m not tired! Because of you guys”. & that, my friends, was instant K.O. Hajoon 1, Qian 0. Mmhmm
After signing, we went back to join the line to take our photos together with the boys. It happened so damn quickly- LITERALLY “with a blink, shot shot” and it was over....
To sum up this experience:
it was extremely short- but absolutely worth it meeting the boys up close. It was my first experience and I told myself it will be my only. But after meeting them for myself- my stand has wavered..
My takeaway:
Go to special event PREPARED. Memorise what you want to tell the boys, rehearse what you want to do. Be more prepared than you have ever been for any formal presentations that you’ve gone through in your life. Because eventually when you get there you’d be completely star struck (I speak for all of us) and you’d freeze and forget it all. You’d be lucky if you remember to breathe - honestly.
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makeste · 6 years
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KHR 070: Kufufufufufufufufufufufu
When we last left off, this happened to Birds.
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It was beautiful and cathartic. BUT IT’S IN THE PAST NOW.
Today we will be properly introduced to everyone’s favorite leather-clad miniboss, Lancia! Also, Tsuna meets Mukuro for the first time. Only he doesn’t know it’s Mukuro. Shenanigans!!
Anyway, did you know that the twins actually had names? I didn’t. And I’ve read this chapter like six or seven times by this point, so I have no idea why. It’s really weird, too, because they’re actually really cute names.
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Like, I would name a pair of goldfish that. But not the monsters from Amnesia: The Dark Descent.
Kyoko is all, “Hey, Doctor Shamal!” while Hana has a more reasonably skeptical look on her face. Meanwhile, neither of them seems to notice that the mummy from The Mummy franchise is lying there twitching on the ground behind them.
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Shamal takes this opportunity for some completely nonsensical flirting.
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It’s debatable whether he actually says this just to send them running off all the more quickly. I go back and forth an awful lot when it comes to Shamal. I have very strong feelings about him being an extremely half-assed mentor figure to the very young and impressionable Hayato for a short while, before abruptly running off and leaving my poor child sad and hurt and confused, all because he couldn’t be bothered to explain the concept of, “Please be more careful about trying not to die.” And when I say “very strong feelings”, I mean, “This guy can fuck right off.” That plus the incredibly annoying shounen pervert trope really puts me off the guy.
But even so, sometimes he can be useful.
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There’s no denying the dude is a badass, on the few occasions he actually decides to be.
Also, this attitude…
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…I feel is something Gokudera actively tries to emulate later on during his own badass moments.
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For better or worse, he really does look up to Shamal even now. It’s a little frustrating, but what can you do.
Anyway, lest we forget, Lambo and I-Pin were also being badasses.
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Lambo’s flirting is way more gentlemanly and respectful than Shamal’s. Nana raised this boy right.
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THERE ARE OTHER IMPORTANT THINGS BESIDES FIGHTING!
Besides, it means I-Pin gets the fight all to herself which is amazing!
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YEEEEEEESSSS
MY FAVORITE THING IS HOW BIG HER SMILE IS THERE AT THE VERY END. SHE IS SMILING SO BIG!!
THE ONLY THING THAT COULD POSSIBLY MAKE THIS BETTER IS IF MY FAVORITE CHARACTER ALSO GOT IN ON THIS
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I LIVE FOR THE LITTLE THINGS. LIKE GOKUDERA HAYATO SHATTERING ALL OF THIS MAN’S RIBS
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ONE HIT K.O. YOU SAW IT HERE FIRST FOLKS, GOKUDERA HAYATO SINGLE-HANDEDLY DISPATCHED THE WORST CHARACTER IN THE ENTIRE SERIES.
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Eh, in this series that doesn’t really hold true, actually. Aside from this one guy. Which is why he’s the worst.
Tsuna then super-belatedly realizes that there were only supposed to be three people and instead the count is up to at least seven so far! Reborn then explains that these guys broke out of prison along with Mukuro.
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“There’s no way the rest could have joined Mukuro.” Um, okay. I’ll just let Tsuna take this one.
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Hold up. Can we just take a moment to appreciate Reborn’s face:
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No words.
Tsuna now feels the need to ask if anyone else will be showing up, because for all we know there are like twelve more of these guys, since Reborn apparently likes to sit on this kind of information until it has become laughably irrelevant.
And in fact Bianchi’s spider-senses do detect someone hiding nearby! Who could it be?
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IT’S THE EIGHT-YEAR-OLD HOSTAGE
Tsuna is incredibly relieved to see him and immediately starts running over! But Fuuta stops him!
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Oh shit I smell an angsty anime plot twist coming on.
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MY SHADOW’S THE ONLY ONE THAT WALKS BESIDE ME
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WOW HE JUST FUCKING LEFT. SAYONARA TO YOU TOO THEN.
