mikami!!!

i did more of my esmp parents doodles specifically because of this comment 

[Shrub here | Scott, Sausage, & Seablings here | Roseblings, Pix, & Pearl here]

@thatonehomosexual79​ prompted me to think about Katherine and joeys parents! I have names for them all, but very few of them have actual thought to me.

I’ll slap my ramblings about each family / parents and my lore under the cut for those interested :] Feel free to ask for more or ask questions! These doodles are easy so i might just do both seasons! I have names for everyone anyways lol

What I do know about Joey’s family though is his siblings I’ve included. To my vague awareness on LE Joey lore, he had other canon members of the monarchy. The Tiger Blood Prince and Princess. I also saw somewhere that the Princess actually went missing and was replaced I presume. Instead of this being a mistake I’ve made it lore. I'm also too far in to retcon it if that actually didn't happen lol. I can’t say much for them as individuals, they’re all very alike. Kinda aggressive and  confident in the way that Joey is. Its very obvious they are related lol. Nickey is the one who breaks the mold most, and is plot relevant to my fanon when she is older. She is actually the ancestor of  esmp2!Lizzie and one of her close descendants is the founder of Animalia :]

Anyways, Joey and his family get along about as well as they can given the turbulent nature of how I imagine LE succession to work. Its not so much a right as it is a challenge. Joey challenged his parents when he found himself old enough to care about the power. They met the challenge, alongside Joeys brother Mickey, and all lost to him. Very tournament style. Joey coming out on top claims him as the victor and he took his title. His brother and he get along well, in a way that has a high frequency of sibling animosity. Tammy is a bit young in the main timline (14 ish i think) and has very little care in leading, she's happy to just be princess. Nickey has ran away from the LE, and generally was the black sheep of the family. Wanting a much gentler and kinder way of life than she was used to. Her as a subsect of the people left to far lands, never to be seen again really as they reestablished themselves far away.

Katherine is where things start getting odd. Because of how my fanon uses fairies I must first clarify that fairies are biologically agender and asexual by nature in my fanon. They are born in a very disney-ified fairytale fashion where any singular or number of parents will nurture a flower bulb and from it blooms a baby fairy. Katherines mother did this alone, and so her and Katherine look extremely similar. Any dissimilarities are entirely stylistic lol. Baby Katherine also doesn’t have her wings yet, I must clarify this wasn’t because I forgot. Young fairies look a lot more “human”, and gain things like their wings during puberty. They have a chrysalis phase and a kind of butterfly physiology for lack of simpler explanation.

Katherine and her mother are very alike in many ways I think. I don't have a lot of thought for Kitty in all honesty. If she isn’t dead in the current timeline I’d be willing to bet she stepped away from responsibility when The Spring chose Katherine to tale over. If anyone has any thoughts about her that’d be cool, because I really have very little. She would have known Scott and Xornoths parents, which is significant. 

Finally Joel!! Also has some weird notes out of the norm. In my fanon Mezalea’s citizens are majorly composed of Clay constructs, with some humans and the occasional merlings around the coasts. Clay constructs are given lie by being laid at the roots of the mother tree, and  are typically gifted life by its after a time. Queen Ariel ruled Mezalea before Joel. The reason “Prince” has an asterix is because it’s questionable if Joel ever was prince of Mezalea. he was created to be king and I havent decided if he was sculpted and lad beneath the Mother Tree before or after Ariels passing. She had a lot of wear and tear after potential dozens of decades, maybe centuries, alive. She had come into a point of disrepair (and a thinning of her life gift) and knew Mezalea would need a replacement for her throne. But I havent decided if she ever actually met Joel. If he was created after she crumbled to take her place, or if she commissioned his creation before her passing and was there to see his gifted life. To help guide him in his duties for a short time. 

For this reason, the art I have drawn is dubiously canon to my own fanon. And Joel and Ariel are not considered family really. They are not mother and son as much as they are at most mentor and apprentice, and at least successor and predecessor. Joel knows who she is, but doesn’t really hold any sturdy connection with her. Ariel herself was a good determined ruler. Confident and brazen in many ways. She likely looked much different throughout her rule, constructs can pass their life between other  vessels- this is how they grow. Like hermit crabs kind of, when they feel they have outgrown the body they have they will likely build or commission a new one to inhabit. Ariel has been around a lot, and many of her  forms have suffered some severe battering. It has thinned her life gift to be passed around so often and in connection to a broken form she knew she was done.

anyways that is all for now, imma go look into who do draw next :]  questions and commentary welcome

G5 MLP

It truly isn’t as bad as ppl make it out to be. I will counter every point Ik of that haters use against g5

“Sunny became an alicorn too soon and too easily”

We only saw the climax of her alicorn arc, which was the movie. You’d say the same thing if g4 opened w/ their “twilight becomes a princess” episode. Sunny worked all her life to try and change the minds of those around her, the only help she had was her dad who disappeared at some point in time. He probably died but whatever. She willingly let herself be ostracized by everyone in Maritime Bay except Hitch JUST bc they were doing and saying things she didn’t support, and thats just the backstory. I don’t know why ppl think bringing pony tribes back together again AND restoring magic to equestria isn’t a princess worthy task. She’s only a part time alicorn anyways, I believe it’s bc she didn’t create new magic but I won’t get into that here. I see ppl say “she did nothing compared to twilight” and it makes me so upset, if they want to boil down Sunny’s lifelong journey of reuniting ponykind to just a short adventure then you have to boil down what twilight did to “finishing a spell”. Why is being the twilight of your time not a princess worthy task?

2. “the animation is tacky”

Yes, animation in chapter 1 was a MAJOR downgrade from the movie, but that’s to be expected. The animators were just getting used to 3D animation in that style and they didn’t have that big of a budget to work with, the latest chapter was so animated it was amazing. I will admit, that thing where they lean forward and their hooves scrunch is kinda weird but it’s easy to get past with everything else to look at on screen.

3. “I don’t like how the show is set up”

I usually see this for one of two reasons, it’s either too “childish” or they don’t like how it’s connected to g4. MLP has always been a kids show, directed at young girls in the past but now it’s more for everyone. G1, g2, and g3 were pretty “mindless” and didn’t make much sense at times but we all still love them bc it’s what we may have grown up with. G5 has an actual story to tell, just in a simpler way bc it’s a KIDS show. G4 was a FAMILY show, there is an important difference. A family show may be inherently for a younger audience but still has the capacity to make older audiences laugh and enjoy the show, like Bluey. A kids show is a show just for kids, it may not/doesn’t appeal to older audiences, like The Loud House or smth. I’m not all that familiar w/ popular kids shows because the audience the show is meant for is too young to be on the internet. I personally enjoy that I can take everything at face value in g5, it gives me a break from all the complicated values and conversations I have throughout the day and in other more complex media. And for the connected to g4 thing, that wasn’t a choice made by the team for g5. Hasbro told them to connect it to g4 in hopes that the g4 fans will come over to g5, which didn’t rlly work obviously. Considering that they HAD to make them connected, I think they did a good job.

4. “It got rid of all of twilights hard work”

things change, history gets muddled and sometimes it repeats itself. It’s actually a saying that if you forget history you’re doomed to repeat it, we know that the things taught in Maritime Bay’s history classes are actually false and that’s why everyone went to disharmony again. Twilight and her friends are regarded as being from “ancient times” so g5 is millennias in the future, you can’t seriously possibly expect things to stay the same FOREVER. Equestria may be a magical fun land but it isn’t a perfect heaven. In the first episode of g4 ponies thought that Nightmare Moon was just an old mares tale, and that was just one millennium. Let alone enough to get the current time out of “ancient times”.

End Notes

I rlly think anyone reading should give g5 a chance, you can’t knock it till you try it. The earlier chapters are harder to rlly love but it’s worth it, tbh that’s the same for g4. I tried to rewatch it from the beginning but I just couldn’t stand all the meanness to pinkie pie. We just have to remember that g5 isn’t meant for us, it’s not meant for an older audience. It’s a fun little kids show with a simple story, simple characters, and some songs. G4 got the exact same hate from g3 fans when it first came out and look how great it turned out to be.

In the end, it’s fine if you don’t like it. But you have to admit that g5 has done nothing wrong, it’s just not your cup of tea. Since when is a show deserving of hate for not being what you want it to be? When it’s not even for you?

if there are any more points I could respond to, then pls tell me. I would love to add to this but these are all the ones Ik

Jen Tortures Herself With Every Dreamworks Animated Movie Ever: Trolls World Tour

So I'm learning more and more that the Trolls franchise is not what I was led to believe for such a long time now. Because I really did actually like the first one a good bit. So how does its sequel hold up? Well...

We once again follow Poppy and Branch, this time on a quest to stop Barb, the Queen of the Rock Trolls, from stealing the six strings that create all music types in the world of the Trolls (Rock, Pop, Funk, Classical, Techno, and Country). Barb's plan is to unite all Trolls under Rock exclusively, so its up to Poppy (who is struggling to learn what it means to be a good queen) and Branch (who's struggling to confess his feelings for Poppy) to save the day.

Yeah, pretty simple, very "questy" premise here, kinda feels like the structure of a video game in a weird way? Like our crew rolls into the various territories of the other Troll tribes and we get to see a little taste of who they are and how they live but none of it is really that in-depth, which is... fine, I guess, whatever. There are certainly some... interesting themes they're trying to get across here, like historical rivisionism and even overcoming racism??? I think?? But of course, because this is a kids movie, its all very simplified into "we're all different and that's ok!" because well, they're not gonna make it that complicated for the little kiddo brains this is clearly targeted for.

As a result, we get a much simpler movie than even the last one, which was already pretty simple. The characters from last time around are all pretty much the same as before, Poppy is still upbeat and eternally positive (though her arc here is pretty satisfying of her learning to listen to others and that she doesn't know best all the time), Branch is still The Best Character in this goddamn franchise, the side characters are all just... there. And as for our new characters, none of them really stood out that much except for Barb. She's a pretty fun villain! Very punk rocker, very sassy and sharp, and she even gets a few good moments to give her depth by the end and make you ok with her eventual redemption. She's cool.

The music is a little more varried this time around too, because well, it has to be given this movie's premise. So we get some tastes of country and funk and rock alongside the usual pop, which is still the most prominent genre for sure. There are even hints of classical, raggae, even goddamn k-pop because lord. Though I will admit, when they started singing Gangnam Style I think I lost about three years off my life jesus christ.

The visuals are just as lovely as the last though, dedicating itself to an even more arst and crafts asthetic than the last. The homes of all of the other types of trolls are really fun and varied and fit nicely with the style of music they're trying to embrace. There's nothing too fantastic going on here with the animation, but its still very nice to look at all the same.

So yeah, Trolls World Tour is... fine. It's perfectly watchable, just like its predecessor was. I would dare to call it mid, which explains the score I give it below, I guess. It just... exists. And that's all I can really say about it.

Overall Rating: 5/10

Verdict: WHERE THE FUCK WERE YOU TWO ALL MOVIE?!?!?!?!

Previous Review (Abominable)

Next Review (The Croods: A New Age)

Every Epic Rap Battle of History Ranked, Part 2

Part 1

57. Genghis Khan vs Easter Bunny

Winner: Easter Bunny

Best line: "The Great Wall couldn't keep you out of China. Watch me rub my foot for luck and stick it right up your vagina!"

Okay, okay, this is probably higher than it has any right to be, but damn it, I just love this pairing. You have a historical warlord famous for his brutality battling with a peaceful holiday icon for kids and I think the contrast is hilarious. It's nothing spectacular, but this has to be my favorite of season 1's "two completely random characters with no relation" battles.

56. Wonder Woman vs Stevie Wonder

Winner: Wonder Woman

Best line: "My rhymes are signed, sealed, and delivered on time. You're a bald has-been, I'm in my Amazon Prime!"

While I was always aware of Stevie Wonder's music, this battle actually made me look into it and appreciate it more. I love the touch of how Stevie's music style in this is a mix of his own as well as that of his actor, T-Pain. Also the quote above might just be one of my favorite lines in ERB history - I LOVE when a line can manage to mix in wordplay that relates to both rappers. Mwah, chef's kiss.

55. Master Chief vs Leonidas

Winner: Master Chief

Best line: "300 asses need a kickin'. Give more teebags than Lipton."

We're in the section of the list of good battles with nothing to really complain about, but also with nothing spectacular so there's not really much to say. I'm not a Halo guy so some of the references went over my head - I didn't get "You're the solider they need you to be" until looking it up just now, and yeah, that's a pretty funny line that I didn't appreciate when I was younger. It was also a good call to have Lloyd still be the voice of Leonidas but cast an actual muscular man to be the body actor; we definitely didn't need another Hulk Hogan muscle suit situation.

54. Goku vs Superman 

Winner: Goku

Best line: "There's only one way that this battle's gonna end: One more Superman who's never gonna walk again."

Ray William Johnson was a great casting choice for Goku; he brings a lively and memorable performance to the show. Although I didn't think Goku was quite so angry? Idk, I'm also not a Dragon Ball guy (forgive me for being such an uncultured swine and not knowing a lot of these series). Lloyd's Superman is pretty basic by comparison; it gets the job done, but it's like Sinatra vs Mercury where it gets overshadowed hard by the other performer.

53. Barack Obama vs Mitt Romney

Winner: Mitt Romney

Best line: "Republicans need a puppet and you fit. Got their hand so far up your rear, call you Mitt."

Man, remember when we thought Mitt Romney was the worst the Republican party could throw at us? Simpler times, man. Simpler times. This battle is the most-viewed in ERB history, which I think is kinda weird since I feel like people were way more into the 2016 and 2020 elections overall. But this was also the first election battle, and when ERB was still a relatively new series, so maybe it was the novelty of it at the time. Or maybe because Obama and Romney were both more well-liked than Trump, Clinton, and Biden. I dunno, I'm getting off-track here.

I thought for years that this battle was pretty well-balanced in terms of not showing favoritism to one side, though I thought Romney's line "I'm not gonna let this battle be dictated by facts" was a pretty biased writing choice. But it turns out that that's almost a direct quote from Romney himself, so uhh. I also love how both opponents break down into slinging childish insults at each other by the end, it really goes to show that it's not glorifying either candidate. And that's proven true by the iconic scene of Abe Lincoln coming down and bitchslapping them both. Classic.

The real Obama is known to have seen this battle too and apparently liked it given that he invited Peter and the actor who played Obama here to the White House, so that's neat.