Tsuna runs after him because ???!! What else is he supposed to do!
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Gokudera shouts that it’s dangerous, but before he and Yamamoto can actually do anything, they are suddenly confronted by the one thing no one ever expects: a fucking steel beam being hurled at them by a pair of sentient leather pants.
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Man I knew the mafia was weird but damn.
So meanwhile Tsuna is running through the woods getting himself lost and then ALL OF A SUDDEN he runs into THIS FUCKING GUY
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Mukuro responds with the most over-the-top show of wide-eyed innocence that you’ve ever seen in your life. Like, if he’d had a teddy bear handy I’m sure he would have been clutching it and staring up at Tsuna with big chibi eyes.
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DON’T TRUST HIM TSUNA EVERYTHING HE’S SAYING IS ENDING WITH TILDES
But surely the future Vongola Decimo with his famed Hyper Intuition will—
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ლ(ಠ_ಠლ)
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JEEPERS MISTER YOU’RE REALLY STRONG
Look at Tsuna just eating this up, as though he’s not actually a thirteen-year-old child with messy hair who barely clears 100 lbs. Let’s not forget how he immediately screamed upon first coming into contact with Mukuro, before proceeding to say “EHHH!?!” like six times. Yeah, you really fit the profile of a rescue guy, Tsuna. It’s only natural that Mukuro would think of you as such, and not suspicious at all.
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Yeah that Hyper Intuition is completely out to lunch, huh.
Mukuro asks Tsuna if he’s come with some really strong friends, and I’m struck speechless by his answer.
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“Your friends must be so strong!” “Ah no they suck.”
WOW. 
WOW, TSUNA. 
NEVER MIND THAT THEY’RE YOUR TWO BEST FRIENDS, AND THE #2 AND #3 STRONGEST MIDDLE SCHOOLERS (AND THIS BEING NAMIMORI, EVERYONE KNOWS MIDDLE SCHOOLERS ARE THE STRONGEST!!), AND THEY BOTH SACRIFICED THEMSELVES TO SAVE YOUR SORRY ASS MERE HOURS AGO. I GUESS THAT’S STILL JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH TO QUALIFY THEM AS “REALLY STRONG”, HUH? WHO EVEN NEEDS THOSE GUYS ANYWAY WHEN YOU’RE OUT TALKING TO YOUR NEW BEST FRIEND OVER HERE!!!
Also note how he’s just completely forgotten about Fuuta now, when he was frantically chasing after him not 60 seconds ago. Is Mukuro’s smiley face tilde energy really this powerful. This is scary.
Since Tsuna is just volunteering all kinds of information with barely any prompting, Mukuro continues to cross-examine him, especially about that baby!
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Oh now you can’t mention the details, huh.
Finally Tsuna gets tired of telling Mukuro EVERY GOD DAMN THING and asks about Hibari. (Not Fuuta, though. Fuck that kid.) Mukuro is all, “oh yeah I’ve got him locked up in my basement” and Tsuna asks him where but Mukuro suddenly gets VERY VERY CREEPY
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What’s wrong kid never seen a Sharingan before
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[skeptical Thor voice] Has it, though…?
So finally Tsuna realizes that he maybe shouldn’t be out here talking to this mysterious smiling boy with an evil red kanji eye who’s apparently fucking obsessed with finding out what Reborn is capable of, and runs off. Despite having brazenly told Mukuro two pages ago that he was here to rescue him.
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Basically everything about this encounter is a colossal embarrassment of a failure on Tsuna’s part. I know Bob Ross said mistakes are just happy little accidents but jesus. OH WELL.
On the other hand, Mukuro had Tsuna [gestures with hands] right there and just let him escape, so. I guess one could argue that he wasn’t trying to capture him at the time. But:
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[lets the Vongola Tenth escape] “Let’s get the Vongola Tenth Boss.”
Mukuro then points out how Tsuna is a fucking idiot, before letting loose with a kufufu. Then, feeling that wasn’t quite enough, he lets out another ku, followed by eleven fucking fus.
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Look at all of those damn fus.
Mukuro then explains he let Tsuna go in order to “allow the Arcobaleno to show his hand first.” Which is astoundingly overconfident considering that he’s a freaking Arcobaleno, and Mukuro is a fifteen year old kid who just got out of prison and whose strongest ability doesn’t even fucking work unless he manages to cut you with his trident first which, GOOD FUCKING LUCK DOING THAT TO REBORN. BUT OKAY, MUKURO. WE’RE ABOUT TO CUT AWAY FROM YOUR SCENE NOW SO I’LL STOP MAKING FUN OF YOUR STUPID EVIL PLAN FOR THE TIME BEING.