52. John Wick vs John Rambo vs John McClane

Winner: John McClane

Best line: "And lighten up, Wick, with your brooding saga. How 'bout a little hakuna matata, Baba Yaga?"

This is the first and so far only battle that's a three-way fight from the start, so that really ensures that all three characters are given ample time to all diss each other. I like it! The highlight here is definitely Lloyd's McClane, he's a delight to watch, and he perfectly captures how McClane is the lighthearted everyman of the group. Zach's John Wick is no slouch either, capturing the cool seriousness of the character. Where this battle falls flat though, and the only reason it's not in A, is Peter's Rambo. It's trying to be funny and it's just… not really funny. It's the kind of Sylvester Stallone impression that would get a chuckle out of you if your high school friend did it in the halls, but it just feels out of place in a professional production like this.

I love the subtle ways the backing track changes between characters too, with McClane getting some sleigh bells added in for his part, Wick getting a deep synth noise, and Rambo getting some somber strings. Really nice stuff.

51. Artists vs TMNT 

Winner: TMNT

Best line: "Uh, Dona-tell me who you are again, dude, 'Cause I don't Gattamelata clue what you do."

My only complaint about this battle is that it's just too damn short. This would be a pretty short battle even by 1-on-1 standards, but when you have 8 separate characters, each one barely gets anything to say. But what's here is great. Rhett and Link and Smosh is a good pairing that gives a lot of energy to the artists, and the turtle suit that the team managed to make for the TMNT is great. When the only negative I can think of for a battle is that I wish there was more of it, you know it's a good battle.

A TIER

50. George Carlin vs Richard Pryor 

Winner: Joan Rivers

Best line: "Now there's seven words you can't say on a TV set. But this is the pissin' fuckin' cuntin' internet!"

I'm realizing now how much work this entire thing is given how much I've written so far and we're only just now cracking the top 50. Still not even halfway there, damn. But anyway, this is a great tribute to a whole bunch of legendary comedians. It's a whole lot of fun to watch, and every performer captures the larger-than-life personalities on display. Lloyd's Robin Williams is a particular highlight. The only downside is Bill Cosby's part, it's not really funny and kinda just kills the pace. But it's thankfully short so it's not enough to ruin it.

49. Mario Bros vs Wright Bros

Winner: Wright Bros

Best line: "You might fly like a hawk, but you fight like a kitty!"

This was the first guest appearance of Rhett and Link and also the first 2-on-2 battle, and I think it does a really good job. Mario and Luigi are played absolutely nothing like their actual characters, but it's so far off that it's honestly hilarious.

48. David Copperfield vs Harry Houdini 

Winner: David Copperfield 

Best line: "My grand illusions make your parlor tricks irrelevant. The foot of Lady Liberty is stomping on your elephant."

Now THIS is a magician vs magician battle that actually lives up to the idea visually, eat your heart out, Gandalf vs Dumbledore. While Houdini is definitely the more interesting person to watch in this battle with all of the stunts he performs while rapping, I can't help but like Peter's silky smooth Copperfield voice, it's gotta be one of my favorite voices he's done.

47. Eastern Philosophers vs Western Philosophers

Winner: Eastern Philosophers

Best line: "You tried to plant a new German psyche, but you just grew hate, me no Third Reichy!"

This is a very smartly-written battle, as it should be given the subject matter. Every philosopher gets a chance to sum up what they're all about, and the contrasts work perfectly - Lao Tzu's philosophy of letting life take you through its natural course vs Nietzsche saying you need to take control and fight for the life you want, and Confucius's teaching of respecting authority vs Voltaire's challenging of authority. …Socrates vs Sun Tzu doesn't really have a direct contrast like that, but hey, that's okay. You can tell a lot of research went into this one, and it's really worth looking into the meanings of the lyrics because some of it will definitely go over your head if you're not super into philosophy.

46. Blackbeard vs Al Capone

Winner: Al Capone

Best line: "You spent time in Alcatraz, I'm sure you were fine, if you dropped the soap as little as you drop dope rhymes."

Both Peter and Lloyd were clearly having fun with this one, they're both in their element when they're playing characters with big personalities and fun voices to imitate. The lyrics are great and dense too; this was the first battle of season 3 besides Vader vs Hitler 3, and I think season 3 is really when the series started hitting its stride with rappers' verses becoming longer and more packed with deeper meanings.

I only have two minor criticisms with this battle - first, Blackbeard's beard looks way too nice and clean, and it's especially apparent when Capone has a line about how dirty it is. Second, this video was sponsored by Assassin's Creed IV, which is all well and good, but forcing in a line about Edward Kenway and having him physically appear in the background really destroys my suspension of disbelief and dates the video hardcore. But neither of these things are enough to ruin an otherwise very good battle.

45. Rick Grimes vs Walter White

Winner: Walter White 

Best line: "Ask Gus, you don't wanna face off against me."

Okay, so, confession time: I have not watched either of the shows that are represented in this battle (Breaking Bad is on my to-watch list though). And oops, this vid's got a lot of spoilers for both series. Ah well. Despite not knowing a whole lot about either universe, I still think this battle is a lot of fun to watch. I particularly love the detail of a zombie crossing into Walt's side and getting distracted by meth - touches like that to tie the worlds of the two rappers together are always a treat.

44. Darth Vader vs Hitler

Winner: Hitler

Best line: "You stink, Vader. Your style smells something sour. You need to wash up, dog. Here, step in my shower."

Here we go. While Lennon vs O'Reilly might have come first, I think we can all agree that this is the real start of ERB. This is what made the series into a viral sensation and it's not hard to see why. The novelty of seeing a historical figure battle his fictional equivalent in a rap battle of all things was something unseen up until that point, and it helps that the lyrics were incredibly clever to boot - in addition to the iconic quote above, who could forget "So many dudes been with your mom, who even knows if I'm your father". I'm sure Disney would like everyone to forget that the Stormtroopers were named after Hitler's troops, but this battle stands as an eternal reminder of that fact.

43. Mr. T vs Mr. Rogers

Winner: Mr. Rogers

Best line: "I'll say this once, Laurence. I hope it's understood: Get right back in your van and get the fuck out of my neighborhood."

Peter's acting here is pretty similar to how he portrayed Bob Ross, but his portrayal of Mr. Rogers easily wins in my mind for how much more savage the insults are. Even though Rogers definitely steals the show here, Mr. T also manages to be very entertaining. It's hilarious how he's screaming at Rogers the whole time while Rogers consistently keeps his cool while hurling passive-aggressive lines.

Also, whew! We're officially halfway done with this list!

42. Jacques Cousteau vs Steve Irwin

Winner: Steve Irwin

Best line: "I'm a wild man, you're a subdued sub dude. The only crocs you could handle are some slip-on shoes!"

This battle's an interesting role reversal - usually it's Lloyd portraying the grumpy character and Peter portraying the lively one. But it goes to show that the two of them have the acting chops to go either way. Especially Lloyd, he's really entertaining when he can let his silliness out. I love how in the part where Steve is pointing to Jacques and talking about him like he's a wild animal, you can tell Peter is holding in laughter.

41. Tony Hawk vs Wayne Gretzky

Winner: Wayne Gretzky

Best line: "You and I have so many world records between us. 184, that's plenty of 'em… and I set 183 of 'em!"

This is a very slept-on battle, being the lowest-viewed of any of the pre-hiatus battles (though 18 million views still certainly ain't bad). I still remember my first time watching this battle as someone who didn't really know anything about Wayne Gretzky aside from "he was a hockey player", my jaw fucking dropped at that world records line. Absolutely killer setup and execution.

40. Jack the Ripper vs Hannibal Lecter

Winner: Hannibal Lecter

Best line: "I don't mind that you're naughty, Jack. I hate that you're sloppy."

I can't imagine that this one was particularly easy to write for given the very little we know about Jack the Ripper. I was gonna say, "Oh this battle was made before we knew his true identity", but apparently it's still not really agreed upon who he really was and the mystery gets "solved" again and again every few years. Anyway, Lloyd is great as Hannibal, his faces and mannerisms are perfect, and Dan Bull provides an interesting interpretation of the type of person Jack may have been. I love that Jack spends his entire first verse purely hyping himself up and Hannibal calls him out on being a narcissist, it's something that kinda shocks you as a viewer cause it's something you probably don't even notice on the first viewing, and you're also not expecting the video itself to point it out. It really sells the "Hannibal is one step ahead" kind of vibe.

39. Vlad the Impaler vs Count Dracula

Winner: Vlad the Impaler

Best line: "Imagine forests of corpses dripping on a buffet. You call that a nightmare? I call that a Tuesday."

Vlad the Impaler is probably the single most cold, brutal character ERB has ever had, and Lloyd gets some truly bone-chilling line deliveries in as him. Peter's Dracula is great too, the whole thing of a killer with class being disgusted by a killer who's just trying to be vicious actually makes it quite similar to Jack the Ripper vs Hannibal now that I think about it.

38. Babe Ruth vs Lance Armstrong

Winner: Babe Ruth

Best line: "So c'mon, little buddy, don't look so pissed. With all that blood and attitude, you're like a menstrual cyclist."

Like Hawk vs Gretzky, this is another athlete vs athlete video, and you'd expect the odds to immediately be stacked against Armstrong by virtue of the fact that you have a known cheater going up against an athlete with integrity. But Armstrong actually manages to put up a damn good rebuttal, taking shots at Ruth's personal life instead. I still think Ruth won, but both rappers actually manage to knock it out of the park, pun entirely intended.

Also unrelated to the battle itself but I've always thought the face Lloyd makes in the thumbnail of this one makes him look like James Rolfe.

37. James Bond vs Austin Powers

Winner: James Bond (modern)

Best line: "After 24 films, I'm still reaching new heights. Your third movie died, guess you only live twice."

I've always kinda wondered why Peter was cast as Austin Powers in this, I think Lloyd looks a lot more like Mike Myers. I guess they didn't want to have a battle where Peter is completely excluded while Lloyd gets to play two characters. That being said, Peter does nail the Austin Powers impression, so it's all good. This battle's a really cool concept, a character rapping against their own parody version, and then an earlier version of the character comes in and disses on their modern version. The battle does basically cease to be about Austin Powers at that point, but I think it works because neither version of Bond considers him a serious opponent.

This battle is loaded with great lines too - in addition to the quote above, we also have "I'm licensed to kill, you couldn't get a learner's permit", "Spell my name, all the ladies wanna B on D, any sex appeal you might have is beyond me", "I only need one round, golden gun", and "I don't need a Q to break your balls". Brilliantly clever writing.

I will say that the background effects for modern Bond, while they definitely do look cool, are a bit too much to the point of being distracting. Maybe it was a deliberate choice to contrast with classic Bond though, as a way to convey that the modern Bond films are a lot more about flashy spectacle than the more grounded stories the early films had, I dunno. 

36. Mozart vs Skrillex

Winner: Skrillex

Best line: "I attack, you decay, can't sustain my releases! Sidechain, Wolfgang! Bangarang you to pieces!"

This battle is everything that Bieber vs Beethoven should have been - a battle between a modern musician and a classical one that actually gives the modern one a fighting chance. Plus it actually changes the background music to match the style of whoever's rapping! This battle is great, no real notes here. Mozart's line about "in two more months the world will forget about your Skrill-excrement" has aged pretty well too given how Skrillex's star has definitely faded since this video's release.

This battle is also notable for being the only one where a real person that was portrayed in an ERB has actually performed it themselves! Skrillex, obviously, not Mozart. The real Skrillex actually came out as a surprise guest appearance in a live performance of the song and helped Lloyd finish it out. I admit, I didn't really know what Skrillex actually looked like, but seeing him side-by-side with Lloyd in costume, yeah, the team nailed his look.

35. Ragnar Lodbrok vs Richard the Lionheart

Winner: Ragnar Lodbrok

Best line: "Your son killed your ex, your ex killed your wife. I'm the Lion King, man, but that's a messed-up circle of life."

This is what I love about ERB, man. I had never even heard of either of these historical figures before this battle, but I watched it, loved the song, got curious what all the lyrics meant, did research on both men, and then went back and rewatched the video with the new knowledge to catch all the references. ERB is truly at its best when it's making learning fun.

Interestingly, the reason this battle was even made in the first place was because the mobile game that sponsored it reached out to Peter and Lloyd and asked if they would make a battle between two of the historical figures in their game in exchange for the sponsorship. Given that the battle was effectively made as an ad for a mobile game, it's shocking how good it turned out. You'd really never know that's how it came to be just looking at the end product.

34. Darth Vader vs Hitler 2

Winner: Darth Vader

Best line: "Roar like Chewbacca, the voice of Mufasa, I'm on the leader of your limp-dicked Luftwaffe!"

And here we go, the second of the Vader vs Hitler trilogy is easily the best one. I feel like it struck the perfect balance - it was bigger and more epic than the first while not feeling fatigued on the idea like the third. Season 2 kicked off with this and you could immediately tell the jump in production quality from season 1. This video had an intro and everything, continuing off from Hitler being frozen in carbonite from the first battle. It's great, what else can I say?

33. Cleopatra vs Marilyn Monroe

Winner: Marilyn Monroe 

Best line: "You still got no children after your third marriage. You lost so many babies, we should call you Miss Carriage!"

This was the first battle where neither Peter nor Lloyd play one of the rappers, even though it is not the first female-on-female battle (but we don't talk about Gaga vs Palin). But both performers do a stellar job; I love how Marilyn's demeanor goes from the giggling flirtiness we know her for to becoming increasingly pissed off and hysterical as Cleopatra hurls more and more insults at her (Marilyn's "Translate this into hieroglyphs: Your sandy vagina has a seven-year itch" would have won best line were it not for the sheer brutality of the Miss Carriage line). And getting a professional dancer to portray Cleopatra was a great choice; she's still one of the most visually interesting rappers to have ever been on the series. And no, I don't just mean that in an ogling way.

Also, I think this is the only battle where the same person starts it and closes it out? Which does lead to Cleopatra feeling like she doesn't get as much screen time, but it's certainly not a dealbreaker.

32. Moses vs Santa Claus

Winner: Moses

Best line: "It takes nine reindeers to haul your fat ass. You took the Christ out of Christmas and just added more mass."

This battle was definitely meant to be a stand-in for Jesus vs Santa; that was the matchup we all really wanted to see. But someone somewhere must have gotten cold feet about dissing a figure that millions worship, so Jesus got swapped out for someone Jesus-adjacent. Hey, I'm a Christian, and I know I still would have found a Jesus rap battle hilarious.