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Finally we cut back to the attacking leather pants, which actually belong to Lancia, a male stripper currently in the employment of the Kokuyou gang.
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However, before I can continue with the stripper jokes, Gokudera interrupts my train of thought by suddenly being struck by a plot-related ailment at the most inconvenient time possible.
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“Because I’m about to keel over lol.”
Okay now back to Magic Mike over here. Just imagine that “Low” by Flo Rida and T-Pain is playing in the background. Here, I’ll help: 
youtube
Okay let’s do this.
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DID SOMEONE CALL FOR THE LONG ARM OF THE LAW
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I SHOULD WARN YOU I HAVE A CONCEALED WEAPON 
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ENOUGH TEASING NOW TIME FOR SOME PLEASING
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Meh I have to cut this short because action and plot are happening I guess!!
Okay so Gokudera, Bianchi, and Yamamoto are momentarily freaking out because they think Lancia is the final boss, rather than the miniboss he actually is. Bianchi, apparently the ONLY ONE who remembers Fuuta exists and cares about him at all, asks “Mukuro” what he’s done with him, to which Lancia basically replies, “idk who that is.”
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Gokudera than collapses from his plot-related ailment!
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This is actually really funny if you still have “Low” cued up in the background though.
So Yamamoto is all, “I’LL BE YOUR OPPONENT.” But Lancia doesn’t even respond to him other than by launching his giant fucking ball and chain again.
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Finally a miniboss that doesn’t fuck around! Hey Ken and M.M., you could both learn a thing or two.
AND IT GETS RESULTS
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Ouch.
I know this looks bad, but despite that I just have to take this moment to once again say: YOU COULD HAVE DODGED IT IF YOU WEREN’T WEARING FUCKING FLIP FLOPS
Then there’s a panel of Gokudera being concerned about Yamamoto, so you know I’ve gotta put that in here.
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Everyone looks pretty worried, actually. NOT OUR LOVER / BROTHER-IN-LAW / SON
And then we cut to Tsuna, who’s still fucking lost somehow.
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Literally just follow the sounds of screaming and explosions and crashing trees, dude.
And then Reborn finally decides to actually do something.
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And that’s when you know it’s getting fucking serious, folks.
So not a stand-out chapter, but it establishes Mukuro’s character a bit more, and sets up the extra-long fight scene coming up next time! We’ll finally get to see that Dying Will Bullet action! Which, if you think about it, really makes it stripper vs stripper. Just another day in our shounen mafia manga.
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bambyeol · 6 years
Text
Spring Day (p.1)
pairing/s: bae jinyoung x oc  genre: fluff, angst, Hanahaki disease au , high school
prompt : She found the most gorgeous boy flooded with flowers.
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song inspiration : Spring Day by BTS wanna one masterlist
There was a secret passageway located just a little beyond the curve of the school's oval. In between two unkempt shrubs laid a trail which led outside the school premises, and she was a regular of that passageway whenever she ditched practice for track and field, or whenever she stopped by the convenience store to buy a few snacks because the school cafeteria served food that should be checked by the local health office. She shuddered when she remembered the stray hair on top of her food the other day.
With a plastic bag full of chips and soda on her arm, and a popsicle stick on her hand, Park Seulla vanished into the thick greeneries upon exiting the convenience store. She had 15 minutes before the afternoon classes started, leisurely strolling on the path, twirling the popsicle stick and whistling to call for air on that dry, humid day.
Like an answer to her whistle, strong wind blew along with flowers that carried the scent of Spring which was weird because it was Summer. She stopped and opened her hand as a flower slowly descended onto her palm, briefly looking in the sky because it seemed like it was raining flowers except it wasn't, and slowly all the flowers reached the ground leaving only a clear view of what was ahead the trail.
There stood Bae Jinyoung - the flower boy of Lila High. It was supposed to be a metaphor, but gazing at him, the pavement flooded with flowers and with a flower petal hanging loosely on the corner of his lips, Bae Jinyoung became the flower boy literally.
Their eyes met, and the whole setting seemed drawn out of poorly conceived romance manga with all the flowers swirling in the background and them, the two lead characters intently gazing at each other, not daring to speak a word. Until, panic registered on Seulla's face a little tad late, and she dropped everything she carried, "Holy shit."
There, she realized that it wouldn't be like a normal romance manga she frequently read because the flower boy who stood in front of her, the prince whom everyone thought had everything within his fingers was afflicted with the dreaded love disease.
Hanahaki Disease.
Quickly, she swiped her phone and dialed the number for emergencies as she rushed to his aid. "Jinyoung-ssi?" Seulla squeaked totally unfamiliar with how to handle the situation in front of her.
The two of them were classmates, but all their interactions were only for convenience and facade of school works. So, she touched him with utmost uncertainty, her fingers barely grazing the ends of his shoulders. He rubbed away the flower petal, and his eyes told her that he didn't know who she was.
"I'm going to call for help," Seulla informed him and brought the cellphone to her ears, but Jinyoung immediately flicked it away and her cellphone bounced on the hard pavement. She winced as she saw a crack flicker from the distance. "That was - !" She hissed lowly and before she was even able to finish her sentence, "Please. Don't call for help," Jinyoung mumbled and threw a wheezing cough.
"Now, I really can't." Sighing, Seulla fished for a handkerchief from her pocket instead and offered it to Jinyoung who just realized his mistake. He lifted his hand, about to apologize to her, "Apologizing won't fix my broken phone. Save your breath." She rubbed his back until he was well enough to stand up properly without coughing out another flower.
By then, lunch has been long over and the 5th period was about to end. Seulla swept off the few petals that landed on her skirt, and picked up the plastic bag and her broken phone. "Uhm -" Jinyoung called out to her, his eyes directed on the pavement, not bothering to meet hers. "Thank you, and I'm sorry," hands fidgeting. She jumped towards him and met his eyes by bending her body and blocking his view of the pavement.
"Jinyoung-ssi. Do you know who I am?" Seulla inquired and his silence meant no. He averted her eyes, "Hmm. Then, I won't accept your thanks and apology," reverting to her standing position and twirling her plastic bag in a full circle.
"I'd appreciate it better if you learned my name instead. After all, we're classmates, right?" Tilting her head with a small smile for her mischief. She paced towards the school premises, formulating inside her head the excuse she should come up with for her absence. 
"Seulla-ssi." Jinyoung breathe out as he stood by the side of her table as their classmates dashed out of the room because it was finally dismissal time. Seulla stopped from fixing her bag to look up and identify who called out her name because the calm and cool voice was totally not Woojin's.
"That's your name, right?" He voiced out unsurely, and she nodded with a smile forming on her lips. "I thought you forgot about it. It took you two days after all,"
"I asked around. Also, I built the courage to approach you first." He laughed softly to ease the embarrassment he felt. She slapped his shoulders to release the tension. "Are you okay now?" Her eyebrows creased, and he shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't tell anyone what I saw."
He nodded knowingly before frowning, "I'm really sorry about your phone. I panicked back there, and that was so stupid of me." He rambled along with his hands, and even though Seulla tried to explain that the phone service provider handled the issue without payment, Jinyoung didn't seem to buy it as he stood with crestfallen expression similar to that of a scolded puppy.
She crossed her arms to think of a solution, lips involuntarily protruding to the side. She clapped her palm and excitedly, "Treat me to the arcade instead?" A glint of eagerness crossed Jinyoung's face and he nodded multiple times which made Seulla question who was more excited in going to the arcade.
When Jinyoung returned with a long strip of arcade tickets that piled up almost covering his face after clearing another game's top score was the only time Seulla considered the possibility that Jinyoung was an arcade addict. Still, she didn't want to connect the two together because the softness of Jinyoung's character was thoroughly out of place on the energetic vibes of the arcade.
"Seulla-ssi! Seulla-ssi ! Look." He brandished the pile of tickets in front of her with unrestrained joy. A smile similar to his spread across her lips. "We can get that huge bear with this," he pointed to the brown bear displayed on top of the shelf which costed 500 tickets.
Seulla noticed that ever since they entered the arcade Jinyoung was eyeing the brown bear, and it surprised her how different was Jinyoung from her impression of him. She thought that he was one of those untouchable flower boys who moved with measured grace, but here he was, challenging the top prize with childlike vigor.
He looked around once again, and saw two unoccupied machines for Tekken. He tapped her shoulders excitedly and pointed to the two machines, grabbing her wrist "Let's play that next!"
Seulla forgot who invited the other to go to the arcade in the first place.
More than a few forceful tapping and rounding of the controller's buttons, Seulla turned her head towards Jinyoung who leaned comfortably on the chair, fingers touching the controller with ease and head tilting proudly from side to side as the screen emblazoned a bold 'K.O' sign.
"Yah. How can a flower boy like you turn out to be an arcade addict? This doesn't even make sense." Stretching her arms and folding it on her nape as she sunk further into the comforts of the fake leather. Jinyoung turned towards her, his eyes crinkling and lines of his eye-smile deepening as he laughed and clapped over his victory.
It seemed like the awkward atmosphere between them has finally settled, and Jinyoung's shyness has gone through the window. "It's already late. Let's go home, now?" She suggested after being notified of the time by the digital clock on the arcade screen. Jinyoung nodded, slung his bag on his shoulder and carried the tickets to the cashier where he redeemed 2 large brown bears.