But whatever, even though it's not exactly what we wanted, what we did get was still great. The fact that they actually managed to get motherfucking Snoop Dogg as a guest star because he happened to be using the same studio as ERB at the time still blows my mind; I don't think any guest star is ever gonna top that. And they certainly had some fun with having him on board - I love that they managed to make jokes referencing him while still being appropriate for Moses, like "smoking all that burning bush", or "so much drama in the IsraeL B.C.". This is a battle that just always puts a smile on my face.

31. Nikola Tesla vs Thomas Edison

Winner: Nikola Tesla

Best line: "I don't alternate my flow, I diss you directly!"

I love how this battle really leans into how we now perceive Tesla and Edison, with Tesla being a hero for the people and Edison as the greedy villain who kept him down. Good stuff. Don't really have a whole lot to say about this one, it's just a good battle with two very memorable personalities, and Peter's Tesla voice is very pleasant to listen to. And of course, the electric synth in the background track was a must.

30. JRR Tolkien vs George RR Martin

Winner: George RR Martin 

Best line: "All your bad guys die and your good guys survive. We can tell what's gonna happen by page and age five!"

All right, so, I ain't the most well-versed in the fantasy genre, but I still really like this one. The underlying argument between the two men here is something I've seen time and time again on the internet - "happy endings are boring and predictable" versus "eschewing happy endings just for the sake of it isn't automatically good". It makes for good battle fodder. Also I just love Lloyd's performance here - it's so loud and boisterous, and his "No he didn't!" is A+.

Okay folks, click here for the third and final part as we rank the best of the best!

Alright I'm in that mood that comes and goes where I try and pretend I have craft skills and wonder how I'd make custom figures for the Overwatch cast that doesn't have one, and wondering about who I'd do first, Symmetra comes to mind often. She's one of the few launch heroes to not have anything that fits a six-inch articulated figure scale, along with Mei, Roadhog, and Winston (Torb and Bastion also count if you're picky about style). Of those though, Symmetra's by far the one that sounds the most achievable, considering she's the only one of that bunch that has a body type that's easy enough to find in action figure form to work as a base. She's also a character that in general gets a lot less attention than I wish she did, so the fact she has basically no merch besides the funko pop (again, she's the only OW1 launch hero to hold that status) kinda just rubs salt in that wound.

So, okay, Symmetra's probably gonna be my first custom Overwatch figure should I ever get the time, skills, and resources to attempt such a feat. I can at least plan now though, so here's my thought process ramble on how I'd do it.

Let's start off by looking at Symmetra's art. I'd kind of prefer her OW2 design aesthetically, but in practice I'd rather do her OW1 look just because it's both simpler and it matches all the other existing 6 inch scale figures. Here's both designs for reference:

In general, OW2 designs are a little more "advanced" than OW1, which for a novice figure maker is something I'd rather avoid if I can. The big distinction is what's probably the most notorious "mmmmm" choice of her original look, the dumb exposed upper legs. I remember a semi-common critique of her was "is it dress code for architects in the future to dress like that", which like. Yeah no it was dumb, and the full pants just make more sense.

Now, to be honest, it wouldn't be hard to go either way on what to do with that part. I could take a creative liberty and just make the whole legs a solid black color, or I could be more accurate and have the exposed thighs. In favor of the thighs, it would make a convenient spot to put a thigh swivel while looking relatively seamless. In fact, the gold part could be the seam.

For reference, here's my Genji. Good figure, but his legs have this very conspicuous disconnect when you twist the thigh swivel to get more leg articulation. It's a nitpick over a compromise made to form to add to function, but it's something that sticks out if you want something to complain about.

So basically, my thought in defense of the exposed thighs is that I instead play it into the function of the articulation since the thigh is already split visually. But then again, I could also just go with entirely black legs, and the thigh swivel still wouldn't stick out much, so. Yeah idk, either way there's options. Just something that came to mind.

Alright let's back up from thigh talk now before it gets too weird, and go onto more general notes. Symmetra is apparently 5'7" tall, which is the exact same height as Mercy.

Actually... now that I think about it... Mercy and Symmetra have a number of similarities in their outfits too. They both have heels, some kind of cloth thing hanging in front of their legs... Honestly, in lieu of better options, I think the Hasbro Mercy figure would be a solid base for the body, at the very least the legs, though I'd need to figure out how to make a new skirt out of a similarly bendy material anyways. I'd have to do a lot of part removal in general, and the upper body isn't exactly ideal, but I could see about snatching the legs at least. I see some listings for Mercy and Pharah for 14 bucks, so it's not like it'd cost a whole lot. even if it doesn't lead anything but a mutilated Mercy figure.

...shoot, I could probably even use Mercy's blaster as a base for Symmetra's gun too, the handle mechanism at the very least would be pretty convenient... even if not Mercy's blaster, I have an extra Tracer I could steal a spare pistol from too, but. Yeah this is a ramble post, if that wasn't made clear yet.

Alright, what else is of note about Symmetra. Well, she's got two arms, one largely unclothed and the other being a prosthetic that seemingly acts as the source of her hard light technology. with a circular light coming out of her palm. The exposed arm should be pretty easy, but the prosthetic one is gonna have to be largely custom.

...or. is it.

I swear I'm uncovering a conspiracy here

Not a perfect match, the bicep thickness and the color especially on the Hasbro figure isn't that similar, but if I wanna be lazy then just snatching and repainting a Genji arm could be an option. The hands for that arm would need more work though, Genji's hand options aren't nearly classy enough for Symmetra's personality. I think Genji is also a fair bit harder to come by, at least based on a passing search. At that point, I might as well either look for a cheaper figure to steal from or just sculpt one myself

As for the body, it's gonna largely need to be custom work. I think just a standard feminine action figure without a lot of body detail like a Marvel Legends figure of any random female superhero with a simple skin-tight outfit would be ideal as a base, then I'd just build her upper outfit on top of it. The flowy parts of the outfit would need to be some kind of separate softer plastic piece. No clue what commercially available materials are out there that'd work like that, but it might be possible to find with some research. I could also be fancy and make it an actual cloth piece, but that feels like it might stick out awkwardly in a collection otherwise entirely made of plastic.

As for the head, I feel like it'd be ideal to find a base with matching hair more than anything else. Again, semi-flexible materials might be tricky to find, so finding a feminine head with that long, black hair already made would be more helpful than anything else. The only other thing of note is her visor, which would require some kind of translucent blue plastic. Lucio's Hasbro figure has a similar green plastic for his... shades? They're part of his headset thing too, and they both use Vishkar-based tech so... maybe they're the same kind of material in-universe too? I dunno, but I know that people have found translucent colored plastic that'd work perfectly for something like Symmetra.

Speaking of which, I'm definitely not stopping at just the character herself. After all, her whole playstyle revolves around chucking more junk onto the battlefield! So, accessories:

First up, the gun. Like I pointed out earlier, I'd probably use a Tracer pistol as the base for the handle, then bulk it up a bit to add though not sure what I'd do for the extra prong bits. If I'm clever, I could make some kind of mold for one of them, and then use it three times to create three identical pieces, but there's a lot of complex details that I don't know how much effort I'd want to put into it. Probably would keep the detailing and colors relatively basic like the Hasbro figures' weapons tend to be.

The Hasbro figures do tend to come with some sort of semi-transparent piece to emulate muzzle flashes or other effects though, so if I manage to crack the code on see-through blue plastic then I'll try to make a laser beam piece that can plug in and out of the center of her gun. Alternatively, I could also maybe try to make a transparent piece based on the kinds of transparent shapes she makes with her left arm, but that might be a bit hard to make not be too heavy to hold. She's already wearing heels, so balance is gonna be an issue for her.

So, now for the accessory so obvious even her Funko includes it: the Sentry Turrets. Which. Present a minor problem. See if you can spot the issue with this as a physical object:

See it's not a super complicated shape, mostly just a white spherical shape with a little flat part for the laser shooty part, and then three little supporting sections. And uh. They don't connect.

Really shouldn't be the hardest thing to figure out, there's usually a glowy blue effect that's implied to be what's supporting the turret in-game. I also wanna go the extra mile and add articulation to them, making it so it can angle the "head" up and down for more detail. If I'd really feel like being extra then I'd make it so the pieces have suction cups on the bottom or something they'd be able to stick to surfaces, but that part seems a little more effort than it might be worth, but it'd be cool if I could. I'd also make three, so ideally I'd have figured out how to use molds repeatedly, because I don't feel like making the same little leg part 9 times from scratch, or the head part 3 times.

Finally, there's the teleporter. This part feels the least "essential" to me, but I'd like to make it if I could.

Again, probably gotta figure out how to make the same piece over and over again for the "legs" of the base. As for the actual "entrance" part, I think I'd print out a sticker or something onto a transparent thin piece of plastic instead of making it in 3D, since... I mean I think the in-game visual is just a 2D texture that always faces the viewer's camera directly the same way. It'd be really cool if the "legs" could fold up and down like they do for the in-game animation, but that means making an articulation system in addition to making the whole thing symmetrical enough to look good, and on top of that the teleporter wouldn't exactly make much sense if there was only one of them, so... yeah I might pass on the teleporters actually, unless I could find someone willing to print and ship 3D models of the bases.

So yeah, that's just me thinking out loud how I hope to tackle the task of making a custom Symmetra action figure. Unless something more beginner-friendly comes to mind, this'll probably be the first custom figure I try and make, so once I get some spare cash to put towards materials then I'll probably try and give it a shot. Materials would include fodder figure parts to act as the base, sculpting materials, and paints, all of which I need to do further research on what exactly would be ideal to get. Stay tuned for 2025 when I finally show her off!

my final (detailed) thoughts on the two most controversial games in the aa series, now that im done with them (contains spoilers):

dual destinies

overview: dd is one of those games that is decently fun, but not really that good. you can definitely see the difference in the writing style, and while i think all ace attorney games are good, and i did enjoy playing it, this one is by far the worst one in the whole series. i love simon though, prosecutors are always perfect.

my biases: i had to play dd on a very slow emulator which ran at 30-50% speed the ENTIRE game (slower on trials) so this game, especially monstrous turnabout, took me absolute AGES to finish. also i was... a little spoiled about fulbright, but not that much, honestly.

turnabout countdown: as far as first cases go, this one is fairly alright, but overall just kinda eh. its a bad mix of both predictable and confusing, but it's actually kinda funny in spots and not too egregiously horrible. 3.5/10

monstrous turnabout: i have a personal vendetta against this case. it took me two whole weeks to finish, when a case usually takes me two to five days on average with my pace. the actual content of the case was negligable, i liked the tenma family as characters, but the end result was very predictable (the fact that we were shown the killer in the beginning animation is inexcusable in my opinion). i could blame the length of the case on just the shitty emulator, but the fact is monstrous turnabout took me way longer than any of the other cases in this same game on the same emulator, and i can only blame its penchant for endlessly dragging out every single point, and throwing in many compounding twists when they're really unneeded and the case would be a lot better if it was simpler. they tried to make up for you knowing the killer right away by making it impossible to predict anything else, but it ended up just making the whole case frustrating and obnoxiously long. 2/10

turnabout academy: this is probably one of my favorite cases in the two games. its twists are a lot more satisfying and understandable than monstrous turnabout, and the character value of this case is very high. i love hugh robin and juniper, and i like how their friendship ties so deeply and intrinsically into the mystery of the case. a little cheesy, and as is expected with dd, not the best writing ive seen in ace attorney, but overall a pretty good case, and has probably the funniest killer breakdown. also klavier cameo is very much appreciated. 6.5/10

cosmic turnabout: i feel like there's not really much to this case, since it mostly serves as a bridge into turnabout for tomorrow, so they didn't put a lot of love into writing the episode itself, but honestly i think that's okay, cosmic turnabout does its job well, and i like how it takes the time to introduce important characters and concepts without stuffing too much into turnabout for tomorrow. as for the case itself, its honestly so hard to separate it out, and i feel like it was pretty short compared to the other episodes. 5/10

spirit of justice

turnabout for tomorrow: probably the most controversial case out of the two games in terms of fan opinions, but i frankly love this case. it's engaging, it's high stakes, it's got all the punch and intrigue that a final case should have, and on its own it's definitely one of the best. unfortunately, i wish the fulbright reveal was foreshadowed even a little bit. a mutual of mine said that since they were spoiled about fulbright being evil, they enjoyed turnabout for tomorrow a lot, but someone who went into it blind would probably find it confusing and out of left field, and i have to agree with that. it's definitely a case you want to spoil yourself just a little bit for it to be satisfying as you figure out the rest, because dual destinies seems to be allergic to Actual foreshadowing, and seems to be made up along the way. im also probably pretty biased in a weird way because ive seen a lot of fan content and meta about turnabout for tomorrow that makes it Better and Cooler and Make More Sense in a way that it certainly is not in canon, so that makes me both love it more for what fans have extrapolated out of it, and simultaneously resent that it didn't live up to its full potential. 8/10

turnabout reclaimed: this case sure was.... dual destinies. turnabout reclaimed is one of those cases that gets a lot of publicity in the fandom just for being absurd, but is actually not one of the good ones if im being honest. the twists fall flat, it drags on a bit too long, and it's honestly pretty forgettable. it wasn't awful to play, i certainly had some fun with it in spots, and it was nice to go back and play it after i finished spirit of justice mostly just to see simon again, but overall it's a very mid case, and im not too stoked about how they represented marlon rimes either tbh. 3/10

overall (averaged) score for dual destinies: 4.5/10

overview: everyone seems to hate spirit of justice and i don't know why. honestly, soj is way up there in my list of favorite ace attorney games ever. it feels more based in the feeling of the original trilogy, i love the way all the existing characters are written, and love the introductions of the new ones. nothing wrong with soj in my book, especially once i figured out that the portrayal of khura'in isnt nearly as racist as initially expected. the divination seances are a very fun mechanic that had a lot of potential beyond how they used them, and i would have liked to be able to do them every case if you ask me.

my biases: i am in love with nahyuta to a worrying degree, and dhurke is one of my favorite characters as well. the character value, which is what i automatically focus on the most, is very high in this game, so while im trying to rank these cases by how well-written they are, i can't help but adore spirit of justice for its character work. i also had a few spoilers, but nothing too strongly story-based.

foreign turnabout: once again, a first case is a first case, and foreign turnabout does its job in that respect. it establishes khura'in well, and helps lead into the complex opinion of it that you're eventually supposed to form throughout the game, but i do have to say it starts in a pretty deceptively xenophobic place in this case. kind of an underwhelming case, but ahlbi is adorable and it's certainly a fun start to throw phoenix into a new place out of the blue, and again it does its job as a first case satisfactorily. 4/10

magical turnabout: this case was fun! i like how the second case, while not connected to the overarching plotline, still had the spirit of the rest of the game imbued in it, and while i do think ace attorney shouldn't rely on the Twin Twist as much as they already do, they seem to handle it pretty well and it often makes sense when they slip it in. many funny moments, high stakes, good twists, fits in well with the game, and i love that we get to see trucy as a defendant, because it felt like a long time coming on that. 6.5/10

rite of turnabout: this case is more emotionally hard hitting than the final case of this game, if you ask me. it's juicy, it's strongly tied to the plot of the game, all the twists make so much sense and everything ties together so well, and it comes to a supremely satisfying end, which keeps hopes high for the last two cases. intrigue and immersion are high in this case, i love love love the introduction of rayfa as a weird little girl investigative assistant, and the revisualization sequence in this case is one of the only ones out of the two games where it exists that actually surprised me, and felt both satisfying and exciting at the same time. i haven't gotten a lot of those yelling "OH!!!!" as the pieces suddenly slide together moments since the original trilogy, so this case has to go down as one of the best ones in my book. 8.5/10

turnabout storyteller: y'all, i know this is a filler case, but god damn is it good!! it's enjoyable as hell, the perfect amount of challenging for me, a nice bitesize length that a filler case should be, not too predictable or too random (though i will admit i was spoiled about geiru because of the iconic tumblr posts about her whoops), and i got to see simon again, so i'm very happy with it! plus, the only realistic and respectable portrayal of DID i have ever seen, especially in murder mystery media! i could say so much about this case, and i already have on this blog before, but i do adore it. it's one of my faves tbh, especially for a very non-plot relevant case. 9/10

turnabout revolution (the name of this case still makes me laugh): learning that this was the longest case in the whole series, tied at 12 hours with rise from the ashes, came as no surprise. this is an absolute GIANT of a case. i think it's fun and fresh to split it up between two related trials in two different places the way they did, but i have to say i had a lot of expectations that went unfulfilled. the civil case and its investigation were very fun to do, especially how it seemed to bleed into more of a story-based visual novel format for a while, but i feel like they missed the opportunity to show us everything from phoenix's point of view as well. i adore dhurke, i love how he interacts with apollo and nahyuta, i love slowly parceling out the reveal of his death in a way i haven't really seen in aa yet, i think this case is very carefully and lovingly written and takes its time to stop fucking around and deliver the real meat of this game. unfortunately, i think the very end seemed kind of rushed and flat, and the characterizations of ga'ran and amara needed more work and at times were confusing or annoying. whereas dual destinies was a kinda underwhelming game with a fantastic ending (had it been foreshadowed more), spirit of justice was a fantastic game with a kinda underwhelming ending (that was properly foreshadowed, just not well excuted). but i don't think all of turnabout revolution suffers because of the very end of it, i think its a phenomenal case that brings the spirit of the old games along with the new ideas of the modern ones, and for the most part caps off the game in a way that makes sense with all the other information in all the other cases and closes it out as a very good game. 7.5/10

turnabout time traveler: compared to the other dlc case, this case is a lot more fun and engaging, though it doesn't have the gimmick that everyone talks about like turnabout reclaimed does. the killer is a little predictable right away from the first investigation, but i think the path to get there is fun anyway, and it's a pretty solid aa case with good characters and interesting twists, miles is there, and pierce nichody is hot as fuck, so i'd say it was a pretty good case! 6/10

overall (averaged) score for spirit of justice: 7/10

conclusion: i see a lot of hate and a lot of love for both these games, and while i definitely don't hate either of them, because i do love all aa games, i see where the animosity for dual destinies comes from and can somewhat agree. i think both have their merits, spirit of justice moreso than dual destinies, and their shortcomings. i love all the new characters though and always will, i adore how the waa is expanding and how phoenix interacts with new characters and old, and i think these two games do have a proper home in the aa series and in my heart <3

Saw a video about using AI to make new Pokemon and the person said "Pokemon nowadays don't look like real Pokemon" HE USED SHINOTIC AS AN EXAMPLE. THERE ARE A FUCKTON OF POKEMON THAT ARE JUST THIS THING BUT ALIVE EVEN IN GEN 1.

2 OTHER EXAMPLES WERE THE ULTRA-BEASTS WHICH ARE SUPPOSE TO LOOK WEIRD BUT ONE OF THEM WAS XURKITREE WHO I COULD SEE BEING A POKEMON

AND THEY USED GRIMSNARL WHEN THE POKEMON MR. MIME AND HYPNO EXSIST. UF ANYTHING I WOULD ARGUE GRIMSNARL LOOKS MORE LIKE A POKEMON THEN HYPNO.

Like.

I think the only talk on Pokemon designs 'not looking like pokemon' is the style changes.

Older Gens looked a little more 'real' while newer gens have a much simpler and more cartoon-y appearance.

This isn't a bad thing necessarily! I do actually kinda like it because it makes it easier for children to draw them accurately as they're simpler shapes!

But it terms of the actual design elements and inspiration...... Yeah no it's still Pokemon

See, the reason internet content is better than anything a TV show can produce is because of the obstacle/limitation factor.

When you see a creator put out their work, what will enthrall you is when they put an obstacle in their path, and overcome it in their own way. When there's a limitation they have to work around, that's called Creativity.

What TV shows do is completely remove creativity and replace every obstacle or limitation with "how big the budget is" and sure, that's a constant factor anywhere, but understand when the obstacle is consistently beaten with "I paid for it" it's just draining, not inspiring.

It's why Jontron became totally irrelevant, he went from some dude in his house basically just creating stuff for fun, and pushing that bar way WAY high up for other's to reach for what basically 1 creator can do, then he just...stopped pushing the bar, just kinda settled at the halfway point. His brand of humor is...present just kinda dead.

I think a large part of it is that he's no longer having to be creative. Just cover weird shopping stuff, random things. It stopped being Jontron interacting with whatever content, to Jon just reacting to content. Everything else is handled halfway-mostly by someone else. Every obstacle, money essentially solves.

Lemme put it to you this way, all you really need is pirated software to make anything of worth. Every obstacle from there you need creativity to get around. Do you need a massive set? With actors and props? Do you need a team of editors and animators? Commissioned intros? Do you need to hire even one employee? Honestly? no. You can just...create with what you have.

It's all about workarounds. It's not interesting watching someone play a game on easy mode, but it's fun to watch them speedrun it.

It's an entirely different aspect of creation, I'm not trying to shit on group projects or big productions truly, just pointing out that the easier it is to create something, the less worth it will have. Anyone can carve their initials into a tree, but not everyone can carve a face into a tree. But very few can afford getting their own tree, hiring people to maintain it, while you and employees carve the tree with bountiful resources at your disposal.

Idunno where I'm going with this. It's not like hiring people or whatever is inherently a bad thing, just that, the more work you personally have to put in, the better the end result will be. Anyone ever notice the commissioned work is never as good as their personal work? It's not from a lack of trying, but an intrinsic inability to artistically care as much. It simply cannot be helped. It's why it's better to keep things as small form as possible.

Like, random example, but I swear anytime PBG cameo'd on another creator's channel he'd infect it with his obnoxious style. ProJared had his own unique charisma and pacing, writing and humor. One. One (1) video with PBG and ProJared just became a weak PBG clone, painfully weak, he doesn't have the energy for the jokes PBG does but still tried them. Idunno how to feel about him trying new things, but what I saw for a long time was someone following a formula because it was simpler.

Which I get. I just wish he respected the work he'd put out before the PBG infection. It was and still is some of the more unique reviews out there. No fast pacing, no explosive emotions or exclamations, he really was just an awkward dude sharing a game with you, very personable and kind feel with a laidback attitude. That was what I wish reviews were like back then, all the energy was becoming too much. Then of course, the creativity of his work got utterly thrown away to chase after a style that never took off as much as the Civvie/Grimbeard style did. In both aspects PBG's energy was done better by Civvie and the laidback hangout attitude was perfected by Grimbeard.

All that to say, he lost his entire personality with that. Nobody cared about this dude and it's obvious once you remember that yes, that is the same ProJared that was falsely accused of hundreds of different things unsubstantiated. I even remember pointing it out back then, he was a content farmer, not a content creator, nobody cared about this dude other than to have a video play in the background. Because if you wanted PBG, you'd go to PBG. Not his awkward infinitely less charismatic third cousin.

Having your own personality and style is so vital to creative works. I honestly can't watch TV shows because there's simply no heart or soul, just paychecks for everyone. Every once in a while you get lucky, but even the big names are all kinda shit and have little artistic worth.

All in all, what I'm trying to say is, internet content is better than any company produced content because people actually care to create while companies just mass produce products for the dumbest possible people because they lower standards for everyone else by normalizing garbage. And dear god enough buying studios for your stupid internet show. Nostalgia Critic tried it, it failed, dunno why JT thought it would work for him, it didn't.

Good Ol' AVGN keeping it real in his basement at least. Alot you can level at his creative works, and that whole Mike thing, but even as he gets older and his content less personable, even with better equipment and whatnot, he's still just chilling in his basement surrounded by stuff he cares about. Not a studio with props, but an actual honest to god person's basement you can live in.

I guess JT thought as some point "Why just a studio! Let's go fuckin' everywhere!' but man even his apartment with the Zelda glass posters had more personality than his blue as shit studio. How do I put this, I'm here for you and your creativity, not to see how much money you spent on blue paint. Am I misremembering or was his studio just overwhelmingly blue? I think there was a nintendo prop somewhere, a fridge, but blue is all I remember.

Like, look at Internet Historian, dude's putting the work in even with groups of people. He doesn't need a studio, he just needs licenses for stock photos at the most. You, right now, can do what he's doing. There's an obstacle that if you were inclined, you could surpass. Preferably in your own way, not the Projared-PBG way.

But a studio with actors n shit, like man that's not creative. If your answer to "how can I make this scene with me and another work" is to slap an employee into the second person, you've already fallen flat on your face. I'd say the default "just make it you 2x" is better but honestly they're both flat, try something different.

I think that's the whole answer to my point: If you're working with other's ideas, make them your own, as in, you may travel the same path, but it doesn't mean you have to walk.

And dear god enough Studios n shit. Nobody cares. I still want to visit James Rolfe's basement and have a sleepover. There's a real personality to his "stage" and his stage is his basement. A Studio that's blue as shit has me thinking I'm at work honestly, and would rather be home, in AVGN's basement, behind the recliner. Where I belong.

Like if you're gonna have a whole set and stage, make it...personable, not "I'm rich!" garbo. Congrats, the answer was money, again, like it was last time. Creativity!

do you have any tips on drawing pokemon in your own style, but still making them identifiable as pokemon? i'm ok at pokemon, but not great at fakemon or type swaps, and yours are so gorgeous!

you have a clear personal style while still maintaining the pokemon look, and it's so so cool 💜

HI I LITERALLY FORGOT ASKS EXISTED SO THIS IS INCREDIBLY LATE WOOPS

i think my art style has always been pretty pokemon-adjacent because i've basically been drawing only pokemon stuff since i was like 6 lmao, so i just grew up assimilating the style into my brain. everything else i do branched off from there! so basically im not sure how i do this, it kinda just happened? but heres some thoughts anyway!

for drawing official pokemon in your own style:

i feel like a really important/distinctive element of pokemon designs is their shapes and silhouettes. this probably sounds really vague but maybe try breaking the design down into simpler shapes that are still recognizable, and then change those shapes up and push them more towards your personal style and how you like to draw!

this will also help you get a feel for pokemon design tropes like common shapes and proportions, which you can use for fakemon stuff

for authentic-ish fakemon:

study official designs to see how they tackle certain design elements and use them as reference specifically take note of the shapes and amount of details that are used. as an example, take a look at how rillaboom, gogoat, and trevenant approach leaf clumps. they're all pretty similar, green blobs with rounded points around them, with a small amount of details inside them to convey their bushiness. but also remember that there are some style differences across different generations. earlier gens tend to be a bit more realistic when it comes to fur detailing or musculature, whereas later gens are more streamlined and simplified in comparison. its up to you what aesthetic you want to have!

keep designs relatively simple (generally) early gen pokemon were all designed as sprites first, so they were limited by the amount of details they could cram into a tiny box. nowadays this limitation isn't a thing anymore but i think the idea is still a good thing to keep in mind. even stuff that you'd expect to be really detailed gets a bit abstracted and simplified down, florges's flowers and autumn sawsbuck's leaves for example. not saying you can't ever have complex designs though, which leads me to the last points:

oftentimes these "rules" can and will be broken! none of these are really rules, break them if it helps the design! for example, ultra beasts are literally extradimensional alien things, so they benefit from breaking conventions. a lot of the bigger and more complex legendaries are designed to stand out from regular pokemon, so you can look at it and understand that its some divine creature that people tell stories about and worship.

and finally, don't stress over these "rules" too much, there's really no right or wrong way to design stuff, just have fun with it! also some other random thoughts:

the usual character design stuff is always pretty applicable - sharp and angular tends to mean meaner and tougher looking things, round tends to be more friendly and soft

i always thought this interview was fascinating: https://nintendoeverything.com/ken-sugimori-on-balancing-pokemon-designs/

faces and eyes are really important for conveying personality. they also go a long way when it comes to a design's relatability or friendliness, and pokemon are supposed to be your magic animal friends after all. that doesn't mean everything should have cute big eyes and smiles though, in general you'd just want them to be expressive and easily readable. there's a reason why most of the ultra beasts have very weird or no faces at all, as that makes them less human-like and more alien. also have this giant pokemon eye chart to refer to when you need ideas! (if someone can update it for gens 7 and 8 i will forever be in your debt)

So my Steam finds just for @stormbrightwriter and anyone interested. Some games still have demos, but some demos were only made for the Steam fest, so you might want to take a look if the demo to a game of your interest is still available. My absolute favorite so far: Chambers of Devious Designs. It is some sort of puzzele game, kinda like Tetris, but you make evil lairs against an opponent (either NPC or a friend) andwhile building you have to hit a certain score to win. It is a lot of fun and I love the multiple avatars you can pick Also, a bit of a puzzle game is Illuminaria. It is so cute with a sweet story of rebuilding earth with these cute little drones. The goal is to bring light all over the world, and to achieve this you have to help the drones gather resources and defend against the evil things trying to steal from you. Another puzzle game is Onde. I have no idea what kind of thingy you direct, but you have to surve on light waves from one point to the other and can direct the waves a bit so you end up where you want to be and don't get squished.