She awaited by the entrance, amused how the bears almost covered Jinyoung's already small face. He handed out one of the bears to her. "Uhm. I'm sure that it really troubled you to have your phone broken.."
"so you're giving me a bear?" She hugged it with a teasing smile. Jinyoung nodded, eyebrows slightly creased with hesitation.
"I hope we could be friends." He clutched into his bear tighter.
"Jinyoung-ssi, we're already friends" raising the bear she received from Jinyoung.
They often say that Spring is the season of fateful meetings... maybe it just came a little bit later for her. 
wanna one masterlist
a/n : my 2nd Hanahaki fic and now I’m finally posting something for my bias. I really don’t want to write a Hanahaki for Jinyoung because it just hurts me, but lol PAIN. anyway, contrary to my usual style of posting fics that I have already finished, this one is still incomplete and just sitting in the depths of my notepad and documents because I honestly can’t find the time to write these days >.>
 I have so much school work to do which would last until early March, so this serves as a little announcement as well that I’d be posting lesser or none at all >.< but I’ll make up for it in March ! ! ! For now, I’ll just be ghost surfing in Tumblr and reading fics and building up ideas. 
You can always hit me up by sending asks or messaging me ^O^  
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Note
I've spent far too long looking at this list because literally all of these could be turned into angst so i'm just gonna put whatever ones that catch my attention lol So how about yukogeki with G, J, O, or U???
Sorry this took so long, friend. I ended up rewriting it twice and I’m still not satisfied how it turned out lol. I apologize if this isn’t what you pictured orz. (Though it isn’t angsty or at least I didn’t intentionally try to make it as such)
Still, I’m always grateful for you sending in requests, so thank you!
I will post on AO3 later.
YukoGeki G: A Fistfight
Gekikara’s whole body pulsed with energy. All their senses were awake. They were aware of Yuko’s presence pressed against their back. Yabakune students swarmed around them like annoying flies.
Gekikara and Yuko had been making their way to school. They had cut through a field and had been laughing and goofing around, when they were suddenly ambushed by a bunch of pissed off and vengeful Yabakune weaklings.
Twenty against two.
A fight was the best way to start the morning.
Yuko bounced on her toes. Her excitement was evident, as it was contagious. “These are our kind of odds, don't you think Geki?”
Gekikara’s dark chuckle brought visible shivers to those around them. They cracked their knuckles in anticipation. “Yes, Yuko-san. It's going to be so much fun breaking them.”
Not liking that they were being underestimated, the Yabakune students charged forward. Yuko reacted with inhuman speed. She ricocheted from one person to the next. Her short form blasted through waves of enemies like nothing.
She was an unstoppable storm bearing down on anyone who stood in her way.
Several people tried to swing at Yuko’s head with bats or metal poles. With lightning reflexes, Yuko grabbed onto one girl's pole with her bare hands and forced it to snap it up out of the girl's grasp.
There was a slight pause in which the girl had a look of our astonishment until Yuko delivered a backhanded swing on her. The crack of bones breaking resounded across the battlefield as Yuko sent the unlucky girl careening into other students.
Several students who witnessed this gave Yuko a wide berth. Yuko, on her part, could smell the fear in them.
With a broad grin, she swung away.
The Yabakune yankii’s never knew what hit them.
Gekikara slammed relentless punches into any that dared cross their path. Their bloody fists enjoyed the loud crunch of bones underneath every forceful hit.
One girl with brass knuckles managed to get a hit in on Gekikara’s face. Her smug grin was immediately wiped as Gekikara only laughed at the pain. They licked their bleeding lips and returned the punch twofold, breaking the girl's nose and sending her down in one foul swoop.
They spun around to deliver a roundhouse kick right into an unsuspecting girl’s groin. It was an immediate K.O her. Gekikara grabbed the girl’s collapsing body and chucked it into one of the clusters groups of girls that tried to overwhelm Yuko. They tumbled like dominoes. All of them  crumbled under the weight of each other.
A bigger girl grappled Gekikara from behind. Gekikara thrashed wildly. They slammed the back of their head into the girl’s face and elbowed her right in the boob.
The bigger girl cursed. “You fucker-”
Gekikara dropped kicked her right in the stomach. Gekikara rolled right back onto their feet and delivered a swift kick to her head. The bigger girl didn't get up after that.
Laughter echoed from both Yuko and Gekikara as they lay waste to everyone around them.
The scene before them was complete chaos. Students laid in a torrent mess, bleeding and hurt. Despite the numbers difference, it was a one sided fight on their end.
But for Gekikara and Yuko, it had been nothing short of euphoric.
One student, who had somehow managed to survive their curb stomping tried to crawl away, only for Gekikara to step hard onto their back.
The helpless student squirmed underneath Gekikara’s foot. They stomped harder on the student, eliciting a small, pathetic squeak from the terrified girl.