Doors Paradox is some puzzle/escape room kind of game. Since everything you need can be found around the freestanding door, it is a bit simpler than games such as The Room. And no jumpscares or such so far. Some puzzle/platformer in 3D is Shirone the Dragon Girl. You help aforementioned Shirone to find a way out of the weird castle she woke up in and have to solve some puzzles, jump over scary wholes with your tiny cute dragon wings and make it out of there. You will need a gamepad for this, because it makes it so easier to play. If you are more into dating sim I can recommend "I was a Teenage Exocolonist". You start with your customizable character when they are age ten, and the game ends when they are 19. You can pick if you are male/female/enby along with the right pronouns and try to survive on a new planet while learning what might be useful later, run errands, chat with the other kids and all wrapped in this story of your character dreaming of bad things that happen in the future since they were young. It has this card game thing as "fights" that is easy to learn, but I think can be hard to master. The drawings are also made with so much love. Since we hit the dating sims, something I also liked was "Good morning, A.I." which is wrapped in the story of you being assigned to teach the A.I. who shall become the first virtual mayor of Amsterdam while navigating your private life and ensuring the A.I. won't turn out some Skynet like tyrant. It is this mini-game about hacking, I still didn't get the hang off, but the tutorial gives you a lot of space to learn. "Super Human Identity" is another dating sim, set in a weird sort of post-apocalyptic world where you wake up being "enhanced". Along with 4 others like you but with different powers, it is about survival and finding out what happened in the world. If you are more into point-and-click adventure style games, I really fell in love with "Children of Silentown" which has a unique drawing style that has little "Nightmare before Christmas" or "Coraline" vibes. You play Lucy, a young girl in a village where the adults ensure no one leaves out into the forest or is outside after dark. Something dangerous lurks there and within the first ten minutes it already catches you, and you want to learn what goes in this village. There are some small mini-games that involve Lucy's talent for singing that brings out the truth of people.

Another point-and-click adventure is "Nine Noir Lives" which doesn't take itself seriously at all. You are Cuddles, the cat detective, who got entrusted with the biggest case ever. Besides the fact, Cuddles is forgetful like nothing else in the world, high cynical, and it is all wrapped in a satirical homage to the old film noir detective movies. Something funny, because we are writer is "Writer's Block". It is some Scrabble-like game where the words you find become the hit points of your knight. Another cute game is "Little Inner Monster" which is a card game where each card represents an emotion. Imagine "Inside Out" as a card game. The little monsters are so cute and lovely and honestly, I want those as plushies. If you are into building simulations, such a "Ceasar" or such "The Wandering Village" might be something for you. In this game, you live in a world where huge dinosaur-like creatures called Onbu exist, who are big enough to carry a settlement on their back. You bult such a settlement in symbiosis with the Onbu and help each other survive in this world that became toxic for both of you. Research trees are a must of course, and the random place you start and where the Onbu goes to gives it some interesting dynamics. "Reefland" is another building sim where you have these hexagons tiles and building to place on them. But it isn't as easy as it seems at first. Each building likes or dislikes being next to other buildings of a certain kind, and keeping an eye on the likes brings more points. You need the point to make it into the next level and get a bigger set of tiles. To me, this has some really relaxing vibes. "One more Island", is your classical building sim, but with a twist. Instead of just building whatever you want to build, you need to mark zones for your building, paddock, fishing place etc before you can use them/built the building on it. Along with a research tree, and leveling up your workers and buildings, it holds the promise to become more difficult with each island you get. Last, but not least: "Cat Café Manager". At first, it looks like any other café managment game but adding the nekomata shrines as way to research new recipes and such, feeding strays to get their trust and finally adopt them into your cat café, and the various kinds of customers who give different kind of currency which all are needed to buy new things from a scratching post for your furballs to restocking your café, it is more complicated than the graphic let it appear.

Vernon’s Ideal Type - Natal Chart Reading

For ideal types, I’m not going to be doing specific placements of their ideal partner. Instead, I’m gonna be listing personality traits I think would mesh well with them, as well as focus on their needs and the kind of person who could meet them. I’m looking at all of their placements, specifically their moon, venus, mars, and any aspects related to those planets.

such an interesting mix with all of that water, aqua, and then that cap venus. 

i definitely see him as being someone who is focused on finding someone who he feels he has a very intimate and personal connection with, above all else

like he has so many placements that bring such a strong emphasis towards non-physical values 

his aqua placements that value individuality, intellect, and authenticity.

then his scorpio that craves that emotional depth and connection 

and his pisces mars that comes in and brings in this kinda of spiritual influence in valuing that kind of intrinsic compatibility and bond. 

and so he’s really out there looking for a soulmate in the most simplest terms 

i do think that he is a realistic person because of his logical aqua and cap, so he may not see it as a “soulmate” situation as in “fate”

but he wants to feel that intellectual, emotional, and spiritual harmony with his s/o in ways that may be hard to define and aren’t super tangible

where they can connect with each other, value each other’s minds, and feed each other’s energies and passions 

where there is that very “soulmate” esque understanding of each other where they balance each other out and read each other well 

so with all of that being said, i def think his s/o should be someone with similar values 

someone who isn’t so focused on immediacy, on the material, and on the concrete aspects of the relationship.

someone he can feel connected to, and not just attracted to or committed to. 

someone who appreciates the simpler, more meaningful things in life. 

also to a great degree, i think his s/o should be someone who is able to relax and enjoy silent moments and the little details 

i think someone with too antsy an energy, who is too mentally active and can’t slow down to appreciate each other’s company and ambiance and — I’LL SAY IT —  vibes 

would probably frustrate him and feel like they weren’t really on the same wavelength

his pisces mars especially is such a feeling and observant placement, and can often times get overwhelmed by those who are too excitable or fidgety 

he has such a calm energy about him between all of that water and his super harmonious aspects with his moon — and he is so sensitive to those energies 

so much so to the point that i think he’d easily pick up on that restlessness and would make him uneasy in turn. 

so yeah someone super chill lolol 

because honestly he probs wouldn’t be able to keep up with a super energetic partner either

he also wants someone who is super open-minded 

i think especially with all of that aqua that he’d be very adverse to someone who was more judging, or wasn’t open to viewing things from other perspectives, or wasn’t open to discussion 

i imagine too he’d be very frustrated with someone who was so convinced in their opinions that it came across oppressive

the fun of opinions for him through that aqua is in the potential for discussion, and so that door always needs to be open for him

and with that i imagine he’d find someone who is open, accepting, and progressive very attractive. 

and so then returning to this whole concept of focused more on non-physical values as a whole

this also more than likely means he isn’t super concerned with looks

i highly doubt he has a type, and if he does it’s probably either vague or pretty consistently broken or changing.

i also think this gives him a very unorthodox appreciation of beauty

and so he probably is either drawn to someone with very unusual or thought provoking looks/style, or he just generally pays little mind to those things when it comes to attraction 

i also think that aqua influences comes in and points that attraction specifically towards his value of individuality 

so he’s more than likely going to associate beauty to specific traits as he gets to know them and understands them as their own person 

but then his cap venus comes in, and this is a very literal and very material influence which is a huge contrast to the rest of his chart

he wants someone competent 

someone reliable, and someone put together 

so while he may not care TOO MUCH about looks or appearance, whatever style his s/o has got going on should at least be presentable to a degree lol 

cap influences (or really earth influences in general and especially in venus) usually point towards a strong attraction to those with a career, goals, and ambition 

so that’s something he finds very attractive 

as well knowing that they’re very driven, are able to make plans and stick to them, and are super hard working

i also think with that mix of aqua and cap that he probs thinks it’s SUPER hot if his s/o has a very specific interest they are passionate about 

like an expertise/art they’re very proficient in 

and would love being able to pick their brain and collaborate in that sense. 

this cap influence can also make him drawn to those older than him

someone who has a great deal of experience, and someone who he respects and looks up to.

loyalty and consistency are huge factors for him, especially between all of the fixed energies he’s got going on and then that cap venus 

he needs someone he feels he can trust

not only to be present in the relationship, but to also take the commitment seriously and be very dependable. 

there is so much in his chart that is both very committed, and also super all-or-nothing 

once he knows for certain that that relationship IS IT, he is there for the long haul 

and he more than likely has complete tunnel vision on his s/o 

like doesn’t even have a single thought in his noggin to look elsewhere 

and so he’d feel really assured if his s/o thought very similarly

and if they were someone who could lean into that emotional intensity and attachment 

cuz that scorpio moon can GET ATTACHED. 

i think he’d be frustrated if his s/o were super flighty, who struggled to commit, who he felt he couldn’t pin down

he really needs to feel secure in the relationship

and with his pisces mars especially, he’s the type to be very giving and committed even if the object of his affection isn’t reciprocating 

which can lead to him getting lost in the relationship and losing track of his priorities. 

at its worst it can even create a dynamic where he keeps on giving and giving with the hopes that he’ll then “earn” that commitment and affection

and so he needs someone solid he can lean on who is very open and upfront with where they stand to ensure he doesn’t get completely absorbed/lost in that manner. 

as that is a super, super common occurrence with pisces influences regardless of how logical the rest of the placements are 

and i feel like i need to say that: i know aqua placements are known for their need for independence and freedom 

but between the fact both his moon and mars are in water signs, i think that this aquarian desire for freedom is going to be more concentrated to his desire for intellectual freedom 

where as romantically i think his placements crave too much a sense of exclusivity, intimacy, and loyalty that they kind of overpower that aqua need.

beyond that general sense of commitment however, he also wants to feel he can trust his s/o in confiding in them 

someone he feels he can communicate both his playful hypotheticals and his more intense thoughts to 

scorpio influences in general bring such a strong emphasis to both privacy and control 

and he is very selective with what he lets others see and know about him 

and to a degree a huge desire that he may have because of that, is in feeling as though he can trust his s/o enough to kind of break down that damn and let the floods loose 

the scorpio influence also brings a great deal of possession 

and he wants someone who will let him feel like they are his person 

and that he’s let them into his inner circle and vise versa

and so someone who respects but also kind of cultivates that dynamic where they’re both very open and receptive to each other’s thoughts, no matter how crazy

and also very protective of each other would be great 

someone who he can be his authentic self around with no filter

where there is confidence that his s/o wont judge him if he divulges them in his more out-there thoughts, or when he decides to be vulnerable and communicates darker parts of himself 

he really wants to feel like there is a limitlessness in the relationship 

with that, too, he wants someone who is simultaneously realistic 

someone who can dream up and play along with his creative ideas and thoughts, but also someone who is clearly down-to-earth and rational 

like as much as he wants his s/o to appreciate him and all the weird stuff involved, he also doesn’t want them to be completely out of touch with reality 

which circles back to that cap venus need for someone who is reliable and competent. 

and with all of this talk about him wanting to be with someone he can be himself around — all the good, bad, beautiful, ugly, and weird — he really wants someone who is also very open and honest about themselves. 

his aqua placements and pisces mars really make him drawn to super unique individuals which i touched on before 

but he really vibes when someone is clearly walking to the beat of their own drum 

and he loves the confidence that’s associated with that 

which i think is emphasized by his cap venus 

and even though this placement is often associated with conventionality and tradition — i think mixed with the rest of his odd ball placements, this influence really just means he’s looking for someone who has direction, acts with purpose, and can be a very rational person while also sticking true to their individuality and values

and by all means, with everything else, the weirder the better 

and that weirdness plays into his scorpio moon and that “circle” i mentioned where he feels that camaraderie with his s/o where they respect and appreciate each other’s oddities and perspectives and bounce off each other in that sense 

which again backs ALL THE WAY up and plays off this concept of him being more focused on those non-physical attributes/values. 

finally i really want to touch on the importance of emotional intelligence for him 

i think i’ve honestly mentioned it for every single reading because i do think it is an important influence just for the sake of a healthy relationship 

but for vernon i really think it’s an absolute pillar in terms of his relationships 

between his scorpio moon and pisces mars — and especially since he has these two planets trine each other — he is a very emotionally intuitive, feeling, and sensitive person 

yet that trine aspect brings a great deal of emotional control and harmony as well

he would really struggle with someone who had a temper, or was overly fast to react and resort to confrontation 

someone who couldn’t think objectively in the heat of the moment, or who couldn’t read themselves well and understand when they’re upset and not thinking rationally

and that is because that trine aspect makes it so that he is a very introspective and composed person when it comes to turbulent emotions, and he’d really need a similar mindset in his s/o where they both can approach disagreements and emotions with a very level head 

i also think emotional intelligence is super important in terms of how feeling he is 

i think his s/o should be very good at reading him and at reading energies

i think his reserved and thoughtful nature can make him a bit of a loner (which we know and i’ve talked about before in his chart first impressions) but because of this i think it’s good if his s/o is very understanding of this sensitive and fluctuating nature in him 

he has waves and phases, and is a very dynamic person

and so someone who understands and respects this aspect of him is great who can read him and act accordingly 

either giving him space, amplifying his energies, encouraging his enthusiasm, straight chilling, or giving him that emotional stability

SO YEAH 

i think it’s always super surprising to look at nonie’s chart cuz he has such a hard to pin energy about him 

he’s so hard to read and i feel like his common perception is very contradictory to the energies of his placements, especially in terms of romance 

but behind all of that he’s definitely a very committed, loyal, and protective person 

and craves that emotional closeness and intimacy regardless of floaty and vibey his energies are normally 

such a genuinely sweet boy. 

Masquerade (Moonflower pt.2)

Part 1 - Moonflower Part 3 - Magical/Misery/Massacre

Warning: Harassing, Reader kinda suggest that she wants to have a meaningless One-Night-Stand, I kinda somewhat specified the height of the reader (by saying that you have to put your neck back to look at people over 6ft) so if your a tall boy/girl/dragon/human please just pretend you’re not thank you very much, swearing, again there are Yandere vibes (this time even more), also murder, but only in the Yandere Addition... Word count: 4k (sis snapped again) Summary: When the Riddler keeps ghosting around in your mind you know that you have to do something about it, that you couldn’t keep on harboring feelings for him, so you put on your mask and make your way to find distraction, but sometimes the things we see when we wear masks are not the things we expect... 