Gekikara stood over her triumphant, with a savage gleam in their eyes. “Hey, are you mad?”
The girl sputtered nonsense words before passing  out in fear.
Gekikara smirked at the laughable sight that was Yabakune yankiis whimpering in agony.
Yuko threw the pole behind her. It landed with a hard thunk on someone's unlucky head.
“Thanks for having my back, Geki.” Her bright smile directed at them made Gekikara's heart beat faster than it already was.
“Of course, Yuko-san.” Gekikara gave Yuko a genuine smile. They would always have her back, no matter what.
Gekikara attempted to wipe the blood of their face, but only succeeded in smearing it. The blood was going to be a pain to wash of later, but the early morning brawl had been fun. Gekikara would do it all over again, even if it did ruin their uniform.
“Ah here, let me clean your face.” Yuko took out her small handkerchief. She had to get on her tippy toes to reach Gekikara’s face. It was pretty adorable watching Rappapa’s fearless leader attempt to do so.
Yuko did gentle wipes across Gekikara’s face. Very few people had ever been so gentle with them. The soft moment was such a giant contrast to the carnage that both members of Rappapa had created mere moments ago.
“You did really good in this fight,” said Yuko. When she had finished cleaning their face, she presssed a quick kiss to Gekikara’s cheek.
Gekikara’s eyes lit up. Today was shaping up to be a great day.
There was a slight tinge of pink on Gekikara’s face. Their smile was practically beaming. “Thank you, Yuko-san.”
Yuko gave her thumbs up. “It's no problem.”
They basked in the afterglow of the fight. Each enjoying the small moment together and taking a small reprieve from the rush of adrenaline. Gekikara leaned on Yuko and proped their head on Yuko’s. Normally, Yuko wouldn’t like being used as a head rest, since it always reminded her of her small stature, but if it was Gekikara, she didn’t mind so much.
The moment was interrupted by Yuko’s phone pinging. She flipped it open to read the text message she received. “Oh, it’s Sado.”
She made a similar face of agony that was currently present on the beaten Yabakune students had. “Crap, we’re so late for early morning practice. Sado’s going to kick our asses.”
Gekikara rubbed the back of their neck nervously. They were certainly going to get more than an earful from Rappapa’s sadistic Vice President.
“Race you there!” Yuko didn't even give Gekikara time to process what she said before she took off running in the direction of the school.
Gekikara shook their head in amusement before running in after her.
Both leaving the bloody aftermath behind them.
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terryblount · 5 years
Text
Mortal Kombat 11 – Review
Mortal Kombat is more than a game: it is the closest thing we as gamers have to a counter-culture. It is an I.P. that has consistently laughed in the face of censorship boards by never compromising on giving fans the unfiltered carnage of close combat. This was literally (part of) the reason why there exists an ESRB rating system today.
What’s more, this violence is not just for looks – it is also about skill. The genius of Mortal Kombat’s formula has always lain in demonstrating the player’s fighting ability through how sadistically they can crush their opponent. You don’t just K.O. an opponent in this game; you FINISH THEM!!!
Is it weird to admire the way blood is animated in a game?
I am quite pleased to say that this 27-year-old spirit of Mortal Kombat is alive and well within the eleventh arrival. Let’s not beat around the bush here. This is essentially the perfect fighting game, and players and pros alike will surely regard it as one of the best this series has ever produced. This is because Mortal Kombat 11 manages to include every modern convention that works, while being mindful of the old-school novelties that cemented the I.P. in gaming culture.
Time and time again
In the single-player ‘kampaign’, Earthrealm yet again comes face to face with an apocalyptic threat. The story opens with a now corrupted Raiden (see MK XL) decapitating the elder god Shinnok as a message to anyone who dares to threaten his domain. This was was a most serious error in judgement as Shinnok turns out to be the son of a new character, Kronika – the guardian of time itself.
“But know this–the arc of the universe bends to my will.” – Kronika
Needless to say, Kronika is rather unhappy not just about her son being reduced to the usefulness of a bowling ball, but also due to the balance of good and evil now being uneven. She vows to restore equilibrium in the timeline up to the events of her son’s beheading, but is also aware that Raiden and the Earthrealm gang could present a troublesome thorn in her side in any dimension.
Kronika therefore merges the past and present together, and teleports an army of Netherrealm’s most formidable villains, like Baraka and Shao Kahn, from the past into the present as her insurance policy. As per usual, the player will represent the fight for Earthrealm’s fate from the perspective of Johnny Cage, Kotal Kahn, Kung Lao, and other classic and contemporary characters.