Two months. It took not even two months for the mayor to forget the disaster of a Gala that he had organized last, even though it was a rather interesting experience for you, but for a completely different reason, and decide that it would be a great fucking idea to throw a masquerade ball. A MASQUERADE BALL?!? Who, in their right mind, thinks that it's a good idea to throw a ball where the people come in masks and costume-like dresses in a city WHERE MASKED LUNATICS ARE FIGHTING AGAINST OTHER MASKED (slightly less) LUNATICS??? Well, seemingly, it was the man who should, in theory, know best and somehow always proved you that he did, in fact, know just about nothing. So yes, after a long discussion about whether it was a good idea or not and Bruce somehow managing to convince Jason and Dick to come along (the party was only for grown-ups - much to Damian's, who hasn't left your side for longer than he had to ever since the last Gala, dismay), you were sitting in a car driven by one of Wayne Inc's chauffeurs in a deep violet dress that clung to your curves like a cosset, before blossoming into a wide skirt, beside Dick in a black and Jason in a very dark red suit. The fact that they both had worn these suits countless times before already while you had to buy this dress especially for this event pissed you off to no end. And not only that, no, because it was custom for males to wear simpler masks, Jason had a phantom of the opera-like mask, while Dick had decided to try and be funny by wearing a cheap Zorro-mask he had bought in a dollar store. You, on the other hand, looked down at the gold mask that Alfred had had custom made for you. It was incredibly beautiful. It was extremely filigree and looked like a complex mandala of golden wire which formed a fascinating swan over where your right eye would be.

"Are you okay?" Jason's voice from your right ripped you out of your thoughts and you looked up at him beside you. He eyed you somewhat concerned and you just slightly smiled and shrugged. "Yeah, everything fine, I was just lost in thoughts." He nodded unconvinced but turned forward again, not even budging when he felt you carefully leaning against his shoulder like you have done countless times since the two of you officially became siblings. You also felt Dick's eyes on you, but you just held your hand out to him and let him take it. Jason shifted a bit under you and you could've sworn that you heard him sniff at your hair, making you narrow your eyes in confusion. As if to confirm your assumption, he nudged you a bit and asked: "Are you using a new shampoo? Or is that a new perfume?" You had to physically restrain yourself from tensing up, your mind filling with the memories of the little gift the Riddler had left you and about how often you had packed it out again - thinking about what you should do - before putting it back, ever since the night you had found it. "It's a new shampoo, Cass gave it to me: Peonies and gold, not sure how gold is supposed to smell though," you told him truthfully, meeting your brothers' expectation and allowing them to get back to what they were doing, Dick playing on his Phone and Jason reading a pocket novel you had given him earlier this week. But you couldn't get back on your train of thoughts. Like so often these past eight weeks. You had no idea why, but ever since that kiss, the rouge just wouldn't leave your mind for longer than an hour at the time. You just couldn't understand how it had come to this. You didn't know him, he was basically a villain, he had kidnapped you and the kiss was only a distraction... And still... The kiss filled your dreams ever since, the scene just playing on repeat in your head. Maybe it would've been different without his little gift, without you knowing that he was thinking about you too. God, what were you supposed to do? You knew that what you were feeling had to be some weird sort of Stockholm syndrome or something like this, something that would go away after a while, because if not...what would you do if not? You couldn't realistically think that he and you would ever have anything close to a future together. You just had to forget him, so ever since you had seen the invitation for the Gala, you had made a plan. This party would be full of eligible bachelors who would have no idea who you were (or at least not at first), some of them had to be good enough for you to try to forget about your unlucky crush. "We're here," filled the voice of the chauffeur the car and you sat up straight, looking out of the darkened window to see the red carpet and the paparazzi that were taking pictures of the masked celebrities walking towards the city hall. "Here we go," you tightly smiled and put the mask on, securing it with the black ribbon behind your head. The man who had driven the car got out and opened the door, making space for Dick to leave the car and walk forward, greeting the Cameras with his trademark smile. You had agreed earlier that you would leave a minute between every one of you exiting in a cheap attempt to make it less obvious who you were. It was clear that everyone would recognize Jason and Dick by their height and the suits, but you - due to a good mix of make-up, hair styling and the mask - still had hope left that you would get through the evening unrecognized. When Dick had disappeared inside you nodded at Jason and took your chauffeur's hand as he helped you step outside, trying to smoothen the skirt of your dress in the process. Immediately flashes off light filled your eyes and you tried your best not to blink and keep the smile on your face. For a few seconds, you struck a few poses, presenting the beauty that was the dress, before you followed your brother, giving the space up for Jason to do the same.

The inside of the Hall was filled to the brim with people in all kinds of dresses and suits with just about every kind of mask on a face somewhere. Groups of people were scattered around the room and you could see that Dick had already made his way over to a small group of girls who wore matching black dresses with white carnival-like masks. You rolled your eyes, but smiled and turned away to decide what to do next. That was the problem with Galas like these. Even if you knew people, you couldn't be sure where they are or if they were even here, so it was like a college party only days after you moved to a new town. Well, you got through your college parties by drinking so why not give that attempt a shot now too, right? So you sashayed over to the bar that had been constructed on the side opposite of the entrance and gestured the bartender over to you. He nodded and quickly made his way over, taking your order before turning around and getting started on your Old fashioned. "Well, hello beautiful," a dark, hoarse voice rang through your ears from beside you and you turned into the direction it came from, your eyes landing on a man that looked like he was as sure of himself as it could get. He was wearing a metallic-silver suit with a black shirt below it and, even though you yourself wouldn't necessarily go for it if you had to choose, you had to admit that it looked good on him. On his face was a mock-batman-mask and he had a five o'clock shadow that looked just groomed enough to be handsome. He will do, you thought and forced yourself to smile at his cheesy 'not-even' pick-up line. "You don't look too bad yourself," you shrugged and bowed your head slightly in thanks at the bartender who handed you your drink. "Ah, a girl of good taste," he smirked, trying to be smug and funny by not clarifying if he meant the drink or your comment. The physical restrain you had to put yourself through to not roll your eyes almost surprised you and you took a big sip of the drink, hoping it would loosen you up enough to make you look over the comments. You welcomed the burn in your throat but inwardly damned yourself for having a high alcohol tolerance that would make it impossible for you to get drunk from under at least thee drinks. "So," you sighed and leaned against the bar, "What's up with the mask?" "Don't tell anyone, but I'm really Batman and I'm just here undercover," the man said just slightly too serious to make you believed he was joking, bringing whatever attraction you had towards him down. "Does that line ever work?" "You'd be surprised, but you look like the kinda girl who doesn't need a pick-up line for some fun," he winked and came uncomfortably close to you. Welp, so much for that guy... "You know what-" you downed the drink, put it back onto the bar and turned to go, "-I'm not really in the mood for some fun, so if you'll excuse me." That was when you felt a hands on the side of your torso, just inches below your chest, and a sense of Terror filled you. Terror not for you, but for the man that had been foolish enough to touch you without permission in a room with any of your siblings. Your eyes quickly flew through the room, searching for your brothers to find out how long the douchebag had before his arms would be ripped out (figuratively) and you spotted Dick on the dance floor with a girl in a sparkly pink dress, but Jason - even though he should be visible alone by the sheer size of him- wasn't anywhere to be found. "Listen, buddy, you really don't wanna-" "Here you are!" a voice interrupted your warning and both you and the man that was behind you looked to your right to see a tall man, towering over you even more than Jason usually did,  in a sharp, expensive-looking, green suit. He stood out like a sunflower in a field of tulips, not only because of the outfit but because he was the only one in the room who wasn't wearing a mask, and something about him made your breath hitch slightly. He seemed eerily familiar, but you couldn't place his face with anyone you knew. It was like time was frozen while your eyes wandered his body up until you reached his face, having to put your head back a bit, and you took in his neatly dishevelled brown hair that looked like it was always this way, but others would try for hours to replicate it before they ended looking into his blue ones. Suddenly time started again and the sounds of the room, that had been drowned out by your thoughts, came crushing back and you had to slightly shake your head to keep your composure. "I've been searching for you all over, you've promised me a dance remember?" the man smiled and you quickly realized that he just might be your (and with that unknowingly to both of them also your harasser's) saviour. "Oh, right, sorry, I was otherwise occupied, but I have the next dance reserved for you," you played along and removed the Hands on your waist, they had been wandering downwards when the man had realized he was in a tricky situation, stepping forward to take the hand the maskless man was holding out towards you. "You can't just-" the man behind you, that seemed to have snapped out of the trance he had been in, started to shout, but was almost immediately interrupted when your saviour put the hand that wasn't (very gently as you noted) holding yours onto his shoulder. You could see the fabric of the silver suit wrinkle notably under his seemingly forceful grip and the look on the face of the man in said suit twisted in pain confirmed your suspicion that the hold he had on him had to be way harder than necessary, not that you complained. "I think the lady just said that she had the next dance reserved for me, right?" his voice was polite, but even the most social clueless person would be aware of the threatening undertone. Your harasser could only nod before his shoulder was released and he hurried away, trying to hide that he couldn't move his arm properly anymore. When he was completely out of sight your saviour let go of your hand and eyed you as if he was making sure you weren't hurt, before smiling at you with something like fondness. "Thank you for that," you smiled back and smoothed your dress down before holding your hand out again, ignoring that he had let it go only seconds earlier. He looked down at your hand with confusion and you couldn't help but chuckle a bit, not noticing how his eyes seemed to widen and his cheeks seemed to redden just the slightest. "I told you I have the next dance reserved for you and after you saved me that's the least I could do to thank you. Only if you want of course." It was like that flipped a switch inside him because before you could blink you were standing on the dancefloor with the arm that wasn't holding his hand around his neck and his on your waist, high enough to not be sexual, but low enough to not be completely innocent. "So-" the two of you swayed to the rhythm of the classic song playing in the background and you couldn't explain why you felt the urge rise to lean against his chest "-what's up with the lack of the mask?" He slightly tilted his head to the right as if thinking about what to answer, while simultaneously spinning the two of you around. "Maybe this is my mask," he simply stated and you knew it was just supposed to be a humorous comment, but you couldn't shake the feeling like it was more cryptic than you thought, "And I got invited pretty short term and didn't have time to get one." That was more like it.   You giggled and couldn't help but play with the hair on the back of his neck, glad that he didn't seem to react to it. "Well, whatever the reason, I'm glad you're not wearing one because if you had been, I'd be deprived of that face," you smirked slightly and decided to take the initiative. You had no idea what it was about that man, but the two of you dancing so close to each other, his eyes gazing into yours and his hand on your waist, made your heart beat out of your chest, it was like the kiss you had with the Riddler all over again and for the first time in weeks the thought of that kiss disappeared again seconds after it came into your mind and you couldn't help but think that maybe this man was just what you were searching for. For a few seconds, the two of you just looked at each other, your eyes having the conversation that your heart wanted and it was like a bigger power was in control of your bodies when both of you started to lean in for what was supposed to be a kiss if it hadn't been for someone tapping at your shoulder. It was like a spell dispersed and you couldn't help but flinch away, even if all you wanted was to continue what you were doing, not noticing the slightly angered tint that made its way onto your dance partners' face. "Uhm, are you Y/N?" the girl, which you recognized as Dick's companion from earlier, asked you shyly, clearly aware that she had interrupted a situation. "Yeah," you sighed, thinking that this was Dick's attempt at being a protective older brother without actually being at blame. "Your brothers said that they have something to talk to you about, they are waiting outside." You turned to look at the exit to the garden, flashes of memories of being drugged in front of your eyes, before turning to your partner and smiling apologetically, "I'm sorry, I just have to quickly go, but I'll be right back, don't move okay?" He returned the smile, but it didn't seem as genuine as it was earlier and nodded.

When you stepped into the cold night air you couldn't help but sigh at your lack of luck. You looked around and saw your brothers at the outer wall that parted the garden from the street seemingly talking in hushed voices. Jason was the first who noticed you and soon the two of them started walking towards you, the three of you meeting in the middle. "So? What's going on?" you asked worried, recognizing the look in their eyes, the same look they always had when there was an unexpected mission. "Bruce just called, there's a Joker attack a few blogs from here and he needs all the help he can get." "Okay, I'll excuse you if anyone asks where you are and recognizes me," you just shrugged, not sure why they had to meet you outside for that. It was surely not the first time they randomly disappeared during an event and you had to make up excuses. You had expected something more 'serious'. "I'm afraid that this won't be how it'll go tonight-" Jason sighed and petted your head slightly, "-Bruce clearly stated, that he wants you to go home, he already sent the driver. He's still a bit shaken up by what happened last time." "What?" you exclaimed questioningly, "But that-" "No discussion," Dick stopped you and gave you a small peck on your forehead before he and Jason hurried to the gate that would bring them to the ally where they had hidden their costumes beforehand. For a while, you just kept standing there, the cold air crashing down onto your skin and making goosebumps appear. You tried to think of all the ways that you could just get back to what you were doing before, how you could get back to the man that had your heart beat quicker just minutes after having met him, but all your thoughts just went right back to the fact that you couldn't. That you had to leave now. Your thought process was disrupted when you felt something smooth cover your shoulders and arms. A quick look down your body showed you that a familiar green suit jacket had been laid onto you. Swiftly you turned around, hoping your dance partner would stand behind you but there was no sign of him anywhere near. Confusion filled you and you hurried over to the doors leading back inside, thinking that you may see him going back in, but he was nowhere to be seen.   Before you could start to search for him further your chauffeur from earlier caught your attention, waiting for you at the entrance. There was a war being fought inside you, your heart wanting to go back into the crowd and find him, your brain knowing how hopeless the situation was.

One of the side-effects of being raised by Bruce Wayne was that your brain won the fights it had against your heart. That was why, a few minutes later, you were sitting in the car on your way back to Wayne Manor, the jacket still around your shoulders despite the confused look your chauffer had given you. It was basically pooling around you, multiple sizes bigger than you and you couldn't help but relish in the sense of security it gave. You leaned against the backdoor, your forehead against the cool darkened window when you felt something solid pushing against you. A bit perplex you straightened up again and started to tap around until your right hand landed on something that was slightly budging out the right Jacket pocket. Curiously you put your hand into the opening and pulled out its contents. You stared down at the little green, velvet ring box that was laying in your opened hand besides a black business card. Even though you couldn't rip your gaze away from the box, your left hand grabbed for the card and turned it around before you ripped your eyes to it for the fraction of a second before your heart figuratively stopped. The only thing that was printed onto it was the image of a green Questionmark, leaving the origins of the card without any ambiguities. But that means... This Jacket, the man you had danced with, the man you had almost kissed... Well, seemingly almost kissed again... It was him all along, he had saved you and had let you flirt with him right in front of your brothers, without knowing how risky it had been. Your mind was starting to get fogged with all kinds of thoughts, but they all scattered again when you looked back to the box. Your movements were slow as you laid the card down on the seat beside you and opened the velvet cap. Every blood cell in your body stopped moving when you saw the vast Amethyst that was embedded into a ring that looked tiny in comparison with the stone and for the second time that evening it was like you weren't in control of your body as you took the ring out of the case and brought it up into the light to look it over. It had to be extremely expensive, something that even Bruce would think about twice before buying, and it wasn't just that, no, your eyes landed on an engraving on the inside of the ring. For my one and only Moonflower -Ed.

[Yandere Addition]

Trevor Beck's night was far from great. At first, the hot chick he had tried to chat up on the party his dad had dragged him along to had rejected his advances even though she had clearly been interested before and then this creepy dude had grabbed him so hard that he had surely dislocated his shoulder. With pain running through his arm, he decided that this stupid Gala wasn't worth it and called a cab to bring him home. He didn't realize that what happened before was not even close to the worse that would be happening to him this evening, because when he came home, he wasn't alone in his apartment. When he came into his bedroom, there were bags filled with stolen money and jewellery lying on the floor. And when he wanted to call the police upon seeing the letter that was lying on his dresser, a letter written in his handwriting that confessed to his family having had money problems and that he couldn't live without this lifestyle and decided to take matters into his own hand, only to regret what the letter said he'd done, a single shot through the side of his head kept him from following up on that action. Edward was careful as he planted the gun that Trevor had kept in his night shelf for protection into his palm to make sure his fingerprints were on it, before making sure no traces would suggest that he had help with ending his life. He knew that besides the lack of evidence they'd have for it to be murder, the GCPD would be happy enough to have found the one (allegedly) responsible for one of the biggest and unexplained jewellery heists and even if it was suspicious that Trevor had no prior criminal record beside harassment, they wouldn't investigate further. Ed tried to tell himself that he only did this to avoid gaining the attention for the heist, but deep inside he knew that he had many options on how to do that that wouldn't include killing. Deep inside he knew that he had done that because Trevor had dared to touch what was supposed to be his... Had touched his moonflower...

A/N: This was one of - if not the- most requested things I’ve ever had on my blog! Thank you all so so so much! This also inspired me to try my hand at Aesthetics and I’d be happy if you guys would let me know if you like it! And....maybe, if people like it, there’s still some inspiration left for a final part three....who knows? Also, here are the non-anons who requested a second part: @sirkekselord​ @redhildatodd​ @nate-sakura​ And for all of you who are wondering, the Yandere addition at the end is not really relevant to the story and most likely won’t be picked up again, but I just had that thought in my head while writing and thought people might like it.

Like A Dame (Snapshots)

Mammon: *trying his best at being casual* ...so, uh, why're you and Flower-Girl in suits?

Sora: *looking down at her watch in vague interest, frowning at the time* Diavolo provided our outfits for the evening, I complied, Mio guilt tripped Lucifer and Satan into providing a mishmash of their clothes.

Mammon: *visibly disappointed* Don't ya still have a bunch of leftover dresses from the other times?

Sora: And deal with Asmo's appraising glare? No thanks, I get enough flack from him as is about my lack of taste in fashion. I mean, fuck the rest of the Devildom, but I live with Asmodeus. I have to deal with that shit, I'm not Mio, I can't just zone out.

---------------------------------------------------

[Pan behind the refreshments where Leviathan, Mio, and Beel have decided to hide out for the night. The latter two of which are currently splitting what looks like to be an entire raspberry cheesecake, and the former seems to be playing a Gacha game on Mio's phone.]

(Luke stumbles upon them, wearing a rather pretty sailor dress, with his hair done up in pigtails. He puts his hands on hips, frowns cutely, and looks down on them in disappointment.)

Luke: Is this really how you spend every event? No variation?

Mio: *casually fork wrestling Beel away from her three claimed slices of cheesecake* Not every event, no. Sometimes, Belphie or Satan join us, other times Levi and I shack up in the coat room, or Beel decides too safeguard the entire refreshment table. There's plenty of variation.

Luke: That's not what I meant and you know it.

Mio: And you're hiding from Phenex, aren't you?

[In the distance, a rather high pitched call of 'Luke!' can be heard as an incredibly pretty female looking aqua haired demon traverses the dance floor.]

Luke: ...*sighs* Can you slide over?

------------------------------------

Sora: So that was Marchosias?

Satan: Yes, unfortunately, it seems she's not incredibly fond of you.

Sora: *blinks stupidly* Not fond? She's my lab partner. If anything, she loves me. It's just... Well, I'm hanging out with the guys she kind of... You know, followed into hell? It's awkward dude. Like... I think I've seen her vault out a six story building just to avoid Beel.

Satan: Truly?

Sora: *shrugs* Hey, a large majority of people avoid their family like the plague, others try to stay connected, and some, like Phenex, decide that they're gonna be said families problem. Whether they like it or not.

Satan: And you? What's your category?

Sora: *without so much as pausing to think* Reluctant orphan adoptee with five siblings, three cousins, and a really fucking weird extended family.

------------------------------------

Solomon: Ah, Diana!

[Solomon rushes over to his old student with a bright smile, clad in a black form fitting dress with white accents, paired with a gold sash, and silver heels. He also, rather inexplicably, has a rather modest set of breasts.]

(Diana, by comparison, is dressed in a rather oversized midnight blue tux with a grey bowtie, and a white sash around her hips, a large spade sewn over her heart.)

Diana: *blinks tiredly, presses a hand to her face, and sighs, preparing herself for an oncoming clusterfuck* Yes Solomon?

Solomon: *grin persisting* I'm calling in a favor, I need you to help me with something.

Diana: *closes eyes, breaths in, and then exhales* ...next time, next time, I'm taking Bridget and Eirny up on that fourth honey moon.

------------------------------------

Spade: Has anyone ever told you that you're infuriating?

Phenex: *humming as they drag him around the dance floor* Constantly, you?

Spade: Only my children.

------------------------------------

[As the party begins to wind down, Mio has decided to briefly venture out from behind the refreshments table, only to come upon a staring contest between Phenex and Simeon.]

(Simeon looks incredibly uncomfortable. Phenex is simply Smiling, it's not a pretty smile, no, it's the smile that got Diavolo to back down from including them and Luke in the butler fiasco.)

Mio: ...do I want to know?

Simeon: *still uneasily meeting Phenex's gaze* No.

Phenex: *still Smiling* It's just drama between siblings, you understand don't you Mio-chan?

(Mio raises an eyebrow at Simeon, then turns to Phenex, and back to Simeon, before casting her gaze to where Luke and the others were at before sighing.)

Mio: Right, uh, well, I'll be leaving then, see you guys at R.A.D. tomorrow, I suppose.

(Mio proceeds to speed walk back to where Beel, Levi, and Luke are without a second thought.)

------------------------------------

[By way of an escaped Lucifer, the Ubuyashiki-Shibata cousins are currently dancing with one another.]

(Mio is leaning against Sora's shoulder, as the latter leads her through the steps of a butchered slow waltz.)

Mio: How's day been so far? Well, I know mine hasn't been the best, Levi stole the last cupcake.

Sora: *sighing* I see you've been dreadfully bored.

Mio: Bored doesn't begin to cover it, I miss the more... Nerve wracking events!

Sora: Mio, we nearly die everytime those events happen.

Mio: Not always! Sometimes I get lucky! I got to hold Mammon's hand during that room by room puzzle!

Sora: ...Lord above *pointedly ignoring the scandalized gasps from passing demons* you two are pathetic.

------------------------------------

[After what seems to be an eternity, Diana and Spade join together on the dance floor.]

(Sora and Asmo watch from by the refreshments opposite to the one Beel, Levi, and Mio are hiding behind, Diana and Spade gliding right by them, completely ignorant of their presence, only focused on one another.)

Sora: *eyes following them* Please tell me you feel like your intruding, please, I don't want to feel alone.

Asmo: *humming, already going about fixing Sora's bun* I don't know why you're hoping to find solidarity with me Sora, I mean, it's cute, but honestly? This just excites me. To see something so intimate and gentle... Ah, it makes me ache for simpler times.

Sora: *whimpers*

Asmo: *pats her shoulder reassuringly*

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[It's the last dance of the night, and the Ubuyashiki-Shibata cousins are each dancing with their own prospective partners completely stone-faced.]

(Sora, dressed in a silver suit and black tie, with her hair up in a braided bun reminiscent of Arturia Pendragon, is dancing with Mammon.

Mio, by comparison, dancing with Belphie, and therefore helping support him, is dressed in an odd mishmash of Lucifer, Asmo, and Satan's clothes. A pair of navy blue slacks, a black dress shirt, dark pink tie and white blazer. Her hair is gathered into a short ponytail at the base of her skull, tied off with a red ribbon. Asmo is distinctly glaring at her from where he's dancing with Diana.)

Mammon: What's got you pissed off Girlie?

Sora: *still completely stone-faced* Fate, the world, Phenex's continued existence, an array of things. Most glaringly, perhaps it's the fact that you couldn't ask my cousin to dance so you stole me away from Beel and Belphie?

Mammon: *clears throat, as Sora leads him into an awkward dip* ...right, got me there Girlie.

(Across the floor, Belphie stirs enough to ask a question.)

Belphie: Why're you so stiff? Actually, why aren't you Sora, and where is Beel?

Mio: *pointedly smiling at Asmo as he passes by with Diana before answering* Mammon's a coward, and Lady Rose is genuinely convinced I'm a man.

Belphie: *already drifting off again* Got it...

------------------------------------

[After the ball ends, the brothers and the Ubuyashiki-Shibata cousins proceed with the trek home.]

(Beel has taken to supporting Belphie with his left arm, while Sora, on his right, proceeds to routinely supply him with snacks.

Mio has taken to trying to convince Levi to give her phone back before they arrive at the House of Lamentation, while riding on Mammon's back piggy back style, grin plastered on her face, with Levi arguing hotly about being in the middle of raid on a mobile dungeon game of some sort.

Asmo is on Mammon's left side, mumbling obscenities about Mio's fashion choices.

Meanwhile, Satan and Lucifer are at the back of the pack quietly bickering about something or other.

Phenex, as usual, is stocking the poor 'family' of nine from the shadows.)

Sora: It was a good night, you know.

Beel: *chewing around a candy bar of some sort, and shifting Belphie's weight slightly* Yeah, it kinda was, wish there was more food at the refreshments table though, it was good.

Sora: Meh, I'll take your word for it, all I had was some of that Blood Punch, which... Yeah, not really for me, I think Solomon spiked it with something for the lesser demons.

Beel: Is that why Diana looked like she wanted to drop dead every time Diavolo came by for a drink?

Sora: Mmh, that and I think it was because she was forced to dance with Phenex for most of the night, she and Mister Spade only danced once, even if lasted the rest of the night.

(They silent the rest of the way to the House of Lamentation. At which, they all separate, undress, and promptly pass out, well, except for Levi, who remains with Mio's phone held hostage well until early morning.)

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[The next morning, the household is rather groggy as they make their way down to breakfast.]

Mammon: Last night must 'ave been something else, my feet freakin' hurt.

Beel: You're one to talk, I feel like my ankles are planning a mutiny.

Mio: I woke up in a binder, guys, a binder. What the hell? I thought I wasn't going to be the Dame!

Sora: At least you didn't feel like you were suffocating the entire night, my chest still feels like it's about to cave in, fucking hell...

Levi: *shrugs* I'm actually fine with whatever happened.

Belphie: *head thunks against the table*

(Several moments later, there's an array of notifications from Asmo's phone. Loud shrill beeps are all that make up the next two or so minutes.)

Lucifer: *sighs* ...It seems I forgot about the social media ban, lovely.

Top 5 Persona Characters?

oh i’m so glad you sent this ask!! for this, i’ll try not to include any of the protagonists because they technically don’t have a canon personality; their personalities are mostly widely known fan inferences rooting from their dialogue options and overall attitude (which i also believe as well,, but yeah we’ll just not include them in. plus let’s just have the other characters shine!). keep in mind, i really am not the best with putting my thoughts into words, so some sentences might seem kinda funky lol. and everything here is my opinion :]

1) yosuke hanamura (persona 4)

sometimes, it saddens me that people view his character from the surface level and are quick to renounce him as homophobic and pervy. to add fuel to the flame, atlus kind of flanderizes yosuke’s character in golden and the animation (trust me, i love the animation and they did add some parts for yosuke that i love, but you gotta admit they could’ve done his character a bit more justice). of course yosuke’s flaws should be recognized and be critiqued, but honestly, these flaws are what make yosuke yosuke. removing those things, in ways, takes away from the 3 dimensional-ness of his character.

i feel that it was made clear what his “stereotypical role” was going to be in the story from his easily perceived surface personality traits. some of these traits were his recklessness, competitiveness and the fact that he was constantly being dunked on by the other characters, making him seem like just the comic relief. but throughout the story, you find out he’s more than that (which i will talk more in detail a little later). most prominently known by fans, there is the “bro” aspect to him. in this game, yu is the one who has to walk up to people and ask them to hang out, but yosuke is the only one of all the characters who takes the initiative to get to know yu. he nicknames you partner, constantly calls you on the phone at night, and always kind of asks you questions and says things to get a reaction out of you. from this, a natural friendship between blossoms and you feel like you get know really know yosuke personally. you learn that he’s actually very strategic and intelligent, incredibly loyal and cares deeply about his friends, and is overwhelmingly insecure and repressed. okay, we have to talk about this part. he seems closeted, and that can be the reasoning on why he sometimes makes homophobic remarks. i do think it’s a shame that his romance route was scrapped when it obviously was far in development. for some, the bro aspect can super fixated on and might be one of the only reasons why someone likes yosuke. this sadly kind of subconsciously fetishizes their relationship. of course that’s not the case all the time! but it’s something to be mindful of. even looking past the souyo ship (which i love deeply!), they are such great friends platonically, and yosuke himself is such a great character. throughout the story, he matures and develops into someone more humble, thoughtful and appreciative. from the moment he first showed up on screen, i kind of had a feeling he was going to be my favorite. and it’s kind of crazy how much i grew fond of him over time and realized the impact his character made on me.