I get that the whole time travel motif has been done to death, but the team at NetherRealm have once again shown their practiced hand for storytelling. They have wisely used the motif of temporal distortion as a McGuffin to re-imagine and bring back some of the franchise’s most beloved figures for the modern gaming climate.
Johnny squared!
This makes for a deeply interesting plot with some exciting and unexpected alliances forming or breaking between characters from different time periods (because their major clashes haven’t happened yet). More than that, Netherrealm sets up the opportunity to introduce characters like Cetrion and Geras who have fighting abilities centred on the manipulation of time.
Overall the story really oozes the kind of cinematic quality that would make Marvel Studios sweat bullets. The combination of excellent graphics, captivating voice acting, and the return of favourite characters will most definitely have new fans engrossed, and old fans spiralling into nostalgia.
In with the old, out with the new
Objectively speaking, Mortal Kombat 11 plays it extremely safe. This game demonstrates the old adage that players are bound to enjoy what lies in their comfort zone, and it is not necessary for sequels to reinvent the wheel. Instead, MK 11 goes for the ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, but make it a whole lot prettier’ approach.
Indeed,  MK 11 plays just as slick and precise as every game Netherrealm has developed thus far. What can be perfected has been tweaked, but a whole slew of small changes collectively add up to an experience that will still feel fresh and engaging to long-time players. Not much is new here, and I am very happy about that.
You get to see quite a lot of Sub Zero’s face in this game.
So aside from the single player campaign, the ‘Klassic Towers’ mode also makes a return in which the player must defeat a sequence of opponents to ascend up the tower. Except for infinite modes, these always end with Kronika as the final boss. Defeating her also gets you a brief cut scene that fills in some story details specific to the character you happen to be playing much like Tekken or Street Fighter.
You will not find the ‘Living Towers’ of the previous installment as Netherrealm has ditched this mode in favour of the ‘Towers of Time’. These differ from Klassic Towers in that opponents get more challenging as you approach the top, and players are also permitted to activate certain modifiers (they unlocked as loot) either for one match, or for the duration of the entire tower.
As an example, you can assign Jade one or two of Cyrax’s cyber webs to fire at her opponent stunning them momentarily. Alternatively, the match might have a vampire modifier in which the player’s health bar drains constantly to the opponent’s, so it is best to finish the match sooner rather than later. These towers can certainly get infamously punishing, but the game drowns you in rewards for completing them.
Lemme smash! This is who you will be playing in the Krypt. Note the three currencies in the bottom of the screen.
The Krypt is back again, of course. This time the event plays out on Shang Tsung’s island (see MK 2011) during which you open chests, smash vases and crush meteorites for some sweet loot and unlockable goodies. The Krypt also adopts a third person perspective now which only makes the act of swinging around Shao Kahn’s colossal hammer at vases and statues all the more gratifying.
Light puzzle solving is also a way of collecting some treasures, and it is clear that the developers really want the player to enjoy exploring for goodies to make your game more interesting. I have always been intrigued and, a little creeped out by this subsection of Mortal Kombat games, so it’s nice to see it return here. It’s really beginning to feel like a crucial component of the experience.
Kompletely Unreal
I have never been shy to express my admiration for the Unreal Engine, but what Netherrealm has achieved on a visual level in this game is outright astounding. Here we have a super modified version of the Unreal Engine 3 no less, throwing around particles and rendering high definition textures like it is trying to put Frostbite and Unity out of business.
Even though certain sections of the game have been mysteriously capped at 30fps (most of which can now be fixed by a mod), this game flows on the PC like butter down a centrefold’s butt cheek. In contrast to Mortal Kombat XL, the vibrant graphical tone of MK11 really throws the bountiful details of the visuals into sharp relief. I feel like the unique cast of characters that has always defined this series finally get the representation they deserve.
Damn this game is beautiful. This allows for particularly dramatic cut scenes.
The environments and fighting arenas have also been given the deluxe visual treatment through dramatic lighting and environmental effects. I found the arenas to have an enigmatic and refreshing feeling to them, and a particular favourite of mine became the decaying Shaolin temple where the corpses of dead monks observe your match. I clearly have issues.
They are noticeably the tightest fighting planes that Netherrealm has implemented within one of their games, but this has the pleasing outcome of somehow making the action feel closer… more immediate. The close-quarter combat also places more importance on finding openings in the opponent’s technique rather than just  flying from one combo to the next.
Combos are still just as important, but it is clear that MK 11 wants shorter, more potent moves to play a bigger role too. This means that the one guy with supersonic thumbs you always get paired with online is less safe than he thinks this time round. You know who you are!
The fatalities and other post-match tomfoolery have, naturally, also been given an obvious graphical upgrade. Seriously, seeing brains being splattered and bones being shattered in this level of realism is not at all for the faint of heart. Be that as it may, I nevertheless have a hard time imagining a more beautiful, albeit visceral fighting game.