2) elizabeth (persona 3)

elizabeth is so underrated, and i speak that from the bottom of my heart. she is so hilariously naive and funky, while also being one of the most powerful and intelligent persona characters. the way you are first introduced to her are through fulfilling her requests in the velvet room. as you fulfill her requests, you’re kind like, “you want me to do that,, really?” she tells you to bring her oil?? for some reason? and to feed a cat so it can prosper forever and ever? those are just some things i can think of at the top of my head. from these requests, you kind of get a peak at her funny weirdness and you’re just like “okay you’re weird but i like you.” and when you get to take her on dates (but i just see them as hangouts :]), you are essentially helping her make new experiences of the world outside of the velvet room and get into a lot of wacky hijinks. with this, her endearing weirdness and naivety really starts to shine, making you fall in love with the character. so now you’re like “wow, you’re really weird i love you lol.” her funny weirdness also translates to her dance style in persona 3 dancing, which i absolutely  love. it really encapsulates that side of her character accurately (and you gotta admit she’s got some cool funky moves).

beyond the funny side of her, you find out how truly powerful she is as a being. she can wield thanatos, which was only previously held by someone with the universe arcana), and is unfathomably strong as she is one of the harder boss fights in the entire series. it is also important to note that she is also very determined and i found it bittersweetly heartwarming that she is still mourning over makoto/minato(i nicknamed him virgin walk)’s death years afterward (as seen in persona 4 arena) and that she is dedicating herself to free his soul that is bound to the door of death. she misses her dear friend, and i just really love that she threw caution to the wind and went on this journey to try to find a way to resolve something that is seemingly impossible. and she is still doing it to this day, into the persona 5 timeline (because persona 5 royal shows that minato/makoto/virginwalk is still bound to the door). persona 3 happens in 2009 and persona 5 happens in 20XX (which is assumed to be 2016). it has almost been a decade. i truly think it’s in her character to keep searching for a way to free him no matter how long it takes. with all aspects of her personality in mind, i love her character with my whole heart. 

3) yukiko amagi (persona 4)

if i’m completely honest, yukiko was not one of my favorite characters at the time i played persona 4. i was one of the many people who overlooked her character because the others pretty much outshine her. because she is introduced in the beginning as the first dungeon, you start to put her towards the background once kanji, rise and naoto are introduced. from the surface, the first impression of her is “okay, i guess her quirk is that she laughs a lot?” i initially thought this too, but thinking more about it, i began liking that about her, and with more thought, i realized that i liked other things about her character as well. her sense of humor is so dumb? she laughs at lame stuff and fixates on things in conversation that just make you go “uhh okay,,, yukiko??” i think i opened my eyes to this when i was playing her story in persona 4 arena. i found it so hilarious that she fixated on the quality of the box lunch she prepared for everyone out of all the things happening, and that her whole arc in that game revolved around how bad it was (putting it into simpler terms). i also really think its funny how blunt she is too. she’s ready to shoot people down, and most of the time, it’s unintentional. 

and other than her quirks, i kind of like how her arc developed in the game. i know that many people saw that the end of her arc as “wrong” because they were expecting the usual resolution to problems similar to hers. they expected her to “follow her heart and pick freedom” if she feels trapped in her role as an innkeeper when she inherits her family’s inn in the future. but that wasn’t the point. i actually kind of like that she ultimately chooses to stay. in her social link, she decides to stay in inaba and to run the inn because it’s her own choice. she chose this out of her own will and that’s the only thing that mattered; no one else is forcing her to inherit the business and she decides that’s what she wants. i also really like that the animation showed the responsibilities and hard work she has to go through at the inn; it was a nice touch and really displayed how responsible she was and how much she prioritizes and dedicates her time at the inn. although she is responsible, she is not necessarily the “mom-friend” of the group. she can be a bit crazy like everyone else too. honestly the whole investigation team runs rabid because there is no mom-friend to keep them in check (persona 3 has mitsuru and persona 5 has makoto). anyway, really taking the time to think about yukiko’s character made me love her.

4) yusuke kitagawa (persona 5) 

okay, this is going to be very straightforward, but i think that yusuke was one of the most enjoyable parts of persona 5. i loved whenever he was on screen,, he’s super eccentric and i find it so funny to see the whole starving-artist thing taken literally. he’s definitely awkward but is trying his best! he definitely has the most stage presence compared to the other phantom thieves. the other members are pushed to the background whenever he speaks. he’s dramatic and over the top, but somehow this hilarious absurdity is relatable. 

other than the tendency to steal the show, his social link is more focused on his own development and his own personal growth. whereas, with the other characters, it kind of focuses on the character and the people they associate with outside the phantom thieves. for yusuke, in comparison, it’s much more personal. you travel around with him to help him to figure out what the aspects of the human heart are and to help him get out of his artistic slump after opening his eyes to the abuse he went through with madarame. he originally had a narrow perspective but overtime he learns to broaden it. i just really like how the social link plays out, it was really satisfying. and i just love how genuine and sincere he is as he is always doing things out of pure intentions. it’s also so admirable to see how much passion he has for the things he loves. yusuke, with certainty, is one of my favorite phantom theives. 

5) yuuki mishima (persona 5)

mishima is such an important and underrated character in persona 5. mishima throughout the whole game has been nothing but nice to you, even with akira/ren’s reputation. sure, he can be awkward and can be seen as overbearing to some, but he’s always had his heart in the right place. i’ve kind of always liked his dumb awkwardness and seeing how he’s trying hard to be our friend (it’s a shame our dialogue options toward him are always kinda mean but hopefully he sees it as teasing). he is so crucial to the story because honestly, he’s the one who got the ball rolling by creating the phansite, and that phansite actually helped so many people. he, himself, doesn’t even get recognition for making the site, he just really believed in the phantom thieves and wanted to help them in the ways he could. he did have an arc to humble himself after getting hungry for fame, but in the end he changed his own heart with his own will (and is the only character to do that!) which is pretty powerful. 

i also love that he’s always been a supporter of the phantom thieves no matter what happens and what other people think. when the phantom thieves were being trashed on, he still held onto hope and believed they were doing the right thing (plus him supporting them in those times just proves he wasn’t just doing the phansite for fame!!). another moment that screams this most is toward the end, when everything was in destruction and people were forgetting about the phantom theives in the time literally needed someone to believe in them most. mishima was the only one who still had faith in them and knocked some sense into everyone else. without him there, things could have turned out pretty badly. and i know i’ve heard that some fans wanting him to be a phantom thief himself, but it would just mess with a major part of his character. there’s something about him not completely knowing who the members of the phantom thieves are and him deciding to help with the phansite despite this, you know? yeah i like mishima a lot :))

some honorable mentions are kanji tatsumi (persona 4) and aigis (persona 3)! some of the honorable mentions are characters i like over some others that are on the list but i wanted to make sure i included people from persona 3, 4, 5 (because honestly this list would be persona 4 dominated if i didnt lol).

Caerul Design Notes,

because I’ve actually put a lot of thought into creating Caerul’s aesthetic and I’m lowkey really proud of it.  I won’t get into her actual character concept/personality/backstory/etc. since this got super long, but this is how/why I made the choices I did with regards to her name and visual design!

▶ Caerul’s color scheme started off way bluer (hence the name “Caerul,” from caeruleus/a/um - “blue”/“cerulean”/“azure”/“of the sky/sea” in Latin) and less saturated, but when I gave her a (dead) twin with a red theme, I wanted them to look more alike and made both of their hair purple (although I haven’t actually done more than sketch Roseus before... he’s got purple hair and red eyes).  Purple’s my favorite color, and unnatural hair colors don’t seem to be uncommon in Orth, so why not, right?   ¯\_(ツ)_/¯   The red elements in Caerul’s design are meant to represent her honoring Roseus!

All of the base colors I use when drawing Caerul! They all end up looking a bit darker once they’re shaded though.

▶ As well as shamelessly using one of my favorite Latin words (I’m a Classics major, okay ;;>~>), I also tried to pick a name that sounded similar to the ones that already exist in-universe.  This was actually fairly tricky, since as far as I can tell the names in Made in Abyss have a WIDE variety of influences.  Some of them seem passably Japanese-sounding (Riko, Jiruo, Kiyui, Nanachi) disclaimer I bring dishonor to my ancestors and know 0 Japanese so this is just about vibez, others seem Western-ish (Reg, Nat, Lyza, Prushka).  Some are fairly whimsical (Shiggy, Maruruk, Mitty) while others are more mysterious and fantastic (Any of the White Whistles besides maybe Lyza).  The only common thread I could really settle on was a general fantasy feeling to all of the names.  I tried to capture that nebulous vibe with Caerul’s name, although with something so vague and subjective it’s pretty much impossible to say if I was entirely successful.  I named her siblings afterward with other Latin color words and ended up with a RGB theme lol.

▸ By the way, “Caerul” is pronounced “KAI-rool.”  It rhymes with “Hyrule.”  The ae diphthong makes an “eye” sound in Latin #TheMoreYouKnow

▸ “Caducalae” is a portmanteau of “caducae alae,” literally “falling/doomed/futile wings” in Latin (again), playing off how pointless it is to be able to fly when the Curse of the Abyss is a thing. ��Originally, they weren’t supposed to work at all outside of the Abyss, but I decided that was boring for crossovers/other verses so I scrapped it.  I’m not too happy with the name since it doesn’t fit the naming scheme of the canon relics (there is no precedent at all for gratuitous Latin in Made in Abyss, which is a good thing because it’s overused in fantasy, but Latin was the only thing I was good at in high school sooooo... ^^;), but I didn’t like any of my other ideas that much, either.  “Wings of Futility” feels more canon, but it’s also kinda depressing :/

▶ I’ve mentioned before that Caerul’s build is based off of mine for art reference purposes (it’s convenient to just look in the mirror while making the pose I want =w=)b), but another reason she’s so short is that I didn’t have to make the caducalae quite as big since she’s smaller, so she can actually go indoors if she’s careful.

▶ Long hair isn’t super practical with mechanical wings with lots of bits for it to get caught in, but Caerul idolizes Lyza, so I left her hair as long as I could reasonably get away with.

▶ I heavily referenced the canon Made in Abyss character designs for Caerul’s clothing so she would fit into the world, but made some alterations to make everything more personal to her and accommodate for her wings.  In general, I lightened everything up, since she takes a bunch of short, quick trips rather than lengthy expeditions.  Her gloves, for instance, are loosely inspired by the ones we see many delvers wearing in the manga/anime, but are less heavy-duty and are convertible mittens/fingerless gloves for better dexterity with handling letters and such.  

The best close up of the gloves I could find was actually a screenshot of the aftermath Reg & Riko’s orb piercer encounter, but I didn’t want to have to tag this for gore, so you get Lyza ^^; There’s a filter over Caerul here so you can see the glove better which is why she looks kinda washed out :/

▶ Her coat is heavily influenced by Jiruo’s, since he’s the only Moon Whistle we’ve seen in canon.  

yeah, uhhhh, sorry to yoink your style my dude ^^;

▸ Caerul’s has a different color palette, a simpler lapel border, an extra set of outer pockets, and three separate panels in the back that button around her wings so she can put it on! I haven’t drawn it, but her shirt works similarly.  

This is my favorite detail about her design tbh... it’s just really satisfying what a logical solution it is for some reason???  the original doodle is off rotting somewhere in my Modern European History notes, but I tried to recreate it just as sloppily here =w=)b

▶ Caerul’s corset isn’t just a painful fashion choice - it’s actually meant to be a(n admittedly heavily stylized) brace for her back against the weight of her wings.  

▶ Since Caerul can’t wear a backpack with the wings, I had to get creative with storage options for her.  In addition to an undetermined number of pockets on the inside of her coat, I gave her these two pouches on her thighs to carry more stuff.  

I wonder how buff your quads could get carrying a significant amount of weight there...

▸ Messenger bags don’t seem super practical for delving, so I didn’t design a specific one for her to carry all the time, but Caerul does use them on occasion.  Even with that, though, she still has far less carrying capacity than the average delver, which is a problem she has to deal with when carrying out her duties!

▶ The wings/caducalae were by far the most difficult part of designing Caerul, and it took several redesigns over 2+ years before I was finally happy with them.  Their first design was deliberately far simpler in the interest of having to draw them a zillion times, but they ended up clunky and unwieldy looking: 

chonky o~O

▸ The final design is MUCH more of a pain to draw (in fact, a lot of the time I cheat and just copy and paste them from drawings I’ve already done), but I think it looks much sleeker and more “functional”.  

I also got better at making my diagrams look slightly more authentic ;0

▸ I knew I wanted jetpack-style thrusters to be a component of the wings to somewhat justify the shit I wanted Caerul to be able to pull with them (especially to eliminate the need for accounting for the damage landing suddenly could do to her ankles), but incorporating them proved to be one of the biggest problems of the design.  At one point, they were going to have a whole separate attachment point on her back, but I finally just made them an offshoot of the first “joint,” as you can see in the final design.  

A really messy intermediate caducalae sketch.  The weird double pentagon shape was meant to be the part of the relic actually fused to Caerul’s back, but I scrapped that too when I scrapped the separate limbs for the thrusters.

▸ Speaking of the joints, they’re all balls so they can rotate all over and I don’t have to fuss too much about how they move.  Likewise, the frame is metal, but I treat it like it’s kind of flexible, so Caerul can “flex” the wings open and closed.  These wings are hard enough to draw period okay I’m giving myself every excuse to be inconsistent af on purpose.

▸ The caducalae have some “bonus” features that I’ve sketched out, but that Caerul hasn’t unlocked yet, and won’t for a while.  

owo what’s this?

▸ For the wings, I think my biggest inspirations were some of the mechier Cardfight!! Vanguard dragon units (although I don’t remember which cards specifically) and the energy wings on the ninth-generation knightmares in Code Geass R2.

I’ve made a lot of OCs, and since I don’t like to use faceclaims, I’ve done a fair amount of character designing.  I don’t think I’ve ever spent as much time or had as much fun with any of them as I have with Caerul, though!  OCs aren’t always super well accepted in fandom roleplay, but the Made in Abyss community has been super welcoming and I’ve had a blast.  Thanks for listening to me gush about Caerul if you got this far, and thank you to everyone who’s interacted with her!  

The original sketch of Caerul from back in 2017.  How far we’ve come :’D