The very definition of fighting chance
As I mentioned, the roster of fighters is a mixed bag of old and new characters including the original 7, but like all the other yobs on the internet, I feel like some characters leave a conspicuous absence. Where the hell is Goro!? I also miss, Takashi who had a snappy and responsive feel in his fighting that appealed to my playing style in the previous game.
Perhaps old Goro will get his chance with DLCs, but the roster is still a bit smaller than I would have liked. It is once again too obvious that most of us will be expected to fork out more of our hard earned cash as extra content later down the line. Netherrealm has chosen quality of quantity, but this rather anemic roster just smacks too much of leaving room for microtransactions.
At least Geras more than makes up for my four-armed favourite being conspicuously M.I.A. His time-travelling abilities allow him to execute a punch, blink back in time, and execute another attack before my opponent could even find a moment to move. I also liked the beefy, warlock look he had going on which looks particularly slick during fights. Definitely my favourite new character in this game.
Geras warping back in time behind his opponent. Cannot remember who the other is… uhm was…
It also helps that the developers have really gone the extra mile to give MK 11 a truly comprehensive and helpful tutorial segment. They even included a lesson on frame times and hit advantages – something I usually ignored and left to subconscious strategy until I actually paid attention to it in this game.
Best of all, for the really nasty combos and chained assaults the game will actually demo the move on screen with button prompts. I am embarrassed to admit that some combos in previous games took me upwards of an hour to get right. With this new system, it was ten tries tops. As such, newcomers to Mortal Kombat, and fighting games in general, will undoubtedly feel more welcome than ever before.
On the subject of techniques, MK 11 has swapped out X-ray moves for a new system called ‘Fatal Blows’. Like X-ray attacks, they are once-off, deadly attacks taking you microscopically close to your, or your opponent’s, cracking jaw and rupturing internal organs. Except there is one crucial difference: Fatal Blows can only be activated in the last third of your health.
In other words, if the player has only been maintaining a slight lead with their opponent throughout the fight, the last section becomes indescribably tense. You can no longer rely on short-distance techniques or longer combos to win because if you allow even one opportunity to have a Fatal Blow performed on you, you’re toast.
Let us have the talk
So what exactly is the deal with this grind getting everyone all upset? Well, the manner in which MK 11 deals with in-game currency makes us all want to gather our raincoats for the inevitable microtransaction storm that is surely going to hit soon. At the time of writing, MK 11 has very little to offer in the way of DLC on Steam.
Still, something tells me that this will change soon not just because this is the nature of our industry, but because fighting games are also particularly lucrative opportunities for monetisation. They always have been because it is so satisfying seeing no grey blocks on your roster, or adding some cosmetic personality to your favourite fighter.
This is my only major issue with MK 11 because it feels like there is simply too much being gated off from the player when you start the game. Every time I completed a fight, the game goes through a huge pomp and circumstance to inform me of all the different currencies I just earned. Not that the handouts are even that generous mind you.
You read that correctly. This time there is not just the Koins  used to unlock outfits, fatalities and modifiers for tower modes. Even in the Krypt, you now have to juggle multiple kinds of currency units like hearts and soul fragments if you want all off the riches the hidden content has to offer. Oh, and the Krypt chests are randomised so your friend may find a liquid metal suit for Sonya Blade in the same place you get concept art…
Playing around with some of the unlockable skins and finishing moves.
Even though I have never really cared much about cosmetic items in the games I play, I don’t like the sense of gaminess MK 11 creates with the endless pop-ups eagerly informing me how much I have earned. I am playing because I am having fun, and this just feels like Netherrealm is trying to force me into some scheme inevitably leading to microtransactions.
FINISH IT!!
In case that last section threw you off a bit, I want to state again that Mortal Kombat 11 is essentially fighting game perfection. This game is completely saturated with the kind of creative vision that has been the worked into the design of my favourite fighting games. This game looks great, sounds great and feels great.
If Netherrealm vow never to turn the superfluous currencies online into an evil plot of monetisation, I will not need another fighting game for the next ten years at least. Combined with an excellent story, this will become an essential classic in your Mortal Kombat collection.
Remember to check out our Mortal Kombat 11 performance analysis!
Tight and refined combat
Tutorial section
Story
Excellent visuals and sound
Design of new fighters
Temporal fighting abilities
Somewhat limited roster
Too focused on currencies
          Playtime: About 28 hours total. 10 hours on the single player campaign with much of the remaining time spent online.
Computer Specs: Windows 10 64-bit computer using Nvidia GTX 1070, i5 4690K CPU, 16GB RAM – Played using an Xbox Controller (Thanks to my friend Niel for lending me his!!)
Mortal Kombat 11 – Review published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/
